On a picket fence

I was blessed to be born with the ability to sleep anywhere, at any time. Literally. I never had to be lying down or even comfortable. I could sleep sitting up, if necessary. My mom used to say I could sleep on a picket fence.

This blessing had been one of my favorites. Sadly, it has left me.

Nothing is bothering me (well, other than having to get my house ready for the 25+ people coming to my son's birthday party next week, my husband's softball injury that *might* require surgery and having to ship this one off to Kindergarten in a few weeks.) I toss and I turn and I do it a little more. I listen to my husband snore (maybe THAT's it - who am I kidding, we've been together for 8 years. I've almost tuned it out completely.) and I listen to the fan make these very odd noises.

People, I need to sleep. I require more sleep than most human beings on the planet. I enjoy staring at the backs of my eyelids. I DO NOT enjoy drinking my weight in coffee, just to function throughout the day.

Maybe.....just maybe I'll relax a smidge after the birthday party is over. But, then, school starts....

Ain't she a beaut? - Wordless Wednesday!

Vacation, way back when....

Is summer really almost over? School starts in 36 days. It's not really felt like summer here - the weather has been quite wonky this year. The idea of cold weather moving in makes me want to cry.

I'm reliving our vacation (in my mind, at least), so I thought I'd share some of the fun with you!



This is one of my favorite days - we spent the whole day on the beach with my sister and her family. The adults sat and chatted while the boys played for hours in the sand and ocean. We left Tank at home with my mom - he's not quite ready yet! My husband is trying to help the boys find sand crabs.



The only thing that would have made this picture better is having my baby boy in it. Maybe next year :) We were waiting to be seated for dinner and I decided to snap this shot of my boys.








I rode these exact rides as a child! The boys love hitting the boardwalk when we're there because they know there are lots of rides and games to play. It's a pint sized heaven on earth :)




"The Lake" is one of my favorite places on earth. My husband's aunt and uncle have a house on Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland. We go for the 4th of July and it's wonderful. I love watching my boys REALLY play - baseball and fishing and football and swinging, etc. etc. It's good, clean, healthy fun - no electronics involved. They slept harder than I've ever seen them sleep - the fresh air just does a body good :) Henry was the same way - his fun was a little bit more contained, but he still loved it.



See what I mean about "really playing"! Friends at the lake have this contraption set up with their riding lawn mower. The boys did this for hours during our time there. It does my heart good to know that they'll have these memories as they get older.

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.