Happy Leap Day!

I don't know about you but today I am going to watch Leap Year!

Why don't they make romantic comedies any more? I mean I don't mind a good superhero movie every now and again but lately it's been ALL superheros and no rom coms and that is a travesty. Someone needs to get on this! 

Anyhow, I am excited to watch Leap Year today. It's a great movie that not only celebrates this magical day that only pops around once every four years but also gets me really excited for St. Patrick's Day. Gosh I just love Ireland don't you?! 

We started our day with muffins and milk because that's what we decided yesterday. Monday's sometimes just need a little something to make it special and fresh warm muffins are where it is at. It is sunny and bright today, very mild weather and we are going to go for a walk soon. It's nice to get out of the house. 

On Saturday Husband took the kids to the park and grocery store in the morning and we all went for a walk and played at the school playground in the afternoon. I am loving the ground hog this year! It's going to get cool again this week but the entirety of next week looks to be great! We've got to start thinking about patio chairs. 

The past few years we have gotten plastic Adirondack chairs from Target but we have to buy new ones every other year or so. Maybe this year we will invest in some decent pieces? 

Happy Leap Day! Make it count! 

How I Liked Fuller House

Friday I had to wait until after kid bedtime. Because Husband wanted to watch too and we wanted to be able to focus on it.

We love Full House. We have the house.

And we actually watch it. Not all the time but we have watched through all of it. It's a great show because we can watch it with our kids around. There's adult humor but not raunchy or embarrassing. And there's certainly kid humor. It can make you laugh. ("Best friend stealer!" "Dog tracer!") It can make you cry. (The Papouli dies episode with Michelle and Uncle Jesse in the boat.)

So for us, Fuller House was exactly what we wanted it to be. The first episode really tried to pack it all in and take us back to the show. All the catch phrases. All the everything. Sure the stare at the camera at Mary Kate and Ashley thing was a little ridiculous but whatever. I totally cried when they sang Forever. You've got to take this one for what it is: the big reunion of people who haven't acted together since 1995.

But the other 12 episodes (yes we are done) were pretty darn good. The story continues with all the good stuff you'd expect from the continuation of Full House. Grown up humor. Kid humor. Silly stuff. Song and dance moments. Moments that tug at your heart strings. Plenty of catch phrases and little moments. Kid and parent story lines. It isn't trying to be anything other than what it is: wholesome family entertainment.

Was it the best acted most realistic show I've ever seen? No. Not by a long shot. But neither was Full House. I would safely say that this was better than most of the Disney Channel shows I've seen lately. (Exception of Girl Meets World but as it happens I just love 90s nostalgia shows.)

I was exactly the target audience for this show and I LOVED IT. 

I hope there's a season two!

7QT: Whole Lotta Nothing Really

one. My geriatric Explorer was at the doctor late last week and earlier this week. It has a clean bill of health and I am hoping very very much to have it live another year. Which I think is very possible after this check up. It's is old. I know. But I love this car. It drives like a truck but it's not a truck. It's black. (Which is the best car color in my opinion.) I learned to drive in this car and when I do have to say goodbye I will be very sad indeed.

two. So we had the week off of school and had a good early half of the week staying home and working on learning.  Yesterday we spent all morning at the museum which was so good. We haven't been in a long time because I swear in the cold and flu season it's a cesspool of germs and we always get sick. But it was great. It was the first time we have gone with M when she could really participate and run around. I am going to take her back really soon when C is at school so she can call all the shots.

three. Today we had art class. It was fruit themed which is pretty much C's main food group. It was the last class of this session but I signed us up for the next session which starts already next week. Our teacher Miss Erin is actually a 6th grade afternoon teacher at the "Big School"  and we really like her so even more so that I hope we get in. Next year I will probably sign M up for this class as she really likes it.

four. Before art class I drove over the river and through the...town to pick up some Rosary Roses made by Annie of Annery at Home. I am so excited about these and I can't wait to put them in M's Easter basket.

five. Speaking of Easter baskets I want to buy the kids Easter baskets this year. Like actual decent baskets with their names on them kind of thing. I mean, C is almost 4 so I think it's time. They are both getting Scentsy Buddies* in their baskets as well. M is getting Eggmund and I know this will shock you but C is getting Percy the Penguin. *That link is to my Scentsy website.* I am aiming for mostly candy free baskets this year.

six. I had book club #1 last night. We read The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King. It is about Sherlock Holmes as an older man and he teaches Mary Russel in the art of all that he does. It was very good. We had a great discussion. And it's a series of 13 books so... I am probably going to go broke because I am not going to want to wait for the library to bring them. 

seven. You guys. The Letter Show (Wheel of Fortune) is over. So as per my promise we are going to watch a show about animals. And since our internet is still out I need to hook this computer up to the TV to do that so I've got to go. Have an awesome weekend. 

Linking with Kelly.

Just In Case

You needed a reason to call in sick today...

(I know it got bad reviews. I. Don't. Care. Did any of the reviewer actually like Full House because if not they aren't qualified to say.)

I LOVE Cats and Flowers

The internet is probably going to implode. Between The Pope, some guy I've never heard of telling people that breastfeeding is a moral issue and Donald Trump/Hillary Clinton/Bernie Sanders I am pretty sure 75% of my internet world is writing or posting about these topics. For everyone else there's pictures of cats and flowers. BRING ON THE CATS AND FLOWERS!

Anyway, we are on a school break this week and next. Which is kind of nice actually. I can't say anything negative about it if I am being honest.

Yesterday was kind of a crazy day as we all recovered from the full moon crazies (which is totally a thing) but we have done a few things this week to make sure we are still learning and not just being television zombies. In fact, out internet has been out ever since Saturday so there's been no Netflix or Amazon Instant Video going on here. (Well... I did hook the computer with an air card to the television for one Mickey Mouse yesterday but the screen time has been minimal.)

I made a maze and it had three different paths. One to spell C's name, one for M's and one for numbers 1-20.  1-15 we've got down but the number 16 trips us up for some reason. So we are working on that. 

We have "name songs" for both kids (I had one too!) to teach them how to spell their name but any kind of practice with that is good stuff. 

I've also got him writing his name out. I am hoping to avoid nicknames so I really don't care at all if he can write pretty much anything else before preschool but I do want him to be well on his way with his name. Since Luke, Max and Ben have a major leg up on my 11 letters kid. 

This was Monday

This was today. 

The Hs, Rs and the S are our hardest letters. But he graduated from dot-to-dot Rs on Monday to only needing dot-to-dot on the S. We'll get there. He is very reluctant and it involves a lot of cheering on to have him write but these baby steps let me know he's going to be fine. 

When school is at my house next it is St. Patrick's Day! So our theme for the week is going to be all those things associated with the feast. Since my two don't really know much about Ireland we learned about leprechauns yesterday and even did a craft!

M and I did hand over hand on this one on the left. She liked painting the beard and using the glue stick. C did all his own work on the one on the right. So there's a chunk of beard missing from when he was cutting (You can't tell but the beard is all cut up) and there's also an extra chunk of beard on his face. You can kind of see his little eyes and mouth. C didn't want to make a smiley face. "This Leopard-con just likes sad faces." He told me. Well okay then. 

He was not particularly good at cutting but I am not sure I care. I mean i know it's a good skill and fine motor and all that but... it sure is helpful in that I am not super concerned about home haircuts just yet. 

So that's what we have been up to on this week off so far. We're hoping to get out and about tomorrow and we have art class on Friday so there's more fun this week to come! Have a great Wednesday and feel free to share your cat and flower pictures with me! 

7QT: Weekly Round Up

one. On Monday Husband was filling holes on our wall with spackle. He was using a spackle knife that looked like this:

As he was applying the spackle and doing that back and forth motion you have to do to even the paste out, M was watching very closely. Then she ran across the room and retrieved her dust pan that looks like this one: 

She came back over and started going back and forth on the wall as though she was applying spackle too. My heart melted from the cuteness. 

two. My guy, who knows all his letters, what they say, what words start with each letter and the differences between consonants and vowels does NOT like to write his letters. He just isn't interested. And me pushing him hasn't led to anything but frustration and resentment so... I dropped it. But I found this Magnatab: 

And it's a game changer. He is excited to write letters. (This thing really is fun!) And he's even been holding the pen correctly. We've only had it a few days but I am really hopeful that this will encourage progress. Worse case scenario: M is also holding the pen correctly and playing with it so maybe we won't have this same reluctance. 

three. My girl is going through a growth spurt. Or growing teeth. Or both probably. Because she has been extra extra sleepy. Yesterday we were playing while C was at school and she buried her head in her chair. I said "Where's my girl?" And she looked up at me and smiled. Then went right back into burrowing into the chair... and didn't move. She fell asleep! And stayed like that until I HAD to move her to go pick up her brother. 

It's especially funny because ever since she's slept on her own she's always been particular to sleeping in dark and she still managed to make it dark in her own way. 

four. It's supposed to be SO nice today (sunny and near 60!) and I was hoping to go to the playground today, but just now there was a loud noise outside and I looked out the window... it was WIND! It's apparently really windy. And we are under a wind advisory. Bummer. 

five. Husband and I are officially adults adulting because this week we got the kids laundry hampers for their rooms and it's making us ridiculously happy. No piles of clothes. No making sure you have the clothes in your hand as you say goodnight and sneak out of dark rooms. 

We got these darling 3 Sprouts ones. C got the Polar Bear one (obviously because Arctic animals that's why.) And M got the goat. Which is hysterical because her room is yellow and gray, her sheet is even gray with white polka dots! But also, my little girl loves to climb so much that we call her a mountain goat and she has a mountain goat stuffed animal she sleeps with and carries around. So the hamper is perfect! 

six. So I am sure you've heard the song Cake By the Ocean by DNCE. (Linked the clean version.) It's so catchy. So ridiculous. And I kind of love/hate it but in a I totally wind up listening to it daily. 

seven. And that's all I got. Linking up with Kelly. Have a GREAT weekend!

What We've Been Up To

My Valentines were so excited when we got SNOW for Valentine's Day. I myself have been perfectly content with this seemingly lack of winter we've had but it was enjoyable for me to see their excitement. M hadn't really played in the snow at all since in November when it snowed I hadn't ordered her snow pants yet! Then when we were in Minnesota for Christmas and it snowed, I deemed it too cold for her to go out. So Sunday was the perfect time to get out and use the snow pants that still had tags on them! They had a blast.

And I don't mind much because it's been above freezing every day since and it is going to get to high 50s by next weekend so it will be short lived for sure. But February is volatile and I expect there will still be some tricks up it's sleeve.

My guy got a BIG walrus stuffed animal to go with his BIG penguin from Christmas. Well... he pretty much loves it. As does M. It's a good thing he has a double bed because he tucks himself in between his two big friends and it is maybe the cutest thing ever.

Sunday night we primed the walls to our living room. Monday night we painted the ceiling and walls the first coat. Yesterday was touching up the ceiling and another coat. We went with Mt. Rainier Gray from Benjamin Moore. Which is the most magical color. It is almost a light blue in the sunlight but in lamp light or overcast days it's gray for sure. We love it.

Yesterday was C's preschool roundup. He really liked the "big school" and I am really hoping he gets in. It is our parish school and where I would like him to go K-8 so here's to hoping. We are supposed to find out by April 1 but I also hope it's sooner than that in case I need to find a back up. The 4yo room was in the midst of a penguin unit and he thought that was pretty great. Plus they had three walruses which meant he was ready to move in.

And I don't know if you are a fan of Jimmy and Will's "Tight Pants" or the sequel by Jimmy and Jennifer but Jimmy, Will and Christina premiered the third installment Monday night. I must say, Christina was committed. She is very good. I kind of love her in this.

C has a pair of red sweat pants from my brother's university. He is on his third pair of the same pants in different sizes. We call them his rest pants because he wears them during rest time. It's a very good naming system. Well when he wears his rest pants, he sings this song. "Everybody's talkin' 'bout my rest pants. I got my rest pants on!" It's maybe my favorite thing ever.

So when after painting Monday night we happened to tune into The Tonight Show, which we don't do super often, and it just happened to be a "Tight Pants" night?! Gold. That's solid gold luck right there!

Well that's what we've been up to lately. Happy Wednesday!

7QT: All the Little Things Rolling Around in My Head

one. What are you doing this weekend? We are priming, mud coating and painting our living room! Which color did we pick?

Stay tuned for the big reveal! (I say big like it will be exciting. When really it will just be pictures of my freshly painted living room.) 

two. So Sutton Foster is going to be on the Gilmore Girls revival.  That is crazy talk and I kind of really love it. I love Sutton. We are going to see her in concert this spring and I am pretty excited about it. I am still super torn on how I feel about Gilmore coming back at all but we'll see. With Amy at the helm I imagine it will turn out okay. But they are bringing back April too so... who knows? She was the worst thing that happened to that show. Plus she can't act.

three. I forgot to show you C's Valentine's yesterday.

They're so perfectly C. And not too mushy.

four. My Scentsy starter kit came on Monday and I got to smell all the new smells. Oh man... I died. I love them all. But there is one new smell that is so perfectly perfect I cannot wait until March 1 and I can order some.

five. Every year I think to myself, "Self, maybe you should try and branch out with your meatless meals this Lent." Then I fall back on my staples and we turn out okay. But mad kudos to all of you with homemade clam chowders and spinach and Gruyere souffles.

six. I generally prefer male voices in my music. I even requested a male cantor for our wedding because that's just what I like, But I have a Taylor Swift Pandora station that is apparently full of the not annoying female singers. It suits me.

seven. 

Truth! Introverts unite! But really, I would love to be swept up off my feet with home bound plans!

Okay people. Happy Valentine's Day! Have a good weekend! Linking up with Kelly. 

Penguins and Valentine's: Preschool at our House

This past week was preschool at my house! Tuesday was Penguin Day. Which basically meant we did a penguin craft, read penguin books and played a game I call "Antarctic Explorers."

I Husband made some hammers out of a pool noodle and a wrapping paper tube. I decorated a box with letters. Our focus this week were the letters C, G, J and S so I made sure to put 3 of those on the box in different places and then filler letters. For the activity I played music and the kids walked around. When I stopped the music I would also call out a letter and the kids had to find the letter and hammer it to chip away at the iceberg.

We also had penguin cakes for snack. They were cute-ish and the kids liked them but I wish I had made them cuter! I served them with apples and water so it wasn't SO much sugar. And Swiss Rolls are a lot smaller than I remember however the kids didn't care.

Our Valentine's Day party was great! We started by playing in the water table with scoops. I filled it up with fake flower petals in Valentine's colors and 1 bag of heart gems from the floral section. They did seem to really enjoy it. They mostly dug through it to find the gems but also just explored.

During circle time we read two Valentine's books. LOVE from the Very Hungry Caterpillar and Llama Llama I Love You. Then for our craft we made love bugs. So simple. So festive. So fun. Glue pom poms and googly eyes on to a clothespin and add a magnet strip to the back. Viola! A fridge clip!

Our letter activity was using the flower petals to write the letters of the week by following the washi tape letters on the floor. This was fun for the first letter and then it involved a lot of parent encouragement to keep going. But they looked festive and it was good to sneak something educational into our day of fun.

Snack was rice krispie bar hearts with sprinkles, strawberries and juice. With festive plates from Target because they were cute! 

We played 2 games: one was a tissue paper race. I put down two washi tape lines and the had to get their tissue paper from one to the other propelling it only with a plate. This was fun once they figured it out. C was so funny, he'd figure it out and get it going then jump up and down excitedly and it would stop moving forward. This cycle repeated itself until he crossed the finish line. 

The other game was standing on a chair and getting a string into a cup. It's supposed to help their hand eye coordination. They liked it okay but they were really ready for play time. So they did! And that pretty much sums up my week. Planning, prepping and doing school ate through the bulk of my week so far. 

7QT: Randoms as Always

one. Have you seen this?

It cracks me up even though I have started to care and even enjoy football over the past seasons. I am totally pro-Panthers winning but have you seen this video? 

I cried. Which is embarrassing. But I did. It's sweet. And really well done. Like impressively well done. 

two. In M news we are so enjoying our special girl time when C is at school, when it's not at our house of course. While I mourned the loss of the morning nap, it is fun to get to have some one on one time with her. We read stories. Practice coloring. (And crayon eating.) Sing songs and dance. It's really nice.

three. Yesterday I was prepping dinner during our special time and she was "helping" by stealing my hat and eating her Alphabits.

She ran out and so she helped herself to some more. 

It wasn't a big deal. I was standing right there and caught the bag with about half left. Unfortunately the box was pretty full since I bought them for a school activity we did last time I hosted school

four. In the C world, he said some hilarious things. We were discussing Washington DC and he said "I want to go to Washington ABC too." Also when he went grocery shopping with his dad last weekend he saw the cash in Husband's wallet. "An "A-ham" Lincoln and George Washington! You have 6 money!"

five. We got some penguin books this week: Pierre the Penguin, Penguin ABCs and Tacky the Penguin. My guy is pretty much in heaven. My friend sent me a link from Pinterest and he even thanked her for it today at art class. It was so sweet! He loves animal books.

six. So because apparently it's the thing now, I decided to watch an episode of Fixer Upper. I honestly expected to hate it. Because all the bloggers love it. And all the bloggers also love Downton Abbey which bores me to tears. But I do love Fixer Upper. Chip and Jojo are like the most real-life nice television personalities, I just love them.

seven. So obviously there's been talk of pushing out a wall at our house, making it a breakfast bar/more counter, moving the fridge and dishwasher etc. And while that's all swell and good, I would kill to just paint the ceiling and walls of our living room and add the new crown molding we've been talking about doing for a long time. But we'll see.

Have a super weekend! Linking up with Kelly.

Happy February 4th!

*Cue the banjo* 

"We were both young, when I first saw you..." Oh T.Swift you pretty much rock. The growth. The catchiness. But this isn't about you today. 

I know we aren't the only couple on the planet to celebrate dating anniversaries. Looking at you Hafsa! Let's be real here for a minute though, the first year of our relationship was messy and collegey. I was 19 and I was his first girlfriend ever. We did a lot of growing.

But we stuck it out. 

And just like that, it's been ten years of official togetherness. Since the psuedo-dating friendship before February 4, 2006 does not count.

This picture is from February 6 but is the closest thing I have to a picture of the 4th. God bless the early years of Facebook and having to hook your camera up to your computer with a cord or pay a lot of money to rescue the pictures off of your camera flip phone. It's legitimately great that not every moment of that time has been recorded for all to visualize. 

The poor 19 year olds of today are going to have a picture of every single day with their future husband... but I for one am glad there's a few in there I can just let go. 

So I Joined Scentsy Yesterday

Well I did it! I decided to become a Scentsy consultant. I could give you the whole spiel about why but let's sum it up as a why not? There wasn't anything to lose and everything to gain. So I did it.

I solemnly swear right here and now to not beat you over the head with Scentsy stuff. I love the blog world and have no intention of become that annoying person who's always just out to sell stuff or has all.the.sponsored.posts. But I will probably post occasionally and make it really obvious so you don't have to click in if you aren't interested.

I did post a link in my side bar that I will leave up all the time so it's easy to find. If you are ever in the market for a warmer, wax, scented products, stuffed animals, bath products or nicely scented cleaning products I would be honored to be your consultant. I can also help you with fundraisers, gifts, or hosting a party. It does not matter how far away you live, thank you internet. I can help you host an online party or a Facebook party and help you earn all sorts of hostess rewards if that is at all appealing to you.

Right now the February warmer of the month is called Wellies. It is adorable. There is always a warmer and scent of the month and they are always 10% in that month. I honestly am usually underwhelmed with the warmers of the month, they're usually really holiday specific, but this one I just can't get over. It makes me want to completely redo M's room in a different color palette.

Also brand new and super cute is this little Scentsy Buddy. His name is Eggmund. 

The buddies are limited time stuffed animals and they have a zippered pouch for a scent pak. (Satchels.) Each buddy comes with one scent pak of your choosing. He would be a great Easter basket addition. It seems crazy we're already talking about Easter baskets but you look at the calendar and oh hey, yeah that's Lent next week! 

If you have any questions at all, I am here to help. I LOVE talking about the different scents and products. Happy Wednesday!

Happy Caucus Day!

Well it's my favorite day of the (Presidential election) year, caucus day. The day when people around the country stop and watch what myself and other's in my state choose to do with our vote. If you can call it that.

As I said on Friday, the caucus is a flawed system to be sure. Especially for the Democrats. That's just madness. When they meet, they vote over and over again until people reach a consensus. I'm totally serious. The Republican caucus, which is held in a completely different location picked by the party, at least just do a straw poll.

But I digress. While normally I take to comments like this:

For today at least, I am going to hide under a rock because it's kind of hard reading person after person who is angry that we are first and somehow wield so much even though we're: predominately white, Christian, out of touch or insert whatever issue you take with us here. 

As it happens, it kind of really sucks to be first. Other than the fact that you could literally see the next President of the United States many times because everyone comes to town, it's kind of annoying. When most people were annoyed that Christmas commercials started after Halloween, we were getting deep in the trenches of political ads. 

And it all ends tonight. When all the counts are in and we're either celebrated for finally picking someone good or ridiculed because we didn't. Then the ones who aren't picked will point to the fact that Iowa tends to not pick the eventual nominee. Trump has already said this many times. That even if he loses we pick losers anyway. Unless we pick him and then go us. For what it's worth, I haven't actually met a Trump supporter though that will certainly end tonight at my caucus. 

I did attend one rally yesterday for Marco Rubio. It was good. I liked what he had to say and it was interesting to watch. There were a lot of people standing by me who went just to hear though. The college students in front of me were openly mocking him and proud of the fact they were ineligible to caucus. (They were from Illinois.) But they left right at the end to go see Jeb so I think it was some sort of quest to catch 'em all. There were also two ladies in their late 60s or early 70s standing next to me and we chatted a little, until I expressed that I liked Rubio. (Again, at a Rubio rally) Then they moved away from me like I had the plague and spent the speech shaking their head at him. But power to them all for at least being informed. 

So we'll see how it goes today. I'm curious and I am going to do my part. For those of you in a state where you haven't had all the attack ads and good ads and things: The I Side With  quiz is a good jumping off point to see which individual thinks the most like you. Then you can do more research on specific candidates from there. Better to know than to go with the flow sometimes. 

I'm going to be happy to go back to being a flyover state tomorrow though. (At least until August or September.)