Don't Break it, OK?

So, Crew has this new saying, that he says all the time, no matter what it is that Drake picks up. It's

"DON'T BREAK IT, OK DRAKEY?"

No matter what Drake picks up, mostly if it's Crew's, but sometimes just about everything. It could be a blanket, a stuffed animal, a shirt, a pair of shoes, things that you really can't BREAK! It's really funny sometimes, and really irritating other times. Because he keeps saying it until he gets an answer that says it won't get broken! I don't think there's really been an issue with Drake breaking things. So I'm not sure why it started. Maybe it's from watching too much Toy Story. When toys get broken, they get thrown out. It's silly, but it makes us laugh, so I wanted to share it!

Valentines

For Valentines Day this year, which was also on Monday, we had a ton of fun for Family Home Evening. I had some strawberries for breakfast. My mother always made us waffles with vanilla ice cream and strawberries on top for Valentines breakfast, and it is one of my favorite memories. So I have done that for Rett since we got married, and we're still doing it. Love the fact that I can have ice cream for breakfast and not feel guilty :) The rest of the strawberries I was going to save for Rett and I an dip them in chocolate. But, I'm a softy for doing things that will make my boys happy, so I decided we'd do it together for family home evening and they could enjoy some too. We dipped a ton of strawberries and ate almost all of them ourselves. BUT, we did save a few and put them on a plate to take to a neighbors house. We have an older couple down the road and decided they could use a little surprise valentines. So, we cut out a bunch of hearts, got a plate of chocolate covered strawberries, and headed down the road to leave them at their front door. We told the boys they had to be super quiet so we didn't let them know we were there. We took the stuff up, and Rett got the boys loaded back in the car, and I rang the door bell and ran and we took off in the car. The boys were a little confused about why we'd do something without letting them know who it was, but I think they had a lot of fun and learned about giving to others. Some of my favorite memories are from times when we've secretly left notes or gifts for people. It brightens my life. And I hope we can continue to teach our children how much it means to show others love during all times of the year.


Here are Crew and Drake with the strawberries and hearts ready to go. Yes, I know, the strawberries almost got dropped. It's hard for kids to figure out how to hold things and pose for pictures at the same time!


Crew did a great job of sneaking up and taping his hearts to the door very quietly!


Drake needed a little help from Dad, but managed to not get caught!

Home Pics

I have some requests for pictures of the inside of my home. I don't know what there really is besides the great room to see. So, I'm just posting some of those along with the mud room. The boys room is all that is worth seeing in the rest of the home and I've already posted those. I seriously love my kitchen. I have so much cupboard space and tons of counter space. It's so fun to be able to enjoy where I get to spend so much time. We love our bar. In fact, we rarely eat at the dinner table. But that's ok. It's perfect size for our little family. I also love having one big great room. It's so nice to be able to see what my kids are up to while I'm working in the kitchen. Another thing I love is our mud room. I will never own another home without a mud room! When you walk in from our garage, you walk into the mud room. On one side of the mud room is a half bath and the other side is the laundry room. I love that when Rett has muddy boots, the mud stays there. We also had a nice bench with shelves put in so there's a place for you to sit to put your shoes on and lot's of space for gloves, hats, and coats. I also love having my laundry room on the same floor as my main living space and bedrooms. I used to have to haul my laundry up and down the stairs and LOVE not having to do that anymore. So here ya go, a few pics of the inside of my home. I'm sure you won't enjoy looking at them nearly as much as I enjoy living in them! I'm so blessed to have a hunny that works hard so I can enjoy my home.


Since some of these pictures were taken, I've done some more decorating, but still have more I could do. If only I had all the money I wanted, right :) And the mud room is kind of messy, but I guess that's ok since no one ever sees it. Although, maybe that's why I should have done a better job at cleaning it up since I took this picture just for my blog, which lot's of people see. Oh well, now you all know where I hide my clutter!

I Get to Return a Box of Diapers!!!

Drake woke up one day and told me he wanted to go potty on the toilet. Then he said he wanted to wear undies. And it's been a week and no accidents since that day! WHAT?? How lucky am I? I remember how awful it was with Crew. It seemed like I was setting the timer for days on end and asking him to go every 10 minutes and he still had tons of accidents. I remember he would get so sick of me asking him, that he'd yell at me and got really defiant about the whole thing. I remember wanting to pay someone to do it for me. So, it's been quite the opposite experience with Drake. I'm sure part of it is his big brother. They like to have Crew sit on the big toilet and Drake sit on the little toilet and go at the same time. It's silly, but it helps. I have tried a couple times with Drake, but just kind of lazily to see how close to being ready he was. No major pressure. But I had decided he wasn't ready, so didn't really worry about it. Then, a couple of weeks ago, diapers were on coupon at Costco, and I decided I should buy a box while they were a little better deal, and VIOLA! No need for them! And luckily we didn't even open them yet! YAY, YAY! That's a huge raise to get a kiddo out of diapers. And I'm so excited that it was so easy! What a smart little guy I have! We are so proud of Drake for being such a big boy!




I was trying to get him to do a thumbs up with the undies picture. (Thanks Grandma Teresa for the sweet Diego undies! He loves them!) But the thumb doesn't really work like that yet. I did get a cute smile though. And I tried to get him to do a thumbs down with a yucky face with the diaper, but again, not exactly as I had imagined, but still, a cute couple of pictures to show that we are DONE with DIAPERS!

And we can't forget the silly things he does. 2 pairs are better than one! Apparently! One under the pants, and one over the pants. Oh, and most of the character undies have the characters on the back, the bumb. The problem is that little boys want to SEE what's on their undies. SO, usually they are on backwards. And here is no exception. I'm not sure how comfy it is, but the sacrifice must be worth it, because here he has 2 pair on backwards!

What Brothers are For!

We decided we were sick of Crew and Drake's boring black names on the wall. So we took some left over material from their blankets we made, and we put it on the letters. Crew LOVED painting the glue on the letters! We let Drakey do his "D", and Crew did the rest of them! It was a fun little craft for Crew and he's been begging me for another project ever since. We think they turned out pretty cute, especially for a no cost project!





Speaking of Crew and Drake, this is a story I just HAVE to tell!
In an effort to try to get to know some more people around here, as well as to get a change of pace from working out by myself and my videos, I have started attending a workout group at the church. They meet three days a week and they are pretty good workouts. Some days we do weight training, some days zumba, some days step, and other times a combination of different things. Anyway, there are a few ladies who come with kids, and we just let them run around and play in the gym while we are exercising. Friday there were only my boys and one other little boy right between the boys in age. They have had no real problems up until this day! Jake, the other boy, was playing on some metal pole stand things. Crew started over, and I can't be 100% sure, but I really think he was just going to check it out. Anyway, Jake didn't like whatever Crew did and he bit Crew really hard on the arm. Crew was hysterical about the whole thing. As soon as Drake heard Crew was crying he started running, full speed ahead at Jake. I'm not sure exactly what was going through his head, but I'm pretty sure if I hadn't stopped him, Jake would have been flattened from a football tackle and who knows what else! All I heard was Drake yelling in a really mean voice. I picked up on a few of the words "Kangaroo", "my brother", "don't hurt", and "stop" were the words I heard him say. I had completely ignored Crew and his crying and had to run for Drake. I'm so glad I got to him before Drake got to Jake. And of course Jake's mom felt terrible. I told her not to feel bad, that Crew was just being dramatic and would be fine. I was laughing, even though I knew I shouldn't have, but it was the funniest thing to see how mad Drake was at this poor little boy. Part of me was worried about his anger and retaliation, and on the other hand, I was glad he wanted to protect his big brother. I only wish I had a video camera and caught the look on Drakes face, him running full speed, and him yelling in his deep voice. It was priceless! Someone said to me once that having boys close together is nice because they can beat each other up, but won't ever let someone else beat on them. It really is true!