Parade

I had an idea this summer while on a walk around my neighborhood. My vision for the neighborhood parade would be lots of adorable kids playing fun instruments while waving to neighbors and wishing them a Happy Halloween. They would be riding in wagons and strollers and bikes. Simple and old school. I love our neighborhood and how our little community is developing. 

Most of my vision came true!! Drums, tambourines, and a kazoo were played!  I am hoping for more neighbors on their porches to wave at our sweet kiddos, but I do not think they minded one bit today! They had a blast! 

I am already looking forward to next year!

After our parade around the neighborhood!

Superhero

I just asked my son if he wanted to stand up or sit down to go potty and he said "I'm a superhero, I stand up."

New Day

Today is a new day! I am making an apple honey Pork Tenderloin for dinner. I have a pumpkin candle burning and smelling up my home. I am going to eat a delicious lunch and relax while my little boy is sleeping. We are having family day when my hubby wakes up from his nightshift sleep.

I am going to get out of my funk and enjoy my family.

Planting bulbs

My sweet boy and I planted bulbs this morning. It has been my dream to plants bulbs in our yard and wait for their appearance. These are awesome bulb trays that my mom found at her Aldi. I still have 30 more bulbs to plant.

Also, I tried to blow the leaves, but he is scared of the leaf blower. I guess I will finish another time. Ha!

"I wanna go back Airport"

I was privileged enough to hear this phrase on repeat for an hour after we dropped my son's grandmother off at the airport. 

He sure does love his grandparents.

A Sigh of Relief

After our little incident this afternoon, I was praying that our little man would go down early to bed without a fuss. He did just that!!! We snuggled, read books, said prayers, and sang our songs. Then, within 5 minutes he was sound asleep. He was asleep by 7pm. That meant that I could get all the laundry folded and put away and work on straightening up the house a little bit.

I feel like a new woman with all this behind me. (ha, no pun intended)

Miralax, use with caution.

So, Jackson gets a little "stopped up" from time to time. We have to give him a little MiraLAX sometimes. Well, today,  I actually gave him a little too much. He ended up going on the potty before his nap (I was thrilled) and then had an explosion pull-up during his nap. He did not tell me that he had a problem and I did not hear him over the monitor saying anything about his poopie pull up. When I went in his room it was a war zone. A bath was taken, laundry is going and candles are burning. 

I need to go to bed early tonight. Ha!

Photographer's high

I am having a hard time coming down off my "photographer's high" after photographing a 90th birthday party tonight. She is a spectacular woman and the stories that were shared tonight were inspiring and humbling. I was honored to capture such a wonderful evening.

Cold

October 24th..brr.

Jealous of our neighborhood

I think everyone would be jealous if they understood how amazing our neighborhood is. We just need one more amazing family (which lives one street over) to buy the house across the street from us. Then, I would never want to move.  Our children are very close in age.

Who can say that they walked next door in their slippers to have dinner with the next door neighbors. Then, for bedtime, our little man went to sleep, we locked the door, and took the monitor back over to their home for board games. Our houses are close, but not too close to be able to throw a ball through the windows to each other. We had a nice evening and we didn't even have to pay a babysitter.

I know we won't have it "this good" forever, but for where we are in life right now, it is just perfect. I couldn't ask for a better living situation and wish more people could enjoy their neighbors' company more often. It is a shame most people do not know their neighbors. :)

Number two

Day #2 of going poop in the potty!!! We are thrilled!!!

We love the playground

Poo poo dance

The dance just happened because Jack was successful in his delivery in the bathroom. No fussing. No fighting. And, now he is enjoying cookies for his performance. We are so close to being completely potty trained!!!

Mommy Matters

Due to the wonderful fact that my parents-in-law have Jack, we got to sleep in and I am going to Mommy Matters without him. I will actually get to curl my hair and get ready slowly. :-)

Rain, rain, go away. I have a photoshoot today.

Asleep before 7

One good perk about him not taking a nap...early bedtime. 

 

We worked off some energy at the playground this afternoon. 

Enough photos, mom!

no go

I am starting to get depressed at the fact that my son is old enough to give up his naps. We will still have rest time.
I guess we will go to the playground now. I might stop by Starbucks and get a coffee while I am out too.

A nap for all

Here is praying he takes a nap today. I am not functioning very well and need to rest today.

Walk

I am determined to walk daily now. I want to walk at least 30 minutes daily. Today, we walked 45 minutes! It was a windy, chilly morning and it was a glorious walk! 

Now, for a game of hide and seek.

Just keeping a record

Well, no nap again. Yesterday, because of his sickness, he slept 3 hours.

Very inconsistent with napping....


I guess this means another early bedtime. I am fine with that. :)

Missed the towel

I had sheets and towels all over the floor and couch so Jack would not ruin the floor or couch. Well, he missed the towel. All cleaned up now. 

You know if your child doesn't want to watch his favorite show and sleep instead means that he is really not feeling well.

Pedia-pops and a bowl for the next round are ready to go. 

Too spicy

Jack's tummy obviously didn't like my slightly spicy dinner. His body wanted to throw it up at 5am. 

A little rocking and rubbing of his sweet back and he is asleep again. I added a beach towel by his bed just in case too.

I've gotta go back to sleep....

One arm up

I just checked in the monitor to see how our little man is doing. He is sleeping on his back with one arm up and over his head.

My heart just melted. Kids are so sweet when they are sleeping.....and when they are awake. ha!

Not your next American Idol

There's a girl across the street sitting on her front porch trying to sing like Aretha Franklin on a Sunday morning service. While it is quite entertaining, I feel a little like Simon Cowell right now. She is not going to get discovered on her front porch. 

Saturday

It has been a gorgeous day. I only wish my hubby could enjoy it with us. 

And, little man didn't nap again today. I am not excited about this trend.

Time slow down :-)

Exercise

I am determined to exercise daily again. There is so much going on that it is the last thing on my mind. We had the most enjoyable walk including being surrounded by beautiful yellow butterflies and talking with neighbors. 

I know I will feel better. It just needs to be a priority.

My walking buddy.

Dollar store sights

Some people should not be parents. Poor kids.

My evening

Watching shows, sorting through photos of a sweet girl, and making a fall wreath for a customer. Missing the hubs, but I've got a lot of work to do. 

5 more nights without him.. :-/

Thank you 8am

Our son slept until 8am! We all slept in! Heavenly day!!!

9

I painted a lot yesterday including 9 doors. 

3 remaining doors upstairs. Then, onto the hallway. 

Up early to get a good start.

Missing this fella. He is anticipating his blueberry muffins coming out of the oven.

Great day

Today was a great day!

Nap-check
Fair-check
caramel apple enjoyed-check
friends/family time-check
hugs and kisses from my little love-check

We have to head back over to the house tomorrow to work on the renovation. I am determined to get finished, but we will NOT be putting in another 12 hour day tomorrow. We are already making God sad that we are not "resting on the Sabbath." :) However, someone made us 2 days behind on our renovation. "The ox is in the ditch."

We have goals for ourselves for each day we work at the house. I am feeling good that we are close to our goals and looking ahead to the finished product. I think it is going to look pretty good!!!

Goodnight world from one determined mommy........

Fair= no nap

I guess he is thinking about this girl and cannot nap. He is singing and playing in his bed. At least he is somewhat quiet.

Fair with Friends

We are taking a day break and taking our son to the fair with my High School best friend and her family, including the cutest two year old girl. He is such a gentlemen with her. It is adorable. They are 7 months apart.

Before and after

Trim not competed yet.

4 out of 5 bedrooms painted

One more bedroom, kitchen, dining room, living room, 3 bathrooms, hallway and stairs left to paint.

But, we painted 4 bedrooms/closets in one day!!!

I had to stop because my hands are very swollen. Ha!!

Progress

The other post didn't successfully post yesterday.....

However, here is the update.

We have primed two rooms with a broken paint sprayer rented from Home Depot. (I hope you are picturing the scene and not nice words were coming from our mouths) I can say it is hilarious now.

Today, we will paint those rooms and paint 2 more rooms upstairs.

Oh, and we got a new back windshield too.

Are we finished?

So, we are renovating a 2,000+ square foot home. At first, we didn't entertain the thought of taking the project on. 

However, our setbacks have not been anything to do with our part of the job. 

Our back window on our car spontaneously shattered while on the road last night. Still not sure what happened.  Today, we had to get that fixed. 

The person that was coming to paint the ceilings was behind in getting his job completed. And the sheet rock men haven't shown up yet.  The walls after the wallpaper came down had major damage and needed repair.  He is two weeks late in getting here. 

So, I am finding out that it has nothing to do with completing the painting part on time, but having the walls prepped, ceiling painting, etc. before we start. 

I am never building a new home from scratch. These people are not multitaskers. 

Well, back to work. Miles to go..,,

Colorado Photos

I finally have some time to sit down and download my Colorado photos. It is like Christmas being a photographer! 

I will share some soon...

Smoke detector

How did my son not wake up during a smoke detector alarm???!!? Ours is so sensitive. I hadn't even started cooking, but just had the griddle on to make pancakes. 

Good morning, everyone.