Tuesday, March 13, 2012

February

What a relief to be almost caught up with this silly little blog! 

February was fun…

We started shopping and selecting items for our new house.2011-12-26_17-44-30_7642012-01-31_19-56-34_8592012-01-31_17-38-56_5172012-01-31_17-45-40_7362012-02-18_13-10-04_5612012-02-21_16-32-42_333

Not any of the items I took pictures of actually made the cut.

The boys had many normal days just playing here at the house.  Painting is a new love.

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Todd and I went to TMEA and got a lot of new business for the rest of this year and the coming school year.IMG_0379

The boys got surprises in the mail from Great Granny, Papaw, and Aunt Pat for Valentines Day!IMG_0408IMG_0386IMG_0452IMG_0454IMG_0455IMG_0468IMG_0478

Todd got me candy and flowers for V Day.  He got two separate bouquets.  Said one was from him, one was from the boys.  I only have 1 vase right now (moving), so I combined them. IMG_0429IMG_0432IMG_0433

I gave the boys much-needed haircuts.IMG_0420IMG_0423IMG_0425IMG_0426

We celebrated cousin Jim’s 30 years.IMG_0482

We tore into the new house.  Here’s a few before pictures.IMG_0485IMG_0487IMG_0488IMG_0501IMG_0503IMG_0504

These last few pictures are actually of early March.  Here, the paint crew was nearly finished with the house after 3 weeks of work (they were great, by the way!), and our new floors had just gone down.  The floor trim is not complete or clean at this point. The kitchen cabinets are not complete (this pic is only showing the base coat) at this point, either.2012-03-05_14-36-06_9582012-03-05_14-40-40_645

I can’t wait to show some after pictures.  Maybe I can do some side-by-side before/after.

I give up

No, I’m not giving up on updating the blog.

I’m giving up Coke.

Not for Lent.

I know Coke is not good for me, but that fact, in general, never gave me enough motivation to give it up. 
I’m a 2-a-day Coke drinker.  We’re always stocked.  This stems back to my childhood.  Dad always had Coke stocked in his shop outside.  We were always allowed to take one from his stash, as long as we didn’t take the last one.

It’s like Coke is a part of me.  It’s always my automatic answer to the question, “What will you have to drink with that?”

But…

When I found out that it has fire retardant chemicals in it, I just couldn’t bear the thought of drinking it.  I know it has all kinds of bad stuff in it, and can supposedly be cancer-causing.  For me, it’s just knowing that I’m drinking fire retardant that turned me off.

Don’t get me wrong.  I still want to drink Coke.  Maybe I will again someday sooner than later.  But for now, more water is a good thing, and Coke is a NO.

Monday, March 12, 2012

January

In my continued attempt to catch up, here is what I remember about January…

In mid-January, we remembered the 1-year anniversary of Dad’s passing.  We all miss him SO much every day.  Through my sadness, though, I have such a feeling of peace knowing that he is in a better place. 

We got busy cleaning our house out and having it staged to put on the market.  I was perplexed by the idea of living in a staged house with 2 toddler boys and a working studio, but it has been alright.  We’ve been given enough advanced notice with the showings to pull things together.  We’ve had to go to Mamaw’s house for naps pretty often to get out of the way of showings.  I think our stager did a nice job making our house look warm and inviting.IMG_0368IMG_0364IMG_0363IMG_0372IMG_0373

Everyday life has gone on with the boys.  They are so much fun and so sweet, and silly.  Logan Bear’s vocabulary has developed a lot; and kind of in a sudden burst.  He’s so precious and cute.  Nathan holds conversations like an elementary-aged kid.  Logan is stubborn, independent, and focused.  He’s perfectly fine playing on his own.  He has a strong hold and gets particularly upset when Nathan tries to take something away from him.  Logan rarely gets in trouble, but he is still learning to follow directions.  Nathan is needy, dependent on his Mommy, manipulative, loud, very smart and super cute.  He tends to catch trouble more than his bro.  Both of the guys blow me away with the things they say and do, and their little ways.  IMG_0334IMG_0357

Apparently I didn’t take many pictures in January.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Catching up is hard to do

Well, I’ve done it again.  I’ve neglected the ol’ blog.  Since it’s been so long since my last post in early December, I don’t know where to start!  I can’t fathom the difficulty it will be to narrow down almost 4 months of pictures!
But… I will try.
I guess I’ll attempt to take it one month at a time.  So, here’s what I can remember of December.
Photography.  Travel, work, travel, work, work, work.  Because it never ends, and I’m thankful for that.2012-01-19_14-19-08_765
Raking leaves in our mild winter weather.  Jumping in piles of leaves comes naturally, by the way.2011-12-12_17-21-42_2742011-12-12_17-22-37_435
Aunt Pat and I went to the musical White Christmas and ate at Birraporetti's.2011-12-10_13-25-50_3142011-12-10_15-40-08_107
On a trip Toys R Us to buy a Potty Watch, I let the boys ride the Snoopy fire truck. 2011-12-17_11-50-26_824 2011-12-17_11-52-53_395This video cracks me up!

Christmas Happened.
At Great Granny and Papaw’s house.  New boots are all the rage (Logan hated them until I got him a bigger size the next day)!  And Mittens!  And many other things! Smile  IMG_0203IMG_0221IMG_0245IMG_0316
Playing at the park in SS.
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And at Great Aunt Pat’s house.  Santa came to visit, too.  Mickey Mouse toys were a HIT!  IMG_0068IMG_0080IMG_0084
Baby Daniel and his little family are so precious!IMG_0025IMG_0052IMG_0043IMG_0111
Christmas morning at Mamaw’s, and Santa brought them so many goodies.  Dad’s favorite gift from Santa to the twins?  The kitchen.  No, not really.  I’ll never hear the end for that choice, but the boys love it!  Nathan asked Santa for a kite.  He asked that of every Santa, actually, and we saw many Sants this year.IMG_0137IMG_0142IMG_0163IMG_0176
Christmas Morning church in their jammies.IMG_0178
A little Christmas with Oma Kay and Granddad.IMG_0179
Nathan got potty trained.  He was a breeze and quick to train!!  I’m so thankful!  He wears real big boy underwear all the time now. Smile  I’ll spare the kid and not post a picture of him on the internet in his undies. 
We also decided to buy a house.  No biggie.  More on that later.
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