What happened to the plan?

How is Wednesday treating everyone? We're trudging along over here. :) I am a planner and I kept trying to plan out my day. The problem was, I kept changing my mind! This means I ran out of time to get that much accomplished. First the focus was the gym then I started second guessing myself as to when to go because of Ava's nap. Then I decided I'd hit the commissary because Ava would sleep in the bjorn while I shopped. That sounded good until I briefly forgot that I needed to buy Dylan pull-ups today (he only uses them when he sleeps) and started planning for the gym again. Ava started showing signs of getting tired so then I was going to stay home so I threw a load of laundry in. Then...I remember Dylan's pull-ups. Yikes!!! I have to go to the store! So after spending an hour going back and forth, we're off to the store. My most exciting purchase of the day was free razors and refill blades! They weren't even disposable razors! There was a coupon online recently for $5 off and the commissary had them on sale for $5. SCORE!!!

I don't know why it won't turn!

Ava let me take a quick shower as she sat screaming at the shower. At that point I remembered I needed to run to Joann's for some tulle. I swear my brain hasn't been holding information very well lately.  The kiddos are getting pictures taken on Friday and I decided that Ava would look cute in a tutu. Anyway, by the time we get there Ava is asleep. The carrier is so heavy, but my plan is to run in real quick and I don't want to wake her. So...I carry her in the carrier. Two ladies walk in right before me and take the last free cart! Now if they hadn't see me hefting Ava, I wouldn't mind so much, but they looked right at me! I had to go inside and find someone who worked there to help me move the motorized scooter out of the way. Throughout all of that, Ava was still asleep. Whew! Now I have 15-20 min. max to get the tulle before having to pick up Dylan from school. I think everyone decided to get fabric cut at that exact same time! I had to leave my stuff on the counter without getting anything. :( I do realize that if I had planned a bit better, I would have given myself more time and probably had been able to start the project. Oh well. I tried to talk Dylan into going back after school, but his reply, "Do that later Mommy!"

Dylan gets 30 min. of playtime before nap and I thought this was so funny. Ava wants to play with him so badly, but he doesn't want her to touch anything!

Throughout the day and during naptime, I have been "sampling" the cookie dough I made yesterday. I think I've eaten more dough than anything else today! Thankfully when Dylan got up he asked to finish the cookies!

This is mixing it up yesterday



Can you guess who placed the dough?



Yummy!

Now the kiddos are playing together, the house smells like snickerdoodles and I'm drinking my 2nd cup of coffee.

Not bad for a day of running around!

Little Successes

The last couple of days have had a common theme. I plan one thing and it seems to go in a different direction. For this reason, I'm focusing on the little successes of the day.

Everyone woke up in a great mood! Woohoo!

Such a happy girl!

I had my coffee when I first got up. Woohoo!

It's free when you buy Scott's flip flops!

I had decided this morning that I was going to take both kids to Child Watch at the gym to start the week off postive. I talked up Child Watch to Dylan since he hadn't been in almost a year. He was pretty excited to play with all of the toys. I was impressed with myself, I gotta say, we all were dressed, fed and at the gym by 8:30am. Woohoo! That is HUGE! So I'm checking the kiddos in and Dylan's eyes start filling with tears. Oh no...the enthusiasm is gone and is being replaced with anxiety. So I'm using my excited mommy voice to tell Dylan how much fun he is going to have. When I left he was sitting next to Ava not looking so happy.

My intention was to try the Zumba class. I haven't tried Zumba before. When I peeked in, the class wasn't full and it wasn't really my age group. So...I decided to head to the machines instead. I ran into a friend and chatted way to long. I should have jumped on the bike next to her so I could talk and sweat. So...by the time I get on the treadmill, I feel like I need to make up for lost time. About 15min into the run, here comes the lady in the purple shirt. Oh no!! Which one is it...Ava or Dylan?! Ava needs a diaper change. So now I'm thinking, I haven't been working out for very long, but I don't know if Dylan is going to let me take off again. He was fine when I walked in and Ava was screaming. While I'm taking care of her business Dylan is telling me he wants to go home...he's done playing. So as I'm doing my mommy thing, I'm working through how I want to handle this. I decide that I'm waving the white flag. Ava wants to nap and if I make Dylan stay longer he may never want to come back again. So, I burned 200 calories at the gym. I decide that my success wasn't the workout today, it's was getting both kiddos there early.

In an attempt to keep up the sweat, Dylan and I turn on the Wii for a little boxing. It was an ok workout at this point. It think I was mentally done. Oh well, Dylan had a good time so all is good.

We head off to our fun playdate a little late, but hey...we're going!! We had such a great time and Dylan worked out all sorts of energy.

He was even using a pick! A future musician!

"No picture Mommy! Later!"

Ava's buddy Ethan

Her new favorite sound/talent...raspberries!

On the way home Dylan and I sang every kid song I could think of so he wouldn't fall asleep. Score! We get home and he is still awake!

Last but not least, both kiddos are now sleeping and went down without a fight.

So...this morning may have been a bit hectic and different than I planned, but it was good.  I think Dylan forgot all about his trauma this morning after seeing his friends this afternoon.  Next up...how will the 2 yr old wake up? I'm hoping with a smile. :)

We Have a Betty White On Our Hands

I know everyone has seen this Snickers commercial by now. You know, the one where Betty White is playing football and she is in a foul mood, but after a Snickers the "cool" friend returns.

Dylan is Betty White! That's now our code name for Dylan when he needs food immediately. Betty White surfaced this afternoon as we were leaving a birthday party at Jambo. Now let me share some of the fun we had at Jambo first. :) It was Dylan's friend, Ava's 3rd birthday. Jambo is an indoor amusement park with cute little rides for the kiddos. Dylan was so excited to try out all the rides that he only ate half of a cupcake.

He swore that he wasn't hungry at all. Now, I've tried to trick him in the past, but in a situation like this...we just have to go with it. Before and after this healthy little snack he played on the rides.

He's very serious on these rides then when he gets off, he jumps up and down with great enthusiasm. While Dylan rode rides and Mom took pictures, Ava was Daddy's girl.

So after a fun afternoon, Dylan totally loses it on the way to the car that lasts half of our drive home. It's funny though, after a bag of Teddy Grahams (thanks to the goody bag) our Betty White turns back into Dylan. It's funny how he switches so fast!

Now that the kiddos are napping, it is time for Randy and I to soak up the free time. You never know when it will end. :)

After naptime we have to head to the pet store for supplies to begin behavior modification of the pooping cat. It's always the boys that cause the trouble! :)

Change the Mindset

I had to workout today!  I really didn't have any plans/goals for my workout today...I just wanted to get to the gym. So...as I'm folding laundry, Ava wakes up. I drop what I'm doing, switch laundry loads and take off for the gym. I decided that the treadmill was calling my name today. I jumped on and just started running and of course lip syncing to my playlist of songs. This run was different than most. I didn't make a conscious decision to change my mindset, it just showed up. What I mean by this is, I usually feel like I need to run a certain distance within a certain time. I'm a very competitve person which can be good for a workout, but also be stressful. I usually find myself constantly checking my distance and the time to try control my run. Today I just ran to run. I didn't feel the pressure and I wanted to just enjoy my workout. I read in a friend's blog the other day that she wanted to workout for fun instead of training. You know who you are. ;) I didn't make this conscious decision, but I guess the comment hit home. I didn't feel like I was pushing myself the whole time. I also didn't feel like I wanted to die at the end. :) After 30 min. of running I had gone 2.5mi. Not bad for an easy run with a small walk break in the middle. I upped the speed when I felt like it and lowered it when I felt like it. Next up...the stair climer.

These are tough!! I only did 10 min. and I felt worked. :) After a 15min. ab routine I was done and look...

I did alright. :)

I get home and another load of laundry is dry. Now I have 3 loads to fold and 1 load to put away. I'm in the weeds at this point. After a shower and feeding Ava, it is time to get the boy. He went into school "in a bad mood" (Dylan's words), but was full of smiley energy when I picked him up. Whew! Now we just have to get home.

He came home in a decent mood, however, he was feeling a bit destructive. He dumped all of my laundry baskets out on the floor thankfully not touching my folded items. He then got working on his trains.




My scary room!!!


Now both kiddos are napping and it is time for me. I'm on my 2nd cup of coffee because I just like the taste.

As you can see, it is decaf. This is because I don't want Ava to think she gets to go to bed late tonight. :) So now I have to go tackle all of those clothes. Yikes!! Before signing off, let me share some fun pics of our playdate yesterday. With the temperature still over 100 degrees here, it is essential to keep the kiddos busy or they go a little wacky being housebound. :)



Ava was playing a little music then tried to eat the whole thing.



Dylan loved taking care of the baby!!

Katie and Colin

Katie told Neil to put his arm around Dylan. The boys didn't understand and we got this. :)

The Day is Flying By!

This day is flying by!! I don't know...maybe it's because I started the day with a shower (this never happens) or maybe because all of my daily errands are done or maybe because my kiddos have been so much fun today. I'll take all of the above! Ava is like clockwork with her sleeping, which makes things really easy. She's up at 7:30am, napping between 9/9:30am then back down when Dylan naps. This has only been happening the last couple of weeks and I'm afraid if I get too comfortable, she's going to switch it up. :)

We hit two stores between naps today. I had $10 in extra bucks expiring tomorrow at CVS so I had to go spend it. :) With coupons and sales, I got 3 Nivea body washes and a case of water for $6 not to mention the $5 in extra bucks given back to me. We're low on water so I may go get 2 more cases for free. :) So that's actually 3 body washes and 3 cases of water for $6! We then headed to Albertsons for a list of items. The checker was having issues so I do have to go back for a price adjustment. I usually check my receipt before leaving, but I wanted to get home and get the kids into naps...so I forgot to check. Ooops! Needless to say, I did score $49 of groceries for $15. Not too shabby!

I think it is fun going out with the kids. Dylan LOVES doing errands and 99% of the time he is well behaved! I've now jinxed myself. ;) Anyway, today he decided he wanted to "skate" all around the store. This means he does this side step thing and says, "skate, skate, skate" as he is moving. It's pretty funny. We're working on stopping at the end of the aisle to check for traffic. Ava rides in the bjorn as happy as can be. We got lots of compliments on her huge bow! Thanks...I made it! :)

Now it's sleepy time...

followed by a fun playdate with our friends Katie, Neil and Colin. Dylan has been talking about it since yesterday. He even told the checker and bagger at the grocery store. :)

One thing I'm really looking forward to tonight is...



All the promo pics were so cheesy!

 I love this show! It's even more fun to watch since I used to live there.

So...it'll be a day of deals, friends, happy kiddos and a favorite show. Not a bad way to start the week!

The Weekend is Almost Over

The weekend is almost over and I look around at my floor scattered with toys thinking, "What did we do?" Sometimes those kinds of weekends are the best. We did in fact accomplish a few things. I took a great savings trip to the grocery store, we reorganized the garage and caught up on our dvr shows. I think my favorite though, was getting Dylan's hair cut. His hair looked sooo overgrown that I encouraged him to wear a hat! :) He wouldn't let me touch it with clippers or with hair goop to style it. I've been talking up a haircut for awhile now telling him how I love getting mine cut and that he would get a sucker a the end. I even told him that I would take him for frozen yogurt afterwards for being so brave. I think the sucker was the actual clincher. He told me he was going to cry because he didn't know the person. Awww...no tears! :(  We took a family trip to Sport Clips, a sports themed walk-in place. He was so serious when the lady got him all set up in the chair and I thought the tears were about to appear.

They never came and he did an awesome job! He even let her put hair goop in his hair because he wanted it "spikey". He was all smiles when we left and wouldn't let anyone touch his hair. :) We had to skype both sets of grandparents to show off the new do. Now I'm hoping he will let me style it each morning...we'll see.

We did go to frozen yogurt and I think it was more for me than anyone else. Randy didn't get one and Dylan only ate the gummy bears off the top.

No worries! I enjoyed it! Now you'd think that a yogurt would quench my sweet tooth for the day. I thought so too, but at about 8:30pm...it started rearing its ugly head. I now call Randy's car the "getaway car" because he parks it in the driveway. If we need to, one of us can leave the house without opening the garage and potentially waking up a sleeping child. :) I took the getaway car last night and headed to the McD's drive-thru for two sundaes...one for Randy of course. It took all of 10 min. and Randy paused the very important dvr show, Most Eligible Dallas...riviting tv! It was all worth it!

Now, one might say that our "accomplishments" this weekend may not be noteworthy, but I call it quality family time. :) We played, wrestled, organized, issued time-outs, enjoyed naps and took turns sleeping in (until 7:30am). :)

Ava plotting her attack on Dylan's trains...



How should I do this?!

Now that I'm clean Daddy, let's wrestle!

Dylan's been a little needy in mommy time lately. He frequently says, "Pick up my" and wants to take over my lap. So, when it was time to feed Ava today, I included Dylan and he was quite proud. :)



I know working out should have been on the weekend list, but it didn't make it. I did put on the shorts today, but just didn't go. Ooops! We are currently riding out our Sunday watching football and monitoring our fantasy teams...go Brady!!





"I didn't even have to use my AK...today was a good day."

I decided that today was going to be different from yesterday. I woke up determined to have a fun day. Dylan was wonderful when he got up this morning. He was funny and full of kisses. Whew! Ava woke up a little earlier than normal and she was a little clingy, but I can handle that. She's always cute!

We got to Dylan's school and he did this strut inside like he owned the place. :) His walk makes me chuckle every morning. He walks into his classroom with this unspoken, "I'm here! Let's start having fun!" Now what to do until 1pm? Instead of trying to squeeze in the gym before Ava's morning nap and risk a repeat of yesterday, I decided to take it easy and put her down in her crib today. Well...that worked so well she slept 2.5 hours! So as I'm sitting in my gym clothes sure that I'll be at the gym by 11am, it became clear that it was a home workout this morning. I took out the Wii and got my sweat on.

Next time I'm going to wear my watch to see how many calories I burn during this workout. I felt great!
I wish I could say I got so much done around the house during nap time, but nope. I did prep dinner though. :)

Dylan came home is such a fantastic mood. (No sarcasm this time. :) ) I wish I could clone this Dylan every afternoon. We got to talk about school on the way home and we were joking around. Love him! I tried to get a cute picture of him before nap, but he wasn't going for it. This is what I got...

He was sitting on the arm of the chair holding the ball. I turned for 2 seconds and he disappeared. I tried to fake the picture, but then he asked to look at it. :)

While both kiddos were napping (yay!) I was able to finish the movie, The Switch, I started two days ago. It was ok. I think Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman are funny so I thought it would be better.

The last half of the day was so nice! Dylan woke up and wanted to cuddle on the couch while we watched Cars. Awwww! Well, he only sat for the first 15 min. or so. :)

He then helped me pick out ribbon for a few bows...time to get my creative side out. Well maybe "help" isn't the word. :) He then focused on playing with his cars and making a city.
Then we heard the doorbell...is it my makeup? Yes!!! I got all this for $15 from Smashbox!

By the end of the day I felt like we had all these small successes that made for a good day! Whoop Whoop!

The day started at 4am

My day started bright and early at 4am with the cry of Ava wanting to be fed. Now she gets up every night around this time so that I'm used to. What I'm not used to are all of the events that followed. As I was feeding Ava, I see my diagnosed "obese" cat Maxim sniffing around and "cleaning" different areas around the room. Since July, our month of endless travels, Maxim has grown to pooping on the ground in this room maybe once or twice a week. So, as he is sniffing around I'm whisper yelling at him not to poop. He then meows back at me in what I'm sure means, "I'm going to do whatever I want!" After Ava is finished, she squeals with excitement to let me know that she doesn't want to go back to sleep. Well, that's not going to happen! I put her back in her crib, say goodnight and close the door. Next step...find the poop I know is sitting somewhere. I turn on the kitchen light and sure enough, Max did it again. So...now it is almost 4:30am and I'm chasing the cat around with a squirt bottle filled with water whisper yelling yet again that he doesn't get to poop in the house! Yay...time to go back to bed!

The pooper!

More squeals come through the monitor at 5am letting me know that Ava still doesn't want to sleep. I go turn down her fan and inform her it is too early to get up. I then lower the volume on the monitor so her squeals aren't in stereo. Dylan wakes up at 5:45, but luckly he has been trained on how to turn the tv on my himself. That doesn't stop him from coming in to use our bathroom and calling out for help. By 6:45am I am now up ready to tackle getting Dylan ready for school...thankfully Ava is asleep! Dylan was in a wonderful mood and even kissed me good morning. Then....he flipped the switch. Next thing I know he is unpacking my SD bag and chucking the items across the room. Not in a fun way mind you, but with aggressive force. He threw my heels and that's when we ended that fun game. He continued this lovely attitude in his room while I went to make his lunch. Surprise! Chloe left a hairball in the kitchen!

The puker!

Finally, time to find that sweet boy I know is somewhere inside of him. We were able to leave for school at 7:45 in a positive mood. Whew!

So by 7:45am, I already needed the gym! Now time to wait for my window. It opened just before 9am and off Ava and I went. A wonderful hour of sweat always makes me feel better. Even though the energy wasn't bursting out of me, I still managed to do quite well.

Ava decided to take a 15 min. nap in the Child Watch which means she feels she is good on the nap thing for the rest of the morning. Argh! Thankfully, she shows me the happy side and we get to play.

As she begins to remember how tired she is, I decide we're leaving a little early to pick up Dylan because I need a little therapy...STARBUCKS! I geared up, ready for whichever Dylan was going to greet me at school. I had gummy bears at home as a reward/bribe for a good attitude and behavior. He lost one of the two possible treats, but in the end showed me his loveable side.

I got in trouble for this picture so there was no way to get one of his face. :)

 Now...everyone is asleep and I'm going to enjoy the peace! And to think...this is just the first half of my day.

P.S. I was finishing up with the pictures and Dylan just woke up after only 45min. This is going to be a long afternoon!

Quick trip to San Diego

We were the weekend warriors last weekend. When Randy got home from work (5:30pm) we jumped in the car, grabbed Wendy's for dinner (because it was next to the freeway) and headed to San Diego. Pulling into my parents' driveway just after 11pm, you'd think the sun had just set if you looked at the energy of my kids. They were ready to see Grammy and Pa!

The purpose of our trip was to attend a wedding of a friend I've known for 20 years! I was so excited for the wedding and that my friend had found his match. I was excited to meet her for the first time since his Navy life and ours hadn't crossed paths lately. I was excited to have a night out with Randy where I got to dress up, wear heels (well, most of the night) and drink wine. Lastly, I was excited to spend the night with old friends that I truely enjoy. I don't have pics yet...but I will. :) To top the night off...my mom got up with Ava for her 3am feeding so I could sleep! Now eventhough I did sleep a solid 7 hours that night, I still don't feel rested. I think I need at least a week of 10hr a night sleeps to catch up with my tiredness. :)

The sun was a little bright in this picture. :)

While we were having fun at the wedding, Dylan and Ava were having fun with Grammy and Pa. I don't have any pics of Ava because my mom was taking pictures with one hand and holding Ava with the other. :)

Now that we're back to the daily grind, it's going to take at least a week to get us back on track. We started with doctor appointments this morning followed by the commissary and long naps! We have two playdates on the books and I have to get to the gym. We'll make it work. We always do. :)