weekly ten

1.  Last week was Media week in my 7 Bible study.  That meant no facebook, no blogger, no instagram, limited email, texts, and internet.  And the biggest; no tv! The point was to get back to the importance of communicating face to face and paying attention to our family instead of our phones and the tv.   It was yet another eye opening experience for me as I discovered how often I turn to media during the day. As we are rounding the last few months of house building, there are so many decisions to be made and I realized that Pinterest has influenced most of those decisions.  It was hard to live without it for a week.  I  felt lonely not checking into my FB all the time. And I realized that I am so accustomed to getting online, that I totally forgot how to pick up the phone and call my friends!   Honestly though, I have been done for a few days now and still have not checked my Facebook page.  (they keep sending me emails reminding me to come back which I think is hilarious!)  That was the only positive that came out of it for me- I felt free of the comparison and competition that I have been feeling the last few years and I am pretty sure it is because I was comparing myself to everyone on FB that appeared to be living better lives than myself.  I hope to make it a month with no FB and then see if I feel like going back.  If I do, it will be very limited.

2.   This week we are focusing on waste.  I didn't think it would be hard since I already recycle, buy thrift and we even use bath water to water plants.  However, I did not realize how many lights I leave on after I leave the room- opps:)

3.  Best way ever to keep two boys completely still for 20 minutes.... put them in front of a garage where they are pouring cement!

4.  Grant and Ashton attended their first roller skating party.  It was hilarious!  They both loved it and cried to leave.  They both wore beginner skates that made it very easy to learn and stay upright.  Ashton couldn't quite get the rolling motion down so he chose to run in his instead. 

5.  We are busy with last minute house decisions that seem to zap up all my time as you can tell by my lack of posts lately.  We are so anxious to get into our house already but still have at least a month or two until it is done.  This whole process has reminded me that I am not a patient person at all.  I had to pull out some of my old devotions from my infertility days to remind myself how to be patient.

6.  I think Ashton is finally potty trained.  Of course by saying this, he will probably have an accident today just to prove me wrong!  It has been a long haul but I am so proud of my big boy- he has done amazing considering how crazy our lives have been lately.  And I am happy to move into a new house and not worry about potty accidents all over my new carpet.

7.  Our last day at library time until summer- shark week. 

9. Ashton is such an old soul that I occasionally forget he is only two years old.   Lately though he has made it hard to forget.  The Terrific Two's have definitely begun for us.  "I can do it myself" is a phrase heard every three minutes.  It takes us 20 minutes to drive out of the driveway because he has to climb in the car, close the door and buckle himself in all by himself.  Did I mention before that I have no patience???  He is also experiencing the frustration of twos- he is happy one second then pitching a tantrum on the floor the next second.  Despite all these frustrating moments, I really do love two year olds.  They find so much fun in everything they do and it is such a great reminder for me to stop and have some fun sometimes.

10.  Blessing of the week:  My Seven Bible Study really has been a great experience and has opened my eyes to the life I was living and the life I want to live and teach my boys to live.  I am so thankful for the ladies that are walking down this road with me and the experiences that we are sharing together. 

Mother's Day

 

Happy Mother's Day to everyone lucky enough to be called mom. 

If  you are a mother to an angel in heaven, may peace fill your hearts today.

And if you are longing to one day be called mommy, may you find strength for your journey.

Thinking of you all today and praying for God to give you the desires of your heart. 

weekly ten

1. Mud. Everywhere.  I must get used to having mud everywhere.  Thinking I need an outdoor shower so I can wash my kids down before they come inside.

2.  Last week I noticed Grant asked me to turn up the volume on things a few more times than normal.  I asked him if his ears hurt and if he could hear and he said yes.  Monday he threw a fit to go to a church meeting and claimed his ear hurt.  I was skeptical since he has claimed illness before and then admitted he didn't tell the truth- he was fine.  I dialed up the dr and lo and behold the poor kid had a double ear infection.  Crazy how those things come up and surprise you.

3. I love the Scholastic books from school!  I am pretty sure I get more excited about new books than the boys do!

4.  Just a sampling of the donations heading for Africa's Child this week.  For my 7 Bible Study, we are purging 7 things from our lives each day.  I am a classic hoarder so this was a difficult project for me.  I purged way more items than I needed to get rid of, but it felt so good so I kept going.  Hoping to decrease the amount of boxes that get moved while also changing the way I look at stuff.  Up until now, I was consumed with wanting more and more and keeping up with family and friends when they got more and more.  Now, I am re-thinking the way I look at stuff.  Wearing new clothes and having fun shoes is not going to change who I am as a person so why do I feel that I constantly need new ones every season?  Not saying that I can't ever get anything new, but do I really need 10 pairs of jeans or will 5 do just fine?  I am learning that I have so much excess stuff and the desire to always want more and keep up with the Jones' is so against everything I claim to believe in.  So why do I do it?  Change is hard, but I know it is desperately needed in my life right now.

*just imagine a picture of a couple overflowing boxes of treasures being donated.  Technical difficulties :)*


5.  Have you told your moms that you love them today?  A friend of mine lost her mother unexpectedly and instead of sending flowers and cards, she requested everyone call their moms and tell them that they love them.  Quote from her eulogy...  So, you see, it's impossible for me to have regrets. I don't regret that I didn't call her one last time, or that we hadn't had lunch lately. Because everything that needed to be said has been said long ago. But I still told her all the time how much I loved her.  

What are you waiting for.... go do it right now.

6.  Ashton's new saying... "I guess".  Example.... "I just peed in my pants, I guess."  So funny to hear such a grown up saying to come out of my little guys mouth.

7. Anyone else have a child that still cries at preschool drop off a month before the school year ends?????   I had a breakdown at work the other day after dealing with Grant's 20 minute  fit as I dropped him off.  He loves school but apparently he told his teacher he doesn't like to leave his momma.  Ironic since he has no qualms about running into the babysitters house any other day with no tears.  I am at my wits end and am really tired of all the other moms giving me the "your kid is still crying???" look.  Any advice?

8.  The last month or so I have taken the boys to library time in our new town.  It has been such a blessing- Ms Ingrid is awesome and we have made so many new friends. 

9.  Grant and I decided it would be fun to write a book.  So, he drew a picture of an egg and then told me what to write around it- so funny.

The egg tooted and then it pooped.  (every good story from a 4 year old boy must start out this way, right?)  And then it went to breakfast.  After breakfast the egg went to play.  It went outside for a bike ride.  Then it went to the theater to see a movie.  And then the egg was tired so he went home to take a nap.  After dinner he went for another bike ride and then finally went to sleep for the night.  The End.


10.  Blessing of the week: pizza night with the fam.  Last Friday the four of us headed downtown for pizza and ice cream.  Seems like a normal night out, but with the busyness of the house and Jason starting his summer job, we haven't had many meals together lately. It was just nice to slow down for a couple hours and enjoy each others company.

prayers

Today Jason's cousin will have a memorial service for her precious baby girl, Myla.  I know you understand the pain of this day and the pain to follow.  You know the prayers she needs that she can't quite come to say herself right now.  Please join me in lifting her up in prayer.

weekly ten

1.  My excuse for being a bad blogger lately.... I was kidnaped by this masked crusader.

2.  Jason and I were blessed to have a kid free weekend last weekend.  Unfortunately we didn't have anything super romantic planned unless you call house shopping romantic.  Nothing like waking up at 8 am on your first day to sleep in in over 6 months!  We spent the entire weekend ordering appliances, furniture, browsing granite slabs, picking out fireplace stone, checking out wood floor options, planning our electric in our basement and Jason even snuck in a little plumbing.

3.  All of that shopping may sound like fun to you, but I have decided that I am the worst decision maker ever, so shopping has started to become painful for me!  I am a review reader and a second guesser.  Appliances were a nightmare and I am still waking up at 4 am wondering if our furniture is going to be ok.  Note to self:  never ever tell people what you are planning on buying.  They all have opinions and they are usually never the same as yours:)

4.  On Saturday night, we were able to get out to our local hibachi for a fun date night.  We ended up sitting around the hibachi with a bunch of people we knew so it was a ton of fun.  We closed out the night with Snickers martinis and lava cake at our favorite local restaurant.  On Sunday night, I woke up not feeling well and found myself running to the bathroom.  I threw up a few times and was feeling horrible.  I couldn't believe I got the stomach flu again this year.  I was so worried because I had been around pretty much all of our family on Sunday.  My day care provider generously offered to watch the boys for me so I could rest in the afternoon since her kids all had the flu already.  I always say the worst part of being a stay at home mom is when you are sick and can't even take care of yourself much less two active boys.

5.  On Wednesday I discovered that I was not the only one that ate at the hibachi that got sick.  Apparently I was lucky enough to get food poisoning along with about 200 others that ate there that weekend.  Thanks Wild Chef  for that fun experience.....

6.  My boys are loving the warmer temps.  They have been out playing in the woods at our new house and riding around their quad.  I just can't wait to get out there where we actually have room to play.  Although I think I may need to get GPS chips installed on them because they disappear into those woods and I seriously can not find them.

7.  This past weekend Jason's cousin gave birth to her precious daughter at 20 weeks.  I haven't heard all the details, but I know her water broke.  The news brought me back to the moment my water broke.  All those horrible memories that I have been able to put away for a while came flooding back.  My heart is breaking for her and her family.  And, I am just kinda irritated at God for taking another of our precious babies.  Please keep her in your prayers as you know how horrible those first few days and weeks are. 

8.  This week  in my 7 Bible Study, I had to wear the same 7 clothes for an entire week.  It was a lot harder than I thought it would be.  I assumed the laundry involved would be less, but I found that I was always washing clothes so I would have something to wear the next day.  There were times I put wet jeans on and a few hours that I wore only my cami because I spilled something on my only dry shirt.  It was very eye opening to me and I will never ever stand in my closet and say I have nothing to wear.  BTW- people don't notice you half as much as you think they do- not a single person mentioned that I wore the same outfit to work, church and playdates.

9.  We were finally able to get out our spring jackets to wear to church this weekend!  I just can't get over how adorable these two are....

10.  Blessing of the week:  A date with Ashton.  I had to run to World Market on Saturday so Jason took Grant to go plumb the house and I took Ashton shopping.  A while back I stopped taking them shopping with me due to the screams that ensued when I refused to purchase every toy they saw.  I was anxious to see Ashton in action all by himself because since the screams are usually coming from the naughty 4 year old.  He was amazing.  I did my pre-engagement with him before we went in and told him he could touch but not take.  He would touch a toy and then put it right back on the shelf.  I even dared take him to Five Below which is wall to wall toys and he didn't shed a tear at all when we left empty handed.  What a blessing it was to have a positive shopping experience with a child in tow.  This makes me long for next year when Grant is in school and Ashton and I get to spend three mornings a week together- just us. 

                                                          He definitely made me laugh!  :)

weekly ten in pictures

1.   Instead of my usual weekly ten, I thought I would do pictures from our last two weeks.  Now that I have finally joined the world of smart phones, I find I take a lot of random pics throughout the week so I thought I would share what we have been up to.

2.  We have been shopping a lot for house stuff lately.  One thing I do not recommend is furniture shopping with two crazy boys!  No matter how much pre-activity engagement and disciplining we do, they think a furniture store is a large playground and they instantly run to the first chair they find and jump on it.  We are short on babysitters these days so we have no choice but take them along.  Fortunately, last Friday our neighbor graciously watched the boys so we could get on our own.  What do you think of this chair as an accent piece in our new living room????

 3.  Yes, my hair is different in this picture.  I had a cut that day and she straightened it.  I neither have the time, motivation or patience to do it myself so don't expect to see it again for another 6 weeks!  I do find it amazing how many people comment on your hair when it has changed.  Makes me wonder just how bad my usual style is....


4.  A few weeks ago we had a family fun night at school cancelled for weather and a Kindermusic class cancelled for weather.  We had two disappointed boys so we decided to do something fun and took our first ever trip to Crazy Bounce.  The boys loved it!

 5.  Shopping at Lowes for lighting.  If only furniture stores had carts like this!

6. In the last two weeks I have had to meet electricians, decorators, builders and the cabinet guy at the house.  It hasn't been easy to keep the boys occupied especially since it has been so darn cold.  One day they helped Mr Mike build our bedroom, the other I found the one patch of sun in the house and they watched Happy Feet on the portable DVD!

 

 7.  I am doing a new Bible Study called 7 by Jen Hatmaker.  It deals with 7 areas of excess in your life.  This week we are doing a food fast.  We were not able to go out to eat so since we were in the car most of my days off this week that meant packed lunches in the car.  It takes a lot more effort but I know it is so much better than Old Mcdonalds.

My fast also includes no processed foods so homemade bread it is for the week.

8.  A hint of spring in our house.  Thanks Mom!

 

9.  Frozen in a trance watching Frozen.  I am not sure if I have ever seen them both sit this still for this long. 

 10.  Some random Florida pics that were stuck on my phone.  Oh, if we could only go back!

Hmmmm... de ja vu anyone?  Just a little tidbit about my hubby- he would rather wear clothes from high school than spend money on them.  Needless to say it doesn't surprise me at all that he is wearing the same outfit in the above pic from 2014 and the below pic from 2103.  Location- Alabama Jacks, Key Largo, Florida.

11.  Bonus pic for everyone that has been asking for an update....

weekly ten

1.  Time for another funny things my kids say addition of the weekly ten.  I did one of these a while back but my kids seriously say so many funny things that I needed to do it again.

2.  Conversation between Grant and I before bed...

Grant:  Mommy, I have something to tell you.  You can't tell anyone.
Me: (Intrigued)  What is it Grant
Grant:  Sometimes I worry about you.
Me (crap my 4 year old is staging an intervention with me...)  Why Grant?
Grant:  Sometimes you and daddy are home with me and sometimes you aren't and you get a babysitter and that worries me.  I like you home with me.
Me: (phew)
After explaining the importance of Jason and I focusing on marriage and getting out without kids and telling Grant that we are ok, he leans over and says, "that just makes me want to give you a big hug."


3. Grant to Ashton after he had another accident on the floor....

Grant:  I helped you and then you peed on the floor.  We are never going to get our present now.  That is just coo coo headed.

LOL.  I have a gift for both of them when Ashton goes accident free.  Grant has to help Ashton in order to get his toy.  At this point Grant may be the only one getting the toy.

4.  The day I have dreaded finally came last week...
Grant:   Mommy, H says that santa isn't real and that parents are Santa.
Me: shedding a tear inside. Grant, if someone tells you that you just tell them that you believe Santa is real and then walk away.
Grant:  Ya, I know he is real.  That would just be silly if parents came down the chimney.

phew.... dodged it for now!

5.  Ashton has been a horrible sleeper lately; waking up one or two times a night.  The other night he ended up in bed with us (do not judge- I will do anything to sleep!).  I started picking on Jason because he had a ton of extra room on his side and I was falling off the bed and he jokingly said,"you lie like a dog."  Ashton suddenly pops up and said,"mommy, you are not a dog."  Jason and I were cracking up.  About an hour later we were all happily sleeping when Ashton suddenly started his awesome belly laugh.  I looked at him and noticed he was fast asleep.  After a few laughs, he again said,"mommy, you are not a dog" and kept laughing away.

6.   Grant kept asking begging for me to download a song the other day.  I was highly confused when he asked for "knobby castobby".  Hmmmmm??  It took me a while but I finally realized it was "Nothing Can Stop Me" from Planes.  Apparently he has my talent for transforming words in songs:)

7.  Funny words out of Ashton's mouth lately..... actually, unbelievable and hopefully. 

8.  Not so funny words Ashton says lately.... I need to pee pee mommy.  5 seconds after he just peed on the floor. And 7 seconds after I reminded him to let me know when he had to go potty.

9. While discussing with Ashton that daddy may need to go with him to Kindermusik one week, his response was as follows:

Ashton- What?  I think this is a problem.  Daddy will not fit in.
LOL-  Either he is very observant to the fact that there is only daddy there or he really isn't ready to give up his time alone with mom.

10.  Blessing of the week:  I think this one is obvious with a week of funny things my kids say.... I am thankful for the fact that my kids can speak.  As a parent, it has to be so heartbreaking to never hear your child's voice.  We are blessed to have healthy children that talk our ears off and hope to never take that for granted.