Saturday, January 30, 2010

Snow (and ice) day!

We had a major ice storm here on Thursday afternoon and evening where we accumulated about an inch of ice on everything. This was followed by a full day of snow on Friday, which was gorgeous! Matt didn't go to work because the entire town was closed down, and of course there was no school, so we had a nice day just hanging out inside. Matt and I got busy first thing in the morning and deep cleaned the playroom. (I have a schedule for cleaning one area of the house each month. We wipe down all the walls, clean the baseboards, wash the light fixtures and vent covers, move all the furniture etc. so that no room ever goes too long without being really cleaned. I know, I am a bit neurotic. I have learned to embrace it rather than fight it!) He started the process of painting the chalkboard wall we have been meaning to do since we moved in, and the kids were happy doing art projects and playing dress up.

We also did some family play time, which is always a hit with the kids. I taught them a game we used to play when I was little that we call the Hot Lava game. Basically you jump around the room from pillow to pillow and on the furniture and try to avoid the carpet, which you are pretending is hot lava. Yep, it's a wild and crazy life here in the Donovan house! We played hide and seek too, which cracks Nathan up. He always hides wherever we were found last for the next round.
Matt and I took a few pictures of the ice and snow around the house, so I thought I would share them. It was a nice day being snowed in together, and I am happy that we got some things accomplished during our bonus weekend day.

Wii records

Matt and I have both lost a lot of weight in the last year (62 lbs for me, 75 lbs for Matt) and one of the biggest changes we have made is adding exercise twice a day using the Wii Fit. We primarily do the free step for 30 minutes at a time. Matt is very competetive and keeps track of his personal bests on the Wii on a post it note on the back of the TV. He tracks his steps both watching his progress and watching a tv show, and tries to out-do himself every time. When he passed 5000 steps, he thought it surely must be some sort of record, so he looked online. There is an entire website dedicated to Wii Records - who knew? Anyway, Matt registered and is now listed on the website in 4th place, which is pretty cool! Here is the link in case you want to see...
http://www.wii-records.com/en-us/records.php?game_id=99&category_id=3343

Thursday, January 28, 2010

And a few videos....

Here are a couple of videos too. Enjoy!

Random kid updates


I know it has been a while since I have updated on the kids, largely because they are keeping me busy constantly! Here are some recent photos that show what the Donovan's have been up to...
Brina came to visit us for almost a week in January. It was wonderful to see her, and I love having someone around to keep me company while I run herd on the kids. She is terrific with both kids and they adore her. For almost a week after she left Nathan kept pointing to the bed where she slept and asking for her. We wish she lived MUCH closer to us than 3 states away!

Meredith's look shows her attitude these days. When did she turn 13 again?

Nathan loves to walk in other people's shoes...a trait that will serve him well in life! This picture also shows how he now "poses" (aka squats down) for every single photo we take...


Matt does family play time with the kids once they are ready for bed. He lies down on the floor and flips them, wrestled with them, and Nathan recently started bringing Matt a book and asking him to read it. Meredith and Nathan picked up on that very quickly and have a great time reading like this throughout the day.
The kids are both in a strong Daddy phase right now, this is the traditional greeting when he gets home from work!

Willow Tree

This is for my mom, and anyone else who cares! I am obsessed with the Willow Tree Figures, they are little statues that convey so much emotion to me. I am not a big collector of "stuff" I would rather have things that have meaning to me than just the latest trend, but these are the one thing that I really want to collect. Matt started my collection for me on Mother's Day with one of a mom holding a baby snuggled in at her shoulder. These tug at my heart like nothing else ever has, so I treasure and cherish them. For Christmas Matt surprised me with the Nativity scene. Here are the pictures of the ones I have, I am sure that many more of these sweet scenes will be added into my home over the years.

Can you believe it has been 10 years?

New Year's Eve 2009 marked the 10 year anniversary of my time capsule with my best friends from college. We got together and opened it this year and had a great time seeing what we thought was in store for us at that point. We had written letters to ourselves, guessed what we would be doing, made silly predictions about where we would live, number of kids etc. It was fun to see the girls again, and to see how young we all were then! Here are some of the pictures from that night. If I can find them I will post some of the pictures we saw that night too of the 5 of us from 10 years ago.


While I was in Kansas City for our time capsule shindig we also threw Jenna's baby shower. She is having twins any day now! I also got to see Lindsay, who is also one of my best friends from college but wasn't part of the pentagon because she is younger. We had a great weekend and I loved getting to hang out with everyone for several days without the kiddos. What a terrific way to start the new year!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Where fore art thou, Romeo?

Hmmmm, where to start? I mentioned our new frog pets earlier I believe. Their names are Romeo and Ella, and they were a Christmas gift from Aunt Kelli for the kids. This morning God is testing me, because I started the day with a mantra that I will have a positive attitude and that will make life easier. Less than an hour into my day with the kids, I heard a loud "CRASH" from the playroom. Meredith shrieked, but I was in the middle of a diaper change for Cooper, so I just called out "What happened? You're alright!"

There was a moment of silence. Then Meredith said "Ummm...Nathan knocked the frogs over when he was getting a box of toys out." I immediately flew into the playroom and saw the frog tank shattered on the floor. Rocks and water and bamboo were covering a 3 foot radius, and Romeo and Ella were looking stunned on the floor. I ran to get a container to put them in and then they started hopping. Nathan and Meredith both fled the scene, Nathan looked terrified! He was shaking because it scared him so much when they started moving. I am pretty sure my son would not have been more terrified if an axe murderer was running after him, and the frogs are only an inch long!

I was able to capture both of our little friends with minimal effort because they were so out of sorts from being out of water that they just hopped into my container. I picked up what I could of the rocks, vacuumed up the rest and tried to mop up the water. Then I faced the dilemma about how to keep the frogs alive. They are supposed to have distilled water (just like in nature, right?) and I didn't have any. I debated about tap water, but decided that bottled water would have to do. (Again, who would ever have thought I would have to utter the phrase "Can frogs live in bottled water?")

I left them sitting on the kitchen counter. My father-in-law brought over a gallon of distilled water for us. (Kelli called and asked for his help so that we wouldn't kill her Christmas present.) When I went to fill the tupperware container with water, the frogs were gone. I don't know where they are! I am hoping that they are safe and that we will find them before they die and start to smell. I am also hoping that they are not in mortal danger, from something like the garbage disposal (they were sitting right by the sink), the dog (who would be delighted to get to play with the kids Christmas presents) or my feet. I keep looking at the ground as I am walking and praying that I don't feel anything squish.

Romeo and Ella, our prayers are with you. Go in peace and please don't end up visibly dead somewhere and traumatize my chidren!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Swept out to sea...

I haven't posted in a while so I have had all the random thought piling up in my head again that I need to get out! Lately I feel like I have been drowning, I don't know what to do about it. I really need to re-structure my life I guess, because for some reason I seem to require about 36 hours in a day to get everything done. Unfortunately I am limited by the mere 24 that everyone else has as well! I keep picturing what it is like to stand with your feet in the ocean, right at the edge of the surf. The waves of life keep rolling up and sweeping the sand out from under my feet, and I can feel it pulling me and I know it's going to keep taking the sand away but I can't figure out how to slow it down!

This sounds way more dramatic than it probably should, but I am just overwhelmed. The big thing that has changed in my life is that I am taking care of me now, and that was the piece for so long that I left out so I could get everything else done! The things I am doing for me are simple, most of you probably wouldn't even think twice about them. I have started putting lotion on every day. I work out 5-6 days a week, and I am showering on a regular basis. (Yep, I used to go a day or 2 between. Don't judge!) I am taking the time to fix myself a healthy meal 3 times a day instead of just snacking all day long. These are all changes that are supposed to make me feel better, right? But instead I just feel badly for the fact that I don't get the laundry put away, that there is stuff all over our bedroom, and that I haven't made our bed 2 days in a row.

I feel like as a stay at home mom I should be able to keep the house in good shape, interact with my kids, take care of myself, visit with friends, fix healthy food for my family and still be happy most of the time. I wish I could just relax, but it seems that the older I get, the more Type A I become. I also realize that I am not truly a stay at home mom, I am actually a mom, daycare provider, and Gymboree teacher. I work 55 hours a week between watching my nephew and teaching, which is probably part of my issue, because I should have the mentality that I am a working mom instead. (Not that being a stay at home mom is not work, believe me, I understand how difficult that job is!)

Anyway, that's why I am behind on posting again. I love blogging, and I fully wish I made more time to release the thoughts that occupy brain space all day long, but the day only provides me with so many hours. Bummer! Well, I guess if I am being swept out to sea I should at least enjoy the swim, so I am off to wake the kiddos for breakfast...