A Fun Wednesday Night...

Last night was a great family night!

I took Kylie to gymnastics, and when I got home, we got the boys ready to go to the park. I had to go in and get Colton up from his late nap and then we were ready to go!

When we got to the park, I put Colton in his stroller and gave him some crackers (since he slept through dinner) and his water and then John and I played basketball with the older two boys. It was a great workout for me! Ryan got bored after a little bit, so I took him and Colton over to the playground. We played there for a while, and then Ryan wanted to go and see the pool (this park is attached to the Powell pool). It was exciting looking at it because we have decided to get a membership this year, so I can’t wait to spend days in the sun and water! But we haven’t told the kids yet :) I just can’t believe that we still have two months until it opens! This weather is messing with me – I feel like it should be opening in a couple of weeks!

We played at the park until about 8:00 and then headed over to the gym to get Ky. Ryan and I walked in and watched her until she finished up at 8:30 and then headed home. My dad came up early this week, so he came over and chatted with us and Ryan went back to his house with him to spend the night. My parents switched with Miss G and are watching the kids today instead of Friday.

After we got the kids to bed (super late I might add), John and I worked on the songs and slides for our New Kids’ Bloc that we are kicking off tomorrow night. It’s a big Eggstravaganza! We’re having a big carnival kick-off event and then every-other week we’re going to have the kids come in for a small group type thing. It’s for kids ages 2 to 5th grade – it should be fun!

Weekend Recap...

Last weekend was another fabulous one!

John and Josh left for St. Louis at 4:00 AM on Thursday morning. The other kids and I got through Thursday evening with nothing much going on outside of Kylie’s gymnastics. That night Ryan slept with me in my bed because Kylie had gone over to my dad’s (since it was spring break) and I really didn’t have a good reason why he couldn’t sleep with me.

Friday after work I came home and Dad and I loaded the kids up and headed downtown to the CBJ game. My brother-in-law won tickets and a suite for the night, so he invited us, his family, and some friends. The kids were super excited! It was Colton’s first game and he was glued to the ice for the first 10 minutes – he loved it! Then he had a blast walking around the suite and eating my food :) There was another family there that had boys Ryan and Colton’s age, so that was great! We also had the Bobcat game on the TV so we got to watch the OU game and the CBJ game :)

We left the arena with about 6 minutes left in the hockey game and 15 minutes left in the OU game. We rushed home and pulled in the driveway just as the Bobcats went into overtime. We carried Ryan and Colton up to bed (who had fallen asleep right away) and watched as the poor Bobcats couldn’t hang on :( Dad left to go home, I finished cleaning up the house, and Kylie slept in my bed with me that night. At 12:30 AM I heard my text message ding and sleepily went downstairs to see who it was. This was the message from John:

We are coming home now…don’t set the alarm…let me know you got this.

Crazy guy! So I told him I got it and went back to sleep. Sure enough, at 7:00 AM, John and Josh came in and promptly put themselves to bed :) The slept in a while and then we all had a great day catching up with each other once they woke up. It turns out they were able to sell their Sunday game tickets for $100 bucks each!

Saturday night John and I went out with some friends for dinner and to see The Hunger Games. I had been looking forward to this for so long! I was planning on going by myself once I got John his tickets, but I was super excited that he was able to go with me after all!

We met our group at a Mexican restaurant where we had a fabulous dinner and our friends got John and shot and dessert for his birthday. Seeing him with a huge sombrero was quite funny :) After dinner we rushed over to the theater and got ready to watch the movie!

I loved the movie! John watched the OSU basketball game on his phone while he watched the movie, so I’m not sure how much he actually saw (he wasn’t giving it a fair chance anyway – he had his mind made up before we went in there). And twice he phone shouted out “it’s March madness” in the quiet theater – I was not happy! :)

Sunday we went to church and then came home and relaxed. John ran an errand to get some stuff to get the mower ready and I took a tiny nap. We played with the kids and just had a relaxing, great day!

Warm Weather, Tornado Warnings and a Birthday...

Wow…this week has really been flying by! Part of the reason is because I have taken on a new responsibility at work for a few weeks that has just been eating all of my time and my days are flying by!

So last weekend was gorgeous! We were all outside most of the days and just enjoying the beautiful, above normal temperatures for this time of year. Late Sunday afternoon, we headed over to the mall to get the kids some shoes and Kylie some clothes. We were in the mall for about two hours, and when we came out, it was very dark and stormy-looking outside. We also heard the tornado sirens going off. So John quickly pulled up the radar on his phone and told us to get in the car quickly as the rain was about to let loose!

We got in the car, and our original plan was to stay put until the storm passed, but as the sirens were going off and the warnings were coming through the radio, we realized that we needed to get into a building. So we headed over to Dick’s Sporting Goods, which is where Joshie had been dying to go the whole time so he could get his new basketball. So we pull in the parking lot and in the pouring rain, I grab Ryan and Josh and Kylie follow me running while John grabs Colton. Once inside the store we shake off the water and start looking around. The kids were scared and I felt bad that no matter what I said to comfort them, they were still scared. Kylie was scared that the car was going to blow away with all of her new clothes in it :)

After a little bit, someone came over the intercom and said that anyone that wanted to was welcome to go back in their break room, so we headed back there to ride out the storm. We grabbed some snacks from the vending machine and sat and watched the news for storm updates. We were probably on in there 10 minutes before everything had passed and we could buy Joshie’s basketball and leave.

That night we watched the OU game and Dad got us all some KFC. It was a great ending to a wonderful weekend!

This whole week the kids have been on spring break. And better yet, my dad has been on spring break, and for the first time ever he has been up here the whole time! The kids have been spending the night over at his house each night and he has been hanging out with them each night. He has been having dinner with us each night and it has really been super nice having him around so much!

Another great thing about this week has been the weather! We have had record highs for three days this week and it has been absolutely gorgeous! Who would have ever thought it would have been 85 degrees during the middle of March??? It’s awesome!

Yesterday was John’s birthday. He’s not a big birthday person, which really annoys me because I am :) So every time I would ask him what he wanted to do, he would say “I don’t care.” So for his dinner, he picked Taco Bell (yes, you read that right), and then we headed to Rita’s for first day of spring free Italian Ice’s. We actually celebrated his birthday on Tuesday because he had a church meeting last night, and also, because I had to give him his present as soon as possible :) The kids and I and my parents got him a ticket to see the Bobcats play in the Sweet 16 tournament in St. Louis! I also got Josh a ticket. The two of them were picked up at 4:00 AM this morning by our brother-in-law and John’s brother. Joshie texted me at 7:00 saying they were in Indy. I have never seen two people more excited! John’s dad is already down there with the team.

So it’s been a crazy busy week, but a great one! It makes me really excited about this summer…I know it’s going to be full of activities and tons of fun…I love warm weather!!!

A GORGEOUS Day!

Today I had a meeting with the principal at the kids' school. I would like to get a crossing guard in our neighborhood, so we walked out there so I could show her the area and where kids come from when they walk to school.

After we were done, I hurried into the cafeteria just as Josh's class was leaving. I waited and saw Kylie waiting in the hallway to come in to eat and went and talked with her and her friends. Kylie was excited to see me and gave me a big hug! I sat with them for about half of their lunch time and then headed out to the playground to see Joshie.

Now normally, one might be worried about finding their child amongst tons and tons of little kids over a large area of playground. But not me. I knew right where my little boy would be...the basketball hoops :) And after he was done shooting and looked over and saw I was there, he ran up and gave me a huge hug. He kind of hung around for a while and I urged him to keep playing and not miss his recess and that I would stand there and watch him. I could not have picked a better day to be there...March 14th and it is perfectly clear and sunny and 75 degrees...I was in heaven!!!

So I watched him play for 15 minutes, and then the whistle blew and the kids made their way over to the fence to line up to head back to class. Joshie walked with me, and when he got to the line, I hugged him good-bye and started to walk through the kids to leave. All of a sudden Joshie was back in front of me giving me another hug. Talk about melting my heart! I love that little cutie so much! And it makes me sad to think that someday soon he won't be caught dead hugging his mom, so for now, I will cherish each and every hug and beg for me to come to lunch with him :)

The Last "First Steps"....

We had another exciting event happen this past weekend…Colton really started taking his first steps! He’s been leading up to this – it’s been a slow and gradual process! And at 14 months now, it's about time...my arm is really starting to hurt from carrying him around everywhere! And I’m so thankful for our kids’ technology because I wasn’t even there to see it! We were at Kylie’s meet and Joshie took the video for me with his iPod!

My little baby is really growing up :)

Colton's First Steps from Debbie on Vimeo.

Joshie Finally Lost His First Tooth!

Saturday was a big day in our house…Joshie finally lost his first tooth! It has been wiggly for a while, and the two big teeth were already up behind it. It had been painful for him for a while, and we were sure we were going to have to take him to have it pulled. But finally, Saturday night, as we were all getting ready for bed, John was able to pull the tooth out of his mouth!

The Toothfairy came and gave him $5, along with a note that said since it was his first tooth, he could keep it. So now I have two first-baby-tooth-losts in my nightstand :)

Another Fun Night...

Another fun night last night!

It was gorgeous outside, so I fed the kids a quick dinner and just as they were finishing, there was a knock at the door from the neighbors. They went out and played for a few minutes before we had to take Kylie to gymnastics. After we dropped her off, we were off to get Joshie a new bat.

Joshie is going to try out for coach-pitch Little League this year. Based on his age, he’s still supposed to be in t-ball (what a joke), but they can try out to move up. The kid is so far beyond t-ball that there is no way I could sit through a season of that! But he needed a new bat…all he had was his t-ball bat. And of course, with our new money-saving thought process, it was killing us to have to go and buy a bat. So John and the idea to check out Play It Again Sports (which was right on the way anyway). I agreed…the bat is going to get used and scuffed up anyway, who cares if we don’t get it brand new?

Ryan, Colton and I stayed in the car while they ran in, and about 10 minutes later they came out with a brand new bat that only cost $19.99!!! I guess it was last year’s model or something, but either way, it was perfect for Josh!

So we headed to the indoor batting cages to get him some practice. He is so good! His new bat worked out really well and he was doing such a great job hitting! I threw Ryan some pitches with his whiffle bat and ball and Colton was so good sitting in the stroller watching.

After Josh was done, we headed to Giant Eagle to grab a few things and then headed home. We got the little ones ready for bed and then John went back out to get Kylie. Then it was bedtime for everyone, and John and I got to watch a show together in between him running up to the computer while he was working on some things for a client. It was a great night :)

A Good Evening...

Last night was another out-of-the-ordinary night for our family :)

I was told yesterday at work that for the first time in over two years I was getting a raise. It’s very small, but hey, I’m not complaining! With that piece of good news, plus the fact that I had planned on pulling something out of the freezer (i.e. fish sticks or corn dogs) for dinner, and the cleaners had come that day and I didn’t feel like messing the kitchen up so soon, we decided to go out to dinner.

What’s funny, is with our new money-saving attitude, going out to dinner still meant that we were using a gift card and a coupon from the paper :) We headed over to O’Charlie’s (it was just the boys and us…Kylie was at Rachel’s) and had a great dinner. I got a really good drink (my celebration) and Colton cracked me up with his yelling “Dadda” at everyone that walked by and giving cheesy grins to the server.

After dinner we headed over to Ulta for me to pick up some foundation. It’s funny, again with this money-saving mentality, I have been thinking about this foundation for a week now. Before, I would have bought it the minute I wanted it, but now, I went to Ulta last week and tried it on. I wore it the rest of the day and then thought about it for a week and had finally decided that I wanted it. What a change! But when I looked at how much money I was spending on make-up it was sickening! So now I’m going through all of the stuff I already have and coming up with new looks (thanks to youtube!).

After that we picked Kylie up and once we got home, everyone got ready for bed. It was a good night that didn’t involve any cooking or clean-up :)

A "Movie" Night...

Last night was a hoot!

I came home and Colton was sleeping, which I love because it lets me cook dinner without 1.) having to worry about holding him and 2.) without having to feed him before dinner’s ready. So I made dinner (sausage and rice casserole that was fantastic!) and got to talk to John and then our neighbor came over to pick her kids up, so I got to chat with her for a little bit. Then Colton woke up and we all had a great dinner.

John had his last football game last night (we thought last week was going to be the last one, but they made it to the championships), so he started getting ready for that while I played with the kids in the playroom. Colton was all over the place, Kylie was giving Ryan a makeover (not sure about that one…) and Josh was playing with the video camera that John’s parents had given him for Christmas.

I took Colton up and fed him and put him to bed, and then the older kids and I made a movie! Josh was the narrator and camera guy; Ryan was the dad that had been shrunk down and was half big person and half kid; Kylie was the teenage daughter that was trying to figure out how to get her dad big again; and I was the mom, who gets turned into a kid when Kylie’s formula doesn’t work. We had so much fun taping and then watching it!

Then it was bedtime for everyone, which of course was met with some resistance. But by 9:00 I was able to paint my nails and watch one of my shows, which was a nice ending to the day!

Another Weekend Recap...

The weekend went by way too quickly! We didn’t even really have anything going on, and yet it seemed to fly by!

Friday night we just hung out around the house. Kylie started working on her webpages for her Invention Convention project (www.yappout.com), and the boys and I played. Then later, all the kids (except for Colton of course) headed over to my parents’ house to spend the night. John and I got to watch one of our shows we had DVRd (an episode of The Mentalist…our favorite show together) and then crashed.

Saturday morning we woke up fairly early and started making breakfast in a nice, quiet house :) Kylie came over around 8:15, followed by the other kids shortly after, and then Colton woke up around 9:00. We had a great breakfast of French toast and John’s potatoes that everyone loves! Then we made our bi-weekly trip out to Yutzy’s and then came home and just hung out around the house. John and Josh had lots of Streak for the Cash games going on (they are so funny with that!) and Kylie was working on her project. I played Cars 2 Monopoly with Ryan (his way of course) and watched lots of his hockey games. Kylie went over to Rachel’s house around 6:00 to spend the night. Then we had a great dinner of steak and chicken, and then the boys headed over to my parents’ again. I felt kind of motivated and did some major re-organizing and cleaning up in our owner’s retreat and then watched some TV.

Sunday was church and our weekly trip to Giant Eagle after church. Kylie went in with me (and Ryan) because she wanted to buy some lottery tickets. She and her friends each put in $2 and truly believe they are going to win the lottery so that they can start their own little town. It’s cute to hear her and Josh talk about what they would buy if they won the lottery (smartboards, X-Box, games).

After that it was lunch at home and another day of hanging out. I got to play with Colton a ton and got some cute pictures of him. Kylie worked (and stressed) on her project some more, and the boys played at my parents’. Sundays are kind of hard with Colton right now because he misses his morning nap at church, which throws his whole day off. No matter how hard I try to get him back on schedule, it never works and it ends up making the late afternoon/evening kind of miserable. But I know this phase will pass, and honestly, I will be sad when it does because he will definitely no longer be a baby when it does :(

We had a good dinner and then all watched America’s Funniest Home Videos and Shrek 2 before bed. We also turned on some college gymnastics which was fun for Kylie and I to watch. John and I finished watching that after the kids were in bed and then crashed ourselves.

Onto a new week… :)

Misc. Thoughts and Updates...

I know it’s the cliché statement of 2012, but what is going on with this weather??? We still have not had a snowfall that would make us even contemplate the possibility of shoveling the driveway, and Wednesday of this week (that’s right, February 29th) my car said 69 degrees when I was coming home from work! That night I rushed home and the kids and I spent as long as we could outside playing. And then today, a high of 65 degrees.

People are saying that we’re going to get slammed with a huge snowfall, but at this point, I don’t care…because it’s March, and even if it snows, it will melt quickly and spring is just around the corner, so we see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have learned two things this winter…1.) don’t listen to “predictors;” we were supposed to have this super horrible winter…that’s all I heard last summer and fall, and guess what? WRONG! And 2.) Punxsutawney Phil was wrong! I don’t think we’ve had a day of winter since that little booger told us that we would have six more weeks of it!

Anywhoo, the point of all of this is to say that for this cold-hating girl, this past winter has been an absolute dream! Even more proof that I belong down south!

As for the family, everyone is doing great…the kids are doing fantastic in school and Ryan continues to amaze us with how smart he is. And Colton is growing like a weed and letting us get some sleep :) He sleeps through the night now, but about every couple nights he wakes up and whines and either I’ll just turn on the music (love that I can do that from our end of the monitor) or John will go up and put his paci back in. Even our nightly before-bed nursing sessions are wrapping up…while he likes the comfort of them, he seems to get bored quickly, so I’m not sure how much longer those will continue.

I’m excited for the weekend…it will be cold (crazy weather…65 degrees one day, 50 the next, and then back to 60 degrees) and we have nothing going on. I’m looking forward to getting some stuff done around the house and just relaxing with the kids!

A CBJ Game Night...

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 :)

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 :)

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.

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 :)

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!

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!

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!

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 :)

A Night at the Library...

We have been having some trouble getting Josh to get his 400 minutes read each month for school. That is their reading requirement in order to get their free pizza for Book-It, and it’s the minimum that the teacher wants them to read at home. He starts the month off really well, reading at least 20 minutes per day, but then he fades off and we’re left with 4 days to get 200 minutes in. He always gets it in (mainly because I say “no iPod until you have 400 minutes” but it gets done nonetheless), but I hate the fight.

John is sympathetic to him because he too “hates to read.” I questioned him about this yesterday because, unless someone has trouble reading (i.e. disability or just difficulty), then how can you hate to read? I propose that you hate what you’re reading, not the act of reading itself. He agreed that if he’s given a sports magazine or a computer article, he reads it with interest. And we’ve always been very open to what Josh reads…he can basically read whatever he wants, just as long as he’s reading and practicing (and remember, he is a fantastic reader, so he’s not having any difficulties).

So last night we headed to the library (he was super excited) and he and John went off to pick out some books, and I took Colton and Ryan to look at books (Kylie was at Rachel’s). We have a cute little branch of our county library right here in our little town, and it has a good-sized children’s area for how small it is. The little boys and I looked at some books (while Colton scarfed down Cheerios) and John and Josh got some books.

Last night Josh read for 60 minutes (only 40 more to go tonight…yippee!). And I really had a lot of fun at the library with them (Josh loves checking books out with his own library card). I told the kids that we should make this a weekly thing :)