It's my Mac's fault

So, it's been a while. Sorry, but you can blame my mac! I know there are many people out there who swear by Mac computers, but folks, that love is completely LOST on me! We purchased our *first* and *last* mac three years ago..Dell we will meet again.

So, this post will  be many pictures and probably very few words. Lets all just get caught up ASAP.

We finished our time up in FL at then end of May. The trip was fantastic, and the best part was that we didn't really spend significantly more than John would have if he had gone on his own. Yay for a cheap month long family vacation! 

 These Puddle Jumper water swimmies are fantastic! If you're looking to spend some time in a pool (and your kid doesn't know how to swim) these things will rock your world! The other day, Ambrose and I went to a hotel pool, and got tired of swimming so I got out and checked my email (on my phone, 5 feet away from him....not back upstairs in our room) while he swam around. It was a whole new sense of freedom for him and I!!

 Bram got his first hair cut while in FL. The wonderful lady that cut his hair was very nervous as she only cuts 30+year old fighter pilots hair, but she did a great job!

 For much of the time we were in FL Bram was sick. I unknowingly let him wander around with a double ear infection for a week. I of course felt terrible, but also hold him hugely responsible because the only way that I know that my boys have ear infections is because they don't sleep at night, and with Bram, well, we all know his awful sleeping record. So, if the kid wouldn't cry wolf so many times and actually sleep well at night, when he is up for 3hrs in the middle of the night I'd know something was wrong, rather than thinking it's just Bram standard . p.s- he also had a case of thrush that we found while at the ER for the ear infection.

 We came back and quickly got into the swing of things. Here's Bram in that bath solo because his bath partner was running a fever.

 John and I went on a date!

 Little did we know that fever that Ambrose had a couple of days prior was leading up to a terrible horrible case of hand foot and mouth. Have you guys had the experience of dealing with this virus? If not, thank your lucky stars and promptly knock on every piece of wood around you because this virus is no joke! Here's a pic of Ambrose's hand, and it does not do this virus justice.  He had large open sores on his arms, and then smaller ones all over his hands, feet, went up his arms, inside and outside of his mouth, in his nose and even one on his ear. Why they call it hand foot and mouth, I'll never know. For my son, it was a full body virus. Each one of those sores is like a canker sore, it was incredibly painful for him. For one of the days he wouldn't walk because the sores hurt so bad. He slept terribly and complained all night that his feet and hands hurt. It was AWFUL!!! He is over the virus, but now his hands and feet are peeling off in sheets, which I guess is the tail end of the virus. It looks terrible and there's really not a whole lot we can do other than wait it out. I prayed each day Bram would avoid it, and he did! I don't know what that would have been like....I shutter to think!

I have a few pics from last weekends trip to Albuquerque, but for now, it looks like my kid free time is up.

He came out

with dark hair

but is now following in his towheaded brothers footsteps.

The beach delivers

Life at the beach doesn't disappoint! 

 This little guy spends his beach time in two ways...1) eating as much sand as he can possibly shovel into his mouth 2) playing a weird game of twister trying to ensure that the absolute minimum amount of his body is touching the sand

 This little boy LOVES the beach! From the moment his feet hit the sand he's running, chasing seagulls and throwing sea shells.

Guess where we are!?

Remember this place? It's a lot more work with two, but it's still a total blast!!

updated 30 while I'm 30

I've got a long way to go, but here's some of the items I've been able to cross off the list! All of the items that are completed in green, and those waiting are still in red. 

1.train for a race : I'm on week 6 of the Couch to 5K. If you're not familiar with it, google it, it's been an awesome program to get me back into running. Right now I'm running about 3 miles at a time. I haven't found a race yet, but plan to. 

2.go on a vacation with my husband sans kids : not yet

3.take a family vacation: We are headed to FL for a bit for John's job, and I was going to count this as a vacation, but who am I kidding, john will be working, so the only people this will be a vacation for is the two boys. 

4.sleep 8 glorious hours (believe it or not, when I wrote this post, this is the one that I saw most impossible, but in the last month or so, Bram has been sleeping....not every night and not through the night.....but he's sleeping hours at a time.....this folks is huge for us over here) He's still not doing it dependably, but it does happen sometimes, so I'm continue to be optimistic and tell myself each night that he's done it before, he can do it again, and tonight might be the night :)

5.keep my car clean for an entire week (which would hopefully lead to some clean car inertia, and it would last longer than a week): this one is a big old NO.

6.find a pair of jeans I absolutely love, and pay no attention to the price tag : my shopping options here are limited to say the least ( JC penny's is what we've got, NOTHING else....I don't think St. John's Bay classifies as dream jeans, so until I'm somewhere with access to decent stores, this one will remain not crossed off) 

7.Get family pictures taken: I had kind of forgotten this one, I need to get on it.

8.Be fully unplugged at least 1 day per month : nope

9. sell our house: the time hasn't come yet, and honestly, the AF isn't exactly giving us any clues as to when that will, so until then, we'll enjoy our home.

10. crochet something I'll actually use/wear nope

11. sew something I'll actually use/wear: I've done a couple of projects (dish cloths from old towels, bibs... but I'm not letting myself off that easy)

12. grow and eat my own vegetables: not yet but planting season is around the corner

13. drink wine on the patio with my husband at least 3 times a month ( john and I did this almost nightly during the summer, and it was a wonderful end to our days) Yup! 

14. buy as much local and organic I need to make this more of a priority. Since we gave away our chickens to a guy from work, we don't get them from our back yard, but he does bring some to us pretty frequently. The farmers market will open soon, so that should help me with this one

15. wear earrings daily (silly...yes, but for some reason, if I'm wearing earrings, it makes me feel/look a little more put together, even if the earrings are accompanied by jeans and a sweatshirt) Yup! I have pearls in right now

16. find something that will fade the age spot on my temple: nope, still there and still driving me bonkers

17. buy a bike to go on bike rides with my boys YES! It was an awesome purchase and I love love love having it! 

18. take a college class : nope

19. vote: not yet

20. play in the rain with my boys: if it would ever rain in the desert, we might have a chance at this one

21. volunteer ( either with my boys, or  without)

22. try and live by: use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without:  I feel like in most things, I'm pretty good at this. I buy the boys clothes from a local consignment store or a local craigslist type website, we cloth diaper, I plan meals and try and use up most of our pantry/fridge items before going back, but....I could do better. So, I'm not crossing this one off yet. 

23. make our upcoming move the most organized yet: again, not sure of the move dates, but will come back to this one

24. swim in the ocean: Not yet, but come the month of May I'll have the chance

25.cook fish for my family (with asparagus) *these two items are hated foods by either john or I, and I don't want to pass on these biases to the boys) Yup! 

26. buy coffee for the person behind me in line in my local drive through (a simple lesson in pay it forward): Not yet

27. learn to fold a fitted sheet. It can be done, my mom does it quite well, I on the other hand take the roll- it- in- a- ball- and- flatten- with- my- hands method... no more! I'm going to learn man, I need to get on this one, all I need to do is watch a few youtube videos...

28 see zac brown band in concert:  (or any show really)This one is a silly, far off dream (since we live in Alamogordo...) but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway. nope

29. reach for my Kindle at night instead of my iphone doing better with this, but again, not prepared to check it completely off the list. 

30. Lasik, eeek, this has been on my "to do" list for a while, but just recently my vision has stabilized and I'm now a candidate. My eye doc is really encouraging me to do it, he thinks I'm an excellent candidate and I'd get at least 15  or so years out of it. Sounds great, but...yikes! not yet

All smiles

Things that are making me smile lately

1) seeing my littlest boy wearing the older boys clothes. Not sure why, but my heart smiles when I see Bram in an outfit that Ambrose wore (which, this is not a frequent occurrence. Although the boys were born during the same season, Bram: April Ambrose: March, they are so different in size. The 12 month clothes that Bram is currently wearing (at 12 months) Ambrose wore at 5 months)

2) watching Ambrose get mail. you'd think publisher's clearing house had sent him a million dollars in the mail each time he receives a piece of mail. I think a postman could possibly be his current dream job.

3) the reverse camera on the iphone. I'm actually in pictures now!

4) Easter egg hunts in the sand

5) this awesome lamp. I found it used for a steal, and it looks perfect next to the chair in my house.

6) I saw 5 South Dakota license plates around town today.

7) These tubes. The store was out of cilantro one day, and I grabbed the cilantro tube to try as a substitute, I am SO glad I did. These taste awesome and are insanely convenient! Go out and grab yourself some!

Randomness

* ambrose is playing soccer and no lie,  the term "herding cats" came from someone watching a coach try to get a group of three year olds to run in the same direction at the same time.
* all of the cute toddler-ese language things Ambrose used to say are quickly fading away, but he still has a few left. for example, he rarely every wears a bib anymore, but when he does he always asks me to "hand him a babe."
* today John took Ambrose fishing, and when I asked him if he caught anything, he said "yup, two worms and two fish!"
* for his birthday, our friends got Ambrose a drum set and I know that some of you are groaning at that thought, but really, it's been an awesome. It's inspired some impromptu father son music lessons, and as an added bonus, Bram thinks it's an awesome live concert and he just sits there, watcing and listening to the "music."
* I got a bike last weekend and tonight after dinner we all grabbed our bikes and went for a ride around the neighborhood. It was awesome (for all of us but John,  because when Ambrose decided in the middle of the road that he would not pedal one pedal longer, John ended up riding a bike and carrying one all at the same time.)
* Nap dropping is in full swing for the three year old. He hasn't taken a nap in about a week now, and the whole idea of "quiet time" is lost on him. Hewillingly  stays in his room, but there is nothing quiet about it.
* I forgot to wash Ambroses' shin guard socks, so last night, he wore adult tube socks to practice.
* We also forgot his ball, so we borrowed one, and it happened to be bright pink and zebra striped.
*The city allows the guys out at the base to do sonic booms over the city, and some are a doosey. recently, there was one so loud that it knocked my friends mirror off her wall....so you can imagine my excitement now that the guys are night flying.