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Donuts!
Today was not a healthy eating day.
This morning started out early with both boys waking up for the day about an hour before they usually do and neither was tired enough to go back to bed. It didn’t feel like a very productive day at work today…lots of meetings, and more new issues that just offset ones that I was able to actually work on and finish. I was too busy for lunch today so I had a few grapes and just figured I’d save my appetite until dinner. That was until Andy sent me a Skype that said “Boston Cream Pie Honey Buns are downstairs.” Now both of us are trying to eat better, but he knew that I would want to know about this. So we took a walk down to the vending machine and I couldn’t resist. My justification was that I did skip lunch, so this 580 calorie pastry was basically just offsetting my lack of lunch calories….right? It was worth it. Possibly the best vending machine pastry I’ve ever had. Andy tore off a little bite and I think he’d agree just from that bite. He stayed strong and didn’t get a whole one! I was talking about this amazing Honey Bun at dinner tonight and now Parker and Zac have asked me to get one tomorrow to bring home so that they can try!
After dinner (crock pot pulled pork) Nicole suggested that we go get some donuts from Moonrise Donuts in Latonia and take some to our friend for a “donut pick-me-up” and of course I agreed. Their hot donut tonight was Cherry…so good! The boys couldn’t wait so they took a couple bites of their donut while we waited for our hot ones to finish cooking. We took the donuts over to our friend’s house and ate while the kids played and burned off some energy.
To end the night we came home and read some bedtime books to the kids. They fell asleep pretty quick tonight…fingers crossed they sleep a little longer tomorrow morning. I also got a call from a very good friend tonight and he told me that he was offered and accepted a new job. This was great news since he’d been searching for a while and was looking for something more closely to what he’d actually enjoy doing and making into a career. The job sounds amazing and he’s really excited. Big congratulations to him!! A great way to end the day with some positive news 🙂
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Spring Semester 2019
Today was a normal Monday. Work was good, but very busy as usual. I’m part of a project moving to production within the next week and am leading the final testing effort. Another project is ramping up and I’ll be the primary Business Analyst during that implementation and the I/S resource after it goes live. Then we have several upgrades and enhancements over the next few months, all which will need to be analyzed, tested, and coordinated properly.
So I figure now’s the best time to head back to Grad school, right?! 🙂
Looking over the syllabus, I actually think this will be a good semester with some interesting projects and some knowledge that I’ll get to use right away at work. A lot different than undergrad where sometimes I would think when am I actually going to use what I’m learning in these classes haha.
Nicole’s parents came over for dinner tonight and to play with Parker and Zac. Nicole cooked a variation of “hobo stew” and it was very good! The kids played with Nicole’s parents the rest of the evening and then got their baths and had some “relaxing time” before bed. I think they were both tired from a full Monday.
Nothing overly exciting for this Monday, but still a great day! And someone at work was so nice and gave me a Good Luck card and some cookies for me starting Grad school!
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Snowmageddon 2019
Parker woke up on Saturday without a fever! It snowed a little overnight, but we weren’t going out to play in it until Sunday so that we could make sure his fever didn’t come back. We had one more “lazy” day inside to let Parker get completely better. However, when Parker saw that it had snowed he opened up the door to the back deck and picked up a handful of snow to eat! The day was full of playing with toys, playing on tablets, and watching movies. In the evening we blew up the air mattress for Parker and Zac to lay on while we watched Shrek…just something different to do; they loved it. Parker’s fever never came back and he was acting his normal self all day. After the kids went to bed we turned on the UK game. It was a great game to watch and was pretty close until the end…UK won.
Today, Parker was still feeling back to normal so we were able to go out and enjoy the snow! It snowed a little more overnight and it was snowing while we were outside so there was a good amount on the ground. We had a great time building a snowman and sledding. We came came back inside and the kids drank some hot chocolate. Kay and Tony stopped by to drop Amie off. We ordered some Donato’s Pizza for lunch and then relaxed for a while. Zac fell asleep…wore out from sledding 🙂
We spent the rest of the day playing inside and preparing for another week of work/school. And the Spring semester at NKU starts tomorrow! Time to get ready for another full week….
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Sick Day Pt. 2
Happy National Hot Toddy Day!
I stayed home from work today because Parker was still running a fever and not feeling very good. Zac also stayed home with us. Parker took his medicine around 7:00am and that took care of his fever for a while. With no fever he was ready to run around and play like normal. I had to convince him that it was a “sick day” and we needed to relax so that his body could fight off his sickness. This meant movies, video games, board games, and playing with a few toys. We started with some tablet time, then Toaster Strudels for breakfast, then more tablet time. After tablets, the boys went upstairs to change into their outfits for the day. That’s when they decided that they needed to find out where Harley was so they could take a picture of him with the camera on their tablets. This started a “big adventure” to find Harley cat. We spent a little over 5 minutes searching for him until Parker found him sitting on the kitchen table chair. They sneaked up on him like Steve Irwin, with their cameras ready, and got a couple of pictures…mission accomplished. Harley’s always such a good sport!
We spent the rest of the morning playing downstairs in the toy room, eating snacks while sitting inside some ottomans, and playing Zelda/Mario on the Wii. We had some leftover Skyline for lunch, then it was back downstairs to play some more since neither were wanting to lay down for a nap. We spent most of the afternoon watching an Iron Man & Captain America cartoon on Netflix. Zac eventually fell asleep during the movie so he had a 1-hour power nap. Parker never fell asleep, but he was very calm and relaxed the whole afternoon. His fever came back after lunch, but remained low grade which was good.
Nicole came home from work and we made some BLT’s for dinner. After dinner Nicole and Parker played Mario Galaxy while Zac and I played with the Kitchen set in the toy room. We gave Parker his Motrin and he went to bed early tonight…hopefully he gets a great night of extra sleep and maybe his fever will break tomorrow. Zac picked “minion Bob” (Despicable Me 3) for his TV time tonight so we watched that until it was his bedtime. I made a Hot Toddy to sip on this evening to celebrate National Hot Toddy Day today! It’s perfect timing with the cold weather, the impending snowpacalypse that’s being forecast this weekend, and to fight the sickness that is going around. Hopefully we get the 4-6 inches that they are predicting…we don’t have any plans to go anywhere so I don’t mind all the snow. Kenton County has already canceled all school related activities for tomorrow (Saturday). The only bad thing is that Parker is sick and won’t be able to go out into the snow if we do actually get a few inches. Maybe he’ll be well enough by Sunday so that he can at least walk outside in it and eat a snowball 🙂
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Sick Day
This morning on the way to work I stopped at Kroger to get a fruit tray. I also stopped at the Starbucks inside Kroger for a Grande Caramel Macchiato. I saw a sure sign of the coming snowpocalypse while I was a Kroger…they were stocking the bread aisle full! I joked and asked if they were preparing for the snow and one of the workers said that the shelves will be empty by the end of the week. I can only imagine what Kroger is going to be like tomorrow after everyone gets off work. Or how busy the ClickList will be since more people are using that…especially if it’s already going to be cold and snowy. We took inventory of our food tonight and looks like we’re good 🙂
I picked up the fruit tray because the HRIS department moved onto our floor in the building so we had a “Welcome Breakfast” for them. There was so much food! It was hard not to just eat a bunch of donuts and other unhealthy food…I tried to stick to fruits and Jackson’s “world famous” scones. I did go back for a large slice of coffee cake later in the afternoon, but it was worth it. Andy and I walked the steps today so I’m sure I walked it off anyway haha!
Work was busy busy today. I went over to our Main Campus (Base) for a few meetings. I don’t have as many meetings there as I used to so I haven’t been since last October. The building I work in is about 6 blocks from the main hospital and only has business/IS employees, nothing clinical. So it’s nice to walk around the hospital and be reminded of the reason why we’re all working as hard as we do…changing the outcome for the kids!
Unfortunately Parker woke up with a fever this morning so Nicole stayed home with him. Zac also stayed home so that he didn’t bring any germs to Debbie and Doug’s house. It makes sense now why Parker was saying he “had no energies” last night when he went to bed…his cold/virus was just starting. The doctor did some tests and said it’s not the flu and not strep, so sounds like just a virus that he’ll have to fight off. I’m taking a PTO day tomorrow to stay home while he continues to feel better. I hope he fights off this virus quick so that he can enjoy some of the snow this weekend (fingers crossed we get a good amount). I told him if he was still sick we would bring some inside for him…he said thanks and that he would eat all of it. He’s a character even when he’s sick.
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Back To School
Happy hump day!
On my way to work this morning I stopped at Tire Discounters to pick up my friend Mike after he dropped his car off to get new tires. I drove him to his work and then I headed to work. Work was good.
After work I went to NKU for Graduate orientation. I hadn’t really been to campus since I graduated in 2010 and it’s changed a lot since then…new buildings, updated old buildings, less of the concrete jungle feel like it used to be. I’m excited to be back! I started thinking about all the great memories from my undergrad…maybe that will be a separate post.
It was great to meet the director of my graduate program (MS Business Informatics) and network with other Grad students. My classes this semester are online and begin this coming Monday. I’m going to busy busy busy!
After orientation I came home and played with Parker and Zac for a while before they went to bed. They were at Nicole’s parent’s house during the evening and must have had a good time because Parker said he “has zero energies left”. Haha
Now it’s time to relax the rest of the evening….
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Hot Toddy
Today was a good day at work. I’m slowly getting caught up on my backlog of items to work on. Now I just have to avoid getting the sickness that’s going around the office! I’ve done great so far this year with not even getting a cold. My only issues have been sinuses and a cough that lasted a couple weeks…I highly recommend Mucinex Fast-Max Sever Congestion & Cough. After 2 days my cough was pretty much gone and I felt a LOT less congested. I wish I would have taken it as soon as my cough started! So in an attempt to avoid getting sick, I’m using hand sanitizer as often as possible and I drank a Hot Toddy tonight. My Hot Toddy = honey, lemon juice, boiling water, and Jefferson’s small batch Bourbon. I’m not sure if it’ll actually do any good, but at least I got to drink some bourbon! 🙂
After work Parker said he was starving and asked if we could have Skyline for dinner. I never turn down a chance for some Skyline, so we went through the drive-thru on the way home. Nicole had taken Zac to his 3 year old checkup at the doctor this afternoon, and everything looks great according to the doctor…no shots! After dinner Parker opened up his package that came in the mail. We ordered him a “cape” shirt since we gave several to Zac for his, but then realized Parker didn’t have any that fit him. He loved it!
After dinner the boys got their baths and then we played with their toys for a while. The UK game started at 7:00 so I put that on the TV while we played. Parker said he wanted to watch basketball for a while so we sat on the couch and watched the game. Nicole made some popcorn so we had some snacks during the game. The boys went back upstairs during one of the timeouts and played on their tablets before going to bed. After they went to bed we finished doing some chores around the house and watched the end of the UK game…UK won, C-A-T-S!!
Zac giving thumbs down to UK’s poor performance the first part of the game!
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Pie Face!
It was back to work today to start another week. Work was good, a typical Monday.
After work it started to rain so although it was 60 degrees outside, we had to stay inside for the evening. We had dinner and then played board games the rest of the evening. Pie Face was a hit! Parker picked Guess Who and then built a marble track with Nicole. Zac and I played a couple games of Guess Who and then played with his dinosaurs that he got for his birthday. Zoey just watched from the comfort of the couch 🙂
It was a nice relaxing evening at home. After the boys went to bed we watched some of the Alabama/Clemson game to end the night.
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Happy 3rd Birthday, Zachary!
Zachary turned 3 years old today!
It’s hard to believe it’s been 3 years since Nicole woke up and said it felt like she was having some contractions, but still decided to go into work. Then early that afternoon she sent me a text that said “I’m heading to the hospital now” so I Skyped my Director to let him know and he told me to “Go! Go! Go! Keep me posted” haha. And I remember walking into the hospital room to see Nicole already having some REALLY big contractions. A few hours later Zachary entered into the world, a perfect little guy!
On Saturday we cleaned up the house a little bit and prepared for Zac’s birthday party. We had his party later that afternoon. It was 55 degrees outside with full sun so we were actually able to open up the back door to let some fresh air in. I think Zac had a blast at his party! (Lots of pictures posted at the end of the blog)
This morning Zac and Parker played with Zac’s new toys from his birthday for a while. Then Zac and Nicole went out to Kohl’s to return Zac’s shoes that we gave him for his birthday for a bigger size…growing so fast! It was another amazing day of weather for the beginning of January (mid-50’s and plenty of sun) so we all spent as much time outside as we could. Nicole took the boys “exploring” down in our woods, while Amie and I relaxed on the back patio. They came back to the house to get some snacks and some supplies to go explore some more. I went with them the second time and it was great being in the woods and going on an adventure. I’m sure you can imagine the type of adventure with two toddler boys…pick up every rock, jump over every fallen tree, try to find as many bugs as possible, “can we go in the creek??”, “do you think there are any bears in the trees??”….I was pretty sure we weren’t going to see any bears, but I checked anyway 🙂
This evening we told Zac that he could pick whatever he wanted for his birthday dinner. He said he wanted to go to a restaurant and picked “the place where we can watch them make pizza”…so we headed to Dewey’s Pizza. Both Parker and Zac loved watching them toss the dough and laughed when the Dewey’s workers threw flour against the glass at them. It was a great birthday dinner!
Tonight we let Zac blow out candles on his leftover cookie cake since today’s his actual birthday. And we gave him one last present…a new shirt with a cape on the back (he loves the cape shirts).
It was a full weekend! I tried to take in and enjoy every minute of it because I know how fast these days go by….
Below are a bunch of pictures from Saturday and today. I hope anyone that reads this enjoys looking at them 🙂
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TGIF!
This will probably be a short post.
It was a productive day at work again today…still very busy. Fortunately I’m part of a great team and have a really good Director who is always willing to help us out. And it’s still kind of unreal that my best friend works 100 feet away from me! It’s great to be able to take a 10-15 minute break from work every once in a while and go for a walk/chat with Andy or to be able to grab lunch together. We joke around that this is good practice for when we eventually own our own company together…..company still TBD 😉
After work Nicole picked up Parker and Zac and took them to her parent’s so that they could spend some time with them this evening and also so that Nicole and I could run some errands to get ready for Zac’s birthday this weekend. Nicole went to Kohl’s and Sam’s while I did a few things around the house. The main thing I wanted to get done was to anchor some furniture to the wall so that it wouldn’t accidentally tip over onto Parker, Zac, or any other kids. I’ve seen some videos and read news stories about toddlers climbing dressers and bookcases and the furniture tipping over onto them…definitely a very dangerous scenario. Hopefully these anchors will prevent anything like that happening here. They were easy to install and I was able to pull the strap pretty tight so it won’t actually fall very far from the wall if it does start to tip over…I definitely recommend these!
Nicole and I went to Kroger to pick up the food for Zac’s birthday. We’re going to have a sort of make-your-own sandwich “deli” station. Zac loves lunch meat so he should be pretty excited about his birthday meal!
After we finished shopping at Kroger Nicole left to pick up the kids from her Parent’s house and I finished anchoring the furniture. Parker fell asleep on the ride home and transferred to his bed. He was holding onto an airplane so it looks like pawpaw built more planes with the boys…I bet they had a blast. I’ll have to ask Parker about it in the morning. Zac was still awake and took a little while to fall asleep. I asked if he was excited about his birthday weekend and he said “YES me am!!” haha.
After the kids went to bed we wrapped Zac’s presents. We also got Parker a present that he can open tomorrow. I wonder how many other parents do that…get a little present for their kid(s) to open when one of their brothers/sisters has a birthday. I remember my parents doing that when my brother or I had a birthday…they’d give the other a small present to open. I always thought that was a great idea!
Time to get some rest and then start the weekend!!
