Three Thought Thursday: Episode 34

1. We survived the Colorado trip! And I must say that it was actually far better than Mark and I had anticipated. Call us pessimists, but going in to the trip something told us it might just be a nightmare. We were probably just tired from the previous two trips. And even after twelve hours travelling there, we were wondering if we should just turn back. But now we're so glad that we didn't! It was gor.geous! And we had so much fun with our family, too. It was different from our typical beach trips where we sit around and do nothing. On this trip, there was always something going on. Heck, I probably got more exercise there than I have in a long time! As for the boys, I'll give them an A- considering all we put them through. They really were great...most of the time! The only major set back was their rising at roughly 5:30 every morning. Partially because of the time difference (it was 6:30 in their little minds), and partially because they were sleeping in the room with both us and Pat and the curtains didn't completely block out the rising sun. They're used to their little nests of soft blankies, utter darkness, and white noise from the humidifier. Otherwise, I really can't complain much. I'd love to go back. And actually, we're going to get the chance sooner than later because our family reunion is being hosted very near to where we stayed next summer! Can't wait!

2. Of course, no vacation with kids would be complete without at least one little "mommy's nightmare." We ate the majority of our meals at my aunt and uncle's condo throughout the week. They make very elaborate breakfasts and each morning there was a large bowl of fresh fruit to accompany the various other dishes. Kolbe has always been a fruit lover and everyone kept going on and on about how much he was eating or how he loved the fruit. I repetitively jumped in and explained that he couldn't eat too much or he'd have bathroom problems. Sure enough, on Saturday afternoon, our last day, Kolbe came running over to me, frantic. "Mama, Mama! Me need go poops. Me need go POOPS!!!" Total panic had set in and he was crying. I rushed him as fast as I could to the bathroom only to discover that it was too late. Way too late. To make matters worse, I glanced back down the hall to see the whole family peeking in and one or two of them cleaning up "something" on the floor. I was mortified. Sure enough, that something had made its way all the way down his pants legs and left little droppings along the path. It was beyond the point of wiping him up. He went straight to the tub and got a massive rinsing followed by a full on shower and scrub down. Then I got to go at the tub with the Ajax and a scrubber. Poor kid. I felt bad for him. And for me. Just about the only good thing that  came out the whole situation was that it forced me to go ahead and do the laundry at the condo instead of doing it once we got home. It sure was nice to open suitcases of clean clothes!

3. While we were in Colorado, I got to spend a lot of time with my Aunt Mara (Dad's sister), my Uncle Jeff, my cousin Sarah (their daughter), and my cousin Reed (also a Hefferly cousin from another of my dad's sisters...he is a junior at the Air Force Academy). Since returning home, I've thought a lot about them. Growing up Air Force, we were never really close to any of our cousins. Sure, we'd come to Lubbock roughly once a year and see family. And every now and then we'd some how connect with my dad's family that is spread all over the States. But never the live-on-the-same-street-go-to-the-same-schools kind of closeness that some cousins have. After moving to Lubbock to go to Tech, I naturally got very close to my mom's family here in Lubbock. I could probably tell you about each and every aunt, uncle, or cousin and what's going on in their life. And that's saying a lot, considering my mom is one of eight kids and there's something like twenty-seven grandkids. But it's not that way with my Hefferly cousins. I've seen Sarah twice since she was born. Once when she was three and they drove down for my wedding. Another time when she was four and they drove down for Andy's wedding. She's now seven. As for Reed, we used to see him every Thanksgiving when we were stationed in Mississippi. We would drive to his family's home in Georgia to share the holiday. But the last time that happened, I was eighteen and he was ten. Flash forward ten years and I'm now a married mom of two and he's a grown man pursuing his dreams of becoming a pilot. It really was a delight to catch up with these family members. To see who they are now. To see how much, despite so much time, we are so alike. To know that despite the distance, we are still family. And always will be. And it just makes me wonder about my other cousins. Reed's sisters Kristen and Madison. And entire separate family of Hefferlys with Fleming, Clancy, Mary Kendall, and Luke. I wish there was some way to bring us all back together. It's so hard once "life" begins to keep the ties with everyone else. Yet still so important all at the same time.

Three Thought Thursday: Episode 33

1. I'll be real honest; I'm not writing this on Thursday. In fact, I'm writing it on Tuesday. But as you read it, on Thursday, I'm enjoying a Colorado vacation and celebrating my anniversary with my husband and family. We returned home from the second leg of our travelling extravaganza late Sunday evening...I think technically it was Monday morning...spent all day Monday unpacking, doing laundry, and recovering. Today we're back to packing again. Total craziness, I tell you. Dallas was a blast though. We had so much fun visiting Brian and Cristi and just enjoyed the time away from Lubbock. Brian called us about an hour after he left and said that he and Cristi were sitting back in their apartment and feeling sad over how quiet it was. I suppose it was kind of like when the circus comes to town for them! I don't think Mark and I can even fathom what it would be like to live in a quiet house. In our world, quiet means someone is probably getting in to some form of trouble.

2. While in Dallas, I finally got to visit one of the meccas I've had on my list for quite some time: Ikea. When I have time to stalk random blogs I usually end up on ones that have something to do with crafts, sewing, or home decorating. Almost all of them mention items they found at Ikea time and time again. We all went on Sunday (kids included) and spent a few hours meandering around. Mostly I was just trying to take everything in. Next time I go, I'm sure I'll have a list of things to look for. It was overwhelming! I did walk away with a few purchases but nothing major. Among other things, I saw an adorable red dresser that I would love to have in the boys' room to replace their current 20+ year old one that nearly collapses every time I pull a drawer out. I also saw countless options of furniture that Mark and I could put in our room. Bedroom furniture for us has always been on our "someday" list. Currently we have a conglomeration of mis-matched what-ever-we-could-find type items. Like both of us have end tables for night stands--mine, a nice cherry color, and his more of a blond wood. And both dressers are of the particle  board variety. But someday...someday we'll get nice matching dressers and nightstands. And maybe even the mirror that goes over the dresser!

3. The Asmussen Garden has still continued to flourish though it's been painstaking waiting for the tomatoes to ripen! How do you explain to a two-year-old that "we can pick them in just a few more days..." when a few more days turns in to weeks!?! The jalapenos have been doing great, or so Mark says. The boys and I pick them for him and he blackens them and eats them whole. No thank you. My stomach is way to sensitive! But as of today we have several jalapenos that are ripe for the pickin' and the largest of our tomatoes look like this:

Hopefully they'll be just right when we get back from Colorado and we can finally make the batch of salsa we've been planning!

Three Thought Thursday: Episode 32

1. We are one-fourth of the way through our month full of travelling. Translation: we've completed one of four trips that we will be taking between now and the beginning of September. With two boys under the age of three in tow, I know we're crazy and probably even unrealistic. But we're going for it. And hoping for the best. Did I mention that three of the four trips are via car? The first trip was this past weekend to Dalhart, TX. Mark's grandparents live there, so we went to celebrate Grandma's 80th birthday. While the trip was just a little over 24-hours long and completely crazy, we still had a blast and really enjoyed our visit. I particularly enjoyed getting to see the many places where Mark played as a child when he went to stay with his grandparents. I love hearing other peoples' stories. And I love just sitting back and watching people who all love each other coming together. There's just something about their faces that says "joy." The boys did fantastic in the car, both ways. It's only a three hour drive, so it was a great trip to start out with to get the boys acclimated to travelling. The only low point was sleeping in the hotel. Kolbe did fine, but Reagan was not a fan. I guess the strange noises and sights made him feel scared. He took a next-to-nothing nap and woke up countless times in the middle of the night. We've been home for a few days and are gearing up for trip number two tomorrow. We will be driving to Dallas to visit Mark's brother Brian and sister-in-law Cristi. Can't wait to go spend time with them on their turf instead of ours, how it usually is! We'll be back from Dallas on Sunday and then off on a nine hour drive to Colorado next Wednesday. I am sure that one will be the doosy! We are driving up there for a little vacation with all of my brothers and their families...except for Dave. Should be a lot of fun! After returning from that trip, Mark leaves for Chicago to attend a board review for his board exam while we stay in Lubbock to celebrate my cousin Tim's wedding. Mark takes his board exam September 2nd and after that we head to Houston to visit my parents for a few days. That trip is via plane, thank God! Why all the travelling? Well, Mark starts his new job on September 13th and we're pretty sure we won't be travelling much after that! Better enjoy it while we can!

2. This past weekend, prior to going to Dalhart on Saturday, I went to Midland to be with Mark for his final white coat ceremony. And I went alone. Sans the boys. My mother was coerced in to flying up to watch them for one evening so I could go up and attend Mark's class party on Thursday evening and then the white coat ceremony on Friday. It was the first time that I've left Reagan for an evening. Ever. Of course I was a little bit apprehensive and talked about the boys the entire time and worried about them and wondered how they were doing, but everything went just fine. And as I came to discover, I think it's probably a good thing to get away every now and then. Even if it is just for one night. Thinking about them and missing them made me realize how blessed I am to have them. I think there are times when I'm burnt out and feel the strain of mothering twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Having that one day away reaffirmed how much I love them and how precious they are to me.

3. So if you haven't figured it out already, Mark is D-O-N-E!!! (*choir of angels begins singing*) As of last Friday he is completely finished with PA School and has just one major hurdle ahead of him: his board exam. This is a time we knew we'd eventually reach, but it always seemed like it was so far off. And now that we're here, it feel so strange! No more school! Mark has been in school for our entire relationship. And now he's not. Hooray! And you know what, I am SO proud of him. Proud enough to use caps, bold, italics, and underline. He has worked so hard. Seriously, so hard. Never giving up despite the mounds of other stuff going on (can we say several surgeries for child #1, second pregnancy for wife, birth of second child...all of which occurred while living over one hundred miles away from mentioned persons...) It has been tough. Real tough. But all things worth doing come at some form of a cost, and you know what? We wouldn't change anything about all we've been through to get to this point. We're exactly where God wants us to be and it's such a good feeling. So what's next for us? Mark has accepted a job here in Lubbock with a team of neurosurgeons. Brain surgery. Scary, huh!?! I've already told him not to bring work home...ha! But again, I couldn't be prouder of my husband and I'm so excited for the next chapter of our lives!

Three Thought Thursday: Episode 31

1. Mark has been gone this week and boy, has it been brutal! I almost always take for granted the sheer relief that his simple presence in our house brings. On a typical day, the boys and I go, go, go all the way up until dinner time. Toys, books, parks, walks, errands, meals, crafts...I do my best to make the day-time hours full and eventful. So by the time Mark gets home from work, we usually eat and then I manage to stumble to the couch and collapse. The boys still continue to play and do more "stuff" like books and baths and jammies and whatnot, but for those few hours before bed, Mark and I are able to collaborate on all the chores as well as have time to visit with each other. It's less direct one-on-two care of the boys like I give them during the day and more just hanging out as a family. But when he's gone, the boys don't seem to be able to make that differentiation. Dinner wraps up, and they're still demanding full attention. Seriously, last night, I gave up and just laid on the floor and let them climb all over me instead of playing chase like Kolbe wanted. "Dog-pile Mama" was just about all I had left in me. Thank God Mark is just in Midland for this week. And thank God he's not in P.A. School there in Midland during this stage of the boys' lives! I realize that I did this every day, every week for a year and a half a while back, but I had an fifteen-month-old and a newborn...not a two-and-a-half year old and a one-and-a-half year old! Babies are exhausting because you don't get much sleep; toddlers are exhausting because they are physically exhausting! Literally...Exhausting.

2. Did you know that Pop-a-Lock is free if their visit involves extracting a baby? It's true. And yes, I learned this from experience. Yep, yesterday I had an ultimately-bad-mom moment and managed to lock poor Rudy in the car. With the keys in the ignition. Really, I had the best of intentions. We arrived home from the grocery store and one of Kolbe's favorite songs was playing on the radio. After turning off the car, he begged for me to turn it back on so he could dance. Obliging, I turned on the battery so the radio would play but didn't crank the car. After unbuckling both boys, I decided to let them climb out on their own so they could dance while I carried in all the groceries. (We were in the closed garage.) After a few back and forth trips, Kolb came in and said, "Mama, open door so me get in car." Upon returning to the garage I found all the doors of the car closed. With Rudy inside. Car still on. Baby hysterical. Hoping against hope, I frantically tried to convince Ru to hit the unlook button on the door. I knew Kolbe could do this so surely Rudy could too! Yeah, right. Within minutes his whole head was covered in sweat and his wailing only made it worse. I immediately called Pop-a-Lock and put in a request for them to send someone out, explaining that it was an emergency and my seventeen-month-old was in the running vehicle. Meanwhile, I continued to try to comfort and coax the little guy into hitting either of the buttons on the door. At one point he did hit the window button, opening the window just a crack. Cheering, congratulating, praising...nothing could convince him to do it again. So I began trying to stick things through the window, trying to reach the buttons myself. I thought I might have had it with Mark's fishing rod at one point, but it just continued to slide right off the button. Finally the Pop-a-Lock guy arrived and freed my poor soaking wet, red-faced baby. And wouldn't you know it, his crying stopped instantly. He wouldn't even stick around for a minute or two to let me hug on him. Just ran right off with Kolbe to continue their daily shenanigans. The Pop-a-Lock guy explained that most people call 911 (duh.) and so they have a contract with the fire department. When someone makes a 911 call with this situation, both the fire department and Pop-a-Lock get dispatched. If the fire department gets there first, they usually break out the window. So he congratulated me for just calling them instead and said that there would be no charge since it would actually be filed with fire department. Kind of a nice consolation for such a horrible event. Like lady, you're so ridiculous for allowing this situation to happen that we're going to spare you the financial burden since you're quite obviously burdened already. (*Laura bites bottom lip and hangs head in shame*)

3. Toot, toot! Yep, that's me tooting my horn. Why? Because I accomplished something that I've always wanted to do. Well, I guess I shouldn't say always, considering I've only known how to work a sewing machine for about one year now. But when I was little I always liked quilts and thought they must be amazingly hard to make. And then when I started sewing last summer, I decided that if I ever figured it all out, I would make a quilt some day. I never thought I'd be able to accomplish it just one year later! But alas, I have managed to make a completed I-spy quilt for the boys and I am so proud of it! Actually, it's kind of one of those things where I look at it and think Man, twenty years from now I'm going to look at this thing and cringe at what a horrible job I did! But it's my very first so it's not supposed to be perfect. And really the only parts that I think are kind of bad involve the actual quilting. The quilting itself is hard. Unless you have a big machine that does it for you. I did mine completely with a free-motion foot on my machine, meaning I had to manually feed it all through there myself and create a free-hand pattern by moving the quilt around in squigley patterns. It was tough! Luckily, Mark took the boys to the park for a good forty-five minutes after their nap on the day I quilted it so I could finish. And then hand stitching the binding on took another several hours as well. Now I can see why quilts are so expensive and so precious to so many families. And I must say, that I have loved the reaction to it that I've gotten from the boys. The quilt has eighty-eight squares, each with a different object on it so we can lay it out on the floor and play I-spy. They love it! Kolb is great at finding the items I spy, while Rudy just points at any random object when I call something out. It's adorable! From what I had heard, most sewers either love quilting or hate it. I definitely loved it and look forward to starting a new one soon! Here's a little peek at my first quilt: