Monthly Archives: February 2016

Tuesday Preschool Mornings

by February 25, 2016

I don’t know how long I will be doing this haphazard blog thing. But I have a little time and something I actually wanted to write about so here we go…When we lived in Burlingame we did this nightly walk around the block. I told CJ once I wanted to write a book about this rudimentary walk, but how we tried to make it a fun adventure for Nola. Sadly it never happened and now I don’t remember much other than watching the water going into the sewer system, envying these homes we would have loved to buy, pointing out this bunny statue?? commenting on some of the home’s horrible horrible landscaping and Nola’s sweetest little totter of a walk. It doesn’t sound too grand, but here’s the thing, these daily routines are what make the majority of our lives and doesn’t that familiarity what make it special? For me it does, and those are the things I want to remember. Fast forward to today and I want to remember our ho-hum, scheduled Tuesday mornings when Nola goes to Preschool.

7:15 – We are frantically getting Nola breakfast and wrangling Jonas in some shape of form (that’s typically all day everyday actually). Thankfully Nola wakes up pretty upbeat and typically chats away while getting ready. We need to be on her to eat because she’s pokey! Her breakfast consists of either oatmeal, a waffle, fruit, yogurt, toast and avocado or cheerios. Her outfit is always picked out the night before so thankfully that’s one thing we don’t have to worry about.

7:30 – We make sure she has her folder and backpack (empty contents in folder and look over papers last minute because we are those parents) and her boots, snow pants, hat and gloves are in her bag (she loves reminding us that ONE day we forgot her stuff, oy).

7:45 – CJ takes Nola to school and I hang with Jonas boy and we get ready for the day. If I didn’t have time to feed Jonas earlier I do that now as well.

8:30 – Typically every Tuesday we meet up with my neighbor moms for breakfast which is a highlight of the day. I think I remembered Jonas’ sippy and snacks, maybe once???? I don’t feel so bad since I just fed the kid, but then my other friend has it together and always has those things and I kind of feel like a schmuck. Jonas starts off in a high chair, then he starts squirming, eventually is standing in the high chair, I try holding in my lap, and then all hell breaks loose and I let him down. We humor this idea for maybe five minutes and then I need to go.

9:30 – Now it doesn’t pay to go back home so I typically get gas and head to some store and bum around.

9:45 – This week we went to Target and Jonas normally starts off pretty good in the cart. We typically find what we need and most likely some things we don’t. I can last a little bit longer if I give Jonas to chew on, but he then starts getting tired and crabby. That’s when I put him in the ergo and walk around a little more to kill time.

10:40 – We drive over to Nola’s school. I sing and hope he falls asleep. This way getting Nola isn’t as tricky.

10:57 – I watch in Nola’s window into her classroom and see her class singing their goodbye songs. Nola’s always singing and doing the motions and I am so proud! I’m so thankful how much she loves school and how great she’s doing.

11:00 – Nola’s teacher always asks the kids if they want to give her a high-five or a hug and it warms my heart that Nola always chooses a hug. Then she sees me and runs and gives me the biggest bear hug, which I love so much. She has to show me what’s in her folder and off we go.

11:05 – I am always tempted to get carryout at Noodles or McDonalds, but I try to stay strong and just make lunch at home.

11:20 – When we get home and I’m frantic trying to get lunch for everyone before any meltdowns because both kids are hungry and tired.

These mornings are always full and I really enjoy spending time with just Jonas. On Thursday we bum at home until it’s time to get Nola and then Jonas and I have a lot of play time. But it’s funny because though I know he loves the one on one attention, it just seems like he is happier when he’s in the presence of his sister.

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Friday Ramblings

by February 20, 2016

It’s that rare moment where both kids are sleeping and it’s so quiet! The norm for me is to watch some mindless TV, but tonight I’m doing a lot of research for upcoming trips, house stuff and I just realized how nice it is to sit here in the quiet. I really don’t do it enough. It’s always a struggle to know how to use these couple of hours in the evening, either for relaxation which I have no qualms about doing or trying to get some projects done. These days it’s been more often than not going the TV route than projects but my kids wear me down and I’m spent.

This week we started this idea of mine where at the beginning of the week Nola and I look through Pinterest searching for crafts and picking one out and then I can plan accordingly on making sure we have all the materials, etc. and then working on it throughout the week.

Back in the day when I babysat I remember watching a lot of Land Before Time and loving those cute little dinosaurs. Guys, there’s Land Before Times 14!!!! They have made 14 of these movies! Nola sings this one song from the movie and it’s the cutest thing ever.

Today we did errands and I let the kids pick out dinosaurs. Actually I was hoping they were going to pick out more safari animals, we have a pretty large collection going on, but you know kids, they get distracted.

It was in the high 40’s today, which in WI in February is AMAZING, but we almost blew away, so there was that. Thanks WI.

I have so many posts I should and need to write about, like Jonas’s birthday, but for myself the farther away they become the less I want write about it. But I will one of these days. For his birthday I made this carrot cake and it was so good. I recommend you make it. The leftovers are the perfect afternoon snack with some coffee.

I’m ubsessed with the song Girl Crush by Little Big Town and Fight Song by Rachel Platten. By telling you these songs, I’m clearly lame and know these are probably old and not cool, but that’s the great thing about being old you don’t care about that anymore. I just like them. Anyways, Jonas has become quite the little dancer and it’s so funny. He does slow bounces and he looks like a little suave man making his way for ya. He also slow dances with me and puts his head on my shoulder which of course kills this mama.

My brother went wild boar hunting in TX back in December and he got us a ham and pork loin. We made the ham and it was so delicious. We felt so home on the range, organic and fancy all at one time. Fancy only because I recently read this article. Here’s an excerpt:

Wild pig meat is much leaner than commercially-raised pork, and far richer-tasting. It’s widely accepted that pigs that are allowed to roam and forage will taste better than pigs kept in pens. A free-range animal grazing on a wide variety of forgeable food gets more muscle-enhancing movement, which generates a deeper, more flavorful meat than an animal confined and raised solely on grain; and there are no antibiotics or hormone supplements to worry about with wild animals. Taking advantage of the wild pigs as food seems like a no-brainer —so why aren’t we eating more of them?

Hope you all have a great weekend and do something fun! We plan on going to the circus. Nola loved it last year and so we know she will have fun, just not so sure about Jonas.

IMG_9487 this is at the witching hour of 4:00 and i’m desperate. crafts for her and tegu blocks for him.

President’s Day

by February 16, 2016

Want to hear the greatest news, when your husband finds out on Sunday evening he doesn’t have to work the next day. An extended weekend you didn’t expect…pure joy friends. As much as a day home relaxing and doing nothing sounds delightful, that’s more of a thought pre-kids. We now try to get out and do activities on the weekends because entertaining the kids at home all day tends to make for a very looooong day. We, and I’m sure our kiddos as well, can only look and play with our toys for so long before we all are a little bored.

Yesterday we tried to get out and find activities both of our kids would like. Our first stop was Cabela’s. We go past Cabela’s to and from church so we tend to frequent this place quite a bit during the winter. The kid’s love all the taxidermy animals and the fish. Nola told me she would like to see all these animals when they are moving, which won’t happen because, bears and wolves, but I’m happy to show her stuffed ones as much as she’d like. Jonas loves pointing at the animals, which is so darn cute and sometimes CJ and I will oooh and aaah over the camping gear and kayaks and determine if we want a single or tandem one.

After naps we hit up Animart to see the real animals. Sadly Jonas was napping so I stayed in the car with him, but apparently Nola was all about the hamsters this time around which I was very happy to miss because they are near the mice and rats which I can’t do, I’m such a wuss.

Our last stop was Boulders Climbing Gym. We weren’t sure how it would go. We knew Nola could very likely be intimidated by the wall, but she climbed on up like a pro. Our little climber Jonas I’m sure will love doing this one day as well. Sadly I needed to hold him close because people were bouldering all around us and I was worried of someone possible falling on the kid. So this wasn’t as fun of an activity for a one year old, but we made do. For Nola and any adventurous 3 year old, however, this was a lot of fun doing and highly recommend it to anyone local.

Here are some photos of the day if you care to see:

IMG_9559 learning some checkers in our living room…err I mean Cabela’s sitting area.

IMG_9561 getting Nola clipped in

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We had a good day and now making this a four day week, things are even better! Hope you all went out and voted today! Jonas and I proudly got our I Voted Sticker while Nola was in school, but sadly he literally ate it in the car, that kid! Hope you all have a good day! xoxo