Spring is coming

When Grandma and Grandpa fire up the tractor to give the kids a ride, you know that Spring is coming. I was grateful that I had the camera handy. For Christmas this year I got a fancy SD card that allows me to upload pictures from my camera using wifi. Now I don't have to search around to find the cord or a card reader to upload my pictures. We'll see if that actually means I post pictures more often.

It is President's Day weekend which means that Josh has a holiday on Monday and I don't. I took the day off so we can all have an extra day together. We're going to take the kids ice skating. They have been taking lessons and it is fun to see them getting better with every lesson.

Lately I've been thinking about how crazy it is that we will have two kids in preschool this fall. Thomas is really growing into his personality - he is figuring out so many things and getting really big - we had to move him up another clothes size this week. Charlotte is talking a ton and can zip up her pajamas all by herself. Last night when I put her to bed, she buried her head in her large stuffed elephant and said "snuggle, snuggle, snuggle". Can't get enough of them.

Happy Rockin' New Year

I have been laid up with the sickness now for days, but my kids got to have fun with their dad and their grandparents on New Year's Eve. Thomas rocked it with the guitar and this picture looks like the future to me.

While laying around, I've also been knitting and crocheting away. When Thomas came home last night, he saw the scarf I was working on and asked if he could have it. I love how he asks for what he wants (even if he is not yet graciously accepting when the answer is no). Of course I said he could have the scarf.

We had a nice slow day here. We watched a lot of football (sad to be hanging up my Seahawks jersey tonight for the last time this season), the kids went to church and lunch with Marna and Papa and we got to play games tonight with Grandma and Grandpa, so family all around.

Last year I set out a list of goals for the year and it was a great way for me to think through what I wanted to work on. This year I am not setting out new goals, but continuing the ones from last year - to be more present, to eat better (especially after the holidays) and to be patient with my children. Our biggest challenge right now and what I see as a large challenge for the year will be enforcing more discipline with our children. Now that they are 2 and 3 they are really pushing their boundaries and we have learned that it takes more effort to be consistent with them. Right now, the big one is Thomas saying, "Don't talk to me" or "Stop talking to me" - mostly with a hand up and after I say no or remind him that he cannot stand up on the chair. Now we are enforcing a time out every time he says it. I'm just waiting for the day that it actually changes his behavior.

Tomorrow we return to Seattle for the week. It has been nice to have some time off to hang out as a family and spend time with the extended family as well. We are really blessed.

Sickness descends

Christmas was great and we had so much fun seeing the kids experience it. They were both a little under the weather, but they rallied to open presents. We spent the entire day in our pajamas, including after dinner when my dad and sister brought our kids home to put them to bed and my mom and Josh and I went to see a movie. Definitely my favorite way to spend the day - I even got a brief nap in while the kids were down in the afternoon.

We spent the day after Christmas resting at home, playing with our new things, finishing laundry and other things that had been put on hold for the holiday. It was nice to hang out with our kids and see them enjoying their new toys.

Josh and the kids playing with Play-Doh on the morning after Christmas

On Tuesday, we took the kids to stay with their grandparents and Josh and I went off to enjoy our Christmas present - a night away at Alderbrook. We had dinner together and got to actually talk to each other. On Wednesday, we went to the spa there and enjoyed a nice, long day relaxing and enjoying massages and facials. Then we headed back.

The kids have been great throughout this week, but they haven't been able to shake the sickness. Thomas has now been sick for about 10 days. I finally got the cough on Tuesday and this morning I woke up with pink eye.  So now we are all sick, taking plenty of medications and trying to get healthy. I was grateful that the doctor also suggested something for my cough that will help me sleep a little better tonight. We are also grateful for another couple of days of downtime before going off to work on Tuesday.

Merry Christmas

I can never sleep the night before Christmas. I'm so excited about tomorrow morning, about the kids opening their stockings and all of their gifts. I'm also excited because I think we will have some time to relax tomorrow and after the last couple of months, relaxation is a big gift to me.

Speaking of big gifts, while we went off to the last football game of the year, my parents and sister and brother in law came over and installed a new coat rack and bench in our kitchen.

This gift was amazing because it was completely unexpected. We had described what we wanted in that space, but we had not had time to pick something out much less install it. It fits really nicely into our new kitchen area and we are really excited to have a bench!

The football game, though disappointing (this is the part of the season when we all start talking about possibilities for next year) was a great way to spend the day before Christmas. It gives us a day between the two Christmas celebrations. The kids got to spend the day with their grandparents. The weather was unbelievably nice for December 24. Finally, because we were going to the game today, I finished getting ready for Christmas a couple of days ago and now I can just relax and soak it all in.

Happy First Day of Winter

Today was my last day of work for the year and the first day of winter. I am ready for Christmas - which is good because Christmas #1 is tomorrow. I had some deep thoughts on the way home tonight, but they went right out of my head when we discovered that the cat had used Thomas' bed as a litter box. You know, life getting in the way. We got it all cleaned up and there is now only laundry to do. Thomas went to sleep in the pack and play (very thankful it was here). Then we finished wrapping all the presents.

I was going to say something here about my new found love of Pinterest. It is awesome and has led me to some great recipes to try. Depending on how things go in the morning, I may do another crazy round of cookie baking before we head over for presents and dinner.

Looking back through pictures for the year, I came across one more that deserves some attention. We had a fun Halloween. I know some kids like to dress up, but mine don't really do that - although they love to walk around in our shoes. We got their costumes early enough that there were still good ones left so Thomas got to be SpiderMan.

Merry Christmas! I will be back in the next few days to write about my goals for the year and what I think my goals for the next year will be.

What's new?

It has been a busy year. Following my last post, I got a project at work that completely consumed me for a long time. When it was done, it was time for the holidays. In addition to that, summer came and went and then we decided to renovate our kitchen and master bathroom. Thomas turned 3 and then Charlotte turned 2. Now we are getting ready for Christmas.

Now seems to be a good time to post some of my favorite pictures from the year.

Papa tells Thomas a secret on Father's Day. He now regularly comes to me and say "psst, Mom, psst"

Charlotte is the real swimmer in our family - we had some great times this summer at Grandma and Grandpa's pool.

Thomas liked toasting marshmallows almost as much as i do.

My beautiful girl on her 2nd birthday

We had great times at the Seahawks games this year - especially when we got to bring some big fans along

Thomas on his 3rd birthday - I can't believe how big he is

I was going to give some more deep reflections here, but Thomas has been up most of the last 2 nights with a bad cough. He seems to be doing better tonight and the tiredness is hitting me like a wall, so I will leave the contemplations and the update on all of my resolutions for later. I'll have some time as tomorrow is my last day of work this year (vacation - hooray!).

Confessions

I am a total slacker. I keep thinking that I should put up these pictures from Easter and some of our great Saturdays this month, but I haven't done it. While Josh was in Taiwan a couple of weeks ago, Thomas broke the card reader I use to upload pictures to my computer. Then I ordered one and left it in Bremerton. Also, did I mention the nice weather and full weekends we've been having lately? Those are all of my excuses. Now, pictures!

He really likes to drive the tractor at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Thomas and his cousin held hands and walked around the yard together - totally cute.

Thomas and Charlotte and their cousins and their cousin's cousins on Easter

Look, Mom, I can skate.

She says "hi" and "bye bye" to everyone - at the store, in the elevator, at church - it is really cute

Realizing that all of these pictures were taken at various family members houses. We are really grateful to be around so much family. The kids really know both sets of their grandparents and all of their cousins (including their new baby cousin that was born just 5 days ago).

Mommy fail

I can't upload pictures because Thomas broke the converter I use to move pictures from my SD card on to my computer. I don't think of these little mechanical things as being so flimsy, but he just snapped it right off the computer. So, there you go. No pictures.

When Josh is on the road and I am here alone with the kids, the hardest part is putting them to bed. Thomas just has too much energy at this time of night and his energy comes with a little naughty streak - he knows that it drives me crazy if he comes in while I am trying to put Charlotte to bed and so he does it over and over again. I may have discovered the solution tonight. I can buckle him into his booster seat and put the tray on and give him my iPad to play with. I'm not sure that this is the approved method of keeping a child occupied for a few minutes but I am of the school of whatever works.

For the most part, the kids are great and I love hanging out with them and even love the fact that I get to spend time with them in the morning (which is pure laziness on my part - I would normally be going to work out at that time).

I ordered a new converter, so I should be able to do the pictures this weekend. Or, I may try the iPad method, but I'm more likely to kick back and read my book before drifting off to sleep at 9pm.

Grateful for McDonald's

I haven't posted for a while because I want to upload my photos from last weekend, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I'm going to do it this weekend when I get a chance, but I thought an update would be good.

Tonight I am grateful for McDonald's. We normally come home together as a family on Friday nights, but we had an extra car in Seattle this week and Josh needed to finish up some stuff in the office before he leaves for Taiwan on Sunday night. So, I packed the kids in the car and started the trek home, but planned to stop in Gig Harbor with the kids for dinner at McDonald's. We have never done this before, but it was a great time for the kids. They have a really good indoor playground there and the kids had a blast. It was a nice way to end the week.

Thomas has taken to getting out of bed frequently at night before he finally goes to sleep. Just now he showed up in our room to tell us that he had lost his blinky light. He also is our greeter in the morning. When he first started coming over in the morning, he would just want us to get up and feed him. Now he gets in and falls back asleep. Since he tends to get up around 5:30, I am grateful that we now get a little extra sleep, even it if is with a squirmy child. (He just came down again to tell us that there is a string on his sock.)

Charlotte has discovered a deep love of candy thanks to Easter. She would like it morning noon and night. We have decided that she cannot have it every day, even though it will take a year to get through her candy from her Easter basket. She is also learning a bunch of words and starting to put them together which is great. She is also at that stage where she is unafraid. She would like her daddy to throw her in the air over and over again.

Tomorrow we have a full day - getting the car fixed, ice skating lessons and a likely trip to Costco. I'm really looking forward to being with the family all day. After working all week, I really appreciate seeing them on the weekends.

Busy night

Tonight, I had a "busy" night. All that means is that I did laundry and then put it away and had to put the sheets back on Charlotte's bed. Charlotte has now decided that she loves kisses, so I can grab her and kiss her neck and she just laughs and laughs. She also burrows into her pillow at night and reaches for the blanket to pull it around her. She could not be cuter.

Thomas is having fun trying to figure out his boundaries. His new word is "dangerous" as in "the parking lot is dangerous". While I don't want him to go around being scared about a lot of things, I do want him to have a healthy respect for the danger around a moving car. It is a fine line.

The big news today is that I finally got my act together and got a new mobile phone. When Josh went to work for HTC, I inherited his old iPhone. It was a fine phone and I probably would have gone on using it for a while, but Apple released a new version of iOS that patched some security holes and they did not make it compatible with my iPhone (an ancient 3G model). Therefore, in order to get my work email, I had to get a different phone. So now I have the same model phone that Josh has (an HTC Inspire) and a spiffy purple case to go along with it.

That's all the excitement for today. Except for the fact that there are now only 3 more dessert free days ahead of me. Of course the more important part of that is celebrating Easter on Sunday, but I'm really looking forward to some chocolate eggs.

Update on Lent

I haven't written too much about giving up sweets for Lent. I have not had too much trouble except for one mental lapse where I just ate the ice cream that was put in front of me without thinking about it.

Here is what I have learned:
1. The Girl Scouts should not sell cookies during or right before Lent. I have two boxes in my freezer, but it was mean, just mean to see them continuing to sell them.
2. Sometimes fruit is better than cookies or candy.
3. Everyone keeps assuring them that morning doughnuts make them feel bad (as in sick). I try to take comfort in that, but they really look good.
4. I don't miss chocolate nearly as much as I thought I would.
5. It is easier to give up if it is not in the house.

There is one more week left until Easter. I will continue to keep more fruit and less cake as a way of life. But, I am looking forward to at least a little dessert every once in a while.

Driving

We came home to Bremerton last night, so I had to commute today. I love to drive. Friday mornings are a particularly good time to drive because there is less traffic. Strangely, Friday nights have lots of traffic. You wouldn't think that so many people leave on Friday nights, but they must because the traffic is generally terrible on Friday nights. I enjoyed my time in the car, catching up on world news and then listening to some music. It was a nice way to leave work behind and get my head into the weekend.

We are going to round two of ice skating lessons tomorrow. We've had lots of talks this week about it and I think Thomas is ready. We'll see if we have to resort to actual bribery. Josh is going to go out on the ice with him tomorrow and we have been working with him on why it is good to try things even if they are scary.

Now that Thomas is able to get out of his bed, we are working on the fun stuff like actually staying in bed. He is usually pretty good, but he did show up once this week next to my bed. He said "Mommy, I'm chilly." So I got up, took him back to bed and covered him with two blankets. He was out in two seconds. We also had a small incident this week where he climbed into Charlotte's crib with her at 5 am. She thought it was hilarious.

Thomas and Charlotte are both growing out of their clothes faster than I think is possible. And, they are both getting new teeth. Charlotte now has 4 molars and Thomas also has his final molars. They are both looking forward to a weekend of running around the house, stomping their feet and generally making lots of noise. I am looking forward to watching them and laughing.

Short weeks in Seattle

We are now in the throes of hockey season which means I should take some action shots of Josh on the ice (or in the penalty box) and post them here so you can see what we do on the weekends. The games are on Thursday and Sunday and the teams rotate a little, but it seems like we are getting a lot of Thursday games. When it works, that means we leave here on Thursday night instead of Friday. It makes the week go by faster, even though I have to commute in on most Fridays.

We had several fun things going on this weekend. On Saturday, we took Thomas for his first skating lesson. 26 minutes into it, Josh got him to crawl out on the ice. We have decided to resort to bribery next week (in other words - candy if he can make it on to the ice). He is going through a phase of being nervous about things that were fine before. He also struggled with his class at the rec center today. We'll see if he can get over it in the next couple of weeks.

My parents came over on Saturday night which allowed Josh and I to go see a movie. We are really blessed to have so much family nearby. I know many parents in our situation (2 really young kids) and they rarely get time alone together. We also got to go out to dinner on Friday night and I got to go watch Josh's hockey game on Sunday afternoon all by myself. It made the weekend feel longer and more restful.

We cam back here last night which allowed me to go to yoga this morning. I do not do all the well at Monday morning yoga. I don't know if it is because it has been a few days since I did it last or because I really wish I could still be in bed, but I struggle a lot more on Mondays than when I do it on Wednesday or Friday. It is still worth it because I feel so good when it is over, but I have to earn it more on Monday.

That is pretty much the story for today. Now I am going to curl up with my book and read for a while.

At the Airport in NJ

I'm getting on a plane in a few minutes to fly to Minneapolis and on from there to Seattle. It was a great trip to NY, capped off by a fun night last night. I got to meet up with a friend for drinks and then out to dinner with 4 people I work with. We ate at a little restaurant called Piadina in the Village and monopolized the table for 2 and a half hours. It was the most funny dinner I've had in a while. I didn't get back to the hotel until after midnight and 8:00 came too quickly this morning.

This week went by really quickly and I can't wait to get home and Josh and Thomas and Charlotte tonight. It was strange to be away from them for a couple of days...

Happy Friday and hope you are enjoying your day, whatever you are doing.

I took this picture for Thomas because he loves tunnels. I went through the Midtown tunnel on the way in from JFK.

I spent a good amount of time at this tiny desk this afternoon, catching up on work.

I got upgraded to a King room. Pretty much the bed and the desk are the whole room. Just like I like it, nice and compact.

I went out to Park Slope (Brooklyn) to have dinner with my friend, Andrea. On the way back I took a picture of this cool old church because I liked it and it looked cool in the rain.

I am in New York on business. I flew in today and got to finish my book. I have been reading The Name of the Wind - a favorite of my husbands and many other good readers that I know. I loved it so much that I broke my rule and got the next book in the series and started it right away.

Since I had kids, I don't like to travel as much as I used to, but I was reading 1000 Gifts on the plane and thinking about enjoying the moment and I decided that I can enjoy the moments that I am here even as I miss my family. New York felt like an old friend to me as I passed through familiar streets and recognized places I have stayed before. The past couple of times, I've also gone out to Brooklyn to meet up with friends and it is nice to discover new places here rather than just go to the same ones over and over again.

I don't know that I will have time to take pictures tomorrow, but I am going to try. I rarely take pictures while I am here and it is one of my favorite cities (after Paris, Seattle, San Francisco and London). Now I have to go to sleep since my day starts early. Good night!

Short Sunday night post

We are back in Seattle after a fun filled day in Bremerton. We went to church and then out to lunch with my family. It was a full table today because Rebecca and the boys and Hannah got to join us. Meaning my entire family was there with the exception of Robb (Rebecca's husband) - he was flying back from Mexico today where he went to build houses for a week. We were sad to miss him, but it was great work that they got done there.

We took our very sleepy children home for naps and Thomas slept in his big bed again. We are kind of liking that he can get out of bed by himself because he just shows up when he is done with nap. I'm still getting used to it in the morning.

We are back in Seattle late after we watched Josh's hockey game and then bundled the kids in the car and headed over. It was a great game - which they won 6-5. It included two trips to the penalty box for Josh which means he was playing really hard (he explained to me early on that sometimes it is better to get a penalty than to let a guy score - as long as no one gets hurt). We haven't done this with the kids yet because I am not always a big fan of sleeping in the car, but they really did well. They stayed asleep for the most part on the stroller ride up to the apartment and then went straight to bed. We still have to figure out the best way to configure Thomas bed since he can now get out and we are looking at changing his crib into a toddler bed.

It is a short week in Seattle for us. I leave on Wednesday for New York and Josh is going to take the kids back to Bremerton because he has a hockey game on Thursday night. I'll try to take more pictures and post them as well. Sleep well!

First Family day in a while

We spent the day together just the four of us for the first time in a while. We talked about a few different options and ended up spending the day close to home. Our first adventure was playing in the yard.

Here you go, Mom.

I'm going to leave this truck here and go check out something else.

Then we went out for a little grocery shopping and came back to nap time. The kids were cooperative and fell asleep in the car on the way home from the grocery store. After naps, we decided to go to Scenic Beach in Seabeck. We had never been there before and it wasn't raining too much so we were pretty sure we'd be able to catch at break in the weather.

Oh, yeah, I love my car seat.

What do you mean I have to be 16 to drive?

Wait for me!

Look at this cool gazebo I found.

We walked around and explored the picnic area, but the beach was closed. The kids didn't care. They were really happy to be outside. We looked at a leaf and some sticks, we ran around in circles and the kids got to stomp in some puddles. It was great. Just when we left, it started to pour - great timing :)

Finally, we had a family dinner. Josh kept the kids distracted by turning the oven mitt into a talking, tickling dinosaur. They thought it was hilarious.

The dinosaur oven mitt

One final note of the day. After 2 mornings of Thomas showing up in our room (yes, he learned to climb out of his crib and last night we put up a gate upstairs and he climbed over that, too), we moved Thomas to a big bed. He made it through nap okay and then just came downstairs when he was done. We are entering a new era.

Weekend, how I love you

I love yogurt - can't you tell?

Josh and I were both struggling to stay awake on the drive home which is a clear indication that we are ready for the weekend. It was a busy month with lots of travel and we now have a lively 16 month old girl who is fighting bedtime. We found the cure tonight - driving and the movie Cars. Also, she didn't take a nap this afternoon. But, look at that face. How can you not just love her? So, we are getting ready for the transition to one nap and the arrival of more teeth.

We have absolutely nothing planned this weekend. It is a nice way to start a month. Hope everyone else is enjoying a little downtime, too!

Sick kids

Last week, while Josh was in Taiwan, I was sick all week, but the kids were mostly fine. This week, my sickness has caught up to them. It made for a couple of really bad nights (up a lot with coughing) and that makes the parents a little cranky. I am finally starting to feel better, but it would be nice if we got the kids there too.

Tonight I had a lot of bad parenting moments. Charlotte has decided that it is now her right to protest going to bed. It used to be that I would take her in her room and she would curl up in my arms and I would sing a little and then put her in her bed where she would sigh contentedly and then drop off into dreamland. Now the protest starts as soon as the door closes. She points to the door and pitifully proclaims "door, door, door" all while pointing at the door. Then there are lots of tears. As I am writing this, I am remembering that Thomas did the same thing. Tonight it was about an hour from beginning to end. And, it ended with me sitting in a chair, stroking her hair and rubbing her back until she could no longer sleep and finally gave in to the drooping eyelids. I was not thinking kind thoughts about her the entire time.

It brought me back to my devotional reading for today which was about trusting God with all your heart. My heart is not always kind and to give that back to God and ask for forgiveness made me come down from being angry and tired and frustrated. And it gave me perspective. As my husband just reminded me, when we went through this with Thomas, the only thing that fixed it was time and patience. And anyone who knows me would tell you that I am not long on patience. So I'll keep having to go to the well of grace in the next couple of weeks.

In other news, my baby girl is 16 months old today. She is amazing and is so much more clear in her communication than she was a month ago. I'm hoping that some of her clear communication (like screaming or saying no) is temporary, but I can't wait until she breaks out that first sentence. Happy Birthday, Charlotte!

Super Readers to the Rescue

Aunt Hannah is here as is our tradition on Monday nights and she has miraculously made Charlotte go to sleep. Charlotte and Thomas are both sick now, with full blown coughs and runny noses. In some ways it makes them so cute - think a two year old talking with a stuffed up nose - but, mostly it is just sad. Charlotte is especially sad and is not getting much sleep. I'm praying for a quick recovery for them.

We had a great, full weekend, ending last night with a visit with some friends. We get really busy with family and life sometimes and we are trying to make more room to keep up with friends as well. We got back to Bremerton just in time for Josh to play his hockey game last night.

This week we are all together for the first time in ages. It is nice to remember what Josh looks like and to have regular nights with eating and baths and laundry. We are now watching Super Why before Thomas goes to bed and the adults are watching the rain come down outside our window. It is a nice end to a long day. Happy Monday!