Trading Tears for JOY

Book Report

2012-01-11T09:58:00.000-08:00

Izzy's first book report is due Friday. I was SUPER excited when he brought home the information, because I was killer in this type of thing back in the day.
His teacher provided a list of guidelines and a paper bag and we are to read the book, write a report and create the main character out of the paper bag. You know this is right down my alley.

I started listing off books that I knew Izzy could read and would be fun to write about...except Izzy already picked out his book from the school library. I should've known better that Izzy would have already have his mind set on something and that something would be a SCIENTIFIC FACT BOOK ON DINOSAURS! Oh my. Do you know how sick and tired I am of reading fact books every night? Can I get a story about a boy running around in his underpants or something? #snore

He is adamant that we continue on with this Dino fact book, and so we will write a real snoozer of a book report and attempt to transform a paper bag into a dino. How can I do this? It is impossible, without a trip to our local craft store. Izzy and I spent some time browsing aisles and looking for anything that would work. I don't want to give it away, but we did buy felt, pipe cleaners and googly eyes.

The hardest part of this project is going to be letting Izzy do it however he wants and not turning this into a clearly parent done craft. #selfcontrol

The second hardest part of this project will be staying awake while Izzy reads this book. #wishiwasjoking

Pics to come....

Organize by steps.

2012-01-07T11:38:00.000-08:00

I love to organize. It is my therapy. If you are my friend, live close by and ever need help, you know who to call. I don't look at it like a chore, it is like a real life game of Tetris. Fit the most things in a small space. A lot of my friends look at a space and can't figure out how to start so I thought I would give a few tips that I use when organizing in my home.

Things you may need:

A few large plastic storage bins

Trash bags

Pen and Paper

Label maker (every organize space deserves one)

Baskets/Containers

First things first, start with a clean palette. I always completely empty whatever I am working on, as much as possible. If you are working on an entire room, clearly removing all of the furniture isn't realistic, but remove all of the "stuff". Once the "stuff" is laid out, you may feel overwhelmed, and wonder how it ever fit in its original space. Sometimes you have to make a mess, to get clean.

Next, is the sorting stage. As your belongings are laid out in a separate space, begin to sort through the items throwing anything away that is worn or broken. It is amazing how much you will find should actually be tossed that has been hiding away in your space, especially if you are cleaning your kids room!

A large plastic storage bin is great for putting items that are no longer needed and can be given to friends or to a local shelter or thrift store. Mark a bin with a simple "Give" note and as you fill the bins (I always have more than one) you can load them into your car to be taken immediately. You don't want to ever move these bins to another area, that is just moving clutter. If the bins are in your trunk, you will be more apt to donate them immediately, especially when you need to get your groceries!

Depending on how many free bins you have available, you can start filling them with like items or make piles. I recently, worked on my boys closet. After removing every single thing and filling my trash and giving bins, I sorted by the type of toy. Nerf guns/bullets/vests/goggles all ended in a pile. Video games, chargers, booklets, games in another. Piles of like items, gives you a visual for the quantity of items you have. My boys have a large Nerf collection, which required a large clear storage bin. There are much more stylish decorating bins and baskets, but I have found for my young ones, a clear bin makes it so much easier for them when it comes to cleaning. I love a label, but what good is it if they don't know how to read yet?

After you have your sorted piles, make your way through your house or storage looking for empty containers in the sizes you need. I so rarely have to buy containers, I repurpose things I already have. Ever been to a Sam's Club? Once, my boys finished a giant container filled with animal crackers. I ripped off the label, washed the plastic bin, made a new label and threw all of their Hot Wheel cars inside. I bet they have close to 200 and that container had room left over. My boys were so excited to have all of their cars in one place. Izzy loves to save shoe boxes to store things like little GI Joe toys or Lego kits he likes to keep separate. Contact paper is super cute now, slap some of that on and make a label and you can have coordinated boxes to store those small items. When I am looking for containers, I always search the kitchen aisles and think outside of the box. A silverware container could be used for paintbrushes and art supplies. I use photo boxes to store bigger art supplies, paints, markers, play doh. Buy cool folders during back to school sales, and store construction paper and finished art work. In the kitchen aisle, I found a large bin for 2.00 that was intended to store flour or sugar. I bought three and they fit perfectly in Izzy's lowest shelf for those misc. toys that have no real place. What a find! I love those websites with perfect closets and all of the bins are the same and beautiful, but most of the time, those bins/baskets are ridiculously expensive. You have things around your house that can make you more organized, you just need to look at it in a new way. Then it is time to break out one of my most favorite inventions, the label maker. There is something about adding a label, it screams put me back in this space. My family needs that. I have young boys, but once they know that all their dinosaurs go in the dino bin, I never have to remind them where something lives. My boys can make a mess, but I never have to clean their rooms for them. Even at 3 years old, Asher knows everything has a home and unless it is a misc bin or basket, things don't mix. I'm telling you, a labeled bin will change your life!

When all of your items are in their labeled homes, and all like items are together, it is time to start re-loading your space. This step is really dependant on the space you're working on, but going back to my example of the boys closets, I started with what I didn't want them to have access to at all times. Start High to Low. Things you don't use as much should go to the highest spot and the things you use the most, should have the easiest access. Symetery is important, stack things as they would appear pleasing to the eye. Keeping like items together is important when reloading as well. This is my favorite part, because it is a challenge to find the best fit, just like Tetris.

When you have loaded your last item, step back and review. Change anything that doesn't fit well or feel usable. Finish it up, with a quick clean up and you have a new space!

The next time you want to revamp an area in your home, remember:

1) Clean Palette

2) Trash/Give

3) Sort Like Items

4) Repurpose Search

5) Reload (Tetris)

6) Clean up!

Hard.

2012-01-04T20:06:00.000-08:00

Some days, you are minding your own business, making dinner and chatting away with your Hubby when something happens. This something finally happened tonight. I knew it was coming, and even with time to prepare, I wasn't.

My little Lovey came running after me saying, "Please Mommy, help my Bobo!" I run to their room assuming Izzy had been hurt, and when I found him sobbing in the corner, I assumed I was right. I was wrong. His first few sentences weren't understandable, but then I saw he was holding a photo album of baby Judah. He was hurt... it was just in his heart. I wrapped my arms around his limp body and he shook from his core. After a few minutes, he explains he was looking at pictures and he is hurting so badly because doesn't God know we love Judah? Did God forget I need my big brother here, not in heaven? Why do my friends get all their brothers not me? Why do some people get sick then healthy, but some people get sick and die? Doesn't God know we need him?

I thought I would pass out, because my heart literally crushed before me. The look on his face is a look I know so well. Grief. His body was uncontrollable and the crying was from the innermost places of his heart. I could feel his pain as I held him. All of those hard questions, I was left to answer. How do you answer those kinds of questions to a 6 year old? I wish I had some awesome response, but instead I just listened. I told him "Mommy understands." "I'm so sorry your heart hurts." "God knows our hearts and our aches and very soon we will get to reunite with our Judah and you won't feel like this ever again."

Tonight, I'm thankful that my hugs and kisses were enough because nothing felt like the right answer. Sometimes, even though you know it's coming, there is just no right answer, no preparing. Sometimes, it is better to listen, then speak. Sometimes, people just need to be held and told it is okay to let it all out.

That happened tonight, all while dinner was on the stove.

Leave it to Asher to break the thickness. He walked right up to Izzy and said, "Bobo, I so sorry you sad. I sad too. I miss baby Judah too, but I not crying like a baaaaaby!" Our tears turned to giggles as my little comedian found the smiles in the midst of grief. Thankful, that there is joy even in mourning. Thankful for supporting and loving friends and GRACE, because I needed it tonight.

Here is hoping that in your hard times, you are able to find a smile too.

What I want to do different in 2012

2012-01-03T22:14:00.000-08:00

1. Give more.
Hubby and I are always trying to give financially as much as the Medical School budget allows, but I want to be more giving of my time.

2. Control less.
You may not realize this, but I am a bit of a control freak. Moon Sand and I can't be friends because of the mess anxiety it brings. '12 is going to be the year of the relaxed Mommy. We will paint more, and stress less.

3. Appreciate daily.
I have a great Hubby. I've bragged on him a lot in this blog, and even that doesn't do him justice. We spent November apart due to his school rotation and in that time I realized just how good I've got it. I knew it before, but when you are left with 2 kids who are the sickest they have been in life and for the entire travel month, you see your spouse and partner in a new light. You will also ugly cry when he walks in the door for a good hour. I am super good at doing special things for my kids, and now it is Hubby's turn.

4. Stop procrastinating.
I'm an organized control freak, with a family calendar, a kid calendar and alarms for everything, yet there are a few tasks that no matter what I do to make them organized and easy, I can't seem to stop procrastinating them.

5. Clean my room.
Truth time. If you came in my house right now, you would see a clean house with an immaculate boys room with a closet so perfectly straight, my boys are scared to get dressed in the morning. The playroom is organized and lovely and everything has a place. Then there is my Master. I don't know why, but I have a hard time keeping this space organized. It makes no sense really. If I can keep a 6 & 3 year olds closet perfect, you would think I could keep my own. Either way, I think #4 has something to do with this one.

6. Become a better teacher.
I don't homeschool, but Izzy does take piano and we have daily homework. I want my kids to enjoy and look forward to these tasks that otherwise might not be viewed as fun, and that starts with me. Time to get creative. Also, see #2.

7. Take care of Me.
This is vague and general, but there are some things I learned about myself in '11, on an emotional/relational level that I didn't like. This year I want to be better about boundaries for myself and trusting in rest. I also want to improve my overall health and fitness. I recently, overhauled my skin care regimen, thanks to my friend KW, the knower of all things Sephora. My skin was showing my stress level and let's face it, it's time to start the prevention track. As weird as it sounds, in '12 I need to be a little more selfish.

8. Practice patience.
I am a horrible example of patience to my children. Awful. My brain works in list form and it is difficult for me to sloooooooooooow down. I hate slow things, and being late. Well, slow things minus the crock pot. I love that thing.

I was going to think of 12 things, but it's midnight and my brain is tired so 8 it is. This is me creating a boundary for myself and taking care of me. Look at that.

Ashers Quote of the Day: I asked Izzy to do something and he gave me a revised plan of what he thought he should do first. Before I could correct him Ash said, "Bobo, obey your parents, children, in all the single times. Washions 3:20"

Stranger Danger

2011-12-13T22:16:00.000-08:00

Once again, I am apologizing for the light posting, but it is the holiday season and my HUBBY IS BAAAAAAAAAAACK!

We have been spending every moment possible together as a family and enjoying every second of it. Well, except for a few VERY scary moments at a local store this weekend. It started out as a great family outing. Lunch and a visit with Santa. Now, Izzy doesn't believe in Santa and Asher is scared to death of him, but Izzy still thinks it is super fun to do all the Christmas traditions, and I love a good photo op.

Scene:

Bass Pro Shop, have you been there? It is like gigantic and there are bears with giant claws, right next to a aisle of nostalgic candy. Kids love it. It is always hectic and busy...like the Walmart for Hunters, but trade seeing people in pajamas for camo. Add 2,000 extra people for the holidays and tons of North Pole decorations and you have the picture. It was busy and crowded. We were walking in a single file line through the North Pole and Izzy was a few feet in front of me when in a split second a woman in aisle grabbed him by the arm and yanked him out of sight. It took me a few seconds to process what happened, and before I could react, I see Izzy break away from her grip with a crazy self defense move and he ran back behind Daddy. I'm still frozen and trying to process. Hubby is walking with absolutely no clue of the events unfolding behind him. The lady attempts AGAIN but this time goes for his shoulder/neck and he swats her away. She happened to look up and see my face, then it hit her. She looked over and realized she was grabbing my kid, not hers. She apologized quickly and proceeded to grab her son by the neck and pull him down the aisle screaming. Izzy was terrified. I was shocked. Hubby was clueless.

Finally, when my brain kicked in and fully processed, I was A HOT MESS OF ANGER. I wanted to find that woman and rip her apart. Not only should she not treat her child like that, I really thought for those few moments, she was trying to steal my child. Then when I realized it was an accident, it still made me mad that she handled him in such a way. When I explained to Hubby, he was angry and shocked like me. I took a few seconds to talk to Izzy and let him know how proud I was of him. I watched him fight off someone who could have very easily taken him. He did great. I told him next time, scream STRANGER! at the top of his lungs and he said, "Um, screaming makes my throat hurt, I really don't like it. I probably won't do that." Oh Izzy. For the rest of the night he was attached to me like glue. If we leave our house, he clutches my hand. He is still terrified.

Last night, we were driving through our neighborhood and he realized that each house has a number. This is the convo that followed that thought.

Iz: "Why would you put your number on your house? Strangers will know where you live!"

Me: "Well, if we didn't our friends, family and the postman would never find us."

Iz: "Are you kidding me?!? Forget the mail! Who even cares! I don't want to be stolen! I don't want our house to be robbed because you put our number on the front of our house! This is just crazy! Take it down Mom! Don't you know that lady could find out our address now and that would be horrible. I want to live at home forever. Please don't ever let someone take me."

I am just so devastated. While in some ways, this is good practice and makes all those warnings so very real, I just hate that he has to be scared to make the realization. He has mentioned it several times every night since. Sunday night during dinner he said, "Mommy, you are the best Mommy and I don't ever want someone to take me away from you." I wanted to cry.

Moral of the Story:

People are crazy. Hunting Walmarts are packed and people will cut you to see Santa. Even if you are over-protective like me, it can happen in a flash. Keep your kids close, like on your hip. Santa will understand if you have to use Mace, it's for the kids.

Looking back, I wish my brain would've worked faster. I wish I would've defended Izzy even if it meant fighting that crazy lady off. In crazy situations, my brain goes into slow motion mode, and maybe this is Gods way of keeping me out of jail...but, for this one time, I wouldn't have minded. I was totally dressed for the news.

Oh, and we never did get to see Santa. Turns out people line up and get cards like days before. We don't have that kind of time and I am not going back to encounter more crazies. We saw him from afar, we wrote him letters and we will bake cookies. All from the safety of our home.

P.S.

I am adding those leash backpacks to my kids Christmas list. (joke. Maybe)

Irony.

2011-11-17T21:25:00.001-08:00

Husbands are great. Especially mine.

Husbands help you bring in the groceries and put them away.
Husbands take out the trash.
Husbands kill spiders.
Husbands shoo away door-to-door sales people.
Husbands fill your SUV with gas.
Husbands wash said SUV when dirty (mine is always dirty)
Husbands help with transporting kids.
Husbands help get the kids bathed and ready so you can get yourself ready.
Husbands get the mail.
Husbands do the boring errands.
Husbands reach the high things.
Husbands carry the heavy laundry.
Husbands cook dinner when you are too tired.
Husbands use their deep voice to discipline your kids when your Mommy look doesn't work.
Husbands stay home with the kids so you can go grocery shopping alone.
Husbands give you hugs and kisses when you have had a long day.
Husbands let you ramble.
Husbands make you laugh.
Husbands let you cuddle when it is very cold outside.
Husbands pray for you.
Husbands give you compliments, when you clearly don't deserve them.

My Hubby does all of these things and a million more. I am missing him so very much tonight. I won't see him again for still another week and this is the longest in our 11 years of marriage of being apart. I do not like it.

You know what else Husbands do? They snore. My hubby snores so loud that I have to create a pillow cave for my head, so that only my mouth and chin are visible and my right arm has to lock them into position to create a snore barrier.
Truth: Many nights I lay in my pillow cave, tossing and turning and praying to have one night of quiet, uninterrupted sleep. The whole bed to myself, no snoring.

The first two weeks of Hubby's travels, I was living on minutes of sleep due to the kids crazy sickness and didn't notice. But, I have a problem. Kids are healthy. Hubby is gone. I have the bed and my remote to myself, and guess what. I. CAN'T SLEEP!!!! I'm freezing cold, watching all of my favorite shows without interruption and no snoring. It should be like a sleep vacation, right?

Except, I miss him. I can't sleep with him OR without him! Why is my brain playing tricks on me? Even though it is completely unnecessary, I am still sleeping in my pillow cave hoping to fall asleep, but it takes hours to happen.

Hubby, I miss you. Come home. I need sleep. And a kiss. I will even take your snoring. I'm desperate.

xoxo
M.

Rant.

2011-11-16T10:29:00.001-08:00

Can I be real for a second? Good. Facebook. It is good for so many reasons. You can stay connected with long lost friends and family. Family that otherwise would never see or know anything about my children have an opportunity to know what is going on in our lives on any given day. Pictures, funny stories, prayer requests, birthday reminders...again so many good things.

Facebook for many is kind of like a daily journal, except all of your friends get to read it too. It hit me last night, when I couldn't sleep, that it would be interesting to go back through my posts over the last few months and see what it says about me. You know what I found? My kids are hilarious. I have absolutely the sweetest Hubby around. My friends are hysterical and OH so giving. My family has had more fun in 6 months than some do in years. And I am tremendously blessed.

It got me thinking about some of the stuff I see from my friends on Facebook. Some of it made me sad. Many faces came to mind, that if you read several months of their posts at one time, it would be so depressing! This month everyone is talking and focused on what they are grateful for. And yet, there are so many people out there, just wallowing in the tiniest of problems and sometimes I have to stop myself from saying, "It is your own fault." People, you have the power to determine your day. Your words, your attitude set the course for how your day goes and your interaction with others.

I have been through some stuff. I don't want to make light of hard times, I get it. And please hear me when I say, we all have bad days. Bad Mommy days. Bad wife days....just bad days and by all means be honest about it. But, if you look over the course of time, and you are constantly declaring to the world how awful your life is, how nothing ever works out for you, and why don't people care for you like they do for others...I think, "Would you want to be friends with yourself?" Honestly, I don't think so.

We are called to be a light to a dark world, and yet so many of us are just adding to the darkness. Stop sharing all of your gripes and complaints and do something for yourself to make it better.

There is always going to be circumstances to complain about. Always going to be friendships that aren't going as you wish. Always going to be days of frustration. Always stuff. But with that, there are always things to be grateful for. Always people to love and appreciate. And Always, God is bigger than your problem.

Every day can't be that bad...and if it is, what are you doing to contribute to it?

It's like the genius' on Pinterest say:

Suck it up and put a smile on your face. Rant Over. :)

Get ready to cry.

2011-11-14T21:51:00.001-08:00

My Izzy....oh he gets me. He is such a little ball of emotion, sensitivity and creativity. I'm about to share something very personal to Izzy, but I want to remember this and blogging about it is probably the best way. Izzy is now 6 years old. He is taking piano lessons and we tease that he is our little Billy Elliot, because he can't keep his feet still and his mouth is rarely without a song. Music is literally in his soul.

My Dad has written songs his whole life. He taught himself how to play the piano, drums and bass and it seems as if that gifting has passed down to Izzy. One night when my parents were babysitting, Izzy and Papa wrote a song together. It was sweet and I thought, "Oh how cute, this is a fun way for them to connect." Well, it has taken on a life of it's own. He hasn't stopped. He is constantly writing songs, when he is in the shower, eating dinner, doing homework, should be sleeping...I mean all of the time. Most of them are worship songs about how much he loves God. Sometimes they are about his day, or something silly. A couple of weeks ago, he wrote a song and sang it for me and it made me cry. He wrote it, sang it and even sang the background vocals at the same time...I mean he is thinking of everything.

Tonight, while driving to meet Papa for dinner, Izzy was belting out a song, like from his soul, eyes closed, (imagine Adele singing) from his guts...singing. I asked him, "Wow, Izzy that sounds great. Is that a song from the radio?" He said, "No, I'm writing it as I go. The words just come into my heart."

Here is the song from tonight...but the melody is so killer so just reading doesn't do it justice:

My heart. My soul. It never, never felt this way before.
My heart. My soul. It never, never felt this way before.

Your love is turnin' it up. Turnin' it up. Oh Yeah!
Your love is turnin' it up. Turnin' it up. Oh Yeah!

Never Never Never felt this way before.
Never Never Never felt this way before.

This song was so good and the way he sang it, oh my word. I honestly thought it was a hook from a song he heard. He was doing Christina Aguilera hands and everything. He was getting it.

But here is the thing, he sings it like his life depends on it and then when it is over...he has no recollection of the melody or words. I have to buy a voice recorder or something.

I was telling my Mom about his song and she handed over a notebook of another song he had written this past week, that I didn't know about.

Here it is:

Lord, you're good, you're always good.
God to me, is the smartest.
God you are a good God. You are good. You are the only one God.
We have you, you are the best. The only one we have in our lives to be our favorite. You have all the people. You live in our hearts.
You are the best God in the only world we have.
I love you.
The End
Izzy 11/10/2011

I need to take a picture of his written words because it is just precious. Tomorrow, my goal is to buy him a journal so he can write it all in one place.

Maybe I'm wrong or just biased, but are any other 6 year olds spending all of their time song writing? I don't think so. Which makes me feel like I am getting a little peek as to what Izzy might be doing when he is older. I knew that Izzy was made special. The way he came into this world, his story and the promise of his life, I knew God had a special work for him. So maybe, instead of trying to keep those little dancing legs still, I will be encouraging him a whole lot more. He has songs just bursting out, so I better help him get them out.

Mommy has to start keeping the video camera charged, journals and pens ready and my listening ears on. I've got a composer on my hands.

Everything

2011-11-14T07:45:00.001-08:00

The last two weeks have been completely crazy. Hubby is traveling each week. Both boys were sick the entire first week of his travels. Things were looking up, boys seemed better and Hubby came home for the weekend, and we enjoyed some good family time. As soon as he left again, Asher got hit with a second round of the virus and went back to having a almost 104 temp for days. After a visit to the local Children's Hospital and then another Doctors visit a couple of days later, he has finally made a turn around. For the first time in November, I have 2 healthy kids. Because of all of this, we have a lot of catching up to do. First, it hit me that maybe you didn't know that I have two pretty special boys. Sweet boys by day, Crime fighters by night....

Cleaning up the streets...

My Batman with one of his Best Friends Captain America (Haiden)

Secondly, I have absolutely, without a doubt, the best friends in the entire world. While I was in the midst of single parenting two of the sickest kids I have ever had, I was smothered in love and support from my buddies. Excuse me while I brag on them a bit...

My friend Jeannie, picked up Izzy from school and practiced spelling and entertained him when I spent the day at the hospital with Asher. Her and her Husband Mike, even offered a week of taxi-ing services while Asher was down. My friend Laretha, dropped off a goody bag FULL of healthy treats, Vitamin waters and a special Starbucks drink for me. She was even brave enough to sit, catch up and make me laugh. I needed that. My friend Katie, dropped off a homemade dinner of delicious chili and cookies and then made a second trip on week number 2 and left a package of Toy Story 3 Squinkies for Asher. He has spent every day playing with those things. My friend Carolyn dropped off a big gift bag full of stuff to keep my little one happy, like a Toy Story 3 game, coloring books, crayons, and a Buzz Notebook. That delivery made him smile for the first time in 2 weeks, and it kept him busy. My sister-in-law Amanda, took Izzy to his soccer awards, which he would've missed otherwise, ate dinner with a group of strangers and took pictures because she knows I'm crazy about that. When she dropped him off, she also delivered a Starbucks coffee and a yummy slice of pumpkin bread. My friend Stacy offered a hot tub for a night of relaxing and bought me a yummy dinner to help me regroup. It was amazing!

If that wasn't enough love for him, Ashers Grammy who lives on the East Coast, was feeling so bad for her little guy she sent a HUGE basket full of fruit, hot wheels, crayons, coloring books and a bouquet of balloons! On top of all of that, I had countless texts and Facebook messages of offers to help and so many people praying for my family.

I gotta say, there is much to be said about friends who don't just offer help, but just come and do what is needed. I think without them, I would've been huddled up in a corner sobbing, but just when I was feeling run down, there would be a knock on the door and a friend with a smile to greet me. I can't even explain how amazing that felt. I have prayed for years that God would surround me with a group of people like this, and he sent his very best. When my Hubby is gone, and my parents are busy, it is so fantastic to know that I can be at peace because there is a huge group of people who will stand in the gap and love and support me in the meantime. I owe all of these people, plus the many, many more that has been there for me in the last few weeks a huge THANK YOU! I owe them hugs, prayers, delicious baked goods and fattening coffee drinks when they need it. I plan on keeping my ears open, because I want to bless them right back when they need a smile.

Thirdly, I have an awesomely giving Hubby. After driving back and forth (several hours each way, and when lots of Hubby's wouldn't waste the time), he has come home on the weekends to help me out. Without him, I would have been living on a 10 minute stretch of sleep each night for 2 weeks. After working long hours at a hospital far away then driving several hours, he came home with a huge bouquet of flowers, Chinese food and pumpkin muffins to greet me. He immediately sent me to bed to rest and took over. He cleaned the house, he did all of the laundry. (Not just the 4 people family laundry, but the extra 100 sick loads) he folded and put them all away. He Doctored sick kids, he made dinners and lunches, he took Izzy to school, packed lunches, helped with homework, picked Izzy up from school and ran errands for me, so I could rest. He let me focus on the kids and took care of everything else. He made sure he took care of everything before heading back out of town. He stayed until the very last minute possible to spend time with his family and help as much as possible. He is amazing. This weekend when the kids were completely better, he did anything the kids wanted. He played Wii Sports with Asher until Ash couldn't stand up anymore. Saturday we enjoyed a preview of Happy Feet 2 thanks to iFamilyKC and afterwards, we went to the kids favorite restaurant, went out for ice cream and then went to the Toy Store for hours, just to make them happy. I have a great husband.

The moral of this story is this: Treat others how you want to be treated. The golden rule is really true, and not just something we teach our kids. When you give kindness, you get it right back. A simple gesture means OH so much, when you are feeling down. I want to be known as a good friend and a giver. I am surrounded with those people, and I am so thankful and blessed. Now it is my turn. :)

Double Blah.

2011-11-02T09:58:00.000-07:00

I will have to post about the two cutest boys on Halloween at another time, because I roughly have about 4 minutes until I am needed again.

Halloween night, we were out late at a costume party. We had a blast. I could tell the cold and smoke from the fire pit was affecting Izzy because he was getting a deep cough. I took him home, put him to bed with some organic honey syrup and called it a night. 4am, I find out he had been up all night..in my parents room. He was S.I.C.K. I woke up Ash at normal time and his eyes were black and his was color off. I was just waiting for the coughing to kick in too. I took them both to urgent care and waited......(wait for it)....4 HOURS. All I can say is thank goodness for well behaved boys and the Leapster. They were perfect and not a single complaint. Although, I shouldn't say what I was thinking in my head. :)

After a strep test that came back negative, they finally concluded that Izzy has a viral infection of the chest and a severe cough causing laryngitis symptoms. Home we went and I put my boys to bed. Except, Izzy was so sick he couldn't sleep. When I went to wake Ash, I quickly realized, all those signs I saw that morning had come to fruition and they were all over his bed and carpet. Little Asher is sick too, just not with the same virus. His seems to be a stomach virus as he can't keep a single drink of liquid down for more than seconds. Did I mention Hubby is gone for the month in a town less than 2 miles in diameter 6 hours away? Yep, true story. So I couldn't even pick up Izzy's prescription, because now little brother is throwing up constantly. I have a toddler in my bed and a big boy in his room, both crying for help for different reasons. Izzy feels like he is choking and can only sleep when given his super duper strength codeine cough syrup (that I was able to pick up later because of wonderful Papa and Grandma who also supplied dinner.)

Last night, I lay awake waiting for the "MoM!" calls. It had been quiet for a bit, so I closed my eyes for a total of 30 seconds to be awakened by a need for a trash can from one and another one who said, "MY BODY IS ON FIRE, PLEASE COME HELP ME!!!" I jump and run to help and as I am making my way to his room, I hear Asher say, "Bobo, you gotta Stop. Drop. Roll!" He is funny even when he is very sick. :) In summary, I got lots of exercise last night and not a lot of sleep.

Hubby and I have never slept with our kids except for hotel stays when they were smaller. Last night, Asher slept in bed with me and the whole night he kept his tiny little hand on my shoulder. It was the sweetest feeling. That moment pretty much made up for all of the yucky stuff.

My time is up, I am being summoned. Super Mom to the rescue!!!

Hero.

2011-10-20T20:31:00.000-07:00

My Izzy is a hero.

Two times this week, he helped someone on the play ground he didn't know, who had been hurt by someone else. He came home yesterday and said that a little boy was lying on the ground crying because he had been pushed down. Izzy helped him up and asked who did that to him. When the boy pointed him out, Izzy went to the boy who pushed and said, "Don't you EVER do that again, you could've really hurt him. This is your last chance, you do that again and I will tattle tale you so bad!" The pusher agreed and then Izzy said, "You go home and tell your Mom you did this too."

Turns out, being big for your age really has its benefits.

Parent/Teacher conferences were this afternoon. I asked Izzy this morning how he thought it would go and he was super confident that it was going to be "all good things." He was pretty much right. He is doing well in all of his subjects, especially Music...obvious. The only real complaint she had was his handwriting. This is my complaint too. So sloppy. We are practicing every night and I know it will improve this year.

The main thing she wanted to talk about was his behavior. This is what she said of Izzy:

Izzy is the best friend I have ever met. He is a best friend to each and every kid in class. He is super social and nice to everyone no matter what. There are kids in class that are underprivileged and handicapped and he plays with them all equally and without thought. If you ask the kids they each say Izzy is their best friend. He is kind, honest, honorable and helpful.

Now, I was super happy to hear he is doing well in his subjects and that he hasn't had problems in anyway, but it made me beam to hear what I have always known to be true, he has been created with a special heart. He loves with complete purity. He doesn't care about your skin, your status, your gender or physical limitations.

I wish I knew more people like that. We are all called to love, and I am learning how to do it even better from my six year old. He is my hero.

Homework and Life Lessons

2011-10-12T20:58:00.000-07:00

Izzy is in First Grade. He just finished reading his first reading textbook and is on to the second level. With this new level of knowledge, his class has begun the adventure of weekly spelling lists and Friday spelling tests. This also means that each night we need to add spelling words to our list of things to work on. Izzy is currently trying to fill out his book club sheet, meaning he reads to me each night and records what he read and how many pages and when he reaches 25 he turns it in for recognition in the newsletter and the announcements and receives a small treat. We are up to 50 books at this point, so he is doing fairly well.

Gotta be honest, I was a liiiiiittle worried about spelling. Some people have a natural talent for spelling and others it just becomes a struggle for life. I was hoping he would fall in the first category to save me from wrinkles and impatience. Luckily, I have awesome friends that all share their tips and tricks with me and when I worked with Izzy that first night, after 5 minutes, I tested him and he got 100%! What a relief!

Between Izzy reading me multiple books (slowly) and Me reading chapter books to him every night, (and devotions and Bible), any homework he didn't finish at school and our new challenge of penmanship... a request not made by his teacher, but completely a necessity for me to be able to save any of his work from school, we hardly have any time for fun. I don't like this at all. Izzy is pretty tired after a full day at school. Add in chores, piano, soccer, homework and reading and most nights he is heading to bed-hours- after his normal bedtime.

Ever have one of those moments when you are in the midst of your normal routine and you look at your kids and realize, "I am BLESSED!" My boys are not perfect, but I could not ask for anything better. They are loving and kind to one another and they are great friends to everyone they meet. Quiet and gentle and both have been given sensitive spirits. I was working tonight in the basement, when I looked up to find Izzy encouraging Asher and telling him how proud he is of him, followed by a giant hug and a "I love you." No prompting, in fact, I was so into my work I am not certain of the reasoning behind it. A few minutes later, I overheard Asher telling his Bobo how much he missed him today and he is glad he is home. They were playing quietly so I could work and I loved hearing such positive words. I stopped what I was doing and applauded their behavior and instructed them to load up in the car because I was taking them out for ice cream BEFORE dinner, something I have never done. It was just one of those moments, that hit me like a truck. I am so lucky and in love with these boys and my 12 mile long list can wait so I can reward them for their kindness.

Priceless.

After our special treat and dinner out with Daddy, Izzy and I came back to buckle down and work on all of that homework. I told him to take a potty break and go to the living room for 2 minutes and get his wiggles out because when we sit, we focus. He loves that, and it really seems to help. We tackled one thing at a time and in the middle of a 3 page lesson with a lot of writing, Izzy got out of his chair and gave me a big hug and whispered in my ear, "Momma, thank you for helping me with my homework and being so nice. It makes me feel good and work hard." *tears*

So, this is my life now. My nights are filled with taxi-ing boys all over the city, Room Mom meetings, school functions, and lots and lots of homework. Tonight was one of those nights, that makes up for the not so easy times and all of the exhaustion. :)

Glad that a lesson we have been trying to teach Izzy is connecting: Attitude determines everything! Even when things don't come easy to you, don't give up. Make up your mind to be positive and practice until it becomes easy. Negative attitude always gets Negative results.

This is a great lesson for me too. Impatience is something I am always working to combat. When I allow negativity and impatience to get the best of me, I will only see negative reactions in my children. Even when they test my patience, my attitude determines their outcome.

Tonight was a victory for all of us, our good attitudes were rewarded with love, kind words and a sugary treat. What is better than that?

Double the Treasure.

2011-10-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago, Izzy told me his bottom front teeth were loose. They would barely move, but they did. I am not one for these types of situations, so my solution was for him to wiggle them on his own. I am also not one for germs or touching your mouth so like a complete germaphobe, I requested he do it with a baby wipe in hand to create a germ barrier or with his tongue.

Shark Teeth

After a visit to the dentist for a cleaning and check-up, we knew it was important to get these teeth out because his adult teeth have already broke through and they need room and also, it is unattractive to look like a shark with multiple rows of teeth. I knew we were close, so tonight I just told him I would read his favorite book while he wiggled and twisted those puppies out. While he was wiggling he said, "I sure wish my Daddy was a Dentist, it would make my life so much easier right now!"
It didn't take much, one single tear and then POP! the first one was out!

Baby Tooth #1!

He was so excited he ran to tell everyone and check on himself in the mirror. When he decided it didn't hurt much at all and he looked pretty good, he was determined to get #2 out.

Working on #2!

A couple of minutes later and a few bloody baby wipes and we had not one, but two first teeth out and inside the Teeth Treasure Chest I made for just this occasion. 10/10/2011, my sweet boy lost the very first teeth that kept us up on a couple of nights as a 4 month old. While I'm sad, I thought I would be a little more emotional than this. Maybe because I had so much notice and we are months behind all of his friends in the tooth loss game. Either way, I think I am so proud because he was so brave! Anyone who knows my Izzy, knows he is as dramatic as a Telenovelas actor and so I was prepared for a battle. I guessed wrong. He said it hurt, but he did it all himself. I thought for sure the first sight of blood would send us over the edge, but no, we just went through a pile of baby wipes, like no big deal.

Double the Treasure.

Which brings me to the tooth fairy. Do we or Don't we? My parents did, which is very unlike the rest of my childhood. I went to the store and bought an unfinished chest that I later painted, because I thought it has a lock and I could save his teeth safely and I will just see how he feels about things as it happened. Well, he shocked me tonight with the, "Look Mom, I know there is no tooth fairy. It just doesn't make sense. No one told me about it, I just figure it doesn't make sense. I've never seen no fairy and how do they get in your room? How do they get money in there? What do they do with your teeth? It's not real. So I know it has to be an adult like you guys." So all of my worrying was for nothing because all I had to say was, "Whatever you believe is fine with me Izzy, lets just put your teeth in the Treasure Chest for safe keeping and tomorrow you will have a treasure and you can decide how it got there." He was super happy about that and I was happy not to fib about something he was so not into anyway.

Then, to my surprise, after they were both out and I was wishing him a great nights rest, he said, "I will know she is real if she leaves me a note...not just money." So guess I'm writing a note tonight too.

My next issue ....

What is the going rate for a tooth these days? Because I am pretty sure my parents stepped the reward game up about 20 notches. They each gave me $5 to pass on to the treasure chest and I haven't even given to the tooth fund yet! I don't think they thought this through because 2 boys with lots of teeth....they may need to retire at some point.

I was hoping to get to bed early since I haven't taken a breath since 2 weeks ago Thursday, but instead I am going to have to stay up to ensure he is completely out before I sneak in his room. Let's pray I don't fall asleep before I do, because Izzy wakes before the sun and Mommy does not.

Piano Man

2011-09-26T19:16:00.000-07:00

My Izzy has been taking piano lessons since August. It is about time I share what hard work and practice has earned him after only a couple of months.

I am one proud Mommy!

Mom Duties.

2011-09-18T20:52:00.000-07:00

Being a Mommy is hard work, yo.

Take for instance, my little Lovey. In two days he was completely potty trained. Easy. Peasy. *screeeech* Hold up. Then came the dreaded #2. I assumed it would be just as easy and seamless, because once Izzy understood one, he understood the other and he was potty trained in 4 days. After 4 days at home, I could take him anywhere and he never had a single accident. Lovey, however, is a mule. His stubbornness and will power can not be tamed. There is no currency large or shiny enough to entice my mule and he has decided he doesn't like poop. I said it, it's out there now. He believes that if he holds it long enough, the problem will just go away. We can't talk about it, ever. If you do, it is a catastrophe of epic proportions. He turns red, starts to sweat and shakes a little. He gets really nervous and then cries, "NO Mommy, No! I scared! I scared!" When he starts sweating and crying, then I start sweating and want to cry too. Why is this hard?

Last week, he had made himself so sick by holding it, he literally was turning yellow, had a low grade fever, and couldn't stand up or sit down. Late one night, I had to do what I had been trying to avoid-suppository time. Ugh, it is just as horrible and traumatic as you imagine. It is torture!!!! My sweet baby who is sick and in pain needs to feel better, but the one thing that can bring instant relief is just so awful. He looked at me with his big brown eyes and BEGGED me to not do it. But, being the Mommy, I knew I had no choice. Within seconds, it worked and while I held my sweaty, hysterical baby on the toilet, I finally let it out and cried with him. I felt so sad that he was in pain and so sad that he doesn't understand he can make it so much easier on himself. Since then we have had to replay that situation 3 times. Every time has been just as awful and just as quick as it is all over, he is a new boy, happy and well.

Then it happened....

I taught in his class at church today and I noticed he just wanted to lie on the rug and read books and a few times he asked if we could go home. Not big signs to anyone else, but Ash is OBSESSED with church. He asks me every day if it is "Church Day" and when it finally is Sunday morning, he rushes me to get ready so we can hurry up and get there. So when he asked to go home, I knew what the problem was. The dreaded #2 was up to no good. I did a lot of self talk on the ride home from church today. "You can do this. It will be 30 minutes of torture for a day of a happy boy. DO. NOT CRY." I'll be honest, it is heartbreaking and gross. Not how I want to spend any moment of my weekend. When I asked him to come to my room, he knew exactly what was going on and started to fuss. Then it got louder, and he got red...and sweaty. I decided to just try without any medicine and while he fought me the whole way, it finally happened. He was able to go without any help and that is a HUGE accomplishment. You have to understand that this kid is newly trained, and has held it through the night and until NOON before without peeing one time because he didn't want any poop to come out. Do you know how small a 3 year olds bladder is? OMW I didn't think it was physically possible, but he willed it to be. So the fact that he went without help is so major in my life right now, while gross and possible TMI, it deserved a spot on the blog. There is bound to be more crying and sweating over this issue, but I will take it if it means he is learning how to listen to his body's cues and follow through. Some day we will look back and laugh about this and I will remind him that this is just one of many reasons why it is his turn to take such good care of me.

Then, there is my Bobo. Izzy has been working so hard this week and some of the things he was struggling with he has made BIG improvements and I am so proud of him. It is a hard transition from non-stop vacations this summer back to our non-stop school schedule. It took a couple of weeks, but he is in full swing now and instead of being down about all the responsibilities he has, he is looking in a more positive light and working hard to earn rewards at home and at school. So glad it clicked! My Bobo is growing so fast and it is ripping my heart out. He is 6 and almost as tall as his teacher. Not joking. Last week they measured, and he said, "I am as tall as my teachers neck!" He is up to my shoulders already and I fear that by second grade he could be taller than me. That is going to make discipline difficult. :) Izzy is wearing a size 4 shoe and size 10 pants. People: TEN. Like for 10 years old!!! I can't handle this. In the midst of PoopGate:2011, he informed me he has his first wiggly tooth. Of course you do, next you will be shaving and picking out a corsage for Prom. If you know me, I am not a "body" person. (can you tell from my earlier story?) I don't like blood, or gross things. The thought of pulling my son's tooth makes me want to throw up. What did I do? I told him, his tooth will fall out when it is ready and to just let it happen naturally. Why might I say that? Well, lets go back to the 80's, shall we? Back in the day, my Mom, who is the complete opposite of myself-loves all things bloody and disgusting, tied all of my loose teeth to my bedroom door and slammed it. I watched as my baby teeth flew across the room and I wailed as blood poured from my wounded mouth. (Dramatic? Probably, but let me have my memories.) My mom found a weird delight in this. She could barely contain herself until my next tooth was loose, so she could do it again! This is why, I can't handle my baby losing his tooth. I don't want anything to do with it and I have already warned him of Grandma's weird love for pulling teeth and to steer clear of her in this time of his life.

Tonight, he complained that his tooth was hurting while eating an apple, so I sliced it for him, and just thought it is getting close to falling out. No big deal. Baths and bedtime, and as I am kissing him goodnight, I ask to see his wiggly tooth and he says, "MOM I have 4 teeth!" He opens up and I find 2 adult teeth have popped up behind his soon to be gone baby teeth. I. could. cry.

I had made peace with that first baby tooth leaving the nest that is his mouth, but really 2 at a time and the flippin' adult teeth can't give me a month of mental transition time? Come ON! Tomorrow, I am calling the pediatric dentist for a visit. I have a feeling it might be another situation where I am holding a red, sweaty boy on a chair.

And again I say, being a Mom is hard, yo!

Side note: Pray for beautiful adult teeth for sweet Izzy. So far, they are looking good. But we don't need any of this...

Best Moments

2011-09-12T22:14:00.000-07:00

Hubby and I will be celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary in less than 2 weeks. Life gets hectic and crazy, and around your special days you start to think about all that you have experienced and shared together. So I thought I would share some of our very best moments in our years together.

Our wedding was a blur, as I am sure most would agree. Our honeymoon however, was like a dream! We traveled to St. Thomas and proceeded to spend several days in swim wear, lounging the beach with umbrella drinks and avoiding iguanas at all costs. I took naps in a hammock on the beach, while my sweetie snorkeled. We shopped, we ate way too much, but my most favorite memory is how much we just enjoyed each others company, completely relaxed. No decisions to be made, no jobs or families to think about. We just laid in our lounge chairs and soaked up the sun and loved being near one another. It was perfect, exactly how a honeymoon should be.

When we returned, we came back to our newly built, apartment. Both of us had only lived at home with our parents (we married at 21) and although we didn't have much to fill up our new pad, we didn't care. When I think back, we had a full sized bed, a 13 inch tv, our clothes and wedding presents. That is it. We had the best time just lying on our living room floor eating chicken because that is all I knew how to cook at the time and talking for hours. We shopped often and picked out pieces that we dreamed of filling our new place with and it was such an exciting experience to feel like a real adult. We had our own place! It was amazing!

Hubby and I both had great jobs and while our apartment was brand new and in a new trendy part of town, we knew our next move was to our first house. I searched with my Mom for fun and when I felt like I found a great deal, I set it up so Hubby could walk through it with me. It was a 3 bedroom ranch with all hardwood floors and an unfinished basement. An older couple had built the house together and shortly after, the husband passed. It was an older house at the time, but it felt barely lived in. We both saw the potential and decided to put an offer in. Next thing I know, we are moving our stuff (I say this lightly, because I think we only added a couch and a huge tv to our list to this point.) into our very own house. We had family over for a painting and pizza party and spent all of our time making it our own. I loved that house.

Something about owning your own home makes you feel like you need something. We weren't quite ready for babies, just yet, but a puppy? Yes! One day, I came home with a 8 week old Brindle Boxer puppy. He was adorable and my very first baby boy. We named him Pele'. He was a perfect fit.

This house is also where we conceived our first two boys. We never had the chance to bring Judah home, but one of my best memories, is bringing my itty bitty Izzy home. Born at 32 weeks, 8 weeks early, we were able to bring him home at the 35 week mark. I was scared to death and didn't know how to care for a preemie. I remember walking in with our little carrier sitting him in the living room and Hubby and I staring at each other like, "What do we do now?" Don't worry, it only took us a few minutes to figure it out. Soon enough the house was overflowing with baby stuff. My favorite picture of all time is when Izzy was probably 10 lbs (around 3 months) and sitting in the front yard in the grass. He looked so tiny and now when I drive by that house I just picture my little baby feeling the sunshine and grass for the first time at that house.

Remodeling... it was a tough job, but after months of hard work, Hubby and my Dad finished off the basement into an amazing area. We had a room for storage and laundry, a 4th bedroom and bathroom and a large entertainment room. It was so fun to have friends over to hang out and we really enjoyed that space.

Before you know it, we've been married 7 years and our little Izzy is now 18 months. Grammy came to visit to stay with Izzy while Hubby whisks me back to St. Thomas for a second honeymoon. It was just as glorious as the first, but we were even more in love. We visited St. John, snorkeled a underwater trail, shopped til we dropped, enjoyed boat rides, kayak trips, hiking, delicious food and each others company. It was wonderful.

A few moves and years of pre-med schooling later, we find out we are pregnant with our third little boy. I remember being hugely pregnant and potty training Izzy who was 2 at the time, sitting in a chair in the driveway watching him ride his tricycle and snuggling extra during the day since Mommy had no energy to do anything else.

Last year we took our first family of 4 vacation that wasn't to visit family. It was all about the kids and we did so many things. In St. Louis, we visited the children's museum, the arch, did some shopping and spent some time downtown. Then we finished up our road trip in Chicago where we hit everything you can imagine. It is our favorite and I could totally see us living there some day. I love those memories. Two little guys with no pressure, time line and only focused on fun. I will never forget the four of us in the giant Ferris Wheel overlooking downtown Chicago. I didn't want it to end!

We have made so many great memories since Asher was born. Family vacations, Friday family movie nights, sports outings, nights with friends, but my most favorite are the moments he doesn't know I see. Catching him go in after the kids are asleep to give them one last kiss. Reading them stories or teaching them something only a Daddy can teach.

I love picturing Hubby and Izzy holding hands as we walked him to his first day of Preschool. Then Kindergarten and now First Grade. OH it is going way too fast! What better highlight in marriage, than watching the babies you made together grow? Um...nothing.

Over the years he has given me so many things I didn't deserve, trips and hugely expensive presents that he had saved for months for. Fancy steak dinners at Mortons or surprise overnights at our wedding night hotel, and of course the 2nd trip to St. Thomas. I don't think there has been a single anniversary that he didn't completely blow me away. Oh I forgot to mention the one with a tiny blue box and white ribbon with TIFFANY DIAMOND EARRINGS! Oh yeah...he is that amazing. Even more than all of that, the best gift he has ever given to me is his faithfulness and love. We have been through a lot. A. L. O. T. over our 11 year marriage. I love that I still get love notes left for me in the bathroom randomly and thoughtful gifts of things he heard me mention months before (he does listen!) One of my most treasured gifts, a love note he wrote to me and framed. Or maybe it is the photo book he made for me with all three of my boys inside and sweet sayings fill the page. Or maybe it is the large photo canvas he gave to me of my pregnant belly with my Asher. Then there was the NYC trip, (a trip we have discussed for years) that he planned as a surprise with our amazing friends and handmade a card with clues as our Mothers Day gift.

Hubs is an excellent at fulfilling my love of surprises, gifts and affirmation. God truly knew the kind of man I would need to get through this life and I am ever so grateful that he created him just for me.

Eleven years, it's been a flash in one sense and in another I feel like we have been joined for a lifetime. Hubby, I love you with all of my heart and I am thankful for each and every day I have spent with you by my side. Happy Anniversary!

Time to Freeze.

2011-09-12T11:22:00.000-07:00

Life is insane right now. I am officially a soccer mom. Now both boys are playing on teams and that consumes 3 nights a week. Add in school, events, friends, church, piano lessons my weeks are becoming so hectic, I am finding dinner to be a difficult task. Izzy doesn't get home from school until 4 and 4 days of the week we are going straight from one thing to another no time for me to prep dinner. The last two weeks we have just kind of "winged" it, with a few crock pot meals in between which were a complete life saver. Other nights it was a free for all. Boys ate "packed lunches" in the car and Hubby and I grabbed a sandwich after they were bathed and in bed. While it works, it leaves me feeling overwhelmed and unorganized. I. Can't. Like. That.

Izzy ready for a full night of Piano & Soccer, dinner in hand.

Mondays for me always bring me a fresh wave of creativity and organization. I like the feeling of a fresh week with a new plan. Today I sat down and wrote out my
To Do list for the week, updated the family calendar, updated Izzy's calendar, and made a list of 6 freezer meals that if I can carve out a few hours this week I plan on making to help - future me out.

Here are my ideas:
*Breakfast Casserole- Breakfast Burritos
*BBQ Pork Tenderloin- Pulled Pork Sandwiches
*Chili
*Spaghetti
*Beef Pepperocini Sandwiches
*Honey Garlic Chicken

After spending just a short amount of time making all of those PB&J's and prepping Izzy's lunch, I have found out how WONDERFUL it is! So dinner, that has to be even better, right?

The only downfall....this forces me to clean out the freezer (ugh) and organize it (double ugh). While I love organizing anything, it is cold in the freezer. I hate being cold. I am just going to suck it up and get it done so I don't have to rush our nights anymore than they already are.

My question to you... Do you freeze? Hit me with your best freezer meal ideas. Go!

Happy Freezing to me and hopefully a much happier family at dinner-time!

Shhhhh!

2011-08-30T07:24:00.000-07:00

Izzy loves school. He loves his friends, his teacher, and doesn't even mind the work. In fact, he read me his very first story today. I almost cried. (It doesn't take much...)

There is one problem, he loves it so much he can't seem to keep quiet. My once super shy and timid little guy is now talking like he is Regis and his job depends on it. Now I understand, he is probably not just sitting at a table talking to himself...there are other kids talking with him, it does bother me that he isn't using self control. I wasn't really expecting this from Izzy, so I am kind of unsure of the best way to handle it. We have a chart system that he can earn rewards from and if he has a great day at school or shows kindness and something extraordinary he gets to move it. Yesterday he wasn't able to move his chart because he got in trouble for talking too much and then not understanding the directions the teacher had given. WELCOME TO MY LIFE.

I have never had so much understanding on an issue as this. My sweet husband is so many many wonderful things, but one horrible, terrible bad habit he has is his 1/2 listening. Oh. My. Word....it is ridiculous. I know he isn't doing it intentionally, and he knows it's a problem and hates when he does it, but it is just that, a bad habit. In fact all of the guys in his family have a problem. Seems it's genetic.

Example: (Feel free to laugh at our ridiculousness)

Hubby's birthday was this weekend and we had a blast and he was spoiled by family and our wonderful friends. As we were cleaning up after this weekends festivities, I say, "Wow, you sure got spoiled this year!"
Hubby: *washing dishes* "Huh?"
Me: *repeats*
Hubby: "I'm not understanding what you are saying?"
Me: "You don't understand English?"
Hubby: "It doesn't make sense....what you said....I'm confused."
Me: "No, it makes sense, it is English. You would understand if you listened."
This convo goes back and forth for at least 10 ridiculous minutes and ends in us both laughing at his atrocious listening skills.

This is my entire married life and now my entire parenting life. "Huh?" "What?" "When did you tell me that?" "What did you need me to do?"

I'm quite certain I am not the only wife who has a half listening Hubby, and lucky for him he is so great in everything else it helps to make up for it. My issue, is that it is a bad habit that is spreading like wildfire to our children.

My solution after Izzy's rough Monday? He is to repeat any direction we give him out loud and then complete the direction. Of course he can't do this at school, because he would get in trouble for talking again. :) So I explained, that he needs to listen, repeat the direction in his head and then complete it. He tends to want to double check everything before doing it, and I am sure with a classroom of students she doesn't have the time or patience to repeat that many times. He lost some privileges at home until his teacher lets me know he is making better efforts at self control during his day. This is a tough lesson, but it will really pay off for the rest of his life if he can learn it now. His future wife will thank me. Listening is such a vital instrument in all relationships and I hope I can teach him to have good listening habits from now on.

I am taking any and all suggestions on how to combat a little talker and his no good, very bad listening skills.

Side Note:
**I can write about these things because I have a blog. My Hubby doesn't, so you can go ahead thinking I'm perfect.

First Day Success!

2011-08-24T18:57:00.000-07:00

The Big Day is Finally Here!!!

Izzy was up and waiting...

We got dressed then enjoyed our special pancakes!

Asher wanted a pic with Izzy before school.

Someone was super excited!

In front of school... (side note: Is Ash a hot mess or what? :)

Asher hijacked Izzy's friend Ella..

Izzy found his seat and was excited to start!

Sweet Ella, Asher and Izzy

Then it was time to say goodbye. Asher started to get sad and said, "I gonna miss you Bobo...you my best friend." Then Mommy shed some tears. They hugged, kissed and hugged again. So sweet.

Asher and I spent the day catching up on stuff and spending some quality time together. Every 5 minutes I heard, "Bobo be right back, Mommy? He be right back. I miss him. He be right back? Yeah, he be right back." He would ask and answer his own questions over and over again and then sulk. It was the saddest thing ever.

I was able to put a smile back on his face when it was finally time to pick Izzy up. I was greeted with a GIANT hug and kiss. His teacher said he had a wonderful day and he said, "It was Perfect!" He loves his teacher, his friends and school. In fact, when he got home he said," I don't want to think about home school anymore because I love school. I don't want to stay home with you anymore...I want to go to school every single day....even weekends!" Okay, lets not go overboard, Mister!

Genius Friends and their Genius Tips

2011-08-22T19:36:00.000-07:00

If you read my last post, you probably noted the frenzied Mommy coming out in me. Today was CRAZY, but thanks to a to-do list and genius friends, I am feeling a lot better.

My super friend, Karli, gave me a genius idea to make PB&J's ahead of time and freeze them. *duh, why didn't I do this last year?* After crossing every item of my list and taking Izzy to his Back to School night and a special dinner, I headed to my local Super Target to stock up on lunch items.

2 loaves worth of PB&J's and snack bags of grapes are all packaged and ready for the freezer. Organic snack mixes and carrots are divided up as well for easy lunch making and everything is going onto the "Izzy's lunch" shelf in the pantry. Easy Peasy. In total, it probably took about 40 minutes to prep, which really is no time at all, in comparison to how many lunches I just made. *Thanks KW!*

Here's to quick and happy mornings!
*cheers!*

Back to School Week!

2011-08-21T20:26:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I am mentally preparing for the upcoming week. Izzy starts school on Wednesday. First Grade!!!!! Normally, I am much more on top of schedule items, but I find myself procrastinating all things "responsible" and using every last ounce of our Summer together for fun. While thinking of our last two days and planning fun activities, I realized, we have had all of the fun we can have. I have GOT to be responsible. We have Back to School night, Izzy's first soccer practice, piano lessons, First day of school baking, First day of school, Women's event at church, Hubby's birthday and dinner with friends and all of the little things that are involved in each of those events that only I can do...all have to be done in the next 5 days. Oh. My!

In this same week, my sweet Lovey FINALLY decided he was a big boy and has potty trained himself. Friday morning he went in the potty for the first time on his own and by Saturday was wearing underwear without accidents. Today, he went to church, out for lunch and then shopping for soccer gear, all without accidents!!!! This is a huge and wonderful breakthrough, which I have been praying for-for months. 3 years and 2 months and he is potty trained. Wahoo! No accidents, and he doesn't want/need my help. While it took months longer than Izzy (potty trained at 2 1/2), this is by far a million times easier to wait until they are ready.

My boys are growing so fast. Praying I can keep it together during this "Big" week!

Tough Questions. Sweet Answers.

2011-08-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

Today was a day I always knew would come and I always prayed for wisdom for when it did. During breakfast, Izzy asked (out of nowhere might I add) "Momma, tell me about the day Judah died. I know he died, but you never told me what happened that day. I want to know everything."

That is one heavy way to start the day. I took a deep breath and asked for the right words and then it just flowed out. Much different, than I had always imagined, but in a way that he understood. I didn't cover up the hard facts, I told him the truth. I told him how I birthed Judah and how the nurses gave him to us right away. We held, loved and kissed him for hours. I changed his clothes and prayed over him. After a while, Daddy was holding him and he slowed his breathing and we knew it was time. Shortly after, he took his last breath and he went to heaven. I was about to go on and tell him a few more details, when I looked up to see his eyes begin to fill with tears. I stopped, and took another deep breath before asking if something was wrong? He wiped his face and then said softly, "I'm okay, but it is just that I am so glad I have pictures of him. I would be so sad if I didn't have pictures. *long pause for thinking* Momma, it just makes me so sad. Like, so sad. It just isn't fair I only get to have my one brother. I am 'posed to have more."

Yep, that is how my morning started. Rip my heart out! It was really difficult for me to keep it together, especially since I am in the midst of reading "I Will Carry You" and all of those feelings are just at the tip of my throat ready to explode out. When I looked at his sweet little face and teary eyes, I knew he just needed some time to grieve on his own, without me taking any attention away with my own feelings. Hard, but necessary.

When Izzy was a baby, I used to think about these days and how I would have the strength to relay Judah's story. What I didn't imagine, is just how often Izzy asks about the brother that he was never able to meet. Easily, he talks about him 4 or 5 times a week. To some, this might bother them, but to me, it is a sweet relief that my precious one is not forgotten and my boys hold him in their heart just as I do.

Never one to shy away about hearing about his self, he asked for his birth story. That is another emotional story for me to tell, and as I looked in his eyes it was nearly impossible to not sob my way through it. I have told him since he was a baby just how special he is and how God sent him as a very special early gift for me and Daddy. He knows the story, but he wanted the details. What did the nurses do? Why did they keep me so long at the hospital? Why didn't he get to go home right away? Then when I was able to tell him, how I visited him in the NICU, three times a day, every single day for three weeks and I would rock him and talk to him and feed him, he burst into a bright beam of light. He absolutely loved the thought of just him and I, rocking away with no distractions. Then he told me, "Momma, I didn't ever want to tell you this before, but that hospital was scary. I didn't like waiting on you. There was lots of beeping and noises and the other babies were too loud. They cried all of the time and I just wanted you to come back and get me. The nurses made it dark and I didn't like being there even though they were very nice to me." I didn't know quite what to say! I don't believe I have ever talked about all the machines and the beeping and the other babies....who knows. Either way, the look on his face when hearing his story was priceless. I think I will have to write a little book for him so he can read it over and over.

Of course, he couldn't leave out our little Lovey. I told him how Asher's was the easiest of all because he was absolutely healthy. There was only one scary thing, and that was that he had a large bump on his head and we had to wait to take him to a specialist. Turns out, it was just his position and everything was fine. You can still feel the bump (although it is much smaller), but he has so much hair you can't see it. :) He laughed at first, and then he got teary again!! When I asked what these tears were about he said, "It's just that Ashey was just so cute. He had the littlest hands and his face was so soft. I just miss him like that." Me too, buddy!

Every once and a while, it is wonderful to retell your kids their story. It made Izzy beam to hear all about how much he was wanted and loved and it made me think back to those moments where I was living literally second to second and so appreciative of it all. Today when I was out with my boys and their friends, I watched as they played like big boys and I silently thanked God for answered prayers. Today started out a little emotional, but I am so grateful for Izzy's questions. It helped to refocus me and remind me just how much I have to be thankful for and that is always a great mindset to start your day.

Izzy's Quote of the Day: After telling him his story, (crying) he says, "Momma, I just want you to know you are just the best. You are always making me the best snacks, you are a good cooker and you always make us have fun every day. I am just so glad I got you. And thanks for taking good care of me in the hospital when I was too early. You are just...*dramatic pause* too good for me because you love me even when I am naughty. You just love me no matter what."

Asher's Quote of the Day: While tapping my watch he says, "Momma, you know time is? It's time for kisses!!!" (Followed by tons of hugs and kisses)

If you couldn't tell, I've had a pretty terrific day. :) Love my boys!

If I wrote a book...

2011-08-09T22:50:00.001-07:00

I have a cousin, her name is Melissa. She is beautiful, sweet and has a heart for others like no one else I know. She also has a fabulous blog ----> http://melissaemma.blogspot.com, which you should totally subscribe to, she will bless your socks off.

My sweet Melissa is cousin by marriage, but it is like we are blood. We are two peas in a pod, a very organized pod. :) We are so similar, but Melissa is a lot of what I am not. I am not good at cards, thoughtful remembering of dates, surprise gifts just when you need them and loads of other thoughtful gestures. I can't tell you how many times I have thought, I am going to surprise her with _______, and then time gets away from me and I have failed. She, however, never fails to send me encouragement and inspiration and her timing is impeccable. She is an avid reader and knows of every book that I should also be taking the time to read, but haven't. Pretty much, it is like she has a piece of my heart and knows exactly when it is hurting and she does something beautiful and sweet to make it all better.

Her latest blessing, was this book.

I am a follower of Angie's blog http://angiesmithonline.com/, (as should you) and so I was beside myself when I received a surprise package on a very special day-Judah's Birthday. I got the box 1/16th of the way opened, when I peeked in and realized what was inside. I knew immediately what it was and who it was from and I stood in my entry way and wept. How does she know? I guess it doesn't matter, I am just so glad that she does.

Since I have been following Angie's blog, I know her amazing story. Reading it again, is a slow process for me. Not for lack of intrigue or amazing writing, but purely out of I can only weep so long mid-day without being questioned. I have literally put the book down after every chapter, taking a moment to really let her words sink in and then I weep. It is like she took the words straight out of my heart. If I were to write a book based on my sweet Judah and our testimony, well there is really no need. She did it much more beautifully than I could have done. This book is simply amazing and everyone should read it. Everyone should also get a Melissa, so that you can feel the love and thoughtfulness that I am so privelaged to enjoy.

Melissa, thanks so much for knowing my heart and caring enough to fill it. Just another reason we should be neighbors. ;)

Date Night!

2011-08-09T21:49:00.000-07:00

My sweet boy is now 6 years old and with all of the growing up he has been doing, he has taken on new responsibilities. One of these, is piano lessons. Starting last week, he has to practice, at least, two times a day. Big responsibility for a little guy once you add in school and sports. He is doing amazing and shockingly, practicing on his own first thing in the morning and again in the afternoon, withOUT being asked! I know I am being a little braggy and presumptuous, but I think he is going to blow us away some day with his skills. My Dad plays by ear, and like I've said before, not just a few things, but literally he hears a song once and he can play it exactly. I am praying my Bobo has that talent, and after his lesson today I am starting to see a few signs he has the "ear". I think my biggest challenge is going to be that he does something once, memorizes it and then doesn't want to read out of the practice books. Stinker. Anywho, I say all of that to say, Bobo deserved a date night with Mommy for all of his hard work, and just for being his sweet self.

After his lesson today, he got a hair cut and then we were off for dinner. I told him he could pick any place, his choice, and he said, "Hmmmm. There are a lot of places I like....but, I am going to pick Arby's. You know why Momma? Because I know that is your favorite and I like to make you happy." You are starting to get it right? I mean the kid is just too gooey sweet. We talked over dinner and he shared his excitements and fears of First Grade. That conversation almost left me in tears. I remember that anxiety of the unknown, and I wish I could make him feel all better about it.

Izzy is a thinker. He loves to ask questions and he has come up with a game he calls the "Question Game", which involves him asking very big, difficult questions and I have to give an answer-even if it is just a complete and wild guess. We go back and forth and laugh at our answers.

Question Game from tonight's date:

Iz- "Momma, why do we have to grow up?"
Me-"Well, God designed us that way. Our bodies grow and age daily and there isn't anything we can do to stop it."
Iz- "Good answer...I'll take it."

Iz- "Momma, why do we exercise?"
Me- "God made our bodies with muscles. If you work out and eat healthy, your muscles will grow and you will become strong. If you don't, your muscles stay small and you will be weak."
Iz- "Yeah, you are right! I think you have been reading."

Me- "Izzy, why do we have belly buttons?"
Iz- "Okay, this is a hard one. Well, I have thought about it a long time, and so this is the truth. *picture the next part with lots of hand movements, finger pointing, and serious eyes* Your belly button is connected. It circle-lates (circulates) all the way through our body to our blue vines (veins), which go way up to our chambers in our neck. This is how we can breathe. It is all because of our belly button. It's a true answer, Momma."

Me- "What did you dream about?"
Iz- "I dream about you every night! I think about the fun we have and then I dream about fun things I want to do the next day. I also pray for you in my dreams."
*Cue Tears.*

Oh, he makes me laugh! Izzy loves to talk and that is really all he wants to do on our dates. He doesn't really care what we do, he just wants to be able to talk the whole time. After dinner, we spent some time at a park, shopped at Target where we found a new game to play and spent the rest of the night laughing and playing.

As Izzy and I spent quality time together, I reflected back to those moments in the NICU, when his life was so fragile and then, I looked at him tonight, and his 6 years flashed before me.

Seriously, this was like 5 seconds ago when he was 2.

FLASH!

And now...

SIX years of non-stop joy, laughter and blessing to my soul. These six years have literally been a flash, and I want to make as many memories as possible this year so he has lots and lots to dream about.

Life is short, make lots of happy memories!

Summer of Fun and Surprises!

2011-07-24T18:53:00.000-07:00

I've been away a bit. Hopefully not too long as you won't check back in with me! The last few months have been an explosion of crazy, chaotic fun and sweet surprises. We have wrung this Summer out for every single drop of fun and happiness it could offer and we still have a little time to go. You will have to excuse me, because my brain is fried and my body is exhausted. This summer has left me feeling much like a mother with a newborn. Ecstatic and exhausted, loss of memory and a little blurry, but oh so worth it.

We've had:
Playdates
Picnics
Girls Nights Outs
Family Visits
Birthday Week
Double Birthday Party (pics to come :)
New York CITY!
Operation FriendNap
Friends Birthday Parties
Family Birthday Parties
Water Park visits
Regular Park visits
Max & Ruby LIVE!
Daily pool meetings with friends
Craft nights
Date nights
BBQ's
Summer Parties with friends
Family Days with Daddy
A week in Branson with extended family
2 more weeks of visits and fun with said family
Silver Dollar City
School shopping
Birthday shopping
Shopping, Shopping, Shopping
4th of July Party
Game Nights
Sweet surprises from friends
Movie Nights

These are just a few that stand out. I have about a million un-edited pictures, and video that document our Summer so far, and I can't wait to share a glimpse of it with you. Forgive me, for the light posting until I can get myself together and find a few seconds to organize some thoughts. I have less than a month with my sweet Izzy before he starts FIRST GRADE and we have promised to make every single day count!

Lots of pics and funny stories to come. Pinky promise.

See... I'm hanging with Frank and Karli. What did you do this Summer?

Izzy's Quote of the Day

2011-06-16T11:16:00.000-07:00

My Izzy is just a block of sugar. Today, we were getting ready for another fun day with friends when he caught me off guard with this...

"Mom, I thought I should tell you that the Bible says you should pray all of the time. Not just at bedtime. You should pray all day about everything. So I just wanted you to know that I just did. I was getting ready and prayed, God thank you for today.I hope you have good feelings about me.Keep me safe and protected and the bad guys away from me every day. I love you God. Amen."

I told him I was so proud of him, because God does want us to pray throughout the day and not just for wants or needs, but praise him for everything.

We have so much to be thankful for. Today I am thankful for boys with tender hearts that love God and desire to obey.

Mommy's Favorite Things!

2011-06-13T14:52:00.000-07:00

I have some super fun things to post about, like Asher's 3rd Birthday, his birthday surprise and a jam packed weekend of fun. I thought I would first tell you about our summer transition and a couple of my new favorite things.

Izzy was so sad for the school year to end. Sad to leave his teacher and friends...scared of boredom. Um, did he forget who is mother is? I'm the Queen of Play dates after all! He has had a very smooth transition from Kindergarten to Summer. He was the one I was worried about, but it turns out, I should have been more concerned with the little one. Asher loves our one on one time. It was made obvious when on day 3 of Summer break, he walked into the kitchen saw Izzy sitting at the table and said, "OH not AGAIN! Why you no school Bobo!" Oh my word I thought I would never stop laughing. Asher and I have lots of quiet time at home. He plays quietly, I work on projects, and do my house stuff. We spend time reading and snuggling. When it rains we cuddle up and enjoy a movie and tell funny stories. He is my little shopping buddy and loves to run errands with me. To him, Izzy is throwing a wrench in all of his Mommy time.

It was time to adjust the rules for summer and focus our energy on kindness and obedience. My friend K, told me about a little saying they use at her sons school and so I have declared it one of our new sayings around our house. "You get what you get, and you don't throw a Fit!" This has come in handy a few times in the last week when I have made an offer of something I felt was a great treat and my boys felt like something more sugary or flashy would be a better choice. While my boys are very good about not throwing tantrums, I don't appreciate or tolerate a pouty lip or an eye roll either. Can I get an amen?

Another rule/saying I have enacted for Izzy is "If you obey, no nap today!" It is my simple way to remind him that he controls his afternoon destiny. Being kind, helpful and obedient will free his afternoon for things he enjoys. While I have never used naptime as a punishment, Izzy still has days that you can clearly see from his emotion level he has just had too much fun. If he is able to keep things steady, he is allowed his day. If disobedience or emotional breakdowns erupt, nap it is.

Today is a perfect example of how these simple sayings have become my new favorite thing. After a super hectic but amazing weekend, I as well as my boys are wiped. But errands, grocery shopping and birthday projects wait for no one. I always tell my boys before we go anywhere what we are doing, my expectations and today I reminded Izzy "If you obey, no nap today." We ran to friends houses to drop photos and invites off, went to the post office, and finally the grocery store with a huge list of items. They were excellent. One warning was enough. They kept their hands to themselves. Waited quietly and patient in the cart while I completed all my shopping.

It made my day so smooth and I thanked my boys again and again for being such great listeners. Oddly enough, even after all that great obedience, I looked at Izzy and saw that this weekend had taken his toll on him. He ended up taking a 2 1/2 hour nap and I had to wake him up along with Asher. Izzy understood it wasn't for behavior and in fact he told me on the way home he almost fell asleep and asked if he could rest.

With both of them down, I was able to prep dinner, finish up my last few chores, get 2 loads of laundry complete and even take a few minutes of me time.

I love Summer and having my boys home. I also love that 2 simple things, help to make it a kind and peaceful one!

Lovey turns 3.

2011-06-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

My sweet lovey,

I can't believe that in a few hours you will be 3 years old. How did you grow so quickly from this tiny baby with a full head of jet black hair to a boy in a blink?
Absolutely, without a doubt, if there was a contest for the best baby in the world, you would win. Quiet and happy, loved to sleep, ate well, giggled often. There are no words to describe the complete happiness you have brought to our lives. As a toddler, you have developed from a quiet thinker to my little comedian. You love your quiet time, you still love to sleep and you have become quite independent. You are constantly making me laugh with your silly sayings and your fun imagination.

On your last day of being 2 years old, you learned how to ride your tricycle! You were so proud of yourself, you rode around in circles and then yelled, "I DID IT!"

When I told you that it was your birthday tomorrow and you were turning 3, you said, "NO I not. I a baby!" I am so glad you don't want to grow up, even though we can't control it. I love how much you need to cuddle, love to be held, give me random kisses and hugs and all those "I yove yous".

I am so excited to celebrate you and all that you have brought to our lives. Mommy has LOTS of surprises in store!

Happy Birthday my sweet Lovey!

Kindergarten

2011-05-31T20:26:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Izzy's last day of Kindergarten.

*breathing deeply and wiping tears*

Where did this year go? My baby is about to turn 6 years old and as of tomorrow officially be a first grader or as Izzy told his friend the other day, "I'm gonna be in Oneth grade!"

It feels like I have only blinked a couple of times since the day I took a picture of him on the front porch after eating his K pancake and here we are, the year complete and what seems like 5 feet taller and so much more mature and responsible, I can hardly take it.

Let me tell you a bit about how much he has grown this year.

An easy judge is he started the year in a size 4/5 and ended in a 7/8 (leaning more to the 8) and size 3 shoe. Oh. My.

I can no longer spell words to keep conversations private.

He knows way more about Science than I do. He often tells me facts that I have to later google to make sure he is correct. He always is.

He wakes up at THE CRACK OF DAWN and if you need an exact time it is anywhere between 5:30-6:30. He wakes, dresses himself, then plays or reads quietly until he hears movement around the house (2 hours later!) and then makes his own breakfast while Mommy groggily applauds his responsible efforts.

He is a huge help around the house. He can sweep floors, take out trash, load the dishwasher, clean his room, carry full laundry baskets and help unload groceries! In fact, yesterday he vacuumed out my car and cleaned the interior for me! Of course, he is always rewarded for all of his hard work.

Neighborhood boys are now knocking on the door daily to play with Izzy and when I say daily, I really mean minutely. (yes, I know minutely isn't a word, but that is how frazzled the sound of the door bell makes me!) One ring boys!!

Last year at this time, I could cuddle Izzy up on my lap and read a book or snuggle in to watch a movie. I can no longer pick him up and if I cuddle him on my lap about 3 feet of legs are left dangling. When he slips on my flip flops to play, I'm sad to see he doesn't have that much to grow into them. My little boy isn't so little on the outside.

He loves to read street signs now, and especially loves to inform me when he feels I am going just a little bit over the speed limit and that I need to obey all of the rules. Of course I never speed, but to Izzy 40 is 40..not 41.

He can make friends in an instant which is a far cry from my shy little one at the beginning of the year. He may not remember their name at the end of the day, nevertheless, they are his new best friends.

His handwriting has improved greatly and I can now read and understand his stories. Reading his daily journal has become my favorite part of the day.

Even with all of this improvement and growth Izzy has decided he still doesn't want to grow up. My almost 6 year old doesn't want to turn 6. He doesn't want to move to the big kid class at church, he doesn't want to go to the First grade he just wants to stay little. OH how I wish I could let him!

When I put my Kindergartner to bed tonight, he started sobbing and said, "Why did I have to do such great hard work this year? I shouldn't have done such great jobs so Mrs. C could make me do Kindergarten all over again. I am going to miss her so bad! WHY do I have to be so smart?" I was so thankful for the laugh, because I really just wanted to join his sobbing party. My baby is growing up way too quickly and there is nothing either one of us can do about it. Starting tomorrow, we are going to take full advantage of every single day of summer. I have a feeling that spending summer days with Mommy won't last much longer and he will be answering those knocks at the door instead.

I may need a delivery of chocolate and kleenex tomorrow if you love me. *more tears*

Life in a Binder

2011-05-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

In between taking cover in the basement stairwell and watching the weather coverage, I worked on a little project-a long time coming. I've said before it is very difficult to keep my Master Bedroom organized because it is so many rooms in one to us. This morning I was looking for an important paper and became overwhelmed. It probably isn't just the paper, but all that I have on my plate and in my head right now, but it was the straw that made this camel organized.

This is what I am always staring at in either the mail slot or in our bookshelf. Tons of random paper, all important, but with no home.

This doesn't include the massive amounts of school work that Izzy comes home with every single day. Party invites, schedules, insurance paperwork, health forms, school papers, Medical school forms, the list goes on and on. I couldn't look at it for one more second. So I got my trusty tools out...

After separating the stack of paperwork into the appropriate sections, I made labels for each household tab. Hole-punched all of the papers and divided them into their corresponding tabs. Each family member has their own tab, so that I can add current papers or to do items to each person. I even made one labeled summer, for all of the things I would like to do, coupons I have found for fun activities, and our summer movie schedule.

The last step took just a minute thanks to my Super-Duper Silhouette, I made a simple tag to label the binder (I marked out our last name...you don't need to know Everything!!)

Gotta say how much better I feel after such a simple project. There are no more random papers lying around, no more piles to antagonize me instead everything has a home and my mind is able to focus so much better!

What makes me feel even better than this binder? Having my Izzy home from school safe and sound. I have been a hot mess worrying about him and now I can breathe a little better. Praying you all stay safe!

Joplin

2011-05-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

Everyone has heard by now of the complete devastation in Joplin, MO. I have lots of friends that live in Joplin as well as my cousin and her family which includes two small children. When I heard the news, my heart completely sank knowing there was no way to get a hold of them or check on their safety. I imagined the fear of so many Mothers trying to protect their children in such a life threatening storm. I watched the cell phone videos made in the middle of the tornado and almost became sick to my stomach listening to the fear and the babies crying for their parents. Luckily, my cousin, her family and everyone else we know is safe, although their lives are still dramatically changed. But, for the ones that aren't or are still missing my heart breaks.

Living in Missouri my entire life, I have become numb to the sound of the tornado siren. While, we always take cover and protect ourselves, I take for granted that anything will actually happen. I don't think that will be the case anymore after the coverage I have seen and the videos I have watched. Hearing my cousins account is so frightening, I can't imagine how she felt.
She gave an update on Facebook, as she has no way to call anyone to let them know she and her family is safe. She provided this picture:

Driving in her car, the sirens sounded and she was informed she had approximately 10 minutes to find shelter. This is the building she tried to take cover in, but they pushed her out as well as several others and told them to find shelter elsewhere. With no where else to go, she jumped back into her car and drove home, thankfully arriving safely before it hit. She also noted that the tornado literally jumped over her neighborhood and destroyed the next one over.

The picture is slightly fuzzy, but the parking lot is filled with mangled cars and the building is destroyed. I am so thankful she was able to make it home instead of taking shelter here.
The need is so great in this town, the News stated over 75% of the town is completely destroyed and the current count is over 100 dead. I wish I could be one of the volunteers that are there making a difference. As a stay-at-home Mommy, there doesn't feel like there is much I can do to help. Then my wonderful friend Carolyn, posted a link: www.esavealifenow.com, where you can make an appointment to donate blood, which is a huge need. That IS something I can do. Today at my appointment, I will be praying for this town and the people who call it home, for the volunteers who are sacrificing to help others and for the families who are still missing loved ones.

Just because it's Monday...

2011-05-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

Hope you got a giggle. :)

G.L.O.W.

2011-05-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

This weekend was JAM packed with fun. It is too exhausting to even rehash, so I will summarize.
* Party Prep Night/Dance Party/Girls Night
*Breakfast with Papa
*Shopping
*Tball game
*Tangled Party for our sweet friend Ella
*Immediately followed by a super fun and original Glow in the Dark party for our buddy Elijah
*Church
*Lunch with friends
*Made dinner for my sweet SIL, who had surgery last week and spent the rest of Sunday night hanging out with our hilarious family, while trying not to let SIL blow her stitches out.

Okaaaaaay. See? Not exaggerating. I'm wiped, but it was all so much fun.

While everything was super duper fun, I actually have pics of our time at Elijahs Glow Party and I thought it was so original I had to share. This party was done on the heels of the "You are my Sunshine" party just a couple of weeks ago. Needless to say, my friend K is a super Mommy and even more exhausted than me. :)

She had the kids at Hello, with the fact that the party started at 7 p.m. That is my boys bedtime so not only did we go to a party at night, but it didn't even start until bedtime...how cool is that?

The party began with, what else? Food. A hot dog bar, to be exact! In K style, she provided every option possible and we all thanked her for it. Delish.
She even provided a Specials board, in case you wanted to try something new.

The Birthday Boy and his Bestie ready to chow down.

What is that in the vase? Oh nothing, just Glow in the Dark JELLO! She's brilliant, I tell ya!

In between bites, the kids had lots to play with. Once it became dark, it was time for some real fun. Glow in the Dark: Science Experiment. The kids all sat down at a large table and made their own GitD SLIME! They had a blast and it really worked!

This is the face of someone who doesn't like to be dirty. :)
Turned off my flash for a few pics so you could get the true experience!

After the slime, K handed out tons of GitD gear, bracelets, swords, masks, necklaces, wands, balls. By this time, it was pitch black outside so the black lights in the tent were in full effect. The tent was glowing, and the kids used their gear to roam and run around the back yard.

By the end of the party, we were down to our core group of buddies. It was hard to get them to sit long enough to take this picture, what with all of the swords, wands, and darkness to wander through, but we got it and it is precious.

Delicious food, creativity, black lights, white clothes, Dollar store glow sticks and of course the Cricut and paper made for what my boys called, "The BEST Party EVERRRRRRRRR Made." Izzy told me, he wished it was an all night party, because he knows he could stay up all night with the glow sticks. 30 seconds later he was snoring in the car. :)

Elijah successfully turned 6 and his party rocked the neighborhood. I'm pretty sure the whole cul-de-sac was wishing they got an invite to this one.

Bittersweet.

2011-05-07T07:20:00.000-07:00

I have been a little sensitive and emotional this week, with good reason.

1. My Grandpa passed away last Friday. Technically he was my "Step" as he was my Grandma's second husband, but he was the only Grandpa I knew as a child. All of my family memories are woven with him as a main character and to think that my kids haven't had a chance to know him because of illness and will grow up without his humor make me very sad. It is also so sad to realize I am getting to an age that my Grandparents are passing more quickly and my time remaining with them is short. I am even more sad, that 2 weeks ago when we went to visit him out of town, we missed him by less than an hour not knowing that was our last chance at seeing him, thanking him for wonderful memories and saying a final Good-bye.

2. In my last post, I told you how Hubby had successfully completed his 2nd year of Medical School and now we are just looking at 2 years of clinicals before his Graduation. This makes me so happy, but I get emotional every time I think of it. Look how far we have come. We will have been married 11 years in September and 7 of that has been working towards this goal. This huge milestone brings such a huge feeling of achievement, but for this Mommy a heavy slap of remembering just exactly why all of this came to pass in the first place. My Judah. It is almost 7 years and I can't believe we have survived without him, let alone lived a successful and blessed life.

3. Mothers Day. The ultimate in bittersweetness. OH how blessed I am to have my boys and to have the chance to hold them on such a special day. To have memories of becoming their mother and to know the pure joy they have brought to my life. I can close my eyes and remember the absolutely pain, sickness and agony of not knowing if I would ever be able to celebrate this day. But here I am, 3 beautiful boys. There are no words really to explain what happens to a Mother who has buried a child. Mothers Day is one that just takes that broken heart and just twists it. I know that I this blog is full of posts that are bi-polar, full of super highs and the lowest lows, but so is life. This week I try to focus on all that God has given me and the tremendous blessings in my life including my short time with Judah. I would be remiss to not be honest and say that these days hurt as well.

Yesterday, my sweet Izzy came home from school with a huge grin on his face. He asked me to close my eyes and promise not to peek. I sat on the living room floor waiting patiently, for what I knew was a early Mothers Day gift. When he finally said, I could open my eyes, I found a huge hand-made card with a giant fingerprint flower in a pot that said "Happy Mothers Day!" Inside was a picture he had drawn of us scuba diving (? Hate to say, but I am too panicky for that ever to become a reality.), with hearts floating above the ocean and "I love Mom" written in huge letters above the top. On the opposite page was a questionnaire about me. What is something your Mom does to make you feel special? - "She makes me a lots of birthday parties, even when it isn't my birthday." What is the best food your Mom makes for you?-"Pizza and Corn dogs...I love corn dogs." (I never make corn dogs. That totally made me laugh.) Tell me about your Mom. "She has brown hair, with light colors in the back (...no I don't), brown eyes, she weighs 80 lbs ( I <3 him) and she is 11 ft tall."

I seriously tried to contain my sobbing because it was so sweet, but why do my thoughts always go to my sadness that it was the very first school card I have received. I miss getting things like that from my would be 1st grader, and having 3 boys to smother in kisses in the afternoon after school. But I am so thankful to get one at all.

Kids are like Dogs...stay with me. Dogs can sense everything, sickness, fear, emotions and change. Kids are the same. My Ash has been tagged lovey, since he was a newborn for his cuddly ways. This week, I think he has sensed my heartache, and has spent the entire week saying unprompted "I Yove You Mama", giving my back rubs and snuggling really closely. Just what I needed. Between my lovey and Bobo's unending kindness and art work, I am going to be ok this weekend.

Praying all of you Mommies get all of the recognition and appreciation you deserve and days filled with hugs and slobbery kisses. For those who have lost a child, or who are still waiting for the Mommy dream to become reality, I pray for peace and fullness on this very bittersweet day.

Celebration Day!!!

2011-05-05T08:31:00.000-07:00

If Medical School was like a Super Mario game, Hubby is running up that last hill and making the giant leap to the top of the flag of level 2. If that made no sense, today is the last day of FINALS EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! (and the crowd roars!) 2nd year is over. No more classes, No more crazy mid-terms followed a week later by a crazier final. I feel like throwing a party I am so happy. If I am this happy, think how ecstatic Hubby is! He is like a new person this week. As each day passed and with that one last test to take, he breathed a little easier. He has had a smile on his face since Monday and I have heard him laugh more this week than I have in the last couple of months.

It has been a long, grueling, exhausting road, but he did it! Not a single remediation in the bunch either!! I am so proud.

6,240. That is the number of hours in the last 2 years that he has spent studying, NOT including finals weekends. Oh. My. Word.

Tonight, I am taking my guy out for a celebration date. The kids are staying with my parents and Hubby and I are going out on the town. The date has to be like the best date ever because as of Sunday, we go into full blown Boards mode. For tonight, we won't think about that...we will just enjoy Cinco de Mayo for a different reason than every one else.

Happy Half-Way There Day!!!

You are my Sunshine!

2011-05-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

I have shared a lot about my pal K. She is an A.Maz.Ing cook, a phenomenal baker, a wonderful mother and wife (bordering on perfect), a super hip dancer, and an even better friend. You combine all of her super powers and it just makes sense that she can throw a super-duper fab party. Her baby turned One this week and family and friends came out Saturday to celebrate. K doesn't have a blog (but we are working on it. :) and I couldn't let this sweetness go un-noticed. K worked for months to prepare all of the hand-made items. Many craft nights filled with hot glue guns, cricuts, yummy snacks and lots of dancing ended in absolutely the most precious party I have ever attended.

You are my Sunshine Party:

How beautiful is this table? It made me want to put a ruffle dress on and twirl in the grass barefoot. Why can't I be 5 again?

Donut holes in doilies.

Caramel Popcorn Party Favors.

What did we do before the Cricut?

Another view of the sweets table.

The following picture makes me smile every single time I see it. K and I worked on this project for days and it was worth it! K dyed every single doily to make this ruffly Sun.

Ruffle Cupcakes to match the Ruffle Cake

Little Miss Sunshine!

There was another beautiful girl at the party too.

The cake was so beautiful it made her cry. I wish cake had the same affect on me.

Of course this guy always enjoys a cupcake.

The food was delicious, the decor was beautiful and the birthday girl was sweeter than the cake.

I was so blessed to be a part of such a special day and what a great excuse for me and my buddy to get together to "work" so many nights of the last few months. In just a couple of weeks we have another one to celebrate, I can't wait.

Mommy's Favorite Things!

2011-04-26T12:15:00.000-07:00

It is good to have friends that know you to your core. Today I was moving a little slowly even though my daily list is overwhelmingly long, motivation was no where to be found. My friend Katie and I were chatting this morning and she recommended a product she just knew I would love. She knows me so well and wouldn't steer me wrong, so I got Asher ready and headed to Sams. Motivation found. Welcome to my new favorite thing:

At Sams, you can by the Clorox Clean up in a pack with 2 squirt bottles and a refill pack for under $10! I didn't even bother reading all that it can do because it had me at "KILLS Influenza A". Soooooooold! After a spontaneous weekend out of town (more on that later), I had a lot of grocery shopping to do, but I knew just how I would use this when I got home. I emptied out my fridge and used my new Clean Up buddy and now all of my new food has a super germ free, sparkling clean home.

I heart organized food.

I cleaned my side of the fridge in under 15 minutes! This is super exciting find, since I clean my fridge before each shopping trip. Hello time-saver!

As I was writing this, Katie texted me and said that she told her Hubby she shared her find with me and he said, "Oh so shes a bleach freak too?" *Laughing* Between my Clorox wipes posts and now this....I wouldn't be mad if Clorox sent me some free loot. Seriously.

Trust me, my kitchen is thanking me for this purchase and you will too.

Sincerely,

Bleach Freak

It comes with the job description.

2011-04-16T20:59:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago, I started writing about my boys and their sweet brother relationship. We were having an exceptionally drippy sweet day and my boys were trying to make Mommy's heart explode of love overload. I only made it about half-way thru the post when I had to tend to my little Izzy. He was complaining of leg pain (stinking growing pains) and a bad tummy ache. He had no fever, but was doubled over in pain. I tried to do little things to help him relax, and he kept telling me he wasn't sick. The next morning, he went to school and said he felt much better. Hubby is in test mode, so he was going to be M.I.A for the weekend so I planned a weekend of fun with my boys. After school, I took Izzy to rent a couple of movies of his choice. Unfortunately for me, I only liked one of them. Tales of Despereaux, am I the only one who can't stay awake during this movie? But, Despicable Me saved the day. We were watching Despicable me and snuggling, when Asher burst into laughter. Izzy grumpily said, "Ashey, don't laugh you are going to make me throw up!" I quickly asked for kindness, but before my request was complete...it was too late. Izzy was at the toilet and lost his Papa bought happy meal. Sads. Wish it ended there, but we are in Day 2 of "Empty your guts, then take a nap" weekend. I can't count how many times it happened today, its all a blur. But, instead of eating dinner, I washed bedding off in the DRIVEWAY with a hose. Ghetto? Yes. Efficient? Double Yes.

Now, while I despise cleaning up after sickies (I could never be a nurse. Thank you Nurses!), I can do it because it is my kids and I love them immensely. Is there anything sweeter than a sick, snuggly kid? Ugh, my heart aches because I know how badly he feels and yet I am secretly loving how baby-like he is this weekend. What I super-duper appreciate is, the fact that he isn't a baby and can make it (mostly) to the bucket. Why you ask, was I hosing down bedding in the driveway then? Well, my poor boy is so sick he is throwing up in his sleep. That is sick, people.

He told me after his 3rd time getting sick in 2 hours this morning, "Mom, I am really sick, so I need you to do special stuff for me to feel better." I had no idea what these "special stuffs" were and when I questioned him, he was a tad annoyed. I got a sigh and a eye roll followed by, "Just ask Papa, he know just the right kind of special stuff I need." I get no credit. I have cared and cleaned and sprayed down bedding in the driveway, I have cloroxed until my hands cracked and I need to ask Papa because only HE can do special things? Well, I did. Papa came home with a Tom & Jerry movie and a Monster Truck bought just for the sickie. It worked, and Papa is the hero. Now, Izzy has been very sweet and appreciative and telling me he is so sorry for the mess and he loves me, but I wish I just knew that "special stuff."

So this weekend if you are looking for me, I am knee deep in sickie bedding and Pedialyte. I will have to finish my sweet brothers post another day. It's so sweet you might need some Pedialyte yourself. :)

BREAKING NEWS...

2011-04-12T17:21:00.000-07:00

Asher VOLUNTARILY went to bed tonight without his "Bink"!!!!!

We keep his binky on a shelf above his bed and he is only allowed to have it at nap and bed time. Tonight when I went to grab it for him, it wasn't there. I told him and he said, "It's lost? *pause for thinking* "It okay bink lost." He got into bed, covered himself up and said Night Night. I stood there for a minute in shock and then thought I should close my mouth and go along with it.

When I told Hubby what happened he said, "Shut it, your joking." That is how seriously this kid takes his bink. I keep waiting to hear a yell, or a cry, but so far nothing.

This sums up my little Asher, when he is ready for something he goes full force. Here is hoping he decides on potty training soon!
*crossing fingers*

Cute overload.

2011-04-12T08:05:00.001-07:00

This weekend, my boys and I met our friends K and her kids at a local nature sanctuary. We packed lunches, sunblock, a wagon, strollers, bags...it was a lot of work, but this picture alone shows it was totally worth it!

The weather was beautiful and warm and the kids were so happy to be outside soaking up the sun and trying something new. The big boys hiked while I pulled the littles (Asher and Bella) in a red wagon and K pushed baby Norah in her stroller. It was kind of a double duty day, because not only was it fun, but it was a super good workout for us Mommies! I was pulling about 60lbs up hills and winding trails. K was pushing sweet Norah and all of the "stuff" like my gigantic camera bag, our lunches, diaper bags so her load wasn't a breeze either.

My little scientist Izzy was having the best time "investigating" nature while still staying on the trail. I would love to take them again soon but this time bring some of his science stuff so he can really get into it. We gave Izzy and Elijah each a map and they told us which path to take and where the water ran according to which path we were walking. After our hike we took the kids into the nature center where they were able to see snakes, lizards, turtles and listen to animal noises and learn facts about animals they might see on the trails. The kids LOVED it and played there for a long time. K and I loved it because it was air conditioned...oh and because our kids were happy and learning. :)

My boys love the outdoors and most of all they love being with their friends. It was such a great day with fun memories. Speaking of memories, that picture is going in a frame because every time I see it, I smile. I hope when our kids are teens, they can look back at that picture and smile too.

Dream House

2011-04-07T17:10:00.001-07:00

As I grow with my family and we have moved several times, I am detailing in my mind things I want in our dream house. Hubby and I plan on building a house when he is out of school and we are settled in one place. I have a vision of the outside, but honestly, that doesn't matter much to me. It is the inside and the organization that matters, so here is what I am thinking:

As a SAHM I do a lot of organizing and cleaning and I want my house, to work for me instead of me trying to figure out a plan based on my house. Laundry is a huge task and I know that as my boys grow it is going to become even more so with sports uniforms and sweaty play clothes. As it stands now, I do lots of clothes, but I could do a full load of just scrubs for Hubby. I would love to have a small apartment sized washer/dryer located in my Master closet. Imagine, as you remove your dirty clothes actually throwing them directly into the washer and when it is full, add the soap, push the button and go! Then being able to pull them out of the dryer and hanging them right back in the closet they belong! Oh hello, time savings!

Continuing on the laundry theme, I want a huge mud room off of the garage. The house we live in now currently has a laundry between the kitchen and garage and the location is nice, but with the amount of people living here, it doesn't serve the purpose as I would use it. I would like a large room with a washer/dryer and a giant counter for folding. I picture wall to wall cabinets to store all of those holiday/party items you never know where to put. And in my most perfect dreams a large locker for each family member, labeled by name of course so that as each person comes in they can put their items in their locker- no mess, no searching for things in the morning. My mudroom would also have a second pantry for stock items. A flat screen t.v. wouldn't hurt either. Hey, I spend a lot of time in there!

My house needs a craft room. A pretty room with large work tables and tons of clear labled bins for storage. 2 comfy chairs for when my crafting buddy comes over with a cute end table in between to hold our yummy freshly baked snacks.

One thing that drives me crazy is my boys closets. I do not like having one long bar across the length of their closets. In my house, I want to use the side walls to hang clothes, so I need several short bars to hang on one side and baskets and shelving for the rest.

Closets are a big issue for us and Hubby has a HUGE shoe collection. The best way to make us both happy is to give him a nice big closet all of his own with enough shelving to hold his precious shoes and room to grow his obsession.

Our house will have to have a pool, because it has brought so much joy to this family. Friends love to visit when you have a nice big pool and your kids are always happy in the summer. It is a lot of work, but totally worth it.

I don't have a "vision" for my kitchen so much, but I know I want lots of counters and cabinets because I love to bake. I love having a center island, but a much larger size would be perfect. I'm sure by then, I will need another Kitchen Aid mixer too (wink wink Hubs).

Most importantly to me, I don't want to have a bunch of rooms that only get used on holidays or special occassions. Nothing worse than having to clean a room on a regular basis that you never use. I want a huge play room than can eventually turn into a game room for when the boys are older. Lots of shelves for toys and I would love to have a secret door leading a a little nook for each of the kids.

It is so exciting to think about and I know that time will come so much quicker than I expect. Living in apartments and now with my parents, has really helped me to deicipher what my family really needs and the function I would like in my own house. I want my house to be the "go-to" hangout for my boys and their friends and I want to enjoy living there because it is so organized and functional.

Decorating isn't my thing, it is more of my Mom's gifting. I would love a big beach house feel, with crisp whites and muted ocean colors, lots of comfy furniture, but not lots of "stuff". Kind of like this.

What things would you do in your dream house?
(Can't promise I won't steal your ideas. :)

Booked.

2011-04-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

You know me, I'm a planner. I like to know things well in advance and since Hubby's free time is so limited anyway, our schedule fills up extremely fast. New month means it is time to sit down and compile the family calendar. Ummm. wow. Seems like everyone I know is apparently born in the next two months, add in Easter, events with friends, play dates, Girls Nights, T-ball and *crossing fingers* hopefully a date night squeezed in somewhere, we are booked.

Things are hectic, even more so with Hubby studying for Boards AND his regular school schedule, but as I looked at my calendar instead of feeling overwhelmed, I felt super happy. It is such a nice feeling to look ahead and see lots of celebration and so much time with people we love. I want this next spring season to move so slowly, I am so enjoying days at the park and special yummy treats with friends. Picnic and bubbles, baseball games and BBQ's.

In a blink, Izzy will be in first grade and Asher will be a year closer to preschool. It is all moving so very fast. I am having a total blast with Asher on a daily basis and he has very quickly moved from being my little baby to my little buddy. Izzy is blowing my mind with, well everything! He is so smart and sweet. He has such a natural kindness about him and I pray he keeps it for life. Honestly, I am so very blessed right now. New friends that treat and care for me like we have been life-long friends. Old friends who make me feel like a kid again. And two silly, sweet boys who make me laugh until it hurts. The only thing that could make my life better right now would be a personal assistant so I could give them all the yucky paperwork that I dread doing and keeps me from fun. And if they cleaned the bathrooms, that would be perfection.

April Fools

2011-04-01T07:38:00.001-07:00

Today is April Fools Day. This day is so annoying to me, probably because I am gullible. Let me tell you a little story about the worst April 1st, I ever had. I went to a private school as a child and while the school was strict, my parents were even more so. I was a very obedient child and NEVER went against an adults instruction. I was such a good kid, that the principal at the school often let me leave class and help in the office and many times I saw the naughty kids receive punishments and overheard many a call to parents. So needless to say, I was scared to disobey especially at school, because I saw first hand what happens if you do. (Hello, school spanking, I'm looking at you.)

I believe it was 3rd or 4th grade and my teacher passed out a paper that had a coded page. You had to figure out the code and then we were instructed that whatever the page said you "HAD" to do or we would be in trouble. The paper had several instructions, but one said take your shoes off and put them on the opposite feet for the rest of the day. Naturally, I obeyed and wore my tennis shoes on the wrong feet for the day and was self conscious the entire day. We went to gym class, chapel, lunch all with shoes on the wrong feet. Most of the time, I tried to keep my legs crossed in hopes no one would notice my feet were pointing in opposite directions. I'm sure it didn't help. At the end of the day when we were grabbing our stuff to leave, she announced APRIL FOOLS! and enjoyed a huge laugh. I didn't get it at all and she proceeded to explain her prank. I was devastated and went home crying.

I don't remember lots from my childhood, but that memory stands out because I felt so betrayed! Today it made me so sad when I dropped Izzy off at school today and as he was walking up the steps to school I heard his Coach play a joke on him and that is when it hit me that "OH MY WORD, I didn't explain April Fools to Izzy!" My most sensitive and innocent spirited kid is going to think everyone is picking on him all day! It bothered me all day and to be honest I even had the thought to pick him up early. I know, I know...slightly ridiculous, but I know how it feels and hated the thought of him having a similar experience. When I picked Izzy up, he jumped in the car happy as a clam and when we walked in he said Hi to Daddy and then said, "Dad there is a huge spider on your back!....APRIL FOOLS!" *insert hysterical 5 year old laughter* Obviously, I'm a big baby that takes things a tad too personal because he seemed to make it just fine.

Hope you had a great April 1st and kept your shoes on the right feet. :)

Dinner

2011-04-01T07:02:00.000-07:00

I am known to be the Queen of Play dates, but after last night I think it is only right that I also be named the Queen of the Hot Sandwich. Yes, it doesn't seem like much, but let me tell you when your 5 year old is stuffing his face and in between bites telling you "MOOOOM you are the best sandwicher ever!" it becomes kind of a big deal.
This is the sandwich that made it all happen. Lets review. I started with a ciabatta roll that I added garlic and a little butter and then mozzarella cheese. I toasted for 2 minutes then added thinly sliced meat (Hubby prefers turkey and ham while the rest of us are just straight turkey lovers). Toast for 3 minutes. After they were out of the oven, I added freshly cooked turkey bacon, baby spinach and homemade spicy mayo. I sprinkled a little bit of Love added some crunchy french fries and the happiness developed.

Now, clearly the roll is not South Beach approved, but when Hubby comes home with them how can I turn them away? Everything else was diet friendly. :)

I am also known to make a mean Meatball sub and my family says I make the best grilled cheese. Obviously, it's a gift.

Sometimes it is the little things that make the family happy. Last night it was a sandwich. Panera....watch your back.

Partner!

2011-03-27T19:32:00.000-07:00

I am so super excited today. After a wonderful service at church today, my friend Aimee came up to me to ask if I wanted to be her workout partner. My answer, "Um, Yes!" At first I was a little unsure of the details and was afraid I would have to join a gym and get measured or something. eek! She quickly put my mind to ease by telling me her plan was to come to me so we could work out to Zumba or her DVD's together during Ash's nap. Perfect! When I told her I just acquired the Dance Central game for Kinect we had a moment that ended in a high-five. Boom! Workout plan complete. Aimee is a super fun and talented girl who happens to also be an amazing photographer. I'm going to be sure she takes a picture of me at goal weight so I look super fantastic. This is going to work out great because she just lives down the street from me and most of her photography stuff during the week is at night. Ash naps at 12:30, so I can get all of my stuff completed during the morning, have a workout and still have my nights with the family. Also, what is better than having a daily accountability partner? I just hope she can contain her laughter because I'm sure I look completely ridiculous. I have also decided we should have matching sweat bands. That seems official. Even more fun, my friend Katie also has the Kinect and the same games so we could workout with her too! I really feel like all of my friends should have a Kinect. Can't tell you how fabulous it is to be able to have time with your buddies from home especially when you all have kids and life gets hectic. So everybody buy a Kinect (Xbox, you can totally thank me with free merch.) and then we can start an online class and all chat everyday! Once you get one, I'll let you know what color sweat band to buy! :)

Imagine LIfe

2011-03-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

I should totally be asleep right now, but I am too excited. I just attended the most incredible event tonight called Imagine Life, a fundraising event for Liberty Women's Clinic. You might remember that my friend Katie and I (along with Bella and Asher) did a Walk for Life event for them in the fall. That walked stirred something in me and I haven't been able to shake it since. Tonight confirmed.

With that said, I am going to be super open and honest right now...so be nice. :)
When I was pregnant with Judah and learned of his diagnosis, I was scared. Terrified more like it. I heard the words "Fatal Deformity" followed within 30 seconds by "When do you want to schedule your abortion?" There wasn't a moment, a thought, a glimmer of a thought even, with that as an option. Abortion has never, nor will ever be an option for me. I believe God is the creator of life and it is never our place to choose to end it. Now my belief in life did not take my fear away for what I had ahead of me, so I can completely understand and have deep compassion for women who are in similar medical situations or young women with less than desirable circumstances. I get it. My thoughts that first night were honestly; Will I love him? Will I be scared to hold him? Will my friends stick by me? Will my family be embarrassed I didn't have a "perfect" baby? I am human, I am insecure and I was scared. I was scared that God picked the wrong girl. I'm nobody. I'm a shy girl without a list of talents. I couldn't see God's vision for me or Judah.

But the Bible says, (Psalms 139:13)

"Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb... You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day.

Luke 12:7

And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.

At the time, I couldn't see God's plan and even as I write this today I don't understand, but I do know that those scriptures are truth. He knew as he knit Judah in my womb that his life while short on Earth, was filled with purpose. Even further, he knew as he knit me in my mothers womb, that he equipped me and built me for all that he intended and that my purpose is bigger than I can imagine my talents to complete.

I'm shy. If my Speech teacher didn't completely love me, I would've failed. Through all of this I have spoken at 2 Women's Conferences and taped my story, not to mention the countless people I have met in similar circumstances who I have shared my experiences with. I see very little talent when I view myself, but God created me with a specific purpose and while I doubt myself, he knows exactly what we are all capable of. Tonight confirmed that the desire to volunteer to help girls hurting and confused, much like myself six years ago, to make a choice that they will be happy with for their lifetime. After Judah's diagnosis, I couldn't see past minute-to-minute. Looking back, it is simply amazing that God has used us in the ways he has and I know I haven't even scratched the surface. The thing is, it isn't just me, but every single person. Every person was created with purpose. So to think that in my county alone 700 babies (with a purpose all of their own) were aborted in 2010 is simply devastating. Especially when in my circle of friends, I have so many heart broken friends that are unable to conceive naturally.

I can't imagine my life, had I made the other choice. If I had followed the medical suggestion and chose convenience over life. I still have grief and sorrow, but nothing in comparison to what I would have if I had never experienced the love of my son and the memories of that day.

Thanks to the generous gifts of people all burdened by this cause, the clinic was able to raise $238,000.00 last night! AMAZING! It was calculated to cost $1,000.00 to save one baby, so that is over 220 babies in the next year, whose life will be protected. Believing that our county number is going to drop significantly in the next year and excited to hear the stories and make relationships in the process.

You are perfectly designed and meant for greatness! So what are you going to do with it?

Map

2011-03-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

Today I took Lovey on a walk around the neighborhood. It is absolutely gorgeous outside and I thought he would like to take a simple walk and chat with Mommy before nap time. Asher has quite an imagination, as I have said before. He imagines crocodiles on the floor, bad guys, sharks in the ocean and he is at least one animal for part of the day. When we left our house I told him he could choose which direction we headed. As we made our way down the sidewalk, he found a small cardboard advertisement and said, "OH wow! A map!" He wanted to stop and read it for a while before we made any further movement and finally he said, "It says dat-a way!" with a determined point. He led me around the curvy neighborhood stopping every few yards to refer to the map. He told me the map said we had to find flags. That was our new mission and luckily we have some very patriotic neighbors! We found several flags on our path, but that wasn't enough for little Lovey. He quickly realized that every single mailbox has a flag and he thought our mission included pushing each one of them up! :) He is a good listener, so after fixing a couple he was happy just to point them out to me. Not sure our mail carrier would have been to happy with that!
My little adventurer with his "map"

I just love love love spending time with my Asher. 2 1/2 might be my favorite age. Everything is so fun and exciting and he can communicate just enough for me to understand what is going on in his mind. He made a simple walk so much fun, all with his creativity and imagination. We had to jump over cracks so we didn't "fall down" and find flags, he wanted us to use our ears to listen for clues and my favorite of all was when he huffed and puffed and said, "dis is hard wok."

Of course after we found our house, I had to reward all of that work with a nice big glass of cold lemonade and a cookie. I just wish I could have joined him. Stinkin' South Beach!

Lovey

2011-03-20T20:17:00.000-07:00

Today I was listening to Asher speak and I realized I hadn't posted an update on my lovey in a while.

My quiet little thinker, while still quiet is actually speaking really well now. He was a late bloomer in the language department, but now he rarely stops talking at home. :)
When Izzy was this age, he spoke like a little Italian Mario. "Izzy no lika dis.", "whya you'a do dat?" Asher doesn't have a funny little accent, but he does like to shorten all of his words. He calls a pocket- "pock", jacket "jack", blanket "blank", and so on. But then on something he loves VERY much he adds a word. He has this pair of slip on shoes that have a flap like soccer shoes and a big G for Gap on the front. When he wants to put shoes on he never asks for shoes, he always says "I need soccah shoes!" Oh, now that I think about it he kind of does have an accent. It is like a Boston accent...everything ends in a "ah" sound. It is cute.

He has been saying one phrase a lot lately, "Bobo did it." If you watch him destroy his room and Izzy just happens to be at school and we are the only two home, and I say "Ash, who made this mess?" He will say, "Bobo did it." If you wait long enough and don't make any sudden movements or facial expressions, he will get a huge grin and then say, "Sorry Mommy."

Asher is a creature of habit. He likes his schedule, he likes to do the same thing each and every day and he will tell you on the dot when it is nap/bedtime. Every morning, when I wake him up the first thing out of his mouth is "I hungy. Ashey eat wawalls (waffles) and milk." He doesn't stray from this breakfast routine and then he asks for "I need show Mommy.....Max&Ruby." After he cleans up his mess, (yay for training!) he always runs and reads books, or plays trains or finds a big dump truck and sits in front of the front door in the sunshine and plays quietly. I am telling you, he is the easiest little kid you could ask for! This last week was crazy busy and I think he is needing some extra loving because the last two days he has been coming up to me and saying "Mama, Ashey needs hugkiss." And heartmelt.
He got his nickname for a reason. His love language is definitely physical touch.

He is still very, very shy and groups of people give him extreme anxiety. I think in this next year, he will start coming out of it, hopefully. He won't try anything new if there are other people involved (ie: moon bounce, park). Much like his older brother at this age, he thinks we can wait until the park is completely cleared out for him to try the slide. :/

My little man is super smart and knows all of his letters by sight, colors and shapes. We have also been drawing and practicing drawing circles. The one thing he refuses to do is sing the "ABC" song. He knows the letters, but won't even try to sing it. If there is anything I know about Asher, is he won't do anything until he is ready. So who knows when that will be. He does love to sing, his faves are Wheels on the Bus, Row Row Row your boat, If your happy and you know it and O Praise him. It isn't that he is too shy to sing, or that he can't remember the words...he just knows that is the song I want him to sing. Stinker. Lately, he has been writing his own songs and maybe it is the Mom in me, but he has a great little voice! Today we went shopping and while we were out he asked Daddy a question and he replied, "Hold on a minute." Logically the next step is to turn that into a song! Asher serenaded all of the checkout lanes with a little tune singing "You hold a minute...hold a minute, you hold a minuuuuuuute."

Something else I am waiting on my little stubborn bull for, potty training. Blame Mommy for delaying his interest, but he wanted to potty all of the time during the holidays. I was so busy that I would practice with him a couple of times a day each day, but didn't push more than that. Now that I want him to potty train he says, "Ashey not do dat! Potty is too cold for me. No way." Hrmph! Waiting patiently on that one.

I am going to start keeping track of Ashers Quote of the Day here as well, because lately we have had a lot of them.

Today he saw a 1/2 circle kite flying and yelled, "Mama! Look at dat, oh no! Da Moon fell down out da sky!"

While taking a bath with Izzy, he busted up laughing at something Izzy did and then looked at me and said, "Mama, Bobo so funny...and then stopped laughing and turned serious and said, but you not."

At least once a day when I ask what he would like for breakfast/lunch/dinner he responds with "Cake." When I say, "Nice try." He responds with, "YESSSSSS Cake, nice try Mama!"

If I say "How much do you love me?" He says (every single time) "Ummmmm 6." When I look sad, he then says, "Okay okay okay....8."

I'm sure there is a million things I have forgotten, but I can save them for next time. I plan on video taping him talking this week, but my luck with loading videos to blogger has pretty much been none. So many cute videos...no where to load them. You will just have to imagine the cuteness.

Happy Monday to all!

Spring Break Day 4&5

2011-03-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

Days 4 & 5 were friends days! We had a blast and ended both with a great nights sleep because we were wore out!

Thursday we went to my friend K's to play with Elijah and Bella. You could give those kids 1 thing to play with and they would just be so happy to be together. We played outside most of the day, enjoying the nice weather. Elijah and Izzy played a little bit of everything, soccer, army, bikes, and even more soccer and some baseball. The littles, Bella and Asher, played in a cozy coupe fire truck for most of the day with a little sidewalk chalk on the side. It was such a relaxing day with 4 happy kids. :) After a pizza for lunch, the littles played legos while the boys played Kinect Sports. I left at nap time with 2 happy, exhausted boys and Izzy was pretty sweaty from all of the exercise. I'd call that a successful day! That night Hubby and I were able to take Izzy to church for a worship conference we have going this weekend and it was amazing! It was a super late night for Izzy, and he was pretty emotional by the time he went to be at almost midnight. Oops!

Friday we went to my friend Karli's for lunch and playtime. Her sweet kids are 7 and 9 mo. Haiden and Izzy look almost identical and they have a blast together. Baby O is as cute as a button and she slept through most of our playtime, but Asher finds her very interesting. :) He is always trying to find her binky's for her and is always worried about her. Izzy and Haiden played Wii, jumped on the trampoline, and played boy stuff while Karli and I had a wonderful day of girl talk! On the way home, the boys were talking a mile-a-minute, and of course Izzy was making a plan for next time.

We are so blessed with the friendships God has brought into our lives. Everyone we love isn't just a friend of mine or Hubby's, but our entire family has friends within a family. It is so nice to plan something for Izzy's benefit on Spring Break, but we all got something out of it. As a Mommy, it is so refreshing to spend time with other Mommies and have adult conversation. It is even better when the kids get along so well, you can just let them be and enjoy the laughter.

Hubby has Mid-terms soon, so next weekend is all Mommy all of the time. Tonight I am going to take advantage of a girls night! I've been blessed with terrific friends, but I have also been beyond blessed with a Husband who is so thoughtful and loving that any chance I have, he sends me off without any strings attached to enjoy time away. It means so much especially knowing how hard he works and how much time he sacrifices for school. While I'm off with the girls, he is taking the boys for a guys night with their favorite cousins. They are going to have so much fun and that always makes it easy for any Mommy to leave.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Spring Break as much as we did! I will need all of next week to recover! :)

Spring Break Day 3

2011-03-16T18:14:00.001-07:00

WoW. I'm exhausted. My arms feel like jello and everything else just hurts. It was one of those super fun days that leave you feeling like you could sleep for days. Summary: Crown Center to see the Under the Sea exhibit, shopping, picnic lunch, Kaleidoscope and ended with a yummy treat from a local bakery (for the boys, don't worry I didn't cheat). That sounds like a lot and it was, but then you add in the walking, and with the enormous amounts of people that all had the same idea as I did, I had to carry Asher for 60% of it in fear that he would get trampled. Of course all of the escalators are broken, and the elevators move at a snails pace and everything we did was about 5 floors apart with 2 sets of stair cases for each. Oh and did I mention Asher doesn't do stairs...yeah. EXhaustion! Even with all of that, it was so worth it. The weather was perfect, my boys were so well behaved and helpful and I was able to experience some firsts with Asher and have great memories. Turns out, Asher is an amazing painter! Now, I would not know this because I am to OCD to get paint out, but I will have to now. He got into this crazy "artist" zone and I was just shocked at his focus and not to mention that he didn't get a drop off of his paper. Time to buy Asher some of his own art supplies...he gets it from Daddy for sure. The amount of people was definitely overwhelming, but I just reassured the boys that we were in no hurry and to enjoy what they were doing. We shared lots of good talks and many more laughs. Great day.

Wish I could stop there, but it has to be said, both of my kids (ages 5 & 2) spent the entire day watching people and how they treated others and commenting on others lack of manners. At one point a 10-ish yr old literally almost trampled me to get a marker, when I turned to him and said, "You might want to say excuse me next time and ask nicely." He gave me a dirty look and pushed a few more people to get out of his way. Another time, the boys and I found a small table with two seats in the corner where no one was around. It was perfect. The boys didn't feel rushed and were able to work on their project. A Dad in business attire, comes over with his two sons to see what we are working on. When they realized they wanted to do our station next, instead of encouraging them to wait patiently he let them take over the table. Izzy was trying to put some supplies back and only lifted himself from the chair when one of his kids pushed himself onto Izzy's chair, underneath him! I was just shocked! I looked right at the Dad and he ignored them. Izzy then looked at me and said, "Mom that isn't fair, I wasn't done!" So, I say while looking right at his sons, "Sorry, Izzy. That wasn't kind. Let's go find another station where people use manners." I understand that sometimes kids get excited and forget their training, but seriously? The parents are with the kids and allowing them to bully their way around. What happened to manners and patience and what happened to parents being a good example?

My boys aren't perfect by any means, but I can say confidently, that even my 2 year old knows better than to behave that way with or without me. I am so over kids acting like animals, doing whatever it takes to get what they want. I am even more over the parents that don't spend the time training them to be respectful. Honest, it really doesn't take much to teach your children to keep their hands to themselves and practice patience. It takes even less to teach them a simple "please" and "thank you". Didn't appreciate that it tarnished our day a bit, but it is kind of a good lesson to my boys. I can't tell you how many times I heard Asher say, "Dat so ugly." about someone who was being rude or throwing a fit. They got to see first hand how ugly it really is to act without respect for others. Sadly, I can count 2 people from the entire day that were kind. That is ridiculous.

Day 4 of spring break is going to be super fun, a beautiful day spent with friends! Can't wait, because I know they have great manners. :)

Spring Break: Day 2

2011-03-15T22:59:00.000-07:00

As all spring break days should start, we slept in until 9. No matter what time I go to bed, if I get to sleep until 9, I am a much happier woman. After our regular morning routine, I started in on the dreaded mini-hoarders room. I cloroxed everything, went through his clothes, toys and finally reorganized his closet. I feel like I can breathe a little deeper today. I think I should start each day with a project like that because even though it took a little extra energy (of which lately I have none) it put me in accomplishment mode all day long. Also, the smell of clorox is equivalent to the newborn baby smell to me, they both equal JOY.

Izzy took a little bit longer to get dressed today because you know his new hair cut has him feeling really good about himself and he wanted every "spike" just right. Once I got Asher down for a nap, I took Izzy off for a Mommy/Son date day. Izzy doesn't care what we do on these dates, but I always try to fit in a couple of things that he really loves and I also try to make them productive by getting things I need done as well. Our date started off at Sams, which while it doesn't sound fun we were only there for a couple of items like milk and diapers and Izzy is a great shopper. He loves to look at everything and he doesn't mind the free snacks either. :) Then we were off for a special delivery. My sweet friend Carolyns birthday is today and Izzy made her a card and he picked out flowers to take to her. After visiting a bit, we were off to register for T-ball. He is so excited to play again this year and the girl who registered him said, "Are you excited?" and he said, "I'm super good. Like really good. I hit home runs all of the time soooo..I can't wait." Well, his self confidence is certainly not lacking! Then it was Izzy time. I took him to QT and let him get a "special" drink which is always a white cherry slush and he wanted a hot dog. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing at the park, talking, and walking a trail. We had a little bit of time before we had to be home so we ran by Target just for fun and he looked through all of the toys and games.

On the way home, we were listening to a local Christian radio station and there is a song that goes, "I love you more than the sun and the stars that I taught how to shine, You are mine and you shine for me too, I love you yesterday and today and tomorrow I'll say it again, I love you more." (Matthew West) Izzy was belting that song out and then he stops mid-chorus and says, "Mom, I wrote this song for you. Did you know that? Because I love you like this song says. More than the stars and the sky. I just love you more! *pause* I don't know how this song got on the radio...but I wrote it." Oh, he makes me laugh and want to cry at the same time.

Or what about this one...

I'm dropping off the food after our Sams run, and Hubby meets me at the door to help. He kisses me good-bye and when I got into the car Izzy says, "Hey what was that? What do you think this is your married? You think this is your wedding? NO! This isn't your wedding...we don't have cake! No Cake..No Kisses!" I could barely contain myself. He was adamant with his disgust, but I couldn't stop laughing.

Izzy and I had the best day together and it is so fun to have one on one time and conversations that are uninterrupted. In all honesty though, Izzy doesn't really need me for the conversation, he doesn't take a breath and he answers his own questions. But it sure is funny listening to his brain work.

I even got to have some Mommy time today because after I put them to bed, I went to my friends house to work on craft projects! It is so therapeutic and there is nothing like some good ol' girl talk! I have been blessed with such great friends and creative ones at that.

Today was wonderful and it is going to be really hard to send Izzy back to school next week.

I love Spring Break!

Spring Break Day 1

2011-03-14T18:43:00.000-07:00

Today was lovely! We slept in until 9, moved slowly and enjoyed a quiet morning. After breakfast, I got the boys ready and took them for their new Spring hair cuts at a local kids salon. Izzy has always had curly long hair and as he has lost his curl, we have just kept it longer and in a surfer style. Asher, his hair has a mind of it's own...so I'm happy as long as 50% of it is going in the same direction. :) Today, Izzy informed me that he is almost 6 and it is time for him to be able to pick his own hair. Seemed reasonable to me...until he told me he wanted a mohawk. Ummm.no. His back up plan was to have a short style with spiky, messy hair on top. He was able to either sit in a fun power-wheel and watch a movie, or play a video game while she cut his hair. That was a no brainer. He picked the Wii and played Super Mario Bros. He had so much fun and then when she spiked his hair like crazy with gel I thought he would fall over out of his chair. He actually said, "I've never seen my forehead." LoL! Asher thinks Izzy is "Awesome" (he always says that) so he wanted the exact cut. Unfortunately, at first he had a complete panic attack at the thought of sitting in the car or chair by himself, so he sat on my lap at first. But, when he realized he was missing out, he picked a car. Which was great, except he picked the only CINDERELLA convertible in the joint! OMW. I was so happy that he was willing to do something on his own, I didn't say a word, but when a little girl came in for her cut and the only option for her was a Hummer or a Harley, she was less than pleased. Asher didn't seem to mind, he kept chatting away on his Cinderella cell phone and steering like he was in a Nascar race. As a cherry on top, when offered every movie known to man-kind, he skipped Cars, Robin Hood, Elmo and went the Dora route. Niiiiiice.

But when you have kids as cute as this...

It's super easy to forget the crying, and the Cinderella car.

We enjoyed a nice lunch out just the three of us, followed by a great nap for Asher and an afternoon of playing for Izzy. I decided I would get a jump start on my spring cleaning, even though the weather outside is SNOW! I gutted Izzy's room and in 2 hours we had 1 large trash bag for trash, 1 for clothes and 1 for toys to be donated. How is that possible? I just did this in September! SB Day 2: We are tackling Asher's room and doing some fun projects with the boys. I might need prayer for Day 2....Asher is a hoarder. It is not going to be pretty.

How are you spending your Spring Break?

M.I.A

2011-03-13T12:46:00.000-07:00

I've been MIA.

But I have had good reason. After celebrating my birthday, I almost immediately came down with Influenza A .. Boooooo! I told my hubby it is how I imagine Hell to be. It was horrible. When I was on the mend TWO weeks later, then my Hubs get sick. In between all of that, the kids were off...runny noses, cranky, blah. To summarize my last month, sickness, sickness, sickness. The worst part of the whole thing, is that time was Hubby's Spring Break. SADS. Don't get me wrong, we have had moments in the month of fun, but not how I imagined our planned for his break.

This week is Izzy's Spring Break so I am going to jam pack this week with tons of fun and hopefully some spring cleaning too! After this month of sickness, I just want to walk into all of our rooms and breathe in a good clean Clorox smell. Aaaah!

Two weeks of flu means I have hit my sickness quota for 2011. Sweeeet!

In other news, I've started South Beach again! Hello swimsuit season, I'm getting ready for ya! I started phase 1 last Monday and as of yesterday, I had already lost 8 pounds!!!!!! South Beach takes some will power, but I love how fast you see the results. Before and After pics? Maybe tomorrow...

I'm in love...

2011-02-12T21:16:00.000-08:00

With a machine. Let me introduce you to the Silhouette.

This digital cutting machine has completely changed my life. I told my Hubby that in a dream world I would love to own one, and like always, he makes all my dreams come true. (please stop gagging...it's Valentines weekend.) Anyway...he wasn't sure what I was talking about and I wasn't sure he was even listening, but completely fitting his personality he not only listened, but decided to do some research and totally hook me up for my birthday! It has been a busy couple of days and tonight I finally got a couple of hours to get it set up and play around a bit. It was love at first sight.

Confession time: After cutting my first image, my Hubby walked in to check on me and I looked at him to show him how fantastic it is, and I did shed a few tears. True. Story. I know go ahead and laugh, but have you ever wanted something, never imagined you would get it, and then in a twist, actually get it and it is 1,000,000x better than you could have ever thought??? This is like that. Tears were totally warranted.

So, what did I make? Oh just a little gift for a sweet little girl who happens to be Ashers BFF, named Bella. (K- I know you are totally going to read this before Monday, so just pretend you didn't see this. Also, feel free to act completely shocked at my crafting abilities.)
The pic was taken with my phone so it is a little washed out, but it is super bright and colorful in person and totally adorable! Pretty much the possibilities are endless.

I am super excited about all of this for multiple reasons, but one is for a new group of friends I met through church who all love to craft. We meet once a month at a local shop, bring our projects and work and chit-chat all night. It is super fun and relaxing. This is going to be so nice for those times not to mention all that I can do on my own for my boys projects and parties!

It's official, I have a hobby. It has been a long time since I could say that, feels good. Paper beware...I'm on a rampage!

How did this happen?

2011-02-09T21:10:00.000-08:00

(Pic of my 31st, with the cutest boys you will ever see)

50. Is the number of minutes until I turn 32. OMW. How did this happen?

I remember the day of my Mom's surprise 30th birthday party and I remember going into the public restroom and crying (I was 10) and thinking that because she turned 30 she was going to die soon. I am OLDER than the that age now. Obviously, 32 isn't old...it is just that I am creeping a little too close to the age when your kids are teens and you have a mid-life crisis. EEEEEEK!

I am not a person that cares about my age by number, I don't think I "look" 32 nor do I feel it. I think that is all that matters. However, Izzy did ask my age a couple of weeks ago and when I told him 31 he replied, "WHAT! 31, it takes me forever to write to that number!!!" lol Thanks, kid!

In less than an hour I will be 32 and I am totally okay with that. I have a family that loves me beyond words. 2 boys that overflow my heart with love and joy, make my guts hurt from giggles, and my eyes teary when I think of them. I have a Hubby that spoils me rotten and when I least expect it. He knows my love language and he speaks it well! I am surrounded with amazing friends who make life so much fun and love me for me. Most of all, I have a relationship with the Lord and as I look back on my 31 years and remember all of the things I have been brought through, I am amazed. He is faithful, loving, and OH so merciful! My years on this earth have been quite a ride, and I am so blessed to be exactly where I am right now.

Looking forward to a new year with a fresh outlook and surrounded by people who Love to Love!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Just call me the Queen of Funk

2011-01-28T08:41:00.001-08:00

Thought I would let you know how I've been spending my time recently when I am not mothering, wifeing and cleaning.

I've been DANCING!

I can't stop. I would call for my friends to come make me stop, except they are all just as hooked!

It all started with a little game called Zumba. I took a class at the Y for about a year and loved every second. I would almost pass out on the drive home every time, but it kept me coming back for more. It is a fantastic work out and it is super fun! So when I found out that I could buy it as a game, I knew it was meant to be. I have played it almost every day several times a day for 2 weeks. It has gotten so bad that Asher actually told me to stop dancin'!

Girls nights...what do we do? Have a dance off! Last weekend, I went to my sweet friend Katie's house and we Zumba'd and Dance Centraled our way to exhaustion. Luckily we have yummy snacks to give us the energy to survive. A few days later, I hosted a spontaneous girls night with my friends Amanda and Brenda. You might have heard of a guy named Michael Jackson, he is a pretty good dancer and has a couple hits. Well, she brought her Wii game over and you can add it to my obsessed column. It is so much fun!

The dancing doesn't stop there because this weekend was JAM PACKED full of fun! Like I am not even sure if this blog is going to make a bit of sense because I am in a haze of exhaustion, so please excuse my ramblings. Any who...Friday night Hubby and I got all dolled up and went to a fancy party for our dear friends who celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. Delicious food, catered Sheridans custard (omw...every party should have this) live band (music was killller!) and the sweetest of all, a renewal ceremony. After shedding a few tears due to the sweetness level...the band kicked off with what?.... oh nothing, just a little MJ! I wanted to break out my dance video moves so badly, but alas, they were video taping and who really wants evidence? And just as I was dancing in the Sheridans line with my seriously hilarious friend Karli, what did my ears hear except the first notes of Hubby and I's song-Anytime by Brian McKnight! So I gave him the look and within seconds we are dancing away like we are back in high school. MJ, JT, Brian McKnight it was like the band was in my head. It was beyond fun and my feet showed the level of fun. Jessica Simpson shoes are not made for hours of dancing. Or maybe that is just what happens when you spend your everyday in yoga pants and flip flops. Either way, the pain was totally worth it.

My boys had stayed the night with my Bro-in-law and when I picked them up the next morning, we all made plans for a super duper fun family day. Extreme sledding and a Kinect party that night. I say extreme because anything with our family can not be normal. No, we have to build ramps and jumps and we come up with crazy sled formations to find the highest speeds possible. I have videos to prove all of this, but unfortunately blogger apparently doesn't care to load ANY of my videos anymore. Annoying. Imagine with me if you will, how my poor feet feel. I have been dancing daily for weeks and then attend the best party ever where I dance until the stage broke (actually happened), followed up by hours of extreme sledding and all the walking up the crazy steep hills and then add in about 4 hours of Kinect sports and ZUMBA! I just wanted to find a pedi chair to soak my poor feet in and never move again. Speaking of Zumba again, my sweet nephews J, T, L are a bundle of fun. They will try anything, even Zumba. I spent the rest of the night having a dance off with different family members, but most of the time I wasn't dancing so much as doubled over in laughter because they are just too cute. I wish I had a video of that.

Sunday, I took a much needed dance break. After church we headed over to our friends the Weeses for a Super-Super bowl party! My stomach is sore today from all of the laughing and I am always happy to be sore from that. I can't give all of our fun away, but I will say that hair extensions were involved and someone may or may not have looked exactly like Billy Ray Cyrus from Achey Breaky heart days. True Story.

My feet feel bruised, my guts hurt from a weekend of fun and I am going to need a large mixing bowl full of coffee to survive this day, but it was totally worth it.

Quotes

2011-01-25T09:13:00.000-08:00

Boys quotes from the last few days...

Izzy:

While doing devotions and reading the story of Moses and the parting of the Red Sea, I asked Izzy how did he think God was going to get the people across the sea? He gave me a "duh" look and said, "Well he needs to talk to the guy that made the big boat! That's how they are gonna get across!"

"I love my teacher so much and I bet her driveway is so full of snow and you know I am a super good shoveler so I think I am going to tell her I am going to need her address so I can come by her house and shovel her driveway. *later after school* Well, I told her and she said that is great...but she didn't know her address!"

Papa was making a quick lunch for himself and pulled the pan off of the stove, brought it to the table and steam was everywhere. Izzy said, "Papa! What are you doing? That pot is still stove'in!"

Asher:

While watching his morning show, I was cleaning and he said, "MAMA! You too NOISEY! Ashey hearin' dis!"

"Mama, you nuggle Ashey." (snuggle. :)

"My Bobo so Happy!" (After Izzy got a free snack at Sams Club.)

"Mama, Ashey tell secret." ...leans into my ear and whispers... "Secret, secret, secret."

Just a few from this week that made me smile! Hope it gave you one too.

Performance Review

2011-01-19T19:49:00.000-08:00

When I used to work at a large financial firm, I received quarterly performance reviews. I would sit through a long meeting while following along as they read my "points" good and bad. I would sign off and vow to improve in my areas of lack. (eyeroll)

Tonight, Israel and I did our normal routine, except tonight after devotions I felt urged to stick around and just let him talk for a while. I listened as he shared about his day, his friends at school, school rumors, injuries dating way back to summer (sidenote: what is it with boys? they remember every single injury), our relationships with God, forgiveness, my day and our plans in the next week.

Finally after all of that I asked, "Israel, what kind of Mommy do you think I am? What things do I need to work harder on and what things do you love that I do?

"Well, you are a really good Mom, but you could be a (fingers pinched close together) little better. Like you could try to make more good food. Like good quesadillas and tonight you made good hot cocoa, but I like mine a little hotter and you could've put a little more marshmallows in it."

Me- "Hmmm. I can work on that for sure. What else and you can tell me anything."

"You are always hurrying. Hurry Hurry Hurry Hurry Hurry. We gotta go and we gotta do this fast and I am over it! I think you need to work on not hurrying all the time. Slow down and play."

Me- "Wow, that is totally valid. I promise I will work harder on that."

"But don't worry, because I think you are good. You always do lots of stuff for me that makes my heart feel good like surprise parties and surprises in my lunch. You play fun things with us and you put that snow in the bath tub, I really liked that."

He gave everyone reviews; Grandma, Papa, Asher, Daddy and it was so interesting to get his take on their relationship.

For Papa, he said, "He is a good Papa, he is perfect he doesn't need to work on ANYTHING!"

But for Grandma he said, "She needs to get my drinks faster...sometimes she says she will get one and then she forgets."

"He thought Daddy is a good Daddy and he just needed to work on being patient and he gave him lots of credit for things he thought Daddy did for him but really I did. :) I let him think it anyway. He had lots of good things to say about Daddy like that he is a really hard worker and that he loves to play with Daddy. He thinks that Daddy is really good about making time for him even though he has lots of homework and even said, "that makes me feel really good that he stops to play with me every single night."

Ashers review was a little more critical....of course. He said, "Asher needs to work on not being a baby he needs to grow up a little. He needs to not throw his dirty socks on me when I am playing PSP and make me lose-ed my game! So rude. He needs to not make a mess in my room and then not clean it up. But, really he is the best brother. He is so nice and tonight we played in my room and he leaned over and kissed me 4 times and I thought that was really nice. He is my best friend, but he still needs to work harder. He has a lot of bettering to do."

Tonight, Izzy and I talked for 90 minutes before bed. It was truly one of the most interesting conversations I have had in a long time. This conversation really hit home with me tonight because everything he mentioned is really right on. I am organized and schedule and NEVER EVER late. While trying to teach my boys the importance of a work ethic and time management, obviously, being relaxed and enjoying the ride to whatever we are doing isn't always on my mind. It is my intention, but my personality sometimes cloudies it. After hearing my performance review today, I will not just sign off and dismiss it like I used to at my old job. We promised each other that we would work harder for each other and do better work.
I am hoping very soon to get a perfect performance review like Papa did, hopefully someday!

Ask your kids for a performace review, you might be surprised at their response. :)

1/2

2011-01-12T18:35:00.000-08:00

I realized today that my kids are officially half-way to their birthdays, which means they are now 2 1/2 and 5 1/2. Oh my. 3 and 6 are just around the corner and that makes me feel so sad. Doesn't 5 and 2 sound SO much smaller than 6 and 3? I have already started my party planning and jotting down my ideas. Thought now was a good time while I am thinking about it to write a 1/2 journal of what they are into right now.

Izzy- 5 1/2:

Sleep: Pillow pet dolphin "Dolphie", "Roary" the lion and "Shelby" the turtle all have to be in your bed for you to be able to sleep. You still listen to music every night and I have to leave the door cracked. You go to bed at 7 and wake up between 6-7 each day.

Eating: You are starting to expand your palette and most times will at least try something once. Like most kids your age, you love chicken nuggets, anything with dip, cheese, yogurt and fruit. You like pasta with olive oil and parm no sauce for you. You still don't like hamburgers. If I let you, I think you could eat an entire pizza by yourself. Oh...the teenage years!

School: You are in Kindergarten and LOVE school. Your favorite classes are Computer lab and gym. You may or may not have "forgotten" that I pack your lunch every day and "accidentally" sometimes buy a hot lunch on credit. You think it is super cool to eat a hot lunch...soon enough you will be thankful your Mommy packs a nice lunch for you. : )

Activities: The long days of school have made it almost impossible to be in extracurricular activities, but we are going to try Karate in the next month and you are super excited. You love soccer and baseball and all things outside.

New things: You are learning to read and you are so proud of yourself. You have become a HUGE helper around the house. You love to do anything that helps a family member out and you are a very hard worker when it comes to weekly chores. Recently, you learned how to rinse dishes and load the dishwasher, put away your folded laundry, wash counters and table after meals. Your weekly chore is emptying trash from all rooms in the house and you do a great job!

Favorite thing: Right now, it has to be video games. You are brilliant when it comes to anything computer based and so video games flows right with that. You have just about everything there is: Gameboy, DS, PSP, Wii and Daddy lets you play his Xbox 360 with him now too. PSP is your personal fave especially with your new game Eye Pet.

Growth: We measured you the other day and you are currently 51 inches tall and about 55 lbs. You wear a size 8 or Medium in big kids and within the month you will be in a size 3 shoe. You grow like a weed!

No matter how big you get, you are the sweetest and kindest boy I have ever met. You are always encouraging and loving and I couldn't ask for a better big brother to Asher. 5 1/2 years old, you are kind, obedient, funny, sensitive, smart and super helpful.

Asher- 2 1/2:

Sleep: You LOVE to sleep and Mommy loves you for it! You go to bed promptly at 7 (if not before) each night and sleep until 8:30-9. You like to wake slowly and if we try to get you up before you are ready you point to the door and say "No." It normally takes you about 30 minutes before you are ready. You sleep with music and only allow "Doogie" the dog to sleep with you. You like all lights off and the door shut completely. You still love your binky at night.

Eat: You USED to love everything and ate almost any vegetable as long as it was pureed. Now, you have 2 food groups, fruit and yogurt. You don't like any kind of meat or potatoes. Every morning you eat the exact same thing, 2 waffles and a piece of turkey sausage with a milk. It is the first thing you ask for and until you see the waffles go into the toaster, you can't focus on anything else.

School: Well, you're not in school yet, but when Izzy is you love to learn. You practice flashcards and play your learning computers every day. You know all of your letters, can count to 13 and know all of your shapes. You love puzzles, games and LOVE to play I Spy. You really love when I read to you and would go through the whole bookshelf in one sitting, if I had the voice for it. :)

Activities: You love to play trains and soccer. You are very coordinated for your age and can keep up with the big boys in anything. We are definitely signing you up for Fall soccer because you practice everyday and already have a victory dance.

New thing: Has to be conversation. It took you a long time to talk even though you understood everything, but we officially have entire conversations and I can understand almost everything you say. Last week, I was out for the night and Daddy put you to bed. The next morning when I woke you up the first thing you told me was "Ashie naughty. Daddy put Ashie pime tout (time out) No. No. No! No hitting Bobo Ashie. No Hit." *shaking his head no* :) It is so fun to finally know what you have been thinking all of this time!

Favorite thing: Cozy coupe, still. You love that thing and now you are so super fast! I do make you wear a helmet sometimes because you like to drive it with your eyes closed and see what you bump into. Extreme cozy couping!

Growth: Not exactly sure how tall, but I know you are the size of most 3 1/2 year olds. You weigh about 34 lbs. You wear size 3T and size 8-9 shoes.

At 2 1/2 years old, you make me laugh non-stop. My little owl, is blossoming into a slightly (very slightly) more social little guy and you love to make people laugh. You are obedient and very very loving. You are constantly saying "I hode (hold) you Mama?" You like being the baby and you adore your big brother. You are smart, loving, ornery, affectionate, quiet and funny.

I wish I could stop time and keep them at these ages forever. Can't imagine how much they will change in these next few months.

Snow Day #3/ Snow Inside

2011-01-12T14:37:00.000-08:00

Snow Day #3 and I am still coming up with ways to entertain! Today the temperatures were frigid, -20 windchill was just a little too cold for us to do much of anything. I searched all night online for activity ideas for the kids and I thought this would be perfect for today. Bring the snow to you! I took a storage tub outside and filled it twice with snow and then dumped it in the boys bathtub. It filled it to the top and the boys played for over 2 hours with it. I found some toys like Izzy's tech deck snowboard and a guy and he built mounds and ramps and played X games! Asher loved to bury his toys and then dig them up with a crocodile claw. Gloves were all that this activity required and there was no mess!

We even built a snowman!

The looks on my boys faces were priceless and Izzy even said, "Mom, this is the best idea you ever had. I don't think I will ever go outside in the snow again and get cold and runny noses! I'll just play inside!" Sounds good to me!

Snow Day #2/ Business Edition

2011-01-11T17:51:00.000-08:00

I had an idea of playing office after dinner tonight. Israel took my idea and said, "I want to do that, but I want to make a real business. So here are the pictures of his Grand Opening. He is a natural!

He came up with the name and logo on his own.

He got himself dressed up like a business professional.

Israel's Badge

This is the shop he set up in his bedroom. He had customers waiting for him to open up, but he wanted everything to be just right.

He even had business cards made.

Every serious professional needs a briefcase.

Papa was his first customer and he was an easy sell.

He was making money left and right! Customers were coming in like crazy and he was selling out of inventory quickly!

Daddy heard about the new shop and decided to check it out for himself. He found the perfect snowboard and was hoping he could get a student discount. They were negotiating the deal for a while. They finally settled on a deal for a piece of dubble bubble gum for the snowboard. Being a good businessman, he is writing Daddy a receipt.

Business is Booming!
Papa came in for another item and handed him a $100 bill, Izzy almost fainted. Then when Papa tried to take it back, the bill almost didn't make it. :) He didn't get to keep the 100, but he did make a good amount of money for his first day in his new business! I had to tell Izzy to close up shop for the night and get ready for bed. He said, "Oh good, because owning your own business is exhausting and all of this hard work made me sweaty! BUT I'M RIIIIIICCCCHHHH!"