May's Goals

Time for my MAY goals!

Fun:
Go hiking and picnicking some more!
Have a great birthday :) My birthdays have been lacking the fun factor the past few years.
Host a successful 4th birthday party for Braxton
Play day at Coolidge Park
Keep leisurely reading Breaking Dawn
Read Don't Make Me count to Three to catch up with my book club

and I have a goal for the summer (don't know which month it will happen it): day trip to Atlanta to visit zoo and aquarium...Six Flags would be awesome, too :) Might have to be a couple day trips.


DIY/Home:
Pack some more things up to make the move easier, whenever it happens.


Teach:
Make labels for things around the house
Braxton: familiarize him with labels, continue to practice handwriting
Maddox: keep teaching him words

Cooking:
Make a list of all recipes I have tried and liked.
Freezer cook!! Got this wonderful idea from my friend Sarah. Now that school is over, I have time to do this.

Cleaning:
Stay on top of laundry, FOR REAL!
Clean hand prints off walls

Health/Wellness:
Starting small: Workout (a good cardio workout) once a week. Getting a set day and time would help me stick to this.
Stop eating as much junk. I can create a rule to allow one treat a week. Especially when we just discovered how good Nana's is.
Find a good facial product and clean my face every night.

Here's to the month a MAY! I found this cute poem and I just love it!

April: How did I do?

It's time to see how I did with my goals!

Fun:
Go hiking. I found this really cool site that will help us find the perfect place: http://hikingchattanooga.com/ here
Host a successful birthday party for my Maddox who is turning one!! here
When school comes to end, start reading Breaking Dawn again. And I have started others!

DIY/Home:
Pack somethings up. Things that can go to storage for now to make the place look bigger and less cluttered so it will SELL!! yes, did some
Make labels for objects around the house for Braxton to learn the words that belong to those objects. Ahhh! I haven’t done this yet. I WILL!

Teach:
Braxton: -Keep practicing writing his letters YEP -Familiarize him with our new labels
Maddox: -Teach him words or signals to replace his screaming (I will need a lot of good luck wishes for this task) tried HARD!

Cooking:
Make a list of all recipes I have tried and liked. Use this list when I write my weekly meals and shopping list. Didn’t make the list
Try 2 new recipes in hopes to add them to the list! I can think of one new recipe we tried, which was chili mac. I know we had some that we hadn’t had in a while, too.

Cleaning:
Stay on top of laundry. Easy to wash, hard to put away. I need to wash 1 load a day so I do not get overwhelmed. Soooo didn’t do this. It is worse than ever, actually. Bad, yes I know.
Scrub the bathroom floors and baseboards. I did the down stairs bathroom (and so happy I did!) and I cleaned the upstairs bathroom floor, but didn’t scrub it and do the baseboards.

Health/Wellness:
Starting small: Workout (a good cardio workout) once a week. Nope
Kick the junk. Nope
Find some good facial products. And nope.

So, I am definitely not happy about the Health/Wellness section. Maybe next month I can get my behind in gear...especially since it is my favorite month! My birthday is in May, Mother's Day, our Anniversary, and Braxton's birthday! Woo Hoo! I can't wait to write May's goals!

fUn WiTh My BoYs!!

This picture of my cutie pies is from yesterday morning when they were playing in the laundry basket :)
This morning, I decided I wanted to go to the zoo. Every Wednesday it is only a dollar! I told Braxton we would go after Maddox's nap. So, when Maddox was napping, Braxton and I did some fun things. Often, when we are driving to school, we see workers on the road working on a power line or something. So, these workers have one lane closed and they are directing traffic with a STOP and SLOW sign. Braxton is very interested in this because directing traffic is cool, right? Well, I told him we would make his very own STOP and GO sign. We did that today! I told him to get some red and green paper, and he did. I got a toilet paper cardboard roll for the stick of our sign. I traced the shape of the sign on the paper and cut it out. I asked him how many sides the shape had, he counted 8, and I asked him what the shape was called, and he said, "Octagon!" He got a sticker for that one; I was proud that he remembered because it has been a while since we talked about that. He wrote STOP on the red and GO on the green, of course. He is having trouble with writing an 'S' but can trace it well, so I made him a dotted line. Glad we finally made his sign!
For lunch, he has been wanting to make a banana dog (we didn't do seeds like that recipe shows). He got the idea from Tasty Time with ZeFronk on the Disney Channel. We finally made it for lunch today. It's just his thing! I tried it and it was yummy :)

Then, after the baby woke and I fed him lunch, we went to the zoo! We met my friend Amanda and her precious baby, Caitlin. We had a nice time!

Here is Braxton feeding the goats in the farm area.

Here is Maddox riding the frog on the carousel. Braxton rode a giraffe and Caitlin sat with a mama panda bear, which was so cute!

After the zoo, we made a quick run by BiLo to get some fruit salad supplies :) and can I just say...having 2 boys is SOOO much fun!


Now the boys are napping and I am going to start dinner soon. We are having Fettuccine Lasagna (with salad and garlic cheese pull apart bread), which I love and haven't had in a while. It is so simple. Here is the recipe just in case someone would like it:

Cook fettuccine (enough for your family)
mix equal parts cream cheese and sour cream (once again enough for how much you are making or how much you like- I do 8oz each)
brown ground turkey (or beef)

In casserole dish-
cooked fettuccine on bottom, cover with cream mix, cover that with the meat, and then pour a jar of spaghetti sauce over it, top with shredded cheese

Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes.

Hope everyone has had a great day!

I have nothing to do!

Meaning...I am DONE with school work!! I really can't believe it. I went and took my last final this morning (which I am hoping and praying I did okay on). On the way home, my brain was just doing its usual thing and going through everything I needed to do today...but it came up with nothing. NOTHING. I have nothing to do. Usually, if the boys are napping, I am working on something. When I got home today, I put the boys down for a nap and it was VERY weird coming down stairs and not sitting down to do work.
No studying, no lesson plans, no quizzes,no worksheets, no power points, no papers, no journals...N-O-T-H-I-N-G. As I am writing this, I still am in disbelief. It is so natural for my brain to keeping jumping to, "What should I be doing instead of this?" It's gonna take some getting used to.
Now, I hope to do more around the house, READ (YAY!), and go do more fun stuff with the boys.
Today, I am going to go to McKay and get some books I have been wanting and maybe a Wii game for Braxton.
We have been letting him play the Wii a lot lately and he is actually playing the games like you are supposed to, whereas a few months back he just wanted to swing the remote to pretend he was playing. He is good, too. Really good at golf!
Here is Braxton and Daddy playing Carnival. I'm hoping to find him a game toward at his age level.


I also wanted to share a really awesome purchase! My friend Sarah would be so proud! Sarah is awesome at finding great deals and getting stuff free! Anyway, we went to the opening of Academy Sports store and they had some coupons for their grand opening. One was $10 off a footwear purchase and the other was $10 off an apparel purchase. Well I got some super cute shoes for free! They were 9.99 and I had that $10 off coupon. They took the $10 off after tax, which most places don't do..so that was great. All together we got my shoes, a baseball shirt for Braxton, some baseball sleep shorts for Braxton, some Jibbetz for Braxton's crocs (Braxton is always the one to rack up!), and a hat for Matt all for $16. That's pretty good! Here is a pic of my new shoes!

Maybe now that I have nothing to do, I can start the coupon thing back up again. Sarah, can I just follow you around for a few weeks? LOL!
Thanks for reading! I am off to do NOTHING!

As the end of April draws near...

I wanted to see how I was doing on this month's goals.
FUN: We went hiking, had a picnic, and explored a new park a couple weekends ago. I would love to do it again very soon. Maybe tomorrow if the weather is nice! We had a successful birthday party for Maddox. It's all fun planning but you are always glad when it's over. I said I wanted to start reading Breaking Dawn again...and I may, but I really want to catch up with my friends and their book club. They are reading Don't Make Me Count to Three by Ginger Plowman and I reeeaaally want to read it. I also want to read The Strong Willed Child by James C. Dobson and I will let you guess why I want to read that one!
HOME: I have packed some things up. I need to get into our closet and get rid of clothes we haven't worn in a long time. I haven't made the labels yet because I have been so dang busy with school. But, I am hoping to do them Monday (when I will be done with school!!!!!).
TEACH: Braxton works on his letters all the time. He is getting pretty good (for a 3 year-old anyway)! I do work on teaching Maddox words...but he definitely doesn't say them. Ha! But I think he is screaming less...unless his brother starts a screaming match with him! They think it's so funny.
COOKING: Haven't made a recipe list. I think I have made a new dish or two. Just can't think of them right now.
CLEANING: I am ashamed here...I most definitely have not stayed on top of the laundry. It's bad. All clean, just not put away. I can't wait to have my laundry room, complete with a hanging rack and folding table :) I haven't scrubbed the bathroom floors and baseboards yet. That school thing...ya know. I HAVE cleaned the bathrooms... and the floors, just have scrubbed them.
HEALTH: yeah...haven't added that workout yet. We do go on walks almost every day though. But, I want to add a good cardio workout, too. Sometimes I pass on the junk, sometimes I don't. Haven't found a good facial product yet. Haven't looked.

If you read my April goals posting, this post will make more sense :) I have a few more days to fulfill some of these!

I can't wait to do my May goals!

I'll leave you with a picture of me and my Maddox Man. I loooove him <3

Isn't she beautiful?

My new purse that is!
This fun little thing is a k.mac creation. It is definitely unique because I custom ordered it! I can't wait to carry that thing on my shoulder and show it off. I am going to finally move out of the diaper bag. I need to order Maddox a new bag soon. He is going to get a Stephen Joseph backpack from The Crazy Dazy like his brother, just a different style (a more babyish one).
AnYwAy! I just wanted to show off my beauty. If you are interested in a k.mac creation check out her website by clicking here or her blog by clicking here :)

My baby turned 1!

I got through it! He's one! His birthday was on Tuesday (April 13th) and we just had a little family celebration. Poor thing had to go to the doctor on his birthday and get his finger pricked, blood taken from his arm, and 2 painful shots :( He is anemic and still underweight. So that was hard on mommy and baby. But he was fine and he enjoyed some cake after dinner.
Here he is at 6:05pm, exactly a year old!! ((See his poor arm?))

And then we had a PARTY on Saturday!! Can you believe no one had a camera? I accidentally locked my memory card and haven't got a new one and my dad was supposed to bring his but forgot it at a friend's house!! UGHHHH!! So these pics are from my phone. I will post some more from his actual birthday when we did have my dad's camera later.
We had Maddox a cowboy party! We had close friends and family (well that was only 2, yes 2, family members...but thats a different story). We had pizza and Maddox chowed down on another cake. He made out and got tons of new fun toys...which are still in our living room floor because I really don't know where to put them!

Here he is test driving some of his new toys.
He got a rocking horse because every cowboy needs his first pony, right?

I can't believe I have a 1 year-old! with two top teeth!

A GLORIOUS day for me!!

Sorry! It's been a while since I last blogged. I have been busy with planning a 1st birthday party (which I will post about!) and end-of-semester school work....AND speaking of school....TODAY WAS THE LAST DAY DAY OF OFFICIAL CLASSES FOR ME!!!! I sat in my last undergrad class today. I have to go back and take a final, write a paper and take some quizzes (which I SHOULD be doing right now!!) but I will never sit in another lecture for my undergrad again! I still can't believe it. It's just been my life for so long! I DO have to student teach though before I graduate. But, still, that is totally different and I got ALL those classes done with! My life will definitely be crazy busy next semester and I gotta secure some major child care...but I gotta finish. It will be all worth it when I am kissing that paper that says "Bachelor of Science for Human Ecology: Early Childhood Education: Pre K-3" or something like that ;)

Our first outing of the season!!

Remember I said as one of my goals I wanted to go hiking? Well, I am happy to say we did and we had a great time! It was a beautiful day today and we woke up late for church. Matt worked all day yesterday so we wanted to do something fun as a family on this beautiful day. So, we just made plans to pick out a place to go hiking. We chose Harrison Bay State Park.
It had a play ground (and Maddox really was enjoying the swing, despite the look on his face!), tons and tons of picnic areas, hiking trails, camping, etc...and beautiful views of the water.
We had a picnic first at a table by the water, hit up the playground, and then headed to a trail. We went there to hike the half mile trail but someone told us the 4 mile trail was the best. We decided to hike that one and just turn back when we wanted to (since four miles is not such a good thing with small children). I wrapped Maddox up (see first picture), slapped some sunscreen on the boys, and we headed down the trail.
Braxton was our guide most of the way, giving him the duty of leading us to the best path around the muddy spots. But, he really had fun once we found a little path with an opening to the water. He was ready to get his rock skippin' on!
We let him play for a while, took some pictures, and then headed back towards the car. Glad we found that little spot. We will be back and will probably take our picnic straight there next time! So peaceful! What a great day :)

My Maddox Man

Isn't he just the cutest thing you've ever seen?
I decided to let you all get to know Maddox a little better.
Maddox is one tough cookie. He is the cutest little thing with the most demanding little attitude. He has been high maintenance from the beginning. I am always working to make him happy...and a lot of the time, it doesn't work :( and he definitely lets you know when he isn't happy. He has this high pitched, ear piercing scream. It's awful and extremely embarrassing in public (except at Disney World while we were pushing him in the stroller...he cleared a path for us!). But he does this scream when he is happy, too! So, we just can't avoid it.
He definitely has a sweet and quite funny side too. He has the cutest smile and loves to make you laugh. He loves him some mommy and is becoming a daddy's boy here lately, too! He is the fastest crawler around and loves when you get in the floor to play with him!
Maddox is a little on the tiny side for his age. No chub once so ever. I have nursed him from day one and since solids were introduced to him, he has loved them and gobbles anything up. But he just doesn't gain weight. Well, he does verrryyy slooowwly. His tininess makes him that much cuter though.
He has got these big blue eyes, like his Momma ;) He will be 1 on April 13th and is so close to walking. He claps, points, waves, says dada, uh oh, and sometimes mama. He talk plenty of baby jargon and is all over the place if you let him be. He loves anything with wheels that he can push. He loves bouncing golf balls on the tile kitchen floor. He likes playing peekaboo and grabbing your face and making you look at him. But, his most favorite thing of all is his BIG BROTHER, Braxton.
And Maddox is Braxton's favorite thing, too! I am blessed to have boys that love each other so! I hope they keep this bond forever. Maddox is the complete opposite of how Braxton was as a baby. Inside AND out! Braxton was a big baby, quiet, happy, and just along for the ride.
Maddox has made me a stronger Momma! I can take on any baby now. I love him with all my heart, even if he is my little Mad Man :)

Happy early Birthday sweet boy. I will never forget you actively kicking my tummy at 11:00 every night, the first time I laid my eyes on you, the first time I heard you scream, our first moments together, the way you wouldn't let go of your daddy's finger when they put you on the warmer, or the day we brought you home in your "baby brother" onesie. I LOVE YOU WITH EVERY PIECE OF MY HEART!

Crayola Watercolors- hastle free ((Seriously!!))

I have been telling lots of my mommy friends about this and I wanted to make sure you knew about it, too. Why? Because it is so rare to find a real child/mommy friendly, mess free product. Kids love to paint. Clean-freak mommies don't love it so much. I just hate those types of things you have to sit right beside the kid while they do it so they don't make a complete mess of their clothes, and your floors.
Well this product is great! CANNOT spill them. NO WATER needed. AND the paint is great. Braxton usually doesn't like the traditional water colors because the colors aren't bright and they are very watery. The paint in this little set is colorful and thick. The brush tip looks like a marker and every time you want to switch colors, you just wipe it on the little white pad. When your done, the pad and brushes come clean!
EASY PAINTING right here.

wHaT a DaY!!

Well, it started off with what a night! Braxton was sick all night. No one but Maddox got any sleep. Poor thing was throwing up and was saying his ear hurt. He was fine all evening. We were with friends and he played with his best bud. He slept a few hours before it all began.
He and I slept until 11:00am, catching up on sleep, in his room while daddy took care of the baby. When Braxton got up, he seemed fine except for his lingering cough and runny nose. Said his belly nor his ear hurt anymore. I still went with my mommy instinct and called the doc. They wanted to see him. Turns out he has blisters on his eardrum from an infection. His doc didn't know why he threw up but said it ran it's course and is gone now, so who knows. So, Braxton is taking some meds for his ear.

I also got started on one of my goals. We packed up some things from a bookshelf we had in our living room so we could put the shelf in storage. Put a smaller wood cabinet (that was just in a different spot in the living room) in its place. One less thing in our living room. The bookshelf just had albums we never looked at and pictures. I kept some albums out (like my scrapbooks and baby albums) and moved some of the pictures elsewhere.
I also packed up some things off of our china hutch and packed up all the Easter decorations. All these boxes, plus a ride-on truck toy (that Braxton is too big for and Maddox is too small for) went to storage! Ahhhhh. Progress.

Made my "To-Do, To-Get, To-Make" list for Maddox's birthday party. He will be one on the 13th and his party is on the 17th. Don't have much time. I have all the decorations and my dad is a chef, so that takes care of the cakes. Still in disbelief.
It really hasn't been a year since this photo was taken. Promises.

April's Goals

So, I am stealing this ~Monthly Goals~ idea from my friend Sarah. I think she got it from someone, who got it from someone, and so on. I think it is an awesome idea. It gets me to think about the things I want and need to do and this blog will help me stick to them. Go ahead and stay on my case if you'd like!

Here they are:

Fun:
Go hiking. I found this really cool site that will help us find the perfect place: http://hikingchattanooga.com/
Host a successful birthday party for my Maddox who is turning one!!
When school comes to end, start reading Breaking Dawn again.

DIY/Home:
Pack somethings up. Things that can go to storage for now to make the place look bigger and less cluttered so it will SELL!!
Make labels for objects around the house for Braxton to learn the words that belong to those objects.

Teach:
Braxton: -Keep practicing writing his letters -Familiarize him with our new labels
Maddox: -Teach him words or signals to replace his screaming (I will need a lot of good luck wishes for this task)

Cooking:
Make a list of all recipes I have tried and liked. Use this list when I write my weekly meals and shopping list.
Try 2 new recipes in hopes to add them to the list!

Cleaning:
Stay on top of laundry. Easy to wash, hard to put away. I need to wash 1 load a day so I do not get overwhelmed.
Scrub the bathroom floors and baseboards.

Health/Wellness:
Starting small: Workout (a good cardio workout) once a week.
Kick the junk.
Find some good facial products.

Check back at the beginning of May to see how I did!

Oh, Wednesday...

Oh, Wednesday....how I dread thee.
Wednesdays are my busy day. Or my "gone all day at school, away from my family, doing things I really don't want to be doing" day. I have a class, sometimes two, and then I have to go to the Children's Center for a few hours "to get experience with young children." Ummm...can I just tell you what I do every day of my life and that be good enough? I have PLENTY of experience with young children, thank you.
But no, I have to go play with some kiddos the same age as mine (I go in a 3 yr old class and an infant class) while I pay someone to play with mine at home. Awesome.

Anyway...

So we are in the process of trying [really hard] to sell our house. We just want a bigger house...and a yard! Well, we have found that bigger house (with a yard) so ours has got to sell asap. We have had lots of interest but no serious offers.
The house we are getting (if all goes as planned) is in a lovely neighborhood and more than double the size of ours now. Woot woot! It just needs lots of updating. But that means we get to make it our own! I mean top to bottom! It is such a lovely floor plan and huge back yard and great neighborhood...everything we want. Just a diamond in the rough. We can't let it go. Matt has always wanted to do this renovation thing. This much? Probably not. I'm talking carpet, hardwoods, tile, paint, cabinets, appliances, bathtubs, vannities, windows....oh and heating and air. This house is like the last in the neighborhood to be updated. But we just keep visualizing the finished product and it is just perfect. I can't wait to get started! I want to go over there today and start the demo! The neighbors are even excited for us to move in. We were there last night and a lady told us she was so glad we were bring more little ones in the neighborhood. I hope we can....this condo just needs to sell!!! Renting it out is our last resort if it doesn't sell in a month or two.

Well I'm off to get ready for my fabulous Wednesday. I hope everyone has a beautiful day!

My first!

Okay, so this is my first blog. Weird. I didn't ever think I would blog but decided to give it a try. Maybe I will really take a liking to it. I want to! I want to be able to go back and read about what was happening 3 months ago, or even 3 years ago!
Maybe blogging will help me keep up with where all this time is going. I swear, I was just bringing my second baby boy home from the hospital the other day, and now he is almost 1! Yep, in a week. Seven days. [insert sad noise....and pouty face] I'm glad he is getting older, because boy oh boy was he a tough one. But, he is still my baby and this year really did fly by :'(
Blogging probably isn't a good thing for my school work. Good thing summer is almost here and next semester is my last! Yippeee! I can't wait to be done with schooling. For now anyway. I will then try to find a job, as a teacher. I am torn 50/50. I want to stay home with my kids until they are in kindergarten, but I also want to jump into my teaching career. I didn't go through all this schooling for nothing! Plus, I have a passion for teaching and can't wait to do it.
I would love to keep up with this blogging, so keep your fingers crossed for me.