I had an addiction to coffee. I stopped drinking it about four months ago and took up tea instead. So far, it’s going great. The first week was horrible. The headaches and cravings were so intense I almost caved quite a few times.
But here we are four months later and drinking coffee isn’t the first thought on my mind when I wake up.
Just because I don’t drink coffee doesn’t mean I can’t have a cute mug to drink my tea out of. Which (sorry to say) has been my new addiction. Lol! It wasn’t that bad a year ago, now I’m buying a mug every time I go to the store. Buuuuttttt, because I’m only going to the store when I absolutely need something and I have a list. I don’t get a mug as often as one would assume. Maybe once every 2-3 months. Our family is learning to spend cash over using a credit card. Staying within our budget and paying off balances as soon as possible. It is literally a work in progress. Sometimes I fail. But we want our children to have a better understanding of their financial situations than we did as we became adults.
Anyways, does anyone else have a coffee or mug addiction? If so how do you handle that? Do you limit the amount of coffee/mugs you can have?
It is the last day of August, where did summer vacation go? In June, it seemed like we were enjoying our time as a family of 5 and patiently waiting for our first placement. In July, we spent our time getting to know our first placement and getting on a new routine/schedule. Having two small ones in the house sure does change things. August has been filled with trying to catch-up from July, get into the mindframe that school starts again and that we are back to the hustle and bustle of the rat race called keeping busy…
Anyways, I’m not one for much conversation so I will just post pictures to kind of catch you up 🙂
These are DSLR camera pics vs my iPhone pics that I’ve been posting like crazy 🙂
These are DSLR camera pics vs my iPhone pics that I’ve been posting like crazy 🙂
sleepovers
Photobombs!
Miss Marie learning how to take selfie’s
last day of school cuteness
The above pictures are from Concerts on the Square
Mya learning how to use a camera
Face/arm painting with friends!
The above pictures are from our trip to the Dell Diamond
Fourth of July Pictures, party at our place 🙂
There are tons more pictures, but since a ton of them have the newest members of our household in them I can’t post them online. I will post more pictures of other things we have done, though it has been a “short” summer it has been amazing and fun.
I’ve seen posts and entire series on why someone makes their bed, keeps their house clean, etc. And I can see where they are coming from, completely. But I’m not of that school of thought, actually I can’t stand cleaning. But I do it everyday.
My top reasons why I don’t make my bed…
1. I just don’t want to
2. It’s inviting to me, I can walk in my room and be like… Oh, my bed is calling me.
3. I’m just going to get back in it later
4. I don’t care if people see that my house looks lived in, because guess what… people live here, play here, sleep here, eat here, and have fun here
5. When I was growing up I was forced to make my bed a certain way and could NEVER sit on my bed, EVER
6. Our rooms had to be spotless, and when we played it was like we were being bad because a toy was on the floor.
7. We rarely had friends over, and when they would it was so sterile and scary. Because if they messed up the bed or didn’t put something away we would get into so much trouble.
8. I don’t want my children’s focus to be on being perfect, I want them to be children and to have fun and to live. I don’t want their memories of childhood to be of spotless non-played in rooms that can never get messy
9. I just don’t want to
10. It’s inviting to me, I can walk in my room and be like… Oh, my bed is calling me.
So basically, sometimes I will get the urge to make up the bed. But most times Ike does it, and that’s fine for both of us. D-boy makes his bed every morning. Miss Marie only makes her bed once a month, if that, and only after we tell her to. Mini Mouse makes her bed every other day. And that’s fine with us, all of us. I’m sure when they get older it could change, and that’s for them to choose not me.
Also, so many people are focused on the way a room/house looks… Not me, the main areas of the house are clean. They are in no way spotless and only are right after we clean. But after that, our house looks lived in. You can walk into a room and see that children have played in it. You can see where they had a secret lair in our main living room and not in the playroom which is out of sight. You can see where we ate a great meal at breakfast because all of the crumbs are still on the table. And you know what, it is fine. At some point in that day, it will be cleaned up. All of the pillows from the coach will be fluffed and replaced to their proper location. All of the shoes will eventually find their way back to everyone’s closets, all of the crayons and papers will find their location in the playroom.
I want my children to be happy and full of joy, and so instead of washing all of the dishes right after dinner. We will clear the table, and pull out a board game or shot for the championship in pool or just sit down and catch a movie on television. So in this house you will find happy, messy, well trained, respectful children. Just because we don’t make our beds and have every nook and cranny cleared of toys/shoes/crayons, it doesn’t mean that we aren’t clean people. It doesn’t mean that we are dirty, it just means we have different priorities then you. Our priorities will always be our family and our happiness, everything else will fall into place.
Plus if you are in our house on a Saturday morning, you know that our house is cleaned from the week. Which again is why I can’t stand laundry. Speaking of laundry, we are taking applications for someone to come and fold clothes.
So I am definitely going back and redoing this post, I’m just super lazy and thought this was good for the time being. There is more that I want to say, I just can’t right now. Not that I can’t say it, but more along the lines of me just wanting to get it posted… Is that lazy… maybe, maybe not! More along the lines of me saying… WHOOT, WHOOT I got another post done! #POW
Relationships can be so tricky, relating with other people is not an easy feat. It is something that one has to work on daily. Marriage is work, it isn’t something that is all magical and just happens forever. It takes time, focus, dedication and persistence to get where we are now. As you all know our relationship hasn’t been all peaches and cream, but it is working and it is what it is.
I look at the relationship that you guys have with your dad and at times I wonder if I had been given the chance to have that type of relationship with my own father if I would have been different. I’m sure, but what if’s don’t help anyone so I will move on from that. I am so happy that you guys have that type of relationship and I hope you understand where that comes from.
I love your dad because he loves you guys so much, does that sound funny? There are many other reasons why I love him, but seeing him with you guys makes me love him even more. I love him because when he looks at me it’s like I’m the only one in the room. I love him because he is willing to get matching tattoo’s with me and let me pick them out. I love him because he loves motorcycles more than I do. I love him because our names are similar; IAV and IAL. I love him because he helps me feel complete. He is a part of a circle and that circle is complete because he is in it. The other parts of that circle are you guys, my sister and niece, the awesome Godparents you guys have (whom I’ve known since I was 9 years old), and for knowing that God loves me even when I don’t love myself. I can go on and on, but I will spare you all of the sappy reasons why I love him.
I do want you to know that our relationship hasn’t always been great, it took time, healing and God to get our relationship to where it is now. We both came into the relationship with past hurts and learning to forgive people from our past. We knew we wanted to be together and so that was what kept us going. I’m not saying divorce was never in our conversations, just saying that we had to pray and take things one day at a time. What brought us together was our similarities. What is keeping us together is Christ and our love for each other and our love for you guys, and making sure that your life is in no way similar to our pasts. Because when you know better and learn better, you strive to be better and do better.
Anywho, your father and I have a lot of things in common, but we also have things that neither one of us really care for. But to be honest that is what makes our relationship stronger. If we were the same all the way, it would be boring. Some of the things we have that are similar are;
We like getting tattoos
We love riding motorcycles
We love music
We love our family (the one we made, not the one we came from)
We are both loyal
We both are very forgiving
Our initials are similar except our last names… IAL and IAV
We both heart the Packers and the Badgers
We enjoy spending time with our children
We both enjoy cooking and baking, him more cooking and me more baking
Anyways, I hope this gives you more of a look into the relationship I have with your father. I mean I can’t really go into super detail. But know that we are in it for the long haul and we are going to do all we can to stay together until we die.
The List:
THE LIST:
1. List 20 random facts about yourself. 2. Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and explain how they became fears (graphic version) 3. Describe your relationship with your spouse.
4. List 10 things you would tell your 16 year-old self, if you could.
5. What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now?
6. If you could have three wishes, what would you wish for?
7. What is your dream job, and why?
8. What are 5 passions you have?
9. List 10 people who have influenced you and describe how.
10. Describe your most embarrassing moment.
11. Describe 10 pet peeves you have.
12. Describe a typical day in your current life.
13. What’s the hardest part of growing up?
14. Describe 5 and weaknesses strengths you have.
15. Describe when you knew your spouse was the one or how I fell in love.
16. What are your 5 greatest accomplishments?
17. What is the thing you most wish you were great at?
18. What do you think your spouse loves most about you?
19. How did you feel the moment you became a parent?
20. Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.
21. Describe your relationship with your parents.
22. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?
23. What’s your favorite holiday and why?
24. What’s your favorite and least favorite thing about parenthood?
25. If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be and what would you eat?
26. What popular notion do you think the world has most wrong?
27. What is your favorite part of your body and why?
28. What’s your favorite quality in your spouse?
29. What are your hopes and dreams for your prosperity?
30. List 10 things you would hope to be remembered for.
Here I am again with my trusty list and the answer to the next prompt… WHOO, I am so proud of myself for actually posting the next post. I know that sounds funny, but every since school ended I have been on my computer less and less and on my iPhone more and more. Haha..
Without further ado, here is MY 3 Legitimate Fears…
I am afraid of spiders, bees and snakes, I’m not saying that I can’t kill either one if they appeared in my line of sight or in my way. Just means that when one pops up I get super freaked out and go all Ninja on them, and I can just feel the goose bumps popping up all over my body and then I worry that they have infested the area they were last seen. I’m pretty sure my unusual fear stems from watching the movies Arachnophobia and Anaconda.
I am legitimately afraid of not fulfilling goals I have set for myself. I’ve spent so many of my younger years feeling that I was a failure. I would attempt to do something or try to accomplish something and when it wouldn’t work out for me I would get so sad, upset and depressed. I’m learning how to handle pushing my goals back a little or making them more realistic or breaking the goal up into smaller steps. When I thought I wasn’t going to be able to graduate and get my Bachelor’s Degree, I got so upset and frustrated. I had to take a moment and reevaluate the situation. Once I was able to be happy in the process and moment I was in I could appreciate taking a shorter route or even a different route was in the best interest of everyone involved. Including myself and my sanity.
My Big Sister Jen and I at my Graduation Party she hosted at her place in Oshkosh, WI
I am afraid of raising my kiddos like I was raised. Before I had my first child, D-boy, I was so worried about having children and being like my biological mother. Being hateful, without a spouse, being a single parent, being angry, being physically or emotionally abusive to my children, blaming my children for my unhappiness, etc, etc. I was just plain afraid of becoming a parent. I have to say that it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be, there are some things that I would have done differently. But not too much and not enough to make a huge difference in the grand scheme of things. But I am learning and becoming a better parent, and once I learn to be better I am better.
My 3 wonderful kiddos: Mini Mouse, D-boy and Miss Marie
THE LIST:
1. List 20 random facts about yourself. 2. Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and explain how they became fears (graphic version)
3. Describe your relationship with your spouse.
4. List 10 things you would tell your 16 year-old self, if you could.
5. What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now?
6. If you could have three wishes, what would you wish for?
7. What is your dream job, and why?
8. What are 5 passions you have?
9. List 10 people who have influenced you and describe how.
10. Describe your most embarrassing moment.
11. Describe 10 pet peeves you have.
12. Describe a typical day in your current life.
13. What’s the hardest part of growing up?
14. Describe 5 and weaknesses strengths you have.
15. Describe when you knew your spouse was the one or how I fell in love.
16. What are your 5 greatest accomplishments?
17. What is the thing you most wish you were great at?
18. What do you think your spouse loves most about you?
19. How did you feel the moment you became a parent?
20. Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.
21. Describe your relationship with your parents.
22. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?
23. What’s your favorite holiday and why?
24. What’s your favorite and least favorite thing about parenthood?
25. If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be and what would you eat?
26. What popular notion do you think the world has most wrong?
27. What is your favorite part of your body and why?
28. What’s your favorite quality in your spouse?
29. What are your hopes and dreams for your prosperity?
30. List 10 things you would hope to be remembered for.
Also, please go over and check out the posts of others and to get some awesome graphics go here and here.
Simply 