thursday mornings

Thursday mornings are special around here these days.  It's the only weekday morning where the pace slows down a bit and it's okay if everyone isn't quite matching or that everyone's hair is combed {as you can tell from the pictures}.  Yes, Avery still has to go to school on Thursdays {and we still miss him being here}, but it is the only morning where E&E and I have time to relax around the house.  There's no preschool, MOPS, gym, shopping, storytime, volunteering on Thursdays. I have started treating Thursday mornings as a more sacred time because these days are quickly slipping from us.

When I first started staying home {4 1/2 years ago now...wow}, I dreamed of busy days and so looked forward to having something on our schedule.  With a 3 1/2, almost 2, and a newborn at home our days were spent mostly at home.  Those were long days, before I really had too many friends, and three kiddos who couldn't really participate in much either.  None of my kids were in school or preschool, they were still too young for sports, and I hadn't yet realize the joys of going to a gym.  I longed for the bi-weekly MOPS meetings and even attended two different storytimes every week just to get out of the house.  Although some days were definitely long, I still look back on those days with fond memories that I was able to be home with them.

Those days, however, have disappeared in a blink of the eye...seriously, I don't know how the days have flown by!  Thursday mornings are now our only day that doesn't have something on the schedule every week...and most Thursday nights are open too {I could do a whole other post on after school activities}. I know now that we only have a few months left of this schedule before things once again change and I will have two school aged kids and only Ellie at home most of the time.  I am not saying things will get worse then...it will just once again be different...with a new schedule to love.

So E&E and I will try to enjoy the rest of our Thursday mornings while we have this time.

Here's a glimpse at this Thursday morning...

{This doesn't happen a lot...but they were playing "mom & dad" :)}

{Evan's latest favorite show is "Word World".  These two don't watch a lot of TV, but I love that this show teaches them about letters and words!}

{Twice in one day I caught them hugging!}

{I was kicked out of the room while they were playing "mom & dad"}

{Evan's all for getting ready for kindergarten lately!}

{These two always want to do a craft}

{Another sweet moment caught between them...Evan was "reading" a story to Ellie}

14 days of {love} 2014

My 14 days of {love} is about to begin again around here!  You can see here what we did last year and I have a lot of new ideas for this year!  

Today was all about getting our decorations out.  We set up our favorite part...our Valentine mailboxes {totally from the Dollar section of Target with a Dollar Tree candlestick glued to the bottom and some heart stickers to decorate}.  These mailboxes are used to hold a surprise direction for the kiddos every morning.  I use my ideas on my calendar and write out a card that says the activity we will do for the day {if the supplies fit in the mailbox I will stick them in there too}.  Everything will begin on February 1st!

A look at some of our decorations...we don't have many, but that's kind of how I like it after the Christmas explosion takes place.

A lot of what you see were items purchased from the Dollar Tree.  You can read more about that here.

I think this is still one of my favorite decorations...a mason jar with a paper doily mod podged to the front and red and white twine around the top.

And lastly, my 2014 activity calendar for 14 days of {love}.  A few repeats from last year, but a lot of new ideas here.  You can print out the calendar for yourself here.

storytime, selling, scrapping, "Skylander", scoring, surgery...

Another busy week in the books for us.  Here's a look at some things that have been happening around here.

E&E started their first storytime together this week!  It is actually Ellie's very first storytime.  The boys have been going to various ones for a while, but Ellie was not old enough to go with them and I couldn't really take her to the toddler ones before because there is no way the boys would have sat through those.  Now that we are in the new stage of our lives...with two preschoolers and a school age kiddo {which will soon change again to one preschooler and two school age kids...wow} things become a little easier.  The best part of this 30 minute storytime is that E&E go without me, which means I all of a sudden have 30 minutes of child-free time where I am required to do nothing!  Woohoo! 

{Ellie said she loved storytime.}

This year I was one of the people in charge of my MOPS {Mother's of Preschoolers} Bake Sale.  Which meant some planning, baking, setting up, and selling on my part.  It made my week kind of crazy, but it was lots of fun with some great friends!  

First came my baking part...I don't know about you, but my kitchen always becomes a complete disaster when baking.  I don't know how not to make it end up this way.  And of course, my kids always think they need to join me in there with all their toys too.

Then came the set up and selling part.  I am so thankful for all the talented ladies I know...they make doing this kind of thing so easy!  

{All the yummy treats...hardly anything was left after the sell was over!}

Oh and did I mention during this Bake Sale I was also 24 hour scrapbooking at my church too??  Well not quite 24 hours...I scrapped from 5:15 pm - 1:45 am Friday and from 7:30 am - 4:00 pm.  It's one of my favorite weekends of the year...lots of time with great friends, yummy food, and of course being able to get all of my scrapbooks caught up!  I am now all caught up...well I was caught up...that is, I have it done through this past Thursday and now being Sunday I am once again behind ;) {since I do add one picture from everyday in my album}.  Can't wait for next year!

But did I mention while running this Bake Sale AND {almost} 24 hour scrapbooking we also had a Cub Scout Pinewood Derby to participate in Friday night.

Here is Avery's creation, "Sylander".  Of course, what else would it be ;)?

And Evan had to make one too.  His was called "Turtle Apple" {I think you can see how it got it's name}.

"Skylander" didn't win any of his races this year, but he had a good run and there's always next year.

Avery won the "Best Decals" award!

Watching Skylander come down the runway!

And of course we threw in a basketball game in the mix Saturday morning.  No baskets yet from Avery, but his skills are improving and the Heat won their game!

Then after some much needed sleep Saturday night and some time at church Sunday morning, we had to have a major surgery on one of our loves...that is a Snuggie love.  Ellie's Baby had a hole that was well loved into her hand.  We had to stitch it up, but Ellie stayed by Baby's side the whole time holding her hand, getting her an ice pack, and putting a bandaid on the boo boo.  Luckily, Baby healed quickly and made a full recovery!

Then we had our own Derby race...on the dining room table.  Evan was a little sad he didn't get to participate before so he wanted to have a race with Avery.

Ellie joined too.

And they all got medals!!

Finally, another beautiful Sunday was enjoyed outside jumping on the trampoline.  I would include pictures, but you might be getting tired of the old trampoline pictures already ;).  So far I would say Santa's present is being well loved.

basketball, birthday, a ball, bikes, balls, & boys

A little look into our weekend...

Grandmommy & Granddaddy came up for the weekend!  

Some basketball was played.  No baskets attempted by Avery yet, but he is getting good at getting the ball and making passes to his teammates.  The Heat played a great game against a great team!

A little cheerleader got a little too sleepy during the game and took a little power nap!

Someone celebrated her 27th birthday {or 72nd...like my kids liked to call it ;)}.

{Don't worry Kels this will make it into the scrapbook ;)}

We had our 10th "prom" this weekend!  I don't really know how we got that old because I am pretty sure our first real prom was just a couple of years ago!  In all seriousness, Ryan & I went to Garmin's Winter Event Saturday night, which is also known as "Garmin Prom".  You can see the first nine proms in this post here.  You can see Ryan really went with the casual look this year way more so then in the past.  Okay here's the story...Garmin Prom used to say that the event was "semi-formal"...which I am all for!  I actually do {love} being able to dress up nice once a year!  Last year they all of sudden gave these directions: "Attire:  Dressy Casual

(Dressy or Casual your choice including jeans)"

So what does that mean...really??  Anything pretty much goes!  Ryan gets to wear jeans everyday to work at his office job.  I think they can ask them to come dressed up for one event once a year.  We showed up last year pretty much looking like we normally do and we both felt way overdressed.  Everyone was all of a sudden wearing jeans.  Boo!  Well, this year rolls around and Ryan claims that he doesn't want to look overdressed again so he went with jeans.  I am sticking to my guns and am going to wear my dress that I only get to wear once a year.  This year when we did show up most people were dressed up again...I know crazy!  Therefore, from now on I am making Ryan dress up too no excuses ;).  I just hope the directions never turn to...casual dress only...

You can see in my other post too that we used to get a pretty good prom picture, but for the last two years {well I didn't show you last years', but trust me it looks the same} we have gotten this type of photo.  Not a fan of it!  Who takes a nice formal shot of a couple going horizontal??  Maybe this came about because of the "casualness" of the attire...I guess you can't see that Ryan is wearing jeans.  It kind of makes me think that they hired someone from the DMV to do a mug shot ;).  Oh well, we still {love} the event and am glad they brought prom back after its several year hiatus!  It's a fun night with unlimited buffets, completely open bar for the first two hours, casino games, arcade games, music, and BIG prizes...yet for some reason we haven't won any of them yet and I think our odds are getting worse every year with the huge growth in employees Garmin makes every year!

Then our Sunday looks like this...

Some playing with Grandmommy...

...& Granddaddy.

A triple basket from my three boys.

Evan has been working on riding his bike without training wheels!

The boys enjoying another Sunday with unseasonably beautiful weather!!

an ode to Blankie, Train Blanket & Baby Elmo, & Baby

This little white sheep/blankie that Ellie calls "Baby" has been a pretty constant companion with Ellie over the past 3 years.  So much so that the white little "snuggie" {as we call them around here} is usually a little brown ;).  Baby is starting to have some wear on her seams too...but she has been well loved!

At times it can be a little bit of a nuisance to bring Baby everywhere or trying to hunt down Baby, but I also realize that this need for a snuggie goes by all too quickly! 

These pictures prove that....

Avery used to be the same way with "Blankie" that he would never, ever sleep without.  Since he was also in daycare we would always have to find that blankie and bring it with us to daycare e v e r y  s i n g l e  d a y, but most importantly we had to remember to bring it home every single day too!!  However, it has been several years since he has really even touched Blankie....

I don't think Evan got as attached to a snuggie as Avery & Ellie, but there were several years that he always had to have "Baby Elmo" AND "Train Blanket" with him in his bed or if he was going to stay at Grandmommy & Granddaddy's house.  This was just two years ago, and he still takes them with him to G&G's house, but really he doesn't sleep with them in his bed anymore...

{Baby Elmo is sleeping with Evan here, but you can also see Train Blanket beside his seat.}

So we will {love} and cherish our snuggies while we need them, but we will always hold on to them and remember the special comfort they brought my kiddos in their early years.

Thank you Blankie, Train Blanket & Baby Elmo, and Baby!!

{Thanks to Aunt Kelsey too who bought both Blankie and Baby as baby presents before Avery & Ellie were even born...she also bought Evan a blanket snuggie, but he never got really attached to it...yes Evan is the one who always has to be different ;)}

bring on the Heat

Avery has  already played t-ball, soccer, and baseball in his young 6 1/2 years, but now we are in the beginning of his "new" sport of basketball!  Today was his first game and after not having practice since before winter break {our practice this week was canceled due to snow and cold}...they played awesome!  It helps that most of his teammates are also his baseball teammates so they all know each other pretty well along with their same coach.  Avery was one of the few who was new to the team this season so after a couple of quarters he started warming up a bit and he did a couple of great passes to teammates to score a goal.  So far he claims soccer is still his favorite sport, but we will see where this basketball season takes him.  Let's go Heat and my little #3 player!!!