Oh The Girly Things You Do!

She said that she and her "friends" were at a movie theater. Sugar and Spice

Tea Party

Sometimes the messes are so adorable. I think her guests can stay a while longer. ;)

Just Because

So I have raging, hair pulling, walk on egg shells PMS TODAY! OKAY! And this is how my sweet adorable husband deals with it. :) awe



And then I notice something hiding in the flowers. My first female thought "So uh, what exactly are you trying to say? Do I remind you of a pregnant person?" (in case you couldn't tell that is a stork hiding in there!) He of course didn't even know it was there. I sure do love my man

oops :)

Here are a few random pics of the latest happenings and an explanation on my blog being set to private. Garrett finished Kindergarten!!!! I can't believe how big my little guy is getting. We will miss his AMAZING teacher.

Here are the kids playing in a freezing lake. Oh to be a kid again. ;)

Okay, London has been getting out of her bed every night around 3 or so and going and sleeping with Garrett. He has been complaining about how annoying it is and after I found them like this I can see why! YIKES! hahahahahahahaha

At least she left an opening for him to breath! lol And yes I see that her jammies don't match and her feet are FILTHY. Don't judge me. lol

I accidentally set my blog to private! (still don't know how I managed to do that) anyway, I am open again. If I ever did decide to do that I would be sure to invite all of you and give fair warning. haha.

So this week has been very interesting. At about 4 am Monday morning Doug woke up VERY sick in the bathroom. He called in sick to work for the first time in a whole year. He looked so miserable and I did my best to take care of the poor guy. Well I tried to clean my house quickly as I was sure I was going to be next to catch it. Why is it that when you are sick a messy house just makes it so much worse? Anyway, I got my kitchen all the way cleaned and was about to mop when I ran out of steam. I didn't really feel sick just felt TIRED. Anyway, about 7 pm that night it got me. BAD! I can't remember the last time I got so sick. I will spare you the details because that alone would make YOU sick. But lets just say it is a miracle we all survived the last 24 hours. Not to be dramatic but when both parents are sick and the kids aren't, it is just CRAZY. I thought about calling for help but I honestly couldn't even move to get the phone. after the throwing up came the muscle pain. And that was far worse then being sick to my stomach. I felt as though I was run over by a truck. (Why is that a saying? how many people have actually been run over by a truck and lived to tell about how it felt?) Anyway, I was in pain. Finally Doug who was a day ahead of me on the illness, felt better enough to run to the store and get some Gatorade and 7 up. After I got some fluid I started to feel a bit better. And I have pretty much just been sleeping it off. So this morning I feel a lot better but VERY weak. I also managed to lose 9 lbs in 12 hours! NO JOKE! too bad the minuet I start eating again it will all come back. haha I just hope poor little Garrett doesn't catch it. London is the little cutie that started this whole thing. So we survived and all is well. :)

Stay at home Mom- ON PURPOSE

So I haven't blogged in a long time- But I feel very perplexed right now I need to vent it out somewhere- This is on the issue of education. Let me start out by saying that I value education a great deal- I think it is vital that those who are able to go to school and better themselves and their future, to do so. I have supported my husband through school for the past 5 years and continue to do so- In a strange way, I am just as proud of his accomplishments as he is and feel that they are partly mine.

The problem I am having is that recently I have been struggling with the choice for me to go to school. My kids have gotten a little older and I have had a little more wiggle room to take a class or two. Although after one semester of doing school I saw such horrible consequences of me doing those classes- My house got SUPER messy, my kids spent their time in front of that blasted television, I was on edge with my husband, I did homework on Halloween and missed pumpkin carving,(sounds silly but it really bothered me) My kids didn't have a mom! Why is it that our society has such little value on mothers? It enrages me to think of the effects no college education has had on my self esteem- Where does this come from? I hear comments all the time about how I need to have an education "just in case". Just in case what?! I actually have no intent on divorcing my husband and I can say with pretty positively that he wouldn't leave me for ANYTHING! (I am far too sweet and good looking). I know there are always unexpected tragedies and situations that no one plans for- such as death, disability, etc. WE HAVE INSURANCE- From what I understand that is what it is for and in such a tragic event,(heaven forbid) I would be able to figure out a different plan. But for now what is wrong with CHOOSING to stay home? I am sick of feeling like a failure- Yes I am the only one of my siblings without a degree, I will never earn the promised ring that belonged to my grandmother upon graduation, I am taking a risk at nothing having anything to "fall back on". I love my kids enough to risk this for them and I want them to have a mother home with them. I will probably later choose to pursue some kind of education, but dong so right now feels like is at the cost of my kids. How do you juggle it all? I struggle in school and for me it is hard enough when I don't have kids to care for.

I also want to add that if you are a mom with an education then that is AMAZING! I am jealous and envy that you have that. I in no way judge those who choose to go to school with small children, or work. Every one is in a different circumstance. My question is when did it become such a cop out to want to me a mom "when I grow up." To put out loved and well cared for children into this world? I am frustrated with these feelings because the fact is I do feel like less of a person without a degree. What is wrong with the picture?

Taking the Wheel...

So my last post was a bit of a downer but that is okay cuz it felt really good to vent it out. I am feeling a lot better about things the past few days. I decided that part of the reason my kids and my dog were not listening too well was partly because they were getting away with it! duh! So I decided to kick the dog out of my bed and put him in his crate (thanks Charonne). He didn't even put up a fight! Now whenever we leave the house or go to sleep he goes in his crate. Just by doing this he has been a lot better behaved. I also pulled out the squirt bottle and whenever he does something I don't like I spray him in the face. It has made a world of difference so far.

As far as London sleeping. Well I had a few people suggest it is night terrors and I think it very well could be. So I am making her a more comfortable environment and keeping her to a better schedule. I also made sure to just put her right back in her room the last time she woke me up and I turned on some music for her. She has been doing a little better. Not a total 180 but progress for sure.

My dear friend Courtney called me and gave me some GREAT suggestions and really helped me to accept that my house will not be picture perfect at all times. Charonne always tells me just to make sure the dishes are done and my bed is made and it will make all the difference. So I have been focusing on those two things and go from there. I don't worry about the playroom being spotless at all times cuz they will just mess it up anyway and I sure don't want them to feel like they can't be kids. So I am working on just having them help clean it up once an hour or so before bed. The rest of the little messes I am just going to have to let go a bit. But not to much ;). So all in all I feel a lot better. I am sure I will have many many more days of frustration and I will also have days when life seems perfect. So I will continue to do the best I can do. Thank you all so much for the kind words and all the advice I got on London's sleeping. I will be sure to update more on this subject in the future because I think it is nice to relate to other moms who are going through the same things.

P.S. We finally got our family pictures done and I can't wait to post them here! They are all over my facebook but I am going to wait till I get them edited to post here. More to come! :)

Driving with the fuel light on....

Today I am dragging my feet. For some reason my daughter is not sleeping very good at night. She has never been a good sleeper but the past couple months have been HORRIBLE! Now with a baby this type of behavior is expected, but with a three year old I rather hoped I would be getting at least a little bit better sleep by now. Not the case.

Last night London woke me up every 30 min throughout the entire night. Screaming and crying and she wouldn't say what was wrong. It was very frustrating and I finally found myself yelling at her begging her to just tell me what she wanted. Both of my kids are in a really hard stage and I am afraid I am just not cutting it as a good mom. Garrett and London have such attitudes and it seems that no matter what they just aren't listening very well. On top of that my dog is the worst trained thing in the world so he is just one more body not obeying! I want to get rid of him so bad but I can't because my family is too attached and I would feel bad as well. He just makes my day a lot more stressful.

My other issue is I feel like I am ALWAYS cleaning up the same messes. I can not STAND messes! Haha not a very good mix with a 5 and a 3 year old. I really find it hard to have things even the slightest bit messy but right now my house is a WRECK. And I am way too tired to do anything about it. My absolute worst thing is laundry. I don't understand why I am so bad at it. My kids clothes are always wrinkly and poor Hubby can never find anything. They don't even look in their dressers anymore they just go straight to corner of my bedroom. I hate this about myself. Even if I keep up on it I still manage to have the big pile of laundry vomit laying in the corner of my room. I think what happens is it takes me all day to pick up the rest of the house that I will just set the clean loads on my bed and think I will get to them when I finish the other cleaning. Well that never happens because Garrett comes home and I do homework, dinner, dinner dishes, jammies. ect... and the laundry just gets thrown on the floor and so it begins.

The other problem with me wanting it spotless is that I spend all my time cleaning and cooking that my poor kids end up watching way too much t.v. I just don't understand how people have time for dance classes and sewing and cleaning and cooking and laundry and homework and fieldtrips and dr.s appts. and neverending church activites AND still have a happy welcoming face for poor hubby to come home to. I just would like to know if anyone else has this problem or do I win worst mom of the year? My kids are acting like stinkers with terrible attitudes AND my house is somehow a disaster and I am so tired and worn out. And no I am not apologizing for the poor me's and I know things could be MUCH WORSE. It is my blog so I am complaining dang it. Hmmmmmm