a movie and drinking out of a "big boy cup"

A few days ago Sean and I decided to get rid of our movie stations from our Mediacom package which would save us some money each month and instead spend less on Netflix! We enjoy watching the movies, but thought this would be a good way to save money and still get to watch movies! :) We got our first movie a couple of days ago and had "movie night" tonight after Tate went to bed. We watched "Bucket List" which we really enjoyed. It was nice and relaxing.

I managed to get some laundry done today and went to buy some of the supplies for my project that I will be working on tomorrow (maybe I will reveal it with pics tomorrow night!). Really, don't get too excited, it's not a big deal. Tater had a rough time napping today...that could be because he decided to sleep in until 9:30 this morning which messed his schedule up completely! He ended up napping for about a 1/2 an hour in the car around 4:30. He was T-I-R-E-D tonight! Hopefully he'll get back to his normal schedule for tomorrow so that I can get some stuff done around the house while he's napping.

We have been working on getting Tate to drink out of a "big boy cup" for the last week or so. He's actually doing ok with it. He does find it amusing to dip his fingers in it and then lick them off though. When he hears praises from us after taking a drink, he gets pretty excited! We're sticking with water right now, we don't want any major milk messes this early in the game (we experienced a pretty major one at Sara and Travis's house the other day...sorry guys!). Anyway, I have pictures and a short video that I will post maybe tomorrow (if I get time) of his skills in this area. :)

Okay, I should go to bed so I'm not too lazy tomorrow to get some things checked off of my list! Good night!

our weekend plans

As usual, Sean works this weekend. Tate and I have much on our agenda though. My hope is to work on a project that I am stealing from another blog to help in some organization. I hope to get that done and post pics soon! (I know, you are on the edge of your seats!) Also, we have a couple of special birthdays coming up next week...Sean's and Brandon's! Ironically, they are on the same day! We will be picking up a couple of things for that. I am going to attempt to get some extra laundry done...maybe more than a load a day, do some house work and try to enjoy some "fun time" with Tater amidst it all! I am loving this cooler weather...I love hooded sweatshirts and Tate is a little cutey pie in his cozy warm clothes and I just want to cuddle him all day snuggled under a blanket! Aside from my itchy eyes...I LOVE fall!

a nice evening

So tonight we showed our faces to the amazing couple whose wedding we recently missed. Again, I will not elaborate, but am still just as horrified at our sheer stupidity in missing the big day. ANYWHO, we went to Marcia and Brent's house and had a great evening. We had a yummy steak dinner and hung out and had fun just chatting. Thanks for having us over!!! :) It was nice to get together with some adults, drink some wine and just hang out. Despite a rough start to the evening (he was starving we finally realized), a couple of time outs and a tantrum, Tate did okay. He had a great time and Marcia and Brent were very tolerant of his shinanigans. :) My boys are now sleeping soundly.

Vans...

Tate got some cute shoes recently. Of course, I don't have pictures. I am telling you, he LOVES shoes. He stomps around in them and looks at them and says, "WOE!" He wore his new Vans today which are perfect for him because they are super wide, just like his feet! :) I mean seriously, it's so cute to see my little 23 month old in little skater shoes! Love 'em.

(He also got some light up Sketchers. Sean was less than thrilled, but Tate will LOVE them!)

Playing Catch Up

I haven't posted pictures in almost 2 weeks! Sorry! It's been busy...

Amidst attempting to adjust to our new schedule, I got sick, I have been doing lots of house work (thanks flylady!), Tate got sick, we visited some family, attempted to attend a wedding on the wrong day resulting in missing a dear friend's wedding(seriously a bad story that I am too embarrassed and sick about to even discuss) and who knows what else. I can't even remember. So, what you get tonight are pictures because the words just aren't coming to me.

Twins...

Tate and Tyler

Sweet Ayla

Sean and Brigg playing baseball

Tate and Nana

Kayla and Sean

baldies...

Love her...

"Window" Shopping

On the computer...I'll call it "screen" shopping...

the luxuries I am drooling over...

Dell Studio 17 Laptop (in Tangerine please! :))

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 Mega Pixels
(because my camera can't get a crisp picture of my moving child these days!)

Toyota Prius
(because I hate gas!)

Aside from the laptop (which is becoming an almost immediate necessity), I will not likely be the owner of any of these luxuries any time soon. Oh well, I can dream right?! :)

You've got to be kidding me...

The air conditioner....well, it's not broken. Lovely. Don't get me wrong, I am SO happy that we have a cool house again (it was scorching today!), but a little irritated about the unnecessary lack of air conditioning these last couple of days. Anyway, it's almost embarrassing to admit what the problem was. Apparently there's a breaker that's only connected with the air conditioner that was off. A flip of the switch and wa-la, we have a cool house again! YIPPY!

Sweaty boy = Cute curls

Do you think I have pictures though? Nope. Sorry. I love when it's humid or Tate is sweaty and his hair curls. :)

Why is he so sweaty with the weather as beautiful as it is you ask? Well, our air conditioner broke. It's a good thing it broke now while the weather is so nice and the windows can be open. For some odd reason though, it's been almost 85 degrees in our house since it stopped working yesterday! I have no idea why when it's been mid 70's outside.

Anyway, we are attempting to adjust our routine with Sean's new work/school schedule. Because of Tate going back to daycare full time, he has to get up early every morning. He's been known (at least these last 2 weeks) to sleep in until 9ish and now he's got to get up at 7:15 to get ready and get to daycare in time for Sean and I to get to work or school. This has been rough on him these last 2 mornings to say the least. He is NOT happy when we wake him up. I'm talking, kicking and screaming, won't eat, hitting, flailing about, throwing his breakfast and sippy cup...you name it. It makes it hard to drop him off. So, I decided to slowly inch his bedtime back little by little. Tonight was the first inch. I layed him down a couple minutes after 8:00. He usually is down around 8:45, so we'll see how this goes. I still hear him mumbling a bit in bed. We had wind down time from 7:40 until bedtime and it seems it was more benificial for me. While Tate was watching his "show" (he chose Handy Manny...I'm not complaining, it was a nice break from Nemo!) I ended up falling asleep! Okay, so guess I should inch my bedtime back a little too! :)

It's 8:25 and I am seriously contemplating going to bed! I'll try to make it until 9:00.

I lied...

A couple of posts ago, I said I would post pictures from this weekend. I would if I had any I felt were worth posting. Of the very few I took, the good ones seem to be blurry. That seems to be a common occurrence these days. I need a new camera, a new computer, a new printer...none of these of which I will get any time soon. Although, I will say that I am happy I have a new system to my day to day life! :) I love it. And though a load of laundry a day may seem like common sense to many...there is an anti laundry gene in my family (minus my mom) I believe and a load a day just has never been something I did. So instead, I was left with a pile of 6 or 8 or 10 loads to catch up on over the weekends and I was miserable every second doing it. A load a day keeps my misery away! It's great! Why I haven't done this all along, I may never know. And my planner has come out of it's summertime hibernation and she's been filled with things to keep our family organized and oh how I've missed her!

not that I don't want to spend time with him this morning, but

Tate is STILL sleeping! It's 10:40 and he is snoring away in his room! This has been the most productive morning I have had in possibly, ummmm, let's say 22 1/2 months! I don't know how Tate's daily schedule is going to play out after this morning of sleeping in, but he apparently needed some sleep and I will take it! :)

I have spent much of the last 24 hours trying to get organized for our crazy life that we'll be living now that Sean's back in school. I have re budgeted now that Tate is going to be back in daycare full time (huge expense), I have payed bills, organized in my most wonderful planner what days I take Tate and pick him up from daycare as opposed to what days Sean does. I have planned out meals and grocery lists for the next month, marked important events (that I may otherwise forget in our hectic schedule) that we need to attend/buy gifts for, done a lot of sorting, removed the clothes from Tate's room that are too small and replaced them with some fall items (I LOVE fall!) and have folded and put away clothes that have been taunting me these last few days. Today, we will both get clean (I need a shower and Tate a bath!) which has seemed to have been put on the back burner this weekend and we will also be visiting Sean on his lunch break to go eat with him. :)

I am feeling good about getting organized and hope that I can keep it all up! We'll see. I'm trying out this new flylady.com website in hopes that I can get my house in order! The weather is exceptional today (hasn't even reached 70!!!) and I think I may hear the sweet chatters of a 2 year old through the monitor!

WOOHOO!!!

I got some GREAT deals at a local consignment shop today! We managed to last about 12 minutes in there before Tate decided to start ripping all of the clothes off the hangers and this mommy darted out of there as fast as she could. I bought Tate 2 pair of Children's Place pants and a fleece Polo sweatshirt. I could have spent so much time in there finding all kinds of great things, but I would have had to re hang everything within Tate's reach. The average price for an item of clothing in there was about 3.99 and everything they sold was "gently used" so it all looked practically new to me! I will definitely have to head back there when I am alone someday! All it takes is some good deals to brighten this mommy's day! :)

where's the week gone?!

It's been a while since I've blogged, I know. I get annoyed at the regular blogs I read when someone doesn't post for a long period of time :) so I am that annoying blogger this week. It's been a rough week. I have been ill and finally left work early yesterday to try and get myself healthy. I solid night of sleep last night and some drugs and I was good to go today.

Tate has seriously become a different child this last week. I really don't know what's been up with him, but his drooling was out of control and the doctor seemed to think that his tonsils were probably the culprit of that...although, this last week, the drooling has stopped and along with that, so has the whining and the crying at bedtime. He has suddenly become obedient, sweet and cuddly. Full of hugs and kisses. Kris, his daycare provider told me yesterday when I picked him up that he had by far the best day he's ever had at daycare. She said he was so sweet (not this he usually isn't) and listened to instruction extremely well. She said that he played well with the other kids and interacted well with them and she has noticed that he has been talking SO much more! I have noticed as well. We went to Target tonight and Tate walked next to me while I pushed the cart and at one point Sean went into an isle a few isles down and Tate was looking for him. I told him to say, "Daddy, where are you???" Tate headed Sean's way hollering "Daddy, whey ah you?!!" That's the first time he's put together 3 words into a sentence! As small as this may seem, it was a big deal in our world! It was so cute!

Sean's crazy life has begun. He is starting a new work schedule because of his new school schedule and because of the transition, he works Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday (all 10 hour days) and then Tuesday has school for 7 hours (his first day) and then goes to work for 4 hours, and then Wednesday works for 6 hours! Then, going forward, he has class every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and works every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Seriously, I don't know how he does it. This summer has been SO WONDERFUL having him around so much. He is so sad and keeps talking about how he's going to miss Tate so much because he won't have as much time with him. In his free time, he is usually studying...or sleeping, so it's really hard for him. We are just so happy that in 8 1/2 months, he'll be DONE...at least for a couple of years! He has worked SO HARD and has been so dedicated to doing well in school, work and still finding time for family...he is truly unbelievable! He is one of the top producers at work and manages to get A's in almost every class he's taken and amidst all of the stress, his job as a father and husband is still a priority to him. We love him so much!

We plan to enjoy this last weekend on Sean being available in the evenings after work. After this, evenings will be dedicated to studies. Please pray for him in this last year of school, it is going to be so trying and I am sure it will be hard for him to see the light at the end of the tunnel at times.

Hopefully we'll get some pictures this weekend. I have been slacking in that department. I'll try to post some in the next couple of days!

last minute trip

Tate and I made a last minute, quick trip to Muscatine on Saturday to pick up Bode. He had been staying there for a couple of days while Chris and Brenda basked in the Florida sun. We were to keep him on Sunday night. The plan was to meet in Williamsburg on Sunday and Cassie would pass him off. On Saturday afternoon, the thought of driving to Williamsburg and back in one day with Tate being forced to sit in the car for that long was just not too appealing. So, we decided on a whim, to drive to Muscatine Saturday afternoon. We arrived in time for a bit of hanging out, supper and about 20 minutes at the (super cold!) pool and then bedtime. We left on Sunday and despite the short time spent there, we had a great time. It was so great to see all the kids together. I love them all so much! We managed to get some cute pictures too...imagine that!

Iowa State Fair

We did the fair tonight. It was so much fun and until the last 20 minutes or so, Tate had a blast! He was DONE by the time we left though. His favorite thing was probably the big slide (see video below) and he really liked the ski lift thing too. It made me a bit nervous because it's so high and you aren't really strapped in, but he sat still and just took it all in. We did a round trip and he cried when we got off. He loved it! He really liked the animals and tractors too of course. He did a little dancing and LOTS of eating. He loved the traditional fair food...he ate a well balanced meal of a hot dog, french fries, funnel cake and his first taste of cotton candy. I know, I am such a bad mom! He loved the sweets the best...shocker! He ate about half of a funnel cake and a large chunk of cotton candy. Again...see the video below. I think my favorite part was the horses and just people watching. The HUGE Big Boar was unbelievable. I have never seen anything like it...it just layed on its side. I don't even know if it could stand. Crazy. I took pictures, but they don't do it justice at all! It was great weather and a great family activity! :) Tate is snoring in bed and I am heading upstairs to watch the Olympics!

Checking out the animals...

yee haw!

oh, the food...

thank goodness I have such long arms and was able to get this stellar family photo...ha

enjoying the scenery from above...

Tate may be praying that he doesn't fall out of the car in this one...

IA State Fair

the cutest octopus...

...ever.

going to the fair

So I should be in bed right now. I can't sleep because when I lay down, I hack up a lung. Ugh.

Tomorrow (if I"m still alive), we are going to the Iowa State Fair. It's been several (maybe 5 or 6) years since I have attended...not so much a fan of the crowds. We will go after I get off of work, and I am excited! We got free tickets and free food tickets and all kinds of stuff from our work, so that was the draw at first. When I got to thinking about it though, I realized that Tate would probably really love it. There are so many cool things to see and all the animals and tractors will be so neat to him I am sure. I plan to take several pictures...shocker, I know! :) Hopefully I'll get those posted tomorrow night. We'll see how late it is when we get home and how tired I am.

So that's all for now. Nothing much else going on.

Good night!

Gymnastics

Last night Bode was trying to teach Tate how to do a somersault. Bode's somersault is kind of half somersault, half flip. Tate's on the other hand is a bit more cautious...more like a roll...well, it IS a roll. Oh well, he'll learn some day. :)
Here they are each doing their version of a somersault in unison.

Olympic Bound

Computer Genius

This child loves the computer. I made the mistake of letting him "type" the other day and when I took him away from the computer...as you can see, he was not happy. He is so funny, he puts his right hand on the mouse and hits the keys with his left hand. He always rolls the ball on the top of the mouse that you are supposed to use when you want to scroll down. It's amazing the things that kids pick up on! He even looks up at the screen while he's typing to see what it's doing as he hits the keys. Too funny.
He actually looks like he knows what he's doing in this picture...ha!

And this is what he looked like when it was time to get off of the computer.

Wednesday...

Tate's most recent love....Nemo. He loves the movie Finding Nemo and when we say, "what show do you want to watch before bed?" He most recently responds with, "NEMO!". A little show watching before bed gives him a chance to wind down. He gets in a zone when watching Nemo and it's a nice change for us as well. Quite frankly, I was getting tired on watching Little Einsteins, Mickey and Handy Manny all the time. I do like those shows, but it's nice to add something different to the mix. :) Plus, Nemo is one of my faves too!

Tonight we went to Target to pick up some necessities and decided to stroll through the toy isles to come up with some birthday gift ideas for Tate. We were thrilled to see they have Handy Manny toys at Target now! Tate was SOOO excited and we definitely have some gift ideas now! Also, he is always excited about the Little Einsteins toys, cars and "guys". So we will not have a problem finding things for him this year! :-) He had fun just playing with the toys in the isles. Then, he got to play for a while at the play area and then home to go to bed.

Sean is feeling better today, thank goodness! His health issues turned out to be less severe than we originally thought and he is on the mend.

I can't believe it's Thursday tomorrow! Woohoo! This week has flown by faster than the usual week. I am not complaining! We don't have any big plans for this weekend, but are hoping this beautiful weather sticks around.

Sorry, no pictures tonight. I haven't taken any for a few days. I'll get on that and hopefully have some pics along with my next post.

Where has the time gone?!!

He is going to be 2 in 2 months...and he looks like it too! Where did my baby go?