A good start!

Well so far so good for a Monday! I am proud to say that I held up my end of the deal and

1. went to bed early last night

2. got up and went to the gym, which does give me more energy

3. didn't eat too much sugar yesterday and didn't have any wine

4. did the meal plan for the week on Saturday and Art did the shopping for me. Thank you Art! Love you!

5. went to bed with a clean and organized house (for the most part hehe!)

6. we had made plans to do something fun this morning before nap.

We met some friends at Hullabaloos and the kids had a blast. It's an indoor play area and we actually had taylor's 2nd birhtday there. We got there right at 10:30, left right at noon, ate lunch in the car and now both children are asleep and I am organizing pictures. Yay! I feel great :)

Here are a couple of pics from today.

I don't like Mondays...tell me why!

Does anyone remember that song? Well it came to mind this morning while we struggled through another Monday morning with a weekend hangover of way too much fun and late nights! I am writing this post as I think about it so I can make a To Do list if you will.

I made a point to not plan things on Mondays a couple of months back and it's just not working out. I end up waking up trying to make a last minute plan of what we should do today, all the while feeling guilty because I haven't done all the things I should have done over the weekend while Art is around to help. usually by Sunday I am lazy so toys and/or dishes might be out or the house just isn't as clean as I'd like it to be. We have been busy so I usually don't have an idea of what to fix for dinner that night, and we are all just exhausted from running around and staying up too late.

Our morning started at 5:30 am with Syd waking up because my mom had put him to bed last night (bless her) so we could go out to dinner, but had left the light dimly lit in his room! Once Syd is down I usually don't check in on him because he is a light sleeper. Anyhow, once he stirred and saw the light on he went ahead and decided it was time to get up. UGH!
The usual morning mayhem continued and by 9:30 Taylor had been given a spanking for grabbing Sydney and making him play patty cake. I got so irritated and had to take a few minutes to myself to think. that's when I realized that EVERY single Monday without fail starts off on the wrong foot. So to make the start of our week smoother, this is what I want to do:

1. over the weekend make the menu plan for the week and do the grocery shopping
2. go to bed Sunday night with the kitchen and toys clean
3. have something planned for us to do that day. go to the park, the library, etc. just something low key
4. go to bed early Sunday night (by 10 at the latest)
5. limit my sugar intake on Sunday - i have noticed that if I have dessert and a glass of wine I have a sugar hangover the next day and I am more irritable

In addition, for my own sanity, I am making up a rough schedule of the week:

• Monday - low key day at the park or something similar/playdate with Sky, etc.
• Tuesday - work day and Tay has preschool
• Wednesday - Syd's CD class in the am and then lunch with the kids; go to CIU when nana gets here.
• Thursday - Preschool and music classes for both kids; Marin to help with the laundry
• Friday - Playdate day with Tay's group
• Saturday - menu plan and grocery shopping
• Sunday - church and odds and ends around the house - get ready for the week!

Okay, I feel better now! I will come back later and do a fun post! I still need to put pictures up!

Andrea

Nostalgia

The other day while I was going through pictures I came across this video of Taylor when she was just a little over 2 and I almost started crying. I cannot even remember her talking like that in that cute little voice. I realized that although it is such a cliche, this time truly does go so fast. Aside from the videos and pictures, so many of these memories will be lost in our brains among all the tedious day to day bits of information we tend to get bogged down with.

We really are the gate keepers if you will to our own family story; the traditions, the favorite songs, the favorite books, cute little mannerisms, etc. There is this cute little story that I think I may actually remember, or it could just be that I have been told the story so many times that it is burned into my brain. While vacationing at Lake Tahoe with my mom and dad and Aunt Tula and Uncle Louie, I was instructed to walk next door to their cabin and ask for lemon juice. Because of my lisp, not helped by the fact I had prematurely lost my 2 front teeth, I asked over and over, to no avail for "emon huuuice". My Aunt Tula told me that story EVERY time I saw her and although I thought it was a little annoying at the frisky age of 16, I keep that story tucked into my memory and will always cherish it.

I would like to dedicate this post to Sydney. My spunky, feisty and oh so cute little guy. At 17 months he is now starting to really try and say many words (waffle is one of his new favorite words!). He still loves to get his groove on and is just so gosh darn adorable. The one thing that has always held true for my Syd is that he feels and shows his emotion with all his heart. When he is mad, he is mad; but when he is happy, he makes you a true believer in the almighty God because only He would have the capacity to make a creature so magnificent.

I love you so much my little Sydney. From the top of your curly blonde hair to the bottoms of your chubby feet and everything in between. I love your walk, your dance moves and most of all your laugh.
XOXO,
Mommy

The last few days in pictures

Because I am still not able to easily put titles on my pictures, you will have to follow the numbers to know what's what! 1. Halloween Cookie Decorating 2, 3, 4. Fun at the pumpkin patch 5. Singing Happy Bday to cousin Annalina 6. the felting craft we made today at Maple Cottage School Video is of Taylor at Applesauce Music Enjoy!

On the Mend

What a week it has been! last friday Sydney came down with a horrible cold combined wtih the stomach flu! He threw up multiple times that day and my mom and Art did a wonderful job taking care of him, poor bubba. I had to work that day so missed the puke fest!
I got my payback though on Sunday night. Taylor and I had went to visit my friend Jenn who now has a very cute baby bump (I think she's about 24 weeks along), and Taylor started complaining that her tummy hurt. We packed up and after just about 5minutes in the car she started throwing up. We stopped at the gas station where I had to change her and she threw up again! It was a gross mess. She continued to throw up multiple times throughout the night and we had to was everything! about 5 sets of pj's, the comforter, towels, you name it.
Art and I came down with the stomach flu Monday night and had to call in sick the next day. Tuesday was a rough one. Syd was back to puking and was a complete NIGHTMARE!

I have officially become a germ freak now. I went to Target and bought a bunch of anitbacterial wipes as to clean every surface in public that my children touch! I cannot handle Sydney being sick all winter long.

The worst part of the whole thing is that we had to cancel our trip to visit my BFF Lea in AZ. :( We had it planned for months to come out but between the kids not being up to the 6 hour trip and Art having to catch up on lost time, there was no way we could swing it. Sorry Lea!

I will be back later to post some pics from last weekend and music class.

My Rock and ways to be frugal?

Well the news everyday just keeps getting more and more unsettling. Yesterday I got home and opened the mail only to see that in the last month alone we had lost an obscene amount of money in our money market account (obscene to us anyhow!) and this morning the Dow has dropped below 8,000 and may end the day in the 7,000 range. I am officially depressed about the economy.

Although right now we are doing fine, aside from the money market account, it is the future that looms ahead that is most scary. I am officially going to put our spending on hold and do my best to be frugal. I am so thankful to have my wonderful husband Art that has not only provided us with 2 wonderful children, but a great life as well. He has worked so hard starting up his company all on his own and we have been able to buy a great house and live comfortably. This morning I called him to vent my worries and after we hung up the phone this is the email he sent me:

Minnie, we are both highly educated people with amazing skill sets. And no matter what… have faith in God that he will provide everything we need.
Keep you head up and try not to let the automatic worry set in!

I love you Art!

With everything going on now though I feel guilty in a way and need to reign it in and save some money! Below are some ideas I have:
-Starbucks and Daily Grind coffee runs need to stop! Okay, maybe just once a week :)
-Eat at home more. We do pretty good, eating at least 4 meals a night at home, but we could definitely do better
-Kid's classes. The kids are in some pricey classes (Applesauce music is $250/semester). Instead, there are plenty of things to do with kids that cost $0, or very minimal costs. Get back to library storytimes and parks/rec classes.
-Of course the big one is to cut down on shopping, especially for the kids. They have enough clothes already! And those spur of the moment trips to Target can break the bank everytime!

What other ideas does anyone have???

Syd bumped his head and nap time updates

Well it happened today. For the first time one of my children has fallen out of their crib. I had always heard the stories of parents sleeping and hearing a loud thud in the middle of the night followed by howels. We were lucky with Taylor as she never was much for climbing or trying to escape her crib.
Today though shortly after I put Syd down for his nap I heard him in there talking to himself as usual, and then a loud thump that shook the house and then the screaming. Poor guy! I ran in and he was sitting on the floor screaming...not sure how he landed. I was able to settle him down pretty quickly and he did go to sleep and is still snoozing after 2 hours. :)
It's been a rocky road to the 1 nap transition and I dare not write anything about our situation now in fear of jinxing it!
Taylor is now a no-nap girl. I actually could have easily kept the naps going but decided that after some struggling to get her down for a nap, and then after a 2 hour slumber, struggling even more to get her to bed at a decent hour, I decided to get rid of the struggles all together! She now has quiet time and/or we will lay down together for a bit and just relax, or if I am being a bad mommy, put on TV! No struggles at nap time now and no struggles at bed time (maybe just a little bit). And get this, both kids are in bed usually by 7:30 (7:45 for Taylor at the latest!). Art and I are loving it! Huge anti jinx dance with running man and high kicks!!!