:: mumford & sons

This is my favorite band for October just a week early :)  Enjoy

:: my goal this week ::

Oh this is a doosy of a goal!  My kitchen cabinets, fridge and pantry are full of food and whatever that I need to do a big clean out of it and use up stuff and get it eaten and cleaned up.  I have couponed alot and stocked my pantry up and now I need to use it up.  I started this goal this weekend I am going to try to use up as much as I can without going to the grocery store to buy more food.  I will still go to the store to get the kids there must have's but other then that we are going to clean up and use up what I have.  I am doing this to get all my expired stuff out and try something new!  I bought a book that I am so excited to get! 

http://www.easylunchboxes.com/trader-joes-book/

And I love Trader Jo's!  But I want to go on my first big food shopping trip to TJ's and not have to worry about where to put everything in my fridge, freezer, cabinets, and pantry cause I have no room!  So will see how my big clean up goes and the best part is I will be saving money this week which is another good thing :)  Will see how creative I can get with what we have the kids are gonna love me they are such picky eaters this will be fun!

Also, promise to take pictures with my awesome camera!  I went to put batteries in it but I don't have the right kind!  So when I do make it to the store sometime it is on my list to get said batteries then watch out world pictures will be taken and put on my blog!

:: life ::

 

This is me in a nut shell...

 

  *** Right now I have one whomper asleep and one awake and I have Keith Urban going on my iTunes on the computer.  This is just another night in my life.  :) 

*** Both my whomps are in school!  This is the first year ever and let me tell you it is alot to keep up with it but I am secretly liking it.  Don't tell anyone.

***  I have made 2 Pioneer Woman recipes in the last 2 days this is so a record!  I am getting better at this thing called cooking. :)

*** I am so much stronger that I love it when someone calls me Boss it makes me feel in charge!  Cause I guess I kinda am and I am liking it, alot!  No lie :)

***  I probably drink to much wine, but if you were a single parent most of the month you might drink too much wine, too.  Just saying.  It makes me feel like an adult after I have worked all day and then I need to be the parent to my whomps who need me the most right now.

***  Larry might start going back to Canada and go back to his previous job but different position and something more cool for him.

*** My buddy can read like no other.  He can ready level 3 books and I can't keep up with him and his reading.  He amazes me.  He hates to color but loves to learn.

*** My big girl is finally excited to go to her first year of Preschool!  It took 3 days of going and now she is set and is excited to go tomorrow!  She is not to far behind her brother in how smart she is.  She learns from him and soaks in all he learns and runs with it.

*** I am overwhelmed with the housework on the weekends but by Sunday I get a hand on it and take over and get it done.  Last weekend I tackled the outside.  Baby steps but it is starting to look better.

*** I still haven't started walking for my goal of doing a half marathon next year but I will start soon, promise!


I was going to try to download a picture of my whomps but I don't have any!  They are all on my phone so I will see what I can do tomorrow!

Night.

hugs,
me

:: camera ::

I finally took my camera out of the house in I don't know how many months.  I got a new camera strap that made it more spiffy and it was more padded then my last strap and I was so excited to use my camera!  And take tons of pictures for you all!  But I forgot to check the battery in it and it was dead so I went to my old stand by my awesome phone.  On my list of things to do is get batteries for my camera :)

I jazzed my blog up a bit and added my boys pic instead.  I got lots going on and can't wait to blog it!  Back on FB but I think I am going to slow down on that and blog more.  Lucky for you all who read my blog :)

hugs, me.

:: meet and greets ::

Today was BOTH my kids meet and greets for school!  Seriously, this is a big day for me!  My baby is in her first year of Preschool and my oldest is in Kindergarten!  Please make them stop growing!  This was my first official day going back to working 4 days a week and now I have Thursday's off!  Whoo Hoo!  Not great on the paycheck but I am thinking being a mom once a week and taking my kids to school and picking them up is going to make me feel better about not doing it the other 4 days and having to work and rely on family to help me.  So, my first Thursday off I got to go to both my kids meet and greets!  Yeah!  It was fun!  We started off the morning dropping Hunter off at Nana's and Larry and I took Grace to Hunter's old Preschool and she got to officially go in his old class and do stuff that Hunter got to do and she didn't and she was a happy little clam.  She get's to have one of Hunter's teachers and meet a new one and she fit in pretty good.  The only thing she didn't do was talk to the boys in her class but that will have to come with time.  She is so excited to be in Hunter's old school I think she will do ok there.  Will see next week that is when she starts!  It is so weird for me to put my baby in a school and know she isn't with me and her brother who she depends on all the time but thank goodness she knows one of the teachers and she knows one of the girlies in her class! 

My buddy had his meet and greet today and this one is harder for me.  He is getting so big and it is a a class he goes in 5 days a week and that is a big step for me.  He also has to do buses for a couple of the days and that is hard for me.  I wish I could be a stay at home mom so my kiddos don't have to go through this but it isn't going to happen.  He met his teacher and he was a little shy but I think he will come around.  His teacher said his class has alot more boys then girls in it the most she has ever had so maybe it will be good for him to be around this many boys but in Preschool is fav was a girl :). 

It was a hard day for this mama and I think next week will be harder.  I am going to try my best to make it to both kids first day and pick them both up but with work it is tough but I am going to try my best for me and for my whomps.  Crazy that they are both in school!  But they both need it cause they are so smart and they need the socialization and this is the best way I think I can give it to them. 

We survived meet and greet will see how next week goes :)

:: family rules ::

I have wanted a framed art that I have loved for awhile and I am gonna buy it soon just haven't yet but this is what it says.

FAMILY RULES

keep your promises

Share

think of others before yourself

Say I love you

LIsten to your parents

Do your best

Say please and thank you

Always tell the Truth

Laugh at yourself

Hug often

Use kind Words

Love each other

I think this framed art says it all.  When I get this wall art I am putting it up above my desk so I see it, Larry sees it, and whomps see it.  It is a good family motto. :)



:: me ::

I love Irish or any soundtrack kind of music and my new favorite music artis is Elizaveta!  So she is my music fav for the month of July even though the month is almost over.  I love her crazy look and I wish I could sing as high as she does :) but I was not blessed with that octave. 

Today my youngest was too grumpy and my oldest and I went skating and had a good time until he was too tired and I realized I need to get them out more and running. But that makes me sad cause I feel like I am trying so hard to be a mom and take care of the house that I realize that I am failing in keeping them in shape so it makes me sad. So I gotta figure out how to take care of me and them in regards to our health so just another thing to add to my list but I love them so it is worth it.  I wish I lived in Canby sometimes cause this would all be so much easier with family right there but gotta do what we gotta do just wish I knew how it is all gonna work out. 

So I gotta figure out what to do with me and how to change my attitude about it all and do better for me kids and get them out and about in the outdoors and still get the housework done and get them into making their world healthy for them and it all starts with me.  me.  so I better be a good example and get them out of our doors and realize that our house can just be messy and we need air and we need to work our leg muscles cause Hunter's get tired after a half an hour on the ice and we/I need to see we need to work on our strengths in our muscles and it all starts with me and how I show/train my whomps how the real world is in regards to how we work our muscles and bones and the bodies we have been given.  me.  i am the one to show them.  good luck to me :)

:: weekends ::

I am not gonna lie weekends are hard for me.  Why?  Cause I don't want to do it all on my own.  Stupid, I know.  But after doing this for over 3 years and 1 year by myself I am not a fan of weekends.  Not going to be until we are all together and I don't have to do it by myself anymore. Why?  Cause it is so much more fun to have our Papa with us cause I know I am not alone, I know that I will have help, I know that I will have an adult to talk to in the house and be an adult with, I know that I will be able to sleep in or go take a walk by myself, I know that I don't have to take care of the house and yardwork by myself, and I know that I will have Larry with me and have some us time.  When he isn't here it is just me and the whomps and I am doing it all.  So I am still not a fan of weekends and now it is a little harder cause Hunter's skating lessons are on Wednesday evening instead of Saturday mornings so now I really have to keep us going and clean the house and yard on Saturday instead of Sunday. So it brings me to tonight which is another night getting ready for a new weekend and for some reason I am bummed because me, him, and the whomps are were we are at today.  The picture above makes me smile cause my mom has captured this smile on Larry and Grace twice now in two seperate pictures and it shows how much we all need him here but we know we can't have him so will enjoy him the weekends that he is here with us.

:: happenings ::

This is what is happening in my life...

**my girlfriend, Noelle, will have her second baby tomorrow and then her man goes back to Afganistan for the rest of the year in a week.

**i haven't started my training yet for my 1/2 marathon but the doc i work for might train with me :)

**larry and i had a scuff on the phone yesterday and i wasn't a doormat and communicated my feelings and it was a good war and in the end the communication was good.  i love being called boss i don't take offense and i shouldn't i take pride in it because i am the boss where we are at in regards to the whomps, life, and house, and my job.

**my buddy is doing great in skating even though today he said he didn't want to anymore cause it makes him sweat.  i need to show him that all sports make you sweat.  i love that he has a friend named David and him and David are the only kiddos in this class and their Coach Barb realizes they want to be hockey players and use hockey as a way of showing how to skate better. my goal is to get my buddy his stick in his hand and he will be one happy boy.

**i am on book three of the book of the game of thrones.

**my lovely Miss G has been so grumpy lately i think it has been a full moon for a month i am going to try to get this girl into something soon.  she doesn't want to be a ballerina anymore cause they were black so she wants to be a fisherman so will see how my goal of making her happy in this area of her life. today she said she needed worms in order to be a fisherman.  so this mama better get on the worms!

**i love my family van!  i love all the special little electronic features in it!  i love that i can get us all in it and press so many buttons and doors open and Misha is a big fan of the back seat :)

**i love that next month is my birthday month and we are taking the whole week and going to Sunriver as a family!  we haven't been anymore this many days spending the night and i am so excited it will truly be a vacation!  no housework only to take care of the house we are in and we are going to swim, bike, hike, and go horse back riding! i am so excited we have never done this before we usually just take one night somewhere this time we will be gone a whole week and my birthday lands right in the middle of it all!  we picked sunriver instead of disneyland cause it is so much cheaper and we are still trying to get out of debt!

This picture makes me smile.  Why?  Cause it shows me how teamwork and communication work.  Larry and I wanted to get this kite up for Hunter.  He got it as a birthday gift last year from his Ma and Pa and he wanted to take it to the beach. So we did.  It just makes me smile that Larry and I are where we are today.  Working together as a team and communicating together to make it work.  Even the kite didn't fly that much it was just about the effort to get it up to make our buddy smile and be happy his was up like the other kites around his. :)

:: bad day

Welcome to Grace's favorite song or one of her many favorite songs!  She is an Alvin and the Chipmunks fan!  Anyone of their songs she hears she is like oh mama this is my favorite song!  But for the moment she likes this one.  So for anyone having a bad day just remember this song and that Grace loves to hear it and hope it makes you smile :)  I have the Chipmunks on my Pandora cause of my 3.5 year old girl who thinks she is a 10 year old.  Oh and to let you all know she doesn't want to be a ballerina anymore cause I showed her a picture of one wearing a black suit and pink tights and she was a no go on the black suit and I asked her what she wants to be then and she said a fisherman.  Wow, gotta love her.  So not sure how I am going to fufill my little girls dream of being a fisherman after I ask her if she wants to catch crab and she says no that she wants to catch Oregon fish.  Love her.

And also Hunter goes to bed with no pj's now.  This is big for this mama cause I have never had to go through this before.  To have this much skin showing on my big boy when he goes to bed and wakes up and hangs out in the am before he gets dressed is alot for this poor mom's heart.  When he asked me the other day if he could not wear his shirt to bed I was like ok but thought oh my goodness but didn't say anything and then the next night he didn't want his pj shorts.  So I was like ok I gotta let him be him so I let him but in my head I just see a teenager not a 5.5 year old!  This is too much for me this isn't supposed to happen now!  But he is happy as a clam so I gotta let him do what he wants even though it is so weird and crazy to see him with out his pj's I have put them on him for 5 years this is tough for me to swallow but I gotta let him.  But it is a big step towards being big I just have to suck it up and let it be.  But he looks cute in his skinniness and more like his papa not gonna lie :)

I stayed up way to late this weekend watching a cute movie thought I would let you know what I thought of it!  It is called "Just go for it"  it was totally cute it had Jennifer Aniston in it and the morals aren't the best but it was a great movie I laughed in it and thought it was a great chick flick!

:: my crazy new goal ::

So here is my crazy new goal...I am going to to a half marathon next year in Canby!  I can't do it this year it is next month but I am going to train myself for it and it will take me a good year, why?  Cause this girl is out of shape and I need to walk first to make it up to jogging a mile and then more.  Why will it take me a year?  Cause of my way of life it is a little difficult with kids and a dog but I am going to try to figure it out.  I do not want to ask family and friends to help me out just to go walk or jog I gotta figure out how to make it work with my lifestyle I have.  My advantage is I have a high school track in walking distance!  I am going to do most of my walking there.  I am not a fan of Oregon City's hills and the sidewalks have tree roots in them and some sidewalks are people's yards so that is a no go and there is so many hills.  So the highschool track is going to be my friend in the beginning.  I learned from a app how to keep track of how far you have walked on a track.  I feel stupid not realizing it but you start on track one and when you have done a lap go to the next track 2 and so forth and that is how many times you have been around the track.  Crafty.  4 laps equals a mile.  My other issue is my kiddos and my dog.  Once Misha sees my tennis shoes on she knows and my kids are not that keen yet but once I take them to the track Hunter is all about going around it Grace not so much she is done with in 10 minutes.  And all I want to do is get in my zen and listen to my music in my ears and walk around the track.  Misha is good for about 2 times around the track and she is done cause the hill to the track is big for her both ways.  So will see how this goes.  When Larry is home I go for some down time and to get a couple of laps in.  So far I have done 4 laps in one session bad I know but I am working up to it.  Difficult when you got kiddos and a dog but I am trying not to make them an excuse and to just do it.  So August next year I am doing the 1/2 Marathon and you can quote me on it :)

::va.ca.tion ::

I am here.  I have been on my 4th of July vacation!  My last day of work was tuesday at 5pm after 2 crazy, busy short staffed days and went back to work today.  It was a nice vacation got to spend the 4th with Larry and the whomps and we stayed home most of the day then we went to Canby to see the parade and do General Canby Days and we watched fireworks at our house and stayed home for my oldest, my Misha dog.  We set off little fun fireworks and I made Pioneer Woman's Spicy Dr. Pepper pulled pork and crock potted it for dinner it was super spicy and too hot for me; but delishes for pulled pork sandwhiches. :)  I took alot of pictures with my camera but I am too lazy right now to download them.  Then Larry got alot of my projects done that I had on my new list of things to do and it was awesome to have help with them :)  He told Grace she could have pink paint above her bed since she shares a bunkbed with her brother and I painted that after she choice the color.  I feel bad that is the only pink paint in their room the rest is green and blue.  But she seems ok with it.  We did so much and got so much done it was nice.  We went to the beach and spent the night with Misha and my mom and Wayne stayed the night at the beach too it was a fun time and my Grace was grumpy most of the time I think it twitters her a little bit to have to share her Papa and do things with her Papa that she gets emotional and unsure about it all and just wants her voice to be heard even if it is very annoying and stresses us out but we powered through and we survived an overnighter to the beach it was fun.  Now I am back to work and back to the grind of it all but at least I got a break and hung out with my little family and got away this weeked and saw the ocean it was a great little mini vacation! :)

:: fireworks and dogs ::

In my house 4th of July has started. Not only do we eat red,white, and blue popsicles, and have flag colors all over but Misha is already hating 4th of July.  Started last night after 10pm.  I wasn't ready for it and once she is scared from the fireworks she is done and takes her hours to get better.  I didn't get to sleep until after midnight.  Some dogs hate fireworks and Misha is one of them.  It is like watching a person who has come back from war and the sound of the fireworks sets them off and they go ballastic same for some dogs.  Misha shivers, pants, walks around all over the house trying to find a safe place.  To her it usually is under Grace's bed.  It is horrible and lasts forever.  I wish I could tell people please don't do your fireworks until the 4th for people who have pets that are like Misha.  The 4th of July is hell for her and I feel so bad and that is one reason I don't take my kids to big firework displays like Canby or Portland cause my poor dog would be all by herself going through all I mentioned above.  Before we had Hunter we left her at home and I feel horrible knowing what she was going through and we didn't even know it.  This year if Larry takes the whomps to Canby I am going to stay with Misha cause she is my baby too and I feel so bad for her.  So tonight at 7:30pm more fireworks started and she started pacing and I gave her half a Benadryl and I hope that helps her tonight.  Every year I have to Benadryl her and I feel so bad but if it helps her I will do it.  The thing is when you have dogs that are scared at this time of the year you have to give them Benadryl before, during, and after.  So not cool but it is so hard on them when they are so scared of hearing the fireworks.  I hope my Mish sleeps good tonight I got to go to work tomorrow but if not I am up for round 2 of 4th of July week I love my girl too much to watch her suffer. 

So when you see those billboards about fireworks and dogs don't mix just read them and realize that what they say is true.

:: plans for the 4th ::

A coworker told me to go back on Facebook today that she missed me on it and since I didn't see pictures of her new dog she will be getting and had to ask her about her instead of seeing them on FB.  And guess what I had a moment of sure I will get back on then I thought you know what I am doing so good without it that I am not in the know about everyone and their lives if I need to know about someone I need to be social and ask, text, call or do something other then see it on FB.  So I am still a no go about FB and I am fine with it. Lonely, yes but surviving and doing fine with out it! :)

Crazy, but this 4th of July Larry will be home and I don't even remember the last time he was home for one.  I think when Hunter was born which was 5 years ago so maybe 4 years ago was his last one with us.  I am super excited and not sure what we are going to do either probably stay home and watch the fireworks around us.  Misha hates fireworks and shivers/shakes for hours during and after the fireworks she hates them so I usually stay home with her and the kids and put her in the bathroom with the fan on and give her Benadryl and take the kids to the porch and watch and hope she is ok an put the kids to bed and then take care of Misha shivering in my bed until all the fireworks are done which could be after midnight.  So happy Larry will be here to have fun with our fireworks we get and to help and experience the trauma of it all with Misha.  I would never leave her at the house by herself anymore once I realized what she goes through I stay with her.  I would even be fine with the kids seeing big fireworks for the first time at Canby and I would stay home with Misha just cause I know how bad it is for her.  So will see how or what we do but I am excited for this 4th of July cause Larry will be home!  Yeah!  So at the moment we have no plans for the 4th and I love that and I have to work Monday and Tuesday next week and I am off until Monday!

:: what I have done this week ::

~ I took a hammer to our old toilet and banged the heck out of it and put the pieces in the recycling bins and trash to be picked up tomorrow:)
~I stood up for myself today and took charge and it felt good.
~I finally painted the water vase black this weekend in front of my kitchen window. 
~I keep emailing the blind company asking why my kitchen window blinds are not here and they should have been here it has been over 3 weeks!
~I am mowing the yard now :)
~This weekend, I spent over 3 hours with my kids at the car dealership to get my new van fixed and to get some cool stuff added to it.
~I am learning more then I need to know about Chess from Hunter.
~I am listening to my Buddy read any book that he gets in front of him and see that he can read anything and everything. Crazy. And I am not kidding he can read!  Yes, he messes up on some words but it isn't alot!
~Showed my daughter that when I say no I mean it.  Tough days we went through let me tell you.  I don't think she has it figured out 100 % yet but she is getting it. 
~Colored with Grace on coloring papers she didn't finish.  I am a great colorer let me tell you!
~Finally finished the book "A Clash of Kings" I have been reading over 3 months!  Can't wait to start another new book now next one is book 3!!
~Watched Leap Year this weekend and cried and I thought it was an AWESOME movie!

What did you do? :)