Busy Bees....

With this amazing weather we have been super busy.

Duck watching...

Welcoming spring with open arms....

Coloring with chalk....

Bike riding....

Swinging and visiting parks....

Going to the zoo....

Eewwwww.....I was not happy going to see the snakes tho.....boy do I hate snakes!!!

Playing with the awesome tent that Ethan got for his b-day....and just enjoying life!!!!

Ethan is 1.....

We have been busy lately so this is a little late. Ethan turned 1 on March 18th. We did his birthday photo shoot. Here are some fun pictures of our little man. 

 Thumbs up mom.....love this one. 

My sweetness. 

Melts my heart.

Those eyes....

 

Those little hands.....

Some things to remember:

• he is walking
• talking (bath time, ball, up, night night, mama, dada,more)
• loves to snuggle
• LOVES to eat
• loves it when daddy gets home
• follows his brother like a littleshadow

Something we look forward to each night.....

We have this ritual that we follow every night. Neal gets home we sit down and eat our supper and talk about our day. Neal about his work and us about our adventures. I clean up after supper and we play for a little while then it's bath time. After bath we all snuggle up in bed for 30-45 minutes watching a video during this time Ethan usually either falls asleep or gets wiggly which means he is ready for bed so I just put him in his crib and he falls a sleep on his own. By the time 8:30 rolls around Conner is ready for bed as well and then it's mom and dad time. We love our nightly ritual....

My lil' construction worker....

Enjoying a quiet house....

The kids are taking a bit of an early nap today. They were both cranky and in need of some rest so I'm enjoying a bit of quiet and peace. Don't get me wrong I like the jibber jabber of my two sweet boys but sometimes you just need to collect your thoughts. They are having a boring day though because their mom has been busy doing laundry cleaning house making food. I did take a day off yesterday and I'm regretting that decision very much our house was a complete disaster this morning! It's raining here in our part of the woods. I like it though it's refreshing and it smells so good and just loving the idea of all the dirt and salt washing away. On our walk yesterday we were noticing the trees starting to bud just a little bit and I just got this feeling of renewal.  Spring is always so refreshing after a long cold winter. I'm finding that the older I get the more I dislike the cold. Time change this week will make it really seem like spring is just around the corner. We did wake up to the chirping of birds this morning.....not sure if there is a better sound to wake up to and certainly not Conner yelling in my ear "commmeeee oooooon mama giiiit up, lets play mom" ohhh wait I like to wake up that way too.
My list of things that I LOVE about spring

• spring cleaning....yeas I really do love it!
• perfect weather
• rainy nights
• everything waking up (including me)
• being able to open the windows
• the smell...I love the smell of rain and spring...nothing like it
• longer days
• being able to go outside without ooodles of layers
• flowers....tulips, daffodils, violets ohhh and my favorite the little white bells not sure what they are called you can see them HERE though.

As you can tell spring is on my mind. I feel like it's here now and just looking forward to what's ahead. 

This just makes me happy!!! Haha ok now that I'm looking at this picture of these beautiful flowers I have to share this....my husband will be mad at me but ohh well. Like I've said before I am an open book!!

The Conversation on the way home from meeting last Sunday:

Me: You know you used to get me flowers once in a while (this only came up because we have a florist in our meeting and he brought in roses for us ladies along with a message of hope) 

Neal: Yeah I used to get you flowers quite a bit (once a year is quite a bit for him)

Me: Yeah what happened

Neal: (a little pause) well they just die why would I give you death!!!

Me: (silence for most of the trip home) wow thanks for that hun!!! I will never look at flowers the same way again......haha. I tell ya my husband really is not a romantic.

Flowers still make me feel all fuzzy inside!!!!

New griddle....

We had a fun day in Madison today. We started at the Sun Prairie Target......such a great store. I hope Neal gets a nice new one like that :) Exchanged our crappy baby gate into a little better one. Hoping that this one works better. It's a long tumble down the steep stairs of our apartment, a tumble Ethan has taken twice and already do to this gate. Checked out the grill we are hoping to get in the next couple weeks. I was going to get a painting for our living room with my birthday and Christmas money but decided that we could really use a new grill. Now we just have to wait on the additional 10% rewards to come in the mail and for the grills to go on sale and Neal brought home a $5 coupon today off a $50 dollar our purchase so we might just be able to get a good deal and at the beginning of the season too. We then headed to Bed Bath and Beyond I still had a gift card from Christmas (a gift card I was saving for my painting) and got an electric griddle!! SO excited about it we even tried it out already!!! We made some tuna melts.....yum!!! Getting up early with Neal tomorrow to make breakfast on it!!! It's the little things that make us happy :) Then we went to Borders to spend another gift card still from Christmas. Neal got some books for himself and even had enough money to get Conner a picture puzzle book and a cool magnetic book. Most of all it was nice to be out of the house and out and about. What a great day!!!
Neal and I even took the kids in the jogging stroller and went running. It felt so great to be outside and in the fresh air. We did our 3 miles and ran most of the time which was surprising to both of us since we have not run in a while. We will see how we will feel tomorrow probably sore.
Stopped at the park for the kids to play in the muddy wet and still partially snow covered playground!!! Spring is on it's way now though!! Can you tell this warmer weather is making me feel better I'm even motivated to blog again....haha. By the way the new layout is coming soon. I finished the Food blog design and the Creative Space one. They take forever but I've pretty much got it down now so it goes much quicker and I'm having fun with it now instead of getting frustrated :) Well that's all for now I think.....till next time dear blog!

Family fun....

This past weekend we had Ethan's birthday party. Neal's family was here to celebrate Ethan turning one!!! It was nice to have everyone here. Too bad that Mike had to work and could not be with us :( Don't have too many pictures but I did get a few nice ones! Thank you every one for coming and for the awesome wagon.....we love it and even tried it out already. Saturday after lunch we walked down to the park for a little bit the fresh air felt great.  Now next week my family will be here hoping to be a little better at geting some pictures taken of little Ethan!

In moments of self pitty....

Look to those who have so much less but show us how much more love, strength, courage, beauty, kindness can be found in their lives and aren't those the things that really matter in life. Following McMama and her husband on their journey to Kenya!

1st steps....

Baby Ethan took his 1st real steps today. He is taking off running and not walking really so things are going to get very exciting around here real fast.

Food Gawker,,,,

You have heard me praise this web site many many times. I have been submitting pictures here and there but I've been declined until now. Today I'm celebrating my first acceptance....my piggie made it on food gawker. You can take a peek at my recipe under the food tab od by clicking here.

Conner being a little teacher. Ethan is just not interested in walking....completely content crawling. He stands on his own for quite some time and loves to push things around the house. Conner tries and tries to teach him to walk and Ethan just looks at him like whatever big brother I'm not interested at all. Fine with me....completely different attitude this time around. I feel like I pushed Conner to learn things a lot more...no that it did anything. When they are ready they will take that first step or say the first word. I'm learning to let them be kids. Something my husband reminds me to do all the time....let them be kids honey :)

An image of his dad....

I think that Conner looks just like his dad. Sometimes I wonder if there is anything of me in him!!!

Our big boy....

 

Conner just seems to be growing up so quick. He is wearing clothes that I remember looking at and thinking wow it's going to be a while before he can wear that and well here he is wearing them. He is full of energy all the time. He talks and talks and talks and I have no idea where he gets that from because his dad and I are certainly not big talkers. His new thing is to ask why ALLLLLL the time. My favorite thing about him though is how concerned he is about his little brother. When we are on the bed and Ethan starts crawling he will grab his foot because he's worried he will fall. When Ethan is crying he will give him hugs and kisses or get him a toy to try and make him happy. He always makes sure that mama sings him a song before nap time or bed time and makes sure that mom AND dad both give him a hug and a kiss. It's really sweet to see. He sure has some bad moments too...hehe. His food issues continue to drive me insane and I wish that he would gain more independence in doing things on his own like going to the bathroom on his own (which he can very well do but continues to ask for help) and eating on his own better. But he knows that mom will just cave if he continues to push and for me it's just easier to sometimes give in. Kids are good at that huh...they know how to push our buttons.

BTW...you have to click on the image to see the pictures better. Conners face just cracks me up as he gets ready for that jump :)

Wow....

I just noticed that I have officially the lowest amount of posts this month since starting my blog. Need to change that huh! I guess things are a bit boring around here lately. I do have some fun pictures from a water park trip to share one of these days. I feel like my camera has been on vacation lately. I really need to snap out of this slump I'm in right now. Spring come on get here already. I find myself checking the weather many times a day hoping that somehow things are looking a little more hopeful and they are next week it's going to be in the upper 30's...yay. We really do need to move south this time of the year really starts getting to me. I'm so ready to be outside, go running, go to the beach, lay in the grass and play tag with my kids. To wear flip flops and tank tops and not have to worry about MANY MANY layers. It takes me 30 min. or longer to get myself and the kids dressed in layers just to head out the door. The south is sounding better every day!!At least it's now nice and sunny!!! Well I'm done complaining for this morning and time to get some things done around here....

ahhhhh hahahahahhaaaaa

Question

If you had the option to tell your employer that you wanted to relocate somewhere warmer closer to the ocean and it would even help you further your career quicker would you????? Taking into consideration that you would be further away from family!!!!

Hello sunshine and warmer weather....

Ahhhhh the sunshine is just fabulous this morning although a bit misleading at the moment as it is only 9* out there. We are expected to hit a high of 35* which is fantastic for the middle of February. We will wait a bit till the temperatures rise and head out to do our errands :P not looking forward to it but it will be nice to get them all done before the weekend especially a weekend that Neal will be home. Happy Friday everyone!

New layout...

I know this is moving really slowly for me but I'm actually designing my own blog and I'm still learning all about it and trying not to bother Neal with too many questions.I'm not very computer smart so that is why all this is taking so long. I have added 2 additional tabs by my header which some of you may have noticed. Food being one and arts and crafts the other. I have finally added some new posts there so feel free to take a look. This way things are easier for me to find. In the future I would like to move my recipes that I have previously posted to my Food section but that might take some time! I also hope to do a little giveaway on my arts and crafts section so stay tuned :)

new words....

 Ethan learned some new words today "bath time" and "bath toy" It is his favorite time of day after all!!!

Stay away....

Our house is currently a germ fest. We have been sick for weeks now it seems and can't seem to be able to shake whatever this is. Every time we start to feel better the following day it's back and worst. I can tell you that if my kids are feeling anything like I am then they are real troopers and I'm the real baby. Of course I did have a stomach bug yesterday along with this terrible cold that came back full force Sunday night!!! Ugghhh it will get better soon I hope. I feel like I have been napping every chance I get lately and that's not like me. Naps are hard to come by here anymore too...Conner still takes a decent nap but Ethan has been taking only one nap a day and it's usually only about an hour I'm hoping that once he feels better his nap will be longer again.

Well Neal passed his 1st set of interviews today. He came home rather confident usually he gets home and is really disapointed with himself so he must have done well. Not sure what all this means but it sounds like maybe he will be going up for STL sooner than he expected. As of right now that would be in September of this year but I'm going with my gut feeling that it will happen in the next couple months. I just hope that we do not have to move and he will be able to get a store in the Madison area so he can commute.

On the home front things have been super busy. Ethan is at a hard stage right now. He is curious and adventearous and into EVERYTHING. I so wish I could put up baby lock things on our kitchen and bathroom cabinets it would make my life so much easier but I can't so I will continue to pick up and pick up and put away all day long. I am to a point right now though where something has to give and I know what it is I'm just having a hard time giving up a clean house. It's ok if I vaccuum every other day and mop the floors only once a week and it's ok if there are toys everywhere, we do after all have two little children.
Ethan is so close to walking now he has been pushing things around for quite some time but just not brave enough to let go yet. He is on the other hand saying MUCH more than Conner did at this point....ball, mama, dada, ma n chee (mac and cheese), that, was that, and copies sounds pretty well. Conner has been a little bundle of energy just goes and goes and NEVER EVER stops talking or moving. Needless to say my boys keep me busy!!! m

SO here are some amusing frazes I thought I would never have to say to my children:

Conner NO climbing on your brother
ETHAN DO NOT play in the toilet it's yuckie
Conner do not feed the baby Johnson and Johnson body wash
Ethan NO biting
Conner DO NOT pile blankets and pillows on the baby
Ethan NO playing in the dirt of the flower pots
BOYS leave the contents of dresser drawers ALONE
Conner DO NOT put the laundry basket over ETHAN
Conner NO locking the baby in the closet
Ethan DO NOT pull your brothers hair
Boys stay OUT OF the garbage 

The list could go on and on. I feel like all I do all day long anymore is say no or please stop or do not do that!!! But then at the end of the day we snuggle all up together and I'm re-assured that my boys still love me.I think that they are both ready to go and play outside so spring can not get here soon enough.  

I think that I will leave this post at that. I am trying very hard to be better at updating my blog but lately it just seems like an impossible task when I do have the extra time I do not want to do anything at all!!!

Happy V-day!!!!

 

We hope that everyone has a fabulous Valentines Day!!! I'm sorry to all that this year I was slacking and did not get fun little Valentines out in the mail but I did get them made!!!! Neal is working today and this is his least favorite of holidays but to my surprise he did get me a little something!!! It was a pleasant surprise especially since I was not expecting it. I truly do not mind that he is not a hopeless romantic because he makes up for it in SO SO many ways and I'm so thankful that he is my Valentine!!!