Tip #8 From Mrs. Sunny

"Be creative with your kids! Blow bubbles in the wind!"

What a great way to learn about the wind! I had the kids outside today blowing bubbles and Kristofer was running all over the yard trying to catch them in the wind - we had a blast!

I hate to mention winter now that Spring is finally here...but if you remember, next winter blow bubbles and watch them freeze in the air!

Short and sweet...have fun being creative with your kids!

Tip #7 From Mrs. Sunny

"Find something that helps you relieve stress"

Sunny and I have been married for 3 1/2 years now and he's always kind of teased me about my occasional (okay regular) sweet tooth. But I've always been a baker - even since a kid - and I've just realized why I do it. It helps me relieve stress, or I should say it's relaxing to me.

It's what I do most when I've got 40 minutes of down time when kids are playing nicely or napping. My mom let me bake whenever I wanted to growing up. (And my dad let us just eat the cookie dough when mom was gone - I mean the whole bowl of cookie dough or cake dough!:)

And I bring this all up because this is exactly what I did today. Kristofer had been going in and out of the yard all afternoon playing baseball and just wandering around- he is such an explorer! I bought him a magnifying glass today and he loved it. He was looking for "spiders" all around the yard.

Anyways, so Kristofer was busy exploring all day and Kathryne is becoming more and more of an independent player every day that I had a good 45 minutes to bake double chocolate cookies! Yum. I can't go too many days without chocolate...it's full of antioxidants, though!

Maybe it's not the most healthy stress reliever - yet, I am a fan of sneaking vegetables into desserts (spinach, pumpkin, chick peas...) - but it works for me! So if you don't have a stress reliever yet, find one!

Reading, music...you name it! Let me know what you do to relieve stress!

Tip #6 From Mrs. Sunny

"Never underestimate the abilities of a farm girl!"

The last two days I have dug my first garden! (Okay, my brother who lives in our basement, and his friend, helped with 1/4 of it after much prodding...) Sunny didn't think I could get it accomplished by myself and technically I didn't, but it was pretty darn close!

I priced renting a garden tiller and the cheapest was $39.99 for the day. Anyone who knows me really well, knows I don't pay much for anything. If I'm putting in a garden not only for the fresh organic produce, but to save a little money, there's no way I'm renting a tiller for more than $10!

So I turned over the grass and now I'm waiting for it to die enough for me to loosen the ground! I grew up with a mom who always had a garden every summer, but I've never actually started one myself...we'll see how it goes!

At least Kristofer has already enjoyed digging for worms in the ground! When he saw the first one he said, "A tail!". He always sees things interestingly. He saw the opening and closing parentheses on the keyboard and said "A moon!" What great connections! Sorry, I'm straying from my post here...

Wish me luck on the garden!

Tip #5 from Mrs. Sunny

"Stick to your guns when you have a toddler throwing a fit at Wal-Mart...and bite your tongue when anyone tries to help."

So I went to Wal-Mart tonight about a half hour before Kristofer's bedtime which is a big no-no. But I realized we had run out of diapers. I use cloth diapers during the day - but disposable at night.

He has been known to refuse to sit in the cart, no matter what time of day, so as soon as we pulled into the parking lot and he said "No cart" - I knew I was in for it.

I was carrying him kicking and screaming through Wal-Mart, grabbed diapers and went to the self check-out with him kicking and screaming. As soon as we got back to the vehicle - I realized I forgot the bag - of course! Let's top the night of, right? :)

I forgot to add, that the Wal-Mart greeter kindly tried to help by giving Kristofer a sticker. It didn't help.

So we go back in and Kristofer finally decided he would sit in the cart and the man who helped earlier gave him two stickers for sitting. I did appreciate that since he finally did sit, but rewarding him for not sitting I had to just smile and nod.

I love Kristofer to death - he certainly has a strong spirit! :) .

Tip #4 From Mrs. Sunny

"Remember that a man who can rise from the dead is worth listening to..."

I just got back from a church retreat you could call it and and I was greatly reminded of why I am Christian. The speaker was wonderful and I loved this line. Jesus walked this earth proclaiming the good news and He essentially showed us how valid His Word is by rising from the dead and walking with us every day after. Remember that He's always by our side!

I was going to keep this for Easter, but couldn't wait to share it! Keep Jesus in your heart today as we await his death and resurrection!

Blessings!

Tip #3 From Mrs. Sunny

"Always empty your dishwasher either the night before or in the morning!"

This is practical tip I try to live by each day, but failed in today! Hey, it's okay and the sun was still shining today and I eventually got the dishwasher emptied and filled! But if you do get it emptied before the day starts, then you can put all the dirty dishes in during the day and have a clean kitchen!

That was short and sweet - if only it was easier done than said! :)

Tip #2 from Sunny's Wife

"Always be ready for an adventure with your kids!"

We had just dropped Sunny off at work and were driving in the garage when Kristofer yells, "Back! Back! See cows!" All weekend he has been asking to go see cows and this time he was about in tears. Sunny and I can't wait to be living on a farm someday and Kristofer sure backs this dream up every time he wants to see farm animals.

I had nothing else planned on a Sunday afternoon, so we ate lunch, changed diapers, and started on our adventure through the countryside looking for cows! We weren't having any luck, thinking after about a 1/2 hour of driving, I should have just driven back home to see my brother's cows. But just after I told Kristofer, "I think all the cows are sleeping..." we turned the bend and there they were on top of the hill!

And here's Kristofer's classic words these days, "Thanks, mom!" I just beamed after making my son's day by seeing the cows!

Tips From Sunny's Wife

I'm trying to come up with a theme for my blog. When I'm thinking of something to write my mind is all over the place. Maybe...."Tips From Theresa", "Tips From the Teacher", "Finds from Sunny's Wife"....I'm at a loss. Anybody with a good name, let me know! I'll keep working on the title, but I think my theme will be tips or information I find interesting. We'll see how this goes.

Okay, I think I'm going with "Tips From Sunny's Wife".

So the tip of the day is...drum roll please...

Always have an emergency supply of Nair in your linen closet when you've gone more than a month without shaving your legs.

Yes, everyone, Theresa is not a diligent leg shaver...just ask Sunny! It is an area I need to work on. :)

The kids were playing nicely with cars in Kristofer's room and I was putting towels away and saw I still had a thing of Nair from when I was in college and thought I needed to have nicely shaven legs for my boyfriend Sunny. I read the directions and you just apply for 3 minutes, wipe off with a warm towel and then you're done! I thought, sure I've got 3 minutes to do this! It actually worked and my legs are silky smooth Sunny!

So everyone, go out and buy an emergency supply of Nair! It really does work!

Homeschooling

I never thought I would have a teaching license and not be teaching, but I love staying home and being able to see my kids and with the daycare it gives them some interaction with other kids.

I brought the idea of homeschooling up to "Sunny" - sorry hon, I had to do it. (This was his nickname in H.S. and it fits my blog name. I think that's officially your name on here now! Don't hate me!) Anyway, he wasn't too keen on the idea at first, but one night we were watching 19 Kids and Counting and he realized they were all home schooled.

So as long as we have enough kids for a classroom I can home school! :) Hey, his mom was the youngest of 14 kids! :) I couldn't image that, but every child is a blessing and we're blessed with two wonderful children so far!

The show 19 Kids and Counting is quite inspiring, though. How the mother stays positive and patient day-in and day-out is beyond me. I struggle with that sometimes and I only have 2 kids!

I think that babe is waking up...so my time is up!

I'm still here!

Wow, I couldn't believe it's been so long since I wrote...again, I knew I couldn't do this everyday!

My husband and I are helping out at an Engaged Encounter Weekend in May, and trying to find time to work on our talks together seems impossible. I didn't realize how little time we have to ourselves until we had to work together on a deadline!

So this Engaged Weekend is going to be nice for the both of us to spend time together. Plus, my parents are taking the kids a day before we leave for the weekend to North Carolina to visit family, and dropping them off Monday. It's exciting, yet, I haven't been away from Kathryne for more than 3 hours at a time since she was born and she's 10 months old now!

Kathryne is exclusively nursed right now, and maybe gets 1 bottle a week. I'm thankful she takes the bottle and actually loves it. Anytime she sees a daycare child with a bottle, she screams for it. So weening Kathryne during the day will be no problem, it's the night nursing I'm worried about.

I have to admit, we don't even have a crib up. Until she's two, she can sleep with my husband and I. We both enjoy the company and I know Josh wakes up really happy to see Kathryne sleeping next to him - it's a great way for them to bond each day. Especially since she doesn't see him very much working until 7:00 a lot during the week.

But, anyway, it's going to be a great week for the two of us to hang out and rejuvenate our marriage - we're both really excited! I've just got to get the baby girl ready to be away from mommy!

Stress-Free Night

So my husband works Monday nights late and I decided to get groceries after stopping at McDonalds with the kids, of course. I first go to Aldis and get everything generic that I can and then go to Hy-Vee since it's right next door. I'm grabbing my last item before going home and Kristofer falls asleep in the shopping cart at 7 pm! I've started keeping him up all day because he fights going to bed for over an hour and than wakes up early - so this is working pretty well. I went home, put him to bed sleeping and then had the entire evening to myself since Kathryne went to bed at 7:30! Wow - I hardly knew what to do with myself! A little TV, checked my emails, printed off some home school information, put away the food and now blogging! Yay! I think I might go to bed a little early and get some extra Zzzzz's! And the weather was absolutely gorgeous today, we were outside all day! I couldn't have asked for a better day! :)

Teaching Moments

I love the teaching moments I can have with my son now that he's getting older. The other day on our walk I pointed out that the snow was going away and how it's melting and going down the drains in the street to go back to the river. He was really interested in seeing the water flowing down the street.

Then last night at the store we were going down the candle aisle and we were smelling all the colors - which, I know for sure he's not color-blind like his father :). He didn't know how to smell, so I was showing him how and once he caught whiffs of the vanilla and apple pie he says "bite?".

I love teaching moments. :)

Quarter of a Century Old!

Since our internet wasn't working yesterday, I've already missed a day in my "journal" - I knew I wouldn't make it a full week. :)

I'm turning a quarter of a century old this weekend and I'm not feeling a bit old, yet! I've been going through my head what I've accomplished in life so far...

1. I've graduated H.S.
2. Graduated College
3. Traveled around the world: Costa Rica, Ecuador, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Cayman Islands, and Jamaica.
4. I've been sky-diving
5. Married my wonderful husband
6. Have 2 beautiful children
7. We've got a roof over our heads
8. We're both employed
9. I've ran two 1/2 marathons
10. And we're blessed in so many other ways

And yet, there's so much to do in life, yet. So I decided to start a "Bucket List"

1. Bungee Jump
2. Take dance lessons
3. Travel to Ireland and Sweden
4. Run a full marathon
5. Write a book - not sure what it would be about, though
6. I'll be thinking all day and update you...

Wednesday Afternoon....

The hardest part of this blog is coming up with interesting titles! Wednesday afternoon...stuck inside on a dreary day...I thought I would talk a little about my kids!

I'm with my almost 10-month-old daughter, Kathryne, who has no problem getting through the day with a 30 minute power nap. It took Kristofer until he was about 1 1/2 to actually start taking a good afternoon nap and sleep through the night, so I guess I'm destined to have Sundstrom children who don't need a lot of sleep. They must get that from their father!

I run my own in-home daycare called Little Blessings and today I've got two other children about Kathryne's age. They are both taking their second nap. I've given up on Kathryne taking good naps, and spend some quality time with her everyday! She's such a squealer these days, though, we have to go to the basement to play! I love it, she's quite the active girl and wants to be involved in everything!

I do find I'm much more relaxed in my parenting with my second child. I was a wreck with Kristofer - being a young mom and not knowing a thing about parenting . When he turned one, I was thankful he was in one piece! He's 2 1/2 and turned out to be quite a kid! He sure knows how to push my buttons, but he also knows how to make me laugh hysterically!

I thank God for them both every day, and for their wonderful father who's with me every step of the way! I'll talk about you another day, honey!

Since I was about 10 I've gone through at least 15 different journals, always having the best intentions of writing a little every day. I diligently write in it for about a week, and slowly lose focus until I end up throwing the whole thing away after a month. I figure there's no point in keeping a few silly thoughts laying around in a half-empty journal. So I thought I would commit to a blog and use this as my journal for writing down some thoughts each day!