Well, that was quite a bloggy break. One whole month. Actually I quite enjoyed it. It wasn't really purposeful but after I got over the guilt of not hitting publish every few days, it was nice. I still have been reading blogs, I just haven't really felt a calling to share lately. And some other priorities got in the way I suppose. At any rate, here are some things we've been up to. Side note: I was going to share pictures but my fancy new-ish camera is being stubborn with wanting to upload so I'll save that for another time. I'm sure you are holding your breath.
1. We went for an overdue trip to Dallas with the kids a few weeks ago. We've been meaning to go for a sweet forever, and really, being 5 hours down the road has little room for excuses. But things kept popping up that prevented it and my mom 'n Steve made a few trips down here. At any rate, we finally made it up there after a really car ride through accidents, road construction, and melt downs. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and spent much of it relaxing and doing a whole bunch of nothin'. I had big plans to see a bunch of friends, go shopping with my mom and other activities, but once we got there, I just wanted to lay low. I had a killer week leading up to it with multiple deadlines that I barely made, so I just crashed. And I think it was much needed. We ate good food, had a night out with one of my best friends, sat on my mom's boat (it was too windy for a ride), watched the kids play for endless hours in the backyard, ate some more food, and slept. It was wonderful. Now that we know we can survive (it was the first time for the kids to sleep in "big beds" away from home vs pack 'n plays), we'll do it again soon and hopefully catch up with more of my Dallas peeps.
2. We finally got around to painting most of the interior of our house. Sure, it would have been easier to do it BEFORE we moved in, but I like a challenge. Or I'm lazy. At any rate, I am not packing up one more damn thing in this house again. The only way I am moving is if 1) Matt's company moves us and packs all of our crap or 2) I leave this planet Earth. That's how much I detest boxes and STUFF. And we still have way too much STUFF. Project "throw or give crap away" is in full effect.
Anyway, when we moved in, the colors were ehhhh, fine, but I knew I wanted to change some of them. Clearly, we painted Ryan's room first thing because it was bubble gum pink. But the rest stayed the same. Mostly because we are lazy on the home side. And it was more fun to wait for our tax refund and spend it in two days of painting. Sooo, I had a friend of mine who is an interior designer come out and help me pick colors. Thank you, baby Jesus for that because I would have broken out in hives trying to select our "forever" colors. Not that they really are, but I know us, and it is going to be at least another 10 years before we do that again.
We ended up repainting our entire foyer, stairway, upstairs hallway, kitchen, living room, Ryan's room, and both of the kids' bathrooms. Quinn's bedroom just needed some touch ups but we stayed with the purple that has grown on me over the past 6 months. And she has all the purple stuff to match, so she's stuck. I almost cried tears of happiness when we got rid of the poo-brown color in their jack 'n jill bathrooms. I mean, who does that??? It.was.awful. Now Ryan's side is the same lovely blue as his room, Quinn's is a soft pink, and the shared area is a sunny yellow. I love it.
What I still don't love is that whomever lived here before decided it was a brilliant idea to paint the upstairs bedroom closets. I can get over the purple one, fine. It's girly, whatever. But why, oh why, did they paint Ryan's closet (it was just another playroom for their child)? He still has a pink closet. Yes, I had painters in here but it just seemed crazy to move all his stuff out and shell out more money for a CLOSET. Matt and I have decided that Ryan can paint it himself if it bothers him so much.
3. Project Paint has led to Project Decorate - which now means I want window treatments, new pillows for the couch, a new rug, some canvas wall hangings, and god knows what else. All I know is that when you paint half your house, it's like opening Pandora's Box of "oooohhh, I need this, we have to do that." So far I've only received clearance for pillow purchase and a few canvas hangings. Mainly because I have reward money at PB that will expire by the end of May and because I found a groupon for 80% off canvases. I'm guessing my custom window treatments that I've already designed and picked out the fabric will occur shortly after Taxpayer Appreciation Day sometime in the spring of 2014.
4. I'm still writing for a couple of local magazines here and just finished two articles that I love - one on Secondary Infertility and another on Katy Love Stories, profiling 6 couples from our area with inspirational marriages. It was probably my favorite quarter of writing for them. I have another article due Friday which probably begs the question of why I am bringing the blog back to life now. I should be writing. Oh well. I work best under pressure when I don't have weeks to re-read my words.
5. Ryan and Quinn are finishing up their last days of preschool for the year. The year has FLOWN BY. For real. I was looking at their 1st day of school pictures this morning and a little sob caught in my throat. They looked like babies and now, they just seem so like, kids. When I picked them up that first day, they couldn't even tell me what they had done that day - their communication just wasn't there - they were about a minute over 2 years old. Now, they regale me with stories all the way home about their day, what they did, what they ate, what they liked playing with, and who their friends of the day were. It's adorable. Quinn especially is very passionate with her story telling. We're convinced that she has a self-imposed word limit she has to hit every day (much like my fit bit that I have to wear to get insurance for Matt's work), because she talks from the moment she opens her eyes to the moment her head hits the pillow at night. It's insane. Ryan isn't exactly shy or anything, he just doesn't feel the need to constantly chatter. They are a nice balance.
6. Now that preschool has almost ended, I'm working on figuring out summer activities. I'm super excited that we live in walking distance to our pool but unless I have a friend or my hubby tub to go with me, I can't take the kids by myself - too dangerous. We will do swim lessons again and that will take a chunk - 4 days a week for 4 weeks. Then we're going to do Little Gym gymnastics. I had to pull them out this past year because preschool budget and TLG just didn't match up. Now they are going to be old enough to go to class by themselves, no more Mommy & Me classes. I have mixed emotions about this.
7. Quinn is PACI-FREE! It went much smoother than I thought. In all honesty we could have taken it away a couple of months ago but I was just hesitant. Mainly because it seems like all of these things are just the last of the "baby" things. Once the bottles, pacis, and diapers are gone, you have kids. Not babies. And that makes me sad. But she did amazing with it and after just one night of off and on crying, she never made another peep about it. Amazing.
8. No, they aren't potty trained yet. Yes, they are ready. No, I am not. Yes, I know I should be. Yes, I will be glad to be out of diapers. Yes, yes, YES. Maybe I'll do it this weekend. I don't know. It depends. Last weekend there was a good movie on and I just wanted to be lazy. *I'm writing this clearly in sarcasm. It's in the process. I just don't see why I should rush it, especially with 2 at the same time. I don't like being chained to the house or the bathroom. But both kids have had varying levels of success going in their potties so it's time to get serious*
9. This seems awkward to leave off at #9 but it's 1:15 and I need to leave in 45 minutes to pick up the kids and I STILL HAVEN'T SHOWERED. How is that possible? Four hours to myself and I can't make it to the shower? Clearly I didn't work on procrastination or time management on my bloggy break.
To be continued...
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