a Perfect day...

Yesterday was a perfect day. The weather was absolutely beautiful compared to all the yucky cold we've been having.

It actually felt like spring! I need to live in a place that feels like this every day...

Anthony had the day off work so we drove to Iroquois Park in Louisville and rode bikes.

They have a 5 mile paved path and a trail to an overlook of the city and the airport.


It was awesome.

The boys were so happy to finally be able to run and play outside!





Climb trees...

Stuff acorns into their pockets and snack bowl...

Slide!

  

Climb...

And  yes, even work in a little science...that tree was 150 years old!

 Back in the car, Starfall and Teach Me on the iphones... Olive Garden for dinner, and...

 These yummy homemade cupcakes for dessert. What a perfect day...

Back to normal life...

We had a wonderful visit from Grandma & Grandpa Osborne, the boys were so excited to see them again. Unfortunately I got pathetically sick the last few days of their visit and could barely get out of bed. I was grateful they were here to help with the boys though and even more grateful that I was the only one afflicted with the nasty virus. Before I got sick we took a trip to the Zappos shoe outlet- it was amazing! All shoes were 90% off. It was the most fun shopping I've had in a long time.

Joshua has been falling asleep in strange places lately, like on my hat boxes. How on earth can he sleep like that?

And Grant is getting all 4 molars plus two other teeth in and it's been taking weeks for them to push through. He wakes Joshua up at night and so now Joshua likes to sleep in strange places. The couch isn't so strange, but he tried sleeping in the garage once and the other night we found him with all his blankets and bears in our shower. Strange, and kind of gross. 

Anthony has taken the boys camping twice this month. They love camping any time of year and wish they could do it every night. I was happy to stay home in my nice warm bed.

And last, but not least, we've been eating lots of cupcakes. Martha Stewart magazine had some yummy recipes I saved a few months ago and am finally getting around to trying. I'll be slowly posting the recipes on my food blog.

Goodbye sunshine!

We took our annual trip to Florida last week. Last January was miserably cold but this year was absolutely gorgeous. The week started out mid seventies and ended high sixties. It was so nice to be able to swim, run and simply exist in the wonderful warm sunshine.

We took the boys to Disney World for the 4th year in a row. It's so fun to see the excitement grow each time. They team tackled the characters (Grant sucked on their noses) walked for miles upon miles and rode rides with stomachs of steel.

They love all the rides at Magic Kingdom especially the race cars, love seeing Lightning McQueen and the playhouse disney show, test track, the extreme action stunt show was awesome as was the Indiana Jones stunt show, they always love the safari and of course their favorite thing is hugging all the characters.

Anthony's sister Laura along with Scott & Jackson joined us mid week. It was so much fun to have them with us down there again. The boys adore them and couldn't get enough hugging and cuddling.

The kids did their 100 & 200 meter races and fortunately it wasn't freezing cold or rainy this year so they had a ton of fun. Anthony and I ran the half marathon together and despite my intentions to "train" for this one, I only ran more than 4 miles two or three times, and still finished at 2:56 (which is slow compared to people like my husband) but 20 minutes faster than my last one so I was quite happy. The highlight was definitely running under Cinderella's castle. My slightly insane husband decided to do the Goofy Challenge so he ran the half marathon with me and the next day ran the full marathon alone finishing it at 4:08 which I have to say is pretty amazing especially considering the races were back to back (although it does make me feel pretty slow and weak).

   

   

Our last day we relaxed (or I should say I relaxed, Anthony ran a marathon that morning) and swam in the evening. The boys were all asleep and we decided to check the weather since we'd heard rumors of snow in Atlanta. Last year we narrowly escaped the ice storm that hit Atlanta by driving all night long. When we saw they were supposed to get 5 inches and it was going to be snowing all the way up through Nashville we decided we better not take our chances and head out right then (after I begged and pleaded for him to catch a plane home and pick me up the next week, to no avail).

I drove the first shift hitting 50 miles south of Atlanta by 2:30am and the sleet started to fall. By the time we reached Atlanta it was really coming down. The roads were snowy and icy and I kid you not, there was not ONE single snow plow from Atlanta to 40 miles south of Nashville going Northbound. There was one tiny pass before Nashville that had been plowed and iced but it only lasted about 5-10 miles and the rest of the time it looked like the images below. Can you believe that is an interstate??? I have never driven on roads like this before even with all the snow in New Hampshire and Utah. I have two words for the deep south SNOW PLOWS!!!

                                I-75 downtown Atlanta 3:00am        I-75 50 miles South of Nashville 7:00am

Aneeewaaay... We made it home safely thanks to our mad snow driving skills and many, many silent prayers. Fortunately the storm only dropped about a half an inch here (but of course school closed for 2 days). Now we get to enjoy lovely 20 degree weather. But oh how I miss the sun!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well we're finally starting to get settled! I now have one room of the house box free! Since all our decorations were ruined last year we had to get all new ones... Still need a tree skirt and some wrapped presents would be nice...still waiting for amazon to deliver on those... It's finally starting to feel a bit like Christmas though!

Funny boys

We are in the midst of packing, moving day will be Saturday unless the predicted ice storm interferes. Grant has started this silly thing of pulling his socks off or wandering around until he finds a sock, and holding it against his cheek while he drinks his milk. I think it's time to introduce a fuzzy blanket or stuffed animal rather than a smelly sock ;)  The other night I came down to the kitchen and found Joshua curled up alseep on a chair. I don't know how it's possible to sleep like that, but he didn't seem to mind! Well, back to packing... 

Happy Thanksgiving!

The biggest baking day of the year! I live for pies and rolls- check out some of my favorite recipes at my food blog Fabulous Foods!

      

Aside from food, I am also very thankful for my wonderful family, my religion, and that we finally found a house, so we won't be homeless for the holidays! Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Moving...again...at Christmas...

I started to get all excited about Christmas... since all our holiday things got ruined in the flood I get to start from scratch this year. So I had my sister make me a bunch of vinyl to decorate ornaments and this fun charger. But my holiday cheer was dampened by a call from the owner of our house informing us he was going through bankruptcy and could not get financing to keep the house. Meaning, we have to be out by January...

 

 I am so going to miss this house! Yes, it took some adjusting to living in half the space since the basement got flooded out, and the water pressure issue took months to resolve... BUT the backyard was amazing and the playroom enormous. Not much else matters when you have three boys! I'm totally going to miss this setup! I know we won't find a yard like this that's fenced with a massive playset already installed, but hopefully we can still have a big playroom...Wish me luck! I won't be doing many updates for the next few months and won't be sending out cards until we get a new address- so hope they're not too late! If YOU have moved this last year- be sure to email me your new address so I can send you a card once WE move!

Photo Tip: 5 minute photoshoot

I needed to update our photos of the boys and realized I didn't have any current portraits of Joshua. He's two, which means every time I pick up the camera he runs. If I do manage to snap a shot it's of him running or looking away which somehow doesn't look very flattering hanging on your wall.

So thought maybe some of you might need pics to send family for the holidays- here's a photo tip: grab your camera and a bag of fruit snacks or smarties or whatever non-messy treat they like. Give them one treat after they put their clothes on, another one when you get to a nice well-lit area out of direct sunlight, and just start talking to them about something they like (in Joshua's case- trains).

Start snapping as you talk and ask questions or get them to say keywords "daddy wears diapers!" "I love Thomas!" "crazy mommy!" You want them to look natural and relaxed not stiff and posed. Always position their body at an angle never facing straight towards the camera and stand slightly above, never below them. If they don't know what to do with their hands and look uncomfortable, just have them either fold their arms or put their thumbs in their pockets. Toddlers move so fast that you have to keep snapping or you'll get their eyes closed or turned away, they may be a bit off focus but it's better than nothing. When they start to get distracted bribe them with candy.

It really only takes 5 minutes! These image are unedited, with a little cropping and retouching the scratches on his face, they'll look great. Give it a try!

Virginia

We had the opportunity to go with Anthony back to Charlottesville, VA last week. We lived there for 4 months after Ethan was born and have been back several times. It's such a beautiful area and I love going every chance I get. Especially this time of year- the leaves are spectacular and the weather beautiful. I took the boys up to the apple orchard next to Monticello, the views are fabulous and the apple cider donuts divine. They have a new discovery museum at Monticello designed just for kids. They have replicas of Thomas Jefferson's bed, polygraph, desk and other items he had in his home and the kids can touch and climb on anything they want. They played for hours with the architectural blocks (guess that will be their Christmas present this year!) We didn't have much free time in the evenings but our last day we decided we couldn't pass up the chance to go to DC one more time. It was a rainy day and the boys had so much fun splashing in the puddles and getting soaked. We saw the monuments, took Joshua to see his middle name sake (Lincoln). Anyone who's been to DC knows the squirrels are as friendly as dogs, they will eat right out of your hand, the boys had fun chasing them around. And last but not least, one of our favorite places, National Cathedral. It was a long drive, but we love Virginia and can't wait to go back again.