Full on Fall

We have been embracing everything Fall the last few weeks. Even though summer is my favorite season weather-wise, I do enjoy welcoming a new season in full force!  Plus, I'll take it as long as fall weather stays around 70's. We may be just a little bit early, but the house has fall/Halloween decorations up, most of the kid's summer clothes have been switched out with their fall/winter clothes (including many that are Halloween-themed), and we have already been to a few of our usual Fall activities like the local Fall fests and parades by us.  Most of the pumpkin fests will be starting next week, so I'm sure we will be planning a day soon to go pick out our pumpkins.

It seems like I have enjoyed this time of year much more over the past few years.  A lot of that probably has to do with the fact that I am not teaching full-time, so I don't have the back-to-school blues!  But, also, I think it's because Fall is much more fun when you have kids.  I love that they love going to all the fests, and petting zoos, and parades, and it makes me excited that they are excited for Halloween.  It's especially fun now having 2 kids old enough to be excited about a holiday!  Charlie is getting in the spirit, and he loves seeing the fall decorations go up bit by bit around the neighborhood. We already have costumes picked out, as long as Kenley doesn't change her mind.  Only one guess on who she has said she wanted to be since last year....

Also, my birthday is next weekend!  I'll be turning 33, and I really can't believe it.  33 seems like a lucky number to me, so I'm hoping I have a great year ahead of me!  Of course, in the back of my mind I think OMG 33 is close to 35, and 35 is close to 40! It's not the number that bothers me, but it's the idea of time going by too fast.  I also fear not being able to clearly remember what these moments were like of having little kids, and the precious moments that I get to experience every day.  Of course, I do remember some parts, but it's almost like you forget what your own life was like.  I think that is part of the reason that I take so many pictures because, for me, looking at a pictures puts you back in that moment.  Ill be sure to free up extra storage on my camera and phone for pictures :)  I'm looking forward to celebrating, and Ray has something planned for us.

TWO

Even though I am late, I couldn't let the month of August go by without posting about Charlie's birthday. He had a great birthday week, and we celebrated with a family dinner to All Aboard on Monday, and we had his party the following weekend. He had a Bubble Guppie themed party complete with a bubble machine, jumpy house, water slide, and our family and friends. It was kind of weird that I felt like I barely saw either of the kids most of the party, but I knew they were running around somewhere in the backyard having a great time. It was a busy day, but a lot of fun, and it was our fist big party in the new house.

*Please disregard the frog onesie Kenley decided to put on before cake.  She was cold after going on the waterslide, even though it was almost 90 degrees!  HA!

 

 

Charlie seems to have gone from baby to big-boy overnight. He is very outgoing, brave, funny, and sweet. He is always on the go, and he is already fighting naps.  I'm lucky if I get him to nap every other day or so. He is so talkative, and communicates really well. I love his voice, and I love hearing the way he puts words and sentences together, and he loves to copy everything his sister says. His favorite word is "no", he loves playing outside and running around, and he's really getting into all the typical little boy toys like cars, trains, etc. (Although, a moment later you may find him wearing Elsa high heels and rocking Kenley's dolls.  He's tough and sweet!) Charlie gets soooo much attention from strangers! People constantly comment on his light blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Pair that with his personality, and it's kind of hard to miss this kid!

It's fun now that Charlie is old enough to play with Kenley,and they are usually very good with one another. It's really sweet how she is protective and tries really hard to teach him things, and how he really tries to do everything she is doing. They both started school last week, and it went really well.(He was crying in the pictures because he wanted to play with his outdoor toys instead of take a picture and get in the car.) We took Charlie into his classroom first, and he started crying when I left, but I know it was only for a minute or two.  He was happy both days I picked him up, and gave me a full report of the highlights of his day. "Ate applesauce and mac n cheese!  I play outside!" and repeated his teacher's name many times throughout the day.

 Kenley walked in her first day like a rock star.  All of her friends were calling her name, and she was waving to everyone.  She gave me a quick kiss and ran off with her friends.  She has a new teacher this year, and is in the "Big Kid" 4 year old pre-school.  I know they are both in for a fun year, and will learn so much.  I thought a lot about how next year Kenley will be in school full time, 5 days a week for kindergarten, and it made me kind of happy that she missed the cut-off for kindergarten this year.  I'm so glad I get another year to be with her the majority of the time to be her main "teacher" before she is away from home most of the day, and I really want to cherish this time.

I also started work 2 weeks ago, and it going really well.  There was a last minute change in my work schedule, so my classes aren't back-to-back anymore, but now I have about an hour and 20 minute break in-between.  I think it will work out ok because I would usually go in early and stay a little bit late to get most of my planning and grading done, so now I'm just using that time for that.  Because of that, I also switched the kid's school days so that I could have one of the days they are in school to get things done.  Last Monday was my first 3-hour time period alone, and it was so nice!  I worked out and went to Target as planned, but I leisurely browsed the aisles, and I was actually able to plan ahead and shop for some specific ingredients to make dinner that night.  Normally, I throw random food into the cart when I'm trying to rush out with the kids.  Then, when I get home I feel like I didn't buy much to make an actual "meal."  So, I think our new schedule is going to work out very nice.  Once again, I am so thankful that my mom and mother-in law are able to watch the kids while I am working.

We had such a great summer, and in my mind it's not over until the last 75+ degree day.  I am looking forward to a lot of fun things coming up this Fall, but I hope it stays nice out during that time.  We will be wearing our summer clothes and sandals until then!







 

Busy Bees

We have had so much going on!  Every week, I think to myself, "next week we won't be so busy." But, then I find myself signing us up for events, making playdates with friends, making appointments, so it is busy in a good way!  The past few weeks have been very full.  I'm trying to cram as much in as I can these last few weeks of summer.  This month we celebrated the 4th of July, the kids finished swimming lessons, We celebrated Ray's birthday, I got to see a lot of my friends, and the kids got to see a lot of their friends, and Ray and I went on little trip with Katie and Greg to Put-In Bay.

We had a great little trip, and we were lucky we had the perfect weather!  It was Katie and Greg's anniversary weekend, so we were able to celebrate kind of a combination of Ray's birthday and both of our anniversaries.  We soaked up the sun and got in lots of interesting people watching at the pool parties.  We had some nice meals, and overall just enjoyed our little get-away.

We have more celebrations coming up in August, which started with our 7th anniversary this weekend.  Since we were away the weekend before, we celebrated with the kids, and we took them to Great America. It was fun to celebrate as a family, and we took (snuck) Charlie on his first roller coaster, even though he was technically about 2 inches too short! 

Kenley finished sportscamp this week, and she learned a lot of different things through playing soccer, t-ball, and basketball.  She will be finishing up the summer with dance camp next week.

We are only 1 week away from Charlie's 2nd birthday!  His party is the weekend after, so we will be getting ready to celebrate with the whole family.  Last night, he graduated from a crib to a "big boy" bed.  I wanted to delay this as much as possible because all I could envision was him coming into our room multiple times a night.  But, the last two weeks, he has become a master at climbing out of his crib.  So, I gave in because I guess it's time.  He did great last night, and he only got out of bed once!  He is even napping in there now.  Hopefully, he continues doing well and keeps napping because I am not ready for him to give those up yet!

Last week, we had our 2nd annual BIG playdate.  I invited pretty much all of my friends with young kids over to our house.  We had so much fun, and total ended up with about 16adults and 27 kids ranging from about 3 months-8years old.  (Not everyone was there for the picture)  It actually went very well, the kids all behaved, played nice, and the mom's got to socialize!  It was a lot of fun, and I am definitely planning on having one again next year!

I know it will be just a matter of time until school starts again. I'm gong to be teaching 2 classes again, both 2 days a week.  It is going to be very weird dropping both kids off a school two mornings a week also.  They will go to school in the mornings on the same days that I will be working in the afternoon.  It will be very weird and nice to have those 3 hours to myself.  I plan on napping, getting manicures/pedicures, shopping, etc.....Oh, who am I kidding?  Ha,ha, I will be going to the gym, maybe getting a little bit of cleaning done, and grading/preparing for my classes!  Maybe, every now in then I will try to sneak in some of those fun, relaxing things, but I already know that those 3 hours between drop-off and pick-up time go fast!

For now, I will enjoy these last 2 weeks of summer!!

It's summertime!

My favorite time of year!  Although, with all of this rain, it has been kind of a strange start to summer.  But, we aren't letting that stop us!  The last 2-3 weeks have been kind of a whirlwind of parks, playdates, and pools.  The kids have had swimming lessons everyday this week and last week, and it has been fun.  We were swimming in the rain 2-3 times, but like I said, it didn't stop us! 2 weeks of swimming lessons has kept us really busy because we have been getting up, going to the gym, going straight to swimming lessons, and then either meeting up with friends, or running errands.  By the time we've gotten home the last few days by 2-3, I don't know who has been more tired-me or the kids. 

We have also had a busy few weekends!  Over the next few weeks we have tons of parties/events!  We had one free weekend in July, but yesterday we got another party invite, so it looks like we're all booked up!  I guess that's what happens when everyone starts having kids, and we know a lot of people with summer birthdays.  Here's what we've been up to the month of June.

 

 

A few weeks ago, the kids and I went back to Shipshewana with my mom, sister, and my niece.  We had so much fun, and I'm sure we will be going back again next year.  We shopped, went out to eat, went on a horse and buggy ride, went swimming at night at the hotel, and went to a little farm on our way home.  I really enjoyed having this time away with my mom and sister, and I know Ray liked having a little day to himself as well :)


Kenley had her ballet recital on the BIG stage this year.  It was adorable and brought tears to my eyes watching her dance.  I was happy I kind of got to see the show twice because they had a dress rehearsal too.  Even though there were 5 other girls in her class, I don't think I took my eyes off her once during her dance.  During the real show, she did stop to yawn, but then got right back onto her moves.  The show must go on!  I can't believe how big she has gotten since last year's show.  She seems to really like dance class, and is going to "Frozen" dance camp again in August.

Ray and I also went on a quick little trip to Ohio for one of his customer's wedding.  It was a very casual, outdoor wedding, and I didn't know anyone until I got there, but we had a fun time.  It was nice to make a little trip out of it and have a night away in a hotel. We drank some beer, ate, socialized with a lot of people he does business with, and we even got to watch the Blackhawks game at one of the local bars! 

We also celebrated Father's Day this weekend.  We had a barbeque with my dad on Saturday, and on Sunday, just the 4 of us went to the zoo.  It was a nice weekend, and we got lucky with 2 days of nice weather!  My grandpa had to be hospitalized over the weekend due to an arm injury.  Luckily, he seems to be recovering, and we hope that he can be back with my grandma soon at the Veteran's Home.

So, those are the main things we've been up to these past few weeks!  I gotta get to cleaning because this weekend we are having a party at our house with Ray's co-workers. Whew! 

I've been wanting to blog since my last post, but as usual time gets away from me!  I'm at least trying to write twice a month, but somehow I don't even manage that half the time. I still like looking back at my posts and reminding myself of what was going on well over 2 years ago when I started this blog.  I like seeing how the kids have changed so much, and I love remembering fun memories.  Maybe they will even read this blog one day! 

We got our swingset up a few weeks ago, and the kids have been on it a lot!  It was a bit of a process to get it from the old house, but thanks to Ray's cousin, Joe, it worked out. We've been in the backyard almost every day it has been nice out.  Ray and I also went out with Katie and Greg one night to celebrate my sister's birthday.  We had a nice, relaxing dinner without the kids:)

Last week we had our first little "mini party" with a few of our friends over.  Ray ordered the fight and he had planned to have some guy friends over.  The fight wasn't until late, but I invited "the wives" and kids over to hang out earlier, knowing the babies would probably all need to go home before the fight started.  It was nice to have our first little get-together, and we are already planning a few more. 

We are having a party with Ray's co-workers, I am having my high school girl-friends over, I'm having a mom/kid party (round 2), and we will be planning Charlie's birthday party in August!  I'm kind of happy we are having a bunch of little mini parties because it's not as overwhelming as having everyone over at once, and hopefully I will actually be able to talk to everyone at each get together.  It's always hard to enjoy your own party when your hosting, but I think I've tried to relax a bit more lately.  I try to do as much planning ahead and preparing to make it as easy as possible once everyone gets here.

The day after our little party, I ran the half marathon.  It was hard, but I did it!  I beat my time by ten seconds from last year....so I improved!  I'm just happy I was able to run the whole thing.  Plus, I had the best cheering section ever!

  Now, if I could just stop eating unhealthy I could be in great shape by summer.  I need to work on that.  I probably shouldn't have justified eating a whole carton of Ben and Jerry's the day after my race. Why is it that food that tastes so good is not good for you?  With all the technology we have, there should be some way to make calorie-less junk food.  I'd buy it in a heartbeat!!  Anyway, I am going to try to be better about what I eat.

I'm finishing up the semester at the community college, so that means a lot of grading for me!  I have essays, quizzes, and finals to grade before the semester is over.  Kenley still has a few more weeks of school, and then all of the summer activities will begin.  This weekend we will be celebrating Mother's day with our families, and next weekend we are going to a charity event in the city.

April

It's hard to believe it's already mid-April!  We had a pretty good Easter, and we spent time with both sides of our families.  The only reason I say "pretty good" is because both kids had been a little sick a few days before, and I had taken them both to the doctor.  Charlie had pink eye, Kenley had a bad cough, and by the end of the night on Easter Ray and Charlie had fevers.  The few days after that were basically all of us stuck in the house, which was no fun.  But, luckily everyone seems to be recovered now.  The week before, we took the kid to our local Easter egg hunt.  It was Charlie's first time participating, and he had the most fun just running with the other kids in the open area.  He picked up the first two eggs, and after that he didn't care too much.  But, they were both really cute on Easter morning.  Kenley was very excited that the Easter bunny had found our new house, and he left his footprint tracks to prove it!  She was very patient and helpful to Charlie as they both hunted eggs in our backyard.

We also got our hot tub up and running this weekend!  It was a little bit of a process to get it all cleaned out, which took us most of the day Saturday.  Sunday morning, we took our first family dip!  It was so relaxing, and the kids loved it.  We've been back in a few times since then, and I'm sure we will be getting a lot of use out of it, and inviting over our family and friends!  Kenley wants to go in it every spare minute we have. 

We've had great weather the last week!  It makes me so happy to see the sun shining, and to bring out some spring clothes!  Also, the summer recreation program guide came out so I'm starting to plan our summer.  It looks like I will be signing Kenley up again for sports camp, gymnastics, dance camp, and swimming lessons, and I will be doing the mommy and me swim lessons with Charlie.  I know it's going to be a fun summer with the kids, especially now that Charlie is a little older to join in on the  fun! Ray and I are also starting to plan for a few upcoming weddings, and a little weekend getaway for ourselves.  We're also hoping to take the kids on a little weekend getaway over the summer.  It seems like our summers are always busy, but fun too!  Throw in a few holiday weekends, family summer birthdays, and our calendar is already filling up!

My sister and mom are coming over for a bit, and then my sister is going to watch the kids while I do what will probably be my last long run before the 1/2 marathon.  I need to get in 10-11 miles today....EEKK!  I'll probably needing that hot tub later tonight!

Our normal life

Life is getting back to usual, and it has slowed down the last few weeks.  By slowed down, I really mean there's still a lot going on, but I'm not as crazy with unpacking, decorating, re-organizing things every spare minute.  Now, I'm mostly back to our normal, day-to-day stuff. So, if you're sick of my blogs about our move, I've decided to just focus on some typical things that have happened lately since I have kind of let everything else slip into the background since the move.

Charlie is 19months...almost 20 at this point!  He is on the move, and he's uncontrollable!  He is Mr. Independent, and in many ways he reminds me so much of Kenley at this age.  Everything is, "I try" and "Me too!" and let me tell you he is not happy if he doesn't get it.  He is talking so much, and it is pretty funny to hear all the new words he is learning and the sentences he is forming.  Today he said, "I see a bunny right there!"  (Although, I don't believe there was a bunny in sight) He loves to try to keep up with his older sister, and any older kids, and he's doing a pretty good job at it.  He's obsessed with Bubble Guppies, and he is starting to learn many animal names.  He also likes to be funny, and when you ask him what his name is, he will usually say, "cow".

 I remember 18 months-2 was probably the most challenging time with Kenley in terms of going out, and it seems to be happening again.  We haven't stopped going out because of it, but I am totally "that mom" at the grocery store, restaurants, or pretty much in any public place that gets "the look."  Sometimes it's a sympathetic look of people that understand what it's like, or they feel sorry for me being out with a kid that's having a public meltdown, or sometimes it's the evil eye, like "why did you bring your kid here."  It can be frustrating, but I know it will get easier, and I can't just hole up inside because my kid gets a little crazy every now and then. ( and by that I mean often) 

Kenley is doing great, and she had her Spring Musical at school this week.  It was really cute, and they sang and danced to some Easter songs.  She is very into everything girly, and she loves to dress up, put on make-up, and do "make-overs.'  I have to hide my make-up from her because I have seen some very scary makeovers in the past few weeks. She especially loves to dress up with her cousin, Kayla.  I love that they are girly-girls!  But, of course, they are tough too!

 The past few weeks, my sister I have started switching off weeks, so one week I watch her kids for a few hours, and the next week she watches my kids for a few hours. We always help each other out if needed, but we designated this weekly switch off for us each to have a little "me" time.  So, we each get 2-3 hours every other week to do whatever we want kid-free!  It has been really nice.  And, the key to having all 4 kids by yourself is to keep lots of snacks, cartoons, and toys available.  That, and we usually get lucky and either Charlie or Autumn will nap, sometimes both!

This month, I also put in my official resignation to Morton.  I don't think it is much of a surprise to anyone, and I am happy that it is "official."  I am happy that I still keep in contact with the co-workers that I was close with, and I will be seeing them next week. Teaching at the community college is going great, and I am happy that I will be back to teaching 2 classes again in the fall.  I am truly so very grateful to be home with the kids, and work just a few hours a week. Ray works long days, with a long commute, so I am truly grateful for him.  I am also going to try to help out with the company I worked for last summer with home clean-outs/preparing for estate sales.  I really liked working with them, and it was so flexible.

I also decided to torture myself once again, and I signed up for the half-marathon again in May.  I had it in my mind that I wanted to do it, but now I'm really committed.  Now, I need to actually start running outside!  I am planning my first outdoor long-run of 8-9 miles on Monday.  I figured this will help me get in better shape for the summer!  I am proud of myself though because it has been a year and half since I started working out after Charlie was born, and I have stuck with it!  I go to the gym 4-5 days a week, and now it is just part of our regular routine.  The kids really like the play area/daycare and it helped get us out of the house throughout the winter.

That's about it for a catch-up of what we've been up to (other than the move!)  Toodles!!

Spring is in the Air!

Yay!  It's finally not totally frigid weather here!  We've actually gotten a few days where we have been able to be outside.  To be honest, this winter didn't feel that terrible to me. I know we had a few days of a lot of snow, and many days of cold, but it didn't seem as bad as last year.  I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that the kids stayed relatively healthy this winter!  Last winter, I swear, we were at the doctor every other week.  Also, I think it seemed to go by faster since the time from right after the holidays until now we have been so busy with the move.  Anyway, we are welcoming Spring!!  (although, there is a slight chance of snow on Monday...) St. Patrick's Day was last week, and Kenley had a little party at school.  Charlie was not happy that he was stuck in his stroller, but when I let him out he was running around like a wild animal, and he almost destroyed the organized neat stations of Kenley's classroom in 30 seconds!

Last weekend, my sister and I went to Gurnee for the day/night.  I am so happy we were able to go, and even though it was only a little over 24 hours, it was like a vacation to us  Even though I get to see my sister a lot, it was so nice to spend time with her one-on-one. We actually got to shop, talk and relax without being interrupted by crying, toddler demands, diaper changes, or the usual craziness that happens when were together with all 4 kids. We got to take our time looking at anything and everything we wanted, tried on clothes, and had dinner and drinks.  The next morning, we both got massages, manicures, and pedicures, and we headed back to the mall for a few more hours.  We bought a lot of stuff, and somehow more than half of the stuff we bought was for the kids. We both got a much needed little break!

I have a pretty fun weekend ahead because Ray surprised me this week, and he got me tickets to the Eric Church concert with my friend Melissa!  It's tomorrow night, and I'm pretty excited because again, I will get some time with one of my mama friends without our kids! Melissa probably needs it even more than me since she has 3 kids! I think Ray knew I had been a little stressed out with the move, and he really wanted to give me some "grown up" time since he went on his golf trip.  Then, on Saturday night he and I are having a date night.  We are planning on just doing something simple like dinner and a movie, but we are excited because our last date night, which was over a month ago consisted of errands to Home Depot, Lowes, etc....

Other than that, we've still been pretty consumed with little things around the house.  We didn't have to do much work, unlike last time when we basically had the entire house remodeled the first few months after we moved.  But, little things here and there like replacing a few light fixtures, paint touch-ups, and just making this house "ours."  Ray has been in charge of all of the labor/maintenance, and I happily took over the job as decorator! I have had so much fun decorating, and searching for the perfect little trinkets to complete each room.  I think I'm mostly "done," but every time I say that I find something else I like, or think of something else I want.  I have used a lot of the decorations from the old house, and have made too many trips  Hobby Lobby and Michaels, but I have also found a lot of cute things at several of the local re-sale shops.  I'll admit I'm kind of picky and particular about decorating, and I've bought and returned so many things over the past few weeks until I found things that I felt looked good and made it feel like "home." 

Here are two of my favorite little decorating projects from the last few weeks!