Just a hello

Hi everyone! Nothing much new in Wagner-ville. Just wanted to say hello and say that we miss you all. We had our first very wonderful, very spring-like day in Montana yesterday. It was 79 degrees (almost broke a record!) and sunny. Juliana went outside and rolled around in the grass saying "It such a pwity day, Mommy!" Kids are so easy to please (uh, RIGHT!). She also got her first tick bite over the weekend after riding the horses out at Grandma Barb and Grandpa Dave's house. I was combing her hair this morning (miracle of all miracles, she let me do it!) and saw this gross, squiggly little bug right at the nape of her neck. SOOOOO disgusting. We got it all out, but I still can't believe I didn't freak out until after it was all over. I distracted her with Scooby snacks (from Grandma Carole) and goldfish and she was a champ. Glad she's a blondie so I could see that little bugger! For those of you who know me well, you KNOW I was all over the internet this morning looking up potential complications from tick bites (stop laughing, Lori Carnes!).

Landon is a dream baby, and we just keep looking at him and shaking our heads, thinking "What did we do to deserve such a SLEEPING CHILD???" He sleeps from about 8 or 9 at night until 6 or 7 the next morning, and basically puts himself down for a nap during the day. He just falls asleep wherever he is whenever he feels a little tired. He is obviously a healthy, growing boy, and weighed in at 14 lbs, 5 oz at his 2 month check up. That puts him in the 93rd percentile for weight and the 25th for height, so if he keeps growing at this rate I figure he can win the Sumo wrestler championships within the next year or two.

Our pastor at church is going through his Top Ten all-time favorite characters in the Bible, and this week he talked about Jacob. You can listen to the sermons online at www.faithchapel.cc - Bo and I have grown so much under his leadership. I feel like I have to listen to the message at least twice to get everything out of it!!

That's about all for now. Bo and I are going to dinner tonight sans kids for our yearly (seems like it) date...whatever happened to weekly date nights? Maybe when the kids can fix themselves dinner...(sigh)

Hope everyone is doing great!

love,
Brooke

Snacks on a Plane

Hello everyone! We finally made it back to Montana from our trip home to NC. We had a wonderful time, and it was soooooooo good to see everyone again. I wish I could have hugged everyone at church and visited with everyone all day - I know there were still a few people I missed catching up with. Hopefully when we come back this summer we'll get to see even more people and spend a little more time there.

The plane ride home was a little more difficult than the first one. Somehow coming back from a trip never seems as exciting as going there, and I think the kids were both picking up on my emotions. We sat beside a very nicely dressed business man on both legs of the trip, and I just had horrifying premonitions of Landon puking all over some guy's $2000 suit or Juliana's fruit-snack-sticky fingers ruining his starched shirt. The poor guy on the trip from Charlotte to Denver informed me as soon as we sat down that he and his wife didn't have kids, and didn't really ever WANT any kids. I told him I was about to show him why. (Just kidding - I laughed and said the kids weren't mine, I had just found them wandering around the terminal and felt bad for them). Overall, the stress of travel was worth getting to see everyone again. You all have no idea how much it means to me to still be in contact with so many people from home, and to have had so many people go out of their way to see us while we were there.

My sister-in-law called when we got back to make sure we had really come back to Montana! She was worried we would step one foot into the beautiful 70 degree wonderfulness and decide to stay there for good. It's weird - going back home made me realize how much we miss, but also how connected we have become here in MT in the past 9 months. We have really made some great friends here, and if you can overlook the days when you have your heat AND A/C running in the same day, it's not a bad place to live.

We took the kids to the circus last night with Juliana's cousins, Aleiah and Andrew. Everyone agreed that the clowns were just creepy, but Juliana did insist on taking a ride on the elephant. Here's a few pictures from under the big top.

Love and miss everyone!

Just Pictures

Hey everyone! Nothing new...just wanted to share some pictures of the kids.

To all of my peeps in NC - see you soon!!! Yay!!

Back online

Whew! I didn't realize how much I relied on the internet until it was gone for a week! Kind of sad, I know, but when it's your only connection with the outside world at times, it's hard to be cut off. I know that Blues Clues and Max and Ruby are quality shows, but they just don't have any updates on current events (except for the fact that Blue now talks!!) so I have really missed my cnn.com escapes.

As I'm typing this, Juliana is sitting beside me "checking her email" on her Barbie computer. Have I passed my addiction on to my firstborn??? Landon is hard at work on his favorite past time...SLEEPING!

We are loving our new place and the big back yard. Juliana has rediscovered all of her outside toys and all of the dirt that goes with them. I have only seen one spider so far in the basement, and it makes the laundry more exciting to think I might have company down there. Juliana somehow picked up on the fact that I am terrified of spiders, and she now informs me every time we are down there that "Spiderman in there!" (Pointing to the laundry room).

Well, that's about all for now. One week from today we'll be headed back to NC!! God bless all of the people around us, and pray for sleepy kids!

Love and miss everyone. Here's a picture of a snuggle moment with mom.

Out of touch

Hey everyone! To all of you who are still plugged in to the world wide web, just wanted to give a disclaimer for why I've not answered emails or updated the blog lately. We don't have internet service at our new place just yet, but hope to be connected again sometime next week.

Juliana is destroying Bo's office while I'm here typing this, so guess I'd better make it short for now.

Can't wait to see everyone in a few weeks!!

-Brooke

Homeward Bound!

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you know that Juliana and Landon and I will be coming to NC for a visit on March 26th!! I am SOOOO excited....it's been way too long. Bo has an event in Albequerque, NM, from the 26th to the 31st, and I had to decide if it would be more exhausting to be on the plane by myself for four hours with two kids, OR be at home by myself for almost a week with two kids. I decided the better (and more fun) option would be to fly back while he's gone, so here I come!! I think I am certifiable to try to fly with a newborn and a 21/2 year old but we'll give it a shot. Just feel bad for the people around us...I may have to supply earplugs for the surrounding rows of passengers.

Can't wait to see everyone!!

love,
Brooke

True confessions of a mom

I swore I would never do it. I swore I would never become one of THOSE PEOPLE who neglect their house to the point of embarrassment, the kind of person who has to clear a path to the bed just to be able to sleep. I looked down my nose at those people who had the audacity to leave dirty dishes in the sink at night, and who let the laundry pile up on the floor until it was impossible to tell what was clean and what was dirty. Bo knew that my dream day involved an entire afternoon devoted to scrubbing, cleaning, dusting, and folding anything that wasn't tied down...an entire day to CLEAN THE HOUSE. Well, my blog-reading friends, that day is over. I have decided to come out of the fanatical cleaning closet and admit that my house is a mess. As a testament to those of you who still cannot believe it, I have posted a picture of the pile of laundry (clean, don't worry) that is currently resting beside the washing machine. The clothes are clean, yes, but by the time they actually make the leap from that pile to our bodies to be worn, they may be tragically soiled (Juliana has taken to using the pile as her personal daybed). I know that you may be thinking "What a strange picture to post on the blog! We wanted to see cute little cuddly pictures of the kids!". Those will come later, after I fold the laundry.

Well, maybe I'll post a few of the kids to distract you.

In other news, we have found a house to rent and will be moving in sometime next week. It is in a great section of town and has a big fenced in yard for Juliana to run around in. I am SO excited to finally be moving into a bigger space, and the yard is going to be so nice as the weather is getting better and better here. There's a full basement that we've already promised her will be a great home for all of her toys (her room looks like we're trying to compete with Toys R Us!). We feel really good about the decision to keep renting for now and not buy a house until we get a little more established.

Hope everyone is doing great!! I promise by the next posting I'll have that laundry folded...and I absolutely refuse to post a picture of my sink!!

Love ya.