The Treat of the Trade

....lift the seat when you pee! ....lower the seat after you pee! ....wipe the pee off the toilet! ....get your dirty underwear out of the bathroom floor! ....have you even brushed your teeth this week? ....have you showered since Sunday? ....where does all this sand and rocks come from? ....why are there so many of your dirty socks ALL over the house? ....stop licking the cat! ....quit spanking your sisters! ....i love you more! ....you cant have ice cream for dinner every night! ....shut the door when you use the bathroom! ....how is there so much dirt under your nails? ....i love you mostest! ....you will always be my little boy! ....you cant ride the dog! ....did you eat that bug? ....you can't bring the bug in the house! ....yes, you have to go to school everyday! ....share! ....how many Lego sets do you need? ....why does it smell in your room? ....you're my favorite little boy! ....cat food is not people food! .......

  I need to print this and hang it on every wall in my house. I CAN do anything my heart desires, but I CAN NOT, however, do everything.  I try to get it all done in one day. I won't let people help me. I feel overwhelmed. Then the process starts all over again the next day. It's a vicious cycle.   Stress is an ugly word and a word that is thrown around so loosely here lately. 13 year olds that talk about being stressed out on social media make me laugh. I mean, they have NO IDEA what the hell stress is. I have even stopped watching the news at home to avoid stress and questions the kids have that I am not ready to answer. There is seriously nothing good going on in the world. If there is, it isn't being talked about.   I have become so consumed with being super-mom, super-wife, super-woman that I have forgotten who I actually am in the process. My husband, my poor husband. He works hard. Harder than most men I know who "work hard". He's ...

I didn't carry her under my heart for 9 months. I didn't go thru all the pains of labor with her. I did welcome her into my life when she was 8 years old. I am carrying her in my heart for the rest of my life. I have said before..."I didn't make you, but I am molding you" Jill, I seriously am in shock and aww at the beautiful, smart, mature, witty, nerdy young lady you are becoming. You have brought a lot of joy into our lives. 16 is a big deal with great responsibilities. But its also a hard time for me. Although I think you are ready to take on the world----a part of me wants time to stand still. I have some advice for you as you turn the BIG 16: * Go do GREAT things * Keep kicking ass at what you love * Slowdown on your turns * Don't text and drive * Don't rush-Don't speed-Buckle up! * Play Lego with your brother-always * Keep making dumb videos with Jessie as long as you can * I would say---stop stressing me out, but I am a mom a...

I took a Social Media Cleanse a few days ago. I logged off of Facebook and Instagram. And I cant even begin to tell you, that even though i only made it 48 hours, it was a great feeling to not be so controlled by my phone and refreshing news feed all day long. It gets stressful at times. Keeping up with everyone's dirty laundry, minute by minute status updates, check-ins...well you get the idea.  And the minions! OMG the minions!! (they didn't say all that stuff!)  I didn't "clean up" my friends list. So no one was cut from my life! :) But I paid more attention to what my husband and kids had to say. For the first time in a long time i can actually remember some of the jokes from a few stand up comedy shows the hubby and i watched while he was home.  I wasn't on my phone while having quality time with Josh and the kids. I noticed that when I did log back on, my mood changed. Not so much for the good either. I became irritable and just moody. I was...

  AHHHHH! Parenting. Parenting your own kids. Parenting step-kids. Parenting is hard ya'll! I don't care who you think you are, you don't have it figured out either. You might think you do, I mean your kids are still alive, as are mine but we seriously have no idea what we are doing. And I am pretty sure my parents had no clue what they were doing either. They turned out fine. I think anyway.   I am not my kids friend. I'm not a drill sergeant though either. Although they probably think I am Hitler's sister, I am not that bad! I parent first. Josh parents first. We struggle sometimes on if we are making the right decisions, like I am sure all parents do. So what if your kid gets mad at you and hates you and cusses you in their mind and talks horrible about you to their friends. Who cares! I mean SERIOUSLY?! WHO CARES?? They will one day move out on their own and maybe then .... just maybe....they will realize why you did the things you did. T...

(I copied this list from another blog I read....the ones that are all in bold I already do.) If I could do it all again, I’d: 1. Give myself permission to  not  be on call 24/7. By permission, I don’t mean disappearing, or for long, drawn-out periods. But I  do  mean handing over the reins of parenting more often, so I keep in touch with who I am in addition to being a parent. 2. Let the laundry pile up. Because, let’s be honest, nobody is going to fire me. 3. Enjoy a regular date night with my husband. Away from home if possible, but if we can’t, at least pretend we are. 4. Swing on the swings with the kids. Fun is more fun when your mother is having it too . 5. Make fewer to-do lists. Though I might feel as if I’m accomplishing something, I’m only writing down what I already know. 6. Sleep more, better, longer. 7. Worry less, better, shorter. 8. Be less grumpy about the state of my kids’ rooms. They’ll be empty far too soon. 9. Take ti...

On a previous post i talked about yelling. That is still going well. I am yelling less. And i am also less stressed. I ran across this quote and it got me to thinking about who i want the girls to be when they are older. What kind of example I am setting for them...etc. I also thought long and hard about the example their dad sets for how a man should treat a lady. I think we are good in that department. The girls have told me several times that they admire our relationship. We both have someone we can be ourselves with and laugh and learn together. We share the same interest and have different ones as well and that gives us something to talk about at the end of the day. The girls will hopefully have long lasting relationships in life and a happy marriage.  I think about the kind of woman Jaxon might end up with. Will she be similar to his mom or the complete opposite.  Your kids are watching and listening even if you don't think they are. They might n...