Sunday, February 21, 2010

Fun In The Sun...And The Mud

Gotta love Georgia weather! Last weekend we were sledding and building snowmen, and this weekend we were at the park in short sleeves!

We decided to go take advantage of the gorgeous weather we are having, and go to the park. Apparently the entire state of Georgia had the same idea, because the biggest park around was so crowded they had police officers directing traffic.

We were meeting JaMonkey at the park, so I quickly called her and we made a change of plans. We ended up at a park close to our houses, that was not too crowded. Little Man had SO much fun running around with JaMonkey. They swung, wend down the slide, even had a little picnic with golfdfish and juice.

After they were done with the playground, we decided to take them for a walk on the trail that was there. JaMonkey had a doll stroller, and Little Man wanted to help her push her stroller.

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It was super cute watching them walking, hand in hand, pushing a baby stroller.

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The only thing we didn't see was the GIANT puddle of mud that Little Man stepped into, then as he was trying to get his foot out, he fell into it.

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Now, if you know anything about Stephen, you know he does not like to get dirty. Little Man must have gotten this from Daddy, because as soon as he fell, he started crying big crocodile tears! Poor thing.

I stripped him down to his diaper and t-shirt, and we headed for the car.

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Park time was done! We headed home where I tossed his muddy clothes into the washer, and JaMonkey met us at our house to continue playing with Little Man. Maybe one of these days I will get Little Man to like to play in the dirt!

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Saturday, February 20, 2010

Big Apple Circus

Our local radio station has been giving away circus tickets all week this week. After trying countless number of times to win some, I decided to give up, and buy them! I have not been to the circus since I was a child, and I KNEW Little Man would LOVE it!! After looking online, and seeing three circuses in town, I did a little research and found the one I wanted to go to.

I chose The Big Apple Circus partly because of their cheaper ticket prices, but also because they are a non-profit circus. They also adopt all of their show dogs, and do not use the typical "circus animals" that are usually abused. They have a smaller ring, so no seat is farther than 50 feet from the show, which I knew was important to keep Little Mans attention!

I bought tickets for a Monday afternoon, knowing they would not be as busy, therefore less crowds to try to keep up with the kiddos in. Stephen was off for Presidents Day, so he got to come too!

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Once we got there and found our seats, the show started.

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Little Man was stunned! He didn't even blink for the first half.

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Little Miracle slept and nursed thru the first half, and stared at the lights for the second half.

The show centered around Bello. He is a daredevil of sorts. And really funny too. His grandma was in the show also. She was trying to learn how to be a daredevil, and was training to walk in Bello's shoes.

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Sultan Kumisbayev rode several horses at once. At one point, he did a split with a foot on each horse! I did not manage to get that in a picture!

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The Long Twins are Chinese acrobats. They were AMAZING!

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And no circus is complete without trapeze artists, The Aniskin Troupe flew thru the air. I think this was Little Mans favorite part!!

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We had so much fun that Little Man did not want to leave! We had to make him say "bye bye circus" as we were leaving. I think we will make this a yearly tradition!

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Our First Child

Tabby cat, our first child. We got her shortly after we got married. Poor thing has been pushed to the back burner with us now having two kids. She is trying to get some loving these days where she can.

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Sunday, February 14, 2010

The 3 Day

I have wanted to do The 3 Day walk for many years now.

The first time I thought about it was when I was working at the pharmacy. I worked in a pharmacy for 7 years, and we say MANY cancer patients there.

When my grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer, I thought about it again. She underwent surgery and radiation to remove the cancer cells from her body, and she has been cancer free for a few years now.

When a woman whose blog I have been following for almost two years now was diagnosed with breast cancer, I thought about it again.

The last time I thought about doing the 3 Day walk was during my childbirth classes. There I met Teresa. She is the owner of the company that we hired our doula through. She is a breast cancer survivor.

I was tired of saying to myself "I want to do that one year".. or "someday I will walk in the 3 Day". This year was it!

I contacted Teresa and asked her some questions about how it all works and if it is possible to do the walk while nursing my Little Miracle since he will still be nursing then. Once I realized that it would not be a problem for Stephen to bring Little Miracle to me during the walk, or to pump during the walk, my mind was made up. Teresa said she would love to have me on her team, so I signed up!

I am very excited to be taking the journey. If you have never heard of the 3 Day, let me tell you about all I know so far about it. It is a 3 day walk of 60 miles, intended to raise money for breast cancer. According to the website "Net proceeds from the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure fund innovative global breast cancer research and local community programs supporting education, screening and treatment."

I need to raise at least $2,300. That may seem like a lot of money, but I know I can get there with every ones help. I already got my first donation in, and it feels really good to know that people are behind me on this decision! Every donation, rather large or small, helps me towards my goal.

Check out The3Day.org for more information.

Click here to support me along this journey!



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Snow Storm 2-12-10

Little Man saw some flurries the other day, and was looking out the car window saying "NNNOOOOOO" (think snow... with out the s) . He was so excited to see snow flurries. These flurries stopped, and he was disappointed that the snow was gone. "Bye Bye nnnooooo" he said.

Imagine his surprise when, a few days later, I got him up from his nap to over an inch on the ground, and still snowing! He came down the stairs, and screamed "NNNOOOO!!!!!!!!" as he pointed out the window. He stared out the back door for almost 10 minutes before he would put on his jacket and shoes.

We got him all bundled up and we headed out onto the back porch. He wasn’t too sure about the snow at first, but decided to check it out! I left his gloves off so he could feel it.

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The weather man said we were going to get anywhere from a one inch, to four inches of snow. We already had an inch on the ground, so we decided to make our snowman then, in case it stopped snowing anytime soon.

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I had to go inside and feed Little Miracle shortly after we headed out, but Daddy and Little Man thought it was funny to throw snowballs at Mommy! This is what my door looked like when they were done.

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Once they were good and cold, and almost out of snow on the porch to play with, Daddy and Little Man headed inside. Little Man and I were going to make cookies for the ladies that watch him on Sunday at church. I got right to work mixing the dough, and Little Man found his cookie cutters.

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The cookie cutters were the best part!

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He found the heart cookie cutter, and we rolled out the dough. He loved cutting out the cookies.

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Once we put the cookies in the oven, Daddy told Little Man to "drop and give me 20" for not cleaning up his cookie cutters. Little Man actually dropped to push up position! Daddy was SSOOOO proud!

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The cookies were done! Time to decorate them!!

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Before we headed to bed, we went outside one last time to measure the snow, since it finally stopped snowing. We got right at 2" here.

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My front yard was very pretty at night.

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We put Little Man to bed, and I made some snow ice cream. Stephen is from Chicago and has never had snow ice cream! I was SHOCKED!!

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I found it sad that it took a southern girl to give my northern husband his first taste of snow ice cream.

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We woke up the next morning to the roads covered in snow. I think this was from the snow coming off the trees, because the roads were not completely covered when we went to bed, and the snow had stopped. This is the view from our bedroom.

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We got up and bundled all up again, and headed back outside to play in the snow before it melted away. Granddaddy brought over a sled for us to enjoy! Little Man loved being pulled on it, and he even pulled it around the driveway and up the street some. Stephen has a snowboard he pulled out too, and went down our street on it. It was funny watching someone snowboard down the street. I liked the tree that is at the street in our yard. It has pretty red berries on it, and they looked very pretty in the snow.

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Little Man kept saying "I need walk", so we said, Ok - lets go for a walk around the neighborhood to see everyone’s snowmen and all the snow. We made it to the front of the neighborhood and decided to keep walking. We have a McDonalds less than a mile from where we were standing, and it was almost lunch time, so we took off for the McDonalds.

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We ate lunch and let Little Man play on the Play Place for a while, before heading back home. We had to carry Little Man home because he was so tired from his busy morning! When we were a few houses from home, we saw our neighbors outside building a snow elephant! Very creative!

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Once we made it home, we put Little Man to bed, and watched the snow melt away. It was fun while it lasted!



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Thursday, February 11, 2010

Wanna Help?

So, I did something today that I have been wanting to do for a long time now.

I signed up to walk in the Atlanta 3 Day! It is a 3 day walk (60 miles!) to benefit breast cancer research.

Wanna help me reach my fundraising goal of $2,300?

3 Day

Any amount is appreciated!

I will blog more about this later when I have more time.



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Sunday, February 7, 2010

Super Bowl

Three years ago, Super Bowl Sunday, we found out we were pregnant with Little Man.

I had taken a test in the morning, and thought I saw a VERY faint line. I chose not to believe it. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.

We went to church, then headed home. I don't remember what we did that afternoon, but we went to a Super Bowl party that evening at my good friends house. Every one was watching the game and drinking, except me. I knew there was a chance I could be pregnant since we were trying, so I did not drink.

It was the Chicago Bears vs. the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl. My husband is from Chicago, so he is a HUGE Bears fan. We were PSYCHED that they were finally in the Super Bowl. The game started out great. Hester (I believe) took the first kick and returned it for a touch down! DA BEARS!!!

The game went down hill from there. I remember I got really sleepy and cranky. I was rude to my friends who were hosting the party, and we left before the game was over. As soon as we got home, I went to bed.

I woke up Monday morning, and took another pregnancy test. This time a digital. It said pregnant!! Ah, that explains why I was so tired and cranky last night! I called my mom, my sister, then my friend that hosted the party. I apologized for being cranky and said "but I have a good excuse". All was forgiven as soon as I told her I was pregnant.

The Colts won the Super Bowl three years ago...

Flash forward to tonight. We went to at a party hosted by a couple that goes to our church. Watching the Super Bowl with my Little Man (and Little Miracle) was priceless.

Watching the Colts lose was sweet revenge!



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Saturday, February 6, 2010

Introducing...

Let me introduce our new love, Little Miracle

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Life Is Funny

Oh how life is funny! After I posted the blog about how I like to keep my house neat and orderly, I got a chance to watch my sisters three girls at my house. They are great kids, but I have never had 5 kids in my play room at once.

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A few minutes after they arrived, Little Man and The Girls went to the play room. They had every toy out in under 10 seconds flat!

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I had to sit on my hands to keep from cleaning! They were having so much fun!

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They played for hours! Little Man did NOT want to go to bed when it was time for them to head home!



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Thursday, February 4, 2010

How Do You Do It?

I was recently asked by a mommy friend "how do you do it?"

"How do I do what" was my response

"How do you keep up with all the house stuff while watching two babies?"

Ah.

Let me first say that my house is by no means spotless. It never will be. My house is clean, neat, orderly, but if you move rugs or look under beds, you may find a lost sock or a pile of dirt. I hate to dust so if you catch me on a bad day, there is a layer of dust so thick you can write your name in. I am a little OCD when it comes to everything being put away where it belongs, but the dusting and such does not bother me as much.

When Little Man was smaller, I had what I thought was the perfect cleaning schedule. I had it written out on the fridge. Daily I would make beds, gather up all the laundry and dishes from the night before and do general pick up. I had a weekly schedule too. Mondays were vacuuming days, Tuesdays and Thursdays were laundry days, Saturdays were clean out the car days, etc.. This schedule worked out great for a few weeks. Then I had a lazy day. Then the next day my chores doubled. Well, I was lazy that day too, so it all went out the window.

Once we bought our house, I knew I would have to make some sort of schedule to keep up with everything. I brought out the old schedule thinking I would just use it again. Yeah, not so much! I realized that it was not going to work out having daily things to do. I like to stay home and chill around the house, but Little Man likes to go out, so I am not home as much as I used to be. I tried to keep up with everything in the house, but I found myself falling behind again.

So how do I do it?

Every time I change a diaper, the diaper gets brought downstairs, and goes into the bin. Every time we change clothes, the clothes get brought downstairs and go into the washer or the hamper if the washer is going. When we are done with our dishes, they go into the dishwasher. I unload the dishes (something new for me, Stephen has always done dishes, but they would sit in the sink for days before they got done) in the morning or when I get a free minute during the day. The clothes and diapers get washed when the washer is full. I usually do a load of clothes every day, and diapers get done every other day. Dishes are a daily thing now too.

I am starting to teach Lincoln to not pull every toy out of his play room at one time. If he is playing with the blocks then he needs to put blocks away before we pull out the puzzles. (I usually only make him do this if he is playing with something that has a billion pieces, and he wants to pull out something else that has a billion pieces) Sometimes I have to tell myself to just let him be a kid, and let him make a mess. I pick up his toys after he goes down for a nap, and again at bedtime. He is getting pretty good at helping me pick up, but is not 100%.

The big things, like dusting and cleaning the floors gets done when they need to be done. When I notice the dust getting thick, I will dust. Things like that get done when Stephen gets home since they take longer.

So I guess the answer to the question is that I do it as I go. It is so much easier to keep a clean house clean, than it is to clean a dirty house.

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