Go, Go, Goers!

It must have been a good week...I'm still in bed right now, and am completely exhausted, even after 9+ hours of sleep.  Or, I'm sick.  We shall see which is the truth! Little G had some rough nights...not sure if he's entering a phase with nightmares, but on several occasions this week, he started screaming in the middle of the night, which of course woke me up. Each time, I would go into his room, gather him up in a blanket, and rock him back to sleep. I love, love, love the bonding time with him, but in the back of my mind, I'm concerned that I'm creating a habit that is going to be really hard to break...  He slept great last night, so I'm hoping this is a passing phase. (Although I do know that at some point he won't let me rock him like that anymore...so I should enjoy it while I have it...)  (This is really causing conflicting emotions for me!!) I chaperoned the 2nd grade field trip to the Science Museum on Friday, and OMG, I don't know how...

Valentine's Day was a success last weekend! The kids had a great time with their school/daycare treats, and we had fun surprising them with both valentines at home. Now that G is getting older, it's fun to bring him into the little celebrations and have him enjoy them too! Both Scott and Ava picked out lovely flower arrangements for me...having these fresh flowers in our house makes the idea of spring feel a bit more real. The kid's (Ava picked them out) gift to me is on the left, Scott's gift to me is on the right...love them both!   A Valentine candy robot from G's daycare teachers...SO cute! The cold weather has loosened up a bit, and it hasn't been as painful to be outside this week. The ground is still snowy and mushy, but now we've got parks and walks on the brain.  What are the chances that once this snow is gone, we won't get any more, and spring will be here?? I had that passing thought yesterday and had to squish it down, but.....

In G's daycare class, they have a daily lesson, such as "why we share" or "different parts of our body".  Recently, the lesson was "why we wear shoes"...and when I saw that on his daily sheet, I truly laughed out loud! Each weekday, I'm a single parent in the morning, and am responsible for getting these two children up, dressed, fed, out the door, etc. We made some changes to the routine that have made the process a million times easier with Ava (thank you chore chart!) but now G has stepped it up and is being a super stinker in the morning. Each step in the morning routine is a challenge...and bless Ava's heart, she tries to help, but sometimes even her presence pushes G over the edge. She will bring him his jacket, toys, and his boots, and he generally will have none of that. Especially the boots!  I often have to pretend to put on his boots in order for him to agree to wear them...and, they don't fit my feet!  I would love to use th...

Living in Minnesota means that we enjoy winter for roughly six months of the year. With that extensive time frame, it should mean that everyone up here is a well-experienced winter driver. And everyone knows how to bundle up, stay warm, and make the most of this lovely season. But everyone once in a while, we get word of a storm coming, and everyone completely freaks out. Schools shut down 12 hours before the tiniest flakes even begin to fall, and panic ensues. That was Monday night of this past week. The arrival of a snow-free Tuesday morning means I received a phone call that Ava would be done with school at 12:30pm due to the impending storm. Scott and I then reminisced about when we were kids and how snow days didn't get called until at least there was snow ON the ground...and a substantial amount of it. The snow didn't start to fall until around noon, so at that point Scott, Ava, and G were safe at home. My work closed early, but everyone in the entire metro also left...

I'm pretty sure I'm getting too used to this time off thing. I was supposed to be on vacation from work this entire past week, but for a variety of reasons, I worked on Monday and Tuesday.  Working those two days allowed me to enjoy Wed-Fri without checking in on work, whatsoever, so, it was worth it in the end! I did manage to knock off quite a few things on my to-do list, plus, I enjoyed a 90 minute massage, had lunch with a few friends, and even managed to cook dinner on Friday night. That right there is a shocker. Generally, by the time I get home from work, it's way too late for me to make dinner, so Scott always manages that task. Based on her reaction when she saw me in the kitchen, I'm certain Ava thinks that I don't know how to cook. I should probably change that perception... Ava had a super week as the Star Student in her class. We practiced having her read aloud to us, as she needed to read a favorite book to her class...it sounds like she did a fant...

I had a very strange schedule this week, which made the time go by super fast, yet, by the end of the week, it felt like it was ten days long.  My time was chunked into pieces, and everything felt very distorted. All I know is that today is my day to do nothing but enjoy my time at home...no errands, no commitments, nothing. Just an unstructured day.  I need it. After working a full day this past Monday, I thought it would be fun to hop on a plane to NYC. To add to the enjoyment, I decided that's there's no better way to travel than in the last row of the plane, where seats don't recline, and windows don't exist. Who needs windows when it's a bumpy flight, and you have no idea how close you are to the ground?  Not this girl!  (Hahaha...I hate flying.)  Once I landed in NY, I had the joy of standing in the cold (it was SO cold, the wind was brutal!) waiting for a cab. I did end up getting a super nice cabbie for my commute to the hotel. Thank goodness he wa...

I often feel like I have a checklist of things to do for Ava's school and G's daycare...this week we had to take a family picture and find shoes for Ava to donate (school wide competition on which classroom could collect the most pair of shoes for donation...at last count, Ava's class had 70 pairs.  Pretty impressive!) I always start the day off with good intentions, and have a running list in my mind of everything we need to accomplish that day, but by the time I get home at night, that list is often out the window, and all I have energy for is eating dinner, getting the kids ready for bed, and then crashing on the couch.  But on Thursday, I realized we had run out of time for the family pic, so we all squished onto the couch after dinner and said cheese!  Kind of.  It was really hard to get a decent pic of all of us, and the look on Ava's face made me laugh in this one.  We all look exhausted! G was home sick one day this week...he had a fever a...