Weekend Full of Toys!

A few weekends ago we went on a little family getaway with some of our good friends. Their parents have a beautiful home right in the heart of the mountains of New Mexico. It was a chilly rainy weekend, but that did not stop our kids from wanting to play on all the toys that were there. Our boys were in heaven and did not want to come inside. They had a tractor, riding lawn mower (the John Deere on it was important to our middle one), golf cart for adults, golf cart for the kids, and a four wheeler. It was so much fun and a much needed break from this crazy fall. We look forward to going back, assuming that we are invited again :) Really, we just enjoyed playing with the kids with no phones, limited television, and no honey do lists! We also enjoyed the time we got to spend with the McAdens when the kids went to bed. There is not much like uninterupted time with some of your bestest friends! It has been several weeks now since we have been there and our boys are still talking about all the things they did there. There was only one thing that my kids talked about doing that did not happen.....a BEAR HUNT! There is always next time! Thanks for inviting us McAdens!!!!!!!

Not Me! Monday

In an attempt to start getting back into the groove of blogging, I am going to try Not Me Monday! If you have not seen this before, take a look at this blog I follow.

This blog is way more fun, but I will give it a shot. At best, it may give you a small smile today. It gives you a vivid picture of the funny things we do as parents. I encourage you to try it at least once. It makes you laugh as you are remembering the things you do sometimes just to make life a little easier.

• This morning Luke was screaming for "panacakes" after Jason took Hannah to school. I did not pick up her plate of left over pancakes and re-warm them and hand them back to him without his knowledge. I would not deceive my child and serve him his siblings leftovers just so I don't have to fix more pancakes.


• Today we went to the store for a few groceries. The boys begged for hot dogs and of course I did not give in because I would never ever feed my precious children hot dogs. Not Me, I cook 5 course meals every day! I did not stop on the way home to get a coke ( and of course I did not get one for my neighbor too because that would be helping her addiction). While stopping at my neighbors house, I did not look back at my car and see my two boys scarfing down a hot dog right out of the package because if I did, I most certainly would have run to the car and made them spit it out immediately. What kind of mom sees this and continues to allow it, most certainly not me!


• A few days ago we certainly did not go to a fast food place and to avoid a fight before we left the house, we did not allow Logan to wear Hannah's brown boots that have pink flowers up the side. Not me, I would not allow my son to wear girl boots even though his pants covered the pink flowers. Nope, not me. The same trip, I did not allow Hannah to wear socks with her flowery flip flops. Not me, I would not let my children go out to eat like that!


• For church on Sunday morning, Hannah was wearing a floral dress with a pink sweater over it. I most certainly did not allow her to wear her Dorothy red glittery flats with that dress to church. What mom would allow her daughter to wear her Halloween costume shoes to church when they don't even match in the least? Nope, not me.


• We attended TWO Halloween festivals this weekend and I most certainly did not cram some of their candy in my mouth when one of my kids walked by because I did not want to battle why mommy gets another piece of candy and they don't.


• At the Halloween festivals, I did not tell my child that they "had enough candy" from the bag of candy they were to pick from only because the worker was watching. Secretly I did not want my child to grab all the chocolate for me to eat later. Not me, I can buy my own candy if I want it right?


• I did not miss Bible Study last week just because I was tired and "needed to do laundry" even though I only got one load done. Not me, I most certainly would not make excuses for not going!


• I most certainly did not ignore the form that requested my boys birth certificates last week for licensing purposes at their Parents Day Out Program because I had never gotten their official birth certificates even though they are 2 and 3 years old. I did not then have to go to the Heath Department the day before their school to get them so they could go back. Not me, I would not procrastinate. And, while at the Health Department, I did not tell my kids 100 times to "not touch ANYTHING because there are sick germs EVERYWHERE". Not me, I would not be that concerned about them getting sick and not being able to attend school!
• I did not dress my kids as the Wizard of Oz for Halloween just because I did not have any other ideas. No, I would not dress them as characters that they have not even been allowed to watch because it is probably a little too scary for them. No, I would not do that to my kids!
• AND, I for sure did not ignore my kids for the last few minutes while I tried to remember the funny events to write this post. No not me, I would not let them tend to themselves at the table with glue, scissors, and markers.
  

Launch Party

Take a look at this blog. They are giving away some cool stuff this week!

Time, it is never on our side!

Here is a current pic of my sweet little ones!

I have started this post several times now, but never have the time to complete it. You see, time is not on my side lately. Our lives have literally changed the last few weeks. Since school started, we have very little time to do "extra" things. We rise earlier and therefore go to bed earlier. I spend my time after the kids go to bed getting ready for the next day. I have to get every ones clothes set out, pack Hannah's lunch, make sure she has everything in her backpack that she needs, and well the list goes on and on. I used to stay up late late late after the kids go to bed, but I just cannot force myself. I feel that there are no "free" moments. If I sit on the couch at night then I know that I am taking time away from something that needs to be done like dishes, laundry, picking up the house or whatever. Don't get me wrong, I have time when I rest and relax, but it is not it used to be. I miss the few blogs that I used to do, but really it is just something else to do. We are just now getting into the groove of it all though. Like I have said, it is an adjustment, but we are pressing on to make it work.
On the flip side, the kids are doing great. Hannah loves school. She has never once cried or been sad when we drop her off. I absolutely love her school. I volunteer in the classroom, along with all the other parents in her class. It is great to see how many parents they get to volunteer. Monday thru Thursday there is at least one volunteer for a little while. I also go to lunch with her at least once a week. She likes me to bring McDonalds or something like that when I come. It gives me a chance to get to know the kids that are influencing my child daily when I spend time up there. On the day that the boys go to Parents Day Out, I feel as though I live up there sometimes! It is worth it even though it makes my schedule crazy.
We have been amazed at how much Hannah is already learning.. She is working on her "sight" words and phonics. I was never taught phonics, so it is new to me also. The boys have adjusted to being without their sister for most of the day pretty well. It is interesting to me to see how Logan takes on the older sibling role when Hannah is gone. When she is home, she is in charge of the three of them. We really have not seen Logan take charge. It is just not his personality, but we are seeing more of it come out when she is not here during the day. Like I said, we have all had to change with Hannah going to school.
So, this gives you a brief update on why you are not hearing from me. I hope to get more and more efficient with my time and therefore have more time for the things that I enjoy.
Oh, and something that has occupied most of my sweet hubby's time is 99% complete. Our bathroom is back in business. We still have a few touch-ups to do, but it is functioning as a full bathroom. I don't even know what it is like to not share a bathroom with my kids anymore. We are waiting for the glass company to bring back our shower door that they had to adjust and we had to have one of our vanity drawers fixed, but those things are nothing compared to where we were a few months ago. I will take a few lines to brag on my wonderful crafty husband. He did a GREAT job with this bathroom. I knew he could do it because he did our other bathroom 2 years ago, but this time it was difficult because we were a little bit busier. Out of the whole bathroom, the only thing he did not do was put in the glass surrounding the shower and he did not build the vanity. I think I have the most amazing husband every!!

BEFORE: vanity area with a single sink

BEFORE: shower and potty in a separate area

DEMO

DEMO

AFTER: Two separate sinks!! No separate room for shower/potty & vanity

AFTER

Once Again....

So I realize that once again I am behind. If you only had time to hear about the crazy things of this past week, then you might understand why. Yes, we officially have the 1st week of Kindergarten under our belt. Really I wish I could take the belt off and go back to the old "normal" but that just cannot happen. This week was great for Hannah. Everyday she would say that her day was "better than yesterday". She seemed to truly have a lot of fun. I think she is made for the social part of school. I, on the other hand, was not made for her to go to school. This past Monday was hard for me. I made it out of the classroom without crying, but I let it loose after that. She didn't even cry or hang on our legs at all. I eventually gathered myself and we made it home. Strange feeling with just the two boys. It really really hit when the boys took a nap that day. Usually I run on the treadmill during their naps. Because I still required Hannah to have some "quiet time" in her room during their nap, I could also have some quiet time. It never failed that she would come in to visit me during their nap before her "quiet time" was officially over. On Monday when I was running it dawned on me that I won't have that issue anymore. And, while it was frustrating some days that she would keep coming out of her room, I actually missed that this past week. It is the little things like that I miss the most. I also miss the late evenings that we could spend playing outside. Now, bedtime is at 8:30pm and that actually may need to be bumped back again. All three kids are up by 7AM. I have not had to be awake every day at that time since I worked full time before Hannah was born!! I know that we will adjust and this will become the new "normal" but I think I am grieving our old life. I am sad that Hannah misses out on the things we do during the day and that she spends the majority of her day without us. It also makes me sad to not know exactly what she is doing the majority of the day or who she is talking to during those times. One thing I am glad about is the fact that tomorrow is a HOLIDAY! I think it could not come at a better time. I just wish there were holidays every Monday! Here are a few pics from the 1st day of school. (They are not the pictures that I dreamed of, but considering we ALL woke up at 7:10 AM and had to be at school at 7:45AM, they will have to do. Jason even managed to flip a few pancakes during that time. It was not the best start to a 1st day!!)

Hannah's 1st day of Kindergarten

This picture made me smile so big. Look right in the middle and you will see Hannah finally noticed I was there to pick her up. That smile was worth a million dollars that day.

We are good friends with 3 other families who all have children around the ages of ours. Three of the four families had kids who started kindergarten this past Monday. At least we know others who understand our pain!!

Family Pics

Here is a recent family picture that we had taken. They turned out fairly good considering we were dealing with 3 young kids! Believe it or not, we have not had a true family picture since Logan was just a few months old. I always think that is funny since I am such a big picture taker.

TEN!!!!

Today is our 10 year wedding anniversary. We have been talking about what 10 years would look like for us for a long time now. Honestly, we had always talked about taking a 10 year anniversary cruise. Because of Jason's newer job, vacation could not come that soon, so we will set our cruise back to next year. Jason did a great job planning this year. He has had a rough week with the plans though. Apparently he had planned for weeks now that one of our good friends would watch the kids overnight and most of Saturday. Well, this week, their grandfather passed away and even though they were so sweet and said that they still wanted to watch our kids, Jason felt it would be better to make other plans. He was a little stressed needless to say. It just happened that he was talking to his little sister on the phone when he was trying to figure things out and she volunteered to take our kids. She has 3 young kids (ages 6 and under) of her own, so this might be interesting. He is so funny about surprising me. I love surprises, but I am too involved in everything to let things be a surprise. I knew that something was up, however I pegged the wrong people to be helping out. I was trying hard to keep the house clean because I kept thinking that someone was spending Friday night at our house. I am a little relieved that no one is coming over and in fact my kids will be gone from the house so they can't make any additional messes. Have I mentioned that we are having company spend the night Sunday night, then leaving Monday morning and another family comes in Monday to spend the night and leave Tuesday. Oh, and Wednesday I think we have bible study at our house again. Wow, I need it to stay clean.
Okay, so the reason I titled this post TEN is for the ten years we have been married and the TEN reason why I think my husband is the best husband around ....

10. He is funny and likes to be the life of the party
9. He is handy around the house and can fix ANYTHING that is broke
8. He is a great dad. He plays and wrestles with the kids, but also also loves and hugs on them.
7. He gives baths to all 3 kids at the time. (I don't like bath time a lot so he has taken on that "job')
6. He helps around the house with dishes sometimes!
5. He appreciates what I do around the house. Maybe he just likes to have clean underwear!
4. He has always had a drive to provide for our family and make sure that we are taken care of
3. He tries to make me feel special and sends me special emails every now and then
2. He is so cute
1. He loves the Lord with all his heart and does his best to lead our family in that direction.

Jason, I love you and can't wait to see what the next 10 years holds. Thanks for everything you do for me and the kids. We could not ask for a better daddy and husband.

I also titled this post TEN because we now have 10 days before Hannah starts Kindergarten. So, in the spirit of count downs, I now have a list of the TEN reasons why I am not ready for school to start...
10. Hannah does not have any new tennis shoes and apparently kindergartners are supposed to wear them EVERYDAY. What kind of fashion is that????
9. The boys will be lost without their 2nd little mommy to boss them around.
8. Hannah has never been away from me 7 hours a day/5 days a week straight
7. We have not had too much of a schedule this summer. The kids go to bed late and wake up later than normal. It has been great!
6. Rain, sleet, or snow, it does not matter. I am going to have to drag my two boys out of the car everyday to walk Hannah into school and then in the afternoon to pick her up.
5. We have to change the boys nap time. Right now they lay down in between 2-3pm. It works great for us. Now that school is about to start, they need to be up by 2 or a little after so we can go pick up Hannah
4. The school year marks the start of everything....bible study, parents day out, soccer practice, soccer games etc
3. I no longer have a preschool little girl
2. Hannah will have to meet new friends and find her place in the classroom. I worry about her making friends and feeling included. I don't know why I worry because she is a social bug!!
1. TIME CHANGE....yep, it is not official daylight savings time but around our house it will happen. Hannah will have to be in bed early because we will all have to get up early. We hardly ever set an alarm clock. She has to be at school at 7:45AM...that's all I have to say!

Looking Forward and Looking Back

36 days until Hannah starts soccer again

32 days since I posted last

21 days since Luke got his new big boy bike

21 days since the kids were weighed at the Dr...ALL three were 32lbs and some odd ounces!

20 days until the boys and I return to Bible Study

17 days until Kindergarten starts

14 days until open house at school where we find out who Hannah's teacher is!

14 days since Jason and I went overnight without the kids

12 days since we have been back from visiting family

11 days since we got our new pet...a baby box turtle

10 days until we have overnight visitors...the McAdens

9 days until we have overnight visitors...the Maytons

8 months until my birthday

7 days until our 10th wedding anniversary

7 months until Hannah's 6th birthday

7 months until Jason's birthday

6 months until Luke's 3rd birthday

6 days since my bedroom has been painted

6 days since I dropped something on my not very old cooktop

6 days since we signed Hannah up to play soccer in the Fall

6 days since we signed Jason up to coach Hannah's team

6 months until all TVs go digital or something like that

5 days since I really really cleaned our house

5 days until bible study is at our house

5 months until Logan's 4th birthday

5 months until our dogs 2nd birthday

4 months and 2 weeks (approximately) until Christmas

4 months until 2009

4 days since I have actually cooked a meal for dinner

4 days since we have bought crickets for our turtle

3 years since our last professional family picture was taken

3 months (approximately) since we had a master bathroom that was not "under construction"

3 days since Hannah and Logan's last gymnastics class

2 days since I received my camera back from Canon (fully repaired)

2 days until it is our turn to serve in the Children's Ministry at church

2 days since I last did laundry

2 days since my last trip to the grocery store

1 day since Jason and I went out ALONE for dinner

1 day until our next family picture

1 day since the Lord blessed us with a little rain shower

1 day until I have to start really really cleaning our house for company next week

1 week until I get my new but same cooktop

1 month until the boys start Parents Day out

Ability to catch you up on our lives in one post without looking at my appointment book......PRICELESS

Amy M., this post is just for you! You should be caught up now!

A Fun 4th!

Occupying our time with lots and lots of donut holes before the parade started
Our annual 4th of July picture in our matching shirts.


All American Kids!Logan was a little upset when the parade ended.Enjoying some fireworksOur day started out early. We were in the car by 8am, ready to pick up some friends and head to the parade. Jason had picked up dozens of donut holes for the kids to eat while we waited until the parade started. The kids loved the parade. The boys especially liked the tractors, fire trucks, police cars, sirens, golf cart, well, anything with wheels. Hannah had her own likes, but she remembers that Spiderman gave her a Sonic mint. I was excited because we got to have our annual picture in our 4th of July shirts taken. Jason, well, he is not so thrilled about that tradition, but we have come to a compromise. In years past, we have all had matching shirts and I had requested that we wear them all day long, which included the picnic in the afternoon with his co-workers/bosses. He used to get made fun of the following Monday morning by his co-workers. So, I gave in. I only ask that we wear them to the parade then he is free to change, which he does rather quickly. It works out well now, except for all of our friends that know the story and met us at the parade. They still gave him a hard time and I must admit it was funny.

That afternoon we had a little BBQ at our house. Hannah was excited because the Palmer family came into town to visit their family and they were able to spend some time with us that day. Finally a little girl for Hannah to play with. They played dress up, played in the play house, and just acted like little girls. It was fun to see them play together. Their family brought the slip-n-slide, which was a big hit with my children. Such a hit that on Monday when we went to the store, they begged and begged for a slide like Grace and Brady have. Thanks Palmers, I guess we need a slip-n-slide now! After some good food, we packed up the 8 kids and headed out for fireworks. Most of the kids liked them. We were surprised that Luke rather play in all the vehicles versus watch the fireworks. We could not tell if he was too scared or just not interested. Hannah and Logan stared in amazement. It was a great fun day!

If you came to our house.....

Okay, so I realize that this post will take some time to think about, but I challenge you to do it when you have a chance. It allows you to really evaluate what it feels like to walk into your own home...from an outsiders view. I saw this idea on a sweet high school friend, Sarah's, blog. She made her house sound so friendly and warm...if only we lived in the same state I am sure our kids would have a great time! So, take the challenge and if you can, post what your house would look like if we stopped by in the comments section.

IF YOU CAME TO OUR HOUSE...

You would see...
lots of pictures of our kids and our family. I love pictures, probably because my mom was a fanatic about pictures when I was growing up. You would also see lots of toys because we LOVE toys too. If we knew you were coming, you would probably smell the cleaners that were used during the wee hours of the morning before your arrival. Yes, I clean all hours of the night if I know you are coming the next day. It is the only time where the kids are not pulling out things as I clean or it is the only time I know they are not going to bust their head on a freshly mopped floor. It is compulsion that my husband is not too fond of, but I figure as long as I am not complaining the whole next day about being tired, then it works! Now, if you drop in unexpectedly, you enter at your own risk. We try to keep all the toys in the playroom, but they apparently have legs, yes which belong to my 3 kids, and they wonder out.

We'd probably feed you...
a dessert. I love, love, love to bake. I might also try a new recipe on you, but it will probably be one with chocolate of some form.

We'd undoubtedly ask if you would read....
the newest library books that we have checked out. The kids love books and of course think that every one want to read their newest one.

We'd want to play this music for you....
usually we have the radio on during the day, but if you show up, we will turn it off. We realize that with 3 preschool kids, we already have enough noise in the background.

We'd want to tell you the latest about....
our recent trip to Sea World. If we went and played or did something fun that day, you would most certainly hear about it too. Hannah would tell you about getting ready for Kindergarten while Logan would tell you about some type of tractor. Luke would chime in about another tractor. Jason and I might tell you about the progress on our bathroom!

We'd probably suggest a game of....
well, we would not suggest any games because we really don't have much time to play them. Now, the kids, on the other hand, would bombard you with every game in the game closet if they can. They might start with Hi-Ho-Cherry-O, or the Dora Memory Game then of course they would end with the Elephant game where you catch the butterflies.

We might show off...
the progress on the bathroom. Hannah might show you something she has drawn or a craft she has made. Logan and Luke might start to bring out lots and lots of John Deere stuff!

We might get on the computer and show you....
Hannah's webkinz. She has just started to enjoy playing webkinz or pbskids.org

If it was a long enough visit, we might watch....
some of the Planet Earth series. The kids love watching the "animal movie", however we have to monitor and make sure that they are not watching anything that might scare them. Yes, we are pretty strict about what they see right now. No need to add additional fears about animals eating each other or something! If there is not enough time for that, we might show you the new Word World DVD. They love "building words" and I love that it does actually try to teach them.

What would a visit to your house be like? If you have some time, post it in the comments section, if not, at least give it some thought. Our hope is when people walk into our home that they feel welcomed. We want them to know that we care about the people who walk in and that our house is always open to them. We want their kids to love being here, at least that is my excuse to have a playroom full of toys!! Mostly we want them to feel wanted. Our desire is for our house to be a memorable place, somewhere that in the future when we have preteens/teens running around their friends will want to hang out here. Have a great weekend!

Catching Up

Enjoying some popsicles with our neighbors

Our sweet neighbor let them fill the sand box with water!

Luke and his little buddy

Hannah standing in the sand box now filled with lots and lots of water!

Playing in the neighbors pool, muddy and all!

Feeding the ducks again

Taking a ride to the park

At the park feeding ducks again

Oops, Luke got a little carried away being crazy by the water and fell in

Hannah holding a baby bird...another casulity of our dog

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Luke holding the injuried bird

Logan holding the bird too

Everyone wanted to help take care of the bird...and no, we did not keep it!

Luke checking out the snakes at the musuem

Luke and Logan at the petting zoo

Hannah feeding the animals at the petting zoo

So I realize again that I am really behind. Summer is already flying by. Before I know it , my sweet little girl will be gone to school. We are making the most of our summer and suprise, suprise, they are keeping us really busy. Sorry about the mass post of pictures. I will do my best to post in a more timely fashion in the future. For now I will leave you with this one last picture....we drove their vechiles to the park and they had a blast. It was a hilarous sight to see them coming down the side walk. They actually do really well not running into each other considering their ages! Now, they want to drive them all over. Have a great day!