"Reunited and it feels so good"

So Aunt Jill came up for a quick shopping visit and I thought Smith was going to flip out. He ran over to her and wanted her to hold her and snuggled with her for several minutes. I told Jason that the moment should have been set to a sappy love ballad like "Reunited and it feels so good". Aunt Jill has invested so much time loving on Smith and helping me out. The coolest thing for me is what a special bond Smith has with her because of that. Don't know where we would be without our Aunt Jill! Smith has talked about it the last couple of days "I see JJ".

A fun night with Jamie

We had a super fun night with one of the student Jamie who lives at the Camp Barnabas prep academy this year. We took her to Social Suppers to cook and prepare two meals for the 11 people that are also living and working at the academy. We then went to El Charro Mexican food and topped it off with Coldstone. It was a fun night with lots of laughs for sure and just enjoyed Jamie's laid back perspective on life. God knew I probably needed a little more "Jamie" in my life.

Bye bye to the "baba" (sort of)

Today was the day we offically said good bye to the "regular baba" as Smith affectionately calls it. He got one every day before nap and after bath. I know it's about time people. I have excuse after excuse as to why we still had our "baba" but it was getting stranger the older and bigger he got. The poor big fellow wears a size 5 at 2 1/2 so even though he's still a toddler he looks like a big kid. The other reality is that even toddler's don't have baba's. So I sacked up the baba's and moved them to the garage so I will be less tempted to "cave". I had purchased these sippy trainer cups for 12 month olds to transition from the bottle. We have been trying those for several months. He did not really like them and just reverted to saying "I need a "regular baba". But Momma wised up & just said they're gone. No going back now. We now love our "pirate and turtle baba's". It took a couple of days and it was surprisingly relatively painless but the "regular baba's" are now history! Jason feels like these are still bottles but they claim on the package to be a sippy cup. So I'm going with the packaging. Onward and upward with Smith Brawner as we now get serious about potty training (he's ready, I'm not cauz it's so much work) and with working on him being a "big boy". He is the third for sure and the baby of the family for sure cauz every time you ask him if he is a big boy or a baby he proudly replies "I a baby, I not a big boy, I a baby". Oh dear!!!

Currys swim party

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Just another Family day at Lowes

We are currently working on a family project of "flipping" one of our rental properties. The kids have been enlisted to help with the renovation and clean up. Some members of our family are a little more supportive than others as you can tell from the pics above. They have actually all done well considering the many trips to Lowes and the hours and hours spent at our Elm "rental" house. The sad thing is I feel about like Smith is looking in these pics. Especially since we have many hours left to work there!! Oh boy!

My poor attempt at a workout

So this is why I feel flabby. How can I work out when this little face is peering at you from the gym childcare. He just keeps waving to me. I feel like such a heel and then feel guilty working out! Geez! This guilty Mom needs some alone time but it's super hard with that chubby face & that white hair!!

Krispy Kreme

After the dog bath we had a yummy Krispy Kreme stop for some dessert. Smith was all about it. Mommy was fine with the free hot sample but Daddy insisted we needed another. Sissy says the sample doesn't count!!! Oh dear. Then we headed home in our temporary car (cauz we sold our van) which we have coined as "the home school van."

The beasts get a bath

The beasts were super stinky so we made a family night out of it and took them to the dog wash and to Petland. Winston was barking at all the birds and cats in the store so he had to have a time out in the shopping cart. Woody likes the bath, Winston not so much but in our family if you're stinky bathing is not a choice.

No School

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> We love being out of school. We had a good 4 day break. Went to the park, slept in & had fun hanging!
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We love us some "Sasa"

We loved hanging with our Sasa. She made the super long trip to see us with her fiancé Shaun. We loved Shaun and he fit right in with the Brawner family so it's now official we approve (majorly)!!! My kids were so thrilled to spend several days with their Sasa. We really worked on our sales pitch of what a great place to live Springfield, MO is. Not sure if they "bought it" (hahaha) but I think the possibility of our Sasa moving back is a strong possibility. We even tried bribing her with our lovely rental "Elm" house. Jason is not sure if that isn't a deterrent at it's current state. My kids just think she is truly in our family. MJ got a locket necklace right after she left and she said "on one side I want a picture of our whole family and on the other side I just want me, Jackson, Smith and Sasa". My thoughts exactly!!! She and Shaun better get their biscuits back to their family pronto!!

Spurs Game on New Years Eve

The boys had a blast