Blurbs

Well my blogging fell off for the last few months, but on the long list of things we have been up to blogging about it fell pretty low on the priority list.  But one of my goals for this season and the upcoming year is to get back at it since this is the easiest forum for me to document our lives.  

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In late August we moved! We had been talking for over a year about moving and finding a more permanent home in the area, with more space for our growing family.  While we loved our little house, we hadn't planned on two babies in that house, and the time had come to find something for our family as it is now.  So we packed up, said our goodbyes and moved about 25 miles away to what will hopefully be our forever home.  

We have been in our home for almost four months and we are slowly making progress on making it our own.  Our first order of business was extensive painting, and since then we have been piecing it together.  It took us almost three years to really love our other home and make it feel like it reflected our style so we are our taking our time on this house as well, but I know eventually (with a lot of patience) it will be the house of our dreams!

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With our whirlwind move, we have taken the last few months to really relax and just enjoy family time.  The boys are thriving, and playing together, and I hope to do a post on some of the little personality things they have right now that we simply adore.  

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Most nights this is the scene in our house as they crowd around the tree to run the choo-choo.  We are heading north to Nana and Pop-Pop's house in just under two weeks, and these train loving little boys are going to be in train heaven with all of the train's pop-pop is setting up in anticipation of their arrival! 

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Last month we celebrated Finnegan's first birthday. I thought the first year with Rowen went really fast, but I can honestly say that I think this year went faster.  Our days are blessed by this sweet little boy and we can't imagine life without him or his brother.  He is having surgery this weekend, and hopefully it will only be a little blip in his story.

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On four different occasions I have tried unsuccessfully to take a picture of the boys for a Christmas card.  I don't know that I will get an actual picture of them where they don't look like they are being punished (even though they are being bribed with m&m's) or someone is crying, so I may not send out Christmas cards this year, which on initial thought made me a little sad, but I know won't be the end of the world. 

If all else fails, I do have one back-up...

Well I think this was a good little recap, and hopefully my blogging will pick back up! 

~This and That~

Well I fell off the blog wagon again, but that is ok.  Life is busy, but good, so good, and right now we are in a happy, happy place.  

In two days we will be heading south to Florida for some fun in the sun, and to Disney World!  Rudy and I talk nonstop about how we can't wait to see the sheer excitement on Rowen's face when he meets all of his current favorite people, including 'Mickneeey' and 'Buzzzz'.  When we aren't busy with the magic we will be spending our time here....can't wait!

Rowen is pretty obsessed with anything and everything Rudy does right now. This includes cutting the grass. Today I came home, and while Finny was sleeping my two big guys were busy cutting the front lawn...

I can't forget about our sweet sweet Finny.  On Wednesday he will be six months old...whoa, that went a bit too fast! While he is almost always covering himself (and me) in some form of spit up, he is the sweetest little blob of a baby, drool and all.  He is always lighting up with big gummy grins and has entered the phase where you put him down and he no longer stays put! 

Check out those cheeks!

Yesterday we quietly celebrated Mother's Day, and it was wonderful.  We spent most of the day prepping for our trip, cuddling on the couch, and enjoying time as a family.  We capped it off with a nice dinner out for Mexican, momma's favorite!  We tried to get a picture or two of me and the boys and this is the best we got...

We have a busy few days coming up and then we are off!  Hopefully I will stay on top of blogging our trip! 

~20 and 3~

Today my boys are 20 months and 3 weeks old. I think its neat that it falls on the same day.  While sometimes it seems like Row is aging slowly (or slower than before) its hard to believe that last Christmas he was only eight months old.  And as with all newborns, Finn is aging incredibly fast.  I still can't believe that he has been with us for three weeks already, and am trying to not dwell on the fact that I only have two more months of maternity leave.  I had planned to take pictures of them today, but other circumstances took hold and thus all I have are iPhone pictures to mark the day with. 

You may notice big brother looks a little tired, and for good reason.  My usually (knock on wood) healthy toddler has been fighting a mean fever since Tuesday and today I took him to the doctor to discover that he has pneumonia.  What was supposed to be a relatively 'normal' week has turned into a sicky week, and it wasn't until Rowen's fever got down to 101 tonight that we started to see signs of our normal bubbly boy.  Hopefully this is a turn towards health and tomorrow we will be able to hang out fever free and wait for daddy to start the weekend.  

Last Friday when I picked Rowen up from school I was handed 'homework' and told to fill a puzzle piece with whatever we wanted to put on it, so I chose to go with the theme "Rowen's Favorite Things."  I think it turned out pretty cute and I incorporated things that he loves right now, including trains, his purple light up hippy (who currently lives outside my front door), all of his bedroom buddies, little blue truck, and his brother.  I also used mickey paper as my background since we are disney crazed in this house! This is my very first piece of child homework and I know there will be so many more in the years to come!

Is it appropriate to give your UPS man a gift? This has been on my mind this holiday season since I am doing the majority of my shopping online, and our beloved UPS man (he truly is the nicest man) visits us almost daily, and upon seeing Rowen the other day remarked how he remembers when he was born.  We don't know many people in this town, but our UPS man is one of the constants that makes this town feel like home.  So hopefully he wont mind, or find it inappropriate, if we give him a small token of our appreciation this holiday season.  

And last but not least, hopefully I will finish up Christmas shopping this weekend.  I have a slight complex when it comes to this job, and feel like I have to find life altering gifts, which isn't the case, and isn't expected by anyone I give gifts to.  But combine that feeling with being preoccupied with a newborn, and I feel rather off my game this year, despite having almost all of it done.  My goal is to online shop my way through almost everything tomorrow so hopefully we can enjoy our weekend and do some fun holiday esk activities!!

Random I know, but this is whats on my mind. 

~We are alive and doing oh so well~

I certainly didn't plan to take a month off from blogging.  In fact I probably had a lot of things I wanted to blog. But instead we lived, prepped, celebrated, and grew (both in size and in number).  November has been an amazing month, a month I will probably look back on as one of the fondest of this time in our life.  While there are some BIG things I need to blog over this week for the memory book, here is a little recap of the month.

We started the month being full term with Finnegan.  Not knowing when he would arrive, we planned a little vacation for Rowen to grandma and grandpa's in Massachusetts when I hit 38 weeks. Being away from our families, this made things a little easier logistically.  Grandpa came down on November 8th, and introduced Rowen to a love of Trains, and we now have a Christmas train that is currently a work in progress!

On Sunday, November 11th, we sent Rowen on his way, and for the first time since he was born we said goodbye to him for more than two nights.  At times throughout the week we were lost without him, but I know it was good for him to spend time with his grandparents and aunts and uncle!

Without our little man, Rudy and I saw our first movie together since December 2010, it was magical.  We saw Flight, which was sooo good!  It definitely wasn't what we expected, but a great movie nonetheless!  It definitely was an odd week for us, but it reminded me so much of the calm before Rowen was born, simply waiting and watching for signs of labor starting.  The difference this time was we knew what having a baby was like, and at least for me there was soo much anticipation of meeting our new little man!

The same day we said goodbye to Rowen, I began to suspect that I was 'leaking', which is what also happened with Rowen.  I didn't want to just go to the hospital so I waited for my normal appointment on Tuesday, at which point they sent us to the hospital.  After a simple test, which did not show a leak, the ob/gyn sent us on our way, but told me if I still thought I was leaking she was on call again on Thursday and would be happy to check again.  Flash forward to Thursday, the 15th, and I still was concerned so Rudy and I headed to the hospital once again, and this time we did not leave without a baby!

Finnegan James Rivera joined us at 8:41 pm!  I will save the details for his birth story, but we are absolutely smitten with him and fall more and more in love with him and his big brother each day!  We went home on Saturday, and on Sunday Grandma brought Rowen back.  So far he is in love with his brother and has been very gentle and is curious about him!

our first attempt at a family of four photo

Since then we have been enjoying our time as a family of four.  Today Finn is 12 days old, and yesterday Rudy and Rowen returned to our 'normal' routine, and it was my first day of just Finn and me.  

Right now, my heart is incredibly full.  Words cannot describe the love I feel for my little family and it continues to grow.  

Right now, I feel complete, whole, and loved far too much by my family and friends.  

Right now, our life is magical....  

~Frankenstorm~

Since FEMA is telling us we should update our social media outlets, I guess I should update my blog.  I have a few things I 'need' to blog for the ol' memory book, and maybe this surprise day off will be the day I tackle those.

The last few weeks have been great.  We have spent lots of time playing with Rowen,  and enjoying these last few slow weeks. I don't think I would trade this time for anything. We have visited the zoo, and a pumpkin patch or two, all things I need to blog.  We have spent time throwing the ball to these two crazies, which Rowen loves....

We carved pumpkins, or rather Rudy carved pumpkins.  I'm not the biggest fan of pumpkins, the guts, or the smell, so I was responsible for printing out the templates for the designs.  Its a good thing he decided to carve them early since it remains to be seen if we will actually have a Halloween this year....

I think Rudy is pretty talented with his pumpkin carvings!

We have started listening to Christmas music, and I may have a video or two of Rowen that I need to upload.  Rudy was pretty excited to see that Macy's already had their Christmas trees up last week, and we are already busy making plans for our home decor.  Come November 1st the tree is going up and hopefully by the end of this coming weekend my house will look like Christmas threw up on it.  

Rowen got another hair cut, which will hopefully last us until Christmas.  I think he looks soo old with his hair shorter...

And his model face, I have no idea what he is doing but it was pretty funny to find this amongst the pictures of him....

On Friday my cousin, who was due the same day as me, gave birth to her sweet 8lb little girl.  While I would LOVE to have Mr. Finn make an arrival before Thanksgiving, right about now I'm pretty grateful that he is still sitting safely in my belly during this hurricane.  We are expected to be hit pretty hard, and the last thing I would want right now is to be in labor or just home with a newborn.  Plus I have grown pretty fond of the November birthstone in the last few months, so hold out for a few more days (but not too long) Mr. Finn.  

Slow days can be the best days, and I'm grateful today for another one! 

~Tidbits~

I'm home alone while the Mr. is busy taking a test at school and Rowen is fast asleep.  Here are a few randoms for this week:

~I said I would try to wait for Rudy to get home, but I had to watch Homeland.  And it didn't disappoint, I'm hooked yet again.  I only hope that this time it doesn't consume my life like last season did.  It was bad, and I may of watched the whole season in a weekend, and then felt for about two weeks that something was missing in my life.

~Many of the blogs I read are doing the 31 Days Link Up.  This sounds great, but the only thing I plan to do for all 31 days of this month is remain pregnant and reach full term on November 1st.  Ahem, at that point Mr. Finnegan you are welcome to make your appearance.

~And on that same note my BFF is coming home for Thanksgiving.  Which according to her mom means I will go into labor the night of November 24, after Kelley and Bobby have departed to go home to Texas.  No thanks. 

~Now that October is here, I would like the weather to make up its mind.  On Sunday I thought it was cold and was one of the few crazy people walking around town in jeans and a scarf while some people were still wearing tank tops and short shorts.  It also makes dressing Rowen difficult and having two seasons worth of clothes in his itty bitty closet is no bueno.

~We are slowly but surely making progress on Rowen's room, and all I really need at this point is a few of the wall hangings I am waiting on, so here is a sneak peak...

And apparently Lego play is hard work...

~Behind the Music is back on, and right now I'm watching Carrie Underwood which is pretty interesting since I didn't watch American Idol.  I miss the days of Behind the Music marathons, so hopefully this season catches on with the American public again....

~I am waddling, and the worst part of it is I know I'm waddling and despite my best efforts to reign it in I can still feel myself swaying while I walk.  These seven weeks can't go fast enough....

Well thats enough randomness for now, have a great night! 

~Tidbits~

This week we have finally seen small glimpses of the cooler weather coming our way, and I am happy to not be sweltering every time I step out the door.  

~While I have had a few challenges dressing Rowen (its cool in the morning, but around 80 by noon) he did get to get back into jeans for the first time this season on Wednesday.  

While I had assumed he would be wearing a bigger size this fall, to my surprise his spring jeans still fit him pretty well!

~ On Wednesday we had a 'Date Day'.  Rudy said lets not put labels on these things, but basically we both took the day off, slept in until Rowen woke up, and then took him to school for the day so we could spend the day together.  While I have a few people who would gladly babysit, this is the first time we have done this and it was pretty fun. 

We started the day with Starbucks...

And then headed to an empty Ikea...and came out with more than we planned to...

While we had planned to see a movie, there really weren't any early matinees of anything we wanted to see, so we headed to a local mall and walked around for a bit.  Before heading to pick up Rowen again, we went to our beloved Joe's Crab Shack for a quiet and slow lunch...

~One of our Ikea purchases was a bookshelf for Rowen.  As we already know, my DIY skills are rather lacking, and I would rather take a piece of furniture and just change it up a bit.  We picked up 'lockers' for Rowen's room, but simply left the doors off, and I absolutely love them!

I think we have enough books for now!

~ This week we also got  a little special something in the mail.  Initially we had planned for baby brother to wear the same outfit coming home from the hospital as Rowen had.  Problem is we had wrongly been told that Rowen would be rather large so his coming home outfit sort of swam on him.  After some discussion, we decided baby brother should have his own outfit.  Rowen's outfit was puppy dogs (to go with all of his dogs in his first room)...

And baby brother's outfit will be alligators (to go with his room)...

That little package was one step closer to D-Day!

Rudy is about to make some stovetop pop corn which I have become rather obsessed with so with that I am signing off! 

~DIY Not So Much~

I like to think that at some point I was sort of a do it yourself kind of girl.  When we were in college, my roommate and I painstakingly turned out little 14x14 room into a Christmas miracle, complete with a snow village and a light up reindeer bobbing his head.  The next year, also at Christmas, I spent a weekend carefully crafting Tiffany Box Christmas ornaments with my little glue gun, some paint, and lots of patience to make them perfect.  My Tiffany themed tree stayed up for almost five months.  

I continued on my DIY journey for a few more years, making a centerpiece here, or a christmas bow there.  And then last summer, DIY was taken to a whole new level.  Hello Pinterest.  Suddenly my little DIY projects seemed so inadequate once I searched for what I was thinking of doing in Pinterest.  While I think it is an amazing resource, at the same time it makes me feel overwhelmed. 

As Pinterest has become my gauge of all things DIY, I didn't think Rowen's nursery was quite up to snuff.  Thus I was determined that little brother's nursery would be a DIY dream.  Every little thing in there would be hand crafted in some way by me, including the crib that I carved out of the tree that I cut out of the front yard yesterday morning.  Ha. I also decided that Rowen's big boy room needed a few DIY touches as well to seal my status as DIY god.  

Two weeks ago was going to be the culmination of all of the DIY projects.  In my bubble gum world, while Rowen was at daycare and Rudy was at work, I was going to craft up each piece of the boys' rooms, clean my entire house, run all my errands, and have a fabulous meal on the table when they came home.  By day two I realized this wasn't a likely goal, but I still thought I was playing the part well.

And then I wanted to make a bookshelf.  Two days prior Rudy had told me I was banned from going to that 'Jillian Moore' (aka AC Moore) store anymore until I had completed some of my projects.  But my wannabe DIY heart couldn't resist running in there and getting an unfinished bookshelf for Rowen's room.  By the time my boys got home, I was sitting my plump pregnant butt out on the concrete in the back yard, sweating from all possible sources, putting the last coat of paint on my DIY miracle.  

When I saw Rudy's face, I knew something wasn't right.  The questioning 'you like that color' may have set off the waterworks.  But he was right. The color did nothing for Rowen's room, added no contrast, and meant my eight hours of work had really been for nothing, except for maybe a good sweat.  I kept looking out the back windows hoping that some magical DIY Godmother would come paint it green instead of gray, but when I brought it into the garage a few hours later no such luck.  

Two weeks later, the bookshelf of shame is still standing in the garage.  In fact I get reminded of my DIY failure at least twice a day when I go out to get the dog food.  In reality, I can't really be upset about my bookcase because it made me realize an important fact.  I am not a Do It Yourself kind of girl.  

I'm a Buy It Right Now kind of girl.  Sort of like the never a bride always a bridesmaid scenario, those who can't make, buy.  There are still smatterings of my DIY projects around the house, like the nursery nightstand not painted white yet sitting in my living room, but I am slowly transitioning most of my 'ideas' or creations found on Pinterest to purchases from Etsy and Amazon.  I may even claim I made one or two of the the items for good measure.  And in the long run I have convinced myself this tactic will save me some money since I tend to over purchase supplies for my projects and now I am cutting out all of those middle costs.  Now I just have to convince Rudy of this for the rest of his life.  

Dear Pinterest, my best friend that I love to talk trash about, you have won again.  But only until the UPS man shows up tomorrow.    

~Tid Bits~

I am home today, and it has been kind of an odd week, as in I have spent way too much time watching the olympics, and lots of time indoors avoiding the excessive heat.  It was nice to wake up this morning to a downpour, but I'm not looking forward to the after rain excessive humidity that is sure to be here this afternoon. And while it has been a relatively lazy week of summer (isn't all of August that way?) I do have a few things to mention:

~ On Tuesday afternoon we took Rowen to get his stitches out.  A quick, painless, two minute procedure, which was thankfully much easier than him getting the stitches.  After the doctor's visit, we decided it was time to cut his unruly locks, for the fourth time I might add.  I know that if I ever have a girl she will end up being bald until she is two given the hair my boy child has.  We usually take him to a salon in the mall, but they had a two hour wait so we ended up at the JC Penny salon, which in case you didn't know is doing free haircuts for school aged children for the month of August.  Rowen got a great haircut, but it is definitely a little shorter than I would normally like to keep his hair.  Mainly because it makes him look like he is three years old and not 16 months old. 

post haircut and stitches removal

~ Remember when I said we thought we had decided on a name? Well after a month of using it, accidentally calling the dog and Rowen it, and trying to get used to it, I have decided that this name is simply not meant to be.  It is just too close to Rowen, and I can't imagine BR2 as it.  While this doesn't exactly excite Rudy, it wasn't his #1 name so he is ok with letting it go.  On a similar note, Parade Magazine last week announced the top ten boy and girl names of 2012 so far....

Girls

1. Emma 2. Olivia 3. Sophia 4. Ava 5. Isabella 6. Ella 7. Mia 8. Emily 9. Chloe 10. Lily 


Boys

1. Liam 2. Mason 3. Ethan 4. Noah 5. Jacob 6. Jack 7. Aiden 8. Logan 9. Jackson 10. Lucas 

None of my names are on this list, but I found it interesting that the twilight names are finally losing their reign. 

~Right now, and for the past week, I have been burning a new candle combination that I am in love with.

Beach Party + Raspberry Lime = Heavenly.  I found the Raspberry Lime to be a little overwhelming on its own and adding the more muted Beach Party seems to lessen the sweet strength just a bit.  Now if only Yankee Candle would bottle this combination so I don't have to buy two candles every time I burn the combo out!

We don't have any big plans for the weekend, other than hopefully watching the Mexican national soccer team win gold at the Olympics.  They are the only non American team we cheer for, and since the US men's team didn't even qualify for the Olympics I think its justified to have an alternative to support.  I still need to blog about last weekend when we decided to take Rowen to the aquarium, and he was not exactly happy about it.  Combined with the beach the current score in the Rivera household is: Rowen : 2  Mom and Dad : 0.  Although we are thinking of tackling the beach again in late September when it isn't oppressively hot.  Hopefully the weekend brings a break from the heat, but we shall see....

~Going Home~

As part of attending Shanbrad's wedding, we stopped off in my 'home' town.  I moved to Plymouth when I was 13, spent the first three years hating it, and spent the last two years devising my plans to leave.  While I made friends there, I knew it wasn't where I was going to come back to.  I wasn't planning on being a 'townie'.  I also didn't think my parents would still be living there eight years after I left. 

And while I didn't plan to come back, as soon as I left for college, Plymouth became my reference of 'home'.  When people asked where home was, where I went for holidays, or spent my short summer breaks, it was always Plymouth.  As my college experience was not the norm, my summers were not spent reacquainting myself with my home town, but rather I would pop in for a short three week visit.  Same thing with the holidays. 

 When I moved to South Carolina, I raced home to Plymouth whenever I could.  Or rather to my family, who was still in Plymouth.  It was at that point that I started to realize I was loosing my ties to the town.  Yes I still had a few friends that I saw on the occasions thats I was in town, but I was beginning to see pieces of the town that I grew up in slowly changing. Even the high school that I had attended and formed most of my Plymouth memories at was scheduled to disappear.  

As we were driving up on Wednesday, and back down today, we passed through New London, Connecticut, where I spent four years after I left Plymouth.  While I would never refer to New London as home, driving through there it felt like it was just yesterday--and not four years ago--that I was driving around that little town with my best friends going to Dunkin Donuts or Target and Coldstone.  Those memories are still so fresh.  We are going back there next year for my five year reunion, and I have a feeling that it will feel like it has been no time at all since I graduated, despite how much our lives have all changed.

On this short trip, the small amount of time we spent in Plymouth made me realize that as a town it isn't home anymore.  It is simply where my family lives.  On the surface it seems like the same little town that I remember, but if you dig a little deeper not much is the same.  Families have moved on, new stores have been built up, and the town is growing.  I had to run into Walmart on Thursday, and as I walked the aisles I realized I recognized no one.  Maybe they are some of the same people I once knew, but at this moment I was just a stranger in a town that I once lived in.  But I have to remember that while Plymouth has changed a lot in my mind, I have changed too.  I'm not the same girl who drove around in a periwinkle Kia eating boxes of nerds and singing at the top of my lungs with my friends.  Instead I strolled into Walmart in my minivan six months pregnant enjoying the solitude of a quick trip to the store by myself.  

It has been eight years since I really could call Plymouth home.  And I don't think I will call it home again.  For now, and probably until my children are grown and gone, the DC metro area, whether it be in Virginia or Maryland, will be home.  My family will still be in Plymouth, but now it will probably be called going to Grandma and Grandpa's house rather than going home. Plymouth will always be a part of who I am, but  I guess I've truly grown up now and finally left 'home'.  

~A Few Quick Things~

Thought I would pop in real quick for just a few quick things!  Here goes:

~ Today is Rudy and my second wedding anniversary!  While I can still remember the day very clearly, I can't believe it has only been two years.  And saying yes to him remains one of the happiest days (along with the birth of Rowen) of my life thus far, and I am looking forward to many more happy years with him.  The man knows me far too well, and right now I am typing this on my 'gift', on the couch right next to him, which is exactly where I want to be!

~Tomorrow we are leaving for Shannon & Brad's Wedding!  All of the little details I have seen so far (especially the invitations designed and created by Shannon's mom) have been amazingly cute, so I can't wait to see how everything pieces together!  And an added bonus of the wedding is we get to see lots of great friends in one place!  

~Rowen will be spending a few nights and grandma and grandpa's while we are at the wedding and I am sure he will have a blast! Here is he is dragging his bag down the hall tonight and I sent it to my mom telling her he was all ready to go!

~Baby Brother feels like he is growing like whoa!  The last few days I have been pretty uncomfortable and feel like I'm stretching, and right now am praying for a little relief from growth pains in the next few days!  

~Rowen on the other hand is eating us out of house and home, literally! I don't know where that child puts all of his food but the only time of the day he stops moving is when he is eating, and he would sit and eat for hours if you let him.  I shudder to think what it will be like having to feed him, and possibly his brother who may have an appetite like his, when they are both teenagers.  I may be investing in more than one wholesale membership to keep them fed and happy! 

I hopefully will be stopping back in with a few pictures this weekend of our little New England trip! 

~The Olympics~

There are a few things that I discovered about Rudy while we were engaged and I was at sea.  One of those things is his love of the Olympics.  If there was an olympic sport for watching paint dry, Rudy would diligently be fascinated by it.  He loves the stories, the struggles, and the victories, no matter who wins.  In the last few weeks we have watched recaps of past games, analysis of the upcoming games, and the olympic trials almost every time they have been on TV.  And in a few weeks when we depart for Shannon's wedding, we will be double checking our DVR to make sure we don't miss a minute of the action.

Now this is one of those little traits that you wouldn't know about my husband if I didn't tell you, and is one of the little non important things we have in common.  I happen to love the olympics.  Soccer, Gymnastics, and Figure Skating are a few of my favorite.  I still remember watching these two skate...

And I remember watching these games...

all while wearing my lucky commemorative olympic sneakers that I fought tooth and nail not to wash that summer for fear that they would loose their magic. 

Maybe its the fact that I can remember key memories from childhood in relation to the olympics that makes me cherish them so much.  Like my beloved sneakers, or my cabbage patch doll I named Mia after my idol.  Or the 1994 Olympics, when my dad brought me home the commemorative olympic dolls from his deployment in Norway.  Or the 2008 Olympics, when I had just graduated the week before and stood outside the Olympic Park in Beijing only two short days before I met my sister Shannon for the first time.  The olympics are bonded to those memories and so many more.  

  

And I hope that one day my boys will grow to love the olympics like we do.  That one day they will remember sitting around watching the moment one of their idols claimed gold, and the sheer excitement that they felt cheering for their country.  Rowen won't remember the 2012 Summer Olympics, but I'm sure I will remember something about him in relation to the games.

Last but not least I had to share the Olympic Mom commercial, which makes me ball like a baby every time I see it.  While I may not have been an olympian, it reminds me of my mom (and dad too) and how much they gave all in the pursuit of my dreams.  

~Midweek Madness~

~The dog days of summer have arrived in DC.  The thermometer in my car told me that it was 107 degrees outside, but it was really only 98.  That didn't mean I didn't feel like I was breaking out in a sweat walking the 50 feet between my car and my front door. 

 Days of exhausting heat always make me think of the classic movie "The Long Hot Summer."  It happens to be one of my favorite movies, and  I just wish that one time as a reward for enduring this heat I would get a shirtless Paul Newman walking around my front yard just like Claire did in the movie.....

~ My reward for having a clean house, a bathed and in bed baby, and sleeping dogs by 745pm? Silence. And this...

The mister is off on a work adventure in Wisconsin until Friday, so once I have everything set up for tomorrow I can just sit back and relax with the new copy of Better Homes and Gardens that I picked up at Target today.  Its funny that as I child I found this magazine rather boring when my mother used to get and now I pick it up every time I see a new one in the store.

I also got the pretty pink candle while at Target...

And it is making my kitchen smell like a carnival!! Amazing!

~Rowen still hollered like crazy when I took him out of daycare aka 'Fun Town' today, but other than that he was my sweet angel boy all afternoon.  The sweltering heat made me think all the hair on his head must be pretty hot so I took him to the mall and cropped his locks just a bit!

And he thoroughly enjoyed his grill cheese dinner as evident in this picture!

~I may not of been crazy about brown eyes when I met my husband, and I wasn't entirely sold on them when Rowen was born, but pictures like this sure make me hope that little brother has big brown eyes too...

Hope you all are having a great week so far!

~It Sure Has Been a While~

Now that every person I know in real life has commented that my blog has gone missing, I thought I should get back at it.  Its not that I haven't had things to blog--life has been pretty exciting these last two months--but its also been busy, and I have had to put my efforts into other things...like taking naps.  On most afternoons when Rowen is asleep I make the life altering decision of whether I should blog or take a nap, and everyday of these past two months the nap has won.

Yet here I am again.  I have some old and new things to blog about so hang with me while I play catch up.  This is Our story and its important that I document it,  even if its a few weeks late.  And the Mr. is off on business this week so before we jet off to watch my baby brother graduate from high school, I'm going to attempt to get a few posts up. Thanks for stopping by again!

~Midweek Randoms~

Tuesday felt like a Thursday this week, so if that were the case today would be Friday.  Its not, but at least its pay day! Here we go...

~We still have our Christmas lights up.  Yes, its the Leap Year and I still have white icicles dangling from my roof.  I tell myself if we owned a ladder I would climb up there and take them down myself, but thats probably not true.  My real goal is to get them down before Saturday when we have visitors so they don't see that we are 'those neighbors'.

~I need to stop believing in the powers of Pinterest.  Take for instance last week.  I have a tendency to make recipes from Pinterest based on two things: 1. How astetically pleasing the picture of the food is 2. How many repins it has.  While this has worked a few times, last week was an epic fail.  The recipe in question called for a block of cream cheese, which should of been my first hint that this would not turn out well.  After two hours of simmering in my crock pot my house smelt awful  wonderful,  I made Rudy be the guinea pig and taste it.  It was no bueno. Turns out all of those people who were gushing over the the recipe had never actually made it.  I didn't find one 'review' that actually said it tasted good.  Lesson learned, read the reviews.  

~My husband loves award shows.  Not entirely sure why as he has yet to have ever been able to convey an exact reason to me, but nonetheless we watch them everywhere.  While I would have rathered not stay up til midnight to see a silent movie win, I did overall enjoy the broadcast.  A few of my favorites were...

Jessica Chastain from the Help.  I thought she looked stunning and I would kill to be able to haver her perfect Strawberry hair.

Penelope Cruz...I absolutely loved the color of her dress!

~ A couple of months ago I purchased one of Erin Condren's Year Round Notebooks.  While the blog world was oohing and aahing over the Life Planner, I just couldn't make myself love mine.  But the notebook is different, and works perfectly for me.  I don't have a ton of meetings/events that requires a lot of space for the day, but with the notebook I can just look at the entire month and fill in the smaller blocks.  I have the meetings/appointments for the month, our cleaning schedule, weekly meals, and blog topics.  In the back on the note pages, I compile my weekly grocery lists, and the lists of things I need to do.  I LOVE LISTS, and the notebook portion of this plannerish book is perfect!