TTT: Season 3, Episode 52

Alas, it's Thursday. And not the last Thursday of the year as the "title" to this post might indicate. Instead it's the first Thursday of the year. I completely skipped last week. On purpose, of course, being that we had family in town for nine days straight. But I can't bring myself to end Season Three without a post. How sad would it be to stop at fifty-one when we all know good and well that there are fifty-two weeks in a year!?! So I'll end my Season Three of weekly blogging with a wrap up of my 2012 Bucket List. You know, the one I wrote about once upon a January 2012 and have attempted to keep up with throughout the year. Let's see how I did...and I'll even get a little fancy for you. I've left the original goal in black, with the results in either red, green, or blue. Red- FAIL, Green- SUCCESS!, Blue- Work in progress.

1. Drink more water. Eh. I still try. Still not a fan. Whatever. 
2. Try new foods. Get Thai food with Mark at least once. Yay! I have tried new foods. Several! And got Thai twice. The first time was yummy, the second, not so much. But I did it. 
3. Follow the two daily devotionals that I received for Christmas for a full year. Eek. One of them (Jesus Calling) I really did love. I got a little lax on it in the past few months with all of the busyness but it's one I plan to carry in to 2013 as well. The other lost me along the way. 
4. Read our Dave Ramsey book and fine tune our budget. This was a success but also more of a realization- budgets are a work in progress. Family needs change all the time so the budget is in constant need of fine tuning, but this area is definitely going well.
5. Make at least one thing for our home each month. I may have gone a little overboard on this one...pillow covers, curtains, tree skirt, several different wall hangings, subway art....
6. Make curtains for our family room, rec room, and kitchen, and the boys' room. Can I just strike this one? I did make curtains for the kitchen and decided I like the windows better without. Same with the game room. It needs as much light as possible. Can I just say I love the ones I made for our room???
7. Blog more often. This goal kind of evolved. I definitely kept up my regular weekly post, but they also definitely just turned in to a regular family post. I used to try to keep family posts and TTT posts separate, but hey, there's only so much time in the day to maintain both. That being said, I'm planning a few changes for the ol' blog. More to come on that later. 
8. Develop and maintain a house cleaning schedule. Ever, ever, ever a work in progress. Bahumbug. 
9. Take a weekend trip with just Mark. We did! For Mark's birthday. Sure, we just stayed in Houston but it was fun nonetheless and we talk about how nice it was to get away together all the time. Maybe we should set our sights on making it out of the city limits next time!
10. Teach Kolbe how to read. This is going really well! He can sound out most age appropriate words and it's finally all making sense for him, though he still is quite impatient with it. 
11. Teach Reagan his full alphabet and numbers. I majorly underestimated this kiddo. He is nearly up to pace with Kolbe on already reading. 
12. Develop and implement a manageable discipline system. As much as I loathed this one in the beginning, I now love it. Sure, it will always be a work in progress, but I feel like I've learned so much about my kids and why they do what they do over the past year. 
13. Pray the rosary more. At times this was a great success, at others, not so much. What I found was that when I am praying the rosary regularly, I feel much more at peace. Less anxious. 
14. Find a way to volunteer with the children. Doh. Uh, .... I, uh.... Yikes. Fail. 
15. Actively listen more. Sure, I zone out some, but I've worked hard on this one and I feel like it has helped. 
16. Less cell phone. Again, success at times, fail at others. I plan to make this a high priority in 2013.
17. Purge our house and donate items at least six times. Huge success. I think we went around once a month. Sometimes it may have just been a few things, but it has helped so much in ways of organization and also showing the boys the importance of both giving to those who have less as well as getting rid of things we don't need.
18. Take a mini family (overnight) vacation. I was hoping this would be an independent trip but that didn't really happen. We took lots of trips, but all were either to family's homes or for a specific family event. 
19. Write and send a meaningful letter once a month. Epic fail. I have no excuses. Just didn't make it happen. (*loathes self*)
20. Treat myself to a spa day- hair, pedicure and manicure. Does it count that I have a gift certificate for a massage that I haven't used yet? And I did go get my hair cut a few times this year. Just no mani or pedi. 365 days and I couldn't make it happen. Sad. 
21. Meet my yearly business goal for my shop. Beyond success. Yay!

So that's that. 4 busts, 8 works in progress, and 9 successes. Not too shabby. And a fun experience overall. My wheels are still churning for my 2013 list. Maybe I'll be a little less detailed, for starts! And that's "Season Three" in the books...thanks for reading!

TTT: Season 3, Episode 31

1. I now interrupt my incessant viewing of Olympic events to bring you my weekly blog post. I'll be brief. Thankfully, my DVR is on pause, and really, let's be honest, if my DVR was nonexistent, I'd probably be skipping this week's post and rolling it in to next. How did I manage to watch the summer games four years ago with a newborn and no DVR!?! Sheesh. Shamelessly addicted to modern technology. Anyhow, I'll admit that I have managed to keep the TV off most of the day and have strictly used the DVR to record the events I want to watch, but I'm not kidding when I say that I've stayed up till at least midnight every night since Friday watching all of the events. So yes, I'm a bit tired. But it's well worth it! I only have two complaints: 1) I don't like not being able to watch live. (Yes, I know it's available on the internet, but let's get real people.) They leave things out when it's not live. Like if the Americans are doing horrible, they just cut to another country. I still want to see USA, misses and all. 2) The USA's gray podium jackets are ug-ly. Perfect Dr. Evil Halloween costume attire. Couldn't they have at least gone with white? Or navy? Heck, it doesn't have to be blaring red or have stars and stripes all over it, but at least something that might even come close to saying, "Hey, those might be Americans." I've loved all the swimming and of course the gymnastics, but I'm ready to start seeing some track now. Go Team USA!

2. Amidst my jumbled mix of life, work, and Olympics, we managed to get to spend some time this week with my brother, Mike, his wife, Casey, and their babes, Jackson and Kennedy. They were passing back through from Alabama on their way home to Mountain Home, Idaho and got to stay for several nights. Since they live so far away, the times we get to see them are few and far between so we feel bless that we got to see them not just once, but twice this summer, and they'll be back for Christmas this year too! Jackson is the cutest little fella and follows along great with the big cousins, Kolbe and Rudy. And Kennedy and Grant were so cute babbling back and forth at each other. Okay, I'll be honest...Grant would screech to get attention and then Kennedy would echo him in response. Ha! We sure wish they lived closer! And I'm pretty sure that with their visit, our summer "events" are pretty much over. Back to normal life for now.

3. It's August. Just five more months left in 2012. Starting to have thoughts of Oh yeah, remember that bucket list you created? Are you going to be one of those people that tries to get it all done in the month of December? No, not you. Get off your butt...okay, after the Olympics....get off your butt and get some of these done! So have I made any progress? The water drinking (#1) is still hit and miss, though I have a great old friend who sends me email reminders from time to time. An accountability partner of sorts! But I've discovered that part of my hatred of drinking tons of water is having to go to the bathroom all the time. I don't like to be interrupted for such trivial things. Ha! I did try some sushi that Mark brought home a few weeks ago so the trying new foods (#2) thing is going alright. As for the sushi, it was just eh. Not bad, not great. Needed salt. Blog more often (#7) is slipping. I'm behind all the way back to Grant's first birthday. And a lot has happened since then! Maybe I'll make that my mission this week. Or when the Olympics are over. One horn that I can definitely toot and check off my list is #21-meet my yearly business goal for my shop. Seriously. It's August 2nd and I've already met it. Never in a million years did I think my business would become so legit, but it did. And it's kind of cool. Keeps me living in a constant state of action and semi-stress but I've determined that that's just how I like to operate. If I didn't have it, I'd find a way to create it. I don't sit still easily.

Kind of short on pictures this week. ...What? You wanted a shot of me sitting on the couch with a large ice water watch gymnastics? I'll save that for next week.

We did another pinterest activity this week--glowsticks in the bath! Rudy stumbled into the Target dollar/junk area at the front of the store while I was strapping Grant in to the cart and came out with a $1 package of 15 glowsticks. He asked what they were and I immediately remembered the pin from Pinterest and tossed them in the cart. They had a blast with their illuminated bath water and stayed in long after if was no longer warm.

At night I love to lay in bed with the boy and tell them stories or chit chat and Kolbe has been asking a lot about heaven and Jesus lately. The older they get, the more we tell them about how Jesus died and why and what happened when he was on the cross. A few days ago I was sprawled out on the carpet just wrestling around with the boys and Kolbe asked me to hold out my arms. After I did, he took his American flag stick and started tapping it into my arm and said, "So you can be like Jesus." Sweet boy. Simple, but also so symbolic.

We had dinner down at the waterway on Monday night and fed the fish in the water afterwards with Jackson. While there were tons of little fish as always, there was also several huge catfish. Like 4-5 pounders! If you had a line and a hook, you could have dinner!

My baby. His eyes get bluer, his hair gets blonder, his tan gets darker (for real, he's dark!), and his screech gets louder. Any tips for a screamer!?! It wasn't that bad until the summer and now it has become his sole way of getting attention. And there's only so long you can do the just-pretend-you-don't-hear-it-because-if-you-acknowledge-it-he'll-keep-doing-it. Especially in public. Ugh!

TTT: Season 3, Episode 27

1. This week has been a little bit of saying goodbye to visitors, a little bit of back to life as normal, and with the 4th of July, of course a little bit of celebrating! G-ma left town on Saturday and we were so sad to see her go. Visits from G-ma are much anticipated and thoroughly enjoyed by both the boys and me. What little kid wouldn't love cramming all the fun things you normally do in the summer all in to one week!?! And what mama wouldn't love ending the week with absolutely no dirty laundry to do!?! G-ma is awesome and she sure does love her grandbabies. Now the countdown begins until Thanksgiving when we travel back to Lubbock for our next visit!

2. On Friday we all took Grant to his pediatrician for his one year check up. He weighed 23.5lbs and was 31" tall. Still in the 80th percentile for both, though I think it's funny how he was over twenty pounds at six months and only managed to gain a few more in the second six months of his life. If you were around this child and saw how wild active he is, you probably wouldn't be surprised! At one year old, Grant is quite the little man. He says 'mama,' 'dada,' and 'baba' (bye-bye). He waves, claps, blows kisses, gives high fives, and loves to dance. His absolute favorite activity is climbing stairs. And while he'll readily carry on a conversation with you in baby talk, his favorite method of communication is to scream. The boys steal his toy; he screams. He wants down from the high chair; he screams. He wants a drink; he screams. His shaggy blondish brown hair is wispy with just a bit of curl on the ends. And with just two top teeth and two bottom teeth, he has the most winsome baby smile ever. And oh, those blue eyes! Grant is our best laugher and worst crier. He doesn't cry that often, but when he does it's total devastation. End of the world! And he's by far our best sleeper and eater. For someone with so few teeth, he sure does know how to take down just about anything you give him. He hates purees and has always just wanted to eat whatever we're eating.  His favorites are bananas and peeled grapes. He's got an awesome baby tan and has finally given up his favorite past time of spitting up. Grant has been our slowest to start walking. Both Kolbe and Rudy were full-on walking at this age while Grant still prefers to crawl and does it at lightening speed. He'll take a step or two from here to there but if it's long distance, it's back to being a quadruped. Really, we love everything about Grant. He's just the sweetest, most lovable little guy around and Mark and I are reminded daily how blessed we are every time we catch a smile from our little Grant.

3. Mark had to work yesterday on the Fourth of July (yes, people still need heart surgery on holidays...), but we still had a good time celebrating. We practiced singing patriotic songs, and with the Olympics just around the corner, I'm determined to teach my kids the national anthem by the end of the summer. By the way, I'm beside myself with excited that the Olympics are almost here! Eek! I'm one of those people who are super obsessed, follow every event, and watch every. single. day. Thank goodness for DVR or no one would see me for two weeks. Including my kids. Ha! Anyhow, the big boys had their first experience with sparklers and loved it! Of course they were very cautious with the first few but then once they realized they wouldn't get burned by the sparkles, they were in love. Mark had to head on to bed, but my mom and I decided to load Kolbe and Grant up and take them to see the real fireworks show in The Woodlands. We took a tip from a friend of my dad and just went to the Home Depot parking lot near our house. We were able to see the fireworks really well and didn't have to fight the crowd! Independence Day has always been one of my favorite holidays, especially as a child. I can't wait until the boys get just a little bit older and we can really go all out with the festivities.

PS:
- I had Thai food this past week! We went to dinner with some of Mark's co-workers at a restaurant down in Houston. I went with something garlic-y instead of spicy and loved it!

Two brothers bowling

We love our G-ma!!!

Brusha, brusha, brusha!!!

We've been spending a lot of time at the pool! It's the only place to be other than indoors.

Doing sparklers with my little firecracker

Watching the real fireworks show on the hood of Pinkie's car

My little 4th of July boys!

TTT: Season 3, Episode 23

1.       It’s been hot here for a while…ok, let’s face it, it never did get cold…but the real summer heat has officially set in. Like the walk-to-the-mail-box-and-come-back-soaking-wet kind of heat. I only wish I was exaggerating on that one. It’s really, really miserable. Luckily, this year we got pool passes for the thirteen different pools in The Woodlands. We skipped out last summer since I had just had a C-section and also had a non-pool friendly newborn. But this year, it was a must. And so far we’ve been three times in a little over one week. The boys love it. And I do too! It gives us something to do…something that burns energy. Sure, it’s kind of difficult with Grant. He’ll sit in his baby raft for about twenty minutes, let me lug him around the pool for another fifteen or so, and then he’s ready to be cut loose. So for at least the second half of our trip, I’m posted on the edge of the shallow end where I can quickly grab either of the bigger boys in the water and I can also monitor Grant crawling around by the spray ground. But hey, it keeps us cool, keeps us active, and keeps us happy! We attempted to go to the park on Tuesday. Bad idea. Never again. At least not until late September-ish.  The second bad decision on that one was taking the wagon. By the time we got home, I was drench from A) walking in the blazing, humid heat and B) pulling a good sixty plus pounds behind me. I was literally shaking after we walked in the door and stood in front of the fridge, doors open, for several minutes. If you’re looking for us this summer, it will either be at a pool or indoors. Sorry, nature. See you this fall.

2.       It’s been a long week. And do you know what makes a week long at our house? Mark’s work schedule. Man, it’s been ridiculous lately. Part of it was that he was on call this past weekend, which I must add is still way better than his old job, but it did mean that he had to go round on patients Saturday and Sunday mornings. And when they service something like six or seven hospitals and there are lots of patients at each, rounds take a long time. And then beyond that, he hasn’t been home by dinner a single night in the past week (other than Saturday and Sunday). I know that doesn’t mean much to some people, but eating together is important to us. It’s kind of like our family time. And heck, he hasn’t even made it home before the kids went to bed on a few of those nights. So I sound like I’m complaining. And I guess I am. I realize all weeks aren’t like this, and right now it’s just really busy. But man, oh man, are weeks like this hard on the both of us! He’s exhausted physically and mentally by the time he gets home, and I’m just completely spent on the whole childcare gig by the end of the night. I love taking care of my babies, but I’ll be the first to say that I have no desire to be a single mom of three babes, four and under!

3.       It’s nearly half way through the year so I thought I’d check in on my 2012 Bucket List.

(1)(2)- Drinking more water and trying new foods are still a work in progress. We still have not gone to get Thai food. But we’re planning to go to a Brazilian steak house for my birthday. A place that serves only meat? I’m in.

(3)- I’ll admit it…I’ve kind of fallen off on my daily devotionals. And I did well the first quarter of the year! I need to move them out to the family room so I don’t have the Mark-is-already-asleep-so-I-can’t-turn-on-the-light-excuse.

(5)(6)- I’ve definitely made at least one thing for our home each month, and I think I have the curtains covered too! Granted, I didn’t make the family room ones and have since decided that I don’t want any in the boys’ room (the new paint stands out plenty on its own); I’ve got the kitchen and game room down.

(8)- The house cleaning schedule…I posted about that a while back and have still been trying to maintain it. The only part I really don’t like is that, while everything is getting periodically cleaned, it’s never all clean at once. There’s something about having that totally clean feeling that’s nice. So may have tweak this one.

(9)- No trip with just Mark and me yet, but I did go to see him in San Antonio for one night!...with Grant…

(10)(11)(12)- Kolbe reading, Rudy letters/numbers, manageable discipline plan…I’d say we’re getting there on all of these! Kolbe is starting to sound out words and understand how the letters represent certain sounds. Rudy is golden on the letters and numbers. And it’s really something we haven’t had to work much on. He just “gets it.” No numbers past ten, but he can nail the letters every time…unless he’s being a turkey. And with our money jars, the boys’ behavior has really been pretty good lately. I can’t complain!

(13)(14)(20) are all suffering- Rosary? Not nearly enough. Volunteering with kids? Nope. Spa day? Uh, no. Maybe after summer when my feet are totally abused from wearing sandals non-stop.

(17) Donate items at least 6 times during there year- I’m excelling at this one. I’ve already been six times and it’s only June. It feels so great to get rid of “stuff” and have a more polished home while helping someone else in need.

(18) No little family trip yet, but we’re headed to Austin in October for my cousin’s wedding. Thinking we’ll make this it!

(4) The budget, (19) writing letters, (7) blogging, (15) actively listening, (16) less cell phone- are all somewhere in the going-well-trying-hard-doing-my-best-working-on-it-daily category. Hopefully by year’s end I’ll have legitimate results on these that I can be proud of.

(21) And last but not least, my shop. Oh, the shop. It’s almost humorous to read “meet my yearly business goal for my shop.” It’s only June and I’m on track to meet it by early August. Guess I should have aimed higher! We’ll talk more about that next week…I think I’m to the point that I need to take action.

A little light on the pictures this week! Didn't figured you'd want to see a shot of me standing in front of the fridge with the doors open or trying to break in to Mark's car because the boys locked the keys in there. :/

Waiting for adult swim to be over so they can jump back in!

Grant has been a champ at using a straw since around 8 months. Now he's even mastered the more tricky Camelbak straw!

The ill-fated trip to the park. Kolb got to ride with Grant on the way they're and then Rudy got to ride with him on the way home. Lucky me, I got the pull there and back.

Un-edited pic of Rudy upon returning home from the park. And he was the one riding in the wagon! Not pedaling the bike! It was ridiculous, I tell you. Call me a bahumbug who never leaves the house; I don't care. WAY too hot!

TTT: Season 3, Episode 16

1. It's 9:48pm and I'm just now sitting down to write. Not because the day or week has been so overwhelmingly hectic or stressful, but mainly because it's just been a pretty uneventful week. Mark always says he can tell that there's nothing going on when I ask him "What should I write about for Three Thought Thursday?" It's true. Some weeks I already have the entire post written out in my mind long before Thursday. And then there are weeks like this one where sure, plenty has gone on, but it's all mainly a part of the routine of life. Which, to be honest, is important to me. Sometimes it feels like life is so bam, bam, bam. Non-stop, one thing after another. And I know that the older and more active that the boys get, the crazier life will be. But I want there to be normalcy. Family time. Just routine life. Recently the boys have started asking me "Where are we going today?" or "What are we doing today?" And then they're shocked when I say "nowhere" or "nothing." I want them to love just being at home and being with each other and having days...or even weeks!...when not much happens.  And that's how this week has been. Just life at The Asmussens.

2. One thing that was out of the ordinary for our week was an unplanned trip to the movies for Mark and me. A few weeks ago I jumped on the bandwagon and started reading the Hunger Games books. Of course, just like everyone else, I got hooked quickly on such easy and action-filled reads. Truthfully, I don't get to ready nearly as much as I'd like to. Before children, I read all the time. And even after Kolbe was born, I did somewhat. But once you have kids running around...ones that are very active...ones that no longer nap...kicking back and reading a book is next to impossible. The only time it gets done where I'm actually comprehending the words that I'm reading is after they've gone to bed! So books that normally would have taken me mere days to read have stretched out across a few weeks...and I'm still on the third book...but man, it sure has been nice to read again. As a child I loved to read, as a teacher I loved to teach literature, and now I just don't want to "give up" on a favorite hobby just because it's not exactly easy to do anymore. Anyhow, after enjoying The Hunger Games, I just had to see the movie. So I was thrilled when my parents offered to come over and watch the boys on Tuesday evening so Mark and I could go see it. It was very entertaining, and even Mark enjoyed it, though I still always prefer the book. And the time alone with the hubby was second to none! Definitely the highlight of my week.

3. Several weeks ago I mentioned that I finally broke down and created a "cleaning schedule" for myself as part of my 2012 Bucket List. I also promised to divulge it if it actually worked out. Weeks later, I'm still following my little routine and I think it has actually stuck! So here's what I've been doing:

First, I broke up the cleaning in to daily, bi-weekly, weekly, bi-monthly, and monthly categories. Daily chores, like dishes and picking up toys, are just understood and don't go on my to-do list, but everything else gets thrown on there as a reminder. It looks a little something like this:

Monday-
laundry
hard floors touch up (swiffer vac and wipe any spots)
Tuesday-
vacuum downstairs
stip beds/wash sheets or full mop of all tile floors (alternating weeks)
Wednesday-
vacuum upstairs
clean toilets or clean showers (alternating weeks)
Thursday-
hard floors touch up (swiffer vac and wipe spots)
wipe down bathroom counters
Friday-
vacuum downstairs
dust

There are also what I consider monthly chores, like dusting/cleaning all the mini-blinds or wiping the baseboards, but those just get added on. And that's about it! Like I said, so far this is what has worked for me. And I like that it's what works for our house and family. I think each person/family has their own hang-ups or unique cleaning "behaviors." Like some of you might be thinking There's no way I'm doing the laundry all on one day or She only changes her sheets every other week? or I can't believe she changes her sheets every other week! To each their own with cleaning. I think whatever makes you feel comfortable, not stressed, and in control of your household is what you should do! Just glad I've nailed down something that works for us. Oh, and if you happen to have any "assistants," put them to work, too! The cleaning list should be for the whole family!

My "assistant" vacuuming out my sewing nook with the crevice tool. Atta boy!

Grant, Blankie Blue, and his thumb

I rarely, rarely, rarely get to do this anymore. Nothing like getting to cuddle with your very first baby, no matter how big he may be getting.

Two little monkeys getting ready for a bath.

The new Joann opened in The Woodlands! Sewing heaven. If only each of these machines didn't cost as much as car.  

Five Fact Friday: (also know as Season 3, Episode 8)

1. I know. I'm a day late. But I can explain! It has been one of those weeks. You know...the kind where you've only made it to the point of adding a touch of make-up and styling your hair maybe once or twice. And one of those times was a mere fifteen minutes before Mark got home. No, I'm not still sick with my cold I had last week. It's been the urchins again. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that it's gone from one sickness to another for the last several months. It seriously seems like someone is constantly sick here! We'll be better for a day or two and then right back at it. And lately it's been with these can't-quite-put-a-finger-on-what-the-problem-is type things. The good thing is, when the older boys are "sick," they may be running a fever but are still running around and playing like normal. Sure, it's frustrating that we're stuck at home, but at least they're not acting like they're on their death bed or anything. The baby is another story. He woke up with a fever yesterday (Thursday) and still has it today. If I even attempt to put him down, it's the end of the world as we know it. Complete devastation. Yes, I do feel sorry for the poor little fella. Especially since he really has no other symptoms (at least ones that are obvious) than the fever. But, man, my back and arms are sore! He's no featherweight, let me tell you. My Ergo Baby has been a lifesaver, and at times I've resorted to just laying on the ground and letting him lay on top of me. So that's my excuse for being late. Really, I thought about it. It just never happened. Can't wait till we are all well. For more than three days!

2. Last weekend we finally bit the bullet and got rid of Mark's car. You've heard me rant on here many times about the ol' piece of junk. And the thousands we've sunk in to  repairing it. After driving around with an expired inspection for months, getting a recent estimate for another $1,200 in repairs, and then discovering the driver's side door's inability to open from the inside (yes, he had to roll down the window to open his door.), we finally decided to just take it to the dealership and see what we could get for it. We were expecting next to nothing, but they foolishly gave us well over the blue book value for it. Whatever. We'll take it. And with a nice tax return sitting in the checking account and other money set aside, we were able to walk away with a nearly new Camry and no car payment for Mark. Considering his job requires him to travel around Houston quite a bit, he needed a reliable vehicle. So between the two of us, we shouldn't have any car complaints for a long time. Lord willing!

3. The season of Lent is upon us! Yay! One of my favorites as an adult. I'll admit, as a child I always cringed. It meant giving up something I loved and not fully appreciating why. And fine delicacies like fish sticks on Fridays. But now, I feel like it has become a time to grow. To polish things off on the inside and make sure all of my connections with the one who gave all for me are right. A designated time really work on teaching my boys who Jesus is and what he did for us. Not to mention the fact that it falls right during spring. When the whole rest of the world around me is new and fresh and green, too. (Not like it ever really got cold here. My first daffodils have already bloomed. In February.) I've used this season in the past for many different things, but this year I'm really trying to build up my prayer life. It feels like the more pups we add to our litter, the less time I have to really pray. At least the kind of focused prayer I was used to doing before kids. I guess I'm finally coming to the realization that God sees any kind of prayer that I give to him. It all "counts." It doesn't have to be the totally engulfed, eyes closed ('cause Lord knows, I will fall asleep), head bowed type thing. Talking with my God while my hands and feet are still moving is still talking with my God. Capisce?

4. That being said, no, I didn't go all out and give up caffeine for Lent. One of these years, my friends. One of these years. I figured it would be more damaging to my children than beneficial to my spiritual life! Instead, I decided to give up Facebook and add a daily rosary during nap/work time. Considering both of these things are on my 2012 bucket list, I'm pretty pumped to do this, and thus far it's going really well. I was never much of a facebooker until my iPhone came along. Really, I rarely get on facebook on the computer. It's just that darn iPhone app tempting me every time I sit down to feed the baby, watch the boys play, etc. It had come to the point where it felt like every thirty minutes I was wanting to see if anyone had "updated their status." Really? Sure, it's fun to see what everyone else is doing. Especially for someone like me whose whole world is within this house. But in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter. Not when there are three little souls here trying to vie for my attention and care. Don't get me wrong- I think Facebook is a great tool. I just don't want it to be such a factor in my life. And replacing it with the rosary has been fantastic. I'll still be popping in to post my blog links...just in case anyone cares!

5. Mark has a few days off at the beginning of next week, so I'm finally going to get a haircut! I wish I was lying when I say that I haven't gone to get my haircut in a full year. I went to my hairdresser in Lubbock before moving, and shortly before Grant was born I attempted to trim my ends and ended up having to have my mom even them out because my hair was too long to accurately reach it. Since then, it's just grown and grown and grown. It's the longest it's ever been. Past my bra buckle. (yes, mine buckles.) I've enjoyed the long hair because it's easy to pull up and has even gotten to the point where I can let it air dry and it looks just fine. But the ends look hideous and I'm totally rocking the poor-lady-with-too-many-kids-who-can't-care-for-herself look. Yikes. I'm not planning anything drastic. A good trim with some nice, long layers. And, of course, a good shampooing and scalp massage. That's the best part!

My fabric for my business always comes in big cardboard boxes. The UPS guy comes around dinner time and it always makes for a super fun evening for the boys. Nothing beats a good cardboard box!

Last Friday night Mark scoped out a "fun zone" of sorts up in Conroe. You know, the kind with horrible pizza and tons of overpriced rides and games. We had a blast, though. It's so fun to see the boys get over-the-top excited about the smallest things.

We had a blast our Bible study group's Fat Tuesday party. The boys got to decorate Mardi Gras masks, have a little parade, and eat king cake.

Despite the last two days of Mr. Fever, this guy has been such a hoot lately. He is ALL. OVER. THE. PLACE! And, of course, now that he pulls up on everything, we've lowered the crib, rearranged a few things...all that "baby proofing" stuff to make sure he doesn't wound himself when I'm not looking.

Yep. We've got a problem. These two stairs don't have a wall on the other end, so the lowest we can install a baby gate is on the third stair. Guess he'll just have to learn!

Please forgive any errors this week! Usually I like to read through everything and make sure I don't sound like an idiot. But A)I'm already late, and B) the aforementioned crawling, climbing, feverish babe will be waking soon and demand to be held!

TTT: Season 3, Episode 6

1. Last week I promised details on our fun little weekend, so here goes. We have lots of milestone birthdays in our family this year on the Asmussen side. Mark's brother Brian and I both turn thirty and both of Mark's parents turn sixty. Miss Lora (Mark's mom) was the first to reach her milestone and celebrated the big 6-0 last Friday. We didn't want the birthday to go by un-noticed, but it's hard to throw much of a celebration from afar. So instead, thanks to help from my dad and his awesome job, we shipped the celebration there in the form of a surprise visit from Mark and Kolbe. It would have been great if the whole family could have gone, but really unrealistic...especially airplane ticket wise. So Reagan, Grant, and I stayed behind and had our own little fun weekend together. Although I only got to be a part of the surprise weekend through phone calls and texts, it was still so wonderful to know that G-ma (and Papa Jeep, too!) got to spend the weekend with two people she holds so dear. From what I hear, they had a great time with lots of food, shopping, and relaxation!

2. As mentioned, while Mark and Kolbe were in Lubbock, Reagan, Grant and I stayed home in The Woodlands. I must say that both Mark and I made a keen observation while apart: Kolbe and Reagan are completely different when they aren't together. Night and day difference. Mark commented several times on how laid back and "grown up" Kolbe acted without Rudy around. And I was amazed how calm and peaceful Rudy was without Kolbe. He thought about what he wanted to say, made his own observations, and did much less "attention getting." Granted, I know these two are the best of friends, and can hardly imagine a life without each other, but I have to admit that it was kind of nice to spend time with Rudy and hear what he has to say instead of just a repetition of whatever Kolbe just said. It was nice to not see him have to compete or conform and just be himself. He's such a neat little kiddo. Who happens to turn three tomorrow! I know Mark had a very special time with just Kolbe as well. We're quite blessed to have such wonderful boys. They do make us pull our hair out from time to time...especially when they're together!...but really, they are fun, unique, amazing little boys. And seeing that they will have to spend the majority of their childhoods side by side, I think this little experiment has shown us just how important a little time apart from each other can be as well.

3. Since we're nearly half way through February, I thought it might be fun to check in on my 2012 Bucket List and see how I'm doing on keeping up with things.

Successes:

- #3- follow my two daily devotionals

I'm pumped about this one. I've gotten several daily/365 devotionals in the past and never made it much beyond the first few weeks. I'm proud to report that I'm still going strong with my little books. Partially because their both very easy to read. One is Small Steps for Catholic Moms and the other is the widely popular Jesus Calling. Both are very enjoyable for me at this phase in life, and it's been nice to read and discuss the Jesus Calling one with Mark, as his mother gave us each a copy for Christmas. Somehow, it manages to speak to us in some way each day.

- #5- make something for our home each month

You'd think this would be easy since I own a business in which I make things, but since it takes up the majority of my very spare time, it's actually hard to squeeze in projects for our home. But I did manage to make a few pillow covers for our couch pillows, our Valentine's wreath, and a felt heart garland for Valentine's Day. And I made the garland as a sequencing activity with Kolbe. Educational, to boot!

-#7- blog more often

While you haven't seen anything on here beyond my weekly Thursday post, I have managed to catch up on our family/photo blog! And by caught up, I mean Christmas. Because, while I've done well to get all the posts done, I've since started failing at taking pictures of everything else. Anyway, if you want to see pictures of the major happenings in the fam over the past three or four months, hop on over to the family blog.

Marginal:

-#1- drink more water

Eh. I'm trying. Usually I feel guilty that I haven't had much at the end of the day and chug a few glasses. Does that count?

-#3- work on the budget

Hey, I got our taxes done! Toot, toot! And I'm proud to report no whammies. But with Mark's job transfer on the horizon...and the fact that Mark's going to need a new car as well...it's kind of pointless to fine tune something that will change within the next two months.

Failure:

-#8- Develop and maintain a house cleaning schedule

I mean, really. Do I have to? It's the ever present monkey on my back. I love a clean space, I just don't like doing it. It always gets pushed to the bottom of the list. No, we don't live in total squalor, and yes, it is fairly organized, but man, it sure could be cleaner!

-#19- Write a meaningful letter each month

Oops. January slipped by and I definitely didn't do this. And this was one of my goals I was really excited about! I vow it will be in the successes at the next check up!

Most of the others would file under "marginal or "work-in-progress." I'd say overall it's going pretty well! And I'm actually enjoying having this list in the back of my mind. Gives me something to strive for...other than just making it through the day. :o)

Other than the gift of Mark and Kolbe surprising her, we made a fun little sign for G-ma for her birthday. We were running short on time so even the hubs had to get in on the crafting action and help me out. See those flowers in the corner? They are made with the little boys' finger prints. So needless to say, I was busy trying to control that effort while Mark worked on tracing the letters and then filling in the imprinted area with paint. A little trick I saw on pinterest. It ended up being a fun little family crafting night!

Kolbe sipping broth at 50 Yard Line in Lubbock- a fancy-shmancy restaurant that most little boys don't get to go to!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
This guy can stay occupied for hours with a chair, some dishes, and running water.


Ready for a dose of baby goodness? 

Grant has taken to this little blanket that my sister-in-law's mother, Mary Bergman, made for him. So now he has his blankie and his thumb. Just like every baby ever illustrated.

Such a flirt!

He's already gone from crawling to pulling up. We're at seven months right now...pretty sure he'll be walking before one just like the other two. And asking for the keys to the car shortly after that! It's going too fast!

Thought I'd throw this in for a little fun. I've taken many, many, many custom orders through my little etsy shop but never for something this hardcore! Yes, that's a Star Wars crib sheet. And there were changing pad covers to match. Hey, people deck out their kids' rooms in various sports team themes all the time! Why not go for your favorite movie!?!

TTT: Season 3, Episode 3

1. This past weekend Mark took the boys on their long promised fishing trip to the pond by my parents' house. Ever since they got their fishing poles for Christmas, they've been itching to go "real fishing" as opposed to simply casting and realin in the attached practice fish around the house. As I sent them off on Saturday morning I thought they'd either be back within an hour or gone for a long time. Lucky me, it was the later! Despite the fact that the first pond they went to had no fish to be found, they stuck with it and went to another pond and had much more success. My dad met up with them along the way and from all of the stories I've heard, they had a blast. What little boy doesn't love to fish!?! And all I've heard since then has been "Mama, when is Dada taking us fishing again?" Guess we'll have to make it a more frequent occurrence. And considering I got a lot of work, a fair amount of cleaning, and a tiny bit of rest in while they were gone, I know I certainly won't be complaining!

2. If you happened to look over my bucket list for 2012, you might have noticed that I aspire to make curtains for several rooms in our house by the end of the year. As of this week, I may have already cheated just a bit on that one. How could I help myself when Pottery Barn sent me an email on Monday saying everything on their site for that one day would ship for free? It just begged for me to at least check out what I could find on there. Especially since my house in my dreams looks similar to every picture from the pages of the Pottery Barn catalogs. Sure enough, the drapes I had previously pinned on pinterest were not only still there and available, but on sale as well. Like more-than-half-off sale. Really, I could make drapes at that level of quality for the price. After debating for a while, I ran up to our local Pottery Barn to see if they had a sample of the drapes available. (Thanks, Mom, for meeting me there so I didn't have to take all three boys in alone! I'm sure we would have walked out with a purchase of some sort of broken item had I attempted that feat.) We'll see how the drapes they look when the show up. And if I don't like them, I guess that's just a sign that I need to suck it up and actually make them! I'll keep you posted.

3. I'm pretty sure that Grant is teething. No festering blistered gums just yet. Only a randomly fussy, constantly waking, chewing on everything little guy. Why is it so easy to forget the tough aspects of raising little ones sometimes? I've been thinking back to when Kolbe and Reagan were teething and it made me realize that we pretty much went through a good year or more straight with teething in our house. It started around the time Kolbe was seven months old and since Reagan was born when Kolbe was just fifteen months, his started before Kolbe's was totally finished. We've had a nice solid break for a good year and in that time I managed to forget the woes that accompany the event. And I suppose I had also gotten spoiled by Grant sleeping so well at night. Now that he's up several times, wailing...and not due to hunger, and struggling to fall back to sleep, I'm one tired mama a lot of the time. I'm not a coffee drinker. Maybe I should abandon "drink more water" on my list and add "learn to enjoy coffee."

Two handsome brothers getting ready for their fishing trip!

They've got all their gear packed up...

After a successful day of fishing, every good fisherman needs his rest.

Mama and her big boys

Pinkie and Kolbe (outside of Pottery Barn)

Sitting up all on his own!

2012 Bucket List

Mark asked me a few days ago if I had any new year's resolutions. Typically, I do try to come up with one or two things that I'd like to improve upon or change in the coming year. This year, I was having a hard time nailing down anything I really wanted to change. (you know, since I've practically reached perfection and all...bah!) Instead, I just kept thinking of things I'd like to do. Some just for fun, some to make me a better person, some to help out our family, some to help others, and on and on. So I thought I'd come up with a like "bucket list" of sorts for 2012. A compilation of things I'd like to do or achieve before the year comes to a close. And just for fun, I'll keep up of things on here--give a little background as to why it's important to me, how my progress is going, and when I eventually get to cross it off the list. So here goes!

1. Drink more water.
2. Try new foods. Get Thai food with Mark at least once.
3. Follow the two daily devotionals that I received for Christmas for a full year.
4. Read our Dave Ramsey book and fine tune our budget.
5. Make at least one thing for our home each month.
6. Make curtains for our family room, rec room, and kitchen, and the boys' room.
7. Blog more often.
8. Develop and maintain a house cleaning schedule.
9. Take a weekend trip with just Mark.
10. Teach Kolbe how to read.
11. Teach Reagan his full alphabet and numbers.
12. Develop and implement a manageable discipline system.
13. Pray the rosary more.
14. Find a way to volunteer with the children.
15. Actively listen more.
16. Less cell phone.
17. Purge our house and donate items at least six times.
18. Take a mini family (overnight) vacation.
19. Write and send a meaningful letter once a month.
20. Treat myself to a spa day- hair, pedicure and manicure.
21. Meet my yearly business goal for my shop.

Ahhh! When looking at it all typed out, it sure does seem like a lot. And Lord knows if I tried to achieve this all in say, one month, it would be a lost cause. Thank goodness there are twelve!  Annnnnnnnnd we're off!