What A Wonderful Weekend

So the weekend was awesome. Julian and I went to a couple of breweries with some very good friends of ours and had a blast. I even tried some of the beer. You must know though that I HATE beer. It is disgusting and I don't get how people drink it. BUT this weekend I tried several different kind and found two that were tolerable. I still didn't get my own drink. I sipped some and that was it. I'm just not a drinker.

But the day was great. We were able to laugh and have a good time with friends. The boys were at my Mom's and they had a blast there. Good times.

Sunday we went to church and then to lunch with even more good friends (including the good friends we just spent Saturday with). It was great. We haven't had a big lunch crowd like that in a long time. It was hectic but wonderful. I then was able to go to the grocery store all by myself and figure out how to work my grocery app on my phone. It is FLIPPIN' awesome folks. It is called Grocery IQ and it is heaven. It can scan the item you want and then you put in the price of it and it will total up your list for you. I scanned all my items and I wasn't a penny off my total when I got to the register. HOLY MOLY it rocks!!!! I can make my menu and grocery list from home and have my total before even going to the store. Woo-Hoo!! We got home and decided to have a date night. We were just going to get a video-on-demand after the kids went down for bed and snuggle. I made us Toffee Hot Chocolate (for the first time) and it was the best thing I have ever had in a cup. It was so delicious. I'm serious. It was. I also made my soapapilla cheesecake. YUM. Double Yum actually. We ended up not getting a video that we would have to pay for but just watched some of our shows that we needed to catch up on. It was glorious. What a great Sunday. I need many, many, many more of those.

Even though this is out of order, Friday night was great too. I made pizza for the boys (a pizza kit from the store) and added some yummy goodness of my own. I put olives and zucchini on top for them and extra cheese. We watched a movie with the boys and then just relaxed until bedtime. We had an early morning scheduled for Saturday so we didn't stay up late.

It was just a fantastic weekend. I loved it.

BIG Month

This December is a big, big month for me.

First, we are going to Albuquerque for Christmas. This will be my first time in Julian's hometown for Christmas as well as the boys. I am very excited about it actually. I am a bit sad about not being with my family, like I always have been, but we are doing our party on the 18 so it's not as if I am not getting a Christmas with them. I am super stoked about going. We are going to do a River of Lights tour. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas lights so I think I'm more excited about that than anyone else. We are planning on taking a train ride to Santa Fe. How flippin' cool is that? Tristan is going to freak. He loves trains and Aiden is going to love it too. He is all boy. ALL boy. Trains, planes, and automobiles are what gets his heart tickin' fast. =) Julian and I are also going to try to go to dinner with one of his Air Force buds. That will be awesome for my Honey. He needs that connection. Grandma will be our sitter so Julian and I also get to go on a date. OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH how we need that. And I know the boys are going to LOVE being with their Grandma. They miss her so much. Plus, she is going to get to know Aiden this time around. She was here in August but I don't think Aiden had really come out of his shell yet. He is now though. He loves to play and get your attention and "talk" to you. I'm excited about the cold weather. I love cold weather. I want to bundle up with all my layers and coats and scarves. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Hot chocolate and snuggles with Julian to keep me warm. aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

The thing I am most excited about is sharing this glorious holiday with my Mom (in-law but I just call her mom because she is mom. Julian's family is my family). This is the first time I get to spend this holiday with her. This is her favorite holiday as well. I can't wait to see her excitement on Christmas morning. I am going to soak up all the love up and keep it in my heart forever. She needs to be with her grandbabies on her holiday. It's good for the soul. I just love that woman.

The second reason this month is a big one is because I turn THIRTY!! Now, I have never been one to see turning thirty as a big deal. It isn't like 30 is old. However, I have always seen 30 as a big milestone. I have been looking forward to turning thirty since I was about 22. I always saw turning thirty as leaving one "stupid" decade and going into the "secure" decade of life. In our twenties we make tons of mistakes (most of us anyway) and just live our lives thinking we won't pay for our mistakes. In our twenties we are dumb and only care about ourselves. We don't know exactly who we are. But I always thought that when we turn 30 we would be more secure in ourselves and would have learned from our past mistakes. Now that I am turning 30 myself, I am realizing that just isn't the case. I am NOT more secure in myself. I have NOT learned from previous struggles. I mean I have but it sure is hard living out what I know to be true and proper sometimes.

I have taken an inventory of my life and I see 30 rapidly approaching. I am not ready for it in the sense of I thought I'd be further along in my own journey(as just Jennifer, not a Mother, not a Wife, not a Daughter but as just me). I am not as secure as I thought I would be. I am not the woman I saw myself being. I still struggle with things that I thought I wouldn't be struggling with. It is all different than what I dreamed it would be. So I have been working on some of the changes I need to make in order for my thirties to ROCK!! Here are a few:

Finish what I start.
Relax more.
Love more.
Yell less.
Enjoy my family instead of trying to control them.
Be happy with what God gave me.
Embrace myself for who I am.
Stop caring so much what others think.
Be ME not someone else.
Let the little things go.
Stress less.

These are some of the things I need to work on. There are many, many more but I can't think of them. Did you see how some of them are the same? I need to just be happy with being Jennifer. Not try to be "a Jennifer" that others want me to be but just be me. I saw that theme in my twenties. I would change for others. I would think less of myself for some odd reason. But not anymore. I am me and should be happy with that. God made me just the way I am and God doesn't make mistakes. He is perfect. We should all love who we are!

Things I Love

I love winter and winter clothing.
I love wind. And breezes. And scarves.
I love bright colors and wearing bright colors any time of the year.
I loved watching C.S.I. when Grissom was on the show.
I love watching shows with my husband and I love t.v. I love going to the movies and sitting at Barnes and Noble.
I love Starbucks and ordering the same drink over and over and never venturing outside my box.
I love my house.
I love the mess in my house and cleaning the messes in my house.
I love my house when I just got done cleaning it.
I love my brand new car.
I love my bathroom. It's pretty. I love all bathrooms. I love to see how different they can all be.
I love traveling and I LOVE Paris.
I love my big backyard, the color of the bricks, and mailbox.
I love being in love with my husband.
I love the color fuchsia.
I love going on road trips with comfy pants on and magazines to look at and books to read.
I love reading, especially reading mafia books.
I love cooking and kitchens. I love kitchen equipment.
Shopping is super fun and I am learning to love it.
I love shoes, watches, purses. Oh how I love purses.
I love dogs and particularly love my two dogs. Drew and Petrie.
I loved breastfeeding. I loved wearing my baby. I loved wearing him when it was cold, not hot.
I love shopping for little boy clothes. And I love figuring out what my boys will wear for the day. I love my parents. Dearly.
I love my brother even though he is going through something awkward right now.
I love God and all that He has blessed me with.
I love my husband with all that I am. I love his smell. I love his hair. I love his face. I love his cute feet. I love everything about him.
I love my two sons. I love their hair and they way they smell. I love how different they are and dread how different they are at the same time. But I do love them...unconditionally.
I love my husband for creating my babies with me. I love our love.

These are some of the things I love. It feels good to write it down. It feels good to think happy thoughts. Maybe you learned something about you didn't know before.

You do the same on your blog. It's fun.

Imagination

So today my beautiful, handsome, wonderful Tristan showed me just how much he has grown up!! He was playing with his Lego's and actually built me a house. A real house. One that looks just like a house. Not a tower of Lego's just put together. He made me a house. I watched him put it together all on his own. No help. No nothing. He is growing up so fast. I cried. I am so happy for him that his imagination is shining through now. He wanted to make his Momma a house. I can't wait to see what his little brain will want to make me tomorrow.

He also had an imaginary friend today. Diego! You know, THE Diego. He didn't create his own name or person, he borrowed Nickelodeon's, but he sure played with him around the house today. They climbed a mountain, went into a cave, hid from bears and lions and tigers, and had dinner together. It was so cute. I accidentally sat on Diego though. Oops! I didn't injure him, I just sat on him and hurt his feelings according to Tristan. He's better now after his peanut butter and jelly sammich. Hope he doesn't have a nut allergy.

All Alone and So Quiet

Tristan is at MDO and the house is so quiet without him. Aiden doesn't know what to do without his big brother. It is precious to see him look for Tristan all over the house. I am at work on Tuesdays and Aiden is at my Mom's house. She keeps him very busy and entertained. Because he only sees her twice a week he is okay on Tuesday's when Tristan is gone because it is somebody new to play with. On Thursday's I think he is extra sad because we are at home where he is ALWAYS with his big brother. I have started "school" for him now to keep him busy. Normally he has Tristan to occupy his mind and we don't get one on one time so this is lovely for both of us.

We are practicing colors, letters, numbers, sounds, words, and objects. I am very far behind in teaching him the basics. Tristan at 18 months knew his colors and could say plenty of words. Aiden can say lots of words but only when prompted by other people. Tristan would talk to us. Aiden talks back. So I feel as though I have been a huge slacker with the second child. Shame on me.

He is doing great though. Come to find out he already knows tons of things. He just doesn't show or tell us he knows them. Now that it is just the two of us he has all the time in the world to show me just how much he knows. I am amazed at what I thought he didn't know but he actually does know. I love it. He is the loud, quiet one. Weird huh? He is loud with whining, he is the KING of whining, but quiet with actual talking. He gets your attention by whining or crying instead of using words. This is a work in progress of teaching him to use words to get me or Daddy to do whatever it is he is wanting us to do for him. We are slowly but surely getting there.

I love my little Aiden. He is such a character once you get to know him. People who try to say hi to him probably think he is horrible. He never lets them hold him, touch him, or even talk to him. He is very strange. He really is. There are only 4 1/2 people who are on the inside with him. Mommy, Daddy, Tristan (he should really be first because he is the closest to Aiden), my Mom aka Dodi, and my Dad is halfway there. Hence the 4 1/2. Other than these four people, Aiden doesn't let you close.

But if you are privileged enough to be in his inner circle, it is an amazing place to be.

Feeling Better

The last two weeks have been a hectic two weeks. My boys were sick, off and on, and then Julian got a cold over the weekend but it was a really bad cold.

It started with the boys getting colds two Mondays ago. Both of them gradually got worse over the day and by night time they were snot nosed cuties. They were not the most pleasant to be around but at they were cute looking. Well, they got over their colds by Thursday but then on Saturday Tristan got a tummy ache that lasted a week. Oh man. That was torture for a Mommy. Everyday was a poo accident that was everywhere and I had at least one load of laundry everyday. UGH. But now he is doing okay and everything seems to be okay. Thank goodness. I was going crazy with all the poo.

Julian ended up getting a massive cold on Wed/Thursday night. I can't remember which one but it was really bad. He couldn't breathe and was coughing up a storm. Nights were horrible. Julian couldn't sleep and Tristan kept needing assistance with his tummy so that meant that Mommy did not sleep. Boy, sleep is important folks. I felt like I had a newborn again. Intermittent sleep and taking care of everyone else but yourself.

I am happy to say that we are all doing good now. Kids aren't sick and Julian was on the mend as of yesterday. This is great news for me.

Happy children make a Momma happy. A happy hubby makes a wife happy.

Four Years

Saturday was my anniversary. Four years married to the imperfect man who is perfect for me. It has been a great four years filled with every emotion possible. I wouldn't change it for the world.

The day was wonderful...minus an hour of it. It is our tradition that every anniversary we have pictures taken. This year was CRAZY. I have learned that my boys are NOT picture takers at all. Aiden refuses to sit still or be near anyone. He won't smile. He won't stand still either. He is the most horrible "model" ever for taking pictures. I was so stressed out during the process. I can't believe the photographer got some good shots. I got one of Tristan smiling and one of Aiden just being Aiden. It isn't the greatest picture but it isn't the worst. By the time she got around to taking pictures of Julian and me I was done. My cheeks were all pink from being frustrated and I just wasn't in the mood for being all smiley. Although we did get a good family picture and Julian and I still got a good picture of us, I wasn't the most satisfied. I call a re-do!

But other than that, it was a perfect day. Julian and I woke up early to make breakfast together. We ate as a family (which isn't abnormal) and then Julian got the boys ready as well as himself so that way I could spend all my time on myself. That was super sweet. No stress at all getting ready or getting to the studio. It was the taking of the pictures that was overwhelming. Afterwards though, it was all good. We dropped the kids off at my Mom and Dad's and then we went home to enjoy the day together.

We cooked all day. Just cooked and enjoyed each other's company. HOW ROMANTIC AND AWESOME. I love to cook and Julian loves to eat so it works out great. We made this fantastic shrimp and crab dip as an appetizer. Oh man...it is DELICIOUS.

I am drooling right now. Ok, done drooling.

We then watched a show together and then prepped for dinner. We started marinating our steak the night before in wine so all we had to do was chop veggies. Our dinner was amazing. We had Red Wine & Rosemary Flank Steak with Homefries (not french fries or fries for that matter) and Roasted Veggies. HOLY MOLY it was good. I don't like to drink that much so I got some sparkling apple cider to put in a wine glass and seem fancy while Julian got Shiner.

We cleaned up together, sat together, and talked together. It was a day to be together and be with just each other. It was magical. We were going to do a ganache with fruit but we were stuffed. We picked up the boys about eight and put them down to bed as soon as we got home. We spent the rest of the night cuddling and talking and falling in love with each other even more. I could stare into his big, brown eyes forever.