Have a seat

James decided that this spot in the refrigerator made a great seat. I guess that keeps you close to the food!

Murphy's Law (an addendum)

So, based on the classic Murphy's Law (Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.) I have postulated my own Murphy's Law for Mom's who want to sleep in.
Let me first tell you what is normal at my house. I usually get up about 5:35am to go work out before Cam has to head off to work. So on occasion, I elect to skip the workout in the name of sleeping in. Like today, my birthday, I decided that I should be allowed to sleep in a little. So I turned off my alarm when it went off and settled in for a nice sleep. Then at 5:40am Austin comes into my room---so we tell him it is too early and take him back to bed. I doze off, but a cow outside (we live next to a pasture) is seriously mooing! Then Austin is back in our room at 6:20am. I take him back to his bed and tell him to sleep longer. I get cozy in bed again, and MOOO, MOOO. The cow is going. At about 6:40, Cam gets up and gets in the shower. Austin comes back into my room "can I get in Dad's side of the bed?". Fine. So then I have wiggly Austin next to me, talking, etc. It's over. I give up. I should have just gone to the gym. At least I would have something to show for waking up so early. But now, I didn't exercise and I didn't get to sleep in . Thanks to the cow and the 3 year old. I'll have to remember this the next time I want to skip my early morning workout. It's just not worth it!
So my addendum to Murphy's law is the day you decide to sleep in, everything that can happen, will happen to keep you (a mom) from getting that extra sleep.

Can I have the beater?

James' first introduction to licking the beater. The menu was brownie batter today. The boys each had one. And as you can see, very much enjoyed it. It is just one of the finer things in life-brownie batter, cookie dough, cake batter. Yum!

New Blog!

I decided to set up a new blog for myself. This is primarily because I want to spare all the normal readers of this blog from the nerdiness that I desire to poop all over the internet. (A prime example, I had to struggle very hard to not write "teh internets" in the last sentence, those of you who know me well will understand why)
At any rate, my new blog's address is http://stewartsoda.blogspot.com and if you're interested in computers, programming, electronics, and yes, even Star Trek (occasionally), I would like to personally invite you to visit anytime.

That is all, you may return to your regualr daily activities now.
-Cam

Some really cute boys!

James and Austin all dressed up for church--they are just way cute!
James and Austin playing one of their favorite games--trains. One person is the engine and the other is the caboose. Then they stretch the heck out of my sewing measuring tape--but it's fun. Oh, and you have to run around saying "chugga, chugga, choo choo!"
We have gotten quite a lot of snow this year and Austin loves playing in it. It just cracked me up to seem him trying very hard to ride his tricycle in the 4 inches of snow. Didn't work so well, but he was having fun.
James was just being cute!

Life of a King!

For Christmas, Papa (my dad) made they boys a bunk bed. It is awesome and Austin loves it. When James gets older, he will get to use it too. But for now, Austin gets to choose, which of the two beds to sleep on. Life of a king!

I gotta get me one of those

I'm sitting and looking at pictures because I'm not sleepy. I came across this one and remembered how much fun it was. Riding a bike is pretty much as close to total freedom as I have felt in a long time.

I need a kickstart, and to hear the announcer in my head say "He's on fire!"

-Edit, 19Feb08:

So, in the interest of not sounding like a caged animal (which I am not) I have edited the above post to sound less lame.

7 Things you don't know about me

Ok, so Kylie tagged me to do a blog entry on things you don't know about me. I have a few minutes while I am uploading some pics, so I will give it a try. I'm supposed to tag 7 other people--ha! I don't know 7 others that blog. I would love to see what Diane, Blake and anyone else who blogs, would have to say though.

1. I am a chronic list maker. I make lists because I can't always remember all the tons of things that need to be done or that I think need to be done, so I write lists. I have lists in notebooks, lists on my planner, lists on sticky notes, lists on the desk, lists in my purse, and when I worked, I always had several lists at work. Do I actually get all of those things done? Nope. So then I write a list to consolidate several lists, thinking that it will be more efficient and I will actually get more done.

2. I write things on my planner or lists (see item #1) that I have already done and then cross it out. For example, if I clean the bathroom or buy a birthday card for someone, I will write it on my planner then cross it off. I know, seems like a waste of ink, but hey, it makes me feel like I have really gotten something done that day.

3. I don't like my birthday. It has nothing to do with getting older (although, I can imagine at some point in the near future, that might become more of an issue). I had a mom and dad that really tried to make us feel special on our birthdays. We always had an amazing homemade cake, frequently we would have birthday parties that were really fun, we would get fun gifts. It was always so much fun as a kid to have a birthday. Well now that I am an adult, I have realized that not everyone in the world will give you the same kind of love and attention on your birthday that your mom will. So I try not to get my expectations too high, but I do because of my past. Then come birthday, and it is so sad. It just isn't quite the same. Then I feel awful for feeling like I didn't get enough attention. I know, its a weird cycle, but that is how it is.

4. I swallow my gum. Not all the time, but frequently. I know, I probably have 10lbs of chewed gum sitting somewhere in my stomach waiting to be digested (everyone knows that it takes like 6 months for gum to be digested). But I just don't care. I would rather swallow it and deal with the repercussions than spit it out in to a wrapper that I have to put in my purse. Then find the nasty surprise of chewed up gum stored in wrapper, just waiting for me to find in the bottom of my purse or bag.

5. I love to sing to the radio or without the radio. Hmmm, some of you probably already knew that but the real clincher is, I won't sing with the radio around other people very often because I just make up my own words. I can't ever tell what they are saying in the songs, so I sing what ever I think it sounds like---most of the time I am wrong. Cam will occasionally stop me and ask what was I singing. Most of the time, he just chuckles to himself and lets me live in my oblivion.

6. Cam was my first kiss. And the only guy I have ever kissed. Now just for my pride sake, let me say that it wasn't because guys didn't try. I learned some pretty sneaky ways to avoid being kissed. With a lot of the guys I went out with, it just kinda grossed me out to kiss them. Not Cam though, that must mean it is true love. :)

7. I am absolutely driven by guilt. Ask me at any given time and I could tell you that I was feeling bad or guilty about ..... There is always something. It is like the blood running through my veins. For example, right now, I am feeling very guilty for wasting time typing a blog entry instead of ironing or finishing up the laundry. It's kinda of annoying to others, I'm sure but that is just how I function. Guilt. (I was going to insert some interesting pics to make this blog look all cute and stuff but I just feel awful for taking so much time typing it that I can't take the time to put pics in it. I need to go do something else. Maybe something off of one of my lists!)

Worms

Cam and Austin were doing some work in the front yard. Then I noticed they were just sitting, pondering the greater things in life. I found out later that they were looking at a huge earthworm. Boys!!

Halloween

Austin was a great lion and James was a chicken. James even learned how to roar from Austin , so we had a roaring chicken.

I was a bad flashback for everyone who thought this look was cool in high school.

Cam was a punk. (Several people at his work really thought he had tons of tatoos!)