Our big adventures

So here's what I think about how this week is going. I love not being stuck in a kennel, even though I do love Camp Bow Wow. I've found a new boyfriend in Ajax, Jenny and Jason's border collie. We run and jump through the snow together every chance we get. I say, "ruff, ruff" to Colorado! Now my boys have been having a tail-wagging time. Yesterday I was very confused when Dad and Brayden came to my rescue at the car without Mom and Beau (I've been keeping watch over the car while everyone is out having fun). Where were they? I couldn't find my long-haired buddy. Quickly I figured out that Dad and Aunt Jenny took Brayden down the bunny hill for the first time when he was finished with ski school. The big smile on his face was all I needed to know he needed a big, Honey lick right up his face to congratulate him on successful ski school. Mom said when she picked him up that his instructor, Ben, told her that Bubba was the only kid all day who didn't cry ...

The night before Last night was the big surprise for the boys - a ride on the Polar Express! They were so excited and thought it was so cool. We took their jammies and changed them in the bathroom of the train station. Brayden kept saying, "WHY are we putting on our jammies in a bathroom?" He could not figure out what was going on. Beau, on the other hand, hand our number. He came screaming out of his bathrooom changing area, "BUBBY! WE'RE GOING ON THE POLAR EXPRESS!!!" It was a pretty cool adventure. They took us to the "North Pole" to deliver Santa, who came through the cabin and gave each child a bell. Brayden consumed three cups of hot-hot-hot hot chocolate. A fun time was had by all. Thanks to Aunt Jenny for planning this special trip! So there's just one funny here that some of you may appreciate. Beau is in love with our 2-year-old black lab, Honey. And Honey is just as googly-woogly about Beau. Well, last night, I wake up about 1:30 a.m. to...

On Friday we all loaded up the truck - complete with Honey - and headed out for a 2-day, 16-hour drive to Durango, Colorado. And yesterday evening we finally arrived. The boys were more or less fantastic on the drive, and we would have never known Honey was with us. Jenny and Jason say we made good time, but they weren't the ones in the car. . . Top 10 things I've learned on this trip so far: 10 - 77 degrees in Oklahoma on Dec. 26 is a great thing 9 - It's amazing to me how little boys inherently understand video games and I can't seem to figure out how to turn them on 8 - Radio station 94.1 in Tulsa is great with tunes like Blinded by the Light, Hit Me with Your Best Shot and Come Sail Away 7 - Hay bales can also be called cow food according to Beau, "Look how many cow foods there are, Dad!" 6 - When you ahve 46 DVDs, the only one anyone really wants to watch is Scooby Doo Meets Batman 5 - There's a county in Texas called Deaf Smith 4 - Brayden plans to l...

Well look at me. . . Two posts in one week. No, hell hasn't frozen over. I'm just not sleeping much. As the home room mom for Brayden's class, I've been at school the last two days for events. And I've decided that before you sign up for this very important job, you should get a job description that says something like this: Home room mom needed "Sucker needed to stress out about 45-minute parties for approx. 25 5-and 6-year-olds. You should be the crafty sort because if you're not, then multiply the stress level because this job requires some creativity and energetic craft creation. You should not have a full-time job because inevitably you will get stuck later than you want to be at work and you will skate in by the skin of your teeth to pull off the party or deliver the supplies you had committed to bring. Keep in mind that this job is intended to HELP the teacher, not stress her out because you are a loser without a crafty hair on your head. Oh, and did...

I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I've posted anything. I know below it says Oct. 31, but that's when I wrote that - it actually posted on Nov. 19. Hey, I have to defend myself and my horrible lack of posting a little! Let's see - there's so much that's gone on. I'll start recent and see what else I can remember over the past month. It's the most wonderful time of the year Cousin Ele spent the night Saturday night, and we woke up to breakfast in bed from the kiddos. It was very, very sweet. Picture this - Nate getting pelted in the head by a Juicy Juice box along with Beau jumping on top of him saying, "Daddy! Guess what?!" I, on the other hand, had two, sweet angels (Brayden and Ele) on my side of the bed handing me apple cide in a cup with a lid complete with Spiderman atop and a yellow straw. We both were presented "peanut butter toast." Here's the ever-so-sweet, yet very funny part of our "peanut butter t...

Disclaimer: I forgot to post this one. Sorry. Here is Halloween just in time for Thanksgiving. . . Beau has had his costume for well over a month. He committed to a blue Power Ranger one day in Wal-Mart, and he never waivered. His big brother, on the other hand, was a different story. He just decided earlier this (Halloween) week to be a cowboy. If you know Nate, you know that it was a really bad idea for me to send him and Brayden alone to the Western store to buy "a cowboy shirt." They came back with a full-on cowboy hat, shirt and ostrich-skin boots. To be fair, it was all on sale and Brayden wanted boots anyway, but that was one expensive Halloween costume. He was very cute, though. Halloween at Wal-Mart Ok, people. I have never seen anything like this. For my Sprint friends who were at 5901, this made that look like we hardly celebrated at all. Boy, do these people get into Halloween. In the row beside me, they turned the row and cubes into the Wizard of Oz - complete wi...

Wow! I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted anything here. I've partially waited so that our "we've moved" cards could all get out and those new to our blog could catch up. And, I've partially just been tired. (Sorry. I hope I didn't lose too many of my readers.) So it's Halloween night. Since we just got back from trick-or-treating, I'm going to save the commentary and post it with the photos maybe later this weekend. Kindergarten election day Nov. 4 is election day at Centerton Gamble Elementary, just as it is across the nation. Brayden will be voting for "the guy with the brown skin and black hair - Barrack ObaRma." And he's voting this way because "He doesn't want the bad guys to have guns. He only wants the good guys to have guns so the bad guys won't have them, so I want him to win so the bad guys don't have guns." Apparently he learned this on TV. Can you say Alex P. Keaton in the making? The...

If you're reading this for the first time because you just received our card and you're wondering why we're in Arkansas, read the post just below this from Oct. 4. Otherwise, read on. Today is Monday, Oct. 6. It's in the 70s and rainy in Bentonville, Arkansas today. The boys have a new-found love for the rain. So when we got home, they ran out to the backyard (what little actual yard there is due to most of it being consumed by the pool) to play in the rain. This quickly turned into splashing on the first step of the pool. And then the second. And then kicking water at each other. By now they are pretty well soaked up to their waists. See exhibit A to the right. If I were a boy (and I'm reminded often that I'm just a gwirl ), I'd imagine this is pretty close to heaven. And this afternoon when I saw the spark in those sweet, little pairs of blue eyes, I could hear the wheels turning, "We're ALMOST completely wet. Surely it's ok if we just go ahea...

So this week I sent out most of our "we've moved" cards. I'm assuming we have some newcomers to the blog, and some friends who are shocked at the city and state indicated on the "we've moved" card. For those of you wondering what in the world is going on and why we'd move to Arkansas, here's the Reader's Digest version of the story. For those of you who already know, I'll put some "what we've been up to" info in the next section and then you can skip the rest. What we've been up to This week has flown by. I was in St. Louis visiting Karen, Dave and baby Donato on Monday and Tuesday. Beau started gymnastics at Aspire on Thursday, and our long-lost friend Ginnie Monnington (now Solomon) came over for a visit on Friday night. I've posted a picture of Ginnie and her lovely family here. For those of you out there who know and love Ginnie, she's doing well and has three beautiful girls and a very nice husband. She...

This week we've just been living life - going to work and school, grocery shopping, the usual. And it still feels different here. Even though, according to my mom, I "don't get home until about the time I would have anyway," (meaning that I get home around 6 most days, which is when I got home living in Blue Springs) there's still more time in the day. You see, now the store, dinner, ice cream or anything else we need is always less than 5 miles away. We spent a couple of evenings this week just letting the boys ride their bikes out front. This let us visit with neighbors and enjoy the weather. The resident 12-year-old told me this week that there are 20 kids under the age of 12 in this neighborhood - on three streets. Baby time! And not for us, if that's what you crazy people may be thinking. I just wanted to shout out to Donato Carroll Ruggeri, Dave and Karen's new little guy who was born on Sept. 19. AND to Carson James Gift, my cousin Erika and Landon...

The big news Karen had her baby!! Donato Carroll Ruggeri was born on Sept. 19 at 6:23 p.m. at St. Mary's Hospital in St. Louis. He weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces and everyone is doing well. Congratulations, Karen and Dave! If you'd like to send them well-wishes, Dave's e-mail address is davidruggeri@yahoo.com. A new car First of all, Shelly Thorington, if you're out there, the day finally came. I traded in my 8-year-old Xterra and bought a 2009 Honda Accord on Thursday. They gave me well over blue book for the trade-in of the Xterra (wahoo!), and we got an extra set of tires and wheels thrown in with the car. If that didn't sound strange, read it again. We got an EXTRA set of TIRES and WHEELS. So here's a tip for anyone going to look at new cars. If the car you want has wheels other than what came on it as stock, or if you want them to put something else on, don't let them charge you for the tires and wheels that they took/take off and don't give to you. My...

Hurricane Ike was supposed to have brought rain to Arkansas the entire weekend. As my good friend Julie Nurski says, "Since when did Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas get hurricanes?" Well, we only got rain on Friday night and Saturday, and it was a nice, gentle rain. Grandma Zellers and Granny came to visit this weekend. We went to see bull riding at the Benton County Fair on Friday night. And on Saturday, the boys and Nate met them at Denny's Diner for breakfast. The rain stopped just long enough for Brayden's 2 p.m. football game. Go Raiders! (I can't believe I just wrote that.) So if you've been keeping up with my blog, a few entries ago I went on a rant about how I couldn't believe that there was no football here for kids younger than the second grade - and how we finally found it. Boy, did we find it. Here's my shout out to Mutt and Lisa Ketteler for responding to the quiz about the football team name. It is, in fact, the Raiders. Ugh. Double ugh tha...

When we got to school on Tuesday after Labor Day, we found this poster that said Beau was a "Star Student!" Here's what he has to say: I am a star student because. . . I put my hands in my head at snack time. What I like most about school is. . . going outside. I am good at. . . riding my bike outside. My favorite subject is. . . play with the purses and phone. When I grow up I want to be. . . a speed racer. I am proud of myself because. . . I'm a big kid when my mom brings me to school.

So the worst part (really one of the very few bad parts) of moving here was that we couldn't find football for Brayden. You'd think in the South - where football abounds, where everyone knows how to call the Hogs, hook 'em Horns, can spot the likes of Boomer Sooner, knows the Dallas Cowboys star from any other star there may ever be, knows intimately the story of the Marshall Thundering Herd (from We Are Marshall), where we are already seeing Darren McFadden Raiders jerseys on children and where Friday Night Lights are more of a religion than something to do - where the high school football team has an indoor practice facility that rivals anything the Chiefs have (seriously) - you'd think that of all places that here they would start boys early in football. This, my friends, is not so much the case. We looked everywhere for a football program for 5-year olds. Most athletics are run through the Boys and Girls Clubs here, and they don't start until second grade. Now...

Last week Brayden finished his first week as a big Kindergartener while Nate finished his first week officially as an assistant principal. It was a fun time for all. A trip to the lake that doesn't take 4 hours We headed to see MiMi and Pa at the lake (Table Rock) on Saturday. I just can't explain how excited I am about this. On Saturday, we did work around the house, ran errands, headed to the lake, dropped off the boys, visited with Dad and Debbie, went to Springfield, ran a couple of errands and made it to a party at Donnie and Winnie's by 6:30 p.m. Now in our "old life," our entire day would have been spent trying to make it to a party in Springfield by 6:30. But here, in this new place we call home, it took an hour and 40 minutes to get from Bentonville to "Pa's lake." LOVE IT! Now that hour and 40 minutes doesn't come easy, especially for a little boy in the back seat of dad's truck. For some reason I hear the narrator from the Dukes of...

Should I put once upon a time? One time, my brother, Beau, threw the ball in the pool so I could go get it. And one time he threw it in the deep end. And I still went down and got it. And I kept doing that. (Editor's note: I'm losing him here. I think we're going to go the Q&A route. . .) Q: What did you think when you got up this morning? A: I don't know. Q: What were you thinking on the way to school this morning? A: I DON'T KNOW!! Q: What was your favorite thing about school today? A: Going outside and playing. You know those things you hang on? But they are triangles? I tried to go across those. Q: Did you play with anyone? A: Yes. Q: What were their names? A: Uh, I don't know. I didn't ask them. Q: Were they bigger than you or smaller than you? A: About the same size, I guess. Q: What did you eat for lunch? A: Chocolate milk, mashed potatoes that smelled like gravy, sausage in a bun with ketchup and, uh, half a banana, and some yellow food, but I di...

Ok, so it's really "Up-71-highway-for-3 1/2-hours" to grandmother's house we go. . . This weekend we're in KC trying to finish up some things at the house in Blue Springs. We're enjoying seeing Grandma and Grandpa Zellers (thanks for the hospitality) and having dinner with Grandpa Bice last night (Marty, we missed you!). A new deck is finally being put on the house today. Wahoo!! The big news The big news around here, though, is that Brayden starts Kindergarten tomorrow! When he woke up this morning, I asked him what tomorrow was, and he said, "Yes! I only have to wait one more day and one more night!" I can't believe he's starting Kindergarten.  A few of our favorite things So I asked the boys what they liked best - what were their favorite things - about Arkansas. Here's what I got: Brayden:  1) A pool in our backyard 2) Not having crazy neighbors :-) Amen, brother!! 3) Throwing the ball into the pool and diving down to get it. Editor...

Oh, the places you'll go when it's only a stone's throw to get to the bank or to lunch or a show When at lunch you can go to three places or four And you only use a gallon of gas and no more Oh, to get to work, Starbucks, doggy daycare and preschool It takes no time at all, which is very, very cool Preschool for Beau is something he loves He fit in the first day like a hand in a glove Ms. Betty is his teacher and she gives him a treat From the treasure chest he chooses each day, which is neat Brayden and grandma are having alone time They're checking out the sites and doing art all the time One is much better than two for grandma But next week Brayden goes to school for the fall It's been raining for days so the pool is no fun But unpacking is going way better without sun Things are falling into place in the house, but there's more And more, and more unpacking to do, that's for sure.

We finally found and settled on a preschool for Beau. It was quite a chore, but on Thursday he'll start preschool at The Children's Hour in Blue Springs. He's excited and ready to get going - ok, so mostly he's ready to check out the playground. Beau is all of a 3-year-old little boy. I hope The Children's Hour is ready for the likes of him. He'll keep them busy! Brayden has been enjoying cousin Ele this week, and Aunt Snefanie and Mazy are coming for the day tomorrow. It's nice to be close enough that they can do that. Small town news rocks We're now in the middle of our second week here, and we just figured out that the TV in the bonus room will get local channels. We've been without our Dish since we moved, but it's getting installed on Friday just in time for the opening cermonies of the Olympics. A very, very important thing, you know. Nate's watching the news, and the big stories are that a guy in Bella Vista (a neighboring town) lost h...

I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Heather and Donnie for letting me know that you're reading my ramblings here. We think we've found a preschool for Beau (yea!). So here's something about a small town with a lot of people in a small area. Good preschools are hard to come by and they all have waiting lists. This has been as bad as trying to find daycare for your baby after maternity leave. But, thanks to a fellow IABC gal down here, we're taking the last 3-year-old slot at The Children's Hour. Whew. It reminds us a lot of Duncan (the boys' preschool in Grain Valley). Ms. Martha, if you're reading this, Beau really wants to come and see you. He misses you a lot. As we were driving back to Bentonville yesterday, we got to about Noel or Jane, Mo. when Brayden piped up, "Hey - we're in Arkansas!" We weren't, but we were in the town or two just before the border. The funny thing about that is that you never realize how much a 5-year-old...

We made a pretty quick trip to KC this weekend for a moving party for us and a baby shower for Karen. Thanks to Grandma Edra for a fantastic party last night - and thank you to everyone who attended. The kids had a great time - Beau got to see his girlfriend Harper (I'll post a CUTE picture when I can) and he made an older girl cry. He told Sydney Allen (Cristi's 5-year-old) that she wasn't his girlfriend - Hannah Montana and Harper are his girlfriends. This resulted in an eruption of tears from Sydney. Undeterred, she quickly took a liking to Kendall Biley (Harper's brother) and claimed him as her boyfriend. Oh, to be 5 years old and in love. Hee-hee. The boys got to see their beloved Courtney and Shelby today during a trip to Chuck E. Cheese's while Nate ran errands and Sarah, Cass and I had a baby shower for Karen. We remain small but mighty. This is the last time we'll see Aunt Karen before the baby is here, and she looks fantastic. So that's it. We'...

So we're now officially Arkansans! The big, 'ole Wal-Mart-branded, 18-wheelin' moving truck pulled into our drive around 8:15 a.m. on Saturday. We loaded and loaded and loaded and got almost everything in, but not all. Oh, well. We'll have to get a U-Haul and bring the rest down. Then on Sunday, it arrived at our Bentonville home. The boys stayed with Grandma Edra in KC Saturday night, and she and Grandpa Craig brought them down on Sunday. We have SO MANY boxes. It's incredible. And we purged a lot of stuff. The unpacking has begun, and it's going very s-l-o-w-l-y. The boys and Grandma Patty have been spending their days in the pool while Nate and I slave away at work and then prepare for the oh-so-long and stressful drives we have home. Hee-hee. That would be 2 1/2 miles for me and 3 miles for him. I just can't get over that. Although we still haven't locked into a preschool for Beau (he's on the waiting list), we did find doggy daycare for Honey, o...

Here's our biggest news yet - Nate has a job!!! He will be the assistant principal at Centerton Gamble Elementary School in the Bentonville School District beginning TOMORROW/Thursday. I can't say enough that the fun just doesn't stop. Stepping into a Corona Commercial So we had an absolutely amazing vacation, of which I'll post pictures sometime soon. When diving, we saw reef sharks, a sea turtle and an eel as big as me (Jen), among various other things. And if you've ever wondered when watching those absolutely perfect Corona commercials if there are really places like that that exist, they do. We found it. That's about the best way to describe the week we had. And here's a shout out to our new friends Les, Annemarie, Terese and Darren from Milwaukee, whom we met and hung out with quite a bit during our perfect vacation. Guys, our trip back was WAY better than yours. (Sorry.) The boys are getting excited Courtney spent the week with the boys while we were ...

After a zillion people asking a zillion times, "When are you moving?," we finally have the answer! The movers are coming to our Blue Springs home on Saturday, July 26, and they will deliver our things to the Bentonville home on Sunday, July 27. Now pardon the blog interruption for about 8-9 days as we head to the Bahamas this evening :-)

If anyone is still reading this after the break I've taken from posting, I'm sorry for the delay. Here's what's been going on. I started work at Wal-Mart on Monday as Jennifer Brice . Lovely. They got my badge fixed so I became Jenifer Bice, but in Outlook was still Jennifer Bice - Jenny, I kept feeling like you were the one who should be working and not me. Anyway, they fixed it today. WM is a different world for sure. I get to take out my own trash, recycling is a HUGE deal, and you can buy a cup of Diet Coke for $1 and refill it for free all day. Wahoo! Nate had two job interviews on Monday in Bentonville for elementary assistant principal positions at Centerton and Apple Glen. They called on Tuesday and want him to interview with the superintendent - another Wahoo! This is where the fun really starts. Get ready for the run down of our next couple of weeks. . . Nate and I leave for our 10-year anniversary trip to the Bahamas on Saturday (Wahoo!!!). I tell you this ...

Nate and I spent the last couple of days in Bentonville looking for a place to live. It's getting close now. Brayden's requests went like this: 1) A house with a pool; 2) A house in a neighborhood with a pool; 3) my own bedroom. Wish #1 came true - we found a great house with a pool in the backyard. The boys are SO excited. I'm trying to figure out how this thing works, so scroll to the bottom for pictures. . . Our new address is 3402 SW Town Vu Road, Bentonville, AR 71721! And aside from the pool, the rest of the good news is that it is 2.5 miles from work - it takes 7 minutes to get there. I can't even imagine what this is going to be like. Even better news is that Nate got a call this morning and has two interviews on Tuesday for assistant principal positions. So the whole fam-damily is going to Bentonville this Sunday. I start work on Monday, mom needs to find a bank and doctor, and Nate has is big interviews. I hope they get the pool opened by then or we may have a...

It's Wednesday, June 25, and after much prodding from my dear friend Lisa, I'm starting a blog. Right now I'm sitting in the Kansas City heat having a garage sale. If anyone tells you that Wednesday is "the best" garage sale day, don't believe them. We've got a ton going on right now, so I'll make this one short. Here's what our week looks like. This post will be pretty boring, but sometime soon I'll hand this over to my mom who will keep it updated with stories about the boys and pictures, etc. Right now I'm in tactical mode with everything that has to happen. Thursday - Jen's last day at Sprint and the boys' last day at their preschool (I can't even believe it). So tonight I have to make cookies for them to take to school. When that's going to happen is beyond me. If anyone knows anyone who wants to buy a boat lift TONIGHT, that would save us some work :-) Oh, and the boys have T-ball Thursday night, too. Friday - Brayde...