A Little Bit of This and A Little Bit of That

I haven't been a good blogger on here.  I'm very consistent with keeping up with my personal blog on Xanga.  I have been on Xanga for years and have many readers on there that I've become very acquainted with.  It's nice to see who exactly is coming onto my blog and I receive so many comments and feedback from them.  There are also a lot of Xanga blogs I read too.  The Xanga community has been my home since I was first married and I'm most comfortable there.  I wanted to give Blogger a try and leave it open to the public so family and others can easily view it but I'm sorry to say I'm just not as consistent with it.  Since Xanga is kept private and only viewable by a select few who have Xanga accounts, I find myself easily able to write just about anything from my personal feelings regarding any certain situations, certain events going on with the family and even lots of pictures.  I try to be a little more discreet on here and because of that it's hard to know what to write.  Also, I have only a few other Blogger blogs that I read regularly and they don't update as much. 

I have decided to write a blog today with just some random thoughts.  Brianna is napping and Matthew is playing a video game.  While I wait for the last load of wash to finish I might as well blog. 

A lot has been going on lately in our family.  Matthew recently graduated from preschool.  The school held a very sweet ceremony and the kids wore caps and gowns and were presented with a diploma.  Matthew enjoyed going to the school and made lots of friends.  He is excited to start kindergarten in the fall.  I have always enjoyed teaching Matthew different things at home but preschool has taught him so much more.  He can recognize and write all the letters in the alphabet and is learning how to spell.  He knows all the days of the week and months of the year.  Preschool also gave him the experience to learn social skills that he didn't get by being at home with me.  Now he's done with preschool and officially on summer vacation.  He is also near the end of his first year of t-ball and that has been going well too. 

Brianna is getting closer to her second birthday.  She can repeat anything we say word for word and her little voice is so adorable.  She's very clingy to me just like her brother was.  She's also learning a lot and it helps to have a big brother who is constantly wanting to recite the alphabet and count numbers.  She is picking up on all that too.  She tells me when she "pooped" her diaper and for awhile she was willingly using the potty but that has stopped.  I'm not the type of parent who rushes to get my little one's potty trained.  Matthew learned on his own when he was almost three and I know Brianna will get it when she's ready too. 

My husband is doing well.  He is back to work after taking three days off.  Then, because of Memorial Day, he will have a three day weekend.  It's nice having him home.  He works a full forty hour week as an accountant and also has another bookkeeping job from home.  He's always been a hard worker and I'm so proud of him for always wanting to step up and do what he needs to for himself and his family.  Yesterday we celebrated his birthday and six days ago we celebrated our 11 year wedding anniversary. 

Yes, 11 years!  I shouldn't brag, but truthfully I feel so lucky to have found such a wonderful man and at a young age.  He is a great person.  Never complains about anything, always works hard and is a great husband and father.  I couldn't imagine having anyone better as my life-long partner.  It hasn't been an easy 11 years but it's been totally worth it.  I'm blessed! 

Mother's Day Recap

We celebrated Mother's Day a few days ago.  I'm blessed to have a husband and children that treat me special every single day but I enjoyed being extra pampered on Sunday.  Matthew made me a bag in school with his hand prints on it.  Rob bought me a Boston Creme donut (my favorite) and some flowers.  They also made a beautiful card for me and we enjoyed Olive Garden take out.  It was a great Mother's Day!

I love being the mother to my two children.  Since they've been born I couldn't imagine my life without them.  They completed my heart and gave me a purpose for living.  As parents we are supposed to teach our children so many things but they have also taught me so much as well.  When you're a parent love at first site does exist. 

Curb Appeal

The weather on Saturday was beautiful and gave us a chance to work on one of the flower beds in the front yard.  I believe that curb appeal in a home is important but we unfortunately neglected that for a long time.  My goal for the spring is to get the outside of our house looking presentable and I'm very pleased with the look so far. 

I'm very grateful that my husband offered to chip in and replace the old, worn out wood around the bed with some new wood.  It looks great.  We also purchased a new plant called Rising Sun Coreopsis. 

Right now the plant looks like this.

But with time and love it should look like this picture I found on the internet.

The Rising Sun Coreopsis is expected to grow 3' wide and 3' tall.  I've been known to screw up plants before so I'm crossing my fingers that this works.  We'll see.

Here is the finished look as of right now.  I'm hoping to add more garden decor.  We decided to go with rubber mulch instead of the real stuff.  My dad uses it in his flower beds.  It's a bit more costly than real mulch but it lasts longer and we won't have to replace it every year so in the long run it will be a huge money saver.  I don't have a green thumb so I'm very impressed with these results. 

Introducing ... The Next Babe Ruth

We signed Matthew up for t-ball and he loves it.  He's normally a very shy boy; an introvert just me, but he is so different on the field.  He has a good time and I love knowing how much he enjoys it.  It's important to me that my children get involved with sports and other activities.  They need to be active, socialize with other children and learn different things to find out what they like and what they are good at.  This is the first sport Matthew has played with a team and I can't express just how proud I am of him. 

Yesterday was the first game of the season.  There are only three t-ball teams in the league so Matthew will be playing the other two teams four times each.  He's the smallest and probably the slowest on the team so he has to push himself harder but he did well.  He can't throw the ball as far as the other kids can but that will improve over time.  It's especially awesome that his dad is an assistant coach.  It has always been a dream of Rob's to be able to coach his son's little league team and now the time is here.  I love watching them both on the field. 

 My little lefty

 Giving Coach Dad a high five after his first run.  I love this picture so much!

Kind Words From a Five Year Old

Yesterday the kids and I enjoyed the warm weather by playing in the backyard.  We have a nice swing set for them to play with.  I was sitting in the club house with my one year old while my five year old was repeatedly climbing up the slide and then sliding back down.  At one point he climbed up the slide and held a clover with three leaves.  He said, "Look Mom I have good luck."

I'm really not sure where he heard that clovers bring you good luck but I did correct him by saying that the four-leaf clovers are the ones that are supposed to bring good luck (not that I believe in any of that luck stuff).  So he tossed the leaf and said, "that's okay, I'm already lucky," and then slid down the slide.  I asked him, "why are you lucky?"  He hesitated, shrugged his shoulders and then smiled at me before answering, "because I have you."

Oh my goodness!  I can't express just how good that made me feel.  That was the sweetest thing I had ever heard and not something I expected to come out of my five year old son's mouth.  Those words might have meant nothing much to him but they meant everything to me.  I will always cherish that conversation.  Always. 

I believe I'm the lucky one. 

Hello Spring!

We are in the second day of spring and it's snowing here in Pennsylvania.  The temperature also feels too cold for spring weather.  Enough of this already!

Yesterday after I picked Matthew up from preschool we rang in the first day of the season with a free Italian ice at Rita's, something we try to do every year.  It's a nice tradition and who doesn't love free stuff?

Brianna shared my watermelon Italian ice while Matthew enjoyed his own blue raspberry one.  Delicious! 

Happy spring everyone!

Winter Unpleasantries.

The weather outside is cold.  Too cold.  A snow storm is headed this way.  I am not a winter person.  Never was.  I don't like having to put on one layer after another and I do not like feeling the cold, crisp air beat against my skin.  It's not pleasant.  Not for me.  

I am so glad this week is almost over.  It's been a tough one.  We are all getting over being sick.  My husband had a bad cold and passed it along to me.  My son had a bad cough for a few days and now it seems to be draining out of his system.  Baby girl is coughing here and there and hasn't been napping well in the last few days.  In fact, she's in her crib fussing and crying right now when she should be sleeping.  I am not one of those moms who jumps to the rescue when the baby calls for me.  I'll wait and see if she doses off on her own. 

So as I wait for another load of laundry to finish drying and another load of dishes to finish getting clean in the dishwasher (two chores that are never ending) I'm sitting here on the couch drinking a cup of decaffeinated green tea while Matthew sits next to me playing a video game.  I'm doing my best to stay quiet in hopes that Brianna will fall asleep. 

Today the kids and I attended story time at the library and later today I will be going to my weekly Zumba class.  As much as I love being with my kids I do like that chance to get out and be among adults ... even if I'm sweating my butt off in the process.

I guess that's enough rambling from me.  Try to stay warm everyone ... unless you are already living in a part of the world where the temperature is already hot, in that case -- consider yourself lucky.