#boymom

Today  I thought I'd share somethings I've had to say to Grant lately that I think only moms of boys can relate to....at least I'm hoping I don't have to say some of these things to Hannah....

1. Did you change your underwear?

2. If I look in the hamper will I see dirty underwear on top?

3. You can be a ninja after dinner, come eat.

4. Please take your game of football outside... (after toppling everything on the sofa table)

5. Flush the toilet (said eighty times a day)

6. Sit down at the table, please.

7. Please put your sister down (as he tries to dance around the room carrying her)

8. No, you didn't brush your teeth. Go brush your teeth.

9. Where are your shoes????

10. Please take your mask off at the table.

11. Please stop jumping, bouncing, climbing on the furniture, bed, chair, counter, table.....

12.  Clean socks. Please put on clean socks.

13.  How do your socks feel weird????

14.  How are you hungry again????

15.  No, you didn't take a bath last night.

16. No, you're not done in the bath, your hair isn't even wet.

17. What are you doing with that Sharpie?????

18.  Please stop pretending the play kitchen knife is a ninja weapon.

19. You want to do another blindfold taste test?

20. I love you too!

Five Tips for Loving Everything You Wear

I've been thinking a lot lately about the clothes in my closet. I shared on here that since August I've gotten rid of probably 100 things, many of which were blogging gifts, but things I didn't really love. I've been working to make sure I love everything I wear, and thought I'd share some tips with you today. 

Behind Closed Doors

I saw this book, "Behind Closed Doors" on a list for people who are fans of books like "Gone Girl" and "Girl on the Train." I couldn't wait to get my hands on it!

At first glance I would compare this book to "Sleeping with the Enemy," a movie Julia Roberts was in like twenty years ago. On the service it looks like Jack is the perfect husband and Grace is the beautiful wife, but there's a lot more to the story than that.

I honestly read this book in one day, so I obviously wanted to find out what was going to happen. I will say I felt like there were some plot holes throughout though. Jack is in an essence holding Grace captive, but the leverage he has on her isn't as believable as I think it could have been. I kept thinking she could just leave.

Overall, I think it was a good book, but not as good as "Gone Girl" or "Girl on the Train." Have you read this book? What were your thoughts?

The Rock

One of my favorite songs to sing is The Rock Won't Move. If you haven't heard it yet, here's the video:

Life Lately

Here's a look at life lately!

We kept busy over our unexpected four day weekend due to icy weather (which honestly was not bad at all around here). We went out to the outlet mall on Saturday and I was so excited to find this Kate Spade wallet on sale. I had wanted it a few weeks back but it was still to pricey for my my taste. Luckily it went on sale for $44 and  I was thrilled!

Playing By the Rules

Grant has always had a lot of friends, but recently he came home from school upset because of a disagreement with friends. One of his best friends from last year, who isn't in his class this year started going to the after school Kids Club and Grant was so excited! His buddy was saving him a seat, then someone else sat there, the boy wouldn't move and Grant didn't know what to do. He walked away feeling like his friends didn't like him and didn't have the tools to know how to navigate the situation. He didn't understand that just because he couldn't end up sitting my him at snack didn't mean he wouldn't get to play with him after snack. This was a little situation but Grant was definitely maximizing it.

We all talked at dinner. We problem solved the situation, and Brian and I decided to do our best at home to model good "friend" behavior. One thing we've specifically been doing is working to play games by the rules. Grant is infamous for trying to rewrite the rules to be in his favor. Sometimes I let him switch the rules in the past, because I want him to have fun, but that's not going to fly with friends-I saw this when he was playing Pokemon with a buddy over break. 

We've talked through the rules and explained why they make sense, and how if someone switched the rules it might not be "fair." We've also worked on winning and losing gracefully. This can be easier said than done, but Grant is doing well. We've talked about how he would feel if someone bragged about winning at school and why he shouldn't brag. We've also talked about not whining and saying "no fair" if you don't win. 

This is encouraging us to make family game times more consistent and I know Grant also loves the time just with us playing games after Hannah is in bed too, so it's definitely win-win.

I think so often we can take for granted the years it took us to navigate what friendship looks like, and honestly, I think we still have to work on it as adults. As parents, Brian and I definitely don't have it all figured out, but we're working on it.

The Kite Runner

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I hadn't read this book sooner: it's that good. Earlier this year I read "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and wrote a review here. The Kite Runner was equally amazing. 

Amazon says: "The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, caught in the tragic sweep of history, The Kite Runner transports readers to Afghanistan at a tense and crucial moment of change and destruction. A powerful story of friendship, it is also about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies." 

I couldn't put this book down and bonus, the movie is on Netflix once you are done reading. You should definitely pick it up today!
 

Train Them Up

Recently I was an onlooker to an interesting situation. A child desperately wanted to play with their parent, but the parent would not put done their technology to play. The pleas to play went on for quite sometime before the parent finally "caved." They played for a short time, then the parent went back to their technology. It was awful and heartbreaking. Not just for that child, but because I have been that parent. The worst.

It's so easy to justify time on my phone or the computer, but there is always time for that after the kids' bedtime- and even then a little bit should go a long way. When they want to play, I should put down my phone and play. My husband and I created these kids and God entrusted them to us. Are we doing our best job?

I want our kids to feel valued and loved. I want them to know that people and kindness matters. They have to see my husband and I acting this out with them each day.

Proverbs 22:6 says "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." What Hannah and Grant see from us, is what they will do. We are not just raising a boy and a girl, we are raising a future spouse and parent. What we do today matters.

I know I mentioned putting my phone down last week, but it's ringing true (no pun intended) even more so now. If I spend the little time I have with them scrolling through my phone, I'm telling them my phone matters more then they do. God calls us to be better than that, so it's a conscious choice we need to make each day.

The Magnolia Story

Recently, The Magnolia Story was at my Little Free Library. I actually knew nothing about Chip or Joannna. I'd also never watched "Fixer Upper." I had only heard of Magnolia Market as a friend mentioned going there. That being said, I really enjoyed the book. Both Chip and Joanna wrote sections of each chapter, feeding on each other's thoughts, like a conversation.

I ended up watching an episode of "Fixer Upper" and really enjoyed it, and getting to know them through the book made the show even cooler. I think it's really neat how they really are each other's "better half" and how well Joanna handles all of Chip's crazy ideas and how Chip obviously loves and honors Joanna.

One of the parts of the book that really struck out to me was when Joanna realized a lot of her designing within the arch of sir homes was what she wanted and not "kid friendly," then she'd spend half the day picking up after them go make it pretty and unhappy the whole time. It was when she saw their were black finger prints on her couch that she realized she'd been doing it backwards. It was then she started to think about designing her home so it was a place the kids loved and felt was their own. I love this and the mid shift she went though.

I also loved how Chip and Joanna showed how God was important to them and part of the journey all the time. So often we don't hear people in the limelight talk about God, so it was refreshing.

I think it's safe o say "Fixer Upper" is not on the list of shows I want to watch and I really enjoyed reading their story.

Life Lately

Here's a little look at life lately. : )

I haven't been shopping, like at all, but I was recently at Target with Hannah and saw this vest on clearance for $17! I've already worn it twice. : ) It had been on my wishlist for this fall, but I never saw any in stores and worried about buying online, as I wasn't sure of quality or fit. This fits true to size and the quality is great! I also recently got these earrings.  I saw them first on Jane.com and ordered a few pair as they were so inexpensive and since then have gotten a few more. I love them and they are only $12!

Winging It

Tell me I'm not the only one who feels like this sometimes? There are days that I feel like I have it all together and the stars align. The kids sleep until 7:00, they play nicely, I get the house cleaned up, meals made, and we have quality family time in the evening. It's on days like this that I feel like I've got this "mom thing" down as I high five....myself.

I Now Have a Toddler!

A weird thing happened last week: I realized Hannah was no longer a baby. I'll admit, I'm still adjusting to the idea. I think it's the fact that we've switched from bottles to sippy cups and that crawling is a thing of the past that really solidified it for me.

We also had a friend stop by with her six week old and Hannah looked like a giant in comparison! I feel like I need I'm mourning the loss of my baby a bit. The crazy thing is, so often as moms we are always looking forward to the next stage our kids will enter, that we can sometimes forget to enjoy the stage we are in now.  Blink and it's over.

A month ago it was bottles and some table food, and now my girl is eating pizza and drinking milk from a sippy cup. She's working on five teeth and now that her ears are better she's very rarely fussing or crying. This little person is changing and growing each day and I don't want to blink and miss a thing.

She may be having a snack and milk before bed, but I'm not ready to stop rocking my little girl, and I plan to keep that up for as long as she'll let me. : )

FOMO or Boredom?

Last week my husband sent me this video about millennials, if you have a few minutes, you should check it out. I'm not a millennial, as I was born in 1979, but Simon Sinek spends part of the time talking about Social Media and technology and he had some pretty interesting and eye-opening things to say.

Things I Learned When I Stopped Fashion Blogging

1. Getting dressed doesn't need to be a production. It's ok to just grab clothes and go. For a number of years I spent time planning outfits each week-that no longer happens. I also used to make myself wear outfits because they'd be on the blog-even if I didn't feel like it. Ridiculous. If I don't want to wear something, I don't. Since August I've given away or sold probably close to a hundred things and I'm not exaggerating.

2. There is nothing wrong with repeating outfits. Somehow I got in my head that I needed to wear new mixes of my clothes all the time and that repeating outfits was boring. Dumb. If I feel good in something and like the outfit, I'll wear it the same way over and over again.

3. "Free" came with a price tag. Over the years I got a lot of things for "free" many of them I have loved and worn or used like crazy, but time was spent in creating the posts and sharing them on social media They weren't really free. I also had a company that let me pick out new things pretty much every week. I loved getting new "free" things in the mail each week, but many of the pieces were only worn once, didn't fit well, etc. If I don't love something, I'm not wearing it and you better believe a lot of these pieces have been given away.

4. Quality over quantity. Just like I said above, if I don't love it, it's not worth keeping or buying. I would rather buy fewer nice clothes to wear often, than have more less expensive clothes that are worn rarely.

5.  Getting dressed shouldn't be the highlight of your day-clothes are simply what you wear when the highlights happen.  I'll admit, there were times I went on random errands with Grant so I could wear some me cute outfit I'd planned. So silly. Now, I happily wear my #momiform most weekends: tee, cardigans, leggings and boots.

Maybe I'll decide to share an outfit or two again down the road, but I'm pretty glad to not be doing it now. :)