An I-Phone, Some Whining, and Some Laughing

Getting my kids to do their chores is NOT EASY! Distractions and whining seem to be so much more fun:

Oh, and making messes like the one in the boys' room... I'm not sure why they thought it was a good idea to dump the entire contents of their closet onto the bedroom floor. You better believe they didn't like cleaning that one up either, though.

Good thing I like these cute little monkeys!

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

Sam took Ellie to work with him last Friday. She was beyond excited when he told her to get ready that morning. She kept telling me, "I have to hurry so me and Daddy won't be late to work!"

She got to do all of her favorite things:

Wear her backpack,

visit Daddy's office,

color on the whiteboard,

ride on the elevator,

and just generally walk around being big like Daddy.

She thinks he has the coolest job ever, and she wishes she could go to work with him every day. One thing's for sure - she definitely has the coolest dad around.

Getting Called Off

     Last Thursday I was called off of work, so we decided to do a few fun things. (It seems like "fun things" have been few and far between lately because I haven't been feeling very awesome. Unless Dad is home - he's the fun one.)

     So after I got home, the kids and I went to the park. Ellie begs and begs 24/7 to go, but of course that's not always possible. But that day we went and stayed for a long time. She really enjoyed herself! She learned to climb up a new part of the play set that she hadn't been able to do on her own before, and she was quite proud. And of course she couldn't get enough of the slide.

Nathan enjoyed hanging out in his carseat. I have to take him in either the carseat or the stroller because if he is left to roam, all I do the entire time we are at the park is pick bark out of his mouth. So we chose the "strapped in" route.

When we got home, we decided to make pancakes. Why not?

It was Nathan's first time trying pancakes, and he LOVED them. He loves being big enough now to eat lots of the same foods that the rest of us eat.

     We all took a nap, then we did some much-needed cleaning/unpacking. I didn't take any pictures of that because, well, that's boring. :)

     I was so grateful that I was able to stay home with my kids that day. I was able to put into perspective what is most important in my life, and to make some fun memories with my kiddos.

     Besides - it turned into fall over the weekend, and our park days will soon have to come to an end.

Love,

I am Now Employed

     Yep, I now have a job. I will be working at a local home health agency for pediatric patients. I'm grateful for the job - especially for the hours. I will only be working Wednesday and Thursday from 8-4 with every third Friday night. But I am also not excited to leave my kids! It was so hard when we had to take Ellie to daycare while I was getting my RN - I think there were only a handful of times I didn't cry when dropping her off. And I've never left Nathan except with babysitters for a date night. We are planning on getting a babysitter to come to our house so we don't have to do the whole daycare thing again, but it's still getting to me. So while I'm extremely grateful for the job so I can keep up my skills as well as my license, I'm dreading leaving my kiddos.

     I guess you could say it's a love/hate relationship.

Love,

Visiting Daddy at Work

     The weather was perfect on Thursday so Ellie, Nathan and I walked to campus to visit Sam at work. Ellie couldn't have enjoyed herself any more.

She felt like such a big girl in Dad's chair! Not to mention he let her type on the computer...

...and color on the white board. Best dad ever.

I'm not winning any "cool parent" awards over here, though. Yes, I did that to my daughter with my wedding ring. Poor little girl!

At least she still loves me.

Love,