March 25th - 28th, 2021: I want a tornado to come now!

I didn't write on Thursday because we were all too busy crowding into our utility closet that night because of a tornado warning. 😱 It was a rainy and stormy day and Maeve actually ended up getting dismissed from school 2 hours early because of it. Adam worked from home that day as well, although he ended up only working a few hours because he wasn't feeling great. It was a pretty lazy day for all of us after Maeve got home. 

Once the storms started rolling through in the late afternoon, Rowan said, "Come on! Let's get in the closet!!" When we told him that it wasn't time yet and that we didn't get need to get in unless an actual tornado was coming through, he cried and said, "I want a tornado to come NOW!!!" 😂😳 So don't worry, I proceeded to pretend a tornado was coming through about 15 times in a row and hopped in the pitch black closet with a flashlight with Maeve and Rowan time and time again and it was the best game of their lives. 😂 Doesn't take much with these kiddies! I also got a good kick out of the fact that before the tornado came through Rowan asked, "Is it gonna break our toys?" 😂🥺 I'm here to report no toys were broken. 

Since we were feeling super lazy, I threw the kids in the car while Adam had a zoom lesson with the missionaries and we went to grab some Taco Bell for dinner before the storms ramped up. We did see some lightning and hear loud thunder once while we were driving, which spooked the kids a little bit, but then Maeve said, "It's okay! God is with us." 🥰❤️ It was a proud, tender mom moment for sure. Such a sweet, smart girl. 

Luckily all was well that night and we remained safe from the tornado. The kids secretly loved it and Nolan was a champ being woken up from bed for a few minutes, and luckily went right back to sleep just fine. 🙏

Friday was an asynchronous learning day at home for Maeve so she just had her packet to breeze through. She was so excited about that and for the chance to play with Rowan most of the day since her packet does not take her long to do. Of course Rowan loves to sit with her and watch her complete her packets on all these learning days at home, and I like to think he's only getting smarter because of it. It was also a major win because she got sent home with a sack lunch for that day and it was big enough to feed both her and Rowan, so he was overjoyed that she split it with him and I was overjoyed I did not have to lift a finger. 🙌

I had my first private coaching session at 11:30 that day to get coached through my fear of throw up. It went alright, although it wasn't the most profound experience and I feel like mostly I was told to do things that I kinda already knew I could do. The problem is that it is hard to do said things, but I guess I need to consciously work harder to do them. We shall see if over time I can get better at changing all my negative thoughts that just make me spiral. I'm hoping and I'm praying. 🙏🙏

The kids also had a major dance party in the living room with the blinds closed and the lights on party mode. It was pretty fun, but the kicker is they were rocking out to Kidz Bop Christmas music. 🤦🤷Whatever brings them joy is all I have to say sometimes. 

I also had a lady text me on Friday morning that we had previously done some dog sitting for back in October 2020 asking me if I could dog sit again for the weekend. So she dropped her dog off Friday afternoon and now I'm $100 richer. Ka-ching. 👊After she dropped her dog off, we went out to run a few boring errands, which I don't normally drag the kids through. We went to home goods to look for a soap I wanted that is THE BEST smelling soap I've ever encountered, but they didn't have more. I did end up scoring a cute hamper though that was meant to be in the kids room, so still a win. We also stopped at Petsmart to return some special dog food Zoey didn't need all of when she sick and then also popped into TJMaxx to try and find a hair product that I wanted, but failed to find. Shockingly the kids did great almost the entire time, but then Maeve lost it in the car saying through her sobs, "It's my favorite day of the week and we haven't done anything fun and now we won't have time to do anything else besides have dinner, screen time, and go to bed!!" What a rough life for a 5 year old, I'm telling you. Lucky for her, we ended up going to Culver's for custard after dinner. I realize that maybe sounds like she got rewarded for talking like a spoiled brat, but in no way did I make it seem like we would do that to appease her. Some time had certainly passed between that little meltdown and us going and the meltdown was short lived too. 

I'm trying really hard right now to get back into making time for reading for pleasure, so I got a bunch of book recommendations on Thursday and really got into a book on Friday night that I had started a while back and never finished (story of my life). Between Friday night and last night I have already made it through 70% of the book and it has been pretty good. It's called When Breath Becomes Air and is about a guy in residency to become a neurosurgeon who gets diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Pretty depressing, but for some reason I can't get enough of books that pull at the heartstrings. 

Yesterday (Saturday) was another stormy day. It honestly poured rain and was stormy off and on all day long. We made it to and from dance class for Maeve without getting too wet though luckily. She's got a new teacher now and actually was the only one that showed up to class that day so she got some one on one instruction. Not too shabby. 👌 Adam was committed to getting his project done of adding framing around our master bathroom mirror and the kids bathroom mirror, so he made a trip to Home Depot with the kids that afternoon while I stayed with Nolan napping, and then we all made one more trip before dinner when he realized he needed one more thing. He finished up today and the mirrors look SO much nicer now that they're framed and it totally changes the feel of the bathrooms. So awesome for only $30. I'll have to take a picture the next time I clean the bathrooms and they're in perfect shape. 

While Adam was working on that project, the kids and I were downstairs playing a hide and seek game with sticky notes. Maeve wrote "Mo" for Mommy "Ma" for Maeve and "Ro" for Rowan on a bunch of sticky notes and they would hide them together around the living room and then we would all find our respective sticky notes. Eventually she told me I needed to hide my own, and when I acted confused by that, she said, "Yeah, sometimes I hide yours and mine and I forget where they are by the time I'm looking for them..." 😂🤔 Maybe that works for a 5 year old, but I wasn't as successful at really stumping myself when I hid mine and 2 seconds later turned around to find them. But I'm just here to nod, pretend, and go along for the ride so 🤷. 

Today I woke up with a pretty bad headache, so we opted not to go to church and just watch the meeting from home instead. It was a pretty low key day at home. I got a call from my sister a day early for my birthday, which is tomorrow, so we had a good chat for a bit. Among other things, we talked about Rowan's potty woes. I told her how yesterday he started peeing on the floor in the bathroom when I pulled down his pants and thought it would be fun to move his body around so that the pee sprayed all over the place. I was pretty mad he was making a game out of it and stuck his little booty in time out. Then today he was losing his mind saying he needed me and when I went over to ask what was up, he was sitting on the floor in his own pee with a smile on his face, saying, "I peed" 😩😩😩 Kill me now. So after I got off the phone with my sis, I was brainstorming on how I can motivate him to want to get all his pee in the potty from now on. I had the thought that maybe each time he successfully goes to the bathroom all on his own without my help and gets every last drop in the toilet, we'll pull his bat out and I'll throw 3 pitches for him because he's 3. I presented that idea to him and he said, "hmmm, how about 5 because Maeve's 5?" 😂🤦 He's not stupid and knows how to logically request more. I settled for that so we'll see if it helps. He was successful 2 times before bed with that and was pretty happy to earn some batting. Let's hope it sticks and he continues to have success all on his own, because that independence is something else we need to solidify before he's 4. 🙏 

While I was on the phone, Adam had the kids watch some church Easter videos and that got Maeve going on drawing pictures of Jesus on the cross and the empty tomb. It was pretty cute. She is so excited for Easter. She is also SO excited for my birthday tomorrow and told me before going to bed, "I can't sleep, I'm SO excited for your birthday!!" I think she might be more excited than I am. 😂

I think that's about all I have to say about this weekend, other than a few more laughs: 

~I ordered a couple new bibs for Nolan and Rowan has been calling them boobs. He asked me, "Do Nolan's boobs fit him?" 😂😂

~As happens quite often, the kids forgot to close the baby gate behind themselves downstairs when coming upstairs once and Adam called them out on it. Maeve responded, "We're just kids, we don't know how to do that stuff!" 😂🤦 Nice try, sister.

~The kids ate a bunch of fruit tonight as a bedtime snack and Maeve told me she ate a blackberry that didn't taste good. I asked what it tasted like and she thought for a minute and said, "A diaper" 😳🤦 Then of course Rowan soon followed that up with, "I just got a blueberry that had a diaper in it. And I ate it." 😂😳 That gave me a good laugh for sure!

~I just ordered Doctrine and Covenants Stories, Book of Mormon Stories, Old Testament Stories, and New Testament Stories. All the beginning reader illustrated versions. We have been reading a chapter or two from the Doctrine and Covenants one each night this last week and Maeve calls it the Jesus book. 😂

Now for some pics!

😂😂

😍

Sweet boy loves his daddy 

Huddled in the closet!

She drew a picture of herself at the dentist - gotta love the teeth! 

This little boy is allllways sticking his tongue out randomly now 😂

Maeve brought it upon herself to write "Remember to not hit" on a sticky note for Rowan to wear in hopes it will help him be better about not hitting her. Nevermind the fact that he can't read. 😂 When I pointed that, he said, "it's okay, I'll just know that's what it says!" 😂🤷 He loved the idea and was excited about it - too funny. 

I laughed when I found more sticky notes all around the house. Apparently he needs lots of reminders. The million dollar question is, will this eliminate all hitting?! 🤔

Watching the lightning with Daddy 

😍

Cause on top of Daddy's head is the perfect place to sit 😂

😂😂

😍 Two partners in crime always looking out windows together!

Peace and blessings. ✌️

March 22nd - 24th, 2021: B Bye Ben G O

I've got a few days to catch up on. I could not bring myself to write last night, but we'll get to that in a minute.

Monday morning got off to an excellent start when Rowan shocked the heck out of me by going upstairs early in the morning without saying a word to me and coming back downstairs fully dressed. 😲😲 I couldn't believe my eyes! Miracles still happen. He even swapped the pull up out for undies. He might have put those undies on backwards, but hey, if he's getting himself dressed, I don't even care. 🙌 I love the independence because it's been a long time coming! 9 times out of 10 now his shirt will be on backwards and the simple sight of it will just make me smile because it means he did it. 

Nolan has also gotten much better about not throwing tons of food on the floor the last few days. It dawned on me tonight I haven't had to vacuum 3 times a day lately! 🙏 I'm singing praises. 

The kids had dentist appts. on Monday after Maeve got out of school and they went SO well. I was dreading it considering last time was a total disaster when they had to get x-rays and Maeve lost her mind from gagging and Rowan skipped the gagging and just threw up because of it. 🤦😅 I forewarned them and poor Rowan asked, "Am I gonna choke again?" 😂😢 Lucky for us, it was smooth sailing and they didn't say one word about x-rays this time and both check ups were great with no issues. Once again, I'm singing praises. 🙏🙏

Here's where I stop singing praises, because Tuesday morning started off with Rowan up at 5:40am with me while I did my workout. He laid on the couch watching me the whole time and I should have known something was up because he looked pretty somber. While I was getting Maeve ready for school he told me he had a headache so I gave him some tylenol and then soon after that he said it wasn't helping and his back was hurting. Then in the car on the way to school he started freaking out saying "Why isn't it helping yet?? My belly doesn't feel good!!" and then just a few moments later he threw up on himself. 😳 Ugh. Lovely considering we weren't even in line yet. Poor kid had to sit there for a bit waiting to get back home. Luckily he didn't throw up again in the car, but he was whining for a bath on the way home, and was still very somber in the bath saying he still didn't feel good. After the bath, he threw up again. Ten minutes after that though, he said he had no more throw up coming. We decided to camp out downstairs in front of the TV with a show on for him so I could help Nolan with breakfast. I started a load of laundry and then he complained again of not feeling well, so I gave him some pepto and luckily nothing else happened. Probably 30 minutes later he was more than back to himself, very excited about his alphabet show, eating lots of cereal and staying happy and well. 🙌🙏 It made me smile to see him acting like himself again because it's the worst when they're so somber and not feeling well. Luckily the rest of the day was smooth sailing and he was my little buddy following me around as I did some cleaning, re-hung up ALL of Adam's ties that he took upon himself knock down a while ago cause he was "looking for a tie that looked like his" 🤦🙄, did laundry, and deep cleaned my retainers. FUN stuff, I know. 😂 Turns out it is not a good idea to let a baking soda/water paste sit inside retainers for a few minutes, because I guess it can break down the plastic. I panicked when I saw a small piece of plastic was breaking off the back of one of them. Luckily it's the very back so it shouldn't impact anything, but I was sweating for a second. The good news is they do look less cloudy now! 

After Maeve got back from school, the kids had a dance party with our "party lights" on (ie. colored LED lights behind the TV and lightbulbs in the lamps switch to colored lights too - Adam upgraded the bulbs haha) and we read some books and just hung out. I have really been focusing on helping Nolan walk these days, and I'm just crossing my fingers he will want to take more steps on his own soon!! 🤞

I started to get pretty achy in the afternoon, so I opted to skip out on YW and just veg after the kids were in bed. I took a bath and that helped calm my muscles so I could go to sleep. 

Today Rowan woke up again saying he didn't feel good, but luckily after some pepto and eating breakfast he was fine. He was actually so cute with me this morning making pancakes. His new thing is helping get out all the ingredients he can reach, getting the pan out for me, and standing in a chair next to me the whole time I cook them so he can excitedly count them as I cook them. It's kind of my favorite how excited he is about the whole affair. My cute boy! While they were cooking, we also did lots of rolling/throwing balls around to each other, Nolan included. That boy loves his balls!! It's one of my favorite things to do with him because he looks so stinking cute throwing the ball and Rowan loves being involved too!

We did some preschool today and Rowan counted to 55 with little help! 👏 That boy sure is good at counting. He's also doing so well with his letters and their sounds these days and is so excited about it. 🥰

After feeding the boys lunch, I snuck upstairs to shower and get ready so we could run out and get a few groceries before picking up Maeve, but when I was finished I found Rowan asleep in Maeve's bed. I had made his already that morning, but got distracted and didn't get to making hers, so he just hopped in there instead. 😏 Smart boy! I couldn't bring myself to wake him up considering he was recently sick, so I just did some cleaning and laundry and played with Nolan instead. Adam helped me out and got those few items this evening, so we're good. 

Now for my list of recent laughs: 

~Rowan asked me the other day if Nolan was allowed to have lemonade. I told him no, and then Adam told me he was confirming that because he had freaked out the day before when Adam let Nolan have a few sips of lemonade, insisting that I normally don't let him have any. 🤦 Looks like we've got ourselves a little policeman named Rowan now. 😂 He also LOST HIS MIND recently when I let Nolan hold the spoon and feed himself some oatmeal, with a little assistance on my part still, because he was SO worried about him making a mess. I know I hate messes, but what 3 year old is SO concerned about messes!? The gene I passed on is a strong one I guess. 🤦😬 It literally didn't even help that I was telling him I was okay with it and I was monitoring the mess. That boy is crazy!

~Speaking of messes, thanks to my strong gene being passed down, I don't even have to ask Rowan to clean up after himself usually, which I must say is really nice. He pulled out some playdough on his own on Monday and was playing with it upstairs at his little table in the playroom and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it all got put away when he was done and came back downstairs. The only thing his 3 year old eyes don't see are all the little bits of playdough that are left behind on the table and on the ground underneath, but hey, I'll take it. 

~The other day I gave Rowan a snack that he asked for and after eating it it all, he said, "Actually, I forgot I didn't want that, but I ate it all. I want something else!" 😂🤔 

~Yesterday Rowan put some flip flops on himself, but put them on the wrong feet. I told him if he fixed it and put them on right, they'd probably feel better and he responded, "They already do feel better" 😂🤔

~Yesterday while sucking on a lollipop, Rowan was holding it in his cheek and he said, "Mom, feel right here!" and thought that the fact that his lollipop was creating a bulge in his cheek was just hilarious! 😂😂

~On Sunday night, Rowan referred to his sleeping bag as a suitcase. 😂 He said, "I wanna sleep in my suitcase. I've never slept in my suitcase before!" Which he's definitely used his sleeping bag before, so who knows why he said that, but it was too funny! 

~The other day, Alexa randomly interjected out of the blue without us saying anything to her and said "I'm sorry, what was that?" and Rowan responded, "It was just us!" 😂😂 

~Apparently these are all about Rowan.... now that I've said his name a million times already, what's a few more times?! He was reading a book to himself after I told him what the lines were and instead of saying "Moving in darkness. Moving in daylight." he said, "Moving in darkness. Moving in lightness." 😂🤔 

~Rowan randomly started singing the BINGO song and instead of singing "B-I-N-G-O" he sang, "B-Bye-Ben-G-O" 😂🤷

~The kids were coloring earlier today and writing some little notes for me on paper. Rowan scribbled a few notes for me and Maeve, but then he would run over and read the scribbles to me. One note said, "I love you all day. I love you sweet baby. I love you too." 😂🥰  Another one said, "I love you so much. I love when you sleep." *😂🤷

I think that's all I got for now. Here are some pics and videos!!

Came out of the bathroom to see Nolan had taken off his own diaper 🙈🙊 - apparently pants are necessary now! 😂👇

Super casual waiting for the hygienist to do his cleaning 😂

Sweet boy snuggled up watching me workout 

Rowan asked Maeve to draw a picture of him throwing up in his carseat 😳🤢 - don't ask me why she drew the throw up purple because it was not purple! Love her misspelled words that she sounded out. 🥰 Hair, sky, rainbow, and seat (written backwards as tes) 

Napping in Maeve's bed today 

This boy's little personality is too much right now! He kills me in the below pics. 👇😂😂

Nolan being silly on his police car! 😂 https://youtube.com/shorts/Opc1olY6hqg 

Maeve giving us a math lesson 😂 https://youtu.be/asjCZZPepoU

A clip of Maeve's dance class https://youtube.com/shorts/P2sdg-U-htk 

How Nolan rides his police car 😂 https://youtube.com/shorts/GwOoc7wQZt8 

Had to record this one because someday I'll want to look back and remember this silly scoot that he does half the time when he doesn't want to crawl normally 😂🤷 https://youtube.com/shorts/0rT0ipRdtU8

Peace and blessings. ✌️

March 19th - 21st, 2021: A visit from Deb & Cam plus friendsss

We had some exciting visitors show up at our house on Friday just before it was time to pick up Maeve from school! Of course I was working my hiney off to be ready in time for them to show up - which I did manage to finish everything just in time. 😅 It's just the it goes around here for me I guess... though I always tell myself I should leave less cleaning for the day of, but it never seems to work out that way. I am a true procrastinator at heart and it's going to be hard to change that haha. But ya know, my Aunt Deb and my cousin's son (her grandson) Cam showed up a bit frazzled telling me they had to drive 100 mph to get to me on time, so I wasn't the only one hurrying. 😂😳

We had a fun little visit. Deb always comes prepared to do all the fun things! The fun started by pretending that Cam couldn't come after all, only for him to pop up behind Maeve in the back seat of our van. Apparently though she wasn't too shocked, because she figured it was a joke - she's getting too smart these days. 😏 We started off the afternoon with an egg hunt since Easter is coming up and of course the kids were ALL over that considering that means candy! The kids also played outside for a bit doing chalk, although Cam was pretty glued to his phone. He's already acting like a teenager even though he's only 11. 🤦 He definitely is looking so much older all of a sudden and you can tell he cares what he looks like now. All these kids are growing up! We made our own little personal pizzas for dinner and of course didn't have quite enough cheese. 🙄 I was worried the block I got wasn't quite big enough and I was right. Should have just gotten more in the first place. Thank goodness Kroger is so close though because not only did Deb run over to get more cheese, but then Adam ran over to get firewood and some more graham crackers for Smores and then once we got the fire going somehow the marshmallows disappeared in no time before we even started really making the Smores so we went back for a third time! 😂🤦 It was kinda comical and reminded me of the billions of Walmart trips my family always takes when we're together. Someday we'll get our crap together enough to know what we really need on the first trip. 😏 We made the smores with the marshmallows that are filled with chocolate. Whoever came up with that idea is a GENIUS. My biggest beef with smores is always that you're eating this gooey warm marshmallow overtop a hard piece of chocolate. Those chocolate filled marshmallows are a game changer! They are expensive though, so I'll probably just stick to getting regular chocolate and microwaving it a little first when we're doing fires at home like that. 

Saturday morning the kids were up having a party with Deb and Cam in their room - they ate some hostess donuts in bed, which they did last time Deb was here when I still pregnant with Nolan and it completely blew Maeve's mind that she got to eat something in her bed. 😂 Now it will be a tradition for sure haha. I did sneak out with Maeve to her dance class and we were excited to get our hands on her new tights and tutu dress that she will wear to every class from now on. She looked too cute in it and was so excited to dance in it. 😍

Deb was awesome to let Adam and I get out on Saturday afternoon for a date. 🙌🙌 We decided to hop around some restaurants downtown to get some food from some of the places Adam is always raving about that he goes for lunch during the week with his coworkers. His boss sure spoils them and I'm always jealous. So, we did carryout at a few different places - got some chips and queso from Superica (we also got some bonus salsa that was awesome too 🙌), some pizza from Slim & Husky's and some mini gourmet donuts from Donut Distillery. It was quite busy downtown so we definitely drove through some traffic, but it was fun to see the city so alive. We actually ended up experiencing a small snag in our plans though because we thought that we ordered carryout from the Slim & Husky's that is by Donut Distillery downtown, but apparently there is another Nashville location we didn't know about and that's where we ordered from instead. 🤦🙄 Kind of a bummer to show up and have them tell you you're at the wrong place. SO we ate our donuts before our pizza, but it's all good. They were divine so I'm not complaining. One of my favorites was actually one that Adam decided to throw in the order, which I wouldn't have even picked, but it was a strawberry lemonade donut - super soft frosting that was sweet and tart at the same time on a super soft donut - it was really unique and really tasty! Thank goodness I'm married to someone who often knows how to pick even better than I do. 🙏 Of course we were worried about our pizza being totally cold by the time we got to it, but it ended up working out really well because they were so nice and understanding and decided to just make a new pizza for us. 🙌🙏 It was delish - they had a jalapeno cilantro ranch drizzle that took the pizza to the next level. So good! The original plan was to share the pizza and share a hot dog too from this other gourmet hot dog place that sounded awesome, but our eyes were bigger than our stomachs and we had no space left for it after the pizza! We'll just have to save it for another day. We decided it would smart to also stop at Costco on the way home for a few things so we wouldn't have to make another trip there soon. Although I'm kicking myself that we didn't get any veggie straws - totally should have and for some reason I didn't even think about it. 🤦We enjoyed ourselves and all the good food though, so it was a fun day out! Of course the kids had a ball while we were gone doing an activity with some Resurrection eggs, face timing with Gram/my mom (my Aunt Deb is my mom's sister), having a picnic, and doing some puzzles. They loved every minute of having Deb and Cam with us - which was made clear when I asked Maeve what her favorite part was after they left and she said "I can't pick one because everything was my favorite!" 😊 Cam was also so cute with Nolan helping him walk and before they left he actually took a few steps on his own! We finally might be close!! 🤞

We were bummed to see them go, but little did I know that night that my Fabletics order would show up on our doorstep! Woo hoo, I was so excited to get my hands on those leggings and bras and try them on! I was very pleased with it all - so cute and everything feels great and fits well! Yay for having more cute workout clothes - it's about time with how dedicated I have been for the last 15 months. 🙌 After the kids went to bed, we were in the mood for milkshakes and decided what the heck - nevermind the fact that we already had donuts that day. 🙈 I tried the new big scoop cookie dough blast from Sonic and it was GOOOD! You can always sign me up for anything with lots of cookie dough in it. I mean, it was topped with a scoop of oreo chocolate chip cookie dough instead of whipped cream. That's what dreams are made of if you ask me!!! 

Yesterday (Sunday) morning the kids were up at 7 happy to be alive, but luckily Nolan slept in because Adam and I were feeling so tired and lazy and ended up sleeping in until 8:10 with 30 minutes to quickly throw some clothes on and go to church. Given that, I give ourselves a high five that we walked in when the opening hymn was being sung. And also a high five that we willed ourselves to go. 😂

In other news, I am about ready to kick Rowan to the curb because he's back AGAIN to just randomly peeing his pants. We're at all an all time low too because instead of just not holding it long enough and peeing on me or the bathroom floor like he usually does, now he just pees wherever he wants and says "I peed" or "I'm peeing" just randomly out of the blue. Usually, he will just be standing in the middle of the floor somewhere, but yesterday afternoon, it had to be worse. Of course it had to be worse, because his name is Rowan and he likes to ruffle my feathers when it comes to his bodily fluids. SO yep, it happened to be while SITTING ON OUR BED! AND like 20 minutes before we were supposed to leave to go to the Pylant's house to hang out and have dinner. Wwwwhhhhhyyyyy!?! 😭😭 So of course we had to strip our bed and wash every last dang piece of our bedding only to see our mattress and discover that Zoey is apparently also peeing all over our bed while she has been sleeping with us at night lately. 🤦🤦🤦 So those days are over and she's gonna have to get used to being locked in her house again. Stinking dog! 

So of course we were late showing up to the the Pylant's house, and we have Rowan's impeccable timing to thank for that. As always though, we had a good time with them and Adam squared (our husbands are both named Adam 😂) was able to work together to finish a project in their back yard moving and assembling a playset. The weather was so nice and the kids loved getting to run around in their big back yard. We had pesto pasta, salad, and rolls for dinner and it was all 👌. Amanda is actually having to cut out dairy and meat right now to try and calm her colon down since she got colitis and thinks the dairy especially is a contributor, so we're two peas in a pod now eating vegan. I've sent her lots of recipes and I'm hoping she will find some that she likes and acclimate to the change, all while hopefully feeling better! 🤞

In the interest of time, I'm gonna wrap up here. Here are a bunch of pics from the weekend!

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"Mom, look at me! Take a picture of me!" 😂😍

Teeth brushing party! 

Early morning donuts! 😍

Their tongues! 😍😂

I'm sorry, but that face and that foot! I just can't!! He's too perfect!! 😍😍😍

😍😍

Peace and blessings. ✌️

March 17th & 18th, 2021: St. Patricks Shenanigans

I basically spent St. Patrick's Day yesterday making 2 different batches of cookies. 😂 I mean, it's not all I did, but when you fill in the rest of the cracks with working out, feeding the children, eating meals myself, cleaning up some, and getting ready for the day.... that pretty much sums it up until I left the house at 6:15pm to go to youth activities. And no, we aren't so fat that we wanted 2 batches of cookies for ourselves to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but I know that's what you're thinking. I do live with a voracious eater of a husband after all. 😂🤷 In all honesty, the first batch of cookies was for one of the sisters that I minister to because it was her birthday yesterday. Which by the way - totally BLEW Maeve's mind that it could be St. Patrick's Day AND someone's birthday. 😂😂 Love her. I decided it would be a nice gesture to deliver her favorite treat - peanut butter cookies - and a quote from a conference talk, so I also spent some time figuring that out, making it cute, and printing it out. Turns out it was her big 40th. Craaaazy. She didn't seem super excited to be exiting her 30s, but who is!? Turning 40 will definitely be wild. Luckily I still have 8 years to go. Rowan helped me make the peanut butter cookies and after I cracked the egg, he wanted to see it in the bowl. He took a look and exclaimed, "Woah! It looks like egg guts!" 😂😂 Spot on dude, spot on. He is my cute little helper in the kitchen. Very enthusiastic the whole time! 

The second batch of cookies was actually for us in honor of St. Patrick's Day - we made basically a homemade version of grasshopper mint cookies. Maeve and Rowan were very much involved in the whole process of making them. I got a good laugh when Maeve asked me if there were grasshoppers in them... 😂🙈 Ya can't blame her for wondering, based on the name. She learned that they're named that just because the mint part is green like a grasshopper. She did a great job frosting all the cookies with me. All 3 kids highly approved of the end result - as did Adam and I! Very delish and so soft. Yummm.

Our youth activity last night was a little more exciting and out of the ordinary because we combined with 2 other wards to have pizza and popcorn and then watch the Worldwide Youth Music Festival. It was pretty awesome! It is so cool to me that the church does really well these days with the videos they come out with and the musical performances and such - it's not all so cheesy like it used to be. I was watching it thinking that you wouldn't know the performers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints just by watching them and listening to the words - of course all the songs were Christ centered, but there no other dead giveaways and I liked that. I think it's great from a missionary work standpoint to show other people that we're not weirdos and just like everyone else! We just happen to passionate in our belief of Christ and the performances definitely showed that. Some great talent and I guess there's A Great Work album (the youth theme this year) put together and it's available on spotify, apple music, the gospel library app, and maybe somewhere else. Pretty cool!! 

Adam held down the fort at home real well while I was gone and impressed me by not only bathing all the kids but he was also in the middle of deep cleaning our rug when I got home. Major props to him!! I was thinking I needed to do it, but he beat me to it and I love him for it. 😘🥰

Today was a pretty low key day spent just playing at home. Since our rug wasn't totally dry yet, I occupied the boys in the kitchen for a while making pancakes and then we played upstairs in the playroom for a while before Nolan went to bed. The boys were trying to make baskets by throwing balls inside the potty seat that I was holding up in the air as the basket. 😂 Totally Rowan's idea, and don't worry, I cleaned it real good before we used it for that. We also played with blocks and built some ramps for cars to drive over. Speaking of ramps, Nolan is a huge fan now of the little car ramp toy we have and figured out today how to put the little cars on it and watch them zoom down the ramp. He did it over and over and over for a while. I remember when Maeve and Rowan were obsessed with it when we first got it! Glad it will receive a little more love again now. 

We also had our traditional Steak and Fettucine Alfredo dinner that we normally have on St. Patrick's Day, but pushed it off to today because I had dinner at my youth activity last night. Of course we also had some bottled soda, as per usual, although this time I got only green colored sodas. Maeve was so excited for the soda that, the health conscious girl that she is, she told me she didn't want me to put a juice box in her lunch so that she could have the soda with dinner. I love her healthy, little rule following self (we normally only allow one sugary drink a day). We were impressed this year that Maeve was up for trying the steak and ate her portion plus the portion that Rowan wouldn't eat. 👏👏 She loved it! 

Tonight at bedtime, I can't even put into words what Rowan was doing while I was laying with him, but I wish I could have gotten a video of it. He is such a goof and I love him for it. I couldn't help but laugh, so of course he ate that up, laughed himself, and kept being goofy. Such an animated little character. Everyone needs a Rowan in their life! It might involve getting beat up a little bit here and there, but a loooot of entertainment will also be involved. 😂👌

That's all she wrote, so here are some pics from yesterday and today: 

😍😍😍

Sweet boy loving on his sis! 

😍 I love him! 

😂😂😂

My enthusiastic cookie froster 🤣

Rowan never agreed to get dressed, otherwise he would have been wearing green too. 🤦 Also he may or may not have refused to eat his dinner, was told he couldn't have a cookie, but snuck one anyway when Adam wasn't around.... 😳🤦

I might not have set this photo up super well, but it kinda cracks me up that Rowan's head is perfectly positioned between the 2 soda bottles. 😂😂

Sweet little Zoey! 😍

😍😍

😂😂 The faces she makes without me even asking her to... Nailed it! 👌👊

Peace and blessings. ✌️

March 15th & 16th, 2021: Eenie Meenie Miney Mo & Outings galore

Yesterday was the start of a new week and I will confess I didn't have the strongest start because I chose to sleep in as long as I could instead of working out early. My excuse is it being that time of month. Working out isn't as enjoyable when you're in the thick of that so I wasn't looking forward to it as much. I still made myself do it after dropping Maeve off at school, so 2 points for me instead of 4. 😂 Luckily it was a HIIT workout so it was 30 minutes instead of an hour, which helped the morning not drag, so it all worked out. I had some crescent rolls warmed up with jam on them for breakfast and MAN were they good! It is a little bit dangerous to be able to make such top notch baked goods at home myself. Better keep myself in line so I don't gain 100 lbs. 😅

Rowan and I started a new unit, The Five Senses, for preschool. He was pretty fired up about it and followed along quite well. One of the activities was to do a taste test with different stuff like cocoa powder, brown sugar, vinegar, mustard, spices, etc. to teach him taste vocabulary - sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. Which makes me think I should have included lemon juice! 🤦 Doesn't matter much anyway, because he was too afraid to try 80% of them. Not that I'm surprised. I did get Maeve to try all of them after school and I was laughing so hard when she tried the ginger like it was nothing and quickly realized it caused quite the burn. I tried everything with Rowan and my mouth was literally on fire after that one. But it went away pretty quick, so I wasn't too worried for her but it was fun to see her reaction. I had no idea it was so hot on it's own! 😳 An interesting sensation for sure. Also paprika tastes terrible on it's own - so bitter and gross. Every time she tried one she guessed what it was afterwards and got most of them right, except for obscure spices and chocolate syrup. I laughed so hard when she licked the chocolate syrup off her finger and said "BBQ sauce?" I don't think she even let herself register the taste before saying that, she just thought it looked like that. 🤦 It was pretty funny though! Far from it. 

I've realized something about Maeve and Rowan and that is that both of them don't really understand the purpose of Eenie Meenie Miney Mo. That was made clear yesterday when Rowan used it to decide where he wanted to be to do his hair (😂🤷), but then because he landed on an option he didn't actually want he figured out which option to start the chant on instead, so that he would land on the right one that he actually wanted. And then presumed to do the chant again. 🤦 Maeve has done that same thing too before, and it always confused me, but I realize now that they just like to say the chant and it has nothing to do with the fact that they can't decide which option to go with. Every time without fail they already have the option they really want picked out in their head, but just like to do the chant anyway for fun. 😂🤦 Too funny. Crazy kids! 

Another laugh of the day yesterday was when I still hadn't showered yet and didn't have very much time before we needed to leave to get Maeve, but Rowan asked me to play a game with him. I told him I really needed to shower, but maybe I could manage to play for 10 minutes. Then he said proudly, "No! How about TWO minutes!?" 😂🤔 You got it, dude. I like the way you bargain. 😉

I can't think of anything else noteworthy to share from yesterday, other than the fact that we're all slowly losing our minds over here because of the incessant whining that only gets louder if you don't immediately give him what he wants when he's in his high chair or he randomly sees someone else with food or drink that he wants. It's so over the top annoying, especially because he is the pickiest eater so meal times pretty much look like offering him a million different things, for most of them to get thrown on the floor with whining mixed in whenever his tray is empty again. UGH. Send help. Adam told me tonight he just isn't going to feed him dinner anymore. 🤦 Too bad we can't starve our 15 month old. If only we could just go that route instead. 

Today was a go, go, go kinda day. We left the house at 9:20am and aside from being home from 12:30 to 2:30pm we were otherwise gone until 4:30pm when it was time to settle back at home and make dinner. We had a well check for Nolan, did some grocery shopping, picked up Maeve from school, went to Walmart since I couldn't get something I needed at Kroger 🤦, and stopped at Smoothie King for some smoothies since Adam had rewards that were going to expire. A jam packed day for sure! Nolan cried almost his entire appointment, even from the moment we stepped foot in the room he got checked out in. He clearly knew exactly where he was, and poor boy was not a fan! He's still a tiny guy, but a healthy one, so we'll take it. I should back up though and mention that on our way to the doc, I gave myself a pat on the back, because I finally convinced Rowan to let me take the unnecessary bandaid off his forehead that had been there for a few days by telling him that if the doctor saw it, he might think something was wrong and tell him he needed a shot. 😂😂 Sometimes you just gotta lie through your teeth to get the job done, cause sure enough off that bandaid came before we went into the office. 👏

A few things that made me laugh throughout the day today are... 

~Rowan thought it would be cool to poke a hole in his styrofoam cup that his smoothie came in, which caused some smoothie to leak out all over his pants in the car. 🤦🤦🤦 So of course, when we got home, he wanted me to take his wet pants off and these particular pants have elastic at the bottom but it is not nearly stretchy enough so they're hard to get off. I was struggling and said "ugh, these are so tight" and he responded, "I think it's because the seat belt is tight" 🤔🤔 - yeah, we weren't even in the car at that point, so not sure how to explain that response.. 😂🤷

~Maeve got in the car after school and said with all the enthusiasm in the world, "I have something VERY exciting to tell you that we were DYING over -- we got to see REAL baby otters!" I of course responded with just as much enthusiasm and said "Whaaaat!? Oh my gosh! Are you serious??" to which she incorrectly replied, "Nope!" 😂 I guess she was a little confused by my question. Then I had to laugh when she further explained and said that she just watched a video about baby otters - even though she initially painted the picture that she saw them in real life in front of her face. 😂 I guess it was pretty awesome though just seeing them on a screen! Their school mascot is an otter, so that's probably a big part of why it was so exciting. 

~Tonight Rowan was flying one of his foam airplanes around and then Maeve joined in for a minute and before long they were both holding onto it at the same time and pulled a little too hard and snapped it. Rowan BURST into tears! I tried to make him feel better by reminding him that he still had 2 perfect airplanes to use and through his sobs he said, "But I wanted 3 because I'm 3!" 😂😂 Poor little boyfriend. 3 really is the magic number around here for him. 

That's about all I got, other than the fact that we've got a VERY excited Maeve going to bed tonight that cannot WAIT for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow. She makes everything 1000 times more fun because of how into it all she is!! She was also absolutely GIDDY last Thursday night knowing she was going to get school breakfast the next morning. Life is pretty dang awesome when you're 5 and in Kindergarten! 😍

I'll leave you with a few pics:

Rowan wore his pants backwards yesterday 😂👌

Still thinking that these baby seats in bathroom stalls are the best invention ever for moms. And he's a one shoe on one shoe off kinda dude. 😂😍

How you easily tote 3 kids around Walmart - boom baby! Bulky big blue carts for the win. 🙌

I was laughing that Maeve and Nolan's reactions look so similar. This is the face they made when they heard a loud sound in the parking lot and wanted to see what it was. 😂

Peace and blessings. ✌️