Summatime

It's summer and we are thoroughly enjoying it.   I honestly was expecting a bit more crazy and chaos but so far things have been darn great.   I always long for summer and the relaxed schedule and then it seems that it turns out to be anything but that.   But this year seems different and in fact just that.   Maybe my attitude has relaxed a bit...because while there are certainly chaotic times I have learned to roll with it a bit better than in the past.  In the past freak out Rachel would emerge and we would all be OH.MY.GOD.WE.ARE.LATE!!?!?!   Now thanks to better planning and better chill the crap out skills we are able to avoid panic Rachel on most outings.   It's all about attitude and perspective folks.   

Currently Nolan is sleeping, Zachary is at a friends, Jakeb and Gavin are upstairs playing, and I am sitting here eating corn dogs and drinking lemonade.  Health food for the win!   We are trying to avoid chick fila and much worse foods than oven cooked corn dogs so 2 corn dogs for lunch works for me...for now.   I am learning that baby steps towards a goal are better than nothing.  So for now convenience food at home is working better than trying to be all "I KNOW!   Let's buy a bazillion fresh produce items and I am going to whip up a fancy salad and home made mac n cheese and fresh squeezed lemonade!"  Because 2 weeks later when all of the food is rotted in my fridge and we have spent $75 on lunch at restaurants we really aren't getting anywhere now our we?   So realistic baby steps....corn dogs at home...garbage pizza and chicken nuggets at home...are at least a little better than a fast food joint and are certainly cheaper.  We also do PB&J (on wheat!) ham and cheese (on Hawaiian!) chicken salad (from the farmers market I certainly don't make it...and also on Hawaiian) lots of yogurt and our beloved smoothies.  SO now that we have established that...you still won't find pop tarts and little debbie snacks here.  And these are all beef corn dogs and darn good at that.   My goal is to break the habit of eating out...get used to eating at home and then work on changing how we eat at home.   One step at a time my friends.  

We are leaving for vacation in a couple weeks and I seriously cannot wait.  Cannot wait to be kicked back in a beach chair watching my babies romp in the water and roll in the sand.   We all love, love the beach and can be there all.day.long.   

Gavin has recovered amazingly well from his surgery and we are so glad to have that behind us.   Can't believe we are nearly at July the summer is trucking right on by, crazy!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Twelve on Tuesday

1.  Pretty sure I am trying to get a cold....I would say I have one but let's not go there just yet.  

2.  Thus far I have really enjoyed our summer break...we have gotten into a bit of a routine in our days and it's going well.   The boys are playing far more video games than I would like but you know...

3.  Zachary would sit in front of a screen of some sort ALL.DAY.LONG.  

4.  Nolan is now closer to 2 than 1 and that's insane.  He is starting to talk so very much more and while he is STILL not.sleeping.thru.the.night he is better and napping consistently at least 1-2 hrs daily.  

5.   I am not sure how I missed getting pictures of the boys for their birthday but I did....I am slowly trying to get "caught" up with that.   Oops.  

6.  I have a handful of projects waiting on me to finish...or rather START them and I finally am feeling like I could actually do that.   I hate starting things I can't finish so consequently I haven't started a great many things.   Just going thru the motions of keeping up with the kids and the house and the dogs and the cats....and wash, rinse, repeat.

7.  We have had some serious rain lately....it certainly hasn't helped my grass situation or rather lack there of but it's nice to not have to remember to water my planters...which means I in fact have flowers still living in the planters!   Go rain and go me.

8.  I ventured into the attic yesterday and felt brave enough to cross the beams and grab the box I needed...I had Zachary with me for emotional support and stability.   I have a history of stepping thru the ceiling so I am basically afraid of the attic.   BUT I got the box and there are no holes in the attic floor.

9.  The box I needed was a box of random clothes I had kept from the boys toddler days...apparently I felt the need to keep all of the shoes they owned and should have never purchased a single pair for Nolan in size 6 because I am pretty sure he now has about 20 pairs of shoes, with the old combined with the new.

10.  Zachary and Jakeb are doing swim this week...seriously loving watching them in the pool.   We will get Gavin started up once he is feeling better!

11.   He has been a trooper...the pain meds they gave are straight up nasty so he refused to take them much past the 2nd day.  He's been relying on Tylenol and today and yesterday didn't have anything at all.  So he's feeling better for sure.  I know we are ready to get back up to speed.  

12.   So glad we have the surgery behind us and we are week into the recovery.  I am really hoping the tonsils being gone helps with his immune system this next school year....I am also wondering if those big golf balls being out of his throat will help with his speech some.  He still struggles with his "R's"

Twelve on Tuesday.

1.  Gbabes had his tonsils out yesterday....he is so far doing AMAZING.   Currently upstairs playing with his brothers like no big deal.   He is so awesome.

2.  I am feeling antsy....I get this way from time to time and especially in the summer.  Ready for a trip or a change of scenery or something to break up the days.  

3.  Often when I get like this I rearrange furniture but can't for the life of me figure out what to move.  Everything is as it should be for now.   Or just too darn hard to move.   I do "need" to shift things around in Nolan's room a bit but worry that will mess up his "routine".  

4.  I have emailed again about the foster care home study and what not....haven't heard a word back.  ANNOYING?  Yes.  So much for the urgency of good foster homes....oy.

5.  Jakeb has been taking swim lessons trying to move towards being on a swim team...he is doing awesome and we seriously love watching him swim.

6.   Our summer so far has been pretty low key and not overly stressful.

7.  Despite #6 I have felt moderately stressed lately...in a mood of sorts I guess....probably relates to #2.

8.  The grass seed I planted in the spring has called it quits...the entire front yard is brown.  Nice.   However the back yard is growing like wild fire and looks great.

9.  We hit up the library a couple weeks ago...full intentions to do the summer reading program...that fizzled out after about 2 days.  I will keep trying to encourage it though!   They are all 3 good little readers...but video games seem to keep winning if I let them.

10.  Nolan has finally found a love for books and is wanting to be read to more frequently.

11.  We are planning on hitting up the beach sometime in July.

12.  July is not soon enough!

Eighteen

Hard to believe that Nolan is well over a year old!  At 18 months he is a busy busy boy.   He is currently sitting next to me at the kitchen table in a big chair coloring all over my "summer notebook" and chattering away at me.   I am letting him because he is happy and not destroying something or making a mess.   He has a chocolate covered face from his Nutella bread he had for breakfast.  Chocolate is a good breakfast...I think it has some protein right?   

At 18 months we follow him around stopping him from doing the same things every single day.  He things my computer mouse is his toy....the kitchen table is for climbing on...the lego's and rocks for eating...the dog water is for splashing in...my bathroom drawers are his toy box.   Basically he's a pretty typical 18 month old.   He is rocking 13 teeth and is saying so many words now I have lost count.  He is starting to put 2 and 3 words together like "Mommy watch" "Mommy help"  "Mommy get it" Most of his words only I understand at this point like "gogo" = yogurt.   "Baba"=water/cup/milk/bottle  but a few he says quite clearly like "Ow" "Mommy" "Daddy" "goggles" "shoes" to name a few.  He seems to understand everything we say to him and sometimes listens and most times not.  

He has learned how to make us laugh and does so with intention daily.   He cracks us up and at 18 months we are all still pretty obsessed with him.   We are still working on hitting and throwing things...he has quite a little temper!  He still has rocking hair and brown eyes...still quite a peanut.   Obsessed with shoes and loves putting his little crocs on by himself.   He is still a huge fan of his paci and is starting to carry around, request, and sleep with his little monster or puppy "snuggly".  He is a ball of energy and happy and moody and love.  

At 18 months he is at a fun and trying age and we are enjoying every second.