a new tradition begins

grandma and grandpa smith sent us a little pre-christmas present. the elf on the shelf. so a new tradition begins in our house and so far so good. we named our little elf kerby. he moves everyday to an undisclosed location. you see, he reports back to santa every night the boys behavior. every morning we wake to do a new scavenger hunt for the little elf for he does not like to return to the same spot from where he left. brady is very aware of kerby's watchful eye. what a great tradition for years to come. we will love having kerby return to our house every season from the north pole to help santa know whether to bring the boys what is on their wish list or if they deserve a stocking of coal.

thankful

(photo courtesy of surya cox)

this time of year reminds us to take a look at all the blessings in our lives. i have so many blessings such as a wonderful family, and great friends. i am living the life i always dreamed of as a kid. mostly tonight i am thankful for all the men in my immediate life. how truly blessed i am to have them grace me with their love every day.

farewell little martian

his miles many, his scratches and scrapes show his favoritism over many toys, his lights no longer burn even with a fresh set of batteries and his songs are burned into our mind. he was brought to daddy today asking to be fixed. not quite sure what happened here. daddy can fix almost anything but this i fear. rest in peace our martian friend. we miss you already.

wow! big equipment outside our window

whoa - yes today we saw a jack hammer, a (small version of a road cutter.) and some more mud jacking on our block. i fear our house is next. the houses on both sides of us have needed some form of mud jacking. i was surprised to find out how relatively in-expensive it is for all it accomplishes. this morning we heard the dat dat dat dat of the jack hammer and then spent the next 45 minutes staring out our dining room window at the workers in our neighbors yard. they waved a few times at us. i am sure we were giving them quite the complex. i explained mud jacking to brady and how it raised the concrete up, up, up. he then repeated my sentence saying, "mommy they raise the concrete up up up to the milky way!." some of you may not understand that and others of you will. it is from one of our favorite books In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak. Anyway we had a lovely day at home. mommy catching up on all that was not being done at our house and there was a lot apparently. brian got up at 1 am to put socks and underwear in the washer for work the next day. so we did laundry, played and walked the dog. i still did a little real estate work too. i feel much better going to bed tonight knowing all have clean clothes to wear tomorrow. they may have to come downstairs to get them off of my folding table (the formal dining room table), but they are clean.

working mama

i have been working a lot lately, hence the lack in blog posts and recent pictures of my kids. not complaining by any means, just thankful to have the business that so many other Realtors would love. you know i have been working a lot lately because brady says everyday, "mommy you take shower and go to work." sad that my kid thinks that is the only time i clean up. maybe a little true. why shower everyday when all you are going to see is your two boys and maybe a few moms at the park? anyway i promise to write more soon and bear with me people. i am trying hard to balance it all, but something has to give right now and my little blog, i fear it is you.

safe play

i finally found a way the boys can play together without someone getting hurt. (that someone being logey roo.) brady is not able to push him to the ground through the screen. there was a lot of laughing today and a whole lot less crying through the back door screen at the smith house. music to a mama's ears.

a little snow makin' at the smith house

so this weekend i journeyed off to my first holiday craft show of the season. i came across some unique stuff that i thought the boys would absolutely love. it is man made snow! non-toxic! i have never been so relaxed running my hands through this stuff. it feels cold all the time because it is constantly in a state of evaporation. we put a little on a cookie sheet and had a lot of fun driving our snow plows, tractors and police cars through it. hours of enjoyment. brady has asked to play with the snow three times now...... it has been a wonderful product to expose brady to different textures and feelings. the best thing about this stuff is you can let it dry up and re use it over and over again.

negotiations of a 2 year old

so here is where things that we do start to back fire on us, or make us laugh....

the face of this little angel says the darndest things sometimes.

here is our conversation today while playing outside.

brady: mommy weed whacker is broken.

mommy: brady it just needs water bring it here and i will fix it for you.

brady: here's the deal mommy you put water in weed whacker and i will give you a candy corn. okay?

mommy had no more to say but laugh hysterically. i gladly filled the weed whacker and then awaited my prize. a yummy candy corn.

what you get when you have boys

we went to the library today to get new books of course. as we were waiting to check out, i could not help but watch the family in front of me. you see, that mom had two little gorgeous girls with brown curls on top of their heads like i have never seen. they were checking out books about princesses and flowers and fairy tales. i looked in my basket it was full of books about front end loaders, trucks, trains, more books about trucks and trains. i have learned a lot about a world that i probably wouldn't have embarked on had i not had any boys. i still would like to read about princesses who sleep on peas and sleeping beauties in towers.... don't get me wrong though. i would not trade my two handsome monkeys for anything in the entire world.

happy halloween!

we had a great halloween this year. we pumpkin carved with auntie, the master carver. we had lots of friends over for a halloween party at our house. how could i forget the trick or treating? brady did such a good job going to all the doors and saying "trick or treat!" here is to lots of cavities with all of the loot we collected and have left over! oh yeah i taught brady the trick or treat smell my feet song. he did a great job at singing it all day.