It's Time

Dear Grandma,

Well, the time has come to say goodbye...to pop.  Tomorrow I am starting my 'No Pop Diet'.  I am giving pop up for multiple reasons.

1. It has a ton of sugar and calories!  And if I'm going to lose weight drinking pop will only slow me down.
2. I think it is contributing to all of my stomach problems.
3. I've heard that people who give it up just feel better.

So, I am giving it up.  Andy has not had a pop for over a month.  Since he has given it up he has not had hardly any heartburn, he's barely snoring at night, he's lost a little weight, and he just feels better.  I'm looking forward to any benefits it gives me, but I am wondering what in the heck am I going to drink?  I only have 2 cans a day or 1 bottle, depending on whether I'm home or out and about so I'm not really drinking a ton of it but to think of having only water and milk all day every day?  Eck, how boring.  I don't like tea like Andy does so that's out.  If I drink juice or lemonade I'm not really cutting out the calories and sugar.  So I'm going to try to drink water and milk only and see where it takes me.  I have a goal of losing 20lbs, 10 before we go to Vegas, so I'm hoping this will be a little jump start for me.  And if the only benefit I get is feeling better and having less stomach problems it's totally worth it.  I'm ready, although I am sure I will whine quite a bit the first week. 

Have a good night!
Erin

The Love Affair

Dear Grandma,

As Andy always says when Brenner and I are together, "The Love Affair continues."  That little sweet baby and I have something special together, and since I've been working we haven't had much Mommy and Bren time.  Tonight Andy was lucky enough to get 2 tickets given to him for our team's men's basketball game and he took Aiden to it so Brenner and I spent some much needed time together.  We put together 4 puzzles, 2 of them 2 different times.  We had one of Bren's favorites for supper -- scrambled eggs.  We sat and cuddled.  We read a bunch of books.  We cuddled some more.  We sang songs (he loves Puff The Magic Dragon by Peter, Paul and Mary).  We cuddled some more.  I always whisper 'sweet nothings' in his ear and he wraps his little arms around my neck and smacks a big one on me.  Aww, what a lovey little bug.  And so, The Love Affair continues.  And Aiden gets some much needed one on one with Daddy.  (The text I received said Aiden had basically eaten Andy out of money and was totally loving the game and atmosphere and having a blast!)

Love,
Erin

Growing Up Is Hard To Do

Dear Grandma,

Aiden lost his first tooth this week!  And I use the word 'lost' loosely, because Andy actually pulled it out (with a loud POP).  Aiden was super excited, then he saw the blood and started looking a little green. Ha ha!  But the tooth fairy brought him a new tooth brush with Transformers on it, and a $2 bill.  His top left tooth is extremely loose now so I'd say in a few days that one will be out too.  Once those baby teeth are gone he's has no more 'baby' left in him.  How sad -- for me! 

Right now he's laying on the floor playing with his Leapster.  He looks like such a kid.  Without taking his eyes off the screen he reaches over and pulls a grape out of the baggie and pops it in his mouth.  So like a grown-up engrossed in something they're working on.  He says big kid things to me sometimes, which always crack me up a bit but I try to hide that so he doesn't stop saying them to me. 

But then he gets upset about something and needs me, his mommy, to fix them and make him feel all better.  Not a bad gig.

Here's a picture of Aiden right after he lost his tooth.

He has a funny look on his face, must be from seeing that blood!

Love,
Erin

The Great Purge

Dear Grandma,

Doesn't it feel so good when you clean out a drawer or a closet or a 'nook' where stuff has collected?  Yesterday we weeded out Andy's clothes and ended up with a really big pile to donate.  Now we have plenty of hangers to hang all our clothes up.  We'll take the pile to Goodwill, they're all in good shape just don't fit anymore or don't suit Andy's style anymore.  I bet in a week or so he tells me he needs more clothes. :)

On a different note, I went down to the basement with Andy yesterday afternoon while he studied and worked on some scrap booking.  It felt so good to get a couple of pages done and to put a bunch into their album that have been waiting for a few finishing touches.  Working on those got my juices flowing again, I'm anxious to get down there tonight and work on another page!

Work is going well, I finally have it all figured out and am blowing through the files.  If I can keep this pace up I'll be done by end of next week.  I have a feeling they're going to ask me to stay on and work on the next phase of this project.  Do you think I could tell them no?  I hate to burn any bridges, you never now what the future will bring.  Guess I'll figure it out if and when they ask.

Have a great night!
Erin

Cold Night, Warm Tummy

Dear Grandma,

Last night I made one of the most amazing soups.  It was so creamy and cheesy and flavorful and just so, so delicious!  Andy tells me he's just not a soup kind of guy but that this was the best Cheeseburger Soup he's ever had (and the only!).  Here's the recipe:

If you have a hard time reading this let me know, I'll type it up (thought I'd try this way since it was fast!).

I think all the veggies chopped and mixed together look so pretty!

Here's what it looks like after you add the burger and potatoes -- yum!

I forgot to take an 'after' picture because it smelled so good and I just couldn't wait to get it in my mouth!  So you'll either have to use your imagination or make it.  And it's so nice because it's a quick soup and it freezes really well.  I put enough of the leftovers in a bowl for me to take to work one day next week and the remainder went into a freezer safe bowl for a few weeks down the road when I need a quick easy meal that'll warm us down to our bones.

Happy eating!
Erin

Wii Isn't 'Wee' For Me

Dear Grandma,

Now I understand why Mom and Dad wouldn't buy us a Nintendo when we were kids -- we'd want to do nothing but play the darn thing.  I've fought it this long, but this Christmas I agreed to get a Wii for our family.  That thing has brought me nothing but pain!  The boys whine all the time about wanting to play it, and when I tell them its time to get off it they whine some more.  Even Andy gets way too into it.  Grr, I hate this thing!

Love,
Erin

I'm In Heaven!

Dear Grandma,

I am in heaven today!  I went to work this morning and about 1 1/2 hrs in the Internet went down, which is how I access the program that I am using for this job.  So, after sitting there for another hour, getting paid to do nothing, they informed me that it was going to be at least one more hour and to go home.  So I picked up my Brenner Bug and came home!!!  Home, how I've missed you!  After putting B-bug to bed (he fell asleep on the way home) I threw the first of probably 3 loads of laundry in the wash, grabbed a bowl of cereal for lunch and am now catching up on Facebook, Pinterest and all the blogs I read.  Ahhhh, sigh!  This is heaven.  I love, love, LOVE being home! 

Guess who else loves being home -- Brennan!  This little boy is my double, I swear.  Last Friday he cried on the way to the sitters, telling me he wanted to go to my house.  (Tear.)  I thought it was either a.) it had been a long week and he was just tired and ready to be home for a change, or b.) scared that the little boy who spit on him the day before would spit on him again.  But this morning he did it again.  And today he was going to my sister's, whom he loves and he loves the kids there.  So I realized that it was more like 'a' from above and he's a homebody and just wanted to be with me.  (Tear again.)  (I feel the same way!)

Love you!
Erin

But I Don't Want To Be A Pirate!

Dear Grandma,

I am fairly certain that you NEVER watched 'Seinfeld', so you might not understand this quote.  It had something to do with him promising to wear a 'pirate shirt' during an interview, and he hated it and felt ridiculous wearing it, so he said "But i don't want to be a pirate!" when trying to get out of wearing it. It's how I feel about this temporary job I've agreed to do for Mom's bank.  "But I don't want to be a worker!"  If I get nothing else out of this job it has shown me how much I enjoy staying home with the boys.  Being a stay at home mom was/is my calling!  Except for being a teacher, I have done all the job types that I ever thought I wanted to do.  Cosmetologist, banker and stay at home mom.  And I know I do not have the patience to be a teacher so I'm not upset that that one didn't work out.

So, this job.  It's fine, but sitting in an office all alone with no human contact is NOT for me.  All I am doing is inputting 'ticklers' into a new program they have.  Ticklers for loans.  So every year when a business or farmer needs to bring in their financials this system will send a 'tickler' to the loan officer to call the individual and set up a meeting.  I love making lists (some weird OCD thing of mine) and I love putting the appropriate information into the appropriate boxes, so this little job isn't too far out of my realm of...talents?  Whatever it is, it fits me fine, except for the lack of human contact.  I'm a chatter-er, I love to talk, so not talking all day long gets old.  But I guess I was sort of used to it, hanging out with a toddler all day isn't exactly like having an adult standing there that you have a full-on conversation with.  Especially when I say 'wike' instead of 'like', or 'you're such a coochie coochie coochie coochie!'. :)

Love,
Erin

Second Guessing Myself

Dear Grandma,

I'm second guessing myself (like I do all too often when making big decisions).  Mom emailed me 3 weeks ago asking if I'd be interested in helping them at the bank with a project for a few weeks.  After hashing out a wage and figuring out daycare I decided to go ahead and accept the temporary, short-term position.  Now I'm second guessing myself.  At first I thought it was because I was worried about not being with Brennan all day, every day.  The reason I quit my job was to stay home and raise the boys myself, instead of letting someone else do it.  But today I think I realized I'm really dreading this because of my loss of freedom.  It's so nice to be able to get groceries on a Monday morning, or to run to town to have lunch with Mom or Andy, or to be able to go downstairs during Bren's nap to make Aiden's Valentine's cards.  *Sigh*  Oh, I know, I will be fine.  And I really am looking forward to being among adults again, if only for a few weeks.

I mentioned Aiden's Valentine's cards.  I am so excited about these!  Up to this point we've always just bought some pre-made cards at the store. But in one of my scrap booking magazines I found a cute card that uses a mini Hershey's candy bar that you wrap in fun paper and turn into a robot!  It's so cute.  Today I worked on wrapping the candy bars and cutting out card stock for the card that the robots will attach to.  I want Aiden to help make the robot so we'll be working on them together after I pick him up from school.  Once they're done I'll take a photo and post it so you can see what they look like. 

Time to pick Aiden up.  Talk to you soon,
Erin

60 degrees on January 5th???

Dear Grandma,

Wow, this weather is incredible!  We've had the warmest, driest winter in recent memory this year.  Today it is going to top 60 degrees!  So bizarre!  And it's even weirder to have the windows open on January 5th.  I keep looking at the bare trees out the window wishing they'd have small green leaves coming on.  It smells like spring!  And it reminds me of when, as a kid, we'd burn the terraces on Mom and Dad's farm in early spring.  Days like today, where the sun was out, the temps were mild and the light breeze was finally warm instead of the cold wind that went straight to your bones all winter long.  We'd burn the ditches and terraces, then head into the house about supper time and pop a frozen pizza in the oven.  And few years it hit on the same night that the movie 'The Ten Commandments' was on, so we'd watch part of that.  It's funny, until Andy and I were married I'd never seen the entire movie because it was so long that we'd head to bed long before it was over.  Aww, good memories.

I think Bren and I will walk over to school to get Aiden today!

Loving and missing you,
Erin