Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Sis, Suds and Bubs

Sister asked if we could go to the pool today, but it was too cold.  June gloom has decided to visit us all month long...boo!  It's almost July and I feel like summer hasn't even begun.  So, instead of another day at the park or playing cars and babies in the house we decided to play in the tub.  There were bubbles, toys, and fancy hairdos.  Colin splashed for almost an hour while Ashley floated on her back, played with her toys in an imaginary world and oh yeah...asked a million questions, but that's nothing new.  Hauser watched them both like the good dog he is and looked like he wanted to jump right in, which is funny because he HATES his baths.













































































                                                                                          Love Colin's face in this one, he doesn't know what to make of his doggy trying to get in the tub.




It was a fun way to mix up our play time but the best part was both kids were squeaky clean and smelled like babies and I got to pretend for just a moment that they were itty bitty again.  Ten minutes later I re-organized the linen closet and got a whiff of Dreft (another favorite scent) and realized these kids don't smell like Dreft in their jammies anymore because they're no longer babies.  That's when I shed a few tears.  Then I walked two feet to Ashley's room and saw this. 




Yup, I was right, they're no longer babies, but I guess I'm okay with that because sis feeding bubs pretend food is just as sweet as itty bitty babies in jammies that smell like Dreft.

They are a big sister and little brother playing together and making the world's biggest mess.  I heart them!

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Brother & Sister


The love these two have for each other grows by leaps and bounds each day, it is so fun to watch.

Ashley took Colin for his first car ride, it was so cute.  Colin had fun, but was taking it all very seriously and only cracked a few smiles.  Sister, was so proud and had so much fun giving Colin a tour of our street as she held him close.  Then he ripped off the sticker that looks like a radio and started to eat it, at dinner she shared with us that Colin doing this was the least favorite part of her day, I laughed.  I love these sweet faces to pieces.

This girl


This girl lights up my life. She brings me so much joy and love and makes me feel like my life has a great purpose. The weekend cuddles in bed while we wake up to a cartoon remind me of how fun it was to be a kid and to be so excited for those Saturday cartoons. My heart skips a beat every time we are out running errands and she stops to say, "Mommy, I just love you so much." I almost cry every time she does it because I know she means it with all of her heart and I just feel so lucky to have her love. She's growing up now, it makes my stomach hurt when I think about it. My baby isn't a baby anymore, she can finish puzzles by herself, recognize words in books, she can spell the names of her family members, she can count to 100 and she can swing all by herself. I'm happy and excited to watch her grow but a part of me wants to hop in a homemade time machine and go back to that cold January morning when we brought her home from the hospital. When Jason filmed me as I held her walking in the house and showed her the bedroom I labored over for months waiting for the day she would come home. I don't know how we got to this place where her body seems almost as long as her twin bed, where we bought her bathing suit in the "big girl" section of Target and where she sings country songs in the car with me and she knows all the words. I'm not sure how time flew by so quickly but it did and I'm just trying to capture every moment and memory as each day passes. And as long as she is living under the same roof as I am I will always sneak in to give her one last kiss at night, cover her up so she's nice and warm and whisper in her ear, "Mommy loves you princess, all the way to heaven and back."

Monday, June 21, 2010

Father's Day


4 Generations of Brick Men  (they are the oldest Brick boys of their generation) We enjoyed a fun and relaxing Father's Day with both of our dads and families.  Probably one of the best we've ever celebrated, it was so special.

We started the morning off with my Dad, brother and sister at Corky's for breakfast.  After fun story telling, walks down memory lane and smiles filled with love being exchanged we went to my dad's house to watch MMA fights and to play pool.  It was fun to relax, laugh and just enjoy being together.  I'm thankful for my dad.  I'm thankful for his love, advice and care.  We talk every morning on the phone, sometimes it's about nothing, sometimes it's about everything.  He's always there to give advice, to make me smile and laugh if I'm feeling down and I know he loves me.  I'm thankful for the relationship and love he shares with my husband and children.  I'm thankful for him.

Dad was so excited he crushed the boys in pool.  He said it was the best father's day gift ever! LOL

 
A Sleepy Boy

After time with my family we went to the "Brick Gathering" at one of Jason's relatives' house and the kiddos enjoyed time in the pool, the grown ups had fun catching up and the dads had fun watching golf.  Babies were passed around, stories were shared and love was present.  I'm thankful for my father-in-law and the way he showed Jason how to be an active parent and how to love and give with a big heart.  After cupcakes and a final dip in the pool we dried off and headed home where Dad and Ash fell asleep within 2 minutes of sitting on the couch.  It was a wonderful day.


The Older Brick Boys


The Brick Family Father's Day Gathering


She was "SOOOO TIRED and COLD"  But some how she managed to find the strength to eat a cupcake :-)

What happens when you have too much fun on Father's Day  (it was only 7:30)

Sunday, June 20, 2010

A Father's Day Gift

Every Father's Day I always feel a little sad when I hear the jokes about how everyone spends months planning gifts and getaways for mother's day but when Father's Day rolls around people decide any card will do and the dads get stuck with a gift from the pharmacy that you'd find on an infomercial that runs in the wee hours of the morning.  Moms have a hard job, but so do the dads.  Dads go to work everyday trying their best to stand out, to finish their projects before the big deadline, to land a big client and to bring home a paycheck to provide for their family.  When they walk in the house we try to greet them with hugs and kisses, but sometimes it's a quick peck on the cheek as we change a diaper, prepare dinner or bathe our children.  After a long day at work a Dad wants to melt in to the couch and turn his brain off but instead he musters up the energy to wrestle with the dog, play Barbies with the girl and tickle the boy until he runs out of laughter.  Then he helps clean up the dinner mess, takes out the trash, entertains children while pajamas are laid out and a bottle is made.  He is asked about 100 questions while he tries to watch Jeopardy, "why is the screen blue?  Why didn't he win that one? Why does he have a mustache? Is that a mustache or a beard?...  He answers the questions happily, despite the fact that his brain just wants to slip into a comatose state.  After kids are put to bed he tries so hard to keep his eyes open to watch some silly show his wife likes just so they can spend time together.  When the show is over he takes the dog out for one last potty trip and does a face plant in bed, only to wake up a few hours later to do it all over again.

All of the dads I know are amazing, they are hands on, they smother their children with love, they love their wifes dearly and they strive to better the life they give their family.  The pressure and stress a daddy carries to provide for a family is quite a load and most of the time these dads do it effortlessly.

So, for this Father's Day I decided to break a sweat and put a little elbow grease in my gift for Jason, so he could check one more thing off his "To Do" list and maybe have a little extra time to watch a show he loves or to sneak in a surf session.  Jason has wanted to paint our garage since the day we moved in, I always thought it was kind of silly because it's a garage, but I guess it's the same as me wanting an organized pantry...it's our space and it's nice to have it feel a little special.  Jason was working on a garage floor in Rancho Mirage and I was home with two sick kids, the two sick kids part almost made me back out of this plan a few times, but I couldn't give up because Jason always works so hard for us.  About half way through taping off the garage I thought to myself, "this is a horrible idea".  I didn't have a ladder, I was working with a three foot step stool that barely got me high enough to reach the ceiling, so my calf muscles were burning by the end of the night.  At around midnight I finished cutting in the edges and again was regretting this gift I had thought up, I had no idea how I was going to get it finished.

The next morning I woke up early and started working away, when Ashley came down crying because she didn't get to paint.  I remembered it was Father's Day so she should participate...again, about 10 minutes in to it all, I was regretting my decisions.  A 4 year old likes to lay it on thick, so as she painted I followed behind trying to get rid of drip marks and spread the paint out.  I also had the great idea to write a message on the wall for Jason, take a picture and then paint over it.  For any of you moms that get a "great idea" like this, don't do it!  It took 6 coats of paint to cover up the message...bad, bad idea.  Luckily, the kids being sick was a blessing because they slept A LOT which meant more time for me to paint.  I ended the day with throbbing hands and the beginning of callouses on my hands- lovely!  But I could live with all of that because I had finished the painting.

When I woke up the next morning I thought I would just rip off the tape and put everything back where it went.  WRONG!  Oh, how the morning light can highlight all of your painting imperfections.  So I went for round two with my roller and oh the pain!  My poor hands were not ready for day two of painting.   Thankfully there was only about an hour of painting to be done and then I started ripping off tape and putting things back.  I was so excited and proud of myself.  All I had left to do that day was play with the kids and wait for my hubby to get home.

Jas, got home really late, I say this so he doesn't look bad hehe.  When he came home I greeted him in the garage with a BIG smile.  At first he assumed I was just very excited to have him home, then the smile made him wonder what was going on.  I told him his Father's day present was in the garage, he looked around for a good 60-90 seconds and then FINALLY he noticed and was so excited.  I'm glad he noticed, because it was late and I was tired and I think I might have been a little cranky if he didn't notice.

To the best dad I know...Happy Father's Day babe!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

7 Years

Jason and I celebrated our 7th anniversary, that sounds like a long time, but it feels like it has gone by SO fast!  To be honest, we didn't really get to celebrate, we're still waiting to do that.  We were on the tale end of being sick, didn't have a sitter and were just pooped.  So we're waiting for the perfect day to celebrate, hopefully it comes sooner than later because I need a date night!

Jas-  Thank you for being my husband.  I know I can count on you to be there for me, to be a listening ear, a person to bounce ideas off of, a shoulder to cry on, someone to motivate me and a partner in everyday life.  You have not only been a wonderful husband to me but you have also been my best friend.  You have walked hand in hand with me through the ups and downs of these seven years and it is so comforting to know that I always have you to run to.  We have had so much fun since we were married and I can't wait to see what forever has in store for us.

I think about our first date and I was nervous and excited.  I think about the day we moved away for college and I was a little scared...excited, but scared.  I think about the night you proposed to me and I was shocked and excited and a little overwhelmed.  But when I think about the day I walked down that aisle to become Mrs. Brick I had no insecurities, no nervousness and I wasn't scared at all.  I was confident, happy and certain that this would be the best decision I could ever make.  I've always known you were the one for me.

I love you.

Wrap Party

A week after the big performance all of the choir groups got together for a wrap party.  They gulped down root beer floats, ate pieces of pizza as big as their heads and watched a veggie tale movie.  They had a lot of fun.



Miss Amy and Ashley.  This woman is amazing, she has a beautiful voice, an incredible amount of patience and a heart that overflows with love for each of these kids.