Great Day

Today has been a great day!  Ki slept okay.  I got to sleep in until 6:30am.  Went to church this morning, Pastor Bill was on fire!  Came home and picked up, like a mad woman.  Headed off to opening day at the horse race track - took our time getting their so our boys could nap.  Super relaxing.  Got to read a few articles in my latest magazine.  Got to the race track and the boys woke up.  We spent some time at the stables petting the horses.  My father in law had a horse racing, of which it took first - way to go Sole Dancer!  We got to go to the winning circle for a picture.  Hung out for a little while longer watching the horse in the testing stable.  Drove home, Ki napped and Zeke snacked.  Now home and Zeke is playing the back yard (in a t-shirt, underwear and snow boots), Michael is in his office reading the newspaper and Ki is playing under my feet while I enjoy a jalapeno hot dog.  Like I first said, today has been a great day.

Love my husband

I know that is somewhat cliche, but there are some days that I am just hit by how awesome Michael really is.  As I am reading through the book Love and Respect I was challenged by something that it said... find reason to respect your husband, search out reasons that you appreciate your husband - So with that challenge I have taken the time to really consider some of the reasons.
This weekend was prime...
Saturday we all woke up and just hung out, around ten Ki started to get really fussy and so Michael laid him down for his nap and got him to sleep and then after Ki was asleep Michael come over to me and said that I should lay down and rest too.  So Ki and I rested for a while together.  Then after about an hour Michael came in and said that he was going to take Zeke out so that I could have some quiet time to myself.  Let me just say that I felt very spoiled and loved!  Michael saw that I was tired and he took care of everything allowing me the chance to "regroup".
The last two weekends Michael has been making it a point that we go to church, I am so in awe that it is him that is being the "instigator" of our church time!  I love that he is making it a priority for our family.  Not only does he make church a priority but he is totally supportive of me when I ask that we get to church in time for worship, even though he really does not like that time of the church service, he knows that it means a lot to me and therefore he makes sure that we are out of the house in time for us to make it to church in plenty of time to get the kids checked in and for us to find a seat.
Yesterday at church our pastor has mentioned that it was Compassion International weekend and that there were many children that were in need of sponsorship, my heart strings were definitely pulled - and after church I found out that Michael's were too.  After church we went to the foyer to find out that we had to have a check book to make the first payment so Michael said that we would go and pick up the boys and then go home to get the check book and then come back and as a family we would select a child.  Our goal was to find someone that was around Zeke's age - the closest we found was between a boy and a girl, the boy's birthday was July of 2006 and the girl's birthday was October of 2006.  We asked Zeke which one he wanted and Zeke chose Joan the little girl from Uganda.  So our fridge has the face of a very cute little girl.  Zeke is already planning his pictures to send to her and he is showing everyone her little picture.
After leaving church Michael took us to Morrison to have dinner and to spend some time together.  The afternoon was so nice.  We came home and watched a movie and spent some time snuggling and spending some good family time.
Today, Michael stayed home the morning with us and the entire time he was so helpful.  He helped get Ki down for a nap and then he took Zeke out in the backyard to get some work done. 
Another thing about Michael that is so wonderful is that he knows how to fix just about everything, granted there might be some language and it may take some time but he is able to fix it. 
I am a truly blessed woman! 

Spoke too soon

Okay so just like I said earlier a few simple things can make an okay day great and a few bad things can make an okay day horrible... well right after finishing my post I decided that I would take a drive.  I had to drop off something at the post office and since neither of the boys were napping I thought that maybe a drive would encourage them to nap.  So I dropped off my mail at the post office and decided to take the long circle to get back home.  I crossed an intersection and saw a police man sitting in his patrol car in the meridian.  I glanced down at my speed 37 mph and I was in a 40 mph zone... or so I thought.  I see the officer flip on his lights and then turns around and is getting into traffic behind me.  I put my blinker on to move out of his way to the side of the road and low and behold he follows me.  I stop on the side of the road and get all my appropriate items out.  I wait for what feels like forever for him to come to my side of the car, in the mean time Zeke is in the back of the car saying, "Mommy you are going to go to jail, the police man is going to take you to jail."  The officer approaches my door and I hand him my license, registration and insurance.  He asks me if I know why he has pulled me over and I simply say, "No sir not at all."  He says, "Well that is the problem then."  Then he proceeds to tell me that I was going seventeen over the speed limit and that I am in a school zone.  I reply that I was unaware that I was in a school zone and I did not see any markers indicating such.  During this time he begins looking at my registration and asks me who Andrea Lynne Dion Potter is, I am thinking okay really, you are holding my driver's license that spells out my name with the last being Kulow - can you not put two and two together.  I inform him that is my maiden name and he asks if I have any verification of that, thankfully, I suppose I carry around my passport with my maiden name still in it and therefore show him that.  Zeke is now getting slightly restless as to the fact that the police man is talking to me and starts to talk behind me and the police man looks to the back of my car and says in a somewhat gruff voice, "Excuse me!"  To that Zeke became silent.  The officer says that he will be right back, and again in what felt like a long time he sat in his car writing me a ticket.  During which time Zeke is asking me if I am going to jail.  The officer comes back and says, "I am going to cut you a break and only site you for nine over the speed limit, not the seventeen over."  I say thank you and then am on my way.  The entire time I am driving off I am thinking, I did not see a school zone sign, so either I totally deserve this ticket or there was not one clearly posted and to that I am bummed... my very first ticket after nine years of driving, and of course it had to come from a Colorado officer who are sticklers and kind of jerks!  So although my entire day was great up until that point I feel kind of bummed and feel like my good "air" as it were from the morning is gone!  I got my first ticket ever.  So my little drive to get my boys to take a nap wound up costing me almost $100... that is a very expensive nap if you ask me!

The Simple Things

Sometimes it is those very simple little things that make a day go from okay to great (yes I realize the opposite is true as well, the little things can take a day from okay to horrible - I am not talking about that right now!).  Today was one of those days... I took a shower last night so I woke up this morning feeling refreshed.  I got to snuggle with both Zeke and Ki in the early morning hours (not the best thing to be woken at 4am but it allowed me to snuggle and pray over my boys, some of the sweetest time).  I made fruit smoothies out of the fruit that I purchased last week, so last week we had wonderful fruit salads for breakfast and this morning we had smoothies with the fruit that was not quite okay for salads anymore, if you know what I am saying.  I took Zeke to school, his second to the last day of school.  Ki fell asleep in the car right away... my attempts of getting him on a one nap schedule are failing miserably, but I figure that if he still needs the two naps then I will just let him have them.  As I was driving to do some grocery shopping I had a change of plans and decided to go and get my Mother's Day pedicure.  Ki slept in my lap almost the entire time while I got my feet scrubbed and painted... Ah, how I love pedicures.  I think that my feet might even be a half a size smaller with all the scrubbing she did, my feet were in dire need of some TLC and the lady did just that!  After my pedicure I went and got some groceries and saved a total of $12 between coupons and markdowns... love it when that happens.  After Ki and I went home and I unloaded the groceries and he played.  We went and picked up Zeke from school, as I was picking him up he was so excited to tell me about Jonah and the whale.  This is a huge step for Zeke, usually when I pick him up I ask how his day was and he says good... and that is about it.  Today he told me the whole Jonah story, granted a non-trained ear would not have understood him but I did and my heart was warmed.  The boys and I came home and I made them lunches and they ate everything, I think both of them are going through a growth spurt!  Now Zeke is in the backyard playing, Ki is... well supposed to be napping and I have a loaf of zucchini bread in the oven and my house smells wonderful.
Sometimes it is the small things that make an okay day great... and today so far has been one of those days!

The First of Many

Today was the first of many more warm days spent in the backyard, I am sure.  This morning we had a play date and then came home had lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon out playing in the backyard.  It was nearly 75 degrees today and both of the boys had a blast in the backyard.  Yesterday I think was the kickoff, in the evening the boys and I played with a small bucket of water figuring out what things sink and float.  Zeke was making his guesses and then we would see, for the most part he was right on every single one of the items - my little scientist!  Today he started off doing the "float and sink" thing while I cleaned up from lunch and then I went out to see what he was trying and I found him standing in the bucket in nothing more than his underwear.  I decided that it was nice enough so I lathered the boys up in sunscreen and put on swim trunks and let them splash and play in the big water bucket... I did take pity on them and instead of filling it with hose water I filled it with bath water, Zeke kept calling the big bucket his outside bath.  This evening when I told him that it was bath time, he simply said, "Mom I have been in my outside bath all day."  I smiled and told him nice try!

Hope that you enjoy a few of our pictures from today!

Zeke seeing if he floats or sinks

Ki all slathered up with sunscreen and enjoying the warm weather

Zeke sitting in his outside bath

Ki was not too sure about the outside bath, he was okay with brother being in it but he preferred to wonder and not be stuck in the tub.

No matter how many times I tell Zeke that this is called a dandelion he calls them "mommylions".  I just had to get a picture of his with the "mommylion"

It seems like every day Zeke grows up more, he does not look like a baby to me any more!

The boys inspecting Ki's next snack... on the menu, Ladybugs.  Zeke is scared of bugs and Ki loves to snack on them!

Great Minute

A few months ago I had come across the Five Love Languages quiz and took it and in the meantime I started looking through the website and wound up signing up for the weekly 5 Minutes of Love Language email.  Today's email was one that I really liked and I thought that I would share it.  Not only does it talk about the Five Love Languages but about the Five Apology Languages.  Hope that you get a little uplift from today's minutes.

Words

We all know the childhood sang...

Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me.

I think that is a bunch of lies.  After a talk that Michael, I took some time this morning to look up the sang and see what others had to say about it.  After doing a little research I found this website.  I was glad to see that I am not the only one that thinks that this sang should be rubbed out of the minds of everyone. 
Words have power to tear a person down.  I liked what one person said, that broken bones heal in about six weeks but a broken heart from harsh words can last a lifetime.  Oh how true.  We can all think of times that someone said something that really broke your spirit and on the flip side we can all think of times that someone said something nice that made you feel like you could soar. 
Reading through all these entries I was also encouraged to see that it was not just females that feel that words can hurt, there were many males writing in saying that they would rather have a broken bone than another human being tear them down with words. 
One of the individuals took it another step further and quoted Proverbs 12:18 which was another angle that I was going to begin searching - scriptures.  Words have the ability to make a grown man weep.  The scriptures are littered with verses describing the tongue as a sword, and what are swords used for... battle. 
I equally took a look at the individuals that wrote that words are powerless without the emotions of the receiver of them.  To that I agree!  I know that words are useless without the context that they are presented in.  If some one was to simply say, "Stop" that word in it self is something that we see on the roads driving, it is not a powerful word - however when we do not obey that word we will suffer the consequences, a ticket or worse yet someone can be killed. 
The childhood song that I sang in Sunday school comes to mind... "Be careful little eyes what you see, be careful little ears what you hear, be careful little mouth what you say..."
I think if we took the time to process what our mouth says that we might find ourselves saying less and listening more.  I know that I need to do this, as I have been letting my frustrations get the better of me and I start spatting off mean things as a way of battling, and making my point hurt.  I was reading a book last night and there was something that was said that made me really think about the way that I have been communicating lately.  The author stated, "You can be right but wrong at the top of your voice."  So now I am going to try to work on not only my words that I spew out but the tone in which they come.  Maybe I can kill those around me with kindness and yet still have my concerns heard.

Been Absent

Both physically (on the blog) and mentally in life.  I have been in a strange funk since last Friday.  Not really sure why, but it has had me in a weird place.  I have not even wanted to blog because I have not had much to say, after a long break (a week, I think) I thought I had better get back into it or else I might fall off the face of the blogging world. 
Michael has been working a ton lately - Like I shared with someone this past week though, I am glad that he is working rather than the opposite.  Things have been really busy for him which means that his days are totally unpredictable - leaving before the boys get up and often not home until they are going to bed.  This past weekend Michael even had to work on Saturday and did not get home until seven. 
Sunday being Mother's day we hung out as a family.  Michael wanted me to sleep in so he could bring me crapes in bed, but sleeping in for me was sevenish.  When my normal day starts at 5:30 - seven was a stretch.  So we all enjoyed crapes for breakfast and then we cleaned out Michael's truck.  We headed up to Evergreen where we got the boys new bedroom set (off Craigslist - bunk beds that can be separated into two twins, a book shelf and a dresser).  Then it was about lunch time so we went to one of our favorite places, BeuJo's pizza.  Little did we know that Michale had locked the keys in the car... so our afternoon turned a little longer than planned, but it was still nice.  The boys were boys, playing in the dirt and rocks and Michael and I got to sit on a bench snuggle and watch our boys.  After Triple A came and saved us we headed home for a nap.  I tried to go and get a pedicure but the three places I went had a minimum forty minute wait.  So I just came home and rested with my boys.  Michael set up the boys beds and room for me.  Our day was a fun and relaxing one!
My little Zeke only has three more days of school for the year!  I am in shock at how quickly this year has gone.  Next year Zeke will be going to school three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Zeke's speech has gotten so much better in the last month or so.  His teachers have even commented on how he is now trying to actually communicate with his classmates, this is a new thing. 
Last Friday the boys had their year checkups.  Zeke is growing so fast.  Ki as well is growing - he is in the 76% for his height.  I got a chance to sit down and ask the doctor a lot of questions that I had about the boys, I will say that I love our pediatrician.  Kind of nice that he is a dad of four kids two of which are about the same ages as my boys, actually he has an Ezekiel that is two days younger than my Zeke. 
Monday was my second to the last Mother's and More meeting of the season.  I was very happy that it was a well attended meeting.  I had a guest speaker come and speak on "How to Raise Financially Responsible Children".  She was well informed and presented a lot of good information.  One thing that she mentioned that I have not really taken the time as of yet to investigate was upromise.com, which is a college savings account.  Let me just say that it looks and sounds to be a great program, worth looking into I am sure.
This Colorado weather never ceases to amaze me!  I have been enjoying the wonderful spring weather, the trees in bloom and the birds out singing.  Today, well I woke up to it snowing and it is 34 degrees.  Monday it was 70 plus and today it is snowing.  One of these days I will stop being amazed at the drastic changes - however until that time I am a confused person, not sure if I should wear shorts or pants, flip flops or boots, tank tops or my big jacket.

Growing Up

Yesterday was doctor appointment day for my boys.  Zeke had his three year check up and Ki his one year check up.  In the words of our doctor, "We have some deluxe million dollar boys."  I would have to agree with him.  Both of the boys are growing well and are developing just as they should be. 
Tomorrow we are going and picking up two twin beds (bunk bed set, but will have them as two twins side by side).  Zeke is very excited that he and Ki will be sharing a room. 
Ki has been doing really good on being independent as far as going to bed at night.  The last few nights we can tell Ki to go to his room for night night and he starts trekking up the stairs, tonight he did make a few trips back down but over all he is doing really well. 
Today was the first time I think ever that Zeke and I sat down and had a conversation.  The entire time I had a grin ear to ear - it was one of those moments that I am sure will be forever etched in my mind.  Zeke and I sat down stairs in the basement, he on my lap as Ki played and told me that he needed to buy me a new car... the reasoning was what made me laugh - because the driver side does not have a "oh crap" handle and all the other seats do.  So Zeke informed me that he is going to buy me a new truck that have four wheels and has handles for every seat.  I asked him how he was going to buy the car and he said that he was going to take the money that is on the counter to do it - mind you he is talking about the change cup.  Then I asked him how he was going to get the car home, he said that he was going to drive it and beep his horn.  Yes, I realize that this conversation was not an earth shattering one, but with all the struggles that he has had with his words the last few months it was so neat to talk with him and share a conversation back and forth.
Three days ago I put the boys down for a nap on my bed, as I have often been doing.  I went down stairs to get some stuff done and after about an hour and a half I hear some giggling coming from my room, usually when Ki wakes up it is crying so the change made me run up stairs even faster.  What I found was too precious, both of the boys had woken up and were trying to jump on my bed.  Zeke was holding Ki's hands helping him stand up and they were having a blast.  I am not a fan of bed jumping but to see my boys playing together warmed my heart.
In the last two days Ki has learned how to walk backwards and he thinks that he is the big cheese.  Tonight I got him out of bed and was drying him off and he started walking backwards away from me, with the biggest grin - I wanted to be upset that he was not standing still so that I could get him dried and dressed but he made me laugh. 
My babies are not going to be babies for much longer - gotta hug and kiss on them as much as I can!

I sometimes wonder

There are days that I wonder if I am living in a dream!  Life is truly a blessing each and every day.  I get the honor of being Michael's wife and mommy to Zeke and Ki.  I have the awesome opportunity to be a stay at home mom, spending my days loving on my boys and making meals for the three men of my life.  I have friends and family that really love me and are there when I need them.  Today has been an awesome day, for nothing more than - I woke up to birds singing and the three men of my life are happy and healthy!
Trust me not every day do I remember and cherish the tasks of every day life, but today I was just hit by the awesome privileges that I have.  I had a wonderful visit from my mom and sister this weekend, spent yesterday cleaning my house and today enjoying and basking in it all. 

How can I feel nothing but blessed?