happy bouf-day to mommy

Yesterday was Mommy's birthday (yes, I am actually going to admit it) and I officially entered the last year of my 20s.  I'm not gonna lie, I did start to have a mild inner freak-out until I actually started thinking about everything that happened to me in my 20s.  I graduated college, went to and graduated from grad school, met the love of my life, got married, had two babies, moved three times (including one big move across the state), did some fun traveling, spent lots of great times with my amazing friends and made some equally amazing new friends.  All-in-all, the last 9 years have been pretty amazing so here is my resolution for the last year of this chapter in my life...do everything you can to make it just as amazing as the previous 9 and make sure to enjoy every minute of it.  And, if my 30s end up even half as great as my 20s have been then I am ready for it and am even slightly looking forward to it (but don't hold me to that when, upon arriving at my 30th birthday next year I totally freak out)!




DQ cake (Jacob's tradition for my birthday).  There are no pictures of me with the kids because as my b-day present from the, they both went to bed early.  THANK YOU MY BEAUTIFUL W BABIES!



my life consumed

As summer fast approaches and the fight to get Cayden to bed BEFORE it's dark outside really begins I have become increasingly aware that our biggest weekend of the year will be here before I know it.  June 9th and 10th is going to be the best and probably most exhausting weekend EVER!  My amazing grandparents will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with a family gathering in Medora on June 9th before we all head back to Bismarck to celebrate Harper's 1st birthday.  Now stick in a work trip to Atlanta, a short but highly anticipated vacation to North Carolina, the state's summer reading program booth we are sponsoring at work and the state immunization conference my program (all 4 of us) is in charge of planning and hosting and it's no wonder I don't sleep any more.

Knowing what all was coming up, I have spent hours (and I mean hours) planning, researching ideas and crafting for both of our big parties for more than a month.  My crafts (i.e. party invitations, decorations, etc.) have not only been consuming my time but all my thoughts and my dining room table.  As I complete each item on my list and look happily at the finished product I get more and more excited for our big weekend.  And, I can't wait for the pictures!

In the midst of all my crafting craziness, we have managed to play outside (when it's not raining or ridiculously muddy because we have no grass) every chance including a Mother's Day trip to the zoo and a nice long walk with Gracie as my protector.

Here are the last two weekends in pictures:

The bears are our favorite animal at the zoo this year!

Harper LOVED the train ride at the zoo.

Guess who discovered the car mirror?

Too cold and rainy to go outside? That's OK, the bathtub will do just fine.

serious bed head

it never gets easier

Cayden was one week shy of his 2nd birthday before I left him overnight.  It was so difficult and it didn't help that I was going to be gone four out of five weeks.  We all made it through without too many emotional scars. 

Harper was almost 9 months old when I left her for the first time.  This time it wasn't for work and thanks to the wonders of technology, I was able to facetime with Daddy and see my babies every night.  It still ripped my heart out everytime I said good-night and wasn't able to hug and kiss them like crazy. 

Now, I have to do it again.  I swear I almost cried when I dropped the kids off this morning, knowing I wouldn't see them for two days.  It's hard for me to be away from them during an 8 hour work day let alone having to be gone for two nights, two bed-times, two smiling mornings.  This whole leaving your kids thing does not ever get easier the more you do it and this just solidifies one more thing...that I am NOT yet ready to leave my kids with anyone but Daddy. 

Thursday won't come fast enough for this sad Mama!

busy weekend, bad week, GREAT weekend

Ok, so I have been a little absent lately.  We had a busy weekend that involved traveling to GF, catching up with good friends and Cayden and Harper getting to spend lots of quality time with cousins, grandparents and great-grandparents.  The kids did so great with the long car trip and everyone (including Nanny and Papa, I'm sure) slept very well at the end of it.

The week following our busy weekend...not so great!  Disrupting the kids' routine created a monster our of my sweet three year old.  He was escaping outside and running off into the neighbor's yards, laughing when anyone tried to discipline him and he had the worst tantrums he's thrown in a very, very long time.  Not only did he pull this stuff at home but he did it at daycare as well.  I would have to say that daycare may have even been worse because he was trying to hit another kid and even managed a retaliatory bite for the kid who had bit him.  Thankfully he managed to sleep an awful lot too.  Harper, on the other hand, developed a horrible cold.  This caused her to be as crabby and miserable as her brother. 

Fortunately, what goes down must come back up at some point (I know that's not how the saying really goes but it is true).  The kids and I had a fantastic weekend together.  Daddy had to work all weekend and then worked on planting trees after work so I got a lot of alone time with my babies.  We all got lots of rest, when shopping and played hard.  It made coming to work this morning difficult and the fact that I have to be in Atlanta for work the next three days almost unbearable.

Now that you're all caught up, I will leave you with our last weekend in review:



The kids made a few discoveries this weekend. Cayden found his tag reader and fell in LOVE with it.  He thinks it's the greatest "game" ever and that make me super happy.  Harper found her sunglasses and decided that she needed to wear them everywhere.  She's pretty hot stuff in her big glass (especially while walking through Mendards)!