so much fun

loads of love: valentine’s 2014

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Memory Lane:
Valentine’s Day 2012
Valentine’s Day 2013

This year, Valentine’s Day held a little something extra for us. Theo’s first school Valentine’s party.  After trudging through the the Pinterest-induced self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy, I marched right into Target around February 12th and bought Theo those Star Wars Legos cards for $2 that I knew deep down he really wanted.  His party was on the 13th and everything so try not to give me any more credit than I deserve here.

He was pretty excited about them. The night before his party, we went through the list of every child in his class and he chose which card and sticker to give to each person. He helped sign his name on every card and he really got into it. It was adorable stuff like “well, Brady likes green so I think he would want Yoda.”

When I picked up Theo from school, he was itching to show me all of his goodies. I held him off until we got home. Boy was on sugar overload for sure.

Since Ryan’s parents had agreed to keep the boys all weekend, I knew we had to celebrate with them on Valentine’s Eve. We had a quick and simple dinner followed by chocolate brownies with strawberry icing.

Finally, after dinner, we gave them little baskets that I’d quickly thrown together earlier in the day. For being in such a hurry, they were actually pretty cute and a big hit with the boys. A reminder that it doesn’t take much to make them happy. A heart-shaped bead necklace, some Cheetos, a few Legos, and a couple pieces of candy and they were ecstatic.

On Valentine’s Day, we got a LOT of snow. Ryan’s parents braved it to come pick up the boys and drive them back to their house for the weekend so that we could carry on with our plans. 
Plans were slightly delayed due to having to dig our car out of the driveway when we got stuck!
We had a dinner double date with friends and then went to see Labor Day at the theater (we loved it!). 

Saturday we slept in, got massages, ate lunch, and later went to the Florida Georgia Line concert. The whole weekend was like one fantastic, super long date! It was bliss but we were ready to go get our baby boys on Sunday morning. We visited with Ryan’s parents for a few hours to catch up and ended the weekend like all our others – stories and snuggles and sharing more love.
An amazing Valentine’s for 2014! 
love,
~C~

snow days: 2014 style

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Click below for depressing fun flashbacks:
snow: 2013 style
snow: 2011 style (itty bitty baby Theo!)

We got home from Christmas at my mom’s just in time to avoid having to drive in the blizzard conditions we’ve been experiencing here in the Midwest.  Throughout the day on Sunday, snow fell and we accumulated 12 inches.  Yesterday, wind chills were -40.  Ryan asked me if I wanted to go outside to see what -40 felt like.

No thanks.  Today we’ve warmed up to a nice -28 wind chill.  I’ve never experienced such meteorological madness! Luckily these insane temps are only expected to last these 2 days and then we’re supposed to get back up above zero.  Thank goodness, my office has been closed these two days and Ryan is able to work from home.  I can’t even imagine getting the boys out in this weather. I remember driving to work in scary snowy conditions a couple of years ago and I’m glad that I no longer have to contend with that stress and danger. Get to the point, right?  Sunday, while the snow was falling from the sky, a guilt fell over me as well.  I knew the boys would ask to play in the snow and that it would be way too cold by Monday for them to do so.  As much as I HATE the snow and the cold, I suggested playing outside and the boys jumped on the opportunity.  Theo got out much quicker than Dexter did and I had to get my camera out of the weather because it was getting too wet so I didn’t get many pics of my blondie bear.

Only Ryan gets credit for this awesome snowman.

Other than our fun in the snow, we’ve just been inside watching movies, snuggling, and playing Legos, Jake, and Batman. And eating. And just being generally lazy.  It’s like the best thing ever. 

Time for haircuts. Again.

The boys have been getting along and behaving surprisingly well considering we’re on our 4th day home. I think the LOAD of Christmas presents they’ve received in the last 2 weeks must be helping.  I’ve been playing with my camera, getting away from Auto and into Manual.

So what if our house looks like this?

Hope you’re staying warm.  Unless you’re at the beach. Then I hope it’s just unseasonably cold there. 
Just kidding.
Kind of.
xo,
~C~

fun and trouble in Tennessee

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest
Our start to the New Year left a lot to be desired.  
This was Dexter, in the car at about 8:20am on January 1st, not 2 minutes after we left our house.  Our car was filled to the gills with gifts for my Tennessee family and our clothes, etc.  Everything we needed for a 4 day trip.  Luckily it was only on the straps and not down in the seat.  If you know me at all, you know this is just about the worst thing that could happen to me as a mom (aside from getting puked ON, which also happened recently). Anyway, we grabbed a bucket and decided to try again. I was a mess of nerves and on edge for the first couple of hours of the drive.  By lunchtime, I’d calmed down but started to worry again that he’d get sick after eating.  After eating, we let them play for 20 minutes or so to see how he was going to do.
We made it to Tennessee without further incident and everyone seemed to be feeling great. We picked up my mom and headed straight to Dollywood, another hour away.  The forecast was showing temps of 54 so it sounded like the perfect time to show the boys the beautiful light displays there.  
Too bad it was getting dark by the time we showed up and the temperature had dropped 484,923 degrees.  Okay, it was like 40 but we were all freezing.  We ended up only staying for an hour or so before finding someplace in Pigeon Forge to eat and heading back to mom’s.  

The boys couldn’t have been happier to leave Dollywood and get back to Grammy’s because they knew present-palooza #3 was waiting for them. 

Grammy with her littlest grandsons.

 

My sweet niece Penelope just days before her first birthday (today!)
Thursday we relaxed around the house most of the morning and then I spent a few hours with a dear old friend of mine.  While visiting her, I began feeling a little sick. By the time we got back to my mom’s I was ready to lay down and call it a day.  The same stomach bug eventually bit me and I was feeling pretty miserable.  I tossed and turned from the time I went to bed until about 3am when I finally decided to go sit in a chair in the living room.  As soon as I nodded off there, I heard Theo yelling from the next room and I knew what had happened. I jumped up and ran in there and turned on the light, only to find him sitting up, crying. He had thrown up all over my mom’s new comforter. NOOO.  I think I started crying right then. I was in no condition to be standing up, let alone cleaning up yet another pile of puke. I yelled for Ryan and sat on the floor with 2 crying kids while Ryan cleaned up the bed.  
Speed on through the next 12 nightmarish hours and miraculously, by Friday afternoon we were all feeling much better.  My sister and her husband had planned to take the boys to Build-a-Bear as part of their Christmas gift so I agreed to meet somewhere for dinner and see how that went.  Theo’s energy had returned but his appetite was missing. A-okay.  We proceeded to the mall so they could make their little pals.  
When I explained to Theo what Build-a-Bear was, he seemed disappointed and said he didn’t like bears.  Funny that they had tons of options and that’s exactly what he chose!

And he shall be called Honey Bear.
Dexter chose the mouse, who has been called everything including Squeakers, Squeaky, Mousy, Koogie, and Cookie.
Don’t we look just alike? No? I know.

What about me and my niecy poo? No? Still nothing?

Thanks, Hamer family!
I’d never done or seen the Build-a-Bear process before but I thought it was super sweet. The boys really got into it and are still carrying their little animals around and sleeping with them.  
We’d planned to celebrate Penelope’s 1st birthday on Saturday but we decided to cut our trip short and leave Saturday morning instead of Saturday night due to impending bad weather at home.  So she opened her gifts from us back at my mom’s on Friday night. 

And Saturday morning, we hit the road. But not before catching a quick glimpse of our star-athlete-in-the-making nephew in action. 

Crossing the bridge back into Indiana.
We got home around 6pm Saturday and nestled in for the snowstorm.
Looking around our house now, I have to say I feel a little guilty. Our kids have so much STUFF.  They love their toys and there aren’t tons of things that they never play with. I’ve been pretty good about going through them routinely and donating or passing down to someone else.  But I won’t be buying a single toy until their birthdays (Theo’s is in just over 2 months…how is it possible that my baby is almost FOUR!?). 
So that concludes Christmas 2013!  Here’s to hoping that we got all the puking out of our systems for a long while.  My stomach leaps out of fear every time the kids cough, hiccup, or gag at all.  NO MORE PUKE.
Health, wealth, and happiness to you this year,
~C~