Times they Are a Changin.....

Has it really been a month since my last post? I apologize but life in the Brace household has been going 150 mph and I nearly have whiplash from the speed of life!

Since my last post there have been a couple of big changes to report.

• First and foremost, Matt and I will be going a little more "green" and saving gas money at the same time. Starting June 30th we will begin commuting to work together. . . . to the very same building. Yes, you heard me right - we are going to be working for the same company. A couple of weeks ago Matt accepted a position with IntermountainHealthcare - my employer for the last 8 years. He will be working for the central Information Services team as a IS Security Analyst. This is going to be a great move for Matt and we are very excited. But, it will be an adjustment for us to make our commutes to work together everyday - although there is probably no better time than the current economical debacle we are in with $4.04 per gallon gas prices. Who knows maybe many blog postings will come out of our commute. First and foremost we are going to have to work on who has dibs on the radio - I like to listen to my country music stations to "rev" up my day. After all you can take the girl out of the country but you can't take the country out of the girl. Matt always insists on listening to National Public Radio (NPR). Although it is very newsworthy and has intriguing stories, I often feel like I'm starting my day with an 80 year old man. I don't know why but it just has that feeling. Maybe we ran rock, paper, scissors to see who gets dibs.
• Harper is teaching us to see the world through a three year old's eyes. It is funny to see how his little mind processes information. For example the other day, I told him that I needed to clip his toenails because he had a jagged toenail. His mind interrupted that statement as him having "dragon toenails". He was so excited and kept looking at his toes wanting to know which one had a dragon toenail.
  
• His most recent phase is getting in trouble at school for saying "potty words". He told on himself the other night and said he had to sit in timeout for saying a potty word. In my most calm but nervous voice I said what "potty" word did you say. I was anticipating him to say some expletive that he might have overheard Matt or I say before we wisened up and started spelling potty words or saying them under our tongue. Instead, he said "I told Ms. Debbie that her shoes looked like poo poo". Then he started belly laughing because he was so proud of the testosterone that was spewing from his lips at that moment. Sure enough Ms. Debbie confirmed that his interpretation was exactly as she remembered it. So, we have been trying to work with him to understand that we do not say certain things that could get us sent to time out... at least in front of our teachers. After a week or so of coaching, I was disappointed that everything was going in one ear and out the other. On our commute home on Friday he was in a VERY VERY vile mood. Just down right cranky and grouchy over anything I said. I don't know what finally set him off, but he got really mad at me and said "MOM... You, you, you are a POTTY WORD". I nearly lost it because I felt like he had just called me a very bad thing and he simply said you are a "potty word". He one upped that one on Sunday and said that I was a "potty word that was flushed down the toilet." Wow- that one hit me below the belt. Luckily he hasn't figured out the "real" potty words to call me but I'm sure it is just around the corner.
  
• Collier is on the move. He has started walking everywhere in the last week or so and is a force to be reckoned with. I think once he gets the hang of his new activity we will have to install a GPS system under his skin to be able to keep track of him. We were lucky with Harper because he never liked to get too far out of our site - but Collier is a different story. It is not uncommon to turn your back for a minute and he is scaling a table, climbing on chairs or findy quirky places to hide. He is a child that is full of energy and adventure and knows no stranger. Matt took the kids to a baseball game on Saturday and Collier wanted to make sure that everyone noticed him. He got so excited that the Wendy's girl (you know Dave Thomas's gal...the official red-headed mascot" of the fast food chain) stopped and gave him eye contact along with a frosty voucher. Matt said he grinned from ear to ear and squealed with delight as if to say, thanks for stopping and talking to me lady....come back anytime. He is a real lady charmer even with the strange ones.

As you can see life is a little hectic around here but never a dull moment to be had. I will try to be better about writing more regular. I wish I could say that it has been boring and nothing too funny has happened but that is not the case. Instead, I have just let the days get away from me. Hope everyone is having a great summer.