8 days down...4 more to go!

So I've been pretty busy these past couple days...too busy to blog.
After today is down it will be 8 days that Rick has been in Florida searching for a place for us to stay when we move there, he's been there on a rotation (a very relaxed rotation), he's been with my family, and he's been working on a project for a doctor. He comes back this week! On Friday! I'm so excited!!!
I have done some awesome stuff.
On Friday, I hosted the SOS craft club. We made these ribbon message boards. The ladies brought their own fabric and ribbon...and I provided the rest for a minimal cost. Which is a board, quilt batting and embroider tacks.  Later that evening, I got the ability to see The Brilliance and Gungor in concert at the beautiful Hoyt Sherman Place. I sold some merchandise SO I was able to get in FREE! So that was pretty awesome. I also took my new camera so I was able to take some pictures. However I didn't use my flash...so some are a little dark. So I'm only posting my favorites. 

 Hoyt Sherman Place

 Gungor

They did these signs and walked us through the themes of the songs of the concert. Seeing that I love to create...these ones spoke to me!

On Saturday, the kids and I took our time to get up and ready. We spent time outside and both kids took naps at the SAME time! I was able to clean out the car, knit and read! From Wednesday night to Saturday night our family hosted an incoming Des Moines University family (he's an incoming student in the fall and she will be a very supportive spouse!) So they stayed at the house with us and they wanted to take us out to dinner. So we went to Mustards for some BBQ. They then got on the road after that and they are SO full of information for what place for them to stay at when they get here in Des Moines. After the kids and I got back home, we watched The Ohio State Buckeyes win! We are in the Final Four! YAHOO! Then it was bath time and bed time. I was able to decompress from having people here and gearing up for a new week.
Today...the kids and I went to church. I truly love the church we go to and that is going to be bittersweet about leaving Des Moines. Aspen is napping. Zeke and I are watching the race right now. I'm of course blogging but knitting is on deck ready to go. I'm also working on the laundry...I must get down there and switch the loads. This is what is on deck for the week...
Zeke back to school on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday morning.
Blank Park Zoo on Friday with some friends from church after we pick Zeke up at school and before we pick up Rick from the airport.
Playing outside in the back yard.
Amongst other things...just don't have anything set up yet.

yes...

...I've made it to 5!
Today we got out of the house and went to a mall play area. As well as to a place to get our Iowa Food Co-op. Because I LOVE to buy LOCAL!
On the way home, Zeke fell asleep and then slept for a little bit...it took me 3 times waking him up. Because we were out in the afternoon poor Aspen didn't get to take her nap and she was in bed sleeping by 7:30.
I really should get to bed...SO I will!
Please pray for Rick as he is finding us a place to live when we move down to Florida. Thank you SO much!

Now we have 4

4 days with being a "solo" mama. I love my wonderful kiddos. Let me tell you a little bit about what I did today...
Well the weather was off and on rain, the sun did try to peek through just a little bit, I enjoy the smell of the rain so with the windows open and every now and then the breeze comes in...the smell is what I think Heaven should smell like. :)
Aspen has been getting to the point of feeling better. She slept in past 8 this morning. She took one nap that was over four and half hours long. She LOVES her tea pot with her cup and will either carry those around to share a cup of tea with me OR she will carry around a book called the 10 Little Ladybugs. She is TOTALLY a girl though and will find anything that looks like a phone and then say "hello" in her cute little voice.  I'm very thankful that she is getting better. It was so sad to see her not feeling well and doing saline and suction with her is not her favorite thing...AT ALL so I'm happy to be done with that!
Ezekiel has been very well at sleeping in to 7 this morning...which I'm thinking is WONDERFUL (he usually wakes up earlier than that and I'm happy about that) He is loving the wonderful ability of hanging out with me when Aspen is napping. He says hi and even waves at the birds or squirrels that come by. It's quite funny. He is now saying hi and bye to people when they come to the house or even leave. So that is good. We have been playing with cars, chuggers, building towers, reading books, playing with bubbles, coloring, etc...it's been loads of fun. He also loves putting on his clothes (as well as taking them off) OVER and OVER!
I have been sewing together a camera strap...for my Digital SLR. I've started working on some little knitted ruffle hats for the 2 littlest girls that were brought into our church family.
I'm sorry there are no pictures...it's been a interesting days but not really for pictures.

Day 2...

of chillin' with the kiddos!
I believe that we had a great day with playing inside, playing outside, feeling the wind, seeing the birds, seeing green life grow, watching a movie, smelling the rain fall (yes it has a smell), eating good meals, taking a bath and other stuff. EXCEPT take pictures.
So there are no pictures...sorry...
Monday came to me at 7 this morning...LOVELY kids! Thanks for sleeping in!!! YEAH!
Seeing that Aspen only took 1 nap yesterday she needed to take a morning nap and an afternoon nap. Zeke is enjoying playing, coloring and seeing how things work. He loves being outside and playing outside with dirt, sticks and enjoys to squish bugs. He stops and smells the flowers every chance he gets. We have also been working some school work (letters, numbers, colors, shapes, etc) since he is on spring break. I recently won a knitting pattern and I'm almost done with it...it has some sewing items on and that just takes some time. So hopefully I will get that done and get pictures taken and up on the blog here about the things I have done...seeing that I have been lacking on showing pictures of my "off the needles" projects.
Well...Richard I miss you and the kids miss you! Have fun working with the Dr. Dee's (there are two of them) and have a GREAT time finding us a place to live! MWAH! I love you!

Day 1 of...

~ my last "solo" mama-hood of medical school. Meaning Rick left this morning for his last away rotation of medical school. Well technically he's going away on another rotation...however I'm 95% sure that the kids and I will be going with him.
So I'm hoping to get on the blog and say something about the day or something to that fact. :) Just so my husband knows that we are making it work with him finding a place for us to live when we get down in Florida.

Sunday...started off with dropping Rick off at the airport. Killed some time and then to the first service at the Gateway Church. Aspen hasn't been feeling well, so she got chill in the Ergo Carrier with me. :) Zeke had fun in his preschool class. Which was one of the reasons why I wanted to go to church. Zeke and I got to play outside and I got take some pictures and read...then inside for some sink time (meaning he plays in the water and washes his hands.) All of this Aspen is taking a nap...due to the face that she is getting over her illness. COMING up NEXT: Grocery shopping with 2 little kiddos! I have been making my list all day SO I'm very ready at least with my list.

Some pictures from today...

Out with the old...

and on with the new...
Well Happy New Year! I welcome 2012 like NO other! 2011 was a hard one for me and my little family. A lot of trials that I wish we didn't have to learn from. But I do know that during all of it we have had some pure God moments.
I thought I would do a little recap of 2011 and a little preview of what we "expect" in 2012.
January - Kids growing, Rick learning his medical stuff, me trying to be a good wife, mommy among other things

 

February - Dedicated Aspen at our church, Z started doing Early Access at our house to help with his speaking and learning, Rick still learning and I'm still doing my thing

 

 March - Rick had a medical conference in Colorado Springs so we went there with him, got to go to the zoo, see Garden of the Gods, go to the aquarium, see Grandpa Tom and Grandma Jean along with Great Grandma Bobbi (we also lost our second vehicle there. :( all well, we are a one car family yet again)

 

 

 April - kids growing and learning, Rick learning and me doing my thing...also had a wonderful Easter celebration at our church.

 May - BASEBALL season is well underway and we loved going to the Iowa Cubs (triple A team for the Chicago Cubs)

 June - Rick went to Alaska for 2 weeks (on a medical rotation) and the kids and I went to Florida

 

 

 

 

 July - Celebrated the 4th of July with friends, Celebrated my birthday as a family (me and the kids above), enjoyed the free "splash pads around Des Moines to stay cool, I learned how to be a "solo" mom while Rick was on rotations, going to the zoo, talking on the phone and doing skype calls with Rick, amongst other things

 

 

 August - Rick had a rotation out in Colorado, so the kids and I drove out there to spend Z's birthday there and a week there too.

 

 

 

 

 September - Rick is doing his last OMM Fellowship Block, Z started school after Labor Day (4 days a week for a little over 3 hours during that time) One last trip to the Iowa Cubs for the season

 

 

 October - Enjoyed a Sunday afternoon and a couple different Iowa Farms enjoying the WONDERFUL weather! Grandpa Tom & Grandma Jean came to celebrate Aspen's 1st Birthday, Got our family pictures done, moved to another house and spend the end of the month and the beginning of November in Florida

 

 

 

 November - In Florida we went to the beach, the fair to see the animals (only in Florida will you see sharks at a fair), saw some manatees, Rick had a conference as well as an interview. Back in Iowa, we got used to new home (it's a HUGE blessing!), got back into the routine of school, Rick went to Wisconsin for an interview and then down to North Carolina for 2 interviews, spent Thanksgiving with our DMU family, as well as enjoyed the nice warmer weather while we could.

 

 

 

 December - Z and I made his teacher's Christmas gifts (pics above), got to go to an Iowa Energy game, Rick finished off his OMM Fellowship Block, Z helped me bake some this season, drove down to Florida via North Carolina (so I could see where could live later in 2012) got a really awesome present this year a new niece!!! also got to spend some great time with the family.

 

 

 

 

Hope you liked my year in review, next post are what to come in 2012, what's Rick up to next, maybe a crafting one...who knows...

Thankful Lists...#4

So this is the last one of my Thankful Series...It's going to be a catch all one. So the things I have missed from the previous posts will end up in here.
So from the previous posts I'm going to bullet point what I have wrote down already...
~ I'm Thankful for a God who loves me
~ I'm Thankful for my family
~ I'm Thankful for my friends
~ I'm Thankful for my Church
~ I'm Thankful for my ability to create
~ I'm Thankful for a house over my head
~ I'm Thankful for Des Moines University and my Significant Others' Support family...
~ I'm Thankful for Essential Bodywear (my job)
~ I'm Thankful for sports (to watch it and to play them)
~ I'm Thankful for technology
~ I'm Thankful for blogging

So it seems like I have already told you a lot of the things I'm thankful for...I'm sure like what else can she be thankful for. BUT I am SO blessed I just can't help but share more with you.
~ I'm Thankful for this Christmas Season coming...I'm wanting to set up certain traditions with my family. However since we really haven't been at the same place for Christmas...it's just hard. I don't want to set up something and then have to move it with us when we go to family for more celebrations. What certain traditions can I establish or think about when we are traveling.
~ I'm Thankful for the ability to be a mom who can stay home with my children. I love being able to be the sole provider for my kids!
~ I'm Thankful for Ezekiel going to preschool four mornings a week. I believe that it's the best thing for him to continue his learning process. There are for sure that some days are worse than others, with him not transitioning well but that is bound to happen...come on he's 3.
~ I'm Thankful for music...I love to have it play around the house. It's pretty easy to be in a good mood when I have music on. I enjoy it when I'm cleaning, when we are eating dinner, when we have people over, when driving to from place to place, and many others.
~ I'm Thankful for you guys...some of you I know personally (physically) and others I know personally (by reading your blog and you commenting). It really touches my heart when I see my post views and actually see that people are reading my posts. :) It also really makes my heart "skip a beat" when I actually get a comment on my page (can you do that more please?)
~ I'm Thankful for the ability to be an American, I'm Thankful for all the people; past and present who make that possible. I'm Thankful for the freedom (that I over look quite a bit I'm sure) that so many people and their families have sacrificed so I can enjoy that. I'm Thankful for the ability to Worship a God who loves me out in the open (meaning not hiding for fear of my life).
~ I'm Thankful for my love of reading...sometimes it's a love/hate relationship. Where as I get done reading a book and can't make it to the library for a new book (I know OLD school with reading REAL books) IF anyone wants the ability to surprise me for Christmas, I would LOVE a NEW Amazon Kindle Fire. :)  

Well again I'm sorry for no pictures...there probably won't be any other pics on here for a while (Rick is in North Carolina for 2 interviews for residency and he has the camera) With that said...I'm with the kids being a "solo" mother until Saturday. (Which is totally a piece of cake seeing that it's not weeks...it's only days) But I need to go get some much needed sleep. Thanks for reading...Please leave a comment!

Moments from this Mama...

Let me see...it's been since Wednesday when I wrote last...what are the moments between then and now.
~ The kids are at the right age where they enjoy taking a bath together. They splash each other, they laugh, they giggle, they use up time in the tub, etc. There are no pictures of them in the bath because they are both naked and I refuse to put that out there on the web for people. Sorry.
~ We went to the park before we did some grocery shopping. (we couldn't go afterwards due to getting the food in the freezer or fridge) While I got Z out of the car he started walking towards the park and I got Aspen out of the car. Z was waiting for me and he stood there by the park and just waved at me and said "hi mom" over and over again. I wish I had a picture and video of it...it made my heart go CRAZY! But I did get some pictures of at the park...~ On Saturday, I took the kids to Raccoon River Park for a while in the morning, and while I was over in West Des Moines area we did some shopping at Kohl's (I had Kohl's cash and a 15% card off, so I was able to get some more clothes for the kiddos) and we went to Trader Joe's (LOVE their Almond Smooth milk) as well as other goodies. :) No pictures of the park on this day...but it was fun!
~ On Sunday, it was church. I was greeting so we arrived early. I wore Aspen as I greeted and Z was in his class. Our church is doing a series called Stories and Songs and it's simply delightful! You can check out the podcasts from the series or from past sermons HERE .
~ Today...I'm starting the packing process BUT I got very little sleep last night SO I'm gonna finish this post and while the kids are napping I'm gonna set my alarm on my phone and lay down for a bit and then pack a little bit later. :)