Cold {shoulder}

Hiya, I’ve been avoiding you. The past two days all I’ve wanted to do was write but instead I’ve purposely stayed away because I didn’t know how to say what I was feeling. Yesterday was rough, well actually late the night before I came to this realization which I eventually had the face yesterday morning. I spent a lot of yesterday thinking about it and I’m still not sure how I can talk about it so I’ll just brush it under the rug for another day.

The other thing on my mind is slightly more public and happening at 5pm tonight and freaking me out. Because of my control issues there are so many decisions in my life that our ME driven, particularly when it comes to making the big ones. Yes I know God has a plan but has He made a negative vs positive list to make the most logical decision? (sarcasm). When Davy got a phone call a few weeks ago about this opportunity we both knew we wanted to give it completely to God because it appears our plan isn’t working out too well; we’ve prayed over this situation, this opportunity, and have let the Lord lead. Quickly after “giving it to God” I started crunching numbers, daydreaming, and found myself saying “Lord let your will be done….but…can you please make it this salary with these benefits with these hours?”. My words were saying I trust you but my actions were falling into my old controlling ways. Davy (in a very calm, kind way) simply said pray for provision, not terms.

DING DING DING; hit me right over the head. God knows EXACTLY what He’s doing; He knows how to provide even if it’s not with the paycheck I have in mind. So here we are, the day of the interview, and all I can do is it give it to Him. Yes, I’m anxious nervous excited and a little freaked out but I know if this is His will then it will happen.

Santa vs Jesus

Enter the great Santa debate. Truth be told, I never believed in Santa. My Mom never put much emphasis on it and by the time I was old enough to ask questions my older sister made sure I knew it was a scam. There was no crushing conversation or devastation but on the same note there was never any element of excitement or curiosity about the big guy.  

Up until this year I haven’t thought much about it because Moses’ memory only went back a few hours but now he is much more curious and retains a LOT more information. Fun fact for my memory bank: Moses told us a detailed story about Uncle Danny setting off fireworks on July 4^th just a few weeks ago; as in he is holding onto memories 6 months back. I’m sure his memory will only get stronger that is why this year I feel so pressured to figure out how we are going to do this Santa thing.

 What I do know is as a Christian I want him to understand Jesus is the ENTIRE reason we celebrate Christmas; I want him to understand it’s like a big birthday party and we are celebrating the birth of our Savior. I want him to look forward to the Christmas eve church service and really understand. But more and more as an adult I’m hearing how much people loved believing in Santa as a child. The excitement of thinking he was coming to bring presents, leaving milk & cookies, and finding the gifts Santa brings; I don’t want to take that away from him. Ok so simple enough, we say Santa dropped off a few of the gifts and that be it? Not so fast.

What about when he asks me questions about Santa….I REFUSE to lie. There is no way I’m carrying on a lie and snowballing the thing until it turns into this scaring moment when he’s 8 and finds out it’s Daddy’s paycheck that really brings the gifts. I would be comfortable just smiling as he talks about Santa or expresses his excitement but there is no way I could make a remark like “Santa’s watching so you better be good”. So here I sit, unsure.

 I’d love to hear your thoughts; what you experienced as a child, what you tell your kids, how that effected them.

 And if you’re wondering, we are still sticking by our views last year about keeping things simple. There will not be 100 presents for 1 child under our tree and we did not go broke buying for each other. I even went as far as telling the grandparents PLEASE do not buy the boy more toys because if you peaked inside his playroom you would see we have been BLESSED with way.too.much as it is.

Winner winner {chicken dinner}

Thanks so much to everyone who entered the itti bitti giveaway last week. I consider them an incredible company so it was nice to see all the love (and tweets!). The winner of this wonderful minkee blankee is: #6 Sarah

Today I’ve been walking around in a daze trying to figure out how to get myself together. Add present wrapping and cookie parties to my list of already long Monday To Do’s and you’ve got yourself one confused woman. Oh, not to mention Moses’ birthday party is only a couple weeks away and the only thing I’ve thought of is a theme! Looks like I’ll have my hands full of wonderful projects these next few weeks.

Could not be happier to be home 5 of the 7 days next week so expect a lot of picture posts or not a dang thing from me!

Happy Monday and congrats again, Sarah!

Spreading Christmas cheer {for all to hear}

A quick post to wrap up another wonderful week in Busyland. After yesterday’s post some may think how this week could be wonderful? Because despite my insecurities there is still so much to be thankful for in life. And speaking of thankful, thank you to everyone for the words of encouragement yesterday; you sure know how to reassure a friend!  

Sisters by blood, friends by choice.

Mixing in mid week Christmas cheer with a trip to see the lights. 

 

 

Motivation + Pinterest inspiration = Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeers

 

Those little guys are accompanying me to Moses’ Christmas party this afternoon. I am standing by what I said yesterday and taking an active role in school activities. It’s about time I join the other mom’s for a classroom mingle and too much sugar.

Have a wonderful weekend! 

I am a good mother.

I’ll let you in on a little secrete; I have doubts about being a mother. Not the typical oh my gosh I’m going to kill my kid with .02 more ml of medication or is he going to be killed by the bed sheet tonight but the doubt that I don’t get taken serious as a mother. It’s no secret I am a young(ger) mom; having a baby in your early 20’s is not always socially acceptable and often I feel I’m getting the “look”. You know, the look you give someone who looks young that has a kid and in your mind you’re thinking “she totally got knocked up and forced to have that kid and she’s a struggling bad parent.”

Yes, Moses was our little surprise but that doesn’t mean I don’t love him as much as I would if he was “planned”. God’s plan is so much bigger than my mapped out live-college-life-get-masters-get-phD-have-my-office-door-say-Dr.-Caroline-and-have-really-nice-leather-shrink-couch plan. 

I can’t imagine life any different than happily married with a toddler. My heart would literally explode if I could even begin to express the deep love I have for my son and life so why do I doubt? Because I can’t get past people’s opinions. I have built up these walls of insecurities that keep me from being the room mom or doing more “mommy things” I’d like all because I’m afraid. It may sound silly to some and dead on for others.

My resolution: To break down the walls, to jump in feet first, to prove them wrong. I am a good mother. Now I need to let myself accept that.

I am a good mother.

Our day long date.

It began when we kissed Daddy goodbye so he could be a good friend and help someone paint and move into their new home. We got ready, grabbed our bags, and were out the door ready to take on the world. Moses doesn’t really understand the term “running errands” so he kept asking about the stores and our errands. I made the mistake of planning smack dab at nap time so after a few stores he was getting….fussy. I promised him playground time for patience and Chick Fil A if he would JUST SIT STILL while I debated over Christmas presents. We finally ate our lunch, which included ice cream (if you know me or Mo that’s a big OBVIOUS) and headed home for a nap. 
 After nap it was a little Wii time (separate post about my son’s incredible coordination coming later) then getting ready for our evening date. We sat at our table for 2 and enjoyed dinner together until it was time for the main event; movies in the park. It happened to be freezing (for Florida) so we were head to toe bundled up. They did such a wonderful job putting on the event and even though there were hundreds of people there it felt like our own special date. They had a booth with 100’s of homemade cookies and hot chocolate and popcorn. After grabbing our goodies we found a little area in the grass and laid out our blanket. I place Moses between my legs and we kept each other warm with body heat and scarves. Even though he ate an entire kids pizza for dinner he managed to sit there and eat every last one of those popcorn kernels while watching Christmas classics on the big screen; he even stood up to pick up the handful that fell out of his bag (like mother like son!).

It was a Saturday with a purpose; our special time mixed in with the holiday hustle & bustle. One of those days that will go down in my history book as wonderful!

Winner Winner {chicken dinner}

Thanks for everyone who entered the Green Eats giveaway by The Green Nursery.

The winner was selected at random and it goes to:

aerobebe1421 who was number 18!

Congrats; I will be emailing you to ask details about shipping.

There is still time to enter the itti bitti Blankee giveaway

It’s Monday, my weekend was fabulous, and I’m head over heels into the Christmas season.

{nutshell}

Good morning! I hope you all are having a wonderful start to your weekend.

Here is my favorite morning moment captured this week.

My boys + technology + down feathers.

 Now scoot over because it’s the weekend and I’m ready to be sandwiched between all this cuteness!

Christmas moments {cannot be forced}

There are certain Christmas traditions I feel the need, the urge, to uphold. One of them is that movie worthy moment when the family is all smiles hanging up the decorations while Christmas music plays in the background. The hot chocolate is steaming on the table and coordinating jammies and slippers are being worn. Cue real life. Like I mentioned I’ve really been struggling getting motivated so 90% of the decorating this year has been forced or frustrating and even one explosive fight were I angrily stood there yelling “YOU DO NOT get to decorate the tree” (yeah, I actually said that to someone living in my house). Davy did a great job putting out the outside display (dad territory) and I fixed up the side board and a few other places around the house. It was rocky but we got it done…well almost. 
 

That little 10% that needed to be done consisted of stringing the bottom tree lights (of course 1 stand had to go out in storage) and putting up the very last ornaments. After dinner and bath time we decided to let Moses help. The next thing I know our little living room had turned into a glorious movie scene; yes, the family was smiling, ornament hanging was occurring, and coordinating jammies were being wore. Davy slipped away for a moment only to return with his Pandora app playing glorious Christmas music. We all stood in a line holding of the section of lights while we walked around the tree stinging them and I watched my boys pick out the perfect place for a red and blue airplane. Those 20 minutes of pure joy cancelled out all the ho-humming it took to get the rest of the house ready. The best part about it; I didn’t force it. I wasn’t barking at the boys or putting us on a schedule…it just, happened. There we brief moments when I had to tell someone to move their arm because I was determined to capture a tiny piece of this memory! 

 Lastly, our special ornament for 2011 

 

From our wonderful mini family getaway to Downtown Disney! 

A boy and his blankee {giveaway}

I want to tell you a story about a boy and his blankee. It started a couple months ago when his eyes lit up as I pulled it out of the package. Bright blues, greens, oranges, purples, reds, and yellows; his “color blankee” as he likes to call it. That night I tucked him into bed with his blankee wrapped around his body; it was minkee soft and he liked telling me over and over again all the beautiful colors he saw.

The next night after picking out stories for us to read in the rocking chair he quickly ran over to his bed and grabbed the blankee to join us for story time. I draped it over his body to keep him warm but was thankful it was big enough to fall around my chilled legs as well. Over the next few weeks it traveled to the couch for days he wasn’t feeling well or to Mom’s bed for early morning snuggles. Some days he pulled it over his shoulders turning it into a colorful cape but every night it ended up back in the little white toddler bed to keep him warm. The boy fell in love with his blankee.

The cape in action

Want to fall in love with your own minkee blankee? Know someone who is expecting and want to shower them with something special? My friends at itti bitti want to make that happen by offering one of the readings their own blankee in one of the brand new limited edition prints. This 39 by 29.5 inch “cot size” minkee blankee is double layered with print on top and solid white on the back with a white trim at the top; it is incredibly soft and retails for $39.95.

To enter: head over to itti bitti’s site and tell me one other thing you like in their new limited edition print. Please leave your email address in the comments otherwise I have no way of contacting you!

Extra: follow @busylandb and @ittibittiUS on Twitter then tweet about the giveaway
 Giveaway closes on December 16th and is open to US and Canadian residents over 18.

 This sponsored post is part of itti bitti’s “Fall in Love with itti bitti” campaign and I was given the Carnival print minkee blankee to cuddle with my little one. The whole toddler falling in love part was completely on his own. I first met itti bitti through Eco- Distribution USA over the summer when we fell in love with their cloth diapers; ever since then I’ve had nothing but impeccable customer service and great things to say! Thanks itti bitti and Eco- Distribution!
http://www.eco-distributionusa.com
http://www.ittibitti.us/
http://www.facebook.com/ittibitti 
http://twitter.com/ittibittius 
http://www.youtube.com/use/ittibittinappyco

cardio & food {story of my life}

Small steps, that’s what it’s taking to find motivation again. I wrote a small reasonable To Do list for after work yesterday however that was even too much. I did however get a few things done. I went to the gym and did an hour of cardio while watching trash TV (which I feel is the best way to do cardio) and I was able to find inspiration for my Christmas decorations. Tonight I hope to get in a cardio class and then work on executing the rest of the decorating. After that it’s side projects and cleaning…but only if I can handle it. I need to enjoy life, enjoy the small moments; even if it just means 1 or 2 small moments a day. Here are a few moments I’ve enjoyed this past week….

Birthday breakfast for my Mom

Eggs Benedict and silver dollar pancakes with apple pear topping

Hand made whole wheat pizza dough

 Stick with me because the 2 sponsored post will be up before the week’s end. And since I’ve put last week’s giveaway on the back burner I’ve decided to keep it open until Friday. I’ll announce the winner Monday and then announce the winner’s of this week’s [yet to be posted] giveaways next Friday. Wow, I hope that didn’t confuse everyone. We have loved all these products so I hope you have a chance to read about the great companies and enter to win something for your little one.

Please excuse me {for I've turned into a pile of mush}

A slow creep; putting off one thing here or there…not really noticing anything different. Well not until I’ve realized how many hours I’ve spent sitting on the cough in a 24 hour period do I realize, I’ve got a problem. The diagnosis is somewhere between lack of motivation, lack of determination, and sheer laziness. It started right after Thanksgiving when I was just exhausted from all the hustle; I skipped the gym for family time and ate sweets because I wasn’t going to the gym. The week started and I was in too much denial to actually meal plan or grocery shop. Then I started neglected cleaning up the house, skipping daily chores like laundry, or having the motivation to do much of anything. I wasn’t feeling well so I kept skipping the gym and eventually I traded decorating the house for a couple hours of Grey’s Anatomy. 
 

There is no way I’m blaming the first season’s of Grey’s for this ripple effect but oh my gosh it’s so much easier to waste away my night watching drama at Seattle Grace then facing reality that I’ve abounded myself. The breaking point came Saturday when after spending the morning at a craft show I came home and watched 3 hours of Grey’s on the couch; the boys were out so I felt less guilty putting life on the back burner. Then that night while I was home alone instead of turning on Christmas music and decorating I spent another few hours watching Grey’s. I’d say I watched about 6 to 7 hours of Grey’s sitting on the couch in one day. Yep, that was my low.

Christmas decorating should be fun, it should feel good to have a clean house, I like how I feel after the gym….but instead, I was turning into a pile of mush. There were also things I needed to do, like work on a side social networking project or post sponsored blogs…but instead, I just sat. 

Finally last night after feeling like such a sorry piece of nothing I had the motivation to do, something. I folded laundry and actually put it away, I organized a stack of boxes in the playroom, I cleaned up all the little messes in the living room… I did something! I couldn’t, however, find it in me to decorate the tree (so Davy did it) or decorate the house or sweep or deep clean or work on the other 50 things on my to-do list. But I did something…and that’s saying something. I hated loosing myself over these last few weeks; I don’t know why it happened. I apologize to everyone who has suffered from this laziness and feel awful for abandoning it all. I’m feeling refreshed today, I’m taking it one step at a time, I’m getting it back together again.

Toddler eats. {giveaway}

If you haven’t already at one point in your life you’re going to wonder what’s the best child’s plate out there is. With a baby any simple bowl is all you may need but as that baby turns into a toddler and solids are introduced it gets a little tricky. A bowl for the mush, a plate for the solids, and what about keeping them from all running together? I introduce to you the plate to solve all your problems: Green Eats divided plates! 

It’s silly to say but I thought I had good toddler plates…until the day these came in the mail! They’re a good sturdy weight made from 100% recycled plastic milk containers and contain no BPA, melamine, or phthalates AND come in 4 great colors. My favorite part about the plates is the depth of the dividers; they’re slightly curved and so deep! Finally a place to put yogurt or applesauce without frustrating little hands trying to push a spoon around every corner for a good bite. 

The pictures below are a Saturday breakfast of eggs, chicken sausage link (sliced), hash browns, and homemade applesauce; it gives a good idea of how much you can fit on one plate while still keeping it separate. The dividers are also good for keeping dip contained or a place for a scope of homemade baby food next to slew of Puffs. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t used them for time to time!

 

 

The great people at The Green Nursery are offering a set of 2 Green Eats plates for one lucky US reader. The Green Nursery is a great earth friendly website offering an array of everything for your kiddos. It’s easy to navigate and the best part about the site is having the knowledge that anything you pick out has already been tested and chosen as a legitimate green product. There is no need to browse 10 different sites for toys, dinnerware, or strollers because it’s all right here at the Green Nursery! For all of you shopping for Christmas they have a free shipping promotion going on for orders over $49! 

Simply fan/like their Facebook page and then check out their site and tell me which color you like best in the comment section. Anonymous comments will be ignored so please make sure an email address is provided.

For extra entries tweet about the giveaway and make sure to mention @busylandb and a link so they can enter too!

I will announce the winner next week!

Good luck and special thanks to The Green Nursery for hosting this giveaway!

For the love of food {and family}.

Our Thanksgiving break was filled with family, food, family, shopping, and more family! It’s always a treat when my sister and her family are in town so we try to spend as much time as possible together. The kids played a lot of Wii sports and time outside jumping on Grammy’s trampoline. It’s adorable to see how grown up they all are now and how independent their playtimes are (well, until the fighting begins). The adults spent a lot of time playing wildly competitive games of volleyball now that my parents have a full size net in their backyard! 

 

 

Thanksgiving day itself was incredibly long for me; 24 hours of celebrating to be exact! I spent the night before prepping my 4 dishes to take to their respected homes for feasting which kept me on my feet for over four hours. The next morning was more cooking until our festivities began around 11:30am. We cooked, feasted, and played at my mom’s until close to 4:30pm when we packed up for round 2, Davy’s mom’s house. Is it terribly first world and glutinous of me to say we were still so full we couldn’t even eat a plate at dinner round 2? 

Love birds. Best picture I've ever taken of my parents...please note the knife positioning....purposefully.

The "twins" in our family.

 

By 8pm I was back at my mom’s gearing up for Black Friday. I wish they kept the 5am door busters like years past but since everything began at midnight so did we. We were at Wal-Mart by 9pm and didn’t stop until 6am Friday morning; you heard right, all night long. 

Our pre Black Friday faces! All smiles were gone at 6am!

My favorite moments were spending time with our families; we are so blessed to have a large happy family that enjoys each other enough to make the effort to be together. 

My other favorite moments were cooking. My grandmother is southern to her core and my entire childhood was spent sharing the Thanksgiving table with my dad’s family. Now that we no longer visit them my Grandma’s passed down handwritten recipe cards have become somewhat treasured. We’ve had her famous Potato Yeast Rolls recipe for 6 years and none of us have been brave enough to attempt, until now. I took all four pages and studied them before prepping. I loved reading her side note commentary such as instead of a baking time it says (underlined) “DON’T overcook, DON’T undercook” or “ALWAYS use real butter”.  It was tedious and exciting and slightly emotional but oh my goodness, it paid off. They cooked to perfection and I have never been more proud of something I baked.

 

All the leftovers are gone and we are going out tonight to purchase our Christmas tree…everything about the Holidays make me happy. It’s the most wonderful time of the year after all, right?

My very silly boys.

MishMosh.

I’ve been struggling with being sick since last week and finally Sunday morning it smacked me so hard I couldn’t get out of bed for hours. I literally bounced from the bed to the couch for 9 hours and then sent myself back to the couch yesterday afternoon in hopes I would feel better. Today, the color has returned, a smile is somewhat showing, and the faucet on my nose has finally turned off.

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary. We can just pretend I wrote another mushy post like last year and call me Wife of The Year! Davy was a sweetie pie and brought me flowers, a card, and Monopoly Starbucks money for my crack Gold card. Seeing as I couldn’t even taste yesterday we figured there was no point in going out to a fancy restaurant or even going on a forced date and have postponed for another night. Thanks to everyone who wishes us well via Twitter or Facebook; we are so blessed to have so many wonderful people who support us!

While being a sick blob my girlfriend brought over a sack of chick flicks (because our movie collection still consists of every stupid guy comedy from Davy’s bachelor life) for my enjoyment. Yesterday I pulled out season 1 of Grey’s Anatomy and loved every minute of it. I have such fond memories of watching season after season every week with my girlfriends not to mention how awesome the show used to be back then. I love when a show or song or movie sparks those special memories treasured from years ago.

And one more mishmash to make you roll your eyes and smile. Yesterday in the car Moses asked if we were going home (as he recognized our house was located just 1 street away from the current road we were on)…when I told him no and that we were going to Grammy’s he looked at me and said “Are you telling the truth?”

Breaking Dawn broken down.

The Twilight Breaking Dawn buzz is in full effect and instead of writing 500 140 character tweets about it I thought I’d break it down for everyone who was not privileged to see it at midnight last night. I guess the real privileged were those who got to see the special 8pm showing that I was completely unaware of…but that’s a different story!


Cinematography/ Character appearance -9. I am proud to say they FINALLY got it together with the physical appearance of the characters and boy did it make a difference! No more awful wigs, bad coloring, and ridiculous mega glow. The cinematography was clear and crisp making everything look good!

Wedding- I won’t give away much but just want to say I was EXTREMELY happy with the song they chose!

Honeymoon- 8. For the first time in the entire series Bella and Edward finally act like they are in love. The laughing, the loving, the embracing; all good! For those who were worried about the bedroom scenes…calm down, it’s PG-13. If your child has ever seen a PG-13 movie then there is nothing to worry about because it’s a lot of hype followed by very little action. If you were disappointed by the very little action then you should be watching True Blood not Tweeny Twilight!

Baby/Birth- 8. When they say in the book that this “thing” is sucking the life out of her, they’re not kidding! They did a great job at making Bella look AWFUL and most of us had hands over mouths in shock at how she really looked like she was dying. It was pretty graphic when Bella’s life is literally slipping away however if you were worried the birth itself would be too instance, it’s not. There’s blood, there is a baby, there is a lot of cutting in and out, and there is a really sickly Bella lying on a table.

Overall- A quality 7. I say 7 because there was some extremely cheesy scenes that sucked the goodness out of the movie; it lost “cool points” so to speak. Once you see the movie you will know the exact scene I’m talking about and can I be the first one to say they all sound like Transformers during that scene! If you read the books and love the story line then you’re going to like to movie. If you’re being dragged along to see it out of the blue you’re going to hate it. If you are worried about taking your teenager daughter, don’t be. The morbid scene is more graphic then the love scene. The movies were made based off of the crazy fan base the books carry therefore don’t expect award winning moments. I personally liked it better than 2 and 3 because it’s been so long since I’ve read the book I didn’t remember in detail the plot line. They did a good job of making small references back to the other movies which for a fan is everything.

Will I see it again? Of course. After all I did leave a Twilight reading husband at home last night so eventually we will watch it together.

Will I see the next and final movie at midnight? You bet. It’s tradition. It’s the one night a year my girlfriends and I count down for and tweet non stop like teenagers about it and get giggly in the theater over inside jokes from high school.

If your reaching over to grab the nearest trash can then you should have stopped reading at the title! I'm a wife, mom, adult but I can still have my tween moment!

You can be my Punk Rock Princess {I'll be your Garage Band King}

No reason for the silence, just quiet lately. It seems I’ve been more in the mood to look forward to what’s to come (and happened) this week that I’ve been lacking on reflecting back to last week’s events. Last week’s biggest (and most frustrating) accomplishment was completing my second sewing project. I cannot believe I didn’t take any pictures of the finished products (even though I was reminded repeatedly by my sister!) so I have nothing to show for. They were two gifts for Moses’ two favorite lady friends. One was a Thomas the Train themed blue and red tutu with a red/white checked waistband that had a red tulle hair bow with a toy Thomas car in the center. The other was a pink and orange tutu with a beautiful printed fabric waistband and a long sleep white shirt with a matching fabric “T” placed on the front then cross-stitched down. At the end of the project I understood why it had been so frustrating; learning to sew (while sewing a present) requires extreme concentration and I wasn’t letting myself have any! I was coming over late at night or with the boys and it was too much to handle. Thankfully I did the Thomas tutu all by myself while my mom led by example with the first one. It wasn’t easy but I’m thankful I did it; next time I will make sure to practice on something personal that way it’s not so much pressure!

So what am I looking forward to? So much is going on in a 7 day time span but thankfully it’s nothing but fun. Last night, I got to take my little sister to her first [real] “rock show”. You know, the whole smoke filled college bar venue filled with Scene Beans, drunk girls, punk rock princesses, and oh those boys in the bands. I tried my hardest to make sure she was having a good time even if it meant shoving our way towards the front and jumping up and down with my muffin top falling out of my skinny jeans. I have incredibly fond memories of being in high school / early college and doing the band thing so this was so much fun to “chaperone” her living out these experiences.

I’ll share the rest of this week’s glory as it unfolds but I wanted to write in the moment because before I know it this moment will be over and we’ll be flying into the next one.

Ps. I have this totally wonderful giveaway to post and if I ever give myself time to sit down and write it I’ll post it this week! It’s one of those things you may not think twice about but once it’s in your arms you’re going to be all “oh my gosh this is won-der-ful!!”

{Messy} Baby memories.

I’m writing a little story based off the prompt: Spending time with friends and family can lead to fun and memorable moments, but also some very messy ones. Tell us about the messiest moments that you’ll always remember!

One of the messiest moments I can remember would have to involve my 2 year old son who was just a baby at the time. He was having an “off night” and kept waking up crying for us. We would go into his room, calm him, and lay him back down only to go in there 10 minutes later to do it all again. Frustration set in for these tired parents and finally we brought him into our bed as a last resort. I was sitting on the bed holding him when all the sudden his chest started to jump up and down. Before I know it he projectile vomited all over me; I quickly pull him away as he proceeds to launch the vomit on the comforter.  Moments later we are all three looking at each other in disbelief; we slowly got up and turned on the lights on to uncover the mess. It looked like someone turned on the blender filled with smoothie contents and forgot to put the lid on. Shortly after our sweet baby was fast asleep and we couldn’t help but smile as we laid on freshly washed sheets holding our nose from the leftover aroma.

I received information about Clorox’s Bleach It Away campaign and am sharing my messy moment for the chance to win prizes from The SITS Girls. To learn more about the messy moment program, check out www.BleachItAway.com.  Sharing your story on the Clorox fan page gets you entered for the chance to win $25,000 and daily prizes, and you can grab a coupon for Clorox® Regular Bleach.

Take back your life.

I have been seeing this quote in many different forms floating around lately and it’s stuck; “if you’re not satisfied with what you’re doing everyday then maybe you should be doing something different”.  So many times we put ourselves into these rigorous routines that at the end of the day we are already regretting how we spent our hours. I am the Queen of lists and planning and it feels incredible to cross something off the list however that feeling isn’t always what satisfies. How often do we write “take 30 minutes to snuggle with my husband” or “play ball outside until the grass starts itching like misquotes”? The truth is I have exactly two hours from the time I walk into the door after work to the time I’m walking out of a tucked in boy’s bedroom. After that it’s around two hours until I’m in bed; four hours each day to be living. Honestly, sometimes I get caught up in plans and lists and the next thing I know it’s 7:15 and I haven’t even playing with my son after work. Or it’s 11pm and I haven’t smooched Davy. I am not always happy with how I choose to spend my hours…so why haven’t I changed? Life should be more about laughing then a clean living room, more snuggling and less worrying. There are some things in our current circumstance that I can’t change (like being a working mom) however that doesn’t mean I can’t control the other hours in my day. It’s time to take back your free time and fill it with things you love.

This post was sparked by the time change and the legitimate sadness I felt when it was dark walking out of the office. Just because our 7pm front yard ball game is cancelled doesn’t mean we can’t turn 7:30am into field practice.

Take back your life.

Peter Rabbit Organics {winner}

It's Monday, I'm busy, so I will keep this short and sweet! 

The winner of the Peter Rabbit Organics giveaway is

Amber at Mom Stuff Blog! 

She was random #12, congrats! 

Shoot me an email at enilorac802 at gmail dot com so I can get your information!

If you didn't win today, DON'T WORRY, I have 3 more giveaways up my sleeve for the coming weeks!

You & Me, and Me & Brie.

You know those days you are craving something so bad no matter what you have to find and eat it? That was me Tuesday with Brie. Oh brie, you are so delicious. I blame the grocery store sample lady a couple weeks ago giving away slivers of brie on a French baguette because ever since then I’ve wanted more. It worked out nicely because I was feeling awfully sick and had no desire to eat anything but bread and cheese; enter grocery store and smell the fresh baked goodness of the bakery. After picking up a baguette I wondered over to the cheese to find a mini wedge to take home only to discover that stuff ain’t cheap! But it was a craving, a craving so strong I could not walk away; 2 minutes later the time it took for me to lift up every piece and check for a cheaper price a huge smile spread across and a $5.50 wheel of brie beautifully packaged in a wooden box was in my cart. What to do with so much brie you may ask? Let me break it down.

1. sit in my car…yes I have my own office however this little meal needed to be consumed as soon as possible Rip a chunk of baguette off, pull it apart with my hands, and use a plastic knife to cut a chunk of brie of the wheel. Smash the cheese between the bread and shove into mouth. Yes this is an extremely barbaric way to eat your lunch however time is of the essence and I needed it…now. Craving taken care of, crisis averted.

2. Introduce brie to the boys when I get home for work. Slice little sections of brie and place on little sections of bread as an appetizer to dinner. Have you ever seen a 2 year old eat brie? It was adorable. There was no proper bread and brie bite; it was pull the cheese off, pile into mouth, and work on the bread later.

3. The next day for lunch along with warming up leftovers in the oven I repeated the same steps in #2 and placed them in the over. Oh Rhonda. Crispy bread and melty brie? Heaven.

4. Still lots more brie so I needed to get creative. I wanted to make an autumn salad to go along with dinner last night so I cut up pears, walnuts, and lettuce but I still needed something else. Hey, why not little cubes of brie? All that combined with honey mustard/ balsamic vinegar dressing (desperate times, people) was in-credible. Fall was dancing around in my mouth so much so I made an autumn side salad for lunch today.

And that folks is how you consume a wheel of brie, 400 calories, 30g of fat, and avoiding using the bathroom for a week!

Growing up.

I'm choking back the tears. 

Growing up is a hard reality to face; epically when I know he won't want to squeeze my lips between his fingers and give me a big kiss forever.