Vranicar Family: Party of 5

I'd like to introduce to you my new CEO and CFO....   Parker Vranicar CEO (Chief Eating Officer) and Cooper Vranicar (Chief Fun Officer) Although I have been a full-time "employee" of these two fine gentlmen for three and half years I will no longer be telecommuting from my salaried job. As of the end of this month (today) I am officially a full time stay at home mom! This decision has been a year in the making and it was finally time to just do it. There were a combination of things to lead to me being brave enough to take the plunge, but now I'm here and could not be more excited. I've been mentally preparing  myself for the transition that needs to happen. Everyone has a new schedule to adjust to, a new budget, a new lifestyle essentially. I've received so many different reactions to this change. From the uber great reactions like Kevin being fully on board and encouraging me to do what will make me happ...

Lazy-Woman's Blog: 1. Cooper and Parker started the latest round of swimming lessons. This is Parker's first, Cooper has been going twice a year since 6 months. 2. Cooper starts soccer this weekend. He's part of Team Thunder :) Kevin pointed out (after seeing the other parents' email addresses) that one of the children's parents is a lawyer- we are hoping Cooper doesn't choose this child to tackle.. 3.  Parker seems to get teeth in bunches. He is currently getting three of the four one year molars. 4. I started posting pictures using Istagram, because on top of the blog, Pinterest, Facebook and life, I wanted ONE more thing to consume my time. 5. I'm currently campaigning for a family dog. Kevin's response- "I vehemently oppose" 6. Every time daycare sends the boys snow gear home- it snows. 7. I'm going to be an aunt again the end of May. Mike, Delayne and Alex will welcome the yet to be named little girl sometime around May 2...

This past weekend Kevin brought the boys to our community home and garden show. Cooper led the way into the building with Parker not far behind.  As Cooper turned the corner to enter the showroom, Kevin could hear two female voices say, "Oh! He's so cute!" Followed shortly after with a "Oh look at him!" as Parker came up behind him. As the three Vranicar boys were walking away from their admirers, Cooper stopped, looked back at the two young women and said (very matter of factly) "We already have a mommy." And went on his way. Good job Cooper :)

I finally got a (short) video of what happens if Cooper ever gets a time-out. I should note that this rarely happens- he really is such a good kid, but when it does Parker always follows him, sits down across from him, looks at him and then goes over to hug him. Sweetest-thing-ever.

A few weeks ago my friend Carisa invited me to be part of the filming of Kristi Youngdahl's Inspired Fitness online program . I jumped at the chance! I am SO interested in health, wellness, exercise, food, etc that this was right up my alley. I had not met Kristi before, but felt like I already knew her after hearing so many great things about her from Carisa. When we met, she was exactly as I had heard, warm, cheerful, welcoming and so darn inshape and beautiful! (Not to mention an Oxygen Magazine fitness model??) It was a fun afternoon or me trying not to look foolish doing the exercises, it is surprisingly difficult to do a lunge with one foot balancing on a chair while demonstrating good form! We had to shoot that one a few times...sorry Kristi! Please check out her website , it's FULL of information on living a healthy life and how to acheive your fitness goals.

Recently I had an extra, unexpected half day with my boys. We decided we should spend it at the Mall of America's Nickelodeon Universe. Cooper is tall enough to go on many of the rides by himself, just in case Cooper is too little to enjoy some of them- so we headed out to see how much fun we could have. I really can't out into words how wonderful that morning was, everyone was happy, content and for the most part, everything went off without a hitch. I took several videos of Cooper riding the rides so we could share them with Kevin, but this one is my favorite.. wait until the end- that's the best part. A few more highlights... First ride- the Ferris Wheel...they weren't quite sure if they liked it.... Next ride, Carosel- LOVED it Finally, it was time for lunch and Cooper requested a cheese quesadilla so off to Chipotle we went. Because there were not any open tables in the restaurant and because we have a very large stroller an...

Actually, it was more of a "trim" than an actual cut. He wasn't going to sit long enough for anything more than what we did.