Pinterest OBSESSED!

I LOVE PINTEREST! I can find just about anything I want to either make, eat, or to inspire me! I've been looking at all kinds of Easter decorations...more specifically, wreaths! Here's what I made.

You need a wreath which you can find at any craft store (take your 40% off coupon!), glue gun with plenty of glue sticks, 3 large bags of small plastic eggs, a pencil, and a large bag of shiny basket grass.

I started by gluing the eggs on the wreath. Put them on in any direction! There's no right or wrong way.

I wanted to see what the grass would look like, so I shoved some in the spaces between the eggs with the pencil. I went ahead and finished putting the eggs on after that though. It was hard to go from eggs to grass to eggs to grass. It was much easier to just do one at a time

Just continue gluing eggs and then shoving the grass. I put a small dallop of glue on top of each section of grass to try to keep it from falling off the wreath every time I opened my front door. Here's what I got!

And finally, on the door!

Crazy Weather

The weather has been AMAZINGLY beautiful over the last few days. We have definitely taken advantage of this weather and have hitting up the local parks.

On Wednesday, we went to Stafford Park after we ran a few errands. The boys LOVE this park which I happened upon while running one day. It's close, easy to get to, has public bathrooms, and is off to the side of a very nice professional soccer field that is usually being used by some really awesome players!!!


Thursday is Lunch Bunch day at school. I don't let the boys stay late every Thursday, but if I need extra time to run errands or go to an appointment, I pack them a lunch and they eat with their friends. After I ran my errands, I had just enough time to grab myself a quick bite. Of course, I went to Panera and tried their new salad called the Spinach Power Salad and coupled it with an iced tea and ate outside. Delicious!!!




After I picked the boys up on Thursday, we went straight to Van Dyke Park. We pass this park every day on the way to preschool, and the boys ask EVERY DAY if we can go back to play there again some day. Thursday was that day! It was 70 degrees, sunny, and just plain beautiful. We played with a bunch of super sweet kids...including one that looked EXACTLY like Randy from The Christmas Story. I even asked his mom if anyone tells her that her son looks like a child star! She was a super sweet German woman who wasn't familiar with the popular Christmas movie, but said she just got asked the same question by another mom on a plane last week. Seriously, he looked like Randy!

My Little Hot Mess

Brandon...oh Brandon...I sure do love this kid. He's SO carefree and easy going. Here's how he wanted to walk out of the house today. Pants unbuttoned, shirt half shoved in the pants, both pant legs tucked into his socks, and his right shoe half on! What a goof!

Phone blogging

Just for the fun of it, I'm trying to write a quick blog from my phone while in the parking lot waiting for the boys!

After this, we're off to get 5 year old shots, and then most likely some ice cream afterwards. Those shots hurt, and I'm not above rewarding them for being intentionally shot!

Now, I just need to figure out how to upload a picture to this blog from my phone! Is there such a thing as a Google Blogger App? Hmmm...something for me to look into.

LOOOOONG time, no blog!

Blogging has been put on the back shelf ever since Facebook made it almost effortless to keep in contact with my family and friends. However, Lent is on the horizon and it's time to sacrifice. I've sacrificed soda a few times, and even desserts. This year, it's Facebook.

My good friend, Susie, put Lent and the whole idea of "sacrifice" in perspective for me. Susie and I met through St Patrick's Mother's Day Out program about 4 years ago. Fr Mike, who still presides at St Pat's, told her that Lent isn't necessarily about sacrificing. It's more about taking things out of your life that keep you from remaining close to God. What keeps you from praying or what keeps you from doing whatever you do to remain close to your own personal higher power?

For me, I can easily spend as much time reflecting, thinking about my loved ones, and being a more attentive mom as I do on Facebook.

When I posted on Facebook that I was going "offline" until Easter, some friends were honestly sad because they like to read my posts. I do have some super funny kids and have a witty personality that I love to share. So, I decided to go back to blogging instead. What's the difference between blogging and Facebooking, you ask? Facebook is all about EVERYONE. Blogging is only about me and my family.

So, keep coming back to this blog to see what the Dankos are up to for the next 40 days. Who knows, maybe I'll go longer than that 40 days. Guess we'll just have to wait until Easter to find out!

August Recap

August went by just as quickly as July did.

Aunt Bridget and Uncle Jason stopped by for a quick visit before heading to Topsail Beach. I managed to sneak away for a short 24 hour trip to the beach with the boys...and wish we could have stayed longer! The boys had a blast!!!







THANKS to Aunt Bridget and Uncle Jason for letting us crash your vacay!





This is typical Connor....soccer cone on his head, Mr Tater Head glasses on his face, and New Orleans beads around his neck. The other day he said to me while swinging at the park.."Mommy, if I fall off this swing, I will hurt my belly button, and will put a band aid on it because THAT'S HOW I ROLL" I cracked up! Yes...this picture above is "how we roll"

The boys start preschool on Tuesday!!!! I found these plain backpacks at Target for $6 a piece. I took the boys to Hobby Lobby to pick out some iron on letters. Actually, I picked the letters and they picked their own sports ball! I wanted them to be able to recognize their own bag, but didn't want their name on the bag for security reasons! Super cute and a great bargain...all for under $20!!! Notice Connor's hand..he was SO excited about his backpack!

July is Almost GONE!

Life has been so unbelievably busy, that this blog has fallen by the wayside. Finding the time to upload pictures and updates is very difficult.

That being said, the summer has flown by! The boys have been in swim lessons regularly and are getting very brave in the water! Connor will jump in all by himself, go under the water and come back up with a look of surprise on his face. I take them to the pool as much as I can since it's the only way to get through the ridiculous heat we've been having. My glasses fog up when I walk out of the front door...that's how bad the humidity and heat have been!

Eric successfully finished his first year of residency...ONE MORE TO GO! Needless to say, I'm looking forward to him completing this and us moving on to the next step in his career. There are so many different paths we could go down, that I get anxious thinking about where we may end up next. I'm starting to get asked where we're moving next, when, for how long, etc. Please don't ask us! We will share the information as soon as we have confirmation. We know nothing as of right now, and won't know anything until after the first of next year.

August is going to be another quick month! The boys have swim camp the first week and vacation bible school. I'm very busy planning the annual membership drive for the Fort Bragg Area Officers' Spouses' Club. Being a part of the board has been a lot of work, but a lot of fun as well. I have bi monthly meetings, and A LOT of paperwork, phone calls, and emails to do. I love it!

Eric and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on July 19th. We went to a very nice restaurant in Southern Pines and took our annual anniversary picture. I have them all hanging on the wall!

It has been raining all day and is supposed to rain off and on all week. The boys asked if they could go play in the rain, and I figured...WHY NOT? Here they are all "soakin' wet" and ready to go inside to dry off!



They keep us laughing a lot, and also wanting to plug our ears. They NEVER stop talking!!!! Connor is constantly telling us things...we call it "Connor's Commentary" He will make a great reporter someday. He repeats his facts, some are important...most are not...and gives a play by play on EVERYTHING! Brandon is just down right hilarious most of the time. Some of his latest realizations... "Mommy, when I poop I wipe my bottom and pull up my pants and if there's still poop on my bottom, I tell myself "don't worry about it" He told me that the other day at dinner! This morning, at breakfast he told me, "When I was a baby, I farted like a ladybug" I don't know where he gets this stuff from, but it's funny and very hard not to laugh at him.

Eric and I tried to bribe them with cookies the other day to be QUIET in the car. If they could be quiet from the restaurant to the house, they would get a cookie. Connor lasted about a minute and a half. He saw the moon and said, "The earth turns, the sun goes down, and we see the moon because of the sun's reflection" While that's very smart of him to say, and very true...HE LOST! Brandon lost a few minutes after him.

Preschool is right around the corner and they are READY! They both know how to spell their own names, the entire alphabet, can recognize numbers 1-5 and most of the days of the week. Connor can write the letters, O, T, A, L, H, and C. He attempts many others, but they are pretty much just scribble! Smart little cookies in the making!

Hope everyone is having a great summer...and STAY COOL!