Ready for Spring already!

Long nights at the Florence house this past week...we are definitely in the dead of winter with it getting dark so early, we are having to come up with creative ways to entertain trouble #1 and #2... any ideas? On a side note... Jack turns 3 tomorrow and it is sort of blowing our minds. After they went to bed, Flo sat and looked at the album of when he was first born. How did the time go quickly? My little man.


We saved a few gifts from Christmas and put them in the laundry room. Today was the PERFECT night to bust out Aunt Amy's super cool tool bench gift to the boys. They played for hours, sawing and drilling. HUGE HIT!

Not politically correct but Flo was calling them our little diaper heads. It was funny. Daddy is definitely back!

Cooper being funny....doing his little strut down the roller coaster ramp and being funny. The kid is a crack up and STUBBORN. We had all of our chairs in the entire upstairs in our bedroom today because he wanted to climb on top of tables, couches, bunk beds...anything. And after one fat lip and a bump on the head I took the obstacle out of the equation. Maybe stunt man in his future?

After the Y today (in which they came and found me to get me because my little one was trying to climb the slide and fell and got hurt surprised?) I decided to get them out of the house and go for a walk because it was sunny out. Sunny yes. Warm no. With the wind whipping at my face on the way back of our 2.5 mile walk and the kids winning....I was rethinking my bright idea. Maybe I'll wait until its above 50 next time!

This video is what we do when we have 1 hour till bedtime and have exhausted all toy resources...laser pointer. They were hilarious!

Mouse Fear

I faced my fear of Chuck E Cheeses today and went there with my sister and the kids for lunch. I was pleasantly surprised and I think it was because it was a weekday and not a popular hour but the kids had a blast and pretty much had the run of the place. They had so much fun riding all the moving cars, doing dance dance revolution, and taking funny pictures of themselves - all while polishing off a whole LARGE pizza!

Only one more day until Flo comes home and we are excited...Jack has colored a special picture for him, Cooper has been looking out the front window saying Da Da non stop and I have a treat waiting (just as long as his flight isn't delayed from 11pm until 1 am again...) :)

mmmm, chocolate mouse, fresh berries, yummy whipped cream...all surrounded by a chocolate shell bowl? Hurry home!

The girls were doing Dance Dance Revolution and even Coops got in on the action...

The Mouse gang (although when he visited our table Cooper let out a shreik that you would hear from me at a horror movie). I guess we can add Chuck E Cheese to THE list, along with Santa of who he is afraid of!

Post bubble bath time this morning after our last batch of pancakes and MESSSSSSSY syrup. This is my most favorite picture of them in a long time! They decided it was a good time to have a tickle fest.

Bubble Boy.

My little rock star doing his air guitar impressions for me. Where does he get this?

Half Way Point...

We all miss Daddy around this house... but we are at the half way point of his 6 day trip to Dallas and things are going pretty smoothly. Kids have been in great spirits and have been really patient with me interviewing people to try to find just the right match for someone to watch them when I start coaching at U-High next month part time.

Uncle John, David and Aubrey came over today to play and for lunch and the kids had a blast. They played so hard that I had to wake Jack up from his 3+ hour nap at 5 just so that he would fall asleep before 9 tonight! It was also go good to have a little grown up time with John and visit - or so we thought. And then we hear some splashing noise and discovered all 4 kids had broken into the bathroom and were playing games in the toilet water. SICK. Reality check - there was no grown up time, just visiting over lunch!

I must admit as well....I have discovered life's most perfect food this past week too. Spiced Pecan Pumpkin Pancakes from Williams-Sonoma. Seriously good! Flo will attest to my obsession with pancakes in general but these take the cake. We have had them for at least 1 (usually 2) meals since Flo left Sunday morning. They make not being able to eat all the other good foods I'm missing out on a distant memory and the fact that the kids love them too is icing on the cake!

We miss you daddy!


The boys were clowing around tonight, running around laughing and hugging. It made me laugh and Jack declared "My mommy is so happy today." I was.

Our Motley Crew from today. Funny funny kids.

Jack posing with his new toy from Auntie Connie "just because we ran into her at wal-mart"

If you have seen Cooper in the past month then chances are he looked like this pose... one hand down his pants. He pretty much assumes the position every minute he isn't eating or sleeping. I have to break this habit!!

Rocky Start to the New Year...

We've had a little bit of a rocky start to the new year around our house with me getting my wisdom teeth taken out on the 28Th of December. What should have only been a couple days of pain or discomfort has turned into almost 2 weeks of pretty intense pain and filled with lots of meds and pudding and jello. 2 dry sockets later and 2 impacted wisdom teeth which had one that had roots going right through my nerve caused a little bit of trouble for the surgeons and I have had the pleasure of dealing with major nerve pain on the right side of my face along with numbness that won't seem to go away...super swell when I am trying to take care of these two little balls of energy! Flo has been AMAZING with helping out and being patient with me but I think I am wearing thin on eating only soup, pudding and jello and slowly killing my kidneys with Advil! On the upside, this whole experience has allowed me to discover the differences between chicken soup brands, practice a little on mario cart and not totally over indulge in all the amazing Christmas treats! I am just hoping that every morning I wake up it will be a little better so that we can enjoy this new year we are blessed with and the adventures that await!

Since I have been such a slacker with blogging, I thought I would post some pictures from the past 2 weeks - note: please ignore the dishes, laundry or mess in the back drop - with Flo having to still work all the time, our priorities were more along the lines of having them fed and happy!


Cooper enjoying one of his favorite Christmas presents...

Side profile of Jack's POOF, after Flo blew dry it one night....

Front view (that thing has bounce!!)

Naked bed jumping time - all rules were out this past week!

Cooper enjoying his kalua cream pie...just a little...

Thats a happy boy!

Testing out their new table set from Grandma and Grandpa - its a hit!

First time leaving the house after 6 days in - costco run, what else?

Post cereal sale... Jack is so proud of our loot!
Watching Daddy leave for work

Cooper testing out his pound a ball toy...he is sort of good seeing as he is freakishly strong for a 13 month old!

Aaaah the men in my life!

Merry Christmas!

We had a fun filled two day Christmas extravaganza that we are currently recovering from by staying in and watching movies and playing with the boys and their loot. We basically spent great time with family, ate our way through the holiday with our favorite foods and goodies and got to experience the holiday through our kids' eyes - it was magical.

On Christmas eve we had some of Flo's family over for the breakfast of champions - my delicious orange rolls and Cinnamon. Made me proud that my orange rolls were devoured and there were only a couple of Cinnabons eaten! We had such a good time visiting and relaxing with family the whole day until we Celebrated with the Grenz side of the family that night. I think Jack and Cooper were amped up for the event and giddy about all the decorations, presents and family there that just a few crocodile tears were shed when the Santa made his appearance that night!

On Christmas Day we had my side of the family over to our house to open gifts and nosh on the huge brunch I spent Christmas Eve making. It was a little crazy with 6 little ones (who's combined age was 14) but we had a lot of fun with the help of our dear friend Mr. Coffee.

All in all it was an amazing Christmas to get to start to teach our kids the true meaning of Christmas and how we celebrate Baby Jesus' Birthday. I think we definitely got more things from our kids this year than the reverse. Although Flo makes fun of me snapping pictures of everything I wanted to remember how excited and innocent our kids were. It really helped us to just count our blessings and live in the moment! I hope everyone else enjoyed their Christmas as much as we did. I am sad the season is over...I guess only 11 months to enjoy before we get to put up another Christmas tree and listen to Jingle bells over and over again. I can't wait.

Cooper and Monkey taking a ride in his new ride after his Christmas nap.

All the kids on Christmas morning (minus Cooper who was napping) right before the festivities began.

Opening presents on Christmas eve....they definitely LOVED to see the paper fly!

Taking a minute to say thank you with a hug for his new super soft stuffed cow.

Posing with Potato Head.

After Santa handed him the ONE thing he has been asking for for months...he decided he was O.K. and even gave him a high five and a hug.

Cooper got a new Monkey to join his crew...

Family picture moment (amazingly all of our eyes are open and smiles on kids!)

Hanging out with cousins on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve morning...I would like the think the big smiles are because of the yummy orange rolls!
Jack and coops hanging out with THEIR boys T and Travis

These smiles made it all worth it. Merry Christmas!

We miss you Daddy!!

So Branden has been in Santa Barbara since Sunday at Noon and I have been left to the two wild wolves we call Jack and Cooper for the week! Knowing that it was going to be a really long 6 days, so close to Christmas and being cooped up in the house - since so many people we know are sick - I have pulled out all the stops to entice good behavior and make the time go by more quickly since the combined age of my sounding board is 47 months old!

I know Flo is hard at work with training and studying for a huge exam but it has been a test of sorts to see what I can pull out of the closet to amuse the short attention spans... bubbles in the bathtub, blowing up balloons and kicking them around the living room, obstacle course in the family room, jumping on the bed, new books, Christmas light looking with corn dogs and popcorn and the crowning glory tonight we had a dance party to jingle bell rock and grandma got run over by a reindeer. Those boys have moves!

On Monday when we had the fresh fallen snow, I spend a full two hours shoveling the walk and building a massive 5 1/2 ' tall snowman as a surprise for Jack. I labored away in the snow while neighbors honked and drove by and inquired what I was doing....it was all my my boys. I couldn't wait until they woke up and I could show Jack my surprise and then he woke up and I showed him and he was about as excited as I pictured and then hugged me and said "thank you ho ho for bringing snowman to my new home." I didn't have the heart to tell him Santa didn't bring it for him, so Santa took my credit. And about 20 times a day, Jack looked out our front window and said "hi snowman, I love you!" But, due to warmer weather and rain, Mr. Snowman now looks like a blob (see above) and is going away. Its sad.

This was my / Santa's pride and joy...

$1 treat that I made the boys from Wally world = hours of fun. They are like Christmas Gumbys with their faces.

We've had a great week, and I didn't pull all my hair out, but late late tomorrow night when Flo's plane gets in cannot come soon enough! We miss you and can't wait to start more Christmas activities next week with you! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Snow!!

We woke up this morning to about 4 inches of fresh snow in our front yard and Jack couldn't have been more excited! His excitement rubbed off because Cooper was running around the living room giggling and we decided to get dressed before breakfast and head out to enjoy the morning snow.

It might have lasted only 30 minutes but as a mom, it was the first time Jack was excited to go outside and be in the snow, much less play! I am sure it was all those snow balls he saw Daddy pelt our cars and windows with last year...because all he wanted to do was make "no balls"

started out making snow balls and then he was just laying in the snow and sort of flopping around with pure joy!

We took a mini walk around the neighborhood. It was perfect. Not a soul up yet and the street was pristine!

Cooper was starting to get in the action as well...

I guess its time to go get snow pants and boots for the two tikes which is a good thing! I was holding off because I wasn't sure if it would be a waste like last year but I think we will definitely be venturing out in the snow this year! It just makes everything feel more festive with the covering of white that during cooper's first nap Jack and I are watching The Polar Express.