Wonderful Week

I can see how parents of small children do not have time to keep up with  blogging or any other hobby! In order to keep up you either have to skip time with your family or sleep... both of which you CAN do without, but who would want to? This past few weeks have been so amazing, but ridiculously exhausting! My mom, brother, the boys, Kenny and I hang out almost every night and have been planning most dinners together. My family is genuinely getting along and enjoying each other.  It is an answered prayer for me.

My brother is SO different. Last summer Crystal had said she found God (which I have been told sobriety is often mistaken for finding religion) and they had all started going to church. I knew my brother was interested and he seemed to enjoy the lesson part of the sermon, but this time is different. He is different. He is kind hearted, patient, understanding, thankful, humble, helpful and seems to have a thirst for Biblical knowledge. Not that he wasn't all these things before, but it was more difficult to see. Saturday after church I bought my brother a Bible. Honestly I just wanted him to be able to do the church homework with the boys, but what happened instead was priceless. He thanked me and gave me a hug- I almost cried. Also, Kenny, Mom and I are currently reading the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren and he has taken a huge interest in reading that book and learning more. My mom bought him his own copy of the book and a journal to go with it... he can't seem to put it down. I love it!

Sunday Kenny and I had a nice lunch with Barb at the Claim Jumper and then went to see Zookeeper which was really cute! We all agreed it was funnier than Horrible Bosses… there is no reason for the crude humor- talking animals are just funny! LOL

Sunday night we had everyone (except Dad he wasn’t feeling up to it) over for dinner. I used Barb’s recipe for chicken and gravy over egg noodles and it came out perfect. I put a whole chicken in the crockpot with 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup and water all day. I transferred the broth/soup left in the crockpot into a sauce pan and deboned the chicken. I used flour-water to thicken up the broth for the gravy and it worked out great! Yummo!

Just after dinner we heard the ice cream man… I think I was more excited than anyone! I grabbed my wallet and ran out the door with my brother screaming, “Ice Cream man, Ice cream man!” Jacob was right there with us jogging down the street to catch the Van. We were trying to decide what to get when Little Brian finally came out and caught up with us. We all picked out an ice cream and slowly headed home to enjoy our melting ice cream. I don’t know why buying ice cream from the ice cream man is so fun, but it is.

The boys (including Big Brian) worked on painting their bird houses and dinosaur and star magnets! They just love to paint and get so excited when they have a project to do.

Jacob

Little Brian 

Monday after work WE went to get Pedicures with our friends Beverly and
Lloyd. That's right after months (years?) of us telling them they should come
Kenny and Lloyd finally did! Guys are so funny about things like that... pedicures are for
girls they think. They of course didn't get their nails painted (although they
joked about getting hot pink), but enjoyed the massage, etc.



That night another Haboob storm hit and man did we feel it! It poured on us
(Kenny was still driving home IN IT)! The boys ran from my moms car into the
shelter of the garage like they just might melt if they stayed out too long! We made little Pizzas using Kaiser rolls, a jar of sauce, cheese and pepperonis and toasted them in the toaster oven. Super simple, but everyone really liked them and Little Brian said, “This is a fun dinner!” I think he like preparing his own pizza (with a whole LOT of cheese on it). The boys played Mario and mom and I worked on our flip flop scrapbooks. You would have thought the superbowl was on the way they all screamed, cheered and jumped up and down. When it was time for my mom and the boys to head home we walked them out. There were tons of puddles leftover from the storm and Jacob and I had fun stomping in them while Little B and Kenny took a test drive in the truck (after the airbags had been installed).

Tuesday after work my mom brought over a couple pans of her yummy enchiladas and Thursday Brian made his fabulous enchiladas which are both so different it wasn’t like having a repeat in the same week. Both nights the boys played Mario and my mom and I worked on our crafts.

Jacob

Wednesday my mom watched the boys so Brian could go to Bible study with us! It was so nice that he was able to go and everyone in the group seemed to enjoy him being there.

Saturday Kenny and Brian got up early, rented a trailer and after dropping the boys off at Crystal’s went to clean out both of Brian’s storage units. I slept in and cleaned the house while they were gone… It took them most of the day… and it was HOT but I am glad they did it. Getting the things like the ornaments and stockings my grandma had given the boys was worth it to Kenny and I. Kenny, Brian and I all went to Church and then Which Wich for dinner and then saw to Captain America that evening.

Sunday we did our new usual movie and lunch with Barb. We saw Larry Crowne with Tom Hanks- it was cute, but kind of a slow one. After the movie we ate at the new Raul and Teresa’s restaurant on Litchfield.  It was a really nice time.

Sunday night Brian and Kenny beat the last world on Mario and saved the princess! I am sure Jacob and Little Brian will be 

sad they missed it!