Last night was great! It was the last CBJ game in our group of tickets that Big Josh had gotten us at a super discounted price, and Ryan had been looking forward to this game for months because it was CBJ vs. The Red Wings! Our whole family was supposed to go, and then my aunt and uncle and two of their kids and their wife/fiancé were there. I got a girl from church to babysit Colton, and Kylie actually stayed back with her because we all know she’s not a fan of hockey :)
So Sarah (the babysitter) got to the house around 5:25 and I quickly ran through everything with her. This was her first time babysitting for us, but she watches Colton in the nursery once a month, so she was familiar with him. He was finishing up eating and was ready for a nap, so I laid him down and we left.
It was a little bit of a fiasco getting there because we always stop at the ATM on the way to get cash for parking because we never have any cash. I had stopped and picked up the candy before I got home, but I didn’t even think about stopping to get cash. Unfortunately, the ATM was out of order, so we spent the next ½ driving around trying to find an ATM on the way. We finally found one and got to the game a few minutes before it started. My uncle was a hoot and the boys were super excited about being there. They pulled out their candy (on our money saving quest I buy them some type of candy at CVS before the game and stick it in their coat pocket for them to eat during the game). Joshie was wearing a Red Wings jersey (because Aunt Suzie likes the Red Wings) and a CBJ hat. It was cute seeing him cheer for both teams :)
During the game, my cousin came over and we caught up for a bit. She’s planning her wedding (this summer) and was telling all about the planning and the snags they were hitting. She also asked me if Kylie would like to be a flower girl in the wedding, which is awesome and Kylie was super excited when I told her about it!
We had to leave the game early because John had his last flag football game last night, and I didn’t want to be walking around downtown alone with the kids, so we had decided we would leave early and I would take him to his game and he would get a ride home with a neighbor afterwards.
When I got home, Sarah told me that Colton had just woken up from his nap! So he was in a great mood and had a great time crawling around and playing while I got Ryan ready for bed and the old kids in bed. Kylie said she had so much fun with Sarah :)
After the older kids were in bed, I played with Colton a little longer and then fed him and put him to sleep. I loved that I got to spend some time alone with him, especially since I didn’t get to see him at all the day before because I went to dinner with some friends and he was sleeping when I left and when I got home :(
So a great night, and Ryan is already talking about the CBJ games we’re going to go to next year :)
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Another Great Night...
Last night was a great night for some one-on-one with the kiddos!
John and Josh took Kylie to gymnastics, and then they went to the indoor batting cages. I took Ryan and Colton down to the basement where Colton crawled around and played and I pitched some balls to Ryan (John set up the batting net thing). I was just using whiffle balls (which was good because he did hit Colton with one!), and we had a lot of fun!
Then Ryan went over to my mom’s house to play, so I got some great time with Colton. He was in such a great mood and we laughed and played together for a long time before he kept telling me “nigh nigh.” So I took him up and got him ready for bed, nursed him, played with him for a little bit on my bed, and then laid him down.
It’s always nice to spend time with one or two of the kids :)
John and Josh took Kylie to gymnastics, and then they went to the indoor batting cages. I took Ryan and Colton down to the basement where Colton crawled around and played and I pitched some balls to Ryan (John set up the batting net thing). I was just using whiffle balls (which was good because he did hit Colton with one!), and we had a lot of fun!
Then Ryan went over to my mom’s house to play, so I got some great time with Colton. He was in such a great mood and we laughed and played together for a long time before he kept telling me “nigh nigh.” So I took him up and got him ready for bed, nursed him, played with him for a little bit on my bed, and then laid him down.
It’s always nice to spend time with one or two of the kids :)
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
A Break From the Norm...
Last night was a crazy little detour from our normal nightly routines (which, ironically, we have fallen into out of sheer need, because I always swore I would never be that parent). Our pastor and his wife, along with our children’s pastor and his wife and kids came over for dinner and to start talking about fun kids’ activities for the kids in our church.
Our kids ate before everyone got here, and as the other kids got there, they immediately went down to play with our kids. All of the adults then ate and then we started talking about a set of kids’ activities we plan to do over the next couple of months, and then we briefly touched on VBS. My goal for VBS is to have more than five weeks to play it, so I’d say we’re starting off pretty good :)
It was a really fun night and the kids did really well playing together. Colton actually went down for what I thought was a nap at 7:00 (he was actually down for the night and when he woke up around 1:00 I finally got his PJs on). They all ended up staying until around 10:30, but the night flew by so fast – I couldn’t believe it was that late when they left!
We laughed a lot, which is always a nice break from the normal weekly grind. We spend so many of our nights just trying to get through them (dinner, clean up, homework, baths/showers, play time, etc.) that it’s nice to take some time and laugh, and enjoy the evening.
Our kids ate before everyone got here, and as the other kids got there, they immediately went down to play with our kids. All of the adults then ate and then we started talking about a set of kids’ activities we plan to do over the next couple of months, and then we briefly touched on VBS. My goal for VBS is to have more than five weeks to play it, so I’d say we’re starting off pretty good :)
It was a really fun night and the kids did really well playing together. Colton actually went down for what I thought was a nap at 7:00 (he was actually down for the night and when he woke up around 1:00 I finally got his PJs on). They all ended up staying until around 10:30, but the night flew by so fast – I couldn’t believe it was that late when they left!
We laughed a lot, which is always a nice break from the normal weekly grind. We spend so many of our nights just trying to get through them (dinner, clean up, homework, baths/showers, play time, etc.) that it’s nice to take some time and laugh, and enjoy the evening.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Sleep Training...
Colton is now 13 months (plus a few days). He is one month over the date he was supposed to be done nursing. Apparently, he has had other plans…
None of my kids have slept through the night before I weaned them. It’s a fact in our house that I have lived with through four kids and I’m OK with that…knowing that when they turned one, all bets were off. I never minded (too much) the middle of the night feedings because 1.) I could have them fed and back to bed within 10 minutes and 2.) it helped keep my milk supply up. I have always known that if I didn’t have those middle of the night feedings, my supply would go way down (since I’m not feeding them during the workdays), so I was fine with not getting them to sleep through the night until they were weaned.
But Colton is our last baby, and we’re tired (we are working parents of four kids after all), so going through the process of getting him to sleep through the night has not been at the top of our agenda. Also, it really has to be John that does this because if Colton sees me, he’d want to eat, and it would be much worse.
Lately John’s been sick of hearing me say I’m tired all the time. I had always been telling him, but I think this time it really sank in, that I’m tired because my sleep is being interrupted two times each night to feed Colton. So this week he has been working with Colton to try to get him to sleep through the night!
So far (fingers crossed) it has not been bad…the first night he woke up around 2:15 and cried until about 3:30 and then fell asleep. The next night he woke up and when John went in to see him it’s like he knew this was bad, so he turned his back to John and held on to the back of the crib and screamed. He wanted nothing to do with John! But when all was said and done he only cried for about 20 minutes until he fell asleep. And then last night, he woke up around 4:50, made some noises and fell back asleep (John never even had to go up there). It’s been too easy :) And on top of all this, he has a cold, so I’m even more proud of him for working through this!
As always, I’m thankful that God thought of all of this when he designed babies…the fact that they can be screaming and “hate” you one second and then wake up the next morning forgetting it all and loving you more than anything :)
None of my kids have slept through the night before I weaned them. It’s a fact in our house that I have lived with through four kids and I’m OK with that…knowing that when they turned one, all bets were off. I never minded (too much) the middle of the night feedings because 1.) I could have them fed and back to bed within 10 minutes and 2.) it helped keep my milk supply up. I have always known that if I didn’t have those middle of the night feedings, my supply would go way down (since I’m not feeding them during the workdays), so I was fine with not getting them to sleep through the night until they were weaned.
But Colton is our last baby, and we’re tired (we are working parents of four kids after all), so going through the process of getting him to sleep through the night has not been at the top of our agenda. Also, it really has to be John that does this because if Colton sees me, he’d want to eat, and it would be much worse.
Lately John’s been sick of hearing me say I’m tired all the time. I had always been telling him, but I think this time it really sank in, that I’m tired because my sleep is being interrupted two times each night to feed Colton. So this week he has been working with Colton to try to get him to sleep through the night!
So far (fingers crossed) it has not been bad…the first night he woke up around 2:15 and cried until about 3:30 and then fell asleep. The next night he woke up and when John went in to see him it’s like he knew this was bad, so he turned his back to John and held on to the back of the crib and screamed. He wanted nothing to do with John! But when all was said and done he only cried for about 20 minutes until he fell asleep. And then last night, he woke up around 4:50, made some noises and fell back asleep (John never even had to go up there). It’s been too easy :) And on top of all this, he has a cold, so I’m even more proud of him for working through this!
As always, I’m thankful that God thought of all of this when he designed babies…the fact that they can be screaming and “hate” you one second and then wake up the next morning forgetting it all and loving you more than anything :)
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Valendtine's Day Weekend Recap...
Last Friday was the kids’ Valentine’s Day parties at school. Our district always seems to do big parties on either a Friday, or the last day of school before the holiday (i.e. Christmas party). It is weird because the actual holiday is still a few days off, but oh well!
The kids had been thinking about their boxes for a while…Josh wanted a football and Kylie wanted an ATM (at first she had wanted a purse, but then changed it to an ATM). As usual, John waited until the last minute (he’s in charge of boxes…I claim since I didn’t go to elementary school and had no idea what these things even were until Kylie started school, that I’m exempt from having to make them). So John, since it was late in the game, got the great idea to cut a slit on the top of an old football and use that as Joshie’s box. It was a great idea and was a hit at school.
Kylie’s box took a lot more calculations and planning. John and Kylie drew out the plans and measurements one night, and then John drew the cut lines the next night while I cut each piece out of the cardboard (my wrist hurt so bad after all that cutting with a box cutter!). Then they painted the pieces (black and orange) and taped them together. Kylie and I went up and cut out all the designs with the Cricut machine and she ended up with a beautiful box!
The parties were the typical class parties (I’m really, really not into those parties at all, especially since John and I spend most of the time walking between the two classrooms). But the kids have fun and that’s all that matters!
That Friday night John and I got to go on our first date in a long time! The kids went over to Aunt Sarah’s for the annual cousins’ sleepover, and for the first year, Ryan got to go too! They were all so excited! So we left Colton with my parents, dropped the kids off at John’s sister’s house, and headed out on our date! We’ve been trying really hard to save money (not having a raise in years can be tough), so our goal was to have the cheapest date possible (while still being fun). So we went to Subway for dinner (this was because of time mostly…our movie started soon and there was a Subway right next to the theater) and shared a $5 footlong. Then we went next door to the dollar theater and paid $5 for two tickets to see Tower Heist. We did spend $11 on popcorn and a big Diet Coke :) The movie was cute and we had fun seeing a movie (for us) for the first time in years! And the whole date cost us $21!!! And we ended the date the most romantic way possible…with a trip to the grocery store :)
Saturday our plan was to stay in and hibernate all day because we were getting like our second or third snow of the season :) It wasn’t even bad, but the wind chill was horrible, so we stayed inside! Suzie and Jarrett were back in Ohio interviewing again, so around 1:30 they stopped by. Their plan was to come in and say “hi” and then head out to show Jarrett more of Ohio (he’s from Indiana), but they ended up staying the whole day! I had just put a pot roast in when they got there, so thankfully we knew we would have a fabulous dinner later on. I called Cindy and Josh and asked them to come to dinner and we ended up having a wonderfully spontaneous huge family dinner. Everyone was there except Kylie, who had gone to Rachel’s :)
Sunday we went to church and then came home and did some things around the house. John repainted some of the walls that had finger prints and other stuff on them and I got some things organized in my bedroom. John took Ryan and Josh to the CBJ game that night (where they had a blast), and Kylie and I hung out and watched Supernanny together. It was nice to get some time with her (Colton had gone to bed fairly early after fussing around all evening – Sundays are so hard on him because he misses his morning nap).
It was a great weekend! Fun times with family and the kiddos…can’t get any better than that!
The kids had been thinking about their boxes for a while…Josh wanted a football and Kylie wanted an ATM (at first she had wanted a purse, but then changed it to an ATM). As usual, John waited until the last minute (he’s in charge of boxes…I claim since I didn’t go to elementary school and had no idea what these things even were until Kylie started school, that I’m exempt from having to make them). So John, since it was late in the game, got the great idea to cut a slit on the top of an old football and use that as Joshie’s box. It was a great idea and was a hit at school.
Kylie’s box took a lot more calculations and planning. John and Kylie drew out the plans and measurements one night, and then John drew the cut lines the next night while I cut each piece out of the cardboard (my wrist hurt so bad after all that cutting with a box cutter!). Then they painted the pieces (black and orange) and taped them together. Kylie and I went up and cut out all the designs with the Cricut machine and she ended up with a beautiful box!
The parties were the typical class parties (I’m really, really not into those parties at all, especially since John and I spend most of the time walking between the two classrooms). But the kids have fun and that’s all that matters!
That Friday night John and I got to go on our first date in a long time! The kids went over to Aunt Sarah’s for the annual cousins’ sleepover, and for the first year, Ryan got to go too! They were all so excited! So we left Colton with my parents, dropped the kids off at John’s sister’s house, and headed out on our date! We’ve been trying really hard to save money (not having a raise in years can be tough), so our goal was to have the cheapest date possible (while still being fun). So we went to Subway for dinner (this was because of time mostly…our movie started soon and there was a Subway right next to the theater) and shared a $5 footlong. Then we went next door to the dollar theater and paid $5 for two tickets to see Tower Heist. We did spend $11 on popcorn and a big Diet Coke :) The movie was cute and we had fun seeing a movie (for us) for the first time in years! And the whole date cost us $21!!! And we ended the date the most romantic way possible…with a trip to the grocery store :)
Saturday our plan was to stay in and hibernate all day because we were getting like our second or third snow of the season :) It wasn’t even bad, but the wind chill was horrible, so we stayed inside! Suzie and Jarrett were back in Ohio interviewing again, so around 1:30 they stopped by. Their plan was to come in and say “hi” and then head out to show Jarrett more of Ohio (he’s from Indiana), but they ended up staying the whole day! I had just put a pot roast in when they got there, so thankfully we knew we would have a fabulous dinner later on. I called Cindy and Josh and asked them to come to dinner and we ended up having a wonderfully spontaneous huge family dinner. Everyone was there except Kylie, who had gone to Rachel’s :)
Sunday we went to church and then came home and did some things around the house. John repainted some of the walls that had finger prints and other stuff on them and I got some things organized in my bedroom. John took Ryan and Josh to the CBJ game that night (where they had a blast), and Kylie and I hung out and watched Supernanny together. It was nice to get some time with her (Colton had gone to bed fairly early after fussing around all evening – Sundays are so hard on him because he misses his morning nap).
It was a great weekend! Fun times with family and the kiddos…can’t get any better than that!
Friday, February 10, 2012
Friday Recap...
Week wrap-up weekend forecast:
So this week has been yet another busy week (what’s new in our house?). The sad thing? I can’t even remember what we were doing half the time. I know that Wednesday night John’s parents came over for a visit and brought dinner from Bob Evans, which was awesome! Kylie had gymnastics Wednesday and Thursday nights, and the past couple of nights John and I have been helping the kids with their Valentine’s Day boxes (ugghhh…I hate those things!).
So today is the kids’ parties at school, and then tonight, John and I actually get to go on a date! Shocking! John’s sister is having the annual cousins’ sleepover, and Ryan gets to go for the first time this year. So we will drop them off at her house, leave Colton with my parents, and we will get to go to dinner and a movie. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been to a theater??? The last time was June 25th for Josh’s birthday party where we saw Cars 2, and the last time I saw an adult movie??? I can’t even remember…
We’re getting a “winter storm” tonight and tomorrow (really only supposed to get 1-2”, but when you haven’t had anything all winter, that sounds like a ton), and I’m looking forward to just staying in the house and not going anywhere tomorrow! I really hope I can relax and enjoy the day with the kiddos!
So this week has been yet another busy week (what’s new in our house?). The sad thing? I can’t even remember what we were doing half the time. I know that Wednesday night John’s parents came over for a visit and brought dinner from Bob Evans, which was awesome! Kylie had gymnastics Wednesday and Thursday nights, and the past couple of nights John and I have been helping the kids with their Valentine’s Day boxes (ugghhh…I hate those things!).
So today is the kids’ parties at school, and then tonight, John and I actually get to go on a date! Shocking! John’s sister is having the annual cousins’ sleepover, and Ryan gets to go for the first time this year. So we will drop them off at her house, leave Colton with my parents, and we will get to go to dinner and a movie. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been to a theater??? The last time was June 25th for Josh’s birthday party where we saw Cars 2, and the last time I saw an adult movie??? I can’t even remember…
We’re getting a “winter storm” tonight and tomorrow (really only supposed to get 1-2”, but when you haven’t had anything all winter, that sounds like a ton), and I’m looking forward to just staying in the house and not going anywhere tomorrow! I really hope I can relax and enjoy the day with the kiddos!
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Weekend Recap...
This last weekend was a good mix of fun activities and relaxing :)
Suzie came into town for a couple of interviews and to celebrate Cindy’s birthday, so Friday night she came over and we had a great dinner of roasted chicken. We decided we needed some dessert, so Suz and the kids made chocolate lava cakes, which were wonderful! It was fun to just relax and enjoy a great Friday night with everyone (my parents, Suzie and my family).
Saturday John had a church breakfast to go to and Josh and Ryan were over at my parents’ house. Kylie was working on her invention convention project (online community for elementary schools) and Colton had a cold and was just being a miserable baby :( He would play, but then he would just be fussy, and he was not eating very well. He had been up so much the night before…a couple of times to eat and then every hour or so just needing his paci put back in. I was exhausted! Kylie and I watched a movie together (she picked Fairytopia, which she hasn’t watched since she was a little girl…it was a great trip down memory lane as we remembered her being obsessed with it and dressing up as Elina for Halloween one year). I also had to finish my sister’s scrapbook (wedding present) because I wanted to give it to her and Big Josh that night.
Suz came over in the early afternoon and we made Cindy a carrot cake. I decided to see if my nanny could come over and watch Colton that night because he was so miserable, and there was no way we would be able to have a nice dinner with him that way. Thankfully, she was available :)
We went to PF Chang’s for dinner (my parents, Cindy and Josh, Suzie, Ryan and Kylie – Josh wanted to stay back with Miss G and Colton). It was a great dinner – good food and good conversations. Afterwards, we went back to Cindy and Josh’s for cake and presents. We gave her a pair of UGG boots and she loved them! (she should, she picked them out :) ). Then I gave them the scrapbook…it felt so good to finally be done with that, but I was also sad because I had been working on it for 18 months now. I was so proud of how it turned out! Around 9:30 we headed back home and Miss G said that Colton was great – no problems at all!
I had every intention of staying home from church with Colton – he was so sick and I was still getting over my cold. But when we woke up Sunday, he was back to normal! I had known something was up when he only got up twice during the night, and the second time, he was talking and happy while I was feeding him. He was a happy, playful little boy that morning! So we all headed to church and then back home for some naps :) John went into work for a while and I fought little man on a nap for two hours! He was so tired, but he kept needing a diaper change and just fighting it. Finally, he went to sleep and stayed asleep for two hours.
Kylie had been at Rachel’s all afternoon, so right after the Superbowl started, I went to pick her up. My mom brought over some pizza and it was a very low-key evening. Joshie and I were hoping for the Patriots, John, Kylie and Ryan were hoping for the Giants. It was a fun fight among the family :)
Now it’s back to the grind and another busy week :) But I’m sure it will fly by as all weeks tend to do nowadays and it will be the weekend again before I know it!
Suzie came into town for a couple of interviews and to celebrate Cindy’s birthday, so Friday night she came over and we had a great dinner of roasted chicken. We decided we needed some dessert, so Suz and the kids made chocolate lava cakes, which were wonderful! It was fun to just relax and enjoy a great Friday night with everyone (my parents, Suzie and my family).
Saturday John had a church breakfast to go to and Josh and Ryan were over at my parents’ house. Kylie was working on her invention convention project (online community for elementary schools) and Colton had a cold and was just being a miserable baby :( He would play, but then he would just be fussy, and he was not eating very well. He had been up so much the night before…a couple of times to eat and then every hour or so just needing his paci put back in. I was exhausted! Kylie and I watched a movie together (she picked Fairytopia, which she hasn’t watched since she was a little girl…it was a great trip down memory lane as we remembered her being obsessed with it and dressing up as Elina for Halloween one year). I also had to finish my sister’s scrapbook (wedding present) because I wanted to give it to her and Big Josh that night.
Suz came over in the early afternoon and we made Cindy a carrot cake. I decided to see if my nanny could come over and watch Colton that night because he was so miserable, and there was no way we would be able to have a nice dinner with him that way. Thankfully, she was available :)
We went to PF Chang’s for dinner (my parents, Cindy and Josh, Suzie, Ryan and Kylie – Josh wanted to stay back with Miss G and Colton). It was a great dinner – good food and good conversations. Afterwards, we went back to Cindy and Josh’s for cake and presents. We gave her a pair of UGG boots and she loved them! (she should, she picked them out :) ). Then I gave them the scrapbook…it felt so good to finally be done with that, but I was also sad because I had been working on it for 18 months now. I was so proud of how it turned out! Around 9:30 we headed back home and Miss G said that Colton was great – no problems at all!
I had every intention of staying home from church with Colton – he was so sick and I was still getting over my cold. But when we woke up Sunday, he was back to normal! I had known something was up when he only got up twice during the night, and the second time, he was talking and happy while I was feeding him. He was a happy, playful little boy that morning! So we all headed to church and then back home for some naps :) John went into work for a while and I fought little man on a nap for two hours! He was so tired, but he kept needing a diaper change and just fighting it. Finally, he went to sleep and stayed asleep for two hours.
Kylie had been at Rachel’s all afternoon, so right after the Superbowl started, I went to pick her up. My mom brought over some pizza and it was a very low-key evening. Joshie and I were hoping for the Patriots, John, Kylie and Ryan were hoping for the Giants. It was a fun fight among the family :)
Now it’s back to the grind and another busy week :) But I’m sure it will fly by as all weeks tend to do nowadays and it will be the weekend again before I know it!
Friday, February 03, 2012
Crazy Weather...
So yesterday was groundhog day…something I would have never noticed if it weren’t for my kids and the excitement in school for this day. There were discussions about it and math problem-puzzles that revealed Punxsutawney Phil’s name as the answer. And apparently, the little booger saw his shadow yesterday, which means six more weeks of winter…
But we haven’t even had winter yet! This weather has been absolutely insane! For the past week alone we have had a high of 50 degrees every day, with two days getting into the 60s! Joshie even wore shorts to school a couple of days! We have only had one or two snowfalls that left anything, and even that was nothing. I can’t believe it’s February 3rd and the high today is a sunny 50 degrees.
This is not to say that we’ve had perfect weather by any means…last fall and this winter so far have been so full of rain, which on those chilly days, is absolutely miserable! And it wouldn’t be Central Ohio without grey skies most of the time :(
I asked John yesterday “wouldn’t it be great to live somewhere where winter was like this all the time?” He blows me off because I am always bugging him about moving somewhere warm…or better yet…hot :) But even if we have a horrible second half of February and March (because the weather is still forecasted to be decent for the next week), I won’t mind it too much because we are over the winter hump! There is light at the end of this long, cold, grey tunnel :)
But we haven’t even had winter yet! This weather has been absolutely insane! For the past week alone we have had a high of 50 degrees every day, with two days getting into the 60s! Joshie even wore shorts to school a couple of days! We have only had one or two snowfalls that left anything, and even that was nothing. I can’t believe it’s February 3rd and the high today is a sunny 50 degrees.
This is not to say that we’ve had perfect weather by any means…last fall and this winter so far have been so full of rain, which on those chilly days, is absolutely miserable! And it wouldn’t be Central Ohio without grey skies most of the time :(
I asked John yesterday “wouldn’t it be great to live somewhere where winter was like this all the time?” He blows me off because I am always bugging him about moving somewhere warm…or better yet…hot :) But even if we have a horrible second half of February and March (because the weather is still forecasted to be decent for the next week), I won’t mind it too much because we are over the winter hump! There is light at the end of this long, cold, grey tunnel :)
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