Everybody Loves a Garage Sale

Our lives have been on hold for the past two days as we've been living in our garage and selling off the "random stuff" cluttering our lives and home. We went in together with five other families and as a result have a garage FULL of knick-knacks (our favorite was a ceramic Great Dane that sadly sold today), clothes we wish still fit us, and of course baby stuff bittersweet to let go of...

The kids have been running around pulling things off racks just as we get them back on. Its funny how items that never caught their attention before suddenly gain high aclaim once placed on a table in a garage sale.

Spoiled Child: "Mommy, why is this out here? THIS is my favorite thing!"

Mommy: "Why have I never seen you with it?"

Spoiled Child: "I am playing with it now, see..."

Mommy: "Fine, fine...you can pull one item out of the garage sale, so go ahead."

Spoiled Child (contemplating and searching around frantically grabs a coffee mug that says "World's Greatest Grandma): "No, wait...THIS is my favorite."

Garage sales can bring out an interesting crowd and my personal favorite has been the creepy guy who was trying to promote his business as a massage therapist and convince me to "stop by sometime"...um no thank you. But we've had a lot of really nice people too...I always love meeting people looking for a good deal!

Oh, and of course we don't really mean the kids are for sale, but what a cute picture. :)

Running and "Rocky"

Yesterday Nicholas ran in the Holy Cross Jog-a-thon to raise money for his school. He ran 25 laps around the gym and was very excited because his goal was 20 laps around! Natalie, Naomi and Mommy were his cheering section and Natalie was also his faithful "water girl". I can tell how anxious she is for when the day comes she can do things like big brother...it was all she could do not to run, run, run too. If you sponsored Nicholas in the Jog-a-thon you can make out your donation to Holy Cross Lutheran School and mail it to Nicholas Brueggemann, 4467 N. Edgemoor Court, Bel Aire, KS. We need to have all contributions by Friday, April 24. Thank you!!

In addition to watching Nicholas run, Natalie has been brushing up on her prize-fighting "skillz"...The other day I noticed that she had what was developing into a bit of a black eye under her right eye.

Mommy: How did you hurt your eye?!"

Natalie: "Bonk"

Mommy: "What kind of a bonk?

Natalie: "Don't know"

Mommy then proceeds to ask her partner in crime.

Mommy: "How did Natalie hurt her eye?"

Nicholas: "I don't know, but I bet she got a bonk"

Mommy: "Well, I wonder how it happened?"

Nicholas: "Oh, well did she tell you how it happened?"

Curious Mommy: "No, but do you know?"

Smart Nicholas: "Oh no, no, no I don't know anything either."

Hmmm...my Mommy intuition tells me that the "sibling/I-will-cover-for-you-if-you-cover-for-me" bond has begun...

The Bunny Ruins Easter

So it's been said many a time that the commercialization of our Christian holidays ruins the true meaning of our celebrations. This was hammered home again in the Brueggemann family this Easter after a trip to see "The Bunny" at the mall on the eve of Easter Sunday. Let's just say Natalie hated everything about the oversized furry creature dressed in an ugly velvet suit with loud Easter egg tie.

She not only would have no business sitting on his lap (I mean what kind of a mutant bunny is that large anyway...) but she was extremely worried about Nicholas and Naomi sitting on his lap. We thought at first this was just cute and she would get over it like most kids do. Well, not only did she not forget about him, but when anyone mentions anything about Easter now she starts to glance around in a panic, cry and jump into the nearest arms of a consoling adult. The night before Easter she awoke on several occassions screaming "no, no, no, not like it" and finally ended up in our bed for the night.

Nicholas has also had his own uneasy contemplations about the Easter Bunny and has begun asking too many hard questions for a four year old. As we left the mall he said, "I think that bunny was wearing a costume...what do you think?" To which Mommy replied, "Uh, yeah...so is that what you think?" Nicholas says "yes". Mommy says "ok, yeah I agree but he's just the real Easter Bunny's helper you see...wow, look over there - the overpriced bouncy ball machine, let's get one!"

Thinking next year we might just forego any visits to the mall during the months of March and April. It should help the whole house sleep better at night, save me the ridiculous $20 I spend for 8 terrible wallet-sized pictures of kids screaming or about to scream and won't cloud the true meaning of the holiday with plastic eggs and mutant rabbits.

Let's give this a try!

In an effort to be better about more regular updates and posts, I am creating a family blog. We will continue to maintain the website (http://www.babyjellybeans.com/web/do/site/home?ID=130034) for now as its where we can archive pictures and see how the kids have changed, grown over time. However, the new blog will just be random thoughts, funny things that happen during our days, whatever we might feel like writing about basically. We hope to update several times a week! First real post starts tomorrow...