Category Archives: Parenthood

2017 Halloween

by November 11, 2017

Can I just say, as normal, I don’t have the time to be keeping this little ‘ole blog up, but when I’m here, it feels good. I like editing photos and reminiscing moments in our lives. Who knows if I actually will be able to keep it up because I’m juggling a lot of balls up in the air at the moment, but I hope I can. 

Another year, another halloween, which by the way how in the world is it already November?!? Per usual halloween is a big thing around here, I mean how could it not, it allows our littles to dress up and pretend to be something else AND THEY GET CANDY. This year the kiddos decided to be characters from the movie Wreck it Ralph. I am not lying when I say Jonas wore his Wreck it Ralph costume 4 days in the row (with washing in between we aren’t that bad, well actually I may be that bad, but not my kids) and I have purposely have not been washing it so we can have a break. Where Nola takes taekwondo they did a trunk or treat. It was a great because our kids could see so many people dressed up and they were also able to hand out candy. Sadly there aren’t a ton of kids that come to our side of the tracks for Halloween which is so disappointing because we think it’s so much fun handing it out! But besides the cold weather, lack of kids coming to our door and too much leftover candy, we had a great year and they are already scheming what they will be next year. 

Here are photos of my real life Wreck it Ralph characters (and I may be bias but think they are cuter than the cartoon characters) if you care to see:

trying out the hands! it was touch and go with these hands, at first he wasn’t going to wear them, but he eventually came around. he’s right at that sensory age where lots of things bother him dearly. also those hands took an entire day to make, that’s in between doing mom duties of course.

for those of you who aren’t familiar with the movie, here you go! can i just mention, those candy barrettes in nola’s hair we made, we dyed her skirt brown and basically scoured the internet for those tights and sweatshirt. it looks like a simple costume, however it was not easy finding everything. and may i just add those costumes at target and costco are a steal compared to making your own. but i don’t want to complain, i really do love putting them together. in his entire get up! that night was sooo cold that eventually the kids wound up in the trunk. not impressed with being in the school halloween parade because daddy is a good one, he got into character too, he’s fix it felix. really just watch the movie if you have no idea what i’m talking about. we trick or treated with neighbors and it was fun times chasing after our kids. kidding, it was a lot of fun. 

June & July Ramblings

by October 12, 2017

Dear future self who I’m sure is going to be annoyed by my younger, but not too young self, I’m so sorry I’m falling behind and can’t keep up with even the monthly updates. By the time I have a moment, blogging is the last thing I want to do. But I’m blogging for me, so I’m still going try, gah.

June:

  • Nola finished school, which I can’t believe I’m typing that because the summer is almost done already! Also I have realized I have now entered the busy life with kids. When the kids are really little there’s not much going on, but now I’m running around EVERY day and literally we are so busy, I kind of hate it.
  • I noticed when we go out to eat we will be the family that spills a drink every single time. Once we did it spilt drinks twice. This amongst other things are reasons we probably shouldn’t eat out.
  • Jonas is killing me with the cute factor and I don’t want him to get a day older. I LOVE this age.
  • We went strawberry picking twice
  • CJ and I went to the farm and feast dinner at the Wollersheim Winery and it was so so good. It also was 90 out and the event was in the bright sun and I was worried because I am getting a lot of headaches and more prone to them when out in heat, but thankfully I was headache free for the entire event, I took some Tylenol properly, I had learned the precautions at lizzardco.com!
  • Nola started another round of swimming lessons and keeping Jonas entertained and happy for the 45 minutes is a struggle. No matter how many toys I bring he’s not having it. We typically go out in the lobby, get water, bribe him with fruit snacks, I sweat. Get the picture. I am jealous of the moms reading a freakin book, but then I’m not because I don’t want have my little guy to get older either.
  • Nola also went to VBS, which so loved! As you can see our girl was busy!!

Read:

  • The Two-House Family – really good
  • Apron Anxiety – really really enjoyed this book, i now stalk her on instagram regularly
  • Before the Fall – meh
  • An Asian one that of course I didn’t write down and don’t remember the name, but I do remember being a bit disappointed and expecting more from the book.
  • Diaries of A Domestic Goddess – only ok

 

July:

  • We went camping for 3 nights and though I went into it being very nervous and hesitant on the whole ordeal, it was a good experience for our family and I’m sure it will be a yearly, if not more often, thing we do. 
  • I don’t know if I mentioned this earlier, but I started doing weekly meal planning again. I fell off the wagon and when I do it I LOVE my life because it makes the week so much easier.
  • Nola went to KinderCamp and really enjoyed it! 
  • It was Nola’s birthday month and we successfully threw her a garden tea birthday party. 
  • We made it to the Union with friends for beer and ice cream and it’s always good times are had when we go there.
  • We met friends at the Biergarten at Olbrich Park and basically that entire evening was magical and want every night to be that. Dear friends, kids playing, beautiful night on the lake, it was a good one.
  • We also got to visit Papa and Grandma and the kids basically have a hay day playing with all our old toys (which by the way are sooo good and I wish they made more of them like they used to), we also have to check out papa’s garden, and then they they always ask to watch Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer, which cracks me up!! Later we met with the cousins and went fishing, which was so much fun! Actually I’m pretty sure I had more fun than the kids. In another life I was meant to be a fisherlady.
  • Jonas is in the throes of being 2 and its’ true about their reputation. Temper Tantrums are having friends. He’s BIG emotions. Either he’s all mad or all joy. 

2017 Camping Trip

by July 27, 2017

A couple of weeks ago we took the kiddos camping for 3 nights. I was scared. And I had to order stuff from Amazon, and make runs to target and walmart to get everything we needed. I saw this quote once, “camping, where you spend a small fortune to live like a homeless person”, and there’s some truth to that. That being said we still have nothing compared to our neighbor campers, we definitely need a tent shelter for our food, some adorable enamel dishes, camping stove oh and a large SUV to fit all this shit. Oh and did I mention I took a day to grocery shop and prep meals prior to going? But I’m just complaining/rambling because all in all it was a really really good trip. In fact Jonas asks me every night if we can go camping again. First off, he’s 2 how in the world is he old enough to say full sentences much less remember things???? So I have a feeling this camping thing is probably sticking around here and really that’s okay. There was a time when we were putting the kids down for a nap and it was SO hot in our tent and then a storm came rolling in and this amazing breeze flew into the tent and it was magical. 

Things I don’t want to forget about this trip:

  • Jonas calling himself ‘Jonas fish’ when he was swimming, which he wanted to do all the time
  • The kids being rockstars when we head to put up and put down the tents by just being kids outdoors, playing imagination with sticks, pinecones, chasing birds and just getting dirty. 
  • Jonas wanting to hug all of the bears (boo boo, yogi and cindy, not the real ones, we thankfully didn’t see real ones) at the camping resort
  • Nola having a special stick that she played with the entire time we were there and we ended up taking it home with us because we are suckers
  • Surviving 3 nights of people putting off fireworks
  • Surviving in a tent in a major thunderstorm
  • Nola being brave and standing under the bucket every time it pours water in the splash pad 
  • The time we got ice cream cones and then were reminded why we always get ice cream in dishes 
  • Watching the old school yogi cartoons outdoors

Here’s a video I compiled of all the footage I had while we were there. It’s long, so sorry about that, but my kiddos love these!

camping resort
kid’s star tank tops

Nola’s Dance Recital

by July 18, 2017

This past weekend (this is funny b/c I started this post at the end of may??? truthyfully I’m amazed I even get to these posts, but I really am trying to document these moments, so I’m doing my best with 2 kids, laundry and mountains of dirty dishes :)) Nola had her dance recital. This is our second recital and though I’ve caught onto a few things from the first one, it really does amaze me how much work goes into the production from everyone and how much fun it really is! Honestly even taking Nola to rehearsal is exciting. And I can’t say enough good things about Spotlight. Nola’s teacher was great and I could tell how much she grew in a year. Hip hop is not easy for little kids bc there is not a lot of repeat moves and after watching the ballet routines at her age, trust me on this hip hop is hard. But Nola did so great and we were so PROUD because we could tell she was really trying to make sure she did all the moves. Have I mentioned lately how much fun it is to be a parent?! Here’s some photos of the day if you care to see:

This was rehearsal, which is so much fun because then the kids can watch the other kid’s routines. The kiddos watching is Nola’s dance team.

This is Nola pre-dance, all ready to go! This time I let her wear some makeup because she loves makeup and really what does it hurt? It made her day and we make sure to tell her beauty is only on the outside…KIDDING 🙂 I know you all watched dance moms back in the day on TLC and it gave dance mom’s the bad rap and now you think the whole dance thing and the parents are crazy. I’m here to say it’s truly nothing like that. Of course I only have a 4 year old and it’s pretty low key, but from everything I experienced the teacher’s and mom’s they are awesome. In fact since summer break I miss sitting in the hallways Wednesday night chatting it up with the parents during class. And I’m proud to say I’m a dance mom.

Our little fam bam with the tiny dancer (catch that)

Jonas made sure to live up to his age and basically CJ had to sit outside with him for most of the recital and then he passed out. In his defense this was right during nap time. Nola adores her little brother.

Nola with her flowers from us and papa and grandma which she loved!!

While Sister is Away…

by July 3, 2017

This past week Nola went to Vacation Bible School and I was so excited for her! I had such good memories of going when I was a kid, vivid memories in fact, and I don’t have a ton of those from my childhood (I am one of those kids). I met one of my dearest friends when I was 4 at VBS and we are still friends today! I also volunteered as a leader in the past as well. CJ was a bit concerned I would be disappointed if Nola wasn’t as excited about it as I was, but she seemed to really like it!! Maybe not totally love it, but I’m okay with that. Because she actually didn’t want to go the first day, which for me specifically was breaking my heart. What? I’m not living vicariously through my kid or anything, ahem….hip hop for toddlers. But I digress. I should mention that it was REALLY weird eating dinner without her at the table. Like I possibly may have shed a tear because it felt like the beginning of when our kiddos are in sports, etc and then it’s just ME AND CJ at the dinner table!!!! I mean I love my hubby and do look forward to doing a lot of things when it’s just us again, but can we hold on minute here??? Plus I just kind of love eating all together for dinner, I guess that’s my thing.

But what this also meant was FIVE nights where Jonas got to be doted on, pretending like he’s the king and the only child. I can assure you that he’d give up all those rights and privileges to have sister by his side because they are best buddies right now, but we did our very best to provide him a really fun week too!

Night 1: Let’s just preface it that Jonas is not happy when Nola leaves. He’s at the age where he feels left out and hates to not feel included. For the first night the highlight of the evening was going to Yo’s to get yogurt. CJ also took him to the playground and after yogurt we went for a walk around the block and it started raining half way through, which any other night I would be fine with but I was wearing my new shoes, which was stressing me out a little. Side note: these shoes are awesome, get them!! But the greatest thing was we were running home and Jonas was giggling and holding his arms up, he’s a total ham-ball and the definition of joy.

IMG_2921

Night 2: The night started with CJ taking him to the playground and then we went out to eat at Lone Girl. We quickly realized even though Nola’s older and really easy, having just 1 kid is still sooo much easier. So while he’s climbing up the booths, spilling water and just being a terror of a two year old we now had two adults to mange him. IMG_2930 IMG_2933

Night 3: Jonas has been to plenty of movies in the theater, probably more than a 2 year old should, but he has an older sibling so there’s that. But we never took him to a movie on his own. So we decided to take him to Cars 3. We thought that since this was a car movie this would be really fun for him. Um, not so much. Maybe it was the movie, to me it was kind of slow, but he just wasn’t into it. In fact he asked to leave half way through and we secretly happily obliged. I should also note I spilt popcorn not one time but TWO times and I’m pretty sure CJ was actually getting mad. I can’t help it, by that time of the day I’m an absolute disaster. IMG_2940

Night 4: I’m just going to give you a heads up that going forward our nights were pretty lame. I had a workout class, all the while the weather was absolutely nuts, like torrential downpour, wind, tornado watch! So my two boys stay homed and played inside. But if you don’t see a theme here we did give him some italian ice. IMG_2951

Night 5: The last night of VBS Nola had a little program at church, so we ate dinner, played and headed out. The program was adorable, I mean seeing all these kids dancing and singing about God’s love, really there’s nothing better. Of course I didn’t take any photos of Nola at VBS, face palm, but I can assure you all she had a great time.

It was really good being able to give Jonas our undivided attention all the while knowing Nola was having a blast at VBS. But in my opinion it’s even better to have the gang all back together for the evenings. I was so excited to have my sweet girl at the dinner table Friday tonight.