That time of year....

I will have to take a moment here and give accolades to my husband's photog skills...cause he's got them!  Although every now and then I hit the nail on the head and luck into a good shot.  As my luck would have it, it's usually a pic of him.  (Yay Me) So I did it again here...in my opinion.  And the lighting outside certainly played a major role, then again it is hard to take a bad pic when the subject is so strikingly handsome. 
We did our Christmas Card pics at the barn in Southlake this year.  We always have fun.  There is not much too serious about our camera time.  Except Brandon trying to not laugh in just about every pic I take!  You can see that here if you look.  He is trying hard to not burst out laughing at me. 

Anyway on point....this is one of my favorite times of year.  Not that there any times of year I truly dislike.  I have a hard time fitting in ALL the things I want to do with the kids and for the kids.  I realize that the most important thing is being together, being at peace and loving one another.  There will always be another year to decorate the Gingerbread Houses, there are plenty of lights to drive around and see, there are tons of cookies in our future to decorate, Santa will always be there waiting for us to take our pic with him and they will NEVER run out of toys for me to buy.  So this year I am sitting back relaxing, enjoying the season, looking forward to new traditions, not worrying about what we did not get to do.  Most of all I look forward to sitting down and reading the story of Baby Jesus in Luke tomorrow night and telling Bradford about his Christmas Day Christening when he was 6 weeks old.  (And of course we will make Santa's cookies) For now
Good Night to all and to all a new year...

king of the world

Top of Turkey Mountain

What are you thankful for?  Why of course family, friends, Jesus, the cross, health, stabilty...But what about the other side of the coin?  As I reflect on my life journey, I do not regret the poor decisions I have made, the heartache, the trials, the other side of the coin.  I am a whole, complete person that has traveled roads that I know were not designed for me in a perfect world but I live in this world.  A world of mistakes, pain and sin.  As a parent I want to save my children from anything painful.  Yet I know that through fire comes character, strength and faith.  I could not dream of a better life, better family, husband, children than I am blessed with today.  All this brings me back to being thankful for lessons learned, the heartache, the trails and the rocks in my road of life. I live by the motto: Put it in 4 Wheel drive and keep going!  See you at the top.

I have nothing to say

Well how about that!  I have not had time to blog lately and I really miss it.  Here I am with both boys watching a movie, munching on carmel popcorn balls and I have time to blog....Yet I have no idea what I want to blog about....Do what??  Yep....

This may be one of my most random posts EVER. 

Today was the last day of T-Ball.  Glad for the break since today was so cold.  We will all miss it though.  I will miss wathcing Bradford learn more about the sport and seeing him get excited about something new.  Daddy will miss assistant coaching...I will miss watching him do that too...Berkeley will miss playing with Izzy.  Bradford will miss seeing his teammates and having quite the cheering section.  Everytime he was up to bat, he would turn around to make sure his entourage was watching.  When I say entourage I am referring to the two sets of grandparents and any various number of aunts.  It never failed that he always had more followers than any other team member.  It kind of reminded me of Dana who told her family they were only allowed to buy her children 1 gift for Christmas and Birthdays.  No showing up with box on top of box.  Good thing there is no such rule in t-ball:  No showing up with person on top of person to see you play.  What if it was like graduating from A&M and you could only invite 5 people from you whole life to see you graduate.  Heck I have more sisters than that!  Limits just don't run in our family.  Everything is always over the top, filled to the brim, good to the last drop, bring a friend and stay awhile...

We had a ball at Bradford's bowling party on Wed.  He had lots of great friends there to play and he was on cloud 9 all day.  I still can not believe he is 5.  It seems like yesterday we were getting up at the crack of dawn to head up to the hospital.  I remember how excited Daddy was to be a daddy.  He still amazes me daily what a fantastic father he is.  I mean I always knew he would be great but he actually far exceeds my expectations.  But then again he far exceeds my expectation of an amazing husband too. 

Berkeley is just about the cutest little two year old I know.  He just makes you smile the second you meet him.  I am thankful daily that God saw fit for Berk to join our family.  What a joy. 

Well that is the end of the voices in my head on the chilly, fall eveing...Enjoy the season of thanks and giving...

What stream do you live in?

I am proud to say I dont swim in the mainsream of life.  I march to my own wild caught Alaskan Salmon stream!  So when I read Mommypotamus today I had to laugh.  Outloud.  So yes I know many mainstreamers think I am crazy.  Even my own family thinks the same at times.  I don't mind.  Although some things I do believe in, I admit to not follow religiously because I am subject to fear at times on whether or not I may be wrong.  But this is my list of things that mainstreamers find funny/odd/crazy/etc... about me:

1. A neo-natal nurse shot cucumber soup out of her nose at my friend's baby shower when I admitted our babies slept with us!
2.  I do not believe in pacifiers past the newborn stage.  Everyone deserves to have their voice heard and express themselves--especially a crying baby! 
3. I avoid the pesticide/herbicide aisle at all stores...I actually hold my breath if I have to walk past one. 
4. I believe the best way to teach children to respect others is to treat them with respect not demand it from them.
5. I dont give my kids ANY caffinated drinks.  I am surprised daily at the sheer volume of people that disagree with this one.
6. On my oldest child's 1st birthday I was worried that too much icing on his first cake would give him a tummy ache since he had never had sugar!  I still hear complaints about that birthday cake....
7. I too plan vacations around making sure I can get to Sid's in Taos--a health food store.
8. All about extened breastfeeding.  Even used it to make babies cereal. Doesn't your cream of wheat taste better when made with milk instead of water? 
9. I know fish is great for you...but only fresh water fish.  I dont eat anything farm raised.  The thought of it creeps me out!
10. I dont eat veggies or fruit out of a can.  I dont freeze anythhing more than a couple days and never pork--freezing only slows the aging process.  It does not stop it.  (some things direct from the processor that are vaccumm packed are different)

I am really not so different in my own head...

How do you know?

Yes I am the proud mommy/mom/mother/mama of not 1 but 2 boys!  How do I know?  Let me count the ways....

1.  Not only are there rocks in my dryer, there is sand and dead worms.
2. You know all the ways to make crashing noises with your mouth and there are like 82 ways!
3. NOTHING is safe!  EVERYTHING will be used in a bathroom experiment.  Amazing what happens when you mix toothpaste, $100+ a bottle parfum, hairgel, baby lotion, deodorant and a tampon..
4. "Fire is a magnet" is an understatment....fire, fireplace, firepit, magnifying glass, matches, wood, oven, gas stove, charcoal, ANYTHING that can cause fire is a thing of beauty.
5. They completely undress to go to the bathroom.  And don't re-dress when finished using the bathroom.
6. You hear yourself saying, "Where are your underwear?  Please go put them back on.  We have company."
7. You hear things like, " Mom, I don't need a shower.  I washed off in the fountain."
8. You say things like, "Please don't eat that." or "Stop drinking that."  And THAT is usually something like PlayDough water.
9. You know exaclty what PlayDough water is!
10. You have matchbox cars in your make-up bag, Thomas the train in your handbag and Legos in your tote bag.
11. You have given up keeping that Ralph Lauren $200 a roll wallpaper in your kitched pristene.  Now you just plan to replace it before you sell your house.
12.  You no longer blink when a 2 year old asks you if you have a penis.
13.  And when asked by a 4 year old "Mom if you dont have a penis then how does your tee-tee come out?" you actually have an answer...
14. You pray every day that yours is not the child that says the infamous line in Kindergarten Cop: Boys have penis' and girls have vaginas!!!

Confessions from this working Mom

Some women love doing laudry.  Some women love cleaning their house until it shines.  Some women love yard work.  Some women love cooking.  Some women love_____.  Fill in the blank with whatever you want.  The great thing is we can all love different things and it does not make any of us right or wrong.  It makes us all different and requires us to respect those differences and similarities because if we can not accept each other as we are then we have a host of other issues to deal with--more than just a dusty bookcase.  So I happen to fall into the non-laudry, non-house cleaning loving group.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE a clean house and a great house keeper and I LOVE that my amazing husband finds laudry relaxing.  (I know that is so crazy, right?)  I just dont enjoy doing it, but I will and I do.  And I gladly take any and all help I can get with it! 

I am the kind of person that an entire day home with my kids, would find me on the floor playing puzzles or trains or whatever they wanted, a;ways cooking and squeezing in blogging.  Not really focusing on other domesticated things that need my attention.  My career changes have recently gotten in the way of me being much of a blogger lately, too. 

The thing about my life as a part-time stay at home/part time working mom, was that I always seemed to be running around chaotic.  As much as I tried to set specific hours or days would work, I continually found myself racing from preschool drop-off, to the office, to a client meeting to, back to pick-up by 2pm and sometimes back to the office.  Or on days that we did not have school, I would try and plan the entire day making sure the boys had naps.  Which meant I was either going into the office early and trying to be home by lunch or leaving right after lunch and coming home by dinner.  Either way I was always running.  And the boys well they never knew when I was coming or going which yeilded to some super clingy days. 

Oddly now that I am working full time and leaving early but comming home early most days too, they know exaclty where I am and when I am coming home.  And SURPRISE: everyone is actually more relaxed with this.  It seems like my new found stable schedule has rubbed off on the boys.  Who knew?  Looking back I kind of think I was failing miserably at trying to do it all.  Nothing got 100% of me; not work, not Brandon, not the boys!  And not even myself.  So here is to consistancey.  Historically I have only been consistant about that fact that I was always busy, well and that I was never consistant.  Does that make sense?  I seem to be getting more done these days...so far we have organzied the garage, taken MULTIPLE loads to donate, organized the attic, rented storage unit, sorted Berks "too small" clothes, reorganized his closet and drawers, and planned Bradford's 5th Birthday Events!!!  So more to come....(And this is not getting spell checked...