This is My Forties

Our 2011 was such a rollercoaster of highs and lows.  It started with Josh being gone for a few months, and then a few more, and then a few more.  We started Saturday's Unplugged, which have transformed our family.  Our collection of games has grown exponentially and we spend time "unplugged" every day.  We all LOVE IT!!   Brennan, shortly after learning how to work the doors in the house, took an awful plunge down the marble stairs which lead to a trip to the ER and a lot of crying... from Mommy and Daddy too.  It still haunts me.  How we love our little Brennan.  Our world without him would be so much "less".  His baby jabbers morphed into full sentences, complete with sarcasm and clever jibes at his brothers.  He turned two and lives up to his age on a daily basis haha.  Such a smart boy and a blessing! Tristan played with and said farewell to many friends.  We started a little preschool and he picked up on shapes a...

This Christmas was very much like last Christmas, which is a good thing. We let the kids open their presents from the grandparents on Christmas Eve this year so they would get their own special attention. Everything was a big hit! Thank you again!! Later that night we made cookies for Santa. Any baking in this house is a fun time, and we bake every weekend. It can get a little CRAZY! No, not really... but it is fun! :)     Christmas day we had our friend Rudy over and we just hung out and relaxed, watched football, ate. The weather has been decent so the kids played outside with their new toys for a few hours. They got half outside toys, half inside toys (because we're all stinkin' geniuses). It was fun and relaxing, just what we wanted! Josh made his first ducken (duck stuffed with a chicken) and it was delicious. We all got what we wanted.     We've been enjoying our time together while Josh is off work... at home, chilling out and cooking...

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As luck would have it, everyone was better just in time for Josh's work holiday party!  I threw together some mashed potatoes (never show up empty-handed to a potluck, especially with 5 people).  As soon as we got there Tristan ran over to the face painters and had her paint him up like Spiderman.  He was an immediate hit.  There were little spidermen and one spiderwoman running around all over that party.  Tristan's such a trend setter.  Christopher was all creative and asked to be the bad Spiderman.       Brennan spent his time coloring in the lines with an intense amount of concentration.  I was so proud.  He loves to color!  He did a fabulous job.  He also ate about 3 candy canes and a big plate of food.  HOORAY!!!     Noah was busy playing outside with his "big kid friends" the entire time.  The sun was out all day and it was so nice to get them fresh air again!  We let the kids all ...

Noah's big Christmas concert was yesterday.  He was still feeling a tad under the weather, but he cried when I suggested he not go to school and pleaded "Mommy my stomach is fine, it's perfect!".  He also said his farts were so hot they actually like melted his poop.  If you really think about it, that's pretty awesome that a 7yr old still had no idea what diarrhea was!  He's not sick very often to be sure.  Anyway, back to the concert!  It was adorable as per usual.  Noah was definitely the most entertaining 2nd grader up there.  By entertaining I mean misbehaving , of course, but the crazy ones make the concerts that much better to watch. He did a lot of teasing.  He was surrounded by girls, probably to try and keep him chilled out.  Girls are always quick to step up and be a mom to anyone nearby ;)  Well, it almost worked.  Noah did a few pretty amazing poses.  Apparently he learned this "goat head rocker" o...

The boys have been playing exceptionally well together lately.  Not only that, but they agree to get pictures taken!!  Their dirt-smudged little boy faces melt my heart :)  What to print, what to print. And I just had to share this little moment I caught between Bosley and Brennan.  Bren was laying there with Bos for a good 5 minutes, talking to him about his slugs.  And yes he is still in his pajamas.

Our friends will be moving soon (does this story sound familiar?) so we went to Aranjuez again for a "last hurrah" and some great photo ops.  I won't be sharing their photo shoot until after Christmas so they can surprise people with the cards. First stop was coffee.  Oh sweet nectar of life.  The boys had a plate of chips to keep them busy while we slowly slipped our delicious brew.  They didn't last very long. After that we walked around the city and the parks for a couple hours and the boys went completely nuts.   We'd all been to Aranjuez before , but only had time to see the huge garden.  Well this time we saw the palaces and fountains!  I'm glad they got to see it before they go back to the States. Everyone got ridiculously hungry and, luckily for us, it was a Spanish holiday so the restaurants were still open after 4pm.  As we were eating our early dinner a thick fog rolled in around us.  It was like a snow day or s...