Olympic Spirit!

We are counting down the hours till the opening ceremony! D is excited to watch gymnastics and swimming over the next two weeks.
We spent the afternoon making some Olympic inspired crafts!

Summer Lovin' or maybe not....

I really try very hard to not complain too much about the joys and obstacles of motherhood, but feel I have to just rant a little.  Since the end of the school year it has been an up and down battle in our household with D, mostly later in the day around bedtime.  It is frustrating and tiresome and I am ready for it to end.  We have been a little too lazy with the bedtime routine and I think that has killed us.  She gets overtired and then it is all downhill from there.  We have never struggled with this time of day, I think because I have always been very scheduled with bedtime, catch them before they are tired and get them in bed!  She has always been a great sleeper, so even putting her to bed at 7, she is still never up till around 7 the next morning.  The tantrums seem to happen mostly on N's night to put her to bed and I am not sure why.  I don't want to blame him, but I think he doesn't come off overly enthusiastic about the bedtime routine and she feeds off of that.  We chatted last night and agreed that we needed to push up bedtime and both stick to it.

I also think she misses the school schedule, so I created an hourly schedule for her this morning that we will start tomorrow.  She was excited to get it off the printer and read it.  Hopefully this will help with boredom and also with bedtime.

If anyone else has suggestions please post them!

Back to Summer Lovin' (hopefully!)

Am I the only one that makes a bigger mess when cleaning?!?

I think I like to torture myself!

Pinterest--bathroom organization

I found a pin on pinterest that put a second shower rod on the back wall of the shower to hang up bath toys, shampoo, etc. Since having a baby in the house again we needed something to keep the shampoo and soap out of her reach and store the tub toys.
I got the rod and used some cheap plastic Easter baskets until I find something else, preferable long and narrow. Any suggestions?
Next up is painting this bathroom, but we are limited in color choices since there are colored tiles (green and Maroon) in the shower. D does not want it painted green again.... Any thoughts?

Toys and shampoo thrown on the floor so E doesn't get all of them.

Shower curtain rod and baskets.

A Little Summer Catch Up

It is so hard to believe it is already the middle of July, but thankfully we still have lots of summer left to enjoy!
It has been so hot and humid here in Michigan, this is pretty typical so I won't complain.  :)  We have enjoyed lots of pool time at our local gym.  The girls both really enjoy the water, so it is a fun time for all.  We would like to spend more time at the park, but the heat has kept us from this.
We had a fantastic trip to Chicago and Wisconsin.  I wish we had more time in Chicago!  We can't wait to go back.  D really loved the American Girl store, we set up an appointment for her to get Lanie's hair done and ears pierced.  We also set up a personal shopper (this is free and I highly recommend!) for her, this made decision making so much easier and check out was a breeze.  E was tired and cranky the whole time we were at the store, so that part wasn't much fun for N and I.  Our stay in Wisconsin was fun, but probably not something we would do again.  We enjoyed the water park-indoor and out-but really didn't feel like there was enough there to warrant another visit in the future.
D is visiting my parents in New York this week.  She is having a great time visiting old friends, eating out, and getting spoiled rotten.  We are looking forward to her return on Monday.  In the meantime E and I are staying busy around the house.
We are all hoping to go to NY in a couple of weeks, so mark your calendars!

We got lucky and were able to meet up with our NY friends that were in Chicago too!  Thank you Facebook for making us realize we would both be there that day!

D enjoying the diving board at our gym pool!

N coming down the slide at the waterpark.

D with her old doll and new doll!  Our personal shopper is in the background.

Reaching a Goal

Last fall I started to train for a 5K using a couch to 5K app on my phone.  I have never been much of a runner, but decided I needed a new workout routine, and I know many people who have learned to really love running so I jumped on the train.
I started off running on the treadmill at our gym, it was easier than I thought it was going to be thanks to the app and the TV in front of me.  I was running 3-4 times a week, always on the treadmill.  Around the holidays Big Daddy encouraged me to start running on the track, I am not sure why I was against this before, but I gave it a whirl.  By this time I was up to week 6 or 7 in my training, so this meant longer running times and less walking.  I took a bit of a break at Christmas, which made it hard when I started going back to the gym.  After a week or so I was feeling better and back in the grove.
Just as I was about to reach my 5K goal we got the call to take care of baby E.....I didn't have the heart to put her in the child care at the gym those first few weeks, so I again got off course.  Such is life.
In April I really got back into the game and found a running partner to keep me motivated.  It was also nice to finally be able to run outside, which made a huge different.  I slowly built my stamina back up and by May I was searching for my first 5K.
On June 23rd I finally ran my first 5K.  It was a bit of a challenging course for me, a mixture of pavement, rocky trail, and long grass.  I finished in just over 32 mins, which all things considering, I was proud of.