My Nephew

Tate, on the other hand, was not a bit scarred by the surgery. He had bigger things to worry about...like the possiblity of his pacifier falling out!!
 

Our day in the waiting room...

I couldn't find a babysitter for the kids, so we all loaded up and made Paul's sugery a family event. Lots of snacks, one gameboy, one "game girl", a bucket of cars, a bucket of soldiers, a back pack and even my sister and Tate piled into the waiting room. I'm sure they loved us!! We were there for a full 4 HOURS. But we did get to watch Paul's surgery on the TV in the waiting room. I think Brigg is scarred for life...


 

Wish #1 Granted

Paul and I met in 1995. Over the past 11 years, there have been 3 material things that Paul has always wanted. I can honestly say that if Paul were given three wishes, they would have been exactly the same over the past 11 years.
#1 Laser eye surgery
#2 A Harley
#3 Win the lottery
Well, I can tell you that we do not buy lottery tickets, so wish #3 is out. AND our budget does not allow for a Harley, so wish #2 is on an indefinite hold. But wish #1 was granted today. And I am hoping that the glasses in this photo will be the last glasses Paul will ever have to wear again!! Remember, he is very drugged in the pic and he is probably going to kill me for posting it, but I just couldn't resist!! :) 

Phone Call

The phone rings and Brigg answers...
Brigg: "Hello"
My dad: "Hey! What's up?"
Brigg: "Who is this?"
My dad: "Larry Stewart, CRNA. Who is this?"
Brigg: "Brigg Burback, B-R-I-G-G."

Just thought that was cute and wanted to remember it.

Envy

"Envy is the consuming desire to have everybody else be as unsuccessful as you are." (Buechner)

Nor am I mother of the year....

forgot to take lani to dance tonight.
i need to figure out how to be a mom of children who are involoved in activities other than preschool.
lani said, "That's ok Mom, we'll go next time."
i love her.

Not babysitter of the year....

Watched Max and Quincy today while Jody and Andy packed. Let the 3 older ones rollerskate all over the house for entertainment. (they each fell about 20 times)
Quincy did not roller skate, but he did fall out of his chair at lunch. (Got a bloody nose.)
Brigg wanted me to take a picture of he and Max....he said to Max, "Let's pretend we are brothers!" (So cute.)
They are all still alive, but I'm not sure Jody will send them back after seeing the dried blood on Quincy's nose and the dried PB&J all over Max's.... 

Just some cute cute kids!!

 

Lots of fun

We spent some time snuggling... Some time outside on a scavenger hunt...
Some time contemplating the world...
And a lot of time fighting...
It was a fun-filled 3 days! :) 

Thanksgiving 2006

A great family gathering over a beautiful few days! So much to be thankful for this year!! 

Stolen Thanksgiving Day Thoughts....

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~Thornton Wilder

Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace, the celebration of work and the simple life... a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the seasons, the beauty of seedtime and harvest, the ripe product of the year - and the deep, deep connection of all these things with God. ~Ray Stannard Baker (David Grayson)

Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence. ~Erma Bombeck

Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow. ~Edward Sandford Martin

What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving? ~Erma Bombeck

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice. ~Meister Eckhart

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Proof of our love for the Landers...

If there were ever any doubt that we love the Landers, here is proof that we really do. (At one point I was actually on the ladder, right below Paul trying to "help"...I think I was really just annoying him!)

Truly, they got possession of their new house last night and it is a perfect home for them. We are so honored that they would trust us to hang a light over the first place all their loved ones will be walking into. :) 

The last few days...

Watched Quincy and walked in to find he and Lani having a car-throwing contest. I think Quincy won....those roller skates really tripped up Lani.Went to visit Lisa, Tony and Macy. The kids were entertained by Spiderman and their sleeping bags...
WE were entertained by Paul's interpretive Mime...
Although Lisa and Harley found it quite boring...
 

Our Dancing Princess

When Lani turned 3 I asked her if she wanted to take dance lessons. She said yes. When the time arrived, she decided that she did not want to do it. Brigg asked her if she was going to go and she said "NO!" He replied with "Lani, you can't be a princess if you don't know how to dance!" Sooooo, Lani decided to sign up. She loves it. I do believe we are going to have several years of dance recitals ahead of us. Oh my....


 

A few more pics from tonight....

 

Go Hawks!!!

It was a great family night around here! Paul came into 4 tickets to the Hawkeye basketball game tonight and Brigg has been counting down the days since last week. Paul got home a decent time from work and we headed out for Iowa City. The kids were in full Hawkeye gear with Lani in her cheerleader outfit and Brigg in his basketball uniform (Gale, can you believe he can still wear this?!?! You got it for him 3 YEARS ago!!) We had pizza and then hit the game. It was a small crowd and nobody was really around us. The kids cheered and cheered. Brigg got a small basketball that the cheerleaders threw into the crowd and both kids got ice cream cones bigger than their heads! They even got to sit on Herky's lap!! We left early, but it was a great night all around. Both were sound asleep in the car on the way home and didn't stir as we transferred them to bed. I hope these are memories that they will treasure as much as we do someday. Heading to bed smiling tonight....