To The Ones Who Protect

To the men out there who....

-protect

-comfort

-provide

-wrestle

-hug

-throw baseballs

-throw footballs

-clean up messes

-change diapers

-hold hands

-teach lessons

-fix things

-kiss boo-boos

To the Daddys... of every kind, every situation... to the men who put family first, and make sure their loved ones are safe and taken care of....

This is your day, and just know that you are loved and appreciated!!

I am lucky to have my boys grow up with three amazing men as their role models.. their Daddy, their Grandpa (my Dad), and their Poppa (Neal's Dad) couldn't be kinder, stronger, sweeter men and I hope and pray my boys become just like them one day. 

Happy Fathers Day!!!

Life Is Like Burned Bread

Sometimes you gotta just scrape off and ignore the bad parts... and savor the parts that are still good. 

Am I right, or am I right? 

Someone make that saying into a tee shirt... I think I just figured out the wisdom of the universe, for reals, yo. 

#JessicaForPresident

Just kidding. 

I'd be like, "let's just all watch The Bachelorette and be friends, mmmkay? Why the violence? Try hugging." 

On to the scenes from our week.....

As much as I grumble sometimes about putting money toward house updates, I'm glad we spent the money on sod for the backyard. If it's not raining, we are out there! Climbing, sliding, spinning.. we can see the backyard easily from inside so the boys even go out there on their own and Neal and I get some actual adult time to talk about our days. Now THAT, my friends... is totally worth every penny.

Plus.... #BeingDizzyIsAPartOfChildhood

On Sunday Neal took Austin to his baseball game but before they left, Austin wanted to "sit and point Mommy's cam-wa at us and take a picture."

Gotta get that selfie culture started young, right??

#IMissedTheNoTongueMemo

While Daddy and Austin were at their baseball game, little one and I did some baking. Well, I baked... he made a mess on the floor with some cereal. I just let him go though.. he was "counting" the cereal and it was adorable. 

Plus, he's occupied, no one's in danger... so #ParentingWin right there, folks. 

Some days... just aren't the best. Same with some new recipes. Thanks magazine recipe, who TOTALLY told me to bake the green beans for the whole 30 mins the chicken was baking. YOU WERE SO TOTALLY SPOT ON. 

#Not

But, I'm sure some people out there would love to have a burned dinner be the height of their problems... I think sometimes life gives us bad days to help put things in perspective. With all the loss our country experienced this week, from violence or terrible tragic accidents.. a burned dinner isn't such a big deal. My heart has been heavy for all the families grieving right now. 

And to top off our week....I didn't take a picture, but last night I finally gave in and went to Urgent Care about my sinuses that had been hurting me all week... and my turn for antibiotics!! A (what the Dr. called "bad") ear infection and sinus infection. So... Neal's up, he's the only family member that hasn't been on biotics in the last 2 months.

#JoinTheClubNeal

So there you have it... my week, burned bits and all.

Life Lately- Finishing Up Spring!

Ok, now on to just a little catching up on life.. again, I feel like I've been a bit absent from my bloggity blog blog here... so this is a total photo dump. Sorry. 

 Sometimes me and the boys coordinate/match... and well, it needs to be documented. Suns out, guns out in our house!

#JustKiddingIDon'tHaveGuns

 The weather is finally getting nice (real nice) here in Oregon and Neal and I actually got to have coffee on a weekend morning in the backyard. It was almost like being on vacation! Almost. Other than the screaming children and the fact that mountains of laundry awaited us inside.

#ItWasALovely6MinutesOfPeace

 The other weekend we had our first HOT little heatwave and Owen got introduced to the joy that is squirting people with water and make them squeal. His little life was forever changed.

#ArmedAndDangerous

 You might have seen those Buncha Balloons in your grocery stores... where they make 30 balloons all at once?? Well Austin was frothing at the mouth to get some, so we did. He was thrilled and thankfully didn't really notice they didn't work all that well. They totally bounced off your body and only broke when they hit the ground.

#AtLeastOurLawnGotWatered

 With Austin being almost 4 1/2 and Owen being almost 2, we've officially hit the stage of "we are really feeding a family of 4 now" and try as I might to scale down... I'm starting to accept our grocery bill for what it is. And the fact that my cart is almost overflowing for just a week's worth of food. The kids are actually eating, and starting to eat more and more.. and the future of having 2 growing boys eating us out of house and home is flashing before my eyes...

#GonnaNeedTwoCarts

 Sometimes, you have to do what the natives do, in order to survive. Integrate yourself into their culture, adopt their customs... so Mommy's lunch is a lot of times indistinguishable from the kiddo's lunch. See above photo of overflowing grocery cart.. sometimes it's easier to just eat what they are eating.

#ChickenNuggetsAreAwesome

 I'm sorry to report that Olaf met a tragic end and lost his head. Sorry guys... I hate to break that news. May he live on forever in our hearts and enjoy that endless summer in the sky. 

Don't ya just love pinatas at birthday parties??

#RIPOlaf

 Owen insisted on bringing his buddy Wally into school one Friday... and of course we forgot to take him home with us when I picked the boys up. So when we came back to school on Monday his teacher handed me Wally to make sure he didn't hang out in the room again all day. Well, I walked straight into my office from there, so.... Wally had to hang with me at my desk. He wasn't much help with my number crunching, unfortunately. 

#WorkingMomProbs

 Can we say Mom Brain? Need a wipe at our house? They are icy cold and nestled snugly among the condiments... I need a new brain... Anyone know where I can get one?

#MineIsDefective

 This guy. 

Man Crush everyday... what a good hubby, good daddy... good man he is. And I don't blame the boys for being in a "Daddy mood" at the moment.. wouldn't you be??? I mean... well, whoops. Owen doesn't want me to change his diaper. He insists on you, honey. Sorry. LOL. I'll keep watching TV. Have fun, hope it's not a blowout....

#AllTheHeartEyes

Neal went to his school's graduation last Thursday to see his students graduate... so what's a Mom to do on her own for a night? Anything that will make your kids happy, content and kill some time, that's what. We just had a Menchie's open up near us, so we had to break 'er in. 

Owen stole all my boba beads though..... mean. 

#GetYourOwnKid

I really like those boba beads.. sharing makes Mommy grumpy. 

Life Lately- May Was Awful

Wow, it feels like it's been FOREVER since I've actually blogged. 

So this is a bit of catch-up post... 

All I can say is DAMN. 

May was one helluva ride. 

SICKNESS, I BANISH THEE FROM MY HOUSE FOR THE REST OF 2016.

#PleaseAndThankYou

Our life lately started with a lead scare. 

Yep, lead...like the heavy metal... and yep, like we hadn't been through enough with the poops, the strep throat, and all that. 

There was a potential that the air outside at the boy's daycare was full of lead particles from a nearby glass manufacturer. The county conducted free lead testing, and the boys were very brave getting their fingers pricked! 

Austin must not be my child because he was FASCINATED watching his blood go up the little tubey thing.. and anyone who knows me.... I'm passed out cold on the floor if blood is drawn from my body. 

I think the ice cream treat afterwards helped some.

Thankfully, the lead test came back clean... as in super low. So no lead in these boys! Wonderful news!!!!

So what could possibly go wrong now, right??? 

HA. HA. HA. 

Enter Hand Foot Mouth!!!

#FML

Later in the week last week, Owen was really fussy, pointing to and saying "mouf" and being upset. We thought it was teething until I was washing his hands and saw his palms covered in blisters! He had some under his tongue and on his heel too. 

Sigh. The month of May like legit hated us, seriously. 

I had last Thursday and Friday off (vacation days I needed to use up) so my vacation turned into "keeping sick kiddo at home"

Kind of. 

We had cabin fever on Friday because I kept both boys home.... And the world is full of germs anyways.. so what's a little Hand Foot Mouth added to that?? Yep, I'm THAT Mom. We went to the library.

#SorryNotSorry

I made sure Owen didn't drool his germ-drool on anything, don't worry.

 Memorial Day weekend, I took Austin with me for a quick trip south to Springfield. We left Friday evening, endured Memorial Day/Friday night traffic (kill me) and on Saturday morning I went and saw a friend from high school who does hair for a little touching up.

Trust me, don't go 16 months between haircuts.. you start looking like a Yeti. 

Chopped and looking human again, Austin and I drove back home and we spent the rest of the weekend outside, doing nothing but just having fun.

It was awesome. Fun is really fun, guys. Everyone should have fun!

Owen tried SO hard to salute to the National Anthem on TV on Memorial Day... but... well, bless his heart. 

We are trying to be decent parents and all that jazz... so one of our things is trying to teach respect to our country and flag. Whenever the National Anthem is on, the boys know they have to put their hands over their hearts. Austin decided he wanted to salute "like a sole-jer, Mommy!"

God Bless America. 

Until President Trump enters. 

Then.... God may be like "peace out, peeps. Good luck" 

This week continued with nice weather and my first mosquito bite of the season from laying on the grass watching the roller coaster show...

#HelloZika

Kidding.... hopefully that nasty thing doesn't make it's way up to Oregon. Thank goodness I got bug spray.. too bad I didn't realize I need to start using it already. 

Well, that's all folks!

May did a number on us health-wise.. I really hope we are on to better things now. 

Summer is upon us, so we've got that going for us!

Other than now it's bathing suit season.

#Sh**

Have a good weekend friends! See you back here another day!