#4 and 5

So I didn't get the blog up yesterday, but it works out perfectly as I have two special little blessings to be thankful for!  I had a great weekend with my two boys, and I am beyond thankful to be their mommy.

#4 - I am thankful for Wyatt

This kid makes me smile!  He asks really deep questions, has a tender heart, is very creative, and loves to be busy running around!  He is a great big brother - for the most part he plays so nicely with Henry and has a lot of patience (but he's a little boy so... there are plenty of fights too!).  He just started kindergarten this year, and he is loving it!  He loves his teacher - the other day he told me that her favorite animal is a turtle, and his favorite animal is a turtle too.  He also asked to buy her more sticky notes, so we bought some and wrapped them up and he wrote her name on the outside.  She sent a little thank you note home, and he was so proud of that. :)  Just so sweet! 

#5 - I am thankful for Henry

This kiddo keeps me laughing every day.  He makes such expressive faces and already uses different voices to add humor to what he is saying.  I think he may be the class clown in the future!  (well, he may already be a little disruptive in his preschool class... we'll find out at conferences next month! :) )  He is a tough guy, loves to play rough and keep up with his big brother.  He is also obsessed with Buzz Lightyear, and he keeps telling me about how he would like to go meet Buzz Lightyear.  Mommy and Daddy are working on that. :)  He is my baby, and it's hard to believe he is already three! 

Each day I love these boys more and more!

#3 Movie night

#3 Tonight I am thankful for Friday nights curled up on the couch with my boys, watching a movie.  After a long week, Friday night vegging on the couch is the best!
That's all!

Thank you for this food...

#2 - The food I get to eat

Aaron and I are in the midst of a 30 day challenge to eat whole, unprocessed foods.  It's been hard, for sure, but it has opened my eyes to many things.  The obvious observation is the junk that we were eating before - food that really isn't "food."  But it has also made me aware of the food that I don't get around to eating, then it goes bad, then I clean out the fridge/pantry and toss it in the garbage.  We used to buy groceries with good intentions, then get busy, order in, and get to the end of the week without eating the good things we bought.  It bothered me a little to throw out the spoiled things, but probably not enough.  When you really stop to think about it, many of us throw away more than some people have to eat in a week.  So, today I am thankful for the food that I get to eat because I live in America with plenty of access to nutritious foods, and I am working on eating what we buy!

30 days of thanks... and turning 30 soon

October is my birth month, and this October is a big milestone for me as I turn 30!  It also happens to be my golden birthday, since I turn 30 on the 30th.  I'm not sure what that means in regards to birthday presents (wink, wink, Aaron ;) ), but I know I want to make this a special start to my thirties.  So, each day of October I want to write about one thing I am thankful for in my 30 years of life.

#1 - This guy, my BFF, the love of my life... Aaron Brummer!

I am incredibly thankful that the stars aligned and God saw fit to put him in my life (even if I snubbed him the first time I met him.  I wasn't ready for him :) ).  I don't think there could be a better match for me.

He is an incredible chef and has patiently pushed me into trying new things.  If you knew me as a kid, I was an incredibly picky eater.  If it was green, I didn't like it.  In our 8+ years of marriage, he has been the primary cook, so I have tried many things and discovered that I like a lot more than I thought!  I will even eat mushrooms now, and that says a lot. :)  Recently we started something called Whole 30, and he has been waking up early every morning to cook me breakfast.  He speaks my love language! 

Aaron is a great dad - here he is teaching Wyatt how to ride his bike without training wheels.  That takes some major patience!  He has always been a hands-on dad - changing diapers, carrying the babies in his sling or Moby wrap, taking the boys to Lowes when Mommy needs a break, wrestling before bed, etc.  The boys have a great daddy to look up to.

He is my best friend, and I look forward to many more years together (Lord willing)!

Back to school and blogging

 Wyatt and Henry started preschool this year at a Montessori preschool and daycare.  Henry has never gone to any kind of daycare before - we have had a nanny since he was born - so I was interested to see how he would like being in a more structured environment.

 Wyatt went to daycare when we first moved to Cedar Falls, and he always seemed to like it.  He has been so ready to go to school!  Every night he sets out clothes for the next day, and when he wakes up in the morning it probably only takes him 5 minutes and he is ready to go to school!  Depending on when he wakes up, he has to wait awhile before the rest of us are ready.  :)

Henry is not a morning person typically.  There have been several days I have needed to wake him up so we can get out the door on time.  This is when he says to me "No school!  No school!  No want to!"  But once he is in the car and awake, he runs right in to school, hangs up his backpack, washes his hands, and is off to play with no second look at Mommy.

Starting preschool is giving me some extra time to myself on my days off from work.  Today is one of those days.  The actual preschool part of the day doesn't start until 9 am, so I took the boys in just before that.  This let us have a much less hectic morning and a chance for me to actually cook them M&M pancakes, which is usually a Saturday morning or Mommy's day off treat.  I was feeling a little guilty about not spending the whole day with the boys, but then Wyatt told me he wanted to go to school, and he wanted to stay there for lunch with his friends.  So no mommy guilt!

This morning I have been thinking about how my generation puts everything out there in our social media society.  You can find blogs about politics, about couponing, about being a stay-at-home mom, about being a working mom, about religion, about healthy eating, and on and on and on.  Everyone is finding their niche- their thing they are passionate about.  People talk about bucket lists - things you want to do before you die - and it seems like my list keeps growing because of all of the "awesome" things I am constantly seeing.  So what happens if you don't cross it all off of your list?  Was your life less meaningful because you never saw the Eiffel Tower in person?  Are your opinions less valuable because you never held a leadership position on your local school board?  Are you less of a person because you didn't devote your life to filling shoeboxes to send to children in Africa?

In America we have the luxury of so many choices, so many that it can become suffocating!  At preschool Wyatt can sign up for extra enrichment activities - so far it has been swimming at the Y, Kindermusik, and now on Monday he will start a soccer class.  At this stage of the game, it's not so overwhelming to him as these classes only happen one day a week.  But give it some time and I'm sure we will have to start making choices soon on what he really wants to do with his time.  In a way, I relate with the need to make choices on how I spend my time.  Do I go to yoga class or spend more time at home?  Do I bring work home with me, or be content with the way things are?  Does our family pinch a few pennies to allow ourselves to cross off a few "bucket list" items?

No perfect answers here today.  Just a few moments of quiet without any distractions.  And now... off to that yoga class!

Great Old Navy Sweater!

Today I got the opportunity to go shopping at Old Navy to pick out a new sweater, and the best part?  It was free!!!  I have been using Crowdtap.com for awhile now, and through them I had a chance to get a coupon for a free sweater for me and a friend!  It came at a perfect time, because I wanted to get something new for my office Christmas party.  While we were at the store, we saw another woman who looked like she had a lot of Christmas shopping that she was doing, so we gave her the coupon for the other free sweater.  She was very excited!

Anyway, I really like this sweater - it is soft and cozy.  The weather has turned cold lately, so it will be perfect for Christmas in Iowa!

Thanks again, Old Navy!!!

Hello blogging world!

Hi again!  So it's been a couple months since I've blogged.  It's been an unplanned hiatus, but I plan on doing a quick recap on life since April!  

On April 6th, Henry turned 1 year old!  We had a big party for him with a Thomas the Train theme.  We had two different kinds of cupcakes.

 As of his birthday, he was not walking on his own yet, but between 12 and 13 months old he took off, and he's been an exclusive walker since.  He's gotten to be quite adventurous like his older brother, climbing and running and wresting!

 In June, Aaron and I went on vacation to Cancun with my mom and dad.  Wyatt and Henry stayed with Grandma Cheri and Aunt Rachael in Iowa City.

 Wyatt's birthday was right after we got back from Cancun - we celebrated with some cake and presents at Grandma Cheri's house.

 Wyatt is 3 years old now!  Wow!  He is getting to be such a big boy.  Still working on being totally potty trained...  He has some accidents every now and then - I think partially due to being focused on playing, and partially due to being stubborn!  No diapers, but still a pull-up at bedtime.

 Wyatt requested a dinosaur birthday cake, so Grandma Cheri ordered him one for his party at her house.  On his birthday, he and I made some cupcakes and a mini cake that I put some dinosaur candles on. :)

 Aaron and I had a great time in Cancun together!  We enjoyed relaxing, eating lots of good food, and more relaxing!

 We hope to get away again some time in the future, maybe in a couple years???  :)

 Fourth of July was a fun time this year as well.  We went to the Shell Rock parade and Wyatt discovered that the more you wave, the more candy you get!

 Henry had the best seat on the street!

 And our latest birthday was Aaron's on the 11th of July.  He is 28 years old!  He requested "dirt" for his birthday dessert, and it was yummy!  (notice some leftover dinosaur candles... :) )

 And today is a pretty close to perfect Saturday!  Playing, relaxing, Daddy doing some work installing a water softener in the house.  Maybe our dishwasher will finally get our dishes clean!

 Well, hopefully I can keep up a little better on the blog.  I'm trying to keep up with things more... I've scheduled household stuff like "clean the bathroom" on Wednesday and "laundry and sweep the floors" on Thursday.  It worked pretty well this past week, so I'm going to try to keep doing it.  The depressing part is that I swept the floors last night, and already they are covered in dog hair.  Sigh.  Our next dogs will not be ones that shed!