Quick 5 #2

1. Go Big Red! I'm waiting for the boys to wake up so we can go watch the first Husker game at a friend's house. Although I'm excited for football season, I think I might get tired of reading through dozens of facebook statuses that only say "Go Big Red" or "GBR!"

2. Micah made his first ever purchace with his own money (that he earned doing chores). I thought for sure he would buy something edible, but he picked out a little orange water bottle. I thought it was a very good choice for such a little guy.

3. My cousin's birthday was yesterday, and since she lives in my town, I had the privilege of making her a cake. I made a chocolate cake with a layer of cream cheese mixed with whipped topping and Oreos in the middle with melted chocolate chips on top. Delicious....

4. Eli is really into making animal sounds. He only makes two--quacking and roaring--but there are so many animals that roar that he finds reasons to make those sounds a lot. We were reading a book with a duck character, and he quacked the whole time.

5. Tomorrow, I will go to church with my husband, sit with him, and possibly even arrive and leave with him. Being married to a youth pastor, this doesn't happen often. But it's our church's annual Family Fest--an outdoor worship service for the entire church body, meaning there's no separate nursery or youth services. And since all the prayers, announcements, and sermons are covered by other pastors this year, Josh doesn't have any responsibilities! There is clean-up that he'll pitch in with, but it's rare to have a Sunday "off" like this.

Hide and Seek

Lately, Micah has been learning to play hide and seek with his friends. Today, he wanted to play with Eli and me. We had a good time, but I made a few observations as to why hide and seek with toddlers isn't all that challenging...

1. Micah's not very good at hiding. Sometimes he only hides his eyes, like when he lay on his bed with the covers over his head but not his legs, or when he curled up on the couch with his head down but his entire body completely visible.

2. When Micah does find a good spot to hide, he announces where he is. "I'm under the bed! You can't find me!"

3. When Micah counts, he only counts to ten, and he does it really fast, giving me only about 4 seconds to find a hiding spot.

4. Eli doesn't really understand the concept of hiding, so he will usually go in a closet, then come right back out.

5. Eli's other mistake is that he'll follow me to a hiding spot, only instead of hiding with me, he'll just stand there and stare at me, like a hunting dog pointing at a fallen bird. He leads Micah right to me (that is, if Micah is smart enough to catch on).

But even with all of this, it's very fun to play hide and seek with my kiddos. My favorite thing is when I'm hiding somewhere and Micah comes in and looks right past me and leaves the room. Then I have to make a little noise or he'd be off somewhere in the rest of the house.

It will be fun to see how hide and seek changes as the boys get older. :)

And for your enjoyment, here's a random picture of my cutie pie.

Quick 5 #1

A few of my friends do this "Quick 5" thing. Basically every Friday they post five little snippets of what's going on in their lives or what they've been thinking about lately or anything else that they feel like sharing. I'm going to try it out today, although I can't promise that I'll get to it every week.

1. Tonight, Josh and I are going to the East/West game. It's the football game between the two high schools in the district where we live. We love going, because we get to see and talk with so many students and parents (and my old teaching buddies), since everyone in our town seems to go to this game. We get to watch our two athletic kids play football, and our 112 musical kids perform in the bands at halftime. We spend half of the game in the East stands and half in the West stands. It's a good time. It's like all the fun of high school, but none of the drama. :) I think Josh maybe even watches the game.

2. We get to go to the East/West game with no children, thanks to my wonderful cousin, Lauren. I am so incredibly thankful that she goes to college here! She has babysat for us more times than I can count. The kids love her, and she loves them. And she's one of my best friends.

3. Micah has started doing extra chores for 25 cents each. He still has his regular duties, but if he wants to, he will ask me to "earn a quarter," and I'll give him a little job like putting the clean silverware away or using our little carpet sweeper to clean up under Eli's high chair. I made him a little bank to keep his money in until he has enough to learn how to spend it.

4. I mowed my lawn last week for the first time since July 6th or so. Yes, it was ugly and brown for the last several weeks (apparently that's what happens when you don't water it), but at least I didn't have to mow in the sweltering heat!

5. Josh just started Hebrew class for seminary. Last night he was learning the Hebrew alphabet. I took a glance at his notebook, but it was Greek to me! (Ha ha ha ha ha ha!)

Quote of the Day #1

Last night, I was getting Micah into his jammies, and he asked me what was written on his shirt.

"It says, 'Tough Guy.'"

Micah's reply: "No, it says, "Soooooft Guy." He said this while stroking the skin on his legs.

Goofball. :)

Life is Good.

Here we are at the zoo. This was right before a little girl came up and tried to pet Eli....

Sheesh, I'm terrible at updating this. I can't decide what I want this blog to be...should it have well-planned, thought-out posts, or should I just pop on a few times a week and share the latest silly things the boys do? Hmmm.....

Well, today is just going to be a silly update.

I've been thinking lately how nice it is to not have a baby right now. Don't get me wrong, we definitely want more kids, but I'm really enjoying this stage where things are just a little easier. I mean, both kids can generally sleep all night long. They both feed themselves. They both walk places, so I don't absolutely have to have a stroller wherever I go. They can play together, take baths together, help each other with (little) things.

I think the nicest thing right now is that we're at a point in our "training" where the boys generally stay out of the things that they shouldn't be in. Meaning that I can trust them to behave themselves long enough for me to take a shower or whatnot. Granted, we're talking like 10-15 minutes max, and I always make sure they're cared for and occupied with an activity while I'm busy, but it's nice to not have to keep my eyes on them 100% of the time.

And, they're hilarious. Micah says the funniest things. I'll have to start posting a "quote of the day" or something. Like the other day, he had a little cut on his toe, and I told him it was time to help me pick up the puzzles (that Eli and him had dumped all together in the middle of the floor).

He said, "Oh Mama, my toe hurts. I just can't do puzzles when my toe hurts."

So I said, "Should I get you a band-aid to help your toe feel better?"

"Not really. I think I need a snack to help my toe feel better. Maybe some Cheez-Its."

It was snack time, so I got him some Cheez-Its and he ate them. Then he came up to me and said, "Mama, my toe still hurts. Those Cheez-Its didn't work." Ha ha ha ha!

Eli sings the ABC's. It's so cute. Every syllable sounds the same--just kind of an "ah," but he definitely carries the tune! Silly boy, singing before he can really even talk. He does say a few words, though. And he says "Did it!" every time he puts a puzzle piece on the puzzle board. And he is a ladies man. He's not shy about flirting with any teenaged or older girl that he sees. :)

I love my boys. I love being their mom. Life is good.

Go Read This Comic!

My younger brother, Jeff, is a super clever and artistic guy who holds a degree in video game design. For the past year or so, he's been working as a video game tester, and he and his friend, Eric, started this web comic to poke fun at the industry (as well as to showcase their talents).


For those of you who knew Jeff back in the days when we all lived with our parents, you may remember his comic strip, "The Stick Guy," that he used to write (mostly on Sunday mornings when he should have been paying attention in church). Ah, my littlebro has always been creative, only now he has more training and resources to make his comics professional.


So go to this website. The link is to the first comic in the series, but you can click on the arrows at the bottom to read through them all. New ones get added on Mondays and Thursdays.


http://www.thirdpartycomic.com/2011/06/30/1-the-beginning-of-the-end/

Kayla's Married!

June 25th, 2011, Josh's sister Kayla got married. Josh performed the ceremony, I was a bridesmaid, Micah was the ring bearer, and Eli just looked cute. It was a fun-filled week leading up to the wedding, and there were lots of preparations to help with, since the reception was held in Josh's parents' back yard. And Josh's mom did all the food (with lots of help, of course). Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

All ready to get married! Does she look excited?

Of course I have no pictures of the actual ceremony, since I was busy being up on stage and all. Josh rocked the pastoring--he had an awesome message for the couple. This was Micah's second attempt at being a ring bearer. He got to carry a "sparkly box" (as he called it) instead of a pillow. He was pretty un-cooperative for pictures, which didn't surprise me, since he refuses to pose at home, too. But the photographer managed to get a couple of decent ones.

Between pictures and the ceremony, Josh took the boys for a drive so they would take a little nap in the car. It worked great for Eli, but it kind of backfired for Micah since he was out so hard that we had to wake him up to get him ready for the ceremony. So then he was grumpy, and whined and cried right up until I was walking down the aisle. I wasn't sure if he would go when it was his turn, but sure enough, he walked about halfway down the aisle and then ran the rest of the way. Too cute.

Here's a picture of one of the truffles my cousin and I made for the reception.

And here's one of me and my sweetie!There were a few raindrops during the reception, so I gave Micah an umbrella to entertain himself. He just wandered around with it, looking cuter than anything I've ever seen.

Here's Mr. and Mrs. Travis Shepardson!

And one of our attempts at a family picture. None of them had all four of us looking at the camera! Oh well, the joys of toddlers!

Well, I now have all of the brothers-in-law that I will ever have. And Josh's side of the family is all married off. I just have one brother left to get married, and then we'll be all out of weddings until the next generation. Man, we're getting so old!

Congrats, Kayla and Travis! And Travis, welcome to the craziness that is the Brown family. :)