Things I'm Loving

• It's Monday! Truly, I am so happy to be starting a new week! Spencer worked late every night last week plus all day on Saturday so of course David chose last week of all the weeks to be his absolute worst. I also had a panic attack and those are scary soooo... YAY for Monday! :)

• Tumbling class for Jack starting in October! 10 bucks for the month. That's a steal! 

 

• My fashionable new Walmart summer clearance outfits! (joking!) 5 bucks for the shorts and 2 bucks for the shirt. I'm all about comfort and saving money so 2 dollar shirts that require no undershirt in the summertime are my favorite! I got one in every color. 

 

• The fact that I can wear my Walmart summer clearance outfit right now. 80 degrees during the last week of September in Iowa! That's my kind of weather!
• Our neighbor boy who stayed home sick from daycare last Friday and entertained Jack ALL DAY LONG. (Germs just fly far far away when you are playing outside, right?!;) It was my tender mercy after my hellish week. They "washed" everything with their spray bottles, they colored on cardboard, and went swimming. They played outside for five hours, David took a 3 1/2 hour nap (a miracle!!!), and I finally cleaned out our car and cleaned our disgusting house. 

 
 
 
 

• Nauvoo temple trips. If we have to travel to get to a temple, I'm sure glad it's this one!

• My crazy family who dressed up as pirates for free Krispy Kremes last week! We missed out because there isn't a Krispy Kreme here :(

An average day in my life

I documented last Thursday from start to finish. Disclaimer: It's not too exciting

4:20 am - David woke up to nurse

(I know, I'm a digital hoarder)
 

6:15 am - second wake up call from David. When David wakes up in the morning, Spencer always gets him out of bed and throws him on me. David then crawls on me and coos and hisses at me and sucks my face until I feed him :)
 
 
 

6:25 am - Jack joined us in bed. It is a good day when Jack sleeps in all the way into the sixes! 

6:45 am - We headed downstairs and Jack immediately got the eggs out of the fridge to "crack the eggs". I tried to help him and he yelled, "sit on the couch, mom!" If only. This whole routine would be a whole lot cuter if Jack actually ate the dang eggs. I started to make Jack his regular pb&j and got the genius idea to "french toast" the inside of his sandwich. He fell for it! It was the first egg he has ever eaten!
 
 
7:15 am - Spencer left for work

7:15 - 8:15 am - Jack watched Casper (we are already all about Halloween over here) while I dressed the boys, packed up our swim bag, and fed David. 

8:15 - 8:45 am - I searched frantically for our dang keys that weren't on the counter where they should have been.  Jack cried because he wanted to go swimming "RIGHT!!! NOW!!!!", David cried because he was grouchy and tired and ready for his 20 minute power nap in the car, and I cried because the boys were crying and because I didn't want to be trapped at home all day long. Turns out, Spencer put our keys on our bed. Not Jack... Spencer. I found them under our sheets. Spencer was in trouble!!!!

9:15 am - met my friends late at Body Attack at the gym. My friend describes the class as elementary gym class on steroids and it's a pretty accurate description.

10 am - 12 pm - we picked up our kids at the childwatch and headed to the pool. The process of getting both kids in and out of the water is exhausting but it wears them out so that my 20 percent chance of getting them to nap at the same time increases to about 90 percent so it's totally worth it! (The zero depth only area and my friends are the only reason I even attempt it though) Jack and David looooove swimming.
 
 
 

12:30 pm - we got home and Jack watched a Casper episode and ate lunch while I fed and nursed David. 

1 pm - David went to bed

1:30 pm - We read books and then Jack went to bed. These are Jack's favorites right now:
 

1:30 - 2:45 pm - I showered, ate lunch, then threw dinner in the crockpot and cleaned while I talked on the phone with friends. (Talking on the phone is the only thing that motivates me to clean)
Spencer went to Chicago the day before for work and brought me back a slice of UNO's Chicago style pizza. It was DELISH!
 

2:45 - 3:30 pm - David woke up and we played on the floor. I usually read or listen to a podcast while the two of us play.
 

3:30 pm - we woke up Jack from his nap. He would sleep for 3 1/2 hours if I let him (and then go to bed at 10 and wake up at 4 so I have to limit his naptime)

 
4:00 pm - we went grocery shopping. These were their expressions at the beginning and by the end they were both screaming bloody murder.

5 - 6 pm - we played outside with "the boys". I'm so grateful for our neighbors!
 
 
 
 

6 pm - Spencer came home!!!! I'm still not used to his long work hours.
 

6:15 - 7 pm - Spencer went to the gym with the boys. I used to feel guilty sending Jack and David to the gym twice in one day a couple days a week but now I just embrace the alone time. They love it and I love it so it's a win-win-win! 

7 - 8:45 pm - bath, jammies, books, nursing, prayers, songs, second dinner (Jack is pulling the "I'm hungry" card right as we turn out the lights) and shifting back and forth between the "little bed" (Jack's bed) and the "big bed" (our bed) .... Any suggestions on making this process faster? I think we are doing everything all wrong and the parenting gurus would probably shake their heads at us.

Jack insisted on wearing David's 6 month motorcycle onesie to bed... I can't believe it fits him!

9 pm - we popped this kettle corn THAT IS SO AMAZING AND SO EASY AND YOU HAVE TO TRY IT and watched Once Upon A Time on Netflix.

10:30 - lights out

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What does an average day in your life look like??? If you blog about it, leave a link in the comments!

Things I'm Loving

• This Iowa sunrise

 

• No more second story apartment living! Jack plays and plays and plays in the trees by our house. When I was taking pictures of Jack and his friend, Olivia, Jack shouted, "Mom, look! I give Veeva loves!"

• These Sperry Nordstrom rejects from Last Chance for $15. Arizona people, if you aren't shopping at Last Chance, you are taking the most amazing store ever for granted. 

 

• David, who sadly doesn't sleep with his bum in the air like Jack did at his age, but does occasionally fall asleep while sitting.

 

• The Baskin Robin/Dunkin Donut shop down the street from our house. When I'm desperate to kill time or desperate to get calories into Jack's body we go there. Green/blue/purple ice cream chased down by a pink donut is Jack's preference.

 

• My awesome friend who taught me how to make freezer jam. I made tri-berry jam and it is delicious but not quite as delicious as my grandma's raspberry jam. Nothing is as good as that stuff :)

• Another bike ride to the Mississippi!

 

• Onions! We went out to Kate and Al's farm again and they sent us home with SO MANY ONIONS! They told me that I can chop and freeze onions and they will still taste amazing when I cook with them, so that's what I did. We chopped for almost an hour and me and Jack's eyes were a watery mess by the end. Not pictured: even more onions!

 

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The thing I am not loving: pulling out winter clothes in the middle of September. It's already getting coooooold!

My birthday should have been Groundhog Day

My birthday was on Saturday and it was so fun and so perfect. It's too bad that the day wasn't Bill Murray's Groundhog Day instead of my birthday so that I could relive it over and over and over again. Here is what I loved about it:

• Pingpong and racquetball at the YMCA
• Our bike ride from our townhouse to the Mississippi River. It was 16 miles round trip and SO MUCH FUN! I love the bike trails in the Quad Cities and it was gorgeous the entire ride. 

 
 
 

• Panera Bread for lunch and boys who took naps at the same time so we could all take naps!
• The world's best sugar cookies from Olde Towne Bakery in Moline, IL. I requested these cookies instead of a birthday cake because they are just that amazingly, melt-in-your-mouth delicious!!! 

• These cute boys. (My friend made me cupcakes so Jack still got to blow out birthday candles and lick the frosting off of every. single. cupcake :)

 

• Technology that makes me feel pretty special on my birthday. I got the nicest calls, texts, fb messages, and gifts. 
• Dinner straight from the farm at the Machine Shed. Spencer got Thanksgiving dinner and I got a yummy pork dinner. They gave me a free apple dumpling for my birthday. I had never had one before and I think it's now my favorite apple dessert.

Back in April, I sarcastically took a picture hugging this corn statue because I wasn't so excited to be moving to Davenport and I thought that it was pretty ridiculously amazing that we found a corn statue within 24 hours of being in Iowa. I am pleased to report that I NOW FREAKING LOVE THIS PLACE!!! I'm so grateful. This time I hugged the corn statue and I meant it!
 
 
 

• The fact that my mom completely surprised me with this amazing necklace that I loooooove recommended by one of my favorite bloggers. (Reasons why it is awesome that my mom stalks the same blogs that I do: One, because she will gift me things that they recommend and two, because then we can talk for hours about people that don't have a clue who we are ;)  I told Spencer that I will one day be friends with Shay because I am getting pretty good at cyber stalking people on their blogs and then slowly transitioning into real-life stalking them and becoming their friends. He told me that I was CREEPY!!!) 
• Ending the night with a 90s chick flick instead of football :)

25 is gonna be good!!!!!

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P.S. My photo storage on blogger and photobucket is full... Does anyone know how I can keep posting pictures??? I'm pretty clueless when it comes to all the fancy blogging technology stuff :/