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Back to My Successes!

I love Small Successes!  Sometimes they are enough to keep me blogging when I feel like I have nothing to report.  Sometimes (when I have a ton to report) they hold me back.  Sometimes I skipped them for months because I just don’t blog the way I dreamed I would when this blog started. 

That having been said – I’m back to the original point – I love Small Successes! It reminds me of what I’ve accomplished each week.  There’s simply nothing like celebrating the little things because those are the things most often overlooked.  So behold…here are my successes this week:

1.  I dug the “to-do” notebook out of the pile of “to-deal-with-later.” So I now have a list (albeit long) of things that need to get done.  Blogging was on this list.  I’ve written 4 (this is 5) posts today.  Check all five of those off the list.  Look! It’s getting shorter by the minute!  Now to tackle some of the more pressing issues like faxing papers to doctors’ offices, completing some sewing projects that have been looming forever, and knocking some gift-buying out. 

2.  We took John for allergy testing.  I was originally pretty apprehensive of doing it, but it has been recommended by John’s pediatrician, his speech therapist, his teacher and most recently an ER doctor following a 4AM ambulance ride to the hospital.  The results show he’s basically allergic to the great outdoors during the spring, summer and fall.  (Oh, and cats)  So we’re trying some meds first. In 8 weeks we’ll re-evaluate to see how he is responding.  Right now we’re trying to avoid allergy shots – although they may very well be in his future.

3.  (This is really Nathan’s success!)  Nathan peed in the potty!  Just once and after leaking on the floor….but it looks like we may be on the way to potty training.  I’m cautiously optimistic.  While I love the idea of not buying diapers, I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to potty train him while driving John all over town for different appointments, preschool, and practices.  I know other families do it so I’m sure I’ll figure it out.  But with John I just committed a week at home and we did it.  I’m thinking it may be a different story this time around.

4.  (And it should be noted that this is really John’s success!)  We had John’s parent/teacher conference early this morning.  He got an absolutely glowing review from his teacher.  Apparently he’s a great listener, rule follower, super smart, has excellent fine motor skills and is generally a hard worker (at least for 2 1/2 hours, 5 days a week).  On his writing skills tests he needs a little work on drawing a person and he called a ‘crescent’ a ‘moon’ on his shapes test.    Not bad if you ask me!  Top that off with a conference with his school speech therapist who claims he has met or surpassed all but one of his speech goals for the school year (and it’s only October!).

Yay for Small Successes!    I’m excited to get back on the bandwagon with them again.  Not to mention that I now have the aforementioned “to-do” notebook back in my arsenal…I’ll be getting so much more done!

Weddings, Weddings, Everywhere!

It’s been a long time since I’ve been on the blog!  I hate that.  But I always seem to lose track of the blog during the summer months.  What can I say – we get so busy playing, traveling, swimming, and generally spending time outside, that I just can’t find the time to sit in front of a computer.  Even in the evening – would you rather sit at the computer or enjoy a cold beer poolside with the neighbors?  Yeah, I’m gonna drink that beer!

So what did the summer look like for us?  Well, we’ve been in full on wedding mode around our house for the last few months.  My baby (ok – I acknowledge that she is 23 years old) sister got married to a great man who I’m happy to call my brother.  I had the privilege of being the Matron of Honor so with that came the work of bridal shower, bachelorette party, errand running and activity planning.  Despite the priest missing the rehearsal and dinner – everything worked out and in the end she had a great day and a wonderful wedding.  A big thanks to my in-laws who helped man-handle our boys while I was busy tending to wedding day obligations!

That was wedding #1 this year!  A few weeks ago we dressed up the whole family for Matt’s little sister’s wedding.  We packed the whole family up and spent a week in San Antonio.  It was a great day for the everyone.  Both boys managed to walk down the aisle without tears, Matt and I loved being part of the wedding party, and despite a missing mariachi band, the reception was a blast!  This time the thanks go to my family for taking time off to travel to TX for the purpose of babysitting children!  We are so blessed to have great family supporting us!!!!

Well, that completes the wedding post for this summer.  I’m going to try to back-date a few posts with important events like birthday parties, family vacations, John’s first soccer season, medical updates and more.  Hang in there – I’ll get everyone caught back up as quickly as I can!

First Official Family Vacation

Yay!  We had our first, official, family vacation!  No extra grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, or the like….just our little family of four.  And it was a huge success!

First we spent a few days in Louisville.  I know it’s not necessarily a sought-after vacation destination….but it worked for us.  It was drivable, had stuff for kids to do, was reasonably priced, and most importantly, was close enough to Santa Claus, IN to justify spending the end of the vacation there!  Not that I think Santa Claus, IN is any more of a destination, but we wanted to take the boys to Holiday World for a few days.

Louisville’s first stop was the Churchill Downs.  We took a quick tour of the track, moseyed through the museum, (pretend) bet on old races without knowing the outcomes, and saw a retired racehorse. 

While in Louisville we also managed to fit in a horse and carriage ride around downtown and a trip to the Louisville Zoo.  Thanks to our STL Zoo membership we got into the Louisville Zoo for free courtesy of a reciprocal agreement.  The boys loved the zoo and their super cool zoo key that told the kids about each animal as they wandered the grounds (seriously – it was $4 well spent!).

Now – for Holiday World!  It’s a great amusement park complete with water park inside.  Admission prices are based on height (because that’s what determines how many of the rides you can ride!) and soft drinks, sunscreen and shows are all free once you’re inside the park.  Everything has a holiday theme – so you wander from Christmas to Halloween to Fourth of July to Thanksgiving as you enjoy the day.

Nathan just barely made the 36in mark (we’re talking cm to spare here!) so he could even ride a few of the big kid rides.  We got the boys on the log flume, two of the big water rides, and enough kiddie rides to last a lifetime.  The first day we arrived at opening and left 30 minutes before they closed.  Nathan actually fell asleep while cruising one of two lazy rivers – so we just carried him to a shady spot and made a bed out of beach towels for a few hours!

 

If you buy your “next day” ticket before you leave the park – it’s half price!  So back we went for day 2.  Although our second trip was much shorter – we had to drive home that evening – we did manage to fit in a visit with Santa Claus during one of his daily story times. 

We had a great time celebrating our little family!  No work had to be done, no speech therapy sessions to attend, no doctor appointments or the like.  Just some fun and relaxation for the four of us!  Priceless!

Oh Two-dles!

I can’t believe that I have a 2 year old!  And a 3 year old!?!?!  When did that happen?  Nathan opted for a Mickey Mouse birthday party this year.  Not a big surprise since he pretty much wants to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse all day, every day. 

We managed to squeeze his second birthday party in between Lizzy’s rehearsal dinner on Thursday and her wedding on Saturday.  I mean, it’s not like we had anything else going on….right?  Convenience was the key so we grilled hot dogs (hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog) to serve with picnic staples like chips and salad.  We had lots of neighbors, all the family (thanks to everyone being in town for the wedding!) and a handful of MOMS Club friends over for the BBQ. 

Nathan, of course, was spoiled rotten by friends and family when it came to gifts.  We have enough toys and books to open our own toy store!  And in keeping with tradition, my 2 year-old got upgraded to a big kid bed courtesy of his maternal grandparents.  There were some questions about the ability to fit two twin size car beds into the boys’ little  bedroom, but sure enough they fit and both boys are ecstatic.

I know the picture is small….but trust me – they are both grinning from ear to ear!  And naturally, being boys, it took them about 30 seconds to realize they could jump from one bed to the other.  *sigh*

 

Happy Birthday Little Man! 

Mommy and Daddy LOVE you more than you’ll ever know!

Better Late Than Never

Another week has passed.  My how time just flies by once the weather warms up! We’ve had the pleasure of hosting Matt’s younger cousin, Stephanie, this past week.  So aside from having a little extra laundry and a few more dishes, we’ve also been busy playing tour guide.

It’s been a great week so let me share some of those successes with you!

1.  Despite the fact that Stephanie’s unexpected arrival conflicted with naptime, I managed to get to the airport on time to pick her up.  She was flying stand-by (thanks to Air-Tran’s awesome college student program) so we were kind of at a whim for when she would arrive. 

2.  We spent Saturday at the zoo enjoying the beautiful weather, animals and, of course, the choo-choo train.  The boys had a blast.  Stephanie spent a great deal of time trying to figure out how it was possible that our zoo is free to the public, and we enjoyed a picnic lunch right by the 1904 flight cage in the zoo.  A good day had by all!

3. I worked out a deal with John’s speech therapist to enroll John in speech camp this summer.  There is no way we could possibly afford the speech camp without blowing our current budget.  Luckily, our speech therapist LOVES John and despises anything related to food (i.e. cooking, shopping).  So – I’ll provide the snacks/drinks for camp each day (4 kids, 3 days a week, 4 weeks) and in return John gets to attend speech camp.   I’m certain God had his hand in this!

4.  Managed to use up most of the produce from the co-op again this time around.  I love all the fresh fruits and veggies of summer.  In fact, we just made carrot/apple/orange juice for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up.  Yay!

5. When I was ready to sit down and type up this post early this morning…I didn’t.  Now wait!  This really is a success!  I sat down in my chair outside on the front drive, turned on the computer, opened the program, and heard, “Maaa-meee, we’re ready!”  Upon peering over the screen I saw two little boys, buckled into the wagon, smiling contently.  So I closed up the computer and tossed it back inside the garage door….and we went for a stroll through the neighborhood.  See?!?!?  Wasn’t that a much better use of my time?

Make sure to surf on over to CatholicMom for a chance to read up on other Small Successes.  It’s a great way to remind yourself that the small things in life can really add up to great victories. 

Busy Week

We’ve been on the go this past week.  Bustling around town doing different things seems to make the warm weather season fly by!  But who can resist spending the days out carousing around town when the sun is shining and the skies are bright blue?

*On Friday last week Matt took a (rare) random day off or as we like to call them in our family – a mental health day.  We took the boys to the Museum of Transportation.  They enjoyed two train rides around the grounds, spent lots of time in the Discovery Zone (which is basically a little boys dream playroom with every “transportation” toy known to man), and loved crawling on and wandering through all the train cars.

*We have been spending a ton of time outside playing.  John is still in love with his Power Wheels tractor and Nathan runs from one activity to another.  Both boys are enjoying their swing set and love playing on the slide together.  As a bonus – I’ve gotten some work done in the yard and garden.

*Spent the early part of this week cleaning and organizing the art/craft closet.  I didn’t feel like trekking out on the one rainy morning of the week so I tackled the closet instead.  I’m happy with the results!  And just as soon as my hubby gets home from his business trip I’ll be even happier (he’s been assigned the duty of moving the wall mounted fire extinguisher that hangs in the closet).

*Wednesday was John’s last day of Early Childhood!  Next year he’ll be attending Pre-K so he’ll be at a different school with a different teacher.  We’re thrilled he’s progressing enough to move to Pre-K but it will bring with it some new challenges.  The school bus won’t pick him up next year (something he’ll be extremely disappointed by once he figures it out) so I’ll have to drop him off and pick him up 5 days a week at a school across town. Luckily, he’s in the morning program so drop off is at 8am and pick up is at 10:30am (no naptime interference).  It will be a transition for everyone!

*Made tentative plans to take a Friday Field Trip this week.  Assuming one of our buddies are free we’ll be headed to the Butterfly House tomorrow.  I’m excited as I haven’t been there since I was a kiddo and we have had free carousal tickets for a little over a year now!  We’re going to try to make Friday Field Trips a regular thing this summer.  Mommy is excited even if the toddlers have no clue…

*Just to share a joyful moment – as I sit here in the bathroom typing up my post while the little boys bathe…..I just want to ask….is there anything better than little boys giggling in a bathtub and the echoes that bounce off the walls from such delight?  I think not!

Sherry is hosting Small Successes over at CatholicMom nowadays.  Make sure to surf on over and celebrate the successes of other great moms!