A Few of My Favorite Things

I know I've been really terrible at blogging lately, but I don't want to bore you with all the mundane details of our busy life. I feel like I'm in this cycle of work, cook, clean, play, sleep. Day after day, that's what I do. However, I've been home the last few days taking care of sick kids so I've had time to think of a new blog topic. Here are a few of my favorite things right now.

Heated floors! We've only had them on in the bathroom once so far, but it was heavenly!

Chocolate cake - need I say more? Add ice cream and fresh raspberries and it's perfect!

Morning coffee - yes, I'm an addict now. I need my coffee or I get headaches.

The Twilight Series. I was skeptical about vampire books, but I caved and started reading the first book last Wednesday and I'm already half-way through the second one. Nick and I rented the first movie this past weekend after I had finished the first book and I was a little disappointed, but movies are never as good as the book. I'm thoroughly enjoying this unlikely love story.

Sleep. Yes, I took a picture of our messed up bed - it means I slept well. And I love this bed!

My new lip gloss my beautiful, wonderful Aunt Jennifer sent me to try. I love it so much! (an order will probably be coming your way Jennifer!)

The radio station I listen to all the time, Life 97.9. It's a Christian music station and I love it because I don't have to worry about my kids hearing inappropriate lyrics or material in the car. And in the mornings when I'm usually rushed and a little frazzled, it calms me and gives me encouragement to get through the day without stress.

There you go, the simple things that make me happy during the day. Of course, it goes without saying that Nick, Rylan and Mackenzie also make me happy during the day. Things that I particularly enjoy about my wonderful family are:

-Nick's hugs and kisses goodbye and hello when he goes to and comes from work.

-Rylan randomly telling me he loves me throughout the day.

-Mackenzie's enthusiastic kisses at bedtime.

Grass!

Our grass is growing! We planted it on Labor Day, so hopefully we'll have enough nice weather yet that it can get a good start before winter! I can't wait to run around in our backyard!

Playing outside today - showing me a rock she found.

Kisses from Ace!

Nick and I were watching a movie in our room tonight and when I came out to switch laundry loads, this is how I found Rylan tonight, sleeping on the top step. Good thing he never rolled over! Silly kid!

And speaking of stairs, we got a railing the other day! The railing on the stairs is now complete (other than the caps for the posts)! It's so nice that we don't have to follow the kids around everywhere so we know they aren't going up or down the stairs by themselves. Slow but sure, we're still making progress!

Pictures!

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures!

A couple weeks ago, Rylan and I saw this great double rainbow, it was a amazing! I could barely get the entire thing to fit in 2 photos, it was so big! Pictures never do rainbows justice, and you can barely see the second rainbow in these first 2 pictures.

You can see both here. The one on the left was so bright and vivid, I've never seen a rainbow like that before.
The best thing about that night though, was after Rylan and I came back inside from taking pictures, he said to me, "hey, that rainbow means God will never send a flood again!" It was so cute and it makes a Momma proud that he remembered a Bible story!

Our new pad! And no, we did not get another dog, we still just have Ace. That's Bruno in the background, Katie and Brian's dog. We thought he was running around with the other dogs, we had no idea he decided to pose with us!

Inside the house, I haven't done much for decorating yet. Just bedding basically. The rest will come slow but sure.

Master bedroom

Rylan's bedroom

Guest bedroom

My mom reading a book to Rylan when she was here visiting.

Kenzie eats corn!!!! She is a picky eater and usually turns her nose up at fruits and veggies, but we're seeing some progress lately. After many tries with sweet corn, she finally licked it one night and decided she liked it! She goes to town on the cobs now, it's great! She also passed up her grilled cheese tonight for a bowl full of grapes and blueberries, also unheard of, but so exciting!

Rylan and Mackenzie on their first day of preschool/new daycare.
They are still having a blast! Friday Mackenzie had a hard time saying goodbye to me. Crying, clinging, the whole bit. I finally had to walk away and listen to hear screaming as I went down the hall, man that was hard. But by the time I walked Rylan to his classroom and came back upstairs to check on her through the 2-way mirror, she was fine - reading a book with her teacher. When I went to pick them up after work, she didn't want to come home with me, she kept waving bye-bye to me, she wanted to stay. So I know she had a good day and was fine.

Kenzie in Mommy's big bath tub!

Rylan and Daddy playing Candy Land.

First Day of Preschool

Rylan's first day went great! He loved it and was so excited to play with all the toys and meet new friends. I think he was most excited about bringing a backpack though, what a goof! So we had a successful day and I didn't cry!!!

Mackenzie also had a good day, they said she napped without her pacifier, which is great! She hadn't been using it at our other daycare, so I hoped she wouldn't need it, but I sent it along just in case she was fussy and/or scared. They said she did great though!

Both kids went to sleep excellent tonight too, before 8:30pm! So they were good and worn out which is what Momma likes! I took a picture of them this morning before we left, so I will have to post that sometime soon. Be patient!

Whew!!!!

We've been moved in for a little over a week now, school has started, and we're all still alive! I was worried about the first week, but thanks to my mom, the house really is livable and does feel like home now. Nick was gone to a conference in Denver last week so my wonderful mom came up to help me. I went to work, the kids went to daycare and my mom cleaned and organized all day long for me! Seriously, moms can't get any better! I don't know if she knows how much I appreciate it, but I can only hope I can do this for Rylan and Mackenzie some day. Thanks mom, you're so wonderful, I love you so much!

I'm not posting new pictures, because we had limited internet access (thanks to the neighbors) so I can't be on here very long. It's been nice taking a break from the internet and TV. I've been reading more and I think it helps me sleep better. So I will continue to try and put up new posts here, but be patient, we are still getting used to our busy routine now that school has started.

Also, Rylan starts PRESCHOOL on Wednesday! Holy cow, I can't believe it! He's so excited to go and meet new friends and also to take a back pack with him. I'm excited too, but it's one of those bittersweet times for mom. I obviously want him to grow and learn and get to each next step, but it's hard to know that I can't keep him my little boy forever! I think he will just thrive though and I can't wait to hear the stories he has at the end of the day. We're so blessed to have such an inquisitive little man who is eager to learn!

Mackenzie will also be starting new daycare at the same place Rylan will be at. Another bittersweet moment, leaving our wonderful home daycare, but we felt it was best to have the kids at the same place. Mackenzie is behind in speech, so we also think it will benefit her to be around kids just her own age. We've been having some consultations on her development and think this will be another good move to keep her speech improvement going in the right direction. She has really been developing quite the attitude, but her funny, entertaining personality is developing as well and we love it! We are so blessed to have such a loving, affectionate, independent little lady in our family!

So keep us in your prayers that Rylan will adjust to preschool, Mackenzie's speech will continue to develop, and I will be a prepared and effective teacher for my new group of students. It feels really good to be back in the classroom, but I always worry if I'm doing a good enough job.

Next time, I'll try to get some new pictures up!

Never Mind

I'm going to stop talking about what's "supposed" to happen at the house and I'll let you know when it does actually happen. The railing is not up, because the driveway got delayed and it was just poured today. BUT, it's very cool and it's a big job done. Hopefully I can take timeout from cleaning tomorrow and take pictures.
They are still working on the railing. We are using re-bar as spindles and it's taking longer than expected to sand the rust off, cover with 2 coats of primer, then 2 coats of paint. I've been getting lots of cleaning done though, and I'm ready to move more stuff in. I'm sure we'll have stuff sitting around in boxes for quite a while, but it will be a relief when we can finally sleep there! I can't wait to go shopping and fill up the fridge!
Stay tuned for more updates!

House Update

We are so close to moving in! Things continue to move along, and I think I will start moving stuff in tomorrow(Saturday) or Sunday. It's so exciting! Tonight Nick and I worked at the house until about 9:30 pm, cleaning and doing little stuff. We got Rylan's closet system in, some towel rods/hooks up, some carpet vacuumed, and some of the tile floor clean. The tile floor will be the end of me I think. It's so dirty! I first pick up big chunks, then vacuum, then use the Hoover Floor Mate (love that machine) then on my hands and knees, I run my hands over every single tile, feeling for anything that needs to be scraped off, like grout, caulk, paint, and whatever else. Just the scraping part, I average about 1 tile every minute, so it's slow going. Then I go back and use the Hoover again on everything. It looks so much better, but if anyone comes in with shoes on, they're dead!

I still need to finish Mackenzie's closet, put up the rest of the towel bars/hooks, touch-up paint everywhere, and vacuum the upstairs. I'm hoping to get that all done tomorrow, so I can start moving stuff in on Sunday. I can't wait! The main reason we aren't moved in yet is that the railing still needs to be put up, but it's coming either tomorrow or Sunday, so this next week we should be able to sleep there! WooHoo!

We had some new furniture delivered today too, so that makes it more real. We got a new dining room set and a bedroom set for us. It all looks so great!

Anyhow, I realized I haven't put pictures of the house on here in a while. I put them all on Facebook, but I know not everyone is on there, so here are some of the latest.

I finally got the tree done in Mackenzie's room and it turned out great! It's floor to ceiling.

I didn't want to do an all-out theme for her room, but I have gotten a few things from Target's Love and Nature collection. It's all nature/woodsy stuff, and it's so cute! Anyhow, I saw a small canvas print at Target and loved it, but thought it needed to be a bit bigger. I think it turned out wonderfully!

Here are pictures of all the bathrooms. The mirrors and light fixtures are all in now, and they all look great.

Half bath - the sink is a bowl I got at Pier 1 for $20 and we had it turned into a sink. I saw a similar sink in the Kohler catalog for $700, so I think I did pretty well with this one! (it looks really small in this picture though)

Guest bath - if you ever come to stay, this will be yours!

Kids' bath - the mirror needs to be lowered and I need to get their towels/decor up so it is more suited for kids.

Master bath - the half wall still needs some work

The siding is all done!!! It looks wonderful and I love it. Although since this picture was taken, the outdoor lights have been put up where the white bars are by the garage doors.

Oooh, and the driveway will be finished tomorrow as well, they only have one section left to pour and it will be done. We damn near have a Nascar race track in our front yard, but it will be perfect for the kids to ride their bikes on.

Here is a close-up of the granite in the laundry room. I think this is my favorite granite in the house, the picture doesn't do it justice!

Here is my other favorite granite in the kitchen, love this one too!
A very cool vein

Well, I will take pictures of the driveway and railing tomorrow, and then more as the house fills up! It's still sort of surreal that we will be living there, but I'm so excited!