Not Wordless Wednesday

Clearly I have no brain cells left to think of a title.

We’ve been running, running, running, trying to be Superman (and woman)…

And tonight, finally, I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel of this house thing (and everybody said THANK YOU GOD!).

(Ahem, thank you Chick-Fil-A slide for providing a good 30 minutes of entertainment today with no other kiddos there to push us!).

Off, Off, Off!

Our day started out fairly normally...waiting for someone to come and work on the house. This time it was refinishing the hardwoods. Logan started the day quite happily:

Uh, please note that I do not know what is going on with his crazy hair and that angle, giving him what looks like an oddly shaped head. But I had to post it because of that cute smile (and his choo choo shirt, which is officially the first piece of clothing he picked out himself).

We went out for a bit while they were working, and we came home...and right when we walked in you could hear their sanders and see the giant plastic sheets they had up. Logan FREAKED out. I have never seen anything like it. He was just flat out terrified. And he was wailing "Off, Off, Off!" So I'm desperately trying to get my scared to death child upstairs, through sheets of plastic taped to the walls - and it was crazy. By the time we got up to our room I was sure I had traumatized him enough to start saving money for his therapy bill. I knew there was no hope of him napping in his crib, so I just laid down on the bed with him and he fell asleep right on my chest.

There was so much that needed to be done...windows washed, dressers dusted (ahem, for selling people, I don't usually just randomly wash windows)...but I decided to put it out of my mind and just enjoy the forced relaxation and snuggle time. I finished a book (Brass Ring) and caught up on some blogs. I gave the top of his head some extra kisses. I slowed down.

When he woke up he was still quite upset and mortified that I even suggested going downstairs. He's still not to sure about the whole thing. And they're coming back tomorrow...which is why Logan and I are most certainly going to the bestie's for the day - I can't traumatize him that much again!

The floors look awesome already, and they still have 2 more coats to do tomorrow. The bad news is that every time I say, "Aren't they pretty?" Logan emphatically shakes his head and says, "No, No". The good news is that he went to bed a happy guy, and hopefully there won't be any scary sanders chasing him in his dreams tonight!

New York, New York!

It’s a very special day for two of our favorite people. In honor of S and E’s one year anniversary, Logan got all decked out (it’s still too big, but I couldn’t wait any longer!)!

We hope you have a GREAT day and some yummy cake!

It’s also a fabulous day because it’s Logan is officially 20 months old today! It’s hard to believe that a year ago, when we were at S and E’s wedding, he was just celebrating his 8 month birthday…

He’s still making our day with that great smile!

June 26…a fabulous day all around! Hope you have a great one!

Pause for Fun

We’ve been moving at a whirlwind speed around here. The house looks great, we have so little left to do…but we have been moving 5000 miles an hour. My parents have been here the past million weekends helping us…it is just crazy. I think it’s been 5 dump runs and 10 runs to our new storage unit. I’m oddly surprised there is anything left in our house…

But tonight we got to pause for a little fun! We arranged to see B and M a few weeks ago, and I’m glad it was on the books early, or we would have gotten too caught up with everything. Logan had such a good time playing with them, and even though we saw them for a bit last weekend it was fun to have some quieter time to catch up.

Logan was highly impressed with M’s bubble blowing abilites!

He also showed B his very cool wagon and spent lots of time playing in the yard with him!

He got to show off his counting skills, dance a lot, and even share his money with them! Here’s how he felt about the whole event…

“Yes! So much fun! More fun, more fun, forget this boring house stuff!”

Thanks for giving us a reason to slow down for a night B and M! We had a great time – and can’t wait for french fries soon!

This very tired lady is going to bed…we have been running ourselves ragged. It is all going to be SO worth it for several reasons in the next week or so. Thanks to everybody who has helped, given advice about the house/furniture, etc., and just listened to us complain!

Thankful on Thursday

The first one of the summer! :) Someone asked last week if I knew of a Thankful on Thursday link up. I don’t…and I’d do one, but well, I’d be afraid that no one would link up and I’d look stupid – of course, it’s me, I’m afraid of things like that! Anyway, here we are again…

• The bestie! She has helped us SO much this week. We would never have made it out of Ikea without her and she came over at a moments notice today to reassure us about the house. She’s fabulous!
• Oh my goodness, my poor parents – they get about 5 phone calls a day that go like this: “We’re never going to be ready. It’s fine if we’re not ready, but we’re never going to be ready. We have to fix X, Y, Z, ugh, help!” and they humor me, as they always do. We love you!
• Grandma and Grandpa K, who are going to watch Abby for us for a little while, which is SUCH a gift…we always worry about her when we’re away, and I know it’ll help us feel better!
• Peter, for all he’s doing for me about this house thing. He’s not one that loves change, and I’m kind of requiring him to change a lot…but he’s the best!
• My flowers are alive still!
• The sprinkles stayed just sprinkles on our walk this morning. Whew!
• Long naps for Logan. While he can be an early riser, those long naps are much appreciated right now when we’re trying to get things done!
• Smiley faces
• My most fabulous Logan, in general. The kid is hilarious, he’s a sponge soaking everything up, and he is just as cute as can be. We are so blessed!

Wordless (mostly) Wednesday

Those fears of a peanut butter allergy? Yep, not a problem – the problem would be that he likes it so much he usually leaves the high chair with peanut butter in his eyebrows…

Mismatched

We were at a party on Saturday night and parents were talking about letting their child dress themselves and how they come up with some pretty strange combinations, but you just let it go, pick your battles, teach independence, self-expression, etc.. I wasn’t really listening, because Logan isn’t there yet.

 (As a side note, I find this happens a lot – I don’t really listen, or read a post on a message board or blog, because we’re not there yet. Then we are there and I’m all like UGH! I should have listened!)

So we came home Saturday night, I got him dressed for bed in a hurry, and then took this picture Sunday morning:

In which my son has on a frog pj shirt, guitar pj pants, and two different socks (one is short one is long). Each of these is part of a pj set, just clearly not supposed to go together. So what does it mean when the parent can’t even match the clothes up? I can’t blame self expression. Laundry needed to be done, plain and simple.

I figure it’s life’s little way of helping forcing me to let go of some of that control and perfectionism…but he certainly has been in all matching sets since, I’m not going totally wild or anything!

Summer, Day 1!

Well, I got all dressed to go out for our first official walk of the summer (because that’s what we did everyday last summer at 7am) and Peter came upstairs to get ready for work and was like, uh, have you looked outside? UGH, rain! Curses! So our walk was put on hold.

We did however, get to go play with one of our favorite buddies, Alexander! I had the two boys while his mom was out, and they did pretty well! We were bummed that we had to mostly stay inside, but we did get a few minutes out on the deck to watch the squirrels. Alexander is always a nice look into our future, since he’s about 9 months older than Logan. Here are the boys playing together…I only had my phone for pics, which stinks, and managed to get one good one of each of them…just not at the same time, so you get two so they can both show off their cuteness!

Alexander, not quite sure about this picture taking madwoman…

 

And with the biggest smile, trying to help me get Logan to smile!

Logan also loves their dog, who is smaller than Abby. She actually comes near him, as opposed to Abby keeping her distance!

It was a great way to start our summer! We can’t wait to see you guys again soon!

Happy Father’s Day!

Happy Father’s Day to my wonderful hubby! Logan is so lucky that he has such a wonderful daddy. He teaches him really cool things (about superheroes), builds some mean Lego creations, and loves him so much. I love to see Logan rush to the window when I say, “Daddy’s home!” in the afternoons. That’s when I get to hear all those happy shrieks!

Here’s a look at my guys through the past 20 months…

 

(I most definitely did not get teary putting those pics together. Who would do that? Ha.) We love you!

I also have to mention that I have the BEST dad myself. I really can’t even write about him without getting emotional. He is always there for me, he listens, he pushes me when he needs to and gives me confidence. He love me unconditionally, no matter what. And he is SUCH an incredible grandpa! Now, for a real blast down memory lane (dad, we should really take some slightly more current pictures…)

Here’s my dad walking me down to the carriage at my wedding – he was able to keep me pretty calm!

Here we are riding in the carriage, laughing, which is what we’re really good at!

And now of course I want to go look at all the wedding pictures – so much fun, such a great day!

Now, let me tell you how these two great men got to spend their Father’s Day…by working on our house! I tried to get them to take a break, but we are in a groove and determined. We got a ton accomplished today and the dads even got the afternoon to relax.

Hope everyone had a great Father’s Day! Day one of summer vacation tomorrow! Woo Hoo!

Friday Night Leftovers

-Something is wrong with my computer. like virus wrong. So I am blogging on the iPad and I do not like it one bit.
-The formatting is going to be all crazy I bet. I do everything on my computer...no smartphone, ya know?
-The desktop is so slow I wouldn't be done with FNL until Sunday so this will have to do.
-This is annoying me, can you tell?

...let's move on.

-SUMMER!!!!! SUMMER!!!! SUMMER!!!!!! Nine weeks of pure bliss. Bring it on.
-I totally cried when I picked Logan up from school today. His teacher was saying goodbye to him and I adore her, and I cried. Tears, people. She hugged me 3 times. I think she thinks I've lost it.
-I also cried a bunch at our staff luncheon today. I have issues with things ending.
-I've decided I need a magic wand. For a variety of reasons.
-Logan is in a shrieking phase. They are happy shrieks, but whew, piercing!
-Peter has taught Logan to say "curses!" It is pretty much the cutest thing ever.
-I think those floewrs I planted are already dying. Curses.
-I just finished Escape Artist by Diane Chamberlain. Pretty good!

Forgive all the typos! And keep your fingers crossed that Peter can fix my computer. For more entertaining leftovers visit Danifred!

Thankful on Thursday

• In 18 hours I’m turning in my classroom key!
• My kiddos…they’re hanging in there, despite the chaos that is the last week of school. It always seems they are either overwhelmed by too much fun, or overwhelmed by too much freedom. But they’re still a great group!
• One of my very favorite group of kiddos ever is “graduating” fifth grade this year. I got a sweet letter from one of them that made me all teary. Definitely a “why I do this” moment.
• Abby didn’t scratch at the blinds last night. Score!
• Pizza!
• Logan had his first busted lip tonight…there was a bus accident on the living room floor. Thankful we all made it out okay, with just a few minor worries!
• Ashley, for Logan’s first piece of gang paraphernalia. Oh, don’t you worry internet, photos to come for sure!
• I talk to Logan the whole way to school, sing songs, yell about buses…so today when I got out and opened his door I had to laugh hysterically when he screamed “HI MOMMY!” as if he hadn’t seen me in  a year. It was nice.
• Christine, who kind of caught me on a rampage about someone as we were walking out this afternoon…and listened with only minor laughing!
• Some ladies who are leaving my school this year, and are pretty darn fabulous. Thankful they spent some time there, and excited for what’s to come – including continuing our friendships! 
• Reminders that there’s always a little thankful, even if it’s hard to find.

Wordless Wednesday

Hi there…

That’s all!

The Little Things

Sometimes when life is confusing I have to stop to pay attention to the little things. With my worries and anxiety I sometimes overlook them.  That’s why I do Thankful on Thursdays, but some weeks, Thursday just isn’t enough.

Sunday morning I was just kind of a jumble of emotions. Mad, sad, confused, annoyed, that a friend was dealing with a hard (understatement) situation. In my angst I loaded Logan into the car and went to Target. Because Target is known as a good distraction around these parts.

We had a fine time, it was quiet…and we went to check out and I wheeled the cart past the snack shop area. Logan immediately said, “Drink, drink!” because um, I may stop there occasionally to get a Diet Coke. I adore Diet Coke fountain drinks with ice. I stopped and got a drink and when I got just mine the woman asked Logan if he wanted one too…which is how my son ended up with a cup of ice water with a straw. I know for a fact she should have charged me for that cup, because it was a regular cup, but she didn’t…and that little cup of ice water? It totally made his day…

 

And somehow, that woman not charging me $1.47 gave me a little faith back in the world.  We count our blessings, appreciate every sleepless night and temper tantrum. We let others know we care and are there.  And we find a way to seize those little things, every chance we get.

Happy Birthday, Grandma F!

Today is Grandma F’s birthday! We got to celebrate with her on Saturday night. She spent the whole day helping us, but we rewarded her in the end with dinner and cake.

Here’s the birthday girl with her favorite grandson:

It was Logan’s first cake since his first birthday cake. I think he approved!

What I can tell you about my mother is this…She is without a doubt, fabulous. She listens to me, even at 2am…she never makes my worries seem silly or ridiculous, she just talks me through them. When I was growing up my dad always said, “Nobody ever said you had to be the Gilmore Girls…” because we had that normal teenage angst between moms and daughters. But now I’d say we’re pretty close to being the Gilmore Girls! She is also a phenomenal grandma to Logan and he loves her so much!

And you know, just in case you needed proof, he sent her a birthday message:

Um, there may have been a plate turned over right before the video was taken, hence all the peas and blueberries…

I love you, Mom. Happy Birthday!

Quiet.

No blog tonight. Quiet.

We’re thinking of you and love you.

Friday Night Leftovers

• The carpet looks SO good! They came to finish cleaning it today and we are so happy with how it turned out, and really glad we didn’t buy new carpet.
• Logan’s teacher today: “He’s REALLY intelligent. And stubborn.” Hmmm, have you met my husband? ;)
• The things that accumulated in my classroom this year and finally made their way to my house today: prune juice, applesauce, a bathtub temperature gauge, dish soap, and a cot. Yep, a whole cot.
• 4:45 this morning. Early, even for Logan. Tonight we lived on the edge and were out at Lowes, which meant he didn’t get to bed on time. I’m usually a stickler for bedtime. I figure it can’t mess it up that much when it’s already 4:45, right?
• Logan totally calls blueberries “babies.” So yes, my child asks if he can eat babies. Yum.
• I saved 60 cents a gallon on gas tonight…I LOVE when my Giant points add up!
• Why is it that 14 months after I had to stop breastfeeding due to low supply I STILL feel guilt about it? I nursed exclusively for 5.5 months and he got some breastmilk every day through 6 months…and I still can’t let myself off the hook – even though I tried everything.
• That whole blanket issue from last week’s leftovers? Yep, Logan’s taken the blanket to bed every night now.
• I’m tired. Really, really tired. And in the middle of a really good book (a Diane Chamberlain) and hate that I can’t keep my eyes open long enough to read a decent amount of it.

What’s left in your head this week? For more leftovers, visit Danifred!

Thankful on Thursday

Some days I NEED to do this. This is one of those days.

• The sweet sound of a little boy saying, “I love you.” It comes out as “IOWU” but it is so adorable.
• Watching that same little boy read his books and actually tell the story. Melts this first grade teachers heart.
• My hubby for all of his hard work around the house and all that he puts up with from me.
• My mom for coming to our house to take care of the carpet cleaning people tomorrow.
• Grandpa K for making a video of himself signing – it wasn’t meant for Logan, but he saw it  and LOVES it! He is just mesmerized!
• Abby – she was stuck in our room with us all night last night because we had stain remover put down on some of the carpets and it was still soaking, and she didn’t touch the blinds or lick my hair once.
• My dad, for listening to me early in the morning, lots of mornings!
• My kiddos – oh, this time of year, they are so DONE. But they still do those crazy things that make me smile!
• My 5am wake up call – It’s early, but he’s happy and cute. And we sit in his chair and snuggle and drink milk (well, he drinks milk) and he occasionally takes the cup out of his mouth and just touches my face and says, “Mommy!” as if - “Wow! You’re still here this morning!” That makes 5am much easier.
• 5.5 – 5.5 – 5.5!!!!!! That’s all we have left!!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Logan’s attempt to beat the heat on our nice shaded deck this evening…

This has been the LONGEST week ever, but we’re hanging in there! Hope you’re having a great one!

The Cool Kid

Well, I don’t plan on him joining a gang anytime soon or anything (ha!) but Logan is definitely showing off his coolness with his latest accessories…Grandma F may be slightly excited about baby sunglasses – he has quite a few pairs now!

Yep. We may have a little bit of an accessory addiction.  It’s funny now because he’ll keep them on for a decent amount of time and calls them “guys.”  Thanks, Grandma F! He looks awfully cute!

Busy Bees

Oh the weekend, it went by SO fast! We were busy, busy, busy…the goal is to be ready to tell the real estate agent to send the photographers 3 weeks from tomorrow or so…whew!

Saturday Grandma and Grandpa F came over to help us do some major “curb appeal” because they are just so handy outside. I am bummed because I didn’t remember to take any before pictures, but the after turned out SO well!

The biggest project was the area under our deck. I bet all of 3 people have any idea what it looked like before (even bestie couldn’t really picture it). It was basically a little bit of grass here and there, lots of dirt that would get a little muddy when it rained, and weeds…not the best entrance into what is really a nice backyard full of pretty grass!

Well, I did manage to find this pic of Logan swinging a few weeks ago, you can kind of see what’s under there…

Now it looks like this (you know, minus those extra bags of mulch)!

 

We’re either taking the chair out or getting a nicer chair to go there, but you get the idea. And we still need one more bag of rocks to fill in the bottom there…(ugh, the perfectionist in me is saying  - then why the heck did you post this? It is not done, you should have waited – but hey, we all worked really hard on it and I was excited!).

I also planted some new plants…

This one on the deck:

And two of these on the front porch:

Peter said today, “You’re all bruised and cut, what’s that from?” and I said, “Yesterday!” You see, I’m not usually a yard work type person (one of so very many reasons I don’t even compete, let alone win, the supermom award). But I spread all that mulch myself, was inside bushes laying down weed block, yep…I was in a zone.

Logan was a busy bee too and so excited to be hanging out with Grandma F! He loved supervising our work too. He has been WORN out these past two days from all the outside time – 2 days of 3 hour naps! I pay for it with early morning wake ups, but hey, he’s happy!

Hope you had a productive weekend – 9.5 days to go!

Daredevil

So, before Logan and I got chased off the playground by the sixth grade bullies, he was proving just how big he is. When we got there there wasn’t anybody else there so I could just close the gates and let him run. He loves it, and while I follow right behind him he loves that he doesn’t have to hold my hand.

The one thing I hate about playgrounds is how all the play structures have “open” type places – where you slide down a pole, or jump down to the mulch, or, you know, just fall off. I realize these weren’t designed for 19 month olds to go on alone, but I also don’t know when you are supposed to let them go on their own. I mean, I don’t follow my first graders around and they manage to not fall off (much).

Anyway, yes, I go up on all the steps/bridges/etc with Logan. Our Tot Lot however, has a fairly small slide. He usually waits at the top while I run down (uh, 3 steps) and then I push him down the slide. Well, tonight he just went. And guess what? He was fine. As in, hello mommy, clearly I do not need you.

Then? Then he started going up these climby bars (I have no idea what they are) and I was all like, “oh, Logan, those are too big for you” and uh, he went up them:

And then he decided he would like to sit and rest a minute, thank you very much…

You know, that was the good stuff before the bullies. I almost went all “teacher” on them, but Logan saved them from that experience when he decided we would just leave. But, that’s why I love the playground before 10am in the summer. We have it all to ourselves!

And hey, in just 2 short weeks (9.5 school days) we can do just that. And I’m sure my little daredevil will be scaring the life out of me all summer!