Three Things Thursday

We are approaching a long weekend here in the U.S. I have mixed feelings about long weekends in this stage of life. On one hand, the extra day off work can be nice. On the other hand, long weekends can feel LONG when you have young children... but a long weekend during the spring/summer season is about 1,000 times better than a long weekend in the winter! Taco is off today so Phil and I will divide and conquer. It should be a very quiet day for me (fingers crossed!) since people check out ahead of the holiday weekend and the bond market closes at 1CST. 

Here are 3 things on my mind today.

1. First a Taco story for you. When I put Taco to bed, we read 2 books and then I sing 2 songs to him while I rock him in the rocking chair. Oddly, I have sang "Frosty the Snowman" for every bedtime for the last 6+ months. Will he ever not request that song? He really loves Christmas, though (Jenny, you two would get along given your intense love for the Christmas season). I mean he watches The Grinch year round and for the last week we've read "Good Night North Pole." Besides Frosty, his options for the other songs are "You are my sunshine," "Twinkle, Twinkle," and "Rock-a-bye Baby." He's been picking Rock-a-bye Baby lately but when I start singing it, he snickers with laughter because he thinks it is SO FUNNY that the baby is falling out of the tree. Most nights I explain that maybe the baby is scared about falling out of the tree and we shouldn't laugh? But then again, who thought up this song as a lullaby in the first place? It's so macabre!

2. My new hire (who isn't so new considering he started in early September - I need a new nickname for him) was here for 3 days this week and he was such a breath of fresh air! It makes me wish we sat side-by-side more often (he's located in Chicago). But he's willing to come here as much as I'd like/our corp travel policy will allow and I usually find myself in Chicago a couple times/year, plus we have a 1:1 weekly since he's still learning the ropes and it's helpful to have something on the calendar each week. Now if only I could clone him because he's been a dream hire. 

3. We are officially becoming groupies at the Goose house in our neighborhood (which is what we call the house that has the geese that wear ever-changing costumes). The owners put out toys each summer and we spent over an hour on their sidewalk playing with the toys on Saturday AND Sunday of last weekend. I now know the mom's name (Amanda). She seems to love that our boys love their toys so much (I think her kids are in their teens) but I do feel a little sheepish about spending an hour+ on their stretch of sidewalk. But they do have a little bench so it seems like they want people to linger? The boys play SO WELL with these toys because they are new/novel for them and it's so refreshing to see them playing together well because there can be a lot of, um, conflict at our house. But they've been told that we will leave immediately if they fight at all and that threat is working so I am not antsy to leave when they are happily playing and using their imaginations. 

Taco brought his stuffed monkey with and gave him a ride on a dinosaur

Bonus photo:

Paul brought home his art portfolio from kindergarten and it is so amazing! He has such a great art teacher and seems to really enjoy it! My favorite was his self portrait!I love the big smile and rosy cheeks - and he nailed his eye color!

Your turn! What 3 things would you tell me today? 

3 Things Thursday

Happy almost Friday.It's been a hot, steamy week here but we have cooler temps in the forecast and I am here for that!!! Here are 3 things on my mind today!

1. When I was up at my parents lake home, my mom showed me some papers she found when she was cleaning out a desk. One thing she found was a collection of questions that must have been for a Mother's Day project. There wasn't a date on it, but I am going to guess I did this around 4th or 5th grade. This answer about gift giving really struck me!

In case you can't read my cursive (my handwriting has always been pretty bad!), my answer to "If I could give my mother something special just from me it would be... was "not something that would (be) material. I think I would give her a kiss or a hug."

Those who know me well know that gifts are NOT my thing (gifts is the dead last love language for both Phil and me). I guess I was a little surprised to read that gifts were not my love language/something I was super interested in from a young age. Don't get me wrong - I loved receiving gifts as a child! Christmas was such an exciting time with the piles of presents under the tree and I have great memories of my dad going to work later on the morning of my birthday so he could be there with my mom in the morning to greet me, sing happy birthday, and give me my gifts. But clearly from a young age I favored non-material gifts. I wonder how Paul will turn out? I'm guessing as he gets older, gifts won't be his thing either since both parents aren't big into gifts.

2. My garden has been growing like crazy lately thanks to the heat we've had! I planted fewer vegetables this year but what I planted has done very well. This was my garden haul from Tuesday. Sooo many cucumbers!

I used 4 of the cucumbers to make "creamy cucumbers" which is a dish my mom made lots when I was growing up. The dressing is made from mayo, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Phil and Paul won't eat this so I will work through this over the next several days! I know it doesn't look super appetizing but trust me, it's so good and screams summer to me!

3. How funny is this picture of Paul sleeping from Monday night? He looks like he's practicing for a future role as Joseph in the Christmas story. Ha. I tried to take it off his head because he looked pretty hot but he was so wrapped up in it that I figured I would wake him if I tried to get it off so I just ave up and let him be. Every night before I go to bed, I go in and check on him and about half the time I end up taking a picture of him. There is just nothing sweeter than a sleeping child. Paul's at a stage where he can really, really try our patience as he's in the boundary-testing phase of toddlerhood. But then I go in and look at him sleeping and think, "he's such a little angel!"

What are 3 thoughts on your mind today?