December 29th

1. The handmade chips at CHN

Holy these little guys are amazing.  Have they made the list before. I am obsessed obsessed obsessed. I can devour the bag in minutes. 

2. Country Music
Lately Mike has been listening to AND liking country music.  It makes it easy when we are listening to music in the house because we both like the options. 


3. My work notebook
I am finally finding a system to keep me organized at work.  Since I am over 29 different providers and 3 different specialties it makes things a tad crazy at times.  Grateful that I am FINALLY coming up with a process.  Keep your fingers crossed.


4. Three day weekend
I am so happy to have three full days to do NOTHING.  I plan on doing the Shutterfly yearbook and a calendar for work.  I also plan on sitting by the fire, playing with Jack and catching up with my husband.  I am pumped.

5. Mentoring
In the past year I have figured out that one of my biggest passions is mentoring others.  I am obsessed with watching people grow.  That's where I find my energy and that I what I love about my job.  It is so freaking cool to help people set goals and help them achieve AND for these same people to find so much self worth and personal empowerment and achievement. 


Anyways -- top the point -- I was telling this to Sarah yesterday as we celebrated her house being sold (and we were discussing my goals).  And she said, "well you mentor me all of the time. You make a difference in my life."  How can things like that not make you grateful.  Cheers!

Back to the basics.

1. The van is fixed
About two weeks ago my car started to go down hill quickly.  Thank goodness for my husband's memory that we bumper to bumper lifetime warranty on the car.  This was a decision that I went back and forth on in my head and Bruce helped to push me to make the RIGHT decision.  Though Mike was sad to return his rental sports car - I am trilled to have my van back.


2. Fireplace
Over the holiday weekend we had fires pretty regularly.  It was a pretty nice change from the normal.  Grateful to have this little gem in our home and looking forward to more fires in the winter.


3. New work clothes
Oh wow -this whole work attire thing is a LOT for me.  I have been wearing scrubs for the last 10 years and I have found myself slightly jealous of my staff who get to wear essentially pajamas to work every day.  Over Christmas my mom gifted me a new outfit which I am currently wearing at work.  I have had TONS of compliments.  It is very clear my wardrobe needs to be shaken up a bit!


4. Poop in the Potty
Jack is starting to actually POOP IN THE POTTY.  Like the twins, I waited to start potty training Jack until he was closer to 3.  It has been going ok so far.  Not the best- not the worst.  That being said, Jack is at daycare all day (vs the boys being home with me) so the experience is MUCH different.   The point of this is - Jack went poop in the potty last night.  Thankful that we got to do a little celebration dance in his honor.  Oh- and the pride you can see in his eyes - that is the best part of all.


5. The week between Christmas and New Years
I sort of love this little week between the two holidays.  I hate it because the boys are usually gone but this is the time I am able to sit back and reflect on some of my dreams and goals for 2018.  I have not figured out my New Years Resolutions yet or really even what I WANT out of 2018.  I am excited to see how it unfolds.

a FULL month

In the past month a LOT has happened in our lives.  I had every intention of picking up my computer and doing the blog but clearly it was put onto the back burner.  I am hopeful that I can start writing again and take a few minutes to document the crazy wonderful that has happened in our lives.  So in normal, "back at it" fashion, this post is going to be short and sweet.  I have about 7 minutes before jumping into the shower.

1. VEGAS
Mike and I headed to Vegas to celebrate our anniversary (flowers and fruit), celebrate my graduation from school AND check off A5 from the bucket list.  It was a perfect weekend away.  We spent waaaaayyyyy too much money on food and drinks but we actually won a little bit while gambling.  He is the best travel partner (though he likes to stay up late - and I like to go to bed early).  Grateful for Mike and another great year of marriage.

2. Pat watched Jack
Mike's mom was able to come into town and watch Jack while we were gone. The boys were at their dad's that weekend so it worked out pretty well.  We came home to a clean house and a fridge full of food.  Oh - and a very spoiled 2 year old but it only took a few days to get him back to his normal routine.

3. Toothpaste
I have a love hate relationship with my hobby - selling toothpaste.  Either way, I am still grateful for this little side biz and what it has taught me about myself.  I have grown so much and I am excited to see how it grows in 2018.

4.  The kids still believe...
I think that both of the twins still believe in Santa.  This year we still managed to do Elf and he was the highlight of every morning.  I thought FOR SURE this would be the year that they turned.  Grateful for another year being able to threaten the naughty list!

5. Spending time with the twins
In the past few months I feel that I get so little time with the kids that I am SO SO SO grateful for every moment of time I get to be in their presence.  Cameron is turning into this kind, empathetic soul and Owen is full of energy, competitive and always wants to do his absolute best.  I love watching them grow.

5. Christmas
Grateful for another successful Christmas.  This year we celebrated on the 23rd with Christmas pasta, dance parties and a ton of fun.  We had a small stomach bug going around but it seems that it was short lived.  ALSO - really grateful that Mike picked up the house yesterday morning while I was at work.  I ended up coming home sick and laying in bed all day so it was so wonderful that all presents are put away, everything is in it's place and our house is not a HUGE disaster.  

Can't sleep

1.  Hosted holiday parties are OVER

Here is the thing...I LOVE hosting parties.  I love having people over at my house with the intention of providing them a GREAT night.  This past weekend was no different.  I enjoyed having Thanksgiving and finally hosting martini night.  I really do love having parties.  BUT right now I am also exhausted with school work and responsibilities.  So though I loved hosting -- I am excited that next weekend I am just attending.

One of the MANY trips to the store.  

 2. Martini Night
Jenna was in town and our kitchen is finally done so I decided to host martini night.  It was great.  I haven't seen Kara in months and it was wonderful to see baby Ana again.  It is always wonderful to sit down and reconnect with these women.  It doesn't happen enough but when it does - it is a ton of fun.

3. Christmas lights
Grateful that Mike tackles the Christmas lights.  When the boys were little this was something that I tried to take on (though not on the roof).  Our house looks great.  Thank you Rouzer!

4. Play-doh and other great things
Jack is starting to play INDEPENDENTLY.  I love how he just goes into his room and plays dinosaurs and uses his creativity.  Love. love. love.

5. free time
Since I had girls night at our house on Saturday, Mike & Josh took all of the kids up to the cabin.  That meant on Sunday morning I had a few hours of FREE time.  I had to pick up the mess from the night before but then I headed out to do some Christmas shopping.  I was able to get a LOT completed.  It was pretty heavenly.

5:04am

1. Thanksgiving

I think it is officially official.  We have the BEST Thanksgiving table.  That being said, we had another wonderful Thanksgiving at our house.  This year we had a few more hiccups than usual but overall the day was still really freaking fabulous.  Best parts: talking to family & playing Bingo after dinner.  

 2. Brotherly Love
Because of the Thanksgiving week we have the boys for almost an entire week.  I decided to post this picture of their electronics because they are OBSESSED.  We try to lay down pretty strict rules in the house (these devices are usually at Greg's) but when we let them play -- they are glued.

Back to the brotherly love...I am so grateful that the twins love on Jack and take care of him and that Jack is over the moon in love with his brothers.  One of my favorite things in this world is their love for each other.

3. Jack's New Bed
Has this made the blog yet?  I know that there is not much of a blog anymore but this was a pretty great change for this dude.  Jack transition into his big boy bed a few weeks ago.  The transition was not hard for the adults because Jack was crawling out of his crib a few times a night.  He has been sick the last few weeks so it has made it significantly easier to read with him in bed, sing songs and spend a few extra moments loving on him as he falls asleep.  In the morning, every day, every SINGLE day, he walks out of his room and says, "I'm awake!!" With a huge smile on his face and so so proud of himself.

Ironically as I was typing out the words, "I'm awake" he said it again.  Followed by, "I wake up!"

Yup - he loves to be awake.  (It's 5:04am right now)

4. Adult night out
Last weekend we actually had a night out with Tasha and AJ.  We went to dinner in Broad Ripple and then on a bar crawl!  Broad Ripple has changed a ton since I frequented there 17 years ago (HOLY SHIT - I am OLD). I am so grateful for our friendship with these two.

5.  School is almost OVER
I have one more project that I am finishing next week.  This is HUGE HUGE HUGE for our family because I spend so many hours at work and finishing up my Masters.  The past few days I have been thinking about how I want to spend my time and I decided I want to do a puzzle.  Yup, sit down, at our big ass table every night and do a puzzle.  Doesn't that sound heavenly?

It is FRIDAY

1. Rouzer

He is on this list every day.  He is the best.  So grateful that he cooks all of the meals, helps support me in all of my dreams, keeps my feet on the ground and is my biggest supporter.  I have no interest in doing this life without him.  So freaking grateful for such a wonderful man.

2. Impractical Jokers

While I am on the topic of Mike....this week he introduced me to this show.  I LOVE it.  I was laughing so hard the other night I was crying.  It might be a new favorite.

3. Working on my capstone project

I am officially working on my capstone project.  I have been trying to fly through this program as fast as possible without completely losing my shit (though that has happened frequently).  I can officially see the end in sight and I am PUMPED.  I have a feeling there will be a lot of computer time in the next few weeks.  Then off to Vegas to CELEBRATE.

4. 3am wake up calls
Yup.  Two days in a row.  Please pray that this is not a trend.  I was able to get him to go back to sleep this morning BUT I was awake and not able to shut back down.  **Insert crying emoji here**

5. LIVE on Facebook
This journey has successfully taken me OUT of my comfort zone.  I have learned a lot about myself and some of my strengths and weaknesses.  It has been really insightful and I think has helped me in my current role at CHVH.  I won't be selling toothpaste forever.  That is for sure.  BUT right now I am loving the extra cash and all of the little lessons along the way.

Again -- a shoutout to Mike who helps me with things like Facebook live and figuring out how to juggle all of these things!

one more post.

Yes!!! I'm back.  Clearly I did not do well on the entire MONTH of October so I am just going to pick up right here.  WAY to much to fill you in on.  So in order to make the transition smooth from NOT HAVING MY SHIT TOGETHER to being completely spot on..... I am going to do an early morning list AND a few random pictures.

1. Coffee
It's made the list before - it will make the list again.  It's sort of like my crutch to get through the day. Recently I have started drinking coffee around 2pm to boost me through the afternoon and be a fully functional wife and mom in the evenings.  I am currently sitting in the dark of the morning, drinking my coffee, and it is making my soul HAPPY.

2. The kitchen is done -- ALMOST
It's really the kitchen, floors and half bath....but either way....it's almost completed. I am excited for my garage to go back to normal and to have a toilet paper holder in the bathroom.  We have had a functioning kitchen for weeks and that goes without saying -------- SO FREAKING GRATEFUL.

3. The twins turned 8.
That's a pretty big deal in my book.  Yup, time is officially flying by and not so painstakingly hard with these two.  (Now the 2 year old.....wowzers...but that's a different story)  These two have been ultra easy and fun to be around.  I also miss them like crazy on most days because I have started to share my weekday evenings with Greg.

4. Mike cooks dinner EVERY NIGHT
My husband is pretty fabulous about a lot of things but this is one that makes me grateful every single night.  This man usually has dinner started or almost finished when I walk in the door from work.  I will admit, it has made me a mess in the kitchen when it is actually my turn to cook but for right now I am in love with this arrangement.

5. TWO classes left of school
Right now I am on track to finish school by the end of the year.  My goal is to have it completed, graded and FINISHED by Dec 13th which means I need to bust out some solid hours of work these next few weeks.  All the extra time on my computer makes me want to stay away from my computer for everything else (hence why I haven't done the blog).  I will be so PUMPED when this is completed.

Mike has been on two hunting trips in Ohio.

Love the slumber parties with this crew.  **Last night at the Abel's**

Just SOME of the costumes at work last week.  

We are in full fledge dance part mode in our new kitchen.  We LOVE the dance parties.

He actually thought this was his new bed that I was buying him at IKEA a few weeks ago.

A picture from their party.  Is this real?  WOW.

My favorite FAVORITE holiday to celebrate with my kids.  

Late night meeting of the minds.  

STILL in the toothpaste BIZ.  

I MUST SAY -- this was a super fast blog post and easy to get out and down on paper.  That being said -- I will be furiously trying to get my school work done this month and I am not sure how much I will be posting over the next few weeks.

OCTOBER

It has been awhile since my last post.  I have been terrible at this 40+ hour a week thing.  I go go go at work all day and then I find that I don't have much energy for anything else besides playing with my kids, chit chatting with Mike and heading to bed.  I haven't woken up early in WEEKS.  I have lots of pictures and captions to share but first I will do a quick 5.

1. I am making coffee in my kitchen.
OUR COUNTERS ARE INSTALLED.  Though we still don't have a kitchen faucet and there are a few more details that Luke needs to come finish up....we have counters!!!

2.  The boys got so much better at baseball.
Though we surprisingly lost our first playoff game, this season it was actually fun to watch!  I even made a new friend so it made the entire thing extra fun.  I am actually looking forward to them getting better and watching them play next year.

3. I am liking my job.
The new gig is extremely challenging for me and tests my creative thinking, independence and judgement on a moment to moment basis.  I am learning so freaking much that sometimes (most of the time) I want to slow down to have time to think through my decisions.  I do see a light at the end of this crazy tunnel where I am not on full speed at all times but right now I am enjoying the ride.  For the most part.

Best part -- I rarely RARELY get emails after 430pm.


**The last two are at the bottom of the post.  Sorry for the break.  Enjoy the pictures**

How we ate food for a few weeks.

The joys of watching soccer.  Our team is TERRIBLE but Owen is clearly the best on the team so I think he is having a blast.

Cookout with old friends

Jack was making sure to follow Ezra around extra closely.

School work ALL day on Sunday.  I was able to get another class finished.  Only 4 left!

I rarely do homework with the boys because of my schedule.  I love sitting with them while they read.

...The night Mike got in an argument with the back neighbor.....but they made up and it ended in some YUMMY beer.  **Take note -- Ivy Hills HATES fireworks**

Something pierced the diet coke in my bag.  I noticed it in the middle of the aisle at Walmart.  Ugh.  Another reason to hate Walmart.

Completely, 100% out of my comfort zone at whale of a sale.  Learning from the best.

School picture day.  He was sort of a mess about what to wear.  Between the two of us we probably feed off each other.

When I was ordering hot chocolate for the daycare workers one morning Jack over heard and thought I ordered him chocolate milk.  When I got to the window I purchased a special Friday treat for him too.  :)

Jared's wedding.  AMAZING.

cleaning up trash in the neighborhood for their school project.  Greg did the work with them.

Micah's HUGS.  We are obsessed with playing with our neighbors.

4. Jack's clothes
For the past few weeks Jack has based his whole day off what type of clothes he is wearing.  For example, today he has a dog on his shirt so he wants to watch dog cartoons and pretends to be a dog all day.  He will ask to eat dog food when you ask him what he wants for lunch. One day I convinced him to wear a bike shirt.  Bike cartoons are hard to find at 5am.  haha

5. It's the weekend.
I want to wear sweatpants. Go to the gym, hit up soccer a few times and DO NOTHING.  So freaking excited to be able to put our house back together.  **So I guess that will take time** And then we will put up halloween directions.  PUMPED.