Some Park Fun and A BUSY Tuesday

We've been having some gorgeous weather the past few days and decided to take advantage of it with a little walk to the park yesterday evening.  We came across this sign at our first stop...

Out of service?!  Talk about a bummber!  Good thing there was another park close by that was wide open for play time...

We had the park almost completely to ourselves and the boys had a fantastic time...so did I!

Today was a whirlwind of activities!  We started off with Story Time.  Today's features were...

I love Karma Wilson's books and her rhymes and story line don't disappoint with this one. 

For some reason, I threw this one in as a backup at the last minute this morning and was glad I did.  The group was pretty fidgety today and this short story about everyone's favorite train helped get us through.  Gotta love Thomas!

Our next stop was Music Class.  The boys were happy to be making music with Miss Rabe again and were glad we weren't going to swimming lessons to see her.   One day they'll thank me for torturing them with swimming lessons :-)

We swung by The Fresh Market on our way home from Music Class for some chicken (antibiotic and hormone free chicken breasts are on sale every Tuesday in April for $2.99/lb!), a couple of blueberry bagels for the boys per their request, and some kombucha for me.  I have developed a love for this stuff...YUM!

We scarfed down lunch before heading to our pediatrician for the boys' 2 year old physical.  They're growing like weeds and doing great.  They took their vaccines like little champs.  I'm pretty sure the doctor was impressed with their vocabulary.  They're quite the little chatterboxes.  

The boys crashed on the way home which gave me some time to read in the driveway until they woke up.  Never wake a sleeping baby, right??  I started a new books which I'm thoroughly enjoying so far...

Once the boys were awake, it was time to hit the trail for the library.  I don't think I'll venture there without the stroller again any time soon.  The boys had a hoot pulling all kinds of books off the shelves. I'm pretty sure the librarians weren't too happy cleaning up after us.  I tried to get as many books as possible back in their original locations...woops!  Good thing we were in the children's department where I'm pretty sure we're not the only ones who mess things up.  

The boys were kind enough to let me squeeze in a quick workout at the gym.  I tackled some intervals on the elliptical, rotating quarter miles with some biceps and triceps work.  I also did a quick 20 minutes on the treadmill, throwing in some sprints and hills to keep things interesting.  Those darn treadmills are torturous for a girl like me who loves to log her miles in fresh air.  I got it done though. 

We finished up our night by cooking up some of the chicken we got from the fresh market along with some guacamole for dipping and some sauteed collards for me, quesadilla for the boys since I couldn't convince them collards are yummy.  We'll keep trying...

I made myself some tea to drink while I typed this post to try to distract me from wanting something sweet but keep finding myself putting my hand back into the starburst jelly beans.  Oops!  Tomorrow's a new day...one of these days I'll stay on track.

A Weekend Of Quality Time

After a LONG weekend of wonderful quality time, doing nothing but soaking up every single second, it was back to reality today with our typical Tuesday fun.  Here's a photo recap of our weekend fun...

The boys got new boots and felt cool like Daddy.  Great Aunt Peggy and Great Uncle Lon stopped by for a visit.   Oma visited too and now we're enjoying Grandma and Grandpa's company too.

This morning's story time was great.  We're loving this cool, crisp weather.  Today's features were...

I love the message in I Love You More by Laura Ouksta.  It would make a great bedtime story.

You know how much I love Karma Wilson.  Never Ever Shout in a Zoo was a hit this morning as well.

We wrapped up Story Time with some DELICIOUS mochas, thanks to Abby's amazing barista skills at Coffee Bar Blue Door before heading to music class.  It was fabulous as always.  Since Thanksgiving is Thursday, our produce delivery was moved to today.  Check out the yummy organic goodies we'll be enjoying on Thanksgiving...

Thanks to Kim for the photo.  I can't wait to cook for my parents and boys on Thursday.  

Now it's time to get in a run before getting the rest of the groceries for our upcoming feast.  I love this time of year.

I'll leave you with this message posted by Macaroni Kid this morning.  It was a great way to start my day...

source

I'm trying to step out of my comfort zone a little bit more each day and I'm finding it to be very rewarding. I have to remember to trust God every step of the way.  He's always there to protect and guide me.  What a comfort that is!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Photo dump alert!  You know I love my kids which means I assume everyone loves my kids and wants to see their adorable photos from our visit to the pumpkin patch on Monday.  They had a riot running all over the place.  It's amazing how quickly they've grown and changed since their visit to the pumpkin patch last year.  It only gets more fun!

In case you're wondering, Mason is in the Beatles shirt with the drumset and Colton has the rock star shirt on.  Thanks to Aunt Abigail for joining us so we could let them really explore the place.  We love you!

We enjoyed a busy day yesterday of Story Time at Blue door where we read a couple more Karma Wilson books...I think we've almost read them all :-)  

I love her fun rhymes and and choice of illustrators.  They were a hit with the kiddos.  Afterwards Abby made us a lovely pumpkin latte.  I'm already trying to figure out a time to get back there for another one.  You've gotta try one.  She's got a magical touch with her coffee drinks.  YUM!

Our next stop was music class with Miss Rabe.  I am amazed by how well the boys are responding to music class.  They continue to be precocious!  I am so proud to be their momma.

The rest of our day was filled with meals, tutoring, playing outside and a bike ride before our lovely neighbors played with the boys so Abigail and I could enjoy some yummy margaritas and mexican food with some fellow MOPS moms.  What a treat; thanks Shaws!

Now I'm off to cuddle my kiddos and enjoy some roasted pears over waffles with yogurt.  Yum!  I'm also trying to come up with something unique to make with my broccoli today. I'm thinking of broccoli pesto again but would love to try something new...any suggestions?? 

A/C + New Sheets + Family Time = Happiness

I slept GOOD last night.  I think I owe to a combination of a fixed A/C and the new sheets we put on our bed yesterday.  I found them on clearance at Target on Sunday and boy am I glad I snatched them up.  We were way overdue for new sheets.  What a difference they make!  It's kind of like when you get new underwear; you forget how great new ones are until you upgrade and then you wonder why you waited so long.  At least that's the case for me...

After a great night's sleep, it was much easier to hit the gym for a quick cross-training workout on the elliptical this morning.  I have been defaulting to the elliptical quite a bit lately since I can read while I work out on it.  This morning the time flew by as I plugged along on The Happiness Project.  Today's major takeaway came from this quote:

"When money or health is a problem, you think of little else; when it's not a problem, you don't think much about it.  Both money and health contribute to happiness mostly in the negative; the lack of them brings much more unhappiness than possessing them brings happiness."  

I need to learn to not take all of the great things I have in life for granted.  God is good to me and has given me so much.  I need to be thankful for what I have and see the happiness that just being in the moment provides.  Life is good!

Gretchen Rubin, the author, spoke quite a bit on the "Money can't buy happiness" argument.  It's an interesting argument as it's true that money can't provide happiness, but not having to worry about money can make it a lot easier to enjoy things that make you happy.  For example, if one of your loves is traveling and you work on minimum wage, a larger salary could make it much easier to travel.  I agree with her that it depends on the kind of person you are (do you love the theater or prefer a night in on the couch with Netflix?), the kind of things you like to spend your money on (organic foods or whatever's on sale?), and the amount of money you have relative to the people you're surrounded by or used to (do you have the smallest house on the block?).  Just some food for thought...As you can tell, I'm captivated by her insights.

With my workout and reading out of the way, I have the majority of my day left to spend with my my 3 favorite men.  We started off our day together with oat bran pancakes.  (The recipe needs some tweaks before I share it with you, but I'm making headway.)  Then we headed off to Coffe Bar Blue Door for Story Time.  We had a great turnout, with lots of new faces.  

The bubbles never get old for the kiddos. 

We had some really great listeners while we read a couple of cute books...

I just discovered Karma Wilson's books and she does a great job with rhyming and being silly, two major selling points for me.

The rest our day is dedicated to family time--a family lunch outing, a bike ride, probably some book reading and truck riding, a little fireman hat wearing...

Colton

(If you don't have these hats, you don't know what you're missing.  They come complete with a siren that never lets us which my boys adore.  It's quite relaxing... )

Mason

...and a little party for the grown-ups once the kids are asleep.  I'm hoping things go smoothly and we get some quality time in.  We're due!

Enjoy your day!