Trying to Stay Positive

I had written a post last night called, "Grocery Store Rantings" (or something like that).  Some of you may have even read it in the hour or so it was posted this morning.  However, I woke up today and read it again and decided to delete it.  Yes I had a crummy trip to the grocery store on Saturday morning and have been under a lot of stress lately as I manage the house and kids by myself (S works 20/7) but that is no excuse for negativity.  To be honest, there is no room for negativity in my life right now.  I need to try to stay positive for the sake of my kids, my overworked and sleep deprived husband and for me!  I feel the best thing I can do right now is vent, look at the bright side and move on.

You see negativity everywhere you look.  Facebook is even depressing me lately.  All of the posts complaining about the weather are really starting to get old.  If I had a few free hours I would go back and check these peoples profiles back in December and January where they posted all about their excitement about the snow.  It is still February people, we have another few weeks before spring even gets here!  Live for today and not what you hope tomorrow will bring.  Yesterday, I couldn't help but smile when I looked outside and saw the beautiful winter wonderland. 

So take a moment, count your blessings and try to find something positive to focus on today.  It will help your family, your outlook and your soul :)  Happy Monday!

A Touch of Spring

Today I packed away the snowmen and Valentine decorations, much to Z's dismay.  The two warm days we had last week, gave me a little bit of spring fever and I couldn't stand looking at the snowmen any longer (even though it is snowing right now).  When I went to take down the heart collage that I made out of the old Christmas cards though, I got a little sad.  I was not ready to say goodbye to these cute little faces, that brighten my day every time I walk into the kitchen.  So I decided to take them and create a little touch of spring.  This is the perfect cheery thing to look at on a snowy day like today :)


Here are a few other pictures that make me smile :)

The Temps got into the 60's!  Spring fun in snow :)

Batman Rocks Out with his Air Guitar

Auntie A came to Visit!

Z and Grandpa fighting crime

Batman and "Robin"

Bob the Builder waits to be saved by Batman

Who Turns Down a Free Trip to Mexico???

Play del Carmen

Me, that is who.  This was not always the case mind you.  When they bumped us from our honeymoon resort 2 days before the wedding (can we say BRIDEZILLA??!??!?!) I begrudgingly graciously took the free trip to Mexico the following year to compensate.  Both trips were wonderful.  We stayed at all inclusive resorts where we spent most of our time lounging by the pool with a margarita in hand and would carefully plan out where we were going to eat that night :)  We also did some fun excursions and it was 12 wonderful days (and then 10 days the next year) with the man I love, pure heaven!

A few weeks ago, my dad called and told me that his company trip was to Mexico this year and that he would pay for his daughters and grandkids to go.  Son in-laws if available would have to pay their own way.  I went back and forth with this decision and finally decided that the best move for our family right now would be to stay home.  We did go cruising with Z when he was C's age but he was a pretty easy going kid, S came with me and only having one child while traveling (especially with 3 adults) was not bad at all.  This is not to say that we didn't have our challenges, but we were able to adapt to life on a ship with a toddler.   We also took him to Aruba when he was 2, again we had the two of us, only him and he was at a great age to enjoy the pool, sand and playground and did pretty well on the long flight down there. 

Having two children does complicate things a bit and Lil' C is a mover and a shaker.  She is not going to sit tight in the security line let alone be entertained for four and a half hours on a plane.  And lets just say that by some miracle we make it to Mexico without the other passengers attacking us, then we have to deal with the three of us sharing a room, nap schedules and a baby who does not sit still and will only last 20 minutes in a restaurant setting.  In the end I decided that I would be more relaxed spending the week in my babyproofed house than I would in beautiful, sunny Mexico.  I know that some of you must think I am crazy but at this point in our lives, we are just not up for this adventure.  I LOVE Mexico and I am so blessed that I have been able to go there 3 times, I want my next trip to be just as special as the first three.  So when the kids are older or when S and I save up some money and are ready to leave them for a few days, we will go back again.

Look at how Happy I am :)

Look at how relaxed my husband is, if you could only see him now :(  He is so sleep deprived and stressed!

"We Must Save the CHICKEN!!!!"

This was what S woke up to at 6:15 am on Saturday morning.  The power had gone out at 1AM and after throwing all of our food out in the last three major power outages, I was hell bent to save our chicken (especially the one I drove 45 minutes to the crazy farm to buy from a lady covered in blood and feathers).  Poor S dragged himself away from the "warm" blankets and joined Lil' C and I downstairs in the 61 degree family room.  After both of us being up all night (well S would like me to point out that I had gotten about 3 hours of sleep before the power went out, he was up late working until the power outage) and no way to make coffee....we were pretty cranky. 

Our family lives for our white noise, we can't sleep without it.  When the power went out, so did Lil' C's noise machine and the giant fan in the hallway....leaving the house very quiet.   Every cry, whine, snore and stir could be heard and on top of all this, my poor sister in-law was visiting so I was paranoid that the children would disturb and wake her.  Lil' C woke up at least 5 times, Z came running down the hall screaming (we quickly snatched him up and threw him in our bed before he woke the baby) and Lil' C was up for good at 5 AM.  While reading books to Lil' C, I remembered the 2 months worth of chicken in our downstairs freezer and panic set in.  "We Must Save the CHICKEN!!!!"

S went down to the basement, filled a cooler with snow and put all of our chicken into it.  He then buried the cooler in snow on our back deck :)  I then filled a trash bag with frozen food and he buried that as well.  The cold stuff went into coolers with snow and I was determined to take it wherever we went (I am on a tight budget people!).  S was exhausted and could see his carefully planned work weekend slipping away from him.  He and his team are very close to launching their iphone app and this weekend was crucial.  Between getting no sleep, dealing with the power outage and having no internet access....things were not looking good.

After breakfast at the diner (where the waitress could identify us as one of the families who had lost power, maybe we smelled???) we decided to pack up and head to my moms.  Our cold food and family spent the day with mom while S tried desperately to stay awake to work.  Luckily the power was restored in the early afternoon and we did not lose one morsel of food!  It was not the weekend we had planned out but it was an adventure and I feel it is crazy times like these that bring families closer together.  Thanks Auntie A for all of your help and for going along for the crazy ride!  And thanks mom (and dad) for taking us in :)  Now everyone go and kiss your electric meter and be grateful for all that it does for you :)  

Z's Current Playlist

I am blessed to have two very musical children.  They love to play music, listen to music, sing and really love to dance to daddy playing the guitar.  S is a musical guy (he was in a few bands in the past) and I have some musical talent as well (I played the flute and tuba from age 10-19 ;)). 

Z is super picky about the music on his playlist and this playlist is played over and over throughout the day.  Because I hear Z's favorite songs 3-6 times a day, I do lobby to add some songs that I enjoy.  Here are Z's favorite songs this winter.....



1.  What I like About You--The Romantics

2.  Crocodile Rock--Elton John

3.  Fins--Jimmy Buffett

4.  Swim Like a Fish--The Wiggles

5.  Turtle Rock--Finding Nemo

6. This is the New Year--Ian Axel

7. Sweet Home Alabama--Lynyrd Skynyrd

8. Life is a Highway--Rascal Flatts

9. I Gotta Feeling--Black Eyed Peas

10. A Little Less Conversation--Elvis

11.  Power of Love--Huey Lewis and the News

12. Rio--Duran Duran

First Month of Homeschooling (in Pictures)

 playing cash register games and our tasty snowmen :)

 our snow poems and paintings and radiator springs :)

 we read ALL day :)  We LOVE to read here!

 snow painting (food coloring and water)

 our masterpieces

Science Experiment--What melts snow the fastest??

 Ice Play :)

 Making Snowmen

 These snowmen were inspired from the book "Snowballs"

 

 We recreated the book "Me On the Map" to fit Z's life 

He is really into maps right now.

Z asked to create the Jumpstart Friends
(he loves this computer game)

 Jan Brett's "The Mitten".  We read the story, made mittens and
then Z practiced retelling with the animals from the story

our January Poem that we all illustrated :)

P.E. Time ;)--"Hops" The snowman and
Making Obstacle Courses for each other

 Making our Valentines Day Mailboxes

WE LOVE OUR NEW ARRANGEMENT!!!  

Debating whether to keep him home next year too.  It has been so nice and good for our family

.....more on that later ;)

Valentines Day Suncatchers :)

Happy Valentines Day to all of you :)  This weekend we made these beautiful suncatchers to welcome in this special day of love.  We each made one and used things we had in our refrigerator.  I had an old bag of cranberries, some frozen peas, a rotting orange, an old lemon and the only unnatural item was the paper heart.  I did cut out a heart out of orange skin for mine though ;)

We got the idea from my friend Sey who found it on this beautiful blog called Twig and Toadstool.  You should check out their beautiful crafts, so many great ideas!

I hope your day is filled with smiles, love and hugs!