Ten Tuesday Pictures

We went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheeses.

I think a well placed camera angle is sometimes funny. :)

#chuckegodzilla

A few weeks ago, we went to a non-homoginized milk farm.

We got to see the cows.

I don't think Baby L. was a big fan.

#thatsaforcedsmileifieversawone

The boys started school today.
I missed them, but LOVED the quiet of the house.
And it was hot, hot, hot.
But I love that school.
#christianedrocks

Baby Bjorn and ice cream

#messy

me and my dad waiting for a parade

I will always be his "pumpkin"

#lovehimso

Brothers on roller coaster and Coast Guard.

#brotherlove 

In a mad dash to cross things off our summer bucket list, we went to a ball game.

Our family selfie, and not the best angle.

For anyone.

#selfiefail

Summer Bucket List - visit a local gym during "open gym."

I put Baby L. down, and she perched like this and sat there for about 10 minutes.

#babyfrog

Again, summer bucket list - visit an animal park

We fed giraffes.

I love giraffes.

#mynewfavoriteplace

I brought my DSLR to my friend's house the other night.

Still need to tweek pics, but this is SOOC.

This is the only one that I took in landscape,

so this is the only one you get to see right now.

#bloggerformattingispissingmeoff



Reveling in imperfections

1.  There's going to be a lot of typos in this post.  I'm ok with that.

2.  Passive aggressive is not the most flattering personality style.  Nope.  Not at all.  Knock it off.

3.  Neither is grumpy.  Knock that off too.

4.  Tonight we enjoy our last s'mores of the season.

5.  School starts on Tuesday.

b. Up until 6 days ago, I was sad and actually considering homeschooling.  Then, a switch flipped, and I was like "oh, heck no....get out of here." 

13.  Something is up with my blooger, and I can't format anything.  It's annoying at best.

m. I'm reading a lot of books lately.  I (heart) reading.

26.  Remind me to tell you a story about pajamas, fish guts and leaky breast milk. It's awesome.

4a.  Remind me to tell you about everything that's been going on this summer.  Long overdue blogposts coming.

47.  Our spare bedroom floor is COVERED in legos.  If I step on one more lego...I'm gonna loose it.

z.  Happy weekend!

Tuesday Ten...quickly before it becomes Wednesday.

1.  I ate gluten on Saturday.  I knew I was eating gluten, and I ate it anyway.  We were at a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheeses, and I started to feel a bit "off."  Then I realized that I had forgotten to eat breakfast, and ate very little for dinner the night before.  My blood sugar was probably in the toilet...so I grabbed a sandwich stat.  Within 15 minutes, I felt better, but I knew I'd pay for it later.  Yep, I did.  Four years into being gf....never going back.

2.  Baby L. has been on a newborn sleeping schedule lately.  It sucks.  I don't even have the whole I-just-had-a-baby adrenaline rush to go with it.  So, I'm old and dealing with an awful sleeping pattern.  I'm old and tired.  And at times cranky.

3.  My boys start school a week from today.  I have many, many mixed emotions about that.  Many.

4.  There are bags under my eyes.  As a matter of fact, my bags have bags.

5.  I went to my friend, Michelle's, house tonight to a party.  I attended in yoga pants, a spitty squash t-shirt and still-wet hair from my morning shower up in a clip.  My sweet friend rewarded me by making me some gf latte cheesecake. (recipe forthcoming, I promise).

6.  Dear friends that I'm neglecting, THANK YOU for reaching out to me and texting me and holding our friendships through this crazy busy season in my life.  I promise I'll return to the land-of-the-living soon(er or later).

7.    Dear friends on facebook:  NO. NEVER duckface.  NEVER.  Stop.  Not sexy, not cool.  NEVER duckface.  STOP NOW.

8.  I've hurt my neck/upper back/ shoulders.  Baby L. goes one way, I go another to stay balanced.  I carry her often.  I also carry a 5 lb. car seat, 11 lb. purse and a 9 lb diaper bag.  Plus, there's the stress.  Yes, there's stress.  That is the tri-fecta of back issues.  I need a good massage.  :)

9.  We just turned over 222,222 miles on our van. Yep...you read that right.  I posted the picture on facebook- cause I'm a bit of a nerd.  Will we make it to 333,333?  Probably not...but here's hoping!

10.  I think my husband is pretty awesome.  That is all.

I take full responsibility

1.  My house is a pit.  I take full responsiblity.  We've been busy marking things off our Summer Bucket List.  We're having fun.  We're neglecting our housework.  And today...the only day for two weeks we have nothing planned...the house is getting worked on.  Hopefully Dave will appreciate our effort tonight when he gets home.  (Read:  Baby L. doesn't nap well during the day.  This means I've chosen to clean the house over cleaning myself.  The choice was mine: shower or clean.  Today I chose to clean.  Perhaps he'll notice the shiny house over his sweaty pajama-clad wife when he gets home.)

2.  I've done approximately 16 loads of laundry today.  I have one load left.  Then, every article of cloth in this house will have been stain-sticked, washed, dried, folded, and put away.  I take full responsibility for the dire condition of our laundry.  We've been having fun and I don't care if we look like ragamuffins.  :)

3.  My FAVORITE outfit of Baby L's is ruined.  It was a sweet little white skirt with a green t-shirt that had daisies in the shape of a heart on it.  We went to the beach yesterday, and in an effort to keep her out of the water, I chose not to put her swimming suit on her.  Well....she ended up in the water, and she ended up army crawling through the mud.  Due to a diaper blow out, her back-up outfit was no longer an option, so we decided to forego our errand running and hurried home with a naked baby.  I've washed and bleached the heck out of that skirt.  I just can't get it clean.  It's dingy-looking.  I was planning to take her pictures in that sweet outfit before she out-grew it.  I take full responsibility, though...I should have known that my best laid plans don't pan out and I should have put her in a swimming suit.  Anyone have any laundry magic they can impart on me?

4.  I have come to the conclusion that I need to work on my children's character.  They have turned into little couch potatoes.  I take full responsiblity.  I've used the TV as a babysitter for too long while I worked.  Now...we're working on changing that atmosphere and old habits die hard.  Very hard.  We're about to go PMD-unplugged.

5.  My back is killing me.  I take full responsiblity.  I have a baby.  I carry her around a lot.  I do this because she picks up EVERY LITTLE THING on my floor and puts it in her mouth.  Due to the aformentioned state of cleanliness in my house, her army-crawling could possibly be considered a choke hazard.

That's all you get today.  I have some laundry and floors calling my name!

Happy weekend everyone!

six

Today, we celebrate 6 years of C!!! 

Six years!

Where does the time go???

(I know, it's cliche' to say that, but seriously....it's flying by so fast.)

Here's SIX fun questions for C on his SIXTH birthday:

1.  What is your favorite color?

Red

2.  What do you want to be when you grow up?

First response, "I don't know"

After thought, "A hunter."

3.  Who is your best friend right now?

God

(ohhhh, be still my heart!)

4.  What is your favorite moment from your 5th year of life?

Baby L coming to our family.

Going to Kindergarten and meeting new friends.

My 5th birthday party.

5.  What were your not so favorite moments?

When I am bad and you get mad at me.

6.  What do you hope for in your 6th year?

More fun.  All the time.

Six.

He's six. 

Wow.

Happy Birthday, kiddo!

Smitten with my Mitten (a.k.a. you know you're from Michigan when...)

You know you may be from Michigan when: You have "Duck Lake with Michelle and Sarah" on the calendar.

You wake up to 54 degrees of overcast skies.

And you still start packing for the beach.

Lunches.

Snacks.

Towels.

You get dressed: Swimming suit Beach cover-up (dress)

L.L. Bean Polartec Fleece jacket

And you still manage to have an awesome time with wonderful people.

And get a tad sunburnt on your calves.

I love my Michigan!

Wordy Wednesday

1.  Today you get a random list.  Aren't you lucky?!?!?

2.  There are a LOT of worries on my mind lately.  Like ones that keep me awake at night.  I need to focus on God, and not on these things.  Yet, I still can't sleep when my body is clearly SCREAMING from deprivation.

3.  I think it's funny when people judge me for honesty.  (see previous post) Especially when it includes honesty with a swear word.  Sorry, I'm just not as perfect as you are.

4.  A few years ago, a MOPS mentor mom spoke about the "relationship ladder."  She said some amazing insights that soothed my hurting heart.  It helped me refocus my energies and expectations of others, and even encouraged me to rearrange a few people on the rungs.  My expectations changed, and my opinion of them is now different - since I'm not being let down all the time.  I think this mentor mom is wise beyond her years, and I'm grateful for that chat.

5.  We are in a mad dash to complete our summer bucket list.  It's fun.  I love my kids.

6.  I'll even like them at times when they're not misbehaving.  :)

7.  Baby L. hasn't been sleeping well lately.  At all.  The other night, Dave and I went to go to bed at 11pm -which is when she decided to wake up and NEVER want to go back to sleep.  Finally, she gave in to exhaustion at 3am.  By that time, my pedometer logged over 1300 steps.  Way to start the day- already over 10% to my daily goal! (but totally exhausted...so sort of counter-productive there....)

8.  Dave and I spent our only babysitter money for the month on going to a meeting last night.  (adios date night!)  We have a FANTASTIC babysitter who handled all three at bedtime beautifully.  At 2am, I hear Baby L. crying.  I go in the darkness to pick her up.  She's crying for a second, but then stops...whispers, "mama" then goes to lay her head on my shoulder and wraps her arms around me in a hug.  Soothing balm for this weary mama.  She DOES love me. :) (I need to remember this in about 12 years....)

9.  Judging by the pain in my jaw and the fact that I can barely open my mouth today, I'd say I'm grinding my teeth in my sleep again.  Grrrrr.  Bite splints are soooo not sexy.

10.  I got my hair cut on Thursday!  Yeehaw!  I was at my wits-end with it, and was about to go all Sinead O'Conner....we went to my parent's for Coast Guard Festival and I got in to see my old hair lady....she and I first met when I was a sophomore in high school (just did the math on how long ago that was....and now I'm weeping....).  She's amazing because I can just sit down in the chair and say, "Michelle....help me.  I want to buzz it all off.  I need a cute cut that doesn't take long to do."  That's what I said, and that's what she did.  It's cute....when I do it.  :)  Right now, I'm in full-on baby mode.  Which means there's some spit up holding the whispies back, and the bulk of it is up in a clip.  :)  Someday I will be normal again.  Today is just not that day.

60 Seconds of Compassion

I'm going to draw you a mental picture.

Imagine the scene:

I had JUST finished my first-of-the-month Coscto run. Last month was a long one, so we had nothing in the house. Nothing.



This meant my cart was FULL.

We had to *lot* to purchase, so we were in the store longer than I had expected. My boys were hungry and arguing. My baby was crying.

I had spent too much of my grocery envelope, and was trying to calculate how to make the rest of our grocery budget last the rest of the month silently praying for miracle-math to find it's way to my purse.


Judging by the bags under my eyes, it was clear that I haven't had a good night's sleep in a few months.

Judging by the dulled, chipped finger nail polish on my hands, I haven't had a moment to myself in over a week.

Judging by the pony tail holding hair back, I hadn't had a nice long shower in at least 24 hours.



I was in the middle of self-bagging my bulk groceries into the van while simultaneously looking for Baby L's pacifier to soothe her, giving the boys their “God only gave you one brother, it may be nice to take good care of him.  He's the only one you've got." speech (for the millionth time), cutting my hand on the rust of my van, and doing grocery math in the back of my head....



It was a *sight.*


In that moment, an older lady saunters past me, and in a sing-songy voice she says, "Don't let me hit you."

I look up. Clearly she wasn't talking to me.

Oh...but she WAS.

Sure enough, she looks (down) at me out of the corner of her eye as she heads to her luxury Cadillac that she parked too close to my (rusty) van.


My first instinct was this:


"SHUT UP, hoity toity BITCH!  You can wait a FLIPPING minute for me to finish loading my groceries."


I'm not proud of the fact that this was my first reaction. (just being honest here...)

Oh...I wanted to spout off. I was frustrated. I was tired. I had too many things going through my head at the moment.


Instead of letting my tongue get the better of me, I was reminded that I had a van door open with 6 impressionable ears waiting for my reaction.

So...I looked down. My cart was approximately 6 inches into “her space.”

I moved my cart out of her space and slid it behind my van.

Apparently, that wasn't enough for her. As she backed up, I could see her look, move, slam on her brakes, move more, brake, move...

Sigh.

I was still agitated.

So, I did what I felt I should do.

                                                                       I knocked on her passenger window.



She was moving at the moment...and I made her brake. She didn't open the window, though.

                                                                 She just sat there.


I knocked again and bent down.





                                                She gave me approximately 4 inches of open window.



"Would it have killed you to give me 60 seconds of compassion?   That would have gone a long way."



She responded by rolling up her window, and just pulling out of the spot. Never looking and almost hitting someone else behind her.



I was feeling pretty self-righteous for not loosing my cool in front of my kids. I felt as though I had won a small battle. Then, God pulled me off my self-constructed (albeit short) podium.



“How many times have you, Sandy, failed to give someone else 60 seconds of compassion?!?!?”



Ouch.



He was right. There are *many* times I fail to give someone else compassion. Many times I knee jerk and quickly spout off...and not help an already struggling situation.


Perhaps by granting 60 seconds of compassion.....of empathy..... of grace, I can go a long way at helping others out.


                                                    It wouldn't have killed the hoity toity lady, and it won't kill me.