Family Fun Continues...

We're still on our kick of packing in as much family time as possible.  I'm getting pretty used to having Mickey home and it's going to be hard to see it end but the bills still have to get paid which means off to work he must go...I think in some ways he may actually be looking forward to the break from all of us.  We're a handful that's for sure.  In the meantime, we're taking advantage of his 24/7 presence and trying to enjoy every minute of it.  This weekend was kicked off with a trip to Lowe's to build a fire truck...

...we never pass up these free opportunities for fun.  Lowe's has a great program!  They even had a real fire truck there that day to add to the fun...

I'm not gonna lie...once we got close to it, it was a little intimidating to the boys.  Mommy and Daddy to the rescue!

We also squeezed in a trip to our favorite "bouncy bridge" park...

We all knows new fire hats are a necessity at the park!

Mickey taught the boys a thing or two about rappelling... 

After all that fun, we were all a hot, sweaty mess and decided to hit up Starbucks for some cold drinks before heading home for lunch...mostly guacamole for this guy...

and naps.  It was a fun morning!

The rain came along during nap time but we made the most of the rest of our day by running some errands and having a pizza and movie night.  Good times!!

Saturday must have worn us all out because we overslept and missed the early service at church on Sunday morning.  Good thing there's a second service.  We enjoyed worshiping together and were happy to have the Ethan Parker Band help lead worship...

...we were seriously impressed!  I even came home and downloaded some of their music.  They were that good.    The message at church was exactly what we needed to hear too.  Love when that happens...love our church. 

We spent the rest of our day at a little one year old's birthday party.  Smash cakes and 1 year olds NEVER get old for me.  Playing with friends and their toys never gets old for the boys...

...even if all of it is pink and way too small for 3 people to squeeze into.

We managed to get in a little run after we got home before the rain forced us inside again.  Early bedtime for the boys meant time to catch up on some tv for me.  Since Mickey was away for the night, I took advantage of the opportunity to watch "my shows" without torturing him.  I might or might not have stayed up a little too late indulging myself with mindless tv...worse things have happened.  

This morning the boys got to go to a play group while I got some time to myself.  Since I had already tackled all of my errands, I took advantage of the opportunity for a stroller-free bridge run (I need to make time to do that more often!) and popped in the gym to lift some weights too.  I also had time for a LONG shower, a rare event these days, and time to restock the boys library book collection.  You better believe I squeezed in a trip to Starbucks too...nothing like a rainy morning to make you crave extra caffeine...

The rest of our day has been spent reading the new library books while indulging in some yummy treats...

....and I got to tutor while the boys napped.  I love my weekly visits from my sweet, energetic student.  

Now it's time to get motivated to whip up some dinner.  And apparently from the photo above, I need to make time to repaint my nails...lol. 

30 Cups of Tea

You'd think we already paid our dues to the seasonal cold fairies last month but those darn viruses are up to their no good stuff again.  The boys have been fighting runny noses and sneezing all week and I finally fell victim to the sniffles last night.  NO FUN!  It's been a rough winter here at the Planker household, but from what I hear, that seems to be the trend with anyone who has toddlers in their household.  They're like little germ magnets it seems.  It's especially frustrating to get sick when you do everything in your power to avoid it -- eat healthily, exercise daily (I'm even back to running and got 3 short runs in this week...), get lots of fresh air and sunshine, drink lots of water, etc.; we do it all!

Now it's go time.  I think I've had at least 30 cups of tea today since that seems to be the only source of relief I can find for my scratchy throat.  Good thing Target had some yummy varieties on clearance...

They're both lovely and I was able to get each box for only $1 thanks to the clearance prices and some coupons from the Sunday paper.  SCORE!

In addition to my tea drinking, I got in some yoga today thanks to this little number I checked out from the library...

I liked the workout but could have done without some of the commentary.  She did point out, though, that twisting motions are good for detoxing.  I hope that calming workout detoxes this virus out of my body ASAP.

We also made some greek yogurt pancakes topped with blueberries for some extra antioxidants.  I figured the probiotics couldn't hurt us.  

And in my laziness, the boys and I may or may not have eaten this entire bag of pea snacks from Trader Joes...

I wasn't so ashamed of us once I looked at the nutriton facts and saw the stats.  3 servings -- 3 of us...not so embarrassing after all.  And quite tasty to boot.

I'm feeling like I could use some chicken and rice soup for dinner.   Now it's time to track down a recipe... something like this one.  Off to drink more tea and hope the boys keep napping for a REALLY long time.