what happens when you're a mother of boys

Well...it was bound to happen sooner or later. Boys will be boys. Anyone know how long it takes a black eye to heal. It's not horrible...but Xander was swinging his foam bat around and decided it would be fun to play karate with mom. (only mommy never uses bats, and we're not suposed to karate chop eachother....espically with a bat) And thats how I got my first black eye. What can I say......I'm a boy mom.

My "bucket list" just got shorter!!

So I can now scratch something off of my bucket list, (the list of stuff you want to do before you kick the bucket) and it's called......FLYING!


This is Mikey and Xander when they first got to see the cool red airplane mommy and daddy were going to fly in. I think Xander was a little shy cause he didnt seam as interested as Gavin and Mikey.


This is Mikey with "his" red airplane. The moment he saw it he started calling it his. In case you cant tell by the look on his face, he really thinks it's his airplane.


If you look at Gavins face you can tell how much he is loving this. The whole time we were there he kept saying "ooohhh!" and "wow!"


Jim (the guy who owns the plane) was nice enough to even let Mr. Mikey sit in it. The seat was kinda far back but you can tell he thinks it's pretty neat.


once we got the seat scooted up, everything became 10X cooler. He was all about "driving" that airplane & he even kept checking the controls. He LOVED it.


The guy in the window wearing the blue shirt is Jim. Really one of the sweetest guys I've met. Him and his wife really loved talking and playing with our kiddos too.


This is the only picture we have of Xander in the Airplane cause he didnt want to stay in for very long. When we got home and started looking at the pictures he kept saying, "where's Xander?" He didt start thinking the airplanes were really cool until he saw some of them take off from the runway.


Jim was really sweet to even let Gavin take a turn. OH boy Gavin had a blast.


Jim and Mike doing airplane checks before the flights. Daddy got to go up first.


Gavin especially loved all the rocks...but he kept trying to pic them out of the pavement and was very confused as to why they were stuck.


taxi out to the runway. Mikey kept saying, "The airplane lives in the number 2 house!"


And there she blows! the boys LOVED watching daddy take off in that airplane.


Then it was finally my turn. And of course I took my camera up. Didnt wanna miss a photo op! Here is us right before we take off.


Rockwall from the sky. I made a coment about how everything looked like toys and Jim said, "yeah some of those toy houses are pretty expensive!" Then I realized how huge a lot of the houses were below us. there were a TON of very LARGE estates.


Since it was my first time flying in a small aircraft Jim said he'd take it easy. But the more the plane moved around, the more he realized exactly how much I was enjoying it. So he offered to show me what a G felt like. WWOO it was AWESOME! so here is proff that I've felt a G.


Pulling a G the other way. Jim also did a "rollercoster" where he went at a downward angle and you came out of your seat. IT WAS SO COOL!



Yeah thats Wal*Mart and Home Depot. Haha who knew they were so tiney! After this I stoped taking pictures for a while. Wanna know what on earth could get me to stop taking pictures? HE LET ME DRIVE! I FLEW AN AIRPLANE!!!!! And I flew for a while too. I'm goning to say anywhere from 4-10min. To me it felt like more cause it was really weird/cool/awesome that I was flying an airplane.



Banking as we come in to land.


Thats the runway in front of us. And Jim said since I enjoyed all the fun moves he'd show me a slide as we came in. Meaning we landed partly sidways. It was totally amazing!


Daddy and the boys sat and watched the planes at the airport coming and going. But Jim had the only Red one. When Mikey saw us coming in to land he said, "It's my red airplane bringing my mom!" This is mikey runing to give mommy one great big hug now that she was on the ground.




The boys were so good. They didnt get cranky once. Gavin is TOTALLY hooked on airplanes. Mike said he kept pointing and saying "WOW" to everything he saw. Everyone was tired when we went home but we didnt have one single cranky boy. All of them had one of the best days ever. And so did I.

Thoughts on Motherhood

It is a rare thing as a mother of 3 and expecting a 4th to find a moment of peace. But in those rare moments…you find yourself. Take your most frustrating day, and find the joy in the little moments. Cleaning my house is a chore, and I get frustrated because my children all want to be around me. Them being toddlers, they get into everything and make more of a mess than when I started. But a thought occurred to me. They keep coming around because the love me, they want my attention, and want me to play with them, and love them back. As my 1 year old, Gavin, walks into my room to show me something. I had to smile. Here I am…cleaning, and sweating the small details, when my son just wants to show his mom he loves her.

It is important to keep your house livable, but it doesn’t need to be spotless. And no matter how many times I told my children to go play today, they always came back to where I was cleaning. Sadly I did get frustrated and yelled a few times, “Why won’t you just go play?!” It is hard to recognize the moment when you are in it. But to them, they were playing. If you can seize that little moment, hold to it tightly. I hope I’ve been able to convey to my children how much they actually mean to me. Each one of them brings me new purpose, and brightens my day. A song from Mikey, a game of Peek-a-Boo from Xander, a kiss from Gavin, each rejuvenating act of love is worth every wet bed, stinky diaper, and temper tantrum.

I have noticed, sometimes it isn’t the child that throws the temper tantrum. A lot of the time, it’s me. But if I sit back, breath, and take in the full situation, I can become the mother I want to be. The kind gentle, understanding, mommy. And usually when you step back, you notice what a child was actually trying to do. Yes they put all their toys in the toilet, but really their toys just needed a bath, ant that was the only thing in the bathroom with water in it. Yes it was permanent marker in your favorite book, but it’s a picture of mommy. Yes there is cereal all over the floor, but he was just trying to be a big boy and poor it himself. Yes there is poo all over the floor, but he was just trying to change his brother stinky diaper. If we as parents can look through a child’s eyes, we will see a kinder world, and be able to understand more fully what our child was doing at that moment. Normally, as small children, they are trying to learn, or do something nice for a loved one. We just have to take a step back and use their eyes to see it. And the more that you do, you will find yourself complementing your children more, and teaching them valuable lessons that may have otherwise gotten lost in the daily grind of life.

Funnel Cakes are Hazardous

So I really wanted funnel cakes today. I asked Mike, "doesnt that sound GOOD!" his reply was, "I dunno, I've only had it like once"..and I thought, " ONLY ONCE! It cant be that hard to make." So I looked up a recipe online and did it...only when I wrote down the recipe...I forgot one ingredient....flour. So I get it all mixed (minus the flour) and think, hum...this is a little thin. It looks like crepe batter. interesting.

I load up the funnel and get ready to dump it in the hot oil. And here is where I'm guessing a number of things went wrong. The batter was so thin I couldnt stop it from all pouring into the pan. And the moment it hit the SUPER hot oil it bubbled A LOT and boiled over. We have a gas stove...so the moment the oil hit that open flame....well...yeah kitchen fire. Not a huge deal though it went out pretty quick...but thats why if you look at the picture of the funnel cake cooking, you can see a huge mess underneath the pan...yeah thats funnel cake overflow.

Any time I working with oil I always make the boys stand back because it pops. And boy am I ever glad I had them at a safe distance. To them...it was just cool fireworks. And mikey comented everytime I made a funnel cake afterword, "Is this one make a fire?!?!" He thought it was awesome. I had to explain that mommy made a mistake.

Anyway we got the batter thickened up and the oil at just the right temperature...and they turned out SSOO good. Mike discovered that if you put syrup on them, they taste just like a waffel. I'll stick with the good 'ole powder sugar. this is the boys eating their funnel cake. They kept asking for more. Lemme tell ya, they're good!

Remember When?

So I wanted to decorate our room with pictures of me and mike...but I couldnt find many that I really liked. Then I was looking through my scrapbook and I found our first "fishing trip." I had to scan it right then and hang it up. I think that was the first time I actually held a fish like that...maybe not the first time. But usually I had a dad/brother/cousin, that would take the fish off the hook for me. Hubbys have a way of getting you to do things that you normally wouldnt do. So here's to you Mike. And to 4 1/2 years of stickin together. I love you SSSOO much and cant say it enough.

Hearty Chicken Noodle Soup

OK so this has to be one of the BEST soups I've made. And it was really easy. Well ok so I guess all soups are easy. But this was pretty good. I wanted to do something thick, but its hard to make chicken noodle soup thick unless you add potatoes...but I didnt want potato chunks....er go....potato pearls. I didnt feel like chopping anything so I used whole baby carrots, and onion powder instead of chopping onions. Then garlic salt, instead of chopping garlic.

HEARTY CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

1/2 bag boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2c. baby carrots
1+ c. potato pearls
2c. uncooked egg noodles
1 bag frozen tortilini
generous handful salt
1 chicken bullion cube
1 chicken ramen packet (just packet, no noodles!!!)
2-3 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp celery seed
2-3 tsp onion powder
2T. mustard (divided)
1 bag frozen brocoli
Milk

Fill your pot 1/2 way with water and start to boil. Cut up chicken brests into chunks and dump in water. Add baby carrots, 1/2c. potato pearls & let simmer for about 5-8min. Add noodles, both tortilini and egg noodles add salt. Then add last half of potato pearls, bullion, ramen packet, garlic salt, pepper, 1/2 mustard, celery seed, and onion powder. When noodles are almost done, add frozen brocoli and last 1/2 of mustard. Simmer for 5-8min depening on the texture of brocoli you want. When you pour out soup add milk to each bowl for a creamy taste and to help cool it off. Then before putting leftovers in fridge add milk to keep the soup creamy.

I am a child of God