A New Year

It seems that life operates on the school year. While resolutions are promises are often made at the beginning of a new calendar year, I usually find myself refocusing and revisiting my goals at the end of every summer.  Will and I recently discussed where our family is now, and where we hope for it to be in the future.  We thought in the long and short term.  Long term goals are easier for me.  It is the short term that tends to give me difficulty.  I often ask, "How do I live today?"  So, in some since, I love the start of the new school year because it helps me define that question.  It is when I plan our daily and weekly schedule.  It is a time where I plan for my husband, my children, my friendships.....I try to think through every arena that God has me in, and I weed out that which is not profitable for my time or attention.  I plan my days around those short term goals and continue to keep the long term ones in my vision.

I seem to be rambling, so I will just say that I think it so important to step away and do this.  It stops me from living life haphazardly. 

I think this year will keep us home a good bit. Clara still needs that morning nap, which ensures that we will be home most days  until 10:30.  It is rare that I would get out before then.  Everyone naps from 1-3.  Some mornings Clara can take her morning nap in the car, but I would prefer her to be home.  

I am using her morning nap to  do some structured attention time with Hudson.  I am letting him lead that time.  I do want to work with him on academic material but more than that, I just want to communicate time with him.  There is no other time in the day when it is just him.  I think it is most important for him to have that time with me right now.  I have been reading books that focus on more of a Charlotte Mason style preschool, and I am leaning towards that style of learning with him.  We are going to read through Mason's preschool book list slowly, and we are also going to work through The Big Picture Storybook Bible, along with ABC Scripture Memory.  I also want to strive towards doing one craft, science, and kitchen activity a week, along with some letter and number work.  The main thing Mason teaches is to keep the kiddos outside.  I want to try and do this throughout the day.  This will mean many walks, picnics, trips to the park, and lazy days in the backyard.

I also am working with him on keeping a routine.  He has daily chores.  These include, taking his plate to the sink, brushing his teeth, helping to make his bed, stacking his books on his night stand, taking his dirty clothes to the basket, and helping dress himself.  He has to be prompted to do them, but I am hoping he will eventually do them without being told.

Hudson's school space.

Hudson's preschool space is filled with good books, puzzles, music, and activities for us.  It also contains his chore chart, his Ipad minutes board, and a list of our daily activities.  This space keeps me focuses as much as it does him. 

Other than that, I am planning on doing a MOPS group, and maybe a  Bible Study.  I also plan on taking the kids to the Hoover Library Storytime.  Instead of doing a Mother's Day Out, I have a wonderful babysitter from my church that is going to come over for an afternoon each week.  I am going to use that time to spend time with the Lord, read, and plan my week.

I love being a mom and staying home with this littles.  I truly am grateful and blessed with this time.  The days are hard and slow, but so rich and full!  I am trying to keep my expectations low and the eternal perspective before me.  A daily call to one of my best friends in the same stage of life helps too!  Sometimes, you just need to laugh at the day!

Disclaimer---I use this blog as a journal for my family.  We print it out each year.  I by no means think that your day should look like mine, or that there is only one way to do something.

Our Summer

Today is the last official day of our summer.  I am one lucky lady to have my husband home during the summer. It is a bit fairy tale like, I know, but believe me, we pay for it during soccer season. He does work...cutting lawns, office work for his team, and practices, but for the most part, I am able to plan around his help.  I love having him home for breakfast and going to the grocery store alone.  I will miss that.

We really didn't do much traveling this summer...other than our Chicago trip.  Our days were slow.  We spent most mornings watching cartoons and drinking coffee.  We went to the pool,  the lake, played in the yard, and had many cookouts with friends. We ate many lunches picnic style...my favorite-easy clean up!  We also celebrated the beginning of a new chapter for us....Will accepting a head coaching position at Hoover! Instead or writing details of our summer adventures, I chose some pictures to share instead.  It was a great first summer as a family of 4.





Pool days:

Taken right after Huds took a bite out of Clara.

Blueberry picking:

Lake Day:

My sister, Wendy.

Chuck's pizza!

Kayak date:

Exploring Helena:

Hillsboro walking trails.

Family fun night with our church:

Water balloon fun!

Before Five in a Row with friends: (We did this once a week).

Owen, Huds, and Jacob

Watching Daddy play softball:

Moss Rock:

Annual Chick-fil-a dress like a cow day:

Home improvement projects:

Slow mornings:

Slow evenings:

Watching life begin from porch:

Park days:

4th of July firework explosions in our cul-de-sac:

Laura, Maggie, Noah, Hudson, Charis, and Nikki.

Play dates:

Water day with our playgroup.

Family fun days:

Discovering the wonder of summer storms:

Watching a storm with Daddy...way after bedtime.

Lots of watermelon:

Ryan, Jacob, and Hudson

The Galleria- aka: the coolest place on earth according to Huds:

ABC Toys...Hudson's favorite toy store.

Free carousel rides....Hudson like it....Clara loved it!

This boy loves an escalator.

Oak Mountain:

Oak Mountain Farm.  Clara was obsessed with every animal.

Treetop trail.

Kiddo Update

Clara-

Clara will be 11 months old on the 15th.  She loves to clap, wave, motor boat, and give kisses.  She dances.  She loves animals...especially dogs.  If she spots a dog, her eyes will not leave it.  I love to see her pet and talk to animals.

She loves to crawl and pull up on everything.  She gets really excited when I get out the shredded cheese.  Her favorite toys are bouncy balls and toy cars.  Seriously, I never taught her how to play with either of those...she just started doing it one day.  She loves to go in Hudson's room and "vroom" cars with him.

She says mama, dada, and bubba. She finally started going in the church nursery the entire time.  It has happened twice, but I will keep celebrating each victory for the time being.

Sleeping through the night is still hit or miss for her.  As I write this, I am celebrating last night's victory.  The night before that she was up twice.  You never know with her.  Sometimes, she will fall back asleep after crying for 5-10 minutes.  Sometimes,  I end up nursing her after 30 minutes of crying.  It is torture to let her cry for that long!  I just don't plan on nursing an 8 year old! :)


Hudson is 3 years and 3 months. He loves digging in the dirt.  He gets really pumped about earthworms and red clay.  He loves to check everyone's blood sugar with the broken "blood sugar checker" his pawpaw gave him.  He really needs a doctor kit because he always plays with them!  He also is really good at a few games on the Ipad...including Sonic, Cut the Rope, and Temple Run...sadly, our Ipad is currently not working!  He loves to watch Leapfrog, Barney, Curious George, and some very dated Looney Tunes type shows.  He still loves doors, but his imagination has run wild with them.  He pretends that the door is an elevator or that he is at someone's house.  In fact, I have really noticed his imagination lately.  He is talking to pretend people and acting out pretend scenarios with his toy cars.  It is so sweet to see because he has always been such a mechanical kid!

One main thing I have noticed from 2 to 3 is the talking back.  He makes everything into an argument.  His "why" questions have increased tremendously too.  I think he was a little late on that one though!

He can also fully get in and out of his 5 point harness car seat.  He usually will obey, but when he is in a disobedient mood, it can be scary.  If I turn the buckle around, he can't get out, but I am not sure how safe that is!

He has really done great learning his letters and numbers.  He loves to sit and learn...as long as as you keep your attention on him!  We do think he is a bit behind his peers as far as his maturity level.  That being said, we have decided to not put him in school this year.  I am going to do some directed learning time with him daily, but more importantly, I am excited about just living life with my two littles.  It will be so tiring and messy, but I can't get his time back!

Hudson pretending he has a cast.

Hudson's Funny Comments

Hudson, I am sad that I rarely record your funny comments.  Here are two that I can remember:

Last night, as your dad was giving you your vitamin, you told him it hurt.  He asked if it went up your nose and you looked at him and said, " No, it went in my mouth, through my teeth, down my throat, and in my tummy."

You asked if we could "broke" sissy and get a new one.  That one makes me sad, but it will be funny one day I assume.

Three has been a much calmer year for you.  You will actually sit still.  You love the ipad, and you are really good at Sonic Blast and Temple Run.  You also will watch select tv shows. You like two episodes of Barney, a very random show called The Wheels on the Bus, and Leapfrog Numberland.

You still are very obsessed with doors.  I am not sure if it will ever end or what will become of it.  You have learned to control your urges to play with them, which has made most days easier for me.  You have your moments though!  We put you through testing at your dad's school, and everyone thinks you are fine!  I am just one worried little mama at times, and you my sweet boy, do not fit the box of most little boys your age.  I am learning to praise God for who you are.  I truly would never want you another way.  You are our Hudson!

Clara-10 months

Clara,

I cannot believe that you have already been in our lives for 10 months!

At 10 months, you love to crawl.  You really don't pull up and cruise quite yet.  You can and you have, but you just do not do it much!  You love to wave bye bye and clap your hands.  We have heard you say dada, mama, and bye bye.  Your paw-paw also is confident that you said his name, but I have yet to hear it. :)

You eat just about everything I put in front of you.  You were never into baby food, but you love table food.  I am much less strict with you and just give you whatever we are having.  You have even had Chick-fil-a and pizza!  I would have never given that stuff to Hudson, but you just get to have what we are having!

You still will not stay in the church nursery.  You cry and cry. The only people you will stay with are your grandparents.

You just started consistently sleeping through the night....at 10 months!  You sleep from 10-6 most nights!  Still not great, but I will take it.  You also are still sleeping in a pack and play in our room, so I think it will help if we finally let you sleep nights in your crib downstairs.

You are unlike your big brother in so many ways--you notice things he never did....like babies and animals.  You will stare and laugh and talk to any animal you see.  You also love to watch cartoons.  I am grateful for that.  Your brother did not sit still for 2 years, so I welcome your love for cartoons, and I indulge you in small doses! Oh, and I just cannot kiss your face enough!

Chicago

If you follow me on Instagram, there is no reason to keep reading this.  It is simply a regurgitation of my photos from our recent trip to Chicago.  Once again, I can thank Instagram for eating my blog.

Will and I spent a total of 49 hours in Chicago last week.  We were there celebrating our 5th anniversary, which was in May, and Will's 31st birthday.

It was W.O.N.D.E.R.F.U.L.!

Seriously, it was the most fun we have had in a very long time.  Kid free fun that is. We have plenty of kid-full fun around here.

We stayed at the Park Hyatt. Super nice. We rarely stay at hotels with over-sized tubs and flat screens in the bathroom.

Here is the view from or hotel window:

Or first stop was Giordano's Pizza.  Good. A little too much emphasis on crust for us. We walked right in and to a table.  Perks of being there on a Monday at 11 AM.

Afterwards we headed to the Willis/ Sears tower.  We went right to the top.  No lines at all.  It was worth the 36 bucks.  Very touristy, but that is what we were!

We tried Garret's popcorn.  The Chicago Mix was melt in your mouth yummy.

We checked out Millennium Park.

After regrouping and taking a nap in our hotel, we checked out the view from the Hancock Tower.  No joke, the best view was in the women's bathroom of the Signature Lounge. We didn't even pay to go in the tower.  We actually didn't even buy drinks at the lounge.  We just checked out the view.

From the top:

From the bottom:

Afterwards, we found a Portillos and tried a true Chicago dog.
Note: We got tons of great restaurant recommendations, and I originally wanted this trip to be a foodie adventure.  We decided to just stick to trying some of the food Chicago is known for...pizza and hotdogs.  We hope to go back one day and try more food.

I really wanted to see the Theatre District.  We took the train to walk around that area for a bit

Afterwards, we hit a local Irish Pub.  Not sure of the name, but it seemed more like a local spot. It was a perfect spot to unwind and talk.

Day 2 was much more relaxing. We strolled around Navy Pier that morning.

Afterwards, we took an architectural river tour through a company called Sea Dog.  Our tour also included a speed boat ride on Lake Michigan.  If we could only choose one thing to do in Chicago, this would be it.  It was so cool!  I loved seeing and hearing about all the history of downtown.  It was well worth it!   We had heard to make reservations beforehand. We didn't, but our boat was nearly empty.  Another perk of being there during the week I guess.

Our boat just so happened to be cruising under that waterfall as it turned on that morning.  It turns on for a minute every hour or so during the summer. They usually time it to miss it.   Obviously, they didn't this time.  There were a few folks that were mad.  I honestly thought it felt awesome.

Then, we went to Gino's East.  We liked it the best!  Less emphasis on crust, and more on the toppings! We took Man vs Food's advice and tried the meaty legend. Glad we did!

Our final adventure was watching the Angels play the Cubs at Wrigley Field. This was our third Angel's game together.  The first two were in Los Angeles exactly 4 years before.

Chicago was a great adventure.  We laughed at the fact that we traveled by car, plane, taxi, subway, train, bus, and boat in just 2 days.  We really don't live that type of life here in Helena, and it was a nice change of pace.  We love exploring new places together and look forward to the days our kiddos can share in the experience with us!