RAIN!

 

This weekend we had rain.  Yes people, rain.  It was a nice change from snow and a sure sign that spring is here.  Or so I thought until I looked out the window this morning.  Ick.  That's neither here nor there though, we're talking about rain.

The boys were at their dad's house this weekend and I was wondering what we could do when they got home.  It only made sense to put the rain boots on and go splash in the puddles.  Why not?  They had a great time and came in with soaking wet pants.  (If you follow my facebook updates this would be the night we ate dinner and I was the only one wearing pants.) 

 

The kids had to keep making sure I was really saying that it was Ok for them to jump in the puddles.  I know I'm uptight sometimes but that's why I bought the rainboots -- to have a little fun.  :)  Can't wait until it gets warm enough that we can splash in the puddles without big coats and hats.  Happy Spring everyone!

Weekend Out of the City

Last weekend I went down to Fairmont for a little R and R.  By last weekend I mean the weekend that happened over a week ago -- I'm a little behind.  I've been busy and haven't taken the time to write which I really like doing.  I also haven't taken the time to take pictures which is one of my favorite hobbies.  :(  I'm taking the time now.

Anyway, back to my story.  I planned to go to Fairmont initially to do a Lia Sophia party.  I've just become an advisor recently (needed to find something to keep me busy when I didn't have the boys and help fill up my bank account at the same time) and my cousin's wife Lori said that she would host a party.  Thanks Lori!  We had a great show -- I was able to bank a little money and spend time with the girls.  The weekend turned out to be so much more than a great party though.

Friday night I got to hang out with my mom.  I had such a great time!!  It's rare that my mom and I get to hang out -- she works weekends which is when I end up going home.  She had the night off and we hit the town!  Ok, it's Fairmont, how much "hitting the town" can you actually do.  We went to the Legion for a meat raffle.  That's right folks, a meat raffle.  You may have seen me post about it on Facebook.  I had a few too many drinks (3 -- I don't have much of a tolerance), ate, and then had a few too many more.  I won pork chops and steaks in the meat raffle and the best part of the night is that my mom paid for everything.  Kidding here folks, the best part was hanging out with my mom (the not paying anything part was just a bonus).

Saturday was the party and then my dad came to town.  Woo hoo!  I hadn't seen him since Christmas so it was great to see him.  He had hair!  I didn't take a picture because I was preoccupied with everything that was going on but I will be going to visit him in a month and will take plenty of pictures then.  We went out to dinner that night with my extended family -- loved getting to see everyone.  Got to see them again on Sunday for brunch.  An added bonus . . . my uncle from California came to town so I got to see him too. 

I know that you're thinking that my weekend couldn't get any better than that, but it could.  The icing on the cake is the fact that I got to bring Jackson with me.  I don't get to see him very often and since it was Mike's weekend with the boys it was nice to have some company along.  Jackson never complained about my singing in the car either.

Isn't he the cutest?  ( I might be biased.)

The only downfall to my weekend was the weather on the drive home.  It cleared up after awhile but when I got out of the car I saw that the snow / ice had attached itself.  Thought it was a kind of cool pattern.  Thanks for listening to my wordiness this evening.

Where did he come up with that?

These children keep me in stitches.  The things they come up with sometimes are priceless.  One of my favorites came from Joe.  He was about 3 and he had cars all lined up between the coffee table and the couch.  I said "Why are you making a mess?"  He replied "You call it a mess, I call it a party."  Where did he come up with that?

Some recent ones:

In the bathtub I asked them who looked like a wrinkly old lady (that's usually what Joe says he looks like after a soak in the tub) and James quickly shouted "Mommy!"  He must have seen the look I gave him and he quickly changed his answer  -- "Grandma Judy?"  I just had to laugh . . . (sorry mom).

After bathtime Joe looked in the mirror and said "Daaaaaang, I'm hot."  Excuse me?  Later he said that he was just saying he was tall but I know what I heard.

My dad has recently undergone chemotherapy and lost his hair.  I talk about it often to make the kids feel more comfortable with it.  Their dad's brother is also bald (by choice).  When we talk about it James always gets excited and says "Papa D has no hair, Uncle Mark has no hair, and daddy has no hair in the middle."  Contrary to what some people might think, I did not teach him this.  (I do think it's a little amusing though.)  His teacher is so sweet, she has been teaching him to say that daddy does have hair in the middle because she doesn't want James to hurt his feelings.  (We love Ms. Jean.)

More to come from my two little munchkins later.  I have to savor these precious moments with them -- time is flying by fast.

Pre V-Day patience

Today was one of those days.  You know you've all had them.  One of those days where everything seems to drive you crazy and your patience wears thin.  I should have expected it after yesterday.  Yesterday was nice and relaxing and the kids kept their fighting to a minimum -- What more could I ask for?  I could have asked for a whole weekend of that type of behavior and peace. 

Our day started off with pancakes as it does every Sunday that they are with me in the morning.  We did cinnamon pancakes today instead of our normal chocolate chip. . . . maybe I should have started the day with chocolate.  The boys play and fight.  Are you really surprised?  My patience is wearing thin . . .

Time for the Valentine Day cards.  Yep, we waited until the last minute.  Again, are you really surprised?  I had Joe write his name out on all of his cards and let James color his.  Some of my patience returned.

Lunch time.  James did not eat anything.  Sometimes it's so frustrating.  Little bit of patience gone with that one.  More arguing and whining.  More patience gone.  Time to make our Valentine cupcakes to bring to the teachers at school tomorrow.  We, of course, had to eat some.  (I did make James eat something before he could have a cupcake though.)

Does it look delicious?

Naptime.  Did either one of them sleep?  NO.  Why would they?  I did get about an hour of peace as they laid in their room reading books.  Welcome back patience.  :)  I went to tell them they could be done resting and it looked like a library threw up in their room.  Ugh.  We tried to play a game but there was screaming (it was happy screaming but it still was not what I wanted to hear) and running and craziness.  Just not the day I wanted to hear it.  It was driving me crazy.  Enter one-on-one time.  Something Mike and I do with the boys every other weekend.  Joe went to daddy's house this weekend and I got some one-on-one time with James.  It's kind of relaxing to just have 1 kid.  Patience slowly returning.  

Joe returns.  Lots of picking on his brother.  I have the cure -- bathtime and bedtime.  No naps had them both falling asleep quickly.  

Patience -- it really is a virtue, isn't it?

Sing a Song

So I picked up my little munchkins from their dad's house this afternoon and went to run a couple of errands with them.  The were a little high strung.  We were able to calm down but they still had a little silliness left in them (they probably get that from me).  The car was full of music on the way home but the radio wasn't the source.  They started off singing some sort of Happy Birthday remix to April whose birthday is today and we planned on calling when we got home.  In true Knudson boy fashion as soon as we got home and called April they both were silent.  If only she could have listened to them in the car -- it was too cute.
When the birthday song celebration was done they moved into an original song:
Joe:  "I am BIG!!"
James:  "I am LITTLE!!"
Joe:  "I am BIG!"
James:  "I am LITTLE!!"
Joe:  "I am the best!  No, I mean mommy is the best!"  (and I didn't even have to tell him to say that)
James:  "Mommy!"
Joe:  " I know lots of stuff.  Eight minus one is (long pause) . . . seven.  Four plus four equals eight.  Nine plus nine equals . . . "
James:  "I am LITTLE!"  (keep in mind that this is all in song)
Joe:  "seventy?" 

As much as they drive me crazy this type of stuff just makes my day.  A made up song that lasted a couple of minutes on a car ride home.  Love my boys!  :)

Girls, girls, girls!

I love my friends!  I had a fabulous weekend and just went out for a fabulous happy hour. 
Friday night was spent hanging with Jen and Amy at Amy's place-- having a drink (pretty sure I was solo on that one) and watching a movie.  I also might have gotten a little crazy and become a cat photographer -- evidence below. 

Gotta love a fire.

Taco dip deliciousness was important to the evening.

As was dessert.

Sebastian -- sporting my hat.

Abby -- playing in the tunnel.

Saturday consisted of GTL minus the T (this is a Jersey Shore reference people, and I don't even watch the show). Gym, Tan, Laundry - we didn't do the tan part.  That means April and I hit the gym then hung out at her house so I could mooch her laundry.  (Thanks April!) 

Saturday night was more of the same as Friday night -- same people, same movie watching activity but this time it was at my place.  I suggested wine to my guests and they agreed.  Little did they know that Mike still has all of the wine glasses and I haven't bought any.  This is how "klassy" we got.  (yep, I did it.  I spelled classy with a k because this deserves it.)  Have you ever had your wine out of a Batman glass?  Yes, I throw a good party.  :)

Tonight I got together with some high school friends for happy hour.  Gotta love happy hour!  It was great to see them and reconnect.  It's nice to have people to talk to that have been through / are dealing with the same things that I am in my life.  It's like a nice little support group and I totally appreciate it. 


I'm so glad that I'm blessed with such great people in my life!

My Christmas Wish

Ok.  I know I'm a little late here but I wanted to make sure I shared this wonderful moment from my Christmas.

There are a lot of things that I could say that I wanted for Christmas, but nothing I really needed and if I narrowed it down to just one Christmas wish . . . that was easy.  I would wish for my dad to have a clean bill of health.  I don't know if you remember my post from this fall ( I would put a link in here to it but I don't know how) about my dad.

Look -- here we all are this summer.

Long story short -- We found out at the very beginning of June that he had cancer.  It had spread.  The cancer started in his sinuses and had spread to his lymph nodes.  That's how he found out -- he found a lump in his neck and had a biopsy.  He went through 7 weeks of radiation and about 6 rounds of chemo.  It took a terrible toll on his body.  His last chemo was a couple of weeks ago and had hit the 100 day mark (right before Christmas) after radiation to go in for a new PET scan to find out if all the treatments had worked. 

Unfortunately he ate before his PET scan that was scheduled before Christmas so we had no news at Christmastime.  He rescheduled for the Monday after and I anxiously awaited for the news.  My dad called and started in with some trivial chit chat -- get on with it already Dad!  He then told me the wonderful news that the scan came back clean!!!  That was exactly the news that I was waiting for!  Woo hoo!!  He can finally be on the road to recovery.  I couldn't have asked for a better end to my Christmas.  My Christmas wish came true.  :)