nervous

I am not sure how this has happened...but I have never really left my kids before.  Carter is 8.5 years old and Theo is 4.5 years old and this is the first time other than a night here or there that Jeremy and I have both left our kids.  I flew to NYC for 3 days right after we moved here but Jeremy was home with the kids.  Jeremy has left for work but I am always home.  We have never flown and been away together.  I will be gone 5 nights and although I am super excited to be reunited in the city that Jeremy and I got married and had two precious children, I am super nervous.  I know my mom will do great with the kids and I know the kids will be great for my mom, it's just hard to let go...um, yes I am a bit of a control freak.  I care what my kids eat, wear, do, especially while I am away and I want to make sure that Jeremy and I both come home safely.  I also know that I will probably have the time of my life and if the kids were not in Seattle to come back too, I would assume Jeremy and I would just stay, stay in that glorious city forever...because even though I am nervous I can't wait to have that overwhelming feeling of just being "home". 

M & M's

overheard by Theo in the back seat of the car after dropping Jeremy off at the airport..."Carter, if they made New York City M & M's they would be all gray".


*lucky Jeremy is going to NYC for 8 days (for work) I am just tagging along the last few days to attend my Grandma's funeral and then Jer and I get to spend some time just us, in our favorite city, surrounded by noise, traffic, huge buildings, lots & lots of people, taxi's, buses, subways, museums, restaurants, the best shopping in the world, more people, street vendors, and more, my heart beats fast just thinking about it, I seriously love NY!

96

My beautiful sweet Grandma Helen aka Mom Mom died this morning, so sad, but honestly at 96 years of age she was ready to go, she had an awesome life! She had 3 busy boys who combined had 10 even busier grand kids who then had 20 super busy great grandchildren, my kids are in that bunch.  I was going to see her next week while I was in NY, but I have memories to last a lifetime.  Thanks Mom Mom, I love you.

5/13/1915 to 1/26/2012

I love NY!

take a wild guess to where I am heading next week?

4 days, me and Jeremy, love and fun in my favorite city ever!

wedding bells

My little brother is getting married, whoo hoo!  He proposed to his girlfriend on Sunday, we are so excited.  Welcome to the family Kendra : )

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

no, we are not expecting another snow storm but Jeremy and I finally took the plunge and bought a 2nd car and it's perfect for the snow, too bad we bought it a week late! 

our new(ish) car!

ecstatic and creative

day 6 stuck inside, the kids are ecstatic, lots of extra TV time, outside snow playing, sledding, inside game playing, toy playing, all-day pajama wearing ecstatic!  We just finished off our last 2 boxes of cereal, we have one egg left, 2 bananas, 1 red pepper, a lemon and lots of cheese and a freezer full of frozen meat, bags of frozen veggies, a few Eggo waffles and a frozen pizza, we are good for a few more days.  Last night, I got a bit creative with whatever we had in the freezer (frozen bag of hot dog buns, but no hot dogs!) and I made hot dog bun garlic bread. I gotta say they were delicious, easy and obviously really cheap.  I just opened the buns, spread butter, sprinkled with crushed garlic and popped them in the oven for a few minutes at 350 until they were slightly golden brown, they went perfect with bolognese and pasta. 

I have been a bit stir crazy but my kids are homebodies, especially my Carter, they love being at home, playing and enjoying their toys, their rooms, the time with mom, the snow, movies, Kinect games, weird lunches, lots of snacks and reading in bed.  It turns out, that I really REALLY like my kids, 3 cheers for another day at home because our 2 wheel drive beemer is going nowhere!

Thursday snow day

my cute snow ready people!

Carter's ice "pen & paper"

football and mowing on ice-covered snow, fun!

Wednesday snow day

snowy day pictures!

snow day!

new boots that were just waiting for snow!

Theo is excited!

American girl

Carter got a $25 dollar gift card for American Girl doll from Christmas and since there is now a Seattle store...take wild guess where we went last Saturday?  She also had some extra money saved up, $40 dollars to spend at AG, what fun!  There is a new doll McKenna who is actually from Seattle and you can buy her rain gear, funny.  I am a HUGE fan of American Girl Doll, I love every single thing in that store, Carter and I can spend hours and hours in there, we did in NYC too.  My fingers are crossed that she will want a little birthday party at the cafe.  Carter bought McKenna's cast and crutches set, so between her wheelchair and this new set she has a triage center for dolls set up in her room.

Carter with Lisa, Kirsten got left in the car, not enough hands to hold two dolls and look!

photo by Theo

counting out her money!

good mail day #1

Look what I got in the mail on Monday?  Our yearly photobook from Snapfish, the Person family from 2011 in a 26 page book, yay!

the packaging alone just makes me happy!

good mail day #2

and look what I got in the mail on Tuesday! My friend Linsey who blogs over at beanes' things made Theo a sweet snuggle blanket.  Carter has one that became her favorite blanket as a baby and toddler (even now too) and a few months ago I asked Lins to make one for Theo since he wanted one.  He loves it and so do I!  Thanks Linsey!

awesome

click here if you want to see a really silly picture of me and my friend Kelly from our sophomore year of high school, the one year I spent at private school.  So fantastic, you made my day Kelly, thanks!

puppy love

Bryn is hardly a puppy, we have had her for over 10 years.  The last 2 years she has had a favorite, every night she is snuggling with Carter, it's pretty cute.

Well...

I am certainly having fun with Theo's new Playmobil castle!

20 minutes of finding shields & swords for all these little knights, fun stuff, Theo and I had an epic battle later, I lost.

fitting lyrics

love these lyrics by Death Cab for Cutie (quite possibly the worst name for a bad ever, but I love their music) in the song You Are A Tourist-

And if you feel just like a tourist in the city you were born
Then it's time to go
And define your destination
There's so many different places to call home
Because when you find yourself the villain in the story you have written
It's plain to see
That sometimes the best intentions are in need of redemption's
Would you agree?
If so please show me

I do agree!

beauty & life

Wednesday morning sunrise, gorgeous!

 Mateo, 10 days old, I am absolutely in love with that little guy, 

shake it up

I am trying to make the conscience decision to not be on the computer so much.  It's hard.  The computer is in our playroom, near the laundry room and needless to say the location is very tempting, very tempting indeed.  My plan for now is to use the computer in the evenings after the kids go to bed. Do I really need to be on it 2, or 3, or even 4 or more times a day? No. So that means I may post less, or I may post a bunch of stuff in one day but either way my blogging will be inconsistent at best.

back at it

back to school, back to a normal and steady routine, which I totally love, I am a planner and thrive on a good schedule but I also enjoyed our lazy carefree days during winter break!

hello Tuesday morning...

Carter heading back to school!

This guy can't wait to play Wipeout 2 on the xbox kinect, he got dressed and ate breakfast in no time!

New Year

I wonder if this post was written especially for me? It's perfect and intentional and exactly what I needed, I feel refueled, refreshed and so ready for 2012!  The weather was beautiful today and other than one little errand we had nothing to do. We slept in so late that we missed church so we all settled in on the couch and watch Rio instead (very cute movie, btw), after the movie we finally got dressed then went to do our quick errand and then with the sun shining the kids and I went to the park while Jeremy took the Christmas lights down and relaxed in a super quiet house, it was a lovely day, the right way to start a whole new year.