Powerwash

1.

I am not sure of the title of this one so I am just going to leave it blank.  Basically, I just need to say that I changed my mind from the last post.  I am not happy that my kids are growing up.  I want them to stay little. 

2. Cub scout heaven

The boys are basically in cub scout heaven.  We had our first real meeting on Monday and they were decked out in full garb.  Heaven.  

3. Power washed & weeds are gone
In the front I pulled all of the grass/weeds and though I don't plan on putting mulch down this year it looks SO.MUCH.BETTER.  Mike also power washed the front sidewalk and step.  Holy moly the change is unbelievable.  The next morning when we were walking to the bus stop, in the dark, Owen even stopped and said, "Mom look -- the sidewalk is white!"


4. Snacks during homework. 
Giving the boys yummy snacks while they do their homework usually makes the complaining go away.  Last night was the first night I had to pull out Google translate and homework took a tad longer than normal -- but overall things are going smoothly.  Overall is the key word. 


Here is a snapshot of Monday night's paper that Mike checked.  Please note how he circles the words, that the site words are not in alphabetical order AND my favorite part is y + z. 

He was posing for the camera and so happy eating his entire banana.

 5. Emily and Hollis
I wish I lived on the same street as these ladies.  They make me heart so happy.  To explain this picture..... Emily was trying to decide what to order and Holli and I were talking about our huge beers.  It reminded us of the time we were in Prague, extremely broke, and needed to SHARE an afternoon beer.  The waiter made fun of us and we laughed about it the entire trip.  We were still laughing about it last night. Love. Love. Love these ladies.

nonsense

1. Grandma Pat came to visit

This past weekend Pat was in town for a few days.  Obviously it was great to catch up.  

Hiking in the morning at Ft Ben.


This is the only picture that I got of us going bowling on Saturday morning with my parents.  Yup. Lots of great pictures.

 Sorry that I have nothing else insightful to say about the trip.  We both feel extremely grateful the Pat came into town.  We ate great food and had lots of fun.  We don't have another trip planned but looking forward to seeing her again soon.


2.  Water bottles
I drink almost all of my water out of a water bottle.  Not the type that is disposable -- but the reusable, sport ones.  For some reason right now -- having my water bottle by my side makes me happy.


3. All of the boys
Growing, changing and growing up.  It makes me sad and want to hold onto their little hands super tight BUT it also makes me happy and proud to be their mom.


Cub scout books & Lexia.  Serious, studious boys.

Afternoon reading seems to take up lots of time in our house.  Each boy reads for 20 minutes and I have learned that an adult needs to sit with them to help at times. 

 4.  Adulting
Clearly being an adult is hard for me at times.  I would honestly prefer to just play.  This past week I prepped food and made desserts and TRIED to be an adult.  It was Jaclyn's bday this week so I prepared her the cookie cake on the right and last March she prepared the cookie cake on the left for me. Yup.  I am succeeding at this stuff.

5. ADP might possibly be finished

Setting up ADP for our employees has started to give me a heart attack.  This whole owning your own business stuff is STRESSFUL.  Grateful that I am almost done with setting ADP up and grateful the my husband usually carries all of this stress.  Wish I could take some off his back but clearly he is much better at this business stuff!

The normal days

Lots of life has happened because lots of life ALWAYS happens.  I think these past few years has taught me to stop, breathe and continue to play.  Nothing wild and crazy went down over Labor Day.  Clearly -- Mike and I celebrated with our favorite pastime -- eating lots of food -- but overall things were pretty normal.  Here is a quick 5 things that make me happy today.

1. Bedtime routines

We have our routine down pretty tight and that is pretty awesome.  Boyscouts on Monday will throw a wrench in our week but besides that one night we usually have all boys down by 735.  It is pretty money.  

**To those who criticize our early bedtime -- we still have to wake the boys up for school every day.  They are still tired at times but over all they fall asleep easy (besides Cameron every now and then), they are well adjusted, and we only have rare occasions of tears at 620am.**

2. Kitty AND Moo

Jack added Kitty to his collection of stuffed animals that he loves.  I am not going to lie -- it makes my heart melt to have him have his "thing" so I encourage it.  Terrible, terrible parenting i know....

3. The HOG

We ordered half a hog from Lilly.  I am pretty sure that we over paid -- the meat came out to about 3.40/lb BUT from the tiny bit that I have eaten ....I am pretty excited.  Plus, it is still cheaper than the grocery store AND it is raised on a tiny little farm here...by my old co-worker.  Our freezer is officially filled with meat.  To the top.

4. Tuesday morning spin class

Did this make the list last week ... probably.  I have a full blown obsession with spin class.  I can't get there often but when I do I sweat my entire soul out.  I push myself to the absolute edge -- more than once.  I read an article recently about being comfortable with getting out of your comfort zone.  This is exactly what I do.  For the entire hour I am miserable and happy and completely out of my comfort zone.  I walk away satisfied, proud and soaking wet with sweat.  I walk away strong and feeling like I can conquer the world.

5.  The new job

It will still be a MONTH until I start the new gig.  Maybe that this month is the universe helping me to get my shit together before walking back into the inpatient world.  It will be an adjustment -- a HUGE adjustment.  I am excited, nervous and ready for this next step in my career. 

6. Baskets/Bags

This past weekend I sort of created a new system for our household.  I decided to keep every activity in one area of the house.  This seems like simple logic to most but it took me a few years to figure it out.  Life is insanely busy these days so I keep soccer in one basket, boy scouts is in a different basket, swimming stuff has it's own bag.....and that's it for now.  Regardless -- this makes life a lot simpler to keep track of on a day to day basis.  

Enjoy some random pictures from our every day lives.

The bus stop this morning.

Owen asked me to take a picture of his new molar growing in.  YIKES! It hurts me to even look at it.  Before I even took the picture I insisted he take pain meds.  

bahahahaha.  This picture cracks me up.  His face is pissed that I have the flash on and he is completely smushed between kitty and moo.  Last night I found him without his clothes on standing in his crib with a stuffed animal in each arm.  I put him in new pajamas and rocked him for a bit longer (and took this picture).  He was exhausted and not in the mood for camera shenanigans. 

We finally had a paint night!

Cheers!

1. Celebrating my career

For the past year we have taken time out to celebrate the growth and the milestones of Rouzer Cleaning.  Last night we actually sat down to celebrate MY career.  Yesterday I accepted an offer to be the manager on MRO.  

So here is the quick story on how it all went down.  For a few months I have been searching for a new job.  A new PERFECT job because I would not leave CRCC for something miserable.  About a month ago Julie Painter sent me a message on Facebook asking if I would be interested in being the manager on MRO (my old unit).  I said I would be interested so she told me to apply.  I looked the job up and the hours were listed for 4 days a week, 2pm-12pm.  I didn't apply and let it die there.  That would be a terrible fit for our family.  

A few days later HR called me.  She told me that though I didn't have the experience, but if I was interested she would put my resume through all the hoops and we could go from there. I explained that the hours wouldn't work for me but if those were negotiable I would be interested.  I already had an updated resume so I shot it over ..... and here we are today.  I am now the manager on MRO.  This is a huge step for me and a huge change for our family.  I am really excited to try something different and to have more responsibility.  Yay!!

My goofball husband sharing one of our favorites -- brie and apples.

 2.  3 day weekend
How can I not be grateful for something so wonderful.  We don't have any big plans this weekend except hiking, and hiking makes me happy.

3.  Morning workouts
I actually worked out EVERY day last week.  What?!  Now my body likes to get up at 4am and then go to bed at 8pm.....but besides that little bit of crazy.....I am feeling so much better getting a few minutes of sweat therapy in.

4.  The boys are doing great in school -- I think.
This week Owen said to me, "Mom, I think that we are going to get our books next week."  My mom ordered them Scholastic Books and this is all that he thinks about.  I didn't have to question further...he just kept talking....and said, "I asked my teacher and I think that she said that we get them next week."

So basically, he asked his teacher a question, she replied in fluent Spanish, and then that was that.  He made an educated guess and moved on with the rest of his day...in Spanish.  holy hell.

This week Cameron also told me that I HAVE to learn Spanish by the time he is in third grade.  I replied that the only way that I would learn is if he would teach me -- which we have tried and it doesn't really go well -- they just stare at me and I stare back.  But anyways, he then asked, "Why did you never learn Spanish."  Good question buddy.

I have a feeling this journey is going to be an interesting one.

Um....notice Owen busting out the rings and Cameron up so high I almost had a heart attack.

 5. The battery life on this computer
I have been up for over an hour this morning catching up on emails and random computer stuff.  The battery life has shown that it could die at any second....but it has lasted this entire time.  That makes me happy that I don't have to stand to find the plug.  It's the little things...right?!

One of the many tags from Shelby on Instagram.  This one made me laugh out loud and needed to be reposted.  Oh how our lives have evolved.  Cheers!

Hush

1. Pandora is on POINT

This morning I decided to listen to Mumford and Sons on my way to work.  It had been a few weeks since I had chosen this station and goodness...it was like the Mumford and Sons station was trying to win me back.  I have had it on for 30 minutes and I have enjoyed every single song.  It's going to be a great day.  I can tell.

2. Brothers

Yes -- I am obsessed BUT they are obsessed too.  These boys are the best.  They love on each other like crazy.  The oldest two can bicker and get irritated with each other but it is short lived (seconds to minutes).  The only thing that Jack really wants in his life is to be 6 years old and the twins do a wonderful job trying to keep him entertained and have them be fully apart of their world.  I am obsessed.  Obsessed.  

"the old lady whispering hush"



our lego stash. 

Cameron is keeping Jack entertained during soccer practice

3. Rouzer Cleaning
Yesterday afternoon I was able to put in a few hours of work with Mike.  His job is stressful, hard and physically demanding.  Grateful that I could spend a few extra hours with him, grateful that I was able to meet Brittany and grateful for all of his hard work.

4. Big Brother
Has this made the list?   A few hours a week (yes--this show is on 3 hours a week), Mike and I sit down and watch TV together.  It was on last night -- it will be on tonight -- and though Big Brother keeps my interest, usually I just enjoy being with Mike.

5.   Memories with Erin
The darkness and emptiness that was created when Erin passed away is real and it is heavy.  The dynamic of my life and all that I knew to be my solid foundation was rocked, cracked and at times feels crumbled.  To say that I miss my sister -- that I miss doing life with her.  I miss our conversations, our easy texts and our last minute, evening playdates -- to say that I miss all of that -- those are the easy things to miss.  That scratches the surface of the emptiness -- of the missing -- of the heartache.  That scratches the surface of change.  This is something that I am NOT happy about and I am not grateful for.  BUT to have known Erin, to have these memories .....I am grateful that I had my sister for 32 years.  Grateful and honored.

UPDATES -- POST # 500!!!

1. ME

With a few hiccups and what felt like a miserably long race...I finished my first tri.  With the storms the night before and possible down pours that morning we were able to leave the boys home with my parents.  Mike helped get me all set up and Heidi even let me use her extra goggles since I realized half way to the event that mine were still at home!  

This was HARD.  I am sure if I trained that my body would of been a bit more adapt to the events but holy moly it was rough.  It was more difficult that I even imagined.

A few take-aways .... 1. I don't like being passed.  Especially on a bike.  2. You are able to make up time on the running because most people are DONE by the time they hit that event and if you can bust it out....you can pass a lot of people.  **I figured this one out by people passing me** 3. Bring gatorade or some type of nutrition during transition.  I think that the lack of training and being completely out of shape didn't help at all and who know if this would of helped at the time but between the bike and the run I would of loved a gummy.  ....there are actually a lot more but I won't bore you with the rest.

I am not sure if I will take the 70.3 off my bucket list.  This event makes that goal look ginormous.  It took me all day to recover (we let the kids just do electronics almost the whole time) Super impressed that Heidi does these things easily.  I am still in awe.   

It was a super early morning.  I can't express how happy it made me to see his sweet face and hear him cheering me on.  When the race was over all I wanted to do was hold his hand and be next to him.  

2. Owen
My oldest child loves to learn.  He legit wants to sit down and do homework and learning games all day.  I am not sure how to channel this energy and love of learning.  Yesterday -- I just let him play the games -- ALL.DAY.LONG.  I am sure when his teacher sees how much Lexia he did she will not be impressed.  It will look like the kid never went outside. **SIDE NOTE** I did this same exact thing in elementary school.  I created my own book reports.  WHAT??!!  And after my project was complete my teacher let me present to the class.  Yes -- this is a real story.  Obviously he comes by it naturally.

3. Cameron
This sweet child got his Wii privileges back this week so yesterday he was able to play for awhile and he was in heaven.  So was Jack.  Jack sits and "plays" with him and loves the entire experience.  For some reason Cameron's favorite thing to do on the Wii is make people.  I am not sure if this makes any sense to the average reader .. but he found something on the Wii where he creates people.  He has done all of the family and has started on his friends.  It is insanely boring to anyone else in the room....including Jack.  But right now (at least yesterday) it was his thing and it makes him happy.

4. Jack
My absolute favorite part of the work day is picking up SBJ at the end.  His face lights up, his smile gets huge and he runs to my arms.  He grabs MooMoo, says a million "good-byes," is filled with giggles and after a few steps he asks for Cameron and Owen. This happens every single time and boy does it make my heart happy.

5. Mike
I asked Mike last night what he would rate himself on the husband scale of 1-10.  Strange question I know--I don't even know what made me think about it......

He said, being your husband, I would give myself a 9.  Clearly I started laughing immediately because I think that he is hilarious and questioned more.  He said, "I don't think that there is another man who could be your husband better than me."  I 100% completely agree.  I am a whole lot of Mitchell and it takes a special man to ride this crazy ride. ....glad he is here with me.  **Yes -- I just called myself crazy.  To be clear -- I meant crazy wonderful.

Proud to be your mom

****SO I NEED TO REQUEST -- IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE PREVIOUS BLOG POST -- GO BACK AND READ IT.  I WILL QUICKLY REFER TO IT AND IT JUST MAKES LIFE EASIER.****


Holy #*!@*% .  What did I just get myself into? Clearly it's my fault.  I have been talking all year about how I am going to do this tri AND I at the same time I didn't workout.  I decided that beer, playtime, and long evenings of reading or hanging out with my husband would be better instead.  But after I take accountability for those choices I am going to blame Shelby.  On Tuesday at work she told me to stop being a pussy and live life.  Boom.  Challenge accepted.


So this morning I decided I should probably at least try swimming again.  The Lifetime pool doesn't open until 5am so I did 2 miles on the treadmill before my swim.  Fuck.  Yup.  It was insanely rough.  Swimming was a joke.  The miles were hard with lots of sweating and very slow and then when I got into the pool I was still not even close to recovered from my run AND it had been over 10 minutes!!  If the struggle bus passed by I would of jumped on it to at least give me a little boost in life.


Yesterday I was excited & and little worried.  Today -- I am terrified.  Yikes....clearly...this story will be continued. 


1. Family reading time
Yesterday evening we decided to try out family reading time.  We all grabbed books and sat in Cameron and Owen's room and tried to read silently for awhile.  Jack went from book to book and on and off Owen's bed but the rest of us had some quality reading time.  I hope we can incorporate this into our daily routine.  It was pretty wonderful.


2. 45 minute drive home
It only took 45 minutes to drive and grab Jack from daycare and get home after work yesterday.  With all of the tornados in central Indiana (including right next to the hospital) I was pleasantly surprised how quickly I made it back.  As a side note -- I love working at CHE and with my coworkers.  

We made it to the "safe place" late and we were shocked how many people were down in the basement.
#eyebagsfordays. #damn

3. Play dates
Yesterday after dinner we all played.  Usually the adults are trying to get dishes completed, take baths or just "get through the hour."  Last night we just got on the floor and played. 

4. "Proud to be your son"

I frequently tell the boys that I am proud to be their mom and usually one of them replies, "I am proud to be your son."  These moments are frequent and always warm my heart.  I am truly proud to be their mom. 

5. all of the words

Jack is talking more and more every day.  I love this sweet little crazy one.  For sure he is the craziest of all three boys. Not only that but I am sure his #1 wish would that the three of them could be triplets.  When I pick him up from daycare and we head down the hallway after our many "good-byes" he immediately asks for Cameron and Owen.  I don't know what I will do when I have another full blown talker on my hands.