My 2 favorite boys

Quality photo it is not, however this moment was my favorite moment from today.  Leo woke a little early, Nick was running a minute late...and magic happened.  Leo idolizes his dad and talks about him all day; he definitely misses him at work all day.  Some mornings Leo wakes just in time to wave goodbye as Nick leaves for work...and some evenings he is in bed before Nick even gets home...so breakfast together is a rarity and Leo was thrilled.  I am so appreciative of the good father Nicholas is and love that he loves to play with Leo just as much as Leo loves to play with him.  Leo will tell you all day long that he and Dad are "best buds".  I love these two!

RECAP! Easter and more...

I have been neglecting our poor little blog...and I am making it my mission to update this month!  Let's recap a little bit...

We had an Easter egg hunt at Grammie's house and celebrated Isabelle's 7th birthday.  The kids had fun finding eggs and we ate a yummy Birthday cake in the shape of an egg per Belle's request.  Too bad I forgot to take a picture once we sliced into it...it was four pastel layers and so festive.

We also had an egg hunt with our new playgroup friends.  It was one of those "you bring a dozen filled eggs and then your child gets to find a dozen eggs" kind.  So I explained the rules to Leo and all of the other moms were amazed when Leo went around hunting for eggs, counting each one, and then stopping once he had 12 in his basket (mostly blue).  What can I say...the kid is a genius! :)  

For Easter Grammie and Grandpa gave Leo a lawnmower...he quickly took to it!  He had been loving his cousin Livi's bubble mower for awhile and so he was thrilled to have one of his own.  He still loves to mow the lawn and every time Nick goes out to mow he wants to go out and help.  

Definitely more to come...I feel super bad that Leo will be 2 1/2 shortly and I haven't even blogged about him being 2 and all that he could do at that age.  Oh well...I may not have it documented, but at least it was because I was living it with him right? :)

Oh and p.s. Our grass looks better now...it has taken time but it is definitely getting fuller and more green.  Wahoo!

PHOTO DUMP!

So we bought a house.  And started a job.  And Leo was sick.  So basically blogging has been at the absolute bottom of the list...but take this as a good sign that I am finally catching up in life enough to sit down and type for a minute!  (Warning: totally random...I'm sure this isn't cohesive, but I am starting somewhere!)

Leo had a fever that I just couldn't get to go away without tylenol...after a couple of days- one of which he was super lethargic- we went in to the pediatrician to find that he had a mild ear infection and a cold, not the flu.  Poor guy.  He always slept fine...except the napping which is a whole other story and luckily has improved lately. 

He isn't supposed to have his "nuk" except when he is in his crib so sometimes when it is quiet I come upstairs and find that he has pulled everything out of his bed.  He thinks he is SO sneaky!

This is one of my favorite shots lately.  Unfortunately the only pictures I ever take are on my phone so it isn't the greatest quality, but I just absolutely adore these two boys watching Cars.  We have definitely come to look forward to the weekends now that Nick goes to work all day every day!

It took forever to convince Leo to put these slippers on his feet- he has a real preference when it comes to what he wears on his feet that I contribute completely to his father :)  So when he finally put the football slippers on I had to get evidence.  And since he was sick Leo has gotten used to sitting on my bed to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the morning.  He has a special order the blankets go on his lap...I don't care- I am just happy I get to shower in peace!  Is it impressive or sad that I can shower AND get ready in one episode???

Here is our house.  I need to be better about taking pictures I know, but here is the outside for those of you who keep asking for pics!  (It's okay...I like blogs with pictures better too.)

And a few of our improvements so far... the entry way finally got our keyholder thing hung up and I hung a mirror in the little hallway by our room.  I know these don't seem impressive but just know that I have done it all myself!  Nick is busy at work and gets to come home to something new almost every day...it is a slow process, but a fun one too.

You can't really see it well, but I love the rug in the half-bath downstairs.  It in theory matches the living room that it is right next to...someday...if it ever gets decorated.  And this little closet is Koshka's space...unfortunately we have a litterbox!  Again, I know it doesn't look impressive but I hung those shelves myself- I hated not being able to put things in there but didn't want to pile things up on the floor so I could vacuum the litter quickly.  In fact I put that carpet down myself too...trying to keep the litter contained.  I have really come to love our little tool set. :)

Our bathroom got new towels and hooks and a long mirror...hung by yours truly and A LOT of help from Leo.  I can't keep him away from the power screwdriver!  I am just happy we don't have holes in our walls...yet.

And here is his room...we are getting ready to paint stripes but he only lets me tape a little before his "help" becomes just too much and we go play instead.  Someday I will get it all taped...and then painted.  At least I have started.  The same goes for our draperies in the living room...two 6 yard panels.  Yikes.  The bolts of fabric have been sitting in the dining room forever and I finally have just made myself start the process.  Sometimes it seems too overwhelming so I don't want to start because I know I won't be able to finish before I get interrupted...but I have got to start somewhere and am learning how to start a project and then not finish it right away.  It's a slow process but we are loving having a home to do with as we please :)

Hip hip hooray!

We closed on our home on Monday!  Woohoo!  It is a really long and frustrating story, but the point is that Nick started his new job on Monday morning and I went and bought a home without him!  Haha.  Thank goodness for sisters that can babysit short notice and a Power of Attorney that let me sign for Nicholas :)

We had 3 main things we kept having to reschedule as our closing date kept getting moved...the delivery of our stuff out of storage, the cable/internet guy, and the delivery of our fridge/washer/dryer (should have listened to the old guy at Home Depot that told us to not buy anything until we close...we bought it the night before and thought we were in the clear!)  Anywho I am sure we rescheduled each of those things like 5 or more times, each pushing it back just a day or two.  And now somehow they are all being delivered tomorrow...so wish me luck!  I keep teasing Nick that he just goes to work and is going to come one day to our house and it will be all furnished and set up.  I know he would love to be there to help with the set up, our grand plan just didn't work out :(  But we are going now...and we are into month 2 of Insanity. Yikes.

Stay tuned for pictures...I promise I will try to get some up soon! :)

I was trying to snap some pictures of Leo for our upcoming Valentine card...which hopefully gets done amidst all this buying a house craziness.  Anywho, most of them didn't really work out - toddlers move too much and too quickly - and I'm probably not going to use any of these on our card (so I haven't even taken the time to edit them)...but I just couldn't resist sharing this one right away.  Isn't he darling?  

Soon I will post pictures of his 2nd birthday, but for now this will have to do! :)

Waiting

Waiting is hard.  We had an incredibly busy month and now we are just sitting, waiting.  Waiting to close on a house that seems to get further away each day.  Waiting to start a new job.  Waiting to start a new routine. Waiting to get back to normal.

I am not good at waiting.  And to make it worse, it is the beginning of a new year- the time when you want to make goals and get things going...and I feel like my hands are just tied.  Sure I have started a few things, but I just feel like I can't get into a rhythm because everything is so not-normal right now.

And don't even get me started on Leo...I try to wrap my head around the thought that he is just not going to function normally until we get back to our own routine in our own place, but it is hard to let that sit. (Especially since it is looking like mid-February before we get settled in our new home now...ugh.)  Mentally I get it...I just can't not let it bug me!  He hasn't had a normal nap and night's sleep since December 18th and I am more than physically tired.  Plus let's add in that he is turning 2 this month...I could probably just leave it at that.  He is cute and smart and funny...and just so much trouble!

I feel like there is so much for us to do and yet I am bored because I can't do anything.  It is an extremely frustrating feeling.  And I know you are probably thinking that I should just relax and enjoy the break- believe me I am trying- but it is hard to enjoy living out of a suitcase, per se.  After a few weeks of "vacation" I am just ready to go home...but we are homeless!

In other news, Nick and I started INSANITY...yeah, like that is going to help my mood, huh?  Basically I am tired and hungry which makes me feel more whiny, but I at least have hopes that in 60 days I will be so buff you won't even recognize me.  Hey, a girl had got to dream...at this point it is about all I AM doing!

Dream on.

Once Upon a Time...

...I used to have a blog.  Lately our lives have been way too crazy for me to keep up on blogging.

Lately we have enjoyed Thanksgiving and Black Friday...Nick has been busy finishing up his last semester of graduate school and is graduating this week...we have been house hunting and are finally getting close to actually buying one I think...and we are looking forward to celebrating Christmas with Nick's family in Denver.  Those things sound really fun, and they are, however they also entail more tedious tasks like trying to get ready to move (thank heavens we have a relocation package and are NOT doing it by ourselves this time!) and buy all the Christmas presents (which is fun, but still work...especially with an almost 2 year old in tow).  It has just been a busy time and I am sure glad that we ran our half marathons in October and aren't trying to train for that anymore!

I am excited about the weeks to come...lots of fun and memories...however I am also looking forward to February when things have settled down and we are in a routine which largely consists of me decorating a new house.  Woohoo!  (On a side note: I will post someday perhaps about all the blah blah of buying our first home, however can I just say that I am so happy to be doing it in Texas?  Not only is it close to some of my family, of course, but home prices are great here and we are definitely going to be spoiled no matter what home we get!  We really are lucky for many, many reasons.)

Anywho, so wish us luck in all of our endeavors this next 6 weeks or so...and please don't think that we forgot your Christmas card- if you know me at all you know I only do Valentines! :)