Zephyr's showdown...

This picture explains it all...
Zephyr: what is the outdoor cat doing inside and the indoor dog doing outside?

Family bed campaign time!

Max's dad, Duncan Bremer, has decided to run for Congress in the past month. When we arrived in Colorado last week there was a lot going on in terms of figuring out what needed to be done to get this campaign in gear. It has been very interesting and educational to be around when campaign meetings and talk are going on. I didn't grow up around an interest in politics so I'm learning a lot. JB and Gloria are not necessarily growing up directly around politics like Max's family did because Max is in the Air Force and not about to run for office, but they can still help out their Granddude!

This was a conference call on the bed with Michele's sister, who is helping out with the campaign research. Duncan ("Granddude") is running as a Christian Conservative in Colorado and is definitely the best candidate (I'm a little biased) in terms of experience, intimate knowledge of the military (having three sons in the Air Force, all doing different things), loyalty to family, country, and most importantly his devotion and loyalty to God. He knows he has to keep God and family as priorities in order for this campaign to succeed. Oh, and he also needs two grandkids and an outdoor cat running around on the bed during a conference call...nothing more helpful.

JB and the cat

There is a cat here at the Bremer ranch in Colorado that is the most tolerant animal I have ever met. He is an outdoor cat that lives in the barn, but tons of kids have played with him ever since he was a kitten. His name is Scotch and JB absolutely loves him. As you can see, Scotch gets pretty abused (in a loving way). In this picture JB was saying, "look Mommy, the kitty is standing!" Poor cat.

I love Scotch's expression as JB is picking him up. He pretty much never runs away. He is a long-suffering gifted kitty.

I will be posting more pics soon...

Burrr!

It's finally feeling like winter around here, but I'm hoping my spring-like weather will return soon.

It's been a while since I have posted anything because I've been spending all the time I can with Max, helping him get ready, and he helping me to be prepared.

Now it's a cold Saturday morning and the kids are "helping" me at the computer. Nothing much else to do except maybe go to Gander Mountain to look at the animals or to Exploration Place in Wichita, which has some fun things to do. We may do that today, we'll see.

Enjoy the pictures and stories that I'm catching up on now!

Helping Mommy with Breakfast

JB and Gloria both like helping me with breakfast. It can get a little precarious (sp?) at times because they like to hold the eggs for me before I crack them into the pan. JB was in his wolf suit and Gloria has a new leapard print night gown in which she is so cute. They both are cute and love playing animals while helping their mother make breakfast...just as long as they don't try to eat the eggs raw...

JB's first tree climb

Max and I were talking about putting a hammock in between two trees near the fence. After discussing it for a bit we looked at the trees and saw that JB was already half way up one. It's one that is pretty easy to climb, but this is the first house where JB has had the opportunity to climb. He was doing very well with foot placement...maybe we will also put in a little climbing wall in his backyard swing set.

Gardening in February

Last week the weather was very nice for a couple of days so Max, JB, and I did some gardening before Max's "trip"(It is Max's turn now for the ME rotation). I'm planning on doing a lot of gardening on my own in March and April and needed Max's help in building new garden beds in a sunnier place than the old ones. We think we ended up with some pretty good soil because it was taken from the former garden beds and we mixed in some nice dead, wet leaves and dead grass clippings. It was fun working on this outside with Max.

JB really enjoyed helping with the gardening. He had his own little shovel that Max got for him and his own wagon to bring dirt to the new garden beds.

"Dangerous" times at the playground.

There are a lot of "merry-go-rounds" at playgrounds around here. Before moving here I thought they were outlawed because I just didn't see them anymore after playing on them as a kid. Anyway, despite their being potentially dangerous and flinging kids off (hasn't happened to ours yet), the kids love to hold on and spin around on these. I'm amazed at how good Gloria is at holding on and they never complain of being dizzy.


Gloria also loves to hang her head back as she swings. She will do this the whole time I'm pushing her and just glance right-side-up every once in a while. It's kind of a brain rush, or something, maybe...who knows what goes on in the heads of little ones...


There's also a really tall slide at this playground on which I really have to watch the kids that they don't fall off. I go up the ladder and down the slide with them to make sure they don't fall over the edge. I guess this isn't meant to be a "tot lot", but as long as I am watching closely and right there with them it can be fun:)

JB took a picture of me looking through the smaller slide, but you can see the big slide in the background. It's a lot of fun to go down...maybe I'm having too much fun at the jungle gym.

Biker boy and rocket girl

This was on a cool day here in Derby, but it was one of those indoor days with two little ones when we just had to get out of the house! The weather here has been great this winter. I usually don't run at all in the winter, but in the past few months I have run 2-3 times a week with the kids in the jogging stroller. I'm very thankful for the nice weather so far. It's been colder lately, but 40s and 50s, I still can't complain.

Here are some pictures of the kids at a blue playground at Garrett park down the street. JB and I took turns taking pictures, so you may see some of his pictures on his blog.

JB is a camo biker cowboy, if you couldn't tell.