Happy Valentine's Day!

This Valentine's Day was filled with stuff to do. First, Patric woke up early to go pick up wood from a very nice guy who gives us wood for free...we just go pick it up whenever we need it. Gotta love Craigslist!! On his way to go pick up the wood, he gets a call from our friend Brad, who says that they need Patric to go play basketball at the church. So--with the trailer attached to the camry that we are borrowing from my stepdad, he makes his trek over to the church to play some ball. Unfortunately, they were playing down a man so they lost by 12 points...but not bad for four on five! A guy playing basketball on Patric's team said that he would help Patric haul the wood if he stayed to finish the game...so after the game Patric got help, and a big truck, and went over to get the wood. We got A LOT of split wood...which I am sure Patric is forever grateful for. He has had to split a lot of wood this winter to heat our home. Wish the guy would have told us before that he had a splitter!! Oh well...

After putting the wood away, we got some lunch at Jerry's subs and pizza and just relaxed while Josh took a nap. Our friend Brad came over and it was nice to just sit and chat with him for awhile. We haven't hung out with him because Kami is in Utah with her family for a little over two weeks. We were having withdrawals! After Brad left, we put a movie on for Josh, and we buzzed Patric's hair. FINALLY! I have to say...I was getting sick of the hair. I was trying to be a good sport about it...but it is nice to have my man back again. I am not sure if I will be so allowing the next time he has a desire to grow his hair out....

While Patric was getting the wood, I went food shopping and prepared for tonight's feast. Since our anniversary is so close to Valentine's Day, and I knew that we had somewhere special planned for our anniversary, I didn't want to go through the hassle of a babysitter and crowds for Valentine's Day---plus I wanted to do something nice for Patric. I picked up some sushi (which was my first time eating it, and it was pretty good), some nice steaks, asparagas, caesar salad, bread, a fancy bernaise butter, potatoes, chocolate to make chocolate dipped strawberries and pudding to make a chocolate cream pie. IT WAS A LOT OF FOOD!! We were not able to finish the food...and haven't even made it to dessert...but we get yummy leftovers and a much cheaper dinner than if we went out...all in the comfort of our own home...right in front of the fireplace and window...we got the best seat in the house!

I highly recommend planning a yummy meal at home, especially if money is tight, after the kids go to bed and enjoy time with your significant other. It is easy to fall into routine and habit...and sometimes it is nice to change things up a bit.

Now, I am blogging and Patric is relaxing...and if we get enough room in our bellies before bedtime we will be snacking on some strawberries...I think the pie will have to wait until tomorrow or Monday.

I almost forgot!

Patric ordered me roses from Proflowers.com to be delivered! He has never done that before, and the roses are beautiful. They came in a really cool red vase too! He also got me chocolates and a snoopy holding the Whitman's sampler. I think he is trying to fatten me up again or something with all this chocolate!! I got him two bags of his favorite Lindt chocolates to go along with his meal.

Though it was a rocky beginning to Valentine's Day, it was a nice finish. I am grateful to have such a loving man in my life.

And here are some pictures of our set up!

All the yummy food!
It was a true feast!
mmmm steak!
Yay for haircuts!!
I look tired! I do not have any make up on!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

Snow Day!!

I was so excited for the chance of snow that I could not sleep well the night before it snowed. I woke up at 4am hoping snow was on the ground...and around 7am the flakes started falling. I swear snow makes me feel like a kid again! I remember missing school and going sledding with my brothers and sisters and also the neighborhood friends. It was so fun! Also--drinking hot chocolate and eating popcorn...best combination ever!

My sister and I decided it would be fun to take Josh and Sage over to my mom's house for some sledding and fun. They are definitely our children because the first thing they did was start throwing snowballs. Josh would NOT stop eating the snow and Sage had fun doing snow angels. If I had video of her doing them, I would post it. It was pretty funny actually. They enjoyed sledding, with the help of Charlie.

Patric left work a little early so that he could spend time with Josh in the snow too! So I was able to pull out the camera again and take some shots at night....and I was also able to get some shots of Josh and I!

Here are some pictures of the day:
I can only assume he is catching snowflakes? Or doing a dance??
mmm snow!
The kids loved sledding. Charlie was nice enough to pull them around.
Choosing the next piece of snow to eat.
Poor Josh being smooshed by Sage and Charlie!
Sledding with daddy!
Sledding with mommy!

Playing catch up!!

I am constantly playing catch up with this blog! I try really hard to stay on top of it, but then an entire month goes by and I haven't loaded any pictures or written. My apologies!! From the last time I wrote, Patric had a birthday, Christmas and New Years happened and Josh turned 22 months.

For Patric's birthday, we got a babysitter, courtesy of Cassie. We went out to dinner and a movie...something I am not sure we have EVER done since being together. We also had my whole family, with the exception of one brother, over for Patric and my mom's birthdays. I made swedish meatballs, and assigned the rest of the food out to people. I sat for two hours making the meatballs by hand, but they were great and we had tons of left overs too!

Christmas was good, but also made me feel a little sad...this year really made me realize that I need to have more kids to have more of that kid like joy in my home...because unfortunately, I don't have the same excitement anymore!!

This New Year's we had fun with friends...what better way to ring in the new year but with people you love? We spent time with Anthrea and Andy, Brad and Kami, and even Megan and Gregg stopped by for awhile. Anthrea is pregnant with her first kid, so I was really excited to be with her for a little of her pregnancy. They moved to NC and Andy is going to Iraq in February.

Josh is officially 22 months...almost 2 years old!! Where has the time gone? It still feels like yesterday that I was working full time at American Disposal and pregnant with him.

Now is picture time!!
We had Brad, Kami, Joe, Liese, Corbin, Josh and Alice over for some cake for Patric's birthday.
Ella patiently waiting for some cake.
Liese, Josh and Brad's enormous tongue!
Christmas eve---I know this because we have presents in our stockings...and we open our stockings on Christmas eve.
Santa came!! We must have been very good this year!!
Josh riding his new big wheel! He doesnt quite get it yet, but I thought the bike was so cute and he is too!
I never really put too many pictures of myself on this blog...this is a self portrait taken a few days ago. Josh was done with me trying to take pictures of him and I...oh well!!

St. Lucia and December Fun!

Today is St. Lucia in Sweden. I don't know much about the tradition, but I wanted to do something nice for Patric to bring a little of home to him. Apparently, they make cookies called Pepparkakor (basically gingerbread) so I made the dough last night so that we could roll them out today. We had a pretty busy day, so we didn't get to them until after dinner, but WOW--THEY ARE YUMMY!!

I got some shots of us working on them, for those in Sweden who follow this blog.

Josh helped roll out the cookies.



Josh helped cut out the cookies...and licked them too! He got A LOT of flour all over him, but that is part of the fun of making cookies.

We didn't have gingerbread men cookie cutters...so we had to make gingerbread snowmen, angels, and holly leaves.
An action shot...while they are baking! They smelled SO yummy!!

The finished product. They smelled SO good!


Josh is testing them out...to see if they are good.


Patric and Josh relaxing, watching a Christmas movie...while Josh continues to snack on his cookie. Look at his hand, he did not even let me come near him because he thought I would take his cookie away.



In other news---today marks the day I officially lost 20 lbs. I have been dieting and working out for about 6 weeks...of course Thanksgiving was in the middle of it all on top of any cheat days I gave myself...but I am SO happy to be 8 lbs less than I was when I got pregnant with Josh. Ideally, I would like to lose another 7 lbs before I get pregnant again...but I am just so happy I have lost what I have.

I will be bold and post a picture of me in my bathing suit. Patric took it today...just to show how much I have lost. Patric has repeatedly told me how proud he is of me. I have resisted trying to get pregnant, because I felt so miserable about my body and did NOT want to gain on top of pregnancy weight. Now I feel much more confident about getting pregnant...though I will not get to enjoy my body much, if I do get pregnant fast.




Yes family---Patric and I will be trying for another kid this month. Cross your fingers that conceiving this kid will not take over a year like Josh did. Josh was sure worth the wait though!

It's the holiday season!

So--

We had these REALLY AWESOME tickets to the Giants v Redskins game on Nov 30. Did we go? No! Josh decided to get some type of stomach bug and was pooping and puking a lot the weekend of Thanksgiving. We did watch the game together at home, and Josh actually fell asleep on his daddy..which he NEVER does...so I had to capture it.




I took some pictures of Josh playing outside when it started to get cold out. Also--it was a way to kill time...as Patric has been working later than usual and I have a hard time adjusting to that! Planning dinner is about the most stressful time of my day.


Patric got a hard hat for Josh at work like a year ago...and he LOVES to play with it. I am sure I have posted pictures of him wearing it, but I had to show it again, because I think it is pretty funny. Don't mind his red face...i guess he gets a dry face when its cold...didnt have this problem last year.



I am NEVER in front of the camera...I generally am behind it...so I thought it was kinda nice when Patric thought that it would be cute to take pictures of me reading to Josh before bedtime. Josh FINALLY likes us to read to him...I was so sad when he would keep closing the books when we tried to read to him when he was younger...but now it is something we do before every nap time and bed time.


Next time...I hope to post some Christmas pictures...I bought Josh's christmas outfit (and all of the pieces were on sale!! Like majorly...like 50% off...gotta love shopping after the rush)

Catching up

I tried to update this blog a couple of times now, but the pictures didn't load, so I got bored and walked away. Now the pictures load up, but I get this weird hyperlink type font...oh well. We had fun taking Josh trick or treating. He was a monkey this year.This is our old street. We decided to go to some of the old neighbors since townhouses means more houses in less walking time. Problem was, most of our old neighbors were not home! So they did not get to see Josh all grown up. Oh well...there is always next year.



I bought these leaf bags at Target for a buck....and we decorated our front porch with our pumpkins we got from the pumpkin patch. Very festive!
We went over to Grandma's house after some trick or treating and were surprised to see Aunt Holly and Lily there. Then a little later, Uncle David and Aunt Teri showed up with Rebecca, Arianna, and Jessica. I had to get a group shot. Lily was NOT cooperating...so she is not pictured.

Josh is picking out his pumpkin at the pumpkin patch. He is a strong little man. And cute too!

A family shot. It was pretty dang cold for the middle of October....but I would rather it be cold than hot!

I went to super saturday so Patric took Josh over to the park. Apparently, he wanted to go down the big slide all by himself. He is such a daredevil!

We have a TON of leaves on our yard. It is NOT fun to have to clean them all up...but Josh enjoys playing in the piles we make.

More October Fun!

We decided to go to the zoo...of course we picked the hottest day in October...but it was fun none-the-less. The Zoo has a petting area...and Josh even got to brush some of the animals.


I think this is my favorite picture that I took of the day. Josh got to pet a cow! He loves milk, so it is important for him to know where the milk he drinks comes from.
Josh REALLY liked the Gorillas. It was REALLY crowded in the gorilla house, so I didn't get to see him much...Patric was with him...but this was what he did the entire time apparently.

Patric cut Josh's hair, about a month ago now, but I thought it looked really good, so I did a little photo shoot before he went to sleep for the night.

Josh LOVES to laugh...I think it is one of his favorite things to do...and I love it too!
I call this picture the "fake smile". He totally does NOT smile like this...but he decided to and I captured it. He cracks me up daily.