Summer nights

I started writing a post about our summer evenings and what our routine is but by the third paragraph I got bored. I realized I could recap our exciting night rituals in a few (OK many words);
haul butt to get home and start dinner, try to get D inside the house after he manipulates daddy into letting him into the driver's seat for 10 minutes, fight him to sit at the table for at least 10 minutes to eat dinner, water plants and veggies and try to stay calm as D tries to "help" with everything that takes quadruple the time, go to a nearby park where my heart stops a few hundred times as he climbs the tallest possible obstacle, give 1, 2 AND 3 warning counts to park all of his cars in the garage and get inside for bath time, listen to him complain about not wanting to take his shoes off, fight him to stop playing and jump into the tub, prior to last one fight him to take off his clothes, argue with him about the number of shows he gets to watch before bed time (we usually compromise on 1.5), try to remain calm as he tries to hold 5+ cars in his toddler hands and attempt to carry them to his room (he always drops them on our new finished hardwood floors and it makes me cringe), breathe in and out as he looks at his bookshelf forever and tries to pick books out, try not to scream when he changes his mind on the book he just picked, grrrrrr when a few cars drop to the floor from our rocking chair and it takes him 5 minutes to pick them back up, roll my eyes as he demands 2 more books be read to him in bed, grunt as I lift him up so he can jump into bed off of his foot-board, sigh when he proclaims he needs to go potty one more time and then wants to jump into bed again.
SMILE when he says "mommy sleep with me and rub my head". It won't last forever.

Strawberry Shortcake

We survived the tornado that hit our small city. We had one branch fall but other than that we were blessed that we were spared. I felt so lucky to know that people did not have power for 3 days and ours didn't go out for one minute. Fortunately, the town seems back to normal.
Friday night we picked up our new bikes and rode them on our street. D loved the three of us riding, he was just amazed by it.
Saturday, EARLY morning I dropped off my sister and family at the airport, they are off to Disney. Later, we went to see CARS 2. Besides Daniel closing his ears for pretty much the entire movie we didn't have to leave. I considered that a successful first trip to the theater.
Sunday, after church we decided to go strawberry picking. The farm was only one hour away and we had fun. We were done with 5 bushels until I realized the 6th one was free. Of course I had to go back and get it, all while the men sat in the car and waited.
The youngest of the two didn't do any picking, in fact, he picked ONE strawberry. That ONE was picked only because we threatened him with something. This is all he did for 2 hours!
Bugged daddy for his cell phone
Contemplated on picking
but decided not to do a darn thing but look cute
I got my 6 bushels
It was a successful trip
My mom came by to help me make something out of these babies
On the menu for this week:
strawberry jam till we burst
pancakes with strawberry syrup on top
strawberry soup
crepes with strawberries
strawberry bread
maybe even a strawberry shortcake
the possibilities are endless.

Hope you had a great weekend. I'm off to bed with a couple of Tylenol pills in my hand, my back is killing me.

Phewww

OK, some updates, quickly with pictures.
D and I spent most of Saturday outside, playing and tending to our veggies.

Our herb garden

Daniel's watermelonOur tomatoes
cherry ones are coming
We also spent our morning working on daddy and grandpa's cards. My boy is not artsy that's for sure.
Sunday we gave daddy his gifts, including a frame D made at school
We met grandma and grandpa for breakfast
and spent quality time with daddy
later we went to my parents house for a bbq.
The rest of the day and Monday went something like this....
1. we put Daniel down for a nap at my mom's. Ryan went to check on him and noticed he was running a fever. We checked and it was 101.7!
2. we came home and gave meds but fever wasn't going down and kept coming back.
3. Monday, I had to go to work for a meeting. Ry took D to the Dr. Confirmed strep #3.
4. Officially pulled D out of daycare permanently.
5. Scrambled to get people to watch D.
6. Schedule as follows:
Mondays, my niece will watch him. I will be working from home so I can keep an eye on things. She is wonderful with kids! She watched him today and did great. I kept hearing giggles as she and my nephew made Daniel be a patient, a monkey in the middle and came up with creative ways to keep each other entertained. All this with no TV!
Tuesdays: My great mother in law will continue to watch D as she has been for FREE.
Wednesdays: My mom is going to watch D now.
Thursdays: My mother in law donates her time again.
Fridays: My wonderful sitter is coming back to watch D. I called her and she was excited to do it. She starts this Friday!!! I'm excited about the fancy salads she'll make for me again.

So, that's that. A new routine. All of this should make my D flexible in life and he should be able to adjust well to new situations. Ha!
We had a huge storm last night, we have a nice branch in our back yard that fell on our power lines. Thankfully we still have power.

Interrupted...

With Strep #3! Be back shortly.

Weeknd Recap

It's mid June and this weather is just the way it should be in April!
Saturday, after running errands and taking a snooze we relaxed and watch Finding Nemo. D has never seen it and he liked it, although it was with commercials and 2.5 hours is a long time for a kid to last. He took breaks and played with cars.
My kid is the biggest snuggler EVER and he would wrap his arm around my neck and give me a spontaneous kiss and then say "aaawww mommy".
We are looking forward to taking him to see CARS 2, perhaps with some ear plugs.

I like to make Sunday breakfasts a little bit more special. I saw this idea on another blog and thought it was super cute to make your kid try new things. I started out simple but plan to do more colorful veggies soon. I'm hoping easing him into it will help. When I presented him with it, he said "wow mommy". SCORE!
Later we had some guests come over. Our friends that have two kids. Josh, who is an energetic 7 year old and Jessica, a true girly girl who is 4. They all have such a great time together. The fact that they all had a donut each may have helped the loudness of the screeching that proceeded in our house and back yard. I had the camera out and forgot to take pics.
We were sitting on our patio and we heard Jessica and D playing "house", Jessica kept saying "bye honey, c ya soon" as Daniel was getting into his car and saying "I go to work, C ya soon" and proceeded to throw her kisses. It was to die for!!! Later D took a nap with daddy and I went to visit my mom and scored some soup to bring home.
D's drive through. I do not dress my husband in white socks and flip flops. That's all him. He's all about comfort over fashion :)
The weather was super nice this evening so we took a stroll on our street.
We visited a construction site. We will have new neighbors soon, they are building right across from my sister.
We enjoyed as Daniel pretended to go to the store food shopping and bring us watermelon and all sorts of fruit, anything to delay going back inside.
Obsession continues with cars although when asked "what do you want to be when you grow up?" he assures me that "doctor" is in his future and not a race car driver. I can breathe for a few more years.
Monday is only a few hours away and I must get my beauty sleep.
I'm going to Zumba tomorrow with my sister. I took my first class on Thursday and I'm just getting over my soreness now but it was great. It's a huge stress reliever and my sister and I are doing something together, which is awesome. My mom went with my sister a week ago and said she had a good laugh, as in, she stood against the wall when she couldn't do it anymore and just laughed her butt off. That's my mom making lemonade out of lemons. She's like that...love that about her.
Or maybe it's all women that age that just know you have to laugh at certain insecurities and not stress over it. Maybe 30 years from now I can inherit that trait, genetics or age, I'll take it either way.

final touches

My friend finished embroidering D's bathroom towels to match the curtain. They turned out super cute. At least I think so.
We also got rid of D's cheep bookcase he had in his room and upgraded it to this one. It's from pottery barn kids. All of his books fit on it, it's amazing how many fit in there.
He loves looking at them and picking out the ones he wants us to read at night.