Birthday week recap

Another year has come and gone.  Here is a recap of my birthday week:

Sunday - We went to the Chandler's house for a BBQ.  Good times, good food, and a great drink!  I have to ask Val again what it was called, but it was scrumptious!

A few pictures of us relaxing in their backyard.

Monday - A nice and warm Memorial Day was spent outside.  After their nap, their pool water was nicely warmed up and they had a blast splashing around.

Tuesday - Probably the calmest day at work this week.  Why does it seem like when it rains it pours at work?  Only 9 more teaching days left.  I hope I can make it.

Wednesday - The boys and I went to Caryn's after work today.  It had been way too long since we hung out, so it was great catching up.  I definitely look forward to more play dates this summer.

Thursday - The big 32 for me!  Work sucked today, but the after work fun made me forget all about the day at work.  First we went out to dinner and I treated myself to a big ass margarita.  YUMMY, but boy am I a lightweight!

When we got home, Troy said that my birthday was a day of "5 favorites".  I had 5 little things to help my have a guilt-free, relaxing night.  #1 was my favorite homemade cake - cherry chip and #2 was some Girl Scout Samoa Ice Cream!!!  #3 was a box of one of my favorite types of candy - Mike & Ikes.  #4 was a peanut donut for the next morning and #5 was a new pajama set from Victoria's Secret.  I'm pretty much addicted to comfy pants and most of mine are for colder weather, so a new comfy thinner pair with a matching tank top, and some delicious smelling mango lotion was perfect!  My official birthday gift came back in March with my new camera, a Canon Rebel T3, but he said I couldn't have a birthday without getting something.

Friday - We had our first Busy Bag Exchange after work Friday.  Most of us met at a park in Ferndale, which gave the boys a chance to play a little bit while the adults briefly chatted.  Unfortunately the weather wasn't very nice, so we didn't stay long, but just enough to let them get some energy out.  In total we will have around 19 little activities for the boys to play with, which are educationally based.  Although they are a little young for a majority of them right now, I look forward to introducing them to the activities in the coming months.  Our second exchange is slated for the end of July.  If anyone who has younger children wants to be a part of an exchange of educational activities, let me know.  I can give you more information if you think you'd like to join our next swap.   

Setting out our bags for everyone to grab one.

Saturday - Before Morgan and Parker's birthday party, I cashed in my Mother's Day gift from the boys - a 1 hour massage and a foot scrub.  It was very relaxing and a perfect way to start the weekend and get all the stress from the week out of me.  After lunch, we headed to the Reaves' house for the party.  Lots of kids and lots of fun.  If only the boys didn't seem so freaked out by larger amounts of people - they were pretty clingy for most of the party, so unfortunately I didn't get many pictures.  I thought this one was cute though...

Ellis checking out the sandbox.  We don't have one yet - assuming that at this age they would try to
eat the sand, but Ellis was quite intrigued.  He liked sticking his hand into it
and feeling it.  Who knows, maybe one is in our future this summer.

Sunday - Today I spent most of the day outside.  My goal was to weed the area in our backyard, under the trees that separate our yard from our neighbors yard.  I started it last weekend, but was only about 1/4 of the way done.  So while they napped I got a good start on it, but they didn't sleep very long, so after lunch, Troy entertained them while I went back out there to finish up.  I am quite pleased to cross that off my "to-do" list.  I also got some weeding done in the front yard.  We rarely spend time in our front yard, and since our driveway is on the side of the house, I really didn't realize how bad it looked.  I spent some time out there clearing out a section of out-of-control plants and hopefully I can spend some time here and there taking out the shrubs.  Then if it isn't too late in the season, I will get some flowers for out there.  Something to give it some color!  Between my weeding and planting flowers and our neighbor who is taking care of clearing out the old flower bed in the corner of our yard and laying down sod for us, we might finally get our front yard back in order.

On a completely different note, after I cleaned this morning, I moved the small ottoman that we put in front of the fireplace for a while (so the kids wouldn't be tempted to move the gated area and get into the ashes), back where it belonged.  Now that they are following directions just a little bit better, I thought it was time to see if they would stay out of it without it being blocked.  They did very well, and needed very little redirection.  The funniest thing though, was how funny Logan thought it was to be able to walk on the tile in front of the fireplace.  It was like he was getting away with it.  After he walked across, he would crack up and turn around to walk back.

Well, thats about it for our week.  It was fun to see some people I haven't seen in a while and also have just enough time to relax before starting another week.  Happy June everyone!

The Race is on - Week 2

First off, Happy Memorial Day everyone!  I hope you are enjoying the long weekend!

Just as I was afraid off, the initial runners itch wore off a bit this week.  I did run as scheduled and I  didn't have trouble finding time to run but the runs just seemed harder.  Yes I did run a few more miles overall, but I feel like I had to stop a few too many times compared to what I'd like.  Maybe it was because I still have to upload some better music to my iPod and the fact that most of the shows I watch ended for the season so I didn't have anything good to watch or listen to, to pass the time.  Or maybe because I'm expecting too much too soon.  I did just start formally running 2.5 weeks ago.  I also have this issue with trying to figure out if I should try to run faster or longer...work on speed or length.  For some reason, knowing that I ran my last half marathon almost a min/mile faster, I feel like I need to work on speed.  What I really need to do is just run it "normally" and allow the speed to come later after I build up the miles.

Regardless, here are this week's stats:

• Miles ran: 17.5 miles
• Average pace:  9 minute 23 seconds/mile
• Longest run: 4 miles
• Number of outside runs: 0 - oops!

Overall thoughts:  I NEED to upload better music to help me get through the runs (Thanks Sheila for your suggestions, by the way!).  I also need to find a better route outside.  The one I did last week was only 2.6 miles and I wanted to run further than that each day this week, so I didn't run outside knowing that I wasn't going to be going as far as I wanted to go.  I'd like to find routes that are a variety of lengths outside, so I know if I need to run "x" amount of miles, what route will get me that far.  My eating hasn't been as bad this week, now that I am more aware of it, but I think it will be even easier over the summer when I'm not working.  For some reason I can be starving at work by 9am yet at home I can go hours without eating and not feel starved.  

I am hoping that as I continue running and slowly build up my mileage that these smaller runs will get easier.  I remember when I trained before that after a while, running anything less than 4 miles seemed like a waste of time.  HA!  Can't wait for that to be the day.  I just need to build up my endurance more and I know that takes time.  I just have to stick with it!

Flying Solo

We've noticed the boys getting a little antsy mid-morning lately, so we've been trying to change it up a little bit.  I was planing on taking them for a wagon ride while Troy was trying to get some paperwork done, but then I thought, hey, its overcast outside, just about 10am, maybe it would be good to try out the park with them, all by myself.  Obviously the park is a destination we'd love to make it to during the summer, which inevitably means I will be going by myself since Troy will be working, so I thought there was no better time to try it than today.  We quickly packed up and off we went.  They had a lot of fun (and yes, it helped that a ton of people weren't there).

No crying on the swings this time! 

And a Logan was a little shy to step on the wood chips at first, but LOTS of exploring after he got over the weird wood chips under his feet!

He's got the whole world in his hands! =)

By far their favorite, even way more than the swings was the slide.  I lifted them to the top, and held onto them as they slid down, and they were all giggles and smiles.  Of course I couldn't get a picture in action to see their big grin since I was by myself, but it was awesome.  Once they got down the slide, they wanted back up to do it again.  Back and forth for me on both sides of the slide, but it was worth it...they were loving it!

Looks like more park time coming in the future...  no fears for this mama to take them on my own anymore!

Nothing but trouble

This weekend we made a few changes to our family.  Troy's Jetta and my Prius have sadly left our family, but have been upgraded to a new 2012 Prius and RAV4.  We have been talking for a while about trading in Troy's car and getting something bigger because the boys are getting bigger and we'll be traveling a bit more, thus needing more room.  We test drove an Acadia back in April and although the car itself was nice, the entire experience was horrendous, so we just put our decision on hold for a while.  Recently we decided a full size SUV was not necessary since the boys aren't that big yet, but maybe a smaller SUV would be better than a car.  So, long story short (and a few emails on specials at the Toyota dealership I go to), I decided to check out the RAV4.  We also decided that Troy would get a new Prius instead of just inheriting mine because my car had so much positive equity in it that it would be good to use when getting a car that would potentially be more, meaning that my payment could be higher.

So, here is Troy's new baby:

And here is mine:

I was sad to see the Prius go, but we reminisced a bit before parting ways.  I thanked her for all she has done for us - getting us all the way to Yellowstone and back, being there when we got engaged, helping us move to our first house, allowing us pack her with stuff from Home Depot because it actually had more space in it than the Jetta, and bringing the boys home from the hospital.  She will make another family very happy!  What made me even more happy was that her trade-in value was SO much higher than I even hoped for, that the payment for my new little girl is considerably less than my Prius payment.  Win-win!  Now we are off to pack up the RAV4 for a trip to the Chandlers.  Happy Sunday everyone!

Going on a train ride

Although the famous train that the boys got for their birthday has gotten a TON of use already, yesterday was the first time that I actually saw either one of them sit on the "caboose" of the train.  They usually push it around, play with the letter blocks, and push the buttons on the train, but now they found another fun use for it.  By the end of the day today, this is what they were doing...

I couldn't stop laughing at the end when Ellis fell off.  But he got right back up again and got back on.  

What a good big brother Logan is for pushing Ellis around so much (when Logan got on, Ellis wanted nothing to do with pushing Logan, so I pushed him around a little bit).

Another first for the weekend, was Ellis practicing his yoga poses.  He just started doing it and then stayed there for quite a while (enough time for us to get a few pictures).  Too funny!

Well, there is just a little snippet of what the boys were up to today.  Stay tuned to tomorrow's post for an update of what Troy and I have been up to already this weekend!  =)

We've got skills...

...fine motor skills, that is.  Now that the boys are getting older, I'm trying to incorporate more educational type play in their day.  Thanks to a super creative friend, Sheila, I've been introduced to quite a few easy activities that you can make for kids, using ordinary things around the home (or very inexpensive things to buy).  One activity that I found while browsing the internet, is the pom pom activity.  I'm not sure who originally came up with the idea, but I found it here, who says she found it here.  Anyways, this is a great idea for working on fine motor skills, and I was thoroughly impressed with the determination the boys had with it.  On Sunday, I cut a few smaller holes in an old container lid, put the lid on the container and sat down on the floor just pushing the puffs in the holes.  Logan was immediately drawn to it and after me working with him for a few minutes, he claimed it as his own and did it himself!  Disclaimer: PLEASE monitor your kids doing this activity, if you ever do it yourself.  They both had a tendency, at first, to stick the puffs in their mouth before they knew what to do with them.  



Ellis wasn't as engaged in it as Logan was until today.  I pulled it out again after dinner, and it was awesome to see them work together nicely to put the puffs in the container.  No arguing or pulling away from the other one, just nice, cooperative playing and working together to get all the puffs in the container.  Such a proud mama here!

While I was out shopping this week for my special niece and nephew's birthday next week, I also picked up a few puzzles for the boys.  My mom said they have been playing with the puzzles she has at her house so I thought it was time for me to get some myself.  While I made dinner one night, Troy was working with Ellis on the puzzles.  Of course, I don't agree that they made similar shapes the same color (oval and circle/square and rectangle) but that is just one more challenge they will figure out.  I'm excited to see them work through the puzzles in the future and learn how they work, yet learn the shapes, animals, etc. that they are based on, as well.

Now that summer is quickly approaching and I will be spending the days at home (or out and about) with the kids, I am looking for some fun learning activities, that of course are age-appropriate to keep them engaged in.  The Busy Bag Exchange that Sheila put together was perfect timing.  For the first round, there are 19 people that each put together an activity (that literally fits in a freezer bag), using inexpensive materials, that are educationally based.  Our first exchange happens next Friday and I am beyond excited.  It's almost addicting to look for these simple ideas that work so many skills.  As I introduce them to the boys, I will also post about their experiences with it, in case you may be interested in trying them out with your kids!

Good habits start young

A few weeks ago, Grandma and Grandpa Bush sent the boys a couple books that they found on their way up to Alaska.  Their favorite book by far is the "Touch and Feel" Alaskan Animals book.  Logan just loves to "read" to begin with, so add in the ability to touch the different textures in the book, and he loved it.  Here he is, just reading, and reading, and reading....



I can't say that I ever thought they would be so interested in books this young (to be completely content sitting down and flipping through books over and over and over), but it is nothing I will ever complain about!