Swimming and Shelving

Sophia had her first swim lesson today.  And Zander came with for the lesson too, because he had to make up for the lesson we missed on Wednesday. 

Sophia did really well.  She loved it.  Zander is still a little clingy.  He always had one arm around someone's neck.  The kids are in a parent-child swim class, so Brian and I both got in the water today with Zander and Sophia.  Zander did warm up after a while and was smiling and laughing when they did the throw the fishy game.  The child throws a fish or duck and then swims to get it. 

After swim lessons, we stopped and picked some KFC and brought it home where we had lunch with my parents.  My parents came to visit us today because they bought shelves for us.  After lunch we began the task of putting all of the shelving units together.  My parents were great because they stuck around for many hours putting together the shelving units.  The shelves are for all of the kids toys in our basement.  And it looks amazing. I will have to put pictures of it on here later.   After all the shelves were up and the toys were organized, I snuck away to do a little shopping.  I had to go to the Disney Store to get a gift for my niece for her birthday tomorrow.  And then I stopped at Kohl's to return something.  

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to keep up with my blog more.  I am going to try and post every day I am off work.  And the days I am working I am going to try to post 1 picture.  I really love blogging, and do it as a way to remember the day to day of my life with my family.  I think it is a great way to record the memories and milestones of my children.  And to remember what they have said, or how they are growing.  They grow up so fast, and I want to remember it all.  I have decided my blog may not be perfect and I am definitely not a good writer, but I am still going to do it.  Even if what I write may not make sense always.   

labor day

Today is Labor Day, and I am definetely Labored. I had to work! When I was trying to say goodbye to Zander and go to work, Zander ran out into the garage and tried to get into my car. He was so upset to see that he couldn't come with me. Trying to explain that I have to go to work, and he has to stay home with daddy is hard. He was very upset, and just cried and cried. My poor baby. I love that boy. He is such a mamma's boy! Brian was going to take the kids to the labor day parade that our town puts on, but he mixed up the times. He thought the parade started at noon, but it started at 10 a.m., so he missed it. Maybe next year. This parade must be very exciting, because people set up chairs along the parade route for days in advance.

On another note, I need to blog more about what Sophia is up to. Especially when it comes to new things she is doing or saying. Sophia now says "mamamamamam." I am not sure if she said it today for the first time, but I do know she is now saying it as of today. I love that girl. God has truly blessed us with 2 amazing kids!
I forgot to blog the other day, so here is something that happened on Saturday, September 2, 2011.

Sophia had her first wagon ride

And her brother pulled her in it!

Even though at times he couldn't see



Zander loved pulling her. He is concentrating here!

And she loved it!

Productivity

1 load of laundry

plus

all the laundry sorted

plus

1 tray of blueberry baby food made

plus

1 tray of banana baby food made

plus

1 tray of sweet potato baby food made

plus

2 children fed breakfast

plus

1 bottle given

plus

5 diaper changes, 3 of them poopy

plus

2 children dressed for the day

plus

1 child down for her morning nap

all before noon equals

1 busy but productive morning 

He is Risen

 

 

Jesus has Risen!  And I am so thankful for that!!!

 

 

I worked yesterday, but I did get to enjoy some family time before I started work at 11 a.m.  We had a treasure hunt with Zander yesterday morning.  And then we tag teamed and got the kids ready for church with baths and everything.  Then we took a few family photos, before I changed into my scrubs and then raced off to work. 

 

Sophia right after her bath

 

 

 

Brian took the kids to church and then over to his parents to celebrate Easter with his brothers and their families.  They had a little Easter Egg hunt for the kids over there.  Brian even brought a plate full of food to the hospital for me because I couldn't celebrate with everyone else.  That was very nice of him.   

Fun at Bellaboo's

I went to Bellaboo's today with my kiddos, my 2 nieces, my nephew, and my mom. Bellaboo's is a children's museum/play adventure place. The kids had a blast. It was fun to watch them having so much fun. After arriving back at my mom's house, my niece Julia asked my mom "can we go back tomorrow."

Here are some pictures from our day.

My nieces and nephew, Julia, Tyler, and Alyssa

Alyssa jumping in the ball pit!

Julia

The Firetruck cookies they made.

Instead of picking up the cookie to eat it, Zander decides to leave it on the counter and bite from there.

Tyler

My sweet little giraffe, Sophia!

The picture above looks really weird, and makes Sophia look fatter than she is. She has the seat belt from the stroller on underneath her dress. She is such a skinny thing, but it doesn't matter to her or us either way. I just wanted to bring clarity to this picture.

Not how I planned my day!

Do you ever plan your day out in your mind, but in actuality it goes nothing like you planned?  That is exactly how my day went.  I am not complaining, I had a wonderful day, but it was nothing like I wanted it to go.  I am a planner and a list maker.  I love 'to do lists'.  And yesterday I made a very long and detailed 'to do list'.   And only a few things were checked off my 'to do list.'  I was woken up around 6:45 a.m. this morning by Sophia, my daughter, and as I was feeding her I heard a knock on the door.  As I walked out of my room wondering who would possibly be at my door this early in the morning, I glanced in the direction of my kitchen window, and my little sister was peering in my window.  She scared me half to death.  She came over because she was already bored.  She is a teacher and is on Spring Break.  It is beyond my understanding why she does not sleep in and enjoy this time, but instead she had been up for 2 hours and decided to come hang out at my house.  I love having her so close, she only lives 5 minutes away.  While we were hanging out my niece Alyssa called me and asked if I could come with the kids to visit her and her siblings.  My nieces and nephew are also on Spring break and are staying with my parents for the week.  I agreed to go hang out there for the morning.  So I got the kids going and loaded in the car with everything, and headed with my sister to my parent's house.  We hung out with my nieces and nephews for the morning and around 12:45 p.m. we headed back home.  Zander is loving that his cousins are in visiting from Fort Wayne, because he is having so much fun with them.  My mom and I are taking all the kids to Bellaboos on Friday, a children's museum in our area, and I am looking forward to that.  Zander loves that place, and he is going to have fun playing at Bellaboos with his cousins. 
     Zander fell asleep in the car as usual, and I laid him down for a short nap when we got home.  Then we found out we had to pick up my husband from work, and then get the car from the mechanics.  Our brakes are finally fixed on the Thunderbird.  Last minute we invited our friends Racheal and Jason and their 3 girls over for dinner.  We grilled chicken and then made some potatoes, rice, and corn to with it.  SO, that was my day.  None of that was on my 'to do list'.  And I think I only got 2 things crossed off my 'to do list', 1 load of laundry and one phone call done.   Well, I guess there is always tomorrow for the 'to do list'.      

Sophia got some new bows from Racheal





And in the picture below, Sophia was not too happy by the time I snapped a few pictures, but look at those skinny legs



Zander also got some Thomas the Train sandals from Racheal, I just forgot to get him wearing them.  Of course he had to wear them right away with his socks on.  I wish I got a picture of that because socks with sandles is so in, and they were Christmas socks none the less.  Hey, they were the most available socks at the time.

I started off writing this post wanting to talk about how I always try to plan my life out a certain way, and God has other plans.  You think I would stop planning things.  I know God's way is always the best way, and I trust that He knows what is best for me.  His plan for my life is the BEST plan.  He has my life all mapped out, and I know no matter what, He is in control, and He will always be there for me.  I serve an awesome and loving God.   

Shop Til We Drop!

And boy girl did we ever shop today. Zander, Sophia, and I all went to the mall today to shop. Gymboree was having a great sale, and I didn't want to miss it. I hate to shop, but couldn't pass up on this sale. I planned on meeting 2 girlfriends and their kids at the mall, but one ended up being sick, and the other friend's husband was sick. So I ventured to the mall by myself. I am pretty sure this was the first time at the mall by myself with 2 kids. And it was a sucess. We had a lot of fun. I am surprised I had fun shopping, but that is because we only went to 1 store. We shopped at Gymboree for quite a while. Zander stayed in the stroller the whole time. At Gymboree they have a little TV with cartoons on for the kids. I wheeled the stroller near that and let Zander watch a little TV, so I could shop. He also had his Thomas the Train book to read (which is becoming his new favorite book) and some matchbox cars to play with. After a while, a little girl around 4 years old came over and sat in one of the chairs by the TV. She was trying to convince Zander that he wanted to come out of the stroller. It was quite amusing. She was very sweet with Zander. After I decided what to get, which was a process in itself, I paid and then headed to the food court so the kids could eat. Poor Zander, I only bought him 2 items of clothing, and all the rest was for Sophia. I wasn't impressed with the clothing selection for Zander's size, it wasn't that cute. Zander had pizza, while at the food court and ate really well while I gave Sophia a bottle. Zander did not try to out of his chair once. I was really impressed with Zander the whole time we were at the mall, he was so well behaved. He did throw his cars and his book on the floor a few times while we were in Gymboree, but thankfully no one was in the store at the time but us. And in his defense we were in Gymboree a long time. Once the little girl sat down next to him, he was an angel, and just interacted with her. (I am not one to call my children angels, because believe me, they misbehave at times, as all kids do, but I was so impressed with how he acted.) After we ate, we headed to the play area in the mall. They have an area just for young kids to play at. It is really a nice clean area where kids can run around, climb on things, and slide down the slide. Zander had a blast.

Zander only went down the slide backwards. I am not sure why.

This was how I found Zander when we got home. And he couldn't let go of his Thomas the Train book.