My Lil' Bruiser

As many of you already know Rylee, my middle son is our lil’ daredevil. He has no fear and will try anything once or more. He already has one surgery under his belt, and that was before the age of two. For those of you that don’t know the story behind that one, let me explain. He was running in our laundry room and ran into a free standing , full-length mirror. The mirror then proceeded to fall on top of him, luckily his pinky finger was the only injury he sustained. We rushed him to the emergency room, because we could not stop the bleeding. Needless to say, he ended up having surgery to re-construct his nail bed. Now looking at his finger , you wouldn’t even know.




From that point on he has had several black eyes, numerous cuts and countless bruises. Recently while on a trip to Michigan with my mom, he face planted in the snow and while breaking ice it recoiled and hit him in the face. Luckily it was nothing major while he was away. If there is a way to get hurt he will find it. However, this past Sunday was a prime example of just how bad it can be...



7:00 AM- Rylee comes into my room crying about his foot. He was climbing on his widow sill and fell. Result from that... Cut on the back of his foot.

10:15 AM- Running at church, in his classroom, tripped and fell face first on the floor. Result from that... A bloody nose and a “boo-boo report” when we came to pick him up.

5:00 PM- Slipped on some water in the bathroom and hit the tub. Result from that... a big purple goose egg on his chin.

There were other minor injuries through out the day , but none worth mentioning. I can only hope he grows out of it or that we pick up some great health insurance in the near future. I have even thought of wrapping him in bubble wrap... Still a possibility, I guess!



On a good note Harper and Justyce were incident free while at church!

Mmm... Cupcakes

To celebrate Rylee's homecoming Justyce and I made cupcakes. For those of you that have never tried butter pecan cupcakes, the boys and I highly reccomend them...delcious!

Welcome 2011

New Years Eve was a blast, good friends, good food and good times. Rylee was in Michigan with my mom visiting my grandmother, which left us with only two kids. We went over to another couples house for game night. Since the majority of our friends are still kid less, its nice to have a couple with kids that our kids age.

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The night started out with pizza and snacks. After the little kids were in bed and the older ones were enticed by the TV, the adult beverages came out. We played Phase 10 (a type of rummy card game), which the girls dominated and then moved on to Battle of the Sexes. * Note his game is fun to play sober...but with a few drinks it becomes hilarious. Again the girls dominated that game as well. All in all it was a great way to bring in the new year. There were a lot of good laughs and great memories made that night. Surprisingly we all made it until midnight!

** Disclaimer: for those of you concerned about our drinking and driving, we were completely responsible. Luke limited his alcohol intake and cut himself off a couple of hours before we left.

Goodbye 2010

Goodbye 2010, you were a year I will never forget. You brought happiness and joy, but you also brought pain and sorrow. Luke and I welcomed our third and yes, final addition to our family, Harper. Harper is such a blessing , I cannot imagine life without him. Justyce and Rylee have both grown and developed their own unique personalities. I could not love them any more for what they have brought into my life and taught me. Those three little boys have given me so much, my only hope is that I can give them half of what they have given me.




Luke & I have experienced many changes as well. We began the year in a new home, which we love. I became a SAHM again, after the birth of Harper. Luke had the opportunity to get out of the roofing industry. Which is comforting, after having him fall off the roof twice. That is a road I would rather not travel down again. We were able to visit NYC which was amazing. I also have began running again, which I have not done since cross country in high school! I wouldn’t say that I love running , but it has provided me an outlet that I can’t explain. There is something so liberating about it.



So, here we are now in the beginning of a new year with hopes of a great future. All I can say is I am going to make this year better than the last. Isn’t that all anyone can really hope for? Sure there are going to be trials and tribulations in the new year, I would be an idiot not to expect that, right? Bad things happen so we appreciate the good... So here is my promise to myself and anyone who reads this, 2011 is going to be better than 2010! Not ,because I expect it to be but because, I choose to make it better!

Harvest Breakfast

Justyces' face is priceless!

Today was the annual Harvest Breakfast at Carpenter Kid’s (Justyces’ Preschool). The Harvest Breakfast is a father & son breakfast. The kids had worked on activities all week to prepare for it. They made centerpieces and place mats, Justyce could not stop talking about it. He was so excited that he was taking daddy to school with him!

Justyces' handmade centerpiece

On the menu: sausage balls, muffins, eggs and juice or coffee. Luke and Justyce were able to choose how they wanted their eggs and then prepare them together. I know that they had fun, but I was a little jealous I didn’t get to go. However, in February there will be a Valentines Tea Party for the moms! I asked Luke to take pictures, but of course got none.

Place Mats

On a side note, I finally got Justyces’ school pictures, almost a month later than we were told originally. They are cute, but nowhere near as good as last year. However, I will be calling the photographer on Monday, they gave me the wrong package. Ugh! I hope they will be nice and fix my problem quickly! Wish me luck...

New York, Part 1

In October Luke and I traveled to NYC for a wedding! It was AMAZING to say the least. I absolutely love city life, and no Springfield, Missouri is not even on the same scale. If I did not have three kids, I would live there in a heartbeat. We or I definitely want to go back and experience more. Yet, we were still able to squeeze a great deal of sights into the little amount of time we had . Which in turn meant ALOT of walking and by ALOT, I mean by the end of the first full day I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to move for days!

Our first experience in a New York cab was unforgettable and without a doubt terrifying. Christina and I laughed the entire time, because it was either that or cry! Our hotel was less than 3 miles from the airport and that was enough for me to know I do NOT like NYC cabs. The cab fare was close to $20.00. The funny part is that it took forever to actually get to our hotel, we could see it but the driver could not figure out how to get us there (luckily he turned off the meter for that). Once we settled in ,we ventured out to the steakhouse down the road ,for some drinks and dinner. The drinks that we ordered were the strongest mixed drinks I have ever had. I strongly believe that their menu should have had a warning... Or maybe Missouri’s “Bible- belt” drinks are just extremely weak. Either way after one drink I was feeling “it” as was Luke and Christina. Shortly after that we called it a night. I slept just like a baby!

Saturday, we were up and out of our room by 7 am (6 am MO TIME)! We first, had to catch a bus to the subway and then take the subway from Queens into the city. Our first destination was Ground Zero. It was almost surreal for me to be there. I remember September 11th, 2001 like it was yesterday, as I am sure many of us do. To be there 9 years later was indescribable . I cannot even imagine being in NYC on that tragic day, what a horrific event to have to experience. The museum was heart breaking, but amazing at the same time. I would highly recommend going to anyone.

Next, on our agenda was Battery Park. Oh, how city parks are different from the parks we are used to back in the Midwest. The children’s play area was modern and fantastic. The boys would have loved it! The dog park was surprising too. We were able to see the Statue of Liberty, but chose not to go out to see it. There was no way I was going to stand in the massive line, for the ferry and waste what little time we had. But, it is definitely on my to-do list for next time. Also on that list is to go on the Brooklyn Bridge. None the less, I am satisfied we got to see it.

We ate lunch and did a little shopping at the South Street Seaport. Following lunch we headed to Wall Street, to see the bull. Along the way we saw Tiffany’s , The New York Stock Exchange, and the Trinity Chapel just to name a few. Our next mission was Rockefeller Center . Christina and I soon got sidetracked with some street shopping and we drug Luke along. Street shopping was the best, I could have stayed there for days!! After that, we saw the ice rink, where the Today show is shot and where the famous Christmas tree goes at Christmas time. With the sunset quickly approaching we headed for the Empire State Building!

Our original game plan was to get to the observation deck of the Empire State Building right before sunset. However, once inside and in line waiting to go up we soon realized that there was NO way that; that was going to happen. We were in line for almost three hours and no I am not exaggerating. Despite the long wait the views and experience was unbelievable. Leaving there around 9:30 pm, we headed to Time Square to eat.

Once we were at Time Square, we got some authentic New York pizza. The pizza was delicious, two thumbs up! Once our bellies were full and a short lived “second wind“, we did some more shopping and took a ton of pictures. By this time, we were all so exhausted, we decided to call it a night. We got back on the subway and headed back to Queens. The subway was quick, because we got lucky and caught an express train. Unfortunately, the bus was a whole different story. We waited for almost an hour for that dumb bus! We FINALLY made it back to the hotel at about 12 am! I was so tired I was delirious! You know when you’re so tired you can’t sleep?? Well that was me. Needless to say, once I was able to fall asleep, I was dead to the world.

Changing Seasons Bring Changes Our Way...

 

 
I have been preparing for my first organized run in over 10 years! I am so excited, I ran X- country in high school and loved it. However, 3 kids and 10 years later it is a whole different world. It takes place on Thanksgiving day and helps out the local food pantry. I will also be doing another one in December with the logic... the more runs I participate in the easier it will be, right?? Along with taking running back up, as of November 15th I will be a college student... for the third time! I am hoping this time I can actually obtain a degree.

Luke has made changes too. He is no longer in the roofing business. I know it was a hard and scary decision for him. Since he has been in the roofing industry for 8 years. He is currently employed with C4 Connections, doing sales. He loves it and is doing great, I am so proud of him! I have to admit when he first brought this idea of changing careers to me, I was weary. I have grown up around roofing and was comfortable with it. But none the less, this change has opened many doors for Luke and our family.

The boys are doing great! Justyce is in a Christian based preschool and thriving. Friday he has a father & son breakfast, he is anxious to "take daddy to his school." Rylee is still a wild man and is always keeping me on toes. Harper is growing like a weed. He will be 10 months old at the end of the month, where has the time gone?? He is crawling and always on the go. He also now has two teeth now. I love my boys!

Halloween was fun. We stayed close to home while trick or treating, the boys were hard to keep up with, they were so excited! Justyce was the black Spiderman and Rylee was a giraffe. Harper, who was not impressed at all by the whole Halloween concept, sported a pumpkin shirt. He ended the night early and retired to his crib to count sheep. Luke and the older boys continued out on their mission and came home with an abundance of candy!

Lyrics

Sam Cooke - Change Gon’ Come lyrics