11 Questions

WOW! A 'mom-friend' of mine, Jodi tagged me in a blogging game! :) I am a newer blogger, and I love that I have so many friends that blog- this will be a "different" post, and a fun one! :) Thanks Jodi!!

The rules are:  Post a picture of yourself, tell us 11 things we might not know about you, answer the 11 questions asked of you, then write 11 new questions and tag some friends to play along (let them know you tagged them!)

Ok, I am failing before I start... I don't have my computer (with all of my pictures on it) right now... the screen broke, thank goodness we bought the protection plan, but as for now I am picture-less....

11 things you might not know:

1). As "un-sporty" as I am, I have always wished I was a "sporty" person! I am sure there are many jaws on the ground right now. haha!  Hopefully these little boys will bring out the sporty-ness in me ... and I can learn with them how to play sports as they do.  Tee-ball here we come! ;) 

2).  My first real job was at the DQ on Snelling Ave. Truth be told, I sometimes miss those days... I had so much fun there.  Oh those red DQ polo’s, they were the best! 

3).  My biggest hero? Surely my husband, Ryan.  He is my biggest rock, keeps me grounded, and plays life by the rules- always! :) (Ok, so this is not "something people don't know..."  but it in an important thing)

4).  I miss the days when my mom did all of my laundry, folded it and put it away.  I am still not a laundry person, I like to wash and dry our clothes, but when it comes to folding and putting it away, Oy, it's bad news.  At night I catch myself thinking about if I could hire someone to do one thing for me the rest of my life, it would be doing all of the laundry.  Nothing is better than fresh, folded (and ironed) clothes! 

5).  I get motion sickness very easily! Flying? Ask Jana... when she took John and I to AZ when John was a year old, I was oh. so. sick. on the plane, the "little baggies" couldn't come fast enough.  And, for that matter, why are they so small?!  

Jana and Steve have a swing-set at their house with a glider on it.  The boys love the glider, when I have to just watch then swing, my stomach turns. Eewww, not for me. 

6). I thought breastfeeding would be an easy thing... before I ever did it.  I actually think nursing JR until he was 9months (and pumping for him until he was 13months) and nursing SJ until he was 14 months was a huge accomplishment for me. I am so glad I did it even though there were many long, hard, (very) painful days and nights.

7). I am not a fan of lake swimming.  I have never been and I never will be.  I have a million reasons why I don't like it, but I won't get into them.  :) However, I love spending time at lakes! :D haha  Bonfires, watermelon, sunscreen, late nights, grilled food, boat rides, and... bug spray! 

8).  My favorite song is a song that my sister-in-law, Lauren wrote for Ryan and I.  It is called Snow.  She wrote the song, made music to go with it and had it sung and recorded! It is such a beautiful song.  (Lauren, is there a way to put a link to the song on this blog??)

9).  I bought my first car (all by myself!) when I was 19.  I worked my booty off in high school at the DQ and nanning.  I am still proud that I did that alone- I bought the manager of the dealership's car! I looked at cars for about a week, and once I decided on a make/model, I told the man helping me that I wanted to know which car was driven by his boss?! He thought I was nuts, BUT- IMO, which car on that lot do you think was cared for the best?! Clearly the managers!!  That day I drove away with my new Chrysler Pacifica- limited edition, 5K miles on it.  :)  It was kind of sad to return my 1994 green Honda Accord to my dad that night...

10).  When I am crabby or in a bad mood, I just need to go to bed.  Really, it's usually because I am tired. Being tired gets to me and if I can sleep, I wake up a new person! :)

11).  I don't consider myself a Coke-a-cola addict any more! :) I thought breaking that habit I picked up with pregnant with John would be much harder to break.  But, it wasn't!  :)  

Now onto Jodi's questions...

1.  What super power would you like to have?

I would like to be able to fly.  It would be so much faster to get places and I am not a fan of driving-- I drive a ton!  Flying sounds fun! :)

2.  If you could do any job in the world, what would it be?

I would like to be a CEO somewhere! Really! I am getting good training right now... I am CEO of the Patrick family! LOL- kidding! I would like to run a small business someday- maybe a daycare, a pre-school, a nanny service or something like that.   (I really just like being in-charge! haha)
3.  How many kids do you want to have?  Why?

Oooh, this is a tough one!  I am going to say that we are taking it one baby at a time, and that we aren't sure yet.  However, we are very open to adoption!  I can never say never to more kids... :)

4.  Where is a place you would like to travel? 

One place?! I have lists and lists! I want to see the world.  There are new places I want to go with Ryan, and with our family everyday.  Hmmm, pinning it down to one place? I am going to say that I want to go to a very remote island, a non-touristy place.  

AND, someday, when our kids are older, I want to go on a mission trip.  I want to go on one for a couple weeks, alone, working, playing and teaching children that don't have the basic needs all children should have.  This would be a dream come true for me to do this.  

5.  What celebrity annoys you the most?

Probably most of them!  I don't pay much attention to celebrities.  They catch my attention when they are pregnant or have small babies- that's when I like them! :) So, when they are annoying, I ignore them! haha

6.  What is the last good book you read?  (I need some new good ones, so I'm hoping this sparks some ideas for me, haha).

Books? What are those!? LOL I haven't had the time to sit and read for fun in about 5 years!  Yep, wedding planning, wedding, pregnant, nursing, pregnant, nursing, moving, selling a house, moving, and now moving again... reading didn't have time to come up.  I am an article reader, a news junkie!  I love reading newspapers, and articles online.  

 7.  If you are married or have a significant other, what are your favorite and least favorite things about them?

Favorite?? Sappy, but true.... everything!  I have no complaints, we make a good team, we put our relationship first, are really good at checking in with each other about life, we are up-front and honest, and I love how dedicated we are to our family. It keeps me on my toes! :)

Least Favorite? He is a very time-orientated person.  If you say, "I'll be home from Target in an hour." You should be home in an hour! haha.  Being late for something is not an option.  I am a late person, I have always been one to "push the clock" but, since having kids, I am never anywhere on time! It is so hard for me ... I know, bad. 

8.  How many places have you lived in your lifetime?

I am a "home body" ... I grew up on Portland Ave. in St. Paul.  From there I moved in at my parent's apartment on Grand Ave. and then Ryan and I bought our first home on Ashland Ave. (three blocks from my parents!)  We are living at my in-laws in Mendota Heights between homes right now- our next move is to Woodbury! That's going to be a big move for me!! haha!! So, I have lived in St. Paul, Mendota Heights and (soon to be) Woodbury. 
9.  What inspired you to start blogging?

The fact that I was horrible about keeping up with the boy's baby books!  I never did a good job of it.  I loved how well my mom kept mine, and Jana kept Ryan's.  I want that boys to have some kind of "baby book" when they get older. 

10. What do you eat for breakfast?

COFFEE! :)  Mostly, I like the smell of it, I don't really drink that much.  But, we eat a lot of eggs (hard boiled and yolks removed), yogurt and granola, and protein shakes- vanilla flavor. 
11.  What are you wearing right now? 

My "mom-i-form" :

Black Capri yoga pants, white running socks, a tank top with a zip-up North Face fleece jacket.  

My 11 Questions:

1. Do you save all of your receipts for your purchases? If yes, how long do you keep them?

2. The best day in your life?

3. Your favorite organizational tip?

4. What time do you usually go to bed at night?

5. Do you consider yourself a Facebook/internet -aholic? 

6. How often do you talk to your parents?

7. One good recipe that you can share... family friendly, please! :)

8. If you won an expense free vacation for you and a guest, to leave tomorrow, where would you pick to go? And, Why?

9. What is your most prized material thing? 

10. What is your favorite and least favorite household chore?

11. What is the best gift you have ever received? 

OK, I am going to tag, Rachel Tupy, Jana Patrick, Kristin Jewell, Lauren Patrick, Deirdre Otis, and Betsy Manzel!  I know you are ALL busy women, This is just for fun... if you have time! :) 

Thanks for reading.... that was a long one! Oofta!

Stephen's been busy too!

Stephen has turned into a ham for the camera!  If he sees that I have one, he will stop everything and say cheese!! While tilting his head to the side, displaying a huge cheeky smile.  :)
Stephen is still a mamma's boy, he is a calm little guy that loves to play.
His speech is beginning to take off! He will say almost any word that you ask him to say, however, many of them are hard to understand still.  Almost all animals are still "puppies" and he sure loves animals!
He is a cuddle bug that puts stuffed animals and blankets to shame.  SJ loves to snuggle, give hugs and (long awkward) kisses (HA HA).  SJ has found a couple of Lauren and Alana's "loveys" from then they were small, But I am not going to let him get too attached... Mom Bunny and the little (tiny) puppy that was in their doll house.  He adores them both. :) (AND, Alana and Lauren: I am NOT letting him take them out of the house, they will be here safe and sound (and very loved) when you return!) ;)
 Lately, he has been missing his brother...  When we bring John to school, the whole car ride when we leave is, "John??" "Bro-der John??" "kool?" (school)  "JOHN!??" "BRO-DER?!"  They have both picked up on the "brother" term, and I love it.  I want their brother bond to be extra strong and to know that they are brothers for life.  :)  They have been loving the love hugs. It is so sweet, the other night we were at Lifetime, and the boys were showering after swimming. Ryan and I were getting their clothes ready for when they were done and when we turned to see what they were doing, they were standing in the shower, hugging, saying "bro-ders" It was pretty sweet, except when we noticed one of SJ's hands fell a little low and was holding JRs bum! LOL  Ryan and I got a pretty good laugh out of it! ;)
Stephen has been a rocky sleeper lately, the whole blog about him getting up in the night is still happening, I would say less though.  He has become a very early riser too.  (as early as 4:15-6am) I really am not one that will ever "get used to" seeing 4:15am on the clock! ;)
He is a drink-a-holic!!  He loves to be drinking, all the time!  I took the boys for their well-child exams a couple weeks ago, and they asked me, "how many ounces of milk are they drinking/day?"  I was kind of caught off guard, I "guessed" and said 25 ounces.  The other day, Ryan and I were talking about ways to save money on our groceries, and right away, we realized that the Naked juice consumption was out of control! We were buying 5 of the big jugs a week!! WOOF. That's when I started to think about how much SJ is drinking?  When I started to add up the (take and toss 8 oz sippys) ounces, I was quickly getting over 80ounces/day! I called his doctor and they wanted to see him right away.  We went in the next day and first they wanted to rule out diabetes- ruled out! his blood sugars were well with in range! (relief) However, they are looking into it further... we are waiting on some more blood work to come back and I have to drop off a urine sample on Monday. (fun, huh!?) I hope it is just that he is a "big drinker" : / Boy, do I hope that is all!

We took the boys to the MN zoo today, SJ was a speedy little thing! He was darting in and out of the families, between strollers and never looked at an animal the entire time! HA.  By the time we were almost back to our truck, he started to slow down, quickly all of the sudden, I realized I was almost dragging him. The craziness caught up with him! :)  We had a fun little lunch in the bed of the truck after the zoo.

**Ear Tubes! When I had SJ at the DR this week, his Dr. noticed his left ear tube is gone. :(  I am super bummed, I have no doubt that we are not out of ear infection land.  And, every time we go on a plane, he gets one... I have all of my fingers crossed for when we go to AZ in 3 weeks. His tubes lasted 13 months.  I was hoping to get use of them through the summer....

Let the packing begin!!!

Oh man have we had the dramatics around us buying our next home...!!  We are however is great spirits about everything that has happened! :)
After a lot of back and forth, multiple offers, many phone calls, signatures and so much built up, bottled up excitement, we got the word tonight that we got a house we LOVE! AHH!  It is in Woodbury still, near the Kowalski's on Radio Dr. We close March 23rd, and this time it won't fall through! ;)
Ryan and I had a wants list, a needs list, and a bonus list.  This house is one that fills everyone of our needs, has many bonus' and only falls short on one the the wants from each of our lists (Ryan wanted a 3rd garage stall and I wanted my own office.) We have 3 big bedrooms, the Master bedroom has 3 closets and a full master bath, there are 3 full bathrooms and a 1/2 bath, main floor laundry and mud room, a fireplace, a huge yard (that is fenced in! (bonus!!)) a big front entry way, no steps up to the house (that way grandmas and grandpas can visit with out the worry of steps to get it) the whole interior of the house was JUST painted, new carpet, new lighting, a big deck, walk out basement, loads of storage and boy, the list goes on... we are thrilled!!
The house does need (most) of the appliances (it comes with a new water heater, mew electric stove and new dishwasher), which is a good thing, because we already ordered them all for the last house... Now, I just have to change them to black and the delivery date can stay the same!  We are going to do a little rearranging in the kitchen.  The stove is electric, (we want gas) and it is located on the center island.  While we were looking at the house and Steve was inspecting it, Jana and my mom came up with new locations for the appliances so that the stove would not be in the middle of the room which was super dangerous. Super dangerous. We are going to run a gas line to the kitchen for the stove, and then put the stove against the wall where the fridge spot is.  Then, the fridge is going to go at the end of the cabinets (where the "desk" area is- we are going to remove the desk) Then, use the cabinets from the desk area to fill in the hole in the island and put a new "cutting board" counter top on the island.  Make any sense?? HA, I bet not... you will just have to come over to see it! ;)
We also need to run a gas line to the dryer (while they are doing the kitchen one) so we can have a gas dryer. And, eventually, the basement is not carpeted, so we would like to get carpet down there.  But, baby, all we've got is time!!!  :D  No rush, we are going to enjoy this move, enjoy the time packing and unpacking, hang pictures and have family dinners. 
I surely have an extra spring in my step tonight! ;) 
(BTW, need a realtor??  Sue Tracy is her name with Exit Realty! She is amazing, we loved, loved, loved working with her! Message me for her contact info!)