Boys at the Mall...

Kenny and I have been trying to do a family night once a week with my brother and his boys. It is a lot of fun, but was getting kind of expensive just doing spur of the moment things. I looked online for cheap or inexpensive things to do with kids and came across the mall play area. Perfect! Its indoors, there are other kids for them to play with and its free! I thought it would be nice for my brother to get a break from the boys for a little while so I suggested they go to a movie. Although my brother was hesitant that I could keep the boys entertained for 2 hours they went ahead and went to the movie (Hang Over).

The play ground was a lot of fun. Little Brian made a girlfriend and she chased him around the whole time. Jake played by himself,

but seemed to have a lot of fun. Soon little Brian had to use

the restroom so we put shoes on, gathered our things and headed out into the mall in search of a bathroom. We went into Dicks

sporting goods to use the restroom and ended up played in the sinks for about 20 mins.

I didn't care because it was entertaining them and I love when they laugh. Then we checked out all the

tents that were set up and Little Brian asked if we could go campin' again soon (cute!).

We decided to go back down stairs to the play area and headed to the escalator... Little B

rian wasn't sure about the whole thing and I tried to show him... well he stepped on and tripped and tumbled a little down the stairs (there was an audible uuuhhhh! from bystanders and I am sure they thought I was horrible). At this point Jake was at the top of the escalator wide eyed so I ran up the down escalator and grabbed him and then caught up to Little Brian who was screaming at this point. We got to the bottom and he was thrilled to get off. His knee did bleed pretty good, but he got over it in no time- poor guy.

Next the boys wanted to play on the elevator so we rode that up and down about a dozen times.

Later the boys were playing on the carousal outside of the play area a

nd a mean little boy shoved Jake off and he fell on his face! Horrible! So now he has a good size welt on his forehead to distract from the bald spot my brother gave him when cutting his hair that morning!!

After the mall we went to good old McDonald's for dinner and to let the boys play. There was a 3 year old little boy that was just fascinated with us... he was running around like a maniac and came squealing up to my brother and jumped in his lap and hugged him. All the adults were laughing hysterically at this boy, but Little Brian saw that hug and got really mad - that was his daddy! He stomped off and sulked for a little while which made us laugh even more.

Anyway, even with the injuries the boys had lots of fun and Little Brian begged me the whole way home to come to my house or "you's house" in his words.

Make N Take

Last week at the make n take we got to play with this new flower fluffy stuff... I wish I could remember the name. Anyway, it was pretty cute, probably not something I would buy to make cards, but fun to try.

Visiting

Tonight we went over to my grandparents house. It seemed like forever since we had visited and I just missed them. I asked Kenny this morning if he wanted to go by after work and while I was at work my grandma e-mailed me to say hi and say it had been a while-- great minds think a like!!

We had pizza and talked. It was nice- Love you guys!

We were going to go to the shooting range, but I guess bullets are really hard to come by... I had no idea! Kenny said since Obama was elected you can barely get ammo anywhere- it sells out as soon as it comes in!

So after my grandparents we went by my brother's house to say hi. That was a mistake... we got them all excited and sweaty just in time for bed-- oops. Sorry Brian!! But selfishly I was so happy to see them and play with them a little even if it was only 20 minutes.

Turning a New Leaf

Most of you know my hubby pretty much hates veggies.... well last night he tried a salad at Applebees and like it! So tonight we had a yummy salad for dinner too. I am liking this!!

Random Pictures

Just wanted to share these random pictures that I found amusing... The first one is my brother and "his Shelby". Shelby is our extremely shy, cuddly, sweetheart black lab. Usually when we have company over she hides in the corner behind the black recliner... she is terrified of kids and generally doesn't want anything to do with anyone but Kenny and I. BUT she has a special connection with my brother- she loves him and when he is over she is constantly by his side. Its cute.

The 2nd one is Jacob. He was looking at a photo album and found some

pictures of himself. He stared at them in amazement and just kept shuffling through them over and over. I thought it was just so dang cute

.

Family Fun Night

This week's family fun night was a splash! We went to McDonalds for dinner and played in the playland... all 5 of us! It was really fun I haven't played in one of those in years. (I am paying for it with bruised knees this weekend!)

After dinner we went to Cracker Jax armed with coupons and a budget this time.

Brian and Kenny road the go carts and Bunkie was SO disappointed that he couldn't ride too. He said please, please and I told him they wouldn't let him because he was too little and needed to be as tall as the line. He said can you lift me?

He ended up settling for bumper boats and chose me as his riding partner : ) Jake and Brian rode in the other one. I let Bunkie drive... we did lots of circles.... then my brother trapped us under the waterfall. I got soaked!!

Then Brian and I had a competition at the batting cages... We tried to hit baseballs at 50 MHP-- wow they were faster than we were expecting! Once I realized how fast they were I got a few good hits, and hit more than my bro -- woot woot.

We played some video games and headed home. Another really fun night! And we stayed on a budget, I was pleased.

Love Notes- Christmas in July!

My mom and I really enjoy the Love Notes- Christmas in July class this month! All of the cards are super cute and don't be surprised if you get a version of one of these cards in your mail box this December. I love the explosion card (the one with the sparkly shred). It lays flat in the envelope and pops up to a box shape. I am saving that one for Kenny's stepsister and family. I really think they will get a kick out of it.

My favorite was the simple one on the bottom that has red snowflake paper-- the inside has a place for a gift card! Genius!! I love that and will definitely use it for birthdays, graduation, wedding and much more!!

American Idols Concert 2009

The American Idols Concert was so much fun! The 5 of us (Blair, Donna, Becky, Rachel and I) went to Saddle Ranch before the concert for dinner, but mostly to get dessert! Isn't that cotton candy amazing!! 3 feet tall! Our waiter was a lot of fun and gave us 2 rounds of free shots. Also, this guy came and sang to our table... gave Becky some extra attention.

The concert was really good- my favorites were of course Kris, but also Anup was SO fun and Matt was good too. The "giddy" picture of Blair was right when they were announcing Matt (her favorite). It was a really fun night : )

Doggie Ice Cream

So my mom and I were at Wal-mart today and came across this doggie ice cream! So I bought a box.... they liked it-- ha ha

Genna

Genna is my brother's oldest daughter, my parents first grandchild and our only niece. She was a huge part of our lives when she was younger, but as things got harder between my brother and Nikki the times we got to spend with Genna grew far and few between.

The last time Kenny and I saw Genna was 2 years ago on Halloween. To be honest it was really hard. She didn't remember us.

My brother recently went back to court and is now allowed to visit with Genna every other weekend.

This weekend was the first visit and we were lucky enough to be asked to come along. We went to West Gate at the splash pad so the kids could play.

Genna warmed right up to us. My brother brought her Christmas presents so she literally had Christmas in July. She calls him Brian not Daddy which is kind of heartbreaking, but at least he is seeing her. She is 6 now and hasn't seen him regularly for about 3 years. She thinks he is pretty cool and wanted to play with him. I really hope they can rebuild the connection they once had. She always adored her daddy and I remember how happy she always was with him... so this is kinda hard that she doesn't remember that.

When it was time to leave my mom told her we would see her in a couple weeks and she wanted to make sure when and where- it was cute.

Here are some pictures- the ones of Genna I took and the ones of all of us Genna took: )