Muscle Man

Mason - "Mom, I'm stronger than my brother.  I can reflex my muscles bigger than he can reflex his muscles.  Here, let me show you, but I need to take off my shirt first."

"Mom, look at me reflexing my muscles!  I told you I'm stronger than Micah!"

And the winner is.....

I win!  I win! I win, I win, I win!   Guess who wins?  ME!

Brian and I cut our competition short and weighed in this morning.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to eat basically just fruits and veggies for 6 weeks?  It's difficult.  And Dang you Bluebell, for making such delicious ice cream, and Darn you Albertsons, for putting that delicious ice cream on sale during my dieting competition.  I may have eaten a 1/2 gallon...or 3 (you may think I am kidding, but I assure you I am not), but, I WIN anyway!  Brian and I are going to continue to try to eat healthier, but I am glad that we are not competing anymore.  And that I WIN!

Weight loss:
Brian - 6 lbs
Nicole - 7 lbs

Snack Time

Goldfish was one of the snacks offered in nursery Sunday at church.  Although there were other snacks available Aspen continued to ask for more and more goldfish.  One of the nursery leaders said to Aspen, " Wow!  You really like goldfish.  Why do you love goldfish so much?" 

Aspen replies..."Because I'm a mermaid!" 

(Side note:  Aspen is obsessed with mermaids at the moment...especially Disney's The Little Mermaid.)

Deep Thoughts...

Micah speaking to Mason on the way to church...

Micah: Germs are everywhere...they're on everything...even in the clouds up in the sky.

You know when you get headaches or when you get sick with a cold?  That's from little tiny germs getting in your blood.

Mason:  Does that mean clouds get headaches?

The Biggest Loser

As of this morning Brian and I are in a competition to see who can lose the most weight (well, percentage of weight for our bodies).  NO...I WILL NOT POST BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES! 
Our competition ends at the end of 8 weeks and the winner gets.....???  We haven't decided yet.  But there will be a prize!!

Any ideas??

I have a feeling I don't really stand a chance.

Nicole - 125lbs
Brian - 209lbs

Update:  4/17/2012
Nicole - 121lbs
Brian - 203lbs

Spring Celebration

On Saturday morning (April 7th) the Easter bunny visited our home and left goodies for the kids.  We call it our "Spring Celebration".  Mason was the first one up and ran into our bedroom.  He had a plastic egg "with a note inside!"  Micah read the note and discovered that it was A TREASURE HUNT!  COOL!  They ran around our home so excited to find each new clue. 

 

 

Oh Yeah!  Found another one!

 

They finally found their treasure hidden in Dad's car.

 

Look at that excited face!  I love it!

 

They got the usual candy and the boys also got Pokemon toys.  Aspen got a Ariel magic pen book.

Then it was outside to look for Easter eggs!  The Easter Bunny left a drawing showing them which colored eggs were theirs.  They each had 2 different colors to look for...so even if they found a ton of eggs, they weren't allowed to collect the ones that weren't their colors.

It was pretty chilly early in the morning, so Aspen only lasted for about 4 or 5 eggs.

 

Saturday evening we had "fish and honey" for dinner (fish sticks and rolls with honey).  We decided to do that as a fun way to remind the kids of how Jesus ate fish and honey with his disciples after he was resurrected to show them he was in fact alive again and had a resurrected body.

On Sunday we celebrated Easter by going to church and then off to Great Grandma's house for lunch/dinner.  It was a great weekend!

Aspen the singer

Tangled is Aspen's favorite movie of all time.  She makes me sing her the "Healing Song" every night before bed.  Here she is singing a song from the movie.

Vickery "Naughty and Nice" List 2011

Brian...

Naughty - Spent WAY TOO MUCH money on a new toy without consulting wife...which, in turn, prompted wife be very naughty towards husband.

Nice - Bought wife a new house....

and just baked wife homemade chocolate chip cookies...awesome.

Nicole...

Naughty -  Wrote a bad check for $4000.

Nice - Planned and took husband on a surprise trip to Vegas for Valentines day...BEST WIFE EVER!

Mason...

Naughty - Cut Aspen's hair because “She wanted a haircut”.

                 Frequently farts right in mom's face...very frequently...ALL THE TIME.  IN MY FACE!

Nice -  Sings to sister at bedtime.

            Tells mom she is beautiful.

Micah...

Naughty - Punched brother and got blood all over the carpet.

                Gave himself a haircut during school.

Nice - Sings songs to sister at bedtime.

          Works hard at school and is so smart!

Aspen...

Naughty - Climbed into the bathtub fully clothed with a loaded diaper.

                 Steals ornaments and wears them as jewelery.

                 Scribbled ALL OVER mommy's couch...with PEN..A LOT OF PEN.

Nice - Gives the best “loves” ever!

           Will perform her “pageant face” both randomly and on cue

           Makes everyone laugh by quoting Vector from Despicable Me...”OH YEAH!”

Halloween 2011

We celebrated this Halloween in a new home!  The kids enjoyed being able to just walk out the door and trick or treating in our new neighborhood.  In past years we always had to drive them to a different neighborhood to trick or treat, as there we NO trick or treaters in our neighborhood.

Aspen LOVED! trick or treating...she said trick or treat at every house and cried TRICK OR TREAT!  TRICK OR TREAT!! when Brian dropped her off back home.  She was ready for more candy!  She sometimes asks for a "trick or treat" when she wants a piece of her Halloween candy.

Aspen as "Elmo"

Mason as "Piplup"...a pokemon character

Micah as "Pikachu"

Mason says...

Mommy, you know why I'm so handsome?  (points to his face) 'Cuz I got this face!

Mommy...is that for your lavinator?  (While I was filling up a water bucket for my lavender bush).



One night the boys and I were discussing how sad I'll be when they grow up and are gone from the house. 

Mason: "Mommy, I have to tell you a secret" (whispering) "When you're an old grandma I'm going to bring you fruit by the foot... would you like that?  Not fruit roll ups...fruit by the foot, 'cuz they're the bigger ones!" 

Micah: Brother, I'm going to be sad when I don't live with you anymore.

Mason:  (Really sad look on face)

Mommy:  Does that make you sad, Mason?

Mason: Yes

Mommy:  It's okay...you'll have a wife and baby to live with.

Mason:  Mommy, maybe you could have my baby.

Mommy:  What?  You want me to take care of your baby and I can keep it?

Mason:  Yeah.  But you can only have one.  I'm gonna buy two!

As we're saying goodnight..."Mommy, when we grow up, we're gonna make you really happy."



I'm so grateful for my boys and their unconditional love!

Happy 1st Birthday Baby!

Aspen,
I could hardly believe my ears when your daddy announced to me that we had a beautiful baby girl. That was one year ago. Time has flown by so fast and I am so grateful to have you, my little princess, in my life.  Here are just a few of the things I love about you...

You always have a smile for me
You can't resist bustin' a move when you hear music
You love your brothers SO MUCH!
You reach for me when Daddy passes by holding you
You try to "love" everything...your pillow pet, your sea horse, baby dolls, and on occasion, the hard wood floors.
You poke me in the eyes, hit me over the head with cell phones (repeatedly), and are always trying to stick your fingers down my throat (okay, so I don't always LOVE these things...but it's all in good fun ; ) )

We are so blessed to have you in our family and I am excited to see how you will grow to be even more beautiful.  But for now you are still my sweet baby and I am going to soak up the snuggles and kisses while I still can!

Happy Birthday Princess!  I LOVE YOU! LOVE YOU! LOVE YOU!

You know Dasher...and Dancer...and Prancer

Last night I was reading Micah The Night Before Christmas...

Me: "And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name, "Now Dasher, now Dancer! Now, Prancer and ...?" (pausing for Micah to fill in the blank)

Micah: "Cancer"?

At least he knows Rudolph, right?

The Season of Giving

As their Christmas gift this year, Grandma Mary sent my boys some money to go shopping for a charitable cause.  So...we headed off to Kohls in search of toys to donate to The Children's Hospital.  It was so much fun!  Micah had such a great time picking out toys to give to sick babies and children.  Mason mostly had fun just looking at toys to play with himself.  Thanks Grandma Mary!  Best gift ever!  Here is a picture of what the kids picked out with Grandma's money...

Grandma Nancy met us at the store even though she was sick...and helped us shop.  She even bought some additional things to add to our donation...Thanks Grandma Nancy!

We got tons of stuff and great deals.  Hopefully this will be a new Christmas tradition!

Girl's got rhythm

Aspen loves to dance.  Whenever she hears music she will swing from side to side at least once before finding something else to occupy her time.  Her favorite song to dance to is "I Like to Move It" from the movie Madagascar.

Continuing education

Success!!

And it only took me 28 years.

Boys will be boys

Is there an unwritten rule that states "Anyone possessing a 

Y chromosome must have an obsession with breasts"?  

I was shopping at Kohls with the kids the other day when I heard a lot of talk about nipples.  A lot of talk about nipples coming from two very little voices.  

I turned around to see these... in exactly this position...

 

on top of this

 

squeezing repeatedly.

I was a little surprised because it was Micah's hands on the bra... and everyone knows that Mason is the real  pervert of the family.

Good times.

Breakfast with Santa

Last week our kids had a delicious breakfast of pancakes and fruit at the church...and, of course, Santa made an appearance.

  Micah asked for Legos...

 

Mason was just interested in what kind of candy Santa might have in that bag of his.

  

Much like last year (How cute was he?)

 

Aspen's only wish was to get the heck off of Santa's lap...quickly please. 

Good girl

 

I am proud to say that so far we have had only one incident of ornament snatching from the tree...and not to worry, no candy canes were martyred.

Special tree

This year the boys decorated our christmas tree almost exclusively by themselves...

which is why large sections of the tree look like this...

 

and other areas look like this...

 

Our tree is so classy...and did I mention that it spins around on its stand?  

If that ain't class, I don't know what is.

Replay

Here is what has happened in the past few months....

Mason started preschool

Mason was so excited to finally be able to go to school like his big brother did, but most days now he tells me he would rather stay home.  He definitely needs to be socialized.

We discovered that Micah is allergic to cats.

You may notice in this picture that it looks as though Micah is suffering from pink eye, which is definitely no stranger in this household...but it is not pink eye.  Whenever Micah gets near cats or is too close to cat hair, etc... his eye (or eyes) turn blood red and swell up for a few days.  This happened 3 times in about a month.  

Aspen went from receiving rides from big brother...

to giving rides to big brother

 

 Brian turned 28 and got a new camera...

Halloween came and went...the boys were aliens for the trunk or treat at church...

and the old stand by costumes of chicken and skunk for Halloween night

Aspen was a cow...with her baby cow (who also had a baby cow)

 

and Brian carved an awesome pumpkin

 

I made Aspen a sweet tutu...

and she looked darn cute in it.

I turned 28 and Brian bought me an awesome sewing machine...which I am using to learn how to quilt.

On thanksgiving Brian and I ran a 5k...

 

and I kicked his butt.  

Actually, not by much...but I did (31:00 for me 31:30 for him).