Football Fun and More

I'm struggling on my 30 Days posts, but one of these days I'll start working on them again!

The other night we took Daniel to his first football game! He had a blast!

There was a "tailgate" before the game for the middle school kids. Free hot dogs, chips and drinks and lots of fun? Yes, please!

Daniel was very popular.





Jacob's choir kids sang before the game, so Daniel and I watched.





Daniel loved watching the game from Daddy's shoulders. Or, just goofing off anyway!



Hanging with Mommy



This is one of my favorites though! He really loved watching the guys run on the field!



He made it until right before halftime before he really started to get tired, which made sense since it was right around his bedtime. We had to stay for halftime, which was totally worth it, and Daniel liked sitting up on the fence and watching the band. I think he passed out within 2 minutes of getting in the car to go home though!

Aren't those jeans super cute in the picture!? They're little Wranglers that I got for $1.50! I love me a deal. It was chilly that day (PERFECT football weather!), but he only had 18 month pants, and they're too big. Thankfully, I found these at a thrift store in town. Along with those I got another pair of jeans, a pair of khakis and a pair of jammies all for just over $6!

Yesterday afternoon we went to Springfield to have dinner at Olive Garden. Miracle of all miracles happened and we got in almost right away! The food was delicious and we even got Pumpkin Cheesecake to share. A sure sign that it's Fall!!! Daniel was VERY chatty and loud while we ate, but people seemed to think it was cute. :) He munched on bread sticks and even had some cheesecake!

After that we did a little shopping. Jacob traded in a bunch of old video games and movies and got enough credit to get a used DS and some games! He lost his DS on our honeymoon and I knew he always missed it. I'm happy he could get a "new" one!

I was excited to go to Goodwill to see if they had any clothes for Daniel, but they closed at 7 and we got there at 7:05. Dang!

Today we're just hanging out. We went to church this morning, and I guess Daniel made a friend in the nursery. Too cute! I'm going to start working in the nursery in October! I'm wondering how well that'll go with Daniel being in there!?

Now Grandma and Grandpa are on their way and will be here any time, so I'd better finish up since I hear the boy awake!

A Happier Note

I'm feeling a lot better since my last post. It'll always be hard to see others with more, but I have to remind myself that they are Earthly possessions and they won't be around forever.

I'm also a bit excited about a possible job opportunity for myself. There isn't a position open right now, but I'm putting in an application at the YMCA to work in their child care center. It would be a very part time position. Only a couple of hours a day, and I wouldn't have to sacrifice any time with Daniel because I could bring him with me for free! It would put a little extra money in our pockets each month to give us a little more breathing room and it would give me a free membership to the Y! A membership means that I could start swimming again. Oh, how I have missed swimming.
Daniel and I went yesterday so I could get an application and as soon as I walked in I was hit with the humidity and the smell of chlorine. Brings back memories. Anyway, if you're the praying type, please pray this job might become available soon!

Life is just flying by as quickly as ever. Daniel continues to learn and grow. It amazes me how quickly he gets around. He is EXTREMELY determined, which can be a good and bad thing. He doesn't give up, that's for sure. He's crawling on all 4's a lot more frequently now, but switches to his trusty army crawl if he wants to get somewhere really fast. He's learned to throw tantrums, in which he throws his whole body backward and slams into the ground, and then proceeds to scream because he's mad and he hit his head. Hopefully he learns soon that it's not going to get him anywhere.

Last night we went to the middle school open house just to hang out. We hung out in the band and choir room for awhile and then Daniel I ventured down to see the secretary and a few of the other teachers. He tore around the library like the Tasmanian Devil and entertained everyone. On Friday we're going to go to the football game!

Next weekend starts my busy travel week! Daniel and I are going to Iowa next Friday and coming home Monday? I had planned on Sunday, but the fam want to go to Bloomsbury Farm on Sunday and so I'm leaning closer to staying, because I LOVE that place!

Then we'll have a couple days home and then it's off to visit the Rot's! I'm so excited to get to spend time with Heidi and Zach! Then on Saturday our mom's are coming  for the evening! Yay for fun times! Boo, for long drives! But, Yay for a good boy who loves to travel and will probably be very good for his mama!

A few pics to end the post, just so I can show off my kiddo again. :)

On Sunday we had a balloon launch at church. Daniel loved the balloon!



How stinking cute is he?



My little Hawkeye!

Being Content Is Harder Than It Seems

I am very happy to say that Daniel is 100% better since the last post. The poor boy had a double ear infection. Then we found out that he was allergic to amoxicillin. He just couldn’t catch a break there for a few days and it was so sad to see him sick.

He also had his 9 month checkup and is doing great. Growing like a weed! His weight gain has slowed up a little bit, but the way that boy tears around our house, it’s no wonder. He’s probably burning  tons of calories each day!

After 4 very long and itchy weeks, my poison ivy is almost gone. FINALLY! It’s all dried out, but still a bit itchy in places. I never ever want that again. It was absolutely miserable.

I’ve been struggling a lot lately. Mostly with jealousy and envy. I try to be content with what I have. It's hard though, when we live in a world where there is so much technology You can't help but notice all of the cool things that other people have. Sometimes it's not even the "cool" stuff. We have to be very careful with our money and it's stressful. Lately, I've been stressing myself out over something to the point where I have a hard time sleeping at night and I'm certain I've experienced an anxiety attack or two.

Then I watch these shows on HGTV and have house envy. It makes me dream of this beautiful home in my mind and then I look at our house. Do not get me wrong. I am so THANKFUL for a house. I KNOW there are so many people worse off than me. This is just my own personal envy and wishful thinking. I wish we could make this house nicer. I wish we could make it more energy efficient. It needs new windows, furnace and air conditioning, but we can't afford to do that. But hey...at least it has windows! At least the air and furnace run. Right?

I'm jealous of people who can go on vacation every year. Okay, it's not like I never get to go on vacation either. Obviously we go to St. Louis and we had our big 1 year anniversary trip to Florida. Not to mention my mom and dad pretty much funded my entire trip to California for my sister's wedding. But, I know deep down, other than if my mom decides to fund another trip, I'm not going anywhere for awhile. I'm insanely thankful for her doing that and for paying for a lot of things when we visit Iowa.

I'm frustrated because we're finally eating better (that's the good part!), but for some reason eating healthy means higher grocery bills. No matter how hard I try I keep going over our allotted grocery budget each week because we keep running out of what we need. That's even with doing a lot of shopping at Aldi.

Then, I'm jealous of petty things. I'm totally jealous of everyone who goes out and get pedicures. Okay...now lets face it, I'm stingy with money would normally wouldn't pay for this anyway, but it's still nice to dream. Ha ha! I usually get one a year with my birthday money.

I'm super jealous of everyone with smart phones...which pretty much seems like almost everyone in America. The only way we could afford it would be to go with a pre paid service, but then you risk having spotty coverage and places with no coverage. Sigh.

I envy those going to college football games this year. Yeah. Yeah. I got spoiled because Jacob had season tickets before we got married. We gave them up last year though to save money.

Sometimes I want to just go do something fun with Daniel during the day, but it seems most things cost money or at least quite a bit of gas money (it is SO not fair that when I started driving gas was only a little over $1/gal!).

So, there you have it. That' s my pity party.

Then there's my confession. Sometimes I feel guilty. I never thought I would, but I do. I feel guilty that I'm not providing anything for our family. I feel like I should be doing something too. I mean, I AM. I'm Daniel's totally awesome, super rad, fantabulous Mommy (I'm so humble). I take amazing care of him. I keep the house running, with the help of my hubby (who, by the way is a pretty rockin' Daddy and wonderful teacher!) Yet, I still find myself wishing there were a way for me to bring in some income without sacrificing my being at home with Daniel. I've toyed with making and selling crafts online. I just don't know how well that would work. Not to mention no matter what, I'd have to figure out how to file for taxes etc. It all seems like a giant headache.

Anyway...I just needed to type this all out to get it off my chest. Whew.