Lunden's Career Day

At school last week Lunden had a day where he got to get up in the front of class to explain to his class mates what one of his parents did for an occupation.  Lunden has a really fun class of friends that have parents that have really cool occupations.  Three doctors, three commercial real estate developers, one meteorologists, a golf pro, and a financial planner.  The kids were asked to bring three items in a bag to explain to the class what their parent did for a job.  Lunden decided to bring his Thomas the Train briefcase filled with, my old ipod because it looked like Daddy's iphone, a Freddy's thermos because that is what daddy brings to work in the morning filled with his coffee, and a Freddy's Gift Card, which he called his credit card.  I chuckled all the way to school wondering how he was going to explain to his class what daddy actually does all day.  For those of you that know my husband he wears a lot of different hats through out the day and has many different types of deals happening at one time every day of the week.  

His teacher just happened to write down what Lunden told his class, I smiled big when I read what he said.  I love how Lunden's little mind is wired!

A very HOT Mother's Day!

This weekend has been a blast and the boys have treated me like the Queen of the house, which I have to say they pretty much do on a regular basis, but this weekend just happened to be just a little extra special! It started with a dozen roses being delivered to the house all while Daddy was washing the floors and shaking the rugs for me!  I was playing in the man cave with all three boys, which is what I love to do!  We all got up and went to church today and then came home and opened a few more little treasures and then proceeded to eat lunch.  Nick was grilling chicken breasts on the grill, sweet potatoes in the oven and I was going to saute some fresh peas.  Everything was going smoothly and the boys were enjoying the weather on the patio playing with their dinosaurs while I was putting Housten to sleep in the back bedroom.

Well, this is where the day gets just a little bit more interesting.....as I was relaxed in the back bedroom with the baby I smell something burning.  I get up right away even though Housten was almost asleep and  proceed to the kitchen where there is now a little trail of smoke hovering over the ceiling.  I check the oven and the potatoes are fine.  Then I look at the dishwasher and it has steam coming out of it because it had just got done running.  My husband proceeds to tell me it just finished its cycle.  I then proceed to tell him it is not normal for the dish washer to still be steaming/smoking when it is totally finished washing/drying the dishes.  We open it up and empty the whole dishwasher thinking a plastic container had fallen to the bottom of the dish washer when we figure out it is actually on fire.  There is a good amount of smoke coming from the dish washer.  He then tells me to take the boys downstairs to play and he will figure it out.  I knew that was not a good idea....

We turned all the breakers off in the kitchen to be sure the electricity was shut off, grabbed the fire extinguisher and then I proceeded to call 911.  The fire department was at our house before I could even get off the phone with the dispatcher.  It was actually pretty impressive.  At this point there was officially a fire in our kitchen.  Grammy and I took the boys outside, Nick called his Dad to come and help as well.  Come to find out all the wiring below the dishwasher was on fire and the dish washer could not be pulled out because when we got new wood floors apparently the wood floor installers installed the wood floor right up to the front of the dish washer.  It was a mess!

So Happy Mothers Day to me I get a new dish washer!  My husband always said he would never buy me an appliance for a holiday, but this year might just be the exception!  I am just thankful we caught it right away or there would have been significant damage to our home.  Pretty scary if you ask me.  Lesson of the day, do not run the dish washer unless you are in the home!

Lunden and Bronx watching the fire truck.  Notice how Bronx made sure to carry his dog and bear outside!

Happy Mother's Day!  

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend from my FOUR boys!

Love, Mom 

The Strawberry Patch

I have tried to take the boys to the strawberry patch the past two years and have either missed the picking by a week or it was way to rainy and wet.  Last Thursday I saw a friend post a message on Facebook about the strawberry patch and it was open to go pick strawberries!  Yes, thanks to friends and facebook we were not missing it this year!  I loaded up the boys after nap time last Thursday and off to the strawberry patch we went.  I was a little nervous as to how this was going to work by myself and a field of strawberries.  But it couldn't have gone any better!  They had the ultimate blast and have ultimately decided we need to move out to the country to let the boys run and play freely with out always worrying about cars and neighbors.  

Bronx and Lunden worked so hard picking strawberries while I pushed Housten in the stroller.  We were the only four out there the entire hour and a half we were there.  It was hot with a little breeze to cool us off, perfect weather for strawberry picking.  I did have to feed Housten while the boys were picking strawberries, I will have to say I would have never expected to have had to nurse a baby in a strawberry patch.  Good thing the farmer didn't come around, I am sure it would have been a first!

Lunden and his own box of strawberries he picked. 

Not sure there was much picking going on in this picture, pretty sure Lunden took a pit stop!

They actually both filled their own boxes.  I was really impressed that they caught on so quickly.  Of course Lunden had to teach Bronx to only pick the red strawberries not the green ones.  

Bronx had a lot of this going on!  

They were trying to show me how many they had picked and collided into each other spilling their entire boxes, all while laughing hysterically!  Don't worry they were easy to pick up.

Since Dad had been gone the entire week in Las Vegas we decided to take him back on Saturday to have some fun with the boys.  Bronx and Housten slept the whole time in the stroller and Lunden and Nick picked strawberries for another hour.

We had so much fun and will definitely go back when the black berries and peaches are ready to pick.  This past weekend I made a fresh strawberry pie, homemade fresh strawberry salsa to put over tilapia or chicken breasts, and froze the rest.  

There is nothing better than fresh strawberries and good memories!

My little Cowboy

So as you can see I have a little cowboy on my hands.  He is absolutely obsessed with cowboys, hunting, shooting guns, and bow and arrows.  Pretty much every phrase a person should not say in an airport is what comes out of this little guys mouth daily.  He turns everything into a hunting gun and says he is on a bear hunt.  He will yell at me really loud in the house and tell me to watch out for the bear behind me, then he will proceed to tell me not to worry since he just shot it!  AHHHHH, and I have three boys!  I finally convinced him we shoot bow and arrows and not guns.  And we only shoot animals not our brothers!  In school the boys are so obsessed with it his teacher has set up a bulls-eye for the boys to shoot their pretend bow and arrows at.  I have to say I give her props for letting the boys' imaginations run with a little twist to keep everyone safe.  

This past weekend I did a 5k run with Housten and then the rest of the family all joined me for a family walk.  It was a walk to increase suicide awareness.  As we are walking through the woods Lunden and his buddy Trip starting talking about how they were carrying their guns and shooting the bears that walked across the our path.  Oh no, I had to shut that down right away.  Seriously, how do you explain to two little boys that there will be no talking about guns at a suicide walk!  

Here is a picture of my little cowboy right after he peed on the neighbors fence!  Wow I am so proud.....

I have talked to many moms who have husbands that hunt and there little boys all went through the same thing Lunden is going through.  I try to talk to him about safety and being careful, but it is really hard to explain to a 3 1/2 year old.  Especially with Cabela's opening right down the street.  Hunting is pretty much the only thing he thinks about.  Thank goodness T-Ball and Soccer have started!

Random Travels!

Well the past 45 days or so have been crazy busy with everyone traveling!  Lunden was able to fly to Maryland with Grammy to visit new baby cousin Jett for five days, while Daddy jetted off to Vail to ski for a couple of days with some of his business buddies.  He was home for a couple of days and then jetted off for a week up North to work on some of our properties.  While Daddy was working hard it happened to be over spring break and the forecast was rain all week long!  What in the world was I going to do with no school, no swimming, no soccer, and no hubby for a week!  Well another mom and I decided to load up the car with my three boys and her two boys and head to our lake condo for a night and then on to Tulsa to take all five boys to the aquarium.  Her hubby was out of town during spring break to, so we decided to be brave and take a wild road trip!  I have to say we had a lot of fun and I know the boys all had a blast!  

Lunden, Cousin Jett, and Uncle Sam!

Lunden in Maryland out seeing the sights!

All 5 boys ready for a road trip, and yes we are still sitting in the driveway getting ready to leave and they are all EATING already!  

Feeding the stingrays!

All Four big boys! 

Throwing rocks at the lake just after they got done puddle jumping!

I absolutely love this warm weather!  With everyone traveling we were able to persuade Grandma and Grandpa Bruggeman to drive down for Easter this year since Grandma had a few extra days off of school.  The boys had a blast, I love the Holidays and having lots of family and friends around.  The next 30 days are full of lots more travel here and there so I am so excited!!!!!  Thank goodness the boys are awesome travelers!  

Dallas Bound

On the road again....well we just didn't get enough traveling out of our system and decided to take the boys to Dallas for the weekend while dad was going to be in meetings all day.  Two other families brought their kiddos to so it made for a fun eventful weekend with 6 kids under 4!  We got a corner of the hotel to block off three rooms for us to have one big weekend party.  And let me tell you there were more chips, crackers, empty pizza boxes, toys, empty cans and juice boxes laying around those rooms than you could have shaken a stick at!  Total Mess!!!  But so worth it!

 During the first day while the dads were working the moms took the kids to the Dallas Children's Museum.  It was so much fun, but so busy and really chaotic.  I am so used to taking all three boys by myself places in the middle of the week when places aren't so busy.  Weekends are not really my cup of tea....but with three moms and six kids we did pretty well keeping track of everyone.  

 Bronx playing in the two and under playground while the older kids were watching a movie in the museum theatre.  

Bronx was learning how to farm, he pretty much tried to eat every plastic vegetable he could get his little paws on!  Can't wait until he gets past that stage! 

Bronx and Lunden digging for dinosaur fossils.  This was really cool they could have played in here for hours!

Lunden playing with the water toys in the water exhibit.  The boys loved this!

The next day we went to the Dallas World Aquarium.  So cool....but really packed!  I had the double stroller so I could push and keep track of Bronx and Housten while Lunden walked next to me.  It was great for the first hour since we got there right when it opened, but then the Sunday crowds of people invaded the aquarium and we were smooshed together with lots of random people!  Needless to say we chose to head out after about two hours, which was plenty of time to see everything we needed to see. 

This was very cool!  It was a huge tunnel that had some of the biggest coolest fish I had ever seen so close.  

All in all we had a great trip and made it home safe and sound!  My three little munchkins are turning into some great little travelers!

Valentine's Day

This year the boys had so much fun getting ready for Valentines Day!  It was really fun for Lunden because his class was having a fun Valentine party.  He wanted to make some fun Valentines for his friends.  I always feel bad because I never really do anything extra or special for Lundens classroom, mostly because time is a little bit of in issue around this house these days.   

So being that I have so little time I turned to Pinterest!  I have made a lot of new meals and desserts off of Pinterest but have never done a project yet.  This was so easy, cute and so much fun!  I found it a while ago and decided go back and try to make it myself.  

 The best part was Lunden was able to make the whole project!  He filled each toddler gardening shovel with gummy worms, sweet hearts, and oreos! Of course he ate a lot while in the process!

They turned out so cute.  I used printed rock paper and black construction paper with white crayon to create the name tags.  

I hope everyone had a Happy Heart Day!

Lunden and Bronx Talking on the Phone!

This is priceless.....I just happened to catch Lunden and Bronx playing with the hotel phone on our road trip.  I love the way Bronx says Hello.....or should I say Hewwwoooooo. 

Family Road Trip!

Well if you read my previous post you saw that Nick was gone for 8 days, well the day after he got home he tells us he has to be gone for another week.  Oh man, I was not ready for that, but then in his next breath he suggests we go with him on the road as a family.  At first I was a little hesitate thinking or shall I say dreading all the little things I know I will stay awake at night thinking about packing for the trip for 5!  But all in all it turned out to be an awesome trip with the 5 of us and so much fun!  We drove to Sioux Falls, SD and then off to Rochester, MN then a quick stop in Minneapolis for some family fun and then back to Kansas!  While daddy worked all day long I had activities planned for the boys from morning til night.  The cutest thing was Lunden was so excited to pack a suit case so he could go to work with daddy and not be left home.  

Our first stop was The Sioux Falls Zoo, they just happened to have a brand new dinosaur exibit.  It was really cool.  The boys got to dig for dinosaur fossils.  

 Here is Lunden standing behind one of his favorite dinosaurs, the Apatasauraus.  

After we left Sioux Falls we headed to Rochester to check on our next property.  I haven't been to Rochester in a very long time, but one thing I will say is the city has something about it.  The entire city is centered around the Mayo Clinic.  If any of you have never been there it is amazing! The Mayo is actually a small hospital with a little over 200 beds, but a huge research and education center.  The largest in the world.  I think it is interesting that 85% of the patients that visit the Mayo are out-patient and only 15% are in-patient.  It is really hard to not think everyone walking around the city might have some connection to the Mayo whether a medical need or perhaps they work there.  Rochester is really a small city to have such a huge hospital.  One thing I can say is "Count your blessings"!  

One afternoon I drove around the city for an hour while the boys napped in the back seat checking out the city thinking of all the facts and stories I had learned the two days I had been there.  Its so hard driving down the road and in front of you at the stop light is a huge Transplant House, wow can you imagine living there waiting for a transplant?  Then at the next stop light was a huge Ronald McDonald House, which makes me tear up and think about all of the families that are being affected by their little ones.  Too close to home for this mamma.  

I can't stop thinking about all of the people I met or heard about.  One of our managers in the hotel had moved to Rochester a year ago because her husband was waiting for a heart transplant and needed to be right there when it becomes available.  Talk about a life changer.... Another example was a young 15 year old girl whom was staying in our hotel comes and stays Monday through Friday with her mom for chemo treatment and then goes home every weekend.  She had terminal cancer and they were doing everything to try to save her.  The manager of our hotel has been keeping a map of all the different places people have come from around the world.  I wish I had a picture of all the different countries and states people had come from just because they were getting treatment at the Mayo.  It is amazing how one hospital can make a difference around the world.  But on a good note I read about a man who gave the largest donation the hospital had ever received last year in The Minneapolis Star Tribune, An Iowa businessman gave the clinic a gift of $100 Million that will be used to establish two innovative cancer-fighting centers.  Can you imagine?  That is pretty cool if you ask me, talk about making an impact and touching lives.  

Anyhow if you have ever been to Rochester you will notice it is not like you average Minnesota city, it has a unique feel to it, something different, maybe its a God thing.  I don't know but its pretty amazing all the lives that have been changed or saved in one little city.    

   Anyhow.....on with our trip and off my soap box.  On Saturday we met up with Grandma and Grandpa B. in Minneapolis after we did a little work.  We headed to Mall of America! We always have a great time here, the boys love Camp Snoopy and Lego Land.  They could have played Legos for hours.    

 We went to the Mall of America Aquarium.  Bronx was so overwhelmed that by the end of the day Grandpa B. was carrying him.  The Aquarium was awesome and Lunden loved it more than anyone!  He is in love with sharks and didn't want to leave the shark underground tunnel.  

 Lunden and Daddy, isn't it weird to think we are under the mall.....it was so cool.

We had a wonderful trip traveling with Daddy, of course the boys were crazy at times, but we just keep moving, this week we are traveling the opposite direction...Texas here we come! 

Daily Focus

This past week Nick was traveling so I was solo mission with all three boys for 8 days.  Needless to say it was very interesting yet always eventful!  We had some good days and we had some not so good days.  Grammy was able to help one day with Lunden and Bronx while I ran Housten to all of his doctor appointments and Grandma and Grandpa E. were able to help another day so I was just left with Housten for a couple of hours.  By the way....what in the world did I ever complain about when I only had one child at home.  I still didn't get anything done, but my day was so easy and uneventful.  Anyways I can't imagine being a single mom of three boys under three.  It's weeks like this that I am so thankful my husband is so hands on with the boys and he focuses so much of his energy and time on his family.  

Let me just give you a little idea of what our days consists of....all three boys wanting breakfast at the exact same time yogurt and waffles all around, toaster waffles that is!  Then all boys dressed, hair done, and of course brush teeth, baby in car seat, coats on, shoes on, check Lunden's backpack for any forgotten items needed for school, then load up the troops!  I have to buckle them all in then since they can't buckle themselves, Lunden is so close.  Then I turn on the DVD player so I can load all of my stuff and of course make sure to have the right stroller loaded, single, double, or triple!  The next stop is school, this is an all out circus!  As I am carrying Housten in his car seat,  Bronx is holding my other hand and Lunden is holding Bronx's other hand we are a walking string of mom and boys.  I am sure we look hilarious walking into school everyday, especially since Bronx bolts into Lunden's classroom like he is staying for class.  As you can see we are rarely ever on time anywhere! But that's all right because of all the crazy stares and looks I get it really isn't that big of a deal to me to have to do so much work every place we go.  Its just part of it.  

Anyhow the days go by so quickly with school, stroller fit, swimming, soccer, sporty might camp, and play dates I will just fill you in on a few funny moments that I focused on throughout the week that kept me going each day.....

While we were all getting ready for school last week I was doing my hair real quick in the bathroom when I turned around and saw the back of Lunden's little behind peeing in the toilet, no big deal until Bronx ran over took his pacifier out of his mouth and proceeded to put it in Lundens stream of pee and put it right back in his mouth....holy cow I was totally disgusted and couldn't believe my eyes! Yes this is how are day started.  

Everyday for the past two weeks Housten has been getting treated for Colic at the chiropractor (more on that later) Bronx has something about the doctors feet.  Everyday when the doctor is rocking Housten and working on his intestines Bronx runs over and stomps really hard on the doctor's black shoe.  I try to pull him back every time, but I can never get to him quick enough.  Totally embarrasses me!  

I am officially a mom that brings an empty donut bag up to the check out counter at the grocery store because Tank aka Bronx has eaten the entire bag while we were shopping.  I obviously was not paying attention.  

Putting all three boys to bed by myself at night is a total challenge, but don't worry they all love to sleep together.  It cracks me up when Lunden falls asleep faster than Bronx...because then Bronx proceeds to honk Lundens nose and dig in his ear.  Never fall asleep before your little brother does!

Loading up all three boys everyday and doing and going about our day is a challenge but I wouldn't change it for the world.  There are so many good families out there that would do anything just to have one healthy little boy, and God has blessed me with three healthy little boys. Today at church I realized life is to short to get upset at the small and difficult things that corrupt my day.  There is no way I could have gotten through this past week if I would have had a sour attitude everyday that I woke up.  People need to realize off track thinking leads to off track living.  I may be exhausted and tired during the day because Housten got up twice to eat and cried for two hours during the night, and Bronx woke up for no reason but I had to and have to keep a positive attitude for my boys.  This is a time in my life that I really have to focus on others, as in my family, and not be selfish.  Which for most people is very difficult.  

You are probably asking where am I going with all of this, what I am trying to say is whether you are having a bad day or a good day or perhaps a funny day it can all be controlled by you.  As Philippines 2:14-15 states "Don't let different situations and people govern how you approach tasks."  If I were to worry about what everyone thought about my crazy life I would get absolutely nothing accomplished during the day.  Sometimes I am late for school, sometimes the shopping cart is a total disaster with donut crumbs, sometimes Housten cries through out the entire shopping trip, sometimes I have to go home with a wet swim suit under my sweat suit because it is a challenge to get dressed after swim class with the three boys...but that's all right because other times the boys are angels in the store, and they take a bath without splashing water everywhere, and they actually get there shoes on when I ask them to.  Its these types of actions that make my day AWESOME and excited about the next day when I go to sleep at night.  All in all if you worry about stuff you can change, than you are just plain lazy, get up and do something about it and live life to the fullest!  Phil 4:6-7

If you saw these little faces everyday wouldn't you want to live life to the fullest?  What is your focus for the day?