How the Time Flies...

Hi everyone! Can't believe it's been almost a month since I updated. Man, I'm getting slack. Could be all the chocolate chip cookies I've been consuming lately. Unfortunately, I am usually consuming those cookies while watching The Biggest Loser and thinking "Man, how do people get that big?". Um...HELLO! It's not like I'm eating DIET chocolate chip cookies! I have finally found the perfect recipe for higher-altitude baking and I've been getting in WAY too much practice lately.

On to skinnier subjects...

Bo is in Denver this week doing a bunch of things for work. The kids and I are at home trying to do a bunch of things to keep the boredom (and craziness) at bay until he gets back. Is it really only Sunday night?

Landon will be a year on Thursday, and it is hard to believe how the time has flown by. We're just having a small, simple party on Sunday after church - it fits his laid back personality. He is starting to give Juliana a run for her money as far as getting into things, and his new nickname is "Destructo-Boy!" If he can dump it out, tear it up, or turn it over, he will. It cracks me up because Juliana used to dump things out and then PLAY with them, but Landon just seems to delight in creating the mess and then finding the next thing to attack. He is such a sweetie pie, though, and has all of the nursery workers at church wrapped around his chubby little finger. One lady even has his laugh as her ringtone on her phone...a little disturbing but cute all the same.

I will post some new pictures of the birthday boy and big sis later on this week. Hope everyone in NC is doing great and staying warm!! We have some extra room out here in Montana if you don't like the recent cold snap...it was 62 degrees here today! WooHOO! Only in Montana can you have 30 below and 60 above in the same month.

Love and miss everyone!

A Not So Perfect Christmas

Hello everyone! Hope that Christmas was great for you and your family, and that everyone got to celebrate Jesus's birthday in style. We had a whirlwind last few weeks, as I'm sure everyone did, with gifts to wrap, parties to go to, places to go, people to annoy - oh, wait. Forget that last part. We had a wonderful, relaxing Christmas, and spent the day at home opening (and playing with) presents. Juliana's one request was a Barbie cash register from Costco, with a real working microphone and pretend money and credit cards. She was so happy to see that cash register that it took her a half an hour to even notice she had other presents under the tree. She was very concerned that Santa didn't bring Landon or Mom and Dad as many presents as she had, but we assured her that next year maybe Landon would have a longer list. He was content to eat the wrapping paper and crawl all over Juliana's gifts, much to her annoyment. (Is that a word?)

I say "Not So Perfect Christmas" because I found myself getting so caught up in all the little things that just weren't quite right. The tree looked funny because we had to put all the ornaments on the top half (thanks, Landon). My Christmas cards got mailed out on the last possible day that the post office would take them and still tell me with some confidence they would get there before New Year's. Bo and I didn't really get each other anything because, let's face it, it's more fun to buy for the kids! And, I was bummed that I would spend another Christmas without my family in NC getting to see the look on the kids faces when they saw Santa or opened presents. Christmas Eve we went to service at church and the pastor's message opened my eyes to what I almost missed. He said that the first Christmas wasn't exactly post-card perfect, so why do we put such high expectations on our earthly attempts at celebration? He reminded me that Mary, bless her little pregnant heart, probably did not enjoy the trip to Bethlehem very much in her condition, and Joseph was probably heartbroken at the thought of his first born kid being brought into this world in a stinky barn. Perfect by our standards? No. God's perfect plan to remind us of His human-ness and holiness? Yes.

So the tree looked goofy, but it reminded me how blessed we are to have two perfect, hilarious kids to tear the house apart and put their own stamp on decorating. Did the cards get there in time? Maybe, but addressing the envelopes reminded me of so many special people and friendships in our lives to be thankful for. And Bo gives me a gift every day in the kind of father he is to our kids and the provider he is for our family. As for all of our family and friends in NC, we are looking at coming this summer in June for my sister's graduation, so we will hunt you down and hang out!!

So, overall, I'll take my not-so-perfect Christmas any day. Hope yours was not-so-perfect in a perfect kind of way, too.

Love!! -Brooke

Baby it's cold outside...

Hello everyone! Has it really been THAT long since I posted? Man, I am getting to be a terrible blogger. We have had some interesting developments on the home-front, so I have been trying my best to keep all the plates spinning for the past week or so. Those of you who know my husband know what a medical miracle (medical incredible!) he is with all of his ailments, and this week proved to be no exception. He was lifting Landon out of his carseat carrier on Tuesday when he heard a "POP" in his back and suddenly found himself unable to move. Long story short, we ended up in the lovely ER for a few hours that night and they determined he has a herniated disk in his back. It's almost painful to even TYPE that!!! He has been given the title "Chief Couch Holder-Downer" for the past few days to try to rest and recover. Add in LOTS of narcotics and muscle relaxers and you've got the ingredients for an all-around good time at the Wagner house. (Nathan Stamey, if you're reading this, we could have used you the past week!)

We are STILL planning on moving tomorrow morning, in spite of Bo's back and the weather forecast. Put a sweater on before you read this...the high for Sunday....yes the HIGH for Sunday...is 28 degrees. Then, it gets better. The high for Monday is negative 5. Are you people hearing me??? I don't even think you can BREATHE in weather like that. So please don't email me and tell me that you are still wearing shorts in that balmy 60 degree NC weather. I am just going to delete your email and send you a nasty reply, anonymously, of course.

I've had some requests for our address for Christmas cards, and it is still the same one we have always had since we moved here. It's our box at the UPS store, so if there are any creepy stalker-type people reading this, a mapquest search will only take you to the post office. Our mailing address is: 1302 24th Street W., #295, Billings, MT 59102. I'm going to try to get my cards out next week - no fancy letter but I promise some cute pictures of the kids.

Well, better get to bed. I think we're all going to freeze our buns off before this weekend is over so I'm going to snuggle in with my electric blanket while I still can.

Love and miss everyone!

-Brooke

Welcome back, Jack!

I only bite my nails during 24. Honest. Actually, that's not true. But I REALLY bite my nails during 24.

I have just a minute to write this since I am watching 24 on the other computer as I type. We don't have FOX for some unknown insane reason, so we are resigned to watching the episodes a few days later on fox.com. Which, I must say, is nice, because there are still no commercials. I can't imagine knowing that 24 was being shown on TV AT THIS VERY MINUTE but knowing I can't watch it until the season comes out on DVD, so being able to watch my breathless hero Jack Bauer save the world one more time just brings me more joy that I can even express.

A few bones to pick, though.
1. Why does the new president ("Madam", this time!) have a hairdo that looks like a sprayed on hair helmet? Can't they get a decent hairdresser for that poor woman after 7 seasons?
2. Why do people still argue with Jack Bauer when he is standing there covered in blood with half his ear chopped off and a huge gash above his eyebrow? Where do they get the nerve to confront him when he looks like he could eat them for a mid-afternoon snack?
3. Can Jack go at least one season without having his best friend/girlfriend/fiancee blown up or harassed or buried in some type of concrete? Doesn't the poor guy deserve a buddy?

That's all for now - until next time....BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...BEEP

The Wagner Family

Hey everyone! We just got our pictures back from the photographer so I wanted to post at least one tonight! I get lots of comments (complaints?) that there's lot of pictures of the kids on the blog, but none of Bo or I, so hopefully this will satisfy all of you crazy people.

Post more later! Going to chat with my hubby...

There's A Reason We Call It An Adventure!

Hey from Wagnerland! I have some exciting news to report, although I can hardly believe it myself. (No, I am not pregnant - that would just be weird). Bo and I have been married for 5 years, and in the next few weeks we will be moving into our 6th house as a married couple. Yes, do the math...that is more houses than some people live in in their lifetime. I proclaimed this fact to Bo this morning with just a hint of negativity, and he responded with a very positive "Yep!"

I am actually REALLY excited about our new house, just not too excited about the prospect of moving again. We will be moving from a good situation to a great situation, so you can't really ask for more than that. We are renting the house we're in now, and with the current fragile state of our economy we don't really want to buy, so we have been given the opportunity to do a rent-to-own (Thanks, God!) in an even BETTER place with lots of updates and all of the bedrooms on the same floor. Right now our bedroom is in the basement and the kids are upstairs, so I will feel better when everyone is right across the hall. Yay! Here's the perfect part...Juliana's room is already painted pink and has a total diva/princess feel going on, so she is stoked. Landon is just concerned with whether or not there will be anything to eat in the new house, so he's good to go (I'd say we're going to give the kid a complex, but the boy can EAT!)

Throw all of this in with the fact that Thanksgiving is coming up, then the whirlwind that usually is December, and it could be a busy couple of months! Please be nice and don't send me hate mail for not updating the blog more often. If I could figure out a way that I could give up sleeping and eating I could get an astounding amount of stuff done during the day.

Miss and love everyone and hope all of our NC friends aren't freezing to death - it was almost 70 here today! (Don't worry, I won't be so chipper here in a few months when it's 10 below.)

Treatapalooza

Hey everyone! I've added a few pictures of the kids on Halloween. They had a GREAT time! We went over to the church for "Treatapalooza" and got entirely too much candy. I read somewhere that it is better to just let the kids eat the candy all at once rather than spread it out over weeks and weeks, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Juliana has taken to having "parades" in our living room where she pretends to ride on a float and throw candy to her friends watching the parade. Cute, but very messy. I've stepped on so many sucker sticks with my bare feet that I'm almost running out of acceptable words to say when it happens. In case you're wondering what Landon is supposed to be, we thought it was only fitting that he dress as a 50's rocker dude - we spiked his hair and he wore a button down shirt with the collar and sleeves rolled up. I found him a leather bomber jacket that was TOO CUTE but unfortunately TOO HOT to wear inside, so he ditched it within the first 10 minutes. Juliana was the most beautiful princess at the ball, and she was very proud of her Sleeping Beauty dress and tiara.

Hope everyone is doing great and recovering from the drama of the election. I, for one, am just glad it's over and now we can move on to bigger and better news stories (like what type of trouble Brittany Spears is into now!)