2 year pics

We had the boys 2 year pictures taken by our family photographer back in early August – but I procrastinated and didn’t get to picking out my favorite images until late September, which was right when they were busy with Senior pictures. I just got the CD of my favorite pictures last week & wanted to share a few. The boys were totally 2-year-ols & non-cooperative during the session, but like always, my photographer is amazing & captures great moments even when you don’t think they are happening.

Enjoy!

Out of space

I apologize for the lack of postings lately - I just got the notice that I have reached my max picture upload storage space on Blogger and have been trying to figure out what options I have.

I'd rather not move, so I'm going to try to host my pictures on another site & just link to them in my future posts.  We'll see how that goes - I'm crossing my fingers!!

SKUNK!

Oh, the joys of owning a dog!!

The boys & I had a busy day Saturday (a separate post to come all about that) so after our long, busy day we came home to head to bed. I fed Bailey her dinner & then let her outside while I got the boys into their PJs and ready for bed. Just as I was taking Wyatt back to his room to lie down, I saw Bailey sitting by the back patio door, so I stopped quickly to let her in. When she came in I smelt something a little bit off, but I was right in the middle of trying to get the boys to bed so I didn’t pay much attention (I was trying to hurry because I was going out to dinner with a couple of friends from high school to chat & catch up after they were in bed). As Wyatt & I were lying down, back in the boys’ room, this awful smell just hit me. When I walked back out to the kitchen, Cory’s brother’s girlfriend (who was babysitting for me for that night) said she smelt it too. As I got into the kitchen, the smell hit me – it was really strong!! SKUNK!!

I whisked Bailey back outside (she seemed clueless as to what was going on) and called Cory (he was away hunting for the evening but I really needed his opinion).

But the bad news – the house still stunk! The smell had gotten inside & it was now stuck there. I lite as many candles as I could find and sprayed the living room with Febreeze. That didn’t help much. The boys & I all slept with our doors shut that night, which helped keep the smell out of the bedrooms a little bit but the kitchen & living room still smelled horrible. Early Sunday morning, after a sleepless night & a lingering headache (from either the awful odor or all the fragrances I used trying to cover it up), I decided to pack the boys & myself up and head to my parents for the day to escape our house & the smell. Before we left, I took a friend’s advice & Googl-ed a little bit more for possible solutions. The solution – vinegar.

The first suggestion was to boil the vinegar, so I had a water/vinegar mixture boiling & steaming the whole time we were packing up & getting ready to go. The next solution was to leave bowls of vinegar out to absorb the smell – so each room got a small bowl of vinegar in it. The final thing I did was shut off the heat, open all of our windows & turn on the fans. (We were lucky we had high temps in the upper-50s yesterday.)

My dad & I headed back to our house, while the boys were down for naps, to check out how the smell was coming along. We were both happily surprised when we stepped into the kitchen & didn’t smell a thing – the vinegar & air-ing out had worked! I threw out all the vinegar, turned off the fans, shut the windows and turned the heater back on. We had also changed the furnace filters (another suggestion I found online – which was good that I read because ours had the skunk smell it in) before turning the heat back on. Hooray!

What a headache to deal with – especially on a Sunday when our only plans were to hang out at home, catch up on laundry & some house cleaning. (I had even had nightmares that we weren’t going to get the smell out!) A BIG thank you to my parents for putting us up for the day – I know they didn’t have other plans but it’s nice to know they are there for us whenever we need them.

(I’m not saying vinegar is going to be the solution that will work for everyone, but it worked for us!)

World Prematurity Awareness Day!

Saturday was World Prematurity Day. This post is my way of supporting & raising awareness for this ongoing crisis.

 

Every year, 15 million babies are born prematurely worldwide. That's too many babies! And of those 15 million, one million don't make it. In the United States, 1 out of every 8 babies is born before they reach 37 weeks, making them premature. Babies truly need a full 40 weeks for full development.

 

Wyatt & Colton were born at 35 weeks 5 days. Both of them weighed less than 5 pounds but were otherwise perfectly healthy (with the exception of a small bout with jaundice). I look back and can’t believe how tiny they were but I also can’t help but see how truly blessed we were and still are with these two healthy little boys in our lives.

 

I know not all families are that lucky & that is why I support the March of Dimes.

 

If you are interested in learning more about prematurity, who it effects and how to get involved – visit the March of Dimes website. It is such a great resource.

 

Your support of the March of Dimes helps moms reach full-term pregnancies, prevent birth defects and drives lifesaving research.

 

Last December, the March of Dimes ran a special fundraiser where they would match your donation dollar-for-dollar during the month of December. I am watching & hoping they run that same special again this year – I love to know my gift can go even further that way.

 

Here’s to my 2 little miracles that I thank God for every day!

Mommy’s night out

The boys & daddy got a “boys night in” this past weekend while mommy had a girls night out!

Being a hunter’s wife, the months of September – December/January get to be pretty long (and especially with my husband who hunts everything possible during that time period!).

I put together a girls’ overnight trip at a hotel a couple of hours away. We were out to relax, refresh & celebrate one of my bestest friends’ 30th birthday! We enjoyed the day & evening with some drinks, some gambling, an awesome country music concert, swimming in the pool & some good-old-girl-time!!

I had a blast with the girls & it was just the refresher I needed.

Daddy & the boys survived and had a fun time while I was away too – with some playing, shopping (coming home with 2 new dinosaurs!) and dinner out.

I was so excited to see my boys when I got home the next morning. We relaxed & had a lazy day around the house because it was cold & rainy outside. Loved it!

A “squirrelly” weekend – Part 2

Sunday was daylight savings time which means we set our clocks back. People, without young children, always joke how that gives you an extra hour of sleep but anyone with little kids knows they are not going to get that luxury. However, by some miracle, my boys slept in that morning until after 7:30 AM old time – un.heard.of!

Squirrelly started his day eating breakfast at the kitchen table with the whole family. Colton was kind enough to feed him his banana while the rest of us enjoyed cinnamon rolls, yogurt & fruit.

After breakfast the boys & I got ready and packed up to head to my nephew “I”’s belated birthday party. The boys were so excited to bring Squirrelly along. (Cory had to stay home & cut up his deer that he had shot the previous day.)

Cousin “I” turned 4 back in September but a busy schedule pushed his birthday party out more than a month. We arrived before the “official” party start time and the boys got a bunch of fun playtime with their cousins. We had a fun time at the party – good food and yummy cupcakes.

We headed home for naps (being a 30 minute drive to my sister’s house, both boy fell asleep on the way home) and to watch the end of the Packer game.

Sunday night, after the boys went to bed, I wrote in Squirrelly’s journal about our weekend adventures & included some of our fun weekend captured in pictures.

We brought Squirrelly (& all his things) back to daycare Monday morning so that Colton & Squirrelly could share with the rest of his class the fun they had over the weekend. (I was actually wondering how smoothly this would actually go since Colton had shown a real attachment to Squirrelly throughout the weekend, but it went very well & he was excited to be the one to carry Squirrelly’s cage into daycare.)

Taking Squirrelly home for the weekend is such a cute idea & we had fun with it. This will not be the last time we get to entertain Squirrelly though – we’ll be looking forward to Wyatt getting his turn soon!

Breakfast with Squirrelly!

Colton feeding Squirrelly his banana.

At the birthday party.

Colton & his little bud.

Wyatt, Colton & cousin "N" ready for lunch!

Attempt #1 at taking a nice photo with my boys.

As good as it gets with 2 two year olds!

Squirrelly & his cupcake.

Wyatt

Colton

Playing with cousin "I" & his new "Jake & the pirates" ship.

Caught you Wyatt - trying to sneak goodies.

Cousin "I" blowing out his candles.

Colton checking out his cupcake.
(he never did eat any of it)

Wyatt enjoying his cupcake - yum!!

 

A “squirrelly” weekend – Part 1

After being selected for “student of the week” last week, Colton was also lucky enough to be picked to take home their class’s “mascot” for the weekend – “Squirrelly” the monkey.

The “rules” are to take Squirrelly home & include him in all of your family’s weekend activities. At the end of the weekend, you write all about Squirrelly’s adventures with your family & draw or include pictures of what he did. What a cute idea!

Colton took to being “in charge” of Squirrelly from the minute we got home on Friday – he always knew where Squirrelly was (he was sent home with us in a small cage, including a Curious George book & a banana – so if he wasn’t with us, he was usually in his cage) or would tell us to wait while he got Squirrelly.

Friday night was relaxed & we just stayed home. Squirrelly joined in on our bedtime routine & listened quietly to books. Colton decided that Squirrelly would sleep in his cage that night.

(On a side note, for some reason on Friday night Wyatt kept saying that he was “scared” of Squirrelly & didn’t want much to do with him. Sometime early Saturday morning Colton was giving Squirrelly hugs & talked Wyatt into doing the same – after that Wyatt told me “Mommy, I no scared of Squirrelly!” – he was so proud!)

Saturday morning the boys & I went to a farm-themed party for their daycare class friends – it was a party put on & organized by parents for both parents & kids to meet & learn. (We brought the snack – haystacks!) We decided Squirrelly needed a nap, so he stayed in his cage in mommy’s car during the party. (Unfortunately, I also left my camera in the car during the party but it was a lot of fun and the boys enjoyed it too.)

After our farm party – we headed out to Grandpa & Grandma’s for a visit. After a quick lunch the boys (& Squirrelly) went down for a nap. Daddy had been deer hunting this whole time & called to say that he had shot a buck, so by the time the boys were getting up from their naps, daddy had stopped by to show them his “big buck”! The boys were excited to see it & really didn’t seem to mind it – even Squirrelly got his picture taken with daddy’s buck.

Colton snuggling with Squirrely after naps.

Daddy, Colton & Squirrelly

Daddy's big buck!

Wyatt taking Squirrelly down the slide.

Colton sliding with Squirrelly!

Helping Squirrelly down the slide.

Bedtime with Squirrelly.

All ready for books & bed with Squirrelly.

Trick or treat!

After reading to the boys’ class for Colton’s “start student” week, we put on our costumes & headed over to where my dad works. The boys were excited to go see Papa & show off their costumes. We made our rounds at his office & had everyone commenting on how cute they were – Wyatt kept saying “trick or treat” but I don’t think Colton said one word while we were there. After trick or treating through Papa’s office, he took us down to their break room for an afternoon snack of grapes (which he had left over from his lunch). The boys thought they were pretty cool eating with Papa at the “big” tables. Then Papa spoiled them a little bit more & took them over to the vending machine where they each picked out a bag of fruit snacks to enjoy as well.

We headed home just in time for trick or treating hours. This was the boys’ second Halloween we took them out trick or treating. We bundled up (the temps were in the upper 40s), packed in the little red wagon & were off! We knew the boys were really out trick or treating just for the experience (and not the candy, which mommy & daddy get the joy of enjoying for them!) so we just stuck to the road we live on & hit up about 10 houses, which took us about 45 minutes. The boys did great & were awesome with their “trick or treats” & “thanks yous” – with a little reminding, of course. Colton kept saying “next house, next house!”. I headed home to start dinner & hand out candy while Cory took the boys to a couple more houses to waste a little time while our pizza was cooking.

The boys had a blast & were super excited about their pirate costumes. (We had talked about “what they wanted to be for Halloween” months ago, but came up with no great ideas. When I saw these 2 pirate costumes for sale shortly after, I knew that they’d be perfect for them this year…& they really were a BIG HIT!)

The best thing about being a parent on Halloween?
Watching my two little pirates get so excited & having a ton of fun – smiles on their face mean the world to me.

All ready to go!

My two cute little pirates!
(Yes, it took some nice-talking to get
them to hold hands.)

Pirate Wyatt.

Priate Colton.

...and we're off!

1st house of the night.

Packing back into the little red wagon for the next stop.

On the road again!

Colton (with daddy's help) ringing a doorbell.

On the move.

Smiling & posing.

Pirate Wyatt.

Pirate Colton.

Star Student of the Week

The boys’ class at daycare has a “star student of the week” – this student gets to fill out an “all about me” sheet & bring in pictures to share with the class. They are also invited to bring in their favorite book to share with the class. (They invite a parent or grandparent in to read that book, if desired.

Colton was picked as “star student” for this week! He helped me fill out most of the questions. Some examples – his favorite color is blue, what he wants to be when he grows up is a policeman (he just randomly picked this one from the list of a ton of professional I listed off for him!) and his favorite book is “Little Blue Truck”.

I left work early on Halloween to head over & read to the boys’ class. When I got there, most of the kids were up from nap & eating graham crackers on the “gather rug”. They were all excited to see me & listened very well while I read “Little Blue Truck”. Wyatt sat on my lap (he actually cried when I got there because I think I confused him a little bit about why mommy was staying instead of taking him home) and Colton sat right by my side. It was fun experience and I’m glad I took advantage of it. I will definitely do it again when it’s Wyatt’s turn for “start student” week.

(On a side note – I was the first parent to actually come in & read instead of just sending the favorite book to class. I know people are busy with work, but the kids really enjoyed having a parent stop in & read so much & it was such a fun experience for me as well – I really hope more parents take advantage of this “special” time they can spend with their kids.)

Halloween treats

The boys helped me put together some little treat bags to share with their daycare friends in celebration of Halloween 2 nights ago (while daddy was upstairs cooking us a yummy “breakfast-for-dinner”)! I kept them very simple, with a slight “crafty” touch – Halloween-themed goldfish crackers & fruit snacks in a small baggie with cute Halloween tag. Quick & simple!