Back to Work

Two days back into "real life". . . Back to getting up by 6:00 and trying to be out the door by 7:20. Back to sequences, and factoring, and new seating charts, and grounding from iPods, and construction, and 125 teenagers coming through my door!

People always ask what we did over Spring Break and I say nothing because we didn't travel anywhere, but when I thought more about it we did a lot: ran the St. Patrick's Day 10K, spent a lot of time outside on the early warm days (including trips to the lake and park with friends), watch party for the KSU game, TONS of play dates, a day spent with my mom during treatment, a little shopping, a little crafting, some grading/planning, cleaning and re-cleaning, Target x 5, meal for a friend, to-do pile tackled. . . . See, who needs a vacation?

A trip to the lake = football time.
Graham got to venture out of his stroller and try the slides. It seems like they have a hundred of these little play areas around Tuttle...

I'm a sucker for flower accessories--not real practical in a house of boys, but still fun. I don't think Miles noticed I was using him as a model. Must have been a sticky situation for Mario (he's on his DS).

Edie

One of my Spring Break goals was to get some pictures on here (since someday I plan to actually get this blog made into a scrapbook) to highlight Edie's life. Most of you know we lost Edie in mid-February--it was a very sad week or two, and it's finally starting to feel normal just having Newman. Edie was a WONDERFUL dog, and we are so thankful we picked her from the puppy mill in Omaha to share nine years with us.

Edie as a puppy--she liked to ride on our lap when we drove. That didn't last long since she got big....quickly. (Focus on the cute puppy, not the very out of style sunglasses)
Edie went to obedience training with Deb in Papillion. This was no Petco training class; Deb was hard-core, and possibly part canine herself. Edie placed 2nd in her class!
When she was excited she would get a full-body mohawk.
Photo session at a park in Omaha.
First grandchildren on the Braxmeyer side--Edie and her cousin, Bozeman.

When Edie was 2, we got her a companion, soon to be best friend--Newman. He ended up outweighing her by 20 pounds.
Edie (all of us actually) spent a lot of time at Walnut Creek Park in Papillion.
All of the boxer cousins--Edie, Newman, Bozeman, Jersey--in Denver.
In Manhattan, a lot of time was spent at the dog park and the lake.
Staring down a squirrel in Lebo. We love you Edie!

Hiding

Graham squeezed his way between the couch and the wall. He was content for a few minutes playing with a toy that had rolled under the couch) until he figured out he couldn't turn around. Luckily I had cleaned behind the couch this week so he didn't eat a bunch of dust balls.

Naughty

Not sure how well you can tell in this picture, but the front of Graham's shirt and pants are soaked. He LOVES spilling the dog water and laying in it. So far he's beat me to the water bowl three times (this spring break). I think he's going to like the pool this summer.

Flat Hair

One of the first things on the Spring Break "to do" list was getting Miles a flat haircut. In his world flat = short like Owen's.

Before and after. Not sure where the weird smile comes from.

March Madness

According to Adam these are the best two weeks in sports.... We watched the selection show yesterday and were happy to see K-State was seeded #5, but wishing it could have been in Tulsa. I think we were printing this bracket as they announced the last team--Owen was so anxious! He talked a little strategy with Adam, but made all of his own decisions, including KSU winning it all! I could go for that :) Miles didn't fill one out, but his picks are KSU and Texas, naturally.

By the way--Owen is no longer suiting up (outside in the driveway) as Jimmer, but is now Nolan Smith or Kimba Walker.
Adam found his app which apparently allows him to watch the games. That seems too good for a free app. I guess we'll see. As for me... I bought a green KSU hoodie two weeks ago and I'm just happy that it worked out that the Cats play on St. Patty's Day! Hopefully that's a sign of good things to come.

EMAW

I think the Cats could have used a few more fans yesterday--ouch! Hopefully the NCAA tournament has better results.

Cousins

We enjoyed having family in town for the second weekend in a row. This time, Graham had a little friend to play with. Brodie (our nephew) is two days younger than Graham. These guys are going to love growing up together.

Loving the Weather

What a fantastic day to be outside! Good-bye (for today at least) treadmill! Adam even got home early. . . and that meant he'd be locked into either baseball or basketball in the driveway. With NCAA basketball in full swing, Owen opted for some hoops. Owen (aka Jimmer Fredette from BYU) and Mom (aka Rodney McGruder) battled Miles and Dad to see who got to pick where we went for dinner. We pulled out a 10-9 win, picked So Long, but settled for Old Chicago since there wasn't a wait. Hope everyone enjoyed this awesome weather as much as we did.

8 Months

"I'm eight months old now... I'm soooo close to crawling and working on pulling up. I still don't sleep through the night because I'm starving at about 4:00 AM (and sometimes at midnight as well). I've been pooping about six times a day here lately; I think my top teeth are coming in. I've started eating those little puffs and they are delicious. I love my big brothers; they take really good care of me... but... I can't wait until I can get into their Legos, and crayons, and interrupt their DS games."

Making Himself Comfortable

Newman has decided he likes sleeping with Owen. He's never been a "human bed" dog, but it looks like he might be changing his ways.

Baby Silencer

My SIL Michelle had the app, "Baby Silencer" on her iPad this weekend and baby Jack loved it. We downloaded it for Graham and he does too. He was mesmerized last night. Are you wondering what it does? Well.... if you have an iPad, it's a free download, check it out; if not, it's a bunch of color/shape changing, fractal-like things that move all over the screen.

Note: Supervise baby with iPad, eventually he will try to eat it.

Blackout in Bramlage

A quick Varney's run to pick up some black shirts for the boys and we were off to the KSU v. OU game. Miles was pleased to see all of the black since that's his favorite color. We didn't see the end of the game due to Owen's basketball game, but were happy with another Wildcat victory!

Graham looks greasy because he has vaseline on his chapped cheeks. He loved the game and behaved perfectly.
The people behind us were probably the reason he was so enthralled--he spent most of the game with his head twisted around watching them. Oh well, he's too young to correct him for starring.

Happy (Late) Valentine's Day

The kids raked in a ton of Valentine's Day candy from the school and daycare parties. They also scored a 3 pound chocolate heart (which is going to childcare tomorrow) and some money from different relatives. Adam and I didn't exchange Valentine's Day gifts--we considered the KSU victory over KU was good enough!

The kids love our iphones, so we were excited to find this template to make tons of iphones. Too bad they aren't real--I'd be rich!
I had signed up to help with Owen's class party. It was fun to check out his classroom and meet some classmates (and to reaffirm that I belong at the high school).
Owen and Miles surprised me on Sunday by making this heart out of stuff in the garage. Very sweet and creative! I was impressed.
There was even some love in the air at the high school--Valentine's cards, each complete with five parabolas. You can't buy those at Target!

Sunshine

We definitely needed a weekend where we could get outside and play, although we were still confined to the driveway. HOURS of basketball--PIG, games, shooting practice, drills, . . .

Representing the Duke Blue Devils--Owen! This dude made 12 shots in a row today.
And for the Longhorns--Miles! Miles made 7 shots in a row (if he hits the rim it counts as a make since Adam raised the goal on him :).
And the Super Fan--Graham!

A Cup of Water??

Does this look like: A) a cup of water on the ledge of the bathtub? or B) a piece of sock fuzz taking a nap in his water-cup home (for the past three days)?

Answer: B. The camera, the light, and my effort aren't good enough for you to see the little piece of fuzz, but it's there. Yes, this was Miles' creation--no idea why.

Teacher's Aide

Owen asked me all weekend if he could help me grade papers (there were a ton!). And, although he is a whiz at subtracting with re-grouping, I don' think he's quite ready for logarithmic functions! I did manage to find some true-false questions that he was able to grade. He took it very seriously and even commented on some sloppy handwriting by a few sophomores :)

PS--Mom, this is the outfit he bought with some of your Christmas money--he's worn it three nights in a row.

Seven Months

Well, we are a couple weeks late posting a picture of Graham at seven months. He's still drooling everywhere (as you can see from the soaked bib--he goes through about five per day). Not crawling, but scooting, rolling, and spinning around on his tummy to move all over. He's eating the #2 foods and so far has liked everything he's had. He's had a little cold (and a lot of snot) the past week or so, but overall he's a happy boy!

iPad Alert

The kids got lucky today--Luke went home for lunch from Mathis and dropped Mason and Meg off for the afternoon on his way back. Owen and Mason were glued to some Wii hero game and Miles and Meg played a hundred different things. They were playing games on the iPad and I heard them giggling for a long time. When I checked it out, I learned they were laughing at "butts" and "pee-pee's" (or at least the muscles of the butt and the bones which they must have thought were something else). I'll blame it on Adam since these are his work apps.

Kids, Kids, More Kids...

Kite's Legends Room was NOT the place to be Saturday evening if you are young and single . . . If you have at least three kids, we probably let you in ;)

Neither are great shots, but you get the idea. A few kids were even too little or too "grown up" to be in this crazy mob. I don't think this group even noticed that K-State lost--way too much snacking/chasing/hiding/teasing. . .