Random Thoughts

It's no wonder we don't feel good when it was 32 on Sunday and 72 on Monday. 

I'm knocking on a lot of wood because Lila still hasn't gotten out of her bed. 

I think Nate's other front tooth has grown since the first one came out. 

I turned the heat off during these unseasonably warm temps. I'm cold. 

The cat jumped up on the bed last night and scared the betookles out of me. Then she bit me when I reacted. How is that right? 

Scott loves his job and I'm proud of him. 

Nate is really into Batman and Spiderman right now. I told him that we needed to watch the old Superman together. I'm sure it will be hilarious by today's special effects standards. 

Lila closes her eyes when she doesn't want to hear what you have to say. 

There is a To Do on the House list on our fridge. It has 32 items on it. Scott is going to be busy. 

Spring. It's coming. Make that groundhog not see his shadow! 

Weekend Recap

We had a fairly low-key weekend. It was an OK-weather day on Friday, but then was cold on Saturday and rainy on Sunday. So the weather did not get a passing grade this weekend. But we found other stuff to do. Miraculously. 

Scott was doing a project on our basement stairs banister and had out the blue painting tape. Lila helped herself to some and had the best time moving the tape back and forth on the living room walls. Who knew this could keep her occupied!?!

Friday afternoon was sunny, not overly warm, but Nate worked on his Star Wars characters while Scott was cleaning up the yard.

I messed with these pictures and now they have a blue tint. I'll have to figure out how to get it off! He lost the first one of his front teeth last week. Growing up too fast. Although this is only the 3rd tooth he's lost so far and some kids in his class have already lost them all.

Lila found a small canister of playdoh in her toy box and played with it for a little while last week. When she asked to do it this weekend, I said, "Ya know? I think we have a whole slew of playdoh and toys somewhere."

I found it and they occupied themselves 3 or 4 times over the weekend with this mess.

Yes, mess. It makes a mess. I learned not to clean it up after they were done because as soon as it was clean, they wanted to get it out again.

We also had a fabulous dinner with the Haas clan on Sunday night. David, Kimi, Evan, Olga, Elena & Sonia came to our house for dinner and I didn't take one single picture. Sadly. But we had a great time and laughed hard.

Have a great last few days of January! Spring will be here soon, right?

Nate Room Tour

When I posted pictures of Lila's updated room, I remembered that I'm not sure I ever posted full photos of Nate's updated room. I didn't want to leave him out and I'll want to remember his room years from now! 

 Scott & Nate found this desk at a local antique shop. I love it! It's a little cluttered for my taste, but I have to let some things go. This is one of them. 

 Nate has never had a headboard. It took me a while to find this one, but I'm very happy with  it! It's just what I wanted in terms of color and size.  

 You can see that Kitty P has found a new favorite spot. This room gets so warm in the afternoon because of the windows (if I remember to open the shades). She loves the sunbeams! 

I feel like the kids' rooms have finally come together. I'm sure this means we'll move shortly. Isn't that how it always works? 

100th Day

Happy 100th day of School! 

Nate's Lego creation to depict the 100th day of school at ECC. I love this so much more than finding 100 of something! 

Paddle & YesterYear

We made a quick trip to Linn, MO this weekend to drop off a paddle. I bet most of you can say you've never done such a thing. But a little girl (or rather big girl) had earned a Wayne A. Corse paddle and the truth is, I had held on to it for far too long. So given that Scott had to be sleeping due to his overnight work schedule, I piled the kids in the car and took off so that we could right this wrong.

Myra loved her paddle and I'm sure she will love it even more when it is warm enough outside for canoeing.

I had not driven Hwy 50 to Linn in a couple of years, but I remembered that I love the sight seeing on this particular drive. It was about 60 degrees on Saturday and sunny, so it was a great day for a drive through the country. I love to see all of the farm houses and communities and think about what they might have been like in yesteryear. Some day, I am going to bring my camera and stop to take pictures of all the country churches. All so well maintained and picturesque.

After our lovely visit with the Bakers, we piled back in the car for the trip home. I was looking forward to seeing what I had missed on the way there and daydreaming about life on a farm, when life was, well...much simpler. Must be the farm girl in me.

I was quickly yanked back to 2013. I happened to glance at my phone when we got in the car and noticed that I had 2 voicemails from unknown numbers. The voicemails were just a ding, like from an automated system. I figured it was a solicitor, but went over to my e-mail just to make sure someone wasn't trying to get a hold of me.

They were. It was my credit card company saying that someone had stolen my credit card number. Lovely. Nothing like a little credit card fraud to break up your dreams of a simpler life! I am thankful for a quick discovery by the company, especially since I had my card in my wallet. Oh the talents of those fraudsters:)

Lately Loves

I always like to have 3 loves, but I couldn't think of a third today, so here's my 2 loves. 

I am weird about lotion. I do not like my hands to be greasy at all. Not even for a minute. So many times I will forego lotion because of the greasiness. That's not so easy to do in the winter! But I have found that the Body Shop Body Butter, the Shea variety is not greasy. I use it everyday and stocked up a few weeks when they had their sale. I hope it will get me through the winter!

www.bodyshop.com

I found this website through one of the mom blogs I read. And it is my new addiction. Very Jane is a website that showcases 5 or 6 Etsy deals per day. Y'all know how I love me some Etsy. The products are discounted (at least from what I can tell) for a short period of time. I bought a shirt last week on a deal (as in $10.99 for a shirt!) and I love it! I wanted to test out Very Jane to see if it would work and in my case, it totally did. Now I'm an every day scanner of Very Jane deals!

www.veryjane.com

I am not being compensated in any way from these companies - just my own personal loves for today!

On Her Way

Lila is on her way to being a Big Girl. We took the plunge this weekend and moved her to a real bed. I had to take one last picture of the crib when it was setup. Because it will probably be the last time we will set it up. I thought I would be sad, I thought I would even be emotional. But surprisingly, I wasn't. 

And waa-lah, the space is transformed once again to a big kid space. I tried to find the picture of Nate in the exact same spot, but that picture is hiding realllllly well.

She thinks she is very big stuff in this new bed. I was very worried about moving her. She was quite a bit more active than Nate was in the crib. She never climbed out, but she could have easily. Nate transitioned so easily and didn't get out of bed until we went to get him until he was oh 5 years old or so:)

We left the rest of the room much the same for now. I didn't want too many changes to turn her world upside down. The rocker is still in there, but will be moved in the next couple days. I am waiting for the tears on that one!

Last night was her first night in the Big Girl bed. I was sweatin it. Scott was dozin on the couch. She was quiet for about 10 minutes, then whined a little. I went in to check on her every 10 minutes for close to an hour. She stayed awake but was quiet for at least 30 minutes. The important thing is that she STAYED IN BED. She did not utter a peep after she went to sleep and called for us when she got up.

The next hurdle was nap time. I was nervous when it rolled around today, but she went right in there and was asleep in no time. We'll see if it continues!

Adjusting

I have no pictures. What will Nate & Lila do without any pictures to document the past week? I'm sure they will go on being the happy, hyperactive children they've been over the last few days.

Truth is, our new schedule is somewhat kicking our patooties right now. But there is light at the end of the tunnel and all of this is for the best.

Since Scott started his job in early December, his weekly schedule has been different every week. At first it wasn't such a drastic departure from our normal schedule, but we did alot of this..."Are you getting the kids today? No I'm not, are you taking the kids to school today? No I can't, I have a meeting. Well who is taking the kids to school today and picking them up? Guess we'll have to call the nanny. Oh wait. We don't have one!!!!"

Y'all that know me well know that I DO NOT thrive with lots of change in routine:) But I'm adjusting. Sort of.

When I thought we had that under our belts, Scott informs me that he will need to work some overnight rotations. I thought that meant a couple of nights. Um, I was wrong. Know any 3rd shifter bars for him to check out?:)

But soon enough he'll be on his regular schedule and we can get down to business easing into our new normal routine. I'm trying not to lose it before then.

Even with the rocky road of tackling a new schedule, we are very thankful for his new job. He really likes the people he works with and all the new challenges the Children's Hospital brings. And maybe I won't have to be committed to the funny farm before it's all settled in!

Photo Evidence of Holiday Adventures

After Christmas Day, I didn't take my camera out much - but here are some iPhone pics from our adventures over the rest of the holiday.

 

This was actually on Christmas day and lest you worry about Lila's safety, we were safely stopped when this was taken. We went out to feed the cows and she loves to talk to them. Although apparently she does not want them to get in the car with us. She only asked 211 times while we were out. Cows not get in da car wif us? 

Mimi & Paka arrived on Friday and brought the cold, snowy weather with them to STL. We had to warm up on Saturday night by eating at Dressel's in CWE. It was recently on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. I don't consider it to be any of these things but was excited to know that I had actually eaten somewhere that was on DDD before it was cool!

On Sunday, I traveled down to Bonne Terre to meet Em & Ben and pick-up Bluet, who would be staying with us while her parents were on the NYE float trip. It was in the 40s this day so we hit up the zoo. We weren't alone. The STL Zoo is amazing like that.

Paka joined us and helped corral all the kids. We needed him. 

Sweet Bluet. She was a pleasure to have with us. It made me think back to how crazy I was last year when I kept all 3 of them by myself. With some help from Lee & Sarah.

All bundled up!

Bluet loves Nate. It was my trick for getting her to go where I needed her to go. Follow Nate!

She couldn't go very long at my house without a bow! Doesn't she look sweet?!

Paka teaching Lila how to play scrabble. I think she totally got it.

 

Hope your New Year is bright!