Weekend Snapshot.....

Dylan loves to pout on the rugs, I have no idea why, but he will do this on other ones too when he is mad.

I know about now you are thinking wow, I actually updated the blog!  We finally have Picasa back in action, so that makes my life much easier. 

So here is how things went down...

Friday we attempted to clean the house, it looks no different!

Saturday we met with the builder, first time wtih the boys- they added a new level

We ran some errands in DSM

Went to dinner with my family Saturday night, then Keith and I went to the Baxter bar for a few drinks.  First time up there in a long time! 

Today was a lazy, rainy day....the boys even slept in and both to long naps

I don't think Dylan was feeling the best today

We went through 6-8 bananas today and the boys ate an entire (little) watermelon, the watermelon was in one sitting

Dylan pooped on the floor or I should say mom's white carpet!  I just got him out of the tub and oops... too late

We watched more than plenty of Mickey and built some extreme trains

Carter ate about half a bottle of ketchup at dinner - by itself!

Carter has been all about pull-ups all weekend, won't wear a regular diaper

They have been really into singing this weekend, many rounds of ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jingle Bells (that one has stuck)

Scored some bargains at Old Navy for the boys

Got the bikes out, they are doing so well this year on them! 

The lot & Plan B

We are now on Plan B for the new house.  Were both a little heartbroken last week after our builder shared some disappointing news with us. They spent a little over a week drawing up the plans and for some reason they couldn't get it smaller than about 2300 square feet, which put us over our budget, which we are already over and with many more overages to come, it was a deal breaker for me.  So I spent about 15 hours last week hunting for similar plans and I believe we have now landed on a new one and are back to the drawing stage. 

As of right now the plan will be similar to this, but the front elevations will change a bit and a few things will be tweaked. 

We haven't officially purchased the lot, but here it is! We will be the last house on this spot and the house next to us is for sale right now and a few across the street are for sale, so we are hoping for some super cool people to move in!  The back area behind the house looks like a really fun area for kids to play, it's about the size of a football field between all the houses, so we are seeing some fun neighborhood games happening.

Twelve years with the hubs

Today marks 12 years since our first date, no worries, no big date or celebration.  Just asked Keith if he forgot to order me flowers today and after careful thought and asking me why, he responded with the, oh yeah, it's the anniversary that you keep track of that I don't. 
He just counts the wedding anniversary.  Maybe on our thirteenth I'll go into detail of the first date at BK and yes by BK, I do mean Burger King.  Good thing I was head over heels IN LOVE!!!! 

I wanted to post a really old pic, but of course those are all film, I will have to scan one.  This one is from 2005, the year we tied the knot.

Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

These cookies were a BIG HIT!!!  Dylan was on the floor in tears and I decided to offer him a cookie and that flipped his frown upside down! 

I was working on the boys saying "kiss me, I'm Irish," but it usually just came out as, "I'm Irish." 

Beyond these cookies and green shirts, we didn't take St. Patrick's day much further. 

I guess we have a couple of Minnesota boys still

This is how things were going when I told Carter we couldn't go sledding since all the snow melted.....



Things pepped up when I decided I might still be able to pull them around in the sled.  I was breathing pretty hard by the time we made it around the house!  Then I convinced Keith to do round two!

Good or Bad

Good or bad, probably good…..since moving to Iowa I believe my Target spending has decreased by about 80%!  I guess out of sight out of mind.  While living in Target land, I would probably make a stop at least three days a week.  Generally one would think since I only go once or twice a month you would think I would be like a kid in a candy store and buy out the entire place, but I usually just want to get in and get out now.

A Safety Reminder

  

I’m sure many of you as parents have had many of those “close call” moments with your kids and you are thankful somebody somewhere is looking out for you! Last night we experienced one of those moments! When we were in Minnesota, we had all the boys furniture bolted to the wall, since we moved we had not taken all of those extra safety steps. Actually, we did not bring the boy’s furniture to Iowa and have been using a short, three-drawer dresser in the boys’ room, which seemed really sturdy, so I was not too concerned, until NOW!

Last night we were on a skype call with Keith’s parents and Carter went back to his room and was getting a shirt out of the top dresser drawer, he was standing in his chair reaching into the top drawer from the side and must have put too much weight on the top drawer and the entire dresser fell over. Neither of us were in there, but were panicked when we heard him screaming. The drawer must have caught his hand a little bit and he has a bruise, but we are so lucky the dresser didn’t fall on him and that he pulled his arm away fast enough. SO SCARY!!! We will be attaching this to the wall tonight. So if you don’t already, attach your furniture to the wall to help protect your little ones!

Too lazy today...

To upload some new photos onto the computer, so I found a few oldies.  I believe the boys were 9-10ish months in these, the days they still had their little curls. We still had our bottles, they were on the go and I forgot how we had the ottoman trapping them in the family room for about three months.  I don't miss having the highchairs in the kitchen and I definitely don't miss them attempting to jump off the fireplace.  It was all we could do to keep them off that thing from the day they started crawling, or I should say what was really the day they started climbing! 

Two months home with the boys and we had top-notch health.  Three weeks into daycare and we already got a couple bad bugs.  The boys both had colds this week, which turned into fevers.  Carter got called home on Thursday for a temp of 102ish, so Keith ended up taking him to Urgent care because Cade had bronchitis, so we figured we should have him checked out as well.  Two hours later, just a virus and he seemed great so we stopped at Home Depot where he went downhill quick.  For some reason Dylan wanted to ride home with Keith and Carter wanted to go with me.  I got the wrong boy!  Just as I am at a stoplight leaving Ankeny, Carter started to throw up.  Which was awful because I was totally stuck at the slowest light going the wrong way.  Finally got turned around to a gas station, somewhat cleaned him up and the poor kid had to sit in the car with puke on him for another 30 minutes until we got home.  So they both stayed home on Friday and are doing much better now.  Except this weekend Carter got his fourth bloody nose at night, not sure if it is the dry air or what.  And he really doesn't like blood on his blue blanky...and the washer broke this weekend as well, so we finally got it washed at Jennifer's house tonight. 

Growing Pains

Growing Pains….

Keith has been at his new job for three months now and I have been back for a little over two months. Some things are getting easier, but I am certainly experiencing many growing pains with this transition. Some days are much easier than others. It’s funny, the entire time I was in college and lived in NJ, I never called it my home, Iowa was always my home. Even those first few years in Minnesota, I lived there, Iowa was still home. When we went back about a month ago, I felt such a great feeling of comfort and caught myself thinking a few times, it feels so good to be home! Here are some of the things I’m missing:
COMFORT! I’m adjusting to the new job, but sometimes I really miss the comforts of my old job- knowing what to expect day-to-day (even though it was always unpredictable), working with such a fun group and there was always somebody who could be convinced to go to lunch. Working downtown is nice because it is a shorter DSM commute, but it takes a little too long to get to Target or the store and I enjoyed being able to run a few of those errands over lunch.
ALL THIS DRIVING…is driving me a little crazy. We will never again live so close to so many things I realize, but I sure miss it. Even when you are in Des Moines, everything is so spread out. An example, we have a pet plan with Stella and she needs some shots and the only location is in DSM, so on Sunday, it will be a 2-3 hour adventure to get her shots, before that would have taken 30 minutes tops. I won’t even get into the hour and a half journey to get the boys to daycare, then me to work. Some of this will get better once we are back in our home. Then last night I was in Ankeny with Carter, stuck at a stop light when he started throwing up, about five minutes later I made it to a gas station to get him somewhat cleaned up, then the poor guy had to sit there for another thirty minutes to get home.

HAVING ALL YOUR GO-TO PEOPLE LINED UP….This is getting better, but we have had to find all new people and places for everything- doctors, daycare, haircuts, dog things, banks, taxes, etc. Of course we are always doing these things last minute so then we are hunting for somebody and then you have to fill out all the new paper work – It was so nice having all these things figured out before.
DAYCARE…The boys are adjusting and doing somewhat well! They cry so hard when we leave in the morning and I absolutely hate this! They cried at times before, but never like this and I can’t blame them. Before they grew up at their daycare, so they weren’t scared when we left. However, they seem to eat their lunch, nap pretty well and seem to be having fun when we pick them up, so I think they are doing OK. I just hate leaving them in the morning as the grab on and hold me as tight as they possibly can. The last couple days Carter has done much better, so hopefully it continues to improve, but completely breaks my heart in the meantime.
ORGANIZATION….We are about as organized as we can be without having a home, but I never feel like I can get everything put away.  Then there are the things you never find and are clueless where to search.  Last night we were going to neb Carter.  I was proud of myself for quickly finding the neb bag at my third search spot, only to find the portion that steams was missing.  NO CLUE!! I looked everywhere and don't even remember packing it.  I need to find a new one I guess, again, not sure where to even search. 
I’M MISSING MY NEIGHBORS!!! I asked Carter and Dylan if they remembered Hunter and Mason and Carter said “fun”.
I don’t know, I guess somewhere along the way with all the changes you start to feel like you have lost your identity and have had to completely start over. There are certainly many things I enjoy about being back in Iowa and there are a lot of great conveniences being here as well, but I have some days where I really miss home.

House Update

We have continued to progress on the new home front.  After viewing several plans, we are moving forward with this plan with a few modifications.  The builder is drawing the plans this week, so we will keep you posted as things begin to finalize. 

Our favorite place

The boys are going through this phase where they want to watch Mickey Mouse non-stop and for some reason they love to sit really close to this little TV in the kitchen and watch it. 

I forgot to share this funny story from when I was in Colorado, Keith was drawing pictures with the boys and he usually draws them little Mikeys, and Carter said, "draw Mommy".  How sweet is that?  

Dinner

Keith went up to Minneapolis for an overnight work trip, so the boys brought things up a notch for me at dinner last night.  The teachers said they had their best day at school, but I guess they didn't save much of that extra good behavior for me. 

First they all wanted their shirts off, then Dylan wanted his back on- no big deal.  Then he insisted Carter has his back on.  Of course Carter didn't want his shirt back on, so things did not go well!  And I think we had about six spills at dinner to top things off. 

Breckenridge

{Nicole and I really like salsa - no joke!}

I would like to say I had a phenomenal time in Breckenridge, but to be honest I was really sick so that put a little cloud on my trip!  Which was unfortunate, because how often do you get away with a group of 17 girls! 

Thursday was mostly travel and lots of stops picking up supplies for the house and ski gear. 

Friday a majority of us spent the day skiing.  I survived!  Certainly not the worlds greatest skier, I have decided that I am more of a hard, blue girl.  I ended up going down plenty of blacks and took plenty of tumbles down as well!  The temps for skiing were great, I didn't even need to use my hand warmers.  I wish I had taken a few more pictures, it is so beautiful out there. Definitely one of those things everyone should experience at least once.  There were so many cute little kids skiing, I would love to bring the boys out.  They are such little daredevils, I bet they would have a blast. 

By Saturday morning I was feeling awful, had I not already purchased my lift ticket, I am certain I would have spent the day shopping with the majority of the girls.  I barely got any sleep and I was feeling a little bit on the rough side, but did make it until lunch time and then I headed back to the house. 

Saturday evening we did a little pub crawl to celebrate Jess' bachelorette party, which was a blast!  There was such a fun mix of girls for the weekend, I'm looking forward to the wedding in May. 

Jess' sister Jenny did an awesome job planning everything for everyone!  We had little themes for food and decorations every night, she lined everything up from the house, to transportation, to ski gear - she ROCKS! 

Breck, here I come!

Though I only have five work days at the new job under my belt, I'm thinking a little vaca sounds nice!  Here is a picture from when we went to Breck in 2007.  I turned 25 that weekend and never felt so old after a day of skiing.  I could barely walk!  I'm sure I will be feeling it even more this round.  I'm coming prepared with plenty of bio-freeze and Tylenol! 

This time it will be all girls, so we will have to do all the hard work too, like carrying ski gear!  

Wordless Wednesday

Words we don't say...

 So lately I have noticed myself spelling a lot of words to Keith because our list of words we have to be careful about saying around the boys continues to grow.  You see, these two are extremely persistent and when they want something, they want it and rarely give up until they get it.  So here are all the things that if you say, you will end up with a headache battling the boys:

leash, let Stella out, potty

fruit snacks

marshmallows

bubbles

Mickey

banana

pacifier

snacks

waffles

outside

Cade's house

cake

I'm certain this list is much longer, but a few of the hot buttons right now.

A bit of rambling

I have been such a horrible blogger since moving back to Iowa.  I promise I will get back on track sooner or later.  So here is a bit of what has been happening.

• Stella is driving me nuts tonight, constantly crying at me, she knows I am a sucker for giving her treats.  She barely looks like a dog right now since she hasn't had her hair cut since November.  I have now given her 3 mini haircuts, but must take the poor girl in soon. 
• One of the reasons I haven't been blogging is because I have been searching for house plans.  We are still planning on building in Polk City, next steps is to nail down a plan with the builder.  We are getting close.  If you have any, I wish my house had or I really wish my house didn't....you would like to share, I'm listening.
• Keith is traveling for work this week, he finally landed after being held up in Atlanta for storms all day.  I believe he posted hourly updates on FB.  He will be back on Wednesday
• I have a fun girls weekend ahead of me starting Thursday.  About twenty of us are headed to Breckenridge for a bachelorette party.  I'm sure I won't be able to walk after the first day of skiing.  I'm looking forward to a fun girls weekend.
• Getting adjusted to being back at work.  I guess I am going to save a lot of money working downtown, there aren't a lot of quick places that are easy to get to, I would take recommendations from any of you downtown folks!  So I think it will be a lot of PB&J for this girl.
• Today I went to lunch at Palmer's deli, which was AWESOME!  My first time and I will be returning.
• We had a big milk mess tonight!  My fault, I left the jug of milk on the counter and went back and put PJ's on Carter.  Dylan decided to get himself a cup and poor himself a glass of milk.  Not sure at what point things went wrong.  He did have half a glass of milk and half a jug's worth on the floor.
• The boys are talking a ton, stringing lots of words together.  They are starting to use "I", "me", "you" now, I am hearing a lot of "I need".
• The boys are OBSESSED with Mickey Mouse Playhouse, we watch it more often than I want to admit
• Carter is still really into wearing underwear over his diaper every day and he also has a pair of PJ shorts that he thinks are underwear, so right now he has the shorts and pants on and the pants and shirt do not match
• We have been building some pretty sweet train tracks these days
• Dylan is obsessed with trying to take Stella out, the kid will go get his shoes, attept to put them on, get his coat and hat on and Stella's leash.  One day Carter was trying to go too, no pants on, so Dylan went back to their room and brought him out an outfit to put on.  So we all had to go out! 
• We took the boys swimming last weekend, they had a blast!
• Carter thinks he needs a band aide about every day - it must cure all!

I really will try to write more tomorrow, but to be honest, don't be surprised if I don't!  But I will get back to blogging soon, I really do enjoy it, I just need to make myself sit down and do it. 

Off to bed friends!

THE MOON!!

So the boys are in this phase where they just love talking about the moon and the stars.  This generally takes place inside, with books, pictures we draw and this frog toy we have.  One day Carter ate his waffle into the shape of a moon (not on purpose I'm sure) and he thought that was pretty cool.

So after lots of talking about this, one night Keith got the boys out of the car and they looked up and saw the moon and were just ecstatic that they saw the real thing and went on and on about the moon, the moon.  They get so excited and point at it and jump up and down. 

My biggest battles

My two biggest battles right now are the refrigerator and the pantry!  My boys have turned into these little grazers, constantly in the pantry.  They don't know what they want, they just want to look around and ultimately end up with something they shouldn't have, then five minutes later after two bites they are on to the next thing.  About a month ago we had a big battle with marshmallows (a word we don't bring up), mom was in the kitchen with them and had answered the phone, looked over to see Dylan had climbed 5 shelves to the top of the pantry and was handing Carter the bag of marshmallows.  You should have seen how proud he was, grinning ear to ear. 

I'm trying to put a stop to their constant snack buffets, but they have even figured out the the child proof locks on the pantry so the battle continues.