Things that make me happy.

Lately, my goal every day has been to find and focus on the things that bring me joy. Most of the time, they are little things....you know, the cliche, sappy things that we all say "make us happy." My kids laughing, bedtime, a good dinner etc...Others are a bigger deal. Like my new pair of jeans. Either way, here are a few of them....and for you guys, what is making you happy right now?

1. This weather. Don't get me wrong, I love me some good, seasonal cold weather and I am a little irritated that it is January and 80 degrees outside. But as a parent of two small boys with a ridiculous amount of energy, I am thankful that we can spend hours outside! Here is some proof of our recent adventures...

2. My new jeans. Let's just get it out of the way now and say that I am slowly losing my sense of style. I have had the same pair of ratty old jeans for years and it hasn't really bothered me....until they started to sport holes in the booty. So I hijacked my best friend and forced her to take me shopping. When we walked into the Lucky store, I told the sales lady I needed her help finding the right fit. She looked at the jeans I was wearing and said "Obviously. Those jeans don't fit at all." To which I very quietly answered, "uh...yeah, these are from Target...." Needless to say, I now have a new pair of rockin' jeans that actually fit and don't give me saggy butt.

3. My job. I am a broken record. I love my job. Like, for real. Not in a "well, it's okay and I don't absolutely dread going, but I really would rather be at home...." kind of way. But in a "I can't wait to get there in the morning and come up with awesome stuff to do with my crazy kids and I wonder what little Bella will be wearing (because she has better style than I do and she is three) and I hope I don't get Play Doh in my hair but if I do it's okay because it means we were having fun, and I hope nobody pees on the floor..." kind of way.

4. My boys. Duh. They are awesome and would make anybody happy....but lately, they have become such good friends. I love to hear them talking to each other in the car, watch them running through the hallway together, see them playing in the backyard....And best of all is watching Jonathan become a wonderful big brother. He is so quick to help Matthew do things he can't do on his own and loves to teach him how to do new stuff. Just yesterday, I walked into the bathroom to find them splashing in the toilet water. Matthew doesn't know how to open the toilet seat, so by default, Jonathan is guilty of teaching that little life lesson. I am raising brilliant babies. 

And a few more....Nap time, bedtime, awesome in-laws that watch my kids so I can go shopping, awesome parents who tell me months in advance that they are going to take both boys and watch them for a few days...just so that I can have something to look forward to, successful Pinterest recipes (most of which involve sugar,) reading the blogs of awesome people, the fact that I have 65 episodes of The Office on my DVR right now, my over-abundance of candy stashed in a secret hiding place, amazing friends who are better at getting me out of the house than I am, and last but not least, my sweet hubby who continues to work his booty off for our family. (Can you tell how tired he looks? Even so, he still makes time for our boys. And that my friends, is the sign of an excellent daddy.)

                                    

So, what is making y'all happy right now?

Friday Thoughts...

And now, for a big collection of random thoughts.

 

1. According to my new years resolutions, I am supposed to be more healthy. Well friends, I joined a gym (shout out to Blast Fitness!) and went this morning! I only stayed 40 minutes, but hey, that's better than nothing! AND I drank two full glasses of water (instead of soda) (okay, I have since had two sodas as well....) so basically, I am winning at life today.

 

2. I thought Matthew was working on dropping his morning nap lately since he didn't take one all 3 days at school. Well, today, he went down and slept for an hour and half. I can't figure this kid out. I am a planner extraordinaire and Matthew doesn't seem to be too conducive to that. Not that I am complaining that he wants to keep napping...NO WAY would I complain about that. Just saying, I wish he would fill me in on his plans sometimes. Oh, and brother knows how to run now. RUN. Are you kidding me?!

 

3. Shopping for jeans is basically torture. I don't want to pay for fancy jeans, but I can't find any that don't look like mom jeans or give me a saggy butt. My favorite pair of all time were maternity jeans from Motherhood Maternity......think I could go buy some in a small size and get away with wearing them without anybody thinking I am preggo? That would be awesome. Oh, and the pair I wore yesterday have a rapidly growing hole on the booty and I was so nervous about it that I told my co-teacher to watch it during the day and warn me if it got too shady.

 

4. Seeing as it is Friday, I am spending nap time watching Police Women of Dallas. This show is wild. They just showed a fight between like 50 people at an apartment complex. I just can't believe this stuff actually happens. People are NUTS. Do I live in a bubble? Yes. Do I care? No. I like it in my bubble.

 

5. I have been searching for some really good recipes lately. And let me say, nothing irritates me more (okay, lots of things irritate me....) than recipes that are titled "SUPER easy blah, blah, blah!" and then the recipe has 15 ingredients and calls for things that I can't pronounce. Nothing about that is easy. Nothing. I have however, found some good recipes to make this weekend. So far for dinner, we are having peach cobbler, egg rolls and chicken taqitos. It's cool though....I went to the gym and drank some water. It will all cancel out....

 

6. We have a pack of coyotes and a few owls living behind our house. And y'all....those things are crazy scary in the middle of the night. I swear there have to be like 100 coyotes back there having some kind of coyote rave or something. They are so loud. Zack likes to remind me that unfortunately, coyotes don't party....they eat animals. As it stands, I will continue to imagine their crazy noise is a party and not what it probably is.

 

7. Oh, and it has come to my attention that y'all can't see my pictures. I apologize for my lack of computer/blogger skills. I am bottom of the rung in the blogging world and can't figure anything out. They are showing up fine on my computer.....I will keep working on it though!

 

(This guy on Police Women just got caught with weed and tried to justify it by saying "Dang, everybody in the American population smokes weed! Get off my back!" Ha ha....these people....)

 

Have an awesome weekend!!!

I love them when....

The last few weeks have been hard. I have found myself in LOTS of situations where I had to turn my back, take deep breaths and pray some serious prayers for patience before I turned back around to face the crazy. So, tonight, I am making good on one of my new years resolutions....to be more purposeful in bragging on my boys. True, bringing up the outrageous things they have done isn't exactly bragging, but it is making me laugh :) At the time these things were going on, I thought I would lose my mind. But now, I can see that these things are what make my boys unique, fun, and absolutely tremendous.  My thought is that by tomorrow, when I am up to my eyeballs in crazy again, I can look back and be reminded of how much I truly love my silly boys.

 

I love them even when.....

 

They think throwing their dinner on the floor is more fun than eating it.

They spend more bath time covering themselves with shaving cream than actually getting clean.

 

They do anything, other than sleep, during nap time. (Apparently, emptying the sock drawers is hilarious...)

 

They scream every.single.second they are in their car seat for 9 months straight.

 

They wake up every.single.night for the first 9 months of their life.

 

They learn to take their diaper off and then run around the room (during nap time) naked, resulting in the need to duct tape said diaper on for months.

 

They take all the cushions off the furniture and then shove all their teeny, tiny little toys down in the cracks....only to later scream and cry because they can't find their favorite teeny, tiny toy.

 

They spill chocolate milk all over themselves in the car and when I tell them to take their dirty shirt off in the garage, they decide to take ALL their clothes off and walk down the sidewalk.

 

They pee on the fire hydrant in the neighbors front yard. And in the playground at the mall. And the park.

 

See? My boys are pretty awesome, don't you think? :) All too often, I get lost in the frustrating things they do...because, let's be honest, they do lots of frustrating things. But then, I look at them when they are covered in shaving cream or food...when they are standing on furniture or peeing in the yard (as opposed to their pants I guess) and they are smiling this ridiculously huge smile and they are so tickled by what they did and I just have to laugh...and remember, I love these boys. A LOT.

Confessions of a Tired Mommy....

It has been a long week and all signs are pointing to an ever longer weekend. So let's just get right to it....

 

1. Every Friday during nap time, I watch a Police Women of (fill in the city of the day) marathon. I love this show. People out there are so dumb. Seriously.

 

2. Speaking of, I have become obsessed with the OWN channel and the Weather channel. There are some awesome shows out there. Police Women comes on OWN, Ice Pilots comes on Weather. Are they stupid? Yes. Are they totally addicting? Yes. Do I want to move to Northern Alaska and become a police woman? Yes.

 

3. I can NOT get Jonathan to eat right now. Like, at all. He might eat a granola bar or some Cheerios throughout the day, but a real meal? Forget it. Last night it was a battle of wills unlike any ever seen in this house. I was determined to make the kid eat his dinner. So we sat there. Both of us near tears, for like 25 minutes. And then he started crying and just wouldn't stop. So I gave in. After 3 bites of this and a bite of that. I caved. He won. And what was I forcing him to eat? Chicken nuggets and french fries.

 

 

4. Now, this one might offend some people and I don't mean it to. I am not talking about anybody in particular....promise! But man, I am SO tired of being around people obsessed with how they look. So many people these days are so focused on being skinny, super hot, trendy, in style etc...it just gets exhausting for the rest of us. Like I said last week, I want to be healthy. Not a stick. I want to feel good, but I don't want to spend 20 hours a week at the gym. I want to have cute clothes, but I am not willing to spend my entire paycheck on the newest clothes. And to be honest, I don't really want to hear about how you do. And before you think I just need to relax and get over it, you all know the people I am talking about. The ones that are OBSESSED. That talk about it ALL.THE.TIME. Not just those that mention it sometimes or show off a cute new outfit....we all have to brag every now and then!!

 

5. Zack is back to working awful hours. Like, he doesn't get home until 9:00 or 10:00 multiple times a week. On those nights, I eat cereal for dinner and put my pajamas on around 5:30. Once the boys go to bed, OWN and The Weather Channel come on. Then I go to sleep at 9:00. That's cool right?

 

6. I have been walking circles around the mall lately to get out of the house when the weather is bad. Sometimes, a 70 year old couple passes me. And in my head, I justify it because I am pushing 70 pounds of kids and strollers and they don't have to push anything. Of course the older couple should be faster than me.....right? Would it be weird if I stoped them and asked if I could walk along with them for motivation?

 

Happy Friday everybody! Hope y'alls weekend is filled with as much awesome television and mall walking as mine will be!

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

(For some reason, I can't upload pictures to the blog....I want to post this today, but I will come back later and try to fix it....maybe. Just imagine the cutest kid in the world, covered in chocolate cake.)

 

My teeny tiny, baby boy, who was never supposed to grow up, turned one today.

Man, I love this little boy. He is full of genuine happiness, joy and contentment. He loves his brother more than almost anything else in the world.  He could eat crackers, muffins or bread all day long but refuses to eat almost any other finger food. His favorite words are "Mama" and "Cracker" but he can be coaxed into saying "Dada, Nana, Papa, or NeNe" (his way of saying Honey). He sleeps with his blankie and a noise maker, but even then, sometimes still likes to wake up at night. He stands too close to the TV when it is on, still puts everything in his mouth, bites when he tries to give kisses and walks like he just got off a horse.

Basically....he is the sweetest, happiest little boy in the world. He has made our family complete and we couldn't imagine our lives without him.

Happy first birthday Matthew David Ley! May you always know, every single second of every single day, that you are smart, you are important, and you are so, so loved.

My New Years Resolutions

I want to be ahead of the game on this one and get these out publicly before I forget! Maybe if I type them out and actually post it for everybody to see, I will follow through with them.....maybe. So here is my list for 2013!

1. Be purposeful in bragging on my kids and husband. Everybody knows I love my family with my whole being. That should never be a question. But I am also very bad about being sarcastic, rolling my eyes, saying things that I think are funny but end up being a little mean etc...when I talk about my boys and Zack. I find fault in small things and then get embarrassed by them when we are out in public and end up apologizing more than necessary. This year, I want to be the biggest champion for my family. I want to share all of the wonderful and amazing things that they do with anybody that will listen. Instead of saying things to others that might embarrass Zack (all while rolling my eyes) I will brag about his commitment to his new job and the late hours he has been putting in to provide for us. Instead of apologizing when my kiddos are a little loud or crazy, I will laugh along with them and share something they did recently that was equally silly and crazy. I have been blessed with a tremendous family of boys and I need to make sure the rest of the world recognizes how awesome they are.

 

2. Make it to Sunday worship service more often. We are good about going to Sunday school as much as we can, but we rarely go to service beforehand. The main reason being baby nap schedules over the past 3 years. We went to service this past Sunday since there were no ABFs and I was reminded of why I love it so much. The number one way I connect to Jesus is through music. There has never been a doubt it my mind about this. As soon as the band starts playing, I just zone out. I feel connected. My heart literally feels happy. I feel closer to the Lord at that moment than at any other time. And yet, we rarely go to worship. This needs to change in 2013.

 

3. Get back in shape and be more healthy. Not lose weight, but get in shape. Before the boys were born, I worked out every single day. I drank lots of water, ate lots of fruits and veggies etc...When I was pregnant, I was even better. I was so conscience of what I put in my body and what I did to stay fit and strong for my little ones. The past year......not so much. I am not looking for a magic diet or crazy work out plan. I don't want to do P90X or Insanity or anything else along those lines. I just need to make exercise a priority again and make sure I am eating enough fruits and veggies. Less carb loaded snack foods and more protein rich, better for you snacks. You know....just be healthy.

 

4. And finally, I want to make a difference in the lives of others. I have an incredible opportunity to influence the little lives in my class at school, the little boys asleep in their bedrooms right now, my friends and other mommies....And I need to do something with it. I don't know how or what I should do, I just need to do it. I recently spent some time with some of Zack's family members and they are doing just that....making a difference in the lives of so many others. Mine and Zack's included. They are just kind, generous, real people. I want to be like that. I want to know that the way I behave, the words I say, the impression I give off.....that it influences others.

 

So there they are. In writing. The four things I am going to work really hard to accomplish in 2013. 2012 was pretty amazing, but I have even bigger hopes and plans for 2013 (And NO...they do NOT include more babies....)

 

Happy New Year! Here we go! 

My Christmas gift to you....a blog post.

Well, it appears that I forgot about this here blog....my bad.

 

Let's just recap the past few weeks, shall we?

 

(And I am fully aware that using a recap as my first blog post in over a month is a cop out.)

We got new laminate flooring in our living room (thanks to our wonderful families for all their help!)

Jonathan learned how to take up carpet...

 

 

 

Jonathan had his first Christmas pageant at school.

Someone started walking...and hasn't stopped since....

My little angel at the Christmas Eve children's service

Christmas Eve service

 

We hung stockings for Santa and put out carrots for the reindeer (although, Jonathan seemed to think they were more for him than for the reindeer....)

 

 

Santa came!

We ate. A LOT.

We tried to make our first gingerbread house....Nailed it.

Jonathan got his first bike! And then told me he didn't want it anymore.

 

Matthew agress that December was pretty much awesome.

 

Zack, Jonathan, Matthew and I all wish the very best for your family this season and the new year! May God bless y'all as graciously as He has blessed us!