New year, new me!

If you know me, you know how technologically UN-savvy I am. (I dread getting a new cell phone because it means I have to relearn how to work the darn thing.) I am what I believe they call a late adapter. I come around to new gadgets, it just takes me awhile. This Christmas I am launching into a new era for myself via the help of my lovely family. I received a Kindle (not the fire, again, think basic), a i pod (shuffle, as few buttons to work as possible), and the family got a Wii!! So. Fun! And you know what? I worked with the Kindle for awhile tonight...it wasn't so bad! I bought a book from Amazon (for 2.99. If you know me, you also know I'm a big ol' cheapo) and checked one out from my local library. New toys are nice!

And the Christmas season is over, which is always a little sad. The tree is out in the yard, the decor is down, the goodies are getting eaten up. However, there's always the fun of starting fresh in the new year, coming up with resolutions (finally run that 10k?) and creating a whole new set of memories. I love holidays with the kids, and I don't just mean Christmas. Soon it will be Valentine's day. Then we'll be doing Easter egg hunts. Going to Fireworks for the fourth. Eating watermelon at the school. Not to mention a few birthdays and an anniversary in there. :) So much to look forward to.

Happy New Year!

Note to self.

As you can tell from the title, this post really is to me, from me. It's been a long day. Grady has been a really poor listener. I don't know how many times either Josh or myself would repeat the same thing 5-6 times before Grady would obey. Soooo frustrating. He had a few time outs and was sent to his room at least twice. After dinner, Josh pulled the cars out of the garage so the kids could go out and run around and burn off some energy. Great in theory, but as it turns out, they just fought over toys. Ugh! I finally told Grady (around 6:15) that the next time he did something naughty, it would be inside for him. I think he made it around 4 minutes before he made his sister cry again. I ordered him in, stripped him down, and put him in the bath upstairs. And not two minutes later we went from tears and whining to singing and laughing.

Sometimes I'm such an idiot.

When kids (at least mine, I'm no parenting expert) are acting up, they are bored/attention seeking. I think we all know this intuitively. However, I react in the opposite way of what I should. I tell them to play in the living room or watch TV because I'm busy. It never works, and we all end up good and mad. I'm going to do a little experiment and see if I can nip this in the bud next time. When Grady is in that state, I'm going to stop what I have going on and sit down and give him 20 minutes of solid attention. (We probably won't starve if dinner is a little late.) It's very optimistic. And I have a very short memory. Hence the blog post.

Last Christmas celebration tomorrow, should be a good day. :)

After the holiday update.

Well, I didn't get a kitten for Christmas. (But we still have Josh's family to celebrate with, so it could still happen....?) I DID however, get an awesome cat print apron! So I guess that kind of counts. (And no litter box to empty, a win-win.) Christmas thus far (again, we have another Fri) has been awesome. The kids did a great job taking turns opening presents and have gotten some really fun, thoughtful gifts. Their favorites seem to be Noah's Ark and a doctor kit (both Kingsley) and Superhero stuff for Grady...Batman and Superman action figures, a Superman pillow, and two super hero shirts. (He's really into the Superheros, if you couldn't tell.) He also got a backpack to take his things I got Josh a remote start for his truck and he got me a necklace. (Which he said that I could return if I wanted, haha. I really want a leather jacket, so if I find one, that might have to happen!)

Today we had TWO play dates! Could we BE more popular? This morning we had friends to our house. Maybe not the best idea as Josh was fixing the upstairs toilet and we sprung a little leak in the dining room. It happens. Nothing like yelling at kids, "No! Don't stick that baby in the pot! It has toilet water in it!" :) It was fun though.

This afternoon was another play date, which we were late to due to an emergency Blaines then Menards run. Again, it happens. :) But sooooo fun to catch up with a friend from high school that I haven't seen in years! She and her three little ones are beeeuuuttiiiful and it was fun to see them after a lot of Facebook and blog following. And she is my hair bow hookup (and makes the cutest little girl bows) so I literally made her crack open her purse for some I could buy off her! :) (They may have been her little girls....sorry, Tori.) :)

Right now Josh and I are hanging out, watching TV. (He has the week off work.) We found a show on Netflix called "Till Death" and if you have Netflix, I highly recommend you check it out. It compares a newly married couple to their neighbors, who have been married 20 years. Josh and I are going on eight, but boy do some of those fights sound familiar!!! :)

I'm sure I won't be on here again till January, so Happy New Year!

All I Want for Christmas...

Besides peace on earth and good will toward men. It's a kitten!! I have been bitten by the kitten bug.

Like this one......














Or...maybe this guy...


Or this one?

Ok, I can't get the labels to post BY the pictures, but you get the idea....

Now. Who is gonna tell my husband and make it happen? I will take it in a nice white box (with air holes) and a red ribbon, under my Christmas tree.......:)

And I'm down a body part.

Just a quick note to update you on yesterday's surgery. Other theme of the post...guys are JERKS!! The surgery was at 9:30. I was of course nervous about it but it went fine. I remember going into the OR and the anesthesiologist telling me that I would soon be "feeling groovy." :) I remember thinking to myself that I didn't know what that even meant. As it turned out, I was not up to partying with that guy because I passed out about 3 seconds later. (They later told me that I was out from the relaxant, not the anesthetic, haha.)

I got back to the room around 11, and don't remember much from before that. Things went well, but I was nauseous from the pain meds (and nothing in the tummy to balance them out) and the blood running down the back of my throat. Yuck. So I'm pretty out of it and doing my best not to barf cause i know that would kill my throat. Also, I'm not really able to talk. This is when we get to point two of my post....guys are jerks. Josh is normally very considerate.....let me just say that yesterday was a bad day for an off day. Josh waits until I laid down and then says he's taking off to get some lunch. Ummmm....ok. I simply assumed it would be somewhere in the hospital...he's gone for over an hour (ran some errands, and no, he wasn't getting me flowers) then proceeded to bring lunch back in with him. That's fine...except it was a sub and a bag of chips. Gaaaaaawd. I asked him not to eat the chips, at least not 4 inches from my head, and he told me to "Just relax." Every time I lift my head, my heart races and I have the puke thing again, so I'm back to focusing on not puking after that...........as he eats his chips, watches videos on youtube and snorts with laughter every minute or two. I block it out. the next thing i know, my whole bed is shaking every time he laughs.

He has his #$&( feet up! At that point, I tell him to get his feet down and that he's welcome to leave. He tells me that i need to sit up and start eating or we're never gonna get out of there. it was like 2! They said we wouldn't leave until 5 or 6 AT BEST. He later told me i shouldn't even BE sleeping (I think because that meant i wouldn't be able to sleep at night?). The afternoon was filled with comments like that. (And comments about how the chair wasn't comfortable and how he was getting sore from sitting there...that took me back to when I had our kids and "all the standing around was making his legs so TIRED!!! Lol...it's funny now, not so much then.)

The night got worse before it got better, but I won't subject you to that part. All's well that end's well...I got discharged around 7:30 and then we went to the pharmacy and got home around 8 or so. I was out again. Just woke up this morning at 5:45 and am feeling MUCH better. :) And ready for visits and sherbert. :)

Pictures to come...

I love Christmas. I always have. Who doesn't love getting up on Christmas morning and hanging out with family while opening stacks of presents?? However, it's only the last couple of years that i've been getting into the spirit of the season. I don't remember having many Christmas traditions growing up...we went to my grandma's Christmas eve, then usually a church service, and stayed at home Christmas day. Season start to finish = two days.

So it used to drive me nuts when Josh would start listening to Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving. I saw decorations as clutter. And when he talked about making gingerbread houses, all I could think of was the sticky mess it would make. (Ok, that wasn't all I could think about. I'm not a TOTAL grinch.........but it was a consideration.) And, to be fair, it hasn't been all that long since I've been out of school as a student and I'm still there as an instructor. So often, I think to myself, "Once the semester is over, then I'll begin to think about the holidays."

However, I've changed lately! I don't know if it's having kids that appreciate the season and the fun things we do, or if Josh's enthusiam for the holidays is slowly wearing me down. :) We've started doing some (hopefully) memorable things with the kids to celebrate and get into the Christmas spirit. We found and cut down our own Christmas tree. Very fun even in spite of the freezing cold temps! (And if you know me, you know I HATE to be cold.) We made and decorated sugar cookies....made the dough from scratch, cut out shapes, baked them, made our own frosting, dyed it different colors, and decorated. Messy. Delish.) We have the book Elf on a Shelf and have read that and begun to have Max the Elf (Grady named him) show up in different places. The kids got letters from Santa (via a lady from Bertch), and got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. And on Christmas eve, we will go around and look at Christmas lights. (Last year we found a neighborhood where every street had a theme, and a few houses even had music sychronized to the light display! It was amazing!!) We will also read both The Night Before Christmas and the Christmas story (in the kid's Bible) and hit up a Christmas church service. Most important of all? Just about everything listed above is done to a soundtrack of Josh's beloved Christmas music. :)

When the kids are a little bit older, there are other traditions I want to implement. For instance, I really want to do the Adopt a Family program, and have them learn about the importance of giving. I would love to see them in Christmas plays at church. And we have two healthy children...but many are not. I would love to see them do something to volunteer at the local hosptial...take toys to sick kids? I'm not sure how that would work but seems like it would be great to check into.

Pictures of some of the fun to come. What are your special holiday traditions??

Whew!

What a weekend! I realize it's only Saturday night, but I'm afraid if I don't make a blog entry today I won't have the energy tomorrow. :) Here's what we've been up to...

Josh and I had a date night Friday night. We went to see the UNI Varsity Men's Glee Club Concert. Soooo nice. I have fond memories of going when I was in high school and my brother was in it. I didn't think it was as good last night....maybe because my brother has long since graduated. Maybe because the long term director Bob Burns is no longer there. Anyway, it was still good and I had 8 past and present students in the show, so it was fun to pick them out and watch them. :) Anyway, it still was nice to dress up and sit in the dark next to my husband and enjoy some fun and Christmas music. Gets you all feeling festive, you know? :)

Today was also busy. Saturday mornings are always a blur of getting up, getting the kids a bath, and making breakfast (you know, as opposed to opening a breakfast, toasting a breakfast, pouring milk on their breakfast....you get the idea.). This morning I did cheesy eggs, sliced bananas, and toast. In case you are wondering. No, nothing fancy. But different. Anyway. After breakfast I ran into town, picked up some more Christmas presents, and came back home just in time to make lunch. (Here is where I use the make loosely. I just warmed up some pizza pasta I made last night.) :) A workout during nap/rest time, and then the four of us headed in to a UNI football playoff game. SO FUN! It was Grady and Kingsley's first UNI game, and they did so good! They loved it! I wish I had a picture of all of us in our gear... I still did not get to fulfill my life long dream of getting on the Jumbotron. Someday. Sigh. :)

One other thing I've been up to...I'm beginning to meal plan by week. I know, lots of people have been doing this for a long time. Not me. I go to the grocery store, buy a million things, and then come home with 2-3 meals planned out and then just go from there. Yep. I make a lot of runs back to the store when I'm in town or to Kwik Star. (My little sweet town does not have it's own grocery store.) This is a different, refreshing approach....I know what we're going to have each night and I know I have the stuff to make it. However, I am lacking on the other stuff...lunch stuff. Snack stuff. People that meal plan/grocery shop like this....do you have every meal planned out? How do you account for the other food needed? Any tips that you have for me would be greatly appreciated! :)

Have a fabulous weekend, y'all.

Update to the Christmas letter...

I sent a copy of our letter to Josh last night at work. His reply back? "Looks good, babe, but we are kind of boring..." Shoot! That's right! I forgot to talk about our trip to the Cayman Islands, bungee jumping this summer, our recent lottery winnings, the three nights Josh spent in jail....haha oh wait, that's right...we ARE boring!! :-D (And I'm ok with that....)

Our CHRISTMAS LETTER!! (And it's still technically November.....)

It's been so long, blog!! Sorry....to make it up to you, I'm posting my Christmas letter HERE first! It's like getting an advance copy of a book! (Only...not.) Enjoy these updates, though it's likely nothing you don't already know, blog-reading friends....:)

Happy Holidays from the Heimann family!

Josh – Roxanne – Grady – Kingsley

We hope this letter finds you as happy and well as we are! Here’s what we’ve been up to this year….

Josh is still a supervisor at Bertch Cabinets, and still seems to enjoy his job. He’s kept busy during his off hours as well…not only did he finish our basement (it’s gorgeous) and install a patio and fence in the backyard, but he’s also picked up some “little” jobs on the side cutting down trees (his passion) and doing handy-man work.

Roxanne is still teaching at UNI, and I am still loving the work and the opportunities that I have there. I’m also enjoying my first school year without being pregnant or caring for a newborn in four years! (Full nights of sleep on a consistent basis are ammmmazzzzzing!) I keep busy with work, the kids, and the house, and have even found time to take up old hobbies (entertaining!) and work out on a fairly consistent basis. One goal for 2012 is to run a 10k. (On paper = it’s official!)

Grady (3.5) is growing up. He had his first swimming lessons this past summer and I daresay he was a lifeguard favorite. J He did a great job listening to directions and especially enjoyed being able to go down the waterslide. He also started three year old preschool this fall and loves it. He’s an old pro with letters, colors, and numbers, and is really enjoying the fun activities that they do. His loves are trucks, playing Superheros (especially with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Annie), cars, Dora the Explorer, painting, playing outside, and of course, his baby sister. He also loves helping his daddy fix things around the house.

Kingsley (1.5) is growing and learning new things every day! Her vocabulary has exploded lately, and she’s saying phrases like, “Where’d it go?” and “Give it back!” She even minds her manners and says please and thank-you…sometimes even without prompting! She knows many animal sounds and body parts and loves her B (her stuffed purple bear), and playing with all of Grady’s toys. Both she and Grady still go to their MeeMaw’s house (Josh’s mom) two days a week and love that as well.

We’ve been able to do more fun things with the kids this year than in the past. We took them on a short getaway with another family in June to Des Moines, and had a ton of fun at the hotel, and going to the zoo. We were also able to go to a waterpark in Dubuque with the entire Shontz side of the family and that was fun and relaxing. (Grady was asking to go back to the hotel for weeks, and we have another waterpark trip planned for this winter.) We also had the opportunity to go to Iowa Falls for a river boat ride with the Heimann side for Mark and Teri’s anniversary. We’ve kept busy closer to home as well with camping, trips to the pool and the library, movie nights, story time, play dates, hay rack rides, pumpkin and apple picking, church, football games, and establishing our own holiday traditions.

Josh and I have also been able to do some things on our own this year. We went on a canoe/camping trip with friends in August, and plan to make that a yearly venture. We have also been to a couple of comedians, a concert, and have enjoyed regular date nights

If you haven’t gathered it so far, we are so blessed and are looking forward to a fun, healthy, and prosperous 2012. From our family to yours, happy holidays.

Weekend Update

Feels like it's been awhile since I created a post. Some things to note...

Kingsley turned 1.5 and had her well child check last week. She is 75th percentile for height and a tad less than the 10th for weight. Still our little peanut, but doing well!! She has so many words now....pop, please, thank you, go, mommy, daddy, pappa, kitty, meow, puppy, ball, shoes, juice, poop...:) So fun to see her taking off, verbally. She loves playing with Grady, watching mama cook, treats, and cats and dogs. She dislikes the church nursery (though she did a pretty good job in there yesterday! I didn't get paged.) :) Our little punkin.

Other weekend updates....

We had friends from Dike over Friday night. They have an 11 month old and another baby due in Feb. Just hearing that makes me feel tired......:)

Josh did a little handy man job Sat - Sun. He put a new floor in a friend's bathroom. It looks FABULOUS. He was sore and tired last night, but I know they love it!

The countdown to 29 is on!!

That reminds me...Josh, Grady and Kingsley came to visit me at work Friday. As soon as Grady was in the door, he said, "Momma! Daddy just bought you a ring!" Hahah. I convinced Josh Friday night that as long as I knew about it, I might as well just get it! It's gorgeous, looks a lot like this pic...the stone is more circular and less ovalish, but overall, that's about it. Love it! Happy early Birthday to me!! :)

Some day we'll laugh...

I have been wanting to go shop at the outlet malls at Williamsburg for a really long time now. Like, a really, REALLY long time. Banana Republic, J Crew, Gap...how can you go wrong? We got up yesterday morning and I mentioned it again. (This has been a weekend day ritual for awhile now.) I think Josh was feeling a bit guilty since he was gone the whole day before (watching the Iowa game with friends, then just hanging out after that) so he said to get ready, we were going. Wahoo!

It's about an hour and 45 minutes from our house, and everything was going well for the first hour and twenty or so. The kids were contentedly watching a movie and playing in the back seat, and Josh and I actually got some adult conversation time. We were about five minutes from the mall when we noticed that Grady had gotten awful quiet in the back seat. Josh asked him if he was ok, and didn't get much of a response. He asked him if he was going to puke and got a nod. We pulled over, I opened up the back door...no time to get him out of the car. He let loose, all over himself, the car seat, the car....NOTHING smells worse than barf!!! Poor little guy. As soon as he threw up, he obviously felt much better. We continued on.

Josh dropped me off at Old Navy and I ran in and grabbed him a new pair of pants and a shirt, then I led him into the mall bathroom to change him. Imagine the looks we got. :) It was mostly smooth from there...I even got to shop before we got back in my smelly car to come home. The car is clean (but still smells bad!) and another adventure was had............:)

Updates as promised....

1)

My updates....

The pumpkin bars were gross. Weird texture. Not sweet enough. Not enough frosting in the world to fix that mess. Pitched.
2) The pumpkin carving was fun. The roasted seeds were gross. Pitched. Haha. Noticing a trend?
3) Trick or treating was perfect. So fun, the kids loved it and Grady remembered to say both "trick or treat" and "thank you" at almost every house. He also was shameless about asking for a treat for his sissy as well. (She was riding in the wagon.) Thus, we have double the candy that we've been denying to the kids yet eating like it's going out of style ourselves........no more candy!!! Happy Halloween!! :)

Carving pumpkins and making bars!

Happy Halloween!! We have recovered from a lost costume snafu and are ready for trick or treating today! (In case you missed my Facebook post...we could not find Grady's costume for his Halloween party at preschool Friday. Searched high and low and at the last minute, decided to throw him in swim trucks, a t, and goggles and call him "swimmer man." Grady actually loved it, BUT since finding his Spiderman costume (in the bottom drawer of my dresser, under some workout clothes) he has not let it out of his sight! He slept with it last night, and when he couldn't find it in the middle of the night, he called me until I came up and dug it out of the tangled sheets. I suppose that's fair.)

Anyway, I digress. This post is about the fun things we're up to today and the yummy treats that I am making! I thought today would be another working Saturday (like last week, when we took another tree down) but it turned out to be free. So this morning we carved up some pumpkins...Josh and Grady worked on one, Kingsley and I on the other. I don't think you would have any trouble figuring out who did which! Josh and Grady made a scary face, while Miss K and I carved an H into ours. Pictures to follow.

Of course I had to do something with those pumpkin seeds! I am trying my hand at roasting them for the first time. Here's the process I am following....scoop them out, de-gunk as much as possible, then boil for about 10 minutes to further separate gunk from seeds. Did all that, now have the seeds spread out on a cookie sheet to dry for about 24 hours. Then, I'm going to mix them in 2 T. melted butter and 1 t. of garlic salt and roast for, I think, 45 min at 350. I heard they are DELISH hot...we'll have to see!!

I am also making pumpkin bars..I would love to say it's from the pumpkin as well, but that's just not true! Canned all the way...I have no idea how they go from the pumpkin to the canned stuff, but I don't think I have that in me. :) I replaced the cup of oil with a cup of applesauce (holla, Claire!) and reduced the sugar by a half cup. Now, I don't know how to go about frosting them...or should I not?

The kids cannot wait for trick or treating tonight!! I have a little Spiderman and a little purple dragon. Pictures to follow, as well as a report on my treats! Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday I decided to get into the Halloween spirit a bit and make some mummy cupcakes with Grady. I actually made the cupcakes while he was resting and left them bare for him to decorate. I decided to be sneaky and give them a healthy makeover. I have made muffins before with a spiced cake mix and canned pumpkin or pie filling instead of the eggs and oil that it calls for. This time, I had a couple of over-ripe bananas on the counter that I decided to use instead. I simply beat the cake mix and bananas together until thick and smooth. I put them into 12 cupcake liners and baked for around 18 minutes total at 350. They came out sweet and dense and the tops just slightly crunchy. Yum! Then I let Grady decorate with white frosting (since it was a mummy, we just needed a few stripes!) and two M&M's for the eyes. Absolutely delish! He loved them. I did too. I had three....oops. :)

Grady is really excited about Halloween. It's so fun that he remembers and understands things now. He was talking about going trick or treating the other day and is really looking forward to it. He will be Spiderman, and Kingsley is going as a Purple Monster. Pictures to follow. :)

Grady's best friend.

It's not Kingsley. If you ask Grady who his best friend is, it's AVA, the sweet little girl who lives across the street. I think it's mutual too...look at this pic from last night.

Grady and Ava go to preschool together, and every day when I pick him up we have roughly the same conversation.

Me: Grady, how was school?

Grady: Good.

Me: What did you do?

Grady: Played with AVA!

Me: What did you play with?

Grady: Blocks. (Or xylophone or trains or cars or "upstairs") WITH AVA!!!!!

He also asks if she can come home with us practically every day. So cute! I am a little worried though, for the day that Ava is sick and misses preschool. I don't know if Grady knows any other kids' names! (I hear Darren every once in awhile, who is also an adorable little boy. Maybe we'll have to have a playdate with his mommy to make sure that Grady has 2 friends.) :)

Also - Ava loves MaKingsley, as she says. Soooo cute. She is welcome at our house any time.

IN OTHER NEWS....I am officially back to my pre-babies weight. WAAAHHHHHHOOOOOOOO!!!!! Well, my pre-baby "high"....you know how things fluxuate a bit??? It still feels good though!! Everything in my closet fits...and some stuff is (gasp) too big! My goal is to weigh what I did when I started dating Josh. 6-7 lbs to go!

Yum

In other news, this is what's for supper tonight. Assuming that spinach in my fridge is still good...ish.

Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake
8 oz uncooked rigatoni
1 T olive oil
1 c chopped onion
1 (10 oz) pack frozen spinach, thawed
3 c cubed, cooked chicken breasts
1 (14 oz) can Italian-style diced tomatoes, drained
1 (8 oz) container Philadelphia chive & onion cream cheese
½ t salt, ½ t pepper
1½ c shredded mozzarella cheese
Prepare rigatoni according to pkg directions. Spread oil
on bottom of 11x17 in baking dish; add onion in a single layer. Bake at 375 for
15 minutes or just until tender. Transfer onion to large bowl, set aside.
Drain chopped spinach well, pressing between paper
towels. Stir in rigatoni, spinach, chicken, & next 4 ingredients into onion
in bowl. Spoon mixture into dish & sprinkle evenly with shredded mozzarella
cheese. Bake covered at 375 for 30 minutes; uncover & bake 15 more minutes
or until bubbly.

Where's the coffee???

Well, look at this. I can write in different fonts. I can write in different sizes. I can make the text different colors! Who would have thought?? Kind of fun to mess around with!

My eyeballs are buuurrrrrnnnninnng today. Seems like the kids gang up on me in the sleep department sometimes. The past few nights have been bad. Then last night I was up with Grady twice only to lay back down and hear Kingsley start crabbing too! I waited it out, sure that Josh would eventually give in and go up to her. Which he did. Then he proceeded to bring her downstairs. Whhhat?? No. Babies don't get to come downstairs at 4:30 am!! Back to bed she went, back to bed we went and that's where I stayed...until 5:20 when Josh couldn't find ice packs for his lunch. Up I went, then back down. Until 5:24 when he couldn't find his keys. Ugh! And this is my long day, with a night class tonight. Hopefully tonight goes better! Mama needs some slllllllllllllllllleeeeeep!

My baby boy is growing up!

My baby boy is growing up! I posted this on my Facebook status today but wanted to share the story here, too.

I was calling to schedule a doctor's appointment this morning. The receptionist said, "Who is it for" and I said, "Grady Heimann." Grady whipped around from watching TV and said, "Mom! I didn't do anything!!" Someone is used to getting the last name when he is in trouble! Even the receptionist was cracking up.

Seriously, though! Where did my baby go? He's been replaced by this smart, endearing, silly little boy. Yesterday, Kingsley, Grady and I were playing duplos (large Legos) after I got home from work. (Love having a job that lets me come home early enough in the afternoon to play blocks with my kids!) He....yes, GRADY...realized that she liked pulling apart stacks of the duplos so he started building stacks and handing them to her. Then he realized that if he clicked them all the way together, she couldn't always get them apart. So he started building stacks "looser" and handing her those. I don't know who was enjoying her pulling them apart more, him or her! It was sooooo sweet. I got up, got dinner in the oven (chicken breasts stuffed with chive and onion cream cheese then tied with a piece of bacon and squash if you are interested, and it was delish AND still somehow weight watchers friendly!), and came back and they were STILL at it. Prec! Love those sweet moments!

Josh's new business card! If you have any trees that need to be cut down or cleaned up, give him a call!

I love my husband!

This weekend was Sara Sheerer's bachelorette party. Josh was fabulous before, during and after the party in helping me out!! We both cleaned the house on Saturday...he washed our windows, letting Grady "help" and they look amazing. During the party he watched the kids and put them to bed. He provided transportation for people into the wee hours. And THEN he even got up with the kids and took them downstairs so I could sleep in the next morning! Now, granted...I think he owes me a little bit in the sleep dept, but this was awesome!!

Sidenote: The party was also a blast! Congrats Sara and Jeff!

Had to post a picture of Grady too!!

How cute is she???? We got to pick pumpkins and play in leaves at a friend's house yesterday afternoon. The leaves where the kids favorite part!! :)

Two bunches of flowers....

Last night Josh showed up with two bunches of flowers. As he walked towards me with them, I imagined all the sweet things that he was going to say. "You're a great mom...these are from Grady and these are from Kingsley." Or something to that effect. Instead, he hands them to me and says this: "Here. They were 2 for $10, so I figured why not and got you 2. Oh, and they are because you were stressed at work....last week." Hahah. I love Josh. I appreciated that more than any cheesey line. :) The flowers were a fall bouquet. Not sure how to post pictures yet on this fancy dancy blog thing...

Better late than never....

How long have I been saying I'd like to start a blog to keep track of our family activities?? Today is the day, coming off a busy weekend. This past gorgeous October weekend we....

-went on a date (just Josh and I)

-took the kids to an apple orchard with Aunt Annie and Uncle Nick

-did a picnic in the park

-played with Meemaw and Papa and Uncle Jeff

It was perfect!! Tonight we're going to head up to Waverly and get a swingset for the kids from Aunt Barb's neighbor. Hopefully we can do a quick visit with them too!

Downfalls?? Last night I was up with a very energetic Kingsley from 1:45-4:30. The weekend messed up her schedule. Annnnnnnd....at 17 months old, she can say "juice, uh-oh, hi, bye, baby, kitty, papa, daddy, see ya, gookie (yes, gookie), this"....and I think there is more. But who am I?? Still DADDY!!! Ugh!!