Tot School...Am I becoming one of THOSE parents??

So, there are obviously many ups and many downs for my kids being able to have a stay at home parent. As Gavin is getting into the toddler years and soon, *weep* into the preschool age I am getting more and more concerned with his social and brain/skills development. He gets a lot of 1:1 time with me and our family which is great, but he also doesn't have as much of a structure that he might get from a pre pre k daycare or Montessori type school. Ryan and I are both firm and united on the fact that kids should be kids as long as possible. I do not want Gavin to grow up and faster than he already is, but at the same time I do not want him to get behind, or not even that but not live up to his full potential. This is why I have been working on his at home "Tot School" program thingy. 

I have been doing a ton of research on homeschool programs, Christian school programs, kindergarten requirements and pre school curriculums and have been having fun customizing it to meet our needs. I am in no way finished, still very much in the beginning stages of this but I figure it will satisfy my needs for a goal and organization and Gavin's yearn for learning in a way that is loosely structured but disguised as play and fun. 

I'm excited to share what I come up with! And most importantly if I actually feel like it is working :) More to come!

Three month update and family happenings...

These past few months have seemed to both drag and fly by. On one hand, it feels like Kjerstin has been here forever and on the other I cannot believe she is already three (now almost four) months old. She is still a really good baby, but man oh man has she been releasing her diva side. She is a Mama's Girl to the extreme. I am usually the only one that can get her to sleep, and I have to hold her a certain, way, on her right side, at a particular angle swaying a particular direction all while bouncing and patting her butt. It is a process. Seriously. Princess. 

She is happy 99% of the time, but that 1% is insanity. She goes from 0-100 with absolutely no warning.

I've been super busy, I "designed" the t-shirts for our Vacation Bible School this year, and then I am helping out with our library's summer reading program (which starts next week). We are planning a trip over to the Seattle area as well which I am REALLY looking forward to. I enjoy living in the country (mostly) but I am itching to get back in the city for a bit.

There has been some kind of illness floating around town and unfortunately we got it. It started with me, and I just had a terrible headache and fatigue. I thought it was just a migraine until Ryan got sick with a headache and sinus like pressure and then I noticed Gavin wasn't feeling well yesterday and today he was really under the weather (he sat still for six hrs. that has never happened, ever). He was running a low grade fever this evening and it just breaks my heart when they get sick :( Poor guy!

Gavin and Odin...my my how he has grown!

Don't even look at me, I'm hideous!

Father's Day 2014

Painting...

So back in December, on the 11th actually, the first full day after we moved back, Ryan and I went and bought paint for our house. We had our hopes set high that we would be able to paint the house (at least the major rooms, living room, laundry/bathroom area, and kitchen) before our furniture arrived. Well, due to several factors, we got delayed. Very delayed on the painting. We finally got our living room/laundry and bathroom done though and of COURSE I did not take before photos. But, I can show you a picture of a different room that hasn't been painted yet the colors it used to be. It was a very dark chocolate brown and a very pumpkiny orange tan. It was a bachelor bad. The dark brown wasn't too bad, it just wasn't the best choice for this particular house. It made it feel very dark and closed in. The orange though was just terrible, and it was actually not even the color Ryan had been originally going for, but once you have bought 15 gallons it's too hard to turn back...

The new colors are a very light gray (afternoon shadow I think) and then a very light powdery turquoise blue in the bathroom. I wanted the colors to be soothing and welcoming. I am extremely happy with how the turned out and it was exactly how I envisioned it!

My dad and Ryan and I did the first three rooms and then the trim and kitchen sat in the old paint for far to long and I finally got tired of it and one day decided to start the project. Doing this with a toddler and a newborn wasn't exactly the best choice but it had to be done. Then I finally got the trim mostly finished about two weeks ago. The last major room that I had to finish was the kid's room. That orange had to go. I finally finished that up last week and I am finally feeling a little more settled. I really need to paint the office and guest room and our master and master bath, but I am not in as big of a rush for those. Maybe on a summer night when my parents can watch the kids I can tackle that project.

I can now move on to actually decorating, which I have slowly started to do. It feels SO nice to actually put roots down and be able to make this place our own. I know we won't live in this house forever, as we have plans to either buy or build relatively soon, but this place is still ours for now, and I have the freedom to actually make it look the part.

(Please excuse the mess too! Between painting and having a teething puppy where everything has to be up and out of reach and having a toddler where everything is out and at reach...it's a bit of a madhouse around here!)

Kjerstin and Odin turn 3...months...

I just cannot even believe how fast the time goes when you have kids...It does not feel like Kjerstin was born three months ago. It feels like three years, hahahaha, just kidding! But seriously, I feel like it has only been one month. Pretty soon she will no longer be "new" and she will be a baby, and then she will be as big as Gavin, and I don't even want to think about how big Gavin will be at that point!! GAH!!!


But, not to get too far ahead of ourselves here...Kjerstin, three months. She has definitely been coming more into her own personality. She is still a wonderful baby, but she has these diva moments, well, really a witching hour. Right before bed she just fusses and cries for about an hour and then she is out. It is *usually* the only time she fusses, so I cannot complain, but it is just the weirdest thing. I want to use other words rather than weird, but I feel like f*&C** annoying would be inappropriate? oops.

She does not like change or super loud unexpected noises. She gets this epic pouty face, the kind that makes you tell her you will give her anything she wants just don't make that heartbreaking face ever again because my soul can't handle it. The pout is a lead up for an instant scream cry. It is actually relatively humorous. And let me tell you how much she loves her brother. She constantly follows him with her eyes, and she smiles every time he comes close to her. He loves her just as much. Sometimes he will just stop what he is doing and come up to her and put his face up to hers and say, Hiiiiii sissy! and give her a little kiss and then go back to what he was doing.

Kjerstin is sorta kinda sleeping through the night. She will sleep from about 9:30/10:00p to 6:00a on SOME occassions, but usually there is a 2:30a or 4:00a feeding snuck in there. She goes right back to sleep, so I can't complain too much, but sometimes I just wish it was either or because I hate going to bed not knowing if it is for a few hours or for more. I would rather it be one way or the other, haha. It is too much of a tease for me on the nights when she does sleep!

Gavin has been doing good! He has been such a GOOD GOOD boy lately. He helps me so much during the day, whether that is holding a bottle for sissy for a few minutes to get her to stop screaming while I finish sometime I am knees deep in, or throwing away dirty diapers, Gavin is there to help! He has grown inches, literally, and it is crazy. He is just a little boy, and I miss his babyness. He is a little parrot and copies everything. It is funny because in his little toddler jabber he just repeats conversations we have had earlier that day, but he plays both parts, it is hilarious!

Odin is also three months old today. And we are doing MUCH better on the potty training. We still have occassional accidents, but it is much better than the five accidents per day thing...Uffda! He sleeps really well out in our mudroom and has literally tripled or more in size in the past month or so. He loves Gavin and is probably the laziest puppy I have ever encountered. You heard that right, lazy. puppy. Puppies are supposed to be hyper and crazy, not Odin. Sometimes when I take him out to pee, he sits or LAYS DOWN. What?! Ridiculous. But I wouldn't have it any other way, in fact, I prefer a lazy dog, because I am not a high energy dog kind of person.

We've had a lot of running around lately, and I will post later about Gavin's first trip to the Dentist and our visit with Sadie and Charli for the Lilac Parade!

Our Silent Auction Loot...

I really need to be better at keeping up with my blog! I always use it as a reference for our memories, like my own little journal and memory book, and how can I do that if I am not updating it enough! Ugh!

Last weekend, Ryan and I went to a local wine tasting event to benefit our local hospital foundation, and we went with absolutely no intention on actually bidding for anything...Well, that didn't go well! It was a joke at our table that Ryan wasn't able to have the credit card or check book, because usually he is the one to spend money. We were looking at the booklet of all that was up for auction when Ryan pointed out Disney Land tickets. A few weeks ago we decided that for our family vacation this year we were going to go back down to San Diego (lame, as if we didn't just move away from there!) But we chose to go back there because:

• We know the area extremely well, so wouldn't be stressed out trying to figure out the area
• It's like a number one vacation destination, hello?? Beaches....
• Tons of family friendly attractions, like Seaworld, LegoLand, and the awesome San Diego Zoo
• Relatively cheap and close

We had kind of talked about going to Disney Land but had decided against it because it was so expensive. Well, we saw the tickets for the live auction (like a silent auction bascially) and decided to go see what people were bidding. There was one bid for less than $200.00, so we put in our own bid because it was so low! I had looked up before we walked up there to see what we would pay for a family of three (Kjerstin would be free) and it was like $615 or something like that.

Right next to the Disney tickets was a condo in Palm Springs for one week. People were bidding at $200 for that one as well! For fun, we bid $230, because hey, why not! We had no intention of winning that one.......Well...we did! We got a week in a two bedroom condo in Palm Springs and four passes to Disney Land, all for under $600.00! We saved literally over $1000.00. We decided that we will drive down to Palm Springs (possibly fly, we'll see) and then just drive over for Disney Land, or just do Palm Springs this year and Disney the next year or two (the tickets are good until 2016). So much for not spending any money though! It was well worth it :)

My loves

I have been slacking major on the blog! Sorry!!! Thank goodness for the blogger mobile app, or else I would never be able to update from our computer who has time to sit at a computer these days!?

We are doing better with the dog, we have had fewer and fewer accidents inside and he sleeps much better in the mud room than in our room. Thank.God.  He is growing so freaking much and fast. More than doubled in size since we got him! He is a mostly well mannered and smart dog. He sleeps at my feet most of the day, which is incredible for him being a puppy. We are working on his chewing, of freaking everything. Uffda. We look like hoarders the way everything is stacked to be away from the dog.

Kjerstin is fabulous. She is developing her little personality and I love it. She is a little diva and sweet little princess. Still sleeping pretty well, she has a witching hour right before bed where she literally fussed for an hour with little to stop her and then she is out for most of the night. No complaints here, it's just weird! She smiles sooo much, you hardly have to work for it, her eyes twinkle and sparkle when she smiles. We are in for trouble with this one. I can feel it in my bones.

Gavin. Where to even start. I have decided that this is my favorite age of his so far. He is so fun. Yes, he has his terrible two moments but overall I a jury enjoying his every word and independent thoughts and sense of humor. He is so funny, it is the weirdest thing not only watching your child grow but also to watch them develop a personality and their own thoughts and imagination. There are no words. He is a little parrot and copies our every move, action and expression. We need to work on that...hahahah.

My messy boy who loves the outdoors.

Happy smiles!

Oh and we got new couches! More on that next time......

Eyes above water...barely. 7 weeks

So. We kind of got a puppy. Get a puppy they said. He'll be great for your kids they said. You need a dog living in the country they said. Well, what they didn't say is exactly how much work puppies are! Holy hell. Listen, I knew what I was getting into potty training and chewing wise. What I didn't know is that puppies do not sleep through the night and that their whining is the sound of rusty nails puncturing my ear drums repeatedly. We are exhausted.

I love our Odin though. He is cute and will eventually be a great dog for our family! He is a brindle colored, English Mastiff and will likely weigh in around 200lbs. 

Kjerstin is doing great!! She is such a good baby, I feel so blessed. She is so mellow and chill, she sleeps through all of the puppy and Gavin's shenanigans. It's crazy. She is starting to coo and smile and I am loving every minute! We wonder whether or not her eyes will stay blue or if they will turn green or brown. Time will tell! She is semi sleeping through the night. She wakes up once generally usually around 4am, but lately it's been around 1:30-2:30am. 

Gavin has been such a great older brother! He has stepped up and been so helpful. I'm swear he grew up more in these past two months than the last six. He loves his sissy and doggy friend. He asks to hold the baby and likes to feed her bottles. I can't even believe how much he is talking. I swear his vocabulary is extremely impression for a 2 year old! 

Well, here are a few photos from the past coupe weeks!

Oh and I forgot to mention, Odin and Kjerstin were born on the same day! Cray cray!

Up to know good.