Oops, fell off the blogging bandwagon.....

With 2 kids, tax season, out-of-town visitors, and life in general, blogging seems to me a lot like exercise (unfortunately). It is fun and exhilerating when you are in a routine, but as soon as you miss a session, all bets are off in the consistency department and it gets easier to put it off than to just do it and get back in the routine!! Oh well......
As I mentioned, we have been pretty busy around here, as usual. Our flip-house is still for sale, which has been frustrating and emotionally draining, but hopefully we'll find the perfect buyer soon! I did our 2009 taxes in record time this year and we are getting a nice chunk back, which helps the cause a little bit.
The Harvey grandparents came out a couple weekends ago and we had a wonderful visit. Went to the Train Museum in Golden, CO which was pretty cool and Ben LOVED. Both boys (and us!!) really enjoyed spending time with the g'rents.
I am still studying for my Personal Trainer certification exam which I will take next month. My StrollerFit business has been doing pretty well, I am happy to say, and I am in the decision-making process of possibly picking up a second territory. We'll see....
The weather has been chilly lately, but finally sunny, so we have been able to take our daily short hikes that we love. As usual, we pick the cloudiest, windiest, and most precipitous time of the day, but at least we are getting back outdoors!
Alright, now on to the boys.....
It has come to my attention that my oldest son has quite the imagination. In fact, it's a bit of a challenge just to keep up with him. One day he's Percy (from Thomas and Friends), the next day he's Lightning (from Cars), the next day he is still Lightning but "pretending" to be a train (how funny is that!), and most recently he is Bolt. "Bolt the doggy boy" to be exact. Some might think based on all these characters that he watches too much TV. While he does watch his fair share (he gets his undivided tv attention span from me--he comes by it honestly), he sure seems to learn a lot and is truly a sponge to all of it.
Evan is still not walking, but has genuinely started to rapidly cruise around, so it's a matter of days until he's toddling around. He has 4 teeth now, but only 3 are present to the naked eye. Well, you can see the 4th pretty easy if you have him tipped upside down and are tickling him mercilessly. :)
I just started weaning him this week. It's been going pretty well. Mostly I am doing it because recently has become quite painful for me to nurse him....not sure why. Additionally, I'm not convinced I'm producing enough for him. In the end, hopefully he'll be getting a fuller belly and maybe start sleeping through the night!! Cow's milk in less than two months!
I can't believe he turns 1 soon. But, as I've always said, I can't believe he's not way older than that. It just feels like he's always been here.
The boys are the best of buds. Ben is still a little on the rough side, but seeing that Evan usually laughs, it's hard to regulate. Pretty soon Evan will be able to hold his own and Ben is going to need to watch out! They do get along so well and truly love each other. I'm so excited to see how their relationship blossoms over the years. We're so blessed with healthy, happy, adorable little boys.
Can't think of any more updates right now....my brain is fried! Hope you enjoy the pics :)

Ahh, Valentine's Day celebrated at school....

It's been a challenge to get pictures of the boys together that are any good. I posted a sample of this below. I actually had them both looking and smiling at me. Thanks Stella!



Do you remember what a fun holiday Valentine's Day was made at school when you were young? Well, in my ever-inevitable aging (yes, I am 28 today), I had forgotten. This week I was reminded when my preschooler had a full blown Valentine delivering and receiving event. It was even mentioned in the take-home paperwork from his teacher earlier this month that Valentine's Day would be second only to Christmas as the most celebrated holiday for the children. Isn't that funny? :)
Benjamin-- excuse me, Lighting-- delivered Toy Story Valentines to each of the children's cute bags that they made. They also all served as "snack helper," by making "Bubble Bread" as a class. I think it's cut up Pillsbury biscuits rolled in sugar or something. I am convinced that being snack-helper, or the person who brings snack for the day, is by far his favorite aspect of preschool. So cute!
I received a new stroller this week through StrollerFit's new partnership with Baby Jogger. While I don't love having the width of a side-by-side stroller, it is a pretty cool stroller and it's fun to see how much Evan is enjoying being at StrollerFit now that he can always see me (before he was in the back). He is just eating up all the counting and tickling we do.
I thought for sure Evan would be walking by my birthday, but alas, I was wrong. He is definitely cruising and doing a great job getting down from a standing position, but no walking yet. He seems pretty content with the ultra-fast army crawl he has developed over the past few months.
We have been working on his waving. He can do it, but he much more prefers to the do what I have named "the wave." He usually follows it up with a head drop to the left and a big laugh. That's his newest game. It is adorable.

No news on the house yet. We've only had a few showings, but learned this week that there is a limiting factor in the way we can promote it until the 90-day mark of us owning the property, so we are hopeful that in the coming weeks the activity will pick up and we will get some bites.
We have also come up with a great way for us to grow our business, so if you're interested in making more interest on your money than just letting it grow in a savings account, let me know!!

Andrew is still working to put together the new engine for his Jeep Wagoneer. He has almost all of the components he needs, so hopefully it will start coming together soon.

I am busy at work studying for my Personal Trainer certification. This started as an additional certification for me to be a more accredited StrollerFit business owner and instructor, but as I do the studying I realize this might be a perfect job for me to start growing a client base now part-time and then when the boys go to school in a few years I will be in the industry and I can work more full-time. We'll see.

Andrew and I were kid-free last night to celebrate Valentine's Day and we had a great time just relaxing. We went to see Sherlock Holmes (yes, after 2 months it is still in the theater), engorged ourselves at Ted's Montana Grill, and went to watch the Olympics at a new bar in our town while we listened to some good live music. We woke up this morning and had a great breakfast, got some much-needed chores done, and continued to relax. All in all it was a great Valentine's Day/birthday celebration. Thanks Grandma & Papa for babysitting!

And one last note in regards to my bday, thanks to my mom for getting me a beautiful necklace and an AWESOME winter jacket to replace my oompa-loompa ski jacket that I've had since high school. I will officially be cute on the slopes, if we ever get there!!

This week it's Lighting BeQueen

I guess that's childhood for you. One week he only responds to "Percy" and the next he's 110% into Cars.....Lighting "Be"Queen, more specifically. Actually, it's really interesting to see how Ben has changed over the past year (or year and a half), using the movie Cars as our baseline. When he first was obsessed with Cars, he could talk, but I'm not sure he understood any concepts of the movie. He also called him "Ningning" which was so endearing. Nowadays, Ben speaks clear as day and as far as I can tell he gets a lot of what's going in the movie. It is fun to hear him watching---"go me, go me!" and "why did my tire blow?" Too cute.

Ben is, and always has been, really into snacks. At one point, not too long ago, we had to call lunch and dinner "snacks" so that he would eat. Glad those days are over. Every time he falls or hurts himself it seems that "snaaaacckkkk" is the first thing out of his mouth.
His teacher said this week that they were working on sounds and she held up a picture of a pig and another of a piece of pizza. When asked what sound each of the words started with, Ben's answer was "Mmm, pizza is an excellent snack." I can't believe he's a beanpole with how much he eats and thinks about eating!


Evan had his 9-month checkup today. The doctor was surprised that he is crawling at all, much less that he is crawling nonstop! She thought he seemed very ahead of the curve physically. He has been crawling for at least 2 months.
He weighed in at only 15 lbs. He doesn't seem so small, but he is still sitting at the bottom 3% of the spectrum....exactly how his brother was. How is it that my boys are such little squirts? (Thank goodness for that in the delivery room!)
Evan's got two bottom teeth that he has really started showing off. His gums up top are starting to get pretty puffy and the doc said his top right tooth will pop through any day.
He has started to talk a little bit, but it's mostly in the morning. He does a deep, devilish, manly grunt that Andrew insists is a "da da". Regardless of what he's saying, it's funny to hear!

I can't believe how quickly they grow up and I am so grateful to have 2 healthy, beautiful, active, talkative, smart little boys. These truly are the best days of my life!

Percy

It seems like Benjamin has really grown up this week. I've noticed that he has really started using the phrase "I can do it myself." He's doing a great job being so independent. The picture above, with the backwards underpants, is just one example of the independence. At least he has underpants on, I guess. He also is saying really complex, lengthy sentences that are grammatically correct and make complete sense....although I guess he's been doing that for a long time. Of course I can't think of any examples at the moment, but it's like talking to an adult. Seriously.
Wait a second. Did I say Benjamin? I meant Percy. He insists on being called Percy (from Thomas the Tank Engine). Percy is #6, so he is also six now, not 3 1/2. Too funny.
Evan has had a pretty rough week. He's had some sort of cold-thing for about 3-4 weeks. Finally this week the cough got wetter and the drainage got dramatically worse. He has had trouble sleeping, had low energy, trouble eating, and a general discomfort just being alive. We finally took him to the dr. today, and wouldn't you know he's been the best he's felt all week. The doctor didn't see anything wrong and in fact said his ears looked "beautiful" and his lungs were perfectly clear. I'm so happy that he doesn't have an ear infection or anything, and even more happy that he's feeling better, I just don't understand why kids always start feeling better the second you park your butt in the waiting room. It's the darndest thing.

I found the USB cable yesterday, so I'm back to posting pictures. Now I have to start taking them every week!

House for Sale

I just realized I've lost the connector from my camera to my laptop and don't have the energy to look for it right now, so this week's post will have to be picture free. Sorry.

Andrew wrapped up the house this week and it is on the market. Anyone looking for a cute 2-bedroom home in Denver? If so, send them our way! Seriously, the house looks amazing. I'm so impressed by his work. I hope it shows well and sells quickly!

The boys have both been sick all week. Evan with a nagging cold that he's had for a while and won't go away, and Ben with the same thing that eventually turned into a fever. We took him to the doctor yesterday and he is now on antibiotics for early pneumonia. He's back to his old self, which is good, but exhausting. :) I have to be honest: I hate it when he's sick because he's not feeling well, but I love it because it's the only time he's ever calm and cuddly.
Andrew and I have so far been able to fend off all the yucky germs floating around our household.

Evan is on the verge of cruising, but hasn't quite taken to it yet. He got a pretty good taste of what cruising even is this week, so it's just a matter of days before he will be walking all around. He is such a cutie. He loves to eat and play and be tickled. He hates laying on his back.

We weighed the boys at the doctor's office. Ben is 32 lbs. and Evan is almost 17. My little turkeys.

I hope to have pictures up next week!

Week 2....I'm on a roll!

What's new with the Harveys this week......
It seems we are almost done with our second fix&flip property. Andrew has done a phenominal job, as always, and the house looks wonderful. I'm so lucky to have such a handy guy around! He says once this house is done we will start to work on getting our own house in better shape....we'll see, fingers crossed!

Benjamin is back in preschool and having a great time. Apparently everyone at the school just loves him and wishes he came 4 days a week instead of 2, but it just isn't logistically feasible, so he's going to stick with 2 days for now. He brings home crafts every once in a while, but I think during open time he chooses to play rather than craft. He LOVES storytime and, as I hear it, talks constantly through the stories. He just loves to point out everything on the pages and adds tidbits he thinks should have been included in the book. He's a cutie.

One cute story about Ben. He loves to grocery shop with me, as I do with him, and this past trip was a long one, so I promised him a treat at the end (a ride on the $.01 horse at the exit). Low and behold, the horse was gone!!! I was devastated, as I had brought along 3 pennies and was excited to reward him for being so good. In the place of the horse were those lousy $.25/$.50/$1.00 machines filled with candy and other useless junk. I forked out the quarter and he chose to get the little fish and bones---like Sprees. He got about 12 pieces and played with them all day. As soon as we got home we put them on a Spiderman plate and he carried them around with him wherever he was playing. About 6 hours later, close to bedtime, I said "aren't you going to eat them" and he looked at me in disbelief. "They are candy????" he asked, and when I said yes, he gobbled them down in about 30 seconds. I had no idea he didn't know they were edible! Too funny.

Evan is standing all the time. He's either crawling or standing. He doesn't sit, really, although he physically can, and he can't cruise yet. He just stands and hangs on to whatever he's got and plays. I can't believe I am going to say this, but I think he is actually more active than Ben ever was. AAHHHHH!!!! He seems to have great control, though, and I can't wait to see how his skills blossom. I will be excited if & when this dreadful diaper changing roll-over passes...he can't stand to be on his back for more than 1 second!

I am fully back in the swing of things working bunches at Starbucks and teaching classes. I have my next race this weekend. It is a 5-mile and should be pretty fun. Hopefully the weather will hold out. Andrew got me a GPS watch for Christmas which is AWESOME, so I can't wait to use it in the race. Wish me luck! Next month I have a 10-mile run, no races set in stone yet for Feb/Mar/Apr, and then I am doing my first half marathon on Mothers Day. Should be a good time :)

All in all, we're doing well and hope you are too. Don't forget to visit my savings blog HERE.

New Year, New Resolutions

I'm never a good one at keeping my resolutions, and therefore don't really ever come up with many. I feel, however, optimistic this year that my resolutions are worthy of a earnest attempt......and here is but one of them. To blog more about my sons. :)

I was surprised to see that the last post I did was Oct. 1. You may not believe me, but I do THINK about blogging here a lot...I just don't DO it apparently. I thought I had posted at least 3 times since Ben started preschool! Oh well.......

As I am a very busy woman, I have given myself a time limit for my posting. Maybe that will give me the extra push I need to be sure it gets done on a more regular basis.

First we had Halloween. Benjamin outgrew the dralligator (a green dragon/alligator thing)costume my mom got him, but no one realized until the week of Halloween when went to a party and it looked like Benjamin was waiting for a major flood to sweep our generally drought-stricken State of Colorado. Good news was he fit into last year's costume, pretty much. He was again a monkey. This picture is of them in their matching jammies. Aren't they the cutest things you have ever seen???

Next was Thanksgiving. I ran a 5K in a Turkey Trot in the morning and we followed up the day with a lovely meal at my in-laws. It was beautiful weather and wonderful food and company.
Next came Christmas. I will have to post pictures of Christmas at a later time as I did not have my camera--so I will need pics from Gramma & Papa's camera and Mimi's. (hint, hint :) Boy, did Benjamin get into Christmas this year. He has really grasped the idea of Santa Claus and was so excited when he got to meet him this year. He and I made cookies for Santa, which we left out with a cup of milk before we watched The Polar Express on Christmas eve. It is so fun to see how wonderful Christmas is for children. I still love it too. Hands down, my favorite holiday.
Surprisingly, Evan was really into Christmas too. I was going to just wrap a box up for him so he would have a ball with the paper and box. Good thing I didn't----he loved all the toys INSIDE the wrapping. I've never seen anything like it.
Speaking of Evan, he is now 8 months old, has 2 teeth, and LOVES to move. He is incredibly mobile and will probably be walking in the next month or two. It's ridiculous how strong he is. He adores Ben and Ben adores him. Soon they will be plotting and planning and driving me crazy...on purpose. I love them. They are the sweetest boys.
We had some visitors at Christmas. First were Emmy and Uncle Tom, who came out for a few days right after Christmas. We went skiing, gambling, ice skating. It was a great time. Ben just loves his Uncle Tom and Emmy, and Evan did too!
Next came Uncle Nard, Gina, Morgan, and Lily. It was great to meet Lily (born 3 days after Evan) and Ben and Morgan had a blast. On the last night of their visit we went to a Brazilian steakhouse.....WITHOUT CHILDREN. I highly recommend on both accounts.

As for me and Andrew: we are both busy working our tails off. I work at Starbucks 3 days a week, teach on average 5-6 classes per week (strollerfit, restore the core, sculpt), and play mommy to two precious boys. I am also hard at work to post daily on my Saving for the Boys "deals" website, which I hope you have all visited. When I'm not working, Andrew is up working on our current flip project in Denver. It is going well and we hope to have the house on the market in a couple weeks. In his spare time he works on the newest member of our family..."the Wag"oneer. (see below)

I guess that is it. Running out of time--better go!