Friday, December 28, 2012

Family Time.



We are enjoying some (majorly needed) family time.
Be back soon!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

My Middle.


Owen, my middle child.
He is 3 years and 11 months old.

He is in preschool 2 days per week.

His most favorite movie to date is The Lion King.

His most favorite book to date is The Man on the Moon.

He has four dimples, two on each cheek. 

He loves eating grilled cheese, clementines and strawberry breakfast bars.

He must have a glass of orange juice first thing upon waking up in the morning.

He loves dipping food into hummus, guacamole or Hidden Valley Ranch (he been known to hug the bottle).

But, he thinks ketchup and honey mustard are gross.

He is our klutzy child and he is constantly getting hurt.

He loves to draw pictures currently of the characters from Rise of the Guardians.

Riding his bike is his most favorite activity to do outside.

He is Mr. Social and will strike up a conversation with anyone. 

He is also Mr. Iwanttobethefunnyguyallthetime.

When I pick him up from school, he tells me all about his day...in detail.

He can play with Play-doh for literally hours.

He loves to comb my hair and prefers that I wear it down all the time.

He loves his brother so much, probably more than Pat and I.

He is very affectionate with Addy, always giving her hugs and kisses and holding her hand.

He is one special little guy!





Sunday, December 9, 2012

Sunday Random

1. It was my birthday last Monday. I turned a whopping 34 years old  and I'm handling this nother year older thang surprisingly well. The Snickers Birthday Cake that the boys and I made and ate might have eased the sting. And the overnight (sans kiddos) into the big city of Minneapolis for a play, dinner and massages that Pat planned all by himself, most definitely eased the sting.

2.We woke up this morning to the first major snowfall of the season! This made us all very happy, but especially Jack and Owen. They could shovel the snow with their Dad all.day.long.

3. But, they took a break to make a snowman and go sledding.
I'm so lucky to have these men (two littles and one big) in my life :)

4. Before we played in the snow, we decided to go see Santa Claus at the Jackson Street Roundhouse this morning. It was neat! They had trains for the kids to play with, model trains for the kids to see and old train cars for us to check out the inside. We probably could have gone on an actual train ride, but I think the amount of snow was making it difficult to keep the track clear.
We also listened to a narrated version of the Polar Express while aboard an old first class train car.


5. Also while there, I saw these two little cuties wearing the most adorable shirts. I just had to ask their mom where she got them or if she made them. She pointed me in the direction of her friend's Esty shop (of course!!) called Swanky Shank. Just adorable..seriously!

6. I just made these Roasted Chicken-Artichoke Calzones that I heard about here. Oh.my.goodness! These were absolutely delicious!!! I followed the recipe pretty closely except I used a Rotisserie Chicken, two cans of Pillsbury Artisan Pizza Crust (one for the bottom layer and one for the top layer..fill and fold) and extra sharp white cheddar cheese instead of provolone. This made enough for our family (boys loved..not kidding...gobbled them up) plus leftovers for the week. Super easy to make plus delicious plus kids will eat them plus leftovers for lunches....winner!

7. Gosh I almost forgot, we also went to the Holidazzle Parade with friends on Friday night. It worked out great...pizza dinner in Pat's office and then we walked down to find a perfect spot to watch the parade just as it was starting. Oh and there was a light snow falling too. Good times!!


 8. I have been thinking about these ever since I saw them. Maybe for Christmas morning?

9. I better get to sleep, school might be called off tomorrow. That's what 10 plus inches of snow will do!

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

A comfort.


Addy usually falls asleep in my arms with her little hand up by her ear. It must be a comfort for her. A comfort she has had since she was in utero because she was doing the exact same thing in her 20-week ultrasound picture. Precious.

Friday, November 30, 2012

Addy has something to tell you...


Hey, guess what?


I grew a tooth!

Yeah, I know, it's kind of a big deal.



Wednesday, November 28, 2012

My Budding Arteeest

In the last few months, Owen has really taken a liking to art, specifically drawing, painting and cutting (he could use a scissors to cut paper for hours and he's really into cutting out hearts right now). He comes home from preschool with his folder plum full of random artwork he creates while he is there. One of my favorite things about Owen's preschool is that they have an art room for the kiddos and it's open for creating during their free play time. It must be one of Owen's favorite things as well, because at his preschool conference last night, his teachers told us he in there doing art any chance he can get. Love.

Due to Thanksgiving, Owen has been drawing a lot of hand turkeys which I cherish and have hanging around our house everywhere. However, in an effort to move onto the next holiday, I showed him how he could maybe make a Christmas Tree or a hand print reindeer. He took a liking to the tree idea and went for it.

And before I knew it, Owen had created his first drawing of a Christmas Tree.

Impressive little duder..impressive!

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Adelyn: 6 months old

Addy is 6 months old and I'm just getting this up in time for her to turn 7 months old. Right on time.

I can't believe Addy is 1/2 year old..crazy!

In the last couple of weeks, Addy has perfected sitting up. She loves to sit up on the floor and play with (suck on) her little toys. She is working on going from this position down onto her belly so she can roll around on the carpet or army crawl. If she sees something she really wants, she will army crawl over to it. Watch out boys, she's coming for your toys! Each month brings milestones and sitting up has to be a big one! She gets the independence of playing by herself or with her brothers and I get a few minutes to work on a project or start dinner. Fabulous. Addy also has started picking up little foods off her highchair tray, which is another major highlight because unless Addy is eating, she doesn't care to be in the highchair very long. She loves eating those little yogurt melts and crunchies.

Addy is weighing in at a solid 20 lbs, which has her at the 97 percentile for weight. Her height is around 26 inches, which only has her at the 35th percentile.  I'm sure this will all even out once she really starts movin' and a groovin' aka crawling. Until then, she will be my little butterball.






Tuesday, November 13, 2012

In the picture.

I have briefly written a few times on this blog about how important it is to me to be in pictures with my children. I take tons and tons and tons of pictures of my kiddos, but still rarely am I in any of them. This happens for several reasons, the top two being (1.) I don't take the time to ask somebody to take my picture with them and (2.) I worry too much about the way that I look. It is not lost on me that these are two very silly reasons to not be taking more pictures with my kids because (1.) it takes two seconds to ask and click and (2.) my kids don't care how I look and still won't care 30 years from now.

Before I saw this post circulating around the web, my Aunt (and avid reader of my blog) actually emailed me the link with this simple reminder, "Don't forget to get in the picture once in awhile". 

And here is why...

"I'm everywhere in their young lives, and yet I have very few pictures of me with them. Someday I won't be here -- and I don't know if that someday is tomorrow or thirty or forty or fifty years from now -- but I want them to have pictures of me. I want them to see the way I looked at them, see how much I loved them. I am not perfect to look at and I am not perfect to love, but I am perfectly their mother."  ~Alison Tate, HuffPost Parents Blog, The Huffington Post

Just beautiful.








Saturday, November 10, 2012

A Smile by Addy.

Addy smiles like this quite often, she loves that little tongue of hers.

She has since day one.



Wednesday, October 31, 2012

A Vampire, a Tiger and a Strawberry.


Halloween 2012



Oh and a couple of Where's Waldos.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Random Tuesday

1.  I totally jinxed myself. Right after I wrote about how Addy was a pretty good sleeper, she got herself a cold over the weekend that completely disrupted her sleep (and ours) for two entire nights. Poor babes and their obligate nasal breathing. After two nights of basically no sleep for Addy, Pat and I due to the fact that Addy couldn't breath which made sleeping impossible for her which then made sleeping impossible for us, I remembered I had bought this little treasure awhile back. Oh.my.goodness. The Nosefrida aka Snot Sucker is ahhmaaazing! The concept sounds kinda gross, but it's totally not and it works like a charm to get out all that gooey, icky snot hanging out in Addy's nose making it difficult for her to breath. It works better than anything I have ever tried on my babies and I know it it is going to be a life saver this winter. It already helped get us some good sleep last night!


2. This made me want to laugh and tear up with emotion all at the same time.

3. I want to make these cherry pie bars because cherries are my absolute favorite fruit in a dessert and then I want to make this recipe for the perfect apple crisp because it's fall and that's what you do. Oh and I must try this. Just as the pin says (not my words, but I totally agree), my mind is blowing up at the thought (except I would use chocolate not Nutella...I don't get the hype). How do I not think of this stuff??

4. We "Booed" some friends. Shockingly, they couldn't have cared less about what goodies were in those buckets because they got quite a kick out of being sneaky little delivery ninjas.


5. I'm mentally preparing myself not for Halloween, but for the sugar high and the inevitable plunge that it takes the day after. I can do it...I can do it....



6. This show just keeps getting better and better and better. Who would have thunk that I would be saying that about zombies of all things...not this girl!

7. I whipped this up for dinner the other night. No really, it's probably the easiest recipe I have seen attached to the name Martha Stewart. Jack turned his nose up in the air as he asked, "umm, what is this?" And then after he gave it a try, he said, "oh mommy, this is actually good...really good". When this happens (and it often does in our house), Pat and I then chant real dorky, "he likes it, he really, really likes it!!".





Thursday, October 25, 2012

Adelyn: 5 months

Addy turned 5 months old, oh just a couple of weeks ago. It's amazing what lack of sleep can do to a girl, which is why I am just getting to this post. I can't complain too much though because Addy is a rock star sleeper compared to her brothers at this age. Thank goodness! She is officially eating solids and working her way up the single foods chain. She is completely weaned from breastfeeding and now drinks formula. As her mother, I wished I could have breastfed/pumped for much longer, but I decided I needed to stop for a few reasons. First, I was dang tired (just when you think you are tired, oh no you can be more tired...it's possible) and second, I was starting to feel anxious, which I know was related to my exhaustion and those raging hormones having a dance party in my brain and third, I wanted/needed Pat (and he wanted) to help more. I initiated the weaning and Addy took over deciding the bottle/formula would be just as yummy. Ever since this decision played out, I have felt incredibly better and Addy continues to be happy as a clam. Win-Win.



These 5 month pictures of Addy are kinda shotty. Addy is adorable, but the pictures themselves are not so good. I randomly decided to do this one day when I was in a hurry. Being in a hurry and working with a 5 month old most definitely do not make a good paring. She just wanted to roll around and eat the fabric. Anyway, moving on...

Like I said, Addy is rolling around, front to back and back to front constantly. Pat gets all the credit for teaching her this as he would work with her every.single.day. One day it just clicked for her and she has been a roller every since. She is now working on sitting up, which she can do for an extended period of time with the Boppy around her waist. Without it though, it's only for a few minutes. It will come.



She gotten herself into a nice little sleep schedule (knock on wood..knock on wood real loud). She naps for a few hours in the afternoon and sleeps 7 pm to 7 am with two nighttime feedings. Pat and I takes turns on those, so we both get sleep and we both get snuggle time with Addy. I'm sure as I type this, her first tooth will decide to pop through (which I think it might be soon) and completely destroy this current schedule. Such is life.


Addy is babbling like crazy! She smiles and she is just starting to laugh. She loves to grab faces and give big wet kisses (aka suck on your nose or chin). Pat and I love those slobbery moments, but the boys are completely grossed out by it. HaHa! They are still totally in love with her and will usually help me out whenever I ask things like, "can you just talk to her for a few minutes or can you play with her for a minutes so Mommy can go to the bathroom real quick?"



Adelyn is just a lovie!
 I think she is looking like Jack with a side of  her Momma somewhere in there.






Thursday, October 18, 2012

No School!

Jack had off of school today (and tomorrow). We threw our plans out the window and decided to be plan-less and lazy! And when I say lazy, I mean the boys stayed in their jammies the entire day and we didn't leave the house until 4:00 pm, which was only to go on a needed Target run. The boys loved it. They had a great day playing together, rediscovering toys that had been forgotten and using their imagination to create an animal center (a la Diego). Surprisingly, for a girl like me who gets antsy (very antsy) staying in my house past 10:00 am, I thoroughly enjoyed the day too! 

Sometimes it's good to slow down, put the brakes on life and soak up what is all around you.

We carved pumpkins (Jack carved his own...a first...I was freaking out inside...but he assured me he could do it safely...and he did..phew...smile!), cut paper (my kids LOVE to use scissors), colored, made a really long choo-choo train, played in our basement, watched Madagascar 3 and a slew of other activities (all in their jammies).

 
 

Monday, October 8, 2012

A 24 hour schedule

"With a baby, you are no longer on a night and day schedule, it is now a 24 hour schedule." This is what the nurse reminded me of during my hospital discharge after Adelyn was born. Ahh yes, thank you for the reminder kind nurse! And that is just what we have been living for the past 5 months. 

We are handling it pretty well (and by pretty well, I mean we both have glossy, red eyes with large dark circles underneath), but we both have our moments when we hit the wall...the exhaustion wall. Luckily, we usually experience this at different times so we can lean on each other in those moments of pure manic exhaustion. Now Adelyn is not the only one sleeping in this house, obviously her brothers are as well. They are awesome sleepers and have been since about 1 year old. However, they too have rough nights from time to time (thirsty, bad dream, it's too dark, it's too light, a monster in the room, a shadow on the wall, etc). Here is a classic example of what that sweet nurse was reminding me of when I was all up in my new baby glory. It happened just last night.

7:00 pm: Put Addy to bed.
7:30: Put boys to bed.
11:00: Addy wakes to eat.
2:30 Jack wakes up from a bad dream, rushes into my room in tears and jumps into our bed (it must have been a scary one because this rarely happens)
3:30: Addy wakes again (probably doesn't need to eat, but I'm so out of it that I feed her anyway).
3:45: Pat brings Jack back to his bed because he is still awake. He cries and calls out for me because he is still scared.
4:00: After I feed Addy, I go lay with Jack to cuddle him and calm his fears before I head back to bed.
5:45: Addy wakes again and Pat rubs her belly, shushs her and giver her a nuk.
6:30: Addy wakes again and Pat feeds her so I can take a shower,
6:35: Owen wakes up but we tell him he needs to stay in bed until 7:00 (that is our rule in this house...you can get out of bed when your alarm clock says 7:00 am).
7:00: Owen gets up.
7:15 Jack wakes up.
8:00 Addy wakes up.

I'm exhausted just from reading that...ugh! I know this too shall pass, but in the middle of the night when I would give anything for a few more hours/minutes of sleep, it just doesn't seem possible.

Good thing these munchkins are so darn cute and I love them to pieces.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Leaves in all their glory.




How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.

~John Burroughs





Monday, September 24, 2012

In just five months (almost).


Addy has gotten so big in just five short months. She has gone from a tiny, wrinkly love muffin to a not so tiny, rolly pollie love muffin with dimples, lots of dimples.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Because I need to start somewhere...


1. Pat worked late every night last week. It gets to be a lot when I don't have my partner in crime walk in the door to rescue me during the witching hour. The one thing that got me through was when the kiddos were tucked into bed and drifting off to sleep, I would veg on the couch and watch a daily taped episode of Ellen Degeneres. I heart Ellen!

2. My mantel is still decorated with a summer theme. Oh the horror! Here are some cute fall leaf printables I might have to use once I finally get my butt in gear and change to a fall theme. Here is some inspiration as well.

3. I also had Owen finger paint one afternoon last week with the hopes of creating something like this for my fall mantel or somewhere in my house. 


4. I love Fall...love, love, love it! But, I'm not quite ready for it as I am still mourning the loss of summer. Crazy as it sounds though,  I am having a craving for soup making. I want to make batches and batches of soup to freeze for the impending Minnesota winter. I'm weird like that. So far I'm thinking....
lasagna soup
beer cheese soup
chicken tortilla soup
Copycat Olive Garden e Fagioli soup 
Corn and Chicken Chowder 

**I started this post last week...oh that is how I roll these days. Anywho, between now and then, I made the Lasagna Soup recipe. It is so fantastic...so delicious....so yummy! I added all the cheeses she recommended (of course, I am from Wisconsin, you know), which is a must if you make it too.

5. Now I need to eat my next batch of soup out of one of these.

6. Owen is still telling us about all his visits to Africa. He goes there everyday. Most recently, Owen told us he came upon a giraffe with a broken neck, "but she was okay mommy because I stapled and taped her neck back on". I think we will need to take this child on a Bison Safari. Right here in Minnesota...who knew?!?

7. Speaking of Owen, he is liking preschool, but when I asked him if he wanted to go back this week he said very matter of factly, "Ummm, no." When I asked him why, he told me, "well Mommy because you know that block room with all the blocks....well, I have to help pick up the blocks and that is way to hard on me...I just can't do it."  And that is exactly why preschool will be good for him.

 


8. And speaking of school, Jack is in love with Kindergarten. He is so happy and just plain ole' excited about the whole experience. I don't get a lot of information from him, but the stuff he is pumped about, he shares with me. For example, daily recess, mastering the monkey bars on the playground, learning syllables, everything single thing about Phy. Ed., hot lunch, learning to write his name in kindergarten style, and his very first field trip on a bus (bus being the highlight).


 9. Addy needs a pair of these as soon as she starts walking.

10. I just bought a couple of these for her room. Owls make me smile.

11.

 
 12. I am still filled with Instalove.



Monday, September 17, 2012

Adelyn: 4 months


Adelyn is now a little over 4 months old. This is crazy to me! We met a 5 week-old baby girl last night and sometimes it seems as though Addy is still that tiny. Oh but she is most definitely not tiny.  She continues to be a great little eater. We have introduced solid foods, which she seems to like for only about 10 minutes. She then fusses to get the heck out of the highchair because she would rather nurse or have a toasty warm bottle. And speaking of bottles, Addy is starting to prefer those over nursing. 
She smiles constantly and we almost have her laughing. When I am alone with her, Addy talks up a storm, probably because she finally has a chance to. Addy has mastered rolling from belly to back and from back to side. She can also sit up for a few seconds on her own. Her favorite activity is standing, girl loves to stand all.the.time. She is just mesmerized by her brothers and she follows their voices and activity around the room. Today, Addy burped like a 10 year-old little boy and Jack and Owen were rolling on the floor with laughter.

She sure is a sweetie and we continue to love her to pieces.