The Simple Life

I thought for Journal purposes I would document a typical day for us at our house. Just so in 10 years when I look back and my kids are grown I can remember how I use to spend my day!

6:45-7 -Kids wake up and we eat breakfast together. Sometimes we are lucky and JJ is still there to eat with us or at least pack his lunch while we eat breakfast. Lucy really enjoys eating breakfast with JJ, it is the best way to start the day.

7:20 ish-We settle down to watch some good PBS kids and play with toys, usually cars, play food and dishes or just roll the ball around the living room. During this time I try to put the dishes in the dishwasher and pick up breakfast and then join the kids to play for a while.

Anywhere from 8:15-8:45 -Somewhere in that time Garrett has a bottle and goes down for a nap, it is usually around 8:30

8:30 (or whenever Garrett goes down)-I hurry to get ready to workout, finish the dishes and breakfast clean up if I wasn't able to finish that. Make sure Lucy has something to do while I exercises. Get a good 30 min workout in and then shower, dress and get ready as fast as I can before Garrett wakes up. This will explain why my hair is usually up and wet most days.

9:15-9:45 -Depending on when Garrett goes down, Garrett wakes up usually after a 45 minute nap.

10:00-12:00 -This is our time to go do something F-U-N! We like to do activities together, go on walks, play outside, do crafts, work on workbooks or color, do activities with our playgroup or just have fun playing at home! On some days this is also a time to run errands or take Lucy to Thursday school.



12:00-Eat Lunch, lately we like to eat outside and enjoy the sun. We have simple lunches but enjoy eating together and talking.

12:20-Back to the living room to play while I pick up lunch a little. We usually just play during this time.

1:00-Lucy watches Caillou while I give Garrett a bottle and put him down for a nap. I like to put them down separately because it gives me time with them individually.

1:30-Lucy's turn to get ready for nap. I really enjoy this time with Lucy, she really snuggles close to me and loves to read books with me before nap. I like the quiet moments of reading with her as she rests her head on my arm or my lap.




2:00-My alone time, some days this is the best time of day! I finish clean up of lunch if I didn't get to it. Work on any chores I need to do around the house. Get things ready for dinner, prepare things for the evening time, Clean up toys, check email, work on crafts, read and most importantly relax!! I usually make myself just relax for at least 15 minutes! I have to sit and clear my mind and just unwind.

2:45-3:00-Garrett wakes up. Just like my time alone with Lucy I really enjoy this time with Garrett. I get to play with him one on one and teach him things. We usually sit and play together, sing songs and then have a snack.


4:00-ish- Lucy wakes up and has a snack. I start thinking about Dinner. Making sure how much prep work needs to be done and how long the cook time is.

4:30-Make sure dinner is well on its way, once it is we then go out and play. I like to put it in the oven and then take the timer with me and go for a walk or out in the yard to play

5:00-5:30-JJ comes home and we sit down to eat dinner

6:00 -Clean up dinner . Some nights we run errands or I go to Zumba class. Other nights we just relax and hang out as a family.



7:30-Start getting Garrett and Lucy ready for bed

8:00-Garrett goes to bed

8:30- Lucy goes to bed and JJ and I finally have some time to relax and spend time together. We clean up the house and get things ready for the next day.

9:00-We watch HGTV House Hunters

9:30-Get ready for bed and go to sleep

*Repeat Daily with slight adjustments to each day of the week and Enjoy life!

The past 2 weekend have gone by to fast! We haven't had really any big fun family outings or anything but we have kept busy with plenty of other things. We have been doing plenty of spring cleaning at our house and enjoying the windows open to let in some fresh air. We have had friends over, gone to a baby shower and a couple of really fun birthday parties with our friends. It has been fun to socialize and celebrate with our friends and continue to get to know them.

JJ continues to be very busy with school this semester. It seems like the last couple of weeks have required a lot of his time. They have been learning a lot and taking a lot of tests. JJ is learning some crazy things in his labs, the picture above is him getting shot in his eyelid by another classmate. They practice on each other, kinda scary.

Garrett 10 Months

Garrett is 10 months old today! What a happy boy--and what a mommy's boy! He gives me such nice hugs and kisses. He has started to make a kissing noise and it is so cute. He really loves to cuddle with me and I really enjoy it.

Garrett has an eye for when things become available to him. He notices as soon as the gate comes down and also when I leave the piano open. He loves to play the piano. Whenever I play he covers the low notes for me and works the pedals. Making all my songs sound a little better.

Ever since we moved him upstairs he has started to consistently sleep through the night. It is great! I think also he is handling teething a little better. He is really easy to put to sleep and always just lays right down and goes to sleep. He loves his little blue bear and will not sleep without it. I couldn't find it one time and he just stood up in his crib and screamed. I looked everywhere for it and finally found it. When I took it to him he just smiled and laid down with the bear and went to sleep.

I love that he just lays so straight!

Another thing that he loves is the dishwasher, he always knows when it is open and hurries over to help with the dishes. I think all little kids like the dishwasher.

Garrett is getting so close to standing up all on his own. He will do it for a couple of seconds at a time and then sit down. He can also go up the stairs so fast! Just this week he is starting to get the hang of coming down the stairs---yeah, hopefully we can take the baby gate down soon.

Lucy

Since I write so many updates on Garrett I thought I would write a little about Lucy. I really think it is crazy she will be 4 this summer! Yesterday she went to Thursday school and had a really nice time talking about the letter M. She came home and told me all about it and we talked about words that start with M. After nap she had a blast going outside and stomping in the puddles from the rain.

She has been doing a great job at sleeping in until 7 , which is great. She gets very upset if she misses eating breakfast with Dad, which some days we just can't help. She is very sweet, she always asks me how I slept at night and how I am doing. When I return from something that I went to by myself she asks me how it was and who was there. She is still a great mother to her baby Sarah, which I still occasionally have to babysit in my free time. She loves to play cars! I am amazed that it has been a year since she started her love for cars and she loves it just as much. She loves to play cars and she has them talk and pretend things. It is great! I am glad she has something that she really enjoys to do. I am also happy that it is something that Garrett will love too. Right now she is working being good all day long, if she is she gets to earn stickers. When she gets all her stickers she will get a new Mater--from the movie Cars.
She loves to eat cheese sticks, oatmeal, Wheaties, Carrots, Capri Suns, Graham crackers and milk, Peanut butter and honey sandwiches and smoothies. She is getting better at coloring in the lines, drawing, cutting and writing her name on her own. She is a good helper with Garrett and we are working on sharing with him and understanding that he is still little.

She loves to play outside, ride her bike and scooter and RUN. I am going to have her play soccer in the fall and she is really looking forward to that. Hopefully that will help her get rid of some energy. She loves to be in Sunbeams and learn the Primary songs. She loves to listen to her Primary CD in the car. She is learning so much every day and she loves to learn new things.

Watching Caillou

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Every day before nap time Lucy watches Caillou, it is one of her favorite shows. Garrett and Lucy both love the song at the beginning. Usually Garrett claps and dances a little more but oh well. When the song comes on they both get excited and Lucy sings along, Garrett will crawl as fast as he can to get so he can see the TV.

Popcorn Popping

Yesterday was rainy and a little yucky outside. It was the perfect day to stay inside and make Popcorn Trees. I love driving around and seeing all the trees blooming! They are so pretty! We have been singing "Popcorn Popping" a lot at our house so this little craft was perfect.

We also made some tissue paper butterflies, we used some stamps to add some fun color!

It took a while to dry so here they are the next day!

I love to have one on one time with Lucy and do fun things. It is nice that Garrett will sit in his seat and have a little snack so we can still do fun little crafts or work out of her workbook. She really enjoyed making the popcorn trees and we got to have a little snack with the leftover popcorn--we love popcorn at our house!!

Welcome Spring

Since it is officially spring now I thought it would be fun to have the kids wear their spring clothes to church. It is so fun to see them in bright fun colors for spring! I thought Garrett looked very handsome and Lucy looked very pretty today!

I love the color yellow and I think Lucy looks so cheerful in it!

What a handsome wiggle worm he is! Church was a wrestling match today and it was almost impossible to get a picture of him!

Me and Lucy---I should have worn something a little more like spring but oh well.

Hanging Out Outside

That is what we do when the weather is to nice to be inside, we hang out outside! We love it!

For Today spring is here! I wish it would come to stay but it seems like we just get a few good days here and there and then some colder ones. I love to see all the pretty flowers in bloom, it makes me want to plant some in our yard!

Since the weather was so nice we had to get out and take a little walk with some friends.

We have been able to enjoy many lunches outside and many afternoon hours playing outside. It is great! Garrett's favorite thing to do is crawl after a ball. He thinks is it a load of fun!

Garret enjoying a snack! I think he looks so grown up with his teeth. They really change his smile.

Lucy and Garrett on St. Patricks Day.

Lucy has such an imagination. The other day during nap time she came out of her room and asked if she could have an umbrella. JJ and I (this was on Sunday so JJ was home) just looked at each other. Lucy said "It is pouring rain in my room, I am trying the best I can to stay dry". Trying not to laugh JJ said well why don't you just go get under your covers and try to stay dry under there. She said she would try her best but it was raining really hard! She is so funny! She continues to always help me keep an eye on Garrett. Garrett loves to swish his hands in the toilet's so she helps me make sure the bathroom doors are kept shut. She also lets me know if he gets upstairs if the gate is down. Garrett has an eye for those 2 things, he notices right away if we took the gate down or left the door open. They both keep us on our toes!

My Birthday Celebration

Yesterday for my Birthday we tried hard to think of something fun to do to celebrate. The weather was so nice for several days earlier in the week and then the weekend came with some colder rainy weather. To bad we couldn't have one of those nice days to go outside and do something fun. We did think of the indoor swimming pool in Tunica, MS. We have heard about it and thought about going a couple times and it seemed like the perfect thing to do yesterday to celebrate.

They have this great kids area with some fun things to do. It was perfect for Lucy and Garrett loved to splash play as well. We really enjoyed it! The water was nice and warm, thanks to a heated swimming pool.
Lucy was so funny about running through this and under things that would spray water on her. She would cover her face because she didn't want to get water in her eyes. We did run through it a couple of times together.

There was also a big swimming pool where you could swim laps or they had a basketball hoop and ball. Garrett really enjoyed hanging out in his floaty. He loved to lean over and splash in the water. I can tell we are going to have a lot of fun swimming this summer!

There were some fun diving boards and platforms. JJ went off the diving board and then jumped off the 2 lower platforms. He is brave! I didn't really have any interest in jumping off anything that high. He took a second to look down and think before jumping off the middle platform jump. A kid in the pool yelled " Do it!" and then Lucy yelled "do it!" . It was cute that she copied that kid.

For Dinner we decided to go out to eat at Logan's Roadhouse, we had a coupon and decided it would be a good time to use it. Dinner was disappointing and I ended up with mine in a to- go box and had it for lunch today. There wasn't really anything we could have done to make it better and so that is fine. We will not be a returning customer there.

Even if dinner was a disappointment, this cake was not! JJ and I made this ice cream cake together and it was so yummy!

We put all 27 candles on the cake!

I blew them all out!

Yummy piece of cake, we used double chocolate oreos and they were delicious.

This is just kind of a random picture from this morning before church, we all happened to match in our church outfits this morning.

Thank you for all my friends and family who made my birthday a special day. Thank you to all the nice cards I got from people in the mail, friends who stopped by to wish me a happy birthday and anyone who took time to think of me. I especially want to thank JJ who really put a lot of effort into making my day special. He did a wonderful job picking out and even surprising me with a nice gift this year! Way to go JJ! It was nice to have my Birthday land on a Saturday because we were able to spend a great day together as a family!