A new Visitor

I was cleaning the kitchen this morning and was watching the kids. Joe was behind me making dinner. As I'm cleaning the dishes, I usually look up and out the window at the golfers.

This morning I saw this bird sitting on my fence post.

It was so beautiful. I took a bunch of photos through the window.

Justin loved it.

The bird stuck around for about 5 minutes and then flew off. Justin for two days later has asked, 'Hawk come back?'. He's so cute. He loves birds as much as I do!

Funny this one was in the open on the golf course!

I believe it's a Red-Tailed Hawk.

A little fiber one incident... and all tuckered out...

Ok, so this day was errand day. I took 1/2 the day off and Joey and I ran errands.

Ok, first funny story. The day before Joey got into some granola bars. It's normal for him to get his own snacks when he is hungry.

I happened to walk into the dining room and see a bunch of wrappers on the table. I gasped. Joey had eaten not ONE but TWO fiber one granola bars. You may be saying, 'So what?' Those granola bars have TEN grams of fiber in EACH ONE! They will make an adult regular (they are knick-named fart bars by friends and family...) so I could not even fathom what it would do to a five year old.

This morning I wake up and Joey is completely dressed. I asked him if he peed his bed. We are in the process of night training him and this was day three. Day 1 he had wet the bed. Day 2 he was dry.

He told me that today, day three, he was dry...BUT...he pooped himself.

He actually pooped in the middle of the night and never knew it.

Give the kid some credit, he finished business on his own, wiped himself (a first) and then even took the dirty laundry down to the laundry basket. I think he may have thought I would be mad at him. The poor kiddo! I told him those bars are really good but those are not for Joey anymore. He agreed. LOL...

So I called school in the morning. I told them this was the funniest 'sick' day excuse ever - and told them the story about the Fiber one bars and how I was afraid if I sent him to school he'd have a blow out. They laughed and laughed. They said watch him and if he's ok this morning, bring him into school for the afternoon.

I worked for a bit in the morning and then dragged Joey with me to the Dr's. office. I've been really on edge lately, yelling and just really edgy. I talked to my Dr. and he put me on a new antidepressant called Pristiq. So far it's been working wonderfully (with the exception of the severe insomnia I've had). They also gave me a tetanus booster shot. I couldn't even feel her give me the shot but boy, does my arm hurt later in the day.

After that I took Joey to school.

I went back home and worked for a bit.

Then I went to pick up Joey and then he had his 5 year wellness appointment. He did great. Everything looked good. No shots. She said that he doesn't have an ounce of fat on him, he's all muscle. She asked me, 'He doesn't sit around much, huh?' I said no, he's usually moving all over the place. LOL.

Then we went to Michael's so I could get some supplies for my scrapbook crop that evening.

When we got home Joey watched one episode of the Spiderman cartoon. He asked me to put another on and I explained him that he watched all of them so far. I got busy doing other things and before I know it, he's completely asleep on the floor of the living room.

Joe said that he woke up about an hour later (after I'd already left to go to my scrapbook crop) and he asked if dinner was ready. Joe told him yes. He then said ok, and went back to sleep. He got up 15 minutes after that and then ate one bite of chicken and then told Joe he was going to bed for the night. I think it was only 7pm. I'm not sure he was feeling well or he was just plain worn out. Either way he went to bed for the remainder of the night.

Joey asleep on the living room floor. 

Completely tuckered out.

Texas Ice Storm

On 1/28 we woke up to everything being covered in a sheet of ice. It started to sleet the night before and we were under ice warnings.

The ice made the golf course glisten in the morning sun. It was quite a pretty sight.

Joe stayed home so we were able to marvel in it's beauty without worrying about someone going out and possibly getting hurt getting to work.

It actually took over two days to melt all the ice, which is quite amazing for Texas. Usually in any type of inclement weather, it melts that same day. The north side of our house did not get any sun so it took two days to melt the ice off the drive. 

The golf course covered in ice.

Our patio table covered in ice.

Bushes were ice covered.

Golf course covered in ice.

Around the table...

Joey is a soda nut already. He loves cream soda.

Justin is in the habit of asking for milk, then apple juice. I think this day he also had a collection of soda and water. That's a lot of choices. 

Grandma D - This one's for you...

My kids do not like the cold. There have been times it's been 60 outside and Joey complains about how cold it is.

Recently we had a very cold snap and had highs in the 30s.

Some days Joey gets dressed on his own, and other days I pick out his clothes. Normally if it's a school day I pick out his clothes so they match.

This day was a school day and he picked out his clothes before I could help him. I made him put the white shirt under this sweater. What's so special about this sweater? Grandma D (my mom) knit it! It's purple with other flecks of colors and has special train buttons on it.

Joey loves it and says it's very warm.

Unfortunately I've moved it to Justin's closet because, as you can see, Joey has outgrown it. The sleeves are now almost to his elbows. Bummer Joey, but at least Justin gets full use of it now!

Joey with his cool sweater Grandma D made!

Fort Worth Zoo trip

The short story was, everyone has always told us how unbelievable the Fort Worth zoo is. We were thinking it would be the coolest zoo ever. What Joe and I thought was it was over-rated. We had a really hard time navigating the zoo, even with a map. It seemed we were going in circles and hitting a lot of dead-ends. They were talking about the penguins and how cool the exhibit was but it was soooo small - one room.  The Detroit zoo at least has a BUILDING of penguins! The Polar Bear exhibit at Detroit is so cool. There was nothing comparable at the Fort Worth zoo. The kids actually weren't too thrilled half way through it. It disappointed us.

Joey by the Elephants.

 

This Rhino was taking a mud bath.

 

My favorite ducks ever - wood ducks. They are gorgeous!

 

They had a pretty cool aquarium! I wish mine was this big!

Fort Worth zoo Continued

 

This was the penguin exhibit. Though cool, not as impressive at Detroit's.

 

The kids like the lizards and reptiles.

 

Check out THAT huge green lizard!

 

I think the colors on this guy are stunning!

Fort Worth zoo Continued

 

The kids checking out a reptile.

 

This alligator was starring Joe down. It was freaky!

 

The kids are getting TIRED.

 

Justin touching sea shells, etc.

Fort Worth zoo Continued

 

I loved this sign. It reads: I am forced to conclude that God made Texas on his day off, for pure entertainment just to prove that all that diversity could crammed into one section of earth by a really top hand. - Mary Lasswell.

 

Justin loved the birds. I wonder where he got THAT from (me perhaps?!)

Just random photos...

 

 I made brownies with pumpkin instead of egg/oil and Justin was all over licking the bowl clean.

  

 Joe helping me with laundry. What a great hubby!

 

Joey on his new Plasma car. He loves this thing.

Updates...

I thought I would share a few new photos with you.

 

 We went shopping last night and Joey used his birthday money to buy a Star Wars Light Saber. It changed colors and was pretty cool.

  

 They had Cadbury eggs!! Here Justin is eating one.

  

 Joey's Star Wars Transformers. I guess they are a cross over. Weird.

Today was a really nice day. Mid 60's for the weather which we LOVED!! We took the kids outside to get some fresh air and exercise.

  

 The kids in the neighborhood we doing this really weird racing on scooters while SITTING on them. Strange.

  

Justin can ride this bike perfect now. He pedals it away and he's not even 2 1/2 yet!

  

 Joey on his big boy bike.

  

 Our sweet neighbor Paige.

The kids went to bed late last night, woke up at the same time as normal and were totally off in attitude today. It was weird. Justin had the hardest time going down for a nap. Joey was at Braxton's and wouldn't listen to Mr. Mark and so Mr. Mark brought Joey home. It was just a weird off day. We had a talk with Joey about listening to other grown ups and obeying them.

And on top of that, he got in a tiff with the neighbor kid. Fun. The kid told him that he wanted Christopher to come to his house, but NOT Joey. Hmmm, I guess we'll have to remember that one later. We told Joey to avoid this boy if he's going to treat him like that.

Later that day he and Christopher asked where Joey was. Joe flat out told him, 'Well you didn't want to play with him, remember? So he found someone else to play with that likes him'. End of story! :)

Sooooo, weird day for us. We had the kids in the shower and out and in bed right after 7pm tonight. They needed that.

That's about it! Don't forget to check out my new recipe site. I update it daily and it's fun!! Let me know if you try any of the recipes! What's For Dinner?

I needed an update...

My friend Caroline told me today she's been reading the same update about Joey's birthday for about a week now, and that I needed to get my rear in gear and update my blog. Here I am. I have no clue what I'll write about but I'll think of something!

First of all, I get a TON of people asking me, 'What's for dinner?' and 'Can I have that recipe?' so I setup a new blog called What's For Dinner in Briana's Kitchen? Go visit and leave a comment. I'll be posting some of my favorite recipes there and the photos to go with them!

I finally downloaded the photos off of Joey's camera. I'm not super happy with his camera. It doesn't take photos that well in my opinion. Maybe it's the end user. Hmmm, not sure. Anyhow, here are some of my favorites that Joey has taken.

I took this photo. This is Joey and his air plane that he made and was so proud of.

 

 Joey and his airplane again.

 

Joey took this photo, of Grandma sleeping.

Joey took this one of me cooking yesterday.

 

A cool one of the sunset out the back door. 

 A view from my kitchen counter and the sun coming through the window. 

 

 Another view of my kitchen counter.

Self portrait. Haaaa. I cleaned the lens. I think it was dirty therefore that is why the photo looks a bit fuzzy.

So wasn't that cute? He takes his camera all over the house and takes random photos. Practice makes perfect. He takes much better photos from my camera though!

Sooo, I have some old notes here. One of them I wrote from the car.

One day Joey hops into the car from daycare and says to me, 'Mom, Davis has a nice face'. 

I answered, 'Oh yeah? What's so nice about his face?' as I'm trying to hold back a snicker.

Joey replies, 'I don't know'.

Another day Joey asks me out of the blue, 'Are we ever going to get candy corn again?' I guess he misses Halloween candy!

That reminds me - Tis the season for CADBURY EGGS! Yes siree - I saw them at Walmart. I'm a happy camper!

Last time we went to Walmart I bought four - one for me, one for Justin, one for Joey and one for Joe. 

Joe did not want his...so guess what - Joey eats Joe's! Yes, the kid is a Cadbury egg hound. I guess he takes after his momma!

I rejoined Weight Watchers again. I lost 3.2 lbs in the first week. Yay for me. Now I just need to get another 30 off. Oiy! :) 

 

Here's Justin today. He came to me while I was sitting in my office and told me he made a mess. Justin is extremely picky about being clean and everything being in it's place. He took his plate off the table, threw the food in the trash but it must have missed a bit. I gave him the dust buster and he did his best cleaning up the mess. What a good kiddo! 

It's really cold here. 26 degrees and that's COLD for Texas. Yeah Yeah I know it's been in the minus digits in Michigan. That's why I'M NOT THERE - because I HATE the cold. I don't miss that crap! I can't wait until it warms up to 60's later this week - heck I can't wait until the 90's roll around again! I love that hot weather!

In other news Caroline, my friend from Seattle that was my Matron of Honor at my wedding, is planning to bring her entire family to visit the end of March, beginning of April. We are very very excited about her visiting. We miss them a TON! I get to meet her baby Sabrina. Yay!

Sunday we took the tree down and all the Christmas decoration. Before you get all in my face about how long it was up, we just got home LATE Sunday the weekend before so we haven't even been home an entire weekend until last weekend. It's nice to have all the Christmas stuff put away, but the kids miss the tree. They loved turning on the lights.

Well that's about all. Nothing else exciting to write home about!