Re-entering the Blog-o-Sphere...an update.

Good afternoon fellow bloggers.  Man have I been out of the game lately.  I'm slightly embarrassed and slightly disappointed in myself for letting it go this long.  I was so good at updating when T was developing, and B, being the second child, had really gotten the short end of the stick.  I royally suck.  I have one more month before school starts again, so I'm going to do my best to bring everything up-to-date, as best as I can remember.

So...for starters...how are T & B doing, you ask?!  Amazingly!

T just turned 6 and had himself a heck of a lazer kraze party.  He will be entering 1st grade in August, and I just can't believe I'll be making his lunch for the next million years, and finally getting him off my daycare payroll!  yippee!  He's been playing baseball this spring and summer, and starts soccer next month.  We have finally gotten him to do some strokes in the pool, so that is exciting.  He's becoming a freestyle master.  I'm hoping he'll do swim team next summer.  This summer he's attended baseball camp, a sports camp and will do a fun boys-only camp next week.  T is into Skylanders, wii, beyblades, swimming for hours and just being an energetic boy that never stops.  I swear, he never gets tired...ever! T lost his first tooth last month.  That was a very exciting time.  The tooth fairy is now a very expensive endeavor, definitely going above and beyond the .50 I used to get.  We decided on a going rate of 5.00, since he said his friend Nolan at school got 20.00 (I mean, who are these parents...and can I borrow some cash?!)  We have been making progress on his reading, making him read us 1 book a night.  The next 4 weeks before school starts we will be doing a workbook every morning.  Hopefully that will help his writing, his achilles heel.  I am feeling hopeful that we are making enough progress for him to be successful in 1st grade.

B is now 2 and is my spirited, girlie, musical chatterbox.  She makes everything into a song, literally everything, even waking up singing.  B is very opinionated, she wants to do everything "myself" and knows more words than her brother ever did at her age.  B is also a fish, she loves the water.  She's been taking gymnastics since the winter, will start dance in the fall, and will get a big girl bed around christmas.  She has shown interest in potty training, but we haven't really pushed the issue.  B loves to kiss everyone, dance, play with Minnie anything, she's getting into babies and loves her play kitchen downstairs.  The girl can't get enough of bubbles, and no matter how hard I try, she won't dare get on her brand new minnie scooter I got her for her bday (insert dagger in heart).

They are the lights of my life!  And although days being a SAHM are very hard, I thank God daily I have the opportunity to be with them in the summer.  It's really quality time that I will never take for granted, especially as a working mom.

As far as me and hubs, we have been enjoying the summer months with the kids immensely!  We have taken countless trips to the pool, Kings Island, the zoo, the library, hours and hours playing outside, trips to see friends in St. Louis and my family in Michigan and lots of BBQ and bike riding.  Summer is the best!!!  Hubs is still at his same job, and still loving it (thank God).  I'm working on my courses in the summer and gearing up for another year teaching AP bio.  My college board scores came back with pretty good results, so I'm happy with my first year's effort.  Hopefully next year the load will be lighter.  I also coached track in the spring (hence why I fell off the blog-wagon) and am currently coaching girls' cross country (which I love).  If you don't remember much about me, running is a HUGE passion of mine.  It's part of who I am.  I am a marathon runner.  Although I enjoyed coaching the sprinters in track, distance is where its at for me.  I'm elated to have the opportunity.  I've been fortunate enough to figure out a schedule that doesn't take away any time I have with my kids in the summer.  I run with them either at night when hubs gets home or REEEEALLLLYYYY early in the morning.  It was a sacrifice I was willing to make so as to maximize my time as a SAHM with my kids.  It's been working out great!  Hubs and I also like to do some fun athletic things.  We ran a half marathon together, did a marathon in the fall and just completed a triathlon this past weekend.  

It gets harder every year trying to fit in what we like to do, and stay in shape, but we manage.  It's very important to me.  We've been gardening, are putting in a new patio and landscaping in our backyard starting tomorrow (eek) and also tiled our laundry room floor.  We've stayed busy, to say the least.  

Our family is growing, as I will be an Aunt for the first time come December.  I'm very exited!  My brother got married on NYE (more on that later) and they are buying a house in the burbs.  My parents and in-laws are doing great, and we are just chugging along.  

I gave away all my baby stuff recently.  I cried a little, but afterwards I felt relief.  I think I'm ready to move on with my two beautiful, healthy kids.  I don't think my body or our house, car or finances can take another little one.  I also don't think I have the energy to start over again.  It has really helped that all the new babies are coming into my life, a few close friends are also pg, and that I can communicate with my kids and we can do a lot of new things as a family.  I always have doubts on whether I'm making a big mistake not having a 3rd, but most days I'm really fine with it.  

More updates to come...I have so much to share with everyone.  I'm so glad to be back.  It was so sad...I couldn't even remember my log-in for blogger when I started this morning.  ::sigh:: such is the life of a very busy working mom and coach and wife and athlete.  Just no time for a computer.  I missed it!  I'm glad to be back to my creative outlet.  

xoxo

Life According to my iPhone: Nov & Dec

Our lives have been so jam-packed, that my classic camera has been underutilized (for shame), and my iPhone has been in full effect.  Such short snip-its of life are just about the best, and quickest way to capture what we've been up to these past couple of months.

T was playing soccer this fall (he's the blondie in the green participating in the kickoff).  He's a scoring machine, and we love watching & cheering him on!

Get ready for it...yes... ::Gasp:: I'm a democrat...and I live in Ohio.  ::insert shock and awe::
I got the opportunity, through a college friend, to attend President Obama's rally.  It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  No matter what side you're on, how many times to you get to be a couple of rows away from the President of the United States.  It was unreal!  I was ready to move FORWARD.  Bonus...I also got to see Stevie Wonder perform, which was fantastic!

B & I traveled to Chicago for my new sister-in-law's bridal shower (which I helped throw).  It was interesting traveling with B alone, but she was a pretty good girl.  In the second photo are the bridal shower favors I made, coffee & tea in burlap bags with their initials and the date of their wedding.  I was pretty proud of my handiwork.

There were a couple days when T was in school and I wasn't, so I got to pretend to be a stay-at-home mom and wait in the carpool line.  Given I took a picture of my experience, you can tell that was a small thrill for me.  Such simple pleasures.  While home a few days with the kids, hubs was working, we just hung out and had fun.   I very much enjoy my time home with the kids, and appreciate it so much more as a working mommy.  The kids are becoming the best of friends!!  As B gets older, she has gone from idolizing and following her big brother around (which is also done quite frequently) to actually being included in his master play plans.  It makes my heart burst every time I see them play together.  I adore it!!!

This year we headed to Chicago for Thanksgiving.  I have only a handful of pictures from our trip, and I feel sad about that.  :( It was a very busy time, however, because we ran a 5K, celebrated the holiday, shopped a bit OH AND my brother got married.  NBD.  lol.  They had to throw together a family-only event at the last minute, when the priest told them their marriage at the venue wouldn't be recognized by the church, oops.  It was just the parents, siblings and nieces/nephews who attended, but it was a very nice ceremony, and an equally amazing Italian lunch.  I have a few non-iPhone photos I'll post later.  I am lucky in that I adore my new sister-in-law AND her loving and sweet family.  We are very blessed.  My parents have already mentioned how lucky we are in in-laws.  We truly get along with all of them, and genuinely want to spend time as one big family.  It's a gift.  Here are the iPhone pics of our stay with my parents.

T helping with the rolls

B enjoying some quiet time with her Granddad

We also started prep for the wedding/reception for my brother and his new wife.  The kids had to try on their new digs.  

T was having a blast picking out a new suit.  He's such a ham.

B is starting to fight back when her big brother picks on her.  She was showing Grams & Granddad some of her new moves

We also got to spend some quality time with my high school bff and her family.  She just recently moved in down the road from my parents, which is an added bonus during our visits!  The kids had a blast!

Uncle Brent came over to help us prep our laundry room for my most recent hair-brained diy project...tiling!  I'm lucky hubby didn't kill me for this one...but it was a bumpy success!

We conquered a few more projects around the house in December.  We got rid of B's booster seat for good, and brought up this kids table we had in their playroom.  It's been a HUGE success (despite the constant "sit downs" we have to say during meals).  B loves to sit with her big bro.  

We also got a new TV & stand for our family room, so the older TV went down to our basement.  We are excited to finally have a space in our finished basement that feels adequate enough to entertain, and is not overwrought with toys.  We put in shelving, a new storage system for the toys, and got tons of organizational bins for our living space.  I am elated with how it turned out.  We have utilized it so much more than we ever have, and it's only been a couple of weeks.   It's really nice to have a big couch and TV that hubs and I can lounge on while the kids play.  Plus (bonus for the OCD'er) everything has a place.  Ahhhh organization...I just LOVE it!!  T got a wii for Christmas and B got a big kitchen, so the organization helped us find space for those items as well.  It's a beautiful thing.  I even convinced T to give away some of his toys to other girls and boys who needed them...and he did it willingly.    

Our carpets were cleaned, we put up pictures that have been waiting to be hung, hubs organized his garage, and we were generally very productive before the holidays.  Love it!!

T has been very involved in after-school activities, and I just accepted an opportunity to coach varsity track at my school.  We are in indoor season now.  T does wrestling 2 times a week with a local club (hubs was a wrestler) and swims once a week.  I have track practice 3 times a week.  I wanted to get B in mommy and me gymnastics, but the only time they have free for the working folk is Saturdays at 10am, and I selfishly REFUSE to give up my spin class AND my family-time on the weekends.  Such is life.  We'll get her involved when she turns 2, and when I'm home in the summer with the kids.  That's okay right?  Right?  Ugh, second-guessing your parenting decisions just never ends.  We are just busy busy busy.

Check out this hilarious wrestling photo.  OMG!  Freaking hysterical!  My sweet boy looks so serious, and mean:)

 While T was in his last couple days of school before holiday break, B and I checked out the running gear at Dicks.  She's a track star in the making!  :)

 


Overall, we've just been enjoying as much family time as we can.  B & T are having a blast playing together, and we're over-scheduled as per usual.  Teaching AP bio is still kicking my butt, over and over again.  I think I get ahead and then I work until 1am some nights...I can't get a good grasp on it.  Hopefully after a full year of teaching it, I'll have a handle on how I want to run it more efficiently next year.  ::Breath::

My babies are just growing so fast.  I just need to learn to slow down a bit and take notice.

Hope this post-and-run finds you all well.  I hope you come back to read about our family more often.  My New Years resolution is to not let blogging be ignored for such large chunks of time. I won't be able to be back in my summer blogging mode, but more frequent blurbs would be nice.  Blogging is an important outlet for me, and a great way to look back at how my family is changing.  I feel like I am doing B a disservice by not updating her progress as she grows.  ::shame on me::

Until next time...if you need anything...call my secretaries.  They're on it.  lol.

Captain America & His Angel Arrive

**Readers, scroll down until you see a post you've read already...I went update crazy today**

Happy Halloween...ish.  Okay, I'm about half a month late.  Better late than never.  This year T went as Captain America (he's still obsessed with superheroes...and we have almost all the costumes).  I bought a 2.00 costume last year for B...gotta love Halloween clearance..so thankfully it fit.  No scouring the local Halloween stores or fighting the crowds at Target this year.  It was seamless.  Both dressed up at daycare.  T was allowed to go to Kindergarten in his costume, and he wasn't supposed to.  I was a bit irked that the daycare let him get on the bus fully Captain America-a-fide, and that his kindergarten teacher allowed him to wear it all day long (he was the ONLY one...mortified working mama here)...but such is life.  He didn't seem to mind.  T trick-or-treated for the two hour window and brought home more candy than his humanly possible to eat in a year.  B and I struggled to stand outside in the cold rain to hand out our own candy.  It was kinda miserable...but I stuck it out.  I'm not a huge fan of this holiday either...given I feel like I'm contributing to the obesity of kids, and our own household...alas...I keep up the the Jonses and I comply...for my kids. 

 Really mom?! 

 Our Captain

 An attempt to photograph them both in the freezing rain

 "Candy"

Hubs and I also attended a Halloween party this year as Mario & Luigi.  I think it was one of my better ideas.  It was easy and comfortable.  I got to be the skinny one :)

Put another Halloween in the record books.  Now onto my absolute favorite holiday...Thanksgiving.  I think it's one of the only holidays left that is (mostly) pure.  Although Walmart is doing their best to taint it...::sigh::  Can't wait for the feast and giving thanks with my family...oh and a fun-filled 5K (yippee!!!). 

Falling into the Season 2012

I'm still struggling to catch up, after a long blog hiatus (read work is killing me and we are drastically over scheduled).  Fall is, by far, my favorite season.  Pumpkin spice lattes, football, leave piles, fun outside activities, back-to-school excitement, and I love fall fashion.  Hubs, the kids and I have been enjoying the fall season. 

 Our annual trip to the local pumpkin patch was also a success.  We had to schedule and reschedule it a few times due to other family events and weather issues...but we got there a few days before Halloween.  ::phew::

 this one cracks me up...it's a "mama" moment.  She wanted her mommy.  lol.

 Then we carved our loot

Just in time for Halloween...we were in the spirit.  Costumes to come next.