2016 Resolutions

2016 New Years Resolutions

1. Compete in a 70.3

Holy hell I need to start training. Immediately.

2. Pay off the Honda Pilot

3. Walk Nash once a week.

Don't judge.  I am a terrible dog owner when it's cold outside.

4. Purchase a water softener

.....This is all I have so far.  I need to do some more brainstorming but wanted to get these few written down.

Cheers to another crazy, wonderful year.

Addition on 1/3/16

So I have been trying to think of some more goals for the year.  I still don't have anything solid written down BUT I want to get our family outside more.  I want to spend less time doing the "small stuff" like laundry and house work and MORE time doing things like bike riding, hiking, and camping.  Well...let's be honest...the boys can go camping.

I usually like to have these goals set into place.  Hopefully this next week I will write things down more OR I will just leave it like it is and continue to enjoy life.

Quick recap. Quick.

1. Christmas at Kara and John's

After a day of lounging around we headed over to Kara and John's for dinner.  The food was amazing, Mike took advantage of the great whiskey and smoked cigars with the men, and SBJ was on his best behavior.  We dressed him like Santa and he was so stinking cute.  Easy end to a great holiday season. 

 

2. Dinner with the cousins
Jenna was in town so on Sunday night a few of us met out for dinner at Brugge.  The last time I was there I was pregnant and unable to enjoy the mussels.  They were tasty, the company was great, and it was a fun night out.

3. Christmas day was BEAUTIFUL
I was finally a good dog owner and took Nash on a WALK.  It was beautiful out and with all of this rain it was great to finally see the sun.

4. Face-time
This is a picture of us doing face-time.  Cameron had his elf hat on and then was playing with his slinky.  I am missing these boys like crazy and I am so grateful for this technology.

5. Attic Organization

Mike decided to organize our attic yesterday.  Holy moly that is exciting. 

6. Christmas decorations are DOWN.  

All of our Christmas stuff is down, packed and in the attic.  We ordered new, personalized stockings but besides that it's finished.  I'm happy.

Christmas Eve....on Christmas Day

There is so much JOY this season and so much happiness that I think it might be best to do just do a normal FIVE.  Christmas Eve this year was one of the best that I can remember.  I miss the boys like crazy but usually I just take a deep breath and know that they are safe, happy, and well in Chicago.  This year we did an afternoon at my parents and the day continued to be fabulous as the hours ticked on.  

1. Christmas Pasta

My sister made a dish by Rachel Ray called Christmas Pasta and we all LOVED it.  This is an expensive dish to make but she turned it out for holidays or when we went into Denver for a visit.  It is actually in the cook book that Mike and I are tackling and this year we wanted to make it for the family.  We doubled the recipe so we would all have left overs.  It was hit.  My sisters had more of a "kick" to it so next year we will be adding red pepper flakes.  

2. Eloise opening gifts
This little lady was the official helper.  She walked around and handed out gifts and then official opened all of them.  It was hilarious.  When she opened my sweater she would announce, "It's a sweater."  And then, "You can wear it in the winter."  When she opened a book I gave my mom she said, "It's a book.  You have always wanted this."  This was one of my favorite parts of the entire day and I think it will be my favorite memory of the season.  She opened presents with such determination and was a little "go-getter"  It made us all laugh and she had a blast.

 3. Sawer's Headache
This was Mike's favorite part of the day.  (Don't judge the title and first sentence).  So before opening gifts we took the iPad away from Sawyer.  Almost instantly he complained of a headache.  He started screaming and crying and I instantly went into AUNT mode.  I gave him magic medicine, lots of hugs, and tried to calm him down.  Then my dad said, "he doesn't have a headache.  He is upset about the iPad. "  We asked Sawyer if that was the case and he said, "Yes, the iPad would help."  oh. my. goodness.  I could not help but laugh but I asked Jess if I could be the AUNT for 1 more minute and give him some more hugs.  He pulled one over and me and Mike and we thought it was absolutely great.

**one side note, the quilt my dad is sitting on.....I made****

4. Mimosas
Champaign has been on our grocery list for Christmas Day mimosas.  But we always leave off the OJ.  We just drink the Champaign BUT we still say that we are drinking mimosas.  That's how we roll.

**Here are some random pictures of my boys.  They are dressed like twins though it was not planned at all.  Jack is finally feeling better and back to his normal sweet self.**

 5. Dinner with the neighbors
Holy moly these people make my heart happy.  They are easy, laid-back, and so fun to be around.  Mandy and I are similar and Luke and Mike hit it off instantly.  They are in the same phases of life that we are traveling and I am so so so grateful for their friendship.  At the last minute they invited us over for dinner and it was great.  I was in my sweatpants and anything that we needed we just ran home and picked up.

Best part of the night -- we saw a rash on JUDE.  The smiles could not be erased from our faces.  He has had some extremely terrifying labs and leukemia was a strong possibility.  Mandy is a pediatric, oncology NP and she was convincing me that the labs were probably not leukemia and we were waiting for Saturday for the smear to come back.  But....she was still waiting...because if it wasn't terrifying....we wouldn't have to wait.

A few hours in we changed a diaper and he had a RASH.  Even typing it out makes me excited.

Anyways -- I will still be waiting for the smears BUT Jude had a rash and so we are pretty sure he will be just fine!!!!!  That is the best Christmas gift of all!

6. Skip stopped by
Like I said -- so many wonderful things happened yesterday.  While Mike and I were exchanging gifts in the quietness of Christmas Eve our doorbell rang.  Skip, our next door neighbor (the other one), stopped by.  He brought back some tupperware that we sent over with food and he also gave us a gift.  I was shocked and truly found some of the Christmas joy and spirit that I have been missing during this season.  I wish that I could clearly articulate my feelings on this visit.  Grateful.  Inspired. Humbled.

7. The rest of the day....
It's 930 on Christmas morning.  Jack is down for his first nap, Mike has a fire going, and we are drinking mimosas.  We have the entire day ahead.  I am looking forward to talking to the twins and lounging around all day.  Cheers!

Updates

Update to the 2015 RESOLUTIONS

1. Buy the boys real beds

2. Finish the windows

We still have 3 windows to replace.  This year we did 2 new windows. ...Actually we have a total of 4 new windows.  I am not sure if this will stay on the list.

3. Pay $300 a month to student loans

4. Take a separate trip with Mike

5. Connect with Sawyer

So this one is a hard one to gauge.  I am not marking it as completed because I don't have something that Sawyer and I do together that makes me feel like we really "connect."  This will be added to the resolutions for next year.  They will be moving to Denver this year so it will be a whole new spin on things. 

6. Clear out the backyard

7. Go to a beach

8. Ride 100 miles with the boys

Not. Even. Close.  We did lots of bike riding but it was harder to get out than I anticipated to get out with the boys with JackJack hanging around.  Next year we will hopefully have him in a bike seat and we can all get back out again.  ALSO--we need to purchase a bike rack for our car.  

9. Start thinking about a half iron man

Overall...I think it was a pretty successful year accomplishing the goals.  Now I need to start working on 2016.

Christmas

1. A successful gift giving morning. 

This year Santa is only going to be arriving on Christmas.  For the past few years the boys have had him at both houses but now with SBJ and the craziness of everything I decided to just have him arrive on Christmas morning.  We bought the boys gifts and had them open them on Saturday morning.  It was a fabulous day.  Owen worked with his Pokemon book ALL. DAY. LONG.  Around noon my parents showed up and we grilled hamburgers.  At 130 or so Aunt Sue arrived for the weekend. Sunday morning I took the boys to Chicago and now the house is extremely quiet.  Extremely. It was a long weekend but great to spend time with each other. 

Clearly Rouzer needed more coffee, more sleep, or some Christmas cheer. 

When he got dressed and looked around the corner all I could see was my dad.  This picture does not do it justice but with his v-neck sweater he nailed the look.

SBJ was somewhat of a mess this weekend.  He was still feeling under the weather and he is getting his 9th tooth.  He wanted me to hold him all morning. Eventually I put my carrier on and he was happy.  ....Well at least not crying.

2. Stitch Fix
My first box came on Saturday night.  I only kept 2 items and they were more than I would like to spend BUT it was super easy.  I scheduled my next box to arrive in a few weeks and I am looking forward to getting a few new things for my wardrobe.

3. Homemade sausage
My parents have made sausage around the holidays since forever.  It is a memory that I have grown up with and look forward to every year.  For years now I have wanted to learn and make sure I know how to make this dish.  Finally -- this year -- I actually made the sausage.  It isn't perfect, or anywhere close to perfect, BUT I am super glad that I have one batch under my belt.

4. A 3 day work week
Does this need any more explanation? Looking forward to 3 days on, 4 days off for the next two weeks.

5. My cold is getting a little bit better
Ugh...tired of being sick. BUT I found a gross medicine to take and now my cold is getting better.  Slowly but at least it is getting better.

Words then pictures

A lot has happened since my last post -- but a lot ALWAYS happens.  I am going to start back with last Saturday.  Last Saturday is when the sickness started.....and it has been a long road ever since.

Last Saturday morning I did an early morning ride at the new Cycle Bar.  I am in love -- probably because it was free -- but it is the best spin class that I have attended since leaving Lifetime.  When I got home Cameron was coughing -- STILL.  Before spin I gave him a breathing treatment and cough medicine (which usually works).  On Friday night I had given him allergy medicine.  Regardless -- 3 hours later I was walking in the door and he was non-stop to the point I was worried.  I immediately jumped in the shower and headed to the walk in clinic with wet hair.  I thought we was having an asthma attack -- still coughing his head off.  His lungs were clear and we received no good answers but he did get some prednisone.  After that fiasco we headed to McDonalds for a Kindergarden party. Yikes.  That's all I can say.  That evening I went to my work party while Mike stayed home with the boys (thank you!)

On Sunday we went to see Mary Poppins.  I have a slight obsession so I throughly enjoyed myself.  I wish I would of brought an endless supply of snacks in my purse but overall all the kids did great.  Ironically Tucker's family sat RIGHT NEXT TO US.  

Monday night Mike and I went out for our anniversary and my parents watched the boys.  At around 1100 Cameron walked into our room COVERED in puke.  It was so gross--from his head to his feet.  It makes me cringe just to type it out.  I was up pretty much the entire night with him and then on Tuesday Mike stayed home from work to be with him.  I was supposed to go to another class at cycle bar but I started coming down with a cold AND I was exhausted from the night before.  Mike and I were both in bed by 830 on Tuesday night.  On Wednesday Cameron stopped puking so he was back to school and on Wednesday night the boys had their first official school program.  Greg and his dad came into town so they picked up the boys early and headed over.  Tasha saved us seats and when we walked into the gym we got the news that Cameron puked in his classroom!!!  Sra. Cannon said that he could still perform but after the twins both performed Mike took Cameron and Jack home.  

Being a nurse--the puking and his constant complaints of headaches made me extremely EXTREMELY nervous..... until this morning.  This morning Jack started puking.  

I ended up calling into work to stay with the two sickies.  I have also been sleeping TERRIBLY and have been really sick.  **I few posts back I noted that I NEVER get sick--clearly that isn't the case anymore.  My immune system is terrible and I need to get back into the gym and get things back into gear**  Anyways, though I HATE HATE calling into work -- it was probably the best thing for us.  I was able to get a ton of stuff done around the house plus get some rest.

So -- that leads us to tonight.  Mike and Jess went to dinner and to see Star Wars. I got Jack down at 645 but he hasn't eaten much today so who knows how the night will roll out.  And the boys are headed to bed in a few short minutes.  I am excited to catch up on my Kindle and hopefully sleep like a rock.

Sorry for the long, typed out narrative but sometimes that is way easier.  Also -- I know that there are a million typos and grammatical errors -- don't judge.

Here are my FIVE for today.

1. Done with my wrapping (except one gift).

2.  I made a smoothie with my new Ninja bullet and added vodka so it was healthy AND fabulous.  

**Clearly this is why my immune system sucks**

3. My new lululemon sweatpants from Rouzer.  I have a feeling they will be worn EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

4. Grocery shopping

It is embarrassing how low we let our food supply get before getting more groceries.  It is also absolutely insane how much food we go through in this house.  Last night we stayed up until 10 making our order and Mike picked it up this morning.  The fridge is full.  YAY!!

5.  Jack is dancing

Jack has started dancing with me in the kitchen.  Now we can ALL dance.  I love it.

Our Second Anniversary 

The absolutely PACKED gym for the program last night.

The boys at Mary Poppins

Making chicken fingers for dinner.

The random things I adore...

I have been trying to figure out how to appropriately write out how I feel about this man.  I am having a hard time articulating my love for him in just a few sentences.  So this year I decided to write out 5 of the random ass things that I love about Mike 

1. He is silly

Mike is crazy.  He loves to make people laugh and he loves to play around.  He cracks stupid jokes...ALL. DAY. LONG.  Most of the time after he cracks a joke he then looks at me and says, "You don't think I am funny."  In response I say, "No--I do."  And then I give him a fake laugh.  We have this conversation almost every single day.  Not only his he silly with me he is the best with the boys.  

2.  He is easily startled

This makes me laugh to even type out but I can picture him jumping out of his skin.  If I walk around the corner into the kitchen and he wasn't expecting me--he will jump a foot.  It is hilarious.  The best is mowing the lawn....I have learned to just stand in the distance (which is also a bit creepy) and have him notice me.  He usually his still extremely startled and throws his lawn mower up in the air.  Now SBJ does the same thing.  He gets startled and then he laughs and laughs.  

3. Bed throwing and butt smacking

If Mike and I are in the bedroom together (not in that type of way--- get your head out of the gutter) he will come up next to me and throw me on the bed.  He usually just pushes me over and won't let me get up. He thinks it is hilarious and then I start laughing and can't stop.  Random I know.  

Along the same lines...Mike walks around smacking my butt a lot.  LOT.  Usually if I am walking by him in the kitchen I keep my hand over my butt and we end up doing lots of high fives that way ...or low fives.  Once we had someone over and they were impressed by our coordination.  We didn't even notice because to us it is second nature.  I usually anticipate the butt smack so I put my hand there for the block.

4.  He has a million hobbies. 

One of the little quirks about Mike is that he has a gazillion things that he wants to do and/or accomplish.  I love to watch him go from one thing to the next.  He is like a kid in a candy store who gets really really excited. .....until he sees the next thing on his list. 

5. He is so sexy

I know that most people are attracted to their spouses but holy moly I think that this man is so hot. There are many times that I find myself looking across the table from him wondering how I got so lucky. 

the daily life

1. We rolled with it....

Our gingerbread houses were somewhat of a fiasco.  In my hurried trip to Target I purchased the house KITS and not houses to decorate.  It was hilarious and things continued to break.  Let's be honest--the boys enjoy eating the gross candy and frosting the most.  So this year our houses are flat with only some of the pieces and we had lots of laughs. 

2. Extra time with the twins
I was able to get in some extra time with the boys at school yesterday.  I am always impressed with how much Spanish that these kids know.  The teachers just talk in Spanish all day.  It is absolutely insane to observe.

3. lifeinthefoxhole.blogspot.com

Shelby started a blog AND she is doing fabulous.  Lots of people start and then stop but she has kept it up.  I am so so so grateful that she is doing this.  Not only do I love reading her blog but I also am happy that she is documenting these years.  These years are exhausting and we forget a lot -- she will be sooooo happy that some of these little things are written down. 

4.  Oil change

This morning I was able to drop my car off and it is getting an oil change as I sit at work.  

5. Morning nail trimming session
All three boys need their nails trimmed.  I will do the boys this evening but I need to put this picture of Jack up.  Look at that intensity on his face.

December Days

1. The visit to Santa

This years picture did not disappoint.  Jack kept looking up at Santa and then looking back at us for safety.  Cameron asked for "character maker" and Owen asked for Pokemon. It was a quick, successful trip.  **And yes--we don't put shoes on our baby.**

2.  They dress themselves
So happy that the twins come out of their room in the morning fully dressed. Cameron's outfits usually make me smile every single morning.  He ALWAYS rolls his jeans and usually his shirt is too small.  This morning I made him take a picture.  The socks make his feet look HUGE.

3. Lazy evenings
We have been trying to enjoy our evenings together -- and it is working.  A few nights ago we all sat and watched Mickey's Christmas.  I had to snap this picture of Jack because he was actually sitting down (only for a few short seconds).  I love his grump face.  It matches his daddy's.

4. Asking to go to bed early
We try to get the boys into bed by 715.  Since we have a 610 wake up call they are usually passed out pretty quickly.  The past few days the boys have been asking to go to bed earlier.  Let me clarify...in the morning both boys agreed that they wanted to go to bed earlier!!  What??!!  I told them that I probably can't push their bedtime any earlier.  They will be going to bed right after dinner.  Obviously they need some more "down time."

5. Laura

Last night Laura came over after work and we drank a glass of wine and she watched me devour popcorn.  All three boys were in bed so it was perfect to sit down and not be interrupted. Grateful for her friendship and so happy to catch up.  

Sunday Night

1. Shelby's Christmas Party

It is that time of year again and of course the party was as fabulous as usual.  I had so much fun catching up with these ladies.  Bri came in town as a last minute surprise.  It was so great to see her AND she brought me my own special Starbucks.  These two sisters have really taken me in and helped me survive some of the shitty parts of life.  It was a great night.  Oh -- AND though I had tons of gummy shots and martinis I was still able to make pancakes for the boys this morning.  WHAT??!!!  (yes--clearly I am impressed with myself)

2. Just hanging out

Since we don't really have a designated area for Jack to be safe and explore I usually just follow him around.  This weekend I did a LOT of sitting and playing with Jackers.  I must admit -- it is pretty fun.

 4. "You look like my older sister."
That is what Cameron said about this selfie that we took.  Hahaha.  I'll take it.

 4. Christmas Craziness -- and a moment of silence
The past few weeks the boys have been absolutely insane.  I am not entirely sure what is going on but holy hell it has been loud.  Very loud.  If I am honest I think that annoying is also a word that will fit into this description.  The boys are constant.  Constant.  I am not sure what was going on in my head on Saturday but it was all just getting to me.  Around 3pm Mike took the boys outside to play football.  I had 40 minutes of silence to fold laundry and do dishes.  It was absolutely amazing.  I enjoyed every bit of that silence and when they all came tumbling back inside I was refreshed.  Grateful that Mike can gauge my tension and help calm me down.

5. Date night - Paint Night
My painting was so terrible on Thursday night that I was actually laughing out loud.  The next morning I was talking to my patient who is an art teacher and she said that at least I would pass 6th grade art.  :)  Regardless of all of that -- spending a few hours and unwinding with Mike will always make me happy.  That day he also purchased two growlers from Bier that we enjoyed.  Yum.

6. "well it's too late now."
Owen has the best memory I know so when he said that it was his turn to put the angel on this year...I believed him.  As the moment to top the tree grew closer I started questioning.  You could sort of tell that he was trying to pull one over on us.  As he was putting the angel on Mike and I both questioned out loud if it was actually his turn and so I decided to pull out our 2014 photo book.  I couldn't easily find the picture but once the angel was up Owen turned, walked away, and said, "Well it's too late now."  That little stinker tricked us.

7.  I had less popcorn today
My mother in law bought us a tin of popcorn from Garrett's.  Holy hell this is my own version of crack.  Today I ate significantly less than yesterday.  Goal for tomorrow -- to not even start.

8.  We sold some stuff
The amount of "things" that we have is unbelievable.  I feel like our house is filled to the brim.  Yesterday someone came over and took a ton of clothes off our hands and then today someone came and took some barware that we don't use.  I hope to keep reducing so that way our house gets settled down a bit and I don't feel like we live in a thrift shop.

**Big shout out to Mike who organized and took on the task of the kitchen -- so grateful.**