NaBloPoMo #1

When Mark was deployed the last time I was finishing school and raising our girls which left little free time. But with that little bit of free time I had I started reading blogs.

I was obsessed with reading about the lives of strangers.

One day I somehow stumbled across this blog that told the story of a man raising his daughter on his own after his wife's untimely (1 day after giving birth) death. He is an amazing writer. A little rough around the edges, but rightfully so.

Still 2 years later I read his blog often and even follow him on twitter:)

What's the next best thing to a blog...well someone who has a blog and wrote a book to go along with it of course!

I have waited for over a year for this book to FINALLY come out and it did, just a few weeks ago. I asked for it for Mother's Day but really wanted it now. So Happy early Mothers day to me!

I got it and was hoping that just MAYBE it would be as great as his blog. well it did not disappoint.

I finished it within 48 hours. It is AMAZING! I love real stuff as I like to call biographies. None of that phony fake love story, vampire junk will do for me. It's gotta be real...at least if I wanna finish the book that is;)

I think I found my new favorite book.



Maybe now that I have finished it, I can clean my house. Well maybe;)

Let's try this again...maybe.

It's been far too long since I blogged.
Soo much has happened since my last blog actually.
So I am participating in NaBloPoMo "blog everyday for a month" for the month of May in hopes of some how making up for the last 6 months of not.
I have tried this before and failed.
Surely I can actually succeed the second time.
Maybe. (oh yeah, that's the theme for the month)

NOW Day 23

NOW this was a great movie!



I am not a huge fan of kid movie. Just never really enjoyed cartoons, even on Saturday mornings I would rather be reading a book than watching cartoons. Even now that we have kids you will catch Mark watching any disney movie or cartoon (i.e. Phineus and Ferb) 100 times to my 1 time.Jillian is at the age now where she gets really excited about new things like movies or toys. So she could not wait to see it.
I actually ended up liking it too:)

NOW Day 21

Me: "You should not have colored on your TV"
Jillian: "Well I didn't do it so you would see it"
Me: "As I always tell you, Mommy will ALWAYS found out."

This is how most converstions are going in our house right NOW.

NOW Day 20

NOW, this guy


is a pretty awesome




As well as these guys
My Father in Law

My Dad

My Papa

My Daddy

NOW Day 19

NOW this is about the goofiest thing I have ever seen! I can not imagine putting my kids in diapers that look like jeans. And the commercial..just plain silly.

NOW Day 18

Jillian @ 4 years old

1. What is something mom always says to you?
-Don't worry so much about Emma, I will worry about her

2. What makes mom happy?
-When I laugh at you.

3. What makes mom sad?
-When I hit Emma

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
-you tickle me

5. What was your mom like as a child?
-like me

6. How old is your mom?
- 10

7. How tall is your mom?
- tall

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
- paint

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
- cook dinner

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
- for being funny

11. What is your mom really good at?
-folding the laundry

12. What is your mom not very good at?
- cleaning the house

3. What does your mom do for her job?
- be a teacher

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
- french fries from chick a la

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
- for cleaning my room

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
- Candice (phineaus and ferb's sister)

17. What do you and your mom do together?
- read books, go to the library, play games

18. How are you and your mom the same?
- cause we have the same eyes, we both talk the same way when we yawn

19. How are you and your mom different?
-we have different clothes and wear a different size

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
- because you just smile at me and you laugh

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
- chick a la

22. Why does Mommy like Daddy?
- cause you are in love

Love this girl!

NOW Day 15

So today I started doing some yardwork. We have a nice big yard with TONS of 'foliage'. Rose bushes, huge hedges, plant stuff everywhere! Since we moved here I have really enjoyed working in the yard. Much more when it was cooler, but hey, no pain no gain.

NOW I love being out there rakeing and pulling weeds..but what I do NOT love it SNAKES!!
Mark has found 2 in our yard in the last few months. I have yet to see one..but I am just scared to death that I might. Actually, I am so scared, I could not even post a picture of one.

Our yard still needs a lot of work so here's to hoping that my track record stays the same.

NOW Day 13 & 14

I have failed. I missed 1 day..darn it.
But I will forgive myself as we had very busy, fun weekend.

On Saturday my step brother got married. It was a very nice wedding..or course not counting the part where Emma either screamed or talked WAY too loud during the.entire.ceremony.
They had the BBQ reception in a barn which was fun. Except that I don't think anyone really took into consideration that a METAL barn and VERY loud music don't exactly mix well...unless it is a LARGE barn. Which in this case, it was not.
Either way we had a blast and we are happy for Justin and Amber!

Sunday I finished up a cupcake order for a twin boy baby shower for a long time friend. After about 60 cupcakes, I was satisfied with the end result. Although not my best, or very original, and very melty (Thank you Texas humdity!), I was happy. I hope they were too:)
After that we headed to the horse races with my Dad and little sister. It was SO much fun!! My parents go each year and get great seats, with food..the whole shabang!
And, Mark and I were the big winners of the day, $35 each (on 1 $2 bet) woot!

NOW that the weekend is over...it's time for rest (yeah right!). Mark start the Police Academy tomorrow!

NOW Day 12

NOW this was probably one of the scariest moments in my life. Literally, I almost cried. I have never shot a gun, barely even touched one..but today I did..and it scared the bejesus out of me!
After feeling like my life has just flashed before my eyes, I took a step back and watched everyone else shoot.
I finally got a little courage to try again and it wasen't to bad. Still very scary and intimidating...but I would do it again.

NOW Day 11

NOW that is a blue SnoCone!





Today was Emma's first experience with a Texas SnoCone and by the looks of it, I would say it was a success!

NOW Day 10

NOW this is just the plain truth: I am NOT cut out for this stay at home momma stuff!

Let me start by saying that I love my children dearly and I love raising them, watching them interact and learn new things, and I love being with them. But not 24 hours a day. I am exhausted!

When Jillian was about 6 months old I became a stay at home mom and LOVED it! We joined a playgroup with other relatively new moms, we met lots of baby 'friends'. It was just fun.

Then when Emma was born I went back to staying home full time again. I loved it then too..although much more work. But I still had a lot of mom friends (with new babies too) and we would sulk our sorrows in sippy cups at the mall play area.

Now my girls are 4.5 and 2 and I am back to being a full time stay at home mom...temporarily I might add, but still the same work.

My brain is fried.
I feel like a robot.
Get up...mostly to abrupt whiny voices.
Turn on Micky Mouse.
Seperate girls.
Prepare breakfast...nothing fancy this early.
Bring out the wooden spoon...only a warning at this point.
Feed dogs.
Drink 1st Dr. Pepper of the day.
Do dishes.
Time Out.
Some laundry.
Spank.
Vacuum.
Sweep.
And it's only 9:00.
You have GOT to be kidding me.

The girls are at an age where they bicker, non stop.
"She hit me"
"Sister hit me"
"Mom!"
"Nack peese"
"Gotta go potty"
Cry, cry, cry..tears, tears, tears.

These are the things that could drive any mom to drink.
just kidding.
Well, not really.


I really love my girls and the times we have together. I just look forward to the time when there are bigger gaps between those times.
I am almost sure these feelings are not uncommon (at least I hope not). I am not less of a mother for feeling these things. I am just exhauted.

NOW Day 9

Right NOW we are watching my favorite movie from childhood.


The Original of course.

NOW Day 8

NOW this is lunch! I realize it is just a sandwich and chips...and Dr. Pepper of course, but it is ALL gluten free (yes, even the Dr. Pepper)! I really did not appreciate a simple lunch as this before I got sick last year.



Rice Works Chips are my new favorite thing. I think they are a cross between a SunChip and a Dorito. Very yummy!

Thanks to a helpful 'sample' lady at Hometown Grocery, I now know that all Boar's Head meat and cheese's are also gluten free.

Of course I used GFree Sandwich bread and Mustard is naturally GFree.

Can I say YUM!

NOW Day 7

NOW that was a relief. After 5 days of searching high and low, through trash and toy boxes, even sticking my hand down the garbage disposal, my hubby found these beauties...my wedding rings!

I am so relieved...and just giddy that I have them again:)

NOW Day 6

Wanna know what we are doing right NOW? (or like an hour ago)

Hot day, ice cream in a helmet, boxed seats, great friends, Texas Rangers = LOVE!

Only thing missing was the hubs..he was at National Guard this weekend :(

NOW Day 5

Right NOW I am pretty proud of myself. 1st time in ole 8 years of college that I have received this. 4.0, Go Me!

NOW Day 4

For NOW I am a stay at home Mom. What does that really mean you ask. Well it means we get to play dress up, make funny faces, play with toys and paint our nails. Oh the fun we have!

NOW Day 3

NOW these kids are ready for Summer!


Jillian, Emma, Annie, and Joel planning their attack strategy.

NOW Day 2

The writing prompt yesterday on NaBloPoMo was:
"When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?" I thought I would use it today instead.

When I was about 4 or 5 we lived by a hospital in the town where I was born (not the same hospital I was born in). Every single day we would drive by the hospital and I would say "when I grow up, I am going to be a nurse!" I guess I assumed I would be a nurse and work in that hospital.


Well NOW I have no desire to be a nurse...and really haven't since we moved from that house by the hospital.

Once I was a little older I used to play school in my room with all my mom's office supplies. I made attendence sheets (I LOVE names and loved making them up for my pretend students). I would call roll over and over, give them assignments, have parent/teacher conferences...you know, all the fun teacher stuff:)

I don't remember ever really thinking I would be a teacher one day. It was just fun to play one.

Once I started college I was going to major in Marketing and be a career woman. But on the first day of orientation when they were going over basic classes for a Business/Marketing major I noticed the minimum of 5 math classes listed and knew there was NO way I could do it.


Right then I changed my major to Elementary Education and have never looked back.

NOW I am so thankful for all of those math classes that I knew I couldn't handle. I could never imagine myself doing anything other than teaching.