It's been a while...

But I think we're coming back! I've missed waaaay to much over the pastcouple years that I WISH I had documented. I'm gonna do it for my boys :) Just give me a week or 2....

Mayonnaise Jar & 2 Beers

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 Beers.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.
He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.
He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'
The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand.
The students laughed......
'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car. The sand is everything else---the small stuff.
'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18.
There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.
Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented.
The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.' The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.

No news is good news :)

Sorry for the lack of posting people...we were without a camera for a while, and well...without pictures, I am uninspired to write anything. I now have my camera back, but I can't find the battery charger...see the dilema?

Besides that all is good on the homefront. We are enjoying a beautiful 50+ degree day....did I mention that I LOOOOVE Virginia?? Caleb played outside, and rode his bike in the cul-de-sac WITHOUT TRAINING WHEELS!!! Yes, the little guy isnt even 5 yet, and he was riding like an old pro. It was a proud moment.

Oh, and I got a job. Well sort of. I joined a gym...a health club...fitness club whatever you want to call it. I am bound and determined to be in better shape than I was in even in High School... Anyways, this gym is so fantastic, and they have free child care so you can excersize in peace. Anyways, they have this "bartering" program where if you work for only 2 hours a week in the child care room you get your membership for FREE, and your kids can come with you!!! Well, you all know what a strain that gym membership was putting on my frugal...(read CHEAP) self. So this is right up my alley. So from now on if you are looking for me on Thursday mornings from 10-12...I am at work people ;)

I promise when we get the camera situation worked out there will be pictures so stay tuned!

Thank you Oprah

If I didn't have to drive these kids to playdates, swim lessons, school, doctors appointments etc....I might be drinking these Pomegranate Martini's all day long. These are my new "mommy juice". I enjoyed quite a few on New Year's Eve Eve, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, the day after new years, you get the idea. I ran out of pomegranate juice, and that shit is expensive, so I am off the juice for now....


Oprah's Pomegranate Martini
Recipe courtesy of Oprah Winfrey

Oprah loves martinis—and this is one of her favorites!

Ingredients:Serves 2
1 1/2 cups pomegranate juice
2 ounces Absolute Citron vodka or white tequila
1 ounce Cointreau liquor
Cup of ice
Splash of sparkling water (optional)
Squeeze of lemon (optional)

Shake ingredients in a shaker and put in chilled martini glasses. Put pomegranate fruit into glass as garnish.

And if it makes you feel better about drinking them, pomegranate juice is loaded with antioxidants, so it's good for you!

It is obvious that I am still more fun when I'm drunk because even my hubby was mixing them for me ;) Or maybe he thought there was something in it for him...wink wink.

Merry frickin Christmas

Don't you just love this time of year? Honestly, I do. I relish in this holiday. I love to bake 12 different cookies and candies, decorate the nest, and listen to Christmas music. What I don't like is trying to get a decent picture of the kids in front of the tree for our Christmas card. This has been the tradition since we moved here, Caleb sits in front of the tree, dressed in his holiday best, and I take 250 photos, hoping that one, JUST ONE, is worthy of a card to be sent to 75 of our friends and family. Last year Cohen joined him, in his Santa suit, and I think he's getting back at me for it.

I have spent the last 2 weeks trying to get these kids pictures done, and it is like having a bird peck out your eyes. Cohen DOES NOT sit still. We seem to have a communication problem b/c I sit him down in front of the tree, and say STAY, and he takes off like a bat out of hell....then turns around and laughs. Yes, I have that kid. Caleb on the other hand, tries his hardest to cooperate. Because THAT is Caleb. He will sit for an hour with a fake ass smile on his face, and let me take 2 million pictures if I wanted. Needless to say, there has been a lot of yelling, a lot of crying, and a whole lot of BAD pictures.

I was venting to a girlfriend about this, and she very WISELY said "that is exactly why I don't do Christmas pictures. I don't want to remember fighting with the kids, keeping their clothes neat, or deal with the stress of it all. I want to remember HAPPY STUFF."

So, I finally decided we had enough. I wasn't going to torture us anymore. I was going to make it work with what we had if it killed me. And to my surprise, there were a few photos that I actually could have used. Not ONE where both boys were looking at me smiling normally, but I could have pieced something together. Then I remembered what she had said. So I went back through our photos, and found some of the kids in all their glory. HAPPY, SMILING, AND DOING THINGS THEY LOVE. This is what I want to remember, and what I want THEM to remember. NOT that I made them sit in front of the tree every year in a fancy outfit to have their pictures done. God willing maybe someday it will be easier, and dare I say...fun, but this year it just....uggghhh, was not. So, I made another card...one that brought tears to my eyes when I picked it up at Costco today.

So when you get your Christmas card, you won't see my Christmas tree, you won't see Christmas outfits, there are no stockings or bows. What you will see are happy kids doing things they love, and a happy family, making happy memories. Isn't that what Christmas should be about anyways?


And since you won't see this on the card, but I know some people feel the need to see the "christmasy" pictures, here's the few better ones we got.



Merry Christmas :)

Boys and Boxes

Alright, alright, YOU FILTHY MINDED PEOPLE. Not that kind of BOX! Actually a regular old cardboard box. It's a square shaped flat type box....only a couple inches thick. And it has a Calphalon pan inside. I was sending it back to get a replacement, since they are covered by a lifetime warranty, and the non-stick stuff is peeling off...anyways...the box was sitting in the corner awaiting its trip to the post office, when a small boy fell in love. A very small boy, with only 1 year under his belt. Loves this box like no other. He climbs, and sits....climbs down, back up, sits again. Like he is the king of this box. He just loves to sit on it. He sits upon his box so proud, and so HAPPY that he is sitting up on this silly box. I will post pictures later..I have to stop lauging and pick up the darn camera. Seriously it is the cutest thing I have ever seen. He even pushes the box around the floor so he can sit on it in different places. I can't get the kid to play with any of the hundreds of dollars worth of toys that he has. Thus far, he is interested only in the toilet, my makeup, the cat food, and this box. So far, the box is the only one that he doesn't hear a "NO" for getting into :) I heart the box. So Calphalon, lucky you. I am keeping my busted pan for now...in the box :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COHEN!!!

One year ago today, I was lying in bed at the Fauquier county hospital holding my beautiful newborn baby boy...and wondering how the heck I was going to manage a newborn and a 3 year old. Today, I lay here on the couch wondering how I am going to handle a 1 year old, and a 4 year old. 15 years from now....boy, that makes me....OLD :)

I know it is cliche, but guys, it goes by so fast. Seriously, it seems like yesterday I was in the hospital hoping that Caleb had not convinced Grammie and Papa that ice cream was an OK dinner. Skip ahead one day, Uncle Houli is visiting and we are singing Happy Birthday with Five Guys Burgers and fries (Cohen's favorite) and the biggest birthday cake 16 bucks can buy. Thank you Costco. And just so you don't all feel left out here are some pictures of the big day......

This is Cohen rockin' our famous birthday hat....and not really liking it so much.

A much "happier" birthday boy...see, no birthday hat :) I fondly remember Caleb ripping it off of his head too at his 1st birthday... The cake... (the candle is up a the top, Caleb picked it because it was "sparkly") He takes after me :) Caleb showing Cohen how it's done (blowing out the candles). Cohen getting his first taste of the good stuff.Yummmmmmmm....

You can see that Cohen also takes after his Mama in this picture :)Present time!!!Concentrating......And finally....Yay! IT'S A BALL! I know, I know, a frickin' ball?! Come on! But seriously, a very wise friend once told me, all a kid needs is a ball...and seriously...can you see the smile on his face in this picture???Probably not, I know it's kinda small. But trust me, he liked it :) And even though Caleb has 6 million balls of his own, he sure was jealous, and loved it too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COHEN!!!!!

Attention Kmart shoppers

And even if you don't normally shop at KMart, starting Sunday 10/26 through the following Sunday, they will be DOUBLING COUPONS UP TO $2.00 This means if you have $2.00 coupon for an item, you will get $4.00 off the item. $1.00 coupon, $2.00 off and so on. Even if you don't normally use coupons or shop at KMart, this is a reason to. Do yourself and your family favor, save some money. You know you want to. You know you NEED to. Then do like Auntie did, and buy yourself a pint of Haagen Daaz as a reward for saving some serious loot. Now, I do not normally shop at KMart, it is in the G-H-E-T-T-O...but trust me, I will be there when the doors open this Sunday, and you should be too. Sometimes you just have to sacrifice. And sometimes you get 4 bottles of shampoo just because they are FREE.

DISCLAIMER : ALL KMART STORES ARE NOT PARTICIPATING....look up your stores flyer online, or call your local store to verify. Or if you are feeling really brave, head on over to www.hotcouponworld.com and find out if your store is participating. (Hint: there is a big list...wink wink) And just so you know, if you call your store might tell you they dont know yet, blah, blah, blah....my store tried that. I laughed at them, and then felt really great that I knew about it before they did :) Because I am good like that, and I have "sources" LOL. Have fun, and Happy couponing!

Boots and chaps, and cowboy hats....

Caleb is a little man of many talents.....to my brothers in Tennesse he is "Captain Caleb", at home he is "Chef Caleb" and now he has another title to add to his resume....

Cowboy Caleb...as he is known to his friends now :) We went on a little camping trip and met up with my sister and her girls at a horse show in Delaware. The rest is history. As most of you know, in my former life, horses were a great passion of mine...and thanks to my sister one of the reasons I stayed out of trouble during my teenage years. So it was a very proud moment when I saw the exitement and sheer bliss in my little guy's eyes as he pulled on his first pair of "real" cowboy boots. He rode a horse in the show, he shoveled poop, and helped out in every way he possibly could. I think he FINALLY got something from me :) Horses are a great part of my past, and I'd like to think they will be a part of our future too.

plastics, dyes, and DIRT!!

Do you remember back in the day when we used to drink those sugary sweet juice drinks that were in the little jug looking things? I forget what they were called, but boy they sure were GOOD on a hot day. Well I bet you a hundred bucks they were FULL of red dye 40, and were in plastic containers that contained BPA, not to mention they probably contained 50 tablespoons of sugar per guzzle...but hey, they were cheap right?!
Man, we had it easy back then....and so did our parents! I'm constantly trying to keep up with the conflicts that plague parents these days. Lately all I seem to do is check labels, read about vaccines, and plastics, chemicals, etc....and try to figure out WHAT THE HECK TO FEED THESE kids!! I do the best I can...I got rid of the BPA plastics, I try to avoid red dye 40 and other artificial coloring. High fructose corn syrup is on the black list, and I have switched to organic milk...and now, I really don't want to eat, drink, or play with anything from China either. There you have it. I AM one of "those" Moms. What can I say I want the best for my children....and I don't want to find out 40 years down the road that their colon cancer was from the pesticides, hormones, and chemical that I fed them when they were kids.

But at the same time, I no longer use those plastic mats that stick to the table for Cohen to eat off of in restaurants, he eats off the table....he hardly ever wears bibs, and he has already had eggs, chocolate, ice cream and french fries....he's not even a year old yet! So I am still a bit of a slacker Mom. Poor Caleb suffered a fry-less existance until he was at least 18 months old! Oh, and I caught Cohen in the toilet the other day....not just splashing happily, but with a wad of wet toilet paper hanging out of his mouth. Yeah, yeah, HA HA....very funny...all I can say is it's a good thing I forgot to put the clorox tablet in the toilet last week!

Kids will be kids, they get dirty, they eat stuff they shouldn't, they stay up past their bedtimes and they love it :)


A couple weekends ago we took the opportunity to let the kids do just that. My sister was in VA for a horse show, so we thought it would be fun to go and visit. We decided to rough it, and camp out. Caleb LOVES camping, Cohen not so much. But that was probably because I made him sleep in a winter hat.....(we went to tuck the horses in right before bed)


He did however love the cheeseburgers

and ice cream, and most of all the DIRT!! I think he ate 2 lbs of it....Caleb enjoyed the grunginess too, and the junk food, and most of all his PEPSI!! That is what he had for dessert. And he was a stark raving lunatic from it....good thing it only happens on special occasions :) Here is Caleb in all of his dirty sugary glory...

Sometimes...I think we have to let the rules slide...and let the kids be kids...even if it involves eating a little horse poop :)