eyebrow update and my quotable Collin

 Of first importance, I have dealt with my crazy Brooke Shields eyebrow sitch. I tried threading! Have you heard of this? Well it was awkward and that is why I am now telling the interwebs all about it. The place I went was a kiosk in the mall. Yes, I  totally trusted a pop up stand outside Abercrombie & Finch with MY FACE. So there are people walking by, uhhh "Hi?" I wanted to get my money's worth, ($15) so I had let them go for like a month. There is hair flying and it is ei-yi-yi, very painful. Then the lady smiles at my, admiring her handiwork and hands me a mirror. Wowza! I can see again! Also I resemble a cavewoman less.

Okay, onto the less awkward. Collin is cute. He still says everyday words in super adorable ways so I am recording them here:
"Lish-shush" (Delicious)
"Plause" (Pause)
"I AM DOOR!" (I am Thor! And sometimes when he is feeling extra awesome it sounds like "I am Dork!)
"American Wheel" (Ferris Wheel)
"Tangle this for me? (Tie this together)
"E-leb-bum E-leb-bum" (7-11)
I speak fluent Collin and love it, best of luck to his Kindergarten teacher, though :/

Another round of pics, courtesy of Instagram. Also, Parker calls cayenne pepper, Kanye pepper. So there's that.
 
I am looking forward to the weekend, I get to see Kylee! Eep! She is artsy & cool, basically the most on trend person I know. Cannot wait to get her input on that knotty pine debacle. (basically everyone says paint it, besides Marcela- I bet if I striped it blue & orange she'd get on board)

Thanks for all your suggestions on the house. I want to be decorating & doing the fun stuff but 70% of the boxes still need unpacking, yowsers, I better get off the blog. If any projects go down, you'll be the first to know so stay tuned.

lacrosse

Hey PJ, remember that one time you joined the lacrosse team on your way home from school? Well yea, that just happened.

We went to your game on Friday. The coach was nice enough to let you suit up and play a good portion of the game even though you have missed most of the season. All I could say was,

"Why are all these other kids so big?

Seriously Matt, do they look like drinking age to you?

They are just so big.

These kids have to be in high school.

Wait, is THAT Parker?

He is so big!

When did our kid get so big?"



Unacceptable and SO rude, you thinking you can grow up- phiiiiish, almost as rude as your dad yelling "Box out!" and "Goalside!" to a team you just joined, playing a sport he knows nothing of.

busybody

Me to Collin, "Quit doofing around!"

Collin, "But doofing is fuuuun!"

 This last pic is Collin showing me his "secret friend." (his shadow)

and that is the weekend

Parker is quite the history buff these days. He has a wonderful online teacher that has sparked his interest. I love eaves-dropping on their "This day in history," lessons. So today he is reading and says to me, "I am so not a fan of Communism." Collin promptly pops around the corner and enthusiastically shouts, "I'm a fan!" I am loving the mix of middle school & pre-school we've got goin on.

Aden is very quiet about schoolwork, then I will find him in tears over something. I checked in on him while he was working on math. "You doing okay there, Ade?" He nodded & smiled. I replied, "You don't need your good ole Ma for nothin'?" He nodded again & smiled. My mouth agape he said, "What? You asked."

Just some tidbits from our day that made me joy filled. I'm terrible at recording them. Either because we are too busy living or I am under the delusion that I will remember. (ya, that's gonna happen)

Also, the pics are testament to a bizarre phenom I'm experiencing. I am calling it reverse nesting. There is no baby coming so I feel the need to organize everything! I gotta do something beside mope around, I guess.

going to get weird

 To start, because it is awesome & goes unrecorded all too often. Collin serenaded us with, "I like green beans and I cannot lie!" last night at the family dinner table. Happens a million times a day. I am dumbfounded at how funny & weird my kid is. It is really the only way I am making it through these long February days.
 Speaking of dinner. We were spending almost $1000 a month to feed ourselves. Say what, now? Cah-ra-zee. I have worked to get it back to $800. Still a long way from the $400 we could get by with in Idaho, though.
 Lentils were becoming my best friend because they are so darn nutritious & cheap. Not a very common occurrence. Then the stomach bug of 2012 hit. Blech! Not wanting to consume another lentil anytime soon, if you catch my drift. Also, I am not recommending it, but I did lose all my holiday weight with the stomach flu diet. (silver lining?)
 I feel like we are slowly waking up from a hibernation. I think we all go out with a bang at Christmas time. Before tucking away for the winter. Then the end of February hits. You are still half asleep but you have to go to the bathroom & that terrible morning taste has formed in your mouth. (sorry Feb., but it is true)
 I have been blocked a bit when it comes to the blog. Blogging about anything that matters is a place of vulnerability. It is to me, like that naked public speaking dream. I am only in this blog world for the feedback, even if it will just be my own in 2060, reflecting on what a full life we lived. Serving as a baby book of sorts. But for the day to day, it has not really scratched the validation itch.
 And maybe that is a good thing. A great thing, really. Because I need to stretch & grow & not be such a darn people pleaser. On the blog & in real life.
 So here goes the vulnerability part. I really want a baby. Not a child. A baby. I know what to do with a baby. A preteen? Yea, I have not quite got that figured out. The thing is, all the "somedays" are happening right now. Someday we will be tee-ball parents, someday we will play tooth fairy, someday they will know all the words to "Baby Got Back." (just kidding) All these hopes & dreams are coming true. It is so satisfying & rich, but also SO SAD. I did not really dream a dream past 10 years old. And now that we are there, I am just so exhausted.
 So.... add a baby to this over-priced, diarrheal, seasonally affected bunch... right???!!!

via

more random

Pretty soon I will get back to some actual content on this here blog but here is some more random to go with pics from Kaleb's iPad. 

I had been wanting to try a Shellac manicure & finally a Groupon popped up for a local place. It was worth every penny because of what the lady said as I was leaving. "Remember, jewels not tools." She, of course was talking about babying my newly polished nails but I thought that was choice advice for my single friends.

Kaleb was playing with Legos the other morning, saying, "Attack the Minnovites!" but then an hour later I walked by & heard, "Attack the Mennonites!" AWESOME.

Lastly, I counted the other day & we have been given 12 Bibles since the year 2000. I think this says something. Not sure what that something is, but there is definitely a message there. Kind of brings to mind this scene from Saved. When she throws the Bible, so funny.

http://youtu.be/umLUKBlpyoY