A boy with a marker...

Just yesterday my little man was a baby. Today he is growing like a weed and writing on everything in my house with this marker (see it in his hand)...can you say BUSTED!!

When I asked him why he had that marker in his hand he gave me this sweet little look and managed to stay out of trouble.

Lucky for him Windex removes marker off of a TV screen. Let me trade that marker for this little car. That's better!

Until he realized it wouldn't write on the furniture:)

Then he got distracted and asked me to take a picture of his new flip flops! He is so super proud of them and expects every person he encounters to tell him his shoes are cute! He had been wearing Rylee's pink flip flops around the house so when we went to Academy recently I found these. The only pair of these in the whole store and they were his size! I couldn't believe it. To top it off, they were only $5.

Stay at home mom goods and bads

Its a glorious life. The house is a mess, its 100 degrees outside and my kids are healthy! I get the privilege of staying at home with my kids (EVERY SINGLE DAY)! It hasn't always been this way. I use to work...in fact being a stay at home mom with my second born was never part of the plan, at least not my husband's plan. I went back to work 6 weeks after having Rylee and worked until I was put out of work on bed rest with my pregnancy with Tegan, 4 1/2 years later. I've done the whole mothers guilt thing with working and now I am doing the whole mothers guilt thing with not working.

The good of being a stay at home mom~ You are always with your kids. You don't have to worry about if your kids are being well taken care of b/c you are the primary caregiver. There is a strong bond between you and that child. There are play dates and sleeping in late (my fav)! You get to watch that kid change and really develop.

The bad of being a stay at home mom~ You ARE ALWAYS WITH YOUR KIDS! There is no going to lunch with co-workers and eating without having to feed rowdy kids. The bond is so great that the kid then thinks no one else can do anything for them but their mother. Instead of a day filled with a stressful job and meetings, there is now a day filled with stressful temper tantrums, pee and snot!

I guess it is a trade off. Working has its good points but you miss your kids. Being at home has its good points but you forget who you are. A mother is never off work whether they are a stay at home mom or a working mom. There is mother's guilt for leaving your kids to go to work and then there is mother's guilt when staying at home b/c it isn't a day filled with fun and one on one playtime. As mother's it is our job to make sure our kids are taken good care of no matter what we choose to do or what we HAVE to do. We should also support other mothers and not do the whole "well you get to stay at home" thing. Staying at home with my kids is the hardest job I have ever in my life had. There is no routine b/c you have to take it as it comes which makes me feel headachy and yucky all day every day! There are no breaks, especially when your 2 year old decides that nap time is for babies.

Can you tell I am having an overwhelming, I'm tired and not sure that being a stay at home is right for me kind of day:)

Greenville Zoo in Pictures...

There is another updated blog post under this one!

Rylee with the elephants! Both elephants are turning 40 this year!

That elephant looked so dry that I just wanted to pour water on him!

The reptile house was neat but suddenly my hubby developed a weird feeling about snakes so we didn't stay in there long!

No...we don't put lipstick on Tegan but we do let him have red kool-aid:)

The one in the back is the mom and the one in the front is the baby. That baby was so funny and would stand up and a dragon fly would come near him so he would just fall down and play dead. It was so cute!

My babies!

Awful picture of me with the kids but it is the only one I got.

Daddy and his babies!

Teg was telling me to STOP WITH THE PICTURES AND HELP HIM!

Below are two pics from the really awesome playground right outside the entrance of the Zoo.

I took these next two pictures b/c I wanted you to be able to get a feel for the Zoo. It is not just concrete and concessions. There is so much green space and exotic feeling. It is just awesome and shaded.

This one is the path you walk through the zoo.

Family Fun Day...

I wish this was going to be one of those post where I talk about how awesome life is and how every detail of my life goes just as I have it planned out in my mind...sorry to disappoint you:)
We got a slow start this morning but decided to be spontaneous and take the kids to do something a little fun. Let me just start by saying that we are typically homebodies...we just don't stray far from home but every time we do it just makes me love my little old house that much more!
First we didn't leave here until around lunch time. My husband had this bright idea that going to eat at this little BBQ place in the middle of nowhere would be a great idea. Well it wasn't that bad of an idea b/c the food was really good once we finally got there. He drove all over the world to get to a place that should have been a straight shot. Then I spent about 10 minutes in the bathroom with Tegan while he couldn't decide if he needed to pee or poop and then decided he didn't need to do either. Tegan had a clear snotty nose when we woke up this morning....more on that later.
So we ate and then got back on our way but once again we went backwards to get where we needed to go and that landed us right in the middle of a storm. I don't mean a little rain and thunder but a storm that literally came out of nowhere and included strong wind, heavy rain and hail and some bolts of lightening that will make you wet your pants. We had to pull in to a gas station and sit for a while which was just awesome since Rylee and myself are terrified of storms. The fact that the car was literally swaying in the wind was an added bonus. Then it stops...we start driving again. An hour later we get to our destination, the Greenville Zoo! OK this is the part where it is all roses and wonderful unless you count me sweating a gallon and feeling like I had been swimming. If you live anywhere within driving distance to the Greenville Zoo you need to go. It isn't a huge Zoo and you won't see as much as the Atlanta Zoo but it is so worth it. For all four of us to get in it cost us $15.75....which is cheaper than just one kids ticket to the Atl. Zoo. It is beautiful, shaded and NOT CROWDED! Literally besides passing a few people here and there, we had every exhibit (is that the right word) to ourselves. The kids loved it! Two hours later we were back in the car and realized that we had a little boy with a fever. He knocked out and poured snot the whole ride home which entailed dear hubby driving like a lunatic. Seriously, there is something about going 80 mph that makes me fear for my life.
We get home a little after 6:00. My husband decides that going to shop a little in Athens with a feverish child in tow is a good idea (not sure who left him in charge). Rylee screams and cries b/c we have ruined her she doesn't want to go anywhere. She literally cried like a two year old except she's not....she is 7 1/2 years old!!!! Plus she is a girl, somebody needs to teach her to like to shop! So I gave Teg some meds and we headed out. This is the part where there was crying, screaming and power struggles and then there were the kids:) No seriously...I know little man didn't feel great and Ry was tired but for the love of mercy why can't these kids just act normal and be quiet. Teg wants to walk which means he wants to run away from us in busy parking lots. Rylee wants to by lots of stuff but yet nothing that she needs or will even use. There was one point in Academy when I tried these flip flops on Tegan and he screamed when I tried to take them off....I literally had to muffle his screams by placing my hand over his mouth which caused even more stares. Seriously, don't people realize that I am covering his mouth b/c they are looking at him for screaming but yet I get the evil eye for trying to ease the blow. Anyways we went TWO PLACES and didn't get home until 10:00 pm! I'm not even sure we came home with anything we intended to go get.
We get out of the car and the kids are admiring the super full moon that we are having (which explains a lot) but Tegan has something else on his mind and decides that the super full moon is really a white (?) balloon that he let go of outside one day on New Year's Eve!!! It is his balloon, he wants it and expects one of us to fly right up there and get it. What makes it worse some clouds started floating in front of it and it looked broken up so he starts screaming that someone is breaking his balloon. He was dead serious and meant that he wanted that darn balloon and apparently screaming and throwing himself on the ground was the say to get it. So by this point he has snot, tears and drool streaming down his face. Let's just say a bath and bedtime couldn't come fast enough.
So that was our attempt at a wonderful family day which I guess is exactly what we had....we like to keep it real!

I will post the wonderful Zoo pictures tomorrow...I'm tired!

She's wonderful

My little lady is approaching her half birthday. She will soon be 7 1/2 years old and is ever changing. She probably has the most personality of any one human being that you have ever met in your life. But the very very very best things about her are that she loves EVERYONE she meets and she is super resilient.

She loves EVERYONE she meets....she does not judge. Even at her age she still doesn't see color, size or social status. She is full of kindness and ready to please. It has filled my heart this week at bible school to watch her. I have always noticed this quality about her but never so much as I have this week. I have watched children choose not to play with certain kids b/c of their appearance or for other reasons but not my girl! She makes sure that everyone knows they are loved. This is the best quality I think she can ever have and I try to compliment her on it often in hopes that she keeps this.

Being Resilient...If someone chooses not to play with her or is rude to her, she doesn't dwell but just moves on. I know that one day she will lose this b/c that is just the nature of the world. It is a blessing that kids are this way b/c I have watched kids be really mean to each other. I can only pray that Tegan is this way.

I love my little lady with all my heart and I think she is probably the most awesome person I have ever had the pleasure of knowing....I hope one day she can say that about me!

Oh how my baby is growing...

April Rose

Dear April Rose (aka chicmomentscom on etsy),

It was so great to have you take interest in my product that I have in my etsy shop. It was also really awesome of you to teach me to not trust ANYONE on etsy ever again. I mean, it was really smooth how you waited until your item was marked as shipped and then try to say I have made no contact with you and have your funds held through paypal. Oh and paypal is really great too since they let you do that. Since I am the one that doesn't communicate with you, I guess all SIX of the emails I have sent you with no reply are getting lost in cyberspace. Have I told you how awesome you are?? Thanks again for your purchase and since you didn't really pay for your wonderful handmade item, I'm sure you will enjoy it that much more. Hope you, your brand new camera strap and some really huge Karma have a really great life together!

Sincerely,
Polk Dot Pixie

Refreshing

About six years ago I bought this super expensive and very modern looking comforter set for our bedroom. At the time that I bought this comforter our room was red. Not pretty red but a dark red. One day I woke up, opened my eyes and decided I couldn't wake up to that red ANYMORE. So I painted it. The whole room all by myself. I painted it a much lighter neutral tan color with plans of totally redoing everything in there. Well that was almost a year ago and nothing else ever changed. I liked our comforter set but the problem is that it is basically the same color as our walls. OK well that isn't the only problem....the real problem is that I swear that thing weighs 100 lbs. I mean you would have to grunt really hard to help you pull the covers up on the bed. I am a back sleeper and for six years I have slept with my feet cocked to the side every night b/c the comforter was to heavy for me to keep my toes pointed toward the ceiling.
My feet are very happy now b/c I took $29.99 of my birthday money, went to target and bought me a lightweight quilt for my bed. Its nothing fancy and turned out to be a little brighter than I thought it was but I LOVE IT! I thought my hubby would die b/c of how bright it is but he seems to like it too. I then took our two old throw pillows and recovered them with some black and white damask fabric that I have. I tried something different and made them with the open flap on the back so I can remove them and wash the fabric. I love those too! It turned out really good. Now if I can just talk myself in to some curtains:)

Here is a picture of the color of the old comforter
See how it is the same color as the wall! (don't judge me about that picture that has fallen in the frame...once I finally got that frame up there I was scared to take it down to fix the picture so I just left it...gives it character I think.)
The new throw pillows!

See how bright...

This picture below makes it look not so bright but don't be fooled.... I do love it though we were so use to a super heavy comforter that we kind of felt like we were using a hotel comforter for a few days until we got use to it. Target had lots of great colors and all of them, from twin to king, are $29.99. We have a pillow top queen mattress but I had to get a king quilt so it would hang down enough on each side.

Now everyone run out and get one:)

Down the road...

WARNING: Serious post ahead

So my husband and I have been in a deep discussion tonight about a certain direction to take our family in. Not sure if it is obvious or not but we are not in total agreement of the road ahead of us. I am an unfaithful faithful person...Let me explain. An unfaithful faithful person to me is someone who lets worry creep in to their life and take over. When small things need to be provided, I worry about how and if it will be provided. But when there is something big I'm usually the first one to want to take the leap of faith and let God work out the details. So to break it down...I worry about if I can buy clothes(wanted...not needed) for my kids but when it comes to being a stay at home mom I never had a doubt that the good Lord would hand us what we needed. This definition is my own definition...I've actually never heard this term before so maybe I should copyright it:)
My dear Hubby is very different...he is cautious and doesn't lay much in God's hands without asking for it back several times. He will NEVER take a leap of faith but yet doesn't sweat the small stuff. The things I sweat are so unimportant but the things he sweats are the big things that there is no possible way to work out the details without just letting it happen. In other words he is an extreme realist and I am not so much.

I'll get there in a minute...stick with me!

Have you ever felt the pull of God? A desire to do something beyond your own little life? When it is there, its there. I know that life happens just as it should. We have walked a sometimes horrible road over the last four years of our life losing a child, family members, jobs, money issues, etc. During those times my faith was the strongest ever. I never could have imagined the goods and bads that would happen in my life and not knowing that is a blessing. We can't see the future, we can't predict how great or horrible things may be but we can have faith. We can hold tight to what we believe and know that the red carpet is already rolled out for us, we can follow it willingly or we can fight it but either way we will end up following it. Maybe the pull that I am feeling from God is preparing me for down the road and the timing just isn't right now b/c my husband doesn't feel it. So I will just back off and place my life in his hands...again and again. I believe in God's favor and that the flow of life is what makes us...US! My cup will run over soon but I am blessed to not know when. Do you have any idea how hard it is to talk a realist in to taking a leap of faith??

TO BE CONTINUED...DOWN THE ROAD:)

Church Camp

Let me just start by saying that it is H-O-T in the great state of Georgia. When you are outside you instantly sweat to death! It hasn't been this hot until recently so a little over a month ago when I had the great idea of registering me and Rylee for Buddy camp at a near by church camp...it seemed like a great idea! Buddy camp is something that THIS camp offers for young children so they can see what going to real church camp is like. It just lets them get familiar with it while having their parents along for comfort.
It really is an awesome and God loving place. They had WONDERFUL food, lots of great crafts, awesome music and a really nice pool. Although I'm not sure if I was wet from being in the pool or sweating so much. It was just so hot and if there is one thing I can't handle it is the heat with no relief! The cabins are actually pretty nice too and at least they have a window unit A/C or else I might have died.
Rylee really seemed to love it. She especially loved all the singing with Faith and Melody. We packed a lot in to that little overnight trip and ended the night with a little bonfire singing. It was nice to be with Rylee without anyone else to worry about and to get to watch her experience something new. It was also nice to be away from cell phones, TV and computers even if it was just a little less than 24 hours. We really enjoyed North Georgia Christian Camp and think they are awesome!!!

Love my Rylee Bug! I don't look to bad in the above picture considering that I didn't sleep AT ALL the night before!!

Total concentration needed for the crafts!

This was taken before she asked me to put down my paint brush:)

All the kids from our church that went to Buddy camp.

My sister-in-law (my hubby's sister) and her daughter also came and sweat to death enjoyed camp for the first time.

I hope that one day Rylee will be willing to go back on her own but I don't see that happening in the next couple of years. She was dead set that she would never go without me b/c she would miss me to much. I'm pretty sure as she approaches the teenage years she will change her mind.

Invasion of the FLIES

We are being invaded. Both of our porches are covered with flies and every time the doors swing open it seems like 50 flies invade our house. We have swatted and cried (mostly me when I couldn't sleep b/c I feared one would get in my mouth...apparently I sleep with my mouth open). It is crazy how many there are but misery loves company and I am glad to know that all the neighbors are invaded too...if they weren't then I would fear we had the case of the nasties. Anywho I made a trip to walmart this morning and bought all kinds of killing stuff for flies. I plan to beat these little devils one by one. Inside of my house I hung this up

I have yet to see any flies sticking to it but I'm holding out hope. My mom swears by them but we shall see.

I then bought this other little thing that you fill up with water and hang outside. There is a bag of "bait" hanging inside to lure in the unsuspecting aggravating creatures. I have it hanging by the front door but no flies yet! Maybe I can pray them away:)

Wish me luck in my obsession to rid my life of flies!!!

I Don't Wanta Grow Up...

Well that isn't entirely true. Tomorrow (or possibly today...depending on when you are reading this), June 10th I will be the big 3.0.!
Don't worry, I have no plans to slip in to a deep depression nor does it bother me one single bit to be turning 30. I guess once you have been married for over 9 years and have two kids, your pretty much considered old already. Seriously though there are a whole lotta things that bother me but one thing that I have never gave a second thought to is getting older. It is way better than the alternative so I am just thankful to have been on this ride another year.
This past week my body has given me leg cramps, my chest hurt after jumping in a pool over and over again and my bladder showed me that it isn't what it once was while jumping on the trampoline with Paul and the kids. You should have seen us to oldies trying to jump on the trampoline...we needed oxygen tanks about 30 seconds in to it. Even with all that I know that I am blessed. You see there have been several years in my 20's that I haven't felt all that great be it physically or mentally. I had some huge pain and coping issues after having my first child at just 23 where I experienced chronic pain in just about every part of my body for 11 straight months. Then there was the mental stuff that lasted around two years after losing our son, almost losing another son and then worrying that something was wrong with him once he made it here safe. You see...I look forward to my 30's. For me it is promising and full of new things. My 20's was my time to marry and have my family. Now my family is complete (unless you count that little girl that I want to adopt one day that my husband says no to but I keep talking to God about it and I'm pretty sure I will win). My husband FINALLY has found his career and seems to love it. Then here I sit uncertain of what I am going to be when I grow up but going to school just in case I figure it out and feeling like I can be anything I want to be. I feel good and feel blessed to be healthy, happy and not hungry!!! Well I'm hungry a lot but atleast I have food in my house to eat. So does turning 30 bother me...only if I wake up tomorrow and can't get out of bed!
Have a blessed day because I know I will!!!

6:30 AM

At 6:30 this morning my husband popped open a carbonated beverage. The sound of him opening that can drink echoed through the house and as I tried to lay sleeping in our bed I suddenly heard a loud voice through the baby monitor yell "Mommy Don't do that noise". It didn't take me long to realize that I still had the headache from yesterday so I quickly turned the monitor down and went back to sleep. Oh don't judge me...you know you have turned that monitor off before. It wasn't like he was screaming, at least not at that point but when I awoke 2 hours later....he was screaming really loud!

That is how my day started and that was basically how it went. Tegan pitched his two year old tantrums all day long. My lazy wonderful no rushing summer has been transformed this year to a 7 year old and almost 3 year old fighting over everything. Don't get me wrong, these kids love each other but the problem is that Teg is a little infatuated with Ry and must do everything she does. She doesn't really like this very much so it turns in to an all out war around here. My attempts to not raise my voice have not been going very well. Although I know it isn't going to help totally, tomorrow I feel like a weight will be lifted off of me as I finish up the hardest class ever with a huge final. Maybe I can focus on redirecting Teg instead of pushing him to "go find your sister while I study". I guess in a way some of the fighting is my fault but at least it entertains him:)

The most pleasurable part of my day was loading them in the car and going to buy that tiny little $100 sticker for the tag on my car. Yes that's right...I have a birthday coming up in the next couple of days and thankfully the tag office doesn't let me forget. Anyways, that trip was so quiet that I ended up riding around for a little while b/c I was enjoying it so much. I'm pretty sure that after completing this horrible class I am in, it will cure everything!!!

Never Never

this picture is my screen saver on my computer right now. Don't know why but I LOVE it! It is so Teg. He goes outside, he comes in covered in dirt.

It doesn't sound nice but it is the cutest thing ever when you are having a totally serious conversation with a 2 (almost 3) year old and he tells you he is "Never Never going to do that".

I'm on the mend from my "Man down" incident...I hope. I had such horrible heartburn last night that I slept most of the night sitting up on the couch. Isn't it weird how one day you are 29 and in just a few short days you will be 30 and apparently your body knows that and makes the very sudden change from young to semi-old.

We went swimming at a friends pool this morning for this weeks playgroup. It was nice and not very crowded. There were two young ladies there that were great at entertaining my two very needy little ones. The pool is hard to explain but awesome. Actually, to jump off into the deep end you have to walk up what are like patio steps. I was standing up there and one of the girls was totally caught off guard when I ran and jumped in right along with her. This happened about 5 more times. It was really fun and seemed like an awesome idea until now...my back hurts and my body is sore. Again, a sign of my age:) If you are only as old as you feel then I am in some serious trouble! We rounded out our play date with what was probably a mild concussion for the Teg man. He slipped and fell on the very hard floor but don't worry, his head caught his fall. He hit really really hard and cried and cried. The only thing he said the whole way home was "it hurts it hurts". But once we got home, ate some lunch and turned on Barney all was right in the world. Oh and Rylee was giving him some extra love so he was for sure milking it!

I have been selling camera strap covers like crazy. I can barely keep up. I can't wait to be out of school for break so maybe I can make some new and different designs.

We had our free spicy chicken sandwiches from Chik-fil-a tonight. They were pretty good but nothing to go all hog wild about and especially not something I should have been eating while my tummy isn't exactly sure if it wants to digest or upchuck. But I will probably order one again in the near future.
OK...this is officially the most random post ever with the most random title ever!

Mommy Down

OK...I think I can officially say that stress is rearing its ugly head and beating my body to death. I can't wait for some down time (if that even exist with two kids) so maybe I can feel a little better. I felt a little better today and was finally able to eat a little, not much but something. I went to school and came home, took care of the kids, cooked supper, went to the grocery store, gave baths, wrote a paper and studied. Oh the things us women can do when we feel like we shouldn't leave the bathroom floor!!!

When Mommy is sick

I wanted to title this "Mommy Down" but I was sure that most of you wouldn't realize that I had gotten that from my obsession called Deadliest Catch where they yell "Man Down" or "Greenhorn Down". Seriously, they have been showing a marathon for the last four or five days of this show and since I just got in to it I can't stop watching for fear I will miss something important. I think Saturday I watched it all but about three hours..ALL DAY LONG! I have even stayed up until 1:00 am watching it. Crazy I know but I can't help it...it seems to relax me and make me forget that I have a really huge test at school tomorrow. I think Paul was afraid he was going to have to disconnect the satellite just to get me to stop watching it.

OK...that was not what this post was about but I can't stop thinking about it. In fact, I woke up this morning sick. Like the kind of sick where you let your kids pull your house apart b/c you can't stay out of the bathroom. When I would have a wave of nausea all I could think about was those boats rocking in the ocean on deadliest catch and I'm pretty sure it was making me sea sick. At one point, I passed out dosed on the couch and had a dream that I was sea sick on one of the boats and there was no way off. CRAZY!!!! Anyways, while I was sick the kids took full advantage of me but yet they took no pity on me. In fact they fought and fought and fought today and made sure to come in the bathroom while my head was hanging over the trashcan and tell me about every right or wrong move their sibling was making. I wanted to cry, in fact I did cry! I felt horrible and couldn't get it together. My kids didn't get breakfast until around 11:00 and even then it was just toast. Poor Teg ate a pack of crackers for lunch while leaving a trail from one end of the house to the other. I still somewhat feel the need to vomit and my head hurts on one side of my head but at least I can set up now. As soon as Teg went down for scream time nap time, I crawled in the bed. Rylee caught me in a weak moment and asked if she could do anything she wanted while I napped and I of course said yes b/c I was hallucinating about a boat and rough seas. Needless to say she ate all our snacks and moved her bedroom in to our living room floor!!! It seems that the world falls apart when Mommy is sick:)