PERFECT DAY!

Today was a perfect day.  I wish that there could be more days just like this one!

I took the day off of work today and had some great, quality time with each one of the kids.

After Brady and I dropped Tyler off at school, we had terrific Mommy and Brady time!

We went to the coffee shop downtown and had a good 1/2 hour to hang out before we had to go to Brady’s school.  As I enjoyed my coffee, Brady ate his entire scone and sipped on his apple juice.

And since I am a full time working mom, I don’t ever get the chance to watch the kids in school or volunteer for any of their parties or special events.  And, unfortunately both of them notice this.  They notice that there are other moms that can drop off and pick up their own children each day and even come in to help out in the classroom.  So, I do try to take one day a school year (wish I could do more!) to come into the classroom to watch and today was that day for Brady.  I was so proud of how well he behaves and listens to his teachers!  He made me extremely proud and I am so glad that I was able to be at his school today with him.  And I know that he was just as happy that I was there.

After I left Brady’s school, I actually had some time for just myself.  I drove into Des Moines and got a full body, 60 minute massage! 

As soon as my massage was over, I took the drive back home and it was already time to pick Tyler up from school.  I wanted to have some special, one-on-one time with him as well, so I took him to Culver’s for some ice cream!  He was thrilled and ate his entire bowl of ice cream!  When I first brought up the idea of going to Culver’s for ice cream, he said that he wasn’t that hungry.  I then told him that Brady was still at Lindy’s, so it was just going to be him and I.  He said, with a huge smile on his face, “just you and me!?!”  He then quickly changed his mind and thought that ice cream sounded perfect!

I love that I was able to spend some quality time with each of the kids today.  As much as they enjoyed having their very own special time with their mom, I know that I enjoyed it a million times more!  I felt very lucky to have this day, away from the norm, to just have fun and love the little things! 

And I didn’t think about work once!

DELANEY’S 1ST PHOTOSHOOT

We went to Josh and Liz’s this weekend to celebrate mom’s and Josh’s birthday’s.  A celebration that was supposed to take place last weekend, but was postponed due to weather.  We had a great day with awesome food!

While we were there, I was able to take some wonderful pictures of little Delaney!  Love her!

Tyler loved his time with Delaney!

One of the gifts that we gave mom for her birthday was a Grandma necklace with her grandkids’ names on it.  She loved it!

The boys played a lot of Hide & Seek while we were there.  Here they are counting and covering their eyes with Grandma---Josh must have been hiding.

A CUDDLER

Brady doesn’t cuddle with his stuffed animals as much as Tyler does, so when I walked into Brady’s room one night to find him squeezing his ‘Teddy,’ I just had to snap a few pictures. 

BRADY’S BIG NEWS!

This past Wednesday night I decided to sit down and try to teach Brady how to WRITE his name.  I really thought that it wouldn’t go well and he would get upset with me.  Fortunately it was the complete opposite.  I first wrote each letter and had him copy me.  We tried a couple of times with my model and then he got it!

He woke up Thursday morning, went straight to his white board, picked up his marker and wrote his name without a model or any help from me!  We were both so proud!  I was so proud of my little (first year) preschooler who can now write his name all on his own and he was so proud of himself for being such a big kid and being able to be big and write like his brother!

Robert Reynolds Wine

A wine named after Lee!  A great Christmas gift that we enjoyed from Lee’s mom.

CHRISTMAS IN TENNESSEE

We had a great Christmas weekend with the Reynolds family spent down in Mount Juliet, TN at Matt and Laura’s house.

The drive was fine and 2.5 hours shorter than driving to Knoxville, which in winter driving plays a huge factor.  We arrived to Matt and Laura’s on Thursday afternoon around 4:30.  Friday was spent hanging out, playing cards, and then celebrating Christmas Friday night.  We had a fabulous prime rib dinner and then opened up presents.  The kids got some toys that they love and so did Lee and I!  Having our Christmas celebrations spread out this year was actually really wonderful!  I thoroughly enjoyed leaving home and spending a long weekend away this January, rather than doing the traveling in December, right around Christmas when everything is so rushed.  It was so nice to be able to celebrate, relax, and enjoy every little bit.  

And having this Christmas for the boys to look forward to was also really nice.  They enjoyed knowing that they still had one more Christmas to open up more presents and see family only a couple short weeks after Santa came. 

A beautiful morning on the lake.  I was actually able to spend Saturday morning out on the back deck to enjoy my coffee.  It was so relaxing and nice to breath in some fresh air and take in the beautiful sights of the lake.

Later Saturday morning we all headed to the park to play.  It was in the 50’s and felt amazing!  The boys had a great time playing at this awesome park!

I ended up taking the boys back to the park on Sunday to play as well.  It was absolutely beautiful outside and way too nice to stay inside.  It was great that they were able to get out and run around.

While the boys napped on Sunday, Laura and I sat out on the front porch and soaked in as much sunshine as we could.  After nap, the boys joined us outside to chalk on the driveway.

A beautiful afternoon on the lake.

We had a bonfire on Sunday night and then headed to bed early.  We got up and out by 6:00 A.M. on Monday morning to make the drive home.  We stopped in Iowa City to pick up the dogs, give my mom a birthday hug, and made it back home about 4:30 in the afternoon.

It was a terrific Christmas weekend!

FROSTY THE SNOWMAN

This is a PERFECT snowman because the boys and I built it together and had so much fun in the process!  This is the first ‘real’ snowman that they have built.  It was perfect temperature and snow for building a snowman!