Goals, Goals, Goals

Clean my car--well, I told you that Michael did that for me during the first weekend of the month. BUT, I did keep it clean the entire month.  So there is that!

Michael had to move the car to the street, so it was a flat surface for installing the car seat.  He sent Olivia to the door to get something from me.  Logan took the opportunity, slipped on my shoes, and walked on out. :)

Take vitamins regularly- I wasn't as consistent with this as I had hoped.  But I did buy myself some vitamins and attempt to take them about half of the time.  The problem is that I can't mix certain things with my thyroid medicine.  Like it can't be mixed within 4 hours.  So lunch is really about the time I can take vitamins, and since I don't even eat lunch half of the time, I forget.  I'm going to continue to work on it!

Clean up the backyard-We did this the first weekend of the month, too.   We are slowly adding things out there.  We still need to buy some chairs for the table we got on clearance at the end of last season.  And we'd love a grill too.  But the kids love it out there, so we try to hang out there when we can.

Spring clean-I did go through closets, toys, shelves, and even the garage (again) to get organized and remove the unnecessary.  It's all labeled now, so that when I schedule a donation pick up, I know where it all is and can easily move it to the porch.

Get up early- FAIL. Big. Fat. Fail.  I don't even know what to say about this that isn't going to sound like an excuse.  And they probably are.  But here is the truth.  It's not that I didn't think about getting up early.  I did.  Almost every day.  But after taking care of kids all day, doing laundry, cooking, cleaning, and all of the other household stuff... then going to work and being constantly busy and on my feet for 6 hours... and getting home and crawling into bed at midnight, knowing that my mind wouldn't shut off for at least a half hour to an hour... I just could not physically (or mentally) bring myself to set my alarm.  So I guess this is a goal I'm just going to have to keep working on.  I don't know what the answer is. Besides that I'm tired. ;)

May Goals

I'm not actually doing a formal list for this month.  We are going to be out of town for about half of the month.  Obviously I have a lot of planning, prep, and packing for that.  That will be where I spend my extra time and efforts.  We will be in the car with two kids for nearly 40 hours over the coarse of the vacation, so it's a little more involved than just packing a suitcase.

My main goal for the month is to finish strong.  We have a lot going on this month, and a lot that is coming to an end for the summer.  We need to finish preschool strong.  We need to finish MOPS strong, and I have a few extra commitments there due to leadership.  We need to finish Life Group strong.  And our best friends will be moving to Colorado while we are out of town, so we have a few short weeks to hang out and say our good byes.

The other thing that I need to check off my list before we leave town, is to secure a location for Olivia's birthday party.  Can you believe our girl is about to turn FIVE?!?!  We are doing an actual party this year, and we are doing an art theme.  I just need to figure out where.

(P.S.  Did you notice I got this up before a week into the new month?  Progress!) 

April Photo Dump

Just taking a milk break

Logan has figured out how to undress himself.  But then he thought I was getting ready to leave, so he real quick tried to put his shorts back on.  Only too bad for him, he put both legs in one of the leg holes.  Crack me up!

Summer Spring playing

She fancied herself up, and then wanted a picture

Helping cut strawberries for dinner

We spent the evening outside one night.  The kids can't seem to play in the backyard without needing a bath.  If you can't tell, his clothes are soaked and then covered in sand.  Michael made an impromptu fire, so Logan is eating a burnt marshmallow.  Nice!

If you are on Facebook, you already saw this throwback.  But ten years ago, on April 8th, Michael and I went on our first date! This picture isn't from that date, but from about two weeks later.  It seems crazy to me that we've been together 10 years.  Time flies!

Learning how to shred chicken

The dollar spot had these chalk paint squirt bottles.  You just add water.  The kids loved them!

He's such a cool dude!

Oh my word, y'all!  Preschool took spring pictures this month.  And they took cap and gown pictures with the 4 year olds who were "graduating" out of preschool.  I cannot believe we are about to have a Kindergartner!!

We were getting ready to go somewhere, and I was about to blow dry my hair.  Olivia asked if I could just sit and talk to her.  Absolutely!  She didn't really have anything to say.  She just wanted to snuggle and feel important.  Then she asked to take a picture.  I'm always going to stop and listen when she asks me to talk.  Even if it's about nothing.  I love her and her chatterbox self!

"reading" a chapter book

Someone didn't take a nap... and then he fell asleep on mommy.

Elsa making zucchini bread

Little buddy helping me sell some old audio books at Half Price Books.

Then it was on to toddler open gym

We met one of our MOPS friends there.  These guys are both named Logan and they have a birthday a week apart.  Actually, the other Logan was due on our Logan's birthday, but both guys came a week early.

We checked out a new place for date night.  It was super cute, and yummy!

Love him!

The kids have been doing yoga.  I had thought about buying a DVD for when we start homeschooling, and then I learned about a free youtube show that people raved about.  (I believe it's called Cosmic Kids)  Olivia LOVES IT and will do one work out after the other.

Dressing herself

Climbing up on his changing table

It wasn't a problem until he started going through the wipes and creams. Ugh.

I know I've mentioned it before, but we have done 99% of our diaper changes on the changing table for FIVE years now.  The only time we didn't, was middle of the night when they were newborns and sleeping in our room.  So it seems crazy to get rid of the changing table before he is potty trained, but this is getting annoying as well.

Sometimes, a boy just needs his mama... and his bear.

This is my life.  Rest time had just ended.  I got them drinks.  I sat down to look at the recipe for dinner, and there they were.  One on one side.  The other on the other side.  Just standing there drinking.  Usually they are sitting on my lap.  If one is by me or touching me or hugging me, then the other one can't be left out.  I keep reminding myself (when I'm in full on sensory overload mode) that I will miss this one day! ;)

Playing with their kinetic sand in the garage, while I worked on a project.

Logan's cereal all over the ground.

Olivia has on a dress and a skirt that she changed into herself.

Dancing in the living room to their own music.

My kids.

Eagle's Wings Open Gym

The preschool moms from our church have a play date or two every month.  This month we went to an open gym at a local gymnastics place.

We headed straight to the foam pit.  Olivia wasn't so sure...

Logan had less reservation

They loved the trampolines, too!

I feel a little guilty that Olivia got to go to the Little Gym from 7 months to 3 years old, and Logan hasn't gotten to go to any classes like that.  I know he'd love it!

He picked up on the rings real quick!

He likes to burrow!

I helped the kids swing on the rope and fly into the pit.  My friend Jessica took a few pictures for us.

Weeeeeee!

The crew!

We went to lunch with Jessica and Landon.  Olivia posed and Jessica took this picture of her.  It's a little blurry because her camera fogged up, but still cute!

Olivia is already asking to go back!

Another Art Festival

A few weeks ago, we went to another art festival.  We were looking for some cheap or free entertainment, and Facebook has a whole section of local events.  There was an art festival happening a few towns over, so we decided to check it out.

We stopped to eat at a local little cafe. There were food trucks at the festival, but we thought it might be cheaper just to eat ahead of time.

Ha ha! Such a little philosopher. Or something... :)

There was a sidewalk chalk competition going on.

Of course Olivia thought this was just amazing.

How to Train a Dragon

Wonder Woman

She now wants a set of her very own "special expensive chalk" :)

They had an area where kids could color in one square of cement, but we weren't sure if the rain was going to hold off, so we just kept on moving.

We walked through some of the tents selling things, and then headed tot he Painting with a Twist tent.  They had demonstrations going on, which of course interested Olivia.

They had some bounce houses and jumbo slides to go down--for FREE.  So Olivia did a few of those.

They had tents set up and FREE art projects for kids to do.  But by the time we got there, they were packing up.  Likely because of the impending weather.  So instead they just gave Olivia a bag of supplies to take home and paint on her own.

There was a jazz band playing, so Olivia and Logan ran around and danced for a little while. 

We also watched a Native American dance performance.

It was some fun, free entertainment!  We left just as it was starting to sprinkle.  Perfect timing!

On our way home we had to pass Nebraska Furniture Mart.  It is relatively new (and HUGE).  We had never been, so we decided to go and walk around.  Olivia was technically too big for these carts, but it did making walking around a little easier.  She loved the store and all of the displays!  Logan was less than impressed, but drove around and did alright for a while anyway.