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.

Here comes the sun

The weather is getting progressively warmer, and while right now it's pretty comfortable, it's a reminder that things are going to be hot before we know it.

We're enjoying the 80 degree weather while we've got it, so today we were off to the park.

stealing the spotlight

I was trying to catch Bram signing "more" but Ambrose was quick to steal the spotlight.

Birthday party

This weekend we celebrated Ambrose's third birthday. We first started with a family celebration with grandpa and pia.

After much thought and indecision ( on both his part and mine...the kid really is interested in all things that "go"....so he waffle between diggers, space shuttles, air planes, trains and cars) we decided on a race car theme. 

Ambrose fully understands the excitement that comes with a birthday party and in the days leading up to his party, he asked me no less than 10 times a day, if today was his party.

 We set up a track with a gas station, auto repair station and car wash. The wind was in full New Mexico force, so the carwash was going crazy!

 The kids colored wooden cars and raced them down a track John made.

 Bram got in on the track fun too!

The entire day was a blast!

It's official

I'm a soccer mom. Although....if the first soccer practice of ones life is any indication of future soccer stardom, then it's safe to say that we're not looking at the next David Beckham.