Food, Family, and Fun

We had Chris and Brenda over for Sunday dinner (Jan. 11th). Brenda was feeling good enough to venture out of the house and go visiting, so we were ready to party. Here is our first family dinner we have had in a long time at our house. Nathan was gracious enough to show us his food. He is such a sharing type of boy. We had Creamy Italian Crock pot Chicken, one of our favorites. YUM!
What do we do at these family dinners? Well...we eat of course, and play some games. We got a new game for Christmas that you wear headbands and ask other people questions to figure out what is on your own headband. Easy right? Um....not really. I don't know if we are more of the easy Candyland type of game people or what, but it took some concentration on trying to remember what questions you asked, and how people answered. None of us could guess what was on our head. Huh...we pulled out the Chinese Checkers instead. Ahhh....more our style. Nice thought though Arlyn, we got a few good laughs out of our Christmas present.

Some of us sleep

Nathan caught Grandpa sleeping at the table after dinner. The Kunz's amaze me at how they can fall asleep any place, any time and anywhere!

And what does Jonathan do during these times?


Yeah...Jonathan has learned how to open up all of our doors. This particular door is to our closet that I converted into a pantry. Lots of jars of food and packages of things. A Toddlers dream closet.

Grandma Time

Trents mom is a librarian at an elementary school. She reads books SO well. She knows how to keep a bunch of kids enthralled. The other day Jonathan was just lovin grandma. Because Brenda was in the hospital for two months, Jonathan has been pretty shy around her, but on this day he was climbin all over her and giving her loves and letting her read to him. Now a days, he is just too busy to sit down and listen to a whole book. He just flips to the end and he's done. I miss the days where he would just sit on my lap as I read books and books. No longer my friends. He's just got too many other important things to do these days. So it was so cute that he was wanting Grandma to read to him.

These times with Grandma are important. Just to refresh your memory, Trents mom was diagnosed with Leukemia on Halloween. I KNOW! Scary! We have since found out that in order for her to get a cure she needs to have more chemo AND a bone marrow transplant. A few days later we found out that she is not a candidate for a bone marrow transplant. (shock...silence...) Wow...that is definitely not the news you want to hear. So...she is home now and we are making the most of the time she has left. . We are going to party like it's 1999. (Prince song in case you couldn't figure that one out!) The girls (Sherida, GG and Brenda) are going on a cruise to Mexico next week while Brenda is feeling good. Watch out Mexico...here they come!

I sit and watch her spending time with my boys and it chokes me up. Especially watching Jonathan interact with her and he will not remember her. So...I love catching these moments on tape. They are priceless!

One of Grandmas animated reading faces

Not so Rockstar-ish

As a follow-up to my I'm a Rockstar post I thought I would add a little special something. In one of our jam out sessions, Jonathan got a little busy himself....with a marker!!! Here are just a few samples of his artwork.


I have since found more masterpieces on top of my kitchen table, down the hallway (however, I did find him scrubbing my hallway down with the toilet brush today! Ga-ross!) and on my white bedsheets. Ya know, the kind that I actually saved up money for to have that striped sheik look, since I never make my bed, the sheets need to look nice. Man...who is "Wanted...dead or alive" now? I guess I'll have to remember that I still have a toddler and I need to be a responsible Rockstar. :)

I'm a Rockstar!

I am a total Rockstar now. For Christmas we as a family got Rockband for the Wii. We figured it was something that we could totally do as a family. And let me tell ya people, it...is...totally...awesome. We are having so much fun with this thing. Trent does the lead vocals, and Nathan and I switch off between drums and guitar. It is taking me a while to get use to playing them, because you don't strum on the exact beat, it is when the colored rectangles move across your screen. That part drives me crazy, and I consider myself somewhat musical, but I have to turn that part of my brain off and not concentrate on strumming exactly to the beat, but strum to the rectangles. It is tricky!

I wait for Nathan to get home from school now so we can have a mini jam session before his homework starts. Nathan loves that part, because he will do absolutely anything to put off doing homework and practicing the piano. My favorite song is Wanted, Dead or Alive. I can rip that up on vocals baby. Nathan will just laugh and shake his head as I am jammin and pullin out my 80's dance moves as I sing. It is some precious family time I tell ya. Jonathan even hits the drums sometimes, or strums the guitar in our session. He wants to be just like us. We are pretty awesome. Rock on!

Wheelchair Shelf

Everyday I go to Trent's work to get him some lunch and help him out. I was standing there feeding him some lunch when something hot pink caught my eye. I bent down to see what it was, and there on the bottom ledge of his wheelchair was a neat row of brightly colored toys. Huh. There was a Little People girl with a hot pink dress on standing there waving at all of Trent's clients. There were various brightly colored hot wheel cars. It was quite the stash under there. Jonathans special little place to stash his treasures. I wonder how many of Trents clients saw that and had to just smile. It was next to impossible to miss all those toys. Kids sure keep things interesting now don't they? I guess we should be grateful that it was just toys and not something else, like a bunch of maxi-pads, or tampons...the options are endless.

How much does Daddy love Jonathan?

OK...this is seriously so stinkin cute. I caught this on video during Jonathan's nightly neh-ked time.

It's Time!

For Christmas my mom gave us all clocks that her, my dad and Sue made. Yeah...can you even believe that they made this? I am LOVIN it! It says Kunz & Co Est. 1994. It matches my house colors perfectly, and I even had the perfect spot to hang it. Pretty amazing I tell ya. What did I give them for Christmas? Something made with love? Something that will stand the test of time? They got gift certificates to Sizzler. Oh yeah baby. OH yeah. :)

Family Fun?

This year instead of gift for the grandkids, Trents parents bought gift cards to the movies and Chuck E. Cheeses. The kids had so much fun. I told his parents that they should do that every year. Good memories, and it gets the kids out of the house over the holidays. Have any of you been to Chuck E. Cheeses? Man...that place is always so chaotic, especially the day after Christmas. Nathan really enjoys that place. Let's just say that it is not my most favorite place. All the flashing lights, loud music/sounds, lots of screaming children running around with tickets and tokens or begging my kid for some of his tokens, cardboard tasting pizza, and did I mention all the noise? Heck...if I wanted flashing lights and loud noises I would go to a disco joint. I usually just choke down the lack of enthusiasm and enjoy the "moment". This time, however, I had an 18 month old that did not quite enjoy it. For 2- 1/2 hours...yes that is correct...2 and one half hours, I walked behind Jonathan as he was not digging the whole Chuck E Cheese Chaos. Here he is on a "ride". This shows his attitude about it all:


He did not crack a smile the whole night, and most of it I spent carrying him around as he was clinging to me and whining. Guess he shared my sentiments. Home is a much better place to be. The older cousins loved it so that is all that matters right?


Jonathan "loving" the Carousel as I am walking around and around getting dizzy as he cries.

My handsome boys

Wait...Is that a smile I see? He broke out the smile 10 minutes before we were leaving. *sigh*

Bustin their moves with Chuck E. Nathan is in the black jacket, of course. He is so shy. :)

"Resolute" This baby

Tis the season of the old New Years Resolutions. I frankly forgot about it until I read a friends blog about her new resolution. It's a time to ponder where you are at in your life and where you want to go. Many people find it in their hearts to make a change for the better and resolve to do it. What a beautiful thought. I, on the other hand, think New Years Resolutions S-T-I-N-K. As I look back over my life, every time I make a NYR (new years resolution, in case you couldn't figure that little diddy out) I rarely accomplish it. Most of them are centered around losing weight, because every year I am overweight, and who doesn't want to be able to shop at "normal" stores and get down into the single digits of jeans. Heck, I'd even settle for a 12!

Anyways....does this sound familiar to any of you? About 10 years ago, I made the best NYR that I have ever made in my entire life. In fact, it is SO good that I have been able to meet it every single year. That, in and of itself, is nothing short of a miracle. Wonder what it was? Was it to bring a little bit of joy and happiness to my family and others? Was it to be a better parent? to be slow to get irritated with all the idiot drivers out there? Was it to possibly just share the love as much as possible? Nah. My all time best New Years Resolution was to never make a New Years Resolution again. Yeah. Beautiful ain't it? It was the best NYR I ever made. No more guilt over not ever achieving my NYR, no more wondering what my NYR should be. Just plain no more NYR's. I am perfectly content in my lack of Resolutions. Care to join me anyone? heh heh :)

Just Wheelin Around

Trent and Jonathan spend time each day riding around turning on and off the lights. I love this time. I can just sit and watch and enjoy. Those few moments of somewhat "alone-ness" are priceless. Savor the simple things. The only thing that is better? To sit and watch this WHILE eating chocolate. Feel the love people. Feel the chocolate love. :)