Valentine's Day 2013

Happy Heart Day to all! Here's a little Valentine filled with some of the things Coop 'n Cruz hold near and dear to their hearts at the moment.
















Today will be busy for us. We are heading out early this morning to decorate for a Family Square Dance held at the "Y" later this evening. Then to a Valentine themed story time at the Library. I think we'll skip the pizza party at Coop's school so we can get back and rest up for the big Hoedown Throwdown later tonight.

It's hard work spreading all our love throughout town :)

Skate

Over the course of the past 3 days, Cooper has had 2 "firsts"---roller skating & and ice skating. Cooper was invited to a roller skating party. Mark took him while Cruz and I stayed home. We're still learning all the birthday party etiquette. The invite was from one of his buddies at school. A "new friend" that we don't know all that well (outside of school) but Coop talks about him quite a bit. The invitation didn't indicate if family or siblings were invited so we didn't dare push it. Plus, it was during Cruz's nap time so I was happy to stay back and have some quiet time while Cruz napped. Win-win. Coop had a blast and now has it in his head that he wants to invite a "whole bunch" of his friends to his birthday party.


Today we participated in Tiny Tots Ice Skating at our town ice rink. It's a temporary rink that they put up during the winter months. A couple of times throughout the season, they open it to ages 0 to 5 years old only to help promote local participation. It was perfect. Not intimidating at all and very cheap. Only $1 per child! For our first time, our skating consisted of balancing on buckets and cones and Cruz chose to skate "walk". Both boys are battling yet another cold and Cruz is a little worse off, so he wasn't as into it. He preferred the hot chocolate over anything else. He kept saying, 'Mommy 'dis hawt chocwate is so much fun'.







We will definitely add this to the mix of fun things to do.

Reflections

Fun with photo apps.......

The Baby Sitters Club

I loved this series when I was a baby sitter. And now the concept has come back into my life. Sort of....

I'm part of a babysitting co-op that started last October. I know we aren't the inventors of this concept and I'm sure there are many like it all over Parentingland. The idea is amazing enough that I had to share the concept and spread the word in case anyone else wants to give it a go. I highly recommend it!

Mom's Day Out (MDO)--The first Monday of the month. Eight Mom's participate watching about 9 kids. Most of the older siblings are at school during this time so it's totally doable. Two mom's sign up to watch the kids together one Monday and the get 3 MONDAYS OFF in return! That's right, a free Monday from 9 am to 2pm!! One day of babysitting with another Mom is totally worth getting 3 Mondays to yourself---Kid Free. It is truly magical. All you have to do is drop your kids off with snacks, lunch and a smile and then you can head for the hills for the next 5 hours!!

We also have a Couple's Date night on the third Saturday of the month. It is structured a little differently because there are more kids involved since it isn't during school hours and we invited a couple of working parents to participate. The concept is also totally doable. Since there are more kids involved now, we don't share duties with another couple at one house. Instead, 3 couples watch several kids at their own home and we draw names out of hat to decide who will go to what house. It sounds confusing as I type it out but it is actually even easier than Mom's Day out. We have 16 kids involved and 9 couples. Because there are more kids, we have 3 date nights and divide the kids between 3 houses. You watch about 5 kids (including your own) from 5 to 8:30pm. All that is required is $3 per child to cover dinner which is a sweet deal for 3 1/2 hours of couple time. You babysit one time and get two dates in return!

Hopefully we can keep this going. Since October, I've had 3 Mom's Day Out days and Mark and I have gone on 3 Dates! Technically, one of our dates was while an was at Sundance. Mark got to go on a date by himself which was a well deserved break during his Mr. Mom stint.

If I could come up with a modern day version of The Baby Sitters Club Portrait, I think it would look a little something like this.......





We'd probably look a little more frazzled and there wouldn't be any fancy appetizers or cocktails served but you get the idea.........

TN "Home"

Remember this place???




Well, we sold it----finally. 22 months after listing it, we finally got rid of it. Do I sound resentful? Don't get me wrong, I will always have fond memories of this home. It's the place we brought both of our babies home to. But I am so relieved to no longer have to worry about it. Double payments, almost 2 yrs of pouring equity into an empty house and the worry of it sitting without much interest. Don't get me started on the realtor head aches we had to deal with as well.

We finally got an offer on the day we evacuated for the fire. Impeccable timing I might add. The buyers had several delays along the way, so now nearly two months later, "the check is in the mail". It isn't a very large check, but a check is a check is a check. Better that than us having to write a check. That would have just plain sucked.

We just made the cut off for being reimbursed for closing costs and realtor fees. Another two months and we would have been outside the 2 year deadline for the park reimbursing us. So we've got that going for us.

So long TN house. I will think of you fondly but won't miss the albatross feeling you gave us the past couple of YEARS. I have no doubt the new buyers will enjoy living inside of you and all of your Smoky Mountain charm. Although I have never met them in person, I have this overcoming urge to give them a giant hug for taking you off our hands. Best of luck to you in the future......

Home

I survived another Sundance Film Festival. More importantly, so did Mark. The family has been recharged and I think we all appreciate each other even more than we did before. I gotta tell ya, it is an awesome feeling to come home to such excitement and joy after being gone so long. My heart was swelling beyond it's pumping capacity when the boys ran out to me when I pulled into the garage.

I had a little hiccup in my travel plans on my way home. My flight was cancelled due to weather so I had to stay an extra night in Salt Lake City. On the day I arrived home, I was also greeted by Marks's sister, Jennifer and brother-in-law, Kevin. Jennifer had a conference in Denver giving Kevin the perfect opportunity to snowboard on Colorado snow and the perfect excuse to come see us! Just like our visit with Nicole, we hadn't seen them since their Dad's memorial. We appreciate their efforts to come see us and keep the family bonds strong & connected. We need to make the same sort of effort on our end as well. Toby, would be very happy that all of his children are closer than ever. Sadly, it took a horrible circumstance to bring us closer. I think we'd all agree that there have been some positive outcomes since losing Grandpa Toby. I know for a fact that our boys will always know how beautiful their Grandpa Toby's daughters are. Both inside and out........

She Works Hard for The Money

So hard for it honey..................

I couldn't think of a catchy title for this post.  Did my title grab you and make you want more?  I hope so.  Because I'm off to Work Hard For The Money.  It's Sundance Film Festival Time.  You know, that time of year when I ditch my family and hob nob with celebrities.  Not really "with" since I'm the hired help.  But you get my drift.

It's pretty much a repeat of last year (and the 8 years before that).  Ground Hog Day if you will.  Each day is the same for the next 11 days.  It's oohhhhhh so different from my Ground Hog Days at home.  A change of pace.  A recharge.  Something that I enjoy while doing but when it's over with, it makes me appreciate my regular Ground Hog Days at home all the more.

I sure will miss my little Punxsutawney Phils.