Missing my Boys

Kris left this morning for Iowa for a week with both boys...that means I am home by myself for an entire week. I have to admit that I was a little excited to have this much time to myself. However, since they are gone (and they have been gone less than 12 hours), I have to say it gets pretty lonely. The house is oddly quiet....

 

I am hoping to get quite a few things done and I have to work registration Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning and evening, so I will be very busy. Plus, I need to put together my syllabus. However, I know I will be very ready for all my boys to get home!!

 

In other news, I managed to get a haircut today for the first time since March! I also got a pedicure and I am currently trying a body sculpt wrap--supposedly by wrapping my stomach in this thing, I will lose 1-3 inches through detoxification...I am skeptical, but I will let you know the results!

 

More House Pics

 

We are very excited about our new house. Here is a picture of the backyard. It's a large backyard that is fully fenced and backs up to a wooded area.

Front of the house--our street is a cul-de-sac, so we shouldn't have too much traffic.

 

This is a picture of the entry way. The light fixture in the entryway is atrocious and will be changed immediately!

This room is actually the formal dining area.

This is downstairs office/formal sitting room. When we move in, it will become the playroom!

Downstairs living room 

Downstairs living room

This is the breakfast nook. They have a huge table. We will likely purchase a smaller breakfast table for this area. I love all of the windows in the breakfast area.

Kitchen--Kris and I love the dark cabinetry and granite. I do not love the flooring, so in the future, I would like to tile the floor and add a backsplash. We also love the granite island in the center for entertaining.

Garage--the guy who currently lives in this house is a former building and he has installed actual cabinets in the garage. He also has 2 chandeliers and a ceiling fan. He is taking the chandeliers with him--we don't mind though--it is kind of weird to have chandeliers in the garage.

This loft is on the 2nd floor and is set up for a desk and shelving.

One of the FIVE bathrooms in this home. Why on earth anyone needs five bathrooms, I will never know...

One of the bedrooms.

This will likely become Kale's room. Obviously we will have to paint first. There are 2 bedrooms that are connected by a jack and jill bathroom. We will put the boys in these 2 bedrooms.

Jack and Jill bath (we will have to paint this too).

Master bath

Master bedroom

Third floor rec room....it is one giant room with a closet and bathroom. We will probably make this a guest room/media room.

3rd floor bathroom

 

We are hoping to be in on or before Novemer 15th. We are excited to have some space for all of our stuff that is in storage and for the boys to have room to run and play.

 

New House

Yes, you heard right. We are moving again! I know we probably move more than anyone you have ever met. But when we moved here, we knew our current house would be temporary, as it is only a lease home. Kris' relocation benefits expire at the end of this year, so we needed to find something so we could take advantage of our relocation monies!!! Our estimated close date is November 15th.

We have looked and looked at houses and just when we were beginning to get frustrated, we found this home 2 streets away from us. It is in Charter Colony subdivision, which is the subdivision we currently live in and LOVE.

Here is the link to a few pictures. I am going to go tomorrow to take more pictures.

http://www.forsalebyowner.com/listing/5-bed-Single-Family-home-for-sale-by-owner-14230-Jeffries-Place-23114/23959264

Recap of Summer

Our summer is quickly coming to an end! I have meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, then my busiest week of the semester will be next week. Kris is taking the boys to Iowa for a visit while I work. The following week, Kale starts to Pre-K and I will start back to work. Kale will be going to school 3 days a week in the mornings this year. Liam will continue to stay at our house with our same nanny. I will work 2 mornings a week. Part of me is ready to get back in the swing of things, but at the same time, I will definitely miss the flexibility of summertime!   Kale has started to play by himself really well. He can entertain himself for awhile, but Liam usually interrupts him by stealing one of his toys. It is fun to watch Kale play by himself because he pretend plays now and will talk to the toys.


The past week the temperature has been amazing! We have tried to do as much outside as possible. We spent one day at the zoo. It was great because since it was cool, the animals were very active.

We have spent lots of time at the park with friends this summer. Kale loves his friends Stacer and Natalia.

We have also enjoyed being silly this summer in the playroom. When it's too hot or rainy, we head upstairs to play. Mr. Potato Head is a favorite for both of the boys this summer.

We have also had lots and lots (and lots) of tantrums this summer. I am really trying hard to be consistent with Liam and put him in time out each time he has a tantrum (which is several times a day), but unfortunately I haven't seen much improvement yet. In my opinion, 18-24 months is the roughest age.


And of course, we have played outside a ton this summer. We have enjoyed the baby pool, sprinkler, sand box, and playset.

As always, we went to the Children's Museum a ton. I swear our membership at the museum has been our very best investment ever. We go there almost once a week.

And we road tripped and vacationed like crazy!!! (yes, Liam is sucking his toes on this particular road trip). We went to Busch Gardens, Colonial Beach, Virginia Beach, Missouri, and soon the boys will got to Iowa. Oh and you can't forget, Mom and Dad's vaca to Cancun!


We also spent a few days each week at our neighborhood pool. Kale is full out swimming (after just 2 weeks of lessons at Aquatots--highly recommend) and Liam is pretty darn close.


We also enjoyed our community's late night swims which feature a DJ, adult beverages, and swimming!

Oh and ice-cream! One of the best parts of summer!
We spent lots of time on the beach and in the sun.

We made our first ever trip to the Botanical Gardens this summer and we will definitely be back! It was beautiful and there were lots of things for the boys to do in the Children' s Garden, including tree climbing, the butterfly exhibit, and the splash pad.


Kale and Liam both went to their first movie this summer. Kale went to see Monster's University and I literally think it was the highlight of his summer. We took Liam to see the dollar movies on Wednesday a few times. He was not nearly as impressed.

Since we spent so much time outside, we got pretty dirty. The boys love showering together.
We went on lots of walks and bike rides and wagon rides on our street. The boys are both obsessed with basketball and have to touch the neighbor's basketball hoop each time we pass.


Oh and mom and dad enjoyed LOTS of wine after our rough days at the beach. :)

It has been a particularly rainy summer, so occasionally we played outside in the rain.

And finally, we had lots of unhealthy snacks in the afternoon (I mean, how do kids instinctively know how to eat oreos?). We need to fatten up to stay warm this winter, right?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Missouri Trip

Well, I did it, I officially went crazy! I took both boys on a trip by myself from Virginia to Missouri. Traveling with two little ones is rough--not only the physical travel, but simply being away from home and out of routine. We drove to DC and flew to St. Louis, so that I would have a direct flight. That's 2 1/2 hours to DC, 2 hours to fly to St. Louis, and then 2 1/2 hours from St. Louis to Poplar Bluff. My philosophy was that the boys could scream in the car as much as they wanted, but I needed them to behave on the plane. 

They were both very excited to fly on the airplane, yet they didn't understand once we got on the plane that we were actually ON an airplane. They kept saying, "I want to go on an airplane!" 

So funny, bu,t not so funny at the time, story...We were flying on a small plane to St. Louis and we didn't have a jet bridge. That meant I had to get 2 boys, a stroller, 3 carry-ons and myself down a flight of steps, onto the tarmac, then up another flight of stairs, onto the plane. I somehow managed to get down the first flight of steps without breaking my neck. Once we got on the tarmac, things were going smoothly until a worker asked to see my ID and boarding pass, again! I just about throttled him. So, I am digging for the items and meanwhile, Kale goes walking up the stairs onto the airplane. The worker freaks out and says, "I have to see his boarding pass first! He can't get on that plane." So I run and grab Kale, dragging him from the top step onto the concrete. (Possibly saying some not nice words under my breath.) I look up just in time to see Liam take off RUNNING across the tarmac (keep in mind planes are constantly coming and going). I run across the tarmac, grab Liam, wrestle him to the ground. I am literally yelling at both my boys, things like, "Don't you dare move from that spot or you will live to regret it!" when about 10 passengers come down the first set of stairs. Talk about embarrassing. I looked like a crazy person, sweating, screaming, wagging my finger...but we made it on the plane. 

The plane ride was about what you would expect. Kale had the Ipad, but I had forgotten his ear buds. I feed Liam so much junk to keep him quiet that I thought we would probably throw up. We landed in St. Louis about 15 minutes early. Thank God, right? We then had to stay on the tarmac and wait for a gate to open. The boys knew we weren't moving and wanted off the plane. At one point, Kale was being very naughty. I leaned over to him and whispered, "You better knock it off or you are getting a spank." The plane was completely quiet, Kale screamed as loud as he could, "No, Momma! You knock it off or I will spank YOU!" 

Kale LOVED playing with all of the animals at Gram's house. 

We spent lots of time playing outside, riding four-wheelers, swimming, playing with the animals, etc.

My mom had a new kitty and this poor cat was so sweet. He let Kale do just about anything to him and he never bit Kale or scratched him. At one point, we even caught Kale carrying the cat around by his neck. 

Needless to say, the cat, whom Kale named "Black" (original right?), was undoubtedly glad to see us go!

My mom didn't have her pool up this year, so she bought the boys a baby pool. 

Kale showed off his swimming skills!

Kale watched the Ipad while Uncle David watched TV.

We went to my grandma's one day. We had a great lunch and played outside at the park. 

We got to see my cousin Ashlee and her son, Cooper!

Liam, Alex, Kale, and Cooper

Can you tell Kale was excited to ride the bulldozer with Poppa? He came tearing into the house when he was done and said he got to drive the dozer and they pushed around trees (logs) and dirt! He was very excited! 

I got to have a wonderful visit with my sweet friend, Heather. It had been way too long since we had a real visit! I left my boys with my mom and drove to Heather's house to spend the night. 

I so miss my best friend. We stayed up way too late (after 3 a.m.), chatting, catching up, and of course, drinking wine. 

The next day, Heather and her daughter Ella, drove down to Poplar Bluff so she and Ella could visit with the boys. We met at the park. 

Heather had her hands full with Liam and Ella (they are only 6 weeks apart). 

I loved spending time with Miss Ella. She has such a sweet, playful spirit. It makes me sad that I don't get to see her more than I do. 

Ella was tough! She and Kale were chasing one another across the field. When she caught him, she tackled him!

It looks like Kale is strangling her, but he's not. I promise they are just playing!

Just a random photo of my sweet big boy!