Please excuse the blue bib on the baby girl! Here's a little taste of dinnertime at our house.
Soccer Practice
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
All the Posts I've Been Meaning to Write
Hello blogoshpere. Never fear, I'm still here. All of me. The baby weight and the split ends, but I have plans, oh I have plans!
I have a list of posts I have been wanting to write. It started in December. After posting about the boys' birthdays I was going to post about how I planned to get through the dark, foggy months by running. Who knew that I could have such a huge grin on my face while running in the misty cold morning air. All of those endorphins and Boston's "More Than A Feeling" on my mini iPod thingy are a powerful combination. They even made the pigeons on the roofs look beautiful with the morning fog on their wings. Then I pulled a muscle in my back. When that healed, I sprained my ankle. It's been six weeks and it still hurts (doctor's appointment tomorrow). BUT I haven't been running or even walking for two months so I figured I shouldn't post about that after all. 
Then I was going to write a post about the pigeons in our neighborhood. When I can see them on a neighbor's house I get so excited because it means they aren't on mine! I still don't like these rats with wings, but on above mentioned running excursions they have looked beautiful flying all out of formation but with a great "wooshing" sound that I have come to appreciate. These two are apparently in love and while the boys think it's cute to see the Mom and Dad pigeon, I can only imagine how many more little pigeons will grace our neighborhood when their love children hatch. Josh has lightened the situation by making up a bedtime story about "Harold the Ghost Pigeon" who knocks on our door one night to apologize for the mess he made on our driveway while alive. He turns into a prince at the end. It is hilarious. Harold has a British accent. Believe me when I say there's enough material for an entire Pigeon Post.
My four-year old son beats me at chess. No joke. I've never been able to see more than one move ahead, but Sam can and he loves it. I coach him a little, but he's good at it. It plays to his logic skills and he likes to make up stories about the battle while we play. "The queen is worried about the king but the knight will save him!" He is such a romantic these days and is very interested in how Josh and I met and fell in love. As long as he keeps his kisses for me, I'm fine with that!
I found out when there was free admission to the Air Force Base Aerospace Museum and we took the boys to climb into the jets. Sam has a Bilar candy from IKEA in his mouth in that picture! He loves to hear stories about when I was a little girl "named Nina." He wants to meet all of the people in my stories and see where it all happened.
He put his sweater on backwards but he put it on without force or begging so I wasn't about to tell him. He wants to be a pilot and live on a boat = Navy pilot. Michael likes the jets too but would prefer to live across the street from us when he is grown up and has to move out.
It was so windy it was hard to push the stroller outside and there were long lines for each plane because of the free admission, but they loved it. I made a list of the museums and historical sites in the area and we're going to try to see one a month this year. Last year we pretty much stayed at home and we're ready to get out and discover our city!
Michael went to the dentist for the first time. Here he is saying, "What am I doing?" I took only Michael and Anna and it was a nice date for us. He made the dentist laugh when he took one look in the hand held mirror he was given and declared, "No cavities!"
Anna is pulling up and trying to stand alone. She has discovered the phone and cries every time I'm on it because she wants to play with it. She has finally started saying "Mama" which fills me with love every time I hear it. She continues to be such a delightful, easy baby.
I have been trying to get organized and have finally decided to get my ankle looked at so I can start exercising again. I called someone from church who has a great haircut and will make an appointment for next week. I haven't had it cut since my visit to my old salon in D.C. last May and I feel like a shaggy dog or a country music star from the 80's. I can remember playing the Mandrell sisters and I'm pretty sure I got in trouble for wearing a shirt down around my shoulders like that when I was still a preschooler. Vanity starts young.
I have our meals planned out for an entire month at a time on an Excel spreadsheet and am starting to put my tasks and appointments in Outlook for each week. I have two twenty-minute windows to spend time with Michael and Sam in the mornings that I've been trying to use to help them learn to read.
Maybe it's the time of year or that fact that Anna is beginning to need a little less of my time but I have this huge urge to organize my life and be in control of how I use my time instead of feeling like I am just responding to the needs of each day without a larger plan to prepare in advance for some of those needs. It's a hard balance between structure and spontaneity, but when I am organized and the basics are taken care of, there is more time to be spontaneous. I don't want to be so busy with tasks that there isn't time to sit and play with the lego creations or stack blocks. After all, I didn't wait eight years for these children only to spend my days ignoring them because the floor is dirty, but I also can't stand walking on unidentified crunchy objects. I accidentally ordered Anna some spring clothes online-- in size 5T. My brain has to have some order. I know that putting the kids first IS the right order of things, but it's just time for a little more structure and not letting Sam and Michael wear pj's at lunch.
I have a list of posts I have been wanting to write. It started in December. After posting about the boys' birthdays I was going to post about how I planned to get through the dark, foggy months by running. Who knew that I could have such a huge grin on my face while running in the misty cold morning air. All of those endorphins and Boston's "More Than A Feeling" on my mini iPod thingy are a powerful combination. They even made the pigeons on the roofs look beautiful with the morning fog on their wings. Then I pulled a muscle in my back. When that healed, I sprained my ankle. It's been six weeks and it still hurts (doctor's appointment tomorrow). BUT I haven't been running or even walking for two months so I figured I shouldn't post about that after all. 
Then I was going to write a post about the pigeons in our neighborhood. When I can see them on a neighbor's house I get so excited because it means they aren't on mine! I still don't like these rats with wings, but on above mentioned running excursions they have looked beautiful flying all out of formation but with a great "wooshing" sound that I have come to appreciate. These two are apparently in love and while the boys think it's cute to see the Mom and Dad pigeon, I can only imagine how many more little pigeons will grace our neighborhood when their love children hatch. Josh has lightened the situation by making up a bedtime story about "Harold the Ghost Pigeon" who knocks on our door one night to apologize for the mess he made on our driveway while alive. He turns into a prince at the end. It is hilarious. Harold has a British accent. Believe me when I say there's enough material for an entire Pigeon Post.
My four-year old son beats me at chess. No joke. I've never been able to see more than one move ahead, but Sam can and he loves it. I coach him a little, but he's good at it. It plays to his logic skills and he likes to make up stories about the battle while we play. "The queen is worried about the king but the knight will save him!" He is such a romantic these days and is very interested in how Josh and I met and fell in love. As long as he keeps his kisses for me, I'm fine with that!
I found out when there was free admission to the Air Force Base Aerospace Museum and we took the boys to climb into the jets. Sam has a Bilar candy from IKEA in his mouth in that picture! He loves to hear stories about when I was a little girl "named Nina." He wants to meet all of the people in my stories and see where it all happened.
He put his sweater on backwards but he put it on without force or begging so I wasn't about to tell him. He wants to be a pilot and live on a boat = Navy pilot. Michael likes the jets too but would prefer to live across the street from us when he is grown up and has to move out.
It was so windy it was hard to push the stroller outside and there were long lines for each plane because of the free admission, but they loved it. I made a list of the museums and historical sites in the area and we're going to try to see one a month this year. Last year we pretty much stayed at home and we're ready to get out and discover our city!
Michael went to the dentist for the first time. Here he is saying, "What am I doing?" I took only Michael and Anna and it was a nice date for us. He made the dentist laugh when he took one look in the hand held mirror he was given and declared, "No cavities!"
Anna is pulling up and trying to stand alone. She has discovered the phone and cries every time I'm on it because she wants to play with it. She has finally started saying "Mama" which fills me with love every time I hear it. She continues to be such a delightful, easy baby.
I have been trying to get organized and have finally decided to get my ankle looked at so I can start exercising again. I called someone from church who has a great haircut and will make an appointment for next week. I haven't had it cut since my visit to my old salon in D.C. last May and I feel like a shaggy dog or a country music star from the 80's. I can remember playing the Mandrell sisters and I'm pretty sure I got in trouble for wearing a shirt down around my shoulders like that when I was still a preschooler. Vanity starts young.
I have our meals planned out for an entire month at a time on an Excel spreadsheet and am starting to put my tasks and appointments in Outlook for each week. I have two twenty-minute windows to spend time with Michael and Sam in the mornings that I've been trying to use to help them learn to read. Maybe it's the time of year or that fact that Anna is beginning to need a little less of my time but I have this huge urge to organize my life and be in control of how I use my time instead of feeling like I am just responding to the needs of each day without a larger plan to prepare in advance for some of those needs. It's a hard balance between structure and spontaneity, but when I am organized and the basics are taken care of, there is more time to be spontaneous. I don't want to be so busy with tasks that there isn't time to sit and play with the lego creations or stack blocks. After all, I didn't wait eight years for these children only to spend my days ignoring them because the floor is dirty, but I also can't stand walking on unidentified crunchy objects. I accidentally ordered Anna some spring clothes online-- in size 5T. My brain has to have some order. I know that putting the kids first IS the right order of things, but it's just time for a little more structure and not letting Sam and Michael wear pj's at lunch.
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