11-04-15 Two More Days!

In just two days, my little one will be one year old. After three kids I'm still in awe of how fast and slow the first year goes. Really time in general has sped up since having kids. Tim and I often wonder what we did during those two years of marriage before C came along. Seriously, we must have watched a lot of TV and eaten at a lot of restaurants!

If I could do it all over, I would tell the younger version of myself to find Tim sooner, get married sooner, and start a family sooner. When young women tell me that they want to enjoy a career before settling down I wonder if they will regret that later. I know, it sounds old fashioned, but from personal experience, I love my job, but it will never beat snuggling with my babies, playing make believe, or hearing the words, "I love you Mommy!"

11-03-15 An evening home

It isn't often that we are all home for the evening during the week so it was a rare treat for us to all sit down together for dinner tonight!










At aftercare today C made a little container to collect leaves and grass and all things nature. Despite it being dark when we got home I took her for a walk to collect specimens for her jar. When we brought everything inside she took time to sort it all by shape, size, and color.



I have come to the conclusion that Halloween candy does wonders for my culinary skills. All of a sudden at the mention of candy my children gobble down whatever 'disgusting' meal I put in front of them!

11-02-15 Monday Funday

If you were to ask me what my last favorite day of the year is... The day I dread the most... It is today... The first Monday after the autumn time change. It's the first day that my evening commute is done in the dark and it is a commute to be reckoned with.

The beltway is a challenge on a good day, but add an early sunset and voila, chaos. Also I really don't like getting home in the dark. The kids can't play outside and everyone gets tired so much sooner. Overall everyone just gets crankier. And so begins the long, dark winter.

Other than that, my day was actually pretty cool. We did a service project at work today where we packages meals for hungry people in the surrounding communities. I admit I wish I did stuff like that more often!

11-01-15 My Boys

I never pictured myself as a mom of boys. For some reason I thought I was only cut out for girls, probably because I was raised with a sister. I wasn't prepared for what having a son would be like.

I didn't expect the fierce love that a little boy brings, let alone two!

Big E will stop in the middle of his game just to walk over and tell me that he loves me. He will get a shy little look and tell me he has something for me and asks me to come near. When I do, he leans over and plants a gentle kiss on my cheek. He will ask me to pretend to be sad so that he can cheer me up with a kiss. I call him Handsome Pants and My Little Prince.

Each morning he likes to sneak in my bed and cuddle under my covers with me. And when he is scared he clings to my side or wraps his arms around my neck to keep him safe. His sweetness and his smile brighten each of my days.

As for Baby E, his chunky cheeks and his high pitched squeals remind me that babyhood happens so quickly. When I get him out of his crib each morning he giggles and smiles and nestles under my chin. No matter who holds him, when he hears my voice or sees my face he lunges towards me. I am his favorite and I'm definitely okay with that!

When I look at my boys I am constantly reminded of what a lucky mommy I am!

10-31-15 Happy Halloween

Tim and I had the great honor of escorting a ballerina, Spiderman, and a dragon this evening. We were joined by Ironman, another Spiderman, and an elephant!

After spending some time in the neighborhood we headed to the church for a wonderful fall festival. C was very excited about the cake walk and Big E was excited about the bouncy slide. Baby E was pretty happy to be along for the ride!

It was a wonderful evening!

10-30-15 Trick or treat at school

10-29-15 Crazy Outfit Day

Today was crazy outfit day at school, however C had informed me this morning that it was backwards day so I dressed her in normal clothes (just backwards) and got her out to the bus stop. When the other kids started showing up in their crazy clothes I ran inside and grabbed some things out of her drawer and pulled together a crazy outfit for her in less than a minute! Big points for mom!



The kids were in fine form this evening, so bedtime was quite the struggle. I'm enjoying these few minutes of quiet.

10-28-15 Late Night

It's 10 pm and I just got my final kid to sleep. I had a mops steering team meeting this evening so I put my kids in awanas just for tonight and afterwards I was quickly reminded why I chose not to keep them in the Wednesday night programs. It's just way too late for my little ones.

Hopefully one day soon they will be up for it but we just aren't there yet, especially Big E. He was super fussy when I got him from his class and stayed that way till he passed out in his bed while C was brushing her teeth!

With the boys asleep I took s few minutes to start C's tangram book. She was surprisingly engaged in it. She wanted to know if China was very far away and was amazed to learn that it was further than both Arkansas and Ohio. She was also curious as to if the Tang Dynasty ever made it to Florida! Ha!

She learned some new words like 'Dynasty,' 'overlap,' and 'parallelogram.'

It was nice to get a few quiet moments with her this evening!


This fellow crawled in my bed this morning. Such a sweetheart!


Passed out this evening! Long day for my big guy!


Ha-ha! This one totally looks like a selfie!