Thursday, June 30, 2011

For Funsies

The other day I thought I had this great idea for a "game" on my blog and have a giveaway for the winner. After talking to someone that I know very well, "we" thought it wasn't that great of a game.
Today, while eating lunch at Chick-fil-a, I ran into my sister in law, Lindsay. I started telling her about the idea of wanting to have a giveaway and she mentioned to me what one blog mama does sometimes for giveaways. It was brilliant! Thanks Lindsay!
Whoever (or is it Whomever?), gives me the best caption for the second picture will become the new owner of these: They are Yellow Box sandals. The winner will have the opportunity to go here and select your favorite color. The only restriction is that they are one of the $21.99 pairs (sorry for the limitation, but I'm not a cash pinata.) These sandals are amazing and by far, the most comfortable ones that I have ever owned!



Here's the picture:
Since most of you reading this will be on my FB, please leave the caption in the comment box there.
Contest is over at 10:00pm cst tonight.

I will read the comments to Jeff and have him choose his favorite.


Good luck!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Life in my shoes

A blog that I read frequently had mentioned that she was going to blog about her daily routine for one week. She mentioned that one of the reasons she wanted to journal about her day, was so that she could look back on it one day and see how busy of a mama she was.
One of the reasons I really wanted to get back into blogging was for a very similar reason. I wanted to have something I can go back to, look at, read about what was going on in our lives, and see how much the boys have changed. For a while, I had been keeping a journal by my bed and would write things the boys were doing, something funny they did that day, or some of the funny things they would say, but I started to drift from writing because I was just too lazy and more times than not, I would get serious writers cramp!
So, today, I thought I would blog about my day(only today, not for an entire week) and all that we did. It's nothing extraordinary, but a pretty typical day around here.
For stay at home moms, it may be encouraging to know that you aren't the only one who doesn't get "me time" until 8pm at night or ever get to just sit and think, for the empty Nester's, it may be a walk down memory lane and may have you wishing for a second that you could have one more of these days back, and for those of you who don't have kids, well, this may be a form of birth control.

6:10 a-7 a: I wake up and C wakes up (but I go put him in our bed. I am NOT on mommy-duty until 7a), I do some laundry, have my quiet time.
7a-8a: J wakes up, I get dressed, make my bed, Nathan wakes up, change his diaper, make pancakes and bacon, we all eat breakfast, the older two watch cartoons.









8a-9a:I nurse N, get clothes out of dryer, put a load in the wash and another in the dryer, clean the boys rooms so I can vacuum, find a sippy cup in the older boys room (can't get myself to open it to see if it's water or milk. My hope is that it is water.), I vacuum the boys rooms,








What the boys room looks like when I pick it up and vacuum (this is at 8:35)




I continue vacuuming the entry way, N starts crying to be picked up, C wants a snack (I won't let him have one because he hasn't finished his breakfast),




What the boys room looks like at 8:45a
Vacuum living room rug, vacuum our room, get C dressed, brush boys teeth, do a short bible lesson with boys (and by short I mean about 15 minutes. After all, I have a 2 yr old and 7 month old in attendance).
9a-10a: Change a dirty diaper, load up and head to the Y, work out until 11a.
11a-12p: We arrive back home from the Y, get the older boys lunch, put N down for a nap, I clean up breakfast dishes, found out that it was milk in the sippy cup that I stumbled across in the boys room (gag!), load dishwasher, boys go off and play, I eat my lunch, N still asleep, clean up lunch mess, check my emails, change another diaper





Boys room at 11:57a





J in outfit #2




12p-1p: Put clothes in washer and dryer, do puzzles with the older two, N wakes up, change another diaper.




1p-2p: Feed N lunch, nurse, play with boys.




2p-3p: Have boys pick up toys in living room and kitchen, read books, older two lay down for a nap/quiet time, I fold and put clothes away.




3p-4p: Check emails, lay N down for second nap, read some blogs and FB, fold more clothes, unload dishwasher.




4p-5p: Boys wake up, have snacks, watch an episode of Word World, I read.




5p-6p: Change a diaper, N wakes up, I nurse, go outside and play, Jeff arrives home (hallelujah!)




6p-7p: Heat up dinner (leftover night is the best), eat dinner




7p-8p: Give N a bath, get him dressed for bed, nurse and put him to bed, go outside with older boys and Jeff, and play in the water.




8p-9p: Older boys get pj's on, teeth brushed and put in bed.




9p..................Free at last , free at last, thank the Lord, I am free at last!








I know, not that entertaining, but something for me to look back on and see how busy I was during this phase of my life. This is a typical Monday though, not a lot of drama (boys, for some reason play really well together on Mondays), stay close to home to relax from our very busy weekends and for me to get chores done. I like being able to get a lot of things done at the beginning of the week, so at the end, we can go places and have play dates.




The reason I took a picture of J changing, was because, lately, he has been going through this phase of wanting to change all day. One day last week he went through about 5 outfits. The following day, I put my foot down and told him he couldn't change anymore, but that caused, how can I say this?, DRA.MA! So we compromised: he can change throughout the day only if he hangs up his shirts and puts his shorts in the drawer. If I find a shirt or pair of shorts on the floor, he isn't allowed to change anymore for that day. Seems to have worked.




What's your schedule like?










Saturday, June 25, 2011

Cars 2!

As you can imagine, we are excited about this weekend because.......







....has made it's way into theatres. Unfortunately, we have a packed weekend due to meetings, date night, church, grocery shopping, etc., so we don't know if we can make it this weekend to go see Cars 2. But we are super excited that this movie has finally come out.




One of the reason this movie is special to me is because Cars was the very first movie that Joseph sat through and watched (over and over and over and over and over). And, the Cars characters was the first thing that he started collecting. Ok, ok, lets be honest, Jeff and I got caught up in it to. We used the cars for rewards, got them just because we loved the little guy, and Joseph talked Mimi into getting half of the characters.
I remember having these conversations with him:
(At Walmart in the toy isle)
J: Mama, I want this Lightning McQueen.
M: But, you already have a Lightning McQueen.
J: But not this one. I don't have this Lightning McQueen with the dirt on it.
(Disney started to break our bank account by making hundred's of different McQueen's).


It all started with this particular McQueen. Joe had just watched the movie and soon after we started potty training. I went to the grocery store and while I was checking out, I saw this car. I purchased it to give to him as a reward for using the potty and from that moment on, he was hooked. (Now that I come to think of it, this might have been his first car, ever.)
We went from this one car to this............



58 cars total!

We know, it's insane!

I am nervous now about this movie and all the new cars they are going to come out with. We honestly don't have much more room in their car bucket for any new cars.

And to conclude, if your boys ever come over to play and they want to play with cars that don't have eyes on them (once a request from my nephew, Mark), you might have to BYOBOC (bring your own bucket of cars).






Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Whoa! A Post!

I know, I know, it's been about 8 months since my last post. I can't believe it either. I honestly, have been so busy with three boys, I don't have a lot of time to sit down and write a post. However, while I was on our family vacation, I had the itch to start up again. Now, I'm not making any promises to this being a regular thing again, but I would like to keep up with it more than I have been.
So, to kick off my first post of 2011, I am going to blog about our recent trip. The pictures are not in the correct order, which irritates the snot outta me ( I can never put them up correctly), I am going to tell the story of our trip through the order of my pictures.


Since Joe was 2 1/2, we started collecting the characters from the first movie he ever watched, Cars. We have been able to collect almost all the original characters over the past two years. Unfortunately, there have been two characters that we haven't been able to find out our local stores: Lizzy and Red. Sooooooo, you can imagine our excitement when we walked into the World of Disney store and found Red. (And you can imagine the irritation from me when I went to our local Walmart after returning from Florida, to find this exact Red on the shelves. Ugh!)


Jeff and Nathan at Cocoa Beach. This was a fun, but very challenging trip. You know have you have it in your head that everything will be fine and work out great, but forget you have a 7 month old that is going to hate everything about the beach? When we first got there, everything was great. Nathan nursed, we set up his pack n play under an umbrella, gave him some crackers, should be a happy camper, right? WRONG. When it was time for his nap, he protested his nice little pack n play (that he has slept in the entire trip) and got so worked up, that he couldn't be consoled. So, we had to cut our beach trip about an hour short.


This little man had a great vacation. He learned how to hold his breath and "swim" under water, he got to go to SeaWorld with Jeff, he did the boggy board at the beach (until he nosed dive on one wave and came up with a mouth full of salty sea water), he made me realize that he is at a great age to travel to Disney World with, and he made me laugh by having the following conversation:




We are at a Wendy's (somewhere on the road, in Florida).


Joseph, would have made a great caveman, because he hates to wear shoes. So much in fact, one time when I told him to go get his shoes on, he replied, "I don't need shoes, I have my feet."


So, we are at Wendy's eating and Joe, like everywhere we go, took his shoes off and is walking around the restaurant:


Me: Joe, please go put your shoes back on!


J: Why?


Me: Be cause we are in a restaurant, people are eating, and it's bad manners to being running around bare foot. Plus, it's disgusting."


J: (in his normal, deep, manly voice) Dada, I have to poop.


Papaw and C at Cocoa Beach.


The reason for this wonderful trip....getting see my cousin Elizabeth get married. I can't believe she is married. Such a beautiful person inside and out!


Okay, I have left out this little detail, until now. But the wedding was at the Grand Floridian, Disney World. That being the case, our little munchkins had their own kids menu at the reception. They also had a Mickey Mouse watermelon cut out. The boys loved it!





Nathan and my grandmother.


Christian boy has always been my best sleeper. From days old, he could and still can sleep anywhere. If he's tired, he will just lay his head down where he can, and catch some z's. Here at the wedding, he decided to curl up on Mimi and take a quick cat nap.


Here at my two oldest before the wedding. C, is honestly, my most smiley and happy child, but my pictures, nowadays, beg to differ.


Oh boy, we are at the age where we are going to make faces for the camera, rather than smile. *sigh*








(l-r) Christian, my nephew, Cooper, Joseph holding Nathan.


What your car will look like when you have 4 babies and 3 adults traveling. (Or maybe, your car always looks like this when you travel.)


Four very happy boys to be out of their car seats.


This little guy did great on the trip too. No lie, I am pretty sure the very first day we drove, he slept a good 5-6hrs out of 8hrs driving. Such a good traveler! On this trip, he became very brave and started jumping of the side of the pool, going under, popping up and swimming to the ladder. He also, decided he wanted to start using the potty and on several occasions, while in our room, used the potty. We are not, however, potty training right now. I am one of those mom's who likes to stay home an entire week, get it down, and then start going back out. It's too early in the summer for me to want to stay home for an entire week.


This little angel boy did pretty good. The first days of driving, both going there and coming home, he protested his car seat a little. Then the second day, he was like, "oh, this isn't that bad," and slept most of the trip. He did great sleeping away from home. The only rough days we had were at the wedding(which he needed a nap badly) and the beach day (which he, again, needed a nap badly). I realized on this trip how different all my boys are: J, he would always fall asleep nursing, catch about a 40 min nap on me, and be great. C, kid could/can sleep anywhere. N, ummm, yeah, he's a little more demanding. He has to be in his bed, on his belly, AC set at about 75 degrees, no blankets, etc. So, needless to say, he isn't as easy to take places during his "fussy" times.


When you've been driving in the car for two days, you start to go a little crazy. In some cases, you might smell your brother's croc, say "ewwww" and have everyone, including yourself, lol'ing.



That's all in pictures. We had a great time with family and our extended family. We stayed at this awesome resort that my mom was able to rent from a relative of a friend from work (did you follow that?). We stayed on Disney grounds at the Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort. If you are planning a trip to Disney World anytime soon, this is a great place to stay. They had about 5 or 6 pools, two of them with slides, 2 lazy rivers, putt putt, movies on the lawn, and different activities for the kids throughout the day. The condo we stayed in had 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, washer, dryer and patio. As I have become a stay at home mom, I have realized that hotel stays, or in this case, a resort stay, are ideal for you. I did cook a meal on this trip, but I love the fact that we had the option of not having to cook or clean for an entire week.




Some things I learned on the trip:



-Once you get into Florida, at every food exit you either have 2 of the 3, or in some cases all of three to choose from :Burger King, McDonald's and Waffle house.



-Don't every stop in Ocala, Florida because you will be afraid for the safety of your child and your own life!


-If you make a stop long enough for lunch, 5 out of 7 individuals will have to "take the browns to the superbowl."(Jeff's going to be so embarrassed that I wrote that)



-The further you get into Florida, the older people get.



-My wonderful husband set up a date for a place called Texas de Brazil. I learned if you eat your weight in meat, you will walk funny afterwards. (This place was awesome and I recommend it to everyone!)



-Disney World is not for a 2yr old or 7 month old.



-When at the beach and you are in a hurry to get your screaming infant out of the heat and into the AC vehicle, no one will tell you that you look like Marilyn Manson. (How did I find out that I looked him? I took Joe to the bathroom at a 7eleven, and when I looked in the mirror, I noticed. )



-When you haven't gotten a Slurpee in years and go to get one for the first time, you find yourself getting way too much and it spewing everywhere and now you have to clean up the counter, the cup, your hands and I think I had to wipe up the floor. (this was post Marilyn Manson look).



-Watching the Dallas Mavs beat LeBron and the Heat will be an NBA Finals that I will never forget!




And to conclude, I love my boys and my husband so much and enjoyed getting to spend an entire week with all four and not having any chores!