Spazzy spazzy

I should have known that I would love seeing the Spazmatics in concert.  I mean, they were practically named for me.  But really, the best part of the evening wasn’t the fun concert.  It was surprising this girl to celebrate big 3-0:

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You can see on her face that she was surprised. Her hubby did so good pulling the whole thing off!  And I was so happy that Derek and I were able to make our Thanksgiving vacation start early and be in Dallas on Friday night.  We had so much fun together, getting fancied up (well, I like that part…you know, actually fixing my hair and putting on make-up and jewelry and wearing my new high heel boots), and spending the night in Dallas.   Derek’s parents kept the kids overnight so we didn’t have to drive back to their house so late at night.  I love nights away in a hotel!

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Anyway, back to the guest of honor.  I actually have a previous blog post completely dedicated to her.  Shauna and I met when we were about 14 at Sooner Youth Camp.  We lived together our freshman year at ACU, and she is one of my very best friends in the world.  Here we are back in 1998 at the ripe old age of 18.

And here we are at almost 30.  Shauna’s got 6 days until her big day and I still have a few more months.

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Happy (almost) Birthday, Roomate! (And yes, we still call each other roomate and we always will.  We are roomates forever in our hearts.)   Enjoy your last week in your 20’s!

Easy Peasy

I’ve been thinking lately about my sweet life.  As crazy as life can be, I am just struck with how good I have it.  Seriously, I am so blessed.  Lately I feel like we’ve gotten into a pretty good rhythm and some days are even…dare I say it…easy.  Here are a few things that I’ve decided have helped make my life a little easier lately.

–Connor waking up to his own alarm clock every morning.  Now he comes in my room to wake me up instead of the other way around.  Except on Wednesday’s when I have to actually look presentable for bible study so I get up at 6:00 to get ready before the insanity begins.  He wakes up in a much, much better mood this way and it has made our mornings so much easier.

–Meal planning every week.  I’ve done this here and there over the years, but now I pretty much always do unless Derek is traveling in which case our meals don’t need planning.  It doesn’t take much thought to pop chicken nuggets in the oven and microwave a Lean Cuisine tv dinner.  This weeks menu: chicken stir fry, tilapia with toasted almonds, cheeseburgers, and Catalina chicken.  (Normally I plan more than 4, but that’s all we need this week.)

–My MomAgenda All in One Folio.  I realize it’s just a glorified binder and I probably could have put something together on my own like it, but it has made organizing my life so much easier.  It comes with a calendar, all these plastic sleeves I can label, and inserts to keep every phone number, birthday, etc. you might need.  I now have a nice, organized place for school calendars, class phone lists, papers that need to be returned, school work I want to keep, bills to pay, coupons, school pictures, PTA stuff, church stuff, recipes, etc.  I use this thing every single day and I love it.

–My awesome neighbors.  Most afternoons, both boys (and the girl, too) can be found romping in the backyard with friends.  They love and I love it.  They blow off steam and play hard, and I get to fix dinner or pick up the house in peace.

–Connor’s love of the bus.  He rides both morning and afternoon now.  He loves it, and I love our amazing bus driver who says hello and good-bye to each child by name (Good morning, Mr. Connor…), gives the kids goody bags at all the major holidays, and teaches them things like ladies first.

–The teacher’s who spend time with my babies when I don’t.  We love Connor’s first grade teacher.  We love Logan’s Pre-K teachers.  And we love the sweet ladies who love on Camryn during her two mornings a week at school.  I couldn’t have asked for better teachers.

–Letting things go.  Not aiming for perfection.  My house doesn’t have to be perfect.   I don’t have to be perfect.  I don’t have to do it all and be it all.  I just gotta do my best, love on my family, and that’s enough.  Who cares if the shelves are dusty?

–Quiet time and bible study.  I just started Bible Study Fellowship a week ago, but it is already making a difference in my attitude about things.

–A great husband who cleans the kitchen every night.  I love our “I cook, you clean” agreement.  I help sometimes, but it’s 98% him.

Of course, there are also a few things that would make my life easier that I don’t do or have.

–Making lunches and packing bags the night before.  I don’t know why  I don’t do this.  Our mornings really are pretty smooth lately, but if I’m scrambling at all it’s because of those lunches.

–Laundry that magically puts itself away.  This is only a problem with my clothes.  I have no problem putting the kid’s stuff away (and Derek puts away his own.)  But mine will sit in piles for a week or two.  I drive myself crazy with this habit.

–A cleaning lady.  I know I said I let my dusty shelves go, but oh how I would love a cleaning person just once or twice a month!  This is actually something I’m trying to work into the budget.  It would be worth every penny, I know it.

Do any of you have any tricks for keeping life easy?  I’d love to hear them if you do!

I’m (80%) Back

If you aren’t a friend of mine on Facebook (or if you are but don’t read…), you probably have no idea what my title means.  Let me just start at the beginning…

I mentioned in my last post that Camryn was running a fever when I picked her up from school on Wednesday, and I also felt like I was coming down with something.  Thursday was a hard day…Camryn felt awful and by early afternoon it was clear I needed to get her to the doctor.  She was spent much of the day crying inconsolably, and on top of that, I was running a bit of a fever and really not at my best.  Thank goodness Connor was in school and a good friend of mine picked Logan up at 10:00 that morning and kept him until Derek could pick him up that night.  I seriously have the best friends!  Anyway, I took Camryn to the doctor on Thursday afternoon, suspecting either strep or hand, foot, and mouth disease.  The doctor said it was hand, foot, mouth and sent us on our way.  By Thursday night, I was running a 102-103 degree fever, and Friday morning I felt even worse and went to see the doctor.  They tested me for the flu (negative) and for strep (positive).  I was pretty sure it was strep and was so thankful to start on antibiotics!   I was also thankful that Derek was able to stay home on Friday to help with Camryn and Logan.  Camryn was still a mess…barely sleeping, not eating, hardly drinking, crying all the time, just plain miserable.

I thought it seemed a little odd that Camryn had one thing and I had another yet our symptoms were exactly the same.  I called the doctor, and he decided that it would be best to go ahead and treat Camryn for strep as well.  Wouldn’t you know, 24 hours after both of us started antibiotics, we are both functioning (fairly) normally again.  My throat is still really sore, but I feel fine.  I think it’s the same for Cam.  She is still not eating much, but she is acting pretty much like her jolly old self.

The good thing about being so sick is I caught up on tons of tv shows.  I watched all of this season’s episodes of Desperate Housewives and Flash Forward.  I watched 5 episodes of Modern Family (hilarious!), this weeks Grey’s, and The Office (Dwights karate fight with himself made me laugh so hard, despite the fact that I felt so horrible.)

Since I’m back to functioning as of yesterday afternoon, I felt the need to do all the laundry, vacuum the house, make chicken spaghetti for a church potluck, and even attempt a Christmas card photo of the kids.  I did get a pretty cute one, which I’m not going to share, but check out these two awesome out takes, which there were plenty of.  I took 35 photos, and deleted all but 4 of them.  And 2 of those keepers where these.

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Seriously, how awesome is Logan’s face here!  It made me laugh out loud so I knew I had to keep it and blog it.   And it looks like a mug shot of Camryn.

And then there is this gem.  So very typical.  Just for the record, Connor tucked in his shirt and put on a belt by his own accord.  And he came this close to also buttoning his top button.  He’s his own person, that’s for sure!

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Hope everyone had a great weekend!  This next week is going to be a busy one with lots of Thanksgiving festivities at the kid’s schools and preparing for our Thanksgiving trip.  I can’t believe it’s almost Thanksgiving, which means it’s almost Christmas!  Woo hoo!

Just Pictures

Okay, maybe not just pictures because who am I kidding…I always have a lot of words.  But they will be few tonight.  I feel like I am coming down with something, and apparently Camryn is in the same boat because she was running a fever when I picked her up from school today.   Sweet baby…she has the best teachers who were totally cuddling her and loving on her until I got there.

So, Connor’s soccer season is winding down.  He had his last practice tonight, and he has one more game this weekend.  This has been the best year of soccer yet.  We loved his coach, and Connor has improved so much this year.  I give this season five stars!

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What cracks me up about this next picture is the 3 kids all from Connor’s team clustered together and the fact that Connor is strong arming one of his own teammates.  Gotta love 6 year old style soccer!  And this is even with the coaches teaching them to stay on their sides and in their positions.

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In this next picture, doesn’t it look like Camryn is practicing her half time routine?  I really have no idea what she is doing, but I’m so glad I took the picture because it made me smile.

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She’s cute and she knows it.   Notice the bow is gone.  She throws them down on the ground with great gusto, and I try a few times to get it back in her hair and then I just give up.  I think she is destined to be a tomboy with two older brothers.

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I like how this outfit really accentuates her belly.  I don’t think we’ll get to wear it too many more times.  Good thing I bought her size 18 month clothes for winter and it’s not even cold yet and she’s outgrowing them.  If you look closely at her arms, you will also see many mosquito bites amidst the chub.  They are completely out of control.

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Logan was there, too.  He’s just hard to take pictures of these days.  I did trick him into looking my direction while he and Derek kicked the ball back and forth.  He loves doing soccer drills with Derek, and I think next season he’s going to bring it on a team.  He’s got that natural athleticism and I’m excited to see him start to play sports!

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So this is a pretty boring post, but I realized that I hadn’t documented in any way about this soccer season.  Like I said, it’s been a really good one, and I’m almost sad that it’s ending.

I’m off to bed and hope I can shake this yucky getting sick feeling by morning.  Good night!

room revealed!

I couldn’t find a single picture that showed this room before.  It was overflowing with toys, an office desk, and it was stark white.  No more of that!  Now it’s the oompa loompa/UT/Logan’s fave room.

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This is the view from the French doors.  The bunkbed has some serious history.  My step-dad made it for my little brother when he was 3 years old.  I slept in the top bunk and Patrick had the bottom bunk from 1987-1990.  It’s crazy to me that Connor is just about the same age that I was when I had this bunkbed!  Oh, the stickers this bed has seen.  Is it like a universal kid thing to put stickers on a bed?  The color of the bed is not my favorite with the wall color (I think it would look amazing if it was white), but I can’t bring myself to change a thing about this bed so it’s staying as is, which I’m sure my mom and step-dad will be relieved to hear.

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Here you can see the French doors that lead into the dining room.  I’m still trying to decide what to do with them.  Should I just leave the little paper blinds?  Make some curtains?  Do something with fabric on the dining room side like this?  I actually really love this and may just go for it…

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(photo and idea courtesy of The Nester.)

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Here is the view standing in front of the window.  I’m not even going to deny that I am super proud at how straight that stripe is!  That is not typically the sort of thing I am good at it, but I mastered the level this week.  Logan won’t actually get to use that closet there because it still has all the computer network/printer stuff.  He will eventually have a dresser in that spot between the closet doors and the other door.

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Here I am after a full week of painting, but Cam was so cute she makes up for my raggedy-ness.  This was one of the most time consuming and frustrating painting projects I’ve done.  It took 2 full gallons of paint (and the room is really not that big.)  It took 4 coats (or 3 when I used a primer which is still crazy!).  It was the first big project I’ve done since Cam was born and I am exhausted!  I stayed up painting until after 11:00 every night, and with the time change, Camryn has been waking up at 6:00 every morning.  I’m so glad this project is done!  Of course, it’s just the first of many, but the next couple are not quite as intensive as this one.

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Okay, so that last picture really has nothing to do with this post, I just like it.  Totally blurry but you can see Camryn about to attack me with a hug.  She is just too sweet.

So, what do you think?  I think it works, and while I wouldn’t have picked these colors without Logan’s encouragement, I really like how it turned out.  It suits Logan perfectly.  Seeing how much he loves it makes me love it even more.  As long as he doesn’t ever change his mind about the orange!  Because it’s staying for a good, long time.

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I’m not the only one getting a little artistic this week, if it’s even considered artistic to paint a room a color that makes me either sing the Oompa Loompa song, or throw up the Longhorn sign and say hook em’ horns.  Don’t take that to mean I don’t like it because I really am happy with the orange.  It’s a bit crazy and bold, but it’s fun and different and Logan loves it.  I can’t wait until I have some light tomorrow (and get a chance to finish cleaning it up) so I can take a pic of the finished product.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures of the latest budding artist.  She loves to color (and eat markers, as you will see.)

Whenever you start an art project, the first step is to sit very still and thoughtfully wait for inspiration to strike.

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Then, carefully start your masterpiece.  It helps to hold a crayon in each hand for quicker color changes.

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As you get going, get really excited about the creative energy flowing from within.   Express this excitement with lots of loud noises and super excited faces.

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Always remember that art doesn’t have to be perfect and it’s okay if you mess up a little.

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Just make sure you smile sweetly at the person in charge if you make a mess.  Chances are the boss will just let it slide.

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Halloweekend

Pumpkins carved?  Check.

Costumes galore?  Check.

Sugar high?  Check.

All in all, it was a pretty fun Halloweekend.  Friday started off with a playdate with Annalee and Adelaide while their car was fixed up here on my end of town. Camryn and Adelaide had a good time together, and I’m sure if Camryn could talk she would say “Hey mom?  Can Adelaide come over again?  I would really like to play with her and admire her full head of hair.  Thanks, mom.”

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It worked out great having Annalee here because I was able to go up to Connor’s class for the Halloween party special educational activities involving pumpkins, which I have to say was way better than a sugar-fest.  Friday was wacky hair day, which was really fun now that his hair is a little longer.

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Friday night was pumpkin carving night, which would not be complete without a few tears over a messed up drawing on the pumpkin.  In the end, both boys were happy, although Connor’s didn’t actually get carved until Saturday and I don’t have a picture of his.

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Saturday started off bright and early with a soccer game (where Connor scored an awesome goal!), and then we went to a little Halloween carnival dressed in costumes, of course.  Here we have a fairy, an army man, and Batman.

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At the carnival, Connor beat Derek at a obstacle course because of this little move right here. Connor went over…

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and Derek went under. Cracked me up.  D definitely scored some dad points today.

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Camryn took good care of Connor’s helmet.

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And she took good care of the loot carriers.

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She had her very first lollipop.

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And she also waited patiently in line with the boys.

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Saturday night was trick or treating, of course.  This was the only picture I took which I think pretty much sums it up.

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Hope everyone had a fun weekend!  Bring on Monday…it’s time to turn Logan’s room orange!