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

Tales From the Farm, Part 3: The Contraption

Thank you for joining me in the third installment of Tales From the Farm. As I mentioned previously, this one won't involve any gruesome goat or cat deaths so please feel free to read further without experiencing nightmares.

Although the farm can provide children with hours of entertainment, there are days when said children get bored and are forced to tap deep into the recesses of their imaginations. What resides in those recesses is usually best left alone. To bring them to the surface and act upon them almost always ends in disaster....as is the case in today's story.

It was summer....the primary season in which childhood boredom reaches a fever pitch. My brother's friend, Chris, was over at our house and the two of them were playing outside. I was sprawled out on the couch watching re-runs of The Monkees (don't judge), when they burst into the house and started pulling my dad's hunting attire and other winter gear out of the closet. I asked what they were doing and they excitedly shared their plan for the day. There was a bee hive across the street in a tree in our aunt and uncle's yard. And apparently, that bee hive needed to be destroyed. So, they hatched a plan to put on layers and layers of winter clothing (complete with boots, gloves and ski masks) and use baseball bats to eradicate the intolerable hive.

I must interject that I am a major animal lover (although I'm not a vegetarian....I know, I'm a hypocrite...so be it). This includes insects...even insects I am terrified of. This is best demonstrated by the time I used a mere newspaper to carry a wolf spider the size of my hand from our bathtub to our yard. I am TERRIFIED of spiders. And that wolf spider could have jumped from that newspaper to my face in about .7 seconds. But I knew that leaving him there would mean certain death so I did what was necessary to spare his measly spider existence. Oh, and my brother and I named him Willis....because every creature deserves a name. I wish I was joking. So, given my love of God's creatures, I was somewhat appalled at the idea of Operation Bee Removal. But I was also strangely intrigued when Jimmy and Chris mentioned they would need a safe place to escape to between hive attacks. Amongst this discussion, the contraption was born.

The contraption was brilliantly simple....Three open umbrellas hooked together at the handles and fanned out to create a shield just large enough for three small bodies: Jimmy, Chris and.....me. Yes, I was put in charge of the contraption (and we actually did name it "the contraption"...that isn't just a catchy title for this post). I took my job very seriously. Just like Jimmy and Chris, I donned layers of winter clothing in the sweltering July heat. I positioned myself on the downward slope of the side of my aunt and uncle's yard....and I waited. The first couple of blows went according to plan. The contraption seemed to be doing its job. And then, it all went horribly, horribly wrong (I know, shocking, right?) First, Chris was hit....a sting right between the eyes. And then, the bees were onto us. They found the contraption and they were NOT happy. We all scattered.

I am as scared of bees as I am of spiders, probably even more so. I was stung numerous times as a kid and I knew how badly it hurt. So, I ran. I ran so fast I felt dizzy. My first hiding place was behind a tree on the other side of the yard. But I could still hear the menacing sound in my ears...BZZZZZZZ. So I took off running again. This time I took refuge in a nearby tractor shed. Again....BZZZZZZZ. And then behind a propane tank....BZZZZZZ. I probably hid in 5 different locations and I was chased by the bees EVERY SINGLE TIME. Finally, I made it back to our house (not sure why I didn't go there to begin with). I no longer heard the buzzing sound, so I felt it was safe to shed the winter clothing and pretend like none of this ever happened. Just as I re-claimed my spot on the couch, I heard it....BZZZZZZZ. One lone bee had managed to follow me into the house and he was banging into the nearby window. I did not feel bad when I put him out of his misery....or rather, my misery.

I'm sure the three of us had a "debriefing" session at some point in which it was decided that Operation Bee Removal was an embarrassing and mildly life-threatening failure. Although we all had regrets, I think we bonded that day. We had set out on a dangerous mission and we had survived. And we learned an important lesson: Don't tangle with bees because they will MESS YOU UP. You won't learn that watching The Monkees.

Toodles,

Brooke

I'm Still Alive....I Think

Yes, I am a major blogging slacker. Here is my excuse....Greg has been gone for approximately 2.5 weeks on different business and non-business related trips. When Greg is gone, I don't sleep. I have trouble with insomnia when he IS here. But when he's not here, it goes to a whole new level. I have serious trouble falling asleep...and when I finally do, I usually wake up at least once an hour, leaving me with about 4 to 5 hours of broken sleep a night. Over the course of a couple of weeks, it definitely takes its toll. I would make a HORRIBLE single parent. Thank goodness my Mom came to help out last week. She was a Godsend!! Thanks Mom!!

I would love to update you on what we've been doing the past couple of weeks, but I can't really remember as my main goal has simply been to not fall asleep while watching Ben or driving. Oh wait, I do remember one thing. I took Ben to be evaluated by Early Intervention for his speech. I took him once before because he wasn't saying many words yet. Now he says pretty much any single word we give him, but he still isn't putting together two-word phrases. So, I took him back and speech pathologist was actually thrilled at how well he is doing. She had no concerns and said she expects him to start his phrases any day now. I'll take him back if he still hasn't started in a few months. I always have to remind myself that he spent the first year of his life hearing Korean, so speech delays are just going to be a reality and I need to CHILL!

I was also supposed to run a 10k race this past weekend but woke up with a migraine the morning of the race and continued to fight the stupid thing all weekend. I finally got rid of it mid-morning today. Nothing like a 2 1/2 day migraine to spice up your weekend. I was completely worthless. So, needless to say, I did not run my race. I haven't had a migraine in months, so I guess I was due for one. I just wish it would have chosen a different weekend to rumble. I have another 10k this coming weekend. And, wouldn't you know it, it's supposed to SNOW the night before the race. And it's supposed to be 29 degrees the morning of the race. Umm, I'm sorry, I thought this was APRIL not JANUARY!!! Darn you Midwest.....DARN YOU!!!!!

Since a truly have nothing to tell you, I'm going to leave you with a few pictures.....

Ben doing his monster impression because he's wearing monster jammies:

Doing the hand gesture he always does when he says "cheese"...

Me and my boy....

And again....
I promise I'll have more to tell you next time. Sorry for the lame post.

Brooke