Fall Fun!

I am so far behind on blogging that it is not even funny!  I think I have about 20 posts that I want to do, hopefully I will get around to them VERY soon!  Anyway, this past weekend we took the kiddos to a local fall festival.  It is fairly small compared to the other festivals around but there is plenty to occupy a 2 and 3 year-old.  We waited until after the boys woke up from their naps to head out and only had about an hour and a half to play, but it was perfect!  The weather was beautiful, the crowds (if there were any earlier) were totally gone and the boys pretty much had free reign of the entire place!

the hay maze was a huge hit!!

he ran around it for at least 20 minutes and would have kept going all day! 

he LOVED riding the horse!!!  I might have to find a place for him to do this again...soon! 

he was so proud to be up there

he loved it too but it is hard to tell from the pics.  His faces crack me up! 

woah there horsey!  

thanks for the ride! 

I was walking behind them when out of nowhere Owen planted a big kiss on Daddy.  So glad I caught this sweet moment!

TWO!!!

My little man is 2 years old!  I feel like a broken record since I say this all the time, but time is going by too fast!  Little Brother is such a sweet, sweet boy.  He loves to give hugs and kisses.  If he starts giving one of us hugs and kisses then he makes sure to make the rounds and give everyone in our little family hugs and kisses.  He is my caretaker.  He makes sure that everyone is always ok and makes sure I know when sister is crying.  He loves his pacifier more than any other object (we seriously need to work on this addiction).  He loves to say "nope" and shake his head side to side like crazy.  He is strong-willed, active (oh my word is he active), curious and a problem solver.  He loves to climb and explore.  He loves to do everything that his big brother does.  He talks non-stop (but you can only understand about half of what he says).  He gets so excited about the littlest things (like locating our van in the parking lot).  He is almost always happy, smiling and giggling but he can go to the complete opposite end of the spectrum in the drop of a hat.  He has lots of opinions and is not afraid to let you know when he is NOT happy about something.

Most importantly he is such a blessing in our family.  We are so proud of this little boy and so happy that he is a part of our family.  Even on the hardest days, when my patience is completely used up and I am exhausted, he is able to make me smile.  He gets me with a big silly grin (still with a few missing teeth) or an unexpected hug and kiss and melts my heart.

Sweet little man, we love you so much!!! We had so much fun celebrating your second year of life and cannot wait to see what this world has in store for you! :)

When I close my eyes and think of Owen, this is the exact image that comes to mind.  

One Month Old

I am really not sure how it happened so fast, but Baby Sister is a month old already.  A couple of nights ago as we were getting ready to go to bed, I looked up at Jeff and said, "Isn't it amazing how when I had 5 weeks left to go in the pregnancy that it seemed like a long time, but now Baby Girl is 5 weeks old and it has flown by in the blink of an eye."  These moments with our newborn are fleeting.  She is growing up faster and faster every day.  There might be 24 hours in a day and some of my days as a stay at home mom try every ounce of patience in my body but somehow the long hours quickly turn into days which quickly turn into weeks, months and years.  

Baby Sister is such a sweet girl.  She is a great sleeper (for a newborn) and usually is just up one time at night.  She has been that way since we came home from the hospital!  When I say she is only up once at night, that is once after I go to bed.  Jeff and I usually stay up until about 11.  She takes her last feeding between 10 and 10:30 and usually doesn't start to stir until around 3 or 4AM.  Then she goes back to sleep until around 7 or 8.  She really only cries when she is overly tired or when she gets into the car seat.  She refuses to take a pacifier and really loves to be held all day long.  

The boys adore their baby sister.  They check on her all the time, let me know when she is crying, cover her with blankets, show her her toys and offer help whenever they can.  Little Brother loves to kiss her, hold her and try to play with her.  Big Brother asks me almost daily if she has gotten bigger so they can play!  I am excited to watch their relationship with her grow through the years.  

Adjusting to life with three little ones has been easier than I anticipated.  That is not saying that it has been easy, but rather just not quite as difficult as I thought it could be.  I am letting a lot of things slide (like laundry and cooking) and the kids have probably watched more tv than normal but I figure in a month or two we will find our new normal routine and those little things will no longer be issues.  

Sweet baby girl we are so in love with you!  We are so incredibly blessed to have you in our lives and cannot wait to see what this world has in store for you!  

I bought these great monthly stickers from Etsy.  I plan to do monthly pictures of baby girl in this same chair.  

some pictures from our first few weeks with baby girl...

just a couple minutes old, getting warm with Mommy

there has been a lot of this 

and a lot of this too

My future photographers...

For a while now the boys have been very interested in my camera.  A couple of months ago I would notice a random image here and there on my camera and think that I must have just accidentally taken a photo without realizing it.  I have been noticing more and more of these mystery images in the last few weeks.  In the past month or so the boys have been grabbing the camera at every opportunity and begging to take pictures.  I have been letting them play with my camera a bit more...although I am always nervous they might drop it!  I can't leave my camera just anywhere anymore.  I have to make a conscious effort to put the camera well out of reach of the boys.  I think that a camera or two could be on Santa's list this year since the boys love taking pictures so much!  

a mystery image while we were making donuts...

big bro wanted to take my picture.  he snapped about 30 frames and I was only in one.   

taken by little bro!

a sweet moment caught by big bro...he hurt his hand and was getting Daddy to kiss it. 

taken by big brother

It's the simple things

It really is the simple things, like watching little brother with baby sister, that fill my heart with joy!

sweet baby girl, you are SO loved!

Meal Planning Monday

Recently one of my friends shared a link with me about a group doing meal planning.  Being a new mom and not having a whole lot of time to think about dinner each night, this idea really appealed to me.  I used to meal plan but then kind of fell off the wagon.  I find meal planning helps me stick to a budget and buy exactly what we need at the grocery store each week.  My goals in meal planning are to include a couple of our family favorite meals each week and to try out something new each week.  We try to do one meat-less night a week and I try my best to make healthy substitutions where I can.

Here is our meal plan for the week....
Breakfasts (I don't really plan these out but rather just have the right things on hand):
Toaster Waffles & Fruit
Oatmeal & Fruit
Eggs & Toast
Yogurt & Fruit
Cereal

Lunches:
Turkey sandwiches, fruit and veggie sticks
Soup & salad (I had a couple of canned/boxed soups that I wanted to use up this week)
Pita pizzas with carrot sticks and fruit of kids choice
Quesadillas stuffed with leftover chicken & cheese

Dinners:
Monday - Crock Pot Lemon Chicken, fresh veggies and rice (new recipe for the week).
Tuesday - Chicken Enchiladas - this is a meal that I made a month or so ago and froze.
Wednesday - Mac & Cheese (homemade), salad and veggies
Thursday - leftovers
Friday - Taco Pizza
Saturday - Turkey Chili
Sunday - Corn Flake Crusted Chicken, mashed potatoes and veggies

Talks With a 3 Year-Old

One of my favorite things to do lately is have conversations with Big Brother.  We talk about anything and everything and a lot about poop and toots (he is 3 and a boy after all).  I could blog so many of our conversations but will go with a few highlights that I don't want to forget instead.

Me:  So what do you want to be for Halloween?  You know, you can dress up like anyone on Halloween.
Him:  I don't want to dress up for Halloween.  I just want to be Ryan.  I like being Ryan.

He has since decided that it is worth it to dress up for candy.  So he wants to be Bob the Builder or Lightning McQueen.  I am still holding out hope for the super hero since we have some really cute capes for the boys already!!

A dinner conversation:
Me:  What is your favorite animal?
Him: A shark!
Me:  Where do sharks live?
Him: In Africa.
Me:  Where is Africa?
Him:  At Mickey Park ...in Florida.  Mickey Park is really, really far away.  We have to drive there.  They have Penguins too.  Penguins live in the snow.  When they get hungry they go get fish in theri bellies then go back to their home sweet homes.
Me:  You are right!  (Then I pick up a blue crayon).
Him: That's azul!  (he points to green) and that's verde.
Me:  Where did you learn that?
Him:  In spanish class, at school Mommy.

He's growing up, more and more every single day.