Moments.

Like anyone else, my days are made up of little moments all strung together to make a bigger picture. Sometimes, I think we all look past the little and ordinary things, expecting greatness to come only from the biggest, loudest moments.

Lately, I've been trying really hard to quietly be more appreciative of the little things. More specifically, how they collectively fit into the bigger picture and shape my life, my moments, my memories. Like these:

"Here, Poppi. I will help you with your zippers."

I've become quite the Mommy expert in GeoTrax building, thankyouverymuch.

"Two dudes, doin' dude teeth brushing."

Evening snuggles are the best!

He was telling Aunt Jane about pudding on Monday, so on the way home he asked if we could make some that night. How do you tell this face no? So of COURSE we made pudding and it was YUM.

Potty break.

Last night we had a first! Alex got up to pee instead of peeing in his Pull Up! (Yes, he still wears them at night...and he will until he's 19 for all I care. Daytime training was easy, yo. Nighttime training will just happen on its own.)

But he did it on his own, is my point. And the only reason we are aware of it is because the little stinker came in our room and used our bathroom....and left the bathroom light on and the door open a la 3 a.m. So, I guess in theory he could have been doing this for months and was just using the hall bathroom? (Because 9 out of 10 mornings his Pull Up is dry).

Either way, *happy dance* for more independence!

Alex-isms.

While snuggling in bed with me on Saturday morning, stroking my face with his little hand.
"It's ok sweetheart. You just rest here for 30 minutes and your headache will go away."
Note: I did not have, nor did I tell him I had, a headache.

While being buckled into his carseat by my Dad.
"Oh, Poppi. I like your hair. It's grey."

To Joe in the master bath while I was sleeping on Sunday morning.
"Dad! I gotta go check on Mom to make sure she's not dead."

While building his latest Lego creation.
"This is a limited edition 530 space airplane." Points to bottom where he built a hole. "This is where the fire comes out."

While eating dinner with my parents.
"Hey, Joette?" Realizing he now has Grammi's undivided attention. "I love you stronger than the wind and softer than a cloud." ...and then we all melted.

Story time.

Sneaky bid-ness, part II.

Remember this post, in which I shared photographic evidence of a then 1 and 2 year old little boy sneaking food from the plates of grown ups?

I've caught him red-handed again!

Although I simply cannot blame him, as he's thieving some dangerously delicious dark chocolate cherry scones (purchase the mix here--just add heavy cream and dark chocolate chips!). In fact, this photo makes me proud. My boy, all growed up and stealin' scones.

And what you might also see in this little pic is some glorious bacon. But what you can't see (or taste) is that the bacon has a slight sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar and was cooked in the oven. Try it next time and thank me later.

In unrelated news, you can also follow me on instagram! Some very unkind person was already using my 'kveedub' moniker, so I'm 'kristiwmu' over in instagram land.

Gift card Monday.

Joey and I played hooky from work yesterday to have a date day. We decided to put a fun spin on the day and start using up some of the gift cards we have collected over the last few years and have "Gift Card Monday." Basically, we could do anything we wanted all day, but we had to use a gift card. Fun, right?

We started with coffee from Starbucks--the perfect start to any morning! We didn't have any gift cards for "brakfasty" places, so we went home and Joey made breakfast for us. Toad in the hole on sourdough. Mmmmm. Also? Next time you make bacon, do it in the oven and sprinkle a little bit o' cinnamon sugar on each piece. Thank me later.

Then we used up some movie gift cards and saw "Silver Linings Playbook." As an aside, I thought the movie was terrible. I do not get all the hype it's gotten--especially related to Jennifer Lawrence. She's annoying. And yes, I'm already preparing myself for the hate mail.

We broke the gift card rules only once, and that was our next stop. We've been putting off ordering the tile for our backsplash since, oh, August, and finally got around to it. It's amazing what you have time for when you're playing hooky!

After that, we lunched at P.F. Changs and I was again reminded of why we only go to Pei Wei. But, we used a gift card so no love lost.

Ater that it was time to pick up our little nugget and have a nice, relaxing family night. I could get used to days like yesterday!

Ta-qweee-la.

Mother of pearl it's been a whole week and I've blogged every day of it! To celebrate, I offer you a virtual cocktail that I like to think I made up all on my own, but did not. It's called a tequila ginger. Caitlin, you can go ahead and pretend I named it after you.

To make this glorious concoction, first add ice to your cup. Preferably a big cup, but I feel like that goes without saying, no? SALT THE ICE. (This is a muy importante step; don't skip it...unless, of course you have a sodium problem, in which case, you might want to actually risk it for this drink. Or whatever.) Add a shot (or three) of tequila. Finish the pour with Ginger Ale (I find Canada Dry to be the yummiest). Squeeze a 'lil lime in there, stir and kick it back, girl.

Cheers to surviving a week back at it. Have a lovely weekend, y'all. I might not even shower tomorrow, so there's that.

Happy Valentine's Day from the Sagets.

After sharing some of Alex's artwork yesterday (which, for the record, I am wicked impressed with), I thought I would share some art of an actual artist. Or something.

The backstory: March of Dimes is near and dear to my heart--because since having 2 miscarriages, I think it's important to try and give other babies the chance that my three precious angels never had. So when Mandy from Harper's Happenings was raising money for her March of Dimes team, I donated.

What I didn't expect is that everyone who gave money to her team also had the chance to win prizes that were donated by various crafters, artists, photographers, etc. I won a "self portrait" hand drawing.

Legit I won this prize last May, but the artist was really behind or something on orders and so it took until yesterday to get me my winnings. Which is cool, because it was free.

I actually think it's pretty cute, right? Kristi the Cartoon's choice in footwear is a little questionable, but for the most part, it's fab. And she's wearing black, my signature color. Girl cannot go wrong with black.

And because the artist felt bad about it taking so long, she also threw in a family drawing. And I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth (or whatever that saying is) but really? Who is the 17 year old midget in our picture? And did I marry Bob Saget before or after Full House made him famous? Also of note: was Jodie Sweetin invited to the wedding?

Anyway, from our family (the Sagets, allegedly) to yours, Happy Valentine's Day!

Works of art.

"This one is Mommy."

"This is Uncle Kyle on his tractor. His tractor is bigger than Poppi's."

"This is Poppi with his snowblower. I made him a chute and a handle!"

"I drew hearts for Grammi. She's my lovebug."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

And happy 2nd birthday to our dear, sweet Samuel! I can't believe you are TWO!

Sledding fun!

This weekend we had a little winter fun with Grammi, Poppi and Uncle Kyle.

In related news, I was almost beheaded by a fence, Mom has a bruise on her hip that looks like the state of Texas, and Uncle Kyle had to visit the chiropractor yesterday. We're a mess.

And also? Poppi is a sex machine in his Carharts and subtle orange hat. The safety glasses clearly complete the look.

See also: I'm officially out of the will.

Zzzzzz.

Alex has recently become very self aware of conversations he doesn't want to be a part of for various reasons: boredom, confusion, angst, avoidance, etc.

For example, whenever he has to go in time out, he always has to apologize, tell me WHY he had to go in time out, and then give me a hug and kiss. The other day, he didn't really want to tell me why he went into time out...partially because he probably felt justice was not being served and also he didn't want to admit what he did was wrong. Here's how that went:

Me: Alex, time out is done. Come over and tell Mommy why you were in time out and we'll hug it out.
Alex: Ok, Mommy. ::walks over to me::
Me: Your turn, kiddo. Why did you have to go in time out?
Alex ::no answer::
Me: Buddy? Why did you have to have a time out?
Alex: ::drops his head, pretends to snore and sleep::

As you run this scenario through your noggin, please also imagine how extremely difficult it was for me to keep a straight face and be the "good mom" in this scenario. Now, throw that out the window because let's be real: I laughed until it hurt. And then, in turn, HE had a captive audience and knew his behavior was funny.

So now it's a thing in our house. Joey starts droning on about fishing and I drop my head and start to snore. I start talking about the latest news from TMZ and both boys do the same.

For the record? I tried it at work today and it was not met with the same level of humor.

Celebrity gossip.

Sooooo...Will divorced Amy because he realized 2-year old Abel was not his, yes?

image credit people.com

And also, how creepy is Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) without a beard?

That will be all for this Monday. Carry on.