New Favorite

As I was tutoring a student commented how sad my hands looked and said she had the greatest lotion. She brought me some the next time and I couldn't believe how fast my hands changed from sandpaper to smooth! I'm completely sold. The only bad thing is it says it is fragrance free but I don't like the smell of it. I just use a little smelly lotion too and then it's perfect!

Heaven

Tonight during our bedtime routine I was singing a primary song to Kade when he asked, "What is kingdom?" I finished the song, "The kingdom of Heaven." He replied, "I can't wait to go to Heaven." Me, "Someday." Kade, "But it's taking a LONG time." It was so cute how sweet he was about it.

Easterin'

Saturday was the annual Brown's Easterin' Reunion near Notom, UT. At times it was the coldest year I can ever recall but we all still had a good time. It was fun to watch Kade be like one of the 'grown-up' kids. He headed up and down the huge clay hills by himself-- scared me a little but I think it's just because I don't want to think he's getting bigger.
The boys were so excited for the awesome egg hunt that the Grandparents do ever year, mainly to find eggs filled with candy. (Side note: Ever since I got out the Easter decorations the boys have checked the eggs every morning hoping to find candy in them. Clint would quickly pop an egg open and then with much disappointment would say, "Nope. Not any.")
Rolling/throwing the eggs down the hill was funny too. We tried to get Kade to throw one egg at a time and watch what happened to the egg as it went down the hill before he threw another but oh no. He preferred the double shot method. He loaded both hands and chucked them as hard as he could, then he quickly reloaded and threw again. Needless to say his dozen eggs were gone in a flash.
Clint had a blast sliding down the hill on his bottom. He could have done it all day; he asked continuously.

Pudding Paint!

I got this idea from a friend of mine a long time ago and today was the perfect day for the activity. (Thanks Ashlee!) I say perfect but I really do question my intelligence sometimes; I just mopped the floor yesterday and now it needs it again. Grrrrrrr.
The boys thought this was fabulous! At first Kade thought it was a chance to eat with their hands so he started scooping it up with his fingers. (Hence the pudding on the tip of his nose.) After a little modeling of correct finger painting techniques he was a master. Neither of my boys like to have messy hands, if it is dirt they're totally fine-- food is another issue. They got over that and had fun; Clint did leave one hand out of the mess. He kept holding it out to make sure it stayed clean-- funny.

Our New Window!

Do you like our new window? I had it installed today. The installers were so amazing-- in fact they did it in milliseconds! If you like their work I'd definitely recommend them, but they were so quick I didn't get their card. . .
Seriously, I was cleaning my microwave and listening to conference this morning when I heard a loud POP! followed by crackling. I admit I immediately looked at the boys to see what they'd done. They were in Clint's room and they too looked puzzled by the noise. I then looked at our french doors only to discover one of the windows completely shattered.
There is no BB hole (that was my first thought), the heater wasn't running so it couldn't be that hot air was blowing on it, there were no toys any where near the door, and the boys were playing with their blankets so how did it happen? Kade keeps saying, "Maybe you did it Mom." I think he just wants to make sure he's not the one that is going to be in trouble. So this is my lovely view out the window.

Captain Veggie!

At story time today they talked about the letter V for vegetables. Miss Sally called in Captain Veggie to help "rid the world of junk food." She had a few adults acting like they were drinking soda, and eating chips and candy. She left to go 'find' Captain Veggie and returned as Captain veggie in her bright red tights, cape, bunny mask, celery stick, and bag of mini carrots. She shared the carrots and took away the junk food. It was so cute and funny. Then for the craft the kids made their own capes out of trash bags and colored a V badge for their chest. The boys just wanted to get to the dressed up part so we didn't get their badges on. Here are a couple pictures of the boys and Abby. They stood on the air vent and it made their capes fly up. It was hilarious. Abby and Kade kept referring to each other as Captain Abby and Captain Kade. Such a cute day.

On the Go!

We've been on the run lately. We spent 5 days in Sevier County playing with Grandmas and Grandpas. Darryl was in Chicago so we decided to take a break from reality and go hang out there. We still ran around there going to my future sister-in-laws bridal shower, getting my hair done(which it was in desperate need of-- it hasn't seen scissors since Feb. 8th 2008!) , and playing with grandparents. Then it was a rushed trip back to Heber to unload the car and then head to the college to work. Darryl got home the next day; He surprised me and caught an early flight--Yea! Then I packed up the boys and headed to my sisters for a few days. I took a relicensing course for my teaching certificate for a couple days at the U of U so my sis. watched my boys for me (Thanks a TON Lisa!!!). The class was so great! It was how to incorporate using a GPS in your classroom. If you've never been geocaching you've got to try it. It is one treasure hunt after another. So, so fun! It's nice to be home again but now I'm just trying to catch up on life.

Free Tubing = Creative Fun

We went tubing for YW the other night and the boys got to tag along. Clint was having fun for a while and then he decided he was hungry, tired, and cold so he decided to be sad instead. Kade was a different story. He was so excited and going strong the whole time. He really wanted to go down the big hills but I wasn't about to spend $38 for him and I to tube for 1 hour. He just played with a little tube on the hills at the bottom. He was such a nice brother and gave Clint a ride. Then I showed him how to run and jump on the tube and 'fly' down the hill. He was so cute as he would push his little tube getting a running start he would say, "Run, run, run, belly!" jump and land on his belly on the tube and ride to the bottom. Then he would grab the string and march up the hill and do it again. He's getting to be such a big boy.

Really?

This is definitely a personal post but since this is our family journal I wanted to document what is going on with our lives. I've had this pain in my abdomen for about a year; it comes and goes so I didn't think much of it. Well I finally went to the doctor to figure out what this pain was and the visit kind of turned our day upside down(in a good way).
* * *
HISTORY:
When I had Clint during the C-section my doctor was so shocked at how thin my uterus was. He told us that if we weren't positive we needed to have more kids then we really probably shouldn't. Even at that he said we could probably only have 1 more if we insisted on more kids. He said if it were his wife he would say they were done, so we took that as strong advice that we should probably be grateful for the 2 great kids we have and be done. We somewhat reluctantly accepted our fate and have dabbled with thoughts of adoption.
* * *
So back to the doctors visit today. Turns out he thinks the pain is endometriosis (as a result from the C-section). To take care of it they do a minor surgery and remove it. The doctor says, "So if you're going to be having another baby soon then we'll just take care of it when we do your C-section." My doc. doesn't remember patient history very well so I remind him of the what happened during my last C-section and what was said afterward. He then said, "Well I wouldn't let that stop you if you really want to have another child. We'll just watch you very closely and if you have any type of contraction you'll just need to get to a hospital immediately." What????? So did he just say what I think he said? Before he was pretty freaked out and had said, "It's not a good idea to have anoter baby, and I don't say that to too many people because I don't feel like it's my place to decide how many children a woman has." Now he's saying we shouldn't let it stop us. He said the risk is great but the chance isn't super high. Hmmmm. I think Darryl was so excited given his comment when I went to pick up the boys at his work. But he insisted I make the decision. I told him I won't be the only one deciding this because then if I choose to have the baby I won't be able to say to him, "You wanted to have this baby so you have to take care of it too." :) In the end I think we'll try to have another child. I have such a hard time accepting the thoughts of never being pregnant again, and holding my newborn again. Another hard thought to swallow is to know that my boys will be out of our home and we would be empty-nesters in 15 years. With them so close in age it will be like all are kids are suddenly gone. I know that a third child would probably really push me over the stress-level edge, but part of me feels like it is just one of those things that you'll adjust to as you just take it one day at a time.

Sleepover!

Sleepover!

Kade has been waiting (impatiently) for the day he could have a sleepover with his cousin McKylee. Not only did Kylee sleepover but Grandma and Grandpa came too! It was a fun weekend with them visiting. The two little lovebirds were so cute at night they would spend 15 minutes telling each other "Good night," "Sweet dreams," "I miss you," "You're my best-friend," etc. They're pretty cute with each other. Throughout the weekend Kylee would put her arm around Kade and kiss him on the cheek, to which Kade would quickly wipe his cheek and say, "You're going to give me germs." They didn't complain though when she wanted to paint their finger nails and toe nails with glitter polish. Silly kids.