Road Trip

Hello! Well, we survived a fairly lengthy trip back to good old Illinois to visit both our families. We've actually been back for over a week now, but it has taken us awhile to get back into the swing of things. We were gone for 8 days (that is counting travel days...we drove), which I think was about 3 days too many for Ben. His mood steadily declined over the last few days of the trip and hadn't improved much since we'd been home.....until today. Today he is at least becoming recognizable as the child I know. I love him with all my heart but the last several days have been very, very rough. Hopefully we've turned a corner and Ben will be back to his old self soon. Although stress-inducing at times, it was soooo nice to be back home. We were able to enjoy the company of family and friends which is always a blessing!

Here are some pics:

I love this picture of Ben and his cousin, Ava....

Ava, My Sis-in-Law Nathalie, Me and Ben....and a deer head:

Ava and Ben celebrating Ava's 5th birthday:

Another pic of us with Nat and Ava:

I love this one of Ben. He looks so grown up!

Another one of the four of us....plus Greg:

Ben with cousin Reagan:

And my personal favorite....Ben swimming at Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds' house. He LOVED it even though the water was freezing (only 78 degrees at one point). His little mouth was chattering like crazy, but he still had a great time.

In other news, we celebrated the one year anniversary of the day Ben's adoption became 100% complete. We bought him a little play kitchen as a gift to celebrate the day. Whenever he goes to the speech pathologist, he always plays with the toy kitchen they have, so I figured he would enjoy one here at home. It was a BIG hit. Poor Greg had to assemble it though. I had no idea it would be in so many tiny pieces. It took him a couple of hours to get it together, but I know Ben appreciates it :-)

It is finally cooler around here today. The weather in Illinois was nice and cool the entire time we were there, so I was hopeful that when we returned to Nebraska, it would be the same way. I was wrong. It has been wretchedly humid and still above normal temps for the past week. Today, however, has been beautiful!! We went to the outdoor mall this morning and it was in the mid-70's!!! I actually wore jeans. It was magical. Although the days have been hot (with the exception of today), the evening temps are starting to back off a little and I can even detect the tiniest hint of fall in the evening air. I love when that starts to happen. The "creeping in" of fall is one of my favorite things about living in the midwest. For me, fall has always stirred up something in me that makes me feel like anything is possible. I know it's weird, but it happens every year. I think it's because this is the time of year that school starts and I was always one of those kids who looked forward to a new school year; a new year of adventures and endless possibilities. I guess this time of year just takes me back there for awhile. It's a nice feeling.

I hope, wherever you are, you're feeling nice too :-)

Brooke

Fridays are for Lists

I read several different blogs a few times a week and it seems like the majority of them do some kind of list on Friday. I enjoy those lists, so I think I'll do my own today. And if you know me at all, you will not be surprised that this list is going to be completely random and probably weird....

1) I miss running outside. I hate that if I attempt an outdoor run these days, I'll either drop dead from heat stroke or just spontaneously combust. Neither sounds pleasant. So I run on the "dreadmill". Blech! I think I'm ready for fall....and it's only early August.

2) Greg claims he saw Adam Levine from Maroon 5 at the golf course last Friday. I kind of believe him because A) One of the other members of the group is from Lincoln and B) Greg is really good at spotting celebrities. All of the celebrity sightings we've had in Vegas have happened because Greg has pointed them out (except for one....I believe it was either me or Mike that spotted Loni Anderson...and she looked exactly the same as she did on WKRP in Cinncinati).

Apparently, Greg and his buddy, Rick, were at the course's snack cart ordering a hot dog when Rick's cell phone started ringing. His ring tone is "You're the Best Around" from The Karate Kid (awesome, by the way) and the alleged Mr. Levine thought it was funny....that is how he caught Greg's attention. And since he and Greg both ordered a hot dog, Greg now likes to refer to the time "when he had a hot dog with Adam Levine from Maroon 5".

3) I'm so stinking ready for my brother to be back from Afghanistan. I miss him. Less than two more months to go....thank God!!

4) The SuperTarget we shop at is right by our church. I took Ben this morning so we could get some grocery shopping done and he started crying when we pulled into the Target parking lot. Apparently, he thought we were going to church (VBS was last week). Hopefully his new found love of church carries through to this weekend when we attempt to go as a family again...fingers crossed.

5) I had jury duty early this week. It was my first time ever serving. DUI case. Some of it was interesting and some of it was mind-numbingly boring. I took some political science classes in college for the fun of it (my major was psychology, but I found poli sci very interesting). At the time, I thought being a trial lawyer would be fun. Let's just say I no longer feel that way after completing jury duty.

6) I recently discovered why I had such a hard time with algebra but such an easy time with geometry in high school. I was reading something (can't remember where or what) that said algebra and geometry require the use of opposite hemispheres of the brain. I did a little more research on it because I am a nerd.....according to Google, algebra is a "left-brained" activity (the left hemisphere of the brain directs the cognitive processes of logic, symbols and language) while geometry is a "right-brained" activity (the right hemisphere deals with creative, spatial and musical processing). I am definitely more of a "right-brained" gal....thus, much better at geometry. Kind of interesting. Or not.

7) I love puppy chow. Not the dog food, but the snack food. I normally don't crave sweets. As far as chocolate or candy or cake or other sweets are concerned....I can take them or leave them. I prefer salt to sweets. Except for the darn puppy chow. I seriously crave the stuff. And if I make it, I'll eat it until I feel sick. I don't get it. Is it because of the presence of the peanut butter?? I adore peanut butter. Greg's brother Mike thinks it's the combination of sweet and a little salty (from the rice chex) that makes it irresistible. I think he may be on to something.

8) I really want to do a marathon. A full one. My original goal was to do this in 2012 but I don't think it's going to happen. It takes an enormous amount of time to train and I don't want to be away from Greg and Ben that much. Maybe when Ben starts pre-school in a couple of years.....

9) My dad bought me a couple of tomato plants while Greg and I were in Vegas and he and my mom were here watching Ben. Can I just say that I am PUMPED about these things!?! I check them every day and so far, there are 2 growing on one plant and 1 on the other. Both of them have several blooms though, so hopefully there will be more coming. I love tomatoes. LOVE them. I would love to have a full blown garden, but our yard is way too small for that. Maybe some day!!

10) I think I'm too wordy for lists.

Have a great weekend!

Brooke

A Hodgepodge, If You Will....

Hello everyone! Long time, no post..... I know. I can't believe it's almost August. As usual, summer is flying by. The past few weeks have basically been spent trying to find things to do that don't involve baking my 2 year old in the stifling heat. We've been going on a 3 mile walk (Ben rides in his stroller) in the early mornings before it gets too hot. Unfortunately, our definition "too hot" has been pushing some serious limits lately. When it's already 88 degrees at 8:00am, it doesn't leave a whole lot of time to do much of anything outside, so we've been spending a lot of time at the children's museum.

Ben and I have also been going to VBS at our church the past couple of nights. I'll admit I was very nervous how it would play out. The last few group activities I have tried with Ben have not gone well, but it appears we have turned a corner! I'm sure it helped that I was volunteering in his room, but Ben had a GREAT time! When we got to the toddler room, he took off and immediately started playing right along with the other kids. And it is all he has been talking about at home. I am beyond thrilled that he is finally getting comfortable in big group settings.

There was only one problem the first night with a little girl who basically "attacked" Ben. I sensed something was going on when I passed by the area where she and Ben were playing and I thought I saw her push him down and then he stood up and said "No, no!!", but I didn't say anything....just figured it was normal toddler stuff. Then a few minutes later, she was ramming his head into the wall. By the time I got over there to break it up, Ben was sobbing and just starting to get his footing when she pushed him HARD into a big pile of toys. I know kids get into little scuffles at this age...and I know it often gets physical (trust me, Ben has his done his fair share of hitting), but this was ridiculous. So, I picked him up and told her "we don't push our friends and we need to keep our hands to ourselves". She redeemed herself last night though when she walked up to Ben and gave him a big hug and a kiss. As soon as she did that, Ben looked at her with this hilarious, confused expression like "Make up your mind, girl!". Toddlers are a fickle bunch, aren't they? :-)

Ben has also been seeing a private speech pathologist lately. The last couple of SP's we consulted were through the public school system and both said they had no concerns with this speech and were sure he would be speaking in phrases "any day now". Well, after waiting several months for this to happen, we finally decided it was time to see a private SP. When she first evaluated him, she said she never had a case like Ben's before. His vocabulary is actually quite large and she was impressed by some of the words he was using. He just isn't putting them together in phrases yet. He will say a few two-word phrases, but not many. And we usually have to prompt him to do it. She said she definitely didn't see it as a long-lasting language delay, but rather a little "bump in the road" he needs help getting over. She is really good with Ben, and he just loves her. He is already making some progress, so hopefully this is what he needs to move forward.

Other than that, not much going on around here. Just trying to beat the heat like everyone else. We had that stellar week of temps right around 100 with the crazy 110-115 degree heat indexes. Now we've been back in the mid-90's (close to normal for this time of year around here) and it looks like we'll stay there for at least another week or so. You know it's been hot when the 90's feel cool. I went on a run outside a couple of nights ago for the first time in a while. It was 93 out and I couldn't believe how nice it felt. Pitiful.

Anyway, here are some pics of what Ben has been doing to keep it cool....

He's trying to drink the water from his sprinkler in the pic above :-)

And one last shot with his potty in the background :-). By the way, potty training has been going really well. We still don't have #2 down, but he goes several days in a row without having any accidents with #1. He'll have the occasional accident, but they are becoming fewer and farther between. Yay, Ben!!!

Have a great rest of the week!!

Brooke

Two Words: Potty. Training.

Greetings from the trenches. Yes, we are in the midst of serious potty training. And all I have to say is Oh. My. Word. We started exactly one week ago and I have never felt so exhausted by the end of the day as I have this past week. I feel like I'm either helping Ben get on the potty, asking him if he needs to go to the potty or cleaning up "potty" at all times. To be fair, he has done really well. He was already familiar with the potty because we've been having him go every morning and evening on it for a few months now. I wanted to wait to start serious training once he turned 2 1/2 though.

He actually had a completely accident-free day just a couple of days ago. But, today.....oh today.....he pooped on the floor. Thank the Lord it was on the wood floor in our kitchen. I'm not even going to try to explain the sequence of events that lead up to this. It would take too long. Let's just hope it never happens again. Because if it does, I may be throwing in the towel on potty training for awhile. The funny thing is, if we're out and about, he is able to hold it and not have an accident (within a reasonable amount of time of course). But if we're at home, I swear he has to go every 10 minutes. Actually, all but one of his accidents have been while we're at home. So, my goal now is to get him fed shortly after he wakes up and then quickly get out of the house!!! Too bad we've had waaaay too many of these lately.....

That is a picture of one SERIOUS thunderstorm we had a few days ago. That is what the sky right above our house looked like at approximately 6:00pm. Not friendly. It has been thunderstorm central around here lately. That definitely puts a damper on getting out of the house. We've had a couple of sunny days in row now though so hopefully we'll get a few more.

Also, I totally meant to do a Father's Day post several days ago, but I didn't get it started fast enough and then there was ALL THE POTTYING to contend with and here we are still with no Father's Day post. So, I thought I'd include some pics of the day. Greg decided he wanted us to take Ben to the zoo on Father's Day (such a selfless daddy!) We got there right when it opened and there was hardly anyone there so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Ben trying to determine just how close he would like to get to the peacocks....

Peacocks kind of freak me out. I don't want to make Ben scared of them, but I feel like they would be totally down with pecking Ben in the face if he got too close. I think this stems from my fear of turkeys. I can remember when my parents would take my brother and I to the zoo and they actually had a sign on the turkey cage that read "We Bite Fingers" (I'm not sure which is more pitiful, that sign or the fact that the zoo actually included turkeys as an attraction). Also, it seems like every time I catch an episode of "America's Funniest Home Videos", there is a clip of some kid getting pecked in the face by some blood-thirsty turkey. Peck me once, shame on you, peck me twice shame on me....or something like that. Anywhoo, here are some more pics of our turkey-free day.....

Posing with the stuffed bear in the "Bug Hut". Ben loves the "Bug Hut" because it is teeming with all manner of bees, spiders, hissing cockroaches and other specimen that typically send me running in the opposite direction....

Daddy and Ben posing on the caterpillar outside the butterfly building...

A series of photos showing our big boy climbing from the bottom of the spider web all the way to the top...

Feeding the goats....

And finally, the little man in his new big boy undies....

Right now we have him in training underwear which is severely lacking in style. I can't wait until he gets to wear true big boy undies that have all the fun characters on them. Grandma Reynolds sent him some adorable Thomas the Train undies awhile back and I can't wait for him to be able to wear them!!

Well, that has pretty much been our life over the past couple of weeks. Truly thrilling, I know. Hopefully my next post will not have to include a sentence that has anything to do with poop on the floor.

Have a great day!

Brooke

What Happens in Vegas....

Happy Father's Day weekend to all you dads out there! Hope you get to spend some quality time with your loved ones!

We returned last Sunday from a week-long trip to Vegas. This was the first time Greg and I had both been away from Ben overnight at the same time. I was really nervous to leave him, even though I knew he would have a great time with my mom and dad. Well, everything went wonderfully, as expected, and Greg and I had a nice, relaxing vacation. We stayed at The Palazzo this time. We've been to Vegas many, many times and have stayed at several hotels on the strip and The Palazzo is hands down the best one we've been to yet. I've stayed at the Bellagio a couple of times and really, really liked it, but it was the room situation at The Palazzo that won me over. Take a look....

The rooms are enormous!! You should see the bathroom! And even though it isn't centrally located on the strip, it is at least on the "nicer" end....although the new City Center at the other end is pretty impressive and has added some much needed shopping options to that end. Greg's brother, Mike, went also and brought a couple of friends, Greg and Kelly. I think we were all in agreement that it's going to be hard to stay elsewhere next time we're in town. Guess we better start saving now....

A pic of Greg and I on our first night there.....

On the balcony of the Fontana Bar in the Bellagio......

I really like the balcony seating at the Fontana. We had to wait a bit to be seated, but it gives you an awesome front row seat to the fountain show. The only downside this time was that the wind was blowing towards us, so we got pretty wet a couple of times. Still worth it though.

Below is a pic of Greg and I outside a restaurant inside the Paris hotel. We all met Greg and Mike's aunt Cindy and uncle Dick and cousin Katie and her adorable daughter, Gianna for dinner after Greg's conferment ceremony (the reason we were in Vegas to begin with). I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was a sports bar-type place. Mike's friend Greg ordered a burger and fries and at the bottom of the basket it was served in was a plastic name tag. I'm gonna have to bust out a good old 80's style "grody to the max" on that one. At least he got a free meal....

Greg's aunt Carol and uncle Tom live in Vegas, and they had us all over for a delicious meal one night. We always have such a great time over there. Tom is a great prankster and story-teller and Carol is hilarious. Good times were had by all. I was not very good at taking pictures while we were there though. Here are a few....

Greg and I....
Greg's cousin, Katie, her hubs Brian and daughter, Gianna....

Greg and Mike....
Even though we go to Vegas at least once a year, I rarely gamble. Call me crazy, but it just isn't fun for me to lose $20 in 5 minutes. I spent my time laying out at the pool, people watching, shopping (bought several things at Zara...the only time I get to shop there is when we're in Vegas), eating and sleeping (although we were up almost every morning by 7:00 or 7:30am...what can I say, Ben has us trained well). Greg likes to play poker and black jack, but he really didn't gamble much this time. He even went shopping with me and we picked out a cute pair of Crocs for Ben (he loves shoes). And we got a few Jibbitz to go on them (Boots and Backpack from the show "Dora the Explorer", Nemo the fish, one of the cars from the movie "Cars" and the T-Rex from the movie "Toy Story"). Talk about the hit of the century. Ben LOVES them. He always wants to put them on. When we got back from the trip and gave him the shoes, he ran up and gave hugs and kisses. So sweet. Here are a few pics we took right after we got home....

Ben with Gigi and Grampy. Thanks so much to them for coming here to watch Ben. He had a great time.
Our family of three....

Me, mom (Gigi) and Ben....

Oh, and this is totally unrelated, but Ben has taught himself to do somersaults. And he does them PERFECTLY. We were watching "So You Think You Can Dance" the other night and one of the dancers did a somersault-type move and a few seconds later, Ben was doing them over and over and over. And this morning, he did one off the couch (which about gave me a heart-attack, by the way). The child is fearless....and also quite nimble :-)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Brooke

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

So, I ran a race this morning. The Havelock Charity 10k. It didn't go so well. I had been trying to prepare myself for the probability that I was going to be a bit slower than usual due to the fact that I just haven't been running a whole lot lately. I'm not one of those "natural" runners. I have to work hard at it....and when I don't, it's rough. Today was ROUGH!!! I couldn't blame it on the weather because it was only 70 degrees for most of the race and it wasn't particularly windy. A little humid, but not horrible. Today was the first race I've run where I felt pretty craptastic about how I performed (Hmmmm, I wonder why spell-check is flagging "craptastic".......you mean that's not a word??? :-)) I'll get over it, though. I'm just grateful God has given me health and the ability to run!! Here is a pic taken right before I left for the race. The smile of optimism.....

Here are my stats: Finished 10k (6.2 miles) in 52:19. An 8:26 pace. Placed 336 of 866 overall and 93 of 441 for females. They didn't break it down by age group in this race. I know this doesn't sound particularly bad....and it really isn't. I think my discouragement stems from the way I felt through the entire race....like a big piece of poop. I usually have a lot more energy. I wanted to just give up about 57 times. I walked twice...through the water stations...because I haven't yet mastered the art of drinking from a Dixie cup while running. It always goes straight up my nose. The good part though....I felt GREAT about 10 minutes after the race. Ahhh, the runner's high. It happens whether you do great or not!! Here is a pic taken right after I got home. Greg and Ben were standing at the door to greet me when I walked in. Love my guys!!

Ok, no more obnoxious whining about my race. Summer is in full swing here and we've been outside pretty much ALL day, EVERY day unless it's raining. Ben and I usually hit the park first, then we get out his water table and pool until nap-time. And then it's right back outside to the pool. He LOVES to be in the water. We also go on the occasional bike ride (he rides in the bike trailer). And we've been to the children's zoo 3 times already (we bought a membership, so you can bet we're going to get our money's worth!!) Love, love, love summer!!!!

Oh, and here is some AWESOME news. Ben has officially "graduated" from having to see the endocrinologist. For those who don't know or have forgotten, Ben was born with transient congential hypothyroidism. His birth mom had a thyroid condition that she took meds for. The meds temporarily altered the functioning of Ben's thyroid, so he was on daily medication to balance it out. Well, he has been off the meds for 4 months now. He has been having periodic blood tests in those 4 months to check his thyroid and it has been perfectly normal every time!! So, no more meds and no more endocrinologist!! God is good!!

Finally, I thought I'd include a pic of Ben's fresh haircut courtesy of moi. I was going to show you a before and after, but the "before" is so embarrassing that I can't bring myself to put it on here. At the time, I don't think I realized how long it had gotten but now that it's short again, I can't believe how bad it was. Yikes!! Anyway, it looks better now. When Greg got home, he thought I had taken him to a "professional", so I gave myself a little pat on the back. Yay for free haircuts!!

Happy Saturday!

Brooke

Tales From the Farm, Part 4: In the Name of Love and Popularity

Well folks, this is it. The last edition of Tales From the Farm. I'm sure you're really disappointed about that ;-) I had fully intended to write about my childhood dog, Pip, in this one....but then I changed my mind and decided to write about some of the unique "challenges" one has to deal with on the farm. Since I'm not writing about Pip, you'll just have to trust me that Pip was A LEGEND. By now, you understand how much crazy went down on our farm. But Pip really upped the ante. I'm sure he's up in canine heaven right now with his wet, stinky, muddy fur, chasing down happy, squealing children and "love-mauling" them. Quite a specimen. Moving on....

In childhood, growing up on a farm is just flat-out fun. I've stated this multiple times. But, as a teenager, things start to get a little tricky. You realize that most other kids didn't grow up like you did and there are times when you feel kind of like a weirdo (which, in my case, is completely accurate). Although I can look back now and get a good laugh at some of the situations I found myself in as a teenager, back then it just wasn't funny....AT. ALL. Allow me to illustrate...

I think it was the summer after my freshman year of high school...so I would have been 15. A girlfriend of mine (my age) and a guy friend of ours (a couple of years older and therefore much cooler) were coming over to pick me up to go to a movie or something. I decided to sit out on our screened-in porch to wait for them. After just a few seconds, I noticed a HORRIFIC stench. I immediately knew it was a dead animal (a well-honed skill from growing up on the farm....impressive, I know) but could not figure out where it was coming from. I went outside and walked around the perimeter of the house, but I didn't see anything. When I went back inside the porch area, however, the smell was noticeably stronger. So, I started looking under and behind all the furniture on the porch but didn't see anything....until I got to a little storage bench that doubled as a seat. There was a suspicious-looking, wadded-up cloth sitting on top of it and it appeared to be moving. When I got up close, I noticed there tiny, white worms crawling on top of it. Some people call those maggots.

I immediately starting freaking out not only because there were maggots....MAGGOTS on our porch, but my friends were going to be there any second and believe me, it was going to be a frosty day in Hades before I was going to let them witness that. I didn't bother to look at what was in the cloth because there was NO WAY I was going to get that close to the maggots. I just needed to get it out of there ASAP. My parents weren't home and my brother was out running around in the woods somewhere with a friend of his, so I was on my own. I decided the only way to get the dead animal off the porch without getting maggots on myself was to drag the entire piece of furniture to the dumpster that was about a tenth of a mile away. And I had to do it FAST.

So, I put on some oven mitts to ensure my skin would never make contact with the maggots and I dragged that bench all the way to the dumpster. Then I ran back to the house as fast as I could to spray air freshener on the porch and perfume on myself. And when my friends showed up, I high-tailed it out to the car before they could even get out. Crisis averted. Barely. Later that night, when I was explaining to my family why the bench was missing, my brother said "Oh yeah, that was a bird that Joey and I shot with my BB gun. I forgot I put it there, sorry." How one forgets where they left their dead animal is beyond me, but then again...I'm not an 11 year old boy.

A few short years later, I met the love of my life (yes, Greg) during the second semester of my sophomore year of college. After the semester ended, I moved back to my mom and dad's house for the summer. Greg lived about an hour away, so we were still able to hang out over the summer. One evening, he was coming over to my mom and dad's house for the first time so I was making sure the house was spotless and that everything looked "normal". After all, we were in a very delicate stage of our relationship. We had been dating for about 6 months, so he knew a lot about me and where/how I grew up, but he hadn't yet experienced the true "crazy" of the farm. Just when I thought the house was acceptable for Greg's viewing, I remembered it.....Kyle the Pig.

Kyle was a concrete statue of a pig that was there to greet visitors at the front door. I could elaborate on why we had such a thing, but really, what's the point? I hated that thing. And don't ask why we named it Kyle, because I have no idea. I begged my parents to move Kyle into the barn so Greg wouldn't see it, but they refused. So I said "Fine, I'll move it myself." They kind of snickered and said "Go ahead", knowing I wouldn't be able to since it was concrete and all. But, folks, where there's a will there's a way. I ROLLED that concrete pig across the yard, all the way to the back of the barn where it couldn't be seen. I was not going to allow my love life to be jeopardized by a concrete pig. End of story. Yes, eventually, Greg was introduced to Kyle and now, after almost 13 years of marriage, he is fully aware of ALL THE CRAZY. I would even say it has rubbed off on him a bit. God bless him.

I have several other stories like these, but the time has come for Tales from the Farm to mosey off into the sunset. It has been fun for me to share these stories with you. I was very blessed to have the childhood I did. And it has been nice to go back there for a while. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did :-)

Have a great week!

Brooke

One Mother of a Weekend

Hey there! Hope all you moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! Mine was so much fun!! We had beautiful weather all weekend, so we spent most of it outside. Ben was on cloud nine to have both mommy AND daddy playing outside with him at the same time.

On Saturday, we walked to our neighborhood park and spent an hour or so. Then, we came home and Greg did some yard work while Ben "helped". This is code for: Ben put on Greg's gardening gloves and played in the mulch with some digging tools.....and then kept trying to run into the water from the hose when Greg was watering the plants.

Then we brought out the water table which always provides endless entertainment (thanks Gigi and Grampy)....

We decided to have my Mother's Day meal on Saturday night since we knew everything on Sunday would be a mad house. We decided on Chili's (of course). Very delish. Then, I went for an evening run and was quickly reminded that running in 50-something degree weather and 80-something degree weather are NOT the same. I was drenched! But, a run is a run and it felt good!

On Sunday we went back to the park, only we decided to go to a different park that required us to bike there. I have the bike trailer on my bike since I'm the one who uses it with Ben during the day in the spring/summer months. Greg always feels embarrassed when we bike somewhere as a family and I'm the one pulling Ben in the trailer, but it's a hassle to keep changing it back and forth. He got over it real quick when we went out and there were close to 30 mph winds with gusts close to 40. UGH!! The bike trailer acts like parachute of sorts because the front is mesh. Not pleasant. But we had a GREAT time at the park, so it was worth it :-)

Ben and Daddy swinging....

Cooperating with Mom and taking a break to pose for a pic...

Daddy and Ben.....

Going down the twisty "big boy" slide....

Ben growing increasing annoyed with pictures.....

Playing in the tunnel....

It was such a fun weekend. I can't even begin to tell you how blessed I feel to be Ben's mom. And how blessed I am to have such a wonderful mom myself!! AND how blessed I am to have such a loving husband who made sure I had a special Mother's Day!! God is good!!

Here are just a couple more pics of the fun Ben and I have during the day. This first one was a morning where we were just taking a bunch of silly pics. I kept making faces in the pictures and when I would show them to Ben, he would CRACK UP!! I love this one because of his great smile...

And this one was taken after Ben insisted that I wear this "hat" (not really a hat, obviously, but he thinks it is....it's actually a neck massager..) and his spider-man sunglasses. He always gets a kick out of this...

Have a great week everyone! I think I'll be doing my fourth and final installment of "Tales From the Farm" soon. Then I'll have to start thinking of a different fun "series" to do. I'm sure you're on the edge of your seat ;-)

Love,

Brooke

Change... Just not the kind I was expecting.....

Hey all! Hope you're having a wonderful Saturday!!

First of all, I have to talk briefly about my trip to NYC with my best college girlfriends. It was fantastic. I've never been to NYC before and expected to be a little intimidated since it's the biggest city in the U.S. and all, but when I got there, I felt quite comfortable. And after all the sight-seeing we did, I would even go so far as to say I loved it and would totally live there for a couple of years if I could go back in time and do it B.C. (before child). Of course, there's the fact that I would probably have to tie Greg up to get him there and sedate him so he would be unaware of his surroundings for a couple of years. Oh, and I'd also have to be rich because I would prefer to live in Greenwich Village and eat out nightly at the magnificent restaurants they have all over the city. Ummm, and I'd also have to make sure I had proper transportation because me no likey the subway. But other than that, I could TOTALLY live in New York. Did I mention I had a good time? :-) It's actually impossible NOT to have a good time with those girls. Love them. Here are a couple of pics taken at the top of the Empire State Building:

Erin and I....

Emilie and I....

Next topic......change. And this is going to get a little heavy, so be forewarned. If you're looking for a light-hearted, humorous post...you might want to skip this one. It seems like there are two kinds of people in this world: those who are averse to change and those who are addicted to it. I am in the camp of the latter. I love change. I get bored without it. After going through several moves as a result of Greg's job that has taken us literally from one coast to the other and a couple of states in between, I've grown to rely on change. When things become lackluster; when I start to get that uncomfortable itch to just pack up and run....change is there to take my hand and lead me to the next shiny, new destination where a fresh start awaits. Our moves have kept us in one location for only 2 to 3 years tops. Just long enough to start to get the itch. That is, until now. We've been in Lincoln, NE for just over 4 years now and I'm feeling it. Big time.

It's not that I don't love Lincoln because, surprisingly, I do. Greg and I both do. But that pesky "change bug" has gotten the best of me over the last year or so. And I've kind of allowed it to keep me from living life. You see, a few months after Ben joined our family, I started to build this "perfect world" in my mind where we would move back to Bloomington, IL......where many of our family and friends either reside or live within a 75 mile radius of. I envisioned get-togethers with family and friends, play-dates, driving down to my parents house in the middle of the week just to have lunch and chat, having many available baby-sitters ;-) And just when this perfect scenario seemed to be the only thing that would allow me to be "happy", Greg got an interview....in Bloomington. The timing was perfect. I thought, "this has God's hands all over it!". And I knew he would get the job. Except that he didn't. We were both disappointed, but hoped and prayed that another opportunity would present itself. In the meantime, I have been pouring over real estate sites and day-dreaming about the day we will move there and all the fun that will be had.

In recent days, however, I have become bombarded with messages about "living in the present". The message has come through the radio, on blogs I follow, in a daily devotional I read, on T.V. Seriously...it has become a little much. Only now do I finally realize I've been ignoring all the gifts God has given me and, instead, focusing all my time and energy on my idea of what life "should" be. Ignoring that I have our God-given family of three, this beautiful home we live in, this lovely community we are a part of, the fact that I GET to stay home and raise our son, this beautiful LIFE that God has blessed me with. I have stopped living life in the present and opted to resume living again when I get my perfect world scenario. Oh, yeah, I need change. Just not the kind I was hoping for. The change needs to happen in my heart...in my perspective. I am blessed with more than any one person should have. And it's time I started embracing it. Whew, it's nice to say that!

I decided to write about this because I think it's something we all do from time to time. We get it in our heads that we NEED a certain circumstance, or material object or what have you to be happy. And in doing this, we miss out on life. God-given life filled with precious moments we won't ever get back. Let's stop cheating ourselves. We were created to live an abundant life. To slow down and enjoy each moment as it happens. So let's do it!! Who's with me??

Hope you all have a great, fun-filled weekend! And don't worry....my next post will return to it's regularly-scheduled light-heartedness :-)

Brooke

A Very Easter Weekend

Happy Easter everyone!! I hope you all are having a wonderful day celebrating with family! He is Risen!!!!!! AMEN!!! We have had a fun weekend, even in the midst of all this uber-dreary weather that won't seem to take a hint and a hike.

Yesterday, we went to an Easter party at the home of one of Greg's co-workers. There were a few families there....and all of them had boys. No girls, only boys. I think there were 7 or 8 boys total. Ben was mesmerized by watching all of the "big boys" running around. We were surprised when we showed up to the party to see that they had rented a huge "bouncy house". The boys were having a BLAST as I'm sure you can imagine. They all cleared out of there a couple of times so Ben could go in with Greg and I. Ben wasn't completely sold on it the first time around, but the second time he was just laughing and laughing. Here is a good pic of the action.....

And, of course, no Easter party is complete without an Easter egg hunt. Here is a pic of all the boys (and me) getting ready to find their treasure....

Ben went to one corner where there were several eggs hidden amongst the landscaping. Almost all the eggs he found had a piece of candy AND a quarter!! Greg was pretty excited about the quarters, but I reminded him that they would be placed in Ben's piggy bank and NOT Greg's "slush fund" (aka--Vegas) account. A pic below of Ben examining the loot.

Having fun finding eggs....

"I found one!".....

Quick funny story about the bouncy house....they deflated it half-way through the party (as you can see in the pic below) and Ben stood in front of it, held his hand out at it and said "3-2-1 GO!" like he was trying to re-inflate it. Hilarious.

Mommy and Ben....

And a good one with Daddy.....

This morning was interesting. Ben is still having A LOT of trouble with separation anxiety, so I went to the first morning church service and Greg went to the mid-morning service after I came home. I'm really looking forward to the day when we can start going to church together again. Even so, it was a nice service and I'm glad I got to go.

In non-Easter related news, Ben has pee-peed on the potty a handful of times and is always very excited and proud of himself (as are we) each time he goes. Hopefully he'll start going more and more on the potty so we can bid adios to the diapers.

Also, I have my girls trip to NYC coming up next weekend. I am sooo excited. I'm not so sure Greg is though :-) He's a little nervous about having Ben for 3 days without any help. But I know he'll do great.

Have a blessed Easter everyone!

Love,

Brooke