Hello Mini Kevin!!!!!

Kevin says he is not on his Blackberry very much. Hmmmmm, what do you think?
I really do not like his Blackberry. As a matter of fact I HA_ _ it (remember we do not use the h word in our house.) I would like to flush it, smash it, throw it. It beeps, buzzes and will walk across the wood floor by itself if left unattended and do not even get me started on the alarm on that thing!!! It gets set, forgotten, and it seems it is only set for a females ears to hear. Oh yes, I do not like it one bit. Its name to me is Worstthingevercreatedonearthberry!

40 Bags/40 Days

I am deep into the 40 bags in 40 days challenge, so do not be upset if I ignore you for a little while, say-for 40 days. There are so many versions of this floating all over the web. The great thing is you can use the idea and make it work for you. The basic idea. Clear out 40 bags of junk- 1 bag for each day of Lent. I started by writing down all of the areas I needed to go through. When I get to the spot I make sure I go through everything and make very quick decisions. I tally the bags I take from the room. Garbage items, garage sale items, and goodwill. When I am completely done in the area, which means cleaning walls, baseboards doors, EVERYTHING! I put an x though it. I dare you to do this and by Easter morning you will be living a life with less stuff and have more time for what really matters!!!!!
I will tell you, this all started for me when I had a nightmare. Our boys were married and at our house with their new wives. As they were getting ready to leave, I asked the wives to go to the basement and get the 25 neatly labeled storage bins of their now husbands STUFF. I woke up in a sweat after both of their wives said, "We do not have room for THAT." Point- I was saving way too much. The first thing I purged was the STUFF from school. Ben and Gabe NOW each have one crate with a folder for every year of school. Now when they leave home, they can take their 1 crate not 25 boxes. I had no problem throwing away several bags of STUFF- I actually had great joy while throwing away anything that contained glitter. My boys were not involved in this process, because to them everything is special. I know logically what will matter to them in 20 years-

Darn!!!!

Just when I think I can take no more DOG- Bruiser goes and gets all CUTE on me. These pictures were taken in a single day. He looks like such a calm dog. Calm, but still naughty!The pictures are my evidence! He is not allowed in the boys' rooms unattended and you see, although he clearly misses Ben and found his bed to sleep in- he is not supposed to be there in the first place. But he looked so cute, I had to take a picture, and I will admit I took literally the saying, "Let sleeping dogs lie" and there he stayed for 2 hours But what you DO NOT see here is when he is running rabid biting holes in my jeans, chewing shoes, and chasing the vacuum like a mad dog. This is because clearly I am not trying to take his picture during these times, actually I can't because Bruiser's trainer said when he gets wild, walk into the other room in a calm and orderly manner and if you can, shut the door. I am not sure if me screaming," RUN!", Ben screaming, "He has Gabe!" and Gabe shrieking, "I can't get away, he's rabid!" counts as orderly but were working on it! We do manage to get the door shut and it does work- when we walk back out Bruiser is calm. So my point is: The honeymoon is over, he is no longer cute little puppy. He is big naughty dog- so Bruiser and I- we're working on it... you know- our relationship...as long as he keeps on being just a little cute, I am OK with that- For now...

Braces

Skittle Day

Ben got his braces off today!!! It was a very exciting day, because after 10 months of being Skittle and Doritos (did anyone else know these are off limits while wearing braces?) free he indulged today. The braces came off without a problem, unless you call smoke coming from the mouth a problem. The difficult part was making the mold for the retainers. It did not help that the hygienist compared the consistency to peanut butter and Ben gagged right there in the chair. I actually thought he was going to throw up. Ben was a trooper. The minute he got in the van, he was greeted with a Skittles fest. He ate a whole bag on the way back to school. I turned around and smiled at one point and said, "How cool is it you do not have braces anymore?" Ben replied, "Cool, but it is better I am eating Skittles at 9:44 in the morning."
We then had walking Tacos for dinner and to end the all day celebration- Popcorn and more Skittles!!! The temporary retainers, well, that's a whole different post.

TEAM

I






Ben wrestled in his last tournament of the season. As much as I would like to say I LOVE to watch sports of any kind, I really don't. Of course I love to see my kids have fun, succeed, and be a part of a team, I am just never going to be the screaming, rabid, mom I witness at sporting events. What I do like is the coaches who can get my child "pumped up" whether by words or pounding on a wrestling mat- I see it- although most of the time testosterone is putting me in a haze at this particular meet, the coach had the kids so pumped up and excited I wanted to pound the mat and "run the circle" and we all know ANYONE who can make me even THINK about running is a good motivator!
So- I will continue to sit. Continue to support. Continue to watch my kids learn and become part of a team. I will do it with a smile on my face and not rabid drool dripping from my mouth and I will LOVE it!

Gabe's Perch

Gabe's favorite place in the morning.... the perch. He loves to snuggle up on these two ottomans and watch a show before school. He is soooooo cute because he fits perfectly!