Starting Summer Off The Right Way ...

It happens every year. Sometime in April it hits me that Summer time is coming.

And that I want those next couple months to be E P I C. 

And usually by the time I blink, it's September and we're already back in school. And there I am kicking myself for still being pale as a ghost, not having used the heck out of our Neighborhood Pool and wondering where the heck time went. 

And so this year, as usual, I wanted it to be a good one. But unlike the other Summers, I'm actually doing a pretty good job at keeping the good times rollin'.

We kicked off the Summer with vacation and really there is no better way to do it than that. 

Since we've been home from Florida, we've spent lots of time with Auntie Am and our cousins Haley, Macey and Brooks. Turns out, for this Planner Mama, that last minute trips to Slices for pizza and the playground can be great for the soul.

 And of course, we've had Pool Dates too.  

The Summer keeps getting better and better! 

We've had more Pool Dates with more friends and the boys look like little Indians with white hair. 

And I'm not pale.

And Khloe has THE most adorable bikini tan lines ever. 

We've already skipped more nap times than I can comprehend and just played until dark. 

The boys did Vacation Bible School last week and as nervous as I was that Kohen would not stay since he is a bit of a Mama's Boy, he left me hangin' every morning with no kiss and no hug, just a Bye Mommy. I was undecided as to whether or not to be happy about this. They had a blast like they do every year. We are so thankful for First Baptist of Locust Grove and all they do to make each year better and better! And in an effort to make the Summer E P I C, we made a special trip for donuts their last morning to celebrate the great week they'd had!

We've had popcorn right before dinner and bed times have gone out the window. I was reminded of that as I listen to the boys yelling on the couch watching the NBA Finals Game 5. Basketball is the newest obsession around here. Lord help me. 

We've Road Tripped it to Tennessee. And maybe this is all kids - I don't know - but for mine, staying in a hotel for a night is like, the best thing ever. So this past weekend, we were like the coolest parents ever. 

So yea. So far, we're killin' this Summer. 

Working on making it one for the books.

Time to Admit I'm a New Creature ...

I'm sitting here behind my computer picking at my nails, staring at the keyboard and peeking up at the blank screen like everything I'm thinking is going to just put itself there. Because, it's like, I don't know how to pick up something after having left it for so long. 

I've changed over the past year. Something about nearly losing your Dad, having to put on your Big Girl Panties to make some major adult decisions, deciding it's okay to dream again and making the changes to start doing that, losing two cousins who are your own age in a month of each other and turning 30 that'll do that to you. 

My friend Nicole turned 30 before I did and I remember her telling me how much changes. All the feels. All the ways you stop caring about some stuff and start caring way more about other stuff. All the ways you realize what is really important and just how brutiful this life thing is at it's core. All the ways you quit giving a rat's behind about other's opinions and start focusing more on the people who mean the most. All the ways you realize who your real friends are. All the ways you realize as a Mother that You matter, like You - not the Wife-You or the Mama-You - but just You. 

At 29, I thought she was crazy. 

At 30, I realized it's all true. I feel like over the past year, I've become a New Creature. I have learned to make my marriage more important than I ever have. I have learned to only value the opinions of those who matter most to me. I have learned that my Walk and my Relationship with God will not look like everyone else's and that's totally cool with Him. I have learned that not everyone will agree with me. I have learned our Family Dynamic is different than most of those around us and that's okay. Because here's the thing: they're not me. They're not Travis' wife. They're not Kollin, Kolt, Kruz, Kohen and Khloe's Mama. Nope. That'd be me. 

I have no idea where any of that just came from. For real. My intention was to get on here and be all blubbery about how much I miss this dang blog. But maybe though I'm just having a hard time starting again because a lot in me has changed and I needed to acknowledge that. 

Or maybe I'm just Hormonally Challenged these days and I don't blog anymore simply because it isn't written on my beloved To-Do List. Either one. 

Really though, I do miss this blog. I miss it enough that this will be my third attempt at jumping back in. 

I miss sharing my messiness, my victories, my favorite recipes. 

I miss venting. 

I miss letting all of my crazy show and forgetting until I see some of y'all in public and think, "Oh Dear".

I miss having something to go back and look at when it comes to how fast my babies are growing up.

Seriously though, now that I'm thinking about it, maybe I should put this sucker on my beloved To-Do List. That might just work. Because for real, if "Feed the Kids Breakfast" wasn't on there, they wouldn't get fed. 

I'm just gonna totally flip the script on ya and say all of these pictures are from Memorial Day! And yes, Kruz was there. He's just such a little fish that I couldn't catch him on the camera. 

Monday was good. My feels were a little way more there this year than the Memorial Days before since we lost my Cousin Bradley back in January. He served our country for several years proudly and at 29 he left us.

I made sure we sat the kiddos down this year and told them about Memorial Day; the history of it and why it is so much more than a day off of work and being at the pool all day. We talked about the difference in Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day and Veteran's Day. We talked about Bradley and others in our family who have served.  We talked about soldiers and their bravery, their sacrifices, their families and how some give their life for our Freedom. We talked about Pearl Harbor, September 11 and Operation Iraqi Freedom. We talked about why I made them dress in Red, White and Blue for church the Sunday before. 

And before we were done, we circled around one of the Toy Soldiers our church gave out the day before as a reminder to pray for our military and we did just that. We took turns praying for our soldiers, their families and our country. 

Alright Y'all. That's all I got. 

My babies were worn out by the Pool today and it's so quiet here, so I'm off to read! 

Night!

Those Sweet Glimpses ...

Do you ever see glimpses of your childhood?

I did today. 

This year our family has endured too many losses. And as much as I hate to say this, it took those losses to shake us to our core and decide to spend more time together as a family.

Growing up, Easter was always, always, always spent at Grandma and Grandpa's. With a juicy ham, too many deviled eggs to count, okra and sweet cream corn. And of course there was always the Egg Hunt. I can remember having to hide in the back bedroom while the eggs were being hid, oh the anticipation. I can remember filling my basket and retreating to the living room to dump them all out to see what goodies I got. 

And this year, I was so thankful to watch my babies enjoy that same tradition. It's been, only the Lord knows how long, since we had Easter at Grandma and Grandpa's. There was ham, okra, deviled eggs, sweet cream corn, the list goes on and on. And there was the Egg Hunt.

I'm just gonna say this. My generation has blown the last generation out of the water in offspring. Good Lord. I lost count after 25. You try countin' kids while they're all runnin' around lookin' for eggs.

I am so thankful for my Grandma and Grandpa. Good Lord, look what they've done!

All these kiddos, what a blessing they are! Drive ya a little crazy, but a blessing still!

Sugar Lump wasn't feeling too swift this weekend, so her Daddy's arms was where she wanted to be. No Solo Egg Hunting for her this year. 

I think this was my favorite picture of all from today! I just love those sweet smiles from Kohen.

 This Easter Season has been a doozy for us. Lots of sickness shenanigans, last minute shopping, yucky weather. But this. This is what is important. Family coming together, loving on one another and having some fun. 

I am so thankful for this big family of mine! My Grandma is 85 Years Old, my Grandpa is 90. I have 5 Aunts, 4 Uncles and 14 Cousins and remember, I lost count at the Second Cousins. We are crazy and country and strong as all get out. Plain and simple, I am thankful to call them mine. 

I am excited for the years to come, for the future Easter get togethers, to see my children enjoy this tradition like I did!

Happy Easter Y'all!

 

A Week In Words - 03/23

Life This Week - 

It is Saturday night and I am in my pajamas and have been for a few hours. Good Lord, I love nights like this. I need nights like this. 

This week has been great! Although, I think any week following a week like the one before this past one, would be great. Know what I'm sayin'? 

For the most part, life was pretty low key. We did have a play date on Wednesday at the park and (swoon) it was wonderful. It was wonderful to see our friend Livi, it was wonderful to get to know a new friend, it was wonderful to sit and chat to another Momma of five about struggles and such. It was, just, wonderful. 

Here is Khloe and her newest friend and possible future husband. You can check out their family blog over at House Of Kent. 

We did StoryTime for the third time in a row this month. And I can see Kohen start to come out of his shell more and more. He's actually dancing to the 'get your wiggles out' song before the story and this week he pulled his own carpet square and sat with his brothers, without me. Huge step for him! 

This week I took Kruz out on a date, just the two of us. This child. Oh this child. 

He opened the door for me, without me saying anything. He picked O'Charley's for dinner and somehow landed both me and my Momma for dinner. And loved every second of it. After dinner, he insisted on "the place with the big brown cones" aka Dairy Queen. So we hit up the drive thru and ended up with this ginormous-dipped in chocolate-filled with M&M blizzard cone.

I should've known it would've been a dripping mess. We pulled over into a grassy spot and enjoyed our ice cream there.

Kruz: So this is what a date looks like?

Me: Well, yea. Sometimes dinner, but always something sweet. And I normally just talk to Kollin and Kolt.

Kruz: Talk?

Me: Yea, talk.

Kruz: Hi.

He ate about 10 bites (none of the actual cone) and was done. Go figure. 

Here are a few more random moments from the week.

Khloe (and Mommy) are loving her BowBands from Lindzee's Bowtique. And who knew how great Kruz would be at folding socks? Kohen plays in the walker more than Khloe does. And sometimes a baby girl just needs her Daddy to fall asleep with. And yes, I let Kollin drive across the church parking lot. 

I survived. 

School This Week - 

Kollin and Kolt finished up another PACES Math Book this week and have started to learn how to carry in addition problems. It has been fun seeing them faced with a challenge, something different. They both took to it easily though! They are both doing really well in Math this year, they must take after their Daddy in this department.

In Mother Goose Time we are continuing to blast through space. 

One thing we learned about this week was galaxies! We talked about what they're made up of, Earth's Milky Way (the study complete with a Milky Way bar of course) and made our own galaxies! Oh glitter, how I loathe thee.

I always make it a point to do Math with Kruz (and Kohen when he is in the mood to sit still) while Kollin and Kolt work in their PACES books. Every month MGT provides Math Cards with each box of curriculum. 

We love these cards! Love them! And I use them as a building block for more. I'll start with the easier ones and just continue to give him different addition and subtraction problems. We work through the advanced cards together. And those aluminum foil balls are our very own moon rocks. Ha! 

MGT also provides Folder Games each month. This month the game gives us practice on shapes. 

Outings - 

Friday was Family Day and we headed out to see Paddington at the Dollar Theater. It was cute. I mean what I saw of the darn thing. By the time I dished out popcorn, passed the drink around 387 times, nursed Khloe, fed her sweet potatoes and took Kohen potty - I might have seen about 10 minutes of it. But it was cute. 

Who am I kidding? I'll end of renting it to watch it because I didn't see a lick of it. 

Conversation of the Week - 

On our date, we stopped by TJ Maxx and Kruz picked out some new undies. Avengers undies. 

Me: Kruz, why did you pick out Avengers underwear? 

Do you even know what Avengers are?

Kruz: What's Avengers? That "A" - that "A" is for AdvoCare!

These are AdvoCare underwear! 

Favorite Snap -