Our Summer Bucket List

This summer, after spending far too much time on Pinterest and getting too many ideas in my head of things we just HAD to do, I decided to make a bucket list for my boys. You know, fun stuff, like "go to the beach" and "go to the zoo." There were 35 things on the list and we accomplished 30! I considered this to be pretty good until I realized that the few things we didn't do were probably the most important. I am almost embarrassed to say that I never took Jonathan on a "dinner date with mommy" and Zack never took him for "breakfast with dad." I mean, seriously. What kind of parents can't find time to accomplish these simple things? I always had such good intentions....every weekend I thought to myself, "I should take Jonathan to dinner tonight at his favorite restaurant!" But then, life would get busy. Matthew would get fussy, Zack would have work to do or we would decide to go do something as an entire family. And believe me, I know that just because summer is over doesn't mean I can't do it, but it just makes me feel so guilty that I couldn't do that one. I had nearly 3 months!

 

I have spent the last few weeks working on my classroom and going to some really great trainings on early childhood development. One thing that I have heard over and over again is the importance of building that connection with the little people in your life. Little ones just HAVE to feel loved, important and special. Now, obviously Jonathan and Matthew are loved, important and special, regardless of whether I have the chance to go on a mommy date or not. But how special would that make him feel? How important would he feel knowing that I left Matthew and Daddy at home so that we could be together? Just me and him.

 

So my goal for the next week, before school technically starts on Tuesday, is to take my wonderful little guy on a very special dinner date with mommy. And I encourage you to do the same with the little people in your life. Let's take time out of our busy schedule to shower them with love and undivided attention. I plan to report back next week with a fun review of our night:)

And here is a random picture of us completing #24 on our list, "have a breakfast picnic!"

Some long overdue confessions

Nothing important, just checking in to get some things off my chest!

1. Lately, when I am rocking Matthew to sleep, I sing Christmas carols. He seems partial to Silent Night and O Little Town of Bethlehem. Why is that my voice always sounds super awesome when I sing Christmas carols but not so awesome when I sing everything else?

2. When Matthew is fussy now, I let him eat crackers until he feels better. Hopefully I am not teaching him to stifle his emotions with carbs.....

3. Today, I tried to do something funny to cheer Jonathan up after his nap and he, very matter-of-factly, told me "that's not funny Mommy." Yikes. Things are bad when your 2 1/2 year old doesn't find you funny.

4. While we were playing t-ball in the backyard, I missed the ball.....multiple times. Jonathan on the other hand, hit it. Every time.

5. I have put any semblance of a diet on hold for a while. I know this seems stupid, but I am just tired of worrying about it. I have lots of other things to focus on right now and obsessing over what I am eating, how often I do cardio and if I will have a chance to work out in my living room......are not really that important. I take the boys on a long walk every morning (and sometimes in the evening) and do a quick work out when I have time (which is hardly ever.) And that is just going to be it. And I just don't feel like stressing out about it all. I am probably a good 5-10 pounds higher than I want to be and right now, I don't care.

6. I spent nap time yesterday watching Snookie and JWow. Judge away.

7. Sometimes, when I just cant hack it anymore as a good mom, I put both kids in the car, turn on Jonathan's favorite Bible songs and we just drive around. Sometimes for as long as an hour.

8. Zack's Grandparents made him some really awesome cookies for his birthday and I sometimes sneak one when he is at work. He hasn't noticed yet, but in a few days, when they are all gone, he will redo his mental calculations and realize he has been screwed over.

Until next time :)

Preschool, here I come!

You guys, I am in a total blogging rut. I just don't feel like I have anything important to say right now! Life is just chugging along, nothing major happening. And to be honest,  I think this is a great thing. I am genuinely enjoying my time with my boys and we have settled into a good routine. Life is just.....good.

This week I did change our routine up a little in preparation of our new schedule once school starts. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I attended the Weekday Ministries Conference with my new First Steps team! It was my first look into what goes behind teaching preschool and it was delightfully surprising! Coming from a public school background (and a middle school one at that!) made everything I heard and learned this week, new and exciting. For example, the very first thing that happened Tuesday morning when we all met at the church to carpool, was our director starting our day off with a prayer for safe travels. I mean, seriously? What kind of awesome job have I stepped into!?

The rest of the week was not only encouraging but it built my confidence as a new teacher. I left this afternoon feeling excited and ready to get a hold of these sweet little kiddos!! One of the sessions I went to was called "Faith Development" and it equipped me with some great tools to help build the faith foundations in these 3 year olds. Teaching 8th grade English has always been fun and rewarding, but I truly feel like I have the chance now to literally shape the future for these kids. We are their first experience with teachers. We are their first step in a long journey of learning. If we screw this up......oh man. I don't like to even think about that.

So yeah, I am excited. However, I really need to practice my finger puppet shows and brush up on preschool science lessons! Matthew and Jonathan have really enjoyed watching me learn these new tricks:)

Summer Fun!

In an unexpected turn of events, we have actually been busy doing lots of fun summer stuff lately! Usually we are more of the "stay at home and relax" variety, but I have really been trying to get the boys out and about this summer. You know, the whole "we are busy making memories!" kind of thing. Well, that and the "they both take much longer afternoon naps if I wear them out" kind of thing....

Some highlights from the past few weeks include a trip to Honey and Papa's house in the Hill Country, a family beach trip to Galveston and our small group trip to the lake! Our sweet friends invited our entire group (and all our kids!) to spend the weekend at their great lake house. Everybody had a blast!

Playing some golf with Papa!

Stealing Honey's sunglasses!

Matthew did great on his first trip to the beach!

Lunch break!

At the lake! All the little "Mamas" wanted to take care of Matthew!

There would have been more water if my son hadn't thrown half of it out...

The kid table!

We have a few more fun activities planned for our last few weeks of freedom. I think Jonathan is getting pretty used to our schedule of sleeping in later, playing all morning and then resting all afternoon. He is in for a rude awakening when school starts back up! Then again....so am I!

My favorite Pinterest finds!

Since I am so positive that you are all waiting to know exactly what I love on Pinterest, I made you a list! (Hopefully I am not breaking some unwritten rule in blogland by linking to other blogs....I found them on Pinterest, so obviously their information is already out there...)

Brown Bag Pop Corn- Put 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels in a brown lunch bag and fold the top over twice (no staples....you know, what with metal being a fire hazard and all...) Microwave for 1 minute, 30 seconds. Top with your favorite toppings. WAY cheaper and WAY better for you than regular bagged popcorn!

Cheap Foaming Hand Soap- Once you are done with a bottle of foaming hand wash, refill the bottle with about an inch of regular hand soap, body wash, baby shampoo etc....Fill the rest of the bottle with water and shake well. Voila! A whole new bottle of soap for next to nothing. I just did this with some Aveeno Baby Body Wash and it totally worked! That stuff is expensive so I was super happy to find a way to stretch it out. It lathered up really well, smells just as nice and worked the same!

The quote: "Let him sleep. For when he wakes, he will move mountains." I want to find a really sweet print for the boys rooms, but so far the majority of what I can find are vinyl wall decals. Has anybody seen this as a cool printable?

Baby flashcards- These are done by the Wee Gallery brand and I love them. We had hard copy cards for Jonathan, but gave them back to a friend for her own kids. When I found these pinned from the Similac website, I was so excited. Matthew LOVES to watch them as a "peek-a-boo" game and the animals even make sounds. Now, I am not an advocate of putting your baby in front of the computer for extended periods of time, but 5 or 10 minutes never hurt anybody!

Funfetti Cake Batter Cookies- These cookies are freaking awesome. They are yummy, easy to make and look cute too. Obvious win.

So what are some of y'alls favorites? If you are not into Pinterest, have you found anything out in cyberspace recently that I need to be aware of? Please share!

You know you are a mommy when....

I laughed pretty hard writing these today because I realized that I have done ALL of them in the past week! What are some things that you guys would add to the list?

1. You are driving by yourself when you see a garbage truck. You immediately yell, "TRASH TRUCK!" just like your little boy.

2. You find yourself hoping that your little one will wake up to eat around 3:30 am because it means he will go back to sleep and stay asleep much later in the morning. This seems stupid, but all I know is that when Matthew doesn't wake up to eat, he wakes up for good at 6:00. If he does, he will sleep until 8:00! 20 minutes in the middle of the night in exchange for 2 hours? Obvious answer.

3. When you are getting ready in the morning and the baby barfs on you, you decide to wear the outfit anyway and if anybody asks, you tell them it happened in the car and you didn't have a change of clothes.

4. You rush to get all your chores done with both babies crying on your hip so that you can use nap time to catch up on the Real Housewives of Atlanta and not cleaning the bathroom.

5. You justify feeding your toddler macaroni and cheese multiple times a week because you bought the organic kind.

6. You "pin" a bunch of really over-achieving activities for your toddlers so that your friends who follow your board will think you are super mom.....even though you have never and will never actually do them.

7. You don't make yourself your own meal because you are too tired and you know your toddler won't eat theirs anyway so you can just have that one.

8. When you walk into the salon to get your hair cut, your hairdresser says "Wow.....it has been a LONG time since you've been here.

9. You have perfected the "Oh friend, I have sooooo been there" look that you give to the other mama in the grocery store when she walks by with two screaming babies in her cart.

10. You can carry on an entire phone conversation with a baby screaming in the background.

My thoughts about the 4th of July

Let me first get a little rant out of the way...I hate fireworks. Not the beautiful, large city-wide or neighborhood fireworks, but the super loud, super annoying little crappy ones that a million people in my neighborhood shot off last night. I know this makes me sound like a grumpy old woman and I am okay with that. Fireworks serve one purpose, to look pretty. Black Cats and other equally annoying firecrackers are not pretty and they wake up sleeping babies at all hours of the night. Oh and then, my super special neighbors left all their trash in the streets. So let's recap....they are loud, wake up babies, are not pretty in any way and leave a huge mess behind. I guess I can see why teenage boys enjoy them so much.

On to better things....

We had a great day at our house! We spent the morning walking in our neighborhood parade and checking out the fire trucks and ambulances that came to drive in the parade. Later, the Ley's came over to grill some burgers and then we ended our fun day at a party thrown by our sweet friends! Jonathan had a great time at the party and really enjoyed swimming in the pool with his friends!....until he threw all his food in the pool. Hot dog and all.....

Speaking of, I freaking love grilled hot dogs. I wish they were even a smidge healthy because if they were, I would eat them all the time. As it stands though, they are a special treat in our house. Stupid unknown ingredients.

Hope you guys all had a great day too!

Bringing up the rear of the parade!

 Sweet friends!

Jonathan chillin' in the water with all his friends!