pink robot in a tutu.

if you flip back and forth between these two pictures over and over and over again,

max looks like a pink robot in a tutu.

it's really funny.

trust me.

i've got three day of experience with it.

just can't help myself from coming back for more.

sat-is-fac-tion

when ya can't stop teasing your sister,

and you won't stop chasing your brother with the inflatable giant hammer,

ya

clean

the

poop

can.

man, that was satisfying.

manual labor works.

yesssssssss:)

that face though

is this what it looks like when you try to clean your house?

yeah, me too:) 

that face though.

:):):)

fat thursday {mardi gras}

how long 

does mardigras go anyway?

did i even spell it right?

max "decorated" ariel yesterday, and it made me laugh really hard.

because it just seemed so "fitting."

especially since my brother included me on the group text to charles in charge, 

i mean charles and friends dressed up in their beads and tutus for fat tuesday.

with someone filling up a cup of something on someone's back.

or was it their bum?

everyone was fully clothed,
and by that i mean totally mardi gras'd out.
it was awesome.

it's times like these where i just love technology.

other times when my internet doesn't work,

and the wifi is down,

and max is sick as a dog, 

and only wants to watch a movie on my phone and can't,

because you know, the internet and wifi are not working.

those are the times i don't love technology at all.

is it a week?

or just tuesday?

mardigras.

i don't get out much.

and i live in utah.

i didn't spell it right.

it's two words.

thank you google.

say it with me:

mardi gras.

this is what mardis gras looks like at our house:

we're on day 5 of this over here.

fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose,

and now a hurting right ear.

say it with me:

mardi gras

or ear infection.

whichever:)

poor thing.

now is really great.

one day when all of the student loans are paid off,

and the debts are all gone,

and the basement is finished,

i know i'll be thinking how really great it was

to just be running on my treadmill in the afternoon listening to my favorite songs,

with chase asleep in his crib,

brennan watching cartoons upstairs,

and max drawing on the chalkboard easel.

you draw me a lot {brennan turns 6}

you wanted to take me to see frozen for your birthday.

because i hadn't seen it yet,

and you said i just had to see it.

you got a big rootbeer,

a box of sour patch kids,

and a bag of popcorn.

every time i looked down the row at you, 

you were sitting on the edge of your seat zoned in.

it was so cute.

you are my best eater.

and will try anything.

you will eat your vegetables and then tell max and chase why they should eat theirs.

your favorite food is peanut butter toast.

it's peanut butter with honey drizzled on top.

sometimes you ask for peanut butter and jelly instead.

you love canned peaches.

reese's puffs is your favorite cereal.

you love to draw.

every day you bring home a stack of drawings from school that you did during free time,

with intricate things going on in them.

there's always a story.

and i love it when you tell me all about them.

you draw me a lot.

i always have long hair on one side of my head,

and you write "MOM" somewhere on it.

one time you drew me driving a big racer car.

that one you hung over my bed for a few weeks,

and then moved it to the wall of drawings hanging over your bed in your room.

you love super heroes.

you are so creative.

i love to hear you read.

you tell me it's too hard,

and then you do it like a champ.

you are so stubborn.

and it gets in your way a lot.

i know how you feel.

you can remember things from when you were 2.

your memory is out of this world.

you are so smart.

i'm pretty sure you've memorized every fact about animals 

that wild kratt's has ever shown on pbs.

you are funny funny FUNNY.

you make me laugh all day long.

sometimes you drive me CRAZY.

because you tease max until she cries.

you chase CHASE around.

sometimes he likes it.

you love to wrestle him.

and make him laugh.

you love being a big brother.

every night you make sure you give him a big hug and kiss before he goes to bed.

you also really like to teach him how to do naughty things,

and then you laugh when he does it.

it's going to take me months to get him to stop throwing grapes across the table i think:)

you would watch movies and play video games all day long if we let you.

i hate it and love it.

you finally learned to wipe your own bum this year.

HALLELUJAH.

you picked the Thor cake from harmon's because of the hammer.

i was so bugged because the cake is $30 whether you pick the hammer thor cake 

or the transformer cake with two transformer figures.

the practical side of me knew you'd get more bang for you buck with any other cake but the Thor cake.

which i told you,

but you still wanted the Thor cake.

so i let you get what you wanted anyway,

and you loved it.

i can bribe you with just about anything.

and you will wait extra time if it means you will get more later.

it makes me so proud:)

so patient.

you love to be read to.

you will sit on my lap for an hour and not move a muscle.

i love it.

you've been that way since you were a baby.

when you were 5 months old you would sit on my lap and turn the pages at just the right spot.

i made dad video tape it because i knew no one would believe it.

you tell me that if you could make your own world it would be a world where you and cade could play video games and watch tv without your brains turning to mush,

and where there would be no rules,

with moms to tuck you in at night.

you ask me to sing twinkle twinkle little star and baby beluga to you every night.

baby beluga is your favorite.

you also really like i am a child of god.

wednesday is your favorite day of the week 

because you get to go to cade's house after school so i can take max to dance class.

every day you ask me how many more sleeps until wednesday.

even on wednesday nights.

cade is your best friend.

you are wired the same.

your conversations are hilarious.

you have a secret hide out around the corner at "that human's house with the dog named millie" 

{aka andrea's house behind our house},

but you can't show us where it is because then it wouldn't be secret.

you think teenagers are awesome and the two of you talk about what it will be like, 

and what stuff you will be able to do when you are teenagers some day.

for example:

Cade, "I was zausted last night."
Brennan, "I'm zausted every night cause Max is so crazy and I can't sleep."
Cade, "Just tell her in your manly voice, 'Maxine, GO TO SLEEP!' "
Brennan, "I'll try it in my manly voice, but she won't listen."

...

Cade, "Mom, I have to ask you a question. 

Have you ever been to the middle of nowhere? Do you even know where it is?"
Mom, "No, why?"
Cade, "Brennan told me that he's been to the middle of nowhere. 

He said that his grandma lives in the middle of nowhere. 

I want to go to the middle of nowhere some day."

...

Cade, "I want nuggets, fries, & a banilla frosty.
Brennan, "Me too. I want the same as Cade cause he's my dude."
Cade, "Ya, cause we're each other's dudes."

...

"i'd punch that guy so high that he'd go to the land where jesus lives." -Brennan

...

Cade, "Come on Brennan, why can't you just like girls?"
Brennan, "Because girls get you grounded and punish you and take away your electronics."
Cade, "Ya, but when you're good they kiss you."

...

brennan: siri, i just farted
siri: i'm afraid i'm not familiar with i just farted, shall i look it up on the web for you?
cade: siri, do you like popcorn?
siri: surprisingly, i haven't had the chance to try popcorn before.
{snickering boys}
cade: how about watermelon, and you have ever stayed in hotel before?!
siri: i'm afraid i don't know watermelon and hotel, shall i look it up on the web for you?
{and then they ran off in their underwear}

...

Cade, "Just yell 'Susie' real loud and she'll come help you."
Brennan, "SUSIE!!!!"
Mom, "Cade, did you call me 'Susie'?"
Cade "Of course. I call you 'Susie' when me friends are here."

...

Cade, "Brennan, I'm sorry I got mad cause you went first at the drinking fountain. You're always my friend.
Brennan, "I know 'cause we'll never break up as friends."
Cade, "I know, 'cause I'll always let you go first at the drinking fountain."

...

you are my BEST SLEEPER.

which i think is sooo ironic because you were the worst sleeper as a baby.

you will fall asleep in 2.5 seconds and then stay asleep through anything.

max puked at christmas, and we turned on the lights in your room, while she was bawling, changed her sheets, cleaned everything up, and you never woke up once.

it's amazing.

you are afraid of dogs.

because grandma gibson's new puppy belle chased you into the corner.

and so now you are afraid of all dogs.

and some cats.

you pick on max sooooo much.

sometimes she scratches your face or hits you.

you never hit back,

except sometimes you will grab her hands and push your arms straight so that she can't get to you.

it makes her scream really loud and get crazy eyes,

and so you laugh and it makes her even more mad.

i just wish you wouldn't.

because i know how much you love her.

and the other half of the time you are best friends.

i love to watch the two of you play.

especially when you play princess with her, and she plays super hero with you.

you love to watch scooby doo.

you love to be in your underwear.

you strip your clothes off the minute you walk in the house.

you love your dad.

you love to ski.

sled.

ride bikes.

swim.

play in the water.

play basketball.

play soccer.

basically anything where you can be moving all of the time,

those are the sports where you thrive:)

you tell me you want to marry me and live in our house forever.

you hate scary movies.

when we went to the lego movie for your birthday there was a Jurassic park preview on when we walked into our seats.

you hid behind all of your friends and wouldn't come around the corner because you were so scared.

you told me in pure trepidation that this was not the right movie and we were in the wrong place.

i'm so glad that you are still a little boy in that way.

that still get scared, and needs me to hold your hand.

you are also terrified of the big metal elephant at the zoo.

you hide behind the stroller,

close your eyes,

and crouch down so you won't see it,

and it won't see you.

one of these days you will not be scared of that anymore.

i will keep holding your hand and letting you hide behind me until you aren't scared anymore:)

i love to hold your hand.

you still have cabbage patch dimples.

you love legos.

especially doing them with dad.

remote controlled cars and trucks.

nerf guns.

you shoot them at me.

from across the room.

it reminds me of your dad.

you love it when i come to volunteer in your classroom at school every week.

you will give me a kiss and a hug in front of all of your friends still.

i soak it in like it's the last time every time just in case.

you are a chameleon.

you go with whatever is around you.

it's awesome to watch because you can get along with ANYONE,

and it completely scares the crap out of me all at the same time.

you love to watch my little pony with max,

but you won't ever pick to watch it on your own.

you love power rangers.

playing with friends.

hot baths,

and lazy mornings.

your laugh stops people in the street.

and OH your sense of humor!

i ADORE your sweet sweet heart.

your deep brown eyes you got from your dad,

and your thick brown hair that grows like a weed.

you have made my soul a better one in the world.

i can't believe how big you are this year.

i love you.

love, mom. 

the day you peed on grandpa {dear brennan}

dear brennan,

you were the fattest, chubbiest, cutest baby in the nursery.

your big chubby face and arms and legs,

OHHHH i wish i could squish them again right now.

i was so scared when they put you in my arms,

and still in shock that you were so big.

who on earth ever heard of having a 9lb 4oz baby anyway?

{who knew chase was be bigger?!}

i just remember thinking how excited i was that i just lost 10 pounds getting you out.

grandma carol, grandma and grandpa gibson, and aunt ashlie 

came to the hospital super late at night to see you after you were born.

i ate a big mac.

it grosses me out so much to think about that now.

why?

why did i pick a big mac?

gross.

dad had just given you a bath.

and we all sat around holding you 

and watching the video tape of dad giving you a bath until after midnight.

this was before smart phones when you could only take videos on video cameras.

i think i might actually be a grown now after saying that.

the next day the pediatrician on call 

thought your esophagus hadn't been formed properly 

because you threw up something green, i think it was bile or something bodily like that,

and you had to drink this drink that when they x-rayed you

it would show them how it traveled through your body in the color blue.

dad took you.

i stayed in the room and cried with grandma carol.

she brought me jamba juice.

i barfed it up:)
i didn't take Vicodin anymore after that.

when they brought you back and told us you were fine, 

and that you had just swallowed meconium, and that it was just a precaution anyway,

we sighed a huge sigh of relief and decided we didn't like that lady doctor anymore.

the little free hospital shirt was so tiny on you.

i remember the nurse saying "it's the thought that counts."

we laughed because you were such a fat man in a little suit.

the hat i brought for you to wear home was so tight around your big head,

but i just really wanted you to wear it home,

so i squished it on your big head, took some pictures,

and wore it home.

when we got home, we took your cap off, 

and you had the worst mark from the hat being too tight on your head.

i didn't worry about hats anymore.

plus, you were always really hot and sweaty 

so you didn't need them anyway.

grandpa ryan flew in from california to see you for a few hours that day we brought you home.

you peed on his nice airplane clothes.

it was funny.

we all laughed.

grandpa couldn't change his clothes because he didn't bring any luggage for a few hours trip,

so he had to fly home with your pee on his pants.

i bet it dried really fast and didn't even smell,

but grandpa knew.

memories:)

i wish i could go back and do it all over again.

except i'd tell that lady doctor to leave us be.

love,

mom

...

one

two

three

four

five

six