Sunday, May 31, 2015

First and Last

Friday was the last day of school for the kids. Yay! I'm looking forward to a low-key summer without having to rush in the mornings to get out the door and to school on time! Our last week consisted of a field day and a pizza party for Trent and a picnic for Drew - all during work hours for me - so it was a long week. {grin}

Both kids have more hair than the start of school and more teeth and have learned so much this year! I love our little school and community and look forward to so many more years to come.

First day of school - 8/25/2014

Last day of school - 5/29/2015
{Trent was mad at me and wouldn't look at the camera}

But he can't help but laugh with his sister!



Thursday, May 28, 2015

Currently: Twas the Eve of the Last Day of School

Time for another round of Currently

Current Book
I finally finished Allegiant last night and started The Giver. I couldn't remember if I ever read it in school or not, but I know I read a lot by Lois Lowry, so I decided to read it and am thinking now that I am pretty sure I never read it in school. What is my obsession with dystopian fiction?


Current Song
This is so 2014, but every new song that gets released off 1989 {Taylor Swift} quickly becomes one I love, so I think I just need to finally buy the whole album. Loving Bad Blood right now!


Current Drink
I just finished a glass of an Arnold Palmer {half lemonade, half tea} - yum!

Current Shame-Inducing Pleasure
The sheer number of ounces of said Arnold Palmer I've consumed today. Just too good!

Current Outfit
Today was field day for Trent at school and I volunteered so I'm wearing black cotton shorts and my Texas home shirt. Maybe I got a smidge of sun on my pasty white legs?

Current Celebrity Crush
Seeing Picture Perfect 2, it just reminds me how much fun I think Rebel Wilson and Anna Kendrick seem to be. I remember not thinking much of Anna Kendrick in Twilight, but I love her now!


Current Mood
Anxious - tomorrow is the kids' last day of school and next week we start some uncharted territory for us - we're having a nanny all summer! I work from home, so it isn't like I won't be around, but it's just different! She's come over several times and Drew is slowly warming up to her and Trent already loves her, I'm just unsure how it'll be next week when I need to hide for 8 hours straight to work...

Current Anticipation
Book club tomorrow night! It's been I think 4 months since we last got together, and it was a beast getting our calendars to sync up for this get together. So excited to see my ladies!

Current Film
There are so many I missed the last few months that are either already gone from the theaters or in our local dollar cinema. Hope to catch these at least on DVD soon!


Current Picture

This is my background on my laptop...just love this pic from Mother's Day!


Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Movie Review: Pitch Perfect 2

Before I talk about Pitch Perfect 2, I do have to get a little nerdy for a second. I've blogged about Allison a million times, since she is who I go with to see almost all my movies. We've been friends since she moved to our hood before 2nd grade. We were besties for a few years before we ended up in separate home rooms, but we've been friends for a LONG time. Almost 27 years. YEARS. Well, my mom was the P.E. teacher at our elementary school, and we spent many an afternoon playing in the gym. I went back to the gym last week to borrow some equipment from the current P.E. teacher for Trent's field day later this week. Written on the back of the equipment room door in chalk is the following:

Allena S. + Allison G. = Best Friends

My sister wrote that in probably 1988 and while it's hard to read, it's still there! I love that our friendship has withstood the test of time and I foresee us going to see movies for many years to come.

Anyway...Pitch Perfect 2. Allison and I saw Pitch Perfect right before Drew was born, and I can't believe how much we didn't like the movie! Looking back at my old review, yes, it was terribly lame with awful jokes...but...BUT...it's funny. And the jokes grow on you, and it wasn't aca-horrible like we thought then. We were both so excited to see the sequel which shows you how off our review was back then.


Plot: After a humiliating command performance at Lincoln Center, the Barden Bellas enter an international competition that no American group has ever won in order to regain their status and right to perform.

Review: Aca-adorable! Again, I don't know what crack Allison and I were smoking back in 2012 because this was exactly the same level of stupid, funny, and endearing with great sing-offs mixed in. If you liked the first one {or hated it 2 1/2 years ago but now love it in hindsight}, you'll enjoy PP2!

Monday, May 25, 2015

Turn Around...Don't Drown!

For years, Texas has been in a drought and now we are literally living in a world of constant flash flood warnings and tornado watches. It is beyond crazy. My family is safe and dry and had a relatively uneventful weekend, which unfortunately is more than some people can say.

Anyway, let's not get too sad, shall we? This week we finally did something I've wanted to do since moving in...we got our new library cards! Our new hometown library is super cute with a HUGE kids area and play space as well as an awesome little cafe. I foresee a lot of trips here over the coming years.

Reading a magazine while I'm trying to learn the organization system and for the love of all things holy find the Lego Star Wars books!

When asked if she was ready to go, her response was 'No, I'm doing puzzles.'

Saturday morning movie watching in bed

Saturday night explorations of Bubba's belly button

The hero worship continues and Little Miss wanted to sit next to Bubba while he looked at lego.com. I love their relationship!

Unfortunately, another big storm rolled in Saturday night and Drew is terrified of thunder. So I spent hours trying to get her asleep. Every clap of thunder and she was back up and crying that the thunder was going to get her. So sad.

Almost asleep in my lap

Victory...at 11:30 PM

Sunday dawned with a nice little fever for Drew, and I just knew she'd gotten strep throat, and I wasn't playing around with that. Well, after a quick trip to urgent care, it was a confirmed ear infection. Lots of essential oils used and 24 hours later, she was good as new! So it was another low-key day of movie watching and all-around excellent parenting!

Man, was I so glad not to go to work today! I was supposed to go see Pitch Perfect 2 with Allison on Sunday but sickie ruined those plans, so we went today. Luckily we went first thing because storms were brewing!

Me with the kiddos prepared for tornadoes. 
Trent took all the pillows and is hidden beside the toilet.
Poor Drew Babe's nap got interrupted so she was still tired!

After the excitement in the hall bath, the rest of today was relatively normal. Although we watched a lot of news coverage and saw all the crazy flooding all around us. Quite scary! I hope everyone else stayed safe and dry this weekend!

Friday, May 22, 2015

Five on Friday

How is it Friday?!?! This week has been a bit nuts with my fun bout of strep throat, so I am thrilled the weekend is almost here.

ONE

Rain  I don't want to complain about rain after we've been in a drought in Texas for like 5 years, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing unfortunately. We are just saturated. I think we're past the point of the rain helping much. I don't mind the temperatures for sure, but we're all going a little stir crazy!


TWO

House of Cards Brent and I started this show this week, and we're both really enjoying it. The characters are so good yet so bad. Plus it's fun having something to watch with my hubby!


THREE

Playroom Update After spending hours 'researching' on Pinterest, I got a plan of attack for starting to organize our playroom. Trent and I went to IKEA and bought some shelving and I got it built and for now have shoved stuff in cubbies, and it's starting to come together! I still need another book shelf, but here's how it looks so far!


FOUR

Netflix Not Netflix overall, but we get Netflix DIRECTLY on our TV now! And just in time for Brent and I to watch House of Cards and Orange is the New Black to be back!!

FIVE

Pitch Perfect 2 My movie date and I are hitting this up this weekend! I am so excited!



Thursday, May 21, 2015

You Know What's Fun?

There are lots of things in life that are fun. Vacations, holidays, candy, date nights... This week I've enjoyed something super awesome and fun.

STREP THROAT

There is nothing quite as enjoyable as being 34 years old, having a full-time job, family responsibilities revolving around 2 small children who TOTALLY understand what it means when mommy says she doesn't feel good {I need a snack. Can you read to me? Do you feel better yet? Come play with me. Where are my shoes? Hold you. When are we going to eat? I don't wannnnnnnnnnnnna take a bath!!!} and feeling like your throat is going to explode out of your mouth. 

I tried to play it off Sunday and Monday - Oh, it's just allergies and drainage. That slight fever? Oh that's nothing, I was just hot after napping under a blanket. Going to bed at 6:30 means you are totally fine, right? 

Tuesday I was pretty miserable but had an all-day meeting {virtual luckily} that went from 8:00 until 5:00 so by then I knew I needed to go to the doctor but couldn't. Tuesday night I couldn't sleep at all and just waited for 8:00 AM to call the doctor. I didn't want it to be strep because I don't want the kids or Brent to be at risk of something contagious, but I knew if it was strep I could get medicine and feel better faster. I don't like taking antibiotics and do everything under the sun first before using, but I couldn't wait to fill this prescription when the strep test came back positive.

4 pills in and I'm feeling somewhat better but nowhere near great. The icing on the cake is Brent has a little virus of some sort but thankfully not strep {yet}. Nothing like both parents being under the weather. The kids might have watched quite a bit of TV yesterday. Such is life. 

How's your week going? {grin}

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Happy Birthday Honey!...or Not {A Hodge-Podge Post}

Yesterday was Brent's birthday - the big 3-5!!! Let me show you how we celebrated.

...

...

Big-time wife fail - I've got some kind of bug and my throat has been on FIRE since Sunday, so we had to cancel our dinner reservation, and I went to bed at 6:30. My in-laws came over and took everyone else to dinner at a local burger joint so I could rest. SO thankful for great family.

I took a social media break last week {don't you love being able to schedule blogs} based on a request from the hubs. He thinks I'm addicted {I disagree} and wanted to see if I could do it. Well, I did! I still don't think I'm addicted, but I definitely can/should cut back on how much I look at things. So if you start to see a bunch of comments come in from me or likes...you'll know why! I might do a post just on this, we'll see.

We had a good weekend before the throat plague set in. Brent played in a golf tournament all weekend, so my goal is always to stay busy! Saturday we went to a parade in Pville with my sis and her kids - it's so great because it's at the end of my parents' street.

The boys led the parade {grin}

Drew finally picked an outfit that isn't awful! At least it's all neon colors.





While Sister slept, my helper and I built an art easel. I had clothes on though.

Brent's tournament got canceled on Sunday, so he got home early in the afternoon which was much appreciated as my sickness began ramping up.

These 2 just love each other! 
Brent and Trent call each other 'Best Pal' and now Drew calls Brent 'Daddy Best Pal'. LOVE IT!

And that's been life in a nutshell for us lately.  Told y'all it was a hodge-podge!

Friday, May 15, 2015

Trent's Neuropsych Evaluation Results

I've been pretty open sharing about Trent's therapy over the past few years. I like being able to talk about it because it's cathartic for me, but at the same time, I want to respect Trent and not share too much {yes, it's our family, but ultimately, this is his story}, so I haven't talked much about his therapy in about 6 months. We've had good weeks, we've had bad...overall, we've had some forward momentum but not as much as I would like/hope. We've done some different group therapies {at first in addition to his time with Ms. Lauren and then in replacement of her} and just continued to power through with our little guy.

The next step that we've been working towards for awhile was a neuropsych evaluation. It took some time to find the group we wanted to work with, it took some waiting before the appointments, and it took some time for the results. Well, we got the results about 2 weeks ago!!! It was interesting because the doctor {who has been doing this for over 20 years} said she felt bad because she didn't have a conclusive answer for us and still no formal diagnosis. Honestly, I wasn't surprised. And almost everything we talked about it is what we've been talking about with every other therapist/specialist we've seen over the past 2 1/2 years.

So what were his results?

1. He's gifted. In some areas, his IQ is off the charts. While that might sound like a good thing {which it is}, gifted children {and especially boys} historically have more behavior problems.
2. He's hyperactive. This might be a duh thought for ANY mom of a 5 year old boy. They are NUTS. But Trent's hyperactive enough to be considered ADHD although he doesn't seem to have the 'attention deficit' piece of the puzzle. 
3. He's anxious. This one I didn't really expect but it makes so much sense with some of his fits.
4. He has some spectrum behaviors. Again nothing new here. No one has ever said he has autism, but his sensory issues are all consistent with being on the spectrum. The problems with transitions, things being too loud/hot/etc., his food aversions...

So what does all this mean? 

It means we're going to consider doing Applied Behavioral Analysis therapy {ABA} which is a little bit more of a formal/structured type of therapy. I don't know a ton about it, but his behavioral therapist, Ms. Lauren, has thought it might come to this, so again, I'm not surprised. We're also trying karate because Trent has been saying for at least 6 months that he wants to do it, and all the therapists he's seen have thought it would be great - it is apparently great for focus, concentration, self-esteem...all things that would be beneficial for Trent.


Our karate champ!

We're also going to have a blood test done on Trent because a lot of his behaviors are consistent with a blood disorder called MTHFR. I have a friend with this condition who has done a lot of research on it and suggested it to me. When I brought it up to the therapists who did the neuropsych testing they jumped all over it having seen kids with it that reminded them a lot of Trent. So that's scheduled for June.

Interestingly enough, the past 2 weeks {ever since we moved} Trent has been off the charts good. Brent and I find ourselves looking at each other multiple times a day in awe of him. His teacher has commented on how great he's being in class, too! We're definitely enjoying it {grin}!

So we'll see what the next round of everything brings about... To be continued as usual!

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Comparing Childhoods: Us vs. Them

After comparing my childhood to Brent's, I wanted to compare mine/Brent's to our kids... Obviously they are still kids, but I think it'll be fun!

Family dynamics:
I think the biggest difference for our kids compared to us is that Brent and I both grew up with same sex siblings. I have a sister, Brent has a brother. It's already so fascinating to watch Trent and Drew grow up as siblings, and I'm so excited to watch their relationship grow with them. So far we're a family of 4 {like Brent and I both grew up in}...but only time will tell if that stays a similarity or a difference! Our kids age span in also smack dab in the middle of how far apart my sister and I are {20 months} and Brent and his brother {4 years}. 

I forgot to think about this when comparing Brent and me, but I think our relationship with our grandparents is a big factor from our childhoods to consider. I had a pretty traditional situation with my grandparents - my mom's parents were still married and my dad's mom was a widow, so I grew up with 3 grandparents. My grandparents lived in the same town {of 1,000 people} about 45 minutes from our home, so we saw them very often and loved spending time with them. My grandparents were 'old' and all passed on by the time I was 23. {If they were alive today, they would be 103, 101, 99, and 98}. Brent still has both of his grandmothers living but lost both his grandfathers and a step-grandmother during our relationship. All of his grandparents lived in Austin when he was growing up, so he was very close with them as well. If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you'll know that our kids are blessed to see all of their grandparents almost weekly, and I could cry anytime I think about the relationships that are forming. 


Brent and I are also high school sweethearts like both sets of our parents were. Not sure how much that matters to their childhood, but I know for Brent and me we both have had amazing examples of love and commitment from our parents which I know has shaped our views on marriage. My parents still hold hands and are very affectionate with each other, and Brent's parents are always going on dates and trips together. Amazing testament to the power of love {I think 42 years of marriage for Brent's parents and 40 next month for mine!} that I feel very confident our kids will have as well.


Religion:
Our kids go to the Catholic church with me and my parents, so I would say they are raised in a moderately religious family like Brent and I both were. The main difference {from my childhood} is that to-date Brent doesn't join us. As Brent's parents' participation in church has varied over the years, this is probably more in-line with his upbringing than mine. 

SAHM vs. Working Mom:
We're 3 for 3 on working moms! I'm very fortunate to have the flexible schedule that I do which allows me to get the kids early several days a week and spend more time with them than a traditional 9-5 job, but they've gone to school from very early onward. Trent began at 9 months and Drew at 6 months. My sister is the only SAHM in our immediate families {and she home schools to boot!}, so that would be the more interesting comparison. {grin}


Big city vs. small town living:
The kids are definitely getting more of a small town living than Brent did, but I wouldn't say either of them are growing up particularly 'country'. I did spend more time in the country visiting grandparents and other family while our kids don't see that side very often with most of their family living very nearby.

Schooling:
Here's the big difference comparing our kids to us. Brent and I both did public school the whole way through {and in the same school district}. Our kids are currently enrolled in private Montessori school. I foresee them being here for awhile, although our school only currently goes through 6th grade, so eventually we'll have to reassess... I could rave all night about the kids' school and how much I love Montessori, but I'll leave that for another day. It just really works well for our kids!


I love the similarities our kids have to us in our childhoods because I think Brent and I both have had pretty amazing lives so far. I look forward to seeing a lot more love, laughter, and adventures with my kids so that they will also look back fondly on their childhoods!

Would you say your kids have a similar childhood to yours? Do you want them to?

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Book Challenge

I mentioned recently a book challenge I was going to try and participate in. I'm not linking up with the blogger who is hosting the challenge to win or anything, but I thought it could be fun to help me expand my horizons. You might be able to still enter the challenge, but the contest began as of 5/1/15, so my apologies for posting this last for the 2 people who actually enjoy my posts about books. {Once a book nerd, always a book nerd.}


5 points: Freebie! Read any book that fits the general rules {200 pages in length, stuff like that...click the link for them all}. 
10 points: Read a book you have never heard of before. (Just go to a shelf and pick a book based on the cover, the title, whatever you want!) 
10 points: Read a book that has been on your TBR list for at least two years. (If you've had a Goodreads account for 2+ years, this will be easy to figure out. If you don’t, do your best to pick a book you’re pretty sure you’ve been wanting to read for years.) 
10 points: Read a book that won a Goodreads “Best Book” award in 2014. 
15 points: Read a book by an author who is completely new to you. 
15 points: 
Read a book by an author you have read before. (No re-reads for this one.) 
15 points: Read a book with "light" or "dark" in the title. (Or "lightness" or "darkness.") 
20 points: Read a book with the name of a city, state or country in the title. 
20 points: Read a book with an animal on the cover. 
25 points: Read a book that is part of a series with at least four books. 
25 points: Read a book that is longer than 500 pages long. — Submitted by winter finisher Kristen from See You in a Porridge. 
30 points: Read a book with an alliterative title. (All words in the title must begin with the same letter; no exceptions for articles or prepositions. Examples: Gone Girl or Nicholas Nickleby. Yes, this is tough, which is why it's worth the most points!) 

I've outlined the books I want to read for about half of these. I need to read our May book club book, and then I'll be tackling this list! Anyone want to play along?  The challenge runs through the end of August, so I figure I'll post about it at the end of every month to see how I'm doing!




Monday, May 11, 2015

My Mother's Day {Points for originality of title, no?}

Mother's Day can go a couple of different ways for me. Sometimes I spend time with my mom and sister and enjoy adult time away from the little monsters children who made me a mother. And I don't feel bad about that in the least. Okay maybe a little bit bad. {grin} Or I can spend time with those kiddos and soak in the preciousness that is my babies. Who don't realize it's a 'special' day {yeah right} and treat me like their normal pack mule, maid, chef, and source of entertainment. This Mother's Day was option 2, but it really was a good day. With a few AWESOME surprises from the hubs to make me feel extra loved.

My Mother's Day consisted of church with flowers and a blessing for all the moms {spoiler alert: I cried}, running errands with Trent {IKEA and Target}, a family walk, and our regular 'get ready for the week' routine. Pretty perfect if I do say so myself. Trent signed a card from both him and Drew {spoiler alert: I cried} and made me a craft project with his own poem. The card from Brent absolutely killed me.



To a normal wife, this would be because the husband doesn't know where anything is {oh hahaha wifey you are wonderful and do it all}. In our family, it is especially fitting because since the move many times Brent has asked me where something is, and I don't know. {Spoiler alert: LAST NIGHT I FOUND THE MISSING BOX WITH SOAP IN IT!!!!!!!}

What says I love mom more than a heart-shaped pizza?

 I wanted a family picture but that wasn't in the cards, so I was able to get a quick selfie with these 2 while we were eating.



Brent did also surprise me with a package to an amazing local spa, so I would say this was a pretty freaking awesome Mother's Day!

Thursday, May 7, 2015

May Goals

I made a few personal goals for the month of May that I thought I'd share to help hold me accountable for the month. Fingers crossed I can accomplish what's on here...I kind of took it easy on myself, so it shouldn't be too hard.


1. Organize house - The house is in pretty good shape. The playroom has me 100% overwhelmed though and nothing is decorated. I want to figure out what the heck to do in the playroom and do it! No guarantees I'll decorate much, but I'd love to feel like everything is where it's supposed to be.

2. Develop {and stick to} a cleaning schedule - I've blogged many times about my lack of organization and cleaning. Working from home, I save a lot of time every day - less makeup {most days none}, casual clothes, no commute... I want to translate that saved time into picking up/cleaning time around the house. My goal is to do something every day {clean the bathrooms one day, sweep the floors the next} so that the house always {or almost always} looks pretty good.

3. Hire nanny - I'm cheating on this one a little as I've got this narrowed down, but we aren't doing summer camp this summer at the school, so we need someone to watch the kids. I put out feelers lots of places, and it was a little stressful/overwhelming at first, but I think we're actually almost there on this one!

4. Schedule family pictures - I have a talented friend who has graciously given us free pictures as payment for helping her with some essential oils stuff. Now we just need to get a date on the calendar!

5. Family activity - I often feel like we don't DO anything as a family. Well, besides live, eat, sleep, and play together. {grin} I don't care what we do, I just want us to pick an activity outside the home and do it together!

So those are my goals for the month!  What are yours?

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Life Lately

Neighborhood park trips with Babs and Pops

Enjoying having our couch back out of storage!!!

Our first 'dinner party' with my sister's family...first of MANY!

Pretending to be babies

Just a swingin'... {at a friend's house}

First bathing suit adventure of 2015

Stalling Reading before bed

The many faces of Trent

Helping daddy roll the yard

Getting new shutters!!!!!!! {and a little bit of a sneak peak of the house}




Losing more teeth {love}