Bad Luck of the Partially Irish

If you know Sloane you know she's no dummy.  She's never one to be tricked into playing with toy cell phones, car keys, or television remotes.  She has to have the real thing.  And yes, she knows the difference.  John and I have gotten in to a terrible habit of giving her our phones, keys, remotes, etc to play with and until today have only run into problems like she'll accidentally calling your boss or DVR something on the home shopping network.

Today was a different story. I was putting her in her car seat in the parking lot of the YMCA this morning.  She had the car keys in her hand and it was causing some difficulty buckling her in so I took them from her, threw them in the front seat of the car, buckled her in, closed the door, grabbed the drivers door handle and ......IT'S LOCKED!!!!!!!!!!  Every single door- LOCKED!!!! 

All I could think of was that OnStar commercial where the crying mother calls and says, "I've locked my baby in the car."  Did I really just do this?  I had nothing on me- no wallet, no phone, no ID, no idea what the number to OnStar was even if we did have OnStar and of course Sloane was sobbing.

Thankfully a nice women leaving the Y (with two kids) called her husband at work to get the number to OnStar then let me use her phone to call.  Thankfully we had a free 6 month subscription to OnStar with our new car, thankfully they were able to unlock my doors in a matter of minutes and thankfully the lady was prepared (unlike me) with milk and snacks for her kids so they didn't mind waiting either.  I told her she was going to have very good luck today for her kindness.  

To top it off- Midas pooped in the house while we were gone.

Lessons learned today
1. Find Sloane a new pair of keys to play with
2. Keep OnStar subscription
3. Don't leave phone in the car...just in case...
4. When Midas whines to go out and you think he just wants attention let him out anyway. 

Up to Speed

Sloane's Christmas Card 2010

William (Sloane's friend) dogging a kis

For me updating our blog is like picking up the phone to call an old friend.  It seems the longer I wait to do it the harder it becomes.  So, to catch everyone up on what we've been up to the past FOUR months (where did the winter go?!) I put together a few pictures and promise, again, to post more often!

We also have some great news to share...we bought a house last month and move in late April!  It's smack dab on the corner of Kingman and 42nd in Des Moines.  We absolutely love the neighborhood and can't wait to finally unpack everything one last time!

While it's already a great house there are a few easy, cosmetic changes I'd like to make so I'll be sure to post pictures once we have the before AND the afters.   :)   

Taken during one of our many practice photo shoots

Found her dad's headphones

 

 

sticky, sticky!

 

 

 

we're so proud...

Happy Halloween!

Here is our baby on her second Halloween! She went dressed as Eebee, her favorite doll. We went to Night Eyes at the zoo on Saturday evening and couldn't have asked for better weather! Sloane was a peach and was so good about taking only one piece of candy and putting it into her bag!

family.fun!

This past weekend was quite possibly the best weekend I've had in a long time!

Saturday started off with a bang when the best husband in the world (John) let me sleep in until 9:30! After Sloane's nap we loaded up the car and headed down to Howell's Pumpkin Patch in Cumming.




If you have not been to Howell's I'd high recommend it! They have a wonderful selection of pumpkins, gourds, mums and Halloween/Fall decor and many, MANY things to keep kids entertained for hours--even young ones like Sloane.

The first thing that caught her eye was of course the baby pony. With no hesitation Sloane walked right up to it and "patted" it. Note- this pony was much smaller then Midas.



I think Sloane could have spent the whole day
feeding goats. I watched in fear waiting for one to bite a finger off but John assured me that that wouldn't happen. Knock on wood

I think the highlight of the trip (for me at least) was petting the Charlotte, the calf. I love cows and if there is one thing I miss about Winterset it would be driving to Des Moines and seeing all the cows on the way. I was so excited (as was Sloane) when we saw a single black calf just outside the grounds on a "leash". I didn't see anyone around her so I figured it was ok to take a closer look.


If we had room for her in the back of the Vue I would have taken her! She was so sweet and would have made a PERFECT friend for Midas.

After realizing that only two of the three hay bails we bought would fit in the car we headed home just in time to make some chili, put Sloane to bed and watch the Iowa game. (Well John watched the Iowa game...I went to the mall for an hour of alone time-- heaven!)



Sunday was just as great as Saturday. I feel like we're always saying, "Sometime when we have a free weekend we'll have to......(fill in the blank with a list of 100 things we should do)." With nothing on the planner today we had plenty of time to relax, clean, cook and play! Again, the best husband in the world started my day with a fountain pop and Sunday paper from Casey's! Love him!

We cleaned out both of our closets and stored Summer stuff and sorted Fall/Winter clothes! I love changing seasons-- bringing out sweaters and coats you haven't worn for months-- it's like shopping for free!

We finally hung Sloane's growth chart in her room, along with a few other pictures and last but not least we began our training with Midas! I know he's six years-old but he's developed a few bad habits over the past few years that we really need to break. We ordered "The Dogfather" training DVD's and so far, so good!

We even had time to go to the PapaJohn Sculpture Park in Downtown Des Moines. I'd love to have known what was going on in Sloane's mind when she saw some of these works of art!
Below are a few other pictures from the weekend!

Sloane Brees- the next Piscasso!

I purchased the "beginner crayons" from Target last week and yes, she tried to eat them. And yes, I drew the smiley face as a demonstration.

I didn't think she did too bad for her first run! I'm working on finding a frame for my baby's first work of art!

Brees Family Reunion

Last weekend John, Sloane and myself traveled "down south" for the Bress Family Reunion in Trenton, Missouri. Just like most family reunions there were a lot of people who I didn't know but it was fun all the same. :)

It's held every third Sunday in September at a cabin in Trenton complete with a small pond and a ton of land! Thanks to a heavy rain that morning there were spiders, bugs and frogs galore which of course fasinated Sloane. Once again, she proves she's braver than her mother-- she definitely got her love from all things nature from her father's side!


If you know John, you've probably heard him brag about the "Brees lifespan". And while John will boast about anything he can, he does have a point. I have yet to meet a Brees man who is not fit, active and healthy regardless of age!

This picture is of Sloane (the youngest at the reunion) and Ernie's uncle, Koran (the oldest at the reunion-age 89!). I think it's important to note that he did just finish a game of washers before this photo.



After all the food and running around John's aunt Terree was kind enough to share a drink of her water with Sloane. Actually, I think Sloane just finished it off for her and then used it as a sand shovel :)

All in all, we had a wonderful weekend! We even had a chance to spend the night and Grandma and Grandpa's in Corydon the night before. Sloane loved the elementary schools playground, meeting Jack (again) and of course spending time with G'ma and G'pa!