It's not even 10:00....

and I've already taken a 45 minute bike ride, stopping along the way to let the kids play at the park (that was 45 minutes of riding time, I'm not sure how long we played). We took a rather hilly route, so I'm beat. We decided to ride by the State hospital grounds and look for ducks (they have a large pond in the middle of the grounds where the ducks gather). As we rode by, we noticed that most of the ducks were still sleeping.

I told the kids that they should take that as a hint - that it was way to early to be up on a Saturday morning! Both of them were bright eyed and bushy tailed at 7:00am. This was after Simon not allowing me to sleep most of the night, and Jacob waking at some point crying that he wanted to change his pajamas (still havn't figured out why). After trying desperately to get some more sleep while Brian took both of them to the living room to play, I gave up and just got up. I was already thinking of everything we had to do today.

Next on our list: trip to the butcher shop, then hopefully to Dicks Sporting Goods before lunch. After lunch will be naps for the kids, and laundry for me. Later this afternoon, the kids and I are meeting a bunch of friends for a playdate at the splash park and then McDonalds for dinner. We're going to the big on that has a huge play place so the kids can entertain themselves while we moms catch up with each other.

I'll be willing to bet that we all collapse in to bed by the end of the day!

The Wii Fit is officially kicking my butt

You know, one would think that a PTA (that's physical therapist assistant which has nothing at all to do with the parent teacher association....some get confused by that abbreviation) such as myself would be in fairly decent shape. Yeah, I would have thought so, too.

Not. So.

I've recently started a regimine to whip myself in to shape and just overall feel better. In addition to biking more often with my dearest hubby and kids, I've begun doing the Wii Fit exercises again. I had been doing them pretty well, and well - life got in the way. No more. I need to do this. I'm on day 3 of really taking it seriously.

Oh. My. Goodness. I can feel muscles working that I didn't know existed (which is funny, given said occupation). I'm feeling good, though. Sore, but good.

Oh, and the balance aspect. One could also assume that a PTA such as myself would have pretty darn good balance. Afterall, that is what I work with my patients on day after day after day.

Again - wrong assumption. Let's just say I very gracefully (ha!) fell completely over yesterday as I attempted a yoga pose. I'm also pretty sure that the "tree" pose is not supposed to resemble a palm tree in a hurricaine. Mine did.

Flexibility? Nope, I'm not exactly pretzle making material....which, by watching the "trainer" on this Wii thing, one really needs to be in order to do some of these poses.

So it looks like I've got a LOT of work to do. No matter. I've got time. Actually, I'm not on any time frame at all. And like I said, I really do feel good. I feel good that I'm being proactive with my health. And hey, it always helps if I outscore the hubby. ;)

My only real issue is this daily body test. If I've been so much more active, and watching what I eat more, someone explain to me how I gained 1.2 pounds between last night and tonight! That's just nuts! I'd hate to know what would have happened if I snacked on ice cream and cookies instead of a banana with a dab of peanut butter after our bike ride tonight. (Did I mention that we rode 7.3 miles tonight? No? Well, we did!) Oh well, I'll take that with a grain of salt. It's not the daily weight that I need to worry about anyway. Now, if I gain 1.2 pounds again tomorrow - prehaps I need to reassess what I'm doing.

I win the cruel mommy award today

I mean, really. How mean is it to take a child on a bike ride who is obviously completely exhausted?

No really, he wasn't even acting tired before we left on our little trip. After dinner tonight we got on our bikes, Simon in his seat, and Jacob in a trailer pulled by Brian, and we rode down to the riverfront and back. It's around 6 miles, so it didn't take us that long. Right as we approached the riverfront, Simon's head started bobbing. I hopped off the bike and tightened up his straps, hoping it would help keep him upright. No such luck. It seems he's just a bit too small for the strap system (odd, since the packaging says it can be used for 12 months and up. He's 14 1/2 months, and I thought about average sized, but I digress). Either way, the guard pad in front of him acted nicely as a pillow until we could get him home.

He really does love this thing. Before he was lulled into his peaceful slumber, he was holding on to the pad like a steering wheel making car noises and squealing. He'd wave happily at people as we passed them and say "Hi!" I can see how it was relaxing for him, though. I mean, I'd love if someone would do the work for me while I just let the breeze kiss my face. It was a beautiful evening, too.

At any rate, I hope he can figure out how to stay awake while we ride. I'm planning to ride in the Great Pumpkin Metric with Brian this year (he does it every year, but I never have before). I'm going to need to train, and since we can't just leave the kids that often, they have to come with us. Jacob is more than happy to oblige, and honestly, so is Simon. But I must say that it's a bit difficult to streer the bike and keep Simon's head from lolling off to the side at the same time!

Well, the bouncy seat is no more.

Let us take a moment to review the stages of bouncy seat with Simon. The first pic is of the first bouncy seat we used - the one that he very quickly outgrew in height, and I had to buy a new one, because he loved it so much!

I am happy - no - relieved - to announce that Simon has not fallen asleep in his bouncy seat for the past 4 nights. I decided, after finding him kneeling in the thing and using it as a bucking bronko, that he was way too big for it. So, 4 night ago, we started some modified sleep training. Basically using the "timed response" technique. Which is not nearly as easy for me now as it was with Jacob. As I may have mentioned, the boys share a bedroom. Jacob was NOT happy about my decision to allow Simon to go to bed at the same time as him....much less that I *gasp* walked out of the room and let Simon cry for a few minutes. That first night was aweful. Like, so bad that I was seriously questioning whether this was a good idea. Simon never cried by himself for more than 3 or 4 mintues, but I still felt aweful. That night, it took 1 1/2 hours to get both boys to go to sleep.

The 2nd night was a bit better, but still not stellar. It was 45 minutes of back and forth for me. Last night, much, much better. Only 15-20 minutes and both boys were asleep.

Now, tonight. Oh my goodness. The difference a few days makes! We've stuck to the same bedtime routine since we started this (I had to deviate a little bit tonight, but I'll get to that in a minute). Around 8:10, I put both boys in the bath. After getting washed off, they were allowed to play with the tub toys in the water for about 15 minutes (tonight I did double duty and folded clothes while they played - that worked nicely). Immediately after that, it was straight to the living room, where I had already dimmed all the lights and turned on soft sleepy time music. After getting PJ's on, Jacob sat on a blanket and did puzzles and looked at books quietly (all by himself! I was so proud), while Simon nursed. I did *not* nurse Simon to sleep, and due to our new routine, he was well aware that he would not be nursing that long. When he was finished, he just sat up and said "done!" and grinned. (This was where we deviated tonight. Brian has been reading to Jacob while Simon nurses, but Brian wasn't home tonight). Then both boys went to the bathroom and brushed teeth, or rather, I brushed their teeth, right before they headed to their room and climbed up on Jacob's bed. We read one book, sang one song, and then it was lights out. Hugs and kisses all around, and a short back rub for Simon to settle him down.

Now, I did have to go back in his room once to tell him to lay back down and give another quick back rub to calm him down. But - I left the room with him still awake and babbling to himself. He fell asleep on his own! I was SO happy. And Jacob was relatively quiet during all of that, which is also just great.

I've been enjoying my evening sans kids, which is so amazing for me. Until very recently, Simon was up way too late, giving me virtually no time for myself. With Brian gone tonight, I've been very happily lounging, talking on the phone and spending a bit of time on the computer all while listening to soft jazz music. It's been heavenly.

Of course, after writing this, I have probably jinxed myself. I have a feeling tomorrow night won't be nearly as smooth, as we will have quite a routine upset because of a late birthday party with out of town family. But that's ok. I am well on my way to having a real bedtime for my kids!

Will I never learn?

I've told myself this again and again, and experience confirms my belief over and over:

It is easier to keep a house clean that to clean a house.

In other words, I spend much less time cleaning if I just keep the place clean. You know, pick up as I go along. Do a quick vacuuming job before I pick the kids up. Do the dishes immediately after a meal rather than let them pile up. Keep the clothes off the floor; put the laundry away immediately after I fold it; heck, do a load of laundry a day (not let it pile up).

I know this. I've proven it to myself time and time again. If I keep the place in order, I can do it in as little as 20 minutes a day. This gives me more time to play with my kids, and more "me" time after they go to bed. So why, oh why, am I sitting here looking at the rooms in my house - all in various stages if disarray?

I'll tell you why. I'm tired. It took exactly one day of me just being tired. Too tired to do that 20 minutes of work. Oh and lazy. One day of just feeling like doing nothing when I got off work.

One would think that a girl could take just one day and let things slide. Nope, not when you're a mom. No breaks for moms. And what happens when a mom takes a break? Well, this:

This is by far the worst room, but trust me, all the other rooms are in upheaval also. It drives me batty to have my house looking like this. It's all disorganized and it makes me feel disorganized - which I guess I am. But I don't need to feel like I am, you know?

Ugh. This is going to take me hours to fix. (Not just this room - the house in general). That's not to mention the approximately 5 loads of laundry that I have allowed to pile up this week.

I swear, I need a maid.

On the menu for this week....

The butcher shop I normally use for all of my meat is closed this week, so I was a bit worried about what I was going to do for dinners this week. I took a tip from another blogger ( "Cheapskate Mom" at http://proudtobecheap.blogspot.com/). Before I did my shopping this weekend, I did an inventory of my cabinets, fridge and freezer and tried fo find things to make with what I had - the goal being to avoid a trip to the butcher shop, and save some money on our grocery budget this time. On hand, I noticed I had lots of lentils (I must've gone crazy buying those at some point) and quite a bit of rice. After some searching online, and a tip from one of my message board buddies, I came up with something called Koshari, which will use up a lot of the lentils and rice. All I had to buy was a couple cans of diced tomatos. :)



I spent maybe a 1/4 to 1/3 of what I would normally spend at the grocery store, and when combined with what I found in my house already, I've got enough for 8 dinners, breakfasts and lunches for at least a week, and snacks and goodies to last that long as well. Take in to account that we'll have at least 1 leftover night, and one night where we're hosting a potluck then we're good to go for a while. Not bad!



So on my menu for this week:

Meal 1

Koshari

roasted sweet potatos



Meal 2

Panko crusted pork chops

Oriental salad

peas & carrots



Meal 3

Hash brown quiche



Meal 4

Sweet & Sour pork

egg rolls

jasmine rice



Meal 5

Pasta with broccoli/cheddar sauce with chicken

Dinner rolls



Meal 6

tomato/basil marinated steaks

mashed potatos

green beans



Meal 7

Linguini with homemade alfredo sauce

Garlic peppered chicken



Meal 8

crock pot lasagna

garlic bread

salad



Our potluck contribution (since we are hosting)

honey baked chicken breasts



We're having the lasagna tonight. It's starting to smell really good in this house! :)







So on my dinner menu for this week

Still photos aren't as good

I decided to try for some live action shots of Jacob riding his bike, as I'm just so stinkin' proud of my kiddo. This was just him tonight in the driveway. He really can ride all over the campus across the street, though!

I have a confession.

My 14 month old still naps in this thing. Yes, I'm rather embarrassed to admit it, but he does. Why? Well, for one, he likes it. We jokingly call it his "chill chair." He can be overtired and upset, and if I put him in it, he hust puts his little hands behind his head and kicks back to relax. If I can't get him to calm down by any other means, I just manually bounce the seat and within minutes he's quiet and almost asleep.

Another reason is it's convenient. You see, my boys share a room. If I put them in there at the same time, they keep each other awake. I've tried getting one down then puttingg the other in there. No matter how I do, this always results in the 2nd one waking the first one, and then I have 2 screaming kids. No fun. So at least for naps, Jacob sleeps in his room, and Simon sleeps in the bouncy seat.

Night time is a different story. Again, I am embarrassed to admit that I do not put Simon in his crib at night until he is completely asleep. This is accomplished in one of two ways. I either nurse him completely to sleep (which is not my favorite way to do it, as it can take for.ev.er.) or I put him in the seat and bounce him to sleep. Then I simply move him to his crib.

I know this is setting up terrible habits for him. I know he should be able to put himself to sleep at night. I just can't figure out how to do it without making poor Jacob completely crazy with sleep deprivation.

Another issue, of course, is night waking. Granted, Jacob didn't start soothing himself back to sleep until he was nearly 2 year old, so I guess I can't complain yet. But Simon....oh dear, Simon. He will only go to back to sleep one of two ways. I either nurse him back to sleep (again, not my favorite) or I have to stand and rub his back until he's nearly there (hmmm....also not my favorite). I generally go with the path of least resistance at night. But really. I'm tired! The other night, I tried the method where you let the baby cry for a few minutes at a time and you keep going in and repeating the same phrase (In my case it was "shhh. Night night. Lay down." followed by a short back rub and me leaving). Each time I left his room, he screamed louder than the time before. This of course woke Jacob up, who was none too happy about the situation. After an hour of that, I broke down and put Simon in my bed until he fell back asleep. The next day, not only was I exhausted, but so was Brian and so was Jacob. It seems the only one who was semi-well rested was Simon. So Jacob, being 3 and overly tired, was being a complete pill, and Brian and I (also being overly tired) were -er- less than stellar parents that day. Not good.

I know I need to get this child to sleep on his own. I just don't know how to do it. And until I figure it out, well, I guess we'll keep doing it this way. At leaest like this, I'm the only one that remains too tired. The sacrifices a mother makes. *sigh*

Look what Jacob can do!

Grammie bought Jacob a new bike at the beginning of this summer. While he claimed to love it, he absolutely refused to ride the thing. He'd get on it, put his feet on the pedals, go approximately 3 feet, and declare it "too hard." He would get off and push it around the driveway. That was the extent to which he "rode" his bike......

Until this past week. Brian said he was mowing the lawn and he turned around to see Jacob happily pedaling his bike around the driveway. Just like that. He just got on and started going. Crazy kid has been holding out on us!

Brian took him across the street to let him practice in the parking lot. After he did a complete loop around the lot, he wanted to do a tour of campus. We visited his favorite location....the water fountain in the memorial plaza. He went around and around that fountain. When all was said and done, he must've ridden around a mile. He did it almost all by himself....just needed a boost here and there to get up ramps. I'm so proud of my little cyclist!

My new bedding set

Here's my new bedding set, all done up. I love it! And I did end up going to walmart this morning and finding matching curtains (for a bargain price). I couldn't stand having such a pretty bed, with completely unmatching curtains. This is much better!

Oh, and I still havn't managed to snatch this thing away from Simon long enough to put it away. And really...he's not hurting anything. I guess I'll just let him play with it until he gets tired of it - or at least until he goes to bed tonight!

I have an irrational attachment to bedding

Here's where I admit some of my own quirkiness.....I love bedding. I love new bedding. I love nice bedding.

I fully admit that I have expensive taste when it comes to what I sleep on. Trouble is, I don't have the money to buy what I really want (which is something like 600 thread count egyptian cotton). So I was pretty excited when I (1) realized we had quite a bit of cashback bonus built up on our Discover cards, and (2) that JC Penny was having a very nice sale on their bedding sets. Now, I still couldn't afford the really nice stuff, but I did manage to get a $300 (regular retail) comforter set that also had a matching "bonus" quilt, and a 400 thread count cotton sateen sheet set to match.....for only $20 out of my own pocket, once I used my cashback. Not too shabby! I ordered online, which made me a bit nervous, sight unseen.

It arrived today. The comforter and quilt are both so pretty! Not sure yet what I'm going to do with this quilt...but I'll figure something out. I can not wait to get in my bed tonight. It is going to be SO comfortable, not to mention rewarding, after all the work I had to do.

You see, I'm incapable of simply putting new sheets and covers on my bed. Oh no...that would be far too simple. I must first completely clean my room (and of course, wash the new bedding). I stripped the bed (obviously), and pulled everything out from under it. I swept under there (seriously I don't know when the last time I did that was....it was a jungle under there!), swiffered, and then put everything back where it belonged. I also dusted everything, and mopped the floor (we have wood floors). You know, when I do cleaning like this, one thing always leads to another. When all was said and done, I'd spent 2 hours in that room! Did I mention that I also vacuumed the matress itself? The only thing I didn't get to was the curtains....I'll save that for another day.

Now, all of this could have probably been done in half the time....had I not had 2 small children "helping" me. Jacob was just being a pest tonight, getting in to things he shouldn't have, being obnoxious, and well, being three. And Simon....well, it seems that Simon's love for household supplies goes way beyond the plunger. I literally had to fight him for the broom, swiffer, vacuum, and mop. Holy moly....it was a scene! He was quite literally trying to pull the stuff out of my hands while I was using it! Of course, the result of all of this was that I "won" the tug of war, and Simon ended up screaming and crying while Jacob continued to act like a mad-man.

Oh, and to top it all off, the basement flooded in the midst of all of this. I was at the point of no return in my room (you know, when all of the crap is loaded on top of the bed, and I couldn't just stop what I was doing....it had to get done). So Brian was in the basement trying to unclog the drain and get all the muck and grime off of the floor down there, so I was on my own upstairs with 2 screaming kids and a bedroom that looked like it had exploded. Oh yeah....and we were quickly approaching bed time.

But now both kids are in bed (only one is asleep....Simon wore himself out cleaning I guess. Jacob has been in bed for 2 hours, but I just saw him 10 minutes ago taking his millionth trip to the potty. He's a master staller). My room is cleaner than it's been in months. I'm showered and exhausted, so I'll be climbing in between my nice, new sheets very soon.

The only thing that I need (well, want) now is new curtains to match my pretty new bedding. Not sure when I'll be able to buy that though....could be a while. Of course, I'm not sure I can handle them right now....I'd have to do another deep clean in my room, which I'm not going to be up to for quite some time!

Our Tuesday Afternoon (a little story)

Simon has a new obsession. I can't seem to keep him away from it. I try very hard to keep the bathroom door close/locked, but with a 3 year old who needs pretty much constant access to the potty, and a 1 year old who is way too fast for his own good....well, let's just say I can't be everywhere at once. Perhaps he wants to be a plumber?

"Who, Me?"

In order to keep Simon occupied (and Jacob happy)

we decided to take the boys outside to play. Jacob did a great job keeping Simon entertained. As you can see, they were both having a blast! Jacob is such a good brother (when he wants to be, that is)! Corky was just chillin' while the kiddos played.

Later, Jacob was worn out!

He chilled on the couch watching a movie. But while we were all relaxing.....

I found Simon doing this

I swear, I had just shut this door!

I am blessed

Well, I made it to the grocery last night. It was tiring, and I ended up standing in line for what seemed like forever. It was exhausting putting all the stuff away when I got home. But as I was doing just that, I started thinking about how truly lucky I am. I am able to stock my cabinets, fridge and freezer to overflowing twice a month. The food I buy is of decent quality and will feed us all 3 meals a day plus some extras (I bought stuff to make choclate chip cookies and pudding, as well as some chips and goldfish crackers this time). How many people in this county/world can't do that? Too many.

I'm blessed in that I don't have to choose between paying my bills and feeding my kids. I can afford both, every month. We even have a modest Christmas and vacation budget each month, as well as "fun" money (to go out to eat, rent movies, etc) with a small amount left over for savings. Granted, things would be much tighter if we had to pay a mortage or utilities (which we don't thanks to Brian's job), but that alone makes me even more thankful...that we don't have to deal with these payments right now, as we attempt to pay down our (ever decreasing) debt.

Yes, I am very lucky. We have food on our table, a roof over our heads, clothes to wear....but most of all we have each other. I have two wonderfully healthy, happy kids and a husband who is truly the love of my life. We have a huge extended family, most of which would drop everything to help us if we needed it.

So next time I start to get disgruntled over having to do such boring tasks like putting away groceries or sitting down to pay the bills, or even give the kids a bath or change a stinky diaper, I will remind myself how very blessed I am.

menu planning and shopping off of a list

So for the last few weeks, I've tried my hand at actual menu planning. I make a list of about 2 weeks worth of meals (I don't worry much about which meal goes with which day), make a grocery list of what I will need for those meals, and head to the grocery store. It works great. The trouble is, today I just don't want to go to the store. I simply don't feel like it. I'll grumble about it a bit, but eventually I will get there. Why? Because we are essentially out of food at this house. Well, that's not exactly true. We did make a trip to the farmers market and the butcher shop yesterday, so we have meat and a drawer full of fresh produce. Too bad I don't have more essentials. Anyway, I thought it would help if I motivated myself further by typing out my meals. This always makes me excited about the meals of the coming weeks. These are just my dinner ideas, as lunch and breakfast are much less formal, and I just make sure to keep a variety of lunch foods on hand.

Meal #1
peppersteak & rice
green beans
rolls

Meal #2
crock pot chicken tacos
mexican rice

Meal #3
pork chops and apple sauce
mac-n-cheese

Meal #4
turkey sloppy joes
tater tots

Meal #5
oven baked panko chicken nuggets
carrots
rice-a-roni

Meal #6
crockpot lasagna
garlic bread
salad

Meal #7
chicken fried rice
egg rolls

Meal #8
honey baked lentils with sausage
basil tomato/cucumber salad
carrots

Meal#8
tilapia piccata
baked potatos
broccoli

Meal #9
Italian pork chops
Rosemary potatos
salad

Meal #10
sweet & sour pork
asian veggies
jasmine rice

Meal #11
grilled pork tenderloin
corn
baked beans

Some of this stuff is really basic. I need at least a few meals like that for the days I work later than normal, or days that I'm just plain tired. That happens a lot as a working mom! The nice thing about doing it like this, is that I have a list to shop off of, and should be able to get most of the things I will need for the next 2 weeks in one trip. I'll need to make a few side trips for milk, bread, and juice, as we don't have the storage space to keep all of that sort of stuff for a whole 2 weeks. We go through a LOT of milk and juice!

My husband and me

Uh....It seems I don't have any decent pictures of either of us by ourselves. In fact, the only halfway decent picture of myself is on your right, and it was taken well over a year ago! Anyway, I'll introduce myself here. I'm Mandy. I struggle with exactly how to identify myself sometimes, as it seems that everything that defines me connects me to another person or place. I'm wife to Brian and mom to two great kids. I work 30 hours a week as a physical therapist assistant at a nursing home. I like my job well enough, but I'm pretty sure I could make a full time job out of just keeping this house in order. Of course, keeping any sense of order in this house would require my kids to remain in day care at least part time anyway, since I can't get a thing done with them here. I'm hoping that is just an age thing with them, and that as they get older, I'll be able to trust them to play by themselves for a decent amount of time without disasterous consequences! Before the kiddos came along, I was a memeber of my city's philharmonic chorus. I love to sing, and I especially love choral music. It moves me. I quit that when I was pregnant with Jacob (standing too long just wore me out). I havn't gone back yet, but I'm hoping to make a return when my kids are a bit older and less demanding of my time.

My husband works in residence life at a local university. To get a picture of what he looks like, just look at Jacob's picture and add 27 years. We met 11 years ago while we were both students in college (actually, the same university that he works at now!). It's funny, we havn't even moved out of the immediate neighborhood. As part of his job compensation, we live in university housing (thankfully we are now in a house, instead of trying to raise the kids in a residence hall, which is where we lived at first). We married a year after we graduated, and are about to celebrate our 5th anniverary. So much has changed in our lives in those 5 short years, yet I still love him as much as I ever did. I am so lucky to have him in my life!

And this is the little one

This is Simon (age 1), doing what he loves most....eating! This child loves food. Most of it anyway. And what he doesn't like, he is sure to let us know by simply picking it up and dropping it off the side of his high chair. I think he's figured out that whatever lands on the floor gets immediately eaten by the dog. Now Simon is a kid after my own heart. Not only does he love food, but he likes to sleep in in the mornings. In fact, if it weren't for his brother waking so early, I think he might sleep until noon (ok, maybe not, but at least 9:30 or so)! Now, if only I could get him to sleep all night, instead of waking 3 or 4 times. He's a happy little guy, and spends most of his days trying desperately to keep up with his big brother (who he thinks hung the moon).

Meet my oldest

Look at those blue eyes! This is Jacob. He's 3 1/2. He's what I refer to as my "spirited child" (and I use that term quite endearingly). He wears his emotions on his sleeve. I wish I had just a quarter of the energy this child has. It would make it possible for me to not only exist, but to thrive on the amount of sleep I'm "allowed" to get each night. He wakes each morning way before the rest of us are ready to get going, and he is ready to start his day. Immediately. Mark my words, he will never require a cup of coffee to function for the day. And he goes full throttle all. day. long. He does stop for a nap, but only because his day care makes him (and I follow suit on the weekends, mostly for my own sanity).

Jumping in the "blog" wagon

I've heard much about this blogging thing. Honestly, I never thought much about it. But as I've read a few blogs as I've surfed the net, it occured to me. Hey....I have thoughts! Maybe, just maybe someone might find them interesting.



Or....maybe not. Of course, I'm "just" a mom. My life can be pretty, well, predictable. Afterall, my life goes pretty much like this: I wake up. I get the kids ready for their day (well, my dear husband helps with that part, bless him). I drive the kids to day care. I go to work. If I'm lucky, I get off work with enough time to stop home and collect my thoughts (or clean a room, or get dinner pre-started). I pick up the kids, come home, eat dinner, clean up dinner, bathe kids, and put them to bed. If I'm lucky, I can steal some time to be with my husband, or just with myself, before I go to bed and get barely enough sleep to start all over again.

But it's in this day to day activity that I'm finding, more often than not, my life really is an exciting adventure - at least to me. I'm watching my boys grow up more and more every day. They are truly amazing little guys. They make me laugh, cry, and everything in between every day. I'm learning about myself and even amazing myself at what I can accomplish.

So why start blogging? I've always loved the idea of journaling. I enjoy getting my thoughts out on paper. But it seems almost silly to me. No one's ever going to read the stuff I write, so what's the point, really? At least with this, I can pretend that someone's reading. And hey, maybe someone is. And maybe that someone will get a little enjoyement out of reaind about my daily ponderings (or weekly....let's not kid ourselve. Like I'll have time for this every day!).

Anyway, whoever's reading....hope you enjoy!