42 years old!

We started my birthday weekend at Ninf'as!  It is my favorite place to eat green dip.

I had the most amazing company.  I truely enjoy spending time with my kids.

We have the best conversations and laugh so much.  They are so sweet and kind and I'm thankful to celebrate each birthday with them and their daddy!

Next on the weekend birthday agenda was a crab boil and pool party!

I am spoiled indeed and appreciate all the birthday wishes on social media and via text!

42 is going to be amazing!!!

40!

I had a great day bringing in my 40th year!

It has been raining like crazy here in Texas and there was a brief storm before dinner, but otherwise the day was sunny.  I'm so thankful for some sunshine!

Gary felt like we needed to celebrate my birthday and the fact that I GOT A JOB!  It is all lined up for me to start work in August!  I'm thrilled and very thankful for the opportunity!

I'm blessed and I'm so happy to have had a wonderful day surrounded by awesome people.  I enjoyed lunch with my parents and dinner with my little tribe!  40 feels great so far!

39!

We had a fun dinner at La Parrilla celebrating my birthday!

I didn't blow out birthday candles this year, instead I had a giant margarita!

I am spoiled by my guy!  He got me a Yeti cooler!  I can't wait to test it out this weekend when we go camping.   When my family asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday I said, "Let's go camping!"  It's my favorite!

Thanks for a great day celebrating and here's to the next month celebrating my birthday right into July when we'll start celebrating the kids birthday month!   Yipeeeee!

my latest job performance review

Parenting these two kiddos is my full time job.  For now it is my number one job.  I think someday I will have a work outside the home job again, but for now I am thankful I get to focus on these kiddos.  I get to be here when they get off the bus after school.  I get to be here all summer long.  

With all jobs my job can be hard.  Sometimes I feel like a glorified maid.  Sometimes I feel like a short order cook.  On those weird emotional days the mom guilt creeps into my brain and I just feel awful for moving these two kiddos from Texas to Ohio to Georgia all within a few years.  I know people move all the time, but as a kid I didn't.  I went to the same school my whole grade school career.  Our family lived in several different houses, but all in the same town.   I know I don't have to raise my kids the way I was raised.  BUT I've still felt like we could break our kids by moving them. Guess what...

They are not broken.  They may be better than I was as a kid.  

They are doing wonderful and they are loving it here in Georgia.  

How do I know this?  

Because earlier today Layla stood gazing out the window and she said, "Mom, I love it here.  I love our house and my school and my friends.  I can't wait to help you and dad get our backyard cleaned up and looking better."

She said she liked it here!!!!!

  I can't blame her.  The weather is amazing.  We live in a fun part of town near stores and fun restaurants.  We have huge trees and lakes all around us.  We have a perfect house for our family right now at this stage of our lives.  I think I'm doing ok at my job, with Gary's help of course, and we are guiding these children down the right path.

 I feel a sense of relief that us moving and starting over twice in a few years hasn't broken the children.  It's made them stronger and you know what? It's made me stronger and seeing them grow and learn and face the moving fears has helped me.  I'm learning so much about my adult self through all this.  God knows what he's doing and he knew what he was doing giving me this job of being a mom.  I think I've learned more about myself since having kids.  I'm growing up myself!

Mommy day out!

This afternoon I met my new friend Piper for brunch and then we went to the swimming pool to relax a bit.  Summer is fast approaching and we wanted to have some relaxing momma time before the kiddos are home 24/7.

I'm trying to protect my face from the sun so I have a great view while laying around in a lounge chair.  I was the person that made fun of funny beach hats, and now I love them.

All the children all over the place were attending school and the life guards looked bored, so we decided to try out the water slide.  WOW...so much fun.  We laughed so hard.  She was on one slide and I was on the other and she managed to get this picture that perfectly matches my personality.  Mouth open screaming and yelling!   What a fun time!!

My Obagi Journey

I'm a simple girl when it comes to skin care.  I don't wear foundation, but I love me some moisturizer.  I make my mother cringe. Why?  Because she is an aesthetician, a skin care professional.  I wash my face with Dove soap, I use a Loreal toner and a Loreal moisturizer with SPF 15.  Sometimes at night I take my makeup off with my favorite face wipes I buy at BigLots for one whole dollar.  $1.00!!!  Yes, cucumber scented pre-moistened wipes make me happy at night before bed, as does my anti-aging St. Ives night cream.  So, I'm on a pretty inexpensive skin care regimen.  I feel like I have been blessed with good skin.  I'm 38 years old for the next few weeks.  On April 24, 2015  

I saw this....

DO YOU SEE THAT SUN SPOT?  I had tons of them when I was pregnant with each kid.  Then they went away.  Well, I'm not pregnant friends.  I'm just getting old and I'm not having those little baby feet walking across my forehead. 

On Tuesday I started using a 6 step program made by Obagi.  I'm doing it and I'm writing about it because I want to show the results.  I want to make sure that when Layla goes back and reads our online scrapbook, this blog, she will remember to wash her face and put on sunscreen.  

Ain't nobody got time for bad skin.

As I approach my 39th birthday here in a few weeks I will be on my way to better skin.  My family blessed me with some of the Obagi products for Mother's Day and my upcoming birthday.  The only things I am asking for for my birthday are beach hats!! I want all the cute and fun hats and caps I can find.  I'm gonna be outside so much this summer, but I'll have my face under cover!

a puppy dog coach of sorts.

I have been taking advantage of my free time when the kids are at school.  I've enjoyed having a basement with carpet.   I love working out every morning after I drop the kids off at school.  Working out is my time to think and reflect and wonder.  It's my free therapy.   I am ready for the weather to get warmer so I can run and walk outside with the wind in my face.  I've only done a run/walk  a few times since moving to Georgia. 

 I still can't believe we live in GA.  It seems like just yesterday I was doing Zumba/Boot Camp in Ohio with a group of fun girls,  Funny how life changes so fast.  I never would have thought looking back three years ago that today I'd be structuring my own basement workouts.  We didn't have basements in Texas.  We also didn't have our Lily Jack.  I'm thankful for our sweet Ohio dog I call my fitness coach.  She's always by my side while I'm working out!  She sometimes sleeps on the job, but there are many times when she is running up and down the basement stairs with me.  She's been known to lick the sweat from my arm.  She barks at the jump rope and watches when I ride the stationary bike.  She's my little coach and I love her to death.  I'm thankful for our Ohio adventure because we got to adopt this sweet pup! 

She is a huge blessing just like each and every friend and adventure we experienced in Ohio.   Some days I really miss the people there and other days I really miss Texas.  Honestly I'm so excited about what Georgia has in store for us.  I'm so filled with excitement about our new life here in Georgia.   We are all anxiously awaiting spring weather in our new house and new yard.  I can't wait to see spring at our new lakes!  I think we're all stoked about beginning soccer in a few weeks.  

All six of us are ready to be outside playing and getting our fitness on.  I honestly don't think I sweat in Ohio and I'm ready for some sunshine and flushed cheeks!

38

I have had a wonderful week celebrating my birthday.

I've eatten tons of great food and been spoiled by all my favorite people.

My family decoated the doorway for me.

I got flowers from my Auntie and Uncle.

And I've had my share of sweets.  I'm so blessed to be surrounded by great people.  I love turning 38!

Moms night away!

I dropped these little dumplings off at school on Friday and headed to Columbus for the night!

We celebrated my friend Erin's friend Josette's birthday! I'm so happy I got to tag along and get to know my besties friends better.

After our night out we woke up and headed to breakfast and Target. We don't have a Target in our town and I MISS IT SO MUCH!

I ate all the food in the word. It was so fun to let loose and not count calories!

I also drank several adult beverages! This was a Girl Scout cookie. Mmmmm! It was so tasty.

I'm thankful for a wonderful husband who took off work early to hang out with the kids! He travels so much and for me to travel was awesome for a change.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tired, sore and full, but happy!

Is it just me, or do all moms and dads fall onto the couch in the evenings with exhaustion? I'm so tired at the end of the day. I thought once the kids got older and could do more for themselves I would have more energy. Um no.

I thought once both kids were in school all day long I'd have more time to do many things. I'M BUSIER THAN EVER. It's a good thing, to be busy and have a full life. But dang I'd love to have the brain power in the evening to write some interesting blog posts. I know posting about our day to day activities doesn't always make the most interesting read.

I'm recording life though so it is perfect for now.

Also, I'm so sore. I workout hard three days a week and sometimes run on a ransom whim if I don't workout. However, I ran chasing after the kids at the Fun Run Saturday night and my shins are still killing me. It is Wednesday. They are so sore. What in the world? It's seriously the craziest thing.

Another crazy thing.....

We ate out at a restaurant twice yesterday. Once for lunch just Gary and I, and once for dinner. Layla has dance class on Tuesday night and Gary and I like to take Hayden to dinner all by himself. He enjoys the alone time with us and Layla loves getting TO-GO food from a restaurant after dance class. The point....

I feel yuck this morning. As in puffy eyes and swollen hands. I had chips and salsa, a cheese enchilada and a little bit of beans and rice for lunch. For dinner Gary and I had appetizers, 3 wings and shrimp and we split a turkey wrap. Blah...I just feel yucky eating that much junk that I didn't prepare. My body lately likes meat, veggies and beans. I'm learning to let go of the pasta, bread and potatoes because I just feel better.

I feel like this post is all about age, who's with me here?? How does it take us 30 something years to realize our bodies talk to us? Why do I finally enjoy working out and eating right?

My body is screaming: yuck to that food, don't run on the street like that without stretching and GO TO BED YOU'RE TIRED.

Maybe it finally took this long for me to listen! My body has been screaming at me for years. I'm just finally smart enough to listen. Honestly this age thing isn't too bad and apparently with age comes randomness.

How's this for a super random word-full Wednesday morning blog post?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone