Mother's Day Wishlist

Every holiday or special occasion I usually make a wish list, just for fun. I don't really expect anything when it comes down to it, but it's fun to make a list. Especially when you are a mom and you don't really buy stuff for yourself often. You are used to always buying stuff for the kids! Which is a lot of fun.. don't get me wrong. But usually around Mother's Day my hubby and mom ask me what I'm wanting anyway.. so it's fun to think of things.. 

But to be honest, I'd be perfectly happy with any of the above that don't even cost money (or much)--

-Sleeping in!!!!!

-A day out with friends to see a movie and get nails done

-Keep the kids out of my hair for an afternoon so I can read and rest!

-A whole day of no fighting, yelling, whining (that is up to the kids!)

-The whole house cleaned up (without me having to help!) Or the van!!!

-And of course, a homemade card from the kids with sweet messages written in their scribbly handwriting, that I can look back at when they are teenagers and don't like me very much! ;)

Anyway... here is my list for this year.... Hint Hint Arnold!! ;)

Another Duck Dynasty book? Yes please. Jase wrote this one. And perfect timing, it is coming out the week of Mother's Day!! 

Now that I have a flag stand put up in the yard, I can change out my flags! I love these from Kirklands that have your Monogram on them. Just find me a "D" and we're good! 

A bunch of my friends have one of these, and I'd love to get one eventually.. an Origami Owl necklace! You can personalize it with the charms/colors, etc that you want!

This cute little guy from Kirklands.. or anything owl, really ;)

A new case for my cellphone. I still have the one on that I put on when I got it.. it's looking pretty beat up. I like the covers with cute designs on them.

I already posted this on Facebook, but I'm really wanting this Lily Bloom purse... in the bird print. I saw it at Sears the other night. Erika already got it, so we could match ;)

It's the time of year for sandals! These from Target are especially cute. I will just have to be extra careful to keep them away from Sheldon since he loves to eat shoes these days!

I have gotten into wearing the "infinity" scarves. Love the lightweight ones you can wear even in the summertime! I don't have a purple one yet! ;)

And lastly.. you can never go wrong with Bath and Body Works wallflowers. I love plugging them in, in the bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. They smell amazing! And the owl plugin is cute too ;)

Weekend in Review

I had such a good time this past weekend. Can't remember a weekend I had so much fun in a long time! Friday evening we went out to celebrate my BFF Jess' birthday. She was having a dinner at Applebee's. But I went out shopping earlier with my friend, Erika. We first went to TJ Maxx to get Sheldon a new dog bed, because his last one had been torn up. Then to Kohl's to get some new sandals, because he chewed those up, too :( While we were there we looked around for some new clothes, but couldn't find anything. And have you noticed lately everything is either so SHORT, so TIGHT or no sleeves on anything? I may sound old, but it is just so hard to find something that looks good on me. So we had a little more time to kill, so we went over to Jc Penney at the mall. We found several things that were cute, and we went to try them on. It was a success! I found some white capris and two new tops, and Erika found a dress to wear to her brother's wedding this summer. I was so happy. We also found some jewelry to match.. and at the last minute Erika found some more sandals. We then realized how soon we had to be at dinner, and had to hurry out of there. Thank goodness because I could have spent a lot more money! I think my debit card was smoking! (Sorry honey :( haha. 

After we got everything loaded up in the van we headed over to Applebee's. It was just the four of us, but we had a great time, still. We ate dinner (chicken fajita rollup like usual for me!) and then had some cake. Jess had brought a long a "confetti" cake and it was really yummy! The people sitting beside us were really nice and joked about wanting our cake. And the ended up taking a group picture for us at the end of the night :) After dinner we decided we weren't done shopping so we went over to the mall again. Erika ended up buying a purse that I loooooved but I didn't want to spend any more money on myself! We have very similar taste and are known to buy the same things ;) Then we went to Bath and Body Works where I did not spend any money (yay me) and then to Crazy 8.. which I can never resist.. and bought the girls new dresses. To be fair they were on sale and ADORABLE!!!! ;) After that everyone else had to go but I stopped off at Barnes and Noble before I went home.. and found me yet another new book to read.. then over to Walmart to pick up a few things we needed. WHY oh why is Walmart so packed at 10:00 at night?! I can never understand! And all the teenagers around here think it is cool to hang out at Taco Bell right beside it.. every weekend! There was so much traffic it was ridiculous. I was screaming at them and saying how I needed to get home because it was late... then realized how old I sounded ;) Oh well.

Saturday we got ready and went over to the park.. a moms' group I am a part of was having a big party and egg hunt.. but there was not a SINGLE parking spot anywhere! So after driving around forever we just decided to leave. The kids were really bummed out about that. We decided to go get some lunch, so we tried a new place called "Which Wich." Well I was not impressed at all. First off they don't even list the prices out anywhere, so you don't know what you are getting into. The sandwiches are ok, but they aren't anything special. We ended up paying $36!!!! For lunch!!! For sandwiches!!! I mean for goodness sake, the kids had tiny peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The tea wasn't even that great, either. So yeaaaah, we won't be going back there again. After that we went to Hallmark, Party city, and a few other places to look around to kill some time before we dropped the kids off at Mom and Dad's.

Around 4pm we dropped the kids off at Mom and Dad's so we could have a date night! I ended up wearing one of my new outfits i had bought the night before. We went to see the movie God's Not Dead. We had been wanting to see it for a long time but hadn't had the chance yet. We ended up getting a great time slot.. at 4:40 pm, and it wasn't that crazy busy. The movie was amazing. At first it jumped around a lot and you had to figure out who everyone was. But there were so many parts that gave me chill bumps all over! And a few parts that were rough to watch and I teared up bigtime. It had such a good message and I hope it changed a lot of people's lives who went to see it. The ending was sort of a surprise.. but it still was pretty powerful. I would recommend everyone going to see it. I heard our town was one of the highest sellers on tickets for that movie! Anyway, after the movie we were trying to figure out what to do for dinner. Everywhere was busy, so we went to Sbarros in the mall to get pizza. Did yall know they closed down???? Yeah.. so then we went to Mellow Mushroom and they were packed. So after driving around forever we finally got fast food and went home to watch old reruns of The Big Bang Theory ;) Gotta love it. But we still had a wonderful night and we got a whole night's rest and slept in and it was amazing!!

Sunday morning after sleeping in, Arnold did some yardwork and I cleaned up some inside. Then we went to pick up the kids at Mom and Dad's around 11am. They had gone to church with them and Mom said they did a great job and behaved, so I was happy about that! After picking up all their stuff all over the house, we left and went to Lowe's. Arnold had to get some stuff.. he has been doing a lot of projects around here lately. He put up a new mailbox for us this weekend and it looks great! Our old one fell down.. might have been my fault.. oops ;) Then we went to the receiving for a friend of his, from work. He died last week from on-going health issues. He was only 40 and leaves behind two young children :( His wife was holding it together pretty well, considering. I felt so bad for her. I cannot imagine going through the loss of a spouse, especially that early in life! After the receiving we went to Target to get some groceries. The kids did pretty well while we were in there, so we said they could get ICEEs before we left. Plus, I wanted to try their new Pina Colada icee.. yeah it wasn't that great! :( I really hope Taco Bell puts out their Pina Colada Freeze drinks again this summer because they are awesome! 

So that about sums up our weekend.. I can't believe we did that much until I wrote it all out and it took me forever! I hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead! :)

The girls out to dinner for Jess' birthday :)

My presents to Jess.. a cute fox cup and gourmet oreos! They are delicious! 

Erika and I.. we both wore pink and white but didn't plan it! I told you that we just think so much alike that it is scary! ;)

Doing some shopping after dinner at the mall.

Date night with my hubby! :)

Sheldon in his new bed! Right after this he tore a hole and pulled the fluff out! I swear, I am not going to buy that dog anything again! Grrr.

Out on Sunday. Dark picture.. but the girls are wearing their new Crazy 8 dresses! Love them!

Brooke climbing trees at Grandma's house again! 

Rachel just relaxing in the grass!

Rachel posing with my new yard flag! Arnold put it up for me.. and my first flag was OWLS of course ;)

Brooke with her new Monster High Doll. Kmart near us is closing down soon and all their stuff is getting clearanced out. All the kids got a little something and we also found some other things.

Spring Break 2014

Well Spring break week is finally coming to an end. I love my kids very much, but thank goodness this week is almost over! I have heard more fighting and cleaned up more messes than I'd like to admit. No matter how much you have to do around here there are always days where they are just plain bored and wish they could be back with their friends. So here is hoping the weekend goes smoothly and the teachers are ready to have them back on Monday! ;) Here is some of what we have been doing this week...

~Eating dinner at Village Inn with the Stamey family on Monday night. We go often now on Mondays because ya know.. kids eat free! And it's a big deal when you have 3 kids eating!

~Playing with all the toys they got in their Easter baskets. 

~Watching Frozen.. which we bought when it came out and saved for Easter. Singing all the songs all over again and laughing at that silly talking snowman, Olaf. It really is a good movie ;)

~Sneezing our heads off because the pollen is TERRIBLE this year and every time we go outside, even for 2 minutes, we are attacked. All of us have bad allergy problems this year.

~Drawing pictures all over the sidewalk with our new sidewalk chalk. Fighting over the best colors. And somehow my front door got drawn on too????

~Lots of long days/evenings for Arnold at work this week. He had to train some customers that came into town. He had to go to a business dinner one night. He fell asleep on me just about every night we were hanging out and watching tv! Poor guy.

~Lots of catching up on tv now that we have cable! I was so excited Tuesday evening.. I sat on my butt and watched TLC for several hours. I am now caught up with 19 Kids and Counting, and The Little Couple.

~Reading a new book called "Rhinestone Jesus." Well I did.. not the kids, haha. Another book written by a blogger. It was GREAT. She is a mother who wrote about diving deeper into your faith and connection to Jesus, and not just calling yourself a Christian, but living it. She and her husband opened up a nonprofit house to help young mothers, in Africa. Very good read if you are looking for your next book! :)

~Booking Rachel's birthday party! Were able to get the park right down the road from us. It is a pretty new park and really nice. They even have a building with air conditioning, which is going to be great since everyone is always drowning in sweat at her birthday parties! Now to get to work on serious planning for her Lalaloopsy theme!

~Having an advernture at the thrift store.. haha. Every thursday evening after I work at the Pregnancy Care Center I go down there to see what new stuff they got in. There is a lot of junk, but if you look carefully you can find some awesome stuff most times! I mostly go in for books for me and the kids, owl stuff for my collection, etc. But this week I found some great stuff. A dress and romper for Rachel.. the dress seriously looked new! A "build a bear" alligator, and a strawberry shortcake shopping cart for Rachel. 

~Buying discount Easter candy from Target... thank goodness for those after-holiday sales! Half price bags of whopper eggs, bunny ear kit kats, and white chocolate cadbury mini eggs. Ohhhh yummy.

~Also buying me and Rachel new sandals from Target. Found those same sandals (mine) chewed up 2 days later by Sheldon!!!!!!!!! I was sooo mad. First off, I don't get myself new shoes often. I found a pair that were really cute, and they were the last pair in my size too.. display pair actually. So I know I can't go back and get a replacement pair! Second, I had them put up in my room and Sheldon slept in my bed so when did he find time to chew them?! SNEAKY SNEAKY dog!!! He better be glad he is cute!!!

~Going to the movies with friends to see Rio 2. Honestly I don't care for most kids' movies.. so I wasn't too thrilled to be there, but I knew the kids would have fun. But as we all know, it didn't go as planned. Brooke was bored half the time and complaining I didn't bring more candy, Caleb was slurping his drink and being loud, and Rachel kept alternating between rolling around in her chair and hopping up on my lap. I think I missed half the movie. What I did see was cute I guess. But everytime I take them to the movies I swear to myself I will never, ever take them back again!!!

~Planning a date with Arnold!!! Thankfully Mom and Dad have agreed to watch the kids Saturday night so we can go on a date! And it is much, much needed after this week (for both of us!!) We are going to go to the movies to see "God's Not Dead" and then go out to dinner. And then be able to go home and sleep several hours in row without having to worry about putting kids to sleep, yelling at them to be quiet and lay down, worry about one of them waking up from a bad dream or being lonely and try to get in our bed.. and being woken up at the butt crack of dawn on a weekend! Ohhh it sounds glorious and I can't wait! :)

Kids at the movies on Thursday. 

Arnold was sweet enough to take the kids to the park Thursday evening while I was working at the Pregnancy Care Center. He took me this picture of the kids all on the slide together.

Drawing all over the sidewalk

Yeah this is what you call a total Pinterest FAIL!!!! You guys have seen the pictures where you draw stuff with chalk and add the kids and make it look like something? Well I tried to do that with a balloon. But then Rachel started drawing above my balloon. Then I noticed my shadow was in the way. Then Caleb started screaming because the sun was in his eyes. Not to mention the sidewalk was dirty and covered with leaves from the tree ride beside it. Yeaaaaaah... it was a cute idea... but no.

Easter 2014!

This weekend was crazy busy! Friday the kids were off school.. their first full day of Spring Break. We had a Charter guy come out and set up cable for us. We have never had cable in our entire 8 years of marriage.. crazy, right? But they kept calling us and got us a good deal, so we finally gave in. Anyway, it was very chaotic while he was here. First I had to put Oreo up because he tried to jump all over him outside. Then I had to put Sheldon up, and he was in the bedroom the whole time scratching at the door and howling. I tried to keep the kids busy with books, workbooks, toys, etc but they were just so restless. The guy ended up having some problems and ended up being there 3 1/2 hrs!!! It was definitely a stressful day for me. But I do finally have all the tv channels I've been wanting, like TLC, and faster internet too! That evening when Arnold got home I needed to get out of the house, so we all went to dinner at Mellow Mushroom.

Saturday morning we were supposed to go to an egg hunt but it was rained out! It ended up POURING rain most of the day and was pretty depressing, but we still had fun. We took the kids to a birthday party at the YMCA, and they got to swim indoors. I was excited for Rachel to get to show off her new bathing suit we got her this year! I realized that I couldn't find Brooke's from last year, so I had to run down the road real quick and buy her one. They only had ONE in her size, and it was a tankini.. but I ended up getting it anyway, and it worked. I generally have a rule with the girls that they have to wear one-piece.. we like them to be modest. Anyway.. the kids had a blast swimming with their friends, and we got to catch up with some friends also, and have adult conversation, which is always nice. Rachel was quite upset that her hands were "wrinkly" afterwards though.. and was scared they wouldn't go back to normal! ;)

Later that afternoon we went over to Arnold's parents house to let the kids see them for Easter. They had set up an area in the kitchen for the kids to dye eggs. Both Caleb and Rachel LOVE hard-boiled eggs, so right after they were done coloring the eggs, they cracked them open and ate them! Brooke however said no one better touch her eggs and she was going to keep them until they began to stink, lol! ;) Then the cousins ran around the house hiding eggs and having their own easter egg hunt. Their grandparents had gotten them baskets with some little treats, too. That evening we decided to go down the road to dinner at Hannah's BBQ and Jennifer and Bekah went with us, so that was a lot of fun.

Sunday morning the kids woke up early, as they do on every holiday, and were excited to see what they Easter Bunny had brought. They were quite thrilled with their stuff, and getting to eat chocolate for breakfast. When I saw everything thrown out all over the floor though, I remembered why holidays end up stressing me out! It is a huge mess to clean up! We got everyone dressed up in their Easter outfits. Turns out that the pretty shirt I was going to wear that morning had been RUINED in the wash... a pen had gotten in the wash somehow and ink stains were all over it! I didn't really have a back up.. I don't dress up often... more of a laid back kind of girl. So I was pretty bummed out :( We went to a friend's church because her 3 month old son was getting christened! It was a Lutheran church, and I grew up Methodist.. so a lot of things were different, and I felt awkward and stupid, so I just kept trying to copy what everyone else did! The kids sat with us through the service, which was very long, and they ended up getting very restless. But I am glad we went, and baby Liam was so sweet and calm throughout the whole thing! :)

After church we went over to Mom and Dad's for Easter lunch. Mom made ham, bacon-wrapped asparagus, mac and cheese, broccoli, fruit salad, rolls, sweet tea, and banana pudding. Everything was so yummy! I was sad Alex couldn't come in town for the holiday :( We all miss him bunches! After lunch we went outside and dad hid eggs for the kids to find. Instead of candy by parents always put quarters in their eggs, and the kids love having their own money. Although they did fight over who got the most, and kept asking me if they had enough to go buy something "right then." Haha. My mom gets the kids new books every holiday (my kids have an awesome library because of this!) and so I read them their new books. Brooke has lately become obsessed with trying to climb trees, and she actually got herself up in one in Grandma's yard! She was so proud of herself. I was just surprised she had gotten up there in sandals! 

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Easter. Now we are just trying to survive this Spring Break week with all 3 kids here at home! Eeek! :)

Dyeing eggs at Grandma's house

Checking out what was in her basket

Cousins hanging out at dinner Saturday night

The kids' Easter Baskets 

Brooke got a new Monster High Doll! 

In their Easter outfits. I had wanted them all in green, but couldn't find anything I liked for Brooke this year! 

The fedora was a last minute buy and I love it! Caleb looked so adorable! He said "hey, I look like that guy that sings "Happy!"

Baby Liam at his Christening on Sunday morning :)

The kids all got new books from Grandma (that I helped pick out ;)

Family picture. We took this 4 times to get a decent shot. 

Hunting eggs in the backyard. They ended up wearing sweatshirts over their clothes because it was a little chilly! So that is why they weren't matching lol :)

Reading the kids their new books

Brooke up in the tree she climbed herself! 

What We Did This Weekend

~Caleb and Brooke both made 100's on their spelling tests.

~Went on a Sam's shopping trip with Mom.. thankful she has a membership! Was able to get a huge box of pretzels for Rachel's class party this week.

~Had lunch with Mom and Dad at El Paso. I don't get to see my parents as much anymore, so it was a lot of fun.

~We went to dinner at Mellow Mushroom Friday evening.  Hadn't been in forever! I also found out that they do birthday parties there. May be a potential idea for Caleb's party this Summer!

~I got my hair chopped off! I love it so much better short. I also got bangs. I am getting used to having something falling in my face now!

~Finally found Rachel's Easter dress! Ordered it off Amazon, and it should be here just in time. Now to find one for Brooke! I wanted matching, but they didn't have one in her size.

~Stuffed a bunch of Easter eggs for the kids' class parties. I am tempted to eat Sour Patch bunnies as I am working on the eggs!

~Finished reading "Hands Free Mama." Awesome book! I would recommend it it any mom. About how little time we really have with our kids, and making the moments count.

~Stayed up waaay too late Saturday night watching re-runs of The Office on Netflix! Anytime I am in a bad mood, Michael Scott cheers me right up! That show makes me want to work in an office. But Arnold says it really isn't like that! :(

~Worked in the baby class at church on Sunday morning. Got trampled on by babies, and drool all over my shirt and necklace! But I loved every minute of it!

~Went to Lowe's to pick up things we were needing for the yard. We are putting up a new mailbox! I guess that is my fault.. that I ran over our old one to begin with.. oops! 

~Caleb lost his 5th tooth. It popped right off when we were out to lunch on Sunday. Arnold kept it in his shirt pocket for safe keeping, but Caleb ended up losing it later anyway!

~Took the kids to an egg hunt at a local park. They ran around crazy and had a lot of fun. We did NOT stay to meet the Easter Bunny.. the line was way too long. Turns out he was a pretty "creepy" bunny anyway!

~Watched our new fave show, Resurrection! That show gets crazier every week!

~I helped Arnold cut his hair! I buzzed off the back since he can't see back there. I have never cut anyone's hair so I was afraid I would mess it up.. but I think it looks ok :)

Dad and I at lunch on Friday. I think he gets irritated by how many selfies I take with us :)

The kids at Mellow Mushroom Friday night. This is their typical behavior! ;)

My new hair!

Rachel riding around at Lowe's on Sunday! She said she is tired of going to that store!

Caleb has now lost 5 teeth! He misplaced his tooth and was worried the Tooth Fairy wouldn't come! 

At the Egg Hunt on Sunday

My beautiful Rachel!