Can you please tell your son to put some clothes on?

Last weekend, we heard the exact phrase, "Can you please tell your son to put some clothes on?" When we are at our house, we have no problem with Eban being "naked baby" as he loves to run around the house without clothes. It's also useful with the potty training as there's one less step when you get into the bathroom. Well, we had some of Ryan's colleagues over and after dinner, Eban promptly stripped down to the bare essentials and the 7 year old girl that was there tugged on my shirt and asked me if we could please dress him. She has two older sisters so a naked boy was a first for her. I guess we'll need to be more cognizant of when he takes his clothes off as I'm so used to it!

During my holiday break, I was able to spend some quality time at the Rehm's where everyone painted their nails (Eban chose the color black and Ryan told me to take it off him immediately - I didn't listen). My godson Dennis has a bruise on his noggin from falling out of a crib...but he also had a cute haircut!

Grammy Kass came in town for the first of the year and the boys ate up all the attention she gave them. They also ate up her chicken chili recipe so that was a plus to find something that they both love to eat.

We went to Kalea's third birthday at a jump castle place...talk about kiddie haven! The boys loved it and loved the cake after the party even more. Eban loved it so much that he sneezed on the cake and blew out the first candle - yup, we had "that" kid at this recent birthday party. Kalea was gracious about it - hopefully she'll do it back to him on his third birthday!

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of catching up with my oldest friend...we've known each other since the days we were born. Staci Sue is so smart that she created the machines the make the cheese that go into your mac and cheese boxes and the machines that creates the apples when you get them as a side order at a fast food restaurant. It's more complicated than that and I'm sure I don't have it exactly right...but she's pretty smart! One of my favorite memories is the fact that her parents let us dig in their back yard...we wanted to dig a hole to China. I think we got to be about 10 feet and then we got tired as we needed ladders to get down into the hole!

Jack is now saying "yeah" "kay" and "more" all the time. He sometimes signs the word more but we are working with him on that.

Eban is almost potty trained!! I can't wait for that to really happen as the savings on diapers will be helpful.

February is busy for us. I'll be in Providence, R.I., for the first full week of February so Grandma Patti is coming in town to help. She has no idea how late Ryan now works due to his new responsibilities at work, so she'll bond with both boys tremendously. I get home and less than 12 hours later, Patti and I are on a flight to D.C. with the kiddos for several functions that I have. Every day I have something starting with Sunday a reception for JWU and the fact that we are on the President's Higher Ed Honor Roll, then other meetings on Capitol Hill with various legislators and then a board meeting near the White House for America's Service Commission and lastly, I have a reception in Union Station. It will be a whirlwind visit with the boys...then Tutu will fly out to D.C. and help me take them back to Denver and stay with us for a week. Ryan will be in Redmond half the time so it will be a tad hectic. I also have jury duty coming up and so does Ryan...one day apart of all things. Too bad we don't have it together! Then I'm a state judge for DECA (the high school business club) for two days down in Colorado Springs toward the end of the month. I'm hoping that Ryan and the boys will join me for the night as there is a swimming pool and you can't beat that when traveling with kids! Tonight, Chad, Jack's godfather, is coming in town for two days so we are hosting a party for him at our digs. It will be fun to see everyone together after all these years!

Hmmm...here's a funny Eban/Jack story. Eban has not become a fan of Seamus' slobber...one morning, Seamus went up to him to give him a kiss and Eban got "slobbered" and it all over him arm. Eban kindly looked at me and said, "Mama, look!!" So I watched him go over to happy little Jack and rub his slobbery arm on the top of Jack's head - not once, but twice!! The two nasty slingers were then beautifully displayed on Jack's head. That's what I call brotherly love!

SEAMUS AND HIS LITTLE BOY, JACK