InstaFriday

It's Friday! Wahoo!! Can't wait for Conrad to be home to help wrangle these kids and plus also Super Bowl!!! I definitely looking forward to eating some yummy food. 





















1. we headed to the park to met up with some friends for lunch and some mommy hang out while the kids played. 2. Austin passed out after the park. Finally a good nap from this child. 3. Bath time hasn't been the same since we introduced glow sticks. Just about every night is a dark party. 4. Aubrey forgot her lunch so we brought it to her. 5. We desperately need rain here and we saw this sign in a neighbors lawn. Pretty cool. 6. A selfie from Allyson 7.We did get some rain but it definitely isn't enough. Aubrey was bummed that it rained at night {poor girl always seems to happen that way!} she was excited to use her new umbrella to shade her. 8. My throw back Thursday baby Austin. So many things I love about this picture. 
 follow me on IG? @mommynpink
Happy Friday! 

I said I would never

Before I was a mom, I knew everything about having kids and being a parent. Totally had it all figured out. Duh! I was helping my mom take care of my sisters. I knew kids were hard work. I knew they were little dictators that seemed to boss my mom around. When I have kids, they aren't going to act like that. Haha, I was way wrong, wasn't I?

One thing that my mom let my sisters do and I just couldnt' understand it was letting them wear whatever they wanted. Even if we were going out in public!! What a mean mother I had. Didn't she know how embarassing it was to have a mismatched little girl and another little one wearing her princess dress, following you around in the store. What if someone saw me? What would they think? I was never going to let my kids go out mismatched or wearing princess dresses. Not me. 

Fast forward 14 years and now I'm that mom. 




I don't care too much what my kid wears. I mean I do care it has to be appropriate for the weather or for school. But you want to wear those rain boots with your dress... to school? Go for it. It makes you happy. You don't care what your friends think of your boots and your dress. And all of that makes me happy. That she isn't trying to fit in. Not trying to be cool. She's cool in her eyes. She's happy to be who she is.  That makes this mama happy!

Is there something you said that you would never do and now that you have kids, you do?

Linking up with Trendy Tot 

Funny Stuff Allyson says

 
This pint size cutie is quite the talker these days. I remember the days that I was actually worried about her speech, little did I know she was going to have lots of word explosions. These days I'm able to see the gears going in her little head. When I tell her something she will look and think about it and then something hilarious usually comes out. 

Why are you the Mommy? 

Mommy, my tummy hurts. I need um... {insert food I just told her she couldn't have} 

Mommy, I'm mad. 
I'm sorry you're mad. What's wrong? 
I'm mad at you. 
Oh, why? 
Ok, I'm happy now. 

No thank you Mommy. I don't like {anything that is on her plate}. May I be excused? She says this in the sweetest little voice. How can I make her eat it? She was just so sweet and polite. 

Mommy, can I ask you something. You can't say no, ok? 

I have the hiccups and don't feel good. I have a cold. I need to go to Amma's house to rest in Luke's baby bed to feel better. 

I asked her to clean up. I can't Mommy, I'm too little to clean. 

That's my silly little 3 year old Allyson! 

Austin at 22 months

This little smile makes my whole day!


My goodness I can't believe we are another month closer to 2 years old. Two months away from two. How am I going to have a 2 year old? 

So this last month he's got another haircut. Boy does he hate having his haircut!! He looks so cute with his new do though. 

He's been talking more and more

When I sing to him he yells STOP STOP and tries to cover my mouth. 

He still loves being outside and playing in the dirt. 

He knows what he wants and what he does not want! 
 

He loves shoes especially his rain boots. When it's time to go anywhere he will run and grab shoes for him and Allyson. 

This boy EATS a TON! In the morning he will have a banana or two, a bowl of cereal and some yogurt. He will drink the milk from the bowl, it is the cutest thing ever. He makes the biggest mess but it is just too sweet!! 

He's doing better with drop off at church. 

He does a good job sharing with his sisters. When we go to the playground, that's another story. He will scream at kids when they try to climb up behind him or they get near him. He screams and puts his hand out for the kid to stop. It's cute but come on little guy, share! 

He likes to have his teeth brushed but when you stop and try to put away the toothbrush, oh this boy isn't happy! 




He's just a complete joy to have in our lives! 

4/52

Austin: This boy sure loves his cars. Just about anywhere is a place to drive his cars. He's starting to carry one around all the time. He makes the cutest little vroom vroom noise. 

Allyson: She loves to play the piano at Amma's house. It's one of the first thing she asks about when we get there. I'm thinking lessons are in her near future. 

Aubrey: Studying her memory verses for AWANAs. I'm so impressed with how much she can memorize in a week's time!! 

100th day of First Grade

how cute is her handwriting?!? 

Friday was Aubrey's 100th day of school!

I can't believe we are more than half way through the year. 



Some things that they did was to jump up and down for 100 seconds. Aubrey said she was so tired after that! Could you imagine all the little first graders jumping around the room?   

They wrote their name as many times as they could for 100 seconds. 

Counted to 100

100 steps

100 pieces of cereal on a necklace and then ate it! 

again with the peace sign 

Only 80 school days left of first grade, I can't believe it! 

and if you want to check out what Aubrey did last year, you can here

3/52

Austin:  The kitchen rug is Austin's go to place. He sits there to play, to cry, when he's tired and when I'm doing the dishes he's at my feet. 

Allyson: This girl loves playing in the dirt. This is the day she dumped dirt ALL over her head and loved every second of it. 

Aubrey: She's growing up before my eyes. The peace sign is her newest pose. 

Five on Friday

It's Friday, WAHOO!!! Let the randomness begin! 

{One} 
Last Friday I ordered my Erin Condren life planner, and I can't wait to get it. Use my link to get $10 off your planner. Come on guys, let's get organized together. 

{two}
This story brought tears to my eyes. Oh my goodness. The heart that boy has for his brother, just hit this mama's heart. I hope that my kids and heck me 

{three} 
Austin has been really into sitting down and reading books. He lets Aubrey read  to him. Each night when I lay Allyson down, Austin & Aubrey will sit with Conrad while reading her school AR book and then Austin's My Truck is Stuck.



I ordered a few new Truck books off of Amazon and they should be here today. I can't wait to see how he likes them. 

{four}
The kids have been playing outside and it's been so nice for all of us. They are out there exploring, having fun, and using their imaginations. I have the slider open so I can see/hear them. I'm able to do some things {like blog right now}  in the kitchen or living room and still be able to see them. 


ignore the dying plant and their pajamas 

{five}
I'm pretty excited to pick up Aubrey from school today. We've started a fun Friday tradition of going to Sonic's Happy Hour after school. Drinks for all of us. it's a great way to start off our weekend. 

Hope you guys have a great Friday! 

What I wore

Today was one of those days where I felt good about myself. I felt put together. I didn't look like I had just rolled out of bed. My hair was cooperating, I felt good when I got dressed, the stripes didn't make me feel so wide, like they usually do. It also helped that my friends had complimented me too, so it wasn't all in my head :) 

So today I was inspired by Jessica's What I Wore posts, they are always such fun read and figured I'll give this a go. Trying to take pictures of just me was so tough! I felt so awkward, my kids thought I was crazy and I'm sure our back neighbors thought I was nuts too. 
 

Props to you Jess for posing yourself and not looking awkward. This was a lot harder than I expected.

     



Shirt: Gap
Jeans: American Eagle
Shoes: American Eagle
Necklace: Charming Charlie's 

There you go my friends, my very first What I Wore post. 

School drop off and pick up

I have a love/hate with dropping this precious girl off at school. The rush to get out the door on time. Not just getting her ready but getting the 2 little ones out too. Making sure we get her homework in her folder and remember to put it into her backpack. Her lunch. You know grabbing it even though it's right next to her backpack. I love the she loves school and learning. She has so much fun. 

 

and this little goof ball can make getting out the door difficult. 
 

When Aubrey's at school I feel like a part of me is missing. It is because she's not home with me.  I worry about her. I hope on the mornings when her attitude is really bad that it turns around. I hope she's not talking too much and distracting herself and others from work. Girlfriend loves to talk. I hope that she's not being made fun of because she wants to wear her Hello Kitty glasses. I hope that she's comfortable in herself and doesn't let those things bother her. I worry about her safety. It seems like there are more and more school shootings, scary stuff. 

Pick up time is my favorite. 

 

Her sweet face looking in the crowd for me. When she spots me and big smile appears on her face. After school hugs are the best. They are the biggest and the tightest, I really wish I could bottle that and save it for later. 

A few months ago, God put it on my heart to look into homeschooling our children. I am totally down to do it. I have so many reasons on why I want to but I'll save that for another post.  It's never been something I thought I would do but in these last few months God has really worked on my heart and it's something that I truly want to do for our family. Unfortunately, Conrad isn't in that same place. I do want him to support me/us in this journey so I won't do it without him on the same page. So I'm praying for God to work on him and hopefully we could begin our homeschooling journey soon or  the beginning of next school year! 

the little boy who never sleeps

Don't let his cute little face fool you. He's a little party animal who doesn't love sleeping like his mama does.
 

On Sunday night this little boy was up from 1:30 AM to 5:30AM. What the heck, son? 

I tried for 2 hours to get him to sleep but he just wasn't budging. At about 4AM I said forget this and we watched Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while eating bananas and drinking water. We were rebels! 

By 5AM I accepted that we were just going to be up for the day. Turn on an episode of  Sofia the First and it's almost over and the little guy passes out in my arms. What the heck?!?! It's about 5:30 and we have to take Aubrey to school at 8:15!!! I did try to wake him up. I was just trying to get to 8 oclock that way he could fall asleep on the way to school and then move him to his bed. Now I had to put him in bed...

I was so wake but so tired and wasn't sure how I was going to handle waking up by 7:30 to get Aubrey ready for school. But we did it. We survived. 

Around 7:50 I went in to check on him. He was still out. 

 


Around 8:00, I could hear him making some noise, I guess his internal clock was working now and he was ready to take Aubrey to school. 


I didn't get a nap on Monday but I did get some amazing sleep last night. Oh man and thankfully Austin didn't have a repeat party night. 

Makeup Monday

Today I'm linking up with Trista from Life According to Trista for ...


I love link ups like this and seeing what every one has and uses. I'm nosy ok? 

I love my little bag. My sister Tesla bought it for me last year. She's so sweet isn't she? 

So what's in my bag? I'm actually not too into makeup. I actually wish I was more into it. I usually wear it just to feel like I normal person. You know, like I didn't roll out of bed 10 minutes ago even though I've been up with the sun. 

I just have 2 boring browns eye shadows. and that revlon one, I've had since the beginning of time. Seriously, I think it was around the time I had Aubrey and I felt the need to wear makeup. I don't feel like I can break into actual colored eyeshadow, I want to but I think I'm afraid to look like I let Aubrey put make up on me. 

So most days it's just some foundation, eye concealer, and eyeliner and some lipgloss. Easy peasy. I usually take like 5 minutes to get ready. 




So what's in your makeup bag? What can't you live with out? 

forgiveness from my 3 year old.

Tonight was one of those nights that I wish I redo. I've been working hard on being joyful, with my husband, with my kids, at home, and in my heart. No more comments under my breathe, complaining about everything and no more angry mama. 

Bedtimes for Austin and Allyson were rough tonight. I put Allyson down first. Last night was a long time getting her to go down because of a new fear of monsters. So I planned to spend a bit longer in there tonight to help her get comfy and feel safe. We said our good nights and I left to put Austin to sleep. 

Austin had an early wake up and no nap today so he fought sleep tonight, hard. I was rocking him and he was just screaming, kicking and pushing. As I was rocking I was just trying to remind myself to just stick it out, he's tired, he'll stop soon, just like every other night. Not tonight. Finally after a slight breakdown and many times declining his help, I handed him a tired, screaming baby. I felt so defeated. I couldn't comfort him enough to sleep. 

Aubrey comes in and let's me know that Allyson's screaming. Lovely. 

I take a deep breath and head down the hall. I get her settled and head out. A couple minutes later she's crying. I head into her room. Hug her. Talk with her. Tuck her in again and head out. 

Austin already fell asleep and was in bed. I was in the chair and breathing a sigh of relief. Still feeling guilty for losing it with Austin. For failing him as a mom. Failing Conrad. 

Aubrey comes again, she thinks she hears Allyson calling for me. 

I head down the hall and I'm pissed off. What in the world could she need?? We sang songs. Rocked her. Checked for monsters and talked about how Daddy eats them. Took drinks of water. Hugs and kisses?? I throw open the door. Her little voice says that she needs me. This precious little one just needed her mama. I was still so mad. I pick her up and sat in her rocker and it hit me, I began to just sob. I hugged her so tight. 

How was I mad at her? Why was I mad? She needed me. Me. It's my job as her momma to make her feel safe. Isnt' that what I wanted? I want to be there to comfort my kids. 

She has the sweetest little heart. She looked up at me and asked if she could sing me Pete's Party. Of course, she could. She sang and then asked if I was happy now. Of course. I quickly apologized and asked for her forgiveness. 

"I forgive you Mommy", oh I hugged her tighter. We rocked for a bit and I tucked her back into and said our goodnights and i love yous again, and I haven't heard a peep from her. 

I've been kicking myself in the butt all night for the way I acted. I was frustrated with Austin, Conrad and Allyson tonight. I was unkind. I wasn't thinking of them and their feelings, I was just being selfish. I just wanted to sit down and do what Heidi wanted to do. I acted in the exact ways that I tell my kids not to behave. 

I am thankful that I was able ask Allyson and Conrad for forgiveness. I can move on from tonight and learn from this. I'm forgiven. 

This picture is from earlier in the week. I sat at the table while she finished up her breakfast. We had such a blast together. She was being so funny and goofy. She's my littlest best friend. I love being around her. I want our relationship to continue to grow. I want to be the one that she can come to when she needs something. I want her to feel safe and comfortable in my arms. 

I'm ready for a fresh start tomorrow. I'm ready to choose joy tomorrow. have a joyful heart in whatever comes my way.