Mama School - Sushi Making 101

A few weeks ago in a moment of complete brain numbness due to lack of adult thought process stimulation I signed up for a sushi 101.  I had high hopes I would become an at home sushi chef wowing, wining and dining friends with my newly acquired skills, but mostly I just wanted to learn something new.  When you can eat what you learn it is even better.  I invited the ladies from our MOPS group to join me.  Several were scared of the raw fish, but Ashley and Cassie - two awesome mama's - joined in.  We had fun and were SO proud of our new knowledge.  I'll save the step-by-step tutorial for when I've acquired the necessary goods and refined my techniques, but for now the fruits of our labor:

Ashley and Cassie sharpening their sushi skills.

My results.

Spring Break

It rained nearly every day of spring break with few opportunities to play outside and Brian was on call a lot after being gone the week before.  The boys and I had lots of fun inside, though, doing science experiments and...

 ..just acting generally nutty.  The boys played cowboys for almost two days, we built bedroom campsites and stayed the night in the driveway with our friends in their Airstream trailer.

We tried to spend some time every day learning something new. We played with the geoboards the boys helped me make a few weeks ago.  I had forgotten how much fun those little boards can be.  The boys can practice making numbers, letters, patterns and so much more.  Kennon uses his to make music with the rubber bands, but also learns about colors and shapes we make with the rubber bands. 



After three days of inside play due to the rain we (translated I) really needed a break and to get out of the house.  In a moment of insanity I thought we were ready to take in a movie at the theater.  It was Kennon's first movie at the theater.  He is 22 months old. BAD idea. The boys split a box of candy.  Once the candy ran out (approximately half way through the first trailer before the movie started), Kennon was all over the place.  He wouldn't stay in his seat, wanted to visit our neighbors in the rows below and was generally what most sane mothers would expect a 22 month old to be like in the movie theater.  Will give it another try in a year or so.  I did manage a picture during the 43 seconds he sat in his chair. Friday we found an awesome indoor water play area and had fun with friends.

I was completely exhausted by Friday, but we revived ourselves enjoying a beautiful bright and sunny weekend.  We spent Saturday at Nannie and Papa's riding four-wheelers, playing outside and helping around the farm.

The highlight of the week was easily the adventures we shared with about five other neighbor boys.  The wet weather creek behind the house had plenty of water to wade in after all the ran.  The boys slipped into their rubber boots and promised to only get their boots wet, but it didn't take long until they were completely soaked.  They turned the old wagon into a "jet ski trailer" and the tricycle into their "jet ski".  They submersed the trailer and then one of them got on the tricycle and backed it into the water just like they've seen us do at the lake.  I completely love their creativity. 



Day at the Park

Kennon and I enjoy lots of adventures when the other boys are at school.  K loves the park and feeding the ducks. 

Happy B-Day, Daddy!

Brian was on call for his birthday this year and he and I had just returned from a quick trip to Miami so his birthday kinda-sorta got pushed to the wayside.  The boys did help me make him his favorite, chocolate cake with white icing. 

Uninterrupted Sunny Escape

Brian asked me to tag along with him to a conference in Miami in March.  Now that I don't travel for business I hate to be away from the boys and try to avoid us both being gone, but sometimes mama needs a break and it is good for Brian and I to clear our heads and relax together away from the demands of a busy household (for me) and a busy career (for him).

Every now and then there is something very liberating about walking through the airport with my purse over my shoulder and the No*k loaded with ebooks and nothing else in tow..i.e. stroller, car seats, and the occasional not-so-angelic child(ren).

My top five highlights:
5.  Uninterrupted reading time.
4.  Dozing by the pool soaking up some Vitamin D, uninterrupted.
3.  Long walks along the beach, uninterrupted.  
2.  Freedom to sleep as late as I want and still accomplish all the things I had planned for the day, uninterrupted.
1.  Long, uninterrupted, conversations over dinner with Brian.

Breaks are always nice and completely necessary to maintain a mama's sanity.  It's even nicer when I can wrap my arms around the boys again with a fresh and invigorated perspective.  

Love is in the air

Brayden got pretty into making his Valentine's this year for his classmates.  We found some creative ideas online to do something a little different than just buying the pre-boxed cards and slapping his name on them.  He chose a Pop Rocks theme with a note saying, "Valentine, You Rock!"  After he helped me create the card he cut them out and attached them to each package and then wrote his name and his classmates name on each one.  He was proud of his work, but even prouder to be able to share something he made with his friends at school.

Life is a highway

Recently, I had a chance to transform last year's blog posts into my 2011 family blog book.  It looked pretty amazing on screen and I can't wait to hold it and read it in real life.  Reading through it, though, the pictures and stories shared create the image of a mostly flawless family.  Our family is many things, but flawless is not one of them.  Yes, we have lots of fun together, we laugh, we cry, we share adventures, adore quiet days at home playing outside, helping each other, learning and so many other things, but there are also moments (sometimes many of them) when at least one person is crying, someone is screaming, fighting, having a complete meltdown, sick, whiny or just having an all out crappy day.  Sometimes its the boys and sometimes its me.

When I started this blog I wanted it to share the stories and memories that match the pictures taking the photo album of yester-years a bit further so that some day when we look back on all those photos they have some context.  I also want our boys to know, though, that life wasn't always happy smiles.  I fear conflict like a bad rash, but I want them to know that respectful conflict is OK, often good even in helping people and relationships grow.  I want them to know that our family wasn't perfect or trying to hide anything, but rather that we did the best we could to show each other love and support. So, moving forward I've vowed to myself to be more transparent in documenting our story so that we can look back and know we are stronger and closer because life wasn't always perfect, but because we had each other. 

Now, that I've published my little vow I have some blog catch up to do. Here goes.

I love capturing pictures of the boys doing the things we do every day like....

Loading up in the car to go to church most every week.  It makes me happy to know the boys look forward to church every week and always leave having learned something new about God's love for them.

We have the waiter take a picture to document we actually went on a date - a rare event to the point we aren't even sure what people do on dates.

We eat little character's for breakfast for time-to-time.  (Make note - it is a major hassle to get Yoda out of his little mold without chopping off an ear.)

We go to the zoo in mid-January because the weather is amazingly beautiful. 

We cherish moments when brothers demonstrate love and affection for each other - and I mean "moments" very literally sometimes.

We take on new athletic challenges to learn new skillz and make new friends. 

Kennon started swim lessons in early February and was so excited he completely zonked out at 6:00 pm and slept until 7 the next morning. 

Brayden's team was undefeated in basketball.  He loved basketball and was very proud of their accomplishments.  He scored about 10 baskets during their 8 games.  I wish I had a picture of the look of bliss on his face when he made his first shot during a game. Totally priceless!

We enjoy afternoon outings to the Discovery Center and learn something new every time.  Brayden is turning a light bulb on with his finger because the energy is being transferred through his body in this picture.  "Pretty cool, huh, mom!" (Scratch courtesy of Kennon.)

In February we took off for the indoor water park to run off some energy.  Daddy didn't run off too much energy standing around like this....

...but, the boys had a blast until...

...we headed home and they all passed out. 

Life really is like a highway.  Sometimes the road is wide and smooth with beautiful blue skies and nothing in our way.  Other times, the road is narrow and bumpy with dark clouds, storms and obstacles along the way. Regardless, of what stands in our path, though, as long as we have each other and our faith we can conquer all things.