Brock is adventurous.

I'm kind of a wimp. Steve is not. I am glad that Brock may start out nervous or intimidated about new things but then with just a little encouragement he will break through it and try something new.

My sister-in-law is visiting this weekend and yesterday we went to Seaport Village. We rode the trolley in and then walked around the shops, paid $20 for 5 scoops of ice cream and then we did this:

A man in the park has about 6 parrots that he places on people's heads, arms and shoulders. He just asks for donations. This was Brock's first parrot and then he kept asking for more.
He's a brave guy.


Here's my niece Allison trying it out too!


And now it's Auntie Darlene's turn.

This will probably be the death of me....

Remember how Wesley cleared out his room on Christmas Eve? Well, these Legos are
the last the items I need to deal with.

My guess is that there are approx. 5000 pieces and I need to sort them all. The reason I am even attempting to sort them is that one large bucket of Legos overwhelms us all. Brock can't be creative, Lynzy just ignores them and when I get asked, "what is this?", I have no clue. So 5 craft boxes later, I am still organizing the Legos. It might be completed before they graduate high school. (Brock & Lynz..not Wesley)

She calls him Brocky

and other names for our kids:

Brock: Brockalicious, Brock the Rock, Brocky Balboa, Bubba, Boo-Boo, Brocky
Lynzy: Lynz, Tink, Tinky-Dink, Lynzy-girl, Baby girl, baby
Wesley: Wes, Weselina, Dude, Mohawkin Knitter, Grimble Grinder

Fuzzy Family Factoid

We play musical beds. Sometimes, we all end up sleeping in our king bed. Sometimes, it's just me and Brock in the bed, Lynzy in her crib. Sometimes, Brock & Steve sleep in Brock's bottom double bed. The reason I am imparting this information isn't because it doesn't work for us or anything but because without doing musical beds I wouldn't know this fact...my kids laugh in their sleep. Alot. There are much more happy noises coming from my kids rather than scary/upset noises during their sleep. And if we didn't have the musical bed thing going on, Steve and I wouldn't know that. :)

Hero Worship

Two stories, same day..4 year old boy brains are so funny!

We went to the bank and Brock and Lynzy were playing in the little sitting area with the bank's toys (lincoln logs, legos etc.) while I was about 10 feet away at the teller window. I can see the kids from where I am and constantly are checking on them. At one point a man came into the bank dressed in all black with a large hat on. He decided to sit in the chairs near Brock & Lynzy and I hear Brock clear as day say, "Look Lynzy, a cowboy!"

After the bank we headed to Rubio's for lunch. As we are waiting for our lunch, Brock is staring out the window intently. "Mommy, there are police officers out there." I see them too Brock. Then we got our food and started eating. About 10 minutes later, 6 sheriffs walk into Rubio's for lunch. Brock was beside himself. "Mommy, the police officers are in Rubio's" "What are they doing?" "A police officer smiled at me." "Look mom, they are eating." "They can't arrest anyone right now." He stared at them for the remainder of our lunch and was awestruck.

Steve's new hat

Wes knitted Steve a beanie for Christmas. Steve wore it to the hardware store yesterday. Not sure why Wes used the colors he did but Steve wore it nonetheless. Wes said he was embarrassed by his dad, especially when Steve put in his Billy Bob fake teeth. (must be a guy thing)

It was driving me crazy

I might have issues. I hate a cluttered house. And during Christmas time it is extremely cluttered. Not only has our house shrunk this year (remember we went from 5 bedrooms to 3?) but then you add Christmas decorations to it and I have probably had 3-4 panic attacks about my messy house. I can't stand it when the other 4 members of this family just dump their stuff anywhere they want. There is a place for everything..pretty much.

Anyway, Christmas day literally pushed me over the edge. And here's why. Wes decided to clean out his room on Christmas Eve and give Brock his toys/books/etc. that he has outgrown. And fair enough, we had been keeping things there just because it was easier. Then Christmas morning came. A ton of presents now had to be put away. And here is how the house looked:

I can't even look at this picture without my heart racing. That is HORRIBLE!! So, 6 hours or more later, all three kids' rooms have their new presents organized, old toys in trash bags for donation and items to be used later are headed to the storage sheds in the backyard. I did not sit down until 8:00 pm on Christmas Day. But my house is as close to clutter free as I can get it before the Christmas decorations come down. I know, I have issues.