Life Lately... It's Still Winter

At this point I'm dying for it to be over 50 degrees... winter has been brutal this year, which rain and more snow (nothing sticking though) and temps in the 30's. 

We are definitely getting some cabin fever at this point! Sunshine, where are you???

But, we soldier on. Here is what we have been up to lately! 

 Grocery Shopping. Ugh. I loathe it... and lately it's getting scarier because this is ONE WEEK'S worth of food. The boys are starting to eat more and more (Austin especially has been wolfing food down) and I'm seeing the future of two always hungry boys in my house. It's coming... and quickly. And yes, this week I had a craving and bought Pringles. No judging. And my kid gets a sucker to occupy him while at the store. #Survival

 Our lives are one big game of Monkey See, Monkey Do between the boys. If Austin tells a joke, Owen tells it immediately after. If Austin has on pajamas, Owen wants them on too. So when Austin was convinced he had an owie that required a Band-Aid... well, guess what happened. Yep, a whole box of 'em were sacrificed to the Glynn boys. #ThankYouForYourServiceBandAids

 This is how I feel raising boys. Some things I just really don't "get." So on Austin's birthday we stopped at the store on the way home and I let him pick out a new movie. He chose Pokemon and I was like "you've never seen Pokemon. Do you even know what it is?" He insisted he did (how, who knows? Must be classmates) so we got the Pokemon movie. And my eyes bled. And his eyes were glued. #SoManyFlashingColorsAndWeirdCreaturesJumpingAround

 "Mom, wanna see the coolest trick ever???" is uttered a lot 'round these parts. Couch-Jump-n-Flip is the newest craze, and top points for the craziest pose hit once you've flipped. Look for it in the 2036 Olympic Games. #GoldMedalFoSho

 Again... it's a house full of boys. Superheros make appearances from time to time. Especially on Super Bowl Sunday! This picture (and the Band-Aid one above) is their relationship perfectly. Austin doing something, and Owen watching him to see what he's doing so he can do the same thing. Sometimes this is an awesome thing because we really only have to parent one kid.... "Austin, stay off the stairs. You know you don't play on the stairs. If you stay off them, Owen will stay off them." #TwoBirdsWithOneStone

 One of the best things about having kids is laughing at them. Especially when you pick them up at daycare and they look like a tiny Russian Grandmother. Apparently Owen really wanted to wear this snowsuit that was in the communal clothes bin, so his teachers put him in it. Babushka Owen was adorable in so many ways!!! He was quite pleased with himself. #Baba

 Me and my brood.... we were at a client appreciation party our realtor threw for her clients, and the bathroom had a huge mirror! So we had to have a pose-off. Austin wins.

 I know what the daycare teachers really wanted for Valentines Day!! Owen's teacher told me she's had an "interesting" time lately with her group of 2-year-olds... so I thought some wine was needed for her! Seriously. Mad props to daycare teachers. Can you imagine having seven 2-year-olds all day long???? #NotEnoughWineInTheWorld

 We don't go too overboard for Valentines Day, but I got some DIY ornaments at the craft store for the boys to make for our family. They had fun putting the stickers on (well, Austin did.. Owen just played with the stickers on his fingers until they lost all stickiness and ended up on the floor) and we got to send some love to the Grampas and Grammas and Aunts and Uncles! 

 After almost 9 years together... Neal still likes me. I came home on Val Day to a simple flower arrangement (screw the dozen roses that cost over $50!!!) and a glass of wine at the ready! 

 We thought we'd show the boys some romance and eat dinner by candle light on Val Day! They had burger patties and carrots, and we had chicken coconut curry... and all they cared about was when it was time to blow out the candles, and who got to blow out the candles, and how many candles they could blow out. #RomanceMightBeDead

I've been taking Austin to lunch at my work cafeteria about once a month and Monique and I thought it would be fun to take our kids together, since Austin and Lil love each other at school. Well, the lunch date was a bit of a disaster. Austin got "first date" jitters something bad and chugged his bottle of apple juice in under 10 seconds, wouldn't eat anything, slumped in his chair and wouldn't talk, then chugged a bunch of water (I mean, who hasn't drank too much when you're nervous??) then complained of a tummy ache. Yeah dude, you just put a gallon of liquids in your body in no time flat. Sigh. So our fun idea turned out to be more of a circus. 

My work has a "use them or lose them" policy with vacation days, so I have some I need to use up before June. So I took a Friday off and we drove down to Springfield for the weekend and surprised Gramma at her work to have lunc! I packed the boys lunch in their lunchboxes and put them in their backpacks. They thought it was so fun!

Gramma was happy to see us and they had fun eating in the big cafeteria with all the big kids! 

After lunch we got to join the big kids at recess for awhile. Austin continues to amaze me with his no-fear attitude. He just went right up to the older kids and asked to play, asked their names, and took to the new social situation like a duck takes to water. He amazes me because I'm so not like that. We got a taste of what is to come with elementary school though when Austin came up to me and said "that kid over there told me I'm a weirdo." Sigh. He's not even IN elementary school officially yet and we're already dealing with jerks. So I told him to ignore the kid, and kids say hurtful things when they are unhappy or insecure and that has no reflection on him. Was that the right thing to say to him? I hope so. This is an all new parenting arena we are entering. 

We spent the rest of Friday at Gramma and Grampa's house and Grampa stopped by in his cool brown truck to say hi! The boys think it's the best... and so does everyone else who sees the UPS truck pull up to their house, right?? Who doesn't love deliveries??

Ok boys, let's work on our counting skills... how many Amazon boxes do you see? Can you count to a million? You'll need to... #AmazonBoxesForDays

We love our UPS man!!!

The real reason we were down in Springfield for the weekend was to celebrate baby Jaxon's upcoming arrival!!! Adam and Val had their baby shower at the Santa Clara Fire Dept and it was so much fun!! Can you see the sweet little faces in the truck behind us??

Austin had the time of his life and "definitely" wants to be a firefighter when he grows up!

Owen, like usual, just wanted to do everything brother was doing.

This might be the cutest thing I've ever seen! He was so thrilled!!!

Daycare was closed on Presidents Day and Neal got an offer to help run a baseball camp so Aunt Patty stayed with the boys. Owen learned a new trick and was so proud!!

I already bragged about Neal on Instragram... so I'll keep it brief. He is a selfless, awesome, kind human. He volunteered to coach his school's Special Olympic basketball team and we went to the last game. It was so cool to see him with his athletes and how much joy was in that gym. 

The boys were slightly less enthused about the basketball game because I wouldn't let them get popcorn the second we arrived. And I made them pose for a picture. I mean, how dare I???? #MeanMom

Austin asked if he could take some pictures, so I showed him how... and he snapped this of his brother. Haha! Owen looks so confused. 

Austin calls this one "Portrait of a Lone Balloon." He really wanted to take a picture of the balloon. Do you see it? The orange balloon right by the orange door. Austin is a creativity genius. 

Finally! Popcorn.. glorious popcorn!!! #TheirNightWasComplete

The boys have been slightly obsessed with pillowcases lately and using them for "sleeping bags" and playing "going to sleep" and "camping" and such. They also always take their clothes off before getting in the pillowcases... they are true hippie Northwest children, I guess. 

This is a terrible picture, but the family threw Neal's Dad a big 60th birthday celebration at a local McMenamins venue. The boys got to run around, there was lots of food and wine, and we got to celebrate the Poppa we all love! 

When you look in the mirror at the end of the party and your hair is all kinds of wacky!!

#ThisIsParenting

Life is blurry a lot. And sometimes those are the pictures that crack you up the most. When your 2-year-old has spilled water on himself so he got stripped down, then pooped, and you're trying to chase him down to change his diaper, and your oldest kid is just calmly sipping water behind you... clearly plotting his next mischievous move, and your hubby is like "hi! whatcha doing??" *snaps pic*

Oh Owen..... this kid is just joy (sometimes). He finds delight in so many things, it's infectious. He's that kid you can't keep a straight face while disciplining because he's just so pleased with himself it's hilarious. He's been doing the Tumble Bus at daycare and the joy is just emanating off of him! #InSpades

My birthday came and went in February and was low-key. It was awesome. Neal took me out to a nice dinner (these steak tips and crispy onions were amazing!), I got to do some shopping, and Aunt Patty took me for a mani/pedi. I got sweet cards in the mail, and sweet phone calls and texts. Sometimes you don't realize how loved you are by others... I think that reminder that happens on birthdays is my very favorite thing.

Well, that was long, sorry!! But that's how we've been wrapping up winter. Only a few more days and it's Spring! Oh wait, this is Oregon. So that means just more cold rainy days. Ha.