TGIF....for real:-)

Todd and I have been extremely blessed with wonderful jobs...both in ministry (which how that came to be is a whole post....later). I work part-time as the Children's Director for Grace Bible Fellowship in Gunter. And he works a Vice President of Web Ministries for Insight for Living. But get this, he has every other Friday off.

And now that school is back in session, I LOVE THOSE FRIDAYs that he is OFF!


Let me just tell you what we did today....

1. He let me sleep in and he took kids to school.
2. Then we went riding on 4 wheelers (just the two of us) in the rain and mud just outside of town (thanks James for letting us play on your land). I love love love getting outside and getting dirty! SOOO FUNN!! --i know, I am weird that way!
3. Came home and cleaned up.
4. Lunch date at Romano's in Van Alstyne.
5. Came home and took a quick little nap before kids got home!---little snuggling too;-) haha

Who needs date night when we have every other Friday to just hang out!!!! We are really getting spoiled to having these hours together:-) Sure hope they last......

Change

This morning I poured my heart out in a lovely little email to my husband! HAHA! You know the type of email I am talking about...the one where you should have reread it or let it sit in your inbox a day or two before you decided to send it! HAHA!

I had just got through watching some of the BIGGEST LOSER while folding laundry and then I found myself madder than a hornet! I was mad at myself, made at Todd, and mad at our nation for selling fast foods!

So in short, I typed an email to send to my husband to vent my anger. I really wasn't angry.....I just wanted to prevent being angry later! (so that's how I am justifying sending the email:-) Anyhow-I have lost weight for the SECOND TIME in our marriage. I am 45lbs down..with only a few lbs left until my goal weight. I am a running maniac. And I am running in my first half marathon this weekend. But in the meantime, while I am eating right and exercising. I am feeding my family JUNK. My kids do exercise alot, but still....how will they ever learn to eat right if I don't teach them. And then, I was also upset because Todd, my handsome husband, had yet to jump on the bandwagon with me on this new healthy lifestyle. This leads me to see that I am setting SOMEONE up for failure in my family..... Either I will fail AGAIN and gain weight because of my surroundings OR worst off, my kids will not learn the value of a healthy lifestyle....OR even worst, my husband may die at an early age leaving me alone with 3 kids asking WHY?

So....that in a nutshell was what I typed out to my sweet husband today (but mucccchhhhh lonnnngggggeeeerrrr).

Here is a quote I found today...and it fits so well.
"Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts."

Full of alot of Birthday!

Didn't know how to title this one........ LOL!

Why is it that when we have birthdays as adults we celebrate by going out to eat? And not only did I celebrate my 35th by going out to eat...but I celebrated it 3x this past week! HAHA!

My mom and I spent the day together on my actual birthday....and we ate at Babe's.

My girlfriends took me out the following day for a pedicure and for La Hacienda lunch:-)

And then my family took me to Lucy's after a very hot day of football games yesterday.

I feel MISERABLE! HAHA! I did have fun being with all the people in my life that have made my 34th year absolutely amazing though! Which made me begin to reflect.....what did I gain (or lose) this past year in my life.

So here is my top ten list from what I have learned this past year:
1.) I am chosen for God! This year while in Israel I finally have realized that God CHOSE ME!
2.) No one has more IMPACT on my kids than ME!!!!! WOW~~ little eyes are watching and listening....
3.) Baseball has become one of my favorite things to watch with my family and friends!
4.) I have learned to BE STILL for quick moments (stop and listen)....and I usually find myself smiling at God in those moments:-)
5.) Old friends aren't really old friends....they are some of your very best friends! I am so blessed to have reconnected with some special friends from my childhood years this past year! Amazing to have come to full circle with them and will probably go another full circle while parenting our children together!
6.) I LOVE to travel to new places with my husband. I know it sounds kind of mushy...but seems I fall in love with him over again each time we get away from our crazy, busy life. Not to mention, we are learning alot together when we travel so we aren't just talking about kids and schedules.....
7.) I can do anything if I just STICK to it..... gonna run my first half marathon in ONE WEEK!
8.) Simple is good.....so simplifying is what I am learning to do
9.) Family time at the big table is important...not to just me, but my kids too
10) I don't like 3rd grade homework!

I am now 3 days into my 35th year and I feel extremely blessed to have such amazing people that surround me in my life!!! So here's to 35 and counting...............

Empty Hangers

About 3 weeks ago, I decided to clean out my closet....which led to a full's day work of going through EVERYTHING I owned in there. It was absolutely unreal how much STUFF I had packed away in that little space.

I had held on to several size 6 pants from 4 years ago, thinking that when I got my weight back off, I would wear them! HAHA! Whose kidding?? I don't want these "old fashioned" clothes! LOL! I did hold on to a few cute designer capris but most everything went into a give away pile.

GOOD-NEWS-BAD-NEWS: I had tons of fairly new clothes that I could not wear anymore! YIPPEE!! It was soooo fun trying on all these clothes that fit months ago and they wouldn't even stay on!! But so depressing to get rid of almost brand new clothes! I am not joking, but when I was done, I had 2 trash bags to throw away, 3 Goodwill bags, and 3 big buckets of give away clothes (that I gave to friends). I was then left with a very empty closet! HAHA! And a whole lot of hangers...


And these are just the "good" hangers. I threw out about the same amount of wire hangers, as well!

Now three weeks later (which just happened to be yesterday), I needed to run to the doctor to get medicine for the sinus problems I had been having. While I was there, I noticed the doctors cute flip-flops. She then tells me about a salon in town that has these cute designer clothes....and for cheap. So on this nice raining morning, (well, flooding morning) I had to waste some time while waiting on my prescriptions to be ready! So guess what I did?? Oh ya, I went to check out the Salon/Shop. I found so many cute clothes. And everything was on SALE!! Got a pair of flip-flops, a pair of size 28 MISS ME jeans (oh ya baby!), and 5 tops! I am so excited cause I now have a new place, close to home, that is reasonably priced that I can shop at!!!!

Let's begin to fill up the hangers!!!! :-)

What Happened to the TIMEOUT RULE??

Being a mom is HARD work! The list of responsibilities never ends! Actually, it seems like the list grows! You know the list I am talking about... wake kids up, feed them breakfast, be sure they are clean, sign the homework folder, get them to school. And even when they are away you are still living off the list of responsibilites of motherhood.....praying for them, cooking for them, cleaning sheet for them, being sure they have matching socks and clean clothes, etc.... This list can go on and on and on.

But what about that D word: DISCIPLINE. It sounds easy but really it's quite hard. This past week I spent the majority of my time repeating a few of the same phrases to my kids.. "Did you get your homework done?" "Is your room clean?" and the one that did me in this week... "Did you ask before you left the front yard?"

School has been in session for two full weeks now. And in the time, it seems that Preston Glen (the road I live on) has triple in number of how many kids live on this street. So after school, you can see nothing but kids playing ball or hide go seek or riding bikes. I must say I LOVE that about my street and I know how valuable that is. But have three children (ages range from 6-10yrs) it seems that our YARD RULES have been tested to the max. Gabe is my youngest. He is still not allowed, without special permission to go across the street to the neighbor"s yard. The other two older kids, are allowed to go play at the neighbors house...but under strict rules...
1) They must ask me before they leave
2) They must play in the yard ONLY...no going inside (unless I get a phone call or text asking them to come over)
3) Returning back home at the time agreed on
4) Not leaving that yard to attend another yard, without me knowing
5) Play nicely

So this past week, the two kids kept leaving the front yard and not telling me where they were going...and then sometimes they got permission but didn't remain where they said they would be...and sometimes they just ignored the RETURN time. So Saturday, MEAN MOMMA MANDY came out to their surprise! Both Addison and Zander broke the rules, YET AGAIN! The kids were banned to be inside on LABOR Day....their day OFF...but they didn't get the day off! Instead, Addison and Zander spent 3hours doing household chores!!! It was hard for me to do this! Why? Well, I hated telling their friends to go home but they couldn't play because they didn't follow the OUTSIDE RULES! I felt like I was embarrassingnt them, but at the same time, I wanted their friends aware that my kids had rules they HAD to follow to be allowed these privileges. Then, it was a beautiful day outside!!!! And NO HOMEWORK OR FOOTBALL PRACTICE!!! This is a RARE thing for our household in the school year! I felt so bad making them come in and do housework for half of the day when I knew they needed the play time.

But I knew I had to IMPRESS on my kids that what I said, I meant, and it can't be tested anymore! The reality of this is the rules are rules because mommy is being mean. But the rules are the rules cause mommy has an important job! God gave me the responsibility to raise them in a SAFE, LOVING, and GODLY HOME!

See, it's hard being a mom! It's hard to follow through on what you said would happen if rules weren't obeyed! I know that this is not the last time I will feel bad for doing what I know is right! I got years and years of this ahead of me....

Sure was easier when they had timeout!!! HAHA!

First Football Games

So I have given in and let both of my boys play football this year! I went to school to be a coach and a teacher...and after several kinesiology classes, I told myself that if I ever had boys, they would be at least 5th grade before they played tackle football.
Why??
1) I didn't want to be one of THOSE parents that pushed their boys to feel that athletics was the most important thing in their life.
2) Many kids play recklessly, and many coach recklessly, too....
3) Winning is not everything
4) The safety of my child if none of the above were done

Well, here I am with one child playing a year earlier than I thought and my youngest playing as a first grader! HAHA! Well, in my defense, alot of this was daddy's decision. But I will tell you, after watching my oldest son, Zander in other sports, I felt that if "he wanted to", he seemed ready for football. He is a smart kid, hustles like no other kid, and does his very best to do exactly what the coach ask. He also is a strategic player. He studies the game and is really good at strategies. And he is very much a team player and loves spending time playing ANY sport with his buddies!

Why Gabe? I am gonna be honest! I would like to see him toughen up some and have the ability to stand his own if he needs to. See, he is around boys 2-3years older (Zander and his buddies) and these kids run circles around Gabe. But it is not because Gabe isn't capable of hanging with these kids. It's because Gabe has no idea he has the strength or ability to stand up to these kids and compete with them or even take them down himself. And then when Gabe is with kids his own age, he babies them! So...I put him in football in hopes to give him a little fight and some self confidence!

I am not 100% sure I made the right decision, but I know I did my best to make sure I did! But the most important thing is both boys are LOVING it and learning so much! I am proud of them no matter what!

Addison is a MIDDLE SCHOOLER!!!

How did it happen so fast? I know I have heard my mom say it for years, "Enjoy it, cos time will fly by!" And boy is she ever so right!

Here is a picture of my baby girl about 10 years ago!














This is a picture of her on the first day of kindergarten (5years ago).



















And this is her today....a middle school young lady!


She is growing so fast and I know that some of the most difficult and yet best years lie ahead! I pray that God gives me the knowledge, the wisdom and the patience to to raise her in a way that would give him glory:-)