Hello...

"Hello...can you hear me...I'm in California dreaming about who we used to be..."      -Adele


Okay hi!  Remember me?  I know, I can't believe it's already mid-October.  I honestly don't want to neglect my blog, but no internet at home (while taking care of two cute, rambunctious boys) and working harder than I ever have at work has kept me away.

Where to start on my update...

JOB
Summer was pretty nice at work; it almost felt like my last job-enough to keep me busy most of the day and not too overwhelming.  Then...then...the fall semester started.  And ever since I've had a never-ending to do list.  I'm serious-every day I write down my goals and tasks for the day while reviewing my previous to-do lists.  I haven't checked off/completed everything yet, but this afternoon is the lightest it's been and my to-do list does not have a deadline of NOW, so I'm going to try to get this posted asap!

I really do love my job though.  I like who I work with and would rather be insanely busy than bored.

UPDATE: I applied for the Music Advisor position and successfully got it!  Hooray!  I start on November 7 and will move to my own office.  I will work specifically with students which is nice and focused compared to the chaos I deal with on a daily basis.  Downside: they're starting me at a training position and my pay is going to be less than what I make now.  Upside: after 12 months I transition to a higher student professional position and my pay should significantly increase.  But again, my job will be less chaotic, I have my own office, and my schedule will be way more flexible!

KIDS
My boys make me so happy.  They are both growing up so fast!  Leif is in the oldest class now at daycare even though he is not three yet, but it is pushing him to learn so quickly.  He already knows how to count to 10 (and sometimes beyond!), knows most of his colors and asks all the time "What color is that?"; he knows most of his alphabet and many animals.  Ozzie is six months today, and has been crawling/sitting up for a good amount of time now.  He's already trying to stand/walk!  He started real food this weekend and has already tried bananas, peas and today is sweet potato.  Ozzie loves his big brother and tries to copy everything he does/play with all of Leif's toys.

LIFE
Hubs and I are doing great.  Health is slowly improving.  I've been trying to eat "clean" and in correct portions, and will hopefully have time soon to hit the gym for "lunchtime express" classes that are free to faculty and staff.  I've lost more than five pounds in two weeks just eating clean.  I've been bad on weekends, but trying to be good during the week!  Money always sucks, but trying to fix that.  We have an end goal now though-in a few years we are hoping to house shop.  It's super expensive out here, but we figured rent is high, why not be able to put that towards a mortgage at some point???

PHOTOS
Okay, get ready for this-I have about 2 1/2 months to catch you all up, so here we go!!!


AUGUST

Paging Dr. Hovland...

Serious Ozzie.

Zoo trip-never see the bear out, but this trip he was happily playing.

Leif wasn't in the greatest mood at this point of the zoo trip, but at least I snapped a photo of us.

Daddy and Ozzie at the zoo.

Brothers playing.

Daddy had the day off and hung out with Leif; they came over to take me to lunch while I was at work!  :)

Not every day is happy...he was sad that the hotdog had a hole in it (I was checking it to make sure it was done!).

Morning fun.

My little helper!  He did a pretty decent job.  

We had a going away party for our Music Production Coordinator/Instrument Technician (she's holding Ozzie).  You can kind of see daddy and Leif at the end of the table.

We let daddy sleep in one weekend morning and took a neighborhood walk.

Goofy faces!

Daddy broke out the X-Box and Leif hasn't seen him play it before until now...and wanted to give it a go.

Ozzie loves his big brother!

September

Nana and Pop Pop came to visit!

Happy family :)

We are making this an annual thing apparently...LA County Fair, second year in a row when the in-laws are in town!

Who knew Ozzie already had a job?!

Dino bubbles...Nana spotted this toy.  Every time you pushed the button, the dino mouth opened and screamed while bubbles came out.  He pushed it straight for minutes on end in Daddy's ear...needless to say, we took it away from him at one point! 

My gorgeous Hubs...

They had an exotic animal area at the Fair, and a giraffe people could feed!

We ran into this small family at the fair and commented how awesome their Minion was...and they offered it to us since they didn't want to bring it home.  We naively answered yes, and so we were stuck with this giant minion!  It's still in our closet and unsure what to do with it...

Happy and messy kiddo.

Hubs looks like a thug carrying the minion, haha.

We didn't have a photo of just us two, so here we are, Icees in hand!

Remember when Hubs won Dodger tickets?  We didn't realize it was for specifically a Tuesday evening.  We tried selling them last minute, but ended up going and we are so glad we did!  It was a really fun experience.

Aunt Missy arrived!  I don't think she was fully awake when the kiddos woke up... ;)

We took a trip to Redondo Beach for a "sidewalk chalk" festival.  It wasn't exactly what we were expecting, but we still had a fun time!

Probably one of my favorite photos.

Seahawks Sunday!

Tried to get a nice family photo, and this is the best one.  Oh Leif.

Look how cute they are!!!

I agree with his outfit.  He is probably one of the most mellow babies ever.

Pirate Seahawk!

So Hubs and I finally celebrated our 4-year anniversary after family photo day.  Off to Sumo Sushi, our favorite restaurant!

Om nom nom!

Our Seahawks kids.  So cute!

FAMILY PHOTOS!!!

My little super heroes.

October

This is definitely my favorite outfit on Ozzie. :)

New water table for Leif!

And ball pit for Ozzie.

My little skeleton.

First real food!

Eating rice cereal, did a great job!

Weekend while daddy had to work, took Leif to the park before it got too hot.  Leif loves the swing!  Ozzie napped the whole time in his carrier.  :)

Later that day Leif had fun creating a Halloween painting.

Then broke out the fire engine pop-up play thing...boys had a really fun time.

That night we created our Cookie Halloween House!

Ozzie loves this mesh feeder...probably because I put frozen pureed food in and feels good on his incoming teeth/gums!

My little Mike Wazowski. 

Tried out the double jogger for the first time at the zoo-kids had a blast!

Leif's not the greatest at selfies, but captured us and the infamous rhinoceros...he's hit and miss at the zoo due to his injured foot and is always requested by Leif.

Happy Leif and his Icee treat at the end of the zoo trip.

This photo makes me laugh every time I see it.  I think the Icee hit Leif's tummy hard, and Ozzie was definitely tired.  Towards the exit they had a stuffed animal kiosk that only sold snakes and monkeys; which is Leif and Ozzie's Chinese zodiac signs!  Coincidence???  We had to buy one for each of them.

Leif is in the preschool class now and he is growing in leaps and bounds because of it.  He's a huge fan of building/creating houses and castles.  

And Ozzie is growing up so fast too!

Look at him stand, only six months old!!!

And there you have it.  Sorry it has taken me so long to update you on everything.  These next couple weeks are going to be swamped as I have to make sure I keep up-to-date on my current position as well as the Program Office (which I've been receiving a small stipend to work that)...but once I'm trained properly as the advisor and get comfortable there, I'll be able to update the blog more.

Things I'm looking forward to:

November 7: New job!
November 11: Day off!
Thanksgiving weekend: My folks are coming to town!
December 24: We are flying off to Washington for Christmas!