Bad Blogger!!!

So January is almost over and I have posted twice this month. TWICE!!! I think its safe to say I'm in a rut. I don't know why, but this month has been taken over with this, that, and everything else!! In fact, I've only used my camera like two or three times this month! Luckily I have my phone...I'll at least do a photo dump the end of the month...well, I guess that's like tomorrow!

Ok, so what have we been doing this month?? Well, school has been in full effect! Grant continues to go to speech, occupational therapy, and a psychologist each week, totaling 4 appointments EACH WEEK. He's doing soooo great! While I'm on the topic- he started a music therapy through his OT and that has made tremendous gains in his energy level. He'd get so much bottled up energy and he would spin like a top, but this has really helped get him to calm down, which has been AWESOME! In fact, he was so calm last week, I kept asking if he felt alright!! So that's been a blessed change! But that takes up certain times of our day, where I have to be focused on certain activities with him....usually Legos, puzzles, or board games. But its safe to say we are busy with all that! The boys had a small bout of Fifth's Disease, which left us at a few doctor appointments and two days out of school for Wyatt. They never felt bad, so I'm thankful that they have been healthy overall!

Let's see, what else....I started doing physical therapy for my hip. I've been seeing dr. after dr. and getting procedure after procedure to try and figure out why I feel like an 80 year old! So I'm doing that 2-3 times a week while the boys are at school! So far so good...I think I feel 79 now! I hosted the spouse social this month at my house with my friend Courtni! It was a great evening chatting with all the Dragon Ladies!!

We're trying to do some fun art activities and projects! We made snow playdoh, chocolate playdoh, did some Valentine's crafts, and I'm currently working on their school Valentine's as well as their birthday invitations. Levi still works a good 12 hours each day, so that always adds to the busyness it seems! We are hoping sometime within the next month he will pass on the Flight Commander position to another not-so lucky fellow! Although, I have to brag on him really quick- he earned Flight Commander of the Quarter in December, as well as Flight of the Month! Pretty prestigious honor if I do say so! But we are hoping for a less time-consuming squadron job soon!

Otherwise, I can't say we've had too many other engagements, so I'm not sure why this month has seemed busier than previous months. I feel like everyday chores- laundry, dishes, cooking, cleaning- are all left to the wayside but are always tapping me on the shoulder waiting to be addressed! On my wish-to-do-list is to publish my 2012-2013 blog book (really, 2012? yes...), get up to date on my photo scrapbook (I think I'm on 2009...), get up to date on their art scrapbook, and knock out some fun photos and posts this February!! Crossing my fingers that at least some of that gets done!

We do have some big changes coming up, which I will elaborate on soon, so I know things may get crazier before they slow down...if they ever slow down! Maybe I need to start drinking coffee...or Red Bull....or...who knows what!!! But what I don't want to do is take this precious time with my little boys for granted. They are getting bigger each and every day and I want to make sure I capture them at this moment because I know I'm going to blink and they'll be teenagers one of these days! But for now, I'll leave you with this adorable picture of my still 5 year old and 3 year old...I won't be able to say that much longer!

Nice to Meet You, Rosie!

We finally said goodbye to our Pathfinder. As much as it broke our heart to give up that vehicle, we couldn't stand the mess that it brought us. 50 straight days in the shop, a busted (and replaced) transmission, only to have the new transmission be broken just like the first one. It just wasn't what you'd expect in a brand new car. So we enforced the Lemon Law and Nissan bought it back from us, giving us back every cent that we paid into it, thankfully. We loved everything that car had to offer and looking around for a new car for two months was not that enjoyable. In fact, it was downright confusing!! It made our head spin, as each car we looked at had great options, none of them had ALL the options our Pathfinder had. But in the end, we happily chose a 2014 Ford Explorer Limited. We named her, Rosie!

Nissan, who?!?!  We love our newest addition!!!

Car Troubles

Remember when I posted this picture on Instagram on May 25th?? We were so happy to buy our brand new car, a 2013 Nissan Pathfinder. It had everything we wanted in a car- and trust me, our wishlist is LONG! We traveled a lot this summer in this vehicle and we couldn't be happier driving in this car everyday...

...until it started shuddering. I noticed it randomly around the end of June thinking it was just a fluke. I felt it again a week later, and then I started noticing it more and more frequently. But we had a trip to Oakley, a trip to the lake, and another trip to Oakley planned, so there wasn't a moment to get it in for service. We finally had an open weekend on August 3rd. The technician couldn't find a problem, so after a day in the shop, they sent us on our way. It kept doing it the following week, so back to the shop we went on August 8th. And today, September 9th, it is still there. In the meantime, we've been driving this....

Sure, this Altima looks pretty nice in this picture. But ours is bottom of the line, used, and smells like smoke, and has nothing remotely in common with the car we purchased. It even did this to me one morning- my first day of work to be exact....

Needless to say, we are completely saddened and frustrated by this whole ordeal. The service people and the people at the dealership have been nothing but horrible and worthless, which doesn't give us much hope. Luckily, Oklahoma has a decent Lemon Law, which our car now falls under, so the light at the end of tunnel is close, at least we hope it is. We are hoping to get our money back and get into a new, more reliable vehicle. And while we love everything that Pathfinder had to offer, we will never own a Nissan EVER again!

So the car shopping begins...again!!! 

Kansas Cosmosphere

On our way to Grinnell for Great-Mom's birthday, we decided to head to the Kansas Cosmosphere. I'd never been, and it had been many many years since Levi had been, and we knew the boys would LOVE it. To top it off, the Kansas Cosmosphere is participating in the Blue Star Museum program, which allows Military service members and their families free admission to a variety of museums all across the country. And while the museum itself was free for us, none of the extra exhibits were, which was kind of a bummer. But it turned out they were all sold out by the time we got there anywhere, so we figured a fun stroll around the museum and gift shop would be enough excitement for the boys anyway.

And while a lot of the information in the museum was not entertaining for the boys, there was still a lot to be seen! They had a great time checking out numerous space shuttles, astronaut suits, a moon rock, and lots of space equipment! Although I'm pretty sure the gift shop was probably their favorite part. But isn't that usually how it goes?

We had a fun family day exploring space! Some day we will try for all the other exhibits as well!

SB 2K13

SB 2K13. That's what all the cool kids called it this year- Spring Break 2013. I remember the days of planning all the parties, the getaways, the cool and super fun things we would do for Spring Break. We'd start planning during Fall Break! Now that I'm a stay-at-home mom, who has only one kid in school, part time, Spring Break wasn't even on my radar. What was- a Lego Birthday party for my boys. I hadn't even thought past that. And then I realized- I don't want to stay in in Enid for an ENTIRE week with NOTHING to do!! We are outta here! And that's when a trip to Kansas City was made. Not glamorous compared to what most other people did (ahem, my sisters family's Disney Cruise!), but a change in scenery was all we needed! 

We hadn't been to Kansas City since Christmas, and even then we didn't get to go do anything extra since we spent our time celebrating with family.  I had friends to see, babies to meet, shopping to do, and good food to eat!! I accomplished it all too, well just about!

Here's a snapshot of our 5 days in Kansas!

We ate at Dairy Queen on the way there, gobbling up a Starkist, of course! We went to Little Monkey Bizness! I did some shopping at Carters, Kohls, and Nordstrom Rack (and of course, bought only for the boys and nothing for me. Typical. Pathetic.). We made a mess in Mimi's living room, but loved every second! I visited with Carly and baby Colin and Christine and baby Ace. The boys went to the the library and the mall with Mimi- twice! We ate dinner at Fritz's! We ate at Moe's (and Kona with Chris and Abbye, and Bo Lings, and Jose Peppers with my friends, and Mr. Goodcents, and Winsteads with Bebe, Stone Canyon with Mimi, Chris, and Aunt Donna). I filled out my bracket. 

We didn't sleep a lot, but we sure ate a lot and played a lot, so it sounds like we had all the makings for a good Spring Break. Tomorrow, its back to reality!

The Clubhouse

Levi has been working his tail off since January to get this clubhouse done! We decided last fall that we wanted to get the boys a clubhouse/swing set for their birthdays. We have the perfect yard, perfect neighborhood for it!! So Levi had it all in his head how it wanted it to look- no drawings, no plans! He scrounged up a few old swing sets and some old fencing on Craigslist and got to work.  Through the rain, the sleet, the snow, and the wind, it came together one piece at a time. I watched it evolve over the last few months and to see what it it is today is AMAZING!!! There is a clubhouse with a secret password window on the door. There is a lookout tower. There are two slides! Two regular swings, a tire swing, and a homemade airplane glider. There are two decks. There is a crawling tunnel. There is a chain ladder. I mean, what more could a play set ask for?!?

The boys and I had our first full afternoon of playing in it today, and they had a blast!! They were spies. They went to Mars. They were ninjas. They were mad scientists. They truly had the best time!  Listening to their ideas just made me smile the whole time!

We are excited to be able to share this with our whole neighborhood and have the "Grand Opening" ceremony this weekend at the boys' birthday party!! 

I can only imagine the hours of fun this clubhouse will bring!!

Non-sick Sick Day

Yesterday, Grant stayed home from school sick. Nothing near as bad as what Wyatt had last week, but he felt crummy. He ran a fever most of the day. When his fever broke, you'd never know he was sick, but when that fever hit, he was down for the count. Until 8pm last night when he had no fever anymore. But since he has to be fever free for 24 hours before he going back to school, Grant stayed home today as well. So we had a non-sick sick day. Which sounds good in theory, but when you've been cooped up in the house for 7 days with sick children, another day stuck at home with healthy children isn't very appealing. Especially since it was foggy until 2pm! So we had to make our own fun and games before we all wanted to poke each other's eyes out!!

And so our Non-Sick Sick Day Games were born! After an hour of painting, an hour of me folding laundry, and a quick lunch, we needed to do something to bust our boredom. I put together our first game- Ball Toss-O-Rama. I set up 3 baskets and a makeshift line, pulled out our bucket of balls and the game began. The big laundry basket was 3 points, the middle basket 2 points, and the closest basket 1 point. I was the scorekeeper on the iPad. After our bucket of balls was empty we added up our score. Grant: 31, Wyatt: 22. This was a super fun game for the boys and it took us over 30 minutes to go through our entire bucket of balls (they did miss the baskets ALOT!).

After this game was done, it was on to bowling. I sent the boys back to the playroom so I could surprise them with the setup. They were thrilled!!! I didn't have the correct number of water bottles, so I improvised with the layout. And the red water bottle was worth 2 points! Nothing like a good game changer for an added twist!! They probably played this game for a good 30+ minutes as well. Final score- Grant: 25, Wyatt: 19. They had so much fun, and so did I!

I guess non-sick sick days can be kind of fun afterall!!

Harlem Globetrotters

We were very fortunate to have been given free tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters last week when they came to Enid. Levi's sister, Summer, worked the event when they were in Hays, and she hooked us up with some great seats!! The boys weren't exactly sure what we were doing, although I showed them some video clips on the iPad a few times. We were in the front row of the stadium seats, at center court, so the boys could stand and bounce around and not bother anyone (well, other than Levi and I!). They enjoyed seeing some of the cool tricks while they were playing, but they mostly enjoyed the mascot (or at least I think that's what it was) that was an inflatable person with a globe head. He did some pretty funny things that had the boys laughing hysterically. Once I got them some popcorn they actually sat in their seats for a few minutes. We also had to make quite a few trips to the bathroom for Wyatt, and a few for Grant too because he thought the sinks in the bathroom were fun to play in. Silly kids! 

Anyway, it was a great family night and we are very thankful to have been given that opportunity to go do something as our family of four!

Pinterest Project Day

The boys had a case of the sniffles last week. And Grant's school had a massive case of the flu. Being the sick-a-phobic mom I am (I seriously have anxiety just thinking about my kids being sick), I decided to keep Grant home from school on Wednesday. I half expected the day to be a lounging in pajamas watching TV kind of day. Well, turns out the boys instead had an extreme case of the energies that just needed to be harnessed. So what does any other mom who stays home with two rambunctious boys ALL day do- turn to Pinterest of course!

I had already wanted to do some Valentine's Day crafts with my fellas, so it was a good excuse to work on those. I found a few ideas I thought would be do-able, and we got to work! 

We made symmetry hearts and handprint heart trees! The symmetry hearts were made by just painting on half of the heart and folding it, but the boys thought was the coolest thing!!  Of course, sprinkling glitter on it made it even cooler! For the handprint tree, I actually used a potato, cut in half, and shaped with a cookie cutter to make the heart. The boys thought that was weird, but cool! Since lots of painting was involved, inevitably, a bath was involved too! We made bathtub paint. (Ironic how painting led to a bath where they did more painting?!?) But this paint was made of soap, so it was clean and fun!!

And all these projects us took us to lunchtime! Not the grandiose plans I had imagined, but hey, we made it to lunchtime! And then after lunchtime comes....NAPTIME!!!! Success!!

 I am so thankful I get the opportunity to be home with my boys and do projects and play and just spend quality time. Not all our time is quality, that's for sure, so when we have moments like these, I really try to embrace the gift I have been given!! Ya know, like naptime! :)

Randomness

I've been using my phone more and more for pictures- not because it takes great pictures, but its just handy!! So here is a randomness post of pictures, in all its glory!

 One morning, trying to stay busy, we did a Skeleton Hunt. Just like an Easter Egg Hunt, but with stretchy skeletons!! The boys LOVED this and we probably did this for an hour! Grant loved hiding them for me too! I love spending those little moments making memories with my boys!

 Wyatt came down with croup last week and he spent many many hours watching Max and Ruby in my bed. Naps were hard to come by for this little guy, so we spent lots of time just snuggling together!! Not a highlight of our week, but lots of snuggles came out of it, so I guess I can't complain!

 Wyatt is still obsessed with doing "homework" and asks me for it at every opportunity! I gladly oblige when the time allows, because it does take some time to pool the activities together. He loves all things tracing and spent some time last week tracing letters and his name! He is remarkably great at this type of activity! 

 We made a few Halloween projects! One being this chain because I would get the "Is it time to go trick-or-treating yet?" question 5 times a day! Since we made this, there's been no question!! Probably have to do it for Christmas too! We also painted some big pumpkins and made some spooky ghosts!

Wyatt had spikey hair out to dinner one night!

  Grant had to do a little maintenance on the Gator!

Grant can't keep shoes or a coat on, even in 40 degree weather!! My poor Florida boy!!

And there you have it...randomness from the Broeckelman household!!

Just For Fun

Sometimes I have no reason to take out my camera, other than the fact I have no reason to do so!! What good is a really nice camera if you only use it to take pictures of something special?!? So this morning, as the boys were playing, I pulled out the camera to capture their playing. Of course, Wyatt always turns on the charm and Grant always turns on the "duh" face. Not amusing, but still cute!  I love Wyatt's face when he plays. I call it his "bulldog" face because his lower jaw is always sticking out. He concentrates so hard. His favorite playthings are those that require fitting pieces into pieces- ie, puzzles, Hide and Squeek Eggs, shape sorters, peg boards, etc. Grant plays very imaginative. He plays Imaginext about 95% of the time, and lately has been playing Octonauts, thanks to Disney Jr's new show! (Oh, and the picture of Grant with his hands out flat on the floor- he said, "Mom, do I look like the Sphynx?" What a crackup!!!)

They still don't really play together very well at all. In fact, I have to break up more fights than I do actually witness them playing together, but it will come in time (hopefully!). So for now, I have to go back and forth and play games between the two of them. Its tiring, without a doubt! But look at how cute they are?? Makes it all worth it!

Sickies

My little boys have had quite the sickies the past few days. Wyatt especially!!! It all started Tuesday night when Wyatt was up EVERY 30 MINUTES crying, coughing, wheezing, all feverish. He was a mess!! I ultimately decided an ER visit would be best, as opposed to *hoping* our Peds. clinic could squeeze us in (which they never can!). So I got Grant up at 6am and had to drag him along with us, since Levi had already left for work. It wasn't as horrible of an experience as I had expected, but it was still a long one. They did a chest X-ray on our little buddy, as they heard wheezing in his  left lung. They suspected pneumonia. After that came back clear, they decided it was Bronchiolitis (or croup), so they did a breathing treatment and oral steroids to give his lungs a boost! They sent us home with a pharmacy bag full of stuff!!  Unfortunately, nothing has seemed to help so far! The little guy still hasn't slept much and is coughing up a storm and running fevers constantly! 

Then, Grant came down with a fever yesterday morning and has been running a pretty steep one as well! He has a doctor appointment this evening, so we'll see what that turns up! But through it all, they've been snuggly, happy boys (for the most part!). Now if only we could get some sleep around here!!!!

 

Dream Come True

We've already gone through one tin of Christmas popcorn and its not even December yet! Levi kept saying, "I wish they had a whole tin just full of caramel corn!" That is all three of my boys' favorites! So, today Levi embarked on trying to make homemade caramel corn. Wyatt woke up early from his nap, so he got to be Daddy's helper. He loves sitting on the counter and watching me cook. And since this house has ample counter space, I let him! He watched Daddy stir and stir and stir and stir! And then, he got to be the taste tester, which I believe was his favorite part! Levi made two batches and filled up the empty Christmas popcorn tin FULL of caramel corn! A dream come true!!

New Camera

We bit the bullet on Black Friday and bought a new camera! And not just any ordinary camera- a fancy one, at least by my terms! We got a great deal at Costco on a Canon Rebel T2i. It was love at first click!! I can actually make out the little hairs the run down Wyatt's pink cheeks. The little bumps on his little chin. The fuzzy hairs growing out of Grant's round head. And their beautiful smiles that run ear to ear. I was lucky to even make out a face on my last camera it was so blurry half the time! I have TONS to learn to be able to make my camera do the things I want it to, but learning is part of the fun!!! Can't wait to capture Christmas moments through the lens of my Canon!!!

Nature Walk

One thing to do on my Fall Craft Project checklist was a nature walk, complete with nature wreath. Apparently nature is hard to come by in San Antonio. Our street is sparsely scattered with Live Oak trees, which don't lose their leaves. Grass is no longer there and yards are just filled with weeds. So finding objects to place on our wreath was a lot harder than I expected! But that doesn't mean we didn't have fun looking!  Grant brought his magnifying glass and his superhero lunch box to hold all of our findings! We managed to find a few random leaves, some weeds, and a few random nuts. Wyatt loved using the magnifying glass and Grant loved picking "beautiful flowers." Pretty sure I'm the only one who cared about the nature wreath. But we got it done and our Fall Craft Project checklist is complete! And its a good thing, because I'm busting out the Christmas Craft checklist on Friday!!

First Ever Family Movie Night

This whole daylight saving thing has really thrown off our routine. Usually, after dinner we'd go to the park and ride bikes or play outside with the neighbors. But now that it is pitch black after dinner, we have to find something else to pass the two hours before bedtime. And let's face it- sometimes those two hours can take a REALLY LONG TIME! So last week, I had recorded Aladdin on the Disney Channel, so we thought we'd give our first ever Family Movie Night a try! I bathed the boys and got their jammies on while Levi gathered some blankets and made us some popcorn. We had recently watched Beauty and the Beast and Grant seemed enjoy that, so we had high hopes. The boys did really well and sat very still for at least the first 45 minutes. The last 45 minutes was a little rowdy, but we went through two bags of popcorn, songs were sung, and smiles were seen, so I'd say it was a pretty darn good success!! I hadn't seen Aladdin in probably 8 or 9 years, so it was past due for me! (Levi too I think!). Can't wait for many more family movie nights! :)