I can almost taste it...

It being March. And spring. And break. It's been a couple of busy weeks! A couple of quick updates....

Kingsley is getting...older. I can't really explain it. It's just that the last few days, she's really started to act a lot more like a 2 year old (which she'll soon be!) than a 1 year old. She's sitting on the potty. (No magic happening there yet, but we purchased some Dora undies and she's sitting on it whenever naked...first thing in the morning, at bedtime, at bath time, etc. I'm not pushing it. I know it will happen sooner rather than later. And quite frankly, I'm not sure I'm all that ready! She's in diapers and sleeps in a crib. Pretty soon, diapers will be gone and she'll be climbing all over the place! Where did my baby go?!) Ahem. Where was I? Oh yes. Sitting on the potty. And becoming master of animal noises. (She is going to be begging us for a puppy or kitty soooooon.) Pointing to just about any object in books that you ask her to. (She even clicks her tongue like her big brother often does.) And singing along at our song time at night. (Twinkle, Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and John Jacob Jingelheimerschmidt are her fav's.) Still the sweetie that she's always been, full of snuggles and hugs and kisses. LOVE that girl.

Grady is rounding up on 4. He's getting more mature every day and plays very well with Kingsley...for the most part. He has a ton of friends at preschool and almost every day asks me "What day is it?" Meaning a preschool day, a momma day, a daddy day, or a Meemaw day. I think he's going to love going to preschool four days a week next year. He's been working a lot on spelling...he has his name down and can trace it but doesn't write it on his own yet. He can also count to 20 in Spanish, and seems to be getting into sports. (Mental note: Check into the Rec League in Dike this summer...) He's already excited about going swimming and hitting up the park and playing outside. We're going to a Waterpark over spring break in Des Moines and he's getting really excited for that.

Josh and I are good....he's been on third shift for months now (since November, I think?) and isn't going off until the end of April. We're doing this so he can be on first in the summer. However, it's starting to take it's toll. For the most part, we only see each other on the weekends. (I'm being dramatic...we see each other every day, from 4:30-7:15. However, that time is filled with making dinner, eating, cleaning up, getting the kids ready for bed, books, songs, packing a lunch and heading out the door. NO alone time. Weekends are a good but go by soooo quickly and lately have been filled to the brim with fun stuff. However, again, no alone time. One of these days, I SWEAR we're going to get a date night.

Other things on my mind? Finances. (Isn't it on everyone's???) I only have three classes this semester at UNI and none at HCC. It's about $800/month less than what I normally get. Ouch. We're still fine....but I'm a tightwad and hate the thought of dipping into savings for anything. So I'm being supercheap these five months and looking at this semester as a challenge to see how little we can get by on. (No worries either...I have my schedule for fall and pending anything drastic, should be back up to four.) I am meal planning and sticking to a food budget (crazy! I have never done either of those things before!) and really questioning needs vs. wants. The funny thing is that we were cheap before. Josh and I both brown bag it. We rarely go out to eat. We do inexpensive or free things with the kids. However, now we are even questioning things like trips into CF. With gas prices up (3.59/gallon!) you can figure that a trip into town and back is around 7 bucks, give or take. Not going into town = significant savings! (And I don't just mean on the gas. If you don't go anywhere, you don't spend any money!) :)

I also want to toot my own horn a bit about running lately!! I registered today for my first 10k, in September. Funny, the girl who hates running CAN'T WAIT! I wish it was sooner! Like in May or something. I would actually like to do the half marathon. And I think maybe by then I could? The other day I went for a run and did 4.61 miles in 50 minutes, no problems. By Sept, maybe I could be up to 12? However, these things fill up (other people like to run too??) so I'm not doing the wait and see. There will be other races I can do if I so desire. I LOVE that I'm not just talking about it but am actually gonna get out there and DO IT! It's one of my major goals for 2012.

Part of me is getting bitten by this baby bug going around. (Yep, that was an abrupt shift. Stay with me.) EVERYONE is preggo right now, I swear. Looking at those sweet little cherubic bundles...man. About 2% of me wants to have another baby, like, tomorrow. However, the other 98% loves that my kids are older and interactive and fun and smart and funny....and their lives don't revolve (too much) around a schedule. And that I have more freedom too, to do things that I want to do. Accomplish some other life goals. Like run a 10k. (And someday a half marathon, for sure.) To make some awesome, healthy meals and be able to sit through the whole thing and enjoy it. (Not sure when the latter part of that will happen...I was up 6 times during dinner tonight. Grady wanted a pb&j. Both kids wanted yogurt. Needed another napkin. Then Kingsley spilled her water. Etc.) Travel. Be in the crowd at the Today show. Watch a taping of How I Met Your Mother. Camp. There's more. Keep reading this blog. You may see some evidence. ;)

Update from Valentine's day....we had SUCH a good day! Grady had his preschool party in the morning,where he exchanged Valentines and apparently ate WAYYYY too many treats as he came home with a tummy ache and ate no lunch for me. :) However, he recovered enough by after lunch time to help me make treats (corn flake jumbles), and he and Kingsley both colored construction paper to be made into Valentines. We were going to deliver the treats and Valentines to both sets of Grandparents, but no need! Both showed up for treats for us! After that came dinner, and I think I found my family Valentine tradition. I made a homemade heart shaped pizza (MAMA! It's a HEART!"), and each person had valentine envelopes to open up as well as a small gift. Josh gave me travel coffee mugs. I gave him his Jonesred flag. (Hanging prominently in the garage.) The kids got their gifts. Both loved. :) My favorite part though, was after dinner when Josh and I were cleaning up. He told me that it was the best Valentine's day yet. LOVE that. No expensive romantic dinners. No overpriced flowers that will die the next day. No skeevy massage oil. (Was it just me, or was KY Yours and Mine EVERYWHERE?!) A heart shaped pizza and our little family hanging out on a Tuesday night. Perfection. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Not quite, but I'm excited! Valentine's Day is one of those random holidays that I love because there are no expectations. You can make a couple batches of cookies and give them out to friends and neighbors and totally catch them off guard. :) I also like to give little things to the kids and Josh....I think I'm going to make heart shaped pancakes and give the gifts at breakfast. No wait, Vday is a Tuesday. Preschool day. Hmmm...maybe scrap the cute pancake idea. Anyway, I wanted to talk about the gifts.

Grady - a Sid the Science kid dvd
Kings - Dora Valentine's Day book with all of these tabs to open. She'll love it! And some strawberry lip gloss. Too young? She's always stealing my lip crap...
Josh - the coolest flag ever. see right. I can't take too much credit for it...he found it on ebay and was not so subtle with the hinting about it. I paid 17.52. I have NEVER seen a flag like this on there before. And I search for Jonsered stuff semi-often (as does Josh), for years now. My max bid was 50.00 and I probably would have gone higher, to be honest. 17.52 = BARGAIN.

I also got them all a Reese's chocolate heart. :) Can't wait to give them their gifts!

Uggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! That's all I have to say. Aren't weekends supposed to energize and refresh you for the week?? The only time they are excused from doing this simple, necessary thing is when they are so fun you need the week to get yourself some down time.

Our weekend sucked. Everyone is sick, coughing, snotty, fevers...not fun. Tired, crabby kids = tired, crabby parents really fast! We did enjoy some family time....our Wii is getting a good workout...and some snuggles in pajamas. So that's the good part. Hopefully next weekend is more fun. Josh's grandma's birthday celebration. His work Christmas party. Maybe no kids for a whole night?!? (Won't know what to do with ourselves if that's the case...) Just hang on till then........and hope Kingsley stops barking soon. :)

Been awhile since I've posted! Nothing too new and exciting to talk about. We DID go to Josh's sister's for the weekend recently. Very fun! I think the highlight of the trip, at least for the kids, was hitting up the Humane Society. They got to see a lot of kittys and dogs. (Which were noisy, and scared Grady, but Kingsley is fearless with them. Which of course scares her mama a little bit!) Kingsley looooooovvvvesssss animals. She says, "Want puppy" or "Want kitty" A. Lot. Might have to get her one one of these days. (I go back and forth. I love the idea of a cat or dog. But maybe not necessarily the work!) I think I'll hold off for awhile yet, but we'll likely get something at some point.

What else? Kingsley is talking a lot about the potty lately, tells us when she poops (and sometimes pees) and sits on her potty chair quite a bit. I think that she's likely ready to begin training. Though, I'm not sure I am. Training is a lot of work, esp if they're not quite ready! I'm thinking summer, when I'm home and she's wearing dresses, would be an ideal time to train. Though I might get motivated some weekend too. Who knows! :)

Mr. Grady is fighting a cold right now. Stinks to lay in bed and listen to him upstairs coughing. Once you do the humidifier, cough medicine, throat drops, glass of water, and vicks, there's not a lot left. So you feel kinda helpless. Seems like he gets this kind of thing (relatively) a lot. Then I think about all the parents whose kids are actually sick and taking them to the hospital and having to explain scary things to them.....and I realize I'm being a drama queen. :)

Is it Friday yet?!?! Getting my hair done and then having some families from Dike over for appitizers and desserts. Should be really fun!