Your brother is your best friend

I've been noticing lately that Colin has found a new friend in Logan. I first saw this a couple of weeks ago when Dave took Trevor to a scout activity with him. The house was peaceful and quiet as Colin sat downstairs and drew and Logan played with cars upstairs. And then the two came together and started playing with one another. They played nicely, there was no fighting and they were both laughing and smiling and having fun. Then, a few days ago I saw it again. Colin and Logan off together playing while Trevor was busy doing something else. Yesterday, before dinner, Logan wanted to go out and swim. He wanted friends to swim with him so he ran upstairs to get his brothers to come out. All three of them played for a while but in the end Trevor ended up coming back in the house leaving Colin and Logan to play. They get along so nicely. I think they have a great new relationship building. Not just brothers, but now they're becoming friends. I just hope Logan isn't too sad when Colin goes off to kindergarten in a few months. At least they will have some time together each afternoon until it's time to pick Trevor up. It's so nice seeing your kids getting along and being friends. Dave and I say all of the time to them, "He's your brother, and he should be your best friend." My greatest desire is that the three of them grow up close, that they grow up as friends.

Attempt at family pictures

A couple of weeks ago we went to a park with a friend and her daughter and attempted to take some family pictures. As soon as we got out of the car the boys wanted nothing to do with taking pictures. Although we did not have their cooperation, I was able to find some pictures I really did like because they sure did capture our boys' personalities.

Nesting

I never really went through that nesting phase when I was pregnant with any of my boys. That need to clean and organize, to get make room for one more. But I don't think that feeling comes just when you're about to have a baby. I think it comes at all different times in your life. For me it came a couple weeks ago after I went grocery shopping. I went alone since that Monday was a holiday and I ended up buying way more than I usually do. I'm sure it was because I was able to walk slowly through the store and really look at everything instead of hurrying and getting everything in my cart as quickly as possible because I had kids screaming, crying, complaining, fighting, or running away. When I got home to unload my groceries I realized I didn't have room for everything. And then I got that feeling. The need to clean and organize, the strong desire to make room, to make it all fit nice and neat. For the next hour or so I cleaned out the cupboards in my kitchen, then made my way to the hall cabinets where I keep my food storage and finally the hall closet where I have more food storage. By the time I was done everything had a place, a home. Things fit and I discovered, once I rearranged a bunch of stuff, that I actually had extra room. Now if only I felt the need to clean and organize other parts of my house.....

I like it easy

I love finding easy recipes I can use for my family. Things that are simple, don't take a lot of time - dinners my kids will like. Some of my favorite places to go for easy recipes are: Kraft Foods, The Pioneer Woman and Tasty Kitchen. I can get really easy and simple recipes that taste good and don't have a hundred different steps or expensive ingredients. I know, some people think you need to expose your kids to new things so they will like different things. Well, let's be realistic. I don't have the time or the money to try a bunch of stuff my kids "might" like. I don't see anything wrong with making easy dinners my kids will like. If I like it and they like it and my husband likes it than it's a keeper. I also love time-saving cooking ideas. The best idea I ever got was on a food storage website. The tip was this: when you buy ground beef make sure you get it when it's on sale in the bulk packages. Then when you get home cook it up, drain the fat and put into freezer bags in 2 cup portions. You can freeze it and when you need something for dinner, pull out the bag, pop it in the microwave to defrost and you've got cooked ground beef for tacos, pasta, whatever. It's the best trick ever. It makes dinner time so easy and you save a bunch of money if you bought it on sale. I just did this tonight and I got 4 bags which is 4 dinners for $10 which comes out to $.50 a serving. You can do the same thing with chicken (bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes, shred or chop it up then freeze in 2 cups portions. It's ready the next time you need cooked chicken for a casserole, enchiladas, chicken salad). Right now The Pioneer Woman has quick, easy meal ideas. Take a look and you may just get inspired. You may just wow your family the next time you get home late and need dinner on the table in 20 minutes. Then they will all think you are supermom. And you are.

We have no Princess movies

The boys wanted a movie for tonight. They wanted "The Spy Next Door" but it was not at the Red Box so instead Dave brought home "The Princess and the Frog." Really? I told him they were not going to like a Princess movie, but Dave said, "But it's a cartoon." Yeah, but it's a Princess movie. They were disappointed when they heard what movie they got for the night, but they were good sports and we all settled on the couch (except for Dave since he had game night with the guys) to watch the movie. They laughed at some places, they liked the bad guy, they loved eating their popcorn, but by then end I could tell they were not too impressed. They didn't really seem to like the singing parts and their eyes were glazing over a little by the time we got to the marriage/happy ending. They seemed glad when it was finally over and I told them we'd try and find their Spy movie tomorrow so we can do a re-do of Family Movie Night. I used to love all of those movies when I was a kid - Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White. I loved Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid, but thank goodness Disney started making movies like Incredibles, Cars and Toy Story. I mean, what did families like mine do way back when there were no Disney movies for boys? Because, really, what boy cares about if the glass slipper is going to fit, or sits on the edge of his seat waiting for the prince to come and wake up the sleeping Princess with a kiss? Yes, we've got all of the movies little boys like and none of them have a Princess as a character. We're all boy here in our house. So, none of my kids will ever want to sit and watch Anne of Green Gables with me; I'll never have a kid to go watch chick flicks with. But that's what my mom and sisters and friends are for. And I don't mind that the movies we get aren't usually the ones I would pick, but we always end up having fun and when you're watching a movie with your kids sometimes it's more fun watching them than it is watching the movie.