Yellow Ribbon Weekend Etc.

It's Monday and I feel like we skipped right over the weekend without getting a break.  I hate playing catch-up on a Monday, but what can you do??  Right now I'm making the choice to slap a smile on my face and hope this week flies by so we can enjoy our busy weekend next weekend :-)

Thanks to the military, we spent our weekend at a Yellow Ribbon ceremony in Orlando.  I'm not gonna lie, the meetings were a bit boring, except for this part where the boys were on stage :-)  ....

...but the accommodations were nice, including the playground...

...the beds...

...and the elevators and escalators the boys couldn't get enough of...haha...

Luckily,  they gave us some family time which was fantastic...

...including some fun at Downtown Disney at the lego store...

...and the disney store...

...even Mickey got in on the fun while checking out the periscopes... 

...we even squeezed in a little happy hour while listening to some live music... 

Of course the boys don't sit still for long but they loved running and climbing all around the dock area...

...oh, and the boys even made some fun new artwork with the other military kids while we sat in meetings...

...they had a GREAT time!  All in all, I'd say it was a successful event.

We even managed to squeeze in a quick trip to visit Miriam in DeLand which included a run to check out her neighborhood and move my body a bit after sitting all weekend and a yummy lunch too.  I can't believe I forgot to take pictures!!  We'll just have to get back there sometime soon to make up for it.  

Today kicked off with a EARLY trip to the gym for an elliptical and arms workout...

...I'm pretty sure I was asleep for the first half of it...lol.

After breakfast, we hit the road for play group for the boys while I ran some errands and got my teeth all shined up at the dentist.  I wish I could get my teeth cleaned monthly.  I love that feeling.

Thankfully I didn't get a report that my boys were bullies today.  They made some lovely artwork this morning too, don't you think ;-)...

...it's fun to see how they're starting to get the idea of trying to color certain parts of the picture.  Colton did manage to get the sun yellow :-)  and Mason made a beautiful orange bird.  Watching them develop is so much fun!

You know what else is fun???  Have them read to me like they did after lunch today...

...reading readiness skills at their 2 1/2 year old finest...I LOVE IT!!!  Life it good...now back to playing catch-up on my chores...reminding myself to be grateful that we have so many clothes to fold and so much food to be prepped.  God is good!

Getting Things Done

I had a million things on my to-do list yesterday and actually got all of them done...except blogging.  I can't remember the last time I stayed up til 11 just so I could get things done.  Usually I'm over it by the time I put the boys to bed and call it a night shortly after they do.  It felt good to be productive but I'm glad the only major things on the to-do list today are Laundry and Produce.  I love produce day!  I'm especially excited for all the Thanksgiving goodies that are coming next week.   Organic cranberries--score!  We're supposed to be getting the BEST POTATOES EVER, buttercream fingerling potatoes, today.  Good think because one of  Mickey's favorite foods is potatoes.  I even switched my share so he could have them.  I see mashed potatoes in his very near future!


Before I tackled my to-do list, I did enjoy 2 lovely cups of this yummy coffee.  I highly recommend it...

It probably tasted especially yummy because it was BOGO at Publix and I had two coupons so I got each bag for $2.50.  Gotta love Publix and their wonderful coupon policies and sales.  

While I was busy getting things done yesterday, this is what my boys discovered...

They have just discovered how to make silly faces on windows and were really cracking each other up yesterday.  I love when they get the giggles like that.  It reminds me to stop and enjoy the moment as well.

We had a million errands to run including a stop at PetSmart for cat food.  No trip to PetSmart is complete without checking out the current rodents for sale...

Have you ever seen one with such geometric shading.  Crazy stuff!  It looked like he had been stamped. 

This was the boys' favorite.  He was VERY interactive...and actually kind of cute but still a rodent, nonetheless, and therefor never allowed in my house.  I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to convince the boys that we are not a pet family...

They LOVE every animal they meet and make it their mission to learn the sound that every animal makes.  I'm amazed by how much they already know about animals.  The animal sound of the week is "ribbit ribbit."  LOVE!

We also swung through BJs for some goodies and Mason spotted these lovely boots which he had to try on.  I think we might have to go back and get them.  We are traveling to the midwest this winter and need something besides flip flops to put on our feet, especially if it snows which I hope it does.  He'll fit right in with these boots...

The crazy thing is, if I buy them, I'm pretty sure he will actually wear them.  In fact, he'd probably never want to take them off.  They love shoes.

We also squeezed in a trip to the mall for a MOPS playdate in the food court.  That play area really is great.   All the kids had a blast.  My boys took a 3 hour nap after all that running around.  I hope everyone else's kids did too.  

The boys let me squeeze in some cardio at the gym too right before dinner time.  I had wanted to go for a run but the weather just wasn't cooperating so the elliptical became my workout instead.  I started our new book club book, which was my choice, and I am LOVING it so far.  We're reading The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver.  

I know it's not her latest, but I hadn't read it yet and love her other stuff so wanted to check this one out as well.  I hope it continues to be great and everyone loves it as much as I am so far.

The busy day left me with little energy to object when Colton wanted to wear his boots to bed, so rather than fight him, I gave in and now have one of my favorite pictures of him so far.  Like my friend Dana said, "choose your battles."  It just wasn't worth fighting him on it and I'm so glad I didn't.  Look how cute he is...

 ...and he fell asleep reading his books.   I hope they never lose their love of books.  We read every chance we get.   I love this quote that just happened to be on Macaroni Kid (which is a great resource for finding things to do with your kids, by the way) this morning.  Says the reading teacher..."Read to your kids as much as you can!"

 ...and don't forget to make time for play too.  You won't regret it!

(I couldn't show you that cute photo of Colton without showing off Mason's block building skills as well.  He's really getting the hang of stacking.