Back to Our Routine

Hey folks! It's been a few days since I last posted, but it has been a bit busy. It always takes a while to get back into the groove after being gone. We had such a good time seeing all the grandparents, but we were all ready to get home and get back to our schedule. Ava has always been an awesome sleeper! This includes naps and nighttime, even though she still gets up once to eat at night, however, she had some issues over the weekend. I worried that this week was going to be painful getting our routines back in check. Great news...the kids slid right back in as if we hadn't left! This shows they were ready to be home. :) Now I just have to get the house organized. : /

Yesterday I did a little laundry. I focused more on Ava's morning nap and grocery shopping. It took a bit of time to plan my shopping trip in the morning because I took a week off. :) Well, I spent $46 on over $90 worth of groceries! I then went to Target to pick up the kiddos pictures and pick up a few more items. In total, I got all of this FREE!

The kiddos took pictures the Friday before we left. They were Ava's 6 month shots and I was hoping I could get at least one good one of the two of them together. This is harder than it may sound. :) I chose Target because I like their picture samples, it was 5 minutes from my house and they have a 50% military discount!!! The photographer got Dylan to smile which is a challenge at this stage. :) There are quite a few pics, but I had to share them!

This was a last minute idea by Dylan and I love it!

We originally scheduled the pics for Monday of that week and Ava wasn't crawling then. We cancelled for a super fun playdate. By Friday, when we took the pics, she was crawling and was all over the place!!! We couldn't keep her still! I wonder what Monday's pics would've looked like. :)

Now...today's focus is laundry and working out. So far so good. Ava and I headed to the gym where I got in a really good workout. I ran for 25 min. which ended up being just under 2.5 miles. I got off the treadmill with a bit of a headache which told me I needed to chug that water!! Then I did a series of upper body strength training exercises. Instead of being all planned out, I went with what I felt like doing and got a great workout in. My trusty watch told me I worked out for 55 min. and burned 480 cal. :) When I went to pick up Ava she was sleeping. Good and bad. Good because she was happy and bad because I didn't know if she would sleep anymore when we got home. Hmmm....

It is time to go get the boy! I'm crossing my fingers for a good day. He is transitioning to the 2.5 year old room and it is a slow-going process. I left him with, "Be brave today." Poor child will be hearing my voice in his head his whole life. :)

Have a great Wednesday!

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!

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!