Thursday, April 28, 2011

Awesome and Awkward Thursday

 It's been a few weeks since we've done any awkward or awesome moments. So I figured I would keep the trend going and share this week's awkward and awesome happenings.


~Awkward~
- Hearing giggle, giggle, splash, splash. Baby snuck into the bathroom, found out there is water in the toilet and thought it was funny to splash in it.

- Putting on a white leotard. Nothing says, "Hey, you had two babies and look what wonderful things it did to you" quite like a white leotard.

- Little Bear. Why is Little Bear the only bear that does not have clothes on?

- Thinking it was a great idea to make blueberry apple baby food. Too much blueberries, not enough applesauce.  Baby likes to throw spoons. You do the math.

- Jack asking me where air comes from. Ummm....the sky?

-Leaving the theater immersed in the beauty of a well-shot period piece to be greeted by the crowd waiting in line to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show. IN COSTUME. Apparently, it was boys dressed as girls night. At least that was what the ticket taker told us.

- Getting caught taking candy from your two year old's Easter stash... by your two year old.



~ Awesome~
- Tomorrow is Friday, thus the weekend, thus Husband will be home.

- I have lost 8 pounds on Weight Watchers. Slow and steady...but I am losing and that is good.

-Baby takes TWO naps now. Glory!

- Seeing the new Jane Eyre with a friend. Just us girls (and her adorable sleeping baby). Beautiful cinematography. Epic story. Handsome Mr. Rochester. Dr. Coke. Popcorn. Much needed.

- 30 lifesaver Jelly Beans are only 3 WW points.  That equals trouble.

- Having some extra tax return money to kick around, which means we will get to finally decorate our house...a year after we moved in.




So, tell me some of your awkward and awesome moments!

As always, this was sponsored by the Daybook.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Family Fun Time

My parents and sister came to town for a bit.

It was an occasion to dress up for.


We went to the VA zoo and explored the new Asia Trail of the Tiger.



This guy came over to say hello.
He was HUGE. Kinda scarily huge.


Colin took full advantage of the sunshine and ate some leaves.


Grandpa gave a closer view of the black bears.


Grandma freed a baby from his stroller at the outerbanks.


Daddy carried boys when the wind threatened to blow them over at the Wrights Bros. Memorial.


Spent a little time down by the water.



Watched little boys run out all their energies on the boardwalk.



We also did LOADS of shopping. Loads. We hung out. We ate lots of food, namely some killer Carolina BBQ. (Pretty much the only reason why I wanted to head down to the OBX) It was good. It was really good to have family in town. It does make us wish that they did not live 17 hours away.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Quotes of the Day by Jack

Jack talks. A lot.

He has quite the vocabulary for a 2 1/2 yr old and I wish throughout the day that I would write down all the of the things he says.
So, here are a few of my favorite Jack quotes of today.

 "Mommy, will you just come and sit next to me on the couch? I want to snuggle with you."

When explaining to Jack that we were going to the store to pick out a present for his friend's 3rd birthday tomorrow, he responded." So, I am 2 and Gracie is 3. But in 5 days, I will be 6." He does math like his mother.

Before naptime~
 "I am tired, but I do not want to take a nap."
" I am not going to close my eyes. I do not want to close my eyes. My eyes need to be open like this (opens eyes with fingers) See. Open."

After naptime and upset that he fell asleep~
" I did NOT want to nap. I did NOT want my eyes to close! Colin can keep his eyes closed for naps but my eyes need to be OPEN!"

" I have these sandals on, so that means I need to jump"

While playing outside~
" Umm, I am done with being outside. How about we go inside and watch a little t.v with a special snack? That sounds like a good idea."  He has lots of "good ideas" throughout the day. Most involve food.

 I am calling for Jack.
" O.k. Just one minute, Mom"
Not a fan of this quote, especially when I am waiting on him to obey me.

While driving~
" Tell those cars to move!"
" Mom, just bump that car. BUMP it! hahahah"
He is already quite the back seat driver. He knows what red, yellow and green lights mean, so he will yell out what I need to do.

I missed our life group due to Colin's crazy teething episode. Jack came home and crawled on the couch with me.
" Mommy, I missed you!"
Cutest. :)

So this is just a little snippet of life with Jack.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Beautiful Things ~ In honor of Elisha Hudson Flick





Beautiful Things
by Gungar

All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us


You make me new, You are making me new
You make me new, You are making me new




This is Elisha's song. It was sung and prayed over him for the four months and 13 days that he was here on earth.

His little body was wracked with issues since birth. He fought so gallantly for every breathe. He championed and he came through time and time again.  Now he does not have to fight anymore.

He is whole and healed and perfect in heaven.

His memorial was Wed, April 6th. It is hard to describe that day. Sorrowful, joyful, peaceful, painful. The one word that resonated throughout the entire day, and throughout the entire experience was love. There was a great, deep love that was associated with that little boy. He was deeply loved by his parents, his siblings and the people giving him daily care. He incited love to those who knew of him, knew of his family.

While the struggle was painful and the process heart wrenching, Elisha's parents were the example of a true love. People loved on them with food, babysitting and prayer. They loved on Elisha and the cycle kept repeating. The love they had for each other as they went through this loss was remarkable.


(The entire Flick family with little Elisha next to his twin brother, Ephraim)

In sorrow and pain, there was a beautiful love. A love from the Father that could not be taken away. A peace and comfort that only a true relationship with Christ can give.

I watched it. I saw it grow. I experienced my friends going through this difficult season and come out of it covered in love.

Bad things happen, but I believe that good can come out of every circumstance.

While my heart is broken and grieving for my friends and the loss of their son, something beautiful is and will come out of this dust.

I continue to hold my friends up in prayer. Elisha's life has touched the core of my mother's heart and I truly grieve with my dear friend.

But through all this pain and sorrow of a lost little life taken too soon, there is a beautiful peace and a beautiful love that radiates.

The Lord will make beautiful things...

Monday, April 18, 2011

Eight


A week shy of his 9th month, I figured I should post his 8th month photos.
Better late than never, right?
My little man is busy as ever.
He straight up crawls now and the boy knows how to hustle.
It is hilarious.
He can climb stairs now and can destroy any type of paper or wood in 5 seconds flat.
My little beaver. He it making full use of his 6 + teeth. Full use.


Best milestone of the month?
Baby said his first word.
And that word was... MOMMA!
That's right, I am chalking this one up as a win for all the mommas out there who toiled over their babies day and night and the first word out of their mouth...dadda.
Not this time. This time is was "momma" and it was glorious!

I love you my little crazy boy.
You keep me on my toes but I would not trade a single second of it!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Eleven, Six, Kissy Kissy

Eleven years ago today I kissed my Husband for the first time. We were mere kids. It was a pretty earth shattering first kiss.

Six years after that first kiss, he proposed. On April 8th, 2006 in Stillwater,MN he lead me on a scavenger hunt throughout the downtown filled with roses and flowers till I found him. We had a wonderful dinner, and when we walked back to the car, he lead me up a tall staircase. At the very top was a candle light, rose filled outlook of the river. He proposed, I said yes, and we kissed. A lot.


April 8,2006

Eleven years later, I still like kissing him. Which is good, cause we are married now. And married kissing is better. And you get cuter results.



These guys are glad we kissed eleven years ago today.

I am too.

I am looking forward to many more years of kisses.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

It has been an interesting week. More on that later, but for now, let's take a break from life and share a little bit of my awkward and awesome life.


Awkward~

~ You are in the middle of making dinner when you run out of cheese...so you grate a few of your son's cheese sticks to finish the job.

~ Having to buy more teething guard to completely cover all of the crib rails. Colin is part beaver and has chewed most of the varnish off. He has done more damage to the crib in 2 weeks, than Jack did in 20 months.

~ Buying leotards.

~My husband has gone on more "Man"dates with guy friend of ours, than with me. Sure they took the boys one time, sure they went to support a young man from our life group, sure.  But I want a date too!!
(with my husband, not with the friend. That would be super awkward.)

~ Putting my 2 1/2 yr old in 18month shorts that I bought two summers ago. AND they fit just fine.

~ A conversation with your VP, your head boss, a co-worker and a former co-worker about the weather, at a funeral.  It was so awkward it was almost painful.
 

Awesome~

~A hard working Husband. He doesn't sleep, he puts us first and would rather spend time with his family than start up a hobby, like golf, that would take him away from us on the weekends.

~Dear friends that challenge the way you parent and love, your walk with Christ and your value on friendships and life all by the way they live their life.

~Colin kisses. They are the open mouthed, drooling kind...but I love 'em. And I love that he gives me kisses now.

~ The words, " I love you". Whether they come from the mouth of your toddler, your husband or a sobbing friend... they always, always insight a reaction to love back.

~ My family is coming to town in two days!!! I am so excited to see them.

~ My sister sprang a surprise trip to VA as well!


So hurray for Spring and getting outside! Go enjoy the weather and the upcoming weekend!

As always, this little post is sponsored by the Daybook.



Monday, April 4, 2011

Spring dreaming...

 I have wanted to redo our master bathroom since we moved in.

I have wanted to redo most of the entire house since we have moved in, so this is no surprise.

The master bath is small, but holds a full shower. It has a nice new vanity and looks like it is painted a chocolate brown. From a distance, it looks fine.

It is not. It is not fine at all. It is the worse color of brown known to mankind. A dear friend said it was the color of meconium. Yep. Yellow and green undertones in a chocolate brown do not make a nice color. Ever.

My strong desire to paint the bathroom increased dramatically when I saw this.



I got it for 75% off.

It is being shipped to me now.

I have a soft buttery pale yellow paint color picked out for my walls.

Perfection.

I just need to lock myself away with a paint brush and start to transform my bathroom.

Anyone want to watch two sweet, but rambunctious boys while I paint?

Saturday, April 2, 2011

A Day in March

It was the beginning of March when I realized that I had missed February. Oops. My goal was to do a whole consecutive year and than publish it in a photobook of sorts.

Since not much has changed from February to March, let's just pretend this is a day for both month, alright?


March 29th, 2011

My day started out around 8:30. Ryan got a cereal bar for Jack before he left for work, so this was what I saw when I came into the living room. Lovely bed head and all.


Even more exciting was seeing this when I walked past the bathroom. Jack had taken off his night time diaper, moved his stool, put his little seat on and used the bathroom all by himself. He is finally getting this whole potty training thing. Maybe.




After I had some breakfast and made some coffee, my littlest man decided to rise around 9:45am. The sweet boy doesn't go to bed till well after 10pm...so he sleeps in quite late.


Mid-morning playtime. It is always messy. Jack will load up our ottoman with his toys, put them in baskets, buckets or whatever he can and than take them out...all over the house. He will do this for a good solid hour.


This little man will army crawl all over the place, preferably to find some type of paper to eat. He will find something to chew on that is paper-based no matter how well you think you combed the area over. Really, it is his gift. To seek and destroy.




Once Colin has been up for almost a couple of hours, the battle begins. We do the whole cry, soothe, cry, soothe sleep. This picture was taken at the first cry stage. The second is much more dramatic and I didn't take a picture because I can usually get him to sleep and wasn't going to risk making it worse by photographing his tantrum. And he napped. And it was glorious.





While he napped, and all through out the entire day, I worked. This was a typical scene throughout my whole day. Work email and phone with work email. I had a shoot the following day and was finalizing a script and it's changes all day long. Most days are not that busy with work. Today, it was. My phone was with me at all times.


Lunch was had by Jack and myself and than it was time to get ready for a nap. Just as Jack was ready to sleep, Colin was waking up. They are cute together. ( Jack is not a fan of pants these days)




Big brother goes down for a nap and little brother gets some lunch.


Nap time is also not so fun with Jack. He actually falls asleep maybe 4 out of 7 naps. He will just play quietly for the most part. Apparently he was not sleepy. And he changed his clothes again.


After naps, or the lack thereof, it was time to make some baby food for Colin. Jack and Colin were also "cooking" with me.




Organic green beans, anyone? Can I just say how easy it is to make organic baby food when you use Trader Joe's fresh frozen organic veggies? It is a cinch.


Ryan worked late and did not get home till 7ish, so we went outside for a bit while we waited for him to come home. The weather was a bit cool for recovering from a cold Colin, so Jack played and we watched from the doorway.




Ryan came home, we ate dinner and than it was bath time. We decided to throw both boys in together for the first time. They both were pretty pumped. We put Colin in the bumbo to keep him from crawling all over the place.

After baths it was time to put Jack to bed and wait for crazy to go to bed.


Before bedtime, Colin had to stand for awhile, and try to cruise, and than stand some more. It is his favorite. That and hiding toys under the couch and than pulling them out.

Once we got Colin down for the night, I worked some more and got ready to leave by 8:45am the next day.
I believe that after I showered, pumped and got into bed it was around 1:45am.

I may sleep in till 8:30am, but I am up past midnight every night.

One day I will get on a normal schedule.

One day.

And that is what a very typical day looks like at my house.

What do your days look like?