High Five for Friday

This week's high five has a different feel.  Instead of the highlights of the week, I am focusing on an attitude of gratitude.

#1
I sad goodbye to a very dear friend who is moving to Arizona.  We have known each other for six years and have shared so many sweet memories together and with our kids.  I have lived in Rochester all of my life, but never understood the transient city it is until recently.  Many lovely women I met in my twenties were temporary transplants to Rochester due to medical school, residency, and/or fellowship.  This year especially, I've known several families who are now moving on from Rochester and their time of training at Mayo.  I am forever grateful to have shared the last six years in Rochester with Krista, but I also know that a move to Arizona is not the end of the road for our friendship:)

Nora being moody with Krista

And, warming up to Krista:)

#2
I attended my final MOPS at Hope Summit meeting this week.  Seven years ago when I first became a mom, I knew I wanted to connect with other moms so we could learn and grow together through the experience of motherhood.  By the time Luke was 18 months old, our church started a MOPS (Mothers Of PreSchoolers) group.  I was blessed with the opportunity to be a leader for the first four years and have attended the past two years.  Similar to my sentiments above, I met so many wonderful women through MOPS and am so grateful for the opportunity to share our kids' preschool years with them.  Thankfully, our church is continuing a moms' ministry in the fall in a slightly different format so I am looking forward to connecting with both familiar and new faces. 

#3
I am so grateful that my kids stay in the "baby stage" for most of the first year.  Not sure what I mean???  Well, my kids are slow to crawl, slow to walk, slow to get teeth, slow to get hair, but they are certainly not lacking in personality:)  I always feel like babies who meet these milestones early in the first year grow up quicker than my bald headed, toothless grinned, stationary babies:)

#4
I am so very grateful to work half time.  I once nannied for a mom who said she was a better mom because she worked half time and a better nurse because she was home half time.  I concur (except I'm not a nurse;))  I am so grateful for the extra time at home with my family and also grateful for the opportunity to contribute to our family's physical needs by working.  I am so thankful for this balance.

#5
I have been, once again, reminded of the incredible blessing of living in the midst of "Mother Mayo."  It is easy to take Mayo Clinic for granted since I've lived in Rochester and had access to its care my entire life.  But, I am regularly reminded how unique our situation is and what a blessing it is.   

Fun-filled Weekend: May 18-19

 

Transportation Fair on the Bucket Truck

Nora's first Transportation Fair
She enjoyed the people watching:)

Oxbow Spring Fest

Nora was pretty beat by the end of our busy morning
(she's actually awake in this pic, but very relaxed:))

Silly face

Nora vegged out in her stroller

Dinner at Victoria's

Attempting a pic with little lady

Now with both kids...
 

It's a little tricky when Nora wants to grab
Luke's glasses anytime he's within reach

Sweet girl playing ball at church

 

Luke checking out his shadow on the neighbor's
garage during sunset

Taking in the spring scents:)

"Never Gonna Feel That Way Again"

I recently heard the Kenny Chesney song Never Gonna Feel That Way Again (click link to hear/read lyrics).  It really got me thinking about how very fast the current stage we're in is flying by us.  Brent and I love raising our kiddos and we are especially fond of the young ages.  We don't know what the future holds for our family (if we'll have more kids, etc), so I really want to soak in the moments we share.  The chorus goes:

It was my life and it was fun
Another season of my life is done
Another race I'm glad I got to run
Another chapter in my life its over
No I'm never gonna feel like that again
Times rushin by me like the wind
Never be as young as I was then
No I'm never gonna feel like that again

I know this year of having a baby and first grader is quickly coming to an end.  We'll shortly enter the season of having a toddler/preschooler and grade-schooler, which will bring it's own joys and trials.  But for today, I want to soak in the moments that fill my heart to overflowing.  Like coming home for lunch to Nora who is ecstatic to see us and saying good bye in the morning to Luke who still wants a hug and kiss before we leave. 

Andy Bernard said it well on The Office series finale last week:

"I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've left them"

High Five for Friday

Bridge enjoying her huge sandwich from
Cheesecake Factory

Mom with the biggest veggie burger known to man

I should have known the grande burrito
 would be a lot to handle!

Mmmm, Cracker Barrel:)

Luke snuggling Mumbles the night I brought him home

Thursday was Luau Day in first grade. 
Luke and I both dressed for the occasion
since I was volunteering in his class.

1. Trip to Chicago with my mom and sis.  I'll post separately about it soon once I get the pics compiled from multiple cameras.  It was a great get away and lots of fun exploring, and mostly shopping, together:) 
2. Mother's Day was a great day. I spent the day traveling back from Chicago with my mom and sis, eating at Cracker Barrel (one of my favs), and doing some outlet shopping in Wisconsin Dells. I've also already posted about Luke's special gift to me, which made it an extra special day:)
3. After a trip, it always takes time to catch back up on life.  Even though it was only four days, I felt horribly behind at home.  So, this week, as lame as it is, one of my high fives is that I'm caught up on laundry, grocery shopping, and cleaning as of today!  It's the little things people;)
4. I ran the Stay Out of the Sun Run 5K tonight.  My second 5K since Nora was born last summer and it went WAY better than the first run (last October).  Interestingly enough it was even the same route:)  I felt good running, we didn't get rained on, and the proceeds went to the wonderful cause of melanoma research. 
5. I think it's safe to say it's finally spring and I'm getting excited to get planting started in the garden (veggies) and in the landscaping that Brent created last year.  We've got some hostas ready plant.  Hopefully we can get started tomorrow!

10 Months!

I'm finally getting around to Nora's 10 Month Update since I was out of town on the "official day" last Saturday. 

At 10 Months, you are...

• Still using the same mode of transportation: rolling, reaching, and scooting backward.  Here we thought you'd be crawling before your brother since you're so squirmy, but you've now surpassed his 9.5 month age of starting to crawl.
• Starting to find your groove-thang:)  While sitting on the floor or in your high chair, you'll bounce up and down to music from toys or from the radio.  So stinkin cute!
• In love with books.  You love sitting on the floor playing with your bucket of toys, which includes several board books.  Almost every time I look at you, you're paging through a book. 
• Very affectionate with your stuffed animals.  You still sleep with taggy bear, but you also love to snuggle any stuffed animal.  Your other favorites include Mumbles the Penguin and a pink teddy bear with a fleece outfit.  Both are very soft to snuggle. 
• A very content baby, but you are especially happy in your stroller, in your swing under the deck, or in your high chair with finger foods. 
• Now a bike-trailer rider.  Papa got us a bike trailer so he can pull you behind the bike on the days he babysits.  He said you like it just as much as riding in the stroller. 
• A great eater.  I think the only thing you have turned your nose at has been plain black beans, otherwise you have eaten everything we've given you.  You especially love yogurt, cottage cheese, baked beans, pasta, vanilla wafers, and puffs.  (You're also still nursing 4 times a day.)
• Very chatty.  You have a lot to say and are even starting to show inflection in your tone so we feel like you're sassing us sometimes.  We love to hear your commentaries on life as you play, eat, ride in the stroller, etc.
• Still obsessed with your brother.  He can make you giggle by doing the littlest thing and you love when he plays with you.
• Quite the social butterfly.  We've been in Culver's a couple times recently and you are very interested in the people sitting near us and all of the activity happening around you.  You draw many admirers with your sweet demeanor:)

Being silly

Overflowing the hamper

And...we're done with the sticker...

Precious moment

Priceless:)

Finally getting a grin,
for brother of course

Busy tongue, she's working on cutting her first tooth

Photo credits to Luke catching this smirk:)

Memories and S'mores

I have quite a memory.  I remember birthdays and anniversaries.  I can look around my house and remember when I received gifts and who gave them to me/us.  My memory serves me well at work and around the house.  It also gives me wonderful reminders of those I love. 

Tonight, while grocery shopping, a recipe came to mind that my Aunt Nancy used to make when we had camp outs at her house in the summer.  I picked up the four ingredients and whipped it up tonight. 

I love how memories attached to things, songs, places, etc can take me back in time, especially when it means remembering special people who are no longer with us. 

In memory and honor of my Aunt Nancy, I will enjoy the frozen s'mores in my freezer with my kids who never had the privilege of meeting her. 

Image found online,
where I also found other versions of the recipe

Frozen S'mores

Graham Crackers
Cool Whip
Chocolate Chips
Mini-Marshmallows

Mix one container of cool whip with desired amount of chocolate chips and mini-marshmallows until well mixed.  Break full graham crackers into squares.  Spread cool whip mixture onto one graham cracker square and top with a second graham cracker square.  Wrap in tin foil, plastic wrap, or place in a small ziploc bag and freeze.  Enjoy once cool whip is firm!

Mother's Day Blessing

CAUTION: Mommy bragging to follow...

I have the most thoughtful and adorable son who absolutely melts my heart!  

On Sunday night when I got home from my trip, he gave me the card below.

The personal note reads:

"Hi mom, first I want to tell you what I want to do with you.  First I want to bring you to Victoria's for lunch. Then bring you to Color Me Mine.  To you Mommy.  From Luke and Nora"

Brent told me that Luke picked the card and came up with the idea of lunch and Color Me Mine all by himself.  He told Brent, "Not all presents need to be things, sometimes it can be doing something together."

Melt my heart!

Then, on Monday, he gave me the gift he made in school and the gift he bought me from the Mother's Day Store.  

The above reads:  "My mom is magnificent.  My mom is awesome.  My mom makes good food.  Mom is my mom.  Mom makes yummy food."

Love it:)

He picked this ring out for me at the Mother's Day Store and told me the following:  "I had $4 to spend, but I didn't think you would like anything at the $4 table.  I found this ring at the $2 table and I thought you would like it."  I told him he understand the heart of giving perfectly...it's not the price that matters, but the thought that counts:)

Luke has made being mommy the best job ever.  His kind, generous heart blesses us and others daily and he's pretty cute too;)  

Thank you, Luke, for making Mother's Day so very special!

 

One of my favorite pics of us:)

 

Annual Family Events

Two of my favorite family events are coming this weekend! 
 

Oxbow SpringFest

Oxbow Park and Zollman Zoo are just out side of Rochester and Byron.  The park is a beautiful, wooded, county park with hiking, camping, etc and the Zollman Zoo is a lovely little zoo with animals native to Minnesota.  Spring Fest is a fundraiser for the zoo and has lots of fun games, crafts, silent auction items, etc.  The advertisement states:

Saturday May 18 – Friends of Oxbow’s Annual Spring Fest from 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Bring the entire family out to Oxbow Park’s Zollman Zoo for a day of food, fun, and games. This is the Friends of Oxbow’s biggest event and you don’t want to miss it. There is something for everyone including: animal feedings, kids games and activities, as well as a silent auction.

 

Transportation Fair

The transportation fair is genius!  Bring a park full of trucks, buses, and any other vehicle/tractor you can imagine and let kids explore.  Another free event that we love:)

http://www.peoplesrec.com/community/paiir.html
http://www.rochesterce.org/paiir

We've thoroughly enjoyed both of these events with Luke through the years and I'm looking forward to kicking off Nora's years of attending this year:) 

 Hope to see you there!

Wranglin Websites Continued

A couple months ago I wrote a post called "Wranglin Websites" and I knew I'd think of more websites to share, so here they are!

• Map My Run - A great site for finding the distance of your walk, run, or bike ride.  I believe you need a to create an account (or log in via Facebook), but it's very easy to use.  We use it all the time at our house to decide where we'll walk or run.  (Brent also used Geodistance.com, same idea.)
• Live Better America - Love this site!  I can't remember how I found it, but I've been getting recipes off it for years.  My favorites are the "healthified" recipes that are formerly less healthy recipes tweaked to be more healthy.  The recipes usually have what I would call "normal" ingredients too, which I like. 
• Missus Smarty Pants - I have been following Missus Smarty Pants' blog for a couple years and finally decided to subscribe to her website too (for an annual fee).  Her blog has a lot of good tips on style, shopping, and closet organization.  The subscription includes a body analysis (determining body shape), color analysis (determining which colors are best for your skin/hair/eye color), weekly articles on specific style topics, and weekly shopping guides where she suggests clothes that are good for your body shape.  I've only had the subscription for a few weeks, but it's been fun so far!
• Etsy - This a great site for shopping homemade goods.  I learned about it several years ago when my friend got the jewelry for the wedding party from a vendor on Etsy.  Now, I know several people personally who sell their homemade items on Etsy.  It's a genius idea to create a platform for small, at-home business to sell their products. 
• My Coke Rewards - Do you drink Coke products?  If you do, you should collect points.  I just started this past year and I should have been doing it for years.  You can get lots of free stuff with your points!  (Again, you can create an account via Facebook.)
• Wholesome Homemade Baby Food - Great site with info on making your own baby food.  I loved it while I was making it for Nora and wish I had known about it when Luke was a baby. 
• Huggies - Another great place to collect "points" to get free stuff.  I have to buy diapers so I may as well reap any benefits I can, right?:) 

(By the way, if you don't collect your own Coke Rewards or Huggies points, I'll gladly take them off your hands:))

I also follow a few blogs regularly that are lots of fun:

• The Small Things Blog - Kate has some great ideas on hairstyles (including tutorials), makeup, style, organization, decorating, etc.  I love her classic, laid back style and she has such fun hair ideas!
• iHeart Organizing - Jen is an organizing and decorating machine!  Oh, and did I mention she's also all about DIY.  She has great ideas and shares all of her home projects and how-tos.  There are days I read her blog and feel like a real organizational failure, but most days she is an inspiration and I find fun ideas:)

Happy Web Browsing:)

The Wonder of Being a Mom

I have been a mom for over seven years.  I have been a MOPS mom for six years.  It is because of emails like the one below that I love MOPS and all it stands for.  Wishing all of my fellow moms, grandmas, and great grandmas an early, very happy Mother's Day!     The Wonder of Being a Mom

by Sherry Surratt, mom of two

I sat in the darkened hospital room holding my son Michael after his early morning feeding. This was the day. The day we were scheduled to go home, just me and my husband, with total responsibility for a 7 lb. 2 oz. squirming bundle. What was the hospital thinking, letting me go home when it was so obvious I didn’t know what I was doing? I remember thinking only one thought — I hope I don’t screw this up.
Looking back now, I realize that I knew more than I thought I did. When Michael cried, I fed and changed him. When he was restless at 3 am, we paced the hall carpet together, me stumbling sleepily in my nightgown and him gazing around wide-eyed, spitting out his pacifier as quickly as I put it in. When he didn’t want to eat his vegetables, I cajoled him with the “ooh, here comes the green bean airplane” move.

We go way back, me and this boy of mine. This six-foot-tall man who is now a husband and dad to two little girls of his own still melts my heart when I look at him. I didn’t screw it up. He’s a grown adult who makes me so proud I feel as if my heart will burst.

The wonder of being a mom still amazes me. One day you have no children and then you do. You anticipate and worry and wonder how you will ever handle it all. And then they appear and you can’t imagine what life was like before them. As if they had always been a part of you.

God’s plan for us as moms is magnificent. It’s full of wonder and delight and a love so strong, you almost can’t bear it. It’s full of sleepless nights and tantrums that set your teeth on edge, but with just one toothless smile or a single “I love you mom” the tired edge melts away into sheer delight. You look at your child and with pride think, “That one’s mine. And he’s perfect.”

Exactly the way your heavenly father thinks about you.

From MOPS International, we wish you a very Happy Mother’s Day, and may it be full of many moments of wonder and delight.
Sherry Surratt is the CEO and President of MOPS International. She and her husband Geoff have two children and two grandchildren. She is the co-author of Just Lead! A No Whining, No Complaining, No Nonsense Practical Guide for Women Leaders in the Church.

Spring Fun with Friends

It may have snowed over a foot on May 2nd, but by May 5th we were out and about enjoying the 60 degree weather with friends (though you'll still see remnants of the storm:))

 

Little miss in her new sun hat

Pretty boys sunning themselves

Basketball in the driveway...
these two can't get enough

Evan showing off his skills

I believe it was the boys against Brent

Erik is ready to roll!

Emma and Nora ready for a walk

Shorts, snow piles, and snow ball fights = May in MN:)

Even big wheels can get stuck in the snow;)

Checking out the pond

Again, the snow makes an appearance

Momma and little lady

Eli requested a picture of his snowball:)