The Things Lo Says...

On Monday I watched a little neighbor girl all day. It went really well as I figured Lo and her would be tired of each other by 10a, but no they played and played and played, colored and then played some more until nap time where they both passed out for 2 hours and then played some more until her mom picked her up at 4p. All I did was make sure they didn't get hurt and were fed. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. However, by the end of the day this is the conversation I had with my lovely, yet full of sass, daughter.

Scene: Watching Sid the Science Kid before bed.

Lo: Mom, get me a piece of paper to color. {she likes to do the science journal w/ Sid}
M: Excuse me?! Are you incapable of getting it yourself?! You go and get your color sheets.

Lo: {quietly} Well, mom, I have done a lot to day, so you should go get it. You haven't really done nothing all day.

M: {holy cow, did she just say that to me?! keep calm, keep calm, she is 3, she is 3, keep calm--breathing slows, re-gaining composure}
I am sorry did you just say I have done nothing today? What did you do that was taxing?!

Lo: Well, I did a lot of coloring today and you didn't really do nothing. 
M: {eyes bugging out of my head}
Lo: Well, I guess you did turn Jake (and the Never Land Pirates) on a few times today for me, but that was really it.

M: Pretty sure I did more than that Susie Q. If you want paper to color you will come with me and help me find it, you are not that tired or you can just go straight to bed now.

Lo: Fine. But I am tired.

While this is hilarious now, and perhaps a bit at the time, I am also finding that she is really towing that line of complete dis-respectfulness towards me, her father, Meg and even her grandparents. Life has been crazy around here lately and our structure and routine has slacked big time. I can tell every time when I have let my mommy guard down. I am a FIRM believer in structure and routine, it just really helps them stay in line. {I don't want that to come off all drill Sergeant-y, because it isn't like that, we just like to keep things consistent in our day to day and in our parenting decisions so the kid know what the day looks like and what rewards or consequences come from their behaviors, it just works for us.} So needless to say we have a little work to do. :) But again, you just can't help but laugh at the things that comes out of their mouths!

In My Next 30 Years...

 I think I’ll take a moment, celebrate my age

The ending of an era and the turning of a page

Now it’s time to focus in on where I go from here

Lord have mercy on my next thirty years

Hey my next thirty years I’m gonna have some fun

Try to forget about all the crazy things I’ve done

Maybe now I’ve conquered all my adolescent fears

And I’ll do it better in my next thirty years

My next thirty years I’m gonna settle all the scores

Cry a little less, laugh a little more

Find a world of happiness without the hate and fear

Figure out just what I’m doing here

In my next thirty years

Oh my next thirty years, I’m gonna watch my weight

Eat a few more salads and not stay up so late

Drink a little lemonade and not so many beers

Maybe I’ll remember my next thirty years

My next thirty years will be the best years of my life

Raise a little family and hang out with my wife {husband}

Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear

Make up for lost time here, in my next thirty years

                                                                 In my next thirty years

~~~Tim McGraw

 Funny how a song can ring so true and put all your thoughts in perspective. I think I really heard this song for the first time a few months ago as my 30th birthday was quickly approaching.  I have had a lot of mixed emotions about turning 30. 

On the one hand I am sad because 30 seems old. Not in a "check me into a nursing home" old, it is just when you are little 30 is the age you first deem to be old and not cool.

But then again, being 30 has given me more self esteem and confidence. When you are 20 you care about every.little.thing. people say or think about you, or at least I did. You are constantly trying to please everyone, look a certain way etc etc. Now, I don't care. I am coming into my own. I am firm in my beliefs and don't feel the need to sway with the crowd. I have more respect for my parents and realized how right they were at different times in my life. It's a weird perspective you get as you age and I imagine only more will come as I continue to grow up.

Finally, I have done a lot in my 30 years and I have little desire to go back to 15-18-or even 25. I love my life and proud of what I have accomplished.

1. I met Chad, fell in love and we married at the mere age of 21! Seems like eons ago...please note how young we look! AH!!

2. Graduated college and eventually finished up to become an RD. {Registered Dietitian}

 

3. We moved home and 6 months later bought our FIRST home. I loved that place, I still do. It holds so many great memories there!

 

 4. Brought home two fur babies. One in 2006, Tucker James and the other in 2008, Tobias Sebastian.

Tucker

 

  

Toby

5. After 15 months of infertility I finally was blessed with this beautiful baby girl, Leighton, in 2009! One of the best days of my life was giving her life. 

6. Then 15 months after Lo was born finding myself pregnant again, with the little boy I never knew I always wanted, my Micah Bear!

And here we are much older and wiser and quite possibly happier!

 Easter 2012

Thank you family and friends for all you have done for me these last 30 years. Each of you have shaped me into who I am today, and for that I am thankful. I feel blessed, even if I feel slightly old now. HA! Now on to see what my next 30 years hold...

Weekend Rewind {Need Decorating Advice Too!}

I really like this post topic. A quick way to recap the little things.

This weekend was awesome. Long. But totally awesome.

Friday started off with some Friday Fun slime, courtesy of the Target dollar bin. Less messy than I thought. Score.

While the kids played I did this---

I took down all the hideous, ugly border in my kitchen. It actually went really fast. As in 2 hours to take down 40 ft of border. It would have taken less time, but I have these two needy people I have been charged with, so I had to keep stopping. BUT I need HELP! Please PLEASE PLLLLLLLLLLLLEASE with sugar on top someone help me! We are re-doing our kitchen, mostly. We are getting new laminate countertops (nothing fancy, just something to fix the hideous green the original owners chose--don't get me started), and re-painting. That's the part I need help with. Not so much color, but whether or not to paint the whole kitchen. Should I only paint wear it is green and do a painted type border or just paint the whole kitchen one color?! Opinions go.

side bar those wine bottles on the fridge were decor on my cabinets, we do not drink that much. :)

In the picture below you can see that some of the "khaki" color will stay as their is no break point above the sliding glass door (red curtain), so...

If I had to do another border which I am NOT crazy about I wanted to do a stencil of some sort like this...or one of the many out there...yay or nay? If you could please help out this decorating challenged girl that would really help!

Source: etsy.com via Michele on Pinterest

Moving on. Friday evening I went to a consignment sale and go the kids a few clothes...they didn't have much so I was a tad bummed. Here is Lo modeling one of her new outfits. She is so freakin' cute.

Yep, still on Friday.
That night was our town's big football game. We have two HS here so it was on. We live fairly close to the "statmen" as Lo says, so we walked down there. Group shot.

Go Team!

 We stayed all of 20 minutes, it was bedtime for MW and it was crazy down there. A perk of being a teacher is we all get in for free, so it isn't like the adventure costs us anything.

 

Saturday! Our city was commemorating it's 50 years or something, they do this every year. But the morning started off with a parade! The parade was fine, but the BEST BEST part was these girls. We had some dear dear friends move away last year and like the prodigal son they returned home this year! I can't not adequately convey with words what this means to my family to have them home. I could cry tears of joy right now just thinking about it. I keep pinching myself hoping this is real. It is.

Anyway these girls are like sisters/BFFs whatever. They just instantly connected again as if no time passed. Watching them play nearly brought tears to my eyes. I am usually not so sappy, but like I said...no words. Just joy.

So they enjoyed the parade together and got enough candy. Never enough to them, but enough! HA!

I don't have pics from the rest of the weekend, but it ended up at our friend's house, where we sat outside, ate pizza and caught up all the while the kids are running like mad around the backyard. It was one of those moments you just wanted to never end. But I know there will be many more years of fun ahead!

Sunday I started Judgement House rehearsals. Judgement House is one of my favorite things to volunteer for. It is such a powerful witnessing tool and watching people come to Jesus, well it doesn't get better than that my friends. I am an angel singing in Heaven. We are all praying this goes well. Here's the thing, never in my life have I ever seen so many things go wrong or be under attack as I do when we get ready to put on JH. You can actively see Satan trying to sabotage all he can to keep people from coming to Jesus. It is astounding I tell ya, astounding. Yet through prayer, perseverance, and God's mighty hand we are never deterred and always bring thousands more to Jesus each year. So I would like to ask fellow believers to join us all in prayer to lift up JH across the area and nationwide that Satan will be thwarted and those churches are able to bring Jesus to those who need Him!

Here's a link to Judgement House if you don't know what I am talking about and if you are interested in going it has a place to find one near you. JH run all over the country at different times of the year. If you haven't been whether you are a believer or not I recommend going. It is life-changing.

Hope you all had a great weekend and enjoyed the beautiful fall weather!