the army hat he found underneath his bed

"mom look, now i'm JUST like uncle shawn." -brennan

"now take some more with my serious face and army stance."

click

click

"there, now let me see the pics."

loooking...

"OH MY GOSH, yes! now send these to uncle shawn. he's gonna LOVE this."

and while walking away back to his room, i heard him say to himself,

"i can't believe i look JUST like uncle shawn."

like a fly on meat {"educators"}

there was never a boy that loved cars a much as chase ray.

i used to think brennan liked cars,

and he did, but it's nothing like the love affair that chase has with his.

they go where he goes.

playing with them everywhere is his entire life.

i never knew a boy could be entertained for HOURS on end with anything, let alone a tiny little toy car.

he can find or make a race track out of anything.

there were tubs at brennan's basketball practice last wednesday night,

and he was set for the entire hour.

he sleeps with one race car clutched in his hand during his entire nap,

and then brings it out of his crib like we glued it into his hand.

when i check on him before i go to bed at night i will usually find about 5 cars stowed away until his back, and one in each hand, with the binky laying next to him in his crib because his hands are full of cars.

also, he calls elevators "educators."

and he'd like to spend his entire day in just a diaper, and never have his car playing disrupted by anything. too bad for him that he's the third kid, and his entire life revolves around car pool pick ups, dance and basketball practices, and grocery store runs.

good thing for him,

cars can go everywhere.

even in "educators."

WITH sound effects

all day,

every day.

preferably by himself.

sound effects included.

{2 yr old boys might just be my favorite.}

in packs of 12.

today i'd like to talk about bikes and boys.

and what i'd like to say about bikes and boys is only two words long:

SNEAKER HOLES.

we're gonna be going through sneakers like wildfire over here.

that's what i'm thinking.

'cause that only took him about a month to burn through those.

walmart has a $10 special?

in packs of 12.

boys:)

worth every penny.

a day in the life of "brennan's mom"

my daily flower from cade swensen.

brennan's best friend from down the street.

once a day, every day.

and then all of a sudden i had an entire pack of boys placing flowers at my feet.

telling me which ones are their favorites and why.

and all about their flower explorations that only cops and robbers can go on.

and naming the ones they knew.

like the tulips they insisted were roses and daffodils and dandelions.

and one that they said smelled like toilet bowl water,

but really i thought it smelled quite nice.

a great day in the life of "brennan's mom."

experts of girls {convo's with cade & brennan}

while eating apples 
and jumping off of 
my coffee table 

onto coolie, the 6 foot bear, 
the following conversation occurred between two 5 year olds...

brennan: i went to girl world, and they taught me how to be experts of girls. 
i know more about girls than you. really i do.

cade: no, i'm experts of girls.

brennan: all the girls of the whole world know me though. and they all love me too.

cade: ok ok they love you, but they love me too. they're in love with both of us. 
but we won't ever let them come here because then they will try to kiss us.

brennan: we DON'T want them to kiss us. not even our sisters. 
just our moms 'cause they're our moms and they can do stuff like kiss us.

cade: yeah yeah just our moms. cause we love them.

{chase's new favorite game: riding brennan like a horse. trust me, it's mutually loved.}

biker brigade

neighborhood biker brigade=a bunch of boys on their bikes.

this is what summer's all about.

mustaches and nocTURTLE.

"we need cameras around this place so dad can see how mean you are to me!"

-brennan {after i made him go back and wash his hands after going pee.}

...

a few nights ago brennan went through the friend magazine 

and gave everyone mustaches.

no idea where he got this idea from.

then he went through and "X'd" all of the girls.

b/c he said girls are not his friends.

and he doesn't like them.

"girls are X!!!"

i laughed and asked him if i was a girl?

max?

eden?

hailey?

miss kim?

grandma gibson?

grandma carol?

grandma sandie?

GiGi?

andrea?

audrey?

mary?

ashley?

aren't they all girls?

"those girls are all ok, just not ALL girls. ALL girls are X!"

and then he re-X'd all of the girls in the magazine a second time.

THEN....

last week when i was putting him to bed he said to me,
"mom, i wish cade was my bother so he could stay all night and sleep here. i wish that cade was my brother so i could have two brothers. cade and chaser. so we could all be brothers together."

AND THEN...

with his friend cade yesterday the following coversation occurred:

cade: "mom's aren't scared of aliens OR monsters."

brennan: "especially NOT monsters."

cade: "and they can hear and see all the stuff we do."

brennan: "yea, they see behind them because of he glass in the van. 

they just look in the glass and they see us."

AND THENNNNNN...

cade said this to his mom,

"mom, i wish i could be nocturtle {nocturnal}."

cade's mom: "why?"

cade: "cause then i could stay up in the night. 

And brennan could be nocturtle too.

Me and Brennan could be nocturtle together 

and play all night together! 

that would be so fun!"

....

don't know where they come up with their material,

but man, 

these two boys are funny FUNNY guys.

MFEO!!!

{cade and brennan last june in the backyard.}

i get around.

the week of christmas chase became mobile.

not crawling.

rolling.

he can roll himself from one side of the room to the other.

from one room TO another.

and once or twice ALMOST down the little stairs.

it is funny funny funny business to watch.

you can't help yourself from busting up b/c he's so fast about it.

last week we found him in the pantry trying to help himself to some granola bars.

he's a man that knows no one is coming, so he'd better get himself where he wants to go.

{katie tells me that brennan did the same thing when she babysat him at this age, 

but i have no memory AND no blog post of it. tragic!}

spiderman in training.

{brennan was so excited that chase got a spiderman outfit for christmas.}

{the little vest is my favorite part.}

MARRY jane {spiderman love}

yesterday brennan and i sat on the couch eating peaches.

watching 101 dalmations.

the babies were napping.

he told me he was spiderman brennan 

{we may have to actually change his name to that on his birth certificate}

and then he asked me who i was.

i told him mary jane.

{isn't that her name in the one that came out ten years ago?}

he dropped the mary part, and just called me jane.

then he asked me "what do you do jane?"

i told him i help spiderman fight bad guys.

and i love spiderman.

and he said i wasn't allowed to love him b/c he didn't want to marry me.

and i said, "but i'm your mom!"

and he said,

"no, you're jane, and i don't want to marry you. 

just help me fight bad guys. that's what you do."

and i said,

but i love you.

and he said, 

"ok ok ok, you can be my mom again and love me.

just don't be jane and love me b/c i don't want to MARRY jane."

i love watching him be a little boy.

the happiest little multi-super hero there ever was.

love chickens

"these are love chickens. they're married. smooooch."

-brennan, 4yrs old

snow hole

"i made a snow hole." -brennan

oh to be a boy.

batman almost drowned

yesterday i was putting max down for her nap.
humming her a song from mary poppins that i don't know the words to,
but that my mom sang to me and sings to my kids now.
both of my kids ask for "grandma's song" before they go to bed.
i love it.
so i'm humming to max and all of a sudden i hear BLOOD CURDLING screams from brennan downstairs.
not just whining.
BLOOD CURDLING screams.
i just couldn't imagine what was wrong.
i've never heard him scream like this before.
i put max down in her crib,
closed the door,
and hustled my pregnant waddling self down the stairs,
making sure to not fall or trip down any stairs in my hurry.
i found brennan in the bathroom,
and it was obvious he had just gone pee.
but he was still screaming like he was dying.
he must not be able to pee???
or peed on himself???
no pee on the ground.
no pee on his clothes
no 4 yr old dancing around having to go.
clearly he had already gone.
poo?
could he just not get himself up on the potty?
why was he crying like he had broken his leg???
all of these things went through my mind in about 3 seconds.
1
2
3.
then i looked into the potty.
something was there,
but i it just wasn't registering what it could be but it surely was NOT poo.
and then it clicked.
BATMAN WAS DROWNING.
in a potty full of pee.
without thinking i plunged my hand right into that potty.
full of fresh pee.
i think i even closed my eyes when pee and potty water went past my wrist.
at least it wasn't in poo.
this is what i was thinking.
brennan was still hysterical.
even though i was telling him batman was saved.
he was good.
he was going to be fine.
it was like brennan was in an episode of ER and george clooney was frantically trying to save his dying mother from a car crash.
i just wanted to get batman back in order as quickly as possible,
so i started batman's soapy bath.
i washed that little batman with hand soap and hot water, cape and all, for a good 3 minutes.
around minute 2 brennan stopped crying and shouted,
"you saved batman mom!!!! he was drowning, and you saved him! you're the best mom ever!!!"
i was prouder than proud.
"why yes i am" {i said it outloud to myself}
i had SAVED batman from drowning:)
made my entire day.
and apparently batman's too.
phew,
it's a good thing i didn't have to perform CPR.
that may have been crossing the line.

jeans {just as satisfying}

i love that brennan will still let me do this in a store.
he is two pairs of jeans richer this afternoon.
thank you H&M.
we barely survived the check out lines,
but the prices were worth the wait.
three cheers for no holes in the knees.
although that only seems to last a couple of months anyway.
and while i love the holes in the jeans,
there comes a point where the man needed to not have 22* air going right through his jeans.
b/c all 4 of his other pairs of jeans have holes in the knees.
along with his brown cargos.
oh how i love this little boy.
i'm so happy about his new pants,
i feel like i bought something for myself.
weird.
but so true.
and just as satisfying.
max picked out a princess tiara.
and brennan a spiderman beanie.
which he used his "christmas money" to buy.
he told the cashier all about it.
she loved him.
me too:)

when you wish upon a star {fishing}

a dream come true.

for me too:)

when you wish upon a star,

makes no difference who you are.

anything your heart desires,

will come to you.

if your heart is in your dream,
no request is too extreme.
when you wish upon a star,
like dreamers do.

fate is kind.
she brings to those who love.
the sweet fulfillment of
their secret longing.

like a bolt out of the blue,
fate steps in and pulls you through.
when you wish upon a star,
your dreams come true.

when you wish upon a star,
your dreams come true.

................

yes,

they surely do:)