Tuesday, July 30, 2013

7/30/2013 - Plays well with others

Some times they play so well together. Tonight both boys seem pretty much recovered from their sicknesses. Papa seems to have the bug now. Single parenting two great little boys.

7/29/2013 - Sharing is caring

Except when you are sharing your illnesses. Kid number 2 out sick. But his bro is giving him lots of support. They look so somber.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

7/28/2013 - Chalking it up

Finny is getting to be quite the writer and artist. Writing his full name has become easy. His art is pretty amazing too. Behold our beautiful chalk family.

7/27/2013 - The bestest park ever


I took the boys to visit with some college girlfriends and their kids. They introduced us to the park that Finn has named "the best park ever". It is a ginormous castle play structure with dragons and slides everywhere! Amazing!

Saturday, July 27, 2013

7/26/2013 - Working mommydom

From Drop Box
Sometimes I feel like the almighty ruler of working mommydom. But sometimes, I feel like the serf working for a larger ruler that keeps me in chains. Li was sick today. I knew it at midnight (and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5) when he woke up crying for me to lay down with him. I could feel how hot his body was. He has been nursing a runny nose for the past week or so. But he always has that because of daycare. It's almost a badge of daycare honor to have a runny nose. Anyways, I think it finally turned a bad corner and he was feverish all night long. So, at midnight I had already made the half asleep decision to stay home with him. I knew that today was going to be a busy workday, but hopefully manageable. I ended working all day long while the kids hung out watching hours of Netflix. Finny decided that he should stay home and "keep Liam company" (translation: watch hours and hours of Netflix). All day long, Liam would walk up to me at the kitchen table, grab my hand and lead me into the living room to play with him. I had to keep telling him 5 more minutes, after this email, once I am done with the conference call, once I finish this report. It felt so icky. Now don't get me wrong, I adore my job 97% of the time. I feel empowered to be a working mom. I am appreciated tremendously by my AMAZING bosses. Somedays though, it feels like I am a neglectful mom. I try so hard to be there for them. I have a responsibility to both work and home but where do you draw the line. I wish it was an easy answer. I wish that I could be 100% to both sides, but I can't. This is what I seem to be struggling with lately. I'll figure it out eventually, I just don't know what to do right now.

Friday, July 26, 2013

7/25/2013 - Swimming Lesson Graduates

From Drop Box
Our kids were swimming lesson rockstars. It was their final lesson tonight. They both have progressed so much in these 2 weeks. We will definitely do this again next summer. Feeling proud of our little graduates. Both kids received sugar free lollipops as their diploma.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

7/24/2013 - Warm summer evening

From Drop Box
What a perfect evening! The kids are just rocking their swimming lessons. Tonight in class, Liam, our little water monkey, did a wall crawl all by himself. He basically held on to the wall at the edge of the swimming pool and crawled across about 1/3 of the pool and back 3 or 4 times. Mama did not need to hold him at all. I swear he would have gone the entire length of the pool if we had not stopped him. Strong and brave little boy. Finny continues to get better and better with his class. So proud of both of them! After class, we had a picnic dinner at the park. The kids ran happily round while taking bites of dinner here and there. When we got home from the park, it was still warm and light enough out to have about 20 minutes of playtime with Dylan before bath and bedtime. Such a nice way to end the night.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

7/23/2013 - Little Swimmers

From Drop Box
Both boys are doing so well with the swimming lessons. So proud of our brave Finn jumping right in.
From Drop Box
Li is becoming quite the little water baby. He didn't so much enjoy the lifevest, but loves sitting on the floatie mat to help him to stay above water. So much fun. Hope they become great swimmers for life.

7/22/2013 - Cheese

From Drop Box

Sunday, July 21, 2013

7/21/2013 - Pirates Ahoy!

From Drop Box
Liam and I attended the birthday party of one of his buddies. It was pirate themed. Here's our little Li with his Pirate Cronies. Cuteness! Hey are all screaming ARGHHHH!!!

7/20/2013 - Don't hate, appreciate

I have no photo today. It didn't seem like a day to take a photo. I attended the mass of one of my coworker's husband. He died after a 6 month bout with cancer. A lifelong healthy gregarious man, who contracted liver cancer that spread to his lungs. He fought a hard fight for 6 straight months, using every ounce of strength through chemo, radiation, applying for every possible clinical trial to survive another day. It was the most lovely service. I'd never met the man, but I cried my eyes out having witnessed a lifetime of love and happiness in an hour and half long service. It was a reminder of how precious life really is. I had been in a petty fight with my sister all week over something we won't even remember in a few years. We were fighting because I felt wounded and attacked and judged and couldn't just accept her heartfelt apology and move on. My pride and my ego made me suddenly deaf to her words. We made up yesterday because she is braver than I. She offered the first apology and I was relieved of the burden of making the first move. I have made a resolution to stop dwelling on the stuff that doesn't matter. Appreciate the life that I lead today because you never really know what couldn't happen.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

7/19/2013 - Friday Night dinners resume

From Drop Box
We had our Friday night dinner out tonight. Headed over to Barney's for burgers, chicken tenders, fries and a yummy Strawberry Shake. After a very long and exhausting week, it was night to chill out and have some lowkey family time with good grub. Excited for a weekend.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

7/18/2013 - Super Papa

From Drop Box
Mama is a ding dong and did not bring her suit or papa's suit to swimming lessons today. Papa had to rush home change to a swimsuit in order to swim with Liam for 15 minutes. What a champ! Liam was a patient little boy while watching Finny swimming away. He sat on the side waiting for Super Papa to arrive to whisk him into his lesson. Two great guys!

7/17/2013 - Goggles

From Drop Box
Jesse bought the boys goggles for their swimming lessons. Finn seemed to think that they were rather helpful for this lesson but stated that they were slight too tight on his face. Liam on the other hand needs to grow into them a bit. They were worn around his wrist like a bracelet for much of the lesson today.
From Drop Box

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

7/16/2013 - Swim Tots

From Drop Box
Night two of lessons went swimmingly! The boys were awesome. I was the designated dryer off parent, so I got to watch both boys tonight. Finn is doing really great! Teacher says that he needs to work on his straight leg kicking, but he did better putting his face in the water. Liam is terrifyingly brave in the water. He seems to just want to dive in without us. Can't wait for more classes!

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

7/15/2013 - First Swimming Lesson

Tonight both of the boys had their very first swimming lesson ever. They both were total rockstars despite the chilly windy evening. We didn't get a picture of either of them because it seemed inhumane to make them pose in the cold outdoor pool. But here is a pic of the minion that was in their Happy meal. With his hair standing straight up, he is a depiction of our shivering but happy swimmer boys!
From Drop Box

7/14/2013 - Busy Sunday

From Drop Box
We had a fun Sunday. Finn had a Pump It Up birthday party in the am. Liam got a solo trip to the zoo with Papa. Then when we reconvened back at the homestead following liam's car nap, we ran errands. This pic is of our little Li on the big chair at Ikea. Little boy growing up. Both little boys growing up.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

7/13/2013 - Birthday Celebration

We celebrated Mom and Auntie Gerry's birthdays at Koji's, a favorite Japanese restaurant near my parents' home. My old Japanese School teacher co-owns it. So it is always nice to see her. We had delicious food. The kids ate well. Liam consumed 4 huge pieces of watermelon there to everyone's amusement. Nice little gettogether with the fam.
From Drop Box

7/12/2013 - Cooking Date Night

From Drop Box
For father's day I bought Jesse a gift certificate for a cooking class at a place called Kitchen on Fire. We took a couple's Spanish Tapa's cooking class. It was a fun little break from the kids and fun to cook together. We made some delicious food and learned some cool cooking techniques.
From Drop Box

7/12/2013 - Reunited and it feels so good

From Drop Box
The boys finally got some playtime together after almost a month of being apart. Dyl was in Montana visiting his grandma and then we went to Iowa. So after a couple busy days of getting our stuff together back home they got a little bit of playtime. Happy to see each other!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

7/10/2013 - Papa Day

Jesse was the smart one and took a day off after vaca. With the flight delays and some stressful travel, that would have been a brilliant idea for both of us. But alas, I headed in to work for a crazy day of catch up and keep up. The good news is that there is one 2 more workdays after this and we get another weekend to relax. Jesse took the kids to Fairyland and had some more good fun. He aptly named this pic Double Trouble.
From Drop Box

7/9/2013 - Busy Final Day in IA

Had a packed final day. Did an impromptu photo session with my boys this morning. Got some cute pics.
From Drop Box
From Drop Box
From Drop Box
Then we headed over to the Iowa Children's Museum for some fun. It was an amazing place. Just a whole world of play and imagination for the kids.
From Drop Box
Then we went back to eat lunch and get ready to head home. As we walked through the airport I saw this license plate and had to grab a pic of it.
From Drop Box
The first flight was pretty easy, but I have to admit that the 2nd flight kind of drained me. So instead of actually recounting it, I will leave you with this cute pic of our boys during our Ohare layover.
From Drop Box

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

7/8/2013 - Kelsey Reunion

From Drop Box
Jesse and I took a drive over to Iowa Falls to visit Grandpa Dean at the nursing home. He looked fantastic. It was a really sweet visit. I am thankful that we made the drive over there to see him.
From Drop Box
We stopped by Grandma Barb's gravesite and took a tour of little Jesse's childhood.

7/7/2013 - Pierce Family Reunion

From Drop Box
The kids have been vacationing really well together. They have been bunking up and actually sleeping for the most part. This morning, we drove to the Amana Colonies for lunch with Joe, Marty, Anna, Fran, Frank and Grandma Great. Such a nice visit and great food.
From Drop Box
We made cheesy poses in front of the Oxbow Inn.
From Drop Box
Even made the kids pose too.
From Drop Box
Nice Pierce Fam reunion!
From Drop Box

7/6/2013 - Another day another adventure

From Drop Box
Today, Jesse and I headed out in the morning to get some presents for some CA peeps. While we were out touring the area, Finn, Liam, Nana and Gramps went to a park by the resevoir. They got their playtime on, but also got some time to relax in the shade.

7/5/2013 - Family time and Jazz Fest

We had a nice visit from Aunt Mary, Uncle Jim and the grandkids. Then the kids headed to the nearby waterpark for some sunny summer fun. Finally, we headed out to the Iowa City Jazz Festival. The kids had a good time. We had good eats and listened to some good music.
From Drop Box
Finally, we ended the warm evening with Fro Yo. Jesse and I managed to slip away for a small date night. Such a relaxing day.

7/4/2013 - Flying on a jetplane

From Drop Box
We headed out this morning for Iowa. The kids were champion flyers. The first longer leg Finny watched movies while Liam just basked in the full attention of both of his parents.
From Drop Box
After surviving both flights with no battlewounds, we arrived in Cedar Rapids to giddy grandparents and happy children. THe kids were thrilled to be on the ground, the grandparents were beyond thrilled to see their grandkiddos. We went to the BBQ of one of their neighbors. Then we watched a fireworks show. There was a bit of a misfire and about $12000 of fireworks all went off at the same time. It was spectacular and terrifying all at the same time.
From Drop Box
Nice day. Glad to be on vacation.

7/3/2013 - Vacation Faces

From Drop Box
THe kids are getting their vacation faces on while mom and dad frantically pack all the suitcases for a morning departure for Iowa. Something to get them relaxed and distracted.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

7/2/2013 - Papa Phase

From Drop Box
It has been a good run, Liam. But I am happy to pass my crown off to the new parent of choice. I know that at times you will still need your mama love, but I understand the need to go through a papa phase. Jesse, I know that you will fulfill your duties as the parent of choice.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

7/1/2013 - The aftermath

From Drop Box
This is how most of the floors look in our house. You are avoiding legos, Hot Wheels, Bug Catching Supplies and books everywhere you go. I suppose it is is what is for the next couple years, but I would love a magic spell to make the toys disappear to their respective homes with a little wiggle of the nose.

6/30/2013 - Graduation Party

From Drop Box
My parents hosted a graduation party at their house for our Kindergartner. We ate pizza and cake. Finny got presents from Baachan and Jiichan. Then we ended the day picking vegetables from Jiichan's garden. Fun time!