Hurricane Braden

I should've known, the second Braden walked into my office wearing this outfit... that it was not going to be a peaceful 15 minutes before the end of the day. We had snow this morning and he requested to wear his snow boots. So I let him, WITH jeans. However, according to his daycare provider, he decided he wanted to wear the shorts and refused to even bring his jeans home with him.


Within 5 minutes of walking into my office he interrupted a phone call, spilled two cups of water and was running up and down the hallway yelling and laughin. Kelsey was very helpful... refilling water cup# 1 which gave him ammo to spill cup#2 ( think intentionally) and then chasing him down the hall attempting to get him to stop, which just made him giggle and run faster. In the mean time, I'm supposed to be finishing up the end of my day and filing paperwork. Instead I'm stage whispering, "BRADEN, STOP IT, BRADEN, COME HERE, KELSEY, STOP CHASING HIM." I got him back into my office and closed the door. He then proceeded to climb into my bosses chair which Kelsey spun for him and he found highly amusing. I put a stop to that and when I tried to take him down he started shoving the chair into the desk and anything else obnoxious he could think of to do!

Needless to say, my filing did not get done and 4pm couldn't get there soon enough. The second the clock hit 4:00 or maybe it was 3:59, I grabbed his arm and dragged him to the door. Actually, he squirmed out of my hand and raced down the hallway giggling until he hit the entryway and then stopped and when I caught up with him and tried to hold his hand, dropped to his knees and became dead weight at which point I dragged him out the door and to the car.

I was slightly annoyed by the time we got into the car! However.... on the ride home I got my reality check... I had the radio tuned to 106.1 Kiss FM and they are currently doing a radio marathon to raise money for Childrens Hospital in seattle. I listened to two stories on the way home and had tears in my eyes. Even with Braden's extremely active and mischevious personality and Kelsey's sarcastic arguments and eye rolling (I don't know where she got that...), I am very happy to have healthy, active and "normal" children. It was sad listening about children who had cancers, tumors, cystic fibrosis, and many other unimaginable illnesses that took them to the hospital on a regular basis. The one that really made me stop and think was about a 4 year old boy who had Mitochondrial disease that caused seizures and affected different parts of his body, deteriorating the muscles. He was in a wheel chair and at 4 years old had never sat up on his own or even crawled. It was 3 and a half years before they even knew what he was suffering from. I'm sure his mother would've given anything to have her son running through her office causing a scene while I wished my son would just sit still for 5 minutes!

HAPPY 50TH ANNIVERSARY

To Grandma and Grandpa. My mom pointed out this weekend that I hadn't posted a blog about the 50th anniversary party, so here I am! Last weekend Braden and I drove over to the other side of the mountains, along with my longtime friend Carrie and her little boy, Oliver who is 3 months older than Braden. While I can't say it was "relaxing" we did have a good time. The drive itself was mostly uneventful... we'll ignore the fact that I got a speeding ticket on the way there (DARNIT) and the fact that I was falling asleep on the ride home... we all made it there and home safe and sound, I just seem to be short $113.00 which I just sent to Yakima Dist. Court. Hey... no one can say I'm not doing my part to stimulate the economy!!

I have several good pictures, a few of which I will post and the rest will go on a CD which I will send to everyone when I get my butt in gear. You can thank my mom for the delay, she made me spend this weekend painting, but we'll save that for another exciting blog post, after I can stand without saying, "oww."

Here is Grandma and Grandpa several years ago... atleast sometime within the last 50 but I didn't think to ask for a date. This is a picture of a picture, but I LOVE it and I want a copy. :)

While I loved seeing my grandparents dance together, 50 years is a LONG time, I'll admit that I didn't tear up until my great grandma's were out on the dance floor. Especially when grandpa danced with his mom, who will be turning 100 next month.
My other great grandma is 95 and she's dancing with my brother who happens to share her birthday, just 70 years later.




So again, Happy Anniversary to Grandma and Grandpa and hopefully in 40 years, Scott and I will be celebrating our 50th!! You are an inspiration and proof that while marriage is difficult, a lot of work and not always easy, with hard work and love, you can make it work and be happy doing it!!

Until next time - love you all!

Adventures in Jury Duty...

Ehhh... who am I kidding, there were no adventures in Jury Duty. I was bored out of my mind for 4 days straight. I think it's some kind of test.... they put you in a windowless room with about 150 other people all fighting various coughs and colds with no internet service, bad cell reception, puzzles that are missing pieces and then tell you, "You are on a break for 5-55 minutes." If you don't go insane by the end of your term you are invited back the next year... YAY for me. :(

Yep, as you can see from above, I was summoned to do my civic duty for Pierce County. Before I was ever summoned I thought what's so bad? I'll get to sit in a room and read with no kids interrupting. That might've been true if there were actually comfortable chairs to sit in and I didn't cringe at the thought of work piling up on my desk at the office.

Truthfully even with all my complaining, Jury duty wasn't too bad. I did get to read an entire book, almost finish a whole puzzle and I met new people each day who were just as annoyed to have their life interrupted for $10 dollars a day as I was!

Thankfully, I only had to go for the 4 days straight last week and this entire week was just calling in to verify I didn't have to go in and I have now been released. WOO HOO!! I didn't end up getting on any cases, which atleast would've broken up the monotony but I didn't want a 3 month case either! They mentioned that there were some jurors that had been on a case for NINE MONTHS. Could you imagine?! Now... what to do with my $40 dollars? Actually, I spent more than that just in gas and food so I guess it will have to go back into the account.