wednesday morning

this morning was pretty relaxed. 
jake was home - not by choice, but with a relapsed back problem.
and after ben having a low fever and congestion yesterday, we stuck around the house too.

oh, and i totally flunked at my goal to clean a room each day!
today was bathroom day (yuck!) on my list, but it was much easier to put if off until tomorrow.
however, ben and i did manage to sort and take recycling and i did two loads of laundry -
so that has to count for something, right?

tonight i'm making a hot tea and heading to bed - think i might have the little bug that hit ben.
i can't think of anything that frustrates me more than not feeling well in the heat of the summer,
and when i have a calendar full of things to do. 

i think this usually happens when i get a little too intense about being productive and forget to be content.
there is much to be thankful for in everyday.
tonight i'll fall asleep counting my blessings...

tuesday morning

i think i have a theme going for the week.  :)
this morning i woke up feeling tired from a rough night with little guy who wasn't feeling well.
so our day quickly became a day at home - no story time, no grocery shopping, no playing at the park.

but that was okay because i managed to stick with my daily goal of cleaning one room.
the room of the day - our bedroom.

i love this quilt!
it was made by my great-grandmother.
i've had it for about it a year, but didn't start using right away.
i was keeping it stored away - silly me! 
it is so colorful and cheerful! 
and with a room that has lots of work to do (two more layers of wallpaper to remove - already done one)
i love the quick fix the quilt brings. 

this is how i found ben just before lunch, watching pbs kids.

i put him in bed and he took a much needed three hour nap.
(i took a little one too!)
looking forward to wednesday...

monday morning

this morning was definitely the best part of our day...
let's just say things went downhill after lunch, so i'm glad we had a positive start to the day.

i'm trying to pick one room a day to clean - not a "deep" clean - just the basics.
and hoping this might keep the housework from piling up and taking an entire day. 
today the "room of the day" was ben's bedroom - soon to be shared with little sister.

 

i also hope to use this as a "before" photo,
because i do have some plans for updating and decorating before november.  :)

i love this look - i know he was ready to be done and a little frustrated that i made him put all the trains in the bin while we cleaned the table and vacuumed underneath. 

this morning was quite nice so after cleaning we spent the rest of the morning outside.
not sure why the tricycle doesn't stay on the driveway or why he still insists on scooting with his feet and not peddling - but he does. 
that's just ben.  :) 
and i love him.

and this is ben's dog at the moment - her name is casey. 
i know he would love a real dog. 
we hope to see if we can make that happen sometime later next year, but casey will have to do for now.

like i said - the rest of the day, not so peachy.
and i am very thankful for the chance to start a new day tomorrow.
time for a glass of milk and a cookie, and the last fifty pages of The Help.
good night!

road trip - my getaway

last week i wrote about what jake and ben each did over our getaway weekend - 

here's what my weekend looked like...

i spent friday evening, all day saturday and part of sunday visting with a sweet friend in manhattan.  

love that town!  or maybe i just love feeling like reminiscing about those carefree college days.

jake and i both attended ksu and met in manhattan, so it still holds a special place in my heart.

in fact, i spent over 7 years living there - first as an undergrad, 

and then again with jake while he completed his masters after we were married.  

but back to my friend...  i met susan while working in one of the colleges while jake was in grad school.

i only knew her for about a year before jake was done with school and we headed out west, 

but we have managed to stay in touch over the last three years.

it was great to share a whole weekend with her!

a weekend full of food, shopping and talking...

i was horrible about documenting, but here are some of my favorite things from the weekend.

 my favorite coffee shop in the whole world

 a really fun second hand shop

 orange leaf - two wonderful words!

this was a whole new experience for me -

we don't even have a dairy queen

so this small town girl was completely impressed.

i think i need that orange and green glass tile in my kitchen!

we also spent some serious time fabric and craft shopping.

thank goodness susan likes fabric as much as i do!

the entire time was really a treat for me - and me being just me...

a little room to breathe from my daily routine.

and though i dearly missed jake and ben, and the usual family time we share on the weekend 

i know this weekend was good for all three of us, 

each in our own way.

thanks to my wonderful hostess susan (and her husband),

grandma and grandpa, and my husband for making this weekend possible.

it was just what this mama needed!  :)

go, go, go

this is how i found ben when i checked to make sure he was taking his nap...

it pretty much sums up the first half of our week!

but that's a good thing -

we're cleaning, organizing, sorting, working, planning, shopping, running errands 

and getting things at home back in order from a whirlwind of a summer.

(i think this might also be me feeling the need to "nest".)

sugar cookies

i always seem to have a mile long list of things i am going to get done on the weekend...

and i'm usually lucky to actually complete one project.

this wasn't on "the list" but it is the one thing that was started... and finished.

 here's how it went...

bake cookies

(we made this super easy by buying a mix - just add butter!)

 choose the one you want to eat

 eat your chosen cookie (still warm from the oven)

with a glass of milk

 make frosting the next day

make funny faces

and get a bowl of sprinkles

 decorate the cookies...

a handful of sprinkles for me, one sprinkle for the cookie.

and enjoy!

hope you had a good weekend.

we're looking forward to a slower paced week with more time at home.

maybe i'll even get a few things marked off "the list" before next weekend.  :)

back at home

jake and ben came home last night! 
i worked until 7, so they stopped to see me when they got to town around 5:30.

i was so excited to see them both!
jake was gone wednesday and thursday,
and ben was staying with grandma and grandpa since last friday - he had a wonderful time!
ben even came home with a name suggestion for baby sister that grandpa helped him come up with...
not sure if i should share it or not - i'm afraid it might stick. 
until then, ben thinks it's hilarious and we all have to laugh too.
thanks grandpa!  ;)  i think she may already have a nickname. 

i've been busy working everyday this week 6-8 hours at my part-time job, so it did help the time to pass but it was still such a different place without my almost-three-year-old and without my husband for a couple of days too.

once i was home from work last night, we all went outside to water plants, scour the garden for veggies in need of harvest, and enjoy the warm, breezy evening.

this is what i get when i ask ben to smile - what a cheese!

confession - that tall grass behind ben is our garden this year...

what can i say - we've been busy and the weather has been less than desirable.

 it's definitely a hunt to find the vegetables!  but there are some - they're just hiding.

and LOOK...  now that the temps have been lower than 115,

and we've had a little precipitation....

we actually have tomatoes!

So glad we are all home together... and it's the weekend!

road trip - jake's getaway

our whole weekend was really around planned around jake's annual canoe trip. 

old friends

canoes

food 

beer

and

the kansas river

usually there seems to be some problem...

water levels - too high, too low

difficult canoe unloading and loading

extreme heat

stormy weather

but this year was near perfect!

beautiful weather

perfect water levels

real concrete boat ramps

comfortable temperatures, with a slight breeze

and even a full moon

i wasn't there to see them off, 

but i did make it to the final destination to meet them.

 that's my wilderness man leading the way

isn't this cool?  

these bird homes cover the whole side of the overpass the boat ramp was under

 ben was really exited about the whole thing  :)

i think he slept the whole time we were at the loading ramp.

jake looks forward to this trip all year long,

and i'm glad this year was such a success!

road trip - ben's getaway

as i mentioned yesterday, we left town on friday and came home sunday evening...
well, jake and i came home. 
ben continued his stay with grandma and grandpa.
and he's having a wonderful time...

playing outside
helping grandma out around the house
sleeping in and taking good naps
eating lots of yummy food
doing "guy things" with grandpa
playing with toys and reading books
feeding the fish
giving the dogs treats
a play day with cousins
and of course - lots of time just entertaining grandma and grandpa.

it's a full work week for jake and i so we are staying busy,
but the feel around the house is so different without our little guy...
we can't wait to have him home again, but we are blessed to have a little time to ourselves while he gets some quality time with grandma and grandpa.

we love you ben!
see you soon.

road trip

we've just returned home from a three day weekend.

 it was wonderful for each of us - ben, dad and mom...

we all got our own mini-vacation.

more to share as the week begins...

catching up on things, part 3 - tanganyika wildlife park

earlier this spring we headed to tanganyika wildlife park for a family day out.
we had a groupon discount too - that made admission half price - even more reason to go!

we had also gone the year before, but ben was still pretty little and not quite as excited about it.

this year he thoroughly enjoyed it!

because of the size (not too big) and nice layout (easily walked or maneuvered with a stroller) it is great for little people (and their parents).

there are also plenty of animal exhibits that allow you to feed or interact with the animals.

feeding the giraffes was probably ben's favorite.

but he really enjoyed feeding the fish too!

family time, great weather and a nice picnic lunch = a wonderful day!

i hope we can make it back again when the weather cools down.