Mama's Boy

Now that Faith is in Kindergarten I've had to adjust to have one child the majority of the time.  For the most part it has been a pleasant transition.  He keeps my on my toes and we have a great time! He is always ready to go.  William is usually the first person up in the house no later than 6:30.  The first thing he wants is his strawberry milk (not mixed-he wants ALL the pink on the bottom), then he wants to get dressed, shoes on, and hair done! All by no later than 7, then he wants to know where we're going...ummm, most of the time mommy is in pj's, getting Faith out the door for school, then trying to re-group before a busy day with my little monkey.  William is fun, loving, sweet, kind, caring...MAMA's BOY! He likes mama's hair down, "it's prettier that way" He wants me to carry him, he plays with my hair, gives me tons of hugs and kisses, life is just a joy with him! I am forever grateful for this time I have with him!  Here are some pictures and descriptions of some of our time together.

Knight and Shining Armor

Spider man to the rescue!

This was Will's Halloween costume that we got at the end of September.  He literally wore holes in this costume.  He wore it everywhere, Faith's school, grocery store, park, you name it, he did it :)

Spider man at Kohl's

This was a bitter sweet trip to the zoo...it was our very first time to go without Faith.  I have to say this was the biggest adjustment, going places we were used to going with Faith, without her...

Trip to Academy...he wanted this SO bad. I ended up sneaking the purchase for a Christmas gift.  He loves dressing up in it now!

Will hang'n on the ladies at JC Pennys....I was ahead of him and heard him yell, "Hey mommy! Look at her panties!" EVERYONE in the ENTIRE store turned and looked at me! Since we had already caused a scene I decided to capture the moment :)

Four-wheeler, dirt, and a man's best friend (Swiper) What more could a boy ask for?

Playdate with Liam

Made a tent, popped popcorn and watched a movie...my kind of afternoon

Willie getting creative with Shrek!

Mommy's first time to cut his hair.  If you know Will, he's a freak about his hair.  He litterally does his hair daily now because anytime he so much as brushes his head against something he says in his big deap voice, "Mommy, my hair messed up?" LOL!

Breakfast in bed with his best buddy, Swiper

He will the entire top of cupcakes or cinnamon rolls--JUST for the icing!

This picture makes me laugh, he even put Swiper's jacket on

Story behind the shoes...a few days before we were leaving for our Disney World trip Will "misplaced" his shoes (AKA-HID them under the treadmill!) so I had to take him to replace them...once we found a pair for him he put his old shoes (the brown ones-that were too small) on the shelf and said, I don't need these anymore...

Rock'n his sweet replacement shoes!

MOPS Christmas Party

My personal trainer.  He's always telling me it's time to work out, "Mom, we should go on a walk so I can be healthy..." Was the most recent phrase that came out of his mouth :)

OHHHH, this was SOOOOO sweet!! One day I had a gang-buster headache and was curled up in bed...when I got up I saw this on my counter, Will said, "mommy, I picked these for you so you would feel better." He had gone outside and picked the petals off so the thorns wouldn't hurt him, put them in a vase and filled it with water.  This melted my heart!

Cotton Bowl day...he wasn't enthused about picture time

Like I said previously, he LOVES icing...reminds me of his Aunt Fallon the way he eats a cupcake :) *(clarification-not the messy part, she just loves the icing)

Mommy 2nd attempt at a haircut

"Hey mom, look, they are 'tissing' " I guess he's watched too many princess movies with his sister.  Of course Daron's response to this picture was...um, he's naked, well my kids take their Barbies clothes off then loses them, so get your head outta the gutter :)

This is how Will woke me up one morning after going through the junk drawer.

He's getting pretty good at puzzles

Will chill'n watching Shark Boy Lava Girl

Will bought Faith her favorite color flowers with his own money, just because...

Great way to end...Will LOVES Swiper!!! He carries him around like a little wrag doll all the time.  Swiper has been the BEST dog in the World for allowing my children to torment him with their love like they do!

~Hope you enjoyed!~



Sweet and Sassy

My Darling, Princess Faith...she is wonderful, amazing, smart, compassionate, opinionated, decisive, loud, funny, bossy, strong-willed, sensitive, emotional, caring, charismatic, talented, artistic, just to list a few characteristics of my daughter.

All of these characteristic comprised together make one special girl.  Faith is so much fun! She loves girl time, getting our nails done, being prissy, all the way to eating messy chili cheese dogs and playing in the dirt wearing dresses. 

I couldn't ask for anything more!! A girly-tom-boy! All I ever wanted :)

Her favorite things to do:

1) draw!!

2) play with her American Girls

3) do math with daddy

4) jump on the trampoline

Faith and her bitty baby in their matching clothes

A sign I bought for her room...I want her to take this with her when she grows up and never forget these things!

One of our "Girl dates" at Sonic-extra long coney all to herself...ate every bite!

My beautiful princess, I LOVE my angel!

She dressed Swiper up in her build a bear clothes

One of my VERY most favorite pictures of Faith!!  AHHHH, I love it!

(fall 2009 soccer)

Hoping she'll get tats out of her system at an early age :)

perfect caption of my princess fighter

WIPED

Lately I have been having issues with my cell phone connecting to my UMA which in turn has caused me to go over my minutes the past couple of months.  Since we knew it was no the internet provider Daron had me call T-Mobile.

So, Monday, I started my day with a large dose of Customer Service.  Literally, I was off and on the phone with T-Mobile's customer service for almost 4 hours straight! Now, if you know me, my track record with customer service providers is not awesome...I don't technical issues and I sure don't like 'waiting' to get them fixed :)

Well, as I took out batteries, rebooted systems, numerous dropped calls, and endless steps to try to get everything to work correctly I was shocked and the kindness these customer service providers had.  Each one I talked to had respect and patience while we worked out the kinks. 

Needless to say, NONE of these steps worked.  Finally at their last string they said, well we hate to do this, but we realize whatever is going on IS in fact a phone issue and none of these steps are resolving your issue so we are going to now go through the process of "wiping" your phone.  They informed me that it would clear any information I may already have and to beaware of that.

So, I wiped the phone and it began to work properly.  At last, it was fixed. 

Where am I going with this....well, I want to tie it in with emotions and relationships.  We all have friends and family that we have conflict with .  We say or do things that are hurtful and we don't mean, but once they are out there you can NEVER take it back.

I am one that can get my feelings hurt easily. I'm sensitive and emotional (yes, I know, some of you are like, huh?? But, it's true!) I don't like conflict and I like everyone to like me.  This is me...it always has been.  I am one to apologize fast and even if it really wasn't my fault just so there wont be friction.

So, let me tie these two together.  As I was thinking how my phone was wiped and I lost all my memory.  I was thinking, gosh, that would be SO nice if we had a "wipe" button on us.  So we could just wipe away our bad memories, things people have said and done to us that have hurt and visa/versa, where others can do the same thing too. 

Unfortunatly we don't have this luxury so make it your goal to start paying attention to what you say, what you do, and how you handle situations.  Be sensitive to those around you. We all have feelings and whether you are a tough skinned elephant or a sensitive skinned rabbit like myself we can still get hurt. 

You remember the old saying:  "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." This saying is far from the truth.  Words are sharper than any two-edged sword.  We really need to watch what we say.

I thought this was interesting, according to Psychiatrist Antonio Wood, “When you speak ill of someone, you alienate yourself from that person. The more negative your comments, the more distant you will feel from the object. Say bad things about many people and your words will separate you from them.”

I am going to leave you with several scriptures to meditate on.  This will always be a continued self-help process, but if we all become more aware of those around us and thing before we speak...I am certain our relationships will grow stronger from it.  Be blessed.

Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.  Proverbs 21:23

I tell you, on the day of judgement people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.  Matthew 12:36-37

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.  Proverbs 12:18

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worhtless.  James 1:26  (OUCH)

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.  Ephesians 4:29

I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence.  Psalm 39:1

So put away all malice and all deceit and hyprocrisy and envy and all slander.  1 Peter 2:1

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother willbe liable to judgement; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever sayd, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire.  Matthew 5:22

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discernin the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  Hebrews 4:12 

A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.  Proverbs 15:4

For Whoever desires to love lide and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.  1 Peter 3:10

Healthy Snack Ideas

I commented on a friends blog about healthy snacks and thought I would share some ideas here with all my mommy friends.

My kids love fruit! 9 times out of 10 they will pick fruit over fries. Some things we do here:

1) We do go to the farmers market and the kids can touch and pick out their own fruit

2) In the spring we pick strawberries at the farmers market and make jelly and bread...This is SO fun for the kids and the strawberries are so much tastier than the ones in the store.

3) For snack time, get a cupcake pan and fill it with all different kids of fruits and veggies. set it out, where the kids can reach, for about 30 minutes...they will obviously eat all of their favorites first...then wrap it up and put it out the next day, they may say, well I don't like it...say, well, this is snack and if you're hungry you may eat it, if not dinner will be in a few hours...The point is to introduce new foods to them, expose them to the usual, and get the to at least taste all of them often...plus it's super healthy and you wont feel guilty for snacking with them either.

 (Ideas to fill it with: strawberries, grapes, sliced bananas, oranges, kiwi, mango (my kids fav!), gold fish, cheese sticks-sliced, carrots, broccoli, avocado, corn, cauliflower (you can even buy the purple kind), yellow, red, and/or green peppers...to name a few. Switch it up!  Do not serve these with any dips...you want your children to appreciate the naturally flavors of these yummy foods! (Thanks to my sis. for this idea--we love it!)

3)My kids fav!! Making fruit smoothies. buy mixed frozen fruit in a bag, use 1 c. Orange juice, 1 c. grape or blueberry juice, then fill with as much frozen fruit as you want to make as thick as you want, blend, serve...you will need thick straws if your kids like it as thick as mine do :)

Sweet Moments

These are some of my favorite pictures, when my kids are sleeping. I'm not going to lie, part of it is because by the time the photos are captured I'm more than ready for the silence, but the other reason is just the innocence of a child.  It is in these still and quiet moments, that as a mother, I can reflect on what an amazing opportunity I have been presented with.  I have been blessed beyond measure to have the priveldge to parent these two beautiful munchkins. 

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.    Proverbs 22:6