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Friday, August 30, 2013

Life Lately

The whirlwind of life continues as we settle into our complete family reality.  Here's a glimpse into some of the fun that's been going on over the last couple of days:

After our busy morning on Wednesday, the rest of our day was pretty productive as well.  I got to tutor for an hour, which is always fun for me, and we finished off our day with a trip to Coffee Bar Blue Door for story time.  After story time, we hung around to spy on the accordion player...


...we were intrigued to say the least.

Thursday kicked off in a mellow fashion but we did finally motivate ourselves to get to the gym.  We got in a fantastic weights workout before heading home to tackle produce day...


...the boxes were a big hit with the boys this week...


It was a long day and once it was over, we felt the need to treat ourselves to some sushi, Benihana happy hour style...


...while there, we worked on our chopsticks skills :-) 


 ...and had fun with the complimentary menu/hats they give the kids...


Having our family back together again is FANTASTIC!!

Today started off with our first trip to the dentist...not stress-free like I had hoped, but we survived it.  Mason and Colton are polar opposites...and always keep us on our toes.  Going into it, Colton was more excited than Mason but when it came time to get down to business, Mason was all about getting his teeth cleaned and Colton wanted nothing to do with it.  I think it's interesting to note Mason's hygienist talked to him like a big kid and made him feel so grown up and Colton's hygienist talked to him like he was a baby...  We got the all clear so thankfully, we don't have to tackle that task again for another 6 months.  PHEW!

We spent the rest of our morning tackling chores from our list before finally taking some time for a dip in the pool.  I spent the boys naptime making banana bread, vacuuming, and even managed to squeeze in a Shaun T - T25 workout.  Love those short, intense workouts!

We finished off the day with a little social gathering for the grown-ups while the kids played with some friends of ours.  We all thoroughly enjoyed our evening!  Now we're gearing up for a relaxing Labor Day weekend with no appointments on the calendar.  WOOHOO!  Bring on the family time!!  Oh, and more time playing in our tent...










Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Settling In Again

Yesterday started off with a pretty gloomy morning which meant no story time...boo!  It also meant, extra time to enjoy coffee with my 3 favorite guys...yay!!





Yesterday was also "back to music class" for us.  It was so wonderful to be back with Miss Rabe.  We adore her!!


I am looking forward to a fantastic semester with her.  If you're local and haven't already, you MUST check her out for your kids.  What a treasure we have in our community!!  She's the whole package...music, enthusiasm, patience, loving guidance, praise, FUN, etc.  I think I love her classes just as much as my boys do.  

We followed up music class with a stop at the gym.  It's fun to have my man working out beside me!!  I hope that becomes a regular thing.

After our busy morning, we stayed put at home for the rest of the day.  Good stuff!

We finished up our evening watching a movie...


Funny stuff, I tell ya!!

This morning kicked off bright and early with a run for me and the boys...


Colton has decided he's not a fan of the camera...


They make 6 miles look so easy...haha!

While we got our fresh air and exercise, Mickey tackled fixing the lawn I destroyed while he was away...

  


He said that after a year living in the desert, he was more than ready for some green grass and couldn't wait to get it done.  Thanks to his mad yard skills, our yard is looking awesome again.  Woohoo!  The boys had fun watching him.  I hope they were taking notes for the future...lol!


Time for some more family time and a couple of errands.  Counting my blessings big time!!








Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Reunited!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I'm hoping these pictures can tell our story for the last couple of days.  Its been a magnificent whirlwind...

Starting with waiting for Daddy to get home from Afghanistan last Friday...


...the boys fell asleep on the way there but ended up waking up which gave us time to kill in the bounce house at the armory (a first for our cautious boys...)


It was lovely distraction!  We followed up the bouncing with more waiting outside...


...Mickey's mom got to join us for the fun... 

  

.... FINALLY we saw him and after listening to a few speakers, we got to give him the hugs we'd been waiting almost a year to give him...





It was seriously one of the best moments of my life, and I mean it when I say it was better than seeing him at the end of the aisle on our wedding day.  Incredible!!!  We were lucky enough to get caught on the news...


We helped him pick up his bags...


...said welcome home to his roommate in Afghanistan and good friend "Uncle Donnie"...


...then hit the road for home, ready to have our family back together again.  Life is GOOD!!!

The next day, we jumped right into doing some fun things we love to do, now that we're all back together, like build things at Lowe's...



...and play outside...


We are beyond blessed and words can't express how wonderful it is to be back together again.  The past year was probably the hardest year of my life but I am INCREDIBLY proud of our family and will never regret a moment of our sacrifice for our country that we are so blessed to be able to call our home.  God Bless America and God bless all the military families who sacrifice so much.  It's a honor to be a part of such an outstanding group of citizens.  













Thursday, August 22, 2013

Park, Produce, Pancakes and Persperation

What a day!  We kicked it off with a run with my running buddies...



Our run, as is usually the case, included a stop at the park...




....we love getting there early and having the whole place to ourselves.  The back to school rush gave the boys some good car-watching today from their nice perch on the fence post...



We stopped on our way home to pick up a dozen bagels at Bagel Brothers.  Gotta stock up for the boys in my life.  I saved my appetite for some delicious paleo pancakes topped with a berry compote...


YUM!  It was the perfect post-run breakfast.  

After breakfast, we headed outside for some fun in the sun...aka cleaning the pool while the boys played on the pool deck...


It's like an air mattress, right???  Silly boys!

Next up was produce.  We used a new system today and it went well.  Check out a sampling of what graced my table for our members...


...and that's not even half of it.

I also managed to squeeze in 4 loads of laundry and made it to spin class tonight...gotta burn off all my energy so I can sleep good tonight.  I made it to spin twice this week after almost a year away from it.  It feels good to be back.  I forgot how much I enjoy it.  

All that cardio today seems to be working its magic as my eyes are getting heavier by the second.  We're looking forward to an exciting day tomorrow...woohoo!!  Happy almost weekend...time for this girl to call it a day.



Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Another Day Down...Lots of Outside Fun

We've spent lots of time outside over the last 24 hours.  It included some pre-dinner play last night...


...which resulted in the trucks needing to be brought inside for dinner.  It made for a different spin on a drive-in...


You better believe we finished our night watching a truck show, one of the boys' favorite netflix flicks...


I fell asleep watching it with them...woops!  Needless to say, I drug myself to bed as soon as I had them tucked in.  

This morning kicked off with some story time where the featured stories were some Eric Carle favorites...


AND


When it comes to Eric Carle, what's not to love?  Great art, great stories, lots of repetition.  The boys like pretending to read them to me, because they are so simple and memorable.  Early literacy at work...I love it!!!!!  

We hung around for a bit chatting with our friends in the A/C enjoying some goldfish for the boys and delicious coffee for me...



 I love that the boys love it there...now if we could just keep them seated and using their inside voices for more than 2 minutes at a time...lol

In keeping with the concept of keeping ourselves busy this week, we headed off for our next stop...


After a little hesitation, the boys were all smiles playing at the fountains.  I'm super happy about the headway we've been making in the water play department!!!!!  I love this shot I caught of Mason literally jumping with joy...


This one of Colton hamming it up is pretty darn good too.  


Next up on the agenda today was a haircut for me.  Yay for an hour of peace and quiet while Sandy at Bangz worked her magic on my out of control locks.  They are much healthier and happier now that they've gotten her overdue TLC...


I loathe self portraits but here ya go...darn iphone always reverses the photos, making my lopsided face look the opposite of its usual lopsidedness...lol

Now it's nap-time at our house which means quiet time for me.   Hoping to get in some exercise once the boys wake up...think I'll avoid all my chores and read some more of my book in the mean time.  Maybe I'll throw some laundry in to feel a little more productive...you know I'm terrible at just sitting still.  Have a lovely day!!!