Me and my boy weekend...

Last weekend Jerod left for for days for a fishing trip with his buddies.  I though "yeah, it will be fun. I'll hang with my boy, then hang with my gf's in the evening with a glass of wine"!

Until I realized,

everyone was busy, gone, or sick. booo. 

So it was a Breck and mom weekend...which was PERFECT!

We baked.

Giant monster cookies with Valentines M&M's to donate for a bake sale

and a couple extra to eat :)

We made our favorite suppers including vegetable pizza, one of mine and Breck's favorites (Jerod, not so much).

We took a trip to Jo Ann Fabric for some "pinterest supplies"

and a quick dinner date with Mr. B.

We played all weekend,

and when he napped or went to bed I crafted!

I finished putting making/putting up my Valentines banner.

Made another apothecary jar for sweet treats!

(I only had dull black paint unlike the shiny one I made previously...prefer the shiny, but oh well)

Made  a large apothecary jar as cookie jar out of a pickle jar...

but haven't been able to use it yet as it stinks to bad of pickles.

(any suggestions to get the smell out?)

And finally bagged up my cookies in cute Valentines packs for the bake sale for the Community Built Playground: Play for the Park event.  Kids came and jumped on inflatables houses! 

It. Was. Fabulous. 

Including the great nap after :)

After the long weekend without Jerod,

we were very happy to have him home and

realized how much work it is not having him here to hang out with us!

Although, it was nice just having some me and my boy time too.
I got all the snuggles, kisses, and attention.

Now were back to dad this, dad that. He's a super hero you know;)

Oh, the joys of potty training...

Breck will be three in April,

and I was hoping to add a check off potty trained by that time!

But I think he has other ideas...one being to try his mothers patients.

He has been so off and on about potty training for over a year..

at one point I though uh ha, we got it! Then the next day...a no go.

I feel like I have tried everything (but willing for more suggestions), as charts,

working up to a big prize, small treats, pretending to not care, giving it time, buying new Cars underpants, watching others go potty....

and the list goes on...

HAS NOT WORKED.

I am truly not "worried" about it,

but just feel like if he can 

a). dress himself

b). take off his diaper to bring me a new one when it's wet

c). hides when he goes potty

Its time.

Here is a picture of Breck in his undies.

As you can tell, he dressed himself.

Inside out. Backwards. And to small.

Since he prefers to take off all his clothes the moment he gets home from daycare or anywhere...

I decided I better get him some unders that fit.

So there we go to the store to pick some up and of course I go up a size since his size (pic above) are apparently to small :)

As soon as we get home we put them on (over a diaper for nap time)

and find they are a tad to big :)

So now he just looks like a big goof.

BUT

he has used the potty more then usual,

so we'll take that.

AND just as I say that...

we have wet through our unders and pants!

Sincerely,

Patient mother of a potty training toddler

Just have to share..

This boy,

and his funny personality,

having me laughing and sharing stories all the time.

(I) think he is so funny!

The other morning he was pushing around his lawn mower

yelling "watch out mommy, I snow blowing"

I look over to see my potato masher used like this! 

Then there is the time I come down stairs and find him watching Elmo's World like this.

Do we need to start saving now for glasses??

This past weekend I was lucky enough to have a gals weekend/bachelorette party

in Brainard at Grand View Lodge. 

IT. WAS. AMAZING.

and planning another trip soon.

It was so nice, relaxing, and fun.

Some of us ladies went down to the bar for a morning beverage

(we tried sleeping in and were all up at 8:15 plus...because we could. We were on vaca)

I tried my first

and

last

Bloody Mary 

And decided I will forever stick to my good old Coors Light!

I had a blast,

but of course missed my boys back at home.

When I talked to Breck on the phone both nights before bed he kept saying 

"your at a friends house? did you bring your coat...it's cold"

Aww..melts my heart.

So of course I had to bring home my little man a little memento

(also, to help gain some mom points for being gone)

He has slept with his telescope and chap stick for the past week.
Even when I check on him in the middle of the night he has his little fingers

clenched around them! So funny. I win.

So it's not like I'm gone ALL the time,

but last night I ran to a friends Norwex party for a short bit.

When I was putting on my coat Breck says

"you going to a friends again mom?!"

oh boy, he's got this figured out :)

Better late then never...

These photos were taken this past fall

when all the kids came to visit grandma and grandpa's house.

My little pumpkin.

These two are just about a year apart and so funny together.

They sometimes don't acknowledge each other...

and other times they play together "fairly" nice.

 (as nice as an older cousin plays with his younger cousin)

Breck one time flipped Mason off a skate board because he felt he needed it right then and there...

payback my friend, payback!

Here are the cousins fall 2012

And here they are Christmas 2012

+

one little sweetie pie!

Never eat yellow snow.

How do you dress your kids for outdoor play in the snow?

This guy HAS to wear his "pack pack" everywhere...including outside playing :)

P.S I was to busy taking pictures to realize care that he was eating yellow dirty snow..mom of the year.

I'm loving winter as usual.

Although its been a little grey and dreary out,

along with some rain. Yes, rain in January.

I'm hoping for a nice big snow storm that bring new

white fluffy snow. The kind that allows you to build

forts and snowmen since we haven't been able to 

use our new snow fort builder blocks or build an

upside snowman (heard of that? found it on pinterest)

so cute. right. you can copy it. because its so cute.

Happy Weekend All.

Johnny & June...

These two are truly meant to be:

They (almost) share a birthday (one day apart).

They are both VERY independent and stubborn:

They convinced one of us mom's (I won't mention who) do give them Oreo cookies for supper.

They make quite the team.

And someday could be the next "big thing" like Johnny and June ;)

How sweet are they?!

I guess all this talk about marriage arrangement might just be working!

And here is my boy catching this little cutie off guard with a big smack a roo!

(perfect photo for their wedding slide show)

Am I nuts?? maybe!  :)

Christmas Card 2012

We had a wonderful 2012

full of amazing memories.

It's fun to go back on the blog and remember all the fun we had,

along with looking at old pictures and wondering where time went, but lucky enough to have blog to capture them.

Here's to another wonderful year...

full of love, laughs, and great memories!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was our family photo shoot out at my grandparents old farm

 (now owned by a family friend and are lucky enough to still get to use it)

These are some of my favorites....

although one of my fav fav's was when Jerod was chasing around a chicken closer to where we were taking pictures so Breck would look at the camera!

Happy 2013!

And we're off to celebrate another wonderful year!

Love,

The Barrick's