the sweet and the funnies

J:  Are you going to lay by me:
Me:  In a little bit.  You know I need 10-15 minutes of mommy time.
J:  How many minutes?
Me:  I just told you -- 10 or 15 minutes.
J:  *long pause* You're doing 10 minutes because I did eeny-meeny and 15 was it.  You know - "you are not it."

Another day we did the same thing.  It was bedtime and I said I needed mommy time before I went in his room.  He asked how much and I said 15 minutes or maybe more.  He said that I could have 16 minutes because that was more.  How generous.

So we're in Target shopping in the clearance section (I live there) and James points to the sign (clearance) and says "Does that say cheep?"  Close enough James, close enough.  :)

I was purging the other weekend and came across some a legal notepad.  Joseph says "Oh, I needed one of those."  Okaaayyyy. . . He then tells me that since I'm a girl I can't see what he's going to write but he will let me see the front page.  He then continues on to write "my friend list" on the left and "my supur friend list" on the right.  (He asked me multiple times if he spelled super right -- he knew something was off.)  Friends were listed with his brother as #1 even though they fought continuously that weekend.  I eventually made the list at #9 -- I guess I should be happy I'm in the top 10.  Anyway, Joe comes home from school on Monday, goes right to the list, and says "Alex gets two checks and Marin gets one."  I asked him why he was giving people checks and he said it was because they did nice things for him.  Evidently Marin gave him a bookmark so he had an extra one at home and then Alex had told him a funny story and then later waved to him in the hall.  ♥♥♥  It's times like this that I feel like a good mom . . . that he has a good heart and maybe I was a small part in making that happen.

Joe was doing his homework and I was trying to explain something to him.  He wasn't looking at me, he was looking at his homework during this.  Then I hear him say "You know you're talking to yourself, right?"  Ummmm. . . I guess I do now.

Linked 2013: Comfort

Comfort.
To soothe.

I decided that for this linked theme I would share with you all the comfort items that we have at our house.

Joe:  Coco the monkey
I think he was just a regular stuffed animal until the divorce.  He seemed to quickly move up in rank at that time.  He sleeps with him most nights but is not so attached that he needs to bring him anywhere/sleep with him every night.

do you see Coco's foot?

James:  night-night
Not really sure how it got that name.  It's a small little lovey blanket randomly picked up at a K-mart.  He became attached and we quickly got more.  Now he has one at dad's house, one at school, and one at home.  Thankfully he is not picky about which one he has.  Not looking forward to this summer when we will wean him off of having it when he's upset at school to get ready for kindergarten.  :(  He's definitely attached.

sometimes he lays on top of it -- it's tucked under his chin/chest.  don't judge me because I have not yet bought him a regular bed.  It's a space issue that I just haven't dealt with yet.

up close

a couple of years ago.  Outside nap with the night-night and Jackson.

Me:  Tilly and the pillow
I'm not attached anymore.  I think.  It's been almost 2 years since I've slept with the pillow.  :)  Tilly is second generation.  The first Tilly was worn out so much that her eyes had to be drawn on with marker.  I found this second one in high school, opened her up, and stuffed her.  She was much too thin.  I used to use her head as a pillow and toted her everywhere.  The pillow came to college with me.  I'll grow up at some point in time. 

my bed -- also a source of comfort.  :)

The hole where she was restuffed.

flashback -- the original tilly in the crib with me

there's the original again a few years later and a little faded.  (do you love my wood paneling and strawberry shortcake sheets?)

Please take a moment to check out these wonderful women and what they have to say about "comfort."  Amanda, Hanne, Heather, Heidi, Janet, Jean, Jenn, Kristin, Rhonda, Tracey, and Tracy

all you need is love ♥

So it's Valentine's Day and I have no plans.  Shocking, I know.  I loved Valentine's Day as a child, hated it when I was in college (probably because I always seemed to be single on the holiday), loved it when I was married (we always stayed in and I made lasagna), and now that I'm single again . . . love it.  I've grown up a lot since college.  You're probably wondering how someone can grow so much when college was only a few years ago, right?  Thirteen years counts as a few, right?  :)

At this point in my life, I have no expectations on this day.  I got lots of love from the kids at work and love from my kiddos even though they're at their dad's house tonight.  I came home to a quiet house, Grey's Anatomy, and ice cream.  That's a good day in my book. 

I'm celebrating with the boys tomorrow with a slumber party and brownies in the living room.  So today I thought I'd share some pics of love.  They're all old, but I love them.  See what I did there?

last year's Valentine card - I will always love this

 

i love James' face  (SOOC)

a pic from a wedding i did -- love this couple

last year's father's day gift.  thank you pinterest for all your great ideas.

one of our first pics of a family of 3 - silly -- i love it lots

 So there's my random love pics for the day.  All I need on Valentine's Day any day is love and I get if from two adorable little guys.  I hope everyone had a wonderful day that was filled with love!

favorites of 2012: the boys

So I'm not really sure where January went, but evidently it's gone.  It went quickly.  I don't know that I'll miss it though.  I'm already dreaming of warmer weather.  Anyhoo . . . I never really shared my favorite photos from 2012.  I was going to link up with Ashley Sisk's year in review but lo and behold, time got away from me.  What else is new?

It's really hard for me to make decisions.  Even if it's just picking pictures.  So many of them have a memory attached and therefore make it a favorite of mine.  To keep the post from being too much of a photo dump, I thought I'd do it in sections.

Today I thought I'd share my favorite pics of the boys together.

They got along for a minute.  It definitely reminds me of a similar one from last year.  Love it.

The boys' Valentine card from last year.  Found the idea on Pinterest and ran with it.  Who doesn't love a good 'stache.

Found that blue metal wall and loved it.  This is how they would pose in every picture it I let them.

Just a random day at the park.

James' 4th birthday.

First day of school.  Seems like so long ago . . . *sigh*

It's the faces they make.  Knuckle sandwich anyone?

James didn't want to smile.  Joe decided to help.  :)

So happy and carefree.  I love the joy on their faces.

Favorites?  Yep.  It does not matter where they are -- they'll fight anywhere.  This captures my everyday life which is why it's one (some) of my favorites.  Also, it reminds me of warmer weather.  :)

My plan is to share more favorites in February . . . if I keep up with my blogging.  :)

Saturday night randomness

Some random things have been floating around in my head so I thought I'd share (along with some random pics).  Why not?  It's Saturday night and I'm crazy like that.  :)

1.  At what point will my children stop interrupting my shower?  James barged in the bathroom no less than three times today for nothing important.  Unless you think finding out what "St." means is so important it can't wait for 3 minutes.  At least I've trained him to shut the door when he leaves again.

2.  I am obsessed with popcorn.  I have made and eaten it at least 3 times this week.  It is my favorite snack.  Some of my staff got me a cool popcorn popper for Christmas.  I finally got stuff cleaned up today and took it out.  Exciting!

Random pic for a random post.

3.  We are currently watching "The Great Muppet Caper."  I'm trying to introduce my children to the classics.  :)  Really though, I was cleaning and came across the movie which I had bought months ago with the intention of putting it in one of my children's stockings.  I forgot.  oops.

4.  I really love this song.  It was on Grey's a long time ago but I was just thinking about it again the other day and keep listening to it.

5.  Like mother, like son -- James starts rambling about Groundhog day and how it's February 2nd and that is today and how he wonders if the groundhog saw his shadow then says how he's getting ready for his bath so he can watch the movie and then (without skipping a beat) asks me where eye boogers come from?  He's a talker like his mama.  He obviously has all sorts of different things to say so he rambles . . . .much like someone else I know.  :)

This picture is not cute.  This is how we roll on the weekends though.  Hanging around the house, doing silly stuff.

6.  I saw this on Ellen and I laughed.  A lot.  That second to last guy -- the McDonald's one that keeps opening the window had me lol-ing.  On a side note -- I love Ellen.  I record her every day -- she makes me happy.

7.  I watched 3 seasons of White Collar in 2 and half weeks.  Now I'm sad that it's currently halfway through the 4th season on TV and I can't watch it because I want to watch the season in order.  Any recommendations on what series to get hooked on next?

8.  My kids lost the remote to the TV.  They took the one from my room when they were watching TV in the living room so they could fight with them.  Seriously?  When did everything in my house become a potential weapon?

My children waiting for me before we left work one day.  Weird.

9.  I often comment on how I don't feel like a grown up.  I still feel like I'm in my early twenties.  How did I get to 36?  I am reminded of my age when my body aches and creaks like it never used to and when I'm doing my hair and see the ever growing population of gray ones in there.  What really hit me about growing older though was something I saw this week. This:

10.  I'm ready for warmer weather.  I want more clothes to fit in the washer (smaller clothes in the summer help with that), I want better gas mileage, and I want to go outside without a coat.  The end.

Warmer weather and crazy hair.  You know you miss it too.  :)