Life As We Know It

Chris has been working every waking hour. I kid you not. I see him for 10 minutes after he gets out of the shower while we do scriptures and prayer and he wrestles his way out the door (while the boys cling to each leg and I stuff breakfast in his mouth).

The more competent he becomes at work, meaning, the more he learns, improves, etc. the more work he gets. He has made a lot of sacrifices the last year and a half to come home for an hour for dinner to see the boys and then returns back to work after they go to bed.

The last few weeks he hasn't even been able to do that.

How are we dealing with it?

Running around in our underwear (notice I am the only one with pants on in pictures below)

Tearing up the house ( as displayed below.. and their bedroom.. could not even see carpet- every inch of it was covered in LEGOS!)

And eating junk food (waffles for dinner. yeah, i'm that cool of a mom) (... and this would be the reason I needed to by that jogging stroller...)

two funny stories

While cleaning up lunch, the following conversation occured:

Nate: "Mom, do you know about those diarrhea blimpy kid books?"

Me: ...... (all of the entries in "the diarrhea diaries" (believe me, we had many last month) are flashing through my mind simply at the mention of the word "diarrhea" but that doesn't seem to be what he's thinking of)

Me:.... what? Will you say it again?

Nate: DIE- A- REEE- AHHHH BAAA LLLLLIMP PEEEE KID!!!!

Me: ( I try really hard to not ever laugh at my kids, but I just couldn't help it, and once I started, I was hysterical. )

Once I regained composer I was able to ask, "Do you mean Diary of a Wimpy Kid?"

Nate: ....... nooooo mom. It's Diarrhea Blimpy Kid! Anyway, do you know about that book?

(end scene)

Tonight while lying down with Andy (Chris and Nate are at Father's night at school. Bless his heart, he made it.. just barely.. but he made it!), I was pretending to be asleep (a trick that usual works and gets him to go to sleep) he said, "mom, open your eyes! I wanna look at dem" I did and he studied them for a minute and they he said, " MOM! They're BROWNIES!!" (yeah, I told you we've been eating a lot of junk food lately)

And lastly, for school they interviewed the kids about their dads (for Father's Night) and when Nate was asked how old his dad was Nate said, "I think he's nine..... Is that old?" Tonight we were talking about it and Nate asked Chris how old he was. Chris said "twenty seven". Nate's eyes got really big and he said, "WOW! That's as old as an adult!" Again, couldn't stop from laughing at that one either.

(pictures get less focused, but more adorable as you go)

( yeah, I'm that good at using my camera. I know, you're jealous)

Speaking of said jogging stroller. The run was a little rough. First, there's still snow all over, and where there isn't snow, there's ice. Oh yeah. Forgot about that little detail in my excitement to get out and run again.

Also, it is really, really hard to turn. Really.

And, the seats don't recline very deep.

But

-The boys still fell asleep in it yesterday afternoon when I took it out (and stayed asleep).

-It has great storage (individual mesh pockets on the back of each kid's seat that are good size and a zipper compartment in each one which I love for holding keys, phone, money, etc. All this as well as a basket underneath) (and now you all know where I hold my money and keys when I run so you can rob me).

-The canopies adjust individually and at 3 different extensions. The most extended almost covers the entire stroller (think of a baby carrier how it can close over the whole thing, or adjust back to 1/2 way or 1/4 way).

-Major shocks. I ride right over curbs like no big deal- it's just like being on a bike. Little potholes on the sidewalk that can give a normal stroller a bump are not even noticeable.

- The wheel lock release down by the wheels are incredibly easy to release- I know you know what I am talking about, some of those locks give the top of your foot a bruise when you try to pop the release! It's amazing how gentle the release is on this.

- there's a handbrake

- the grip on the push bar/handle bar is rubber and not that foamy crap that rubs off after a few months and leaves you with spotty wear holes down the the metal frame.

It does not fit through door ways and I have to take it apart every day, but it's a snap to put it together and take it apart so it doesn't bother me. Everything about it is really quality. My favorite stroller so far (and I have owned 5)