The Boots to my Dora.

The Bert to my Ernie. The Patrick to my Spongebob (this one would be his favorite).



My middle child. The child who plays that role VERY well. The child who has been by my side more days than not. The child who will plant himself outside of the bathroom, so he knows the second I walk out.

I'm sending him off to Kindergarten in 49 days. I'm heartbroken about that. He's my shopping partner, my helper, my snuggler during quiet time. He loves to hold my hand, just because. He's an excellent big brother and will entertain Henry when he gets fussy and I can't get to him in time.

What am I going to do without him? I suppose I'll continue to prepare him the best way I can and be proud of the fact that he's a good boy with a very tender heart, a feisty personality and desire to please and do well. I can think of nothing else I want in my children.

Winners!

We chose the winners the old fashioned way - I put all of your names in a bucket and my son picked out 2. He thought it was the COOLEST. THING. EVER.

Thank you to all who commented! It was nice to "meet" you all.

The winners are:


Jen Holt

Omaha Mama




Congratulations and you'll be hearing from me soon!

Mommy Grace - Erasing Your Mommy Guilt (review and giveaway)

Mommy Grace - Erasing Your Mommy Guilt, by Dr. Sheila Schuller Coleman

In this season of my life, mommy guilt is all around. There's guilt about not reading to my boys enough, not feeding them more veggies and not sitting on the floor enough to play with them. I deal with mommy guilt from the moment my eyes open in the morning until the moment they close at night. When I was approached to review this book, I knew immediately that God was at work!

I read this book over many evenings and EVERY evening, I was met with "a-ha" moments - reading personal stories from Dr. Coleman that often mirrored my life! Many of these personal stories left me shaking my head in agreement and left me feeling like I truly wasn't alone.

Dr. Coleman writes about, with perfect detail, the many different types of "mommy guilt" moms are faced with on a daily basis. The book is simply written and very easy to understand, with concepts easy to grasp. It's written in such a conversational tone that I often felt like I was having a chat over lunch with my mommy friends! At the end of each chapter, Dr. Coleman gives a bible verse that goes along with the chapter's content AND writes a beautiful prayer to compliment it.

I don't know that anything will ever completely erase my mommy guilt, but this book went a long way in making me feel better about where I am right now.


*********Giveaway*********

There are 2 copies of Mommy Grace - Erasing Your Mommy Guilt up for grabs! Just leave me a comment to be entered. I'll choose a winner on Wednesday, July 15th. Please make sure I have a way to contact you :)

Hello.

I'm Tina, remember me? I've been all over the place these last few weeks and I believe I'll be staying put for a while now.

I like living here. I don't love it anymore. The vicious winters have taken their toll on my psyche. I suffer from SAD (acronym fits nicely). Here, winter lasts 6 months. That's 6 months of dark, dreary, cold and snowy days. I loathe snow. I'm petrified to drive in it, which means I'm stuck at home A LOT.

I also have no family here. That's probably a good thing most of the time. But, I have 2 nephews and a niece that I miss terribly. I hate seeing them only 1 or 2 times a year. My boys and my nephews get along famously and it's so much fun to watch them play together. My niece's 2nd birthday party is this weekend and we won't be there. That just makes me sad. I was able to spend lots of time with them when we were back a few weeks ago and it was lovely - really lovely. It's getting harder and harder for me to leave "home" and come back here. I'm trying really hard to "bloom where I'm planted", but I'm struggling (and I've already been here for 2 1/2 years).





My cousins are significantly older - I never truly "grew up" with them, even though I knew them. It warms my heart that my boys have cousins that are SUPER close in age to them (my oldest nephew and my oldest son are 10 months apart and my youngest and my niece are 9 months apart in age) and I could watch them play together all day.

I miss them so much. I miss the area where I lived - where I married, where my first baby was born. I miss the ocean. I REALLY miss the ocean. I was able to dig my toes in the sand and watch my boys play, just like I wanted. It was a little piece of heaven on earth for me. I watched my husband truly relax. I watched my boys and nephews play together and I was able to laugh with my sister - something I haven't done in ages.

It felt good - really good. I don't know when I'll do it again. I keep telling myself that I need to bloom where I'm planted. I wonder how many times I'll have to repeat that to myself.

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.

I'm here - haven't had internet access until today. I'm on vacation with my family - we spent all day on the beach yesterday. It's been fabulous so far - I really miss it here.

blah....blah....blah

Life has a tendency to get away from me. I feel like I'm in survival mode most days, having 3 boys here with me all day instead of just 2. It's amazing to me how much more food is eaten/laundry is used/messes are made when all 3 kidlets are here. Three children also require a BUTT TON more energy from me - I'm still adjusting to that.

Vacation is in 3 more sleeps - YAY! I'm not a fan of the 10 hour drive (one way), but it's nice bonding time with my husband and it's fun to play little games with the older boys while we're on the road. I'll get to spend some time at the beach, ON the beach, with family and friends. I'll get to watch my sweet nephew T play some baseball and I'll get to relax....I think we (especially my husband) need that part more than anything. We need the chance to get away from HERE. Away from the auto industry, more foreclosure signs than I care to ever see again, stress. As much as family drives me nuts sometimes, I'm thankful that we have a place to escape.

I'll be back soon with some baseball/tball tidbits AND a book review/giveaway.

Hope you guys enjoyed your weekend!

I'm tired.

Baseball and Tball are kicking my ass and I'm not even the one playing the games. I can only imagine how I'm going to feel when my boys are older and playing more than 1 sport.

It's hard for me to put into words how I'm feeling about the rest of what's going on in my life. I'm blessed - I have a good life and I don't take it for granted at all. We're all in desperate need of a vacation - time away from HERE, time to spend with each other and time to relax. There's so little relaxing around here - time is spent worrying about jobs and what's right for our family. I don't want to worry anymore. I want to dig my toes in the sand and watch my boys play on the beach. I'm tired of worrying.