House whirlwind

I wanted to log on and write a quick post since it has been a while and since I'm leaving town for a few days starting tomorrow morning! Dan's and my heads can most likely be seen spinning from space. We are on the downward slope in getting our house ready for selling. All of the painting has almost been done. This was a huge undertaking, but we were so blessed to receive help from two generous friends last week. One of them is a painter by profession, so he helped us reach the tall walls in our living room and spent five hours on Friday getting the downstairs looking great. Our walls look amazing! I kinda wish we'd done this long ago! When we get into a new house, I see value in painting it the way we like it right away (although the thought of that much more painting makes me cringe).

We have not had time for much else! Our goal is to be picture-ready by 5/31 or possibly a few days after that. Hopefully our house will sell QUICKLY and we can move onto new adventures!

The boys have been good. We have had mostly good days with a few bumps. I was thinking the other day that we never would have been able to do so much work on our house a year ago, as things were not nearly as predictable and calm back then. That's another shout-out to Straterra! :)

I'm heading to Washington DC for two days for a conference, so the boys are going to take care of things while I'm gone! Mondays and Tuesdays are busy days for us, so please pray for health and peace for all! I'm excited to share house pictures but I want everything to be completed first. The before/after transformations will be amazing! :)

Have a great week!

Cool dudes, a field trip and a fun weekend!

Look at my cool dudes! Once the weather finally swayed toward the WARM end of the spectrum, Elijah and Sammy were excited to wear tank tops, shorts, sunglasses and Crocs! We are EXCITED for summer!

On Friday I went on a field trip with Elijah's class to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. It was fun! E's bff was in our group and it was so much fun hanging out with them. I love this picture of them snuggling as they looked up at the art on the ceiling of the atrium.

There were a handful of moments when these two got upset with each other, but it was all in love. They act so much like brother and sister. We are SO GRATEFUL for A and the patience she has for Elijah! She is a good friend.

Both boys started swim lessons this week and both of them did GREAT! Sammy was braver than I've ever seen him in the water. Kindergarten has given him confidence and courage that gets him through things like this. A year ago he never would have willingly dunked his head and attempted everything the instructor asked of him without tears. I'm so proud! Elijah did great, too. He dunked his head underwater at least six times and followed along better than ever before. I'm hoping both boys can graduate from their swim classes at the end of this eight weeks!

Buddy is learning SO quickly and we are all still getting to know each other. He has attended two puppy kindergarten classes and he is getting so much better with walks and leash training. He hasn't had an accident in our house in almost a week! He is still wanting to chew on everything, but we are getting wiser. At peak chewing times, we give him bones and raw hides that keep him occupied and also keep him from chewing our shoes and rugs to pieces. He really is such a good puppy! He isn't even four months old and he sits on command, stays on command, hardly ever barks (we've only heard him bark maybe 5 or 6 times in 3 weeks) and he loves his new pack. He loves to lick Elijah's face (E LOVES this!). When he is excited to see one of us, he wags his tail so hard that his butt wiggles and waggles back and forth. :) He is SO friendly with people and dogs. He found a new pup friend in the neighborhood that he loves named Carter. This morning he saw Carter and his owner walk by and he looked longingly down the street at them and whimpered (we missed saying hello) until they were out of sight.

Today we brought the boys to Lake Ann for some sun and play time. It felt great! Elijah had an allergic reaction to something floating through the air, but we managed it with allergy meds. It feels so good to be able to get out and enjoy the outdoors again. We love spring!

Sammy lost a tooth last week and Elijah lost one tonight. The Tooth Fairy has to get things together! This week we are praying for health, as well as further progress in the puppy realm so I can actually get some work done during the day. Thanks for peeking in!

Influenza A-bomb

In the wee hours of Monday morning, Influenza A unleashed itself in my unsuspecting body. I.A., as I lovingly call it, ended up being the most intense sickness I have ever experienced. I knew it was bad by 6am Monday. In grunts, I let Dan know that it was bad. I ended up canceling every single thing on our calendar for the entire week, sadly including a little family vacation we had planned. Our waterpark adventure has been rescheduled for Mar 10-12, which was a huge disappointment for our boys.

Ironically, the only thing I could not cancel this week was a work project I had to complete. When you are a food blogger, working is NOT fun when sickness is involved. I had to look at, touch and smell lunch meat and cheese on a day when I wanted NOTHING to do with food of any kind. 

Sammy also had the flu last week and missed a day of school. He was much more resilient than I. Later in the week Dan was diagnosed with Sinusitis and Bronchitis. Seriously! We cannot shake the garbage! Sam, Dan and I currently have matching coughs, which is just great. The doctor I saw on Tuesday as I was writhing in Influenza pain told me that this version of the virus is VERY contagious, so to expect it to make its way through the family. Obviously with Elijah's heart condition, we have to recognize the flu asap and get him on Tamiflu. I have been SO careful this week about washing hands and not breathing on him. When I hug him, I do so carefully and usually while holding my breath. We are so thankful that he has not yet gotten sick and we pray for a bubble to continue to surround him.

It was so unbelievably nice out today (nearly 60 degrees!), so we woke up and decided that we would ALL bring Elijah to his snowboarding lessons. Dan hadn't seen Elijah do his magic in person yet, so it was fun for him to see. E's instructors said he boarded more today than on any other day. We went out and watched him at the end and he did so awesome. He was much more confident and much less afraid today than ever before. So proud of him!

Going into a fresh, new week we are praying for HEALTH and improved spirits all around in our family. Also praying for health for all of you! Did you know that February is the #1 month to get the flu? Also, that getting a flu shot reduces your chance of getting the flu by 7%? Just a few little facts I learned this week. :) Have a great rest of your weekend!

Wordsmiths

We had another busy weekend filled with friends and fun. We ventured out of town for a night to spend time with friends we don't get to see very often. We took the boys sledding and had a BLAST, even despite Sammy's pleas not to force him to do such a dreaded thing. :) I was so proud of how adventurous he was once he experienced the fun.

Dan and I have been clinging to a sickness for the past week that we can't seem to shake. The boys have been in mostly good spirits and making me laugh all the time. Yesterday they had the day off for Presidents' Day, so we went to see a movie and spent a relaxing day together.

Maybe it's the exhaustion I've felt lately, but I've been feeling so sad about the idea of the boys growing up. When I buy them clothes, I always find myself in the little-little boy section wishing they still fit into the cute, innocent dinosaur shirts. The big-little boy section is still foreign to me, with t-shirt prints that I don't understand. Skateboarding and video game references maybe? There is a kiddy play area at a mall close to our house that the boys have LOVED playing at since they were babies. Well now they are too big for the toys in the play area, so instead of facing that fact I just avoid the mall altogether. That happens to be where we get their hair cut, which is part of the reason they both look like Shaggy from Scooby Doo. If I bring them for haircuts, they will ask to play and I will have to explain that they are too big and can never play there again and likely will start sobbing my eyes out. I wish they could stay little forever.

Speaking of haircuts, just this morning Sammy came into the bathroom and said, "Mom. PLEASE give me a haircut. I just looked in the mirror and this hair makes me look SO SILLY." I helped him comb it down a bit and promised a haircut this week.

Adding to their big-boyness has come a surge of big words. I've noticed both boys using words that I don't even hear adults use in everyday vocabulary. I have heard Elijah replacing "finishing" with "completing," "trying" with "attempting" and "keep going" with "continuing." Then yesterday I was telling the boys about a silly dream I had had about a cow who was grazing in our front yard. Sammy said, "I am visualizing a cow munching on our bushes." My five-year-old used the word "visualizing" in a sentence. This is crazy!

This coming weekend is Elijah's ninth birthday (9! wow!), so we are gearing up for that. I have jotted down a few funny things that have happened and been said in the past few days..

- Sammy has been standing next to the curb and sticking out his thumb when the bus pulls up in the morning. Hitchhiking to school at such a young age!

- Both boys, but especially Elijah, has been needing so much physical contact with me recently. He wedges himself backward into me and asks me to wrap my arms around him tightly. I try to always say yes when he asks for this.

- Yesterday we went to see The Good Dinosaur in the theater. The first few scenes were a little rough. The Dino Dad died pretty quickly and then the main dino almost drowned in a river. Sammy made his disgusted noise and loudly proclaimed, "This movie is HORRIBLE!" :) He ended up pushing through and enjoying it, for the record.


Have a great week and thanks for checking in!

Slopes and snuggles

One week of 2016 is done! My week started off a bit rocky after catching Sammy's little sickness and also struggling getting back into the swing of things. After two weeks free of a schedule and a totally crazy holiday month, it was almost like I was experiencing Holiday PTSD. The week improved and we are getting back into the groove. By WE I mean ME because everyone else in my family seemed to bounce back without a problem! :)

Elijah is now officially a snowboarder! I signed him up for Courage Kenny's adaptive skiing/snowboarding program and so badly wanted to get him into skiing. I started skiing when I was a kid and I always envisioned my boys skiing young, too. The only openings available were for snowboarding, but I signed him up anyway. Guess what! The location they placed him at is THE SAME ski resort where I learned to ski as a kid. As I stalked Elijah and his instructors today, I discovered that he was learning how to snowboard on the EXACT same hill I learned to ski on. I couldn't help but get nostalgic and a little emotional. It's so crazy how things work out! Who would have ever thought.

I was worried that Elijah would be anxious about snowboarding, even though he seemed pretty excited about it beforehand. He did way better than I ever could have imagined. He liked having a hand helping him most of the time, but toward the end of the lesson (in the FREEZING cold) he went hands-free for a few seconds both on the way down the hill and on the "magic carpet" ride up. He was so genuinely excited about today and the progress he made. Eventually they will get him on a chair lift and possibly use a tether rope to help get him down some bigger hills. I'm so proud of him for being adventurous and willing to try new things!

I've been working on Sammy. Every time I ask him if he would like to ski with me he screams NOOOOOOO! Now that I've got Elijah on the slopes, I may just have to trick him. Sorry, sweetie, but you'll thank me later. He has started saying this week that he wants to learn how to ice skate, so I'm going to leap on that and get that boy in skates!

Dan left town for work today and will be gone through Wednesday, so the boys and I have some quality time on our hands. Today we got home from Afton and Sammy and I both CRASHED. Hard. Shockingly, Elijah (who should have been the most tired of all of us) stayed awake for an entire Curious George special. After that was a very snuggly pizza-movie night where Sammy kept insisting, "SNUGGLE ME HARDER, MOMMY!"

That Sammy. I still call him Sweet and Sassy (like the bbq sauce) because is the SWEETEST boy, but can also be the SASSIEST boy. He pushes his little limits and can get so upset when we stand firm with rules. It's like he can't help getting so worked up and mad about being told what to do and does/says things that go against his sweet nature. After a bit of time, he always feels bad and asks for snuggles. "Mommy, I'm moving to the other side of the planet! Please snuggle me!" :)

Elijah had a GREAT week at school, yay! Our new med dose was a good call and the transition time occurred over break...just in time for school, which was perfect. He got "great" reports every day this week. His teachers said that he was engaged and stayed on task and had a great attitude all week.

That's all for now! Have a great rest of your weekend and thank you for stopping in!

Tears and happiness

For the past two years we haven't known exactly how much Daylight Savings has impacted Elijah's sleep because everything else was totally chaotic. It was impossible to pinpoint the main pieces of the puzzle because we were basically existing in the middle of a tornado. Now that things are much calmer, we have been able to see that Daylight Savings wreaks havoc on our early bird. That one teeny tiny hour of change sends our oldest boy into a tailspin. We have seen wake-up times between 1:30 and 4:30 for the past few weeks. Today he slept until 4:46 and I practically did cartwheels around the house! We will find our way back to a better place slowly. 

Last Friday Dan and I went to the boys' school to watch Elijah and the rest of the third graders do a Veterans' Day performance. Honestly, it made me sad and I wish we could redo it. Right away I could see that Elijah was upset. His teacher told me that he was nervous, but I know my boy and I could see that something specific was bothering him. I noticed that every kid was holding a flag...except for him. I knew he was upset about this. I frantically looked around for an extra flag that I could grab and bring to him, but I couldn't see anything. Aside from interrupting the music teacher, I didn't know what else to do. I stood and watched my boy cry through the entire performance. :( He stood so still with his arms folded in front of him, occasionally reaching up to wipe tears from his face and not doing a single action or singing a single word. I have been beating myself up, thinking I should have done something! I don't know what, but I should have been able to make him happy! The good news is that when it was his class' turn to come down in front and do a dance, Elijah participated! He didn't just participate...he did GREAT! He did all the actions! That turned things around for him (and for me). 

On Saturday we were so lucky to be able to spend time with my cousin's cutie pie. The boys were BEYOND excited to have Veda over! She is such a sweet girl and they all play so well together. The three of them played "Inside Out" and created some Play-Doh animals and then we headed to see the new Peanuts movie. It was such a fun day!

And on Sunday, thanks to Hope Kids, we were able to watch a live Timberwolves game! KG is back! I worked at Timberwolves games years ago, so I felt right at home. It was fun to watch the boys take everything in.

My silly boys with their pants pulled up just a tad too high! :)

Yesterday after the Twolves game, our boys were TIRED. Sammy was being especially sassy in the car and started doing some uncharacteristic whining that lasted for way too long. I said, "Sammy, can we please stop the whining?" He whined back to me in the longest, most drawn out voice: "WHINING IS WORTH IT!" Dan, Elijah and I exploded in laughter.

The boys got Operation Christmas Child boxes at church on Sunday, so today after school we picked up some goodies to put inside the boxes. I LOVED watching them get so excited about blessing kids who are less fortunate. I let them pick out what to put in the boxes (with some direction) and they took such pride and were genuinely so excited about making other kids happy. Tomorrow they will write letters to the kids and we will drop off the boxes together so they can experience the entire process. I love that they are old enough to appreciate and understand the concept of giving!

We have noticed some definite self-awareness in Elijah lately that is good...and bad. He is starting to see how other kids see him and he doesn't like it. He tells us all the time, "Everyone thinks I'm dumb." It kills me. We do our best to assure him that he is so super smart. That he is SUCH a good boy and so loved and liked by so many people. Even though this hurts my heart, it is also good. It's good that he is starting to look outside himself a bit. This will be a process for him, but we are here to love him and help him through it.

Both boys got their report cards today! Sammy's report was excellent. He is doing so well in kindergarten. We are so proud of him. Elijah's report was great, too! We are proud of how far he has come in the past year (heck, the past almost nine years!) and we see every "little" success as a very huge thing. Instead of getting hung up on current challenges, we see the progress and it encourages us and makes us so happy. There is SO much progress being made these days and we see every bit of it. We see it all, Elijah!

Thanks for checking in! Hoping you all have a wonderful week!

Uniquely awesome day

I'm going to try to be so much better about writing down the things that make me laugh. On our way home from our friends' baby shower tonight, the boys were playing on our phones in the car. Sammy was apparently trying to purchase a new app, so when the little box popped up to enter my iTunes password he said in total seriousness, "Mommy? How do you spell 'I really want this game a lot'?" He was totally ready to type it in. :)

Today was very strange in a good yet tiring way. We started the day off with a Hope Kids event at the Mall of America. Hope Kids is an incredible organization that provides opportunities and events for a select number of kids who have life-threatening health conditions and their families. This event was awesome. It was held at an arcade inside the MOA, so the kids were able to play endless games and also make crafts, decorate cookies and get their photos taken with Santa. Sammy was particularly excited about seeing Santa for the first time and made a point to say to him, "Look at my monster shirt!" The boys had a blast and we even ran into their cousins, who are a part of Hope Kids, as well. We also saw a kindergarten teacher from Elijah's school who was volunteering for the event! I recognized her, but had never talked to her before. Just like the other kindergarten teachers at his school who we love so dearly, she is awesome! We let the boys ride on a few rides at Nickelodeon Universe and on our way to the car I ran into an old coworker who I hadn't seen in years!

After a family "nap" in our cozy, pillow-filled bed, we headed out again to the north side of the Cities for a baby shower. Two of our skydiving friends are expecting their first baby and are back from Florida for a few days, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see them. It was such a fun treat to spend time with them, as well as the rest of our skydiving family. Elijah and Sammy (and us, too!) were EXHAUSTED at the end of it all, but it was such a unique day filled with different kinds of fun and people from different parts of our lives.

And that is all! I'm off to work for a bit and then snuggle with my hubby!

"Way too much" kisses

We are alive! (I think.) Dan and the boys had a relaxing couple of days at home during MEA break last week. Elijah has been slooooowly returning to baseline, although, it seems impossible, but....he still isn't there. It takes him so long to recalibrate. We still do not have clearance for partial days, so we'll continue to do our best to help him feel as good as possible. He has doctor's appointments tomorrow and Thursday, so he'll need to leave school early those days. A random medical issue came up last week with E. It's minor, but he'll need to have a procedure in November to help his body work a little bit better. 

Dan worked all weekend, so the boys and I had a few days together. It was nice. Lots of quality time, snuggles, playing, smooching, hugging. Times a thousand. Yesterday Sammy put a kissing ban on me because I was kissing him "way too much." He told me, "You can only have one more kiss today and maybe two tomorrow." I sneaked in WAY more than that.

During the week for the past few weeks I've only gotten to see the boys for maybe an hour/day, so I REFUSE to let them out of my sight on the weekends. I brought them with me on an adventurous photo shoot today. We ended up hiking through the hills of Red Wing to get to our couple. They immediately began harnessing me up to go rock climbing....with my camera. As I was scaling the rock wall (barely), Elijah and Sammy were cheering me on from the ground. "Be careful, Mom!" "You can go higher!" "Don't fall!" Ok, so I didn't actually go very high, but it was quite an adventure taking pictures of a rock-climbing couple while suspended by a rope.

I still owe fun pics and funnies. Soon! Bear with me!

Blue skies

It's Sunday night! These summer weeks keep flying right on by. The little boys and I arrived home from the dropzone a few hours ago. We spent the weekend there, waiting on clouds to clear from the humid sky. My heart mama friend Amber (her house was one of the ones the boys and I stayed at on our big road trip last summer) and her oldest son Caleb drove all the way from Indiana to go skydiving with my awesome and super-cute hubby, Dan!

Saturday was frustrating. Low, solid clouds hung around all day long. Then at the verrrry end of the day the clouds parted above us. But the pilot had left! This morning we saw much of the same. Low clouds loomed overhead until 1:00 when they parted and Amber and Caleb were able to go skydiving! Yayyy! Afterward they sped off toward home with adrenaline running through their veins. 

It felt so good to spend time with this awesome friend. She is an incredible woman, mother and friend. We have traveled such similar paths in so many ways, so there is that bond that cannot be explained. Just like skydiving.

We have one week left of summer, so we plan to make the most of it! State Fair and time with my little boys lie ahead. I hope you all had a great weekend! Enjoy these last HOT bits of summer!

Knees in the breeze

The boys and I spent two nights at the dropzone with our daddy/hubby this weekend and it was sooooo good for all of us. The boys loved their time there, as always. Elijah slept GREAT, which was wonderful (Sammy, too, of course). The boys were able to play with friends and run around the perimeter of the hangar approximately 8,000 times. We spent quality time with our amazing friends and that was a big highlight. We adore our skydiving family to pieces!

On Sunday night, after the boys were asleep and the tandems were finished for the day, Dan asked me for the 1,000th time if I would do a tandem jump with him. I have said "NO!" 999 times before. I have made hundreds of jumps on my own, so it has been really hard to imagine giving up that control and freedom. I had a weak moment, or maybe you could call it a moment of strength. I knew I needed to get in the sky and I didn't have time for a re-train. To make things better, the sunset was gorgeous! I think you can tell from the pics that I made the right decision. :)

Now I'm motivated to get my gear in working order and to get in the sky much more often! Dan is home for the next couple days, so we will have some family time together. An incredible friend of ours has offered to come over and watch the boys tomorrow or Wednesday so Dan and I can get away for some alone time. We have more dropzone time coming up this weekend (maybe three nights this time?) and I feel so happy about having the month of July "off." Elijah's ear is healing well and he has been in MUCH better spirits than in previous weeks. Life is good! Thanks for peeking in!

Strep

Hello! Usually I have some idea about what I'm going to say, but not tonight. I just wanted to log on and let you know we are still here. Elijah is still struggling at school, but it is getting better. "Getting better" = not hitting or kicking teachers or calling them names. He is still having a tough time following directions and he becomes defiant when asked to do something outside his agenda (same as at home). We are thankful things are overall better, but we continue to pray for progress!

Dan brought the boys to the doctor today so they could get their flu shots. Finally. We've had to put it off a few times due to illness, so I was happy to get it done. But...it turns out Elijah has strep throat. What?! He did complain of a sore throat yesterday but we thought it was a passing cold, as he always seems to have a tiny one of some sort. No school tomorrow!

After the busiest busy week yet (that is not yet finished), I have plans to spend an ENTIRE weekend with my bestest college buds. It's not quite yet real. There is much to be accomplished before then! I am thankful for a husband who encourages me to "get away" once in a while. All of us harried parents need an occasional get-away.

There is so much more, but I can't think right now. Bed is calling! Thank you for checking in!

And the sun shines!

We spent a nice (mostly sunny and warm, yay!) weekend at the dropzone. It rained for a bit on Saturday, so we spent a bit of time in our trailer. Coloring..

And playing on Mama's phone..

The rest of our time was spent outside running around in the fresh air, hugging friends and playing at the park and in the hangar. The boys and I even took a mini trip to Stillwater on Sunday morning while Dan jumped out of airplanes. We had a picnic by the river and ran around, soaking in the SUNSHINE! Elijah kept saying to me, "Mom, it doesn't make sense that this city is called 'Stillwater.' The water is not completely STILL! LOOK! It splashed! See? It's not still." :)

We were happy to spend some time with our awesome daddy on Father's Day. I did not get a single photo of the boys with Dan, but this is actually a good thing since it means he was working! Work has been scarce this season due to the weather, so all of the instructors were elated to finally be jumping.

I have some more Sammy funnies to share, but first I thought I'd share the "professional" photos taken at my recent mud race! This fire that we jumped over SCARED ME! Can you tell?! I thought my shoes were going to catch on fire!

The giant slide was SO MUCH FUN. 

Finishing felt very sweet. I couldn't repress a little happy holloring.

Ok, a few more Sammy funnies!

Any time Sammy sees a water tower, he says, "Look, Mom! There's my FACTORY!" The Waterpark of America is Elijah's "factory," and somehow every water tower is Sammy's. Then he will ask if it is open. Hmm, I'm not sure that water towers open and close, Sammy. Or that we'd want to go into one!

Almost every time I am driving with the boys in the car, Sammy will say something like, "MOM! Be careful not to drive on the grass!" Or, "MOM! Don't run into that truck!" Today when I pulled over to get the mail, he said, "MOM! Please be extra careful not to smash into that car!" :)

Flip-flops = flip-floppers
Don't copy me! = Don't coffee me!

I think he's catching up to his brother on the funnies!

And last but not least! If you want to join us on our Heart Walk this coming Saturday, please shoot me an email. We currently have nobody walking with us because I've been a slacker and haven't told anyone about it. We would LOVE company! mmporta@gmail.com

Weekend and some Elijah funnies

We had another fun weekend. Elijah got to spend a night with his auntie, so he was on cloud 9. Sammy and I spent Saturday night at the dropzone with Dan. It was strange being there without Elijah! Dan and I loved the special time we got with our youngest boy! That doesn't happen often.

This pic is from last week's zoo trip. We have tried to go to the zoo as a family once a week through the summer, on Dan's days off. The boys love it there. Elijah has nicknamed this "daddy buffalo" Puffy. The "mommy buffalo," who we cannot see, is named Buffy. :)

Sammy loves crawling into this huge bird's nest. Except, he will not accept help getting in, of course. If I try to help him, I get to hear, "MY DO IT!" And he starts over.

I found a few photos I forgot to post from our recent vacations! Here is my wonderful dad, reading to the boys before bed one night while we spent time at the family reunion in Iowa. Precious!

Have I mentioned how much I love my dad? He is honestly the kindest person I know. I love him to pieces, and my boys do, as well. I love this photo of him and Sammy.

I have been sharing on Facebook all of the funny things Elijah has been saying lately. This boy is a riot! I will paste a few of them below. I hope you all had a great weekend! xo

"Mama, you are the olive in my soup!"
"Hmm, do you even like olives?!"
"NO."

Yesterday E was reading a book and suddenly got very excited. "Whoa! The word 'stupid' is in a book?!" (Thinking that if it was in a book it was ok to use.) I'm thinking, Jeez, what the heck is he reading? Upon inspection, the word was "stooped." I explained the difference in meaning and pronunciation and he seemed slightly bummed. Then today, as he was yelling at his hair for touching his forehead (this happens often), I heard him say, "Ugh! Stooped hair!" The kid found another of his many loopholes.

E was talking about the movie Tangled tonight. "Rapunzel has a mean mommy and a nice mommy?" "Yes." "And you are a mean mommy and a nice mommy?" "Well, I'd like to think I'm mostly a nice mommy!" "Weeellllll, you are nice, but sometimes you are mean."

After a very challenging morning of being a mama, I laid down with E in hopes of getting a nap. He rolled over to me and rubbed my hair and said, "Don't be sad, Mama. Be happy!" Then, "You are brownie-fresh and totally wild!" 

We were all standing in the driveway waving goodbye to Dan as he left for the dropzone, E in his underwear, Sammy and me in our pjs. Elijah yelled, "BYYyyyyeeee, Daaad! Have a good luck today!"

After nap-time today, E said, "Mom?" "Yes?" "You are sailing in the sea of my ocean." :)

I was so tired today, lying on the couch with my eyes closed for a few minutes while E read books. I felt a little hand gently rubbing my cheek and a whisper in my ear that said, "Mommy, you are kind and weird and clean and very giggly!"

Trying to get Elijah to nap today, he kept lifting up my eyelids with his fingers. "Mama! Open your eyeball shells!" 

Doot boyyys

We did an impromptu photo shoot last weekend...wait, two weekends ago...thanks to Dan's mom. She had the idea of blowing bubbles toward the boys while I snapped a few pics. I love how they turned out!

Today was Dan's day off, so we spent the morning at the zoo. It was short-lived due to Elijah's behavior, but at least we got some time out of the house as a family.

Sammy is just the cutest and sweetest little boy. That is, when he's not being overly independent and throwing a tantrum because I attempt to help buckle him into his carseat, god forbid.

Lately Elijah has been all about "winning." If I start walking down the stairs before him, he says, "WAIT! I'm going to win!" And he runs ahead of me. When the "race" is between him and Sammy, inevitably Elijah reaches the destination first and declares, "I won!" Sammy interprets this as "I am one!" so he responds every time with, "I two!" :)

Every time I change Sammy's diaper (the times I can catch him), he reaches under himself and grabs his cute little butt, giggles, and says, "Doot Fammy BUTT!" Yes, Sammy, you do have a cute butt. :)

Elijah is doing pretty well with potty business. It is so much better overall compared to two months ago, but we do still have progress to make. He has such an underlying defiant nature that doesn't help the issue, but....we are making progress!

Sammy's speech is amazing. He speaks so well, and it is so cute hearing him talk. He has started doing imaginary play, too, which is so cute. "'Ook, Mama! 'Ellow guy fwying airplane! Going twip!" He is one cute kid. Dan and I constantly talk about how we want to freeze him. He is perfect! (Minus those independence-related tantrums.)

Tomorrow we are bringing Elijah to see his eye doctor. I am hoping he will need a new prescription for his glasses, considering he has BITTEN scratches into his lenses (during time-outs). We have been diligent with wearing his patches, so hopefully we can ditch those soon.

This summer has been an awesome one so far, and there is so much more fun to be had. We have a huge next two weeks coming up. Elijah is super excited, as are the rest of us.

Thanks for checking in on us!

We wish you all a happy week!

Letting go

Wow, what a weekend! My sister Lynn generously offered to take both boys with her and her family up to their cabin for the entire weekend. I was reluctant to let them go at first. I spend so much time with them now that being away from them seems unnatural. I always worry about Elijah's croup and Sammy being so clingy and on and on.. I decided to just LET GO and let them go have a blast with their Auntie and cousins. It was tough! Sammy was so upset with me when I said goodbye to him on Friday night. :( I shed a few tears as we drove away from each other.

But everything was great, all around. The boys had a blast, even Sammy. And I got to spend an entire weekend at the dropzone with my husband! Let me tell you, it was weird not to have the boys there, but it was so very awesome. I haven't been alone at the dropzone with Dan since before Elijah was born! 

Once I decided that I was going to let the boys go with my sister for the weekend, I also decided that I was going to go skydiving for the first time in four years! 

And so, I went skydiving three times on Saturday. It felt AMAZING. 

I was nervous before my first jump. Thankfully I had Dan next to me. He always calms me.

Apparently I bite my lower lip a lot when I am nervous. Here I am, on my way to the door!

Here is our exit! Our friend Casey was kind enough to film the jump for me and snap a few photos, as well.

Still biting lower lip. :)

It felt so good to be in the sky again! That is the one place that has always made me forget my worries and feel totally and completely good and free.

We had to do a sky smooch, of course. :)

Breaking away to get into a sitting position..

The transition..

And Dan flipped back onto his belly because that's where he is most comfortable. He is an awesome belly flier. I am not!

Casey was literally flying circles around me. I was impressed with his flying and so happy to be falling through the sky, hence the very happy and smiley face!

I am still on cloud 9. I am hoping to continue to jump a bit this summer, when it works out.

The boys were a complete mess tonight. They were exhausted from having such a fun and busy weekend. Elijah was defiant and even Sammy had some breakdowns. They were in bed very early tonight!

Elijah is still having very occasional accidents. He had one today about 10 seconds after I arrived to pick him up. Nice. But then he had a big success later, which earned him a trip to the MOA for mall rides! Woooo!

Dan has the next two days off, which I am sooo excited about! Hopefully we will be able to squeeze in some fun adventures, and get rested up, as well.

Thanks for checking in!