We're having a BIRTHDAY {Spencer}

I can't believe this boy is celebrating another birthday already

Wasn't he just 4?

The boy we thought would never weigh 50 pounds,
 now weighs in at a whopping 90+ pounds

Call me over protective but he can now legally ride in the front seat
{If you don't believe me, read the WARNING on the visor in your vehicle}

A few weeks ago, we were following a car that was swerving all over the road
I saw the driver of the car, reach back and hit his child several times
In shock, I said - Oh my gosh, that guy is beating his kid!
The guy reached back and hit his child again and ran the stop sign
I had to make light of the situation and told Spencer I could hit him easier if he sat in the front seat
I was just kidding
I can't tell you the last time I laid a hand on my children other than to love on them

Even though Spencer is still a child and we still have to direct and discipline,
we are definitely seeing a side of him that is maturing

He has taken on a lot of responsibility this year being in middle school
{6 classes, mac book, violin,cell phone, braces ....}
Spence has always done well in school and seems to really enjoy school
I honestly think he got some of my ADD/ADHD and functions better when stimulated
Give this boy too much down time and he will drive you absolutely crazy
His first semester grades came home and this mama was lovin on her 4.0 student
His language arts teacher tells him that he lights up the room
Spencer's always smiling and ALWAYS has something to say {which isn't always a good thing}

Another quality we love about Spencer is his determination
The boy can and will do anything he puts his mind to
Last month Cloud 9 {Snowboard movie} premiered
The next day, Spencer begged us to take him snowboarding
I tried to tell him there wouldn't be enough snow but there was no telling the kid he couldn't do it
{He would have gone down down the hill in the grass just to prove a point}
Dad took him and sure enough, the boy was snowboarding
They came back home and Spencer picked out a new snowboard for his birthday
and has been on a snowboarding kick since

As excited as I am to see what's in store for this kiddo,
 it's hard to watch him turn another year older

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Although it looks more like Christmas outside,

we're decked out in red and pink today

I posted earlier this month about our 14 days of Valentine's Day

Here's the run down

Day 1: You Melt My Heart- White chocolate hot chocolate

Day 2: You Make Me Smile- Tooth paste and tooth brush

Day 3: You're My Main Squeeze- Dole Squish'ems

Day 4: I'm Nuts About You- Planters peanuts

Day 5: I Have A Crush On You- Crush Drink Mix

Day 6: You're One In A Million, Don't Ever Change- $

Day 7: I'm Hog Wild About You- Pig boxes with cowboy cookies

Day 8: You're My Stud Muffin- Muffins

Day 9: I Think You're Just Write- Pencils

Day 10: Donut You Know How Much I Love You- Donuts

Day 11: I Think You're Soda Amazing- Pop

Day 12: You Make My Heart Pop- Cheddar popcorn

Day 13: You're So Charming! I'm Lucky To Have You- Lucky Charms

Day 14: Will You Be My Valentine- Conversation hearts

The boys LOVED their surprises!


We have no Valentine plans
Restaurants are too crazy and now that it's snowing, I think we'll stay put


Happy Valentine's Day!

Some hard/forced decisions

I've spent the last 15 years doing what I love

I started cosmetology school in August of 1999 and graduated a year later

The first 7 years I worked at a Regis owned salon

Those were some of the worst years of my life

They don't care whether you have a family, all they care about is the money you make for them

I also had what I would call a bipolar boss

Happy one minute, Ready to kill the next

I knew that I LOVED what I was doing but knew I couldn't continue down that road

I came home more days than not- in tears

I knew it was going to take "that one day"  when I just couldn't take it any longer
That day came!

I was told about a part time job, interviewed and got the job the next day and gave my 2 week notice

A month after leaving the salon, I opened my own salon and never looked back

I see my clients more than I see most of my family

99.9% of my clients are amazing

There are still some cons to owning my own business but for the most part, I LOVE it

But.... it's time to make some hard and forced decisions

I injured my shoulder last July and it has become excruciating
{to the point that the pain makes me nauseous}

I'll be seeing an orthopedic doctor in Davenport this afternoon and I'm scared to death

I have no idea what the outcome will be

Either way, surgery or no surgery, I'm not sure I can continue in this line of work

It breaks my heart that I may have to give up something I LOVE

I'm saying lots of prayers this morning!

February

Who in the world thought it was a good idea to include the month of January in the calendar year

It's such a cold boring month 

We're excited that February is finally here

While I'm not looking forward to my first born being another year older,

I am looking forward to Valentine's Day and hopefully some signs of Spring

Growing up, Valentine's Day wasn't a big deal
We got the usual box of Valentines to give our class and that's about it

My children know they're loved but I want them to know what I love about them
and February is the perfect month for this
Each day leading up to Valentine's Day,
I leave a heart on the boys door telling them what I LOVE about them

 Spencer would never tell you that he enjoyed this
but
Parker LOVES it!

I am also doing 14 days of Valentines for the boys this year

We're on day 3 and so far here is what they've received

                                 Day 1: You Melt My Heart- White Chocolate Hot Chocolate

                                 Day 2: You Make Me Smile- Tooth brushes and tooth paste

                                 Day 3: You're My Main Squeeze- Dole Squish'ems

On Valentines Day or shortly after, I'll post what I gave them for all 14 days 

I rigged up some of these Valentine buntings for our living room windows

I'm hoping to get some other Valentine decor made but we'll see if time allows
We're supposed to be getting dumped on again tomorrow
Maybe we can get some fun stuff made


Happy February!

Some days

Some days I wonder why God lead us on the path we've been on

Other days, I'm a tiny bit thankful for those days

Our first deployment, I call it "OUR" because we were in it together

Not literally but when a spouse is deployed, the other is left to keep putting the puzzle of life together

This deployment made me independent

I learned to do things on my own with a 1 year old in tow

Our second deployment made me even more independent

Almost to the point of shutting everyone out of our lives

I had the boys and that was all I needed

They kept me going on days when I saw darkness

They were my rock

They still are!

The boys were out of school yesterday for Martin Luther King Jr Day

I didn't realize they had the day off  3 weeks ago when I was scheduling appointments

Then the hubby came home Friday and said he would be over the road on Monday night

I don't even panic any more, I just know that things will work out

The boys were AMAZING yesterday!

I did hair for 6 hours and turned around and taught classes for 2 and a half hours

I felt so guilty for having to work and tagging them along

but they understand what must be done

This morning we woke up to more snow

Thank goodness for my independence, the snow has been moved,

the boys have been dropped off at school with only one trip back home for a forgotten book

and the day is just beginning

I haven't seen the hubby in 24 hours but ya know what, we've got this

These guys are my world

These boys have no idea how much they have changed my life

We've been through a lot together and it's only made us stronger

I'm NOT ready for this!

I woke up Sunday morning and checked my email and facebook

I had a friend request and a inbox message

I clicked on the friend request and saw that it was a mom from school

{Not just any mom - The mom of Parker's crush}

Parker has been dreamy eyed about this little girl since kindergarten

When you mention her name he grins ear to ear

This little girl got a cell phone for Christmas

Parker had been texting her on his kindle on Saturday

Well.....

Not only did the mom want to be my facebook friend,

she sent me a personal message to let me know what our kids had been texting

Here it is-

so... apparently Jaime and Parker have a "thing" now haha Jaime got a phone for Christmas (yes shes spoiled) and she and Parker are messaging back and forth ! i heard her phone go off last night and when i picked it up she had a meltdown because she didnt want me to see her messages, well i did read them and finally got out of her that it was Parker she was messaging. Im just giving you the heads up that i told her that the words Love, Hugs and Kisses is not appropriate haha ahh to be young again. Im sure they are both completly harmless, but she has to know to use her words wisely OMG im so in trouble !! It is cute the way they talk lol oh and for some reason, "they" are a secret LOL

Dear Lord, HELP ME!

3rd grade

This is just one reason why 3rd graders do not need cell phones

Spencer got a cell phone for Christmas too and we had already covered some rules

This gave us a reason to cover some more ground rules with both of them

One of our rules is-

Mom and Dad can take the phone/kindle and read texts at any time

So while Parker was in the shower, I grabbed the kindle and read the texts

Thankfully, my son was not the one initiating most of the conversations

He did tell her she was hot 

 {I told him girls prefer to be told they are pretty}

Here are some things that she texted-

She's had a crush on him since kindergarten
She dreams of him every night

She is a princess and he is her boyfriend

She asked if he got her hugs and kisses

Love you honey
Don't tell anyone our secret


I am NOT ready for this!

A post all over the place... {Maybe too much cold medicine}

We started the New Year off with a bang
Literally
On Thursday (Jan. 2nd) morning we were hit from behind pulling out of the Wal-Mart parking lot

The guy that hit us was an absolute jerk

He didn't want me to call the police or turn it into insurance because his insurance would go up

At one point, the boys thought the guy was going to hit me

An accident report was filed and I left

Since then I've been on the phone way too many times to count
 Trying to get a claim # {I got 2 different claim #'s from 2 different people}
An estimate appointment {$600 Yikes but could have been worse}
 A rental car {I sure hope they give me something good}

Thankfully we're all okay and the van will be fixed at the end of the month

The weather here has been COLD!
I think it was something like -30 with the wind chill on Monday
The kids got lucky and got an extra day off {Tuesday} due to the freezing temps
Today the kiddos headed back to class and I breathed a sigh of relief
We all function SO MUCH BETTER in a routine


I've come down with a nasty cold
I don't get sick often but when I do it hits like a mack truck
They sure took all the good stuff out of cold medicine
Nothing seems to work


This blog post is kind of all over the place but I guess I'm just here to document
It's not how things are written, it's the stories that are told

Here are a couple of things I wanted to jot down for the memories

I've posted before about how much my kids adore my parents
My Mom is an amazing seamstress
Every year since the boys were itty bitty, she has made them flannel pajama pants
She usually picks a flannel print that has something on it that the boys like {soccer, baseball, skateboards}
For Christmas, each of the kids got a new pair of "comfy pants"
Spencer opened the package, held them up to his nose and said- they smell like Grandma's house
Later that day, I asked what he thought Grandma's house smelled like
His response: HAPPINESS
My Mom cried when I told her what he said
She's heard Spencer say that things smell like her house and she's asked him what it smells like
he's never had an answer until that day, he just kept saying it smelled like Grandma's house
We're guessing it's my mom's perfume but how sweet

The boys have spent just about every day of their Christmas break in their "comfy pants"
This morning when we were getting ready for school,
we found out that Parker may have ate too many Christmas cookies
None of his pants will button
Thank goodness for older brothers and hand me down pants
He won't be wearing "comfy pants to school


It's the little things in life that make us laugh