A Day in the Life

Recently someone who just had a baby asked me what we do all day. I had to think about it, because it seems like we don't do much. Then I realized that it only feels like that because our days are so repetitive. So I put it down in writing and it looked way more impressive. So I think I will attach it to my resume when I enter the job hunt as a reference to all the skills I have mastered since I began this journey 3 years ago.

530am- kids wake up. Drag myself out of bed to get shoes and snack cups ready + drinks for everyone while keeping a constant stream of 'shhhhh' coming out of your mouth because Jim is still sleeping.
6am- kids, bag, phone, keys and stroller out the door for a run.
7am- home, Claire watching 'George', Nick either eating cereal or hanging out in bathroom with me while I shower.
8-10am- chill and get some chores done.
10am- snacktime! decide to go to park. commence gathering and changing of everyone into play clothes.
11am- out the door for the park, get there and realize there are no kids our age so we pack up and head to another park.
1130am- (is it still morning?) decide to picnic at the park for lunch

12- picnic at the park

1215- play with kazzoo which is more interesting than anything else at the park

1230- Sister takes kazzoo

1234- Nick gets kazzoo back

1pm- play in water, get soaked

2pm- hit the swings to dry off
230pm- hit the road for home
3pm- naptime for Claire (aka torture) Nick asleep in car seat from the 7 min. drive
4pm- Nick wakes and I realize it is almost 5 and I have no plans for dinner
430pm- Claire wakes (if she slept at all) and dinner panic sets in (everyone snacks)
6pm- where did the evening go?
7pm- dinner of some sort, it's amazing what you can do with empty cupboards and no clue what you are hungry for other than cookies.
740pm- Jim arrives home from work

8pm- baths
830pm- Read to Claire, fulfill every little demand and close the door hoping for the best
945pm- Nick asleep and in bed
10pm- mommy to bed
3am- Nick wakes up, roll out of bed and deal with it
6am- kids up for the day
repeat....

I Feel Good

Just ran 20 min.! Woot. I definately know what they mean when they say runners high. :D What are you doing today?

Monkey Boy

This is Nick's newest trick, should you turn your back on him for more than a second you may find him in several places not excluding: the top of the play table, in Claire's bed, on top of the dining room chairs, or standing on the dinning room table. The kid will climb anything and then he hasn't exactly mastered the getting down part so he just stands there and screams at the top of his lungs to let you know that he's gotten somewhere where he shouldn't be and he'd like some help getting down... I love this kid.

Little Chocolate Bombs

For Father's Day I invited Jim's dad and other family members over to our house for dinner. They are not dessert people, but I am and I wanted to make something nice. So I saw Martha make these little chocolate cups and I thought they were adorable and I wanted to make them. I read up on how other people made them and I even watched a video on how to do the delicate parts. I was totally ready.
Basically you blow up a balloon and dip it in chocolate that you have melted in a double boiler (or two pans sitting on top of each other in our case since we don't have a DB). The result will look like this:

However in none of my 'research' did I read anything about the chocolate bombs that were created in my dining room this afternoon. If you are using water balloons because you waited till the last min. like us and that's all the store down the block has, your kids will break the balloons as fast as you can blow them up, you may also feel like passing out about 4 or 5 balloons into the blowing up process. Also if you dip said water balloons into the melted chocolate before it has cooled to exactly room temperature they will explode! covering you and your tiny assistants in chocolate and spraying chocolate up your walls and all over anything for about a 6 foot radius. (not a good thing when company is coming in an hour) The balloons may also spontaneously explode while already covered in room temperature chocolate and sitting on your table. (also shooting chocolate upon yourself and 6 feet around you but not your tiny assistance who are by now hiding from this 'fun project')
In the end you will look something like this and be too horrified to take pictures of the chocolate covered house you now have:

But once you freeze the chocolate covered balloons, clean yourself up and come back to them when they are set; you pop the balloons gently and remove the balloons from the chocolate and you can fill them with anything. Martha filled hers with chocolate mousse, by the time I had the cups made there was nothing left in me that wanted to try another new recipe so we filled ours with vanilla ice cream and raspberries... yummy!

So for Father's Day my husband got not only a delicious dessert but also a chocolate covered wife. :)

On The Move

But not in the right direction, ran twice this week and gained 2 lbs. What is going on? and please don't give me that line about muscle weighing more than fat.. blah, blah, blah. How does this happen? Boo....
on a brighter side the 'runners high' this week has been wonderful :) Anyone else still on the pavement with me?
On an even brighter note, Mr. Nick is also on the move.. check him out!

This is not the best example of his mobility because he really just wanted the camera so he was crawling cause it is faster for him still.

Happily Ever After

Sometimes you need to read a good fairy tale to realize that you are living one. :)

My God is Good

My God is good. He knows what he is doing. And he's known from my very beginning. There is no better comfort than that. It's good to know that someone has a handle on what's going on, because I sure don't. Time is flying by, whizzing past, and I feel like I am standing still. I'd like to know the plan, where the kids will be in 10 years, where we will be in 10 years but I have a feeling it is much more exciting to trust Him step by small step, moment by moment. My God is good.

I am a Skilled Metal Worker

Is anyone still running out there? I took a short sabbatical while my life got crazy filled with nothing. But I'm starting back up in Week 4. Ran yesterday and felt great, even tacked on a little time to the last run because I felt like I could. The kids were great after we got started and we fell into a groove. :)
In other news Nick is venturing into the walking world more enthusiastically. He now will take 3 or 4 steps at a time to get from one holding on point to another. It is so exciting to see and so sad at the same time. He's growing up, turning one next month. He's certainly not a baby anymore. I got to hold a newborn last week and I marveled again at how tiny they are. How helpless and simple they are. It is amazing!