V-Day

In honor of Valentines Day, here are a few reasons why I love my hubby

He lets me sleep till 8am every morning. Even if that means he gets up at 5:30am with the boys.
He empties the dishwasher and cleans the bathroom-two jobs that I loathe
He works hard to keep a roof over our head and food in our bellies
He can rough-house with the boys and manages to (rarely) hurt them
He knows random useless things that somehow come in handy
He is passionate about history and knows all about wars, guns and tanks
He can cook. There ain't nothing better than a Dan in the kitchen
He is faithful.
He is rarely angry. When he is upset, he talks through it.
He is super patient. So much so that it makes me sick sometimes! I wish I had just an ounce of his patience.
He always says "I Love you" before leaving for work and before falling asleep that comes complete with a kiss.
He still holds my hand when we walk (when there are no children holding it)
He loves the boys.
He has a big butt...and I love big butts (and I cannot lie). Ha Ha.
He encourages me to meet new people (and bring them cookies!) even though that's hard for me.
He loves to give.
He loves to read. He can read all the time and is instilling that behaviour in the boys.
He handled my great pregnant whipping cream debacle with ease.
He changes diapers, even the poopy ones.
He can find that special tickle spot on the boys that makes them giggle with glee.
He watches girly movies with me.
He'll try so hard to listen to me late at night when he's tired, and will even "snore" his answers.
We're on the same page about how to raise our boys, being crazy crunchy hippie type people and preserving food.
He hates Valentines Day.

That is why I love my hubby (among other things!)

The great parental dilemma

Fold laundry or curl up in warm clothes and nap????

NAP!

Fog

Taken at the Fort to Fort in Langley

A beautiful walk in the park on a foggy day

Joel loves the horses

Momma's Shoes

I told Joel to get his shoes on. Instead of getting HIS shoes on---

He put on mine!

Black and White

Something about a picture in black and white that just makes it beautiful.
Love the look of Micah up on his tip toes.

A classic Micah face....those lips out.

Oh Joel!

Cheese!

Whattsa matter Moo?

Just needed a snuggle-that's all.

Grocery Challenge: Week 1

Amount spent: $50.44
Leftover cash (for next week): $9.56

Lessons from the week: I didn't think I was an impulse shopper but apparently I am. But oddly enough, its in the fruit and veggie department. As I was walking through the store, I found myself wanting to buy cauliflower to go with our broccoli, avocado to go with falafels/wraps for the week and mangoes to eat. But since we have this budget, I wasn't able to be impulsive.

I was proud that I stayed under budget and that we ate healthy meals this week. I wasn't proud to spend what I did on vegetables. I am trying to continue with my regular habits of shopping only at Pricesmart (and not hopping around to other stores). But I might have to change that. Veggies were EXPENSIVE this week. I haven't spent that much on veggies in a LONG time. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I spend over $4 on broccoli and probably another $3 on lettuce. (dang storm on the East Coast). It was bad. But we have a meal plan, that included a dangerous craving for falafels/wraps.

Yes, we make a meal plan. And yes, it is too difficult for me to change it while I'm in the store shopping and realizing the expense that the veggies are causing me. Normally, the veggies aren't that much...but I guess I caught them on a bad week. The plus side is that the tomatoes were 68 cents a pound (score!).

My other confession is that I spend $17 on Advil and gripe water for Micah. I decided to not keep that in my monthly challenge since that would consist of 1/3 of my weekly budget. Plus, with the amount of sickness going around, I have a feeling that we will be purchasing more this month. And any parent knows that stuff is PRICEY! Hopefully this will be my only exception this month.

All in all, I feel as though this challenge is going well. I look forward to Fridays when our new week begins. Hopefully we will make it to the next week without spending anything else!

Joel's Hospitality

I took a pie plate out of the dishwasher this week and Joel grabbed it. He took it to the garbage and was going to put it in there. I told him to stop! First, I was going to keep it so that we can give cookies to our friends and second, if it wasn't going to be used for that, he should recycle it.

Well, Joel heard what I said, he took the pie plate to the freezer and started to gesture for me to open it. I took out the cookies and he loaded up the pie plate. When I asked him who we should give them to, he started to jump. I knew that meant he wanted to take them to the gym (where we go to jump).  I had previously mentioned to Joel that morning that we were going to go to the gym to see Simon. I sort of assumed that's who he wanted to give the cookies to.

When we got to the gym, he grabbed the plate of cookies, walked right up to Simon's mom Danielle and handed over the cookies. She was super excited (as was Simon who ate two cookies that morning!)

It was super cool to watch Joel pick up on the hospitality that Dan and I exhibit. All I really wanted that morning was for Joel to put my pie plate away for later use. But he had different plans. I'm glad to see that he's got his own sense of hospitality. I was especially glad to see him give the cookies away to friends that we met at the gym. He got to see first hand how blessed they felt. Good sharing Joel!

Bad Mommy!

 

Would you still love me...???

If I looked like this?

Dan and I ask this question randomly to one another...especially when we're acting silly or have dressed weird. Just a silly game we've played in our marriage. Its mostly to affirm our love for one another, for better and for worse, with our pants pulled up to our nipples or our socks tucked into our pants.

Yes Micah! We will still love you!

The Ups and Downs of Sleep

The Upside of 5 Consecutive Hours of Sleep: Um....5 consecutive hours of sleep!

The Downside of 5 Consecutive Hours of Sleep: When you wake up for whatever reason, whether your bladder, your baby, your toddler, your husbands snoring, or your mothers intuition, its REALLY hard to get back to sleep. Five hours of consecutive sleep, especially when that is the nightly average, makes you feel like you've slept the entire night and suddenly you wake up feeling refreshed and energized. Dang it! I still can't win!

But I will take those five consecutive hours of sleep over waking every hour and half any day!