Tunnel Vision

Persistence, determination, and tunnel vision focus is something that apparently both of the kids have inherited from me. Proof of these strengths, that are also my biggest weakness, is in the fact that, at eighteen years old I got hired as the youngest sales rep ever, at the telephone company Sage Telecom. More proof, is after being one of the best sales reps they had, after only six months, I was promoted to Sales Quality Analyst, where I trained, held discipline action meetings with the fifty sales reps that I monitored sales calls for, and also I served as a liaison between two out sourcing telemarketing companies that Sage used. I held training meeting over the phone with their sales managers to ensure the same sales process, that Sage used in Texas. After working for Sage for three years, I went to work for Kevin. Good thing I love sales, because it lead me to him!

Brooke has proven to have these same qualities her whole life, but as of lately her tactic of negotiation has turned to into begging.  

The things that Brooke has been begging for are: Having to wear a dress every single day! It used to just be the school days that she insisted on wearing a dress. Now it is happening on the weekend! And this weekend she was begging to wear princess costumes out in public. I probably would let her just to take a picture, and show her how silly she was later in life, but it's just too cold for her to be wearing a tutu in January!

Will shows his determination by pushing chairs all over the house to climb on top of the counter to get what he wants, and of course, we can't forget , learning to open child proof locks before age one!

 But to my surprise Will picked up on Brooke's lingo very quickly.

So I say to Will to get out of the Kitty's closet, and stop playing with her food. With his big brown puppy dog eyes, he says to me, " Please Mama, please, please."  I was almost laughing, that he was begging me to continue playing in the cat food.

Will has also picked up the word , " Hey" and it's kind of funny. Whenever I turn the music off Will says,        " Hey " just like Brooke, when I turn off a movie, because it's time to do homework, or move on from tv time.

Determination can be a good thing, but I have learned my lesson, of moderation in all things finally, and I contuinue to work on not " tunnel vision focusing on one thing " because although that is great for a time, it can also lead to other important things being neglected.

Always stay in check my children. Too much of anything can be bad.

Male bonding time

Kevin likes to give himself credit that one of his life long dreams was fulfilled by having the chance to raise a boy of his own. When we decided to start trying to have a baby, Kevin bought this book, " How to choose the sex of your child." He read the book cover to cover, and then he made me read it out loud to him while on a road trip for the second time. He then underlined all the important parts in the book and proceeded to make a calender where we tracked my temperature, and other stuff that is t.m.i.

I started to get worried on the second month of this, that what if I got pregnant and it was a girl, would Kevin be able to love the baby the same. We had lots of talks that of course he would, but that he had to do everything in his power to have a little boy.

When we got an early sonogram, Kevin was in denial that he would actually have both sexes for children, like his perfect wish. He likes to take the credit, but I know that he probably got blessed with a boy because he is such a good Dad, and he was blessed with this to bring him joy. Since God said, " Men are that they might have joy. "

Kevin deserved the little boy that he tried so hard to make happen!

Will has always had all the traits, that separate a little boy, from a little girl, but Daddy is really coming to enjoy the " boy time " that he has been having with Will. They have been enjoying building blocks, playing ball and as always wrestling around on the floor. It's a good thing that Brooke likes to rough house too, because she wont pass up a little wrestling around either!

College Plans

(pic from Mother's Day 2009)

                                                                     January 2012

( almost six years! )

Fully realizing that the days that Brooke begs me to put braids in her hair, and make necklaces with her while Will naps, just wont last forever makes me love these moments even more. I will remind her someday of a day last week. We were driving to school and Brooke said to me, " Mommy, I have something to tell you. " I said, " Okay..." She said, " I don't want to go to college Mommy." Brooke and her Dad have a big jar in the garage that they put all loose coins in that they find and Daddy calls it her "college fund ". They talk about it frequently. Although, this really isn't her college money, we want to her to think about college already. I was very surprised at her comment, since she gets very excited and proudly states to us any time she has put coins in the " college fund. " I asked her why she didn't want to go, and when I heard the quiver in her voice I looked back at Brooke, to see tears coming down her face. She said, " I don't want to go to college because then I can't live with you Mommy. " I couldn't help but smile, and I told her that I would move to wherever she wanted to go to college. She was surprised, and she then said, " Even to Utah? " I said, " Sure, Daddy and I will move to Utah. Then she said, " I want to go there, so I can marry someone who has a job, and makes good choices." The having a job, comes from her Dad reminding her she needs to marry someone with a good job, and the making good choices comes from me telling her she will meet lots of people when she gets older, that don't make good choices. I was very proud of our conversation, and I hold it in my heart because I know that she really wont want us to move to Utah with her, or where ever she goes to college, and if she does, then I will try my best to go, because she will always be the little princess who loved to wear a crown, and dance with her little brother.  

Wild Duck

Watching Kevin catch this wild duck was fun for me, and the kids! Of course Will was trying to chase the ducks after seeing Daddy do it. Just looking at the animals is never enough! We love it!

Secrets of Southwest Airlines

The amount of times that Kevin has mentioned business ideas being mapped out on napkins never quite sank in as deep for me, until this time when I saw the proof of South West Airlines being started that way. It reminded me of the time when Kevin told me the story about how he started his company over cocktails, with a few really good friends. 

The idea that Kevin had about asking a relative of Mark's to let us inside the maintenance center of South West Airlines was more than a prop plane of an idea; it was a Jumbo 747.  It was absolutely fascinating to see these planes up close! 

We got our own personal tour of the airplanes, and we had to have special security clearance and sticker badges, that allowed us to be near the airplanes. If onlly Will was just a little older, he would have been in heaven. Will does like airplanes, and he says " Whoa " when he sees them.

                                                                           

          This what a Boing 737 looks like with the interior removed!  They were replacing all of the windows.

                                         Amazing to see what is 'under the skin' of the jet engine.

 To sit INSIDE the jet engine of a 737 could not be grased by Brooke, but someday when she sees the picture she probably be shocked that her and I both sat in it together.

As if Kevin needed more reason to be nervous to fly.  We couldnt believe how thin the peice of aluminum seperating us and 30,000 feet.  Did I say "aluminum".  Yes, aircraft grade aluminum.

               ...and here is one of the few the lucky boys who gets to use a Boing 737 for  a jungle gym.

                                                     (this was not an active run way)

 Note: Don't ever pack anything you actually care about in your suitcase that will be shoved into this tiny compartment that even pets use for their transportation.

                                   Who ever knew what an airplane looked like without it's nose!

                 Mark, his friend Rene and the Turano family.  We ate this up - but no peanuts this time.

No Lions and Tigers just Bears, oh my!

We told Brooke we would be going to the monkey ranch that we had been to many times when she was a baby. She didn't remember much about all the other times we had gone, but she was VERY excited.

Mark Mansingh was in town, so that meant, that the agenda would have nothing written on it, except for FUN....

Will liked all the animals, laughing and reaching to pet them all. I do have to say that his favorite part was when the music started playing on the safari tram. He was in heaven dancing to the music, then taking breaks from dancing to pet the animals. I loved seeing him so happy.

Brooke liked the birds, baby kangaroos, camels, and zebras, but when she got the chance to play like Goldy Locks, with her own set of bears, she didn't know how to react. First she was in shock, that the owner, of the park ( he was taking us on our own personal tour of the zoo ) said we could get in the cages with with the bears, and that she could feed them peppermints from the outside of the cage. She was very scared at first for Mommy and Daddy to take turns inside the cage, but the moment she saw Daddy in there, she was begging to go in. I love Brooke's courage to do almost anything!

The bears would not stop sniffing us. It was like being with huge dogs, only they have a big set of teeth, pressing their bigger, wetter and sloppy noses all over us, to explore out scents.

I couldn't handle thinking the bears might not like a sent they caught on me, and their sniff would turn to a bite, so all though it was so awesome to hang out for a min. I couldn't bring myself to the delusion, as much as the rest of our party could to hang out for so long.

It was when the bear opened it mouth around Mark's neck, that Kevin really grasped the fact that these wild animals could be very dangerous.

Our kids will never be able to go to a regular zoo and be entertained, like normal people. This was a mind blowing experience! After our personal tour, we went to dinner to hang out with the owner, and heard about all the new up coming exhibits. The owner is friends with Kevin and Mark. Lucky us, we got such un- real opportunity.