catch the moment: wk 52

Posted on January 5, 2016 by mommyinthemidwest

I have such mixed feelings about not continuing this project into a third year. In fact, I haven’t taken a photo with my DSLR since New Year’s Eve. On one hand, it’s been liberating to not have that pic-of-the-day hovering over me but it feels wrong to not intentionally take a picture every day. While I love the finished product, the day to day and week to week obligation starts to take the fun out of it after so long. All in all, it’s been a great year. The time between Christmas and returning to work today has just flown by. We had company or were visiting my in-laws the entire time I was off and I loved the family time. My niece and nephew stayed with us for 4 extra days and it just made me realize how much I’m missing out on with them in Tennessee while I’m in Indiana. I always feel a little sad this time of year. The anticipation of the holiday is over – the Christmas decorations are not putting themselves away. All of the fat food I consumed is now consuming me and I’m mad at myself for having no self-control for the past 2 months. Cold weather and snow are surely on their way. We’ve got a couple of months (minimum) before sandal season returns (and my first baby turns 6??). Can we skip ahead to spring now please?

Gratitude puts you in a good mood, right? Let’s go there. I’m grateful to have a vacation towards the end of this year to look forward to. I’m glad to have a clean slate, starting fresh at the gym this year after finally slowing down on the kitchen remodeling that kept me away for the last couple of months. I’m thankful that the Bachelor is back on. Ha! I’m thankful to be able to have a job I like with great people. I am thankful for another year of good health with my husband and little boys. There, that feels better. Now I can move along.

358/365: Thursday, December 24th. Christmas Eve (and my mama’s birthday!). The gang’s all here…except Penelope was already asleep. The 4 big kids put out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

359/365: Friday, December 25th. Christmas! Some of Dexter and Penelope’s favorite gifts.

360/365: Saturday, December 26th. We made the short trip to Richmond to visit family and go to a Christmas dinner/baby shower at my uncle’s restaurant Hometown Dining Co. It was nice to see everyone.

361/365: Sunday, December 27th. A lunch at Jagger’s before it was time for my mom, sister, brother-in-law, and little Penelope to go home. I hate that they live so far away and will always cherish the memories of this Christmas that they spent with us.

362/365: Monday, December 28th. Ryan and I were off work the whole week. We took the kids to the Eiteljorg Museum to see the huge miniature train exhibit, Jingle Rails.

363/365: Tuesday, December 29th. We took the kids to the YMCA for a little exercise and Dexter wanted to show off his new shirt that of course matched his boots. Lucky for him, it rained for about 5 days straight following Christmas. Not that it would have mattered, he’d have worn them anyway. He can be kind of adorable.

364/365: Wednesday, December 30th. A little shopping at the mall with this cool guy to get those Bath & Body Works deals for mom and some new jeans for dad.

365/365: Thursday, December 31st. I drove Isabella and Malachi to Lexington to meet my brother-in-law and Penelope so he could take them on home then we went to Ryan’s mom and dad’s to celebrate Christmas with them. This sweet, 10 year old boy knew how much I loved one of his pieces from art camp this summer and recreated it for me to put in my kitchen. I was a split second from crying but held it together. My nephew Spencer is one talented artist and an awesome kid.

So, that’s it guys! The end of my journey with Catch the Moment 365…for now.

xo,

~C~

Catch the Moment: Wk 44

Gallery posted on November 5, 2015December 29, 2015 by mommyinthemidwest

This week’s photos are a little Dexter-heavy but I swear, I love them both the same! 🙂 That’s just the way it works out sometimes. We had beautiful, unseasonably warm weather this week and I cannot believe it’s November. Today I was able to wear a sleeveless dress-it was 77 degrees. In November. In Indiana. Mind blown. CRAZY. I’ll take it! And I’m hoping for a mild winter but let’s not get greedy…here we go.

302/365: Thursday, October 29th. A long day at work and no motivation – after a month of legitimate and created excuses, it was time to get back to the gym. I didn’t want to. I got there and sat in my car. I thought about just sitting in my car for the whole hour but made myself go in. Within 2 minutes of starting Zumba, I was smiling and breathing a huge sigh of relief. Sometimes I just don’t know how bad I need to exercise until I’m doing it. Or until it’s done. Time to get back into a regular routine of 3-4 workouts per week.

303/365: Friday, October 30th. We met friends at Kelsay Farms to climb the hay mountain, play in the corn pit, go through the corn maze, take a hay ride, sit by a bonfire, ride the Moo Choo Express, and watch some bad, bad, bad karaoke. It was a perfect, cool autumn night and with it being the day before Halloween, I thought it would be packed. Seemed like we had the place to ourselves. Such fun.

304/365: Saturday, October 31st. Halloween! My Ant-Man and Superman. Rain had been predicted but it held off until we were done trick or treating. This was the first year we didn’t let them use strollers or the wagon. They hoofed it. After hoofing and lugging their buckets for an hour, they were ready to turn around and head home. It was cute watching them interact with the neighbors. I think their favorite thing about the whole holiday is getting home, dumping their buckets, and sorting their candy. My little organizers-I couldn’t be more proud.

305/365: Sunday, November 1st. Spent ALL day inside cleaning, laundering, cooking, organizing, and all the other -ings we -ing on Sundays. I had been promising Dexter for hours that as soon as I was done doing one more -ing, we’d go outside. We finally made it out around 3:30 and I was shocked at how warm it was. Happily shocked. He shed his jacket within about 30 seconds and we played secret superhero games in the trees by our house.

306/365: Monday, November 2nd. I usually have about 15 minutes to waste between dropping Theo and Dexter off at their schools so on Monday we went and got gas. While we were waiting, I decided it was a good chance for me to get my picture of the day. Dexter decided it was a good time to be super silly.

307/365: Tuesday, November 3rd. It was far too nice out to go straight home after school. The boys may have played outside during school, but this mama needed some Vitamin D too. We went to the library and the park before going home at sunset….yes, at 6pm.

308/365: Wednesday, November 4th. Just another gorgeous day in Central Indiana.

Hope your week has been unexpectedly wonderful. xo.

~C~

Smoky Mountain Getaway

Gallery posted on October 26, 2015October 26, 2015 by mommyinthemidwest

Just 2 nights after we got home from Portland, we were packing up again to head south to Tennessee. We spent Oct. 16-21 with family in the Smoky Mountains as part of the boys’ fall break from school. We’d planned this trip long before the opportunity to go to Portland came up and while it was a little tricky managing 2 trips so close together, it was soooo worth it! We had several days away from home and were home in time for the boys (and me) to unwind before returning to real life.

Friday night, Oct 16: Dexter fell asleep at his regular bedtime (around 830) and slept the rest of the way…then went right back to bed. Crazy! Theo slept for maybe an hour and was ready for bed shortly after we got to my mom’s house as well.

Saturday, Oct 17th. We got to Pigeon Forge around lunch time and had some time to waste afterwards so we browsed the shops at Christmas Place. The boys enjoyed some fudge, ring pops, pressing some pennies, and a free train ride.

We got to our cabin around 3 and started settling in. My sister and her family got there a couple of hours later. The front porch with rocking chairs and a swing was a popular hang out.

We went to the grocery then grilled burgers and brats, then spent time just hanging out together. My mom, Ryan’s parents, and my sister and her family all stayed with us at the cabin Saturday night. My sister and her family had to go back home Sunday night because of work and school. I’m very aware of how lucky I am and how unusual it is for my family – the one I was born into and the one I married into – to get along so well and enjoy spending this time together.

Sunday, Oct 18th: A view of the beautiful cabin. We were trying to decide what to do on Sunday. Since all my family lives within an hour of Pigeon Forge, there’s not much they haven’t done.

After searching Google and TripAdvisor, I kept coming back to this quirky sounding attraction called Goats on the Roof that I’d never heard of and no one had been to yet. They have goats (yes, on the roof), a gift shop, a mountain coaster, gem mining, and and ice cream shop. Free to get in and look around so we gave it a shot. It was an interesting and fun place. The coaster was kind of expensive but we decided to do it anyway and we were so glad we did. It. Was. Awesome. I don’t know how to explain it any better than the internet did so go HERE if you’re interested. All the kids enjoyed the mining too.

Did you know you can still buy candy cigarettes? Only they are called “candy sticks” and they are still disgusting. But when they come in a Batman box and cost .99, you go for it. Smoke up, Johnny!

Another new-ish place in Pigeon Forge that’s super touristy and fun (what’s not touristy and fun in PF?) is The Island. Lots of shops and restaurants and overall just a nice place to walk around on a pretty day, which is what we were dealing with. Rocking chairs all the way around a big, beautiful fountain. Unique shops. Something for everyone-I think everyone really liked it there. We ate lunch at Margaritaville, which was ridiculously overpriced (what’s not ridiculously overpriced in PF?) but good.

Theo did this cute ropes course for little kids and really liked it. If I’d been dressed more appropriately for the activity, I would have taken him on the big one. It looked awesome!

He did great!

Penelope and Dexter were too small for the ropes so they got to ride the Ribbit thingy. Look at those little faces. Pure joy. So cute.

This is a stunningly good photo considering the number of people and the fact that it was taken by a stranger. To his credit though, he was carrying a camera similar to mine, which is why I trusted him in the first place to do a decent job. I love this picture and I LOVE my family!

Penelope, Steve, Cher, Malachi, and Isabella.

My mom and all of her grandchildren.

Back at the cabin, it was chili for dinner and games for fun. My sister and her family left after dinner. Early to bed for me, knowing we had a big day at Dollywood the next day.

Monday, October 19th: Dollywood day! I was a little worried that the park had short operating hours (10-6) but that proved to be more than enough! I couldn’t believe it and I have never seen Dollywood so deserted. I’ve been to Dollywood a lot – we walked onto every ride or maybe had to wait 1 turn. It was fantastic. Dollywood is wonderfully themed and maintained which means a lot coming from someone so obsessed with Disney and their standards of excellence. Dollywood is right up there for me.

Other than looking pretty and having cool rides, there’s even more that I love about Dollywood now that I have kids. There are a handful of rides that they are still too small to ride but Ryan and I don’t want to miss. My mom and Ryan’s dad were all about riding while Ryan’s mom browsed through Craftsmans Valley. We were able to take turns riding things while 1 or 2 people stayed with the boys at one of 4 different play areas. They also do the parent/rider switch thing (similar to Disney) but with no lines, it wasn’t necessary. It kept the kids moving and occupied so the person who stayed behind with them wasn’t getting bombarded with a million complaints about being bored.

We rode every ride, ate a sit-down lunch, and were basically done by 5pm. We milled around until closer to 6 just because it seemed like the right thing to do.

Tuesday, October 20th: Me, Ryan, my mom, and the boys went for a hike up to Laurel Falls in Gatlinburg while Ryan’s parents checked out the Old Mill area and restaurant. We’d planned to eat together but there was construction traffic and the 1.3 mile hike up to the Falls took longer than we thought. It was really fun – I was worried the boys would be super lazy and make it miserable for all of us but it went better than I expected. No complaints on the second half of the hike which was all downhill. If you have to take little kids hiking, that’s definitely the way to do it! Unfortunately I didn’t realize my camera battery was about to die so I only had a chance to snap a handful of photos Tuesday.

After our hike and a late lunch, we went back to the cabin. We played games and started packing up for the trip home Wednesday.

Wednesday, Oct 21st: Packing up and moving out. When I planned this trip, I was thinking Sat-Wed in Pigeon Forge was more than long enough but there’s so much to do and our time there really went by so quickly. The end of vacation is always a little sad! h

Until next time, Smoky Mountains!

xoxo,

~C~