Cabellas Family Night

With the kids in the house I am trying to find free activities and came across Cabellas Family Night. Every Monday night they encourage families to come in for a scavenger hunt, a handful or FREE tokens, free fudge tastings and more.  We seriously had a blast! The boys were just in awe and wonder over the animals and fish and excited about everything. At first little Brian was was scared of all the animals, but got over it eventually. 

Little B's tattoo from his mom (rolls eyes) 

Jacob's tattoo

We used the tokens at the shooting range... mostly the adults played, but the boys got a kick out of it too

Jacob and Uncle Kenny 

Brian

I like this one because you can see Jacob's reflection. 

They really liked the turtles that were 'wrestling'...

Peoria Police Bike Rodeo

Saturday morning Kenny woke up early and made us all delicious French Toast. The boys weren't really interested at first, but once they tried it they loved it and Little B even had seconds : ) 

We had big plans to go to the Bike Rodeo at Peoria Sports complex and wanted to get there really early so the boys would for sure get the FREE hike helmets they were handing out. They were SO eager and said they just love it (mind you this was before we even started all the fun activates) 

Little Brian 

Jacob

Kenny on Little B's bike

Big B

Jacob, Me and Brian 

We waited in line for awhile and finally it was the boys turn to get fitted for a helmet: 

They were so dang excited 

Once they were done getting helmets they had a tent where they policy officers would safety check the kids bikes and shine them up. And then it was off to the bike courses-

I was surprised how well Little B did on the obstacle courses.... think it is time to loose those training wheels!  

And then we visited the vendor booths. We got all kinds of free goodies! Brian won 4 tickets to a spring training game which I was super stoked about and Kenny won a $25 gift card! I won a drink cozy... lame, but the boys thought they were awesome and use them as gloves lol  

They also had inflatables for the kids to play on: 

Little B sliding down

here comes Jacob

It was a really neat even and it was all FREE (which made it even more enjoyable for the adults)! We enjoyed free hotdogs and chips before we left.

After running a few errands we stopped to get dippin dots because I had a groupon from a while back. They boys thought they were fantastic and us adults didn't mind either :) 

Rowdy Game

DATE NIGHT! Kenny and I skipped off to dinner and the Suns game Friday night. I was especially excited because I haven't been to a game in 3 weeks because of all the games we gave away for Christmas! Before the game we went out to Cadillac Ranch out in Tempe (see the car up on the 2nd floor?) : 

We had a groupon that we needed to use... Kenny ordered stake and I ordered mushroom pasta... we both agreed we could have made it better ourselves. The service was poor and the food was expensive. The decorations were pretty awesome, however it was defiantly geared towards a younger crowd. We probably won't be back 

We got to the game early so we could try to get on TV. I was so excited, but this was old hat for Kenny since he has already been on TV 3 times!! 

In the shot we were off to the side and we couldn't see ourselves on the monitors there, but when we got home and viewed the pregame show we discovered we were on the for several minutes! Crazy right!? 

It was a really great game to watch. I guess the Celtics are one of the best teams in the league right now and the suns have been doing terrible... we were both thinking they would loose! 

The stands were filled with green shirts... it was worse than a Lakers game and the crowd noise was just as loud when the Celtics made a shot as when the Suns did. I am not sure why but this couple a few rows in front of us were especially mouthy... even though they were loosing their fans were still obnoxious. He was foul mouthed and rude! I guess someone finally complained about him,  because he started saying things like "On no, Holy Smokes" etc and security was watching him from the entrance. It was kind of funny, but still annoying.

The Celtics coach , Doc Rivers got ejected in the first half and in the 4th quarter one of their stars Kevin Garnett was ejected. It was pretty awesome they played Hit the Road Jack...

Changes

So you may or may not have figured out from my posts that my brother and his 2 sons have moved into our home. Its exciting and terrifying and has the best and worst week ever! Some of the details I don't want to share, but lets just say it has been emotionally draining and extremely stressful dealing with my soon to be ex sister-in-law. 

I am trying to enjoy the time my brother and nephews are here in our home, because I know it could end abruptly (on the flip side it could be months and months). I absolutely love having the time with my awesome nephews and all of the Taylor boys have brought so my joy into our home! The first week my brother was here we stayed up late ever night talking and watching TV. I had forgotten how much I enjoy just hanging out with him! I love the path his life is one and it so good to see him happy after so many years of unhappiness. I pray everyday he continues on this difficult but straight and narrow path! 

Kenny has been amazing through this whole process and even though he is struggling to get used to two kids in the house, he has an awesome attitude about it. I know he loves having them here, but it is still quite an adjustment from our mellow, quiet home he is used to. He plays with the kids all the time and has been cooking dinner all week! He helps Little Brian with his homework and encourages him when he gets frustrated with it. He stops at the store and buys special treats for the boys (which I think is just adorable). We reorganized our room and bought a nice TV so he can have a little bit of a man cave when he needs to escape and have his own time. 

My brother and I also made him an office space in my craftroom and he really likes it (even though it is PINK!). Kenny says that it is the best room in the house because it is the coolest (in both the winter and summer) and he likes the nice big window and having such a big work space (both my craft tables). 

All that being said, things are good, but not easy. It is still frustrating to give up things we are used to (ie eating out, fun social activities etc) while we are trying to provide for our new 'extended family'. It is also frustrating to go to work while my brother is off everyday and enjoying our nice home and amenities... He is NOT lazy by any stretch of the imagination and he tries very hard to contribute to the household in anyway he can (ie cleaning up everyday without being asked and doing projects on the house). In the short time he has been here he already redone our backyard,  painted the office (which is his room while he lives here) and reorganized our garage! He also helps with errands and really anything that he can do, he will. 
 

Before of the "friends room" / office 

After - no more purple 

I know there are tons of people out there that have multiple families living in the same household so I wonder if anyone has tips on how to make it successful? I recently read an article that 1 in 4 homes has more than one family living in it these days! That is crazy! Our economy is crippled and there just aren't enough jobs to go around! We (my brother, Kenny and I) have talked about our fears of ruining our relationship by living together and we all want this to work... 

I can't remember where I heard this quote (maybe from the Bible), but it fits here ; "I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it" Seriously, the minor luxuries we have to give up are nothing compared to providing a safe, structured home for the boys and a happy, healthy environment for my brother during this transition period. 

It's a.... Surprise!

When I arrived at the hospital around 7PM (Monday evening) , Blair and Allan were getting settled into their room. The night nurse got Blair started with the gels about 9PM. Each round of gel consisted of 1 hour of resting, 1 hour of walking and one more hour of rest before the next gel time... So we walked up and down the halls of the L&D floor chatting all night! It was actually pretty fun (probably not so much for her). In the early morning Allan got a few hours of sleep while Blair and I took about a 45 min cat nap the whole night! It was VERY cold (63 I think) in her room, which was comfortable for her and that is what is important, but I just couldn't get comfortable.

In the morning Kenny came up to visit me and brought me a QT drink and donuts : )  The day seemed long as we waited and waited for the baby come. We passed time by making a guess about the baby's weight, length and sex.  I am such a baby when it comes to lack of sleep, and for me going 37 hours on a 45 min nap was just not cutting it!! Also, I felt a little uncomfortable being there with all her family (her mom, Allan and his parents) and didn't really feel like I should be there...

It was finally time for this baby to come so the nurses busily prepared the area and the doctor came in! It was pretty intense seeing someone you care about be in so much pain and there really isn't anything you can do for her! I was a leg holder until we were allowed to take pictures (after the baby's head was out) and then the super awesome nurse told me to get my camera ready and she took over the leg holding. Blair pushed a few times and then we could see the head (full of black hair) coming out. She was really dark complected and very purple looking when she came out. 

She was crying and no one seemed concerned, but I was! Turns out her poor little face was bruised from delivery. At first the doctor said, "we have a line backer here!" and we all thought that meant it was a boy, but I think he was referring to her size, because he finally announced, "It's a Girl!" as laid her on Blair's stomach. She was 9 lbs 2 oz and 22 inches long and born at 2:26 PM. I think it was love at first sight for Allan. There was lots of commotion and Blair instructed me to just keep taking pictures... I took about 110 in that 15 min block of time!

After they got her all fixed up she went to reach for something at the end of the bed and was so excited that she could lean over! It was funny. Watching someone have a baby is such a trip! One second you are feeling her belly and the next you are holding this amazing little 'purple' creation! From the time the doctor walked into the room it took only 4 mins before Hailey was born! It seemed longer, but at the same time it went so fast I missed a lot!

After spending almost 20 hours at the hospital I was more than ready to go home and Blair wanted to rest anyway. It really was an amazing experience and I am so glad Blair let me be part of her special day (s)!

PS Here is the quilt I made her : )