Mama McCool and her kiddos: April 2010

Monday, April 26, 2010

Our rainy weekend

Life has been good. We love spending our weekends hanging out with friends and just hanging out together as a family. B/c we both work full time, we cherish the little time we have together on the weekends and always try to make the most of it (without overprogramming ourselves to death). And I have to admit, while I love working, there is a part of me that wonders....if I could put into mothering the energy and time that I put in to my job, what would my life look like and what would that mean for my children? Or b/c I work, does that result in even better mothering from me b/c I am meeting some needs at work that could not be met at home? Always the question, for every mom I am sure!

This picture if from a few weeks ago when we met up with our friend Lisa at the park. Her older daughter and B-man were busy running around, but Campbell and Lilah were happy to hang out together and eat mulch.

B-man loves to help feed his sister. Seriously, they are the best of friends (right now). Every morning they are so excited to see each other and B-man loves to help take care of lil C. He likes to hold her and often announces to me in the car that he is "talking to Campa momma". I best not interrupt (though this morning he wasn't having it and told her NO TALKING!)

The rain held off for long enough this weekend for us to enjoy a few hours of fun and wine at Oliver Winery (one of the best Indiana has to offer, actually the midwest - yum!). It is a great place for the kids to run around and the adults to enjoy time together! Here is Jen the birthday girl with sweet Campbell!

Great friends!

Me - Jen - Amanda

Self portrait! Looks like b-man reacts to photos like I do!

And this is an example of how we spent our time yesterday. B-man decided that there should be no cushions on the couch and then the kids proceeded to run, jump, crawl, tumble and of course laugh for a long time. It was great!

Tucker totally wanted in on the action, poor Tucker.

"I see you!"

I declared yesterday a NO TELEVISION day for my children (we rely on it WAY too much) and have been focusing on cutting back tv time by almost 100%! B-man sometimes asks, but then we replace his tv time with fun family activities like fingerpainting. After family time all day, my kids were worn out. Lil C went to bed by 6pm, maybe a little earlier and didn't get up until 6:45 this morning (not by choice!) and B-man (while he didn't have as great of a night sleep) was down before 8pm (hard to do when it is light so late!) and also slept in. Ahhh - time for me!

We also started a new project yesterday, inspired by my new fav book, "No Impact Man". We are composting (surprise PJ!). My friend gave me the basics and shared with me that we don't need anything fancy to get started. So we started with an empty coffee can. Each week I am trying to incorporate little things in to our lives to help reduce our carbon footprint - we already are avid recyclers, but now are adding composting, less TV time, and will be looking to reuse materials rather than buy new when we can. Also starting to focus on using cloth over papertowels when I can (hard to change!). And b/c of the new bike trailer our friends gave us, once I get lil C a helmet, we are going to take advantage of less car and more bike! Not to mention the Farmer's Market opens up again this coming weekend - and we need to eat more local and less meat. We can do it! (PJ - are you on board??!!!!)

Monday, April 19, 2010

What's new with the McCool's?

Hey Everyone! Things have been moving along at a normal pace in our lives - just day by day and things seem to be going well. B-man continues to play soccer. I took him on Saturday morning and it was interesting - he was tired and not feeling it, but played sometimes. We went to the store after soccer and met up with PJ and Lil C to purchase materials for our patio (so looking forward to the patio building weekend - thanks to family for agreeing to be our slaves that weekend! I'll have a cooler with adult beverages waiting for you - but only after you work!). Then after naptime we met up with a friend at the park. Our children are the same ages - Lil C just wanted to hug Baby L over and over and tried to eat her face too, along with mulch. Yum! And B-man actually adopted a grandpa and grandson to play with, who graciously chased him around too!

Sunday we decided to tackle potty training. b-man had been waking up each day dry during the week and Sharon would have him us the potty afterward very successfully. So we went for it. After he got up he went easily and was rewarded with a jelly bean (not my preference, but we had them left over from Easter, so whatev). He wanted more and more beans, so we talked about how to get a bean, you have to go on the potty. All day he did great until the afternoon when he told me "No, I don't potty" and went outside to play and promptly peed on himself. Oh well, that's okay. We did get new underwear for him - McQueen, Nemo, Diego, Wall-E, Buzz - he is so excited! Sent him to daycare in his big boy pants today....we'll see!

Campbell's balance is getting better and better - she stood on her own for a good 15 seconds yesterday without holding anything! I'm not sure she even realizes she is doing it - but she is standing there and decides she wants to put whatever is in her hands in her mouth (everything in the mouth!) and well, then she was standing. So great! She loves to climb the stairs and "talks" all the time - Ba ba ba ba. She and B-man often have conversations in the car - it is really cute.

I feel so lucky to have two wonderful children. I think I laugh on a daily basis (and also feel frustrated a lot, but that goes with the territory too right?). There is nothing like a snuggle and hug from my little ones. They are both snuggle bugs and love their mommy a lot (sorry PJ! they love you too!).