Happy Birthday Mr. Crabby and Merry Christmas too!

Nathan is finally 8yrs old. Wow that took forever...according to him. He spent his birthday playing video games and eating pizza. He loves going to the arcade with his dad and uncle's. He's just one of the guys with them, not a kid but an equal. He loves that so much.
He was also Mr.Crabby in the school play. I was so proud of my little thespian. He's a total ham so this acting stuff is right up his alley. He got to stomp around the stage, shake his cane and look crabby (hence the name Mr.Crabby). He did really well, no stage fright, no jitters, just having fun and eating up the spot light.

We also got to go see Santa at the mall before Christmas came. While we were standing in line I took a couple of silly pictures of the boys. The one below is Brandons favorite of himself. You can almost see his horns poking through the hair. But once he got on Santa Claus' lap he was a pure angle. Speaking in a soft sweet voice asking for his dancing Mickey Mouse. Santa asked the boys if they had been good all year long and they both looked at me like "oh crap, what do we say now?" Santa laughed and said he'd be watching.

So Santa came, ate all his cookies, drank all his milk and left some toys and candy for the boys. Samson even got an extra treat on Christmas morning. I think he looks like Rudolph's long lost cousin. He leaves messes in the back yard like he's part moose though.

Lunch with Bubba

Today Brandon and I got to have lunch with Nathan at school. Brandon was so excited to pack his Thomas the Train lunch box just like bubba does everyday. All morning this is what I heard from Brandon..."is it time to go eat lunches with Bubba?"
We got to school early and signed in at the office. We walked hand in hand to Nathans classroom. The hall was quiet except for Brandons ohh's and ahh's at all the art work hanging on the walls. Then Nathans teacher let us in the room to stand next to Nathan as they got ready for lunch. Nathan and Brandon hugged like they hadn't seen each other for days instead of just hours and Nathan let Brandon sit in his chair. I wish I would have thought about taking a picture then because Brandon looked like he had just won the lottery. His eyes were just as big as his smile as he sat there looking through Nathans art box. "Bubba! You have big boy scissors!"
Once we got to the lunch room the boys tore into their lunch as Nathan told Brandon the rules of the lunch room. Then Nathan took us on a tour of his classroom. He showed us all his books, the golf balls in a jar that they get when everyone is good (he said they haven't added to the jar for awhile!) and the computers. And since it's so cold outside they don't get to have outdoor recess today but they get to watch Frosty the Snowman.
I know one of these days he isn't going to want his little brother and mommy to come to school to have lunch with him. But today he did. And today Brandon and I enjoyed every single minute.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hello out there!

I don't know where the time went. One minute it's the beginning of October and now it's the middle of November. I guess time does fly when you're having fun.
The boys have been keeping us on our toes these past few weeks. We've went to a farm and picked out pumpkins, spent loads of time outside, dressed up for Halloween (Nathan was a ninja and Brandon was Woody from Toy Story). Nathan has been doing really well in school except for when his mouth gets him in trouble. He just loves to talk! He's getting ready for the school Christmas program so our house has been filled with Christmas songs. Lots and lots of Christmas songs. Sang over and over again. All day long. It's a test of my patience I'm sure.
Brandon has been doing well too. He saw a ghost in our house a couple of weeks ago. That week sucked! But I think she has moved on. Which is good because I was ready to move out.
Now we are getting ready for Thanksgiving. I've taken this entire week off to clean, bake, clean and bake. And Uncle Rick will be home within the next day or two. The boys couldn't be more excited. Pumpkin pie and Uncle Rick, all in the same week, awesome!

Seeing Red

Look at that handsome monkey in my tree. His hair matches the leaves.

I'm so brave

Q: What happens when a three year old dancing and spinning along with Barney trips and falls?
A: He hits his head on the corner of the coffee table and freaks his parents out.

Holy cow a cut on the head bleeds sooooo much. I've been told this before but never really had the pleasure of experiencing this first hand. Until now.
Wednesday on my day off, before Brian went to work and after dropping Nathan off at school, Brandon decided to watch Barney. I seriously don't like that cartoon. That big purple dinosaur is extremely annoying. Anyway...Brandon started dancing and spinning, spinning and dancing. I get half of my warning out when it happens. "Brandon stop spinning or you're going...."
BAM!
@#*#! (I said that not Brandon, by the way)
Blood was everywhere. Brandon started to cry, I scooped him up and Brian met us in the bathroom. After we got the bleeding stopped, I called his dr and off we went.
His dr is amazing and Brandon is quite smitten with her. Bonus!
She looked at his boo-boo, tells him she can glue him back together and off they went holding hands to pick out stickers. Dr. M told Brandon how brave he was and what a good boy he was for not crying. He told her "I know. I'm always brave."
After we were done at the dr's office, Brian took Brandon to McD's and got him a happy meal for being so brave.
And all was right with the world again. Just a little bumpy.

Since you won't let me outside...

...you're gonna have to clean the windows. Again.