Photo Every Hour (December 21st)

The fact that it's taken me a week to get this post up should be pretty indicative of how life has been lately: Crazy. Some days I'm not even sure what exactly we're so busy with, but it seems like everyday is just constant from sun up to sun down (and beyond, since let's be honest, the amount of sunlight we get this time of year isn't exactly anything to brag about). Since late is better than never and something is better than anything, here's my measly December contribution to this poor, neglected blog!

7:00 Totally spaced on taking my "wake-up" photo, but I was up at 6:10 and this boy was up at 6:50. Up and ready to build with Playdoh, apparently

8:00 Nothing says helpful like a little boy who pushes a chair around the whole kitchen so he can get into (and usually empty) all the drawers

9:00 A brief moment of peace and quiet. Time for me to run and get ready quickly before Garrett starts stealing William's puzzle pieces or William starts taking Garrett's books

10:00 Puppet show at the Outdoor Campus. Every month the have a (free!) class for 3-5 year olds where they learn about a different animal through stories, crafts, a puppet show, and other materials. Garrett usually goes to my mom's house so William and I can have a little one-on-one time, but today my mom had a conflict so Garrett got to come to class with us

11:00 Class is over, but we can't leave without saying goodbye to all the animals they have inside! (It's hard to see in the picture, but there are two turtles in that tank.)

12:00 One boy is done with lunch and ready for a nap but...

12:00 (continued) The other boy clearly is not

1:00 Quiet reading time so he will (hopefully) settle down and take a nap

2:00 Successful nap time so far--both boys are sleeping and I'm getting bills paid

3:00 And this is why I normally don't light candles before the boys to go bed--Garrett wanted to blow it out as soon as he saw it

4:00 They were begging for more to eat after their snacks, so I gave them each a candy cane. It kept them busy and didn't fill them up (because they didn't exactly eat them), so it was a success in my book

5:00 Surprise birthday party for my dad. Because our family has nothing better to do than plan more parties during the already busy holiday season.

 

6:00 A happy (and surprised!) Grandpa with his four grandkids

 

7:00 Someone is a little partied out

8:00 Running late with bedtime due to the party. And did you know that is physically impossible to get a one year old and three year old to move quickly when it's late and already past their bedtime? True story

9:00 Baking a cake to be served a funeral at church. And yes, I cheated and used a boxed mix. I really wanted to do one from scratch, but the time I saved was totally worth it

10:00 Totally forgot to take a picture. Spoiler: We were watching NCIS

Bedtime. Much too late, but that's been par for the course lately

 

Photo Every Hour (November 21st)

Another month, another day spent taking photos every hour. I've got just one thing to say, though--if any one of us is (or ends up getting) sick when I get around to doing this in December, I might just have to bag these posts. Not only were the boys sick when I did this back in October, but they (and then me and Darrell) were sick/recovering from being sick this time around as well. Although I guess I'm glad I chose the 21st instead of the 22nd--I definitely would have had to bag taking pictures every hour on that day since most all of them would have been taken from the couch, where I spent most of the day. Anyway, without further ado, here is our oh-so-exciting November 21st!

Rise and shine! I'm not brave enough to shower when I'm home by myself with the boys, so a few days a week I get up a little early and shower before Darrell leaves for work

7:00 Rise and shine for this boy, although he woke up pretty fussy. Consequence of having a pretty bad cold for the past few days

8:00 Watching their morning show--today's choice, a little bit of Thomas

9:00 When one boy has a cold and the other is recovering from spending the previous day puking, this is how we roll. Resting and still in pajamas

10:00 Our super exciting outing for the morning--the grocery store!

11:00 Lunch prep for the boys. Something I know they will eat that will also be easy on William's stomach

12:00 A little bit of play time before nap time. As you can tell, all things with wheels rein supreme in this house

1:00 Ah, nap time. Closed doors, quiet boys (at least for the time being...)

2:00 So apparently it's almost December already?!? Time to start working on our photo calendar for next year!

3:00 Turns out that although William was quiet at 1:00 after I put him down, he never actually fell asleep. He came out of his room a few times for different books or to go potty, but thankfully he spent the majority of nap time doing this

4:00 More play time while I get the lasagna in the oven for dinner

5:00 Not the greatest quality photo (Darrell was taking pictures on his real camera as well, so his flash majorly over-exposed my shot), but William decided to kill the last little bit of time before dinner teeing up his football and kicking it

6:00 The musical stylings of Daddy and Son

7:00 Sure sign of a great husband? He takes care of bath and starts getting the boys ready for bed so I can make a quick solo run to Target

8:00 I swear, we do these dishes every night and yet someone just keeps on getting them dirty. It's starting to get old...

9:00 Darrell heads off to bed after we watch an NCIS episode and I debate being productive but instead putz around on Facebook for a little bit. I decide shortly thereafter that I could use an early bedtime as well



Lights out for bedtime, although it certainly wasn't the last time either of us were up that night. I probably could have taken pictures at each of the remaining hours of the day, although I promise you no one would have wanted to see them. All I will say is Thank God it was a short-lived bug and everyone is back to feeling better. And it only took me a week to get this post up, so I consider that pretty successful as well, all things considered!

The Curse of the (Clean) Socks

If you have been a Minnesota Vikings fan for anything length of time, all I need to do is mention Gary Anderson and the 1998 season and you know exactly what I'm talking about. But for those of you who aren't familiar, here's a quick backstory: In 1998, the Vikings were having a spectacular season. They became only the third team in NFL history to win 15 games during the regular season, and scored a then-record 556 points. They cruised to the NFC Championship game--with home field advantage--where they faced the Atlanta Falcons. With a seven-point lead and two minutes left in the 4th quarter, the Vikings had a chance to essentially put the game away with a 38-yard field goal. Despite going 35 for 35 on field goals in the regular season, Gary Anderson missed. And that miss gave the Falcons a chance to tie the game and push it into overtime, which they eventually won (by kicking a 38-yard field goal, ironically).

What you may not know and what I previously failed to mention is that it is MY fault Gary Anderson missed that field goal. On that particular Sunday, I wasn't feeling the greatest, so at halftime, I changed out of my church clothes and into something more comfortable (which was only something we were allowed to do when the Vikings were losing at halftime, which in this particular game they weren't). I also spent most of the second half lying on the couch, and during all of the games earlier in the season I had sat upright to watch. So really, it should come as no shocker that Anderson missed that field goal--and clearly, it was all my fault.

Sounds ludicrous, right? Not to my sister. I kid you not, for YEARS I had to deal with her telling me it was my fault the Vikings didn't make it to the Super Bowl that year (and truthfully, she'd probably say the same now, but I just avoid bringing it up). My sister is what you call superstitious--and a little obsessively so. Candidly, my dad is too, but my sister is definitely worse. Which brings me to this year--and the curse of the socks.

The Vikings started this season 5-0--a surprise not just because they are the Vikings, but also because their starting quarterback suffered a season (and possibly career) ending injury in practice just weeks before the start of the season, plus their starting running back suffered a serious knee injury early in the second game of the season and has been out since. Admittedly, it hadn't always been pretty, but the Vikings still managed to find a way to come out ahead in the first five games. And then they had a bye, which by all counts, should have been a good thing. They had extra time to really work with the offense and cater it toward the players who were healthy and playing, not the ones who they had thought would be playing when the season started. Plus they had time to rest a few minor defensive injuries. And statistically, teams have a slightly higher odds of winning coming off a bye week. But for the Vikings this year, none of that was good enough.

You see, what the Vikings hadn't counted on and couldn't prepare for during their bye week, was the fact that my sister's husband WASHED her Vikings socks. So when she sat down for their game against the Eagles, she was wearing the same outfit she'd worn for each of the previous games--but her socks were clean (I'll let you infer what that means for the rest of her outfit). And that, ladies and gentlemen, ruined it for the Vikings. They lost that game--and they haven't won since. All because her socks were washed during a winning streak--and everyone knows you don't mess with the mojo when there is a winning streak going on. I promise you my brother-in-law won't be forgetting that anytime soon after the "spirited discussions" he had with my sister after the sock-washing incident.

In all seriousness, though, I really hope the Vikings manage to find a way to win against the Redskins on Sunday. Because if I have to listen to my sister complain one more time that the Vikings can't win because her socks got washed, I think I might lose it. I may not get into the games quite like some of my family members, but I do enjoy my purple and gold football Sundays with this crazy family.

Workout Woes

A couple of months ago, I started feeling progressively more sluggish and dealing with progressively more back soreness. I kept trying to ignore it and chalking it up to not getting enough sleep or overdoing it playing with the boys, but deep down I knew the real problem. I knew that the real issue was that I needed to start working out. And not just "chasing the boys around" working out--actual, intentional, workouts (and yoga!). After running the 5k back in May, I didn't really do much else the rest of the summer, aside from occasional short jogs, long walks, or bike rides with the boys. I knew working out would help me feel better (even though I always drag my heels about getting a workout started), and I knew I needed a plan. So I made one. I found a full-body circuit workout with weights, an upper body circuit workout with weights, and a daily ab exercises workout. I mixed in various cardio--running, yoga, pilates--and put together a schedule. A schedule that had me working out five days a week. And for the first time in a long time, I actually stuck to it. Even if it meant lifting weights at 9:00 pm or going for a run before church--I got my workouts in.

But you know what I didn't get in? Consistent meal planning. Relaxing evenings with Darrell. Organized play dates with friends. Time to tackle items on my to-do list (including one that has literally been on my list for nearly three weeks). It's not even that I forced myself to do terribly lengthy workouts or anything--most were only 30 minutes--but I think I just got so wrapped up in the logistics and scheduling of all the workouts that I majorly let other things slip around the house. I know there are moms (and dads!) who can and have to do it all, but as it turns out, I'm not that person. I committed to it, and I certainly tried, but I would be very hard pressed to say that I was successful at integrating workouts into my daily schedule. Hopefully someday I will be (and when that time comes I will probably try to ease into it a little bit better!), but for now I think I'm going to return to the "old" status quo--with maybe a little extra effort to squeeze a workout in here or there. And I'm not going to beat myself up over that decision--as it turns out, I have plenty of other things on my plate that need my attention.

Photo Every Hour (October 21st)

Well, I hadn't meant to let a month pass between posts... But here I am. Such is life. Since both my boys are past the point of getting monthly updates, I figure I'll start doing monthly "Day in the Life" posts, so here's your next installment of that. And hopefully I'll get around to writing some other posts before I do one of these in November... No promises, though.

Darrell wakes me up before leaving for work. I contemplate laying in bed for a little bit, but Garrett has other plans. Thankfully, I manage to get him back to sleep--he's been sick and was up half the night, so I know he isn't ready yet to be up for the day

7:00 Earlier than I usually have my coffee (if I have any at all), but see above note about Garrett (and also William) being sick and keeping us up (what felt like) all night. Today is definitely a coffee day--and I try to get a cup in while the boys are still asleep so I can actually drink it while it is hot!

8:00 After playing for a little bit, William is ready for breakfast (followed closely by Garrett who finally decided he was ready to get up for the day)

9:00 Both boys are still in their pajamas at 9 AM--that's a #parentingwin, right?

10:00 Being sick and not wanting to spread germs means that most of our normal morning activities are out. But William is clamoring to get out of the house, so we head to Falls Park. Fall at the Falls is a beautiful thing--although the boys really only cared about the train we saw and throwing rocks into the water. Typical.

11:00 A quick snack in the wagon before heading home 

12:00 A late snack at the park means a late lunch at home

1:00 A late lunch means getting down for naps a little late--but thankfully both boys settled pretty quickly

2:00 Grocery lists and menu planning--and a little more coffee because my energy is severely depleted today!

3:00 We painted most of these pumpkins a week ago, and they've just been sitting on our back deck since then. I finally got around to moving them out front

4:00 Boys are up (and satiated with a snack) so I head out for one last go at finding a Halloween costume for William. I have my heart set on a particular animal for William, but end up settling for a costume he chooses (which is significantly cheaper than it would have been for me to buy the costume I wanted from Amazon, so I suppose that counts as a win)

5:00 I swear we don't go out for dinner as often as these "Day in the Life" posts make it seem, but it's the annual Scottish Rite BBQ Feed at the Mosque, so here we are (running off a little energy waiting for Uncle Mike to arrive)

6:00 The boys got to pick their own desserts, and Garrett (naturally) selected the biggest one: a chocolate muffin the size of his head. Needless to say, Darrell opted not to take a dessert since we figured Garrett would need some help finishing his

7:00 I completely spaced on taking a picture, but just imagine the boys in this mess of a tub because that's what they were doing at seven

8:00 After getting the boys to bed, I run to a friend's house to take some pictures of her LuLaRoe Halloween leggings while she is out of town--and scope out her latest delivery (such cute clothes!) 

9:00 It's later than I like to be working out, but better late than never, I suppose

10:00 Finishing the day with a little NCIS (shocking, I know) and one of Darrell's specialty mixed drinks

Lights out! So much for an early bedtime--there's always tomorrow, right?