Project #walk365 {November}

This post is so late that I almost skipped it, but I want it here for posterity. So here goes!

In January of 2015 I set a goal to walk 365 miles during the year. I meant it as a goal to walk every day, and for the first half of the year I did just that.

During the second half of the year walking daily wasn't as easy to do, so I upped the miles on the days I did walk (usually two miles per day). I made my 365-mile goal on my birthday in early October, despite a hot summer, a cross-country move, and being pregnant!

But November. November was hard! It was the last month of my pregnancy and as you can see by the pictures, we started to get snow! I cut back my miles to only 5 a week, and tried to get out as much as I could.

I did ok in the rain and slush and cold, but around Thanksgiving we had ice. I walked two more times and threw in the towel! Walking on ice at 38 weeks? No thanks! My total miles logged for #walk365 was 413.

Overall, I'm super proud of myself! I think walking made a huge difference in my pregnancy. Most of the time I felt pretty good and my weight gain stayed in the healthy range.

My goal for 2016 is to walk 500 miles. I know it's not a big difference from 2015's 413, but we're nearly a month into the year and I've walked less than 1 mile!* I'm still recovering from a c-section, I have a newborn, and it's cold and snowy outside, so I'm not going to worry about it yet! With those things in mind, I think #walk500 is a great goal.

*I purposefully go on a walk or log mileage on my treadmill. I use Runkeeper and only log these intentional miles, not the daily mileage I might get around the house or running errands. I think that's great too, but wanted to clarify what "counts" for me.

If you want to walk with me, you know, virtually, I'll be using the hashtag #walk500 or you can follow me on Instagram. I'm gibsongirl726.

Thanks for reading!

Project #walk365 {February}

I walked 40.1 miles in February! (Pictures in order for the month.)

This brings my total for the year to 75 miles! If you remember, I set a goal in January to walk 365 miles in 2015 (#walk365). There are 59 days in January and February, so I'm 16 miles ahead!

I know this year will bring some challenges. We're looking at moving again in early summer (don't know where yet), there will be sick days and busy days and who knows what else! To not let myself off the hook and start falling behind in my mileage, I challenged myself back in January to be a streaker.

Ha! Not like that! It just means I plan to walk every day in an intentional way. I don't own a Fitbit or similar device but I do use Runkeeper on my iPhone. To count as a walk, I have to be intentional and actually turn on my app, not just count accumulated steps during the day, though if that's what you're doing, you're totally awesome!

So far I've gone for a walk each day for 7 weeks! 49 days in a row. Go me!

February in Lincoln, Nebraska, has been COLD. I've mastered the art of layering and try to walk in the afternoon when the weather is the least cold. Not warm, just less cold. Walking in the afternoon is only possible when my husband (a student) is home with the boys, and there have been many nights that I don't get my walk until after the boys are in bed.

I've walked in single-digit temps, with windchill in the negatives, in the sun, under the moon, by the light of the streetlamps, in the snow, over ice, with my kids, with a friend, at the mall, past my church, around a lake, extra laps while shopping, always with a good book on Audibles!

Yesterday's walk was something I'm especially proud of. I have a little more time on Saturday afternoons when Gary is home, so yesterday I decided to walk around a small lake we live by. It's almost a 4-mile loop from our house and while I've always been capable of walking that far, I would be very tired and my back would hurt. Not yesterday! What's more, it was 25* with snow flurries, and a 10-mph wind that made it feel like 12*. But I got to see ice fishermen as the lake was almost totally frozen over, I saw geese flying sort of south, and ducks swimming in an open spot in the ice.

I got back to the house and checked my mileage and saw my total for the month was 39.6 miles. No! I quickly put my coat and shoes back on and went around the block. Ha!

If you would like to join me in my #walk365 project, use that hashtag or follow me on Instagram. I'm GibsonGirl726.

My #walk365 Project

I'm not really into New Year's resolutions. I think they're optimistic and idealistic and doomed to failure. But who doesn't like the idea of a fresh slate and a new start? This year is a big one for me. My husband will be graduating in May and we'll probably move around then. My kids all have birthdays in May and they'll be 4, 6 and 8. Which means homeschool will have another layer of "real" and "important". I also turn 40 in October, and while I'm still in massive denial--I just turned 30--I do want to be proud of how I'm taking care of myself.

One thing I've resolved to do this year is walk. Easy, right? Well, with the move coming up, with babysitting and living in the midwest during the winter (and hot, muggy summer, ugh!), I didn't want to say I'd walk EVERY day, but I still thought an average of 365 miles for the year would be doable. So #walk365 was born!

Well I'm happy to report that one month in, I'm still going strong! In fact despite it's being January, I'm ahead of the game! As of today, January 30, I've walked 27 times this month. I haven't missed a day for three weeks! We've been blessed with some nice (for Nebraska) weather and I've managed to squeeze in 33.5 miles!

Twice a week I walk with a friend. Another two days my husband is home and I'm able to walk alone while the kids are having quiet time. The other three days are more random, but I've made walking my mile a priority and I've stuck to it.

I know one mile a day isn't a big deal, but making exercise and fresh air a priority is a big deal for me. Getting into the habit and not missing a day for three weeks is something I'm proud of. I hope to blow by my 365 mile mark well before 2015 is over.

Want to join me? I'll look for you on instagram by the #walk365 tag. See you there!

Life Lately {Goodbye 2014!}

I was talking with a friend the other day about how we go through experiences that are confusing and painful and we don't understand WHY. Time passes and things change and sometimes there's a big OH!! A lightbulb moment of clarity as to why the first things had to happen so you could deal with the now. We decided, as painful as it is at the time to wonder and be confused, it's great to not know some things ahead of time.

Washing windows for Grandma

Ok, that was really wordy and I'm not sure it makes sense.

Let me try again. 2014 was one of those years that I'm glad I didn't know about when it started.

Enjoying Trees & Trains in Salem, MO.

If you had sat me down last January and told me the two biggest things that would happen during the year, I wouldn't have believed you and I wouldn't have liked you very much.

So since I try to see God working in everything in my life, I am glad He doesn't tell us everything up front. Aren't you? We're just asked to trust. One day at a time. And when the days are overwhelming, break it down into hours or tasks. Or breaths.

It's the little things that make me cry. Like Grandpa teaching my son about constellations, chores that used to be his now being done by Grandma, seeing his shoes waiting by the door. Saying goodbye is hard.

I want to run through this year, just to get it all in one place. For me. For posterity.

Last January I expanded my day care to four fairly regular children. Plus my three. It was nuts! Let me just admit that now, and while we needed and appreciated the money, Mommy was crazy. I was lonely, frustrated, unhealthy and zero fun. There were time--I think they're on record here on the blog or at least on Instagram--when I had all seven children at once. At that time, my oldest was 6, so I had seven under 7.

Loving on Grandma

Spring came and a couple clients dropped out and the rest could be outside sometimes, but I was still crazy busy, just feeling like I was fighting all the time. With me, with my kids, with my perspective, with finding balance.

Our last communion with Grandpa.

Meanwhile we were still missionary candidates with no donations. My husband worked for hours on his presentations and we went nowhere. We know we were the slowest grossing missionary team, if you can call it that. We worked hard, called hard, talked hard, presented hard for a year and still had less than 10% of our budget! Most missionary couples are able to raise at least 70% in that amount of time.

The boys made a fort with their older cousins today. Tonight they're trying to sleep in it. Ha!

We really struggled with our decision but we finally withdrew as candidates in July. It made us cry. We felt so discouraged, so let down, so disappointed we wouldn't be going to live in the British Isles! We were so bummed out that we had had to quit! We wondered what we did wrong, what we could have done differently, why did it seem that God opened that door only to shut it a year later?

It's almost embarrassing. I mean, I don't know if that's how people see us, but I'm embarrassed by it. We're the couple who couldn't be missionaries. We're the failed missionaries. We're the people who wanted to go but no one had enough faith in us to back our mission...

I'm embarrassed about our kind supporters. The 9% who gave and now have nothing. They believed in us and we couldn't do it. We failed them.

Story time with Uncle Glenn

But the weight was off our shoulders! The stress was out of our lives. We have been doing much better as a family without that constant pressure of fundraising.

That's a good thing, because July was the month that the other shoe dropped: Gary's dad was diagnosed with cancer.

At my father-in-law's memorial. Sad sad day.

It was sudden and awful and terrible and if you've been around at all you know we said goodbye to him less than three weeks ago.

Cancer. It's so mean! Six months ago, Jon was a healthy, vibrant, active man, a pillar in his church and the patriarch of the family. He battled cancer with everything he had. Five rounds of chemo, plus juicing, essential oils, and other remedies. And lost.

Putting up the tree before unpacking our suitcases. #priorities

We know we'll see him again. But it doesn't make it better.

In the background, our little family has been doing really well, honestly. I feel that right now we're interacting and helping each other thrive better than we have done for years! We're friends, we like to hang out, our kids are fun, Gary and I have a really great relationship.

Our tree is a little bottom heavy!

In August, Gary started school to finish a degree he was working on about 15 years ago. We conveniently live less than half a mile from Union College. He's finished his first semester and should graduated in May with a degree in Theology. He will be able to pastor a church after that, and we're hopeful of getting hired in the next few months.

I feel that 2014 has a been a good year in some ways. It's taught us to be content with less. We don't need a bunch of money to go out and have fun. We much rather stay home and cook something, though eating out sometimes is nice. Homeschool is working for us, and our cut-back day care schedule make it much more feasible. We eat well, very healthful for the most part.

Peppermint hot chocolate and a Christmas movie!

We like living in Lincoln. Well, winter stinks, but it is what it is. Lincoln is small enough to be friendly and seem safe and big enough to have all the stores you want within an easy drive. We have a Children's Museum and the zoo in Omaha is awesome! We have lots of friends at our church who have kids that are friends with our kids. We love the parks, bike paths, local lake, and our own backyard.

Christmas Eve

So there you go, 2014. You weren't the best year and I'm ready to move on. Thanks for the lessons, thanks for the moments of realization that this normal, messy, boring life is precious and special and beautiful, just the way it is!

Christmas 2014

Well, I think we pulled off Christmas. We got back to our home after a month away on Sunday night. That left us three days to get ready for Christmas. We had no decorations up, no gifts purchased, and hadn't done many of our favorite Christmas activities.

We did have an inexpensive pre-lit tree, so the boys and I set it up first thing on Monday morning. They were very involved and had lots of fun! The ornaments needed a little redistributing, but that's part of the fun of having kids at Christmas! I'm going to remember next time I set this tree up that it shouldn't go in front of a window. It makes the branches look super thin!

I went Christmas shopping every day--once by myself where I got 90% of the shopping done, once with the boys for groceries and one more gift not available at the first place, then a last quick trip for a couple more stocking stuffers. Husbands are so hard to buy for, aren't they?

We've had time for a couple crafts, I wrapped everything, and the boys enjoyed peppermint hot chocolate while watching a Christmas movie. Our Christmas card will be a New Year's card this year, and grandparent gifts will be late, but we'll have a fun Christmas Day!

Wishing you all the best this Christmas, even if you're in a place of grief or sadness (we just lost Gary's dad less than two weeks ago), or if you're in a less-than-abundant time financially (Gary's going to school part time and working part time so we can relate). We're choosing to focus on our blessings and hope you are able to see how God is taking care of you, even in difficult circumstances.

Merry Christmas friends!

Ellie's Closet {Winter 2}

This outfit looks so cozy and practical! I seriously dress like this a lot and I can vouch that it's super comfortable. I love adding leggings under skirts in the winter. Red is my signature color, so of course I had to make it one of Ellie's favorites too.

Ellie's chambray or denim shirt is new to her, but the rest of the outfit is from her original wardrobe. Like I explained last week, I've switched out a couple items for the same thing only better. Like the gray skirt--there was one in her original closet, but it seemed a little bulky and see-through, so I chose this one this week.

Any winter favorites you love to layer?

Ellie's Closet {Winter 1}

I really have fun putting outfits together on Polyvore. It's like virtual shopping without spending any money! Of course that means I'm sometimes disappointed with my real closet, but it also gives me inspiration for a few items I feel I would really use and like when I get a chance to look for them.

This week's crush? A beautiful plaid skirt.

I really avoided skirts for a long time. First I felt that they were just too feminine and girly and not very practical. Then I felt that they were hard to wear with little boys/babies, so I stuck to pants even for church. I also felt that long skirts make us shorties seem even shorter!

Lately I've swung clear around on most of those points. My boys are a little older and I don't hang out with them on the floor so much. A beautiful skirt like this one I would probably reserve for church or kind of dress-up times anyway. I learned first from The Modest Mom that layering leggings under a skirt makes you warm and cozy all winter! Recently I've been wearing my summer skirts that way, and I feel warmer than when I wear jeans. Try it!

Ellie's winter wardrobe will be very similar to her fall one. Because duh! I don't get a new wardrobe every season, do you? The one above has been tweaked a little and I can't seem to find how to switch out one or two things without having to build a whole new collection on Polyvore. Oh well!

What items in your closet do you find yourself reaching for over and over? What is something new that you wished you had?

A Day in the Life

Happy Monday, guys!

Here's something weird I almost hate to admit. About me. Are you ready? I kindof like Mondays.

Sharing my Valentine flowers with you!

Isn't that so bad? I mean, it's like a thing to hate Mondays, but after a couple days of loose schedules and expectations of fun and relaxation that never seems to happen, I like Mondays for their reliability, stability and, yes schedule. I didn't like them so much when I had a career, but now that I'm a stay at home mom we all seem a little happier to be back to the routine.

So since Mondays in my book don't stink, I thought I'd share one with you! Talk about exciting! I do some daycare and this Monday that I documented was a busy one with three extra kids coming and going.

Here we go! I'll just do these in order from top to bottom, left to right. Mmmkay?

1. Somehow my decaf with half and half and stevia helps me get out of bed in the morning. The smell, the warmth, the ritual.
2. I take it with me to the bathroom and listen to my devotional on my phone. I have struggled to faithfully have morning devotionals since I was a teenager, and this actually works! I have a reminder set on the Bible app and love to listen to somebody else read the Bible while I get ready for the day. Here's a peek of my make-up in our grody (rented) medicine cabinet.
3. I love this home made face cream! It's coconut oil, olive oil and lavender essential oil. Totally works and I rarely get blemishes. I have lots of other granola things going on, but I'm saving that for another post.
4. I'm inadvertently growing out my hair. Just haven't scheduled an appointment! My shaggy head looks better when I curl my hair and the only thing that really works is a straight iron. Seriously. It lasts for three days with a few touch-ups.
5. Breakfast time! Lately we've been having eggs or oatmeal, and the kids love it uncooked. Not kidding! We do a scoop of "quick" oats, a round teaspoon of brown sugar, a few walnuts and almond milk. Yum! We also like it with honey, apples and cinnamon. So easy, and no pan to wash!
6. One of the day care kids is here before breakfast is over. She's already eaten but joins us at the table for a clementine.
7. Our family joins hands in a circle and prays for protection throughout the day before Daddy leaves.
8. Then we all wave as he drives off!
9. The kids are busy so I wash the dishes before more kiddos arrive.

1. It's February but SO COLD out. I know it'll be an inside day.
2. The kids all watch the squirrels out of the living room window. There are six kids today, our three boys (ages 2, 4, 6) and three extras (all 3-year-olds).
3. The kids head downstairs to jump on the trampoline so I stole a moment to sweep.
4. One of the sweet day care girls. It was her first day. I wanted to keep her!
5. Toys! Everywhere!
6. Another day care kiddo. Those curls kill me!
7. My boy Josiah tells me about the Lego house he's building. Love him!
8. I notice the sun is shining on my gallery wall in the hall. Yes, I have an obsession!
9. Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share!

1-3. Lunch time! I almost always serve pb&j on days I have more than one extra kid. Everyone loves them and you can't get much easier.
4. Story time is after lunch. I try to let each kiddo choose a story, but on days with six kids it lasts a little too long!
5. I tuck a couple kids in for naps. Mr. Curls naps, and so does Josiah. He's also potty training, so after he sits on the potty I pick him up and carry him to bed and we stick our tongues out at the mirror. I love little traditions.
6. The girls don't nap, per their parents' requests. They do school with us instead--my boys didn't get much done because of the distraction, but they had fun and we have some flexibility in our curriculum.
7. School time leads to art time. Today's request is paint, so we watercolor on wet coffee filters. They dry pretty and if you fold up the middle and pinch it with a pipe cleaner, they make cute flowers.
8-9. One of the girls goes home and the rest of us have an hour of quiet time. When we don't have extra kids around, my boys go to their rooms and read or play or draw quietly. With the extras we have to be more creative about where to put everybody, but I'm pretty consistent about quiet time. It helps my sanity for the afternoon, and it's good for them to learn how to be quiet and stay entertained on their own.

1. After nap time is snack. Today is cheese and crackers.
2. I start Indian curried lentil soup for supper, a family favorite!
3. The remaining kids play while they wait for their dads to come get them. Sometimes the afternoons get long and I'm really looking forward to nicer weather so everyone can get some fresh air and vitamin D while they get their endless energy out!
4. We tell the last two day care kids good-bye. My boys have reading time, usually on the kitchen floor, while I finish supper prep. Daddy comes home and takes a shower (painting is messy!)
5. Jonathan is *this close* to reading, so I help him sound things out. Tonight he chose "Bingo" which is great for the repetition!
6. I made a spinach salad and am eating it with cottage cheese and the lentil soup. So good!
7. Josiah is counting on his fingers. "One, two, wee, por, pive." I caught three in the picture--note how it's a little different!
8. The boys get ready for bed and we have family worship before tucking them in. I didn't get pictures of any of that. Kinda hard to document when I'm reading Bible stories and praying and it's dark! It's about 7:45 when Gary and pull out the laptops in the living room.
9. I blog or read other blogs while Gary watches documentaries or spends time on the phone regarding our mission. We're supposed to go to bed at 9 but usually it's more like 10.

So there you go! A random, average day in February! Of course it doesn't show all the other things we do. Gary sometimes runs in the evening, I do a bunch more chores on days I don't have quite so many kids, the boys have chores too, and sometimes I do crafts or mission-related work like newsletters or thank-you cards. You never know!

What about you? Do you hate Mondays? I hope today was a good one for you!

Christmas Past

Wow, it feels good to blog again! Somehow it's easier to write more when I write more. Sounds redundant, but whatever it is, it works for me.

So today I wanted to share the rest of our Christmas pictures, you know, for the record. I know no one cares about Christmas anymore, but I want to be able to look back and remember that one Christmas in Lincoln.

Note: The pictures stink. It's true, they do. Whatever excuses I might have, it doesn't really matter. And my apologies in advance to my family for the awful pictures of you, and for hiding behind the camera and ending up not being in any said awful pictures.

(For the rest of the pictures of our Christmas 2013, go here. And here. And here.)

We stayed put at Christmas. We had a little tree and kids big enough to enjoy decorating and getting into crafts and super excited to open presents! We kept Christmas really simple and low-budget. The boys got fun stuff from all their grandparents and two boxes of books from my cousin who had out-grown them. We love books!

My brother, Luke, his wife, Lisa, and their kiddo, Declan, came for Christmas!!! That was an awesome gift to me! Lisa has been my bff since my freshman year of college, and I've only met my nephew once. And of course Luke is super fun too.

Lisa and I got to sneak away for coffee/chats twice! Pure bliss, lemme tell ya, except we were kinda stressed and actually able to open up to each other and ended up crying... You know, just life stuff. And the opening up thing isn't new for us--hello, we've been friends for almost *choke* 20 years! It was just being around a close friend and having the opportunity to really share about stuff. You know? Completely therapeutic and worth much more than a $4 coffee!

Anyway, Luke read and talked to Jonathan for hours at a time! What a trooper! Jonathan reminds me a lot of my brother when we were kids. He wants to know everything about everything, but unlike Luke, Jonathan can really talk your leg off! Jared and Josiah got read to a lot too, and had fun following Declan (age 1) around. The group pictures didn't work out too well, but we also didn't want to fuss about it.

All in all, my memories of Christmas 2013 are good ones! Thanks for taking the trip down memory lane with me. And yay! I have it written down for posterity!

January

Hello blog,

I miss you! I mean to blog and I want to, but life is just different lately. It's more hands-on parenting, less living-in-my-head designing things. More babysitting, less sitting with babies. More homeschooling, fewer naps.

I got to take each of my boys out on one-on-one dates to Starbucks, thanks to a sweet gift from my mom's man!

Life is good! I'm up-beat and happy, most of the time. Every now and then I have one of those days. Like today. I was going to go grocery shopping but had already bitten off the heads of each of my boys before breakfast. I decided a trip to the store was not what the doctor ordered! We stayed home, there was only one "extra" child (and only for a few hours--I do some child care for a few families. Some days I have as many as four "extra".), the boys got to play outside, I got to chill. Win.

And it snowed.

And snowed!

I don't think I'll be running to the store unless it's an emergency!

Anyway, I'm trying to get back to blogging, even if life is different. Even if we rent and I'm not painting rooms and installing board and batten. Even if I'm homeschooling and not making signs. Even if I'm babysitting and not doing crafts. Or I am doing crafts, just geared towards 5-6 little kids with the average age of 3.

And, I'm tired of taking a million pictures, worrying about the lighting, being distracted from the kids and the project, then having to edit. I'm slow at editing and it makes me not want to post! So maybe my goal should be fewer pictures, less editing (perfection is over-rated) and simple, "this is real life" posts.

Ok! Back to the topic. Again. So. Here we have Life in January. According to Instagram with a few added pictures because I can.

Ever since Uncle Luke, rocket scientist, came to visit at Christmas, Jonathan has been building rockets. Here are two versions, in Lego blocks on the launch pad and in wooden blocks. We've been learning about space in school, so I'm thrilled with his interest!

Speaking of homeschool, we officially started My Father's World (Kindergarten) in January. Love it! Very thematic, very Bible based, very natural. Jared is working with us and is keeping up fine. I have the boys doing extra math because this math is basically reviewing numbers and both of them are really good at adding. Jonathan is *this* close to reading. Some days he's totally there and other days he just kinda guesses. I'm not worried at all--it seems exactly like what lots of kids did when I taught Kindergarten. When he's ready, he'll be ready, and no sooner!

The last picture is not typical, but on this day the boys were running low-grade fevers and even mommy didn't feel very good, so we spent a good portion of the morning watching National Geographic Kids clips. Including several on space and rockets.

It's always easier to remember to take pictures when we're out somewhere and when the boys are all dressed up! This set is from three different Sabbaths in January. Jonathan was excited to play a shepherd at one church, and in another they have cute crafts! Well, the crowns were cute and appropriate, but the other one with the paper plates? It was, "Draw what you like to do best on Sabbath" in glue. And then add glitter. #umwhat? The kids ended up--not just mine--with plates full of wet glitter glue which they were supposed to take with them when they left. Did I mention it was windy and freezing cold and they were dressed up?

The funny thing here is that I carefully carried their plates, set them under the pew to dry during church, protected them during potluck, brought them home myself (the glue was still wet), and hung them in our classroom. For a week. And then I threw them out. The end.

This is what childhood is made of. I love this cave! It's in our classroom so the boys were able to leave it up. I had set the sheet up for them to play under and the boys asked if they could sleep there. Gary got out the sleeping bags and made a bed with several layers because of the hard floor. The rule was that if they were still noisy at 9 PM, they'd have to go sleep in their own beds. I checked on them later and found them totally snuggled up and completely OUT. Cuties. We let them sleep in the cave for three or four nights!

In between bouts of dangerous cold, January had some surprisingly warm days. One week we walked to church, another time we walked around the lake (it was 60* that day). Other times our cheeks and ears were cold no matter how fast we walked, and still other times the boys enjoyed playing in the snow. Most days we stayed inside. Brr!

Ok, I'm tired and Picmonkey runs so slowly on my computer that I was tired of making collages! Here we have nine more random memories from January.

1. My nails are actually pretty! They were terrible over Christmas, but after life slowed down they grew out a little and I had time to paint them a pale pink undercoat with pink sparkles on top. I did more glitter near the tips. It was cute and girly. Someone has to be girly around here!

2. I usually read to the boys because I'm the one home, so the boys love Sundays when Daddy reads to them at story time!

3. Jared is a goof! Full of tricks and fun and usually moving so fast I can't get a picture.

4. Josiah very systematically put down a whole layer of blocks. He was so focused! Adorable.

5. Feeling creative with the Sunday pancakes. Oh--last week I tried the trick of watering down the batter a little and adding it to a ketchup bottle with a funnel. You've seen it on Pinterest, right? Well, it totally works! We had the funnest shapes! Stars, hearts, letters, a turtle, snowman, butterfly... So fun.

6. Jonathan is very interested in washing dishes. I think it's an excuse to play in the water, but the dishes don't look too bad. I've been trying to let him do more things like that. It's so easy to do it all myself. I'm faster, neater and things are done right, but I know it's important to let him contribute and teach him to do things the right way too.

7. There might have been ice cream at McDonald's one day. It was so cold and the boys were so tired of being inside... And the Play Place is so fun! But I have a hard time feeding them lunch there. It's expensive x 3, and the "food" isn't great quality. But ice cream? Totally ok. Best $3 for an hour of play ever!

8. So, Mom, this one's for you. You notice the TWO helicopters there? I never buy noisy toys, but this year at Christmas I didn't have much to spend and the helicopter, fire truck and police car were the right price. I knew the boys (and the day care kids) would love them, so I went for it. Fast forward to Christmas morning and the boys open presents from Grandma Joycie. And there's a helicopter! What?! Jonathan was totally jumping up and down! But when he got to the present from Gary and me, it was like, what? Huh? Another helicopter? Totally stole my thunder.

9. I love this! Male bonding. They have so much to learn from their daddy about guy things! This was their first introduction to arm wrestling. I think it'll be a few years before they can even team up to beat daddy!


Ok friends, that's all for now. Hope you feel caught up on life lately!