My camera hates my computer

I was so excited to get a new camera but now that my camera wont talk to my computer...what is the point of the camera if I can not get my pictures off of it? Before I get started let me tell you a little secret. I am cheap. I really avoid spending money if possible and I like to save, save, save. I feel like I can always refurbish and or fix. That rule applies to everyone but Jacob.  Gosh I love shopping for him.
OK back to the computer thing...
WE ARE GETTING A NEW LAPTOP THIS WEEKEND!!!!! WOOOT WOOOT!!!!

I have been having this problem for awhile with the camera/computer but I have put off talking to Arick about it because I did not want to spend the money. We have bigger things on our wish list and I felt like if I said something it would only push the other things back. 
Tonight I caved and told him about the deals I found and his immediate response was. "Yea we can swing that. It's only money beautiful we will make more tomorrow. Plus whats the point of having our new camera if we can not even fully use it?"
I then listed every reason why we should not.  Maybe see what we can do to fix our 7 year old laptop (yes 7 years!), and I am sure we can find someone to get this ol' beaut running like new.
The conversation ended with a head shake and told me we are going to Best Buy on Sunday.
again....
WE ARE GETTING A NEW LAPTOP THIS WEEKEND!!!!! WOOOT! WOOOT!
\
I guess that is my first point but my 2nd point is that Arick and I are a great team. We really balance each other out and I am so thankful for that...for him...for us.

PS Did I mention WE ARE GETTING A NEW LAPTOP THIS WEEKEND?!!!!!!!

Sophie

Isnt she cute?! She is my GodDoggie....and I love her. Even though her breath stinks and she never listens on walks. Look at her...she is adorable.

Have you ever had baby fever?

I have...I do! Baby fever is a funny thing. It really sneaks up on you and comes and goes like the wind. I currently would say I have it. I think it is due to a mixture of two things. 1.) Jacob is becoming so independant and I can hardly get my hands around him without him saying NO and pushing me away. 2.) My cousin and her husband are expecting their 1st baby any day now and I keep thinking about all the incredible things she is about to experience! JEALOUS.

Here is what cures my baby fever...thinking about having 2 KIDS! No lazy pregnancy days/weekends. Having to suck it up when I dont feel good rather then scheduling spa days and renting a crazy amount of movies. A toddler + pregnancy = NO THANK YOU (for now)

Until the next time I come across something like this in my picture files and I start ooohhhing and awwwwwing over the most wonderful time in our lives.

Dear Fall, WELCOME HOME!

There is something to be said for routine and Fall brings just that to our family. Even though we do not have a school aged kid(s) it seems to still bring structure to our lives. By the spring I will be jumping for joy at the thought of Arick being home every night and us not having anything planned, but right now I am welcoming our schedule with open arms!

Let me tell you about our new schedule....

Monday: Arick is on a bowling league with his Dad and Uncle, so that means Jacob and I have a night at home alone! Tonight I decided we would have a picnic dinner in the living room while watching a movie. I partly started this because neither Jake nor myself are feeling 100% right now and it seemed like a cozy fun idea that would hopefully encourage Jacob to eat a little something. FYI: 3 apple slices...better then nothing.

We watched Monsters VS Aliens and at first I thought there was no way Jacob would watch it. Figured it would for sure be over his head, but he laughed at the funny parts and said Uh-oh at the, well, Uh-oh parts.

After dinner we got all dressed for bed and made a cozy spot on the couch to cuddle. 80% because I love to cuddle with my little man and 20% because my head feels like it is going to EXPLODE!

Jacob was asleep by 7pm and boy how he needs a good night of sleep so lets hope he is in a deep deep sleep until 6am tomorrow morning. So there is our Monday night and I personally loved it. I think a picnic dinner, movie and cuddle time on the couch will be a new part of our Monday night routine. Sounds perfect!

Tuesday and Wednesday's Arick will be working for the UW Marching Band as a field assistant.

He goes directly to the practice field after work and gets home about 6:15pm everynight. That is only a half hour after I get home, so our evenings are about the same as usual. Well except for 1 thing. Normally I come home to dinner but now that we are both not getting home until late we start to get creative with the slow cooker! Arick loves working with the marching band and I love it too! He has some pretty great friends that he and I will get to see a lot more and this is a HUGE perk...

Do you see the tiny black suites on the side lines? Yup that is him! He gets to conduct from the sidelines and see the entire game from the field. LUCKY LUCKY guy! He has such a love for marching and music. This really is something I would never ask him to give up. No matter how crazy our life will get.

I should do another post about the marching band....hmmmm OK that will come later. I really must tell you about the fun experiences he has had with them and the wonderful people/kids that make up the UW Marching Band!

Alright so back to our FALL schedule...

Thursday's Arick comes home per summer schedule and picks Jacob up from daycare, makes dinner for us (love this part!) and it is either a TARGET night or a low key night at home.

Friday's Arick is back with the marching band and home early for the Saturday game!

Saturday's are a new adjustment for me. In the summer our weekends are all planned out. We don't have to think about what we are going to do we just check the calendar and "it" tells us. Now that Arick is gone for the day I am trying to find a good balance for Jacob and I, and I think Iam getting there. Of course by the time I am there it will be summer and time for the calendar to rule our lives again.

OK so now we are to Sunday! The only day we get as a Family all together. This day is just for us and we like to do whatever it is that we feel like doing. Last Sunday we went for a drive and ended up at this really cool playground in Jefferson. It was at an elementary school that made me think of the school in Harry Potter. Super cool stone building! Wish I had pictures to show you, but once again my camera is mad at my computer and they are not talking.
This Sunday was filled with a whole lot of nothin! We were all feeling under the weather and so a day at home was exactly what we needed. Now if this sickness would kindly leave that would be SUPER!

THE END

Too soon for FALL decor?

TRUE or FALSE? I really want to know your opinion.

I said FALSE, but Arick is on team TRUE. He is in the denial stage and does not want to see FALL decor around the house. I have attempted to ease him into it by asking him to hang up our Home Sweet Home mini flag that belongs in our rock garden. It has beautiful FALL colors of orange and yellow with an adorable little pumpkin.
Well that flag is still perfectly folded up sitting on the counter by the garage door. This is the designated "to do" spot in our house. It is just an unspoken rule to us. Anytime he has something for me or I have something for him. We set it there and we whomever needs to takes care of it.

Anyway, this flag has not moved sense Monday. I know that does not seem like that long of a wait right? Totally our of character for Arick. I know Arick and he is dragging his feet on this small project on purpose. Hardly ever will he leave a project unfinished and if he does he has a really good reason for it.
When I ask Arick for a favor he will always say, "Not a problem beautiful", but this time his response was, "I will get to it."

I guess the reality of cold weather is something he is not ready to face.
So I am going to help him out and it comes from a place of love...

Tomorrow morning before Jacob and I leave we are going to put the flag up.
I am going to call it Mission TOUGH LOVE!

I have also promised a date night with 2 fantastic rubbermaid bins labeled FALL for tomorrow night.

So ready or not...here it comes!


My question is are you Team True or Team False?

Peacocks

My friends know how much I LOVE PEACOCKS! Such beautiful birds, so I was pretty happy when I came home from vacation with a few of the feathers myself. The resort we just stayed at have these wonderful birds roaming free all around. You will see them up on the roof tops or just walking right next to you. They are so use to people and its so cool to get so close.

One of my favorite things to do at Scharenberg's is to look for these beautiful feathers that have fallen from the birds. They are now the stars of my kitchen table centerpiece!

Did you know that you can buy a peacock online for only $30?

Did you know that if you provide them with heated shelter and food they will stay near your property?

Hmmmmmm????

How cool would it be to have peacocks in my very own backyard?

I wonder how cool Arick and our neighbors would think that was. I am guessing we would have to agree to disagree.

Dinner and a Fire with The Motl's

Last night we went to the Motl's house.

Remember them?

We love hanging out with them!

The kids have a great time playing together

Look how big Isaac is getting!

We had a fantastic dinner and enjoyed a little bit of this...
I enjoyed A LOT of this!

Ice tea is my favorite and Lindsay made an entire pitcher. I seriously had maybe 5 glasses!

OH and we sang Happy Birthday to Arick. The kids loved helping blow out the candles.

I love this girl

She makes me silly

And I love her for it! Whenever we hang out with this family we have lots of laughs. OK so maybe Lindsay and I have more laughs then the guys. I think they share a lot of eye rolls to be honest. See Lindsay and I think we are really really funny! When we are together I will usually laugh until my stomach hurts or I cry.

Everyone needs a friend like this!

The End

UP!

Not the movie...my son's favorite word! He always wants UP! The minute I start doing anything I will feel him tugging on my pants and saying UP, UP, UP. I know I should not always give him what he wants and he has to learn that I need to do the dishes at some point...but soon enough he won't care what I am doing. I will be the one saying UP? I can usually pick him up and then get him focused on a task or have him help and both Jacob and Mom are happy.

Yea I am going to miss it when he no longer wants UP

Packing at Scharenberg's

The entire time Arick and I were packing to go home from Scharenberg Jacob was so upset. He was unpacking what we packed, crying, and doing the best NO NO NO song I have ever heard. We would both take breaks to comfort him as we cleaned out the fridge and bathrooms.

Poor kid...I really fealt bad for him because I can remember how hard it was when it was time leave for home after a summer vacation.

Awww our poor little Bubba he really had a great time!

Jacob and his Grandma

I have a great mom who turned into my best friend. For that I feel so blessed. I have always known that I was very loved by my mother and she has always had a way of making all three of us kids feel like number ONE!

Well.....this little boy is sure giving us a run for our money. When we walk into her house its like nothing else matters to her. She L-O-V-E-S her grandson! No matter how often she does see him she acts like it has been ages. Jacob is a very lucky boy to have so much love.

Thanks for being such a great Mom and Grandma!

Grandson like Grandfather

We were so lucky to be able to spend a couple days at the beach with my Dad, brother Mark and Uncle. My dad really had a nice time playing with Jacob in the sand. They built a kiddie pool and Jacob loved running in and out of it.

You would think I would follow that little story of them playing together, but instead I want to share these pictures I happily got....

The day after my Dad left we took Jacob back down to the beach and he immediatly got to work. We never said anything about filling it up. He just remembered the fun he had with his Grandpa!

It was not as full as the one he made with Grandpa's help but he kept working hard and kept at it.....

Scharenberg's at Night

One night as the sun was going down I decided to take a little walk and capture the resort at night. Brought back a lot of memories of night time tag and swimming. Its so peacful at night...people are busy in the bar and restaurant so the beach is so quiet. Just lovely!

It was a really nice time to just sort of soak it all in.