[PUMPKINS]

Grandma and Grandpa Schroeder have an amazing pumpkin patch patch this year. The boys and I thoroughly enjoyed going out to their house to pick out own pumpkins and gather numerous gourds. The boys couldn't have been more thrilled, and their dad too- he finds the cost of those beautiful orange blobs ridiculous!

The boys's carving pumpkins. They picked them out back in June.

Like previously stated, the boys had an amazing time. I did as well. I had even more fun getting the fall deck up and ready. Happy fall!

My posts are going to be pretty out-of-order. I wanted to get my MT/Glacier post up but I took about 600 photos so it's kind of hard to organize and chose what to put up.

Montana

We'll just start with the highlight of our summer. Montana.

Let me just start out this with a little excerpt from our night before, or well the night we left for Montana. It was one of my best friends wedding. There was Pendleton and our table was the last to be served dinner. There was a lot of dancing and friends from High School.

Dan and I left at midnight and made it to Grove City before I decided to empty my stomach. Gratefully, I passed out until we made it about half way through North Dakota. If you've ever been in the car with me on the home from Kimball you know that this usually doesn't happen. I make the drive home a big production.

Well we made it to Montana. Our first stop was Livingston. This is a place where Dan and I have always wanted to spend more time. Bozeman is truly beautiful but it lacks that "old time" feeling that Livingston has.

Livingston, Montana

Rosa's Pizza. Probably the best pizza to date.

Just wanted to check out some real estate on our 6 mile bike ride. This house was 3.2 mil. Just smidge out of our price range.

New Beer, new night.

So our first night we spent at a KOA outside of Livingston. It was fabulous to sleep in a bed, not the car.

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack.

Well it's been just about what seems to be a year (May was the last post). Not a whole lot has changed. But I will tell you this blog is going to take a different direction than just posting about those two adorable little men of mine.. I mean who are we kidding, I'm sure I'll still have a great deal of photos of them.. but just snips of info of what we're up to. I'd rather just post photos... so be ready for photos upon photos upon photos. Iphone photos, instagram photos and well, photos from an actual camera... (yep, just charged that bad boy up).

READY?

oh summer, where art thou?

It's been quite a while since my last post, I wish I had something exciting to post about... But, I don't. So here's whats going on.

Our house is on hold. We're not currently working on any big projects- Dan is super busy with overtime and extra hours at 3M and of course the side jobs are picking up.. because it's supposedly  spring, (I don't quite believe it). We are getting closer and closer to the kitchen remodel- just picking out the dates to when it will be taking place. Unfortunately probably not until August, which is a huge bummer for me.. but at least it's happening. Everything is picked out and priced, now just to make that purchase- which is always the downfall. Our room is just about complete. A few of my items from West Elm are on back-order so they won't be here till July. But we are making slow and steady progress. Next up is a quick planking/paint update for Gavin's room- which is SO needed. It's been 5 years since we did much in that room. We spent all last week purging our house. Getting things shipped off to the dump, things priced for a garage sale that my in-laws in New Ulm are hosting.

The boys are just boys. Itching for nicer, warmer weather to spend the countless hours that we should already have spent outside by the beginning of May. Jude is getting his two year old molars (LORD HELP US ALL) and is causing serious havoc around his household. But he's still sweet and cuddly every now and again. Jude is just about potty trained, we still have a few slip ups but he's doing a great job. Gavin will graduate next Thursday from Mighty Dragons Preschool and I couldn't be a prouder mom. He has come so far and I cannot wait to watch him grow into a Kindergartner. He is involved in a few community ed summer classes which I'm sure will keep us busy during the day. My mom and I plan to take the boys to Rapid City this summer to check out Mt. Rushmore and the surrounding hot spots (which will also be the time that the kitchen remodel is happening, hence why Dan isn't joining).

I am, just like the boys, waiting for summer. I am sick of all my winter-style clothes, my pasty skin, I long for going for runs without running tights and long sleeved shirts, and having a beer in my hand outside during the nighttime cool air. I need summer! I thought this summer was going to be easy-breezy but now that I take out my calendar I can tell that it is just as busy, but with about a third of the weddings we had last year. Regardless of what's happening during the summertime or how busy we might be, I need it to be here.

So not much extreme excitement, no baby, no big move, no trips happening soon, I'm not going back to work (yet)... but we're still going strong.

just a little dress up on one of the many rainy spring days.. oh, and our bestie, b.
have you seen a cuter construction worker, cowboy and firefighter? 

downfalls of being a stay-at-homer

Cleaning.

I hate almost everything about cleaning. 

Dusting, toilets, floors, the fridge, stove, ect... I am not a fan.

One thing I do love to do is laundry. And dishes I guess, too. And picking up the boys's room, and my own. 

With two little boys who eat, play, color and make messes at 100 mph my house always seems to be a mess. I try and try my hardest to keep up with the messes but goodness... it's kind of overwhelming.

Last night at 10 pm I decided to spend the final hours of my birthday cleaning the kitchen floors. Like scrubbing on my hands and knees... This morning as of 9:48 am it looks like I did absolutely nothing to make it look better. Crumbs from the leftover pizza Gavin helped himself to this morning and some spilled some milk on the floor. Don't even get me started on the mud by the door. WHERE IS SUMMER? The sink is full of whatever Dan decided to throw in there this morning before heading off to work- he's oh so helpful in this department. 

I washed the walls yesterday. First time in five years that I wiped them down. I didn't know there was such a thing? Cleaning walls? Whatever would you do that for? Well, I did it. Cleaned those bad boys down. I don't think they look any different to be honest, but my mom said they could use a good cleaning. 

The living room seems to stay the cleanest which is mind boggling since that's where we spend the most hours during the day, and even the boys's room is clean. I vacuum it twice a week to rid the hair but other than that the dust seems to be non-existent. And I love to clean the windows and make their beds and have their rooms look tidy. I put away the toys about thirty times a day and really don't mind because those five minutes of it looking like it could be a "cute clean room" are all I need.  But the kitchen. My oh my. I just want it to be clean for an entire day. Even when we're gone it seems like the second we come home it's once again a mess.

So there you have it. My complaint for the day. Cleaning. BAH 

I'm going to happily skip down to the laundry room to gather the clean clothes and put them away :) 

PS- do y'all have a drying rack? We were given one from my grandma (who is giving away almost everything she owns) and I can't imagine why I went 25 years without one. Like Dan says, (hashtag) mom life. 

being a mommy

Today.

Our Sundays are usually pretty lazy and we get a whole-lotta nothing accomplished. Today, well, it really wasn't any different. I brought Gavin to Sunday School, made lunch (lets be honest, it was a combination of yesterdays leftovers), had quiet time/nap time, and took a trip to Buffalo.

We went to Buffalo to sell some snowmobile skis off of the new(er) snowmobile Dan bought while he was in Montana - that my friends, is a long, not necessary for a blog post, story. We also took a lovely drive through the Morries Buffalo Ford dealer, which is where we got my Explorer. Dan has a desire for a new truck and I can't blame him because "the great white" as we call her, has 350,000+ on that old gal.. and her time, well as sad as it will be for Dan.. is ticking. But he refuses to buy himself a new truck before her end because we have no space to store an extra truck.... again, another long story for another post.

I am surely drifting quickly from the point of this post.

We brought the boys with us to Buffalo because, well... they're our children. We bring them almost everywhere we go. We made it special and took them to the McDonalds play place where their hearts filled with joy as they ran around and slid and screamed and wore off the energy that has been held in for countless days because this Minnesota winter is killing every small child, slowly.

Anyways, on the way home Dan and I chatted and the boys chatted among themselves. That was until about Kimball. The entire way home Gavin said, "mommy, mommy, mommy".... and as I didn't respond because I was mid-conversation with Dan it just kept on, "mommy, mommy, mommy".

At one point, and I'm sure it was after Kimball.. but before Watkins, I turned around and in my not so happy to hear your non-stop chatter voice and said, "Gavin! Please be quiet. Let's play the quiet game".

If your a mom or a dad you know that the "quiet game" doesn't work long at all with a four year old. Not long at all.

It was right outside of Watkins by Mies that Gavin once again did the "mommy, mommy, mommy" and I grew more and more frustrated with his talk of John Deere tractors and the desire for him to get his own snowmobile. I asked again if we could be quiet so mommy and daddy could finish their conversation.

Dan started to get frustrated and the rest of the way home chuckled under his breath that he was more than excited to get out of the car.

We got home only to find my moms dog in our garage and if you know my husband at all it was pretty much the same as if she'd put her in our house. Our moods were not all too high and it was late.. and we still had bath time... and get things ready for preschool in the morning.. and go to bed. At 8:15 Gavin came out and said, "hey mom"  ... and all I said was "what?" in a horrible tone that would have even sent myself scurrying back into my bedroom. He trailed off to his bed and quickly fell alseep.

I had fabulous plans to do x, y and z tonight, even go to the gym... but my crummy attitude had me sitting on the couch, browsing the computer and watching the Oscars. And now I'm glad I did.

A preschool mom posted this and had me in immediate tears and feeling even worse.

I feel horrible that I put my little man to bed and was so rude and crabby towards him. I walked into his room with tears in my eyes and rubbed his back in hopes he would wake up so I could apologize. He didn't. But, I still feel awful. It's the small things that seem to mean the most to my four year old. The small things like putting him to bed at night and reading him stories, or doing his prayer with him or giving him the last of whatever I have- it makes him so happy. And here I am, being rude and ungrateful that my sweet little boy has something he wants to share with me.

I love being a mom. I love that my boys love me so much more than any other love I've ever experienced. I love that I am there for them and that they need me to be there for them, and help them and guide them, and keep them safe. Obviously, the list could go on and on.

Every mom should read that blog post and remember it, daily. I know I need to. I need to slow down and remember they are only little for awhile and right now I am (we are) everything to them. Someday they are going to be all that we have. Hug your littles tonight, my friends. Enjoy the silliness and smiles and joy they have in their little bodies. I can't even imagine the feelings I'm going to have when they don't need me as much as they do today.

a thank you

I forgot to post this a week or so ago. It's too sweet not to share.

The story behind this is quite simple. Gavin thinks Steve is SO cool. He will watch this video over and over and over again. If you haven't watched it before, please do, it's a good one. We watch it in the car, dance to it in the living room and even watch it in the bed at bedtime. Last year when Gavin started preschool he was shocked to see that Steve's son is in Gavin's preschool class. This year again the boys are in the same classroom and Gavin says they're besties, (among many others).

A week or two ago at preschool they were talking about the post office and how it all works. One day Gavin came home and told me he sent a letter to Steve. I quickly brushed it off because I doubted that Mrs Julie would send it out. To be honest I have no idea how it was sent or if it went home with Steve's son, but he got it.

A week or two later Gavin was overjoyed to get a letter in the mail and was SO excited when I read him the letter out loud. He was even happier when I told him it was from Steve. It was adorable. Plus, a DQ gift card? Wow, now that's cool. It is still sitting on Gavs bulletin board and he refuses to spend his DQ card. He has shared the story with so many people I'm sure they're sick of hearing about it.

It still makes my day to see my little boy so excited about it. And it was so sweet of Steve.