Breakfast Blunder and a Quote

The boys have been keeping me on my toes lately. 

So the rule in our house is that when Owen (our early bird) wakes up (at 5:30) he may come out of his room to go potty and then he needs to go back to his room, turn on his light, and play quietly until his clock says 6. That's when we get up. 

Yesterday morning, I woke up to Owen in the kitchen. Here's what he arranged for himself for breakfast. 

A tub of Tollhouse cookie dough, a container of strawberry cream cheese (which he was eating with a butter knife!!) and a yogurt for added nutrition. 

I was trying not to laugh. 

Then this afternoon, after getting Austin up from his nap, I saw that he actually had not napped at all but had spent his nap time out of his crib pulling every pack of wipes out of a Costco box, pulling the sticker opening off, and putting individual wipes back into the box. 

Funny that around this time I saw this quote. I think it helped me have a gracious response to all of these training moments that happen with my boys throughout the day!

As a mom I just totally agree that it's easy for circumstances to dictate my attitude about the day. To dictate my joy. It's a Tuesday afternoon and my kids are bored and getting into everything while I put away laundry? It's a bad day. A Saturday afternoon running errands as a family with the windows rolled down, Starbucks in hand, and the kids are behaving? It's a good day!

But God really wants to get after my heart. In those frustrating moments where I feel like if I have to clean up one more mess I'm going to scream, God wants my heart. He wants me to look to HIM to be my strength and my joy, despite my circumstances. He wants me to love my children with the love of 1 Corinthians 14:4. Not in my own power, but in His. God's word promises that he will give me the strength in those moments to die to myself and honor Him, to be joyful and happy despite any trying situation because He is my joy. 

Praise God for these little moments to trust Him. He's still working on me!

Today

FOR TODAY ~  Thursday, July 28, 2011

Outside my window…typical Arizona late -July weather. Hot. 

I am thinking…that my boys' hair is looking pretty shaggy and I need to get out the trimmers.

I am thankful for… how affectionate my little boys are. 

From the kitchen…some chocolate chip muffins I made that got a little burnt on the top. Whoops. 

I am wearing…distressed jeans and a burnt orange and white top. One of my fabulous finds at Papaya at the outlet malls during vacation last week. 

I am creating…a menu plan for next week

I am going…to Chick Fil A in a little bit - like I do with the boys every Thursday. 

I am reading… Give Them Grace by Elyse Fitzpatrick & Jessica Thompson and Mockingjay  by Suzanne Collins, the book of Ecclesiastes. 

I am praying…for some close friends who just had a baby and for some close friends who are going through a big trial. And for grace to parent Owen, who, lately, has been more of a handful than usual :)

I am hearing…the boys playing in Owen's room. A mixture of laughs and shrieks. 

Around the house…laundry, as usual. We had company over last night so the house is still in pretty good shape. 

*Side note: As I'm writing this, no joke, Owen runs up and give me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. He does this about 10 times a day and i absolutely love it!

One of my favorite things… a date with Ryan, a good book

A few plans for the rest of the week…lunch at Chick fil A with Ruth, visiting a friend this afternoon, babysitting for Ruth tomorrow night so she and Jeff can get their first date since Joel was born!

Here is picture thought I am sharing… i know it's a poor quality cell phone pic, but here's an updated shot of my boys! Austin is 15 months and Owen is 2 months shy of 3!

Weekend

It's always hard to see the weekend go...

I was especially looking forward to this weekend after a long week spent in the house helping Owen recover from his dental work. He was pretty much back to his old self by Friday, thank goodness.

Friday even we headed to our friends' for a BBQ. Owen had fun playing with their little boys and we enjoyed adult conversation!

Saturday was a particularly exciting day for me. It was my sis in law Becky's due date! She's expecting her third baby and they don't know what they're having. With one son and daughter already, this one is a surprise. Since she's had both of her children on her due date, I was expecting "the call" all day... but it didn't come! It's Monday now and she's still pregnant. I'm keeping my phone nearby today! I just can't wait to meet my new little niece or nephew!

Saturday also included a pancake breakfast, some grocery shopping with my boys (I saved half of my bill with coupons and sales!) and a little shopping at Kohl's. I scored this cute cardigan on sale. Figured it would look cute with a brown top, jeans, and these flats I got at Famous Footwear for $5 after coupon.

Saturday night we had the McPhats over for pizza. After a Starbucks run we put the kids down and watched TV. So fun, so relaxing!

Sunday was the usual. We shopped at Target where I picked up this adorable Paul Frank swimsuit for Owen on clearance for $3 something, picked up some lunch, and put the boys down. I started watching the first season of Glee. Not sure what I think of the show yet! After church we came home and crashed.

This week will hopefully include a trip to Gilbert to meet the new baby, some time with my Dad and Lynn, some playdates, and a trip to the mall. It will be nice to be busy again!

I'm looking forward to next weekend already. On Saturday I'm getting my hair cut for the first time since Christmas Eve. I'm also getting it colored. Not sure how yet. Any suggestions?

Happy Monday!

Ordinary Day

Some of my favorite blogs to read are the ones that document the memories of every day life. So I thought I'd be extra intentional today about getting some pictures of my day with my boys!

Owen is a morning person. I don't know where he gets it. Here's his new cheesy camera face!

Austin hangin' on the couch
He's super cute, even when he's fussy!
Owen entertained himself by collecting things around the bathroom.
Later, he was sporting my rad bracelet around his foot as an anklet - he's so fashion forward! :p
My sweet, sweet Austin taking a nap. Those cheeks melt me!
We headed out to Old Navy to get Owen a new swimsuit. Funny story - Owen loves to see this dog mannequin every time we come here. Well today, I decided right after I took this picture to let him out of his stroller to get a closer look the the dog. To make a long story short, Owen ended up accidentally knocking the little girl mannequin which started a chain reaction and knocked down the entire display of mannequins!! I was mortified, but the sales lady just laughed. She told me she had two kids of her own and not to worry about it. Needless to say, I think I'll keep Owen in his stroller from now on!
After ON we walked to the nearby coffee shop with my friend Ruth and her son (and Owen's bf) Luke. I think Owen is making this face when I told his it's mommy's turn for a sip. Ha!
Ruth and Luker
All of us!
After our errands I brought Owen home to take a nap. He never actually went to sleep, just played in his room quietly for a few hours.

He would rather try on Daddy's shoes!

And drank from the squirt bottle like it was a sippy cup

When Ryan finished work, we headed out to the store to buy my dad's birthday present. Sorry, no pictures - can't give away the gift!

Then we came home and had a yummy dinner of BBQ chicken, corn and baked potatoes.
Bedtime for O-boy.
It was a wonderfully ordinary day :)

Food and Teething

Tonight I made this great soup, inspired by my friend Chanelle. It was soooo good. My version included an onion, garlic, celery, zucchini, tomato sauce, chicken stock, a can of mixed veggies, some frozen peas, Italian seasoning and a bit of cream cheese. Yum. Even Owen loved it. I may make it every two weeks or so, just throw whatever veggies I have left over from the week in a pot, bake up some bread like I did today, and voila. A delicious (and healthy!) dinner is served.

I also stumbled upon a treasure today. I was making chocolate chip cookies, then realized I was out of vanilla extract. SO I used Toffee Nut syrup (the kind from Starbucks) and they turned out really good. They maybe had a hint of toffee, which I love, but the syrup did add that background sweetness like vanilla extract does. What's that saying, 'necessity is the mother of invention?'

On a side note, I'm pretty sure Owen's bottom molars are coming in. He has his top ones, which he got pretty much without me even noticing. But man, these bottom ones are really affecting him. I think he must be in more pain with these because he has been crabby. And clingy. And whiny. Or at least he has many more crabby moments that he usually does. He's still sweet as can be a good part of the time, but he has these moments where he just acts like he doesn't feel good. Hope these teeth come in soon so I can have my happy, charming boy back full time!

Thursday Thoughts

~ We had Taylor, our niece, over tonight. Owen absolutely adores her, and she him. She's so much fun. After she went down her and Uncle Ryan played chess. So fun to watch.

~ Coffee Bean had a great promo going on today; a free holiday drink between 4pm and 8pm. I took advantage of this and got myself a Blended Peppermint Mocha. Twice.

~ Scored some great deals while out shopping today. First of all, Tara told me about this second hand store for kids called Kids to Kids. It's right by where I work so I went to check it out, and took a box of kids clothing that I intended to sell at a garage sale. Lo and behold, they wanted to buy some of my items so I ended up getting a $20 credit to the store. I got Owen 2 pair of Converse (black and red), along with some grey Hurley jeans, a cute grey pinstriped Old Navy button down, and one other Hurley shirt. All for $20!

Then I headed to Kohl's. I had a $10 gift card that I received in the mail, along with a $5 email coupon. SO, I pretty much had $15 free dollars. I also got an additional 20% off for using my Kohl's card. Walked out of there with two sweaters for Owen and one for Bella with just $5 out of pocket. I LOVE a good deal! And I didn't even get to Old Navy - I have this great coupon just waiting to be used - works with their clearance items too!

~ Now waiting for The Office to download so I can kick back and relax. The weekend can't get here soon enough!

Things I'm Loving Lately

~ The Tim Hughes station playing on Pandora while I'm baking in the kitchen

~ Excitedly anticipating baby kicks

~ Buying cute things like these, even though I don't know if I'm having a girl :)

(leggings courtesy of Ruth!)

~ Crisp, cool night air

~ Busting out the boots and scarves

~Putting Toffee Nut syrup in my coffee and chocolate milk

I'm saving up for this baby:

~ Walks with my boys

~ The Twilight Farmers Market on Wednesdays

~ My church

P.S.

Thank you everyone who weighed in on my 'blonde or brunette' decision. I did decide to stay brown, the reason being, if Owen is born with a head of dark hair, I would be so sad that I just changed mine to blonde. So that was the deciding factor. Thanks for all your input! For a girl who doesn't have a sister, you all are the next best thing!

Opinions Please

I can't decide.




Stay brown....








Or go back to blonde? (please ignore my brother, this pic was taken at Halloween but shows the blonde I would want)



What do you think?

I did something out of the ordinary...

... and now I'm not sure how I feel about it.

I ordered groceries from Safeway.com.

Now first of all, I never go to Safeway for groceries. I'm a Walmart girl at heart. I've been going to the Walmart by my house since the day it opened. I know it like the back of my hand, and I can be in and out in no time. But, I digress.

There was a reason behind my madness. 1. I've ordered groceries from there once before, and it went well. I received them in a timely manner, and everything was in good shape. 2. It's just so hot out and I'm...big..... so I thought it would be fun for the groceries to come to me for once. 3. Most importantly, I tend to be a compulsive grocery buyer. I always go in with a list and come out with that... and more. So I though if I just buy them online I won't be enticed by all the snacky sugary things.

The catch is that they charge a $9.95 delivery fee. And there is a 4 hour window in which they deliver, (which I pick) so I have to be home for that 4 hours. Oh, and they have a $50 minimum in purchases. Hmm. I guess I figure that if some point in the future I have a sick baby or can't leave the house for some reason, it's nice to know there is another option. I'm sure this won't become a regular thing with me, but it's kinda exciting to try.....

Ambulance

I had never paid attention to ambulances before, but after my mom had the heart attack, i feel like they are haunting me. Every day I hear several going from place to place with their sirens on. Each time I get a sick feeling in my stomach as memories uninvitingly flood my mind. As I write this there are about 3 ambulances, a fire truck, and.................I counted about 4 police cars pulling into my neighborhood. The sounds are almost too much. But we have a gracious heavenly Father who promises to give grace and strength in times of struggle. I pray that God would give me peace and comfort in my times of painful memories. Times like these I see how God is faithful to tangibly provide peace to my heart. Don't know what I would do without it.... probably throw something. Or buy earplugs.

New Computer

My sweet, wonderful, kind, and generous husband just bought me this laptop... and it's BROWN!!

I've never had a laptop of my own before...

Ahhh Spring...

I just love spring. It's so much easier to get up and do things when it's bright and cheery and warm outside. This morning, for the first time in about 4 months, I had a burst of energy! Spring cleaning, here I come! It was a good feeling to complete several things on my to-do list. Especially cleaning out the pantry and dusting, sweeping and mopping (my 3 least favorite chores around the house). As a bonus, after I completed my chores, I collapsed on the couch with some delicious leftovers and an episode of I Love Lucy. Ahh, spring cleaning really pays off... I think now I'll go shopping.

Wishes

I really really really want one of these

They are on sale at Costco for, I believe, $40. My boss just got one. This morning I enjoyed delicious chocolate peanut butter shake... and I can't wait to try the It's Ready Already Alfredo.