One more week!!!!!!!

Yes, that's right...one more week until we hit the beach! I have never been so ready for a vacation. It is COLD in New Hampshire and I'm sick of winter clothes. On a serious note, it will be really good to have some time with Shawn to relax and to be removed from our everyday obligations to just be together. We'll get to run on the beach, on of my favorite things to do in South Beach, read without interruption, lay in the sun, the list goes on and on.

The boys finished their first session of soccer today. Grady is definitely the more aggressive player, something we knew already, and Conner really enjoyed the experience. They'll be doing at least one more session and then summer sports will begin. Conner wants to play "ball with a bat" - baseball - so we'll be signing him up for T-ball soon and also looking for a soccer team as what they are doing now is more skills focused.

Conner has been working on his drawing a lot more and drawing what he sees rather than what he knows. This is a concept my high school students often times had a difficult time grasping. What a little genius he is! A chip off the old block...hehehe. Grady, on the other hand, has been working on catching. He carries balls around and practices throwing them up in the air and catching them. His cake this Friday - Grady turns 2 on March 4th - will be in the shape of a football. He's going to love it. It is amazing how different brothers can be.

Have a great week. I doubt I'll be able to post birthday pics before we leave so you'll just have to wait until we return!
Conner, Grady, and I went to the Children's Museum in Boston with our neighbors last week. The kids all had a great time and it was nice to get out with some friends.

The case of the missing Valentine.

So, I was changing Grady's diaper after he woke up from his nap yesterday afternoon and he was playing with the infamous SpongeBob Valentine while doing so. After I get him all taped and snapped we were unable to find the Valentine. We looked everywhere and still no Valentine. Last night I find the card IN Grady's diaper. Somehow he managed to sneak it in there - no clue when that could have happened - but he did it none the less. Little stinker!

If God is a DJ...

then life is a dancefloor. One of my favorite songs on my MP3 player is this Pink song and, despite the need for a little censoring, kind of reinforces what our small group is currently studying. The title of the study is Living Beyond Myself and challenges us to live as a servant - something that is not always easy to do. We were talking about spiritual gifts and listening to the holy spirit last Friday and as I listened to this song as I ran, the lyrics "you get what you're given, it's all how you use it" started to take on some meaning. Just something to munch on.

So, the Steelers won the Superbowl - YeeHaw!!! - and now we're gearing up for a month of travel. We'll be spending much of March on the road as we're heading to Miami on the 4th for a few days, then down to Jamaica. (That's a link to our resort in Montego Bay.) March 23rd finds me flying the boys down to Charlotte to stay with Nana and Brian while we are in Hawaii. We'll be in Maui and Honoloulu - not too shabby!! Needless to say, I am totally psyched for March and Conner is ready for Nana to get here. I am so grateful for my mom. She's pretty much taking off the entire month for us. I'm fairly certain we would not have been able to travel nearly as much as we've been able to over these last few years without her.

Conner has been enjoying his Valentine's Day cards. He has gone through his bag at least 50 times in the last 24 hours and I've been shown each Valentine repeatedly. Grady's highlight is a SpongeBob Valentine a friend at the gym gave him. He's sleeping with it as I type this.

Hope you all have a great Valentine's Day. We don't have any big plans. While this holiday is fun for the kiddos I kind of think it's a hokey holiday. (Sorry to all of the romantic saps that read our blog.) Of course I got the kids and Shawn a little gift but really I like any excuse to buy a present. Later.

Betsy and I just before leaving for the airport. What an awesome weekend - I miss my friend!!














My boys in their black and gold.















The kiddos and their new toy. Ah, the world of videogames. Grady hasn't quite caught on yet that the controller he is using doesn't control anything. I know...it won't last long.