February Recap / March Goals

First, can I just say that this whole "monthly goals" list is killer accountability. Even if it's just pseudo accountability of the pressure I put on myself to be awesome. Ha ha.

FEBRUARY GOALS RECAP:

-  Organize our bathroom drawers, the downstairs closet, and the office.  -- Success! But the downstairs closet is disheveled again, so that may need to be revisited.

-  Organize garage as much as I can do. I need John’s help with this, but he’s a busy busy busy man! I’ll wait my turn, but keep it on the list!  -- Nope. Coming off the list. Thank you Jesus, for keeping John busy with work though!

-  Be out of bed by 6:45 in the morning, except Saturday. It’s really not that early, right?!  -- Total utter fail. Turns out 6:45 is pretty early when you stay up too late. Every night.  :-)

-  Fix 2 new meals. I’m actually starting to like cooking, so this’ll be fun.  -- Success! I made PW's chili (really good), homemade chicken and rice soup (eeh, needs a little work), PW's crash hot potatoes (thank you Pinterest - SO good), and Sheri's spaghetti sauce by myself for the first time (of course it's the best).

-  Write a card 1x a week. This will be the toughest one for me. I always hear something in church or see someone briefly and think I should write them a card, but never get around to it. Hopefully this will help remind me!  -- Miserable fail. I had 5 written in my head, but it never went further than that. I'll tackle this goal another month.

-  Eat vegetables with lunch at least Monday – Friday. This sounds silly, but S.S. posted a good reminder about eating veggies all through the day. Why not just make them part of the meal like I do with dinner?  -- Success! I'm not sure if I added veggies every day, but when I could, I did. And I really tried to make juice whenever I could for me and the boys. 

-  Donate 5 toys. It is SO HARD for me to get rid of the boys’ toys. If you've been to our house, you know they have buckets and buckets of toys, but I generally remember who gave them everything and it’s some sort of emotional backstabbing to give the toys away! I’ll start with 5… we’ll see how it goes from there!  -- Success! I did this February 1st to get it over with and I still remember the toys I got rid of. Is that some sort of complex??

-  Read at least 1 book every day to the boys. I asked my oldest sister, Tonia, for her best piece of “kid advice” a couple years ago. She said to read to them every day. This one’s for you, Tonia!  -- Success! Like the veggies one, this wasn't a complete success, but when we could, we did. James and Nate read books differently so it's difficult to read to them together. James is beginning to really get in to the stories of the books and likes the fast-pace page flip. Nate, on the other hand, is getting really good at pointing to things in books and he likes to take it slow. (While he points to the red balloon and claps for himself over and over and over!) 

MARCH GOALS: 

- Sugar-Free March begins again! Keri and I are at it again. In fact, as I type this, we're texting about if vanilla technically has sugar because it is almost all alcohol. Oh, and the woes of sugar in alcohol. You know, for cooking. What were you thinking?  ;-)  Anyway, I digress... Sugar-free learning and cooking will take up most of the month, but I'm pretty excited about it. I've realized that I've kept up with a lot of the food purchases from last Sugar-Free March and I'm pretty familiar with what I "can" and "cannot" eat. I just need to spend some time learning new meals and using even more new ingredients. But that said, seriously, don't think this is me tooting my own horn. If I were that good about what I should and shouldn't eat, I wouldn't be doing this sugar-free month. And I'd be pretty much a smokin-hot mom from the 'burbs all up in here. Yeah, I just said that. 

- 30-Day Shred. All 30 days. In a row. EEK! Did I just commit to that? I'm going to move on to the next one before I change my mind.

- Proverbs every day. (Not a legalistic every day, but I'd like to get through the entire book this month.) I was reminded of the idea this afternoon from the Coupon Project of all places. Recently in our Ladies' Bible Study, the topic of praying for your family has come up a lot. What better place to find verses to pray for my family than in Proverbs.

- Get the Dyson fixed. This has been a 4 month procrastination-phone call. I embarrassed myself enough the first time I called customer service: "Um, yeah, the doo-hickey on the left sucker tube isn't sucking". A vacuum is trivial, I know. But it doesn't seem trivial when I drag out the central vac every afternoon. Oh, our first-world problems.

That's it. I'm not committing to anything else this month. But I'm already tired just thinking about it! Happy Leap-Day and March!

And would you eat some brownies for me? But please don't tell me about it, I'd have to hurt you.

I feel like I need to add that the spatula did NOT go back in the batter when he was done licking it. Just in case you were raising your eyebrows in disgust.  ;-)

Cousin Time

Kenley and Claire got to come over and play for a couple nights recently. I'm not sure why, but it was probably payback for the night we didn't pick up our boys from their house until 11:30!  (Kidding, kidding, we LOVE having them!)

John's idea of babysitting.

And he did Claire's hair. And fed her brownies. What an uncle....

It's so fun to hear James and Kenley having conversations. They babble away and half the time I'm not sure what they're talking about. In this conversation, Kenley very clearly said: "James! Come on! Let's go potty!" as they ran into the bathroom.

Sweet Claire.

The last time we watched them, I opened up the baby gate in the play room and we (yes - WE) ran around the middle of the house, through the family room, around the kitchen table, around the island, and upstairs. THEY jumped on the bed, then ran downstairs and repeated the process. James slept very good that night!

All the pictures I have are of Kenley and James playing with the boys' (unopened, but not for lack of trying) Thomas toothbrushes. They carried them around and had fun pushing the spinner button all night.

Nate loves running around. Side note: He doesn't love when James randomly pushes him over, then tackles him as he tries to (knees locked, bum straight in the air, brother on his back) stand up again. At one and two years old, those boys can go from sweet angels to wrestle-mania in seconds!

Resting up for another lap.

Umm.....  ???

You can always get a smile out of Kenley!

Playing in a 2x4 area. Shortly after this picture, 3 of the 4 kids were screaming mad and I decided it was time for some spaced-out Elmo watching on the couch!

February 23, 2012

We went to the Children's Museum this morning with some friends. Oh my. It was an absolutely insane 3 1/2 hours. There wasn't one specific horrifying event, but the sheer number of people they can squeeze in that building is staggering.

I can really see James and Nate's personalities shine through at the Children's Museum. James is my quiet, shy, play in 3 rooms the entire day type of kid. Nate is showing his true colors with this new freedom of walking. He has an endless curiosity for the next thing. I chased him down numerous times and dealt with a few fits when he didn't want to follow the crowd. Nate will definitely be an adventurous man.

The kiddos were pooped on the way home, and hopefully I'll still be able to squeeze in a nap for myself before they wake up today!

"Just let me sleep, Mom."

This is what happens when we tell James NOT to smile. Works every time.

Lazy Week

It's been a very lazy week so far at our house. Nate and I both caught a bug beginning Sunday afternoon. John and James have been so sweet to take care of us and give us lots of time to sleep. 

In the meantime, I am new addict to Pinterest. Maybe not addict, but it is pretty neat.

John is excited about some great new machines down in the shop and even rented a forklift yesterday to move some things in (and out). The boys loved watching Daddy drive the "green tractor".

James is talking more and more (and more and more and more......) every day. I started a separate blog a while ago where I can record funny things the boys say and do - I don't want to bore you all with things only a mom could think was funny! 

One example is in the bathtub last night where he tickled Nate and made him laugh then hollered: "MAMA, I FUNNY!!". Then tickled his bath toys and pretended they laughed and yelled: "MAMA, I FUNNY AGAIN!!!!"

One of my favorite parts of the day right now is when I get to listen to James pray. He rattles off the names he's thinking about most. This afternoon, he prayed: "Jesus, thank you Daddy, Elmo, Ah-Ee-Kay-Eee (Auntie Keri), Mom, Elmo, Elmo, Hugo, Nate, Elmo, Kenley, Uncle Brian, Ah-Ee-Kay-Ee, Elmo.....". It went on for a while. 

James also gives me kisses ALL the time. He asks: "Mom want pisses?" or says: "Mama wuv pisses!" before he leans in for the smooch.

Nate is learning so much right now too. He loves to repeat signs and points to things in books when we ask him. Then, he always has a party for himself with smiles and clapping whether he gets it right or not. He says Dada, Mama, all done, ball, banana, bubble, and a few other words I can't think of right now. He's basically a genius if you ask me!

Nate is also walking around like a pro. I feel so bad for him in his rollie-pollie feet. I don't know how that kid can balance walking on balloons!

 And Hugo..... This is how I caught him sleeping when I came downstairs this afternoon. Make yourself at home, Hugo!

Success!!

For months we have been working with Nate on signing "please". Ok, maybe closer to half a year. Nate would rather not have the item than say please, but usually, I end up signing it for him and going on with life.

Two nights ago, John and I put our virtual stone-cold-hearts and earplugs in and decided that Nate would not get any food for dinner until he signed please by himself. (Boy, now that I'm writing this down, it doesn't sound great. But really, this kid isn't starving, have you seen that belly?) Nate sat through the entire dinner without eating OR complaining. I think he knew something was up.

Later that night, I offered him some milk in exchange for a "please". With some coaxing, the heavens opened, sent down doves and singing angels, and Nate signed please.

This afternoon, he took off with the pleases. We have a party every time he does it... hence, the clapping in the pictures!


Good Job Natester! We're so proud of you!

Yesterday was Hugo's 2nd Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR LOVEABLE, ONE-EARED, PLAYFUL, 100-LB LAP DOG!

I tried my best to get a cute picture of Hugo wearing a birthday hat with the boys standing calmly beside him. Sounds cute, right?  .... "HUGO, LAY DOWN. STAY. JAMES, PLEASE GO GIVE HUGO A HUG. HUGO STAY! JAMES... NATE, I CAN'T HOLD YOU RIGHT NOW. HUGO, I SAID STAY! LAY DOWN! NATE, GO GIVE GOGO HUGS. JAMES, COME HERE PLEASE. HUGO!!!"  ..... Then I realized I was "that mom" and stopped trying.   :-)

Random Pictures From the Last Couple Weeks

We went to the Children's Museum with Kenley, Claire and Auntie Keri.

We had coffee with a couple friends from Bible Study and their kids at the Village Bean.

We watched Baby Landon. James and Nate love Baby Landon!

We ate and played outside in the sun as much as we could. Must take advantage of that sunshine!!

Love this cheeser face.

The boys were checking out a lady bug on the play set. James was very interested, but cautiously kept his distance. Nate went right in for the grab. He'll definitely be my slug-eater someday!

We had dinner at Baby Landon's house.

I don't have a picture of it, but at one point in the night, Baby Landon was playing in this toy and we turned around from talking in the kitchen just in time to see that Nate had climbed fully on top of his lap and was also playing with the toys. The boys took turns in the toy after that!

After dinner, James was very quiet in the next room. He had climbed up onto the bar stool and was chowing down on Oreos. Maybe we should watch our children better!!   ;-)

We played "boat" and "mountain" with laundry baskets. James likes to ride with his animals in the "boat". Climber Nate likes to climb up and down the "mountain" over and over and over....

Brothers.

We visited the Library. James was in heaven with all the books to read. Nate was in heaven also... Climbing the chairs and pulling books off the shelf  (his top two favorite activities: climbing and destruction)! I'll have to take James back to the library by himself soon.

Go Fish!

Thanks for the game, Grandma!

Bathtime with Glowsticks

Maiden Voyage

My mom has been waiting a long time for this post. James wanted to have lunch in the shop with John this afternoon. I loaded up his lunch and sent him out the back door. James frantically turned around and very clearly said, "No Mom, I need sun glasses." We found sunglasses from Auntie Keri. Perfect! Sent him out the back door again. When he looked down to watch his steps, the sunglasses fell off. Time to get the safety glasses. Rocking the safety glasses, he safely made his way to the shop - all by himself.

Sunglasses from Auntie Keri.

That's better!

Need to stop for a pre-lunch break.

He took his sweet time. He stood here for about 5 minutes and looked around. I think the freedom was confusing.

Chose to take the "grass route". Wouldn't want to get rocks in his crocks. Haha, I rhymed! (Insert: looking around another 5 minutes.)

Slow and steady, but he made it!