Family Day

Trophy Hub is officially on his new shift and rotation. He's now working evenings instead of overnights. Everyone asks is this is a good thing or a bad thing. Over all, it's a good thing! He has worked the late night shift for a long time and that does start to take a toll on your body. Sleeping during the day is not easy.

We will miss seeing each other in the evenings during the week as we are doing tag team parenting, but I think the weekends will be good. Today was a great start!

Today we went out to the lake and had a picnic. Trophy Hub grilled burgers while the boys and I ran around.

Ok so Trophy Hub got to have some fun too. The weather was perfect and we got to have this little area of the park to ourselves for a little while.

We really have not taken advantage of the amazing lake amenities that are just a few miles from our home. This year, I think we definitely will (especially since we have the (expletive) boat!).

When we got home we started working on getting the garage straightened up for the garage sale next weekend. Bubba came outside looking like this:

He had nothing on his lower half. (I had him squat down for the picture so he wouldn't show too much!) You will also notice that he tried to get his shirt off, but didn't quite get it. Never a dull moment around this place!

Home!

I got home about 4:30 Friday afternoon. Bubba was tickled to see me, but Peanut played it cool. Trophy Hub had to work, but he stopped home to give me a squeeze and some kisses. (Wow, I missed them!)

Like I said before, Mom and I had a great time! We mostly shopped. Bealls and Bealls Outlet are our two favorite places to shop. I love to bargain hunt and I found some awesome deals. I desperately needed some new clothes. Mission Accomplished!

We even took a few hours off from shopping to go to Fort Myers Beach. Yes, as you all know, I hate sand. Hate it. This used to make me hate the beach. The older I get, the more I can tolerate the sand because I get the sun, the sounds, the people watching. Here is proof that I was there (with flip flops ON).

So, there I was...on the beach, listening to my iPod, getting a healthy dose of vitamin D, when my mom points out that we were being watched. I turn around to face him and he pretends he's not looking.



Umm, hello? I saw you.



This went on and on. He would look, I would turn, he would practically run away. So Mom and I decided to turn our chairs to face him. This clearly made him uncomfortable. But he kept looking so I got out my camera and took his picture. And now I'm going to post it on the Internet for all to see.

He was totally cute and totally creepy!

Sorry!

Wasn't it me that said that I would post while on vacation? Sorry, no dice! I didn't want to load all my pictures on my parents laptop down here, so I figured I would save all my wonderful pics and stories for when I get back.

We leave in the morning. My mom and I had a fabulous time. I miss my boys (kids and Trophy Hub) terribly, but I do not miss Iowa. I know that surprises none of you.

Please cross your fingers that we don't go over 50 pounds in our suitcases!

Leavin' on a jet plane

Monday morning my mom and I are catching a plane to Florida for the week. Braggity brag brag brag.

I know that I'm going to miss all of my boys so much, but I am really looking forward to some quiet time for myself and some quality time with my mom. Oh yeah, and then there is the sun, the beach, the pool, the shopping, the restaurants, the sleeping late...that will be nice too.

And don't think for a minute that I take these opportunities for granted. I absolutely know how blessed I am and know that I probably don't deserve it!

Back home, there is a large joint effort under way to fill my shoes. Ha! Between Trophy Hub, my dad, my MIL and our babystitter I think we've got all the hours of each day covered. If you know me, you know that weeks ago I had everything scheduled out and everyone had their assignments.

I will have a camera and a laptop while I'm there, so I will keep everyone up to date.

Bon voyage!

Night of firsts

Peanut is having his first friend sleep over tonight. At 5 it might be a little early for that, but it's one of his good friends and they are our friends too. And if you know Peanut, you know that he would be comfortable staying at any one's house. So I'm definitely not worried about him. The other mom's husband is in the military and she has always had to do things on her own, so taking on another child for the night is no big deal. She's amazing! (And I'm not just saying that because she took a child off my hands for the night.)

Peanut also had his first t-ball game tonight. I am happy to announce that he did wonderful! I had decided based on some great advice from experienced mom Lisa that I just needed to chill and enjoy it. So I did and he did great! He wasn't quite sure where to run after he hit the ball and he didn't like the helmet, but the point is he participated and had fun.

I will post again soon to let you know my plans for next week - if you don't already know!

A 5 year old's bad words

One of our favorite things to do is to just let Peanut talk about whatever he wants to at dinner. We are completely silent and he just talks. Here's how it went tonight.

Peanut: "Nicholas* said the f-word and the b-word together."

(*this friend from preschool's name has been changed to protect suspect's identity)

Trophy Hub: "He did? What are those words?"

Silence. But a very big 5 year old grin.

Trophy Hub: "Peanut, it's ok for you to say the word to me just this one time."

Peanut: "Ok, the b-word is (whispering now) 'dumb'. And the f-word is 'shut up'."

Ok, by now I am just dying. I had a napkin to my face and I had tears I was laughing so hard. Trophy Hub knows my complete inability to control my laughter so he had full control of this conversation.

Peanut: "Oh, yeah! AND he said the a-word."

Trophy Hub: "What is the a-word?"

Peanut: "Stupid."

Ick

Yes, this is an actual picture of me today, purple slippers and all. I'm not sure where it came from, but I woke up this morning at 2:30 sick as all get out. I didn't feel human until about 2pm. I'm still not 100%, but compared to 18 hours ago I feel like a champ.

Hopefully all I need is a good night's sleep and I'll be on the road to recovery.

New look and sand castles

Welcome to the new look (and title) of my blog! I like to keep things new and fresh, so don't be surprised if the look changes every few months.

Tonight Peanut had his first t-ball practice of the year. I must say that he has gotten pretty good at hitting the ball, but that child has absolutely no interest in fielding the ball. It is really hard for me to watch. I am a pretty competitive person, but I can honestly say that I don't care if he's good or not, I just really want him to try and to care. And those are the two things that he's lacking with t-ball. He wasn't the only one making sand castles, but I was the only parent ragging on her kid the whole time to get up, pay attention, turn around. I'm sure the coach thought I was a psychopath.

He may grow out of this, but it could be that t-ball just isn't his thing and that's ok. So is this indicative of a personality trait that is going to make me crazy for years to come? I'm not so sure, because I have seen him truly work hard at many things. For example, he has a very long attention span when it comes to anything having to do with the (expletive) boat or fishing. You can tell that he really loves it. Don't get me wrong...I do still believe that there are some lessons that Trophy Hub and I need to work with Peanut on.

These are the things that challenge me. Especially with Peanut. Should I have let him play in the sand? Should I have let him pee in the grass? Should I have let him come sit down and take a drink? Maybe I was being too hard on him. Advice?

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I am always happy to help the tater tots whenever they need something, so I did not teach Peanut how to navigate to the Wii and DVD player by himself so I wouldn't have to do it for him every time. That would be lazy. Nope, not me!

I did not clean my van out for the first time since sometime in 2008. That would be disgusting. Nope, not me!

And I did not decide to have a garage sale in a few weeks because I'm ready to let go of the boys's toys and clothes. And if I did, I would not have opened and quickly shut a tub of baby clothes with tears in my eyes because I am not ready to let go. Nope, not me!

(Note: No, I don't think Trophy Hub and I are done having kids. I have just come to realize that I don't need to keep each item ever given or bought for them. Maybe a baby next year, but not before then, so quit asking.)

Ok, where was I? Right, all the things I didn't do this week.

And since I'm a faithful Weight Watcher and never cheat, I most certainly did not have a huge plate of spaghetti tonight. Because that would be ridiculous. It wasn't even that good. Nope, not me!

Ok folks...this week's Not Me! was pretty tame. I want to make sure you'll all be my friend after these few confessions. Next week may be a little scarier.

Let's have a picnik!

I'm introducing you all to my new favorite addition. Picnik is the amateur photographer's dream! The photo above (of Bubba and my brother, Uncle Bubba) was one that I decided to place around with and I'm hooked. The colors in the original photo were good - they were both wearing red polos and blue jeans, but I'm a sucker for a classic black & white. I love everything free, but I think may actually cough up the $25/year for the premium version of Picnik for additional features (the premium would have taken the glare from Uncle Bubba's glasses). Have fun picniking!

The motor story

Remember this? Well, Trophy Hub had a good weekend. He got his (expletive) boat motor for the (expletive) boat. I hate to admit it, but I think it was worth it since this is the result...How happy to they look???

And I have been told all weekend what a good wife I am.

Barking at the moon

If you haven't seen the movie "Bolt" (it doesn't matter how old you are) you must see it! Both boys love it. Bubba has proclaimed that he loves the "gril" from the movie, Penny, and he's going to marry her. I found a video on You Tube with a movie clip & song and I caught him singing. Too cute!!! He was embarrassed, but he kept singing!

We made it!

We officially made it through Trophy Hub's first semester back at school. It's not that I had doubts; I believe that we could do anything together, but there were some haters that tried to drag us down in the beginning.

"Wow, that's really going to suck." Wow, thanks for your support.

"I hope you guys know what you're getting into." Nope, no idea.

"He's probably going to find a cute little college girl to study with." Ok, that was said as a joke.

Trophy Hub has his last final of the semester this morning. I am so proud of him. It took a lot of courage and determination to take on college classes in addition to his full-time job, his family and his City duties. Especially without slacking in any area. He is a wonderful person and I'm so glad he's mine.

You just had to be there.

Conversations with a 2 year old always make me laugh. He is extremely articulate, but he can mix up his words from time to time. Case in point, last night...

Me: "Bubba you smell good." (he was freshly bathed)

Bubba: "Yeah, I'm skinny."

I laughed so hard.

Get with the times people!

I learned last week that the church we have been attending since March doesn't believe women should be in leadership roles. This has come from many, many sources and not just something that I interpreted wrong. Now you all know that I'm really quiet and not very outspoken...snort...ahem...but this does not sit well with me.

I love my husband silly, but we are partners. I love like my coworkers, but we are a team. I am a born leader and I will not subject myself or my children to an environment that teaches that women are lesser than men.

*stepping off my soap box*

So the quest for a church continues. I am disappointed, but not discouraged.

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!

For those of you who didn't know, our hard drive crashed in our laptop. So we have been without a computer for 9 days, 12 hours and 47 minutes. Ok I'm not exactly sure how long it's been, but it seems like forever! Trophy Hub and I have realized (along with Peanut) how completely and utterly addicted to the Internet we are. I felt like I was missing an appendage. Anyway, all is well now.

So, I know you're all wondering what have we been up to for these last 9 days! Even if you're not wondering I'll hit a few highlights.

I have committed to running my first 5k this summer and have recruited a few friends to run with me. I have lost 29 pounds and people are starting to notice the change in my body. I absolutely feel the difference, but I have to admit that I see the same person when I look in the mirror. Could this be some sort of self hatred? That sounds so sad, because I don't hate myself, but I'm sure how else to say it.

We had a great Mother's Day and we were lucky enough to see both my mom and Trophy Hub's that weekend. We got our vegetable garden planted and some of our flowers in pots and window boxes.

I have lots of Internet catching up to do so I'm going to wrap up this post. The boys have said a million funny things this week, so I'll blog about them as I remember them. Thanks to all of you for your harassing caring emails wondering where my posts have been. :-)

How to get people out of your way

Take your snotty, coughing 2 year old into a crowded public place. Enjoy people rushing their carts in the opposite direction while giving you a dirty look. Ah, good times.