Lots of random stuff--catching up...

Here is my "catch up" post which I seem to do every so often. I'd like to do an update on the kids soon too, but I just can't seem to find the time--I didn't get home until 11pm from a meeting last night. It was fun, but I was exhausted this morning! We also did some fun stuff last weekend, but haven't even loaded those pictures on my computer yet--it's my plan for tonight after the kids are sleeping (and after I do a million other things!)

We've been spending a lot of time playing outside with this wonderful weather. Hunter likes to pull Jack behind his tractor---at least 30 minutes of entertainment. I'll take what I can get! Lots of fun :)

Jack loves it!
Running up the driveway pulling Jack. Hunter is pretty good about listening when I tell him to stop at the end of the driveway and come back. I already set a reminder so he can do Safety Town next summer. He is not so great in terms of listening when riding his bike, so we are still working on that.

This little stinker has discovered he can climb up on the coffee table. He is more of a monkey than Hunter was at this age...I hope he will last in his crib for a while longer--at least another year. Hunter was almost three when he stared climbing out, so we had to make the change to the toddler bed :-( I love having them confined, so I will milk it with Jack as long as I can.

Watching some Sesame Street on the table while I was vacuuming around him (while taking his picture with my phone). Jack loves to "hide" under his gorilla...he pops out like "Surprise!! I know you didn't know I was there!" Hunter has a swim lesson yesterday and Thursday and then he's done...so sad. He's done amazingly well with Miss Amanda. Julie texted me pictures and a video yesterday saying his was totally swimming on his own. I'm so happy and proud of him!!! Nana and Gigi are coming to his last lesson tomorrow to watch...and we got Miss Amanda a little gift to show our appreciation for all she has done. I hope she comes back next summer b/c we'll for sure do more lessons with her and maybe even Jack!

This past Saturday they had a pizza picnic at Hunter's school. He got to see his teacher again (Miss Claire), meet a new assistant teacher (Miss Kathy), see Mr. Joshua (returning assistant teacher) just get a feel for things since he goes back the day after Labor Day! I can't believe it--I'm excited and sad at the same time...totally mixed emotions. I am happy that Jack will get some one on one time with me and with Julie. I hope we can work with him on learning more too (puzzles, colors, etc). Hunter is just so demanding that Jack tags along a lot. I know this is totally normal with a second child, but I am happy for him to get some attention all on his own.
I picked up Hunter some new tennis shoes the other day and he loves them...he wore them out riding his bike the other night and can put them on and off all by himself.

We have a new frog friend who hangs out on the deck. We've seen him many times. It's funny b/c Nick is a baby and won't pick him up. Meanwhile, I pick him up for the kids to touch him. Hunter and Jack laugh hysterically when they touch his back and he hops...it's so cute. Then Nick huddles in a chair and we were cracking up when the little guy hopped on Nick's shoe!

Daddy was in Arkansas Thurs/Fri last week so we made some signs for him for when came home :) We were eagerly waiting for him to come home on Friday evening!
We did miss him...or a least his help. haha. Of course I love him and missed him, but was annoyed that he didn't answer my calls or texts all evening. He stays the night at his client's house (a couple in their 60's), so I guess they were busy talking, but still....ahhhh...not sure he'll ever change.
We made this too b/c Nana and Gigi came Saturday morning to take Jack to watch Hunter's practice. Nick and I planned to veg out and watch a movie in bed while we had both kids gone (which NEVER happens), but instead I cleaned both kids clothes/closets and Nick cleaned he deck. Oh well, I felt better about getting some things accomplished. I laid on the floor in the living room watching Teen Mom for literally five minutes before they returned home. haha.

Have a great day!!! No meetings tonight, so I'm hoping to get in bed by 10pm tonight!!

Pool Party at the club...

I am a little behind on blogging, but we went to a pool party at Barton a few weeks ago--and invited my parents to thank them for watching the kids while we were in Baltimore. The kids went swimming, but by the time my parents got there we were eating dinner...They had the pool open, a band, yummy food, etc. There were a few families who camped out (that was part of the event), but with our kids being so young, we're not ready for that yet. I spoke with another mom and she was going home and the dad was staying with the two kids in the tent. That would be my perfect idea of a good time! Come hang out for a bit, go home alone, and let Nick have a boys night camping with the kids--haha. I'll go home and sleep in my comfy bed and watch tv. The ONLY good thing about me having all these back problems is that I'm probably exempt from camping for life b/c I can't sleep on the ground in a sleeping bag!

This child ate way too many cheetos (sp?)...he's lucky to have grandma there spoiling him. Gotta love the orange face--and the fingers were a sight. My goodness, I love this child and his smile!

He's looking at me like, "Hey lady, what's wrong with putting five cheetos in my mouth at once?!?" The menu was great for adults, but they also had some good kid-friendly options too.

Getting a ride from Nana--I can't handle that with my back either :(

They have a play structure right next to the pool which is great. The kids can go back and forth and have a lot of fun on it.

Jack trying out the monkey bars with some assistance from Nana
Nick and my dad like to play ping pong together. My dad is really good, but Nick happened to beat him this night. (Maybe playing with a beer in one hand was not helping his cause?) Then the kids wanted to play so my dad was giving Hunter a lesson.
Of course Jack wanted in on the action too, so that put an end to their serious game...
Nick scored on daddy and was thrilled!

We had a good time, but kept Jack up past bedtime. He is ready for bed at 8pm. We didn't get home until 8:45pm and he had a major meltdown while we tried to get ready for bed. Oh well, it was fun and there are not many days left of summer to enjoy while it stays light out late.

ps. Speaking of my back problems--I hate to be a complainer, so I try not to, but I'm sort of starting over with all new tests. I have tried so many different medications, etc in the last year and nothing is working :( I am going on Thursday (hopefully) to do bloodwork, x-rays, and schedule an MRI. I am so annoyed, but nothing is working--I get a massage once per week, see a chiropractor, and more. I haven't had an MRI in almost a year right before I was supposed to have that second surgery. With that being put off, I felt a little better, but things really stink again. Ever since we slept in hotel beds near the end of July, things have gone downhill...no fun! We'll see what happens and please pray I don't end up having to have surgery. I don't see that happening, but you never know.

Jennifer

Finger Painting with Julie

Our nanny, Julie, has been a good sport about allowing the kids to paint on the deck. Hunter wants to do it all the time and they have a lot of fun. I'm sure the clean-up is not easy, so I'm thankful she's willing to do it with them (and take pictures!)Hunter is obviously having a good time!

I LOVE this picture that she took...one of my new favorites...so cute (and more creative than I could ever do or think of!)

I can only imagine the mess Jack makes with that paintbrush in his hand. I guess he painted his hair one day and Julie said it looked cool. I told her she could have left it in there, but she's already washed it out. Oh well! Here is a pic of his painted hair :)
I also like seeing them playing well together...finally....they still have a lot of feuding moments though.

Hey, whatever works in terms of entertainment.

They have some pretty cool pictures to show for it. I have a whole folder of pictures of Hunter's "artwork" that I'm going to make into a coffee table book one of these days! I take pictures of most of it before I throw it out. I keep a few things here and there, but I like the idea of taking pictures of it and making it into a book, rather than saving it all.

Thanks Julie--for all the good pictures!!!

So Busy...

I have been SO busy it's not even funny. Between work, kids, Hunter's upcoming birthday, making Labor Day plans, meetings, doctor appts, etc. there are just not enough hours in the day. I barely have time to email friends back, call anyone, or do anything besides keep my head above water. I haven't gone this long w/o blogging in a while, but I literally have no time to do anything "extra". It's for sure getting to me. My back hasn't been this bad in a while--and going to the chiropractor and a massage therapist once per week is not helping (yet), and in addition, it causes me a great deal of stress being out of the office so much! Ahhhhhhhhhhh. I'm feeling so hopeless lately. I have been trying to do a lot of soul searching trying to figure out how to balance it all these days. I commit to a lot--leadership committee for mom's group, newsletter for women's business group, church finance council, etc...all on top of working and raising two crazy boys. What am I thinking! Starting in September I will have stuff three Tuesday nights in a row between the meetings mentioned above--I am crazy.
At least I have these cute pictures to look at!

I don't know why, but I think this pose is so stinkin' cute!

I saw this tee-shirt at Target and had to get it..."To Do List: Be Awesome like Mom!" haha. I guess you have to be a confident mom to take your kid out in public wearing this. I did get a lot of attention when he wore it out...$4.50 at Target--can't beat that! I actually don't think I'm that awesome of a mom, but the tee-shirt just makes me laugh so I had to get it. Silly guy...awesome like mom does not involve putting buckets on your head.
Jack pretty much insists on feeding himself everything these days. We have to strip down to a diaper b/c it is MESSY. Here he is with his yogurt...I cringe watching the mess, but laugh and pull out the camera anyway :)

He's silly and he knows it.
He's so proud of himself!

I seriously can't believe he will be two in a few months. It is starting to scare me how fast they are growing up. Only a few more weeks till Hunter turns 4 and I have yet to plan one single thing for the two birthday parties I'm planning to have....yikes. That might have to change.

Hanging out with Gigi

I had to go get my oil changed, so we picked up Gigi, dropped my car off, and walked to the Mill Pond in Brighton. We wanted to go to the Imagination Station playground, but it was temporarily closed. Very disappointing! We fed the ducks/geese, which was really fun. I brought all this old bread, but I was too consumed with making sure the kids didn't fall in or get bit by a goose, so I didn't take any pictures. Hunter kept saying he wanted to swim and Jack was walking around right on the edge of the pond, so no way I could take pictures. Besides, it started out with a few ducks, and then came lots more ducks, baby ducks, and then lots of geese---they practically swarmed us! The geese climbed out of the pond and were two feet away trying to grab our bread. Yikes. I have to try not to be afraid so the kids don't get scared, but honestly, geese freak me out. They hiss and get way too close.

Jack was running back and forth to Gigi at the park

You can see the orange fencing behind Hunter showing it's closed. It was sad to see all these moms pull up with their kids, get out of carseats, only to discover it was closed. They had this thing that Hunter was drawing on with chalk that entertained the kids for a few minutes.

Jack and Gigi playing...I love his smile.

Jack fell in the mud...lovely. Hopefully it will come out when I get around to washing them.

I know Gigi loves her ice cream, so we took a walk on the wild side and went to Yum Yum Tree for ice cream at 10am :) I know, I'm seriously getting adventurous these days. haha. The boys LOVED watching the train that goes around the upper edge of the restaurant too. Our waitress honked the horn a few times which was nice...Hunter would say, "Do that again PLEASE!". We used to go here when I was a kid and it's still the same.

Chocolate ice cream for a late morning snack!

Jack with his Superman ice cream. His shirt is SO CUTE. I got it in Baltimore...it says "Sometimes crabby, but always cute". I love it. Hunter got a different one with a crab on it too, but wore it earlier in the week.

Last night we went to Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Joe's house for dinner. The kids had fun playing in the lake and hanging out. We also got to see my Great-Aunt Connie one more time before she goes back to CA.

We have a busy weekend ahead! Have a great one :)

Weekend in Baltimore

This past weekend we were in Baltimore for a wedding of one of Nick's college roommates. The kids stayed home with Nana and Grandpa--thanks so much Nana and Grandpa. We REALLY appreciated you helping us out and allowing us to have some alone time! It was much needed. Anyway, we had a really fun time reuniting with some other college friends, but the weekend just went by way too fast! We left Friday morning and came back Sunday afternoon.

Friday night the Detroit Tigers were playing Baltimore. The guys did a quick rehearsal (Nick was a groomsman) at the hotel and then we walked to the baseball park. We had a nice dinner with drinks in this private room at the park. Then we had kind of like a suite, but it was outdoors. There were a lot of people from the wedding group (probably 60) who came to the game.

Earlier in the day, when we landed in Baltimore, we went out for a nice lunch. Nick started drinking at noon and was in rare form 12 hours later. I had two Bloody Mary's which were awesome! Above is Suzanne, Nick and I with the Baltimore Oriole. Suz and I have become great friends over the last few years. Our husbands lived together in college and we sort of knew each other then, but have become much closer since.
Nick and I outside the part. I really like this picture of us!

Justin and Suzanne at the baseball park.

Justin, Nick, and Joe. Joe was the one getting married. Justin was the best man and Nick was a groomsman.
The guys with a Babe Ruth statue.

We went to the bar after the game on Friday. Nick needed to be drinking water, but ran into a friend randomly from high school and next thing I know they are doing shots. That put him over the edge. I had to babysit him and hold his hand to walk back to the hotel. That's what happens when you drink for 12 hours straight.

Nick and I at the bar after the reception on Saturday.

Kind of blurry...I feel like we look alike here for some reason. Maybe the somewhat similar dresses and hairstyle.

Justin & Suzanne at the bar after the reception. It was so awesome that the ceremony, reception, and bar were all in the hotel and we didn't have to go anywhere!
Mike and Jacque. They just moved back to Mi from Baltimore. They have a boy who is Jack's age and another boy on the way. They moved about 20 minutes from us, so we are excited to hang out with them.
Our group sitting together at the bar after the ceremony. Kind of a dark picture, but oh well.
It was such a nice weekend away from the kids! We went to this restaurant called Phillips for lunch on Friday. I had two Bloody Mary's and they were delicious. I also had a yummy crab cake sandwich.
Nick and I were both darn excited o see a tv in the bathroom. I was so happy to watch Oprah re-runs while getting ready for the rehearsal dinner!