Tonight was one of those nights where I put the kids to bed and neither one was tired. Just me. So, Hank ended up in Papa's bed. 40 minutes later Brody was still wide awake "snorting" his blankie. Brody is the easiest child on the planet, he'll just lay in bed until he eventually falls asleep or I let him come out and join Brad and I on the couch. The kid is heaven in a 4T.
Since Momma was craving some ice cream I told B. Herb to put on his Spider Man light up sandals. Time for some D.Q. On the way to get our 2,849 calorie snacks Brody told me "people will be really surprised to see a young kid like me out this late." I'm thinkin' he thought he was the bees knees going on a late night Hankless junk food run. One mini snickers blizzard with hot fudge and one banana split later we're both happy campers. I love you Herb.

Today I made my last attempt at growing bleeding hearts and shasta daisies. Yeah, shasta daisies....who can't grow those? ME! I've planted about 5 bleeding hearts and 20 million daisies and they just won't grow. But, I LOVE both of them. Actually, I love any flowers and I love to garden. So, next summer I'm sure I'll be at the green house buying more daisies and more bleeding hearts. However, this is gonna be the year. 2011 is your year pretty perennials. Take root and grow, grow, grow. I promise I'll enjoy you and show all my friends your beautiful flowers. Just please.....GROW!
More to come.......gonna say a special garden prayer tonight. Cross your fingers and toes.

Momma's cosmos are planted. YEAH!!! I love gardening. Someday my house will look like the cover of Country Living. Just you wait and see. White wood work, farmhouse kitchen sink, and cottage style flowers every where you look. Now, it's time for a nap. Hank said he was the "angry bird" this morning. Ahh, that'd be the early bird Roo. And yes, he was.

PAPA'S HERE!!!
Yaaaaawhooooo....Papa's home. This week was a fun week at our house. No more Ms. Barbs. The Kowboys get to hang out with Papa. In the summer my dad spends quite a bit of time at our house which means, fun, fun, and more fun. And, high amounts of high fructose corn syrup. But, lets be honest, that's part of the fun of Papa.
This week I worked Thurs. and Fri. Exhausting I know. The wild ones got to stay with my dad. I don't know who enjoys this time more, them or my dad. It's gotta be a close tie. My dad is 76, and every year when he comes home I am surprised at how well he keeps up with the boys. I mean, come on, there's days when I'm exhausted by 11a.m.
My dad loads them up in the car, buckles Hank up, and off they go. Usually to McDonalds and then the dollar store. Today they switched it up and went to Kids Korner. Hank had freetos and a licorice rope for lunch. Yep, that's what you can do when your the Papa and not the momma.
I love the memories that my kids will have of my dad. He has so much patience with them. He thinks everything they do is hysterical and adorable. Never mind how smart they are....I mean that's been obvious since I fist told him I was pg with the B.Herb.
The Kowboys will smell like my dad's aftershave from now until October. They'll take turns snuggling him at night. They'll frequent every restaurant in Oneida county. They'll play games that mom probably wouldn't allow (like the Dora 4 wheeler in the living room for example.) And ya wanna know something? I'm the one that loves it the most. Enjoy your children and your parents. Life is good and I am blessed.

If you stop over, please take notice of my new garden decoration. Sitting nicely amoungst my cosmos, is a beautiful deer skull. Oh yeah, lucky me. The boys found it in the woods and thought it would be just perfect to keep the rabbits away. Which, by the way, we don't have a problem with because A. all of my perennials are deer/rabbit proof, and B. every male member of family uses the garden for their toilet May-October.

However, if I am thumbing through the next issue of Country Living and see animal skulls mixed in with their peonys I'll know the Kowboy's idea took off like hot cakes. Don't run off to Hanson's to get your skull, as of now they can only be found in the woods of Thorp.

Man weekend

Tonight is the first time in 5 years I have the house to myself...well, sort of. My dad's here. But, no Kowboys just Wales. Brad took the boys to Thorp to go "deer hunting..pow pow."
Brody took his rubber cup bow and arrow and Hankie took his dollar store cap gun. Momma filled a cooler with toddler deer hunting food....ham, juice and go-gurts. The go-gurts were big time since Brody begs me for them everytime we are in the store. And, hey, it's deer camp so they can eat men food.
Hank was proud to report that he pooped in the woods and had to use leaves. They also saw a deer skull which gives the hunters some hope that there is (or at least once was) big bucks in the area.
The Kowboys have high hopes of coming home with some meat. Sleep with one eye open furry woodland creatures. My baby buntings and daddy are goin' a hunting.

Mother's Day 2011

~This past Sunday my family celebrated one of my very favorite days, Mother's Day. I LOVE Mother's Day.....not quite as much as my kid's birthdays, but close. I woke up in the morning to Hank climbing in bed with me. When I opened my eyes he gave me a kiss and said "Happy Muder's day. I lub you." ohhhhhh......melt my heart. About an hour later Brody woke up and came in. He wouldn't kiss me (because he doesn't like "the wet" on his lips), but he did tell me Happy Mother's day and then pulled Brad out of bed to get my card.

Brody picked out the card from the kids. It was one of the "from the dog" cards....ya know, the kind that you give people who don't have human kids, so you pretend like the family pet went to Hallmark and picked out a card. Anyway, he was proud as can be and said he wanted to get it because the doggie on it was just so cute. Brad later told me Brody had a really tough time deciding between this card and the To My Great-Grandma card. Good choice Brody.

Then the boys gave me a leopard print purse. I dropped some major hints to Brod's about the purse, and I'm proud to say he followed through perfectly in telling his daddy where to do my Mother's day shopping. I have to admit, I had a pretty good idea I was getting it, as the day before I was fake shopping online, and Brody asked why I was looking at purses. When I said I was just playing around he very quietly said " I'm not saying a thing."

Sunday was warm and sunny, so we loaded up our baseball stuff and went to Hodag park for a family baseball game. When we got home we had some cupcakes that the boys picked out for me. As an added bonus, they had Storm Trooper and Darth Vader rings on the tops. How lucky is that? Eat your heart out Tiffanys.

I also need to give some major props to the hubs. He cooked me the most delicious tenderloin and garlic mashed potato dinner. I have to say, Brad's steak is the King of all steaks. I wish you could put a scratch-and-taste sticker on blogs 'cause it's that good. After dinner, Brad took the boys fishing and they topped Mother's day off with some fresh caught crappies for Monday night's dinner. Which, they ate every last bit of, but hey, it's the thought that counts!

On Monday, Nativity Preschool had their Mother's Day tea. I am very proud to say I only drenched 2 tissues. The skinna-ma-rink-y-dink-y-doo song will get any momma, I don't care who you are. Brody, in true Brod's fashion, took his performance very seriously and sang every song and every motion completely straight faced. We later went into the cafeteria for tea and cookies. Each mom had a homemade placemat in which the kids had to fill in the blanks. Mine said My mom likes to -play with us. My mom take me-to the Y. My mom is-13. My favorite thing to do with my mom is-play with her. And, the best one, My mom cooks-my dad cooks for us. Don't worry, you can see it hanging on our kitchen wall when you come over.

I am so very thankful for the blessing of my children. I am so grateful that I get to stay home with them. Don't get me wrong, I like all mothers, have days where I want to sell them on e-bay, but so far I've never actually boxed them up with packing peanuts. However, I wouldn't trade the morning routine of snuggling on the chair, drinking my coffee, watching cartoons with each Kowboy sucking his thumb. Nor would I trade the bedtime snuggles where when I leave their room they say "call me out if you need help with anything and snuggle me before you go to bed," or their shortened version "call and 'nuggle." Every night before I go to bed I lay with each of them for a few minutes. I love the way they smell when they sleep....kind of a combo of sweat and spit. Only a smell a mother could appreciate it, but don't you worry, if I ever hit the big time I'm gonna be like the celebs who develop their own perfume line. Mine will be the bottled smell of them sleeping and I'll wear it daily.

Today the Kowboys, Carter, Abby, Libby and I were at the children's museum. Hankie was playing with a cylinder string dispenser thing. Carter said "Hankie, what is that?" And, Hankie said " I think it's for wine."
Proud mom moment #785

Brewer for life

I would like to give a big shout out to Ryan Braun. I'm quite sure he has no idea what his becoming a Brewer for life means to our family. I know, I know......all of Milwaukee is geeked, but seriously, it fails in comparison to the Kowboys excitement.

Last summer, Brody wore 2 things. A Ryan Braun baseball shirt and a tuxedo. One day last fall, Hankie asked Brody if he could wear the shirt. Brody, being Brody, thought about it for a few seconds and then decided it was o.k. as long as I washed it as soon as Hank was done. Lets face it folks, I don't think I would of been prouder if he would've given Hank a kidney. A vital organ is not as important to Brody as that shirt.

Brody has also asked me "momma, can you put me back in your stomach and grow me again? And this time when I come out name me Ryan Braun Kowieski?" Really, how cute is that?

I'm sure over the next few years my pitching skills will be greatly tested (and hopefully improved). We spend lots of evenings in the driveway where Brody tries to hit a ball over the roof (home run,) and in Grandpa's field. The other day we were down in the field, I was pitching Brody was batting, Hank was in the bull pen, and Lulu was the outfielder. Grandpa came down and told me that when he was buying his house the "field" was a strong selling point. Having 4 boys he knew it would be the perfect. But, he never imagined 30 years later he'd be watching his grandsons playing.

When I was pregnant with Brody, Brad and I went to a Brewer game. We were sitting behind the dug out and I yelled down to one of the players (don't ask me who,) "hey throw me a ball" while pointing to my baby belly. The guy threw one up, I caught it.....yeah, yeah, fine, Brad caught it, and a few months later we had a B.Herb. Brody loves this story. I always tell him the player knew the baby in momma's belly was gonna be a future Brewer.

So, in the spirit of summer, I'm going to enjoy the sound of my kids falling asleep to Uecker. And, Brody declaring it's bedtime because it's 7:38 p.m., or in his words " seven, three, Ryan Braun."