Green Thumb

I think Green Thumbs must skip a generation. At least in our family they did. I have a black thumb but Vance has an incredible Green Thumb. At church about three weeks ago we had a lesson about plants. Vance's other teacher had each of the kids plant their own pea seeds and take them home. I have been AMAZED at how big Vance's plant is. He is so good about remembering to water it. I think a plant is the perfect starter pet. :)

Vance and his Pea.
(Don't you love his outfit?! Accessories make the man. lol)

The plant.
I think I'm going to need to transplant it soon.
Any tips or advice?!

Have I mentioned Vance's funny sense of humor lately?!
He must take after his dad. (See here.)

Speaking of Vance's funny sense of humor. The other day Tj was reading to him a "David" book. (As seen here.) There's a part when David is picking his nose and Tj was saying that we don't pick our noses. Vance said, "Yes we do! I do it all the time!" And then proceeded to laugh his head off. :) Such a funny kid.

The Dentist: Act II

So can we just pretend that this is LAST Tuesday?! I thought so.

We took Vance to his first visit. I have to admit I was a lot less apprehensive this time. Although not entirely relaxed because Vance chips his teeth a lot (apparently he grinds them according to Dr. C.) but it's not a big deal right now so after that I was able to relax. I'm actually not dreading their next appointment in September. :) It turned into a whole family affair this time around. Tj had gotten home early from work so he decided to go and Joel's play-date got canceled due to the stomach flu. You know it's a good dentist when your child chooses hang out at the dentist over stay home with daddy. lol

Vance got X-Rays of his teeth.
He did a great job sitting there and wasn't at all nervous.

While we waited for the dentist the boys played video games.

Dr. C checking and cleaning Vance's teeth.
No cavities! Yay!

Vance getting his teeth cleaned.
He chose blue raspberry flavored toothpaste.

We have always been pretty good about brushing teeth but now the boys always remind me to floss their teeth too. :) I was also a bit concerned for a little while because in one of the other rooms there was a kid who was NOT liking being at the dentist. I was afraid that once Vance heard the kid screaming (and he was screaming and having a melt-down) Vance would get uncooperative. But he handled it like a champ. (Thank goodness he had gotten an early nap!)

The Dentist: Act I

I took Joel to the Dentist today- for the first time. I KNOW! I am way behind the curve and about 3 years late. But if you ask me it was worth it because Joel handled it like a champ; and so did I. Here's a little secret, I am kind of afraid of the dentist. Well not so much the dentist but the sounds at the dentist. The drill, the polisher, the clicking of the metal plaque scraper. Even the very thought of all these send my anxiety levels soaring! But this isn't about me. It's about Joel and he was NOT afraid of the dentist.


First they took X-Rays of his teeth. He did awesome and thought it was really cool that the dental assistant let him see them as they popped up on the computer screen.

All suited up for the X-Ray.
(He's such a goof. He looks really serious here but he smiled as soon as I took the picture.)

Next it was time to clean his teeth.
They let him pick his own flavor of cleaner; he chose cherry.
Did I mention that he got to watch "Shrek III" while they were cleaning?!
Sometimes he forgot that they were cleaning his teeth and
they'd have to ask him to open his mouth wide.
He's already training to do the whole "male-zone-out-in-front-of-the-tv" thing.

Then Dr. C came in and counted all his teeth.
He said they all looked good.
NO CAVITIES! YAY
Again Joel got distracted by the TV while the doc checked out his teeth.

All in all it was a great trip to the dentist. We'll go back tomorrow for Vance. Hopefully it will be a great experience for him too. (Crossing my fingers!)

Joel The Artist

I know that this will seem silly to post about but I was really excited about Joel getting into drawing pictures- well more specifically people. My kids have always liked coloring and art projects but drawing things that would be recognizable to anyone but themselves was not high on their priority list. So imagine my surprise when Joel drew this on the white board:


Notice that he even wrote their names on the side. Also take note that Vance has spiky hair. lol

Joel and his masterpiece and his inspiration.
Vance is seriously one funny kid. Love the face.
(Also notice the trusty blanket nearby. sigh)

Of course Vance wanted to show his masterpiece.
He drew hearts- awwwww! :)

When Vance draws on things he likes to use his left hand.
Silly boy, we'll see if he turns out left handed like Tj or not.

Joel's second rendition of himself and his brother.

The only draw back to using the white board is that the drawings don't last if I don't take a picture. Maybe we'll go back to the old pen and paper. :)

Our Valentine's Day

So I'm not one who usually goes all out for the commercial side of Valentine's Day. I'm not a huge chocolate fan, I despise waiting for 2 hours for dinner that is served by a cranky and overworked waiter and is mediocre at best, and expectations that have been set by the greeting card company to boost their bottom line. But I got a killer deal on a new truck set for Vance (Wal-Mart's after Christmas clearance is AMAZING once January 31st rolls around). So I did cave and bought gifts for the boys and Tj. The day was filled with chorus' of "Happy Valentine's Day Mommy!" from the boys, a surprise delivery of flowers (from Tj to me), and a semi-relaxing comfort-food-filled dinner (roast, mashed potatoes, gravy and Rhodes Rolls which would have been ideal if I had a personal chef to make it for us but alas was marred only by the fact that I made it and was stressed trying to time it so that it was all ready at the same time). Literally I could not have scripted a better Valentine's Day. This is partially due to the low expectations. Let's rewind to LAST Valentine's Day.
Valentine's Day 2010. Tj was going on month TWO of training in Washington DC while I held down the fort in FL. We had planned for Tj to come home for the long president's day weekend- the first time we'd see him since his leaving for training (approx 42 days). Then the HUGE winter snow storm hit and the his original flight was delayed, and then delayed again and finally canceled. Shortly after he should have been arriving- but wasn't because of the dang weather- I began an intimate relationship with my toilet thanks to a stomach flu. The next day was spent in bed and the following day was spent also in bed with Tj's dear Grandmother watching the kids as I was completely out of it. This was followed by the boys spending the remainder of the day at Nama and Pa's only to be returned at bedtime and put to bed by Nama and Pa because I was still out of it. Needless to say it was less than a stellar Valentine's Day that extended through the entire weekend.

So this Valentine's day was already a step ahead seeing as how Tj was home! The rest was just icing on the proverbial cake. Here are some of the highlights:

The boys with the package from Nama and Pa.

Spiderman chocolate and funny cards,
doesn't get better than this!

Except of course for the bubble wrap!

The other gifts (from Mom and Dad).
Toy Story chocolate- score!
New Leapster Game for Joel,
New truck set for Vance.

Tj putting together the truck set.
My hero!

A little thought on love.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner inevitably thoughts of love are brought up. This year especially I've been thinking a lot about what love is and the different forms that it's found. The boys have been exposed to the idea of "boyfriends and girlfriends" and kissing (thanks to the gym as well as friends who have teenage brothers and sisters) and so I had been thinking about the things that the world teaches about love and what I think and feel about love. My dear friend gave me Mindy Gledhill's newest CD for my birthday called "Anchor" (you can find out more about her HERE). It is such a great CD! But I love so many of the love songs on it (my previous post was inspired by one of the songs). One of my favorite songs is the title track 'Anchor' and here's my favorite line:

There are those who think that I'm strange
They would box me up and tell me to change
But you hold me close and softly say
That you wouldn't have me any other way

Here's a secret about Manda. I am incredibly self-conscious, fairly insecure and very critical of myself. I love this line because to me it sums up what I think one of the best aspects of mine and Tj's relationship. He is not only so accepting of me and who and what I am but his love is so encompassing that it does not even occur to him to want to change me. I love that if I am my own worst enemy, then Tj is my biggest champion. That is the love legacy* that I want to pass on to my boys.

*DISCLAIMER: To avoid being labeled as "one of those blogs" (you know the ones I'm talking about where everything is written with rose colored glasses) let me assure you that Tj and my relationship is far from perfect! However, that being said I love my husband and know that he loves me. And if you can't gush about that around Valentine's day when can you?! Now back to our regular programing. =)

I'll Take Less

"I'll take less if more means having less of you." Mindy Gledhill

I was talking with Tj the other night, okay I'll be honest I was whining about how frustrating life seems. It seems like I can either keep up with the housework, laundry, meals, dishes, etc or I can spend time with the boys taking them to play dates, parks, riding their bicycles, etc. It's either one or the other. And that to me is frustrating. I don't function well in chaos (although sometimes to look at my house you wouldn't guess) but I also feel this clinching in my chest every time I realize that starting this fall Joel will be gone half of every day. It's frustrating and heart-wrenching feeling like I've taken the last several years for granted and trying to make the most of what we have. Maybe I'm being dramatic (Manda dramatic, you don't say!) but I just love these boys so much and want them to be able to look back on their childhood and remember more than mommy just always washing dishes or scrubbing bathrooms. I want them to remember me playing with them and knowing that I love them. Here's my question to all of you supermommies that I'm lucky enough to call friends; how do you strike the balance between what you have to do and enjoying your time with your children?

On a less sober topic here are some pictures of the last little while.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner I decided to do a craft with the boys. I know that some day in the not to distant future crafting with Mom will be so not cool. I found these cute hearts on Martha Stewart and decided to give it a go. You can find the full instructions here. I did basically all the prep work and then for Family Home Evening we cut them out.

Vance was so excited to be able to cut ALL BY HIMSELF.
The ones that he cut were definitely all HIS. =)

Joel showing off his work.
He is actually quite good with the scissors.

I love this picture of Tj. =)

Nama and Pa bought these cars for the boys probably two years ago. You shake them to give them power and then they crash and make lots of noise. The boys LOVE them! It's amazing the lasting power of simple-albeit noisy- toys is.

Vance continues to LOVE his bicycle. Joel will ride his but Vance would live on his if we'd let him. He loves to go out with Tj and ride to the park or ride circles around the alley behind our house. Joel will sometimes join in but Vance is always up for a ride.

One of their favorite games is Tj the tire eating monstor.
Basically Vance has to ride as fast as he can away from Tj
so that his tires don't get eaten. Tj also taught him chicken.
Awesome!

Tj's already had to lift the training wheels for Vance.
I predict Vance is riding training wheel free by his birthday.

Potpourri

Things around here have been less than exciting. With the holidays over we're settling back into real life. Here's a general recap of each of us.

Tj: Turned 32 last week. Man he's getting old. It's a good thing he has such a young wife to keep him from being too much of an old geezer. =) We celebrated with his favorites; beef stroganoff and banana cream cream puffs. He was recently asked to help with the young men of our church (again!) so Wednesday nights- if work doesn't keep him- he's off to play with the 12-14 year old boys (in a totally non-creepy way).

Manda: Well you mom's know how your days go?! Yeah, just assume my life is about the same (except for those of you who are pregnant- then it's totally not the same).

Joel: Is getting so grown up. I'm already starting to get a bit sentimental for him starting school next year because I can tell that he's really ready for it. He got a Leapster Explorer for Christmas and I'm AMAZED at the things he does on it. He's really a smart cookie (he must take after his dad). It's fun to see the way his mind is constantly working. The other day I was listening to a song where they say "Calling me sugar". He listened to it and then said "Mom, I would never call you Sugar 'cause that would just be silly." He likes to explain why things are called what they are. As in a tree house is called a tree house because it's a house in a tree. It's funny when things are quite what they sound and yet he uses the literal explanation. He's getting really good at writing his name and has started to draw stick pictures lately. Unfortunately he's been a little under the weather. He had a really bad ear infection that has taken a long time (two rounds of antibiotics) to clear up. The infection finally cleared but there's still fluid in there so we may have to go see an ENT if it doesn't clear out on it's own. There's a million things that I have meant to post but now that I'm actually posting I don't remember them.

Vance: Is also growing (as noted by my clearing out of all the 2T stuff in his closet). He's quite the character. He loves to give kisses- I may have to worry about him once he becomes a teen (he must take after his dad). =) He's getting really good on his bike and would ride it constantly if he had free reign. I would not be the least surprised if he's ready to have his training wheels off by his birthday. He is our inventive child. He loves to see how things work and make his own inventions. He's big into the why stage now. After watching a movie he'll often ask, "mom why did -insert part of the plot- happen?" or "Why does -insert character- do -insert plot-?" It's very interesting to see how he's trying to figure life out. Mix that with Joel's interest in explaining life and it makes for some pretty interesting discussions. He also LOVES to learn. He loves to say "I'm learning my letters" as he plays with his leapfrog toys.

As you can tell there are no pictures. I'm lame- I readily accept this.

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

So this year should be an adventurous (and if today was any indication- exhausting) year. Vance and I both are Sunbeams! For those of you who may not know in our church children who are 3 as of January 1st are part of a class known as the Sunbeams. I was asked to be one of two teachers for this class of 8 children. It will be fun. Vance is excited to have me in there and I was pleasantly surprised to see how well behaved he can be! He sat so nicely and wanted to answer questions and did a great job!

That being said I have a feeling that my limited bag of tricks will be running low before too long. So anyone who has any good tips or suggestions, please feel free to share!

The Christmas Spoils

So this Christmas was different from our last several Christmas' and yet very similar. Different as we spent it on the opposite coast as the last six or seven. But it was on a coast and the weather was beautiful. Nama and Pa drove over from Idaho to spend Christmas eve and Christmas day with us. (Good thing too because I was slacking on photo duty. All these pics were from Pa!)

Rosen family in our Christmas Eve jammies.

SKIP TO CHRISTMAS MORNING:

Vance and Joel checking out their Santa gifts.
Santa brought Joel a Leapster Explorer
(it's in the running for greatest investment in the last 5 years.)
Santa brought Vance a "Woody doll that when you pull a string it talks".

Guns from Gram Cracker
These guns light up and make noise-
we tried to convince them they would be great toys for Nama and Pa's house.
No deal. So they're here and the boys love them. =)

Vance on his new bike from Nama and Pa.

Joel showing off his new bike.

The boys also got some new movies, some puzzles, a few new board games, and some other random toys and colds (including ear infections for Joel). I got a few gift cards and the NEW William Sonoma cook book. Tj got a new Ipod Nano and a new wind breaker. It was a nice Christmas. We're also really looking forward to heading down to my sister's house tomorrow and doing Christmas part deux with her and my parents.

Some Biking Video

Vance:



Joel:


You'll see right at the end of Joel's video was crash number 2 of the day.

Why White Christmas' are overrated.

Growing up in Arizona I didn't see a lot of White Christmas'. Usually it'd be a little chilly but there were only a handful of actual snow-filled Christmas'. So we usually were able to enjoy our Christmas gifts in the beautiful weather. Now that we're in California our boys are able to experience the joys of a non-White Christmas. =)

These were the gifts from Nama and Pa. After naps we all headed over to the park near our house so they could ride their bikes.

Joel was a natural!

Vance wasn't so much a natural.
Luckily Pa would haul, I mean help him to the top of the hill.

That's a Niner

Thousands of working hours

Hundreds of dates
Countless Laughs
A few tears
10 Jobs
7 Homes
4 States
2 Kids
9 Years of Marriage

Because being social isn't a high priority for Tj most people don't get to know him as well as I do. They don't see the extent of his wit or intelligence. They don't get to see the way as soon as a hurdle is placed in front of him he immediately begins to find a way to get over it. And most people don't get to see him laugh so hard that he cries. But even with the glimpse that most people see they are drawn to him. And because I do see all of these characteristics-and more- I feel most fortunate that I've been married to him for nine years. Not only is he a wonderful father, an excellent provider and defender of our family and a loving husband but he's also just a good man. So here's to another nine years, and nine more after that and nine more after that!

My Hero.

Photo credits: Stephanie Wolf of Stephanie Wolf Photography.

Christmas Letter 2010.

Click on picture to see full size.

Fun with Nama!

Our trip to Idaho (almost an entire month!!) is winding down. Nama has to work tomorrow so this was our final day full day with Nama. So of course we packed in as many things from our "To Do" list today.

It started with (cheater) Ginger Bread houses. (And please excuse the skeletons aka my shirtless children. What I wouldn't do to have their metabolism.)

Getting started.

The base is completed on Vance's.

Nama helping Joel.

Decorating commences.

Vance hamming it up.

Vance's finished product.

Joel's masterpiece.

After gorging on junk it was off to take early naps. Then we had a late lunch at Olive Garden. (Yes we came all the way to Idaho to eat at Olive Garden. But it was yummy! lol) After some errands we took the boys to "Megamind" for a dinner of candy, pop and popcorn. Yes, I'm pretty sure that I'm not getting the mother-of-the-year-nutritional-rock-star award but it was a fun day. Then we raced home for peanut butter and honey before sending them off to bed. I'm sure I'll pay for this tomorrow.

Fun with Pa!

The last couple weeks Pa has been working from home. This has been such a HUGE blessing because he travels about 90% of the time for his job. So the fact that he just HAPPENED to be home the weeks we've been visiting- especially since he was scheduled to be traveling- has truly been a tender mercy. Of course the boys have been thrilled to have Pa around. Here's some of the fun!

Helping Pa with the Christmas lights for the house.

Roping Pa the Steer.

More Steer roping.

After this roping there was also quit a bit of sled surfing around the backyard. Now if you notice there was no snow. But this did not stop Pa or the boys- and later the cousins and Uncle Jay. After it got dark and we had dinner there was also a marshmallow roast because Joel gave Pa "the eyes" when it was suggested we just have rice crispy treats and ditch the fire idea. No wonder the boys absolutely adore their Pa.