TTT: Season 3, Episode 30

1. I've long professed my love of Pinterest, the internet "pinboard" that many have become hooked on. I started pinning right around the time that Grant was born and it kept me awake through many, many late nights of nursing. And yes, I'll admit that there are quite a few Pinterest inspired home decor items in our home. Hey, moving in to a new house just shortly before joining Pinterest was just too perfect of a match! But I'm definitely guilty of the long running Pinterest joke summing up to pinning hundreds of things that you never actually do. There's tons of fantastic ideas, just not always the time and funds to make them happen. That being said, I've been trying to go back through and do some of the fun summer related ones that I knew the boys would love back when I pinned them. This past week I had to run to Home Depot for an air filter and while we were there we picked up a large, plastic painter's tarp. The next morning, we folded it in half and taped up the three open sides, filled the whole thing with water and then had a blast on our massive backyard water bed. It kept the big boys entertained for a full two hours, and really, the fun only ended because the water bed got too hot to touch!

2. I mentioned last week that my helper, Angelina, started helping me out last week. She has been coming over for a couple of hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and man, have I ever been grateful for her help! I've been keeping her busy with cutting fabric, a task I had gotten used to doing several times a week at night after Mark and the kids were in bed. She's also been able to help out with editing pictures for me and has been learning the fine art of creating baby linens. Bless her heart, she's done really well with keeping up with my "scattered-ness." I try to have my act together when she shows up, but it doesn't always happen that day. For example, today, right as she was walking in, Rudy went streaking across the room in all his naked glory! He had snuck out of his room where he was supposed to be napping to go to the bathroom and was apparently not able to his skivvies back on. But I've really enjoyed getting to know Angelina so far and am loving that I finally have some scheduled help with my shop!

3. Can we all just pause for a moment in recognition of the fact that the opening ceremonies for the Summer Olympics is tomorrow!?! yay, YaY, YAAAY! I know I'm really a dork when it comes to this, but I love the Olympics. I prefer summer, but the winter ones are good too. It's all just so fun to me...the competition, the pageantry, the emotion...all of it. Plus, the back stories just add to the drama of it all. It's kind of like an awesome reality TV series that's on every day and night for two straight weeks. And I think all of us at one time or another dream/wish/imagine what it would be like to be completely all-in 100% dedicated to something to point of being the best in the world. (I mean, if being a mom was an Olympic event, I'd at least want to give it a shot. Ha!) But anyhow, I'm going to give the boys a week or so of putting up with my obsession so they can see what it's really about and then I'm planning to have our own little kiddie Olympics. While checking out at Joann a few weeks ago, I spotted play Olympic medals in the dollar bin and knew we just had to have our own version of the games. Can't wait!

Playing on the water bed

I tried to stick a beach umbrella out in the yard to provide a little shade but it still got pretty hot!

My boys have their dad's skin. All three of them! Lucky boys! Sun screen or not, they never burn. Just get darker. Not me. Jealous. So now they all have adorable little white fannies.

Aaaaaand the fourth picture in a row that my kids aren't fully clothed! Hey, it's summer time! Just enjoying a little lunch after getting home from the pool.

My boys. I love this picture. Love. 'Cause this is just exactly how they are. Hanging with Dad on an early weekend morning, this is how I imagine them in my mind.

TTT: Season 3, Episode 29

1. Itellyouwhat, last Friday when I sat down to write my late blog post, I certainly had no idea what I had in store for the rest of the day! With Ben and Erin in town (and other family scheduled to arrive that night), the plan was to take the kiddos over to my parents, have a little double date at a local restaurant, and then head back to my parents where hopefully Pat, Abby, Andy, and nephews would have arrived. Instead, when we arrived at my parents house, I was greeted with an awesome surprise 30th birthday party! Being the goon that I am (and my mind being a million other places than at a party) my first reaction upon walking in the door and seeing a huge crowd of people dressed up in sombreros and fake mustaches was more of confusion that surprise. I spun around to see if the surprise was for someone behind me, and really, it took me a sec to realize it was for me! I was expecting to see some people (the aforementioned Pat, Andy, Abby...) but then there were plenty more who I had no idea were coming out to surprise me. My cousin Mandi, her husband Joe, and their three little ones drove all the way down from Lubbock just for the weekend to be at the party. My cousin Kristen came over from Austin. Our good friends Jared and Katie were in town for the wedding but drove up from Katy for the party. And of course my beloved local aunt and uncle, Kirk and Cathy and cousin Helen were there too. I can only speak for myself, but I think it's safe to say that a LOT of fun was had by all! The house was strewn with fiesta decor and a plethora of pictures of yours truly throughout the years. Plus plenty of good Mexican food from Berryhill, Mexican beer and my dad's margaritas, my favorite German chocolate cake...I know...that totally busted the whole Mexican theme, ha!...and the most awesome homemade pinata ever! You know, I may not get to see my family all that often or my nearest and dearest friends, but can I just say that between this weekend and the one we spent with Mark's family on my actual birthday, it's very safe to say that I have the best family and friends in the whole world. I look at my life and see how richly God has blessed me and am just so thankful. Any chance I can turn thirty again next year!?!

2. So after the huge hullabaloo that was my 30th birthday party, we got to spend an enjoyable Saturday morning with Mandi and her crew, and Erin and Jacob. It was fun to have the kids together and certainly made me reminisce on our days in Lubbock. Then it was time to get ready for Lisa's wedding. As discussed in last week's post, the rain decided to make it's daily appearance right as we were leaving for the church, but luckily it cleared up just in time. Lisa's wedding was beautiful! I did spend a good majority of the time in the back with tweedledoo, but quickly discovered that the back isn't exactly a bad place when attending a wedding mass. I got to see every last bit of it...without having to stand on tippy toes or lean around someone! After the wedding, we headed back to The Woodlands for the reception. It was held at a local Country bar/restaurant that is famous for hosting country artists in a more intimate setting. It was perfect for Lisa's Texas themed reception. We may have pushed the kids a bit by dancing the night away, but hey, we only get to attend a wedding every so often so exceptions just have to be made! Plus, they were having a blast too. Most of all, we loved getting to see Miss Lisa in love. It was so refreshing to see a couple just completely head over heals for each other and completely proud and confident in their love for each other and God. Such a fun, fun night!

3. There's too many other things that I want to talk about so we'll go random for Numero Tres.
- We had so much fun with Ben, Erin, and Jacob. There was that awkward I-wonder-if-its-going-to-be-the-same-as-it-used-to-be question in our minds before they came. It was squashed the second they arrived. We love them. Mwah!
- My "shop assistant" started this week on Tuesday! Yaaaaaaaaaay! Especially since I got like nine million orders over the weekend while I wasn't working. She'll be back today to help again. She's adorable.
- My parents are awesome. They helped me with the boys Monday and Tuesday so I could get caught up a bit.
- I have hormonal issues. No, not of the psychotic nature. More of the dermatological nature. Anyone know what to do with dry bumpy patches on the face that just won't go away? They've been there in varying degrees of bad for a few months. I've tried: coconut oil, cetaphil lotion, neosporin, hydrocortisone, etc. All the usual suspects.
- Kolbe got on our bathroom scale yesterday and weighed thirty-five pounds. That's good for him! I was proud. Until he asked me how much I weigh. I told him one hundred pounds more than that. And his response was, "Wow, Mom. You're real fat." Didn't help with the hormonal issues.
- After the surprise party/wedding weekend, I now have two big blog posts of pictures I want to do. This one and the birthday extravaganza from a few weeks ago. Must. Get. Pictures. From. All. Cameras. Present!
- I know I already mentioned this once, but I love my life. Love, love, love it!

People that are awesome: My cousin, Mandi. She made this pinata for the party! And let me just tell you she did not go cheap on the cardboard! I had to go at it with a real baseball bat! And it was filled with plenty of "granny items", my favorite candies: Riesens, Reeses, Haribo gummies, Coke gummies, and butterscotch candies, lotto tickets, and little mini bottles of liquor. I suppose a little rum in my Coke after the kids go to bed isn't such a bad idea!

Rudy "mustache" you a question....Mom, so when are you going on your date!?! (he was obviously not let in on the secret!)

Helen, Pat, and Kristen...if ever there were three peas in a pod, it could easily be them.

Dancing with my Daddy...there's nothing in the world quite like it!

See! Not such a bad view from the back!

Partying cousins! (one of many, many pictures from the reception...can't wait to see and share more!)

Obligatory picture of Happy Baby! Because, really, he is that cute. And as of today, I think he's officially a walker!

TTT: Season 3, Episode 28

1. Yet another week of lateness...hey, at least this week I'm not a full week late! Our revolving door of house guests was busy spinning yesterday as our best buds Ben and Erin Johnson arrived with one of our godsons, Jacob. This is their first visit down to The Woodlands since we moved here and we're so excited to have them here! Plus, they're coming down to attend a dear friend's wedding along with a lot of our other Lubbock friends and family and we can't wait to see everyone! It's kind of like a Lubbock reunion of sorts, but on our turf! Two of my four brothers will be here, a sister-in-law, two nephews (one of which is our other godson) plus lots and lots of college friends...sounds like the recipe for a fun wedding weekend. We are really loving having visitors!!!

2. We gave Mr. Jacob Grant's room to sleep in so Grant is sleeping down in our room in his pack-n-play. Last night, when Mark and I went in to get ready for bed, our too-loud talking woke the little guy up and he was not having any part in going back to sleep right away. Since Mark had an early morning surgery, I took the fella out to the family room and gave him some milk. With the lights out, we curled up on the red rocking recliner and my baby Grant actually snuggled with me! I've said this before, and I'll say it again: Grant's sleeping habits are definitely a bittersweet aspect of his babyhood. He sleeps like a champ. Just toss him in the crib and he's done. No crying. Just instant sleep. But that's the only way he'll go to sleep. He never nursed to sleep. Never rocked to sleep. Heck, he never even wanted to be held to sleep! So 'sweet' in that he's a super easy baby to put down which is nice with two other little ones needing attention. But 'bitter' in that I've completely missed out on cuddling my baby which to me, feels so essential to being a mama. But back to the rocking recliner. He curled right up and rested his head just beneath my collar, closed his eyes, and went right on to sleep. And for ten wonderful minutes I soaked in all of his baby-ness. Listened to his sweet baby breaths, smelled his fluffy baby hair, felt his soft baby skin. Of course, every time I tried to pat his back or smooth his cheek, he fidgeted and squirmed, so just ten minutes it was, but a lovely ten minutes. He's growing so quickly and it feels like his baby-ness is fading right before my eyes. I'll want to kill for those exact same ten minutes in years to come.

3. Beyond preparing for our friends to arrive, this week has been a whole lot of nothing. The boys and I have felt a bit like caged animals due to one thing:

Last year I think we topped out at about a total of five or six rainy days the entire summer. This year, throughout May and June we had several rainy days but no more than one a week. But this past week has pretty much been non-stop. It's been at least a full week since we last went to the pool. And I won't lie--we've had several movie days recently! I've got active boys. And I'm a pretty stir crazy mama! So, while we do love not having to water the yard, we're not really fans of the non-stop variety of rain. I don't see how people in places like Seattle do it! It has been off and on, but still, at least some every. single. day. And don't you know that in Houston, it makes for one amazing steam pit of an outdoors when it's not raining! Here's to a dryer week...and hopefully a dry wedding for our good friend, Lisa!

I did a bad job of taking pictures this week... just a couple of the boys working on math!

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, Episodes 25 AND 26

I know, I know.
I missed last week. Believe me...I heard about it from more than one source! And it still makes me blush just a little bit to know that there are people out there who knowingly go to check on our blog every Thursday without the blaring link on Facebook. You are all to kind to care for our family like you do!

Anyhow, two weeks have passed since I last wrote. Two action packed, totally chaotic, but immensely fun weeks! I did remember to write last Thursday; I just didn't do it. Because the next day I had eight orders to finish up, "closing ceremonies" for Vacation Bible School to attend, tons and tons a food to cook for arriving guest, oh, and a house to get ready, too. So I opted for sleep instead of writing. And the boys had been at VBS all week anyway, so really, I didn't have too much to talk about other everything I had accomplished with just Grant and me. And I could hear Mark singing Toby Keith's "I Wanna Talk About Me...." over and over in my head. So I just let Thursday pass on to Friday and swept the ol' blog under the rug.

But I'm back! And I've got a ton of pictures to unload on you. I think the photos will serve well to tell the stories of the past two weeks. Really, I know there are way too many, but editing anything out would just be impossible. So here we go!

Father's Day! Mark was on-call that morning but we greeted him with presents when he got back home. One of which was a Texas flag for his developing man-garage. See our mengy looking children? We remedied that later that day.

Gotta start a Father's Day race with a good three point stance. I think Rudy jumped the gun.

After eating Mexican food for lunch, we stopped by the barber shop next door and got hair cuts for the big boys. And no, we didn't leave Rudy's in a chili bowl. Had to get a picture of it though! We later had dinner at my parents and celebrated with Pa. Apparently I didn't take any pictures. :(

First day of Vacation Bible School! I was a little worried as this was the first time for the boys to do anything without Mama or another family member...ever. I know. Probably time to cut the cord a bit! The part that worried me was that our church's program ran from 8-3 every day. That's a looooong time for little guys! Especially Rudy with no nap. They were both put in the 4 year old class so Rudy could be with Kolbe and their teacher was a good friend of my mom's that I feel really comfortable with...we see her at mass weekly and she was a perfect fit for the boys. They loved it!

But Rudy looked like this every day once we got home! He still definitely needs his nap!

On Friday night, Uncle Brian, Aunt Cristi, G-ma, and Papa Jeep all arrived for our Birthday Extravaganza! Saturday morning we all woke up and went to the Rob  Fleming Aquatic Center...one of The Woodlands pools that has a full out adult size water slide, a lazy river, and a good kiddie section too. We had a blast!!!

The birthday boys getting a little swimming in!

On Saturday night, my mom came over and watched the boys so that all the adult Asmussens could go out for a nice dinner at Brio, home of my favorite meal...the gogonzola steak. Mark's dad, aka Papa Jeep, was turning sixty on Sunday and I was turning thirty on Monday so we got to do a little pre-celebrating sans kiddos. Here are the original Asmussens!

And then with the "outlaws" included!

Kolbe did a great job of decorating cupcakes for our Sunday birthday parties!

Love, love, love this picture! Papa Jeep and Baby Grant turned sixty and one (respectively) on Sunday!

I'm going to post a whole series of pictures depicting Grant's take down of his birthday cake. It's just too good to miss! 'Cause even though this shot is good, it doesn't fully do it justice. At one, Kolbe was afraid of his cake, Rudy kind of poked and prodded but didn't do much. But Grant more than made up for their passive behavior. He was a monster! And though the cake ended up looking like mass destruction, Mark and I were guessing that he actually ate roughly 4-5 real bites. It was hysterical! He loves to make a mess!

Papa Jeep, Brian, and Cristi had to leave Sunday night, but G-ma is with us until this weekend. We headed over to my parents' house on Monday to celebrate my birthday a little more and enjoyed pizza, German chocolate cake, and margaritas. Nothing like turning thirty with both sippy cups and maragaritas on the table and a baby on your hip! I'm one blessed lady.

The pretty stacker rings that the boys gave me for my birthday...Love them! And love that Mark set up his own etsy account to order them for me! Mark also got me a Dyson. And I've run the vacuum at least 4 times in the past few days. I also got a neat chest for the top of the stairs that I'm working on decorating. It was a great birthday!

We have loved having G-ma here this week! She is so helpful and the boys just have a blast with her. And Grant has definitely fallen in love with his G-ma!

We've had so much fun that yesterday, even Kolbe, Mr. I-Don't-Take-Naps-Anymore, dozed off for a little snooze with his G-ma.

So as you can see, we've been up to so, so much and have been loving every minute of it. There are so many more pictures floating around out there that I haven't lifted off of everyone else's cameras so maybe later this week I'll make up for my missed post with a second photo post to include all the other good ones. I have to tell you all, we are such a blessed little family. Life is so good!

TTT: Season 3, Episode 24

1. It's been a pretty long day here at the Asmussen Ranch. It's safe to say that we've come down with our first (and hopefully only!) summer cold. Coughs, runny noses, watery eyes...just a whole bunch of the plain-ol'-don't-feel-goods. Kolbe and Rudy try to soldier on as if nothing is wrong, but Rudy has nearly no voice left and Kolbe voluntarily got in his bed during quiet time...he said to read books...and ended up taking a full nap. When Kolbe naps, you know he doesn't feel right! But Grant has definitely been the worse. Poor fella. His little nose is like a faucet. And he rubs his eyes constantly because they're watery. And on top of that, he's got two little red spots on his bottom gums. Possibly time for a few more teeth. Hopefully this all blows over pretty quickly, because we've got a lot going on in the next two weeks! Vacation Bible School next week, then the birthday weekend extravaganza (Mark's mom, dad, brother and sister-in-law are all coming to town to celebrate Grant's first, my thirtieth, and Mark's dad's sixtieth!), and then a week with G-ma. Can't be sick for any of that!

2. So last week I went on a rant about Mark working long hours and just feeling totally spent with taking care of the kiddos. Luckily, we had a fantastic weekend and Mark was able to take the boys several times and give me a break. So I got to start the week with my batteries recharged. And reading back through my rant, I realized that I probably sounded a bit cuckoo. Because the truth is, I've got it good compared to most people. And so does Mark. Mark finally has a job that he's enjoying, co-workers who treat him really well, and a lot of room to grow and learn with what he's doing. Not to mention the fact that the dreaded pager is a thing of the past and he's on-call way less frequently than before. And hello! I'm getting to live out my dream job in a great house with great children. My husband works hard for us so we can have all of the things we need and many of the things we just want. Life is good. So good. I've got a blessed life and have absolutely no room to complain. So I won't. That is, until the next time I feel totally overwhelmed. (but I'll try not to!)

3. Last week I also mentioned needing to take some sort of action with my little shop. I don't even know why I call it a little shop any more. Being honest, it's not little. Not little when it comes to just one person running it. It went from "steady business" meaning six to ten orders a week to "steady business" meaning six to ten orders a day. And though I try, I feel like I've reached the point where it's just too hard for me to keep up with it without sacrificing time or the quality of the time I have with the boys. I've never wanted my shop to become one of those shops where it takes multiple weeks for orders to ship. I've been running on a seven day production time for months now and that's the longest I want to go. But it's reached the point where I'm intentionally not renewing listings because I know I can't take any more orders for the day. And I always wake up the next morning to several "convos" (as they're called on etsy) saying "I'm trying to order two changing pad covers from you and it says they're unavailable. Are you still making them?" Responding with "Yes, but I purposely didn't re-list because I knew I wouldn't be able to get your order done within the next seven days" seems crazy. So anyway, I'm sure you get the jest of what I'm getting at. I've reached the point where I either decide to keep struggling along, find a way to cut the business off/ slow it down, or find someone to help me with it. And I've decided to go with the last option. I'm shutting the shop down for a week while Mark's family is in town, but when I open back up I'm planning to have a new helper in place. I've got to work on creating a job responsibility list and finding someone to fill the spot. I'm hoping to find a high school-age girl who can come by a few times a week for a few hours at a time to help with cutting fabric, folding, tagging, and packaging orders, printing shipping, and keeping up with the inventory. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully I'll be looking back and saying it's the best move I ever made for my not-so-little shop.

I'm sure you've all heard the saying that when you have kids and it suddenly gets quiet, something bad is probably going on. Kolbe has finally reached the point where that's not always the case. He often disappears now and can be found coloring or writing all on his own. He's turning in to a real boy. Bittersweet.

We had a whopper of a storm the other day. I was on my way to my parent's house and as I left the sky was dark so I checked the weather ap on my phone and it said we only had a 30% chance of rain. But by the time we got to my parent's it was full-on chaos. I was supposed to be in that turning lane above. Not so much. So many trees fell in The Woodlands. They were everywhere!

Last Friday I was working on some laundry and asked Kolbe if he'd fold and stack all the wash rags while I got Grant down for his nap. Twenty minutes later I went down to my bathroom and found this. How awesome is my kid!?! He said the stack kept falling over so he just laid it sideways. Ha! Usually I just fold them in half once and then in half again...he opted for the three fold process, making them look like tiny spa towels, and I simply couldn't bring myself to change them. They went in to the drawer just like that. He was so proud. And so was I.

My precious little baby and me! (I'm going to keep calling him that as long as possible, because it's definitely fading away way too quickly)

Peekaboo, Grant!

Two brothers sliding at the mall playground (that's probably where we picked up the cold!)

The Woodlands has thirteen different pools and we're on a mission to hit them all by the end of the season. This one was a lot of fun! This entire play structure area is only a foot and a half deep so it's super easy to let the boys go wild without having to worry too much about them.

Kolbe during his voluntary nap...they're all about the swimming and now all about the goggles! I walked in and found him just like this.

Trying out their new goggles in the bath tub!

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!