237 Weeks

Tyler and his mac truck...

The weekend

We had an AWESOME weekend - we literally did nothing :)

This was the first weekend in a very long time where we were all at home, had no where to go and didn't have to be on any kind of schedule. It was so, so, so nice!

Friday I was getting ready to go on my walk and Chloe asked if she could come. I happily said yes! I was super excited that she wanted to get out and get some exercise and thrilled I would have some company. As we started out on our walk, I realized Chloe walks really fast, lol. I asked her if she was trying to walk fast and she said it was just her normal pace....which I'm not completely convinced of (wink, wink). When we returned home from our walk, we found Eric and Tyler washing the cars, yahoo! So good to get all that winter grime and dirt off the cars.

We had our typical Friday night pizza for dinner. Yes, we are a pizza family-we all love it! We had a family date night planned & we watched Madagascar 2. I have to say I was laughing my head off at that movie - it was hillarious. I'd totally recommend watching it if you haven't.

Saturday morning we all slept in until around 8:30 - that was a treat. Tyler woke up with the sniffles unfortunately :( Tyler and I started making breakfast waiting for Eric and Chloe to get up. We made apple buttermilk pancakes and they were so yummy. The kids are total pancake kids. I have to say that I love them also. We make them from scratch and they are delicious.

Once we were done eating, the kids played while we cleaned the kitchen. Then we headed outside to do a little work. We had to take advantage of the sun while it was out. I was able to get the inside of the cars cleaned out - and then go for a big walk, which was so refreshing. Saturday afternoon I took a big nap when Tyler did - and then ran a few errands after nap.

Saturday night we just hung out and watched Ninja Warrior while we ate dinner...we had left overs so I didn't even really have to cook! A night off from cooking is always good :D

Today Tyler is sick with a cold - darn it. Which means I highly doubt he will be going to school tomorrow. So, we are just relaxing at home, watching a little tv, reading lots of books and resting. Nap time is soon and I can't wait. I think it'll be another nap day for me as well. Nap days are the best!

As fun as it is to have plans on the weekend...and to see family and friends, it's nice to slow down every once in a while and enjoy the simple life at home as a family.

236 Weeks

Caught deep in the act of playing...

Little moments

What good would life be, without moments like these?

Show me the way home...

Tonight (late tonight) Eric gets home. He has been out of town working in Bend, and I'm so excited for him to get home! Tyler and I have had a lot of fun the past few days, but we are both ready to see E.

I have to say, I have no idea how single parents do it. For the few days I've experienced "going solo", I have gained a huge appreciation for the parents who raise children by themselves.

I suppose I'd better start the big clean up of our house before Eric gets home. It was clean just a few days ago...now it looks like a tornado hit it! Time to get moving!

Heart Day

Happy Valentines Day!!!!

Today I had a hot date with Tyler. Eric is out of town working this weekend, so Tyler and I figured we'd celebrate Valentines Day with a fun day in Portland. We started the morning out by going to get a hair cut. There is a place in Tigard called Kids Castle Cuts, and they specialize in children's hair cuts. As you can see, Tyler was able to have his hair cut in this BMW - he loved it. They also had Madagascar 2 playing on the TV's and a huge play room. It was actually hard to get Tyler to leave the place. I took a few pictures, but this one was the only one that turned out. He's making a crazy face, but you still get the idea :)

After Tyler's hair cut, we headed up to the Old Spaghetti Factory. We arrived at 11:30, and I guess they don't open for lunch on the weekends until noon. We decided to go for a chilly walk along the river front. Tyler decided to stand on the bench, so he could scope out the entire river walk.

Then Tyler decided to take a picture of me...

And the view...

And me again...

Then we made it back inside. We were waiting for our "buzzer" to go off, and Tyler decided to take some more pictures. He was flirting with these girls, and asked this family if he could take their picture. They kindly agreed. Cute family...and no clue who they are, lol!

Once our buzzer went off, we asked if we could sit in the train, Tyler's favorite. This is a picture of him standing outside on the train.

Tyler loves plain spaghetti, and this was his #1 choice for lunch.

And one last picture of myself and my hot date!

As we were finishing up, one of Tyler's friends from school, walked in with her family. Tyler was pretty excited to see Laci on Valentines Day. He went over and said hi and told her Happy Valentines Day. The entire ride home he was telling me how excited he was to see Laci on Valentines day, because now he has a special Valentine. I guess I didn't really count, ha ha.

We stopped at Whole Foods on the way home to get some chocolate cupcakes for our Valentines dinner dessert. We are having a movie night (Veggie Tales: The Pirates who do nothing).

All in all it's been fun to spend the day with my little man. He was excited to have a "date day" with me...and was a little gentleman the entire time. I'm looking forward to many more Valentines Days with him.

Ninja Warrior

Tyler is our Ninja Warrior. He started watching Ninja Warrior with Eric during the Winter Arctic Blast we had at Christmas time. Incase you are not familiar with Ninja Warrior, you can check it out here: http://g4tv.com/ninjawarrior/index.html.

I have to say, when it's on TV, I find myself getting sucked in, even though I always say I'm not going to watch it. It's quite entertaining.

Well, Tyler has taken Ninja Warrior to new levels. Turning door ways in obstacle courses that he can climb, beds into lava pits, books into towers and dressers into things we climb and jump off of. Oh yes, it's true. It might sound as if we just let Tyler roam around unsupervised, which is not the case. This kid is quick-I mean fast...and he's always trying to gain some competitors...he wants you to play it with him. Sometimes we do, and sometimes we just let him play by himself (watching him the entire time, ready to leave for the ER at any moment)...the real treat is when we have company over and they get sucked in...lol. Poor Aunt Krista was pretty tired on Christmas Eve after a rousing round with Tyler (thanks for that by the way).

Anyway, this afternoon I literally went to get a load of laundry- I could not have been gone more than a minute. When I came into our bedroom, there Tyler was...in his undies (I should mention that his undies and his white t-shirt are his Ninja Warrior uniform)...with hangers around his legs. He said he had a new Ninja challenge. I just laughed my head off when I saw this one...I had to let him complete his course. He won, no doubt, and became the new Ninja Warrior of the day.
Enjoy the pic...

Ok, it has been a while. I should have written, no excuses really...I have been spending way tooooooo much time on Facebook. It's a time sucker, but a very fun one. I've been able to reconnect with some old friends, and it's been awesome. It makes me realize what a small world this really is.

This morning we woke up to snow. How totally crazy and random. There has been more snow this winter season than I ever remember. I took Tyler outside to play in it, and he was having a blast. It was all melted by about 11am, which was fine with me.

We are all doing really well, no complaints.

I have to be a bragging parent - both of the kids are doing very well in school. Chloe recently finished her first semester at Howard Street, with a 4.0. We are so proud of her! She was able to attend a special breakfast at school honoring the kids who made honor roll. She was very excited & had a great time.

We received fabulous news from Tyler's preschool teacher in a conference....we have been trying to decide whether or not to put Tyler in kindergarten next year. He has a late summer birthday, and he is a boy, and generally those two don't mix well for kindergarten. However, his teacher told us that he is more than ready now - she had some very nice things to say about Tyler and I enjoyed that she volunteered the information. So, after going back and forth, Eric and I have decided to put Tyler in kindergarten next year. Oh the little things you worry about when you have kids!

Eric and I were recently able to have a fun night out by ourselves which was very welcomed. We met up with some friends for dinner and had a fun adult night. I think I had forgotten what it was like to get out of the house without the kids. Many thanks to Jim & Celeste for taking Tyler for the evening.

I think that about catches us up. We are always busy with kids, work and family...like they say on John and Kate plus 8, "it might be a crazy life, but it's our life."

235 Weeks

Horrrraaayyyyy!

234 weeks

Mud pies anyone?