A Good Day

Day was an amazingly great day. I woke up with a good attitude and nothing that happened was going to change that. Trust me there were people who tried to gave me little jabs but guess what? It didn't work! I was happy and content yesterday too but only noticed it once it was the end of the day. I love Wednesdays. I go to a woman's Bible study at my friend Melissa's house. We are going through Daniel, such a great book. Then GlamorGirl had a friend over who came with us to church. This little girl is so sweet and the best part is I love the way GG is around her she brings out the good quality of my girl. Her mom is really sweet too. I hope to get to know them better. This morning I woke up and the forecast was 55, I just knew it was going to be a good day. I had more patience with the kids. We laughed more today. We played and enjoyed each other company more. It really is true when mama is happy/content so is the rest of the family. After writing my last post about food I feel such a huge burden was lifted off of me. Like God said, "Here my child let me take that from you." I have not been as tempted as a matter of fact it almost seems like it is easier for me to flee from those sugary treats yesterday and today. I think that also may have to do with my mood, I have been eating better! Let's just say that usually this time of the month I'm not so joyful. Tonight I took my oldest to see Gnomeo and Juliet. It was a really cute movie. She was hoping to see a girl from school there as this girl told her she was going to see it tonight. But instead a different little friend was there, gasp, a BOY. He is in Monkey's class and gets along with both GG and Monkey. His mom and I get along really well too! Well since this post really has no rhyme or reason I will end with this. The day I posted my food struggle I got an email with an award from I am a Woman of God. I feel so honored and not worthy of this award as I don't always talk about God though He is a HUGE part of my life. I am just humbled by this award. Thank you.

Mother Daughter Retreat and Chaos

I feel like the last few days have been total and complete chaos. Friday GlamorGirl and I headed to a mother daughter retreat with another mom and daughter from church. Once we got there we unpacked and made our beds. Then it was time to start with the first session. The lady who spoke at the retreat is a friend of mine from H.S.'s mother in law and I went to college with her two oldest kids. I hope that makes sense. Anyways, my friend ended up being there which was a nice surprise but I felt torn because the weekend was about GG and I getting to spend time together but I wanted to catch up with my friend too. In the end I think I balanced it all pretty good. That night we stayed up talking until about 11:30pm when we finally rounded up the girls and headed to our rooms. Each mother daughter had a room with two beds and a toilet. There were community showers but so nice to have our own toilet :) By the time I got GG settled and into bed it was after midnight. The next morning came fast. The first noise I heard was at 7am! The day started with this HUGE breakfast totally not apart of our diet but we needed to eat something. We had our second session after that and then what they called "girl power" which is what we did after all 3 of the sessions. I took GG and we went to a place outside and talked over the sheets we were given. Then we came back and played a game. The game was really cute it was played like the newlywed game but made into a mother daughter version. Then it was lunch time. The afternoon was "free time" we could canoe, bike ride, paint, go into town or do whatever. We decided it was too windy to canoe or bike ride. We painted the flower pots they had for us. GG and her friend made sand castles at the beach for awhile until we went to the snack shop and got ice cream! We had about an hour left before it was time for dinner so we started packing up our room and getting dressed up for the fancy dinner. We had our last session after that then we left. It went by way too fast. All the moms and daughters said they wished it was another night and day. We always have next year! We got home Saturday night a little before 10pm. Since being back it has been chaos! Sunday it was up for church, home eat lunch, go grocery shopping, unpack, make dinner, go back to church, home, get kids to bed, make lunches and go to sleep. Then today we all got up and ready and left together. J called to say we had to go home without him because he was going to be working late. Love the overtime hate him being gone it's what I call a double edge sword. I got home did homework, made dinner, cleaned up, bathed everyone (more like supervised), did bedtime, did dishes, made lunches, and now I'm blogging. J got home a few minutes ago so I'm going to go talk to him.

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Although it is a little chilly today we have enjoyed much time outside! And I'm LOVING it! But let me start with Saturday, I left for the night and met my mom in a town half way between our houses. I had three things on my agenda to do since I was kidless. Try on the new Victoria Secret's Bio 7 way bra, get a new swimsuit and relax in the hot tub! I got to do all three. I didn't buy that bra because I didn't like it, shocking I know. Their bras are weird sometimes and this just happened to be one of them. We jammed in to our visit shopping, eating, talking, dancing and hot tubing. We had many laughter attacks, she is not only my mom but she is one of my best friends! I am also happy to report that I found a new swimsuit! I got home Sunday around 3:30, so we had a good part of the afternoon to spend together. We went a golf place that had playground. J took the two older to hit balls at the driving range and I took the little two to play. It was nice to be outside. I will say that when I came home from my get away I was pleasantly surprised by the new ceiling fan in our bedroom and another project that I had been asking J to do. Our ceiling fan went out last fall and we didn't need it because of the winter but I am glad now that it is warming up to have a new working one! I think I might have to leave more often if I get to come home to improvements to the house. *hink*

Moving on to today. Memorial Day...J drove a squad car in the parade so the three oldest got to ride in the back and wave to all the people. It was so cute to hear all the people they knew during the parade. Maybe next year Peanut will get to go too?! We'll see. I enjoyed being with just her and watching her dance to all the bands that passed us. She is such, little miss personality, I tell you. As soon as the last float passed us the kids were back from making the route. We sat at the beginning of the parade which was the police department, just incase Peanut needed to use the potty. We got home around 10:30 and packed up some gloves, baseball, bat and 3 kites and walked/rode bikes to the big grass field at the end of our street. The kids did great flying kites and Peanut got to hold the kite for the first time today. I think flying kites is one of my favorite things to do with the kids. The joy of their face when they get it up is like no other. I packed up the kites and J played ball with the older ones and Peanut and I walked home to get lunch ready. After the little kid's naps we went to our friends house for dinner and some swimming. It was a great weekend. I know I say this all the time but I am truly blessed. I love my life and my family.

I highly recommend...

Mother/Daughter play dates! Yesterday after school we brought GG's friend, who we will call Pretty Girl or PG, home for a play date. Then we met her mom for dinner. The girls had a great time playing and hanging out with us moms! Here are just a few of the pictures we took at dinner. We got a little silly :P

In case you were wondering the girls planned to match clothes! And they are both going to a birthday party today were they will be wearing the exact same dress they each got for Christmas! It is so funny to listen to them talk about matching clothes...

On the way to dinner the girls were making a plan on how they could become sisters. It went something like this...

GG: Both of our parents need to get divorced. (this is a new concept for GG and she really doesn't understand the effects, she watched Parent Trap 2 about a week ago!) Then I will live with my mom and you will live with your dad and then my mom and your dad will get married.
PG: Giggling the whole time she is talking...

I interrupt and tell the girls there is a easier way to become sisters then tearing families apart. They were both curious so I told them that if GG married PG brother they would be sisters or if PG married GG brother they would be sisters. I think they didn't like that idea because they would have to wait so long ;) The little stinkers!

Thanks Kristin for sending me these pictures!

First Day of Break

Wow was it a busy one! We did all the normal Monday things, grocery shopping and gymnastics. But we added getting Red's 18 month pictures taken. Which I decided I wanted to try doing myself. I think I got 3 good shots but I am still wanting one more really good smile shot so I'm going to try one more time before bed :) Speaking of Red, I completely forgot to tell everyone that he says, "I love you" which sounds more like I wove oooo. He started saying it while we were at Disney, go figure! After taking pictures GG and I started doing our Disney Scrapbook together. She is really excited about doing this with me and I am a little nervous about it not being prefect.(I really need to get over that fast!) So I have been taking deep breathes and remembering that this is something that we are going to look back at and know that we did it together mistakes and all. We got the first page done and there are a few smudges and I'm ok with that. Tonight the kids are planning on watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving Special. Well that is all I feel like updating...maybe some pictures tomorrow?!?!

Oh Yeah I have to mention that Gold Canyon Candles ROCK. I love them so much. They smell so good and burn even all the way down the candle and last a long time. The best candles I have ever had and I *will not* buy any other kind.

I have been meaning to write about Monkey for awhile but have forgotten. He is learning things so fast I can hardly keep up! He likes to tell you what a cow, pig and dog say. He will also point to his eyes and nose and sometimes his mouth. The funny thing about asking him to point to things is that after he points to his he then points to yours! Not so good when he points to your eyes and almost pokes them out :) Well today we got up just in time to get ready and head out the door for our play date with the B's and the H's. Which means that GG got to play with baby Laura she loved it. Kristen got out the baby gym out and the kids laid on either side of Laura. Poor little girl being sandwiched between the two of them! It was a fun play date. I love GG's age. When we go play at her friends house they go off and play with very little fighting. Actually Kristen and I have noticed that they fight more when they are playing in front of us! They think we should solve their fights. After we left the play date at 2:15pm, oh yeah we got there at 11am. So much fun, the time went by so fast. Then we came home and Monkey took a nap while GG and I made a necklace together. GG and I have an agreement that when she needs mommy time she just has to tell me and we do something just us. She loves it and has asked for it at least once a day since Monday when we had the talk. Well nothing else exciting happened and I am just blabbing on and on right now!