Camera Strap Cover GIVEAWAY

In case you don't know I have a little etsy shop call Polka Dot Pixie. One of the items that I have really focused on lately are camera strap covers for the SLR cameras. In celebration of hitting 330 etsy sales (actually 334 thankyouverymuch) I am giving away a free camera strap cover of your choosing. Whichever one you want that is listed for sale in my shop!!! The only way to enter is to become a fan HERE on my facebook fan page and then leave a comment under my two most recent status updates. Hurry over b/c the giveaway will end at midnight tonight!!!

I survived

So another quarter of College will be behind me in just a few short hours. This quarter was not nearly as bad as last quarter or as bad as next quarter will be but it is still hard to take care of two kids, a husband, a house and focus on schoolwork. I always go in to the classes ready to do great by studying and working hard and then about half way through I just decide that I will take what I can get as long as it is a passing grade. I get so ready for it to be over with that I don't focus on the few weeks left but the end that is in sight! I do dread next quarter b/c as we all know, I am NO MORNING PERSON! Well on one day my class will start at 7:30 am in the morning!!!! Seriously...I am already trying to find a way out of this but I know I just need to take the class and suffer through the 10/11 weeks and put it behind me. Then I wait. I will apply to my program by April 1st and then I wait again, pray and beg that I get in b/c if I don't then I am sure to curl up in a ball in the corner.

The Ants go marching one by one

Dear 5,345 Ants who invaded my kitchen,
I warned you! I told you to stay out of the inside of the house and I would let you live. You can think your leader for the fact that you have been covered in ant poison and are now balled up in a little ball in my kitchen floor. Had you listened to me and not forced me to be up half the night killing you and cleaning up the ant spray, you might still be alive. RIP dear Ants:)

Ode to My Little Man

So today you are THREE! At the risk of sounding like every other mother in the world...where has the time gone??? You are a baby that was prayed for before birth in ways you can't imagine. There was a point in my pregnancy when I thought I would never hold you alive. Then I cried tears of joy the first time I heard you cry. I look at you and see a child that knows he carries the spirit of his brother, Cohen, with him. It takes a special child to do that. You are a healthy, happy handful who is his mama's boy but would follow his daddy to the ends of the earth.

You LOVE your sister but you also LOVE to hit your sister. You think it is funny to stand in front of the TV while she is trying to watch it and when she gets mad at you somehow you manage to melt her heart and all is right in the world.

When it comes to your mama, well let's just say that I am weak. I have a hard time saying no to you. All you have to do is throw your arms around my neck and say "I want to love on you" and I'm all yours. Who cares if you flushed your undies down the toilet and dumped your pee from your potty in to the bathtub.

You only listen to your daddy. I can say your name 50 times to get you to stop doing something but all your daddy has to do is look at you. You don't like to cry in front of your daddy either which prevents you from throwing an all out fit in public places like you do when he isn't there. You follow him everywhere and just love to be with him although I think it is because he lets you get dirty:) You are turning from a baby to a little boy and I'm not sure I like it.

FINALLY you are potty trained although you still wear pull-ups at night just in case! The only piece of my baby that I still have left is the baby bed. Not sure why but you sleep 12 hours in there but only an hour at a time in the big boy bed. You don't eat a lot but love you some orange juice. You have started to slim up and get tall. You are so much like your sister at this age...smart and curious. You want to know every ones name and sometimes you say things that I can't figure out how you even know to say that. Preschool has been a surprisingly easy transition for you. I feared there would be screaming and crying but there wasn't any...at least not on your end. You have been good and love it.
You and Rylee are the lights of our lives and nothing would be the same without you. I love you with all my heart and feel blessed that I get to watch you grow!

Moving on...

I thought this picture was so awesome....

That is until my hubby told me that he thought it symbolized them growing up!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Best Laid Plans...

So I am a planner by nature. Well kind of...I plan a lot of things out in my mind but I suck with time management so usually it's a let down when I don't accomplish all that I have in my head. I also plan out my future in my head as I am trying to go to sleep at night...maybe that is why I'm not able to fall asleep.
My mornings since Tegan has been in preschool have been busy with cleaning house, sewing and school work. Some how I am still just as behind as I was when I didn't get anything done with him here must stop watching TV. This morning I had everything worked out in my head of what I wanted to accomplish before jetting off to school: take Teg to preschool-check, check my email and facebook-check, do a load of laundry-half a check, clean kitchen and living room-3/4 of a check, take trash out-wait for it, and then finish the homework that I have known was due today for the last two weeks but yet I waited until today to finish it up-let's talk about it later:) So I started marking things off my mental list and then it happened, I walked to the front door where my keys were hanging out of the door knob, pulled them out and sat them on the sofa table as I thought "I don't need to lock the door to take the trash out", walk out door and close it. Within a millisecond (is that real?) I realize what I had just done...I had locked myself out of the house with NO PHONE!!! I pride myself on not being much of a cell phone person. Seriously, half the time when you call I won't answer b/c I don't know where its at but this morning I began to shake and almost burst out in tears when I realized that I was here, locked out and my PHONE WAS IN THE HOUSE!!! My mother-in-law who lives next door and has a key was not at home. NOT ONE SINGLE NEIGHBOR WAS AT HOME. So I broke in to my sister-in-laws house which is apparently WAY easier to get in to than my own and then realized that I didn't know my MIL's cell number b/c why would I memorize it when it is programed in my cell phone?? I mean, who knows any ones number these days?? So I call my husband at work to get her cell number and he graciously tells me that he will have to call me back...WHAT?? I finally get in touch with my SIL and got the number I needed and within 30 minutes my MIL was here.
I am going to admit I was mad. Super mad at myself and fuming at my husband b/c why on earth do we not have a key hidden somewhere outside of our house!!! I mean really, isn't this his fault:) I sat in 108 degree temps(maybe a little less) on the front porch, sweating and thinking of all the things that I wasn't going to get accomplished before class including my HOMEWORK! I was aggravated and playing the why me game and then it hit me...stop and think about it, pray about, let it go! So I sat down on my beautiful front porch swing which I never ever take the time to enjoy these days and said a little "please calm my insides down" prayer.
Day after day I make plans...plans for our future, my kids future, my mornings, my days, my year but really does it matter what I plan for?? Nope it sure doesn't b/c I don't get to choose all of the days that are laid out before me. I have worried an awful lot lately about my schooling and if I am making the right future career decision but today my prayer has changed to "I will go where you guide me". Ultimately every minute of every day I am right where I am suppose to be even if that place won't be the same when I wake up tomorrow. The past four years of my life have taught me to learn from things and not be burdened by them. So yes, today I go to school with the goal of a radiography degree in mind but tomorrow I may be traveling the world on an airplane (with a mask and gloves on to protect me from the germs). Even though I know it is unlikely for me to be doing that tomorrow I also thought it was unlikely that I would be married at 20, that I would bury a child at 2006, that I wouldn't fulfill my dream of having 7 children or that I would be back in school all these years later. The point is you just never know when change will happen and where the good Lord might take you from day to day even if it is on a swing in the horrible heat with no distractions and no one to talk to but God. That swing was right where I was suppose to be today and most importantly, right where I needed to be!

What in the World is Happening

Well not much fun stuff to post except that I am once again trying to avoid doing schoolwork so therefore I am updating the blog:) This is going to be very random.

Tegan and his big boy bed.....well we are no longer in the big boy bed. I say we b/c I was ending up spending more time in his bed than mine. So I am that mother who for the sake of her sanity and her sleep gave in and bribed talked the kid in to getting back in his baby bed. Oh how I love the baby bed!!! I have had the best nights sleep for the last two nights and I have missed it so much.

Tegan and his preschool...doing great and mommy is adjusting a little more everyday to the new routine and actually getting a few things done in the mornings. It's starting to feel a little like a dream, nobody pinch me!!! He only goes until 12 so that isn't to bad and it is just enough time to make him tired and ready for a great nap.

Rylee...school is moving right along for her and I have had a hard time explaining the difference in fact and opinion to her....2nd grade homework is not easy! She came home sick from school yesterday and slept it off. She seemed to feel much better this morning thank goodness.

Rylee and her really big news...all of her dreams have come true. We no longer have to hear all about how she wants a horse! More on that one later, with pictures!

Dear Hubby is killing himself trying to finish up his classes at school and working full time. I will be glad when his school is over. Both of us in school is not fun.

Me...I am moving right along in school. Finishing up yet another class and signed up to take another super hard class next quarter so once again I will be MIA.

My Etsy Store...IS DOING AWESOME! I have been selling camera strap covers like crazy along with a few checkbook covers and a few burp clothes. I'm going to be adding some baby gift sets pretty soon in hopes to have even more sales. But the best thing is that my camera strap covers are selling awesome and are keeping my hubby quiet about me finding a job since Teg is in preschool:)

This is officially the most random post ever! Now I must do homework:(

The Big Boy Bed is OVER RATED

Last week when Tegan started preschool he instantly decided that he was a big boy and was no longer going to sleep in his baby bed. He has both a big boy bed and baby bed in his room as of right now and I am about ready to give up and put him back in the baby bed. We have tried the big boy bed before and it didn't work out b/c he wouldn't stay in it long enough to go to sleep. Well now he is staying in there wonderful to fall asleep but the problem comes when he wakes up. He could sleep five hours or two but when he wakes up he thinks he is suppose to come wake me up and then wants me to lay down with him. I want to cry. The first night he slept in there he actually got up and ran in my room all upset and asking was I ok and why was I laying down...I'm pretty sure he thought that mommy stayed up around the clock. Tegan has always been an awesome sleeper...goes to bed at 8:30 and before he started school he would sleep until around 9:30 every single day. He would never ever wake up at night...EVER!!! I want those nights back.
When it is daylight outside he says that it is "blue" outside. So last night I told him not to get up until it was blue outside and I then put the baby gate up at his door so that he couldn't wonder around the house in the middle of the night. Well he would wake up yelling across the house about how it wasn't blue outside yet. At some point I just grabbed my pillow and went to his bed with him. I'm not going to lie, this is killing me. I need sleep and not broken newborn baby sleep but REAL SLEEP! All of this on top of me trying to adjust to getting up very early for the first time in over three years. I wonder if I bribed him with a cookie would he get back in his baby bed??

Growing Pains

I've been having growing pains lately. I'm not good with change unless it is the kind that involves me winning lots of money in the lottery that I don't play. Rylee starting school was no big deal to me. See I never got to stay home with Rylee...I always worked until I started staying home after Tegan and she would be at school. Well I have been with Tegan for all of almost three years of his little life. When he started preschool this past Monday I really wanted to sit across the street from the preschool and watch him like a stalker lady all day but everyone advised against it. It is definitely going to take some getting use to.
I have to say that he did a great job and didn't even have to be peeled off of my body. Not a tear was shed by him...me, well I'll never tell. I have been so eager to pick him up everyday that I get over there super early and have to sit in the car for a while. He is loving it and is finally thinking a little more like a big boy. He is wanting to drink from a big boy cup and not a sippy cup which means extra messes around the house b/c he doesn't understand that you have to hold the cup straight up to keep the milk from pouring out. Another big change is that he is wanting to be in his big boy bed. Which would be a great thing if he didn't wake up at the times of 1 am, 2 am, 3 am, 4 am, 5 am and finally 7 am. He is for sure trying but he just thinks that when he wakes up that it is time to start his day. Last night I slept most of the night in the bed with him just to get him to stay in there. The baby bed is still up and I am begging him to sleep in it tonight because Mama is TIRED!!!!

Tegan eating some crackers before heading off to preschool!

Tegan outside his new preschool. He wouldn't let me take any other pictures. He said to "TOP Mama"....so I did.

Time just keeps flying by and some days I love that my babies are growing up and love the new stages of their lives, then there are those days I want to go back in time to smell that baby smell in the nook of their little necks. Either way I know that I am blessed to be here to watch them grow in to young little people!

Dirt is his best friend

This little man is such a boy! I have always heard people say that and wonder what the point of that statement was...of course he is such a boy, after all he is a BOY! Well now I get it. I took the kids outside to take a few pictures of them last week. I was doing some of Ry first b/c I didn't want her hair to get sweaty looking. Well I didn't put on Teg's shirt for the pictures yet b/c of fear of him getting it dirty. Do you think I was justified in that....

literally within 5 minutes he looked like this!

Look at his little hands in the above picture....completely covered in dirt!

Second Grader

My oldest child started 2nd grade today. She was so excited that she was up way before us! She got an awesome teacher this year (teacher of the year last year). She didn't get in a class with a lot of her friends from last year but she already made several new friends today so that is a good start. Not that I ever worried b/c she makes friends everywhere she goes. She picked out her first day of school outfit and I thought she looked rockin cute in it! Love her so much and love watching her grow up!