A Smattering of Things

*Thanks to everyone for the great mommy advice about Halle. I know she'll be fine, and even today was a really good day for her. I knew I'd just need to give it more time. I guess I just need to accept that I have a long road of school drama ahead of me. Thanks for letting me get all melodramatic for a minute! :)

*Since I had the "brilliant" idea to take Aidan's binky away a few weeks ago, he has been very sporadic with his naps. It's a battle every day to get him to take one and MOST days I lose. The few naps he has had in the last few weeks have been falling asleep in the car or when he actually stops for 5 minutes in the afternoon and crashes in random places. I find him asleep all over the house. It's also brought on the tantrums. Every day at 4 o'clock on the dot, he comes unglued and we experience something only imaginable in your worst nightmares. It's so fun...NOT!

He looks so uncomfortable.

Here he has fallen asleep while playing rock band with Tucker. The pictures are kind of blurry, but it was so funny!

*We've been loving this great weather that we've had the last few weeks. We've been taking lots of walks and picnics to the park. I couple times I've even gotten out and played with them on the playground, rather than just sitting and watching them. My good friend, Lisa, inspired me to do this. She's been having some health challenges lately, and recently posted on her blog about how excited she was to finally have enough energy to get out and actually play with her kids at the park for a little bit. It made me feel pretty guilty that in my perfectly capable physical state, I don't get out and play more with my kids more. It was really fun and my kids loved it. We had a great time that day.

I love this picture...Aidan got stung by a bee while at the park and Halle was so concerned about him. He's showing her where it hurts in this picture.

*We went to the farmers market last Saturday. I've been wanting to go all summer and it was the first Saturday in a LONG time that we didn't have places to be. The kids loved walking around getting all the free samples (the same reason they love going to Costco). I picked up a big box of peaches, a bag of yummy Gala apples, some sweet corn from our friend Nate working the Schmidts corn stand, and some squash and zucchini. I love fresh produce (I also love the word "produce"). I just wish it would last longer. I did manage to get all the peaches canned though. My first attempt at canning was a success. I felt so momish as I was doing it. I remember so clearly watching my mom can peaches when I was little. Good memories!



*Halle has been talking about the circus at school the past few days and she's seen a few commercials for the upcoming circus that is currently in town. I really don't have much of a desire to take my kids this year (I know, what an unfun mom) so instead we went and watched the elephant parade at the gateway. It was literally about 5 minutes long, but it was still fun for the kids to see the clowns, the silly cars & motorcycles and of course the elephants! Tucker took his lunch break and joined us. We had a great time and hopefully they'll forget about the actual circus that we AREN'T going to!

Aidan loved this giant motorcycle.

I love how the elephants hold on to each others tails.

*And last but not least, after living in this house for almost 6 years, we're finally getting around to doing some major home improvement projects. Several of my friends and family have recently done some home remodeling and its really motivated me to start doing some of our own. We'll be gutting 2 bathrooms, finishing our laundry and storage rooms, putting in new flooring and counter tops in the kitchen, and knocking out walls. It might take us a whole year to finish all of it, but I'm excited to get started on it this weekend. Its been on my wish list for 5 whole years!

I think that's enough smattering for one day! TTFN!