TGIF

This was one exhausting week! After having an amazing weekend with the boyfriend, it was extremely hard to get back into the swing of things at work. I'm already looking forward to next week when JM will be back in town for a few days!

Road trippin' together!

So I briefly mentioned yesterday about our trip to Cleveland last weekend! We had such a good time that I felt like it deserved it's own post! I've only spent a couple hours in the car with JM at a time, so this big trip was sure to be quite the adventure. We left my house, behind schedule, around 10 o'clock Saturday morning. The trip was supposed to take around four hours, but about an hour into the trip we decided to ditch the directions, and just wing it the rest of the way. JM pretty much knew what roads would lead us to our destination, but we still kinda took whatever route our little hearts desired. We went through quaint towns with small street festivals, college towns painted orange and brown ("We're falcon awesome!"), and even drove past (and turned back around to see) an alpaca farm! We stopped a couple hours into the trip for snacks. This is why JM is the BEST road trip partner EVER...he comes out with a bag full of goodies! Anything you could possibly want on a road trip, we had it! We got close to our destination, only to pull off for a little impromptu shopping trip.

JM brought a tie, but we wanted to try to be "that couple" for the wedding-- the ridiculously disgusting couple who matches their outfits to each other. Puke, right? Four stores and almost an hour later, we stopped into Kohls. We dug through the ties for awhile, when I suddenly found THE perfect tie to match my dress! Although the tie was slightly putrid, it matched. JM said if the tie was less than $8 he'd buy it, but otherwise he wasn't going to waste money on something he'd never wear again. As JM prayed under his breath for the tie to be at least $9, I pulled the tag around and BAM...$3!!!!!!!!! Defeated (yet secretly delighted at the perfect match), JM bought the tie! We got a TON of compliments on our matching colors at the wedding! And the tie was a success, to say the least!


The trip home Sunday morning was equally as entertaining, even though we stuck to the main roads so we could make it home quicker. JM tuned in to a polka station a couple hours into the trip...ummmm yeah. Interesting. (I knew that JM was loyal to his Polish heritage, but I had NO idea the extent to his love of polka music. Wow!)

Overall, I have ZERO complaints about our trip! It was so much fun spending time with him, one-on-one. I was so relaxed and carefree during the entire trip (something I never would have done in the past!)! It was nice to just sit back and let JM take control and lead us on this little adventure! It was fun to flip through the radio stations and belt out silly songs together!

I said this to be cheesy to JM on the trip, but I truly mean it...I'd go anywhere with him!

Another great weekend!

It's been a few days since I've posted anything, so I'll do a quick update!

Thursday I left straight from work to head to Lansing for our annual in-service for work. It's a great time for our work family to join together, chit-chat over good food and wine, and just let loose before the in-service meetings the following day. We went to PF Changs for dinner, followed by a couple cocktails at a local college dive bar. It was a great time and it's nice having JM with me at these things now!

Friday morning we got up early for the in-service! It was a great day and proved to be very informative! After the meetings, JM and I headed back to Fort Wayne to meet up with my brothers, my kiddies, and mom. It was the first time my brothers would be meeting JM! We all had such a great time and I think JM really enjoyed his time with my brothers! This is huge for me, as my family is such a MAJOR part of my life! It was nice to see that they all loved him as much as I do!

Saturday morning, JM and I had to leave early to go to Cleveland for a wedding. It would be our first road trip together! We had a BLAST taking little back roads, driving through small towns, and just laughing and talking for almost five hours! He's a perfect road trip partner!! (Of course!) This was the first time I met his high school and college friends, and I have to admit I had been a little nervous about it. But of course, they were all amazing and it was an INCREDIBLE night!

Sunday morning we hit the road early to get back to the babies! Although it had been a GREAT weekend with just JM, I was ready to get back to the kids and to finally be HOME. While I unpacked from the weekend and started laundry, JM cuddled up with the kids on the couch. I think they secretly missed us as much as we missed them!!

It was a PERFECT weekend, and I am so grateful for an amazing family and boyfriend!

A House for Four?

I bought my house just over a year ago. Although I went through quite the struggle to finally close on my house, I wouldn't trade it for the world and I still really love my house. I love the neighborhood, I love our neighbors, and I love the location outside of the city limits. Overall, I'd say that I am very lucky to have been able to buy in the area that I did. And for the kids and I, the house is fairly roomy. Their bedrooms are a bit on the small side, and we don't have a second living area, as I had originally hoped for in a home, but the 1600-ish square feet is sufficient for two toddlers and me.

With JM traveling so much for work, he is oftentimes able to stay with us during the week. Of course I love having him there, but it makes me realize that my house wouldn't provide enough space for a family of four! (And that's not a dig at JM's giant physique or abnormally long, dangling arms!) It's just that sometimes it would be nice to have that "retreat" away from the chaos that comes with a full house.

I have to stay in my house for at least five years because of the type of loan that I took for my house. And of course I WANT to stay in my house that long, especially since we're less than three miles from the elementary school and junior high where the kids will attend. But eventually, I want to be able to send JM to the basement to watch all the Tigers games his little heart desires. And I want to be able to send the kids to their rooms to work on their homework. And I want to be able to run away to the four-season room with my bottle glass of wine in the evenings, without anyone distracting me!

Again, I know I'm lucky to have my house! I DO love my house and I'm proud of myself for taking the plunge into home-ownership. But a girl can dream, right?!

I just don't understand!

I've never been married so it's hard for me to completely understand some of the "issues" that those close to me are going though in their relationship. However, I have been in a very long relationship, which included two kids, a cat (for a brief time), and many difficult situations. As we all know, that ended all too late. I should have done it months, if not years before I finally did it, but...lesson learned. And I think that's my point-- lesson LEARNED. I have married friends who constantly complain about their spouse. Most of the time it's just the normal wifely banter-- about her husband not cleaning up after himself or about her husband saying something moronic. BUT sometimes, my friends have a legitimate reason to gripe...and even question her desire (or lack thereof) to be married. Scenario 1: Wife is complaining about how she has to constantly do everything for her husband. I know there's a degree to relationships where we should WANT to do things for our partner, but there's also a point where we're almost enabling our partner to be an idiot. I mean, you're calling the doctor for your husband because he "doesn't know how" to do it? Seriously? You're running to the grocery store at 10pm because he "doesn't know" what groceries your family needs for the week? What happened to a grocery LIST for Pete's sake!? Really?! At this point, I just stopped feeling sorry for you and started being jealous of your husband! Please come shop for me and make my appointments for me! Please!? Scenario 2: Wife is always stuck at home. I remember what it was like to be a stay-at-home-mom. It was hard. Sure there were perks to being home all day in comfy clothes and such, but looking back, the majority of my memories during those three years as a SAHM include miserably waiting on Aaron to get home from work (or where ever), so I could have a freaking minute to myself! There came a point where I KNEW Aaron wasn't going to hurry home because he knew everything was taken care of. The kids were fed, the house was clean(ish), and things were as they should be. My heart aches for my friend going through this right now. It's unfair for her husband to expect her to stay home and tend to EVERYTHING, while he's ignoring her calls for help (literally, sometimes). Everyone needs a break. At what point does the wife take that final step to being completely single? I mean, her life with her kids will essentially go unchanged-- she already does everything for them. I, in no way, am suggesting that my married friends should throw in the towel. I know that relationships take work. A LOT OF WORK. And I am totally on board for that, trust me. But, at what point do we stop living miserably and start living the life that we WANT for yourself and for our children? People change. Even though we might not be the one changing, we can't stop our partner from changing. He might decide that the life he promised us wasn't exactly what HE envisioned for himself.

Kindergarten overload.

I'm exhausted FOR Lilly! I knew that starting school would be a big change for all of us, mostly Lilly of course, but I had no idea how much it would impact me! It seems like we are constantly running here or there, doing this or that, and writing, cutting, pasting, or reading SOMETHING. Although we've always been a "bedtime story" kinda family, finding the time to dedicate twenty solid mintues of uninterrupted reading everyday, has proved to be challenging. The past two days we have had so much going on right after school that by the time we get home, make dinner, and finish eating, it's almost time for bath, books, and bed. I see my kids for about 2 hours in the evenings (on a good night), and for about an hour in the morning. I miss the little boogers! Lilly also just started ballet and tap yesterday. After a forty-five minute class, right after school, she looked EXHAUSTED! My poor baby!! And to think...this is only KINDERGARTEN! Ugh!

One Sick Puppy!

Andy-Man has been sick for the past few days. I got the dreaded call from daycare on Tuesday afternoon. Anderson had a temp of nearly 102. I cleared my schedule for the rest of the day, got my appointments covered at work, and drove to pick up my sick little duckling, the whole way there cursing the life of single-parenthood! A couple hours and one dose of medicine later, my little man was coming back to life and his normal silly self. I had called Lilly's school earlier and instructed them to have Lilly ride the bus to our neighborhood so that I wouldn't have to go all the way back to daycare, where she usually gets dropped off. I knew Lilly would be excited to ride the bus with our neighbor girl, Makayla, and it made it much easier for me to get her! Anderson wanted to walk over to the stop with me (which is literally right across the street, and also happens to be right in front of our BFF/neighbor friends' house!). Here's what he looked like to venture across the street:

Sick my ass. Yesterday he spent the day with my aunt. Apparently she was on vacation, and was more than willing to keep my little man! Anderson had a GREAT day with Aunt Sue, and I was at ease knowing he was having a good time, and probably getting spoiled rotten! Today he convinced me that he was feeling okay, other than his "swallower" hurting! I kept him at home for the majority of the morning, but dropped him off on my way to work at 11am. So far, no call from daycare to come pick him up! Shew!

Lucky Me!

I told myself at the beginning of the month that I was going to be dedicated to my blog this month. I wanted to redo my headline, change up some themes, and make an effort to blog at least five days a week. Well, it's now the 6th and I've already failed! Whoops! So, let me catch you up on the past few days! Friday turned out to be FABULOUS! After thinking that I wouldn't see JM until I went to MI for Labor day festivities, I was excited to hear that he had changed his mind and would be joining me for the evening! The kids were SO excited to see his car in the driveway when we got home! He's amazing and anything more than a few days apart from him just bums me out! We hung out, spent some quality time with the babies and then grabbed a late dinner that night! It was perfect!

Saturday was spent like most other Saturdays...shopping with Mom and the babies! JM had to head home early to take care of a few things (ha) before my arrival on Sunday. (Code for: Michigan football game at 3pm!) Mom took the kids home with her on Saturday evening because I was leaving early the next morning for Grand Rapids. It was very very very weird to be home alone that night-- no babies and no JM. As awkward as the silence was, I actually enjoyed it and really took the time to get a couple things done. Sunday morning I was up bright and early to hit the road for MI. This would be only the second time I went to JM's house. I was nervous and excited at the same time! Although I had briefly met his parents and sister, this would be the first time I met the extended family. THEY. WERE. AMAZING! He has the most incredible family! Spending time with JM and his family made me fall in love even more with him. He's such a lucky guy to have such an awesome family! They were great! Monday I made the drive back to FTW and then onto Wabash for the Hahn Labor day BBQ. Although it was little chilly, it was still so much fun to spend time with my family! My kids had so much fun with all the aunts and of course their little cousins! After a weekend like this, I can't help but feel so blessed to have such a great group of people surrounding me. I have the most precious babies, the best parents ever, a wonderful extended family, and of course the world's best man. I would say this weekend was an epic success!

RUT-ROW!

I have bad children. Well, I wouldn't say they're BAD children, they just have bad behaviors. And their terrible behavior has extended beyond the cozy walls of our own home. While the nightly battles at bedtime are to be somewhat (I said SOMEWHAT) expected of easily excitable youngsters, I would say my children's rule-following reluctance, especially at bedtime, is beyond the level of acceptability. Yes, this is partially mostly my own fault, as my follow-through at the end of the day is lacking. This is definitely something I am continuously working on, and I know that NOT following through on things is only hurting my precious babies. This whole ordeal started Monday, when I got a little note from Anderson's teachers saying that he had to be reminded multiple times to make good decisions. I talked to my handsome son about this at dinner that night, and together we came up with ways to make better decisions at school. The next day, his teacher said he did much better (still not great?). Then Wednesday at work, I got an email from Lilly's teacher. Apparently Lilly was having trouble following rules during circle time. Her teacher asked me to please review the terms "active listening" and "personal best" with Lilly that evening. Convinced that I was probably going to have to pull both children from school and be forced to home-school them, I turned to my brother! HELP! As a former elementary teacher,and a rules and manners nazi, I knew he could help me guide my troubled-tots back on the right path. With his support and encouragement, I took these issues by the horns, and I have hope that my kids will turn out to be quality, prosperous members of society! I know these things happen. And I know that all kids go through behavior issues in times of transitions. I also know that it's my job to make sure that these things don't go unnoticed or unaddressed. I am committed to working through these things with my babies.