Men are from Mars

Before Kevin and I got married, his only request before we set a date, was that we read the book Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. I was almost offended when he made it such a high priority, thinking that he thought we were already having problems so we would need to read a relationship book. When he explained that this was not the case, he just wanted to be pro-active and get the knowledge that will help any couple, I agreed. We took turns reading out loud to each other every day. We still pull it out from time to time, in order to make a references in our dialogue we have with each other. I wish I could explain to Brooke what we read in Men are from Mars, but it's probably better to make light of experience with boys, right now. We have been having lots of talks about these boys, however....

Brooke has always been the kind of girl that loves to wear a dress, and collect all things pink. She can never have too much in her enormous collection of girly toys and trinkets. Make no mistake however, that Brooke knows how to roll with the boys. ( A great ability she gained from playing with Daddy so much. ) She can be found running, rough housing, and digging in the dirt, without so much as a flinch about maybe loosing her hair bow, or ripping her dress. Last year, Brooke started denying me putting necklaces on her, in fear that the boys she played with would want to rip it off. Brooke still wants to wear dresses everyday, and anyone who knows me, knows that I will risk the rip in the dress, to keep my princess dressed up. It is also a mood changer in the morning, when Brooke is grumpy to get up, and when she puts the dress on, she starts twirling with a smile on her face, or jumping with excitement.

It was heart breaking and a surprise to us the past few weeks that Brooke was having such a hard time with the boys at school. Heart breaking because of the endless stories about them burping in her face, telling her that she can't come to their birthday party, teasing her about her snack, and putting his shoe in her face. The tears were real, and very nerve racking for me. We learned that Brooke was seated next to a different kind of boy, than she had ever played with. The teacher in hopes to shape him up, sat him next to the best behaved little girl in the class.

We have had many talks about how boys can be mean, but that you don't need to take it personally. Brooke has been figuring it out the past few days, just how confusing boys can be. Saying things they don't mean. She is having a turn for the up, and I have to say I am thankful for prayers answered, and I am impressed that my five- year old, can figure out, what we all had to read in Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus.

 Part one, because I was stopped at a red light, right after school, and needed to go when it turned green. Sorry for the orientation, I was at a red light, so give me some slack...

Part two

Discovering

Here is the proof that Mommy has been very busy lately. If this little face wasn't so adorable, I might actually get upset about the things Will has been deciding he should try. Instead of frustration, I reach for my phone to snap a picture, kind of laugh at my never ending work, caused by this little tornado, and then I get stressed when I realize how pressed for time I will be after cleaning up a mess.

                                        
                                           It tastes better when he gets it out all by himself.

                                                                                                       

He found Brooke's dinner cup still sitting on the table, and decided he would get his own drink. He actually was drinking it when I found him next to the kitty water, at that point I figured the harm was done, I may as well catch a picture.

After playing with his car seat for about five minutes, Will realized the cover can be pulled off, when yanked hard enough at the top. Now he wants to take the cover off all the time.

       
Will was pulling at his clothes. I realized he was watching Brooke change her dolls clothes. I thought maybe he wanted to change his clothes. As soon as I took his shirt off, he took off. A few minutes later, I found him in the bathroom putting the shirt in and out of the toilet. I guess he figured he could do laundry at his own level, in his own way.

                                                
                                                   One of Will's favorite toys is my broom.

                                                                                                

I still do not know how Will got this piece of the broom off? He had been playing with it for about ten minutes when I found it taken apart.

 Don't let his innocent little face fool you. This little boy knows what kind of trouble he can get into, and he knows his Mommy is wrapped around his little finger too! Will has a new surprise for me everyday. I love how he keeps me on my toes! I love seeing his new discoveries, even if it means a mess.  

Our Treasures

These moments of our life are treasured. Our investment of time, as parents, reaps an eternal reward. The reward, even here on earth, is so sweet. My heart is so full of joy when I see my children living a happy, and full life. I feel so blessed to have healthy, bright, and beautiful children. And as my Grandmother Gail Pack used to say " My cup runneth over, " I too feel that exact same way. My cup runneth over, and I couldn't say it enough times, to express my gratitude, for my husband, and two little gems.

To his disciples, Jesus taught:

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt. …

“But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. …

“No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matt. 6:19–24.)

Fort Worth

Our family absolutely loves stay-cations! Kevin and I have stayed at seven hotels the metroplex, just because we love going to near by cities, and seeing what kind of fun they have going on there. We don't have the hassle of packing for a long trip, or spending time getting to far destinations. We hop in the car, with bags packed and our vacation begins.

Grandma and Grandpa Pack met us for dinner at Joe T. Garcia's, in Fort worth last weekend. Will was refreshed from a nap in the car on the way, and Grandma and Grandpa brought their DVD players one for each child. After dinner we did some exploring in the garden they have set up for wedding parties.

We went to the Fort worth Stockyards that were near by the restaurant, and we had a great time! Authentic cowboys roamed the street, getting ready for the evening rodeo. We stopped in the shops and had some fun trying on western hats.

Of course when we got to the hotel room, Brooke and Will were ecstatic, because like their parents, they like staying in hotels too. The next morning Kevin and Brooke went swimming during Will's nap, and then we got lost trying to find the closest LDS church, for almost an hour. Luckily we found the church right as it started. ( I had a feeling we would get lost, since my GPS battery was dead.) After church we went back to the stockyards to watch the Cattle Drive, and just before we headed home, the kids had a pony ride.

                                                                                   

  Will has two toy horses, that he absolutely loves. One is a stick horse, a gift from Uncle Leonard, and the other riding horse, a gift to Brooke, from Aunt Doreen. He was well aware about riding horses, when Will got on the pony. He is an experienced horse rider from these toys. It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen when Will would not stop giggling hysterically, at the chance of riding a real horse! He was smiling so big, holding onto the saddle, and reaching to touch the horses hair. Every one around us was smiling at the sight of this baby boy being so excited about riding a horse. This week Will has been even more into his toy horses than he was before.                                                              

         

first weeks of school

The first week that Brooke was at Kindergarten, Will seemed to be in baby bliss. Will was the happiest I had seen him in months, those first few days. I was worried Will would become bored, but he kept himself occupied, by quickly gathering all the toys that Brooke had been limmiting his play time with. He would give me his, "checking for reaction" look, as he would be carrying the pets dogs from the barbie house , that are his favorite toys of Brooke's. He ate better, having full attention from Mommy, who had extra time to animate for him, in persuasion of extra bites.  It was about the end of the week when Will started missing his big sister. He missed her games, so decided to give Mommy's kind of play a try.

Even though Will has really taken to cleaning right now, ( anytime anything spills on the ground, he will go get a tissue, or papertowel himself if he can find one, and he wipes up the mess) He is really missing Brooke, just like his Mommy is missing her too! The house is quiet, and when Will turns the music on, we are missing a dancing partner.

When Brooke gets home from school, Will crawls all over her, and gives her hugs. (I didn't get the camera fast enough to catch the hugs.) It is great that Will and I have some extra alone time, the way that Brooke and I had, but we still miss Brooke, who lights up every room that she enters.

Testing Time Out

Will decided he would like to try time out. Brooke had been warned a few times about where her behavior was leading her. None the less, she ended up in time out, and Will followed her whining and crying, down the hall way, to the time out corners. He put himself in the opposite corner. I guess he felt sibling sympathy, or he just wanted to see what all the fuss, about these two corners in our house, are all about?

When Brooke was one and a half years old, Kevin tried to talk me into this "nose in the corner" time out method, that his brother Jeff used on his children. I refused immediately at the thought of my little princess's nose up against a wall, like she was some sort of prisoner, being degraded.

When Brooke hit about two and a half, I quickly jumped onto this " nose in the corner" method, after considering the kind of punishments that were going threw my mind, the " nose in the corner" seemed almost sweet.

As cruel as it may look, this method really does work when disciplining. It does the trick, to the point that you hardly ever, really have to put a child into time out, after using it.