my current addiction

troy dunn - the locator

i am completely in love with this show! every week troy reunites mothers with sons, brothers with sisters. people that for one reason or another fell out of contact with each other leaving a void that just can't be filled until they find that person. the missing part of their life. his work is amazing. i love the compassion that he shows to each individual. the genuine concern that he feels for them and their unique situation.

so far i have 2 favorite episodes.

1. a truly great guy didn't know that he had a son until some 25 years after a brief relationship ended troy called with the news. the son had served in iraq, was almost killed in battle and if he had died the guy would have gone to his grave not knowing he had a long lost son. once he found out he had nothing but open arms and love. so touching!!

2. five sisters were separated when they were quite young. 2 of them were placed in the same foster home and later they found 2 of their lost sisters. the youngest one was just a baby and they had no record of what happened to her. 20 some years later troy found her; reunited them helping to close a wound that they had carried for 2 decades.

his famous quote is "you can't have peace until you find all the pieces."

i believe in that message. i find understanding in that message.

i have such respect for the work that this man does. if you get a chance, check out an episode or two. it is guaranteed to leave you feeling better than it found you. and if you make it through without shedding some tears you are a stronger soul than i. seriously moving stuff

on mornings like this.....

i really wish we used our garage for the purpose it was intended rather than a storage for tools, trailer and other miscellaneous stuff. the picture is deceiving, there was at least 4 inches of snow on top of the car. the really heavy wet stuff. and then when i got the windshield cleaned off and we started down the road everything from the top of the car fell onto the windshield and we had to stop and clean it off again. but the kids thought it was hysterical and got a good laugh so i guess that is all that really matters!

take your child to work day

in the past, larry's work has not participated in take you child to work day. the main reason for their lack of participation is the number of large power tools located in the shop. in order for kids to be allowed into the building the shop would have to be closed. so this year they made a compromise and closed the shop down for about an hour so that kids over the age of 6 could come in. since larry and brendan do a lot of "manly bonding" he decided to only take bella. she had so much fun and came home looking like this.

they decked them all out in shirts, hats, safety glasses, masks and poly wog frogs. bella of course had to wear all of these to school! DUH!! after a tour of the shop the owner of the company took them all out for breakfast. it was a great morning for the two of them and one that i am sure bella will remember for a long time. i love it when we can make lasting memories like that for the kids. especially for the girls and their dad. i think it's so important.

first crush

so - brooke got her first little "love letter" the other day from the boy next door. its super innocent BUT if this keeps up, we will definitely have to move before they are teenagers! the translation of it is as follows:

dear brooke - you are so sweet and kind. you are nice to me and you are invited to my transformers party. you love me. from michael p.s. you are sweet and beautiful. michael

happy birthday brookie

last week brooke turned 5. five is such a big birthday. it marks the beginning of the academic career. and once they get into school the time flys so fast! it still seems like yesterday to me that brendan started school and he's in fifth grade this year. so in many ways i was dreading this birthday. i don't like that my kids are growing up so fast.

to keep the blog birthday tradition going, here's our little birth story (minuses all the gory details)brooke was a little bit of a surprise. i got a new promotion at work and found out i was expecting all in the same month. it was crazy! i was sure that i wouldn't be able to work after i had her but the thought of giving up the career that i had worked so hard at was a big decision. and working while pregnant is just not a fun thing to do. running to the bathroom to puke, hoping that whoever was in the stall next to me wouldn't recognize my shoes, trying not to fall asleep at my desk fifty times a day, trying not to take my raging hormones out on everyone in fits that would have resembled a two year old tantrum. and of course there's the whole "i'm pregnant so my brain is on vacation" issue. it was a great time those last few months. i have to say that i prefer being at home, having kids running around and screaming to working in the office while pregnant any day ;) but we made it through and she was so precious!


as far as labors go, her's was the easiest out of all the kids. the only complication we had was that the epidural would only take on one side for awhile. i learned during that time that natural birth is not something i am interested in. bring on the drugs baby!! the funniest part of her delivery is that in the packing bags for the other two kids in the middle of the night i forgot shoes. so brendan had to wear a pair of cowboy boots that belonged to my friend amy's girl. i felt so silly when she told me what happened. how could i forget the shoes?!? he of course didn't care one bit.

for the first several months brooke's hair stood up all the time. one of my friends dubbed her the fraggle rock baby. and it was so fitting. her hair was insanely crazy. and we totally stole her name from my friend michelle. larry and i just couldn't agree on anything and she told me she had always loved the name brookelyn. i immediately fell in love with it and asked her permission to use it since they were not going to have anymore kids. her full name is brookelyn paige and my brother in law teased us stating that she was the only baby he knew of that all three names were a noun. so true. i didn't even think of it. but even if i had, i wouldn't have changed it. i love her name.

she was a very happy and content baby. but when she did get mad - look out! i guess that was a prelude of things to come. but we love brooke so much. she brings joy to our lives everyday and we are so grateful to have her in our family.

we need a puppy

lily loves, loves, LOVES dogs. big dogs, little dogs, yippy dogs, calm dogs ~ she loves them all. and everytime we go to the park there is at least one dog there. which means lily spends most of her park time trying to pet the dog. usually i try to run interference because strange dogs make me nervous. but the other day we were at the park and this sweet little retriever was there. i even got a few pets in myself. what a sweetie she was. she even smiled for the picture!

silly sentiment

i love hand me downs. when it's time to break into a new bin the excitement hits almost like it's christmas. so many treasures to behold! outfits that i loved but had forgotten existed until my hands pull them out of their hibernation place. each article overflowing with fond memories, anxious to make new ones. one of my favorite hand me downs is this outfit that my mom bought for bella when she was just a wee little one.

i don't know what it is about this particular outfit, but i love it so much. i think i appreciate the sporty\casual look. the comfort it provides to the little one wearing it. the snappy blue, yellow color combination. it's charm is a mystery but i have to say that i shed a little tear the other day when i realized that it's time to pack it away forever because it's just a smidgy too small. so goodbye to you, you have served us well and provided us with many wonderful memories.