Mason laughing & Justin crying....

We'll start with the good....Mason laughing at his brother and daddy - I love his laugh :)



And now Justin's crying. He had to get the soap rinsed from his hair and had a MELTDOWN. I mean like cried for 15 minutes before I got the camera. He wasn't even *really* crying; not a single tear. I'm such a mean mom, but I couldn't help it :) I ended up trying to avoid getting water in his face but he was pushing me and fighting me, so I dumped it right over his head and on his face. After one cup of that he was sweet as can be telling me how much he loves me and I'm the best mommy in the whole wide world and he nicely tipped his head back to wash his hair. Then I cried because I felt bad pouring the water in his eyes... The joys of parenting :)

RIP Grandma Shirley

We got a call from Kent on Monday evening that Grandma Shirley passed away :( This was very sudden and unexpected as she was not sick at all. It is actually Grandpa Ronald who has been sick and was scheduled to have surgery on Tuesday morning. Grandma Shirley is actually Rob's step-Grandma, but her and Grandpa Ronald have been married for 38 years.

The funeral is tomorrow in Michigan, but I don't think we are going to be able to attend. We feel really, really guilty - if we didn't have kids we would drop everything and be there in a heartbeat. We weighed the option of taking the kids to MI, but that is a long time in the car (over 12 hours) in a 24 hour period. If we had family here, we could leave them with them (hint hint family...move here!)

So to the family who reads this, please know that we will be thinking of you tomorrow and please give Grandpa Ronald a hug for us....(and Aunt Lynne; I miss her!) RIP Grandma Shirley....you were such a sweet person. I still remember when we were at her house for Christmas when Justin was just a baby. I was feeding Justin and she told me to enjoy the time when they are young because it goes by too quickly. She said that was one of her biggest regrets in life was letting someone else pretty much raise her kids while she was working so much. I haven't forgotten that and truly took it to heart! You are loved and will be missed.......

Please say a prayer for Grandpa Ronald; he's going to have a tough road ahead.

Belated Christmas Weekend....

This past weekend Grandpa Brooks, Uncle Kurt and Ashley came up for a belated Christmas celebration. Grandma had to work :( We had a great time! They got to see Justin play hockey Saturday morning, then Ash and I went to David's Bridal so I could see her dress and try on bridesmaid dresses (and remind me how I should be working out twice a day!), then we had Qdoba lunch and opened Christmas gifts. After that Kurt and Ash headed back to St. Louis and we went to the Rivermen game with Grandpa! Ericka, Brandon and Lauren met us there and Ms. Stephy and Derrik were there too :) It was seriously probably the best hockey game I've ever watched at Carver Arena. Awesome fights, close game, good crowd and we won in a shootout!

Thanks for making the drive to come see us!!!




Grandpa and Mason watching Justin play hockey. I know Mason looks a little funny here, but still a cute pic :)



















Justin with his new hockey PJ's from GG Brooks




















His new "hockey guys" from Kurt & Ash





















Ashley and her bag with her new initials :) Her name will be Ashley Brooke Brooks :) Ha!












Mommy and Mason with his new hockey bibs...I love them!















Family picture time! I wish my jersey wasn't reflective!

Justin and Ms. Stephy

Grandpa and Mason

Justin waving good bye to the Culvers Ice Cream Cone after picking up Chuck-A-Pucks!

Grandpa and Justin

Mason entertaining the girls :)

Grandpa and Mason

Ugh.

I know I owe a post with updated pics of the kids....I'll try to do it later this week. I couldn't find my camera for a while, so I was lacking pics but I found it again!

The Ugh.

I can't put this on facebook because my boss added me as a friend so I want to be careful what I say. Plus I am friends with co-workers and I don't think everyone knows about it. Remember Mark? As in the pain-in-my-ass former co-worker? HEEEE'SSSS BBAAAACCCCCKKKKK..... My bosses thought they had settled. His attorney was happy with the settlement amount and we thought he was taking it, but he now decided he's not going to settle and is proceeding with a lawsuit against his attorney's recommendation. Maybe it's because he got fired from his job at my competitor also a few weeks ago so he has a lot of time on his hands? Who knows. Rick called to tell me about it though because he named me in the suit and I have to go to a deposition sometime after February 8th. I told them we'd be gone the 19-24th and I was not canceling my trip because of piece-of-shit-Mark. He's basically suing for more money, so that should be all they can ask me about and since I won't have records or dollar figures in front of me I shouldn't have to answer much. I will have the Thermo lawyer and my bosses with me (if they are allowed to be). Not a huge deal and he can't go after "me"....but I just want it to be done. I am SO SICK of this guy it's not even funny.

New Kitchen!!

Okay, so not *totally* a new kitchen, but a huge improvement!

Right after Thanksgiving, we had new Staron countertops installed and then on Dec 23rd when my dad got to town he put up tile backsplash for us....it looks awesome! I love it so much! I don't think that Dad even had his jacket off before he had the tile up and it was all grouted the next morning before I got out of bed! (BTW I am sending your fleece vest that you left in the closet Dad!) Thank you so much for your help!!!! Rob and I probably would have been divorced had we tried it on our own with 2 little "helpers" underfoot :)

Here is a before picture from when we bought the house and the now picture (some done a couple of years ago: moved microwave above stove, moved our Elgin appliances to GT Hills - some done last year: painting and trimming above the sink instead of a straight board - and the counters/backsplash done this year)
































I love, love the sink! It's all one piece integrated into the countertops....no grooves for cleaning!













The tiles have metallic brushed silver ones scattered. It matches the faucet and the light fixtures in the house!

Christmas & New Years!

Whew!!! Below are a TON of pictures....seriously. They took all day to upload and I don't have time to caption all of them, but anyone who reads this regularly knows who our family is! Some of them are from before Christmas, some Christmas Day, some New Years and some our trip to St. Louis for the Blues game! I will do a post soon on our holiday and how WONDERFUL it was :) Now I'm going home to see my babies!