A mile in someone else's shoes

So if you think this is going to be a philosophical post about "walking in someone else's shoes" you should stop here because it's not. I'm going for the literal interpretation today.

Today, a coworker just had to share her shoes. Her younger (and very trendy) sister is visiting from FL and over half of her suitcase was full of shoes. My coworker stole a pair to wear to work today and they were very cute. They also made her noticeably taller. (She is all of 5 ft normally so these shoes boosted her up today.)

Now if you know me, I usually pick comfort over fashion, esp with shoes. I have some really cute tall brown boots but rarely wear them because they hurt my feet. The last night I wore them out I wanted to take them off and walk barefoot to the car from the bar. So today I decided to take a picture of my friend's shoes. She said they were surprisingly comfy but I still don't think I would brave them.

So if I had to literally walk a mile in someone else's shoes, as cute as these are, I'm not sure these would be the shoes I would pick :)

Life on the weekends...

I feel most of life happens on the weekends around here. Don't get me wrong I try to enjoy everyday but the schedule and routine of Monday- Friday with work and the controlled chaos and rush that is dinner, bathtime, and bedtime around here it's more fun on the weekends when the clock stops (figuratively since the kid alarm clock still goes off around 430 and 630) and we get to just go with the flow (sometimes in our PJs).

This weekend I had plans to have lunch with a great friend on Saturday. Alissa and I went out to lunch at Medici and had a nice time catching up. I am enjoying the fact that she now lives in town. We took a few self portraits in our booth which was dedicated to Mayor Chris Koos (current Town of Normal mayor). We had some good food, some good drinks, and some good laughs!

Earlier in the day Clay and Kenley had gone to Home Depot and Sam's Club. He reported back they had a nice father/daughter outing together. I had a laugh before they left because Kenley had put on her own coat.

I also like this picture because it looks like she is just standing there saying "What up Mom? Yeah I did this!" HA!!! Too funny. We should have just zipped the back and let her go.  Chase took a 3 hour nap that morning while they were running errands part of that time so it was strange to have some quiet around here.

We had some other good laughs on Saturday when Kenley had to wear Clay's basketball shoes around and when she helped me put on my lipstick for my lunch with Lissa.

Don't we look pretty??

Today (Sunday) I couldn't shake the "sleepies" that must have been passed to me from Chasey. Kids were up like normal but I just couldn't wake up and wanted to do nothing but nap. I managed to squeeze some zzzzzs on and off on the couch. We cheated and let Kenley watch some extra TV but I finally got a little wind to get going around 11. I wish I could have just gone back up to bed and gotten a good nap but not always possible with 2 kiddos so I'm just thankful I got a nap. (Thanks Clay!)

(I'd also like to call out this is my friend Alissa's favorite blanket. I think of her everytime we use it which is often as it's our TV blanket)

Today we also had a first. I painted Kenley's nails for the first time and she loved it.

It makes Clay and I a little sad since it makes her seem like such a big girl. She (and Chase) are both growing up way too fast!!!

And since it seems I had a lot of pics of Kenley from the weekend, here are a few that include Chasey. BONUS!

Caption This

This picture was just too funny not to share. I'm sure this isn't the last time that Chase will make Kenley cry, but I want you to guess what caused it this time or caption the photo with one of the million reasons I'm sure I'll hear as the two of them get older :)

I'll go first....(and no this isn't really what happened)... "MOOOOMMMMMM!!! Chasey wiped a boogie on me!"

Dinner Art

Clay and I have been in a bad habit lately...we've gotten out of our grocery shopping routine. It starts with me not wanting to make a grocery list because I haven't thought of dinner ideas for the week. It's been hard for me lately since I feel like we always eat the same thing and I want to make different things and good things not just convenient things. Then add to that the fact that I've been working a lot of Friday afternoons recently, we've been sick part of the time, and we just don't want to go on the weekends and you have a house with no food. This week we scraped by somehow with fish sticks and mac n cheese, chicken nuggets and tater tots, and tonight pancakes.  I know you are all jealous of my grade school lunch menu! Well tonight I got an idea to make the pancakes a little more interesting. Clay was playing basketball so it was me and the kids. Chasey sometimes takes a cat nap on the way home so Kenley and I were making dinner.

We decided to add a little (or a lot) of color to our night and make some fun pancakes.

 It started out pretty simple... just some green and purple (made with red and blue)....

 Then we had some fun and made lots of colors and some swirl pancakes. I think they looked pretty cool!

They were all delicious and we had great fun together!!


Side note: My original picture for the day before our dinner art was going to be a picture documenting my lunch with Mel today. We don't talk as much as we used to so we definitely try to catch up occasionally and we both made time for lunch at work today. It was a good time :)

Little and cute

I grew up loving to feed the ducks and I hope Kenley enjoys it too. Another thing I've always liked too are baby geese. Not a huge fan of the adult geese especially since they just seem to "take over" everything and often get in the way of enjoying the ducks, but the babies (even in their awkward teen years when they are grey and fuzzy and walk like dinosaurs), well, they are cute.

At work we have a small "pond" of sorts and a nice open field and therefore usually a pretty large gathering of geese. I don't like the poop on the sidewalks, the random honking outside of the windows, or the po-dunking (is that even a word) across the parking lot when you are trying to drive and they are trying to cross and then trying to attack your car, but there is a time when I enjoy having the geese around, and that's when they have their babies.

Today, I enjoyed the geese at work ...I saw the first babies of the season. There were only 2 and I know there will be more and some of the sets will have lots (I think one momma goose last year had 13 or so). I just think they are so little and cute that I had to make them my picture today!!!

4 photo fun (okay 3 days of photos and more)

As I start today's post I know that I didn't take a single picture today so when I get to today's picture I will be winging it. (Although I have a few ideas...)

Friday I had wanted to take a picture of my dental work. I'm halfway thru getting a royal tooth with a crown. I was intrigued by the process. Specifically when he filed all the enamel off and left me with this weird looking yellowed upside down thimble of a tooth that looked soft and felt gritty. Apparently the Dentin of the tooth is yellow and if someone has thin enamel that's what can make their teeth look yellow.  It was a very informative appointment and I asked lots of questions. I like my dentist :)

What would have been really cool is if I had ended up with some bling. My dentist was almost done and he mentioned that he could have given me a gold tooth for my temporary tooth that I now have until my crown is done at the lab. WHAT!! I could have had a gold tooth? That would have been awesome! But alas he mentioned this too late so I have a regular tooth colored temporary tooth. BORING! However I did go to the dental lab so they could scan my regular teeth and match the color on my new crown. I've now been told I have very white teeth. (Guess chewing on those rags and drooling with that whitening stuff back in college worked Alissa! HA!)

Well after all that, if you are still reading, I really did take a picture to share on Friday. It was of the "coffee camel" or giraffe depending on who you ask. My MIL spilled some coffee on her rob waving at Chase from across the room and it looked like a camel.

Exciting I know.

Saturday was very low key in the Brockman house this weekend. At the end of the day the 4 adults (Clay, MIL, FIL, and me) wound down with a round of Pegs and Jokers. We really enjoy playing games when my inlaws are here and this is one of our favorite.

I'm happy to report that my MIL kicked butt this time and won the majority of the games. Woo Hoo!!

Sunday we had my parents up too so we could celebrate my dad's birthday and Clay's birthday. We had a little cookout of burgers and sides. I even made some apple cobbler. YUM! We girls enjoyed some time at the table with the Play Doh. I realized I'm not overly artistic or creative and need to figure out more shapes to make besides the go to "worm." I will be taking suggestions for Play Doh lessons or projects in comments.

Today we returned to our normal schedule. The kids went back to the sitter's house after a week home with Grandma and Grandpa B and Clay and I returned to the normal after work schedule referred to as "controlled chaos." I didn't take any pictures today and I'm not sure there is anything  of particular interest today. Things at work are still super busy. Chase and I are recovering from our illnesses (colds and whatever else I have) and Kenley is somewhere on the road to recovery from her cold too. I'm hoping both of my kids sleep thru the night tonight without coughing fits or waking up to eat so my fingers are crossed.

That leads me to today's picture. I don't have one and I was going to post a pop up add that I've gotten every time I've been on the computer for the last week including 2x earlier tonight. However as I sit here and want to find the picture, sure enough I haven't gotten it yet. It's a pop up for PCH and winning $57,000 (or something like that.. it's at least more than $50,000) per WEEK for LIFE. Everytime I see it a list of things I would do comes to mind. My list includes but is NOT limited to: Pay off house, Pay off student loans, finish basement, do landscaping, set up and fund college funds, quit work, go back to school, buy new bed, and go on a cruise.   What would your list include?

Okay now that I'm mostly caught up, time for bed! Good night :)

Pink Panties and a Pig named Ormie

Yesterday we borrowed the Nap Nanny from Liz. Desperate to find something for Chase to sleep in after a night in his swing where the poor boy kept hanging over the edge because I had it propped in the sitting position. I didn't think he was going to like it at first but later learned he had just been trying to poop. HA! Anyways, when we tried it out my FIL thought it looked like Chase was wearing little pink panties. Now we have another blackmail picture for the books.

The Nap Nanny worked great last night and he's in there again tonight. Here's hoping for another great night and a boy on the road to recovery!

Now about that pig...

In December before the in-laws left to be Winter Texans, they discovered a video about a pig trying to get cookies. The pig's name is Ormie and Kenley just thinks he is the funniest thing. I love to see the smiles that come to her face when she watches it with Grandpa.

and if you'd like to enjoy it too....

Checking in

Life on this end is busy right now. Last Friday (as I mentioned in the past post) I woke up sick but knew I had to go to work. I made it thru most of the day but then progressively got worse over the weekend. I finally feel like I'm on the upswing but have a horrible (yet productive) cough. I've coughed so much and so hard these past few days I've actually given myself headaches and another sore irritated throat :( To add to the physical drain Chase is also sick right now. I'm sure I gave him my germs (or maybe he gave me his) but he has a bad cold and after a trip to the doctor yesterday we discovered he also has an ear infection. Poor little guy! The worst of it comes at night when he can't breathe and just coughs and coughs. We have him in the swing to help and even propped it further up last night but he kept slouching (sp?) out and leaning over the side awkwardly so I'm not sure what we will do tonight. 

Well anyways, I'm hoping we will all be healthy in a few days.

With regards to the picture challenge, I'm still keeping up as best I can with everything going on. I am missing pictures for Sat, Sun, Mon, and yesterday. I think I have some for all the days so let's see.....


Saturday...

Saturday afternoon we went to a birthday party. My friend Liz's 2 oldest kids have birthdays almost exactly 2 years apart so they have a joint birthday party every year. This year Kenley was very excited to go to the birthday party for her friend Rylee.  There was lots of great food and lots of great people. The kids had a blast enjoying the bounce house that was part of Rylee's birthday present.

I am sure Rylee and Kenley will be good friends growing up. It's so cute to see them together.
Sunday we had a low key day. We invited the Mehns (Liz's family) over for dinner. We did the brats on the grill and she brought down the sides that were left from the party. The girls had a good time having a dance party up in Kenley's room so I'd like to post a video instead of a picture for Sunday.

VIDEO WILL BE COMING SOON!


Monday it was back to work but I was spent. I felt worse somehow. I made it thru most of the day with a little help from these...

I mean sugar always makes the day better! We have been talking lately too about the Dozen donut challenge and a coworker Kelli said she would do it and Matt (another coworker) said he would accept the challenge. I'm thinking I should get in on it because for those that know me best, I can totally EAT A LOT of food (and quickly as Clay would add.) So if we ever do the challenge, I'll be sure to post.

That catches me up to yesterday (Tuesday) which was my loving husband's 34th birthday. We got to chatting that morning that 4 years ago we were in Vegas and life was so different. We had just started trying to start a family and had no idea what lay ahead and now ... 4 years later we are blessed!

I hope Clay had a great birthday even though he had a sick wife and a sick baby boy. My lovely MIL made the cake you see and it sure was yummy! Kenley liked that we had candles and helped Clay blow them out. While we were singing it was also really cute because she sang "happy birthday to you Daddy and Kenley." Made me smile (which she normally does!)

So there you have it.  A brief glimpse back over the past few days. The in-laws are here this week keeping the kids home and having great fun (aside from the sick baby). It's nice to have them back in IL for the summer now.

Time to get to work so gotta run.... later!

Picture catch up

I think I left off last Wed but I'm not sure. Last week was a blur. Super busy at work with a project that was supposed to launch on Friday afternoon. The days were much too short and it felt like I blinked and the week was on Friday. Usually a good thing but felt like I still had so much to do. However I did manage a few pics on Wed and Thurs.

Wed pic...
I see a lot of funny things driving around town. Funny bumper stickers to share or just people doing weird things. This car caught my eye and made me smile.

You may have to look at it bigger but it says "Kaylee, Will you go to prom with me? -Steven" I just had to wonder if she said YES. I assume so or she should have washed her car immediately. Who knows.

Thurs pic..
Our dept intern's last day was Friday. We wanted to do something for her but she has a few dietary restrictions so the normal bagels, cookies, or cake was out. Then it hit me.. what girl doesn't like to get some pretty flowers? So at lunch another coworker and I ran out and put together this arrangement.

Ignore the messy desk as it distracts from the picture. The tulips started to open later that afternoon and it was just so pretty. Made me wish I could buy myself some fresh flowers randomly every once in awhile. Just seemed to cheer up the day.

Friday I will admit I don't have a picture. I woke up Friday morning sick and knowing I had to go to work for our big project. I made it thru most of the day and ended up coming home around 2 to take a nap before thinking I would have to log back on to my laptop and do some work that evening. As Friday the 13th luck would have it, our project didn't go :( Now we are going to try again Monday.  I'm still sick today and went to urgent care this morning but got the whole "it's viral and there's no treatment" diagnosis so I guess I'll survive. I just have a pretty bad sore throat and it's swollen so swallowing feels uncomfortable. I've been taking naps when I can but still feel exhausted. It's definitely no way to spend the weekend, so here's hoping it gets better!

I'll check back into the picture challenge upon full recovery :) Until then....

Doppelganger

For those who may not know, the word doppelganger is used to refer to any double or look-alike of a person. So where am I going with this? Let me back up....

This weekend we were out on a walk and passed Liz's house right as she was getting home. We waved and stopped to chat and she said, "Wait. I have to show you something." As she ran inside I had no idea what she was getting. She came out with the current Bloomington Parks and Rec catalog. She explained it had been laying on the table and Rylee had pointed to a picture and said the little girl was Kenley. Now usually if it's like Kenley it doesn't have to be anything close to be Rylee. It can be a dark haired girl riding a bike and it will be Rylee, but when Liz showed me the cover, I got a laugh. There on the cover is Kenley's doppelganger (just a little bit chubbier).

Too funny! And then yesterday at work, my friend Nicole IM'd me asking if I had put Kenley in dance classes. I knew immediately she had seen the picture too so she brought in a copy for me to show everyone else.  She (the doppelganger) looks a little older but definitely has a resemblance to our stinks! Now we will just be on the look out for a real life sighting :)

Mail time!

While my in-laws winter away, their mail is forwarded to our house. We open it (don't tell) and then decide what they need to know about right away and what can wait. We keep them up to date on bills they may get or whatever comes their way. Today we had to laugh because it seemed my FIL had mailed himself something. It was address to Tom Brockman from T Brockman and featured the same mailing and return address. Rather than open it we texted to see what it was. My MIL was stumped (so we laughed it may be a sign of getting old and not remembering.) However we opened it and got another little chuckle. It seems their friends sent them some pamphlets and info on RV resorts in AZ. One of them caught my eye and I had a little laugh. I even shared it with Clay an he had a little laugh too. Can you tell what made me laugh?

Did you see it? Did you notice out of all the amenities listed somehow "Closest park to hospital" was important enough to make the list? Clay said that must be important to old folks :) We even called my MIL to talk about it.  Maybe it's not super funny to anyone else but it was a long Monday and that was a random little chuckle that helped make my night a little more light hearted :)

Tangled

I have several pictures from yesterday of Kenley with her Easter basket or doing her own little hunt in the backyard (Warning: Super cute video to come!) but I like these pictures the best to show yesterday.

As part of Kenley's Easter basket we got her the movie Tangled. Clay and I had both seen it and enjoyed it and we are both very big Disney movie fans (we own most of them and even owned and watched them before kids). We also are huge fans of the "lazy" Sunday on occasion. The Sunday where you just lounge about (usually still in jammies) and watch movies. With 2 kids that's hard to do but yesterday we got a little glimpse. Kenley actually sat and enjoyed most of the movie. She got a bit distracted toward the end but she made it a good 3/4 thru glued to the story like this...

She did also sit up and cuddle with me for a bit which also made my day! I love the cuddles since I know they won't last forever.  Looking forward to more movie times with the kids and hope they enjoy the Disney stories as much as I do.

3 days in 1

So I am a few days behind on photos. This was a crazy week at work and I fear this next week will be even crazier. We have a big project going out on 4/13 (Yes Friday the 13th) and we are cutting it down to the wire so I've been putting in longer days which makes me even more tired at the end of the day.

Thursday- my picture was going to be of my phone and the text that I got that said "Dear Walmart Shopper.."yada yada yada " you won a $1,000 Walmart gift card." HA! I laughed since I know for sure I am not a Walmart shopper. Not with our Walmart here. But the photo wouldn't turn out. To make up for it, here is a picture of Chase trying pears for the first time...

You can tell how much he really loves them. He warmed up to them after a few bites but he wasn't overly impressed.

Friday is usually my half day at work but again because of the project I worked OT. I actually didn't get home until 5pm which is the same time as the rest of the week. I was beat. I even brought my laptop home to do some work but haven't cracked it open yet. It's sitting in the mudroom taunting me. I could have taken a picture of it but it would just taunt me even more if I had photographic evidence that I should be working and I'm not.  Friday my mom was here watching the kids and my dad came up for dinner. The evening made up for the long and hectic day but I was definitely ready to hit the hay. So I guess Friday there will be no picture. I made it over 1 month without skipping a day. Moving on...

To make up for yesterday's lack of pictures I will post 2 today and consider it even!

Does anyone else get tired of always having the same things for dinner? I do and I tried to do something about it last month (or maybe it was even Feb) but I took a calendar and filled the days with dinner ideas. It made making the grocery list that month super easy as everything was planned (more or less even though I swap ideas around. Just because something is on Tue doesn't mean we eat it Tuesday. It just means we have the things we need to make that meal). However, my momentum quickly ended and here is April...

In fact the scribbles are from Kenley so you can see she has been a bigger help that I myself have been. I just have a brain block. However, we did try something new tonight. We had red stuffed peppers and they were yummy. It's actually a Biggest Loser recipe so they are stuffed with ground turkey. Here is what they look like out of the oven before melting a little (or a lot in this household) cheese on top.

They weren't actually smoking but the steam from removing the foil looks pretty cool. Clay and I both liked them so maybe they will make it into the dinner rotation next month. That is if I ever make it though April :)

Now Easter Bunny duties call. I have to go put the eggs together for our hunt tomorrow and get the basket ready. We also got her a big girl bike (for free- it was a handme down but she won't care) and we are giving her that tomorrow too. I can hardly wait to see her face :)

Photos to come

I know I didn't do a photo yesterday (Thurs) or today (Fri) but it's been one of those weeks at work and I decided to lounge around tonight and now it's bedtime. I promise I will catch up tomorrow :)

Take me out to the ball game

Today is an important day for my loving husband.
Today is Opening Day for baseball, so I dressed the kids accordingly :)

We took a handful of pictures this morning trying to get both kids to look at the camera. Chase is usually smiling but Kenley is less than cooperative at times. I guess it's part of being 2.  I was rather pleased with this one finally.

While watching the game during dinner Kenley knew daddy was watching baseball and appropriately said "Go Cardinals!" unprompted. It was pretty darn cute :) Can't wait for Chasey to join in on the cheering.

5 months

Who has two thumbs, chubby thighs, drools and turns 5 months old today?

This guy! Love him so much!!!!

What a lovely dress!

For those of you that know me, I'm not much of a girly girl when it comes to fashion. I don't wear much make up if I even wear any, I don't wear dresses or skirts that often, I lean for comfort above fashion anytime (think comfy shoes and pants), and the list goes on and on. Lately I've decided I want to change that a bit. I want to put a little more effort into "dressing up" or whatever you want to call it. I bought some new makeup (but need lessons how to apply it), I bought some new shoes, and for my birthday with a gift card from Kohl's I bought myself a new dress.  Well today, since it was supposed to be nice, I wore my new dress.

I must say I do love the pattern. (I've always liked a nice pattern) I got lots of compliments today and made sure to say Thank You (another thing I'm working on is accepting compliments. All too often I skip the honest Thank You and feel like I have to justify or explain.. like Oh, I like that dress followed by Well I got it on sale kind of thing instead of just a plain old fashion Thank You.) Several times the dress was called lovely (which struck me as a unique word but I liked it.) I'm going to definitely have to wear the dress more frequently. It's a fun summer dress and according to popular vote, it's just lovely!

Enjoying the wind in her hair

I was going to try to avoid posting my picture of the day for 2 days (or now 3 days) in a row of the same kid (if I used the kids) but the picture I wanted to use today is Kenley again.

We went to the park after lunch. It is a new park that just opened and is rather nice. Chase took a nice nap in the shaded pavilion and Kenley got to run around and play. On the way home, we opened her window. Lately she loves to have it all the way open and just let the wind blow thru her hair. (Usually we don't open it all the way for fear she will throw whatever she has with her out the window.)

It was fun just to watch her enjoy the wind. I love to drive with the windows open (and the radio blaring) and I can only imagine she was feeling the same way I do on those days when I take the time to just enjoy the view!

3/31 Picture of the day: The HUNT

A friend from work told me about the Town of Normal's Easter Egg hunt. It was out at the Corn Crib which is the local baseball stadium for our "farm" team. I'm sure Clay will correct me but they play baseball there at some level. We decided to take Kenley. I was impressed at the organization. They had different hunts for different ages staggered about 15 minutes apart.

Here Kenley is lined up ready to go!!

She was excited and I wasn't sure if she would really know what to do since we didn't really hunt eggs last year but she was a pro. When the counted down and yelled GO, she took off.

She had great strategy (although I know it was just a fluke and she likes to run). Instead of staying back getting all the eggs close and fighting the crowd, she shot out to the middle of the field and had her pick. And boy did she ever take her pick! She was very particular about the eggs she grabbed. I don't know why the ones she grabbed stood out to her but she ran past dozens after specific ones. I laughed so hard out there watching her.

After it was over (which was like less than 3 minutes or so) she sat down to survey the prizes.

We had to give the eggs back but got to keep the candy. Strangely enough I think she would have rather kept the eggs. They also had some games to play and she did quite well tossing a bunny into a bucket (think Bozo Bucket style). She wasn't crazy about the dressed up bunny but we expected that one. All in all we think she had great fun. It was a good day!

Addendum: As expected, my darling husband corrected me with the following:"the Cornbelters are an independent team. they have no affiliation with major league baseball :o)" So there you have the truth.