Sunday, March 29, 2015

Spring Break Bullet Points.

We have survived spring break 2015. Hallelujah and Amen. Here are a few bullet points of the rest of our week.
  • As I had previously mentioned, this week has been JAM PACKED. Which means that even my Kindergartner was taking naps this week during "rest time." It never failed, wherever he was put during rest hour, he was out cold in about 15 minutes, even on the days he swore he wasn't tired. 
  • springbreak2015_adollopofmylife
  • To bookend our flurry, friend-filled week, Brayden and Connor got new haircuts. Drew and I have differing opinions on the boys hair. He'd rather it short like his and I would rather it surfboarder shaggy. For a while they have just stayed straight shaggy because our two beloved hair stylist moved to new salons that cost a lot more, and because after a bad haircut incident with Ty, I decided I wasn't brave enough to just randomly select my big boys hair (and too chicken to do it myself!). I let Drew be a guinea pig at a new salon, he approved and so the boys went. AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN WANT THEIR HAIRCUT (they usually beg to have it shorter). It was a SUPER proud parenting moment for me. So I whipped out pictures of Romeo Beckham's hair and the lady nailed it. 
  • New haircuts... just when I thought I couldn't think they were any cuter. #mboys2015
  • My birthday was this week, and we didn't celebrate in a huge way on my actual birthday other than going to Sams to pick up a few things (and some cupcakes). Tyler approved of the cupcakes ;)
  • Wrapped up my birthday with cupcakes... of which Tyler mostly wore ;) #mboys2015
  • Don't feel sad for me about going to Sam's on my birthday. We just pushed the celebration back a few days and went to Ruth's Chris on Saturday :) We had been holding on to a giftcard that our neighbors had gifted us for Christmas, and then took them up on their offer to also watch our kids (yes, our neighbors are real...and really awesome. No you cannot have them. We refuse to let them move- ha!). 
  • we lucked out with the best neighbors EVER.... they not only are watching our kids, but they also gave us a giftcard to Ruth's Chris.
  • Since I knew that this next week (and really, the entire month of April) are going to be super crazy, we went ahead and dyed eggs on Saturday. It was the first year I haven't felt super stressed with this activity. The boys listened to the Easter story as we stirred the dye, and then each patiently dyed their eggs, waited for them to dry and then applied stickers. The only whining came from Tyler, who decided he'd like to DRINK the dye. YOLO, right? (also, non-sponsored props to PAAS, who made an Easter traditions dye kit this year, complete with stickers of crosses and lambs. It was so nice having things to decorate our eggs with that actually went with the Easter story we've been going through with them at home).
  • springbreak2015_adollopofmylife_1 springbreak2015_adollopofmylife_2 springbreak2015_adollopofmylife_5springbreak2015_adollopofmylife_7 springbreak2015_adollopofmylife_6 springbreak2015_adollopofmylife_9 springbreak2015_adollopofmylife_8 (total sidenote, but apparently we've been doing eggs wrong all this time. We followed the directions and just did 3 Tablespoons of water in the cups, and our eggs turned out SO bold in color this year! And it was less messy. If you haven't dyed eggs yet but plan on doing it, DEFINITELY try just doing it with 3T of water and the little dye tab)
Despite the fact that the calendar is full to the brim, I'm so ready to be back in our routine starting tomorrow. This week has been great for all of us to rest and see friends we normally have a hard time seeing during the school year, but man, the lack of routine about did us all in. Cheers to good weather, Spring and routines for all!

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Springbreak Shenanigans.

We are nearly halfway through our Spring Break for 2015. So far the weather has been pleasant and the time has been spent with many a friend, so all in all it has gone well, and for that I cannot complain.

This past weekend was absolutely GORGEOUS, so we decided to kick off spring break with a family bike ride. I realized that we are (very) slowly entering into an age in parenting where we can all ride together without someone needing a large amount of help (except towards the end when we realized we probably pushed Connor a little too much. Several miles of biking is a little hard on 4 year old legs ;) ). We had a blast and it did make me a bit excited about exiting the tiny baby years. A LITTLE. ;)
First family bike ride for 2015 in the books. #mboys2015
I love my little family!

We've kick started this week by basically living at the park. We've met up with several friends that we don't get to see on a regular basis anymore thanks to different schools. It's been fun catching up and playing, and wearing the boys out. I haven't been able to capture much on camera because the boys have all been too busy running around for me to stop long enough and capture a shot.
The Lord has been good to us with our spring break weather,which means we've lived at the park with friends. This kid decided 20 ft into riding that it would be better for mom to hold him. #mboys2015
Today we went to a park and I thought for a split second Tyler would take off on the Strider. He only made it about 20 feet before he decided that mommy holding him was a much faster mode of transportation.

I feel a bit scatter brained, and like I'm forgetting to blog about what I thought about earlier today. I'll thank the excess sleep and lack of schedule on that one. I have realized (thanks to a friend pointing out) that having consistent routine is good for everyone. I haven't really felt myself, and after a meltdown of epic proportions by my elementary aged child today (and by epic, I mean that it gave my two year olds tantrums a run for the money), I realized my kids definitely need routine. So, needless to say, we're all greatly looking forward to the return of school and schedule next week ;)

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Yes Way, Jose.

I'm currently sitting in a home that is filled with sunbeams and springtime warmth. As I was chopping up potatoes for our Sunday night dinner, it occurred to me how truly blessed I felt. We went to an incredible church service, ate lunch with some of our best friends, shopped with clothing for kids in need (more on that later), and Tyler and I rested while Drew and the big boys went on a bike outing.

As I was thanking the Lord for the bountiful blessings, I was also convicted of my sour attitude during the past few weeks when the weather was dreary and the cold seemed so overwhelming. My life was awesome and blessed then too, I just wasn't taking the time to look for it. Sometimes perspective can get the best of us, and it certainly did of me. I'm grateful for the Lord's grace during the moments that I realize that I probably could've chosen a different perspective. Grace is such a good and beautiful thing.

A few randoms to blog about, as I don't want to forget them:
He's never been one to struggle with self confidence. #osumisawesome #mboys2015
Kindergarten lettering is perhaps, one of my very favorite things right now. I love watching Brayden's understanding of our language grow, and with it, come some great pieces of artwork and letters to us. For example, exhibit A. Brayden has never been one to lack in self-confidence. This exhibit shows both his phonetic spelling of the word Awesome, and the appropriate use of an exclamation mark (which he calls an excited mark, and I cannot for the life of me correct him because it simply is the cutest thing).

He had a "vewy vewy good idea" to snuggle at naptime... the dog included. #mboys2015
Connor has been so cute lately, and extremely loveable (during most moments). I've had to cut back his screen time over the past couple of weeks because this kid could sit and watch television for the entire day if I allowed it. On one particular day this week, he came to me and said "I have a vewy vewy good idea. We should cuddle. Even Toby." So we got in bed and snuggled and he fell asleep resting right beside me. It was a precious moment for sure. When he woke up he went outside and realized it was a warm day (close to 70). He ran inside and excitedly exclaimed "MOM! It is THIS MANY WARM OUTSIDE (stretching his arms as wide as they could go). Yes way Jose, we can wear shorts today!!!!" Needless to say, I think he was excited about finally donning a pair of shorts in lieu of jeans that afternoon ;)

I hope your weekend has been a blessed one, and that you've enjoyed the warmth and sunshine. The entrance of spring has always reminded me that the Lord's mercies are new every morning. I hope it's the same for you. Have a great week!

Sunday, March 8, 2015

I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham.... Or Snow.

It has been a whirlwind of a weekend and I just realized that I haven't caught up on life. Partly because I had to pick myself out of the bad attitude trash can I lived in at the beginning of the week due to the winter weather.

We had a slew of awesome plans planned for LAST weekend, but those were quickly changed when we awoke from nap on Friday afternoon to snow that would not let up. That pretty much dampened all of our weekend plans and forced us to stay home the entire weekend.
Plans changed when the snow fell. Family movie night instead. #mboys2015
plans for Friday were changed from going out with friends to staying home for family movie night.

The plan changes would have been all well and good, but I had promised Brayden that I would get colored hair spray for his Dr Suess day for school that Monday. When Sunday night rolled around and Brayden realized the colored hair wasn't happening, we had some sad moments. Later that evening as I basked in my awesome cloak of mom guilt for failing at the hair thing, my friend recommended food dye in Brayden's normal hair gel. She saved the day, because while the gel didn't leave much of a tint of color on Brayden's hair (his hair was too dark for it to make an impression), seeing the blue IN the gel was all my boy needed to be happy about crazy hair/pj/Dr Seuss day.
Dr Seuss/crazy hair/PJ day today at school! Special thanks to my friend Kacy, who recommended food dye in hair gel after I wasn't able to make it to the store for colored hair spray. She saved me from mom fail of the century. #mboys2015

Unfortunately the warm weather that the week started with, quickly dissipated and turned into a winter wonder storm of freezing rain, sleet and snow. I think I have made my opinion widely known that one snow per winter is fabulous. After that, especially now that  Ihave a kid in school where it actually counts and we have to make up days, more snow than one snow is no bueno. So I kind of sulked about the weather and school cancelations. And on the second day when Brayden tried to literally climb the wall by our mantle like Spiderman, I realized I had met my winter limit. Thankfully I live in a Pinterest world, so I was able to scrounge up a few ideas to occupy the boys.
Snow day ninja training. Also made paper plate tennis rackets for the baloon. Desperate times, y'all.  #mboys2015Special thanks to my friend, @mporbeck , for recommending Cosmic Kids yoga on YouTube. If your kids are going stir crazy, it's sure to provide some fun, indoor movement! Just ignore Mt. Laundry taking over my living room chair. #mboys2015
We had ninja training, which lasted about 10 minutes before the boys decided to repurpose my ninja "lasers" as room decor. They also made "tennis rackets" with paper plates and plastic forks, and used them with balloons for indoor tennis. As you can probably imagine, this worked well until they realized they could dismember the tennis rackets and use the forks as weapons against the balloons.

At that point we decided it would probably be best to escape to Chick Fil A (which now requires us to rob a bank because our boys eat so much. We could probably eat at Outback Steakhouse for what we pay at fast food these days) for some indoor playground time. Needless to say, when we realized the main roads were just slush and would would, in fact, have school on Friday, we were all happy.

We had a pretty busy weekend this weekend. I shopped and worked Rhea Lana (our semi-annual consignment sale here in town where I buy a majority of the boys clothes). It was probably the best sale for me in a while... I was able to get Brayden ALL Ralph Lauren tops in EXCELLENT condition, so I was pretty pumped. Between the shopping and the working and the time change though, I am wiped.

Praying that this snow and cold was the last of the winter and that all we see from here on out are warming temps and longer sun-filled days.
 

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