1st Day Of School

He woke up early, brushed his hair, got dressed and made his bed. I'd call it a success! When we got to school he said "Mom I'm late (which he wasn't), I don't have time for pictures.

Um, Hi, I'm Mama Bear and I'm getting a picture of you for the first day of school. You are lucky I didn't try to kiss you too. The day isn't over but the teacher just sent all the parents a cute little email saying everyone is doing awesome and no tears have been shed. Welcome to First Grade Connor!

When I got to school I said "we need a picture". Silly Sommer she thought I meant of the kiddos.

Here is my partner in crime for the next 3 years as we are Co-Chairing the PTO for the elementary school.

Connor's main squeeze Emma (Sommer's daughter)

Summer Hikes

It is crazy how many trails and part of Colorado are less than 45 minutes away. The last 3 weekends we have gone exploring on the weekends.
The first weekend we went to Garden Of The Gods. Notes for me for next time: kind of farther away then I liked. We were not there long enough and want to go back for sure. We didn't really see Gardens per see, we did see all these beautiful red rocks and guys repelling off them.

Then next weekend we went to Lair of the Bear. Positives are it is close (very close to Sheri & Marty) the negative, lots of bikers are a small trail. Kids loved the water that ran next to the trail to cool off.

Okoboji 2k16

My 34th year, Ray's 12 year Connor's 7th and Ryan's 4th year at the HAPPIEST PLACE on EARTH; lake Okoboji (hence why our dog is named Boji).

10.5 hours in the car actually went by fast followed by 10 days of Heaven! Swimming, laying out, doing puzzles, eating delicious food. Ryan fished 99% of the time and caught a ton of fish. Connor learned to ride a 2 wheeler with out training wheels and Grandma Grandpa and GG spoiled them both rotten. Aunt Terri stopped in for a day and Dave and Val came and went during our stay. We got a nice surprise visit from Lizzie. Ryan hasn't seen her sense he was 2 and he kept calling her Aunt Val, it was pretty funny.

My dad and his brother and their cousins and corresponding mothers

We really got into snap chat this vacation

Connor was 1 inch too short for the big coaster- he's determined to eat a lot of vegetables and get that 1 inch before next year!

Woof. Face swap Grandma & Grandpa.

They fought over driving

Texas Y'all

For our 10 year anniversary we decided to go big and go to Texas. We went with dear friends Bridget & Matt. We both relocated out of Ohio 2 years ago. It was fun to reconnect right where we left off.

I've been busy

My good friend Bridget said to me last night, "I'm pretty sure I've sent you 4 texts and you haven't replied to any." Yea....life is a little insane with all this end of the school year stuff. 

I've been crafting a little. Here is what I've made this month:

Ryan's done with school and Connor gets out Thursday. We have turned down golf, baseball, lacrosse and swim team so we can enjoy the lazy days of summer! Ray and I have our 10 year anniversary in June and will be going to Texas with the Zieglers and July we will be at the lake. Should be a great summer!!

I'm 34

Yea I'm not going to admit that in person, so if you aren't reading my blog forget it!
Ray and the boys spoiled me, I think my favorite birthday to date (well except for all my college birthdays absolute angels know how to party).
Friday we had a "MOPS & POPS" event with my Mother Of A Preschooler group that was a ton of fun and then Saturday we went out with Mike & Casey to Top Golf. They put sensors in the golf balls and you aim at targets and play all these different games (very fun!). For my birthday one of my presents Ray got me was a 1000 piece puzzle. I was obsessed and finished in two days.

Thanks for the calls and texts to make my day as special as it was!

Jordan

Rays sister Kerry had a baby boy on Friday April 22nd. Jordan Richard 2lbs, 14oz. He is having all the NICU scary times a parent dreads and we are praying for more good days then bad!

Here is a picture Kerry sent us today, first time Mommy got to hold him!

Master Bath

His & Hers

Before:

We did Maple wood with Espresso Finish
Quartz counters in "Lagoon" and brushed nickel door pulls and Moen faucet in Eva. The light fixtures are Minka Lavery (saw them at a house we rented in Nashville and knew I had to have them).

Yay! With all the vendors these last 18 months I am DONE with people I don't know spending time in my house. Let's review all the projects and money out the door....
Hardwood floors on first floor
New Windows, new gutters
White trim on first floor and white doors added
Jill painted second floor trim and doors, never ending basement project, exterior of house wood work and shingle repair, then full house painted. Did I also mention that we both got new cars, me in 2015 and Ray this year. Unfortunately with this last snow storm dumping 23.2 inches our money tree snapped and is gone. Good bye house projects, I won't miss you while gardening all summer long and perfecting my CO tan.
(Light bulbs need clear bulbs but you work with what you have on hand)

Lights: Minka Lavery

Sink: American Standard Square Sink

Eva Sink by Moen

what does a SAHM do?

I'm preparing some material for PERHAPS an upcoming MOPS meeting (they have a Mom share her thoughts/feels/or a devotional) to start the meeting. Needed a place to jot it all down...

What is MY definition of a stay at home mom? 

To me it means I wake up, do a daily devotional and beg God for understanding for things I can’t understand

It is having my house clean, kids fed with healthy choices, games played. Children bathed nightly and read to before bed.

A marathon runner, athlete, arms of steel. A avid reader, movie attender, expert gardener and house renovator.

My reality;

Asking God for forgiveness as I lay in bed at night with lots on my mind and having forgotten yet again to look up and start a devotional

My house is clean, I agree. Just don’t check any wood surface as a year plus of dust might be visible.

My mother once asked me to FaceTime her and show her the vegetables in my fridge, well played Mom well played

Our parenting philosophy is if we can’t remember the last time the boys bathed then tonight is bath night

We are suppose to read 3 books provided by Ms. Lee, our olds sons kindergarten teacher. We wait until Thursday night and have Connor read the shortest easiest story once.

In my early 20’s I did run 2 marathons so technically I am a marathon runner. I recently ran to my sons school its about .80 miles. I walked the whole way home, on the sidewalk, not the bike trail as I was worried I’d pass out and not be found.

I read comments on Facebook and instagram, and blogs :)

Every movie I’ve seen in the last 3 years was rated G

I have 8 seedlings that I’ve been watering and have by the window for about a month now, nothing has sprouted, their is a 97% chance I skrewed this up and nothing is coming, but I keep watering for that 3% chance.

Things that were not in my definition of a SAHM (stay at home mom) but I get great joy from;

• Hunting for worms with Ryan, its amazing just how many worms we find considering we hunt daily and but them in a bug cage to roast themselves alive
• cooking and baking; when you are home a million hours a day you have time to meal plan, go to the store or stores and make something amazing
• hanging out 20 minutes before and 20 minutes after school to catch up with my new made Kindergarten parent friends
• PTA is fun. had never been to a meeting before in my life but now I’m the president. If you call me please address me as madam president
• MOPS (mothers of preschoolers), yea its an actual thing, an international thing actually. Coming to the near end of my time as a preschool mom I often listen to newer Moms stories and can’t remember how I handled those difficult days (probably because I was in a sleep deprived comma)
• Rocking out to Pop music with my kids and video taping it so one day we can upload it to youtube and be on the ellen show

Sawyer

We watched the sweetest 8 month old in the country this week- Sawyer. She slept through the nights and didn't mind traveling to all our busy events. Made the baby fever even more real. Speaking of fever I think I have strep (again). Going to the doctor today to find out for sure. Bring on the meds.

I would say I was 100% obsessed with her followed closely by Ryan. He even woke up at 5:30 in the morning when she woke up and he said "don't worry mom, I'll take care of her, you go back to sleep".