Day 30: My Life

Today I am very thankful for my life! I have some awesome parents, a wonderful husband, two kids that I adore and love so much, a house full of some cool pets, and I have some great friends and family. I really do feel lucky to have such a great life! I am beyond thankful for it!

Thank you to anyone who followed this blog series :)

Big Bubs is thankful for, "The cats."

HAPPY DECEMBER!!!

Day 29: Alejandra

Today I am thankful for Alejandra! She is our house cleaner and I am super thankful for her and her husband. They both come every three weeks to clean our house and I love it when they do. I don't have the time or energy to keep the house super clean the way that they do it. I am always amazed at how clean she can get our sink and I've tried and tried, but I can never get it as clean as she does. The house looks so great after they have cleaned it. They are both really friendly and Big Bubs loves to hang around them. I know that they would probably like it if he would leave them alone, but they are very polite about him always being in the way. I'm going to try and keep the house clean, but it never happens and within a week our house (mostly the kitchen) looks like it needs a good cleaning again :(

BB is thankful for, "Balls." I asked him when we were cleaning up all of the balls :)

Day 28: My Time with Little Bubs

Today I am thankful for my time alone with Little Bubs. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays Big Bubs goes to preschool and I get the majority of the day to spend with Little Bubs. I really treasure this time because I can actually play with LB and let him play with anything he wants without the fear of BB beating up on him or causing havoc. It is really nice to not have to be mediator and LB really enjoys his time of being able to free play without the mean older brother around. LB also takes two naps and during this time I can get some stuff that I really need to get done or I can waste my time on Pinterest, Facebook, or on the Internet :) This time with LB is especially fun right because he started walking and he is really into climbing onto everything, which is fun to watch him try to figure out.

BB is thankful for, "Dad." BB was pissed off at me today and just wanted his dad, so I figured that he would be thankful for dad :)

Day 27: Lazy Days

I am very thankful for lazy days. It is really nice not having anything to do on a weekend day. Even though we had nothing to do we managed to keep the day pretty full. We even went for a two mile run and I have discovered that I am really out of shape! I have decided that I will definitely be stepping up my running and exercising because my clothes are getting a little tight and all of this eating is a bit much! I am also thankful that I was able to catch up in this blog because of this lazy day! I had a lot of days to write about because of the holidays and I am glad that I got this extra time. I don't think that I will get one of these days for awhile because our calendar for December is pretty packed!

Big Bubs is thankful for, "Driving my car." He has a red cozy coupe that he LOVES! It is his favorite toy and he is in there all of the time. When I had asked him what he was thankful for he was in the car. I have never seen another kid that likes this car as much as him!

Day 26: No Traffic

Today I am thankful for no or light traffic on the freeways. We made our trek back home from Sacramento and it wasn't a pleasant trip. The first part it was going well because both of the boys were asleep and traffic wasn't too bad. Then we stopped a little past the halfway point and it was all downhill from there :( Traffic started to get backed up because of some accidents that were on the other side of the road and there was just the extra holiday traffic. I think that close to an hour was added to our drive because of the traffic. The second half of the trip the boys didn't sleep and Little Bubs was screaming for a lot of the time, which then would make Big Bubs start to cry. Being in this situation it just made me really thankful for when there is no traffic on long car rides! Hopefully, when we do our next long ride it won't be so bad!

BB is thankful for, "Dad putting him to sleep." It is funny because I actually ended up putting him to bed :)

Day 25: Leftovers

Today I am thankful for leftovers :) Okay, so I guess that I have this 4,000 calorie meal twice a year because I got to have the leftovers for lunch and it was every bit as delicious! Just thinking about the food is getting me hungry, so I should end it here!

Big Bubs is thankful for, "(Babbling once again)."

Day 24: Family & Thanksgiving Day Food

Today I am thankful for the family that I have! Every other year (since we seem to be sick every other year) we travel up to Sacramento to spend Thanksgiving with my Mom's side of the family. Her family is BIG! She has eight brothers and two sisters, so you can imagine how many people there are at Thanksgiving. My Grandma also lives on a huge property with lots of goats and chickens and BB has a blast when he is there. It was kind of funny because usually BB is shy around people, but he was not shy at all there. He was running around like crazy and having a great time. My relatives couldn't believe that he is usually shy. It was nice seeing everyone and I am very thankful that I got to travel up there this year.

I am also super thankful for Thanksgiving food! I think that it is my most favorite food! I LOVE stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, pie, green-bean casserole, and everything during Thanksgiving. It is a good thing that I eat this huge meal once a year because I heard somewhere that the average American consumes over 4,000 calories during Thanksgiving! I sure believe it, but all of that food was DELICIOUS!

BB is thankful for "Nuffing (Nothing)." He says "nuffing" all of the time when I ask him, but after some prodding or bribing he usually will come up with something else. He didn't today, which happens to be the day that you are supposed to be the most thankful on, go figure!

Day 23: I'm Capable...

Today I am thankful that I am capable of helping out other families in need during this holiday season. I belong to the MOMS Club and this year for Thanksgiving and Christmas we "adopted" a family to help out. The family that we adopted is a 25 year old mother with her two children that are five and four. This family was recently homeless and are now just getting back on their feet. I am really thankful that my husband has a job and that we can afford for me to stay home with the boys and even have a little extra to help out this family. Another member and myself went to drop off the Thanksgiving meal to the mom, along with some gift cards, and she was really grateful for everything. At one point it looked like she was about to cry, which was really touching to see. Being a part of this MOMS Club I have really done a lot in helping out families in need and it is a really great thing to do and I wish that I had done it sooner. At least I am starting now!

BB is thankful for, "Dad." I think that BB needs to spend more time with Dad so that he can be thankful for me :)

Day 22: Books

Today I am thankful for books! I LOVE reading so much! I have loved reading ever since I was a little kid. I especially love it when I am reading a good book. Every year, since I have been keeping track, I try and read at least 24 books (this does not include the tons and tons of kids books that I read). Reading is one of my passions and I really hope that my kids get this same passion too. Recently a friend posted on Facebook that, "Annually, the average American will watch four hours of TV a day (that's 60 full days a year!), but 1/3 of them won't read a single book. Of those who will read, the average is between 1 and 4 books a year." It is frightening that this is true, but I am just really glad that I am not in that statistic!


BB is thankful for, "(Babbling and nonsensical words)."

Day 21: Old Friends

Today I am thankful for "old" friends. By old, I don't mean that they are old in age, but that they have been friends of mine for awhile. Today I happened to call one of those friends up because I was in her neighborhood and I thought that I would drop by to say, "hi." I haven't seen this friend in awhile and I thought that I should just take a chance at seeing if she was around. Luckily, she was home so we got to chat for a bit before we went our ways. I am so glad that I did because it was really nice seeing her and getting some adult time in. The thing that I love about having "old" friends is that you go without talking to them for a long time and then you can have a conversation with them and it is like no time has passed at all and you pick up just where you left off. I have a lot of really good friends like these. All of these friends make me really happy too and I guess that is why I still stay in contact with them, even if it is months that go by without me talking to them.

Big Bubs is thankful for, "Cats." He seems to be on an animal kick now!

Day 20: Great Days

Today I am thankful for great days! By a great day, I mean that from beginning to end the day was really great! This doesn't happen all of the time, so when it does it is really nice!!! I think what makes a day really great is when Big Bubs is behaving and not tormenting his brother. I think that keeping BB occupied helps with that. In the morning BB got to make waffles with dad! The waffles were delicious! After breakfast Little Bubs and I did the grocery shopping trip together. BB didn't want to come, so I got to bring LB. Usually LB isn't into the shopping, but today he did really well and we had a nice time out together. Then in the afternoon BB and I made some Oobleck and we had a lot of fun playing with that! I definitely recommend playing with it (google it to see some videos). After playing with the Oobleck my husband took BB and the dog on a long walk in the rain! Yes, it was raining and it made the day better for me. I really enjoy a rainy day here and there (as you might already know!). BB LOVES to play in the rain and stomp around in puddles, so this was pure excitement for him. If you have a kid that likes to play in puddles and the rain, I definitely recommend getting The Tuffo Muddy Buddy Overalls. They are fantastic for playing around when it is wet outside. After playing outside BB and I made some cookies. We made some sugar cookies out of a box and they were a bit of a failure (I didn't let the butter melt enough and then added some water and they were way too sticky). The cookies still tasted great though! We then went and had dinner with some of our closest friends to celebrate a birthday. BB wasn't on his best behavior at the restaurant, but it was still nice to get out and I had this delicious taco! It had steak, mashed potatoes, sour cream, bacon, and chives! After dinner I went out with our friends (my husband stayed home with the boys) and went and saw David Sedaris talk. He is soooo funny! I was laughing a ton and had a great time! When I came home I read some and then went to bed. It really was a GREAT day!

BB is thankful for, "Duck." I think that he just said the first word that popped into his head. He then elaborated and said that he was thankful for only one duck and not two or three ducks! He is so silly sometimes!

I am also thankful that I got to see Little Bubs take five steps without holding onto anything!!! The most he had been doing was two steps, but this was a lot more. I think that the kid will be walking soon!

Day 19: Alone Time with the Big Bubs

Today I am thankful for time alone that I get with Big Bubs. There isn't a lot of time where I am just with Big Bubs. The times that we are alone are when I am putting him to bed, when Little Bubs is taking a nap, and when we do our weekly Trader Joe's shopping trip. The times that we are alone are usually very short and we aren't doing anything really fun. Yesterday we were invited to a birthday party. I decided to leave LB at home with my husband so that they could get some bonding time and so that I could have some alone time with BB. It was so much fun! BB was shy at first and wanted me right by his side, but then after awhile he warmed up and was running around like crazy and participating in the games that they were doing. It was a lot of fun hanging out with him. He was in a GREAT mood all of the time, which is rare when LB is around. I realize that he probably needs more alone time with just one of us because he does have a hard time dealing with LB. I think that we will have to try and plan more outings together because it was a lot of fun!

BB is thankful for, "the bus." I'm not sure where this one came from because I don't remember him seeing a bus, but he must have seen one somewhere and had that on his mind!

Day 18: Preschool and Teachers

Today I am thankful for Big Bubs preschool and his teachers! Every day that it is a preschool day it is really hard to get him to go because he wants to stay home, but when I go and pick him up all he wants to do is stay there and play! I am thankful for the place because it allows BB to run around a lot outside. We don't have much of a backyard, so he misses out on running around a lot. At preschool he also gets to do arts and crafts projects every day that he is there. At home I always have good intentions to do A&C projects, but it gets kind of hard trying to organize something when there is also LB to take care of. At school he gets to play with kids his age! BB is not a very social kid, but I think that it is really good that he has some time to play with kids that are around his age. The Director of the school said that BB is even becoming a lot more social and hanging out with the kids and playing with them. She said that he laughs so much now, which is an awesome thing to hear! The teachers there are so incredibly nice and I definitely recognize that they do a job that I feel I could not do. Having the patience to deal with the personalities of 2-4 year olds can be very tough! I am also thankful that when BB is at school I get some alone time with Little Bubs and that time is really treasured by me!

BB is thankful for, "Dad taking me to school." He seems to be on a Dad kick again :)

Day 17: Kleenex

Today I am thankful for Kleenex (well actually facial tissue from Costco!). The boys and I have been sick with a cold for the past week (I think Anderson has a cold on top of the Roseola). For the past few days we have all had so much snot coming out of our nose. I feel like I am blowing my nose constantly! My nose is very thankful that there is soft Kleenex because sometimes I am in the bathroom and I have to use toilet paper, since it is right there, and it hurts my nose! I can't believe how much Kleenex we go through! I just hope that this cold goes away and our snot clears up!

BB is thankful for, "(babbling here)." He really was not interested in giving me anything today. I asked him many times throughout the day and every time all he did was talk gibberish :(

Day 16: Friendly Stray Dogs

Today I am thankful for friendly stray dogs. Today I was sitting on the couch and I see this flash of brown walk by my sliding glass door and I thought, "Did I leave Lucy (my dog) outside all this time?" I went and opened the door and it wasn't Lucy! It was another dog that was her height and very similar to her coloring. I was very confused on how this stray dog got in my backyard because my side gates are closed. The only thing I could think of was that the dog got into the neighbor's yard (the one behind me) and then either fell or jumped down from their yard into mine. The dog looked very scraggly and had a collar on, but no tag. She (we determined it was a she) seemed friendly, but I didn't want to take a chance and get too close. I brought her out some food and water and it was really happy about that. She would come to the back door a lot and just look in :( My sister in-law, who is a dog lover, came over and she befriended the dog and got the dog to come by her and then the dog just laid down right by where she was sitting. It was so cute. The dog just seemed like she wanted and needed some love and attention. The dog was super stinky and it looked like it might have had mange because it was missing a lot of hair around her legs and bottom and was scratching a lot. The dog never barked or growled and just seemed like a sweet dog. She would come and sit or lie by our back door and just wait for us to come by it. I had called animal control earlier in the day because there was nothing that I could do with this dog. Plus, I wasn't sure if the dog had mange and I didn't want to touch it. Animal Services came and the lady was so nice! She was very friendly to the dog and gentle. The dog was a little hard to catch because she kept running away, but the lady finally got her. When she did, the lady was surprised at how easily the dog went into the van and commented on how well behaved this dog is. We did find out that the dog tested negative for mange, which was great, but she has to have something else going on. I hope that whatever she has is treatable and that someone will adopt her, but I doubt that will happen :( I am very thankful that this stray that ended up in our backyard was so friendly! I couldn't imagine if we had some angry and viscous dog back there. I also feel as though the dog was very thankful for the food, water, treats, and attention she got when she was in our backyard because I am sure she hasn't had that in a long time!

Big Bubs is thankful for, "dad." Then I asked him why he was thankful for Dad and he said, "because I love dad." Very sweet!

Day 15: Book Club

Today I am thankful for my book club! I really enjoy going to book club a lot and it is one of the few times that I get to go out without the boys! My husband is a good sport and stays home with them, but it is only fair since he rarely reads the books :). The conversations at book club almost always take a turn for the funny and I laugh a lot, which makes me feel good. Plus, there is some good food and often dessert! Last night we had some cupcakes made from the place that won Cupcake Wars and they were delicious! I am extra thankful for book club because that is where I met my husband around this time in 2003 (wow, I can't believe it's been eight years since I've been in this book club and have known my husband!). Plus, I have gotten some really great friendships out of book club! If you would like to check out our book club blog to see what we are reading and how our meetings go, you should :)

I forgot to ask Big Bubs what he was thankful for today :( He did wake-up around 10:30pm and as I was putting him back to bed I remembered then and tried to ask him, but he was already asleep. I am going to assume that he was thankful for the awesome day we had today (I am super thankful for that too!).

Day 14: Perfect Weather

Today I am thankful for the perfect weather that we had! It was so gorgeous today! It was in the low 70s and felt so nice! I went out on a walk with the LB and the dogs and I just kept thinking about how this weather would be such perfect weather to go running in. Too bad I am sick and not feeling that great. I wouldn't mind if most of the days were like how it was today in the middle of the day! It does appear that this whole week it should be looking nice and I am looking forward to that!

BB is thankful for, "Mom!" What? I can't believe that he actually said this! I guess having dad back makes him more thankful for me :) I was super happy that he said this and very thankful too :)

Day 13: No Fevers!

I can't even tell you how thankful I am that Little Bubs finally broke his fever this evening (Sunday evening, even though I am writing this on Monday)! When my kids have a fever I am super freaked out, like previously mentioned (if you would like to know why click here). LB's temp got up to 104.6! Temperatures that high are no joke. I know that his body was working to get rid of what he had, but it was scaring the crap out of me! I wasn't sleeping well and all I wanted to do was take LB's temperature. When I took his temp on Sunday night it was back to 98 degrees! Then in the morning it was at a low 99. Throughout the whole day it stayed at 98 and I was so happy! Then when I went to give him a bath in the evening I noticed that he had a rash all over his back and stomach! Once I saw that I immediately knew what he had. He had roseola. Nathan had this before and once I saw the rash it explained everything. The symptoms made perfect sense and I feel a big sense of relief that I know what it was that was causing him to be sick. I don't know how my kids got the herpes virus already and who they got it from, but hopefully that since they got it they are now going to be immune and not ever have it again!

BB is thankful for, "Dad fixing my bike." We got BB a balance bike because we felt it was time. We were going to get it for Christmas, but decided to not wait and just get it now. We also didn't want to have to travel around with the big bike during the holidays. BB really likes the bike and he was happy that his dad put it together.

Day 12: Trader Joe's

Today I am thankful for Trader Joe's! It is my favorite grocery store and I am so thankful that I have one that is very close to me. They have great food that is healthy and their prices are very reasonable, even a little on the cheap side. Nathan and I usually do a big grocery shopping trip there on Sunday mornings at 8am when the store first opens. We are one of the few people there and it is so nice having the whole store to ourselves. I had to go there today because we were running out of food and I needed to get some stuff for my sister in-law and niece for their plane ride the next day. It was a bit busier, but I still didn't mind! Right now I am loving the store because they have in all of their Thanksgiving food and that is my favorite food!

Big Bubs is thankful for, "Aunt Karen coming to visit." He is definitely right about that! It is really nice having her here. Whenever she comes I always get to go and have a pedicure, so my toenails are looking all snazzy right now! Plus, she is very good at entertaining the boys. Our niece came too, but unfortunately she got sick :(

Day 11: Having My Husband Home

Sorry that I am a few days behind on this blog, but we have been sick and have had house guests.

On this day I was very thankful that my husband was back from his work trip. He had been gone for six days and it was nice having him back home! Taking care of both boys by myself was manageable, but it is so much easier when there are two of us! Also, Little Bubs was just at the beginning of his fevers and it was nice having someone else to help take care of him during the middle of the night when he would wake-up. My husband also told me that his work requested that he go to Tokyo from where he was at, but he declined. For this I am really thankful because having him gone for two weeks would have been even harder!

I am also thankful for the Veterans and having a very cool 11/11/11 day!

Big Bubs is thankful for, "(babbling here)." When I would ask him he would just babble and I couldn't get anything out of him.

Day 10: Medicine

Today I am thankful for medicine, particularly Ibuprofen. Big and Little Bubs have had colds (which they got from BB's school) and they were just that at first. Little Bubs seemed a bit out of sorts for the day and not feeling as well. I checked his temperature throughout the day and he was running a very low-grade fever. Once it reached 101 I gave him some Motrin (Ibuprofen) for the first time and it took the fever down and he was acting fine. Then this morning at 4am he woke up crying and I went into his room and he was burning up. I took his temperature and it was 103! This freaked me out because of my last experience with a really high fever. I got LB, undressed him, gave him some Ibuprofen and gave him some liquids. He was acting fine, which made me feel better because with BB he was not himself when he had his high fever. After a half hour I checked his temperature and it was already down to 101. By an hour it was down to 100 and LB was ready to go to sleep! I am hoping that when he wakes up this morning that he will be done with the fever. I am REALLY thankful for Ibuprofen. It is the one medicine that makes fevers go down fast and it gives me a piece of mind! I do have the urge to go in and take LB's temperature every half hour, but I want the kid to sleep and I know that the Motrin does last awhile. Unfortunately, Big Bubs woke-up because of all of the commotion and has been up since 4 (it is now 5:45). I hope that he can go back to sleep, but I am doubting that :(

Big Bubs is thankful for, "you giving me a cereal bar today." Before we went out on a walk with some friends I gave him a cereal bar from Trader Joe's (one of our favorite stores). Both the boys love food, so it wasn't a surprise that he was thankful for some food :)

Day 9: Skype

Today I am thankful for Skype! It is really incredible that I can talk to people (while seeing them) halfway across the world on my computer for free! The boys have been "talking" to their dad constantly on Skype since they were little. My parents live about an eight hour drive away from us, but they still get to see the boys frequently because of Skype. It is really so cool and I am very thankful that we have it. Big Bubs knows how Skype works and he likes calling and hanging up on people. He also likes using the emoticons and sometimes gets carried away with using those and not paying attention to the person on Skype :)

Big Bubs is thankful for, "helping Natalie clean-up." This was a surprise that he said that! My niece is here and I had asked him to clean-up and I told him that Natalie could help him. After I put Little Bubs to sleep I came out and all of the toys were picked up. I asked Natalie if BB helped out and she said that he did a little bit, but not very much :( He doesn't like to clean-up and it is like pulling teeth and there is usually some bribing or threatening of taking away toys to get him to do it. That is why I was surprised that he was thankful for helping clean-up!

Day 8: Cameras

I am really thankful for cameras! The previous evening I had had some vivid dreams with a lot of people that I went to high school with (not sure why I was thinking of high school) and this morning it was on my mind, so I got out my picture album and was looking at pictures of my senior year. Then that afternoon the boys and I went to this really cool exhibit called, Noah's Ark, with some friends. Nathan was really enjoying it and I got some great pictures of him that I was able to email to my husband so that he could see what the boys were up to. I am so thankful for cameras! They let us capture so many moments and keep the moments preserved in the pictures. Without the pictures my memory of events wouldn't be as strong or as accurate. I LOVE pictures! I just need to become a better user of my camera so that I can take some better pictures :)

Big Bubs was thankful for, "Dad." He was missing his dad :(

Little Bubs playing on the crates in front of Noah's Ark


Big Bubs climbing a rope ladder in Noah's Ark

Day 7: Friends Who Babysit

First, I have to say that I am behind in this because my husband was out of town, so I had to take care of the boys on my own. For bedtime I have to lie down with the Big Bubs and I usually fall asleep when he does and I don't wake up until around midnight and by then I figure that I should just continue to sleep. Since I have been doing this I have been getting some awesome sleep! I am very thankful for that! I also have not had free-time to do this blog.

On this day I was very thankful for my friend Stephanie who babysat Little Bubs for me while I could go attend a non-profit summit in my district. It is really nice to have a group of friends, all moms, that are available most days to babysit my kids and they usually do it for free, which is an added bonus! It is so nice having this support system and I feel like if they ever needed me to watch their kid I would be more than happy to do so! This was LB's first time being babysat at someone else's house and he did awesome! When I came to get him he was at the back sliding glass door looking at the dog saying, "woof, woof!"

I can't remember what Big Bubs was thankful for today :( This is why I need to keep up on the blog on a daily basis or at least write it down!

Day 6: The Rain

Today I am thankful for the rain! It was raining today (well yesterday since I am a day late in writing this) and I really do love the rain. I had to do some errands today and the rain made it a little bit more difficult, but that didn't stop me from being thankful of the rain. Whenever it is raining it feels great to be bundled up indoors. It also leaves huge puddles outside that my oldest gets to stomp around in and watching him have so much fun makes me happy. I REALLY want to make some rain barrels so that we can catch the rain and then use it to water our plants! That would be awesome to do and then I would be even more thankful for the rain!

Big Bubs is thankful for, "the Cars movie." The kids don't get to watch any TV or movies in our house unless, they are sick, we are traveling for a really long time (like an overseas airplane ride), or if mom (or dad) just needs a break. Yesterday BB was having a hard day and I finally gave in and put the movie Cars on. He sat quietly through the movie and when it was all done his body was reset and it was like he was a new kid. Of course, today when he woke-up that is all that he wanted to do! "Can we watch Cars?"

Day 5: Nice Customer Service Reps

Today I am thankful for Alana! She was the nicest customer service rep that I have ever had to deal with. I am not a very big "talker" and I would much prefer to do communication via email than over the phone, but I needed to make a few phone calls today. I've had on my to do list for quite some time to cancel some credit cards that I haven't used in awhile and some that needed to be canceled before I got the annual fee charged. Today I decided was the day that I would cancel them and I wasn't looking forward to the calls. Usually when I call to cancel a card they try anything and everything to get me to keep the credit card. It is like they don't take "no" for an answer and I wish that they did. The first credit card that I was calling to cancel I ended up not canceling it, but plan on trying again soon :) The next card that I wanted to cancel I called and got this lovely lady named Alana. I told her that I wanted to cancel my card and she asked, "why," but in a very friendly and curious manner. Once I told her she said, "okay, well I just want to check your account to see if you have any points that we can cash out for you." I told her that there probably wasn't going to be anything because the last time I used the card was in 2008 and I don't remember using that card very much. It turns out there were points that added up to $20! Alana told me that she was going to send me a check for $20 and then told me that my credit card was closed. She then asked me if I wanted a letter stating that my account was closed. "Yes please!" She then thanked me for my business and said that if I ever wanted to get a credit card with them again that they would be happy about that. That was it! No begging me to stay, no telling me they will do this and that and I get $20 out of it. It was so easy and no hassle! Of course, this was wonderful to me! When Alana was done speaking I told her that she was the nicest customer service rep that I have ever talked to. She was very thankful and a little surprised that I was saying this, which she shouldn't be because she was so nice and friendly. She said that it made her day to hear that. Being in customer service myself, it is really nice hearing when you are doing a great job!

Big Bubs is thankful for, "this room I'm in." He was playing in mom and dad's bedroom with his brother and dad and he was having a great time. He was jumping on the bed, running around like crazy, and just being a goof! He was probably in my room for an hour having a blast!

Day 4: Sleeping Children

Today I am super thankful for when my boys sleep well. Little Bubs hasn't been sleeping that great lately and I think that it may be because he has a molar coming in. When I don't sleep well I feel super grumpy because I LOVE my sleep! Our schedules have also been a little busy, so his naps haven't been the best. Last night he slept the whole night and woke up at 7!!!! This was huge because he has been waking up at 6, which is too early for me! Then he took two really good naps. I hope that tomorrow when I wake up I will be thankful that he slept through the night again...But I am sure that I jinxed it by writing about it!

Big Bubs is thankful for, "the toy helicopter." I had bought this remote control helicopter the other day from Costco for my husband (he previously bought one that broke) and I thought that it would be a good Christmas gift. Then I was doubting the purchase and wanted to return it, so I brought it out today to show it to my husband to see if he did want it. Once BB saw it, he wanted to play with it. We kept telling him that we would get to play with it once we were at Nana and Papa's house and he kept asking to go there :) It was funny because I asked him a couple times during the day what he was thankful for, to see if his answer would change, and it was always "for the toy helicopter."

Day 3: Playdates

First, I would like to make the disclaimer that I am beyond thankful for my kids, family, friends, health, and overall general life. I could write about each of those and fill up the 30 days, but I wanted to write about some more random things I am thankful for :)

Today I am thankful for playdates! I LOVE playdates!...Mostly playdates for the kids :) When we have playdates it makes my day go by so much quicker. Also, BB is a really shy kid, so when we are out and about he is extra well behaved and I don't have to reprimand him at all for being mean to his brother. It is really relaxing. It is also so nice to get out and get to do something different than staying at home. The added bonus for me is that I get to hang out with other adults and that is such a nice thing to do!!!

BB is thankful for, "the train I got today." We went to a birthday party at a train museum and all of the kids got a toy train for their party favor. I think that BB is really getting this whole "thankful" thing!

Day 2: The Blanket Lizard

I am thankful for the blanket lizard. What is a blanket lizard you may be asking yourself? It is a blanket that is blue with white polka dots on one side and white with blue polka dots on the other side. I got it as one of my baby shower gifts for Big Bubs (BB) almost four years ago. I started putting that blanket in his crib after he turned a year old and he just grew really attached to it. Probably around 2 1/2 he started saying that his blanket was a lizard and then it became the blanket lizard. He sleeps with this blanket every night and likes to carry it around with him everywhere. It is his main comfort. Well, today he took the blanket lizard to school and I didn't realize it, so when I went to get him I didn't get the blanket lizard! When it was bedtime and he was looking for his blanket lizard and we realized it was at school, it was horrible :( A huge meltdown ensued and it was then that I realized that I was really thankful for that blanket lizard because it makes bedtime go so much smoother!

Here's a picture of the blanket lizard (I would love to buy another one to have on hand, but they are no where to be found!)



BB is thankful, "for Dad." I see some sort of trend going on here with BB :)

Challenge #4: Feeling Thankful (Day 1 too)

I decided that this next challenge for me would be to blog about something that I am thankful for every day for 30 days. I need an easy challenge to do because I have been so busy lately and I don't want to set myself up for failure. I figured that this would be the perfect challenge considering that it is Thanksgiving this month. Every day I will write what I am thankful for. I will also be asking my Big Bubs what he is thankful for. I will then post what we came up with :)

Day 1:

I am very thankful for this new incredibly awesome way of shucking corn! My friend Lauren posted a link to this in her blog and I thought that it was pretty awesome, but it wasn't until tonight when we tried it out. It works just like the video and was so easy to do! Makes me want to get some corn more often!

Big Bubs was thankful that, "Dad came home from work!" I'm pretty thankful about that too!

-Heather

Day 30: Last Photo

I am WAY behind on posting this picture even though I did take it on day 30. I have just been really busy with stuff. My family is going on vacation to Europe and I needed to get a lot of stuff done before I left. I mentioned in a previous post that I am the President of my Mom's group and there was a lot to take care of there and most of my free time was spent getting that all wrapped up. I leave today and I wanted to make sure that I got this post done!

The boys and me at dinnertime. It is not a great picture of me, but oh well!

-Heather

Day 29: Crying Photo

These last few days I am veering off from my original plans. I had wanted to take a jumping picture, but every picture that I took of BB jumping turned out all blurry, so I had to change my plans. I decided to add in these two pictures. They represented my day (and most days) yesterday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays BB does not go to preschool. Since he is home all day that makes it a tough one for all of us. BB doesn't want LB touching his toys or even getting near them. Just the other day LB was just crawling around and not even close to one of BB's toys, but BB was convinced that LB wanted to play with it, so he ran over and started yelling at him :( Anyway, most Tuesdays and Thursdays it is me "yelling" at BB to stop hurting his brother, stop taking toys away, stop yelling at his brother...you get the idea. BB makes LB cry and then once LB cries and I go to comfort him BB starts to cry. It really is such a viscous cycle. I can't remember exactly what was going on here, but LB was holding onto the table and crying (you can't tell that he is crying) and BB was on the ground crying. All I could do at that point was get out my camera and start taking pictures! It actually helped in calming BB down, which was nice. I am hoping that Thursday will be a better day and I think that it will because we have a playdate in the morning and then my sister in-law is in town and she is really good with entertaining the boys and keeping BB out of trouble!

Day 28: A First Photo

I am not sticking to my plan again because I ended up taking a picture of something else that I wanted to post about instead. A friend of mine was going to be out of town, so she gave me her tickets to the LA Dodger's baseball game. I thought that it would be something really fun to take Big Bubs too. It would be his very first baseball game. We don't have TV, so he has no idea about sports and we talked to him for about a week about what baseball was and how much fun it was going to be. He was very excited about it and was so close to not being able to go because he was being mean to his brother, but he ended up redeeming himself and we went (Little Bubs stayed home because it was his bedtime). We got to the game and BB seemed very interested in it all. When we sat down in our seats BB was only interested in the seats and not so much the game. He kept getting in and out of the seat. He would get out and watch the seat go up, and then he would pull the seat down and get in it and do the whole process over. It was really cute to watch. Whenever the crowd would clap, he would join them too. A family sitting next to us was really into the game and they would yell things out and that would make BB yell some random things out too because he thought that is what you are supposed to do. We also got some peanuts and BB enjoyed opening the shells up and tossing them on the ground. BB told us at the end of the 4th inning that he was tired and wanted to go home (it was past his bedtime). We left the game, but had a really nice time. BB even got to see a home run! This photo is of him in our seats at the game.

Day 27: Shadow Photo

I got the shadow idea from Pinterest and I thought that it was such a cool idea. The original photo was of two kids holding a sign that says, "We Love You Daddy!" How cute is that? I would have copied it, but I didn't feel like making a big sign and I would have needed either cardboard or really sturdy paper. I decided to give the idea a try and just do something simple. This is what I came up with and it was really easy to do and I think that it turned out great. What a cute idea for a card or to send an email! The only bad thing about this picture is that we had to take it outside and the weather was soooooo HOT! Good thing it only took two shots!

Day 26: Someone I Love Photo

My three boys and me!

Day 25: Bug Photo

A bug photo wasn't on my original plan, but I changed some things up. I decided that I am not going to take the "My Best Body Part Photo." If you were wondering what I was going to take a picture of for that photo it was going to be my legs from the knees down :) Anyway, I had to take some bug photos because we have these bugs on our corn plants and I don't know what they are. The bugs that were on them earlier were a bright orange color and their body looked thinner than these bugs. The orange ones are gone, but these ones are there. I don't know if the orange ones turned into these ones, or if these are new bugs. I am thinking that maybe the orange ones turned into these because there is still some orange on these bugs. Anyone reading this (especially Denise) if you know what these bugs are please let me know! Will they hurt my plants and if so, how would I get rid of them?

Day 24: House/Home Photo

I decided not to take a picture of the outside of my house because it is pretty boring! A brown and tan house with a lot of brown paint that is faded with some lovely 70s style rocks on the house with a boring lawn and driveway that completes the outside! I thought that a picture that would best represent my house for what it is known for would be our formal living room, aka the DISCO ROOM! I think that most of you that read this know the story, but if you don't here it goes: Before I knew my husband he bought this house and was living in it all bachelor style. He got emailed something from a friend about this new show that was going to renovate your house in seven days and they were looking to do a Star Trek themed renovation. Being the geek that he is he decided that he would sign-up for it because he couldn't lose anything and the house was a blank canvas because it was a bachelor pad. Well, the producers came to the house and looked at it and they said let's do something 70s because your house is very 70s. 1) Yes, it is very 70s and we are slowly doing upgrades to make it not look so 70s and 2) THANK GOD they didn't stick to the plan of doing a Star Trek home! Since the show was an "extreme" makeover they decided to do 70s Disco Party! For a week my husband and his two roommates lived in a trailer outside while the house was renovated. In the living room they put in a light up disco floor (it even goes with the music). They put in a huge disco ball that comes in and out of the attic. They added furniture, and some cool lighting. In the dining room they put in shag carpeting (they put it in throughout the whole house too!), added a 70s table and light fixture. They made the bar area into a stylish 70s bar. In the bedroom they made a rotating bookcase that has a wet bar on the other side. This bookcase also opens up into the bathroom. The coolest thing was the round rotating bed. When I first saw the place it was very much like something out of the Austin Power's movies.

We have gotten rid of a lot of the stuff (including the round rotating bed because a regular bed was more fitting), but we do not want to get rid of our disco floor. It is cool having a disco floor and people seem to love it. The area has become the kids' play area and it is a perfect space for it. People refer to our house as the "Disco House." That is why I thought it was appropriate to have a picture of the disco room.

Day 23: Food Photo

I decided to do a food photo today because I wanted to show what I have finally been getting from my garden. This year I planted my garden super duper late! In years past I have usually started a good majority of them from seed, but as June passed I figured that I just needed to go ahead and buy plants from a nursery. I didn't get around to buying the plants until the 4th of July weekend. It was then that I planted everything. I was seeing a lot of pictures and hearing about all of the veggies that friends were getting and my plants were still growing. Finally, last week and this week the veggies started growing bigger and were getting big enough to pick! I'm really excited about that. I am really amazed at how fast and big zucchini grow. I read that you need to pick them when they are a medium size, but for two of them I waited a little too long. I LOVE how I got a Siamese yellow squash! A couple of the cherry tomatoes are from a rogue plant (which was also from a rogue plant). Then we have a couple of eggs from our chickens (Foghorn and Betsy). In the background of the picture is our homemade Sous-Vide Cooker! We were cooking up some steak tonight for dinner. A really cool looking thing that cooks the steaks perfectly!



You get two pictures today!!! Tonight I decided to try making Zucchini Fries. Of course, I got this idea from Pinterest (if you need an invite let me know and I'll send you one or you could just go there and sign-up too!). They looked really good and since I had all of this zucchini from my garden I thought that I would give it a try. They tasted delicious!!! Her recipe calls for milk, but I used rice milk. I also didn't have Italian seasoning bread crumbs, so I just used regular bread crumbs and tossed in some Italian seasoning. Lastly, I had grated Parmesan cheese. I was very pleasantly pleased.

I have also determined that I am not a good food photo taker! I imagine that this food would look a lot more appealing if it was photographed well :)

Day 22: Kids Photo #2

On Tuesday I had a craft playdate at my house. It was a lot of fun and I think that everyone had a good time. I wanted to do something that was cheap, easy, and something all ages could do. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am addicted to the site Pinterest. It was from this site that I got the idea for Dyeing Rice and playing with it. I would have never have thought of this idea on my own and I am so grateful that we live in the age of computers and internet because I get great ideas! Anyway, on the table is a whole bunch of plates filled up with the colored rice. Big Bubs and some of his friends are gluing the rice on paper to make beautiful pictures!!

I should also mention that before the playdate was going to start BB was hanging out in his underwear. He LOVES to just wear underwear or be nude around the house. I kept telling him that his friends were going to be over soon and he should put some clothes on, but he kept telling me "no." Once everyone started arriving he got a little shy and went and put some pajama bottoms on. You can't tell from this picture, but all of his pajama bottoms are getting a bit small, so they are a little tight and short on him :)

Day 21: Free Choice Photo

Today was a pretty laid back day and there wasn't much going on. Big Bubs went to preschool, so the Little B and I had the place to ourselves! It is nice when it is just LB and myself because LB gets to do a lot of exploring and playing with toys that he normally doesn't get to do when BB is around. I had brought out this blue chair for some reason (I wish that I could remember why) and LB was having a really fun time grabbing it and using it to hold onto while he stood up. I got some cute pictures, but I thought that this was the funniest of the bunch!

Day 20: Sunset or Sunrise Photo

Since I am never awake for a sunrise I knew that I would have to take a sunset picture. So last night I kept waiting for the sun to go down (it took forever!) and I went into my backyard and took this picture. It isn't a great picture and the sunset isn't all that great, but it is all that I had to work with. My house is surrounded by a ton of other houses and I am on the bottom of a hill, so there are not great views. I also was just tired and wanted to get the picture taken. The one cool thing is that I managed to snap the picture with an airplane in it :)

Also, this morning I was up before the sun because LB is not sleeping well at all. I think that he may have a cold, which is causing his horrible sleeping the past few nights. I laughed a little because I thought, "of course I would be awake for a sunrise after I just took my sunset picture the night before!" The sunrise did look prettier, but oh well! Here is to hoping that I don't see another sunrise for awhile!

Day 19: Happy Picture

This is my friend Stephanie and we are at a workshop for the MOMS Club. The workshop was for all of the board members of our group (I'm the President!) to learn about the club and get answers to questions that we had about running the group. I found that the workshop was really informative and I had a great time. I learned a lot and became more passionate about my position and what we can do with the club. Overall, it was a really happy day! I also got some adult time with other cool moms without the boys. I don't think that I have been away from Little Bubs for that long, but it was nice to get that break. Him and his big brother did awesome with just dad! Plus, I got a cupcake with my lunch and that makes me really happy :)

Day 18: Someone or Something sleeping

I was really hoping that I could sneak a picture of either of the boys sleeping, but that was out of the question! Little Bubs takes naps, but he wakes up pretty easily when there are noises, so I decided that I wouldn't risk accidentally waking him up. Then Big Bubs only sleeps during the night and by the time he is in bed it is too dark and I am sure that a bright flash would wake him up. The easiest subjects for this day would be the animals. All they seem to do is sleep, so this would be an easy photo to take. Bella is my cat who is sleeping on the chair. She is the crankiest cat that we have, but she tends to hang out in the living room more than the other cats. On the couch is Bella's cousin Bug. Bug was visiting us for the day and when he does visit he just mostly sleeps on the couch. It is pretty funny because those two are always sleeping in close proximity of one another, but always with a barrier!

Little Break

I just wanted to let the few people that read this blog know that I have been keeping up with the pictures, but when the evening comes I am pretty wiped out and don't want to upload the photos and update the blog. I will definitely update it tomorrow!!!

Day 17: Addiction Photo

Surprise, surprise my addiction is the computer! Specifically three sites: Google Mail for my email, Facebook, and Pinterest. I have to check these every day and more than once a day. I always start off my day by checking my email and FB. I wish that I wasn't so addicted to these sites, but it is my connection to the outside world and friends. When I was thinking about addictions I was going to take a picture of some Trader Joe's hummus and Honey Pretzels, but I ate the last that I had today and I don't have them everyday, but they are a close second! With Pinterest I had started to see that friends and some of the blogs I follow were using it. I decided to sign-up and once I did and started using it I became completely addicted. If you haven't heard of the site I suggest you take a look. You might become addicted too!

Day 16: Something You Love Photo

Something that I love is animals! This is our dog Lucy, who we have had for five years now. She is a really great dog and has been beyond great with the boys. We love her to pieces! I also love lots of animals. We have four cats and five chickens too. We also do not live on a big property. If we did live somewhere with a much bigger yard I know that we would have more animals. I would love to have goats, sheep, pigs, a cow, lizards, turtles, ducks, the list goes on and on. I think that I need to live on a farm :) Right now I am obsessed with getting a second dog. When we adopted Lucy there was another litter of puppies at the shelter where we got her from. I had really wanted one of the other puppies, but my husband wanted Lucy more. Lucy was super cute and she was already potty trained, which was a huge plus. We ended up going with her and I was not disappointed in that decision. Well, I just happened to be looking at the shelter's website and I saw that one of the dogs from the litter that I wanted was returned to the shelter :( They said that something traumatic happened in the family and it broke up and she was returned. It made me sad and I just wanted to adopt her. I'm going to go check her out, but I have a feeling that she won't be a good fit for us because they don't know how she is with kids and chickens. Also, Lucy has some dog aggression issues when she first meets a dog. Plus, I think that I have to be a little crazy to want another dog!

Day 15: Something Old Photo

Today's challenge has been a hard one for me. I was going to do it a couple of days ago, but I couldn't think of anything that was "old." There is this tree that is 600 years old, but that would require me to drive a half hour and pay some money to get into the place where it is at and I didn't feel like doing that. Then this week I was planning on going to the beach with some friends and I thought that taking a picture of the Ocean would be a great one for something old. You really can't get much older than the Ocean, right? Well, that idea was thrown out the window because there is no way that I can watch both boys with just myself. BB likes to be in the water and LB just wants to crawl around and eat sand. If I had someone coming with me to watch one of the boys it wouldn't have been so challenging. I had been thinking and thinking of what to take a picture of. I thought of my house, but then I realized that my husband is older than the house and I should just take a picture of him. I was getting out the camera tonight to take a picture of him and I saw his watch. I asked him if the watch was older than he was and he said, "yes!" The watch isn't that much older than him, but it is and even though it isn't that old in the scheme of things it will have to do!

His watch is a 1969 Omega Speedmaster Pro. This watch came from my Father in-law. My husband and his siblings didn't know that this watch existed until recently. My husband is a watch officiando (okay, not really but he knows his watches) and ended up with the watch and was thrilled about it. He is also looking forward to one day passing it on to either of the boys. This watch is the watch that they wore on the moon and for more information on the story you should read this blog post. A pretty cool watch, if you ask me :)

Day 14: Black and White Photo

I have had on my to do list to clean my car forever! It really needs a good cleaning inside and out. Since I don't have a lot of free time to clean my car I have had to do it all in pieces. Two weeks ago I vacuumed my car (except for the very back), last week I scrubbed the row of seats that the boys sit in (it was so dirty and disgusting!). I decided that I would wash it today. It was nice outside and I figured that I could put LB in the playpen and BB could help me wash the car. BB was excited about it and looking forward to it. I got a bucket (a sand toy one of course because I couldn't find any other bucket), filled it up with soap and then BB got working on my car. He took that car cleaning rag and wiped one side of my car with it and then decided that he was done with that and would rather play in my car :( It cracks me up when he is in my car because he wants to turn the music on really loud, but he is either listening to The Journey Home From Grandpa's (I had no idea that youtube had this on video! Nathan would LOVE this so much!) or NPR. Not really "bumping" music to be playing!

I only managed to get the right side and front of my car washed. LB was done being in the playpen, so I had to get him and trying to wash a car one handed with a baby that is squirmy is very hard! I figure that tomorrow I will get the left side and the back. You may ask yourself why I just don't take my car in to get it clean? It wouldn't take that long and it doesn't cost that much. Well, my issue is that whenever I take my car in to get cleaned they never do a really thorough job, like the way I do it. Plus, bringing the boys sounds like too much of a hassle to me. The last time I went to a car wash BB freaked out because he thought the people were taking my car and wouldn't give it back :) I should just go and do it though because at the rate I am going it will be a never ending project...oh, I did find two screws in one of my tires, which I wouldn't have known about if I had not been washing my car!

Day 13: Something New Photo

A baby that is 13 days old seemed like the perfect subject for this blog photo, "Something New." My friend Carol had her baby boy Maddox on 8/1/11 and he is adorable. When I went to go drop off a meal for their family I got to meet the little guy. It is funny to me how easily one forgets how small newborns are. Little Bubs is only 10 months old, but I forgot that he was once so tiny (pictures always make the babies look bigger than what they are too). The whole time that I was there visiting, Maddox was passed out and looked like he was in a food coma :) It was nice meeting the new guy and catching up with some friends. Prior to having kids I never even thought about how bringing a meal to a family that has just had a baby would be one of the best gifts ever. After I had LB friends brought us meals for two weeks. It was so nice not to have to think about cooking and cleaning up for dinner. It was the best gift and now whenever I have a friend that is having a baby I always want to make sure I bring them a dinner. There is this great site that lets someone organize meals to bring to a family. If you know of a friend or family member that will be having a baby soon, please offer to bring them a meal because it really does mean a lot!

Day 12: Something I Love To Do Photo

Something that I love to do is read! I got a Kindle last year and that is how I read my books now. Having a Kindle has made reading viable for me with a baby. I have been able to get a lot of reading down when I am nursing, which seems to be a lot of the time. Being able to hold the Kindle in one hand has been so great for me. I think that if I didn't have my Kindle I wouldn't have been able to read as much as I have. I have always been one to read a lot and I love doing so. My mom told me that when I was a little kid I would find a corner and take a book and just read. Every year I try to read an average of about two books a month. Even though this picture was a bit staged I am currently reading The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. It is an interesting book that I need to finish by next week for book club :)

Day 11: Video

Technically this is not a photo, but I thought that it would be fun to add a video in here. BB has never ridden a horse or a pony before. We have been to other petting zoos and places where he has had the opportunity to ride them, but he has always refused. I think that he was too afraid to do so. His preschool had a petting zoo come to school on Friday and I knew that a pony was going to be there. My husband and I talked to him about not being afraid of the horse and told him that they were a lot of fun to ride. I had wanted to come back to school to see BB with the animals and hopefully get some video of him riding a pony. LB was taking a long nap and I had to wake him up to go, but I am glad that I did. When I pulled up BB was on the pony!!! I was so excited to see this. I think that he was really excited to see me. I got out my Flip Video Camera and I hit the button to start recording and it says, "No more space," or something to that effect! Darn! Then I get out my iPhone and it was taking a long time to get the camera to load. Finally it loaded and I got some video, but it wasn't that great and then the ride was done :( Luckily, his preschool is fairly small so all of the kids got to ride the pony again. This time I deleted some videos that I know had already been downloaded to my computer and got this video and another one. I am looking forward to getting more videos of him riding horses in the future!!!

Day 10: Feet Photo

I LOVE feet pictures! When I was traveling in Europe we took a foot photo in every city that we were in. I have also been taking them for as long as I can remember. A mommy friend of mine recently took a photo of four kids' feet on the sidewalk with "Summer '11" written in chalk. I thought that it was such a great picture and really creative. Therefore, I stole the idea :)! I would have liked to have the picture look a little differently, but BB wanted to stand on the chalk and it took awhile for him to finally get off of the chalk. Then LB doesn't stand or walk yet so I had to hold him up and he just kept wanting to lift his feet off of the ground. I did have my husband take this picture because I knew that I wouldn't be able to while holding LB. You can't really tell in this picture, but BB's feet are not that much smaller than mine! I have tiny feet, but to have feet that are just two inches shorter than mine (yes, my three year old's feet are only TWO inches shorter than mine!) is crazy!

HAPPY SUMMER 2011!

p.s. I have some nice tan lines going on with my feet :)

Day 9: Water Photo

When I realized that today was "water photo" day I thought that yesterday's picture would have been a great one to use. I wasn't planning on doing any water activities today, so I was thinking, "What should I take a picture of?" On my way to pick up BB from preschool I got a call from the teacher. She said that he had pooped in his pants and won't let anyone change him :( This is the first time that he has ever done that and I should give you a little background on him. Once we got him potty trained he had (& still has) an issue with privacy when he is going to the bathroom. He likes to pee and poop with no one around. He even has to have the door closed and locked! I understand the need for privacy when going to the bathroom, but you can imagine this is not a very conducive habit for preschool. They have three toilets all in one big open room. The kids are free to go potty when they want, but there are also times in the day where the whole class goes together to the bathroom. The teachers have told us that BB doesn't like to be in the bathroom with other kids and he even prefers some of the teachers over the others and they have it worked out now so that he feels comfortable going to the bathroom. Well, this is all because he is only going #1. He has never pooped at school and I think that when he was at school and he realized he had to poop he freaked out and didn't want to go to the bathroom. Then because he was so embarrassed by pooping in his pants he didn't want anyone to get near him. He barely let me change him. I REALLY wished that he didn't let me change him because I dry-heaved a couple of times from the smell, yuck!!!!!

Anyway, that is probably a little TMI for anyone reading this, but it leads to my water picture. Since BB had pooped in his pants and then hung out in those pants for a bit he needed a bath that night (I did manage to wipe up all of the poop at the preschool, but still thought it was a good idea for a bath). This is him in the bath having a GREAT time! I really would have loved it if LB could have gotten in on the bath action because he needs one (that is a whole other story that I won't get into!), but BB will not be nice to LB in the bath, so they have to take them separately. Plus, LB was really tired and ready for bed when it was bath time. Sorry about all of the poop in this post! I am sure that BB will not be happy about this post when he is older :)

Day 8: Summer Photo

Today we had a playdate at an Aquatics Center that had a lot of fun water stuff for the kids to play in. BB (Big Bubs) was having a great time! At first, he was a little scared with all of the water spraying and dropping everywhere, but after awhile he got used to it and didn't ever want to come out. LB (Little Bubs) really seemed to enjoy the water too, but after about an hour of playing he was ready for a nap. Since we had friends that were with us BB got a playmate for the rest of the time that we were there. He LOVES older kids and whatever they do or say goes! I couldn't get him to listen to me, but a 10-year old girl could. I also had to add in a picture of LB in his bathing suit because he just looked so cute!

Day 7: Meal I Made Photo

Today I took a photo of a meal I made. Every Sunday I plan out all of my family's meals for the week and this week I had planned out all easy meals to make. I was hoping that I would have something really cool to take a picture of, but not so much. I planned out the easy to make meals because my husband just started a new job and I wasn't sure when he would be home and I needed to have meals that were easy to make if I was going to watch both boys on my own while preparing dinner. Tonight was BLAT night! Bacon (we used Canadian bacon), Lettuce, Avocado, and Tomato with a little mayo, bread, and some broccoli as a side. I usually eat my BLAT with two slices of bread, but when I put them in the toaster I miscounted the total amount of bread I needed and there was only one slice for me. I could have toasted another piece or grabbed a non-toasted piece, but I decided that I would just use one piece and have lettuce as my topping. The meal was yummy and very easy to make! BB also likes BLATs, which is nice :)

Day 6: Animal Photo

Yesterday we went to this animal rescue place called The Gentle Barn. It was the coolest place. They had a ton of farm animals that you could touch and get really close to. We have gone to other "petting zoo" type places and we have never had the opportunity to get as close to some of the animals as we could here. My favorite animals had to be the cows! They were the sweetest. The cow in this picture is Buttercup. She was rescued from a backyard butcher. She was really malnurished and was pregnant, but because of her poor health her baby only lived seven months. The people working at this rescue thought that Buttercup would not be a friendly cow because of what she had gone through, but she ended up being a very friendly and maternal cow. Any cow that comes in will be mothered by Buttercup. She was so sweet, gentle, and beautiful. The cow behind her is the first cow that was rescued by this "shelter." I can't remember that cow's name, but she is the nicest cow ever! She is the cow that you could go and snuggle with and give hugs too. She is the only animal that can be surrounded by people in wheelchairs without freaking out. She is about 12 years old and such a sweet soul.

Day 5: Garden Photo

I was really hoping that I would have a garden with some veggies in it, but no such luck (kind of). I planted my vegetable garden in early July this year because I was just so busy with lots of other stuff. This year my husband made all of these planter boxes because the soil in our backyard is really clay and so hard to dig in and work with. The boxes seem like they are a good addition. I decided that I would take a shot of all of my plants in the back. The front box in the front on the far left is the one that is doing the best. I planted squash, corn, and beans there. The squash is taking off and there is one zucchini that is growing. Then the six stalks of corn have really flourished and we can see the tassels on the corn, which is pretty cool. This is my first time growing corn and it is pretty easy! Then the boxes on the right hand side have tomatoes, basil, cantaloupe, and a cucumber plant. The tomato plants look like they are doing well, but no tomatoes yet.

As you can see our chickens roam free (that is Foghorn our Leghorn) in the picture. The chickens love to munch on greens and will destroy my garden if left to their own devices. That meant that we had to put netting all around my garden, which is kind of a pain, but if it was not there all of the plants would have already been eaten. It should be interesting trying to pick the veggies with that netting. Overall, I am happy with what I am getting for how late in the game I started everything. Next year I am sure that it will be much easier!

Day 4: Friends Photo

I am veering off from my original list of photo days, but I warned you that I would do this :)! Some of my friends from a moms group that I belong to were going out for the evening. I was looking forward to this night for a few reasons: 1) I got to hang out with some cool ladies 2) I got to go out without the kids 3) I got to get a little dressed up and wear a bit of make-up, which I never do. We went to a Polynesian themed dive bar that was interesting! We got there and there were not a lot of people there and the bar was smaller than what it looked like on the internet. The table that we are at in the picture was previously occupied by some people and all of us were crammed into this small booth and needed more room. Luckily, the people left and we got the bigger booth. The bartender seemed not to know how to make drinks, which was a little weird. The bar had a tropical list of drinks on every table that probably totaled about 20-25 drinks. The bartender had to look up directions on how to make every single one of them and he didn't appear to be a new bartender because the website states that he is there every Friday night. Two of the ladies that got drinks were told to taste a sip of the drink to see if the wine or the soda was bad. It appears that both were bad!

Overall, it was fun though. I got to hang out with some great friends and laughed a lot. I was the DD and even without the alcohol I had a great time! I do have to say that I didn't get home until midnight (way later than when I go to bed) and then both boys were not sleeping well so I didn't go to bed until after 1am and then I was up at 6am. It was like I was hungover today because I was so tired and my eyes and head hurt from the lack of sleep.

Day 3: Kid(s) Photo

I am a little behind on posting, but I did not forget to take the pictures! I just got a little busy, but here they are!





I decided to go with two pictures for this post. I wanted a picture of my Big and Little Bubs together, but getting that picture is hard to do! BB (Big Bubs) likes to bother LB (Little Bubs), so most of the time I am trying to keep the two away from one another and trying to get a picture of them together is not possible. BB was in a good mood today and I asked him if he would get on the couch with his brother. He was very happy to do so. I put them on the couch and then got out the camera fast. LB has started crawling and he no longer will just sit in one place. This meant that I had to be fast on the camera taking. I got the first picture and I was pleased that both of them looked happy, but then I realized that BB was not in focus. I really wanted to try and get another picture. LB was not into having any more pictures taken and was trying to get off of the couch, but I was holding him back and he was not happy and started crying. That is when I got the second shot. The second one BB is in focus and LB is not. I figured that I would put both pictures up because you can see one of them in focus in each shot and it kind of represents my struggle with trying to get pictures with a toddler and an active baby!