Category: Uncategorized (Page 39 of 201)

We enjoyed a nice Mother’s Day here.  Some of the excitement included:

• Chloe made me/us turquoise pancakes (with my help)
• Josiah made me/us scrambled eggs (with my help)
• Chloe gave me a barrage of homemade crafts (seriously like 9 gifts she made)
• I got my coffee at Caribou for free
• Tim ordered lunch for us from Applebee’s. Yum!
• Tim and Jen took the kids to the park so I could rest (Levi is not sleeping well lately, and it’s taking a toll on me.  ugh.)
• We enjoyed some down time just relaxing on the patio
• Chloe and Josiah both made me scavenger hunts. Those were hilarious.  My favorite clue was from Josiah’s.  It read, “This one is somewhere outside.”  Haha!  I did find it, but I needed him to narrow it down slightly.
• Tim bought me an Instant Pot!  If you’re not familiar with that it’s basically a pressure cooker and crock pot combined.  I spent a lot of time yesterday watching videos and looking up recipes.  Expect a post (or two or three!) on this to come… 😉
• I experimented by making Mac and Cheese in my new Instant Pot for supper.  It was a smashing success.
• And then Tim and I capped off the evening by watching an episode of Sherlock Holmes on Netflix.
• All in all, a great day!

I had been anxious to try this one. I love Caribou coffee and especially caramel coolers. And the idea of square bubbles intrigued me. Although I was a little skeptical of the idea of drinking up chunks in my straw…

How bad could it be?

Well, if you like half drinking, half chewing a cold drink then this is right up your alley.  Or if you like chewing on cold over-chewy jell-o this is for you!  OR if you want a straw larger than life, you’ll want this!

Seriously. The straw was massive.  That should have been my first warning…

Why, oh, why would you need such a large straw?  To suck up a mouthful of cold jell-o type cubes of course!  I could feel them filling my mouth as I was drinking.  And you know you’re not enjoying the drink if you’re dreading having to chew them after swallowing the drink in your mouth.  Call me lazy, but I don’t want to have to work at eating my food!  By the end I was so sick of the cubes that I was spitting them out and just trying to drink around it, which is impossible by the way…

The cubes themselves were pretty tasteless, just very chewy.  And square.  Which makes me wonder why they didn’t advertise it as a caramel cooler with “cubes” rather than bubbles… since bubbles are round.

So, nice try Caribou.  But this one is not for me.

Moral of the story.  Never try new things.  😉  I’ll stick with my traditional, boring, tried and true, caramel cooler.

I took a few pictures over the weekend that I thought were fun…

First off, dinner on the patio!

Then Levi trying on hats in the store…

Then Logan teaching Josiah how to shoot a bow and arrow for the first time….

Then Maddie enjoying the trampoline at Allison & Logans house and Levi looking through the binoculars…

This weekend was exciting.

We officially threw away all the bottles.  Yes, we have been basically done using them for a while now, but in the morning Tim gets up early with Levi and up until about a month ago he was still enjoying a bottle while all the rest of us were still sleeping.  It really wasn’t necessary, but it was convenient and it kept him occupied and QUIET.  But Tim decided it was time to move him on and up.  So, up and away he went!  His morning bottle has been out of circulation for about a month now, so we finally tossed all the bottles in the cupboard.  And let me tell you, it felt good!  No more washing bottles!  Whoo hoo!

And in other monumental news: We also took away Maddie’s nuk!  Well, actually, after a particularly bad night (of having to get up multiple times to give kids nuks) I decided we needed to be done.  And upon inspection, I discovered that the nuk was actually already starting to break, so I just enlarged the hole so it would be unusable.  We then proceeded to prep her “Maddie is a big girl and doesn’t need any more nuks.  Are you a big girl?  Do you need a nuk?  No!  Yay!”  And wouldn’t you know, it was almost a seamless transition!  There wasn’t a huge breakdown like I thought there would be.  She asked for her nuk and I reminded her that it was broken and yucky, and that was that!  If I had known it would be that easy, I would have done it months ago!  (Well, it probably wouldn’t have been that easy then. Ha!)

The Littles are growing up!

• It’s May! Tim is on his Mountain Dew fast again (always one month leading up to his Birthday)
• The nannies started again this week.  The kids are loving it.
• Tim is full-time working again–the weather warmed up and just like that, people have come out of hibernation and want work done… now!
• Levi is starting to be more playful and do random things that just make us laugh.
• We had our last day of BSF this week.  This year was Romans.  Next year is People of the Promised land (Part 1).  It should be good.
• Chloe had a field trip to Como Zoo today.  It was just gorgeous weather for it.
• There are only 18 days of school left for the kids!
• We lost a library book this week.  It’s driving me crazy.  I know Maddie had it last and I just can’t figure out where she tucked it away.  Gah!
• I think I’ll finally have to mow next week.  It’s so nice to see things finally turning green.
• Tomorrow we’re heading to St. Cloud for a grad party (for Scott Chilson) and to see Ryan and Steph’s new house!  Fun day!
• I have an entrance interview on Sunday with the daughter of our old neighbor.  Remember Aggie and Chub?  It’s their daughter (looking for lessons for her daughter)!  Isn’t that fun?
• I made two kids cry during lessons this week.  I guess I’m pretty mean.  Ha!
• We think Levi has allergies.  He’s our first one to have them… well, at least that we are aware of.
• In June I’m going to potty train Maddie and take away her Nuks.  It’s going to be a rough month. 😉
• I’m dying to try the new drink at Caribou Coffee that’s called Caramel Cooler with Bubbles (chewy coconut bubbles)  what even are those?  I’m intrigued.

When I was a kid I remember loving certain articles of clothing.

I can vividly recall specific things that made me feel so good when I would wear them.  I can still picture some of them in my mind:  tan corduroy pants, a blue flower dress, my Mickey mouse T-shirt, a green skirt with buttons all the way down the front, a floor lengthy skirt with oriental looking flowers on it, and we can’t forget all the tye-dyed clothes.  Pretty much all of those were my favorite.

When I was much younger, I remember loving a special rainbow dress.  I’m pretty sure I wore it all the time.  It felt so fun to run and spin in.  The fabric would swoosh out in a huge circle when I would twirl.  It just felt good to wear.  And it made me feel good when I would wear it.

Or on those cooler summer days, I used to love wearing shorts with a sweatshirt.  My legs would be a little chilly but it would be balanced out by having a large snuggly sweatshirt.

And then I grew up.

I can’t remember the last time I’ve worn something just because I like the way it feels on me.  Most of the time I’m just trying to find something in my closet that flatters me–or at least hides the parts I want hidden.  When I shop I’m too stingy economical to buy regular priced clothes, so I’m constantly shopping off the clearance racks.

I long for the day I put on an outfit and FEEL good in it again.  I long to find the joy in just enjoying how it feels.  When I looked back at my list of favorite clothes I was struck by how many of those things were dresses or skirts.  I want to wear those again!

So, I’m on a mission.  A mission to lose some weight, and start looking for clothes that I actually love.  To start making a conscious effort to think about what I want to wear, not just what I have to wear.  I know that 90% of my struggle is linked with weight, but there is a small percentage that is purging the clothes that don’t make me feel good and stop buying items that I don’t love.  This will take me a while, I know.  But it’s time to start.

I guess Maddie is just month or two past exactly 2.5 years but she’s still not 3 yet so I would consider her 2.5, so we’re gonna roll with it.

The kids are doing an ABC countdown to the end of the school year.  Both kids have separate lists, so that’s why you’ll see two different themes listed.  There are a few rare days, when they both have the same theme, but most of the days are different.

A day (Animal / Art), B day (Beach / Baseball) and today was C day (Career / Color).

So… Josiah told me days ago that he wanted to be a Jungle adventurer when he grows up. Say wha?  I know!  I’m not sure where he got that idea (no, he hasn’t watched Jumangi with me!).  We went with the theme and I decided to call him a Safari Guide in order to make it a “real” profession.

And Chloe went all out with her favorite color…

They girls even painted their nails purple before school.  I love this picture of Chloe showing Maddie how to blow on her nails until they dry.