Weekend in Pics

Awesome All Around - Part II

Sunday...

Another one of those wake up and get going at your own pace kinda days. I was treated to sleeping in, which was lovely. Once we figured out that we weren't going to make it to Church this week we decided to head to the Children's Museum. It was actually Abby's first choice of things to do and it was an excellent choice. It has probably been a couple of years since they have been to our local museum, though Carie and Spencer have been several times recently.

We all got ready to go and opted to go out for lunch before heading to the museum. Unfortunately the museum doesn't open until 1:00 on Sundays, and well Spencer is generally ready for his nap around 1:30.

We headed downtown to the old market for lunch and it was incredible in so many ways. As we were leaving the restaurant Carie said something about this being the type of experience you envision as you head into parenthood.

We then headed down a few blocks down the street to the Children's Museum where we arrived with perfect timing. The kids had time to enjoy the exhibits outside before they opened the museum for us to go inside. I hadn't been to the museum since they remodeled it and I was way impressed. They kept all the great things from the "old" museum and enhanced it and updated it to make it a really cool place to be. I totally see us getting our use out of our membership!

Then it was time to head home for the boy's nap. Again, we were pushing it. Again he told us, on the way to lunch, that "I'm so sleepy". But again he did awesome and we had to practically peel him away from the fun.

He's now sleeping, the girls' are playing, Carie is crocheting, and I'm about to go veg out myself. Who knows what the rest of the day holds for us, but it has been a great day thus far.

Do we really have to return to the grind tomorrow?

Awesome All Around

It has been an awesome weekend and there's still time to enjoy it.

Saturday...

We had been thinking about heading to an apple orchard last weekend but then ended up getting a chance to go to the football game. So, the apple orchard was on our agenda for this weekend. Saturday morning we didn't have to be at a soccer game as it was our bye week, hooray! Well, I missed going to soccer but I didn't miss being there at 8:30! So we took our time getting ready and headed down the road. I had come across information for an orchard that looked interesting and promising. However, we had found one person who had been and couldn't recall it being all that awesome. But, it had also been years since they had been there. Hesitantly, we forged ahead.

The drive there was incredible and filled with memories. We took the back roads that we used to always take when going to Carie's folk’s old house. The girls' semi-remembered the drive and had asked to drive by Grandpa and Yia Yia's old house, so we did. A lot of good memories on those back roads! Then we headed down the county road to the apple orchard and found it without much difficulty. We made it and boy was everyone in the back of the van thrilled!

We hopped out and made our way to the barn to see what the farm had to offer. It was a "working farm" and it was a lot of fun. So much fun that I've already set reminders for us, with the links, so we can make sure we head out there for other activities next year. They had a kid’s area that had a fun corn maze, a cool and beautiful butterfly garden, and a gourd tunnel/cave. We then checked out the raspberry bushes before heading to the apples. Next year we hope to make it for strawberry season!

They had a great variety of apples to choose from. While they were fairly picked over, as expected, there were still more than enough for us to choose from. We didn't even see any red delicious apples! I'm sure red delicious apples serve their purpose in this world, but I personally prefer to avoid them. The kids enjoyed tromping through the orchard and picking the apples, especially the apples way up high that required the use of the apple picker stick thingy. After filling a few sacks with a fair amount of apples, we headed back to the barn.

Then it was time to hop on the hayrack and head to the pumpkin field. I don't think I've ever been to a pumpkin patch in September! But we were there and couldn't pass up a hayrack ride and tromping through the pumpkin patch. It was still early enough that we were able to see pumpkins in all stages of their life cycle. Practically all the pumpkins were still on the vine instead of just sitting in the field. We were amazed at the size of some of the pumpkins! Then a few rows over we found butternut and acorn squash. The kids each picked their own small pumpkin and we selected a couple squash. A quick ride on the hayrack took us back up to the barn where the kids selected caramel apples and we picked up some apple cider. It was a surprisingly inexpensive trip! We left with 13lbs of apples, 3 pumpkins, 2 squash, 3 caramel apples, a gallon of fresh cider, and a couple hours of great family fun for the low low cost of $26. It felt great to support this working farm.

Then it was time to find some lunch. It was well past lunch time by now, but thankfully we all had a great snack on our way to the apple orchard. We drove into Lincoln, stopped for some lunch, and then headed home to get the boy his nap. For him telling us "I'm sleepy" on the way to the orchard, he did awesome!

He was certainly ready for nap when we got home and he slept a solid 3 hours. Carie decided to join him and also napped for a good 3 hours. The girls and I hung out. They did some art projects. They played. They played some computer games. They joyfully helped me clean the family room. We cleaned out their dollhouse and had fun putting it all back together. Carie and Spencer finally re-appeared and it was time to make some dinner. Carie had a great suggestion to make pancakes and we certainly enjoyed them.

We even got a great football game into the evening before calling it a night. We should have turned it off and gone to bed much sooner, but it was one of those close games that could have gone either way... and shouldn't have. The ranked team was favored by 3 td's, and well they were lucky to sneak by with a win of just a field goal. So we of course had to watch until the very end.

What an awesome Saturday!

The Boy - Month 27

Spencer Rylan,

You have now turned 27 months old... you are practically 2 1/2 already! I'm not ready to yet call it 2 1/2 as we have another full month of your love, energy, and antics to savor.

Just a few days before turning 27 months old you made the big transition into your new big boy bed. I've loved witnessing your excitement over your new bed. Really though, you could care less about the actual bed. It is all about the sheets for you. You absolutely love your ball sheets. It might be wise of me to pick up a spare set! The only thing missing in this picture is your football. You've suddenly taken an interest in taking your football to bed with you and cuddling it like a stuffed friend. Of course we let you because it is too darn cute and it clearly makes you happy.













You are amazingly in tune with your needs. This is nothing new really. I just continue to be amazed. When we are out and about I love how you tell us when you are done and ready to go home. You know your limits and when you are ready to be removed from that environment. When it is meal time, it is meal time and you know it. I love that you know that you are hungry and that eating will make your body feel better. I love that you know when you are tired and ready for a nap or bed. Your "I'm sleepy" and "It's past bedtime" cracks me up.

You have an incredible love/hate relationship with "fiders". They intrigue you. You clearly want to explore. You think the "fider webs" are "so cool". But they also freak you out, especially when the "fiders" are moving.

I love listening to you talk. Thank goodness I do because you have a lot to say! You have something to say about everything. I love that you have a need to know "where are going" or "what we doing" all the time. So, we'll talk in depth about where we are going and what we are doing. Then you'll ask all over again just to make conversation. After your repeated question we'll ask you to answer your own question and you always know the answer. It never seems to stop you from asking repeatedly though.

You fill us with so much love. It melts my heart when I hear "I love you Momma" out of the blue. I hope to hold onto your little boy loves and cuddles forever.

Love,
Momma

The Transition

Spencer has made the big transition from crib to big boy bed. I'm happy to report it is going extremely well!

Sunday morning he helped us determine where his new bed should go and then helped with the minimal assembly required. He was interested, but not really excited. I was curious to see how it would all play out. We then made his new bed with spare sheets and such while the search was on for a special set of sheets just for him.

The transition began Sunday afternoon with nap. We asked him where he would like to sleep and he chose his big bed. He climbed up into his new bed, laid down, and just went to sleep. Wow!

Though, our timing couldn't have been more off. He's clearly going through a growth spurt and that coupled with the change of sleeping arrangements have him up during the night. Then, what were we thinking? It is season premier week! We could have totally jeopardized our evenings with this transition. LOL

Aside from the little bit of restlessness that will pass, all is grand.

Yesterday, after an incredible amount of searching, I happened to find a set of sheets that resembled what we were looking for. Last night Carie washed them and this morning she pulled them out of the dryer. I'm so glad I was here to witness his reaction. He was so excited about his new sheets. He saw them and exclaimed "thank you Momma, THANK YOU!!!!!" in his most excited voice ever.

This afternoon Carie put the new sheets on his bed prior to nap. He went up to his room for a nap and noticed his ball sheets and exclaimed "thank you Mommy, they are BEAUTIFUL!!!!"

This transition, thus far, has been night and day different from the transition the girls' made at about the same age. The differences are amazing and thank goodness they are. I'm not sure we could have survived another one of those transitions! LOL

Running Away

What a weekend... and it is only Saturday night. Nothing like a busy weekend to cap off a busy week. I think we'll have a "stay at home day" tomorrow. Except, the errand we must run and choir in the afternoon and and and…

So tonight we get home after being gone for 12 hours. We are all tired. We are all spent. It is approaching bedtime, but it certainly is not past bedtime. Carie and I are looking like raccoons after inappropriately (or not) applying proper sunscreen. We all concur that it is time to get jammies on and head upstairs.

Then... Spencer lost it. He totally lost it and we had meltdown city. After Carie was done wrangling him and his jammies he ran across the room yelling "I'm running away!!!!"

I know it just sounds like he was just running across the room. But every bit of his actions indicated that he'd be happy to run far far away. Size and age doesn’t matter, he’s outta here.

Dude, you’re 2! How about we cuddle and rock? I picked him up, we cuddled, he yelled some more and threw out ultimatums left and right, we rocked, and he went to bed. I think all is good now. I guess we’ll really know in the morning.

I thought they would all be a bit older before we heard the first threats of wanting to run away!

K Conferences

Yes, it is that time already. I can't believe that they've got 6 weeks of school under their belt. Our school offers 2 sets of conference times at the beginning of the year. The first conference being last night and the second one in just a few weeks. We'll then have another round of conferences later in the year. We were torn on what to choose as we saw pro's and con's to both time options. Ultimately we decided to be flexible and go to the one that worked best for the teachers. So last night it was!

Hmmm... did that mean that they needed to talk to us??? We were excited to get in on the earlier time slot to help piece things together and make sense of some of the information we are getting from the girls’ perspectives.

We went in with a few questions to ask of each teacher. The teacher also went through their spiel on what they are doing and how they are doing.

As it turns out, no big surprises. Fascinating information and minor surprises on the test results, but no big and shocking surprises came our way.

It was wonderful to have that opportunity to talk with the teacher, to see what they've been doing, to see the progress they've already made in just 6 weeks - wow! The work that they are doing is so them. It totally reflects their individual personality and passions.

It was great to see that the teacher really knows the child; their strength's, weaknesses, personalities, etc... We really feel that their perceptions are right on. We are pleased that they have already taken measures to meet their individual needs. We did ask Ellie's teacher to pursue some opportunities that we think will be beneficial for her in the long term. So I'll be excited to see where that leads us.

Yay for great first conferences! I’m glad they are getting the school year, and their school career, off to a fantastic start.

Big Boy Bed

We are on our way to acquiring the boy a new bed... a big boy bed. Soon it will be reality that our house will be crib free. How in the world did that happen so fast!?!?!?

He loves his crib. He is an awesome sleeper. When he's ready for bed, be it nap or at bedtime, he just.goes.to.sleep. This is so new to us!!! We've heard that children can do this but we've not had 1st hand experience. Why oh why we are tempting fate by changing it up, I don't know.

Except, well, he will outgrow his crib. By some standards he has outgrown it long ago. We could convert it to a "toddler bed" but in reality he's so close to outgrowing his crib mattress. So, we are going to take the plunge and just make that single big transition.

We've been casually looking at furniture options not knowing exactly what we wanted but knew exactly what we didn't want. We've been looking for that really awesome deal because oh my goodness the price tags are crazy. We also have this memory of scoring a great deal on the girls' set less than 3 years ago. So we wait and we look.

Then I came across what appeared to be the perfect solution on craigslist. These don't come up very often and when they do they are gone incredibly fast, for good reason. Luckily I seemed to be 2nd in line on my inquiry. Luckily the 1st person decided to pass on even looking at it. So after class on Monday night Carie stopped by to take a look. It was such a great deal that I didn't even care to look at it. I encouraged her to make the call. She took it!

So the plan is that we'll be picking up the big boy bed Friday evening. We'll assemble it, evaluate it in our space, and make the final decision if this is the set for us. In anticipation of it all I went and bought him a new mattress that we'll pick up after we pick up the furniture. It is so much easier the 2nd time around! We knew what we wanted and didn't spend all the time doing the information gathering that we had done before.

We've got one "extra" good mattress pad (though leaving us with no spare good ones in case of emergency) and plenty of extra girly sheets. All we really want to do yet is find a set of boy sheets that suit him. I'm sure he'll love using the girls' sheets; after all purple is one of his favorite colors. But I know how much he loves his ball sheets on his crib. He loves them so much that he immediately notices if they are missing... "Hey, where did the balls go?" I'm sure we'll find the perfect set on clearance at the most unexpected time. It often seems to work out that way.

The other exciting news is that I happened to also stumble across a posting for a stove. While we don't "need" a new stove, this may be just what we've been wanting. This may seriously bring harmony into our home! Sad but true. Theoretically we are supposed to pick that up this weekend as well. Another rare deal and it was just our lucky week.

We'll see if it all comes to fruition this weekend.

His Once A Month Opportunity

Once a month the PTA has a meeting and for the past two months we've taken the kids to school with us. They offer "childcare" to encourage parent participation. We reluctantly gave it a shot the first month just to check it out. Not only did we want to know more about the PTA efforts but we wanted to know how this childcare thing worked. It went extremely well! So last night we went for it again.

I was less impressed with the PTA meeting this month compared to the prior month. There are a lot of great efforts that the PTA supports that directly and positively impacts the students. But I feel as if I'm in a conundrum. I'm having a hard time getting excited about some of the approaches while at the same time I'm not overflowing with new suggestions. So for now, I wait. That seems to be my approach when I come into something new. I like to feel it out, see how all the pieces work, and then jump in. So I'll continue to do that and then hopefully one day I'll come up with some brilliant idea to change the world. I know, a bit ambitious.

Last nights meeting ran a bit long, again! So Carie snuck out a few minutes early to go check on the kids since it was very much the bedtime hour. She snuck into the classroom where the kids were playing and they were having a blast (understatement of the year).

The huge bonus is that the person who does the "childcare" is the school counselor. She also brings her son who I'm guessing is of middle school age. We are slowly getting to know her and she appears to be an awesome awesome lady and incredible asset to the school. So, the girls' know her from school as they've had their retreat with her and she's spent time in their class rooms. Spencer is so excited about "going to school" that I don't think he'd care who the "teacher" was. So dropping off is easier than a piece of cake. In my mind, it is also a great opportunity for our kids to get to spend time with her and for her to have the opportunity to get to know them on a more personal level.

Sure, we could hire our own sitter and the kids would be at home and at least getting ready for bed in our absence. Who, I don't know since our "regular" sitter we use so infrequently, especially since she went off to college last year. But we certainly couldn't hire someone this awesome for this low low rate of "free".

So Carie shows up and they are playing the freeze game and dancing to some fun music. They were really into it! When I arrived they were still dancing and hopping away. It was so much fun to watch! It was fun to watch him engage and participate at this level. It was awesome and heart warming to hear the counselor comment on his personality. There is no doubt in my mind that he would enjoy and benefit from a preschool experience next fall.

So, it looks like we have motivation to go to the monthly PTA meetings. It gives Spencer a chance to "go to school". It gives the girls' a chance to potentially be around their school friends in a less "academic" environment and a chance to get to know the counselor better. And it gives us a chance to participate in the school stuff together, get to know other parents, and hopefully some day make a difference.

If the kids weren't having so much fun and if Spencer didn't really enjoy his shot at "going to school", I could see us being less committed to attending the meetings.

Playing Catch

This weekend the boy and I were in our front yard playing catch with his football.

We were having a great time. We'd toss it back and forth. Then I figured out that he wanted me to throw it to him so he could kick it. Wrong sport, but oh well. Then I drop kicked it and he of course had to try that. He can do it with a regular ball, but a football seems to be a bit more challenging. He was determined though.

With each toss or kick he made he would say "I threw/kicked it fart!"

Each time Carie and I would crack up laughing. Yes Spencer, you threw/kicked it FAR.

The Joys Of The Season

Saturday morning started out with a chilly 38 degrees. I can attest to it being unbelievably cold since we were at the girls' soccer game at 8:30 that morning. We totally should have had more layers on us but it seems easy to forget just how cold 38 really is. It has been so long! The high was supposed to be 62. I'm not positive it ever made it! I do recall it making it to 57 though.

After soccer we returned home and the kids were treated to hot chocolate with marshmallows! We then putzed around the house the rest of the morning and totally vegged out the entire afternoon and evening. The chili turned out fantastic, if I do say so myself. Thanks to Betsie for making and sharing those divine cinnamon rolls. We also made, at the last minute, a pot of corn chowder from a recipe Carie has wanted to try. It turned out good and Carie really enjoyed it. It was incredible comfort food on an incredibly chilly and relaxing day. It was great to hang out with the kids. It was great to give them time to just relax and be. I love how they are able to play so well together... and thoroughly enjoy it. They also really enjoyed having everyone at our house.

Sunday was another relaxing day. The temps were warmer and the kids enjoyed playing outside. That afternoon they decided that choir would be great. Well, at first Abby didn’t think she wanted to go but it wasn't long before she changed her mind. Spencer ended up going as well and it sounds like he had a great time once he warmed up. There are a lot of great motions to the current song and it fits him just perfect. I'll be surprised though if he opts to stand with the group and sing during service. Time will tell.

Today we are back to a balmy 90 degrees.

TGIF

YAY it is Friday! We are so looking forward to the weekend.

Tonight I get to take Abby to a classmate’s birthday party while Mommy, Ellie & Spencer do a special project at home. Tomorrow happens to be our treat day for soccer and Carie it itching to play with her cake decorating stuff prior to her next class. So, she and the kids are making soccer ball cupcakes - PINK soccer ball cupcakes! Ellie is quite excited to have this special project to do while Abby is at her party.

The temps are dropping for some unseasonably chilly weather. The "big" game against USC is Saturday night and immediately follows the Michigan vs. Notre Dame Game. We aren't fans of either Michigan or Notre Dame, but come on... someone's gotta win! We plan/hope to watch some of the earlier game and then hopefully all of the big game. With a 7pm start, the kids will get to watch part of it before heading to bed. Then the adults will get to veg out kid free for the remainder of the game.

I threw a batch of chili together last night so it can simmer all day on Saturday. We'll be treated to some yummy homemade cinnamon rolls to go with it. Yummm... I can't wait!

A perfect Saturday is coming together! We are so excited!

Now to figure out how chilly it will be on the soccer field tomorrow morning and what kind of layers we need to put on the girls'. It is supposed to get down to 40 tonight with a high of only 62 tomorrow. Soccer game is, of course, at o' dark 30.

Sunday's plans are up in the air. The girls' are scheduled to sing in Church on Sunday but we've not made it to either of the 2 rehearsals. We need to chat with the girls' about their commitment to choir this year and make some decisions. It isn't their "fault" that they've missed the rehearsals, it just turned out that way. While I want them to participate, if they want to, I also don't want to send the message that it is okay to skip all the "work" and have all the "fun".

The choir director left us an incredibly nice message this week and we need to get back to her. She's an awesome lady and I'd love it if the girls would want to participate. But, we've gotten mixed signals. It is time to make some choices.

About To Go Mad

Part of me wishes this would happen to the piece of machinery making that ridiculous beep beep beep noises at ungodly times in the morning.














JUST because it is light out doesn't mean the people living in the houses RIGHT NEXT TO YOU are awake. Surely you know there is a whole neighborhood on the other side of those trees... the trees along our fence line. Surely you know that beep beep beep sound echoes in that valley in the quietness of the morning.

I know I'm not a morning person, but 6:00 AM doesn't seem to neighborly.

I Want A Redo!

Oh my, what a day. Yesterday was insanely crazy and last night didn't get any better. This morning I woke and requested a redo! Not that I want to repeat any of it, but I'd love less stress and more sleep.

It all seemingly started yesterday about 12:30 in the afternoon. I had been contemplating leaving my desk to grab some lunch. I was about to do so, then the phone rang. That was the beginning of the end. It was a work call and something is going down and I was asked to help. Sure! But honestly, the analysis I've done in the past has taken me - oh - a solid week to pull off. And that is after I get all the appropriate data in my hands. At this point I'm starting from scratch. I have minimal information, no data, and 1/2 the day is gone. Oh, and the client is on the plane right now and will be here on Tuesday. As a bonus, more information is shared as the day goes along and the scope seemingly shifts.

I'm sure glad I at breakfast because lunch is now the odds and ends from my desk drawer.

As the day precedes my stress level elevates. I finally check in with Carie in the afternoon only to be reminded of her class that evening. Oh SHIT! I totally knew about it. I've been looking forward to it. I remembered all weekend that the first class was Monday. But from the moment I woke yesterday it wasn't even on my radar. She suggests that I finish up and she'll just be late. Yeah, that isn't going to work. I fear that she wouldn’t just be late; she’d miss the whole thing. I have no idea how long it will take me to finish up. It doesn't look promising.

So I suggest that she bring the kids to me, I'll take them out for dinner, and she'll go to her class. That worked out pretty well since they were pretty much ready to go anyways and that gave me a bit more time to be productive and get a handle on things. Then the kids got to go to a play place that they love that we don't usually get to go to. All along I'm thinking about how to pull off the rest of the evening. I decide that we'll swing back by work after dinner and I'll grab the files I need. The kids were excited about the prospect of going to Momma's work!

It was really important to me to get the kids home and in bed. It was a school night and they need to stay on routine. They also needed a bath/shower, but that wasn't going to happen. It would have to happen in the morning which guarantees a rushed morning. So I'd just grab and send the info I needed and hope that I could make the necessary progress at home once the kids were in bed.

Shortly after arriving to work my phone rings. It is Carie and they are done (early) with their class. How she knew to call me at work, I don't know. But the timing was impeccable. She suggests that she'll come back and get the kids, take them home, and I'll stay and do what I need to do. I'm feeling bad. I want to be home to help. But this is really the best solution.

The kids had a blast at my work! They blew up balloons, drew on them, tossed them around, and ate too many chocolate chip cookies in the short time they were there. They thought it was the best!

Finally my project was done and sent off at nearly 10:30. It was time for me to head home!

I can live without redoing all of that. While I don't like being at work until 10:30, it is extremely rare and I don't mind. Overall my job is incredibly flexible and doesn't require those extra hours.

Once home we go through the necessary stuff to get things ready for the next day. Today is picture day so we had to fill out all the forms, etc... Carie then surprises me by showing me that she got the new lights up in the kitchen. That was way exciting an impressive! It is starting to get noticeably dark earlier and we needed working lights!

The rest of the night I can live without repeating.

I finally turned my light off at 12:30 only to hear Spencer calling for us by 12:45. I go to him and he wants up, he wants to cuddle, and he wants to go downstairs. So I take him to bed with me, which was nice. He's in a phase where he needs extra cuddling and closeness. Coincidently I had also just been thinking, in that long 15 minutes of darkness and quietness, about the time he did sleep with us and how he'd cuddle up next to me. Turning on our heated mattress pad brought back all those memories.

So we all settle in and sleep the best we can until about 3:30 when he requests a cup of milk. So we get a cup of milk and get all settled again until about 5:30 when he was again awake. Carie took him up to his room to rock. I must have fallen back asleep as I didn't hear her return. But the earth movers started making a great deal of noise at around 6:00. I don't know what they are doing behind our house, but it is loud. Then Ellie appeared out of nowhere and joined us in bed at about 6:30 with cold toes (that didn't bother her!) and something wrong with her thumb. Shortly after 7 Carie got Ellie into the shower and brought Abby downstairs. Abby was not pleased that it was morning so she and I cuddled for a bit and commiserated. We both wanted to go back to sleep. But instead we joined Ellie in the shower and got our day on its way.

I sure hope tonight goes better!

A Family Day

Another awesome day on the books.

The boy woke early, per his new routine. He cuddled in bed with us for a bit, then turned over and requested a show. That gave me another 20ish minutes to come to grips with the reality that I must get out of bed.

The boy and I then went downstairs with the hopes that Mommy could get a few more z's. A real treat for her! The boy and I had great quality play time. He was in heaven with his new box of marbles. He loves marbles! We built marble mazes, raced marbles, and figured out that it was cool to race the marbles down tubes... tubes that really belong to the swimming pool that has been disassembled. But it was "cool"! Mommy dislikes marbles about as much as Spencer loves them. We probably ought not tell her about the dozens of marbles that are likely under the couch. I'll retrieve/rescue them soon!
















Then slowly other members of the household came to and we decided that a trip to the Children's zoo would be a good thing to do today. The Children's Zoo will only be open for another month, so our time was running out to get another visit it. We also got to use the rest of our passes for a couple of train rides and a few pony rides. The butterfly pavilion was also open, though clearly about to close for the season. The kids didn't know though and they had a great time.

It was also our first jeans and jackets day in months. The weather has taken quite a turn and we are thoroughly enjoying it.

We then stopped by Grandpa & Grandma's house for Spencer to take a nap and ended up spending the rest of the day in Lincoln. After going out to dinner with Grandpa & Grandma we headed home and arrived with just enough time to ride bikes "for 5 minutes". Nearly every time we come home Spencer asks to ride bikes "for a minute" or "for 5 minutes". Then it was off to bed! We managed to get lights out nearer to our goal time than I anticipated. Yay!

Back to reality tomorrow.

Awesome Day!

What an awesome day!

We started off with soccer this morning. While we started the day far too early for our liking, it is what it is. The girls' had a great game this morning! Aunt Betsie & Uncle Mark even surprised the girls by coming to watch their game.

The rest of the day was just hanging out, relaxing, family time, and a LOT of college football. Most everyone, except Spencer and I, were doing little craft projects while watching "the" game. Spencer then blessed us what a phenomenal nap and an incredible demeanor after his "great nap".

After "the" game the kids actually started getting into watching football so we just hung out and watched games the rest of the day.

It was an incredibly relaxing and rejuvenating day!

Hmmm... now how to continue the trends into tomorrow? What shall we do? But first, more football.

A Lull

It's been a week without activity... on the blog that is. We've had a bit of downtime at home as well, but there never seems to be a dull moment. This seems to be the time of year where we find relief from our busy summer schedule. It is nice to have some downtime!

We've been keeping busy with school stuff and soccer twice a week. We've had a school skate party, PTA meetings, and a fundraiser already.

We also hacked up the landscaping in our front yard and hauled all the trimmings away. That was quite an effort! But we totally scored on dumping all the stuff! But hey, at least our yard now looks trimmed. That would be just the front yard though. The back is still in sad shape. But we have plans, big plans for the backyard. Thank goodness those plans do not involve heavy machinery. I couldn't take that again!

We even started cleaning out the garage and wow does it look so much better. It is nice not feeling that instant cringe when we open the garage door and pull in. To finish it off we just need to figure out how to better store some items... specifically the pile of kid items. I am determined to get the car into the garage come winter, determined I say!

Spencer just turned 28 months old and I've been meaning to write about all he's been doing. Maybe I'll get around to it before he turns 29 months, maybe not.

Labor Day weekend was thoroughly enjoyed with a long 4-day weekend. The much anticipated college football season has begun. We relaxed, watched, and cheered our Huskers onto victory with their opening game on Saturday. We can hardly wait until the next game, which is just this coming Saturday. This looks to be a promising year for our Huskers!

On Sunday we enjoyed some time at a nearby pool/water park that was set to close after the weekend. The pool season has finally come to an end. However, swim lessons are just around the corner.

Monday was more relaxing combined with a bit of shopping and a nice lunch out. Nice in that it wasn't fast food for a change! I then got to play with my camera and new gadgets for a bit before tackling the garage project.

Now we are trying to get back into the groove of everyday life after 4 days of playing.