waffled biscuits

Why is that because my oven is broken and has been for almost a month do I want to bake everything?  I want biscuits and other yummy things I honestly do not need to be eating right now.  My eating has been all over the place and with my birthday coming up I think I'm letting myself indulge with that as an excuse. I'll get myself back on track but until then I'm finding alternate ways to make my goodies.

Canned refrigerated biscuits on the waffle iron are fabulous!  I was impressed and so happy to try them.  I then allowed myself to buy canned refrigerated cinnamon rolls, for the children of course!!  I haven't tried them yet, but I bet they'll be fabulous.  Hopefully by the end of this week, or even on my birthday I'll have a new oven again!  My goodness, the joys of a home warranty company, and being a renter. :-) 

thoughts about growing into 40

I'm 8 days from turning 40 y'all.  

The big 40!  

I'm so excited about it.  I'll never get tired of birthdays.  I love birthdays and will always love birthdays and my hope is that I pass my love of celebrating life on to the kiddos.  It's a big deal no matter what age we are turning.

I'm not sad or upset about turning 40.  I feel like I've grown into myself, finally.  I'm so thankful for all the years I've had and for how much I have grown up even more since adulthood.  I still feel like a kid half the time, and in the past 5 or so years I've learned to act more like an adult.  I've learned how to cope with the way I am treated by other people.  I've learned that when people are mean it is all about them, not about me.  That is a huge development for me because I am the worlds biggest peace- maker and after trying to make peace for years and years and years I have realized I can't make everyone happy.  I know I know, even though I've known I still try.  Insanity right??!?!

I can't make everyone happy and the only person I can make happy is myself.  I'm putting on my big girl pants to say, this is the lesson I wish to pass on to my kids. 

We can't control they way people treat us, but we can control how they make us feel.  If we don't like the way we feel then take a leap away.   We all wanna feel good about ourselves!

The kids have had lots of 'feels' making friends in various schools the last few years.  They have both had random encounters with all sorts of kids.  Kids that say mean things.  Kids that have sad home lives and it runs over into school life.  (in those cases i teach the kids about grace)  Kids that show off and make bad choices.  And I'll be the first to say my kids aren't perfect.  I'm trying to teach the babies about how to deal with all types of people and BAM...I need to do the same thing in adult life.   Adults say mean things too and sometimes those words sting 90 times worse than kid words.  Sadly, adults should know better.

We all want to belong and feel part of a group. Even as adults it is an awesome feeling to make friends and feel part of something. We want to be included and accepted.  Is it possible to feel included yet talked down to and belittled?  Can you suddenly find yourself part of the wrong goup?  Being included at the cost of feeling down on yourself isn't worth it and that goes for kids and adults.    

How about an example or two...

Layla is great at nicely distancing herself from 'mean' girls.  She makes friends easily and in our moving adventures she thought she had some besties, and then slowly learned they were not who she once thought.  She can pick up on the meanies and skeedaddle!   I have learned so much from helping and watching her and we are growing together.  As a 5th grader she is great at standing back and watching and trying to decide which group to hang with, and I think her home life helps with that.  She knows she is always safe here.  This is a place in which she can pour out her feelings. She can get advice and I pray she will always feel comfortable coming to Gary and I and talking.  Gary and I want to be that example for her.

Hayden is a guy in 2nd grade and thankfully he hasn't had too many issues.   He once had little guy push him down a few times, serveral days in a row on the playground on purpose.  He came home and asked what he should do.  He also encountered a boy on the bus who didn't understand personal space.  He responded "personal space dude!" and the boy completely got it and left him alone.  Mostly with guys it's all about kicking the soccer ball, throwing a ball and/or running fast.  Hayden has had a few sandpaper people to deal with, but he just wears his 'fast' running shoes and they leave him alone.  ;-) 

The year of 40 is going to be huge for me.  I've been training for this my whole life and I am ready to hung up my peace-maker hat.  I'm living and loving and growing for me.  I'm ready to surround myself with all the positive people in my life that lift me up.    Parenting and aging has made me wiser and MUCH happier.  I hear adults say all the time how hard it is to make friends as an adult.  I think maybe it isn't hard.  I think we are too picky yet not picky enough.  I think we should try harder and be more accepting of each other.  I think we just be ourselves and attract like people.  Dig deep inside and use the filter God gave us.   Treat people the way we want to be treated.  Listen and learn and realize friends can be a friends without pressure.  We can learn something from every single person we come in contact with, soft or sandpaper.

she's a new picker

This is exactly what I posted on Instagram today,

"I'm so incredibly proud of this girl and I've never wanted to rush out and buy a classical guitar as much as I do right now.  Wow!  This recital was just perfect and these kiddos are all super talented.  Also, I had that teary eyed proud mom feeling especially when she sang.  I'm such a sap."

The last 6 weeks of 5th grade the intermediate school kids get to take guitar lessons in music class.  Layla has been curious about guitar for years and she has done amazing learning and wants to stick with lessons.

Today us parents were invited to a recital during the school day.  They put on a nice show for us and played and even sang several songs and then ended with the 6th grade orchestra joining for the last few songs.  It was an awesome recital and their music teacher has done some wonderful instruction.  What a talented bunch!  

Layla saw the pictures of herself and said, "Gosh, I'm glad I didn't wear a dress with my legs all sprawled out, but that is how I'm supposed to sit with proper posture."  I'm proud of my guitar playing soon to be 6th grader.

a school cafe lunch date

We got to have lunch with the special guy today.

He asked us to come have lunch with him and told us he eats at 12:20pm.  Well I thought I'd check his teachers website just to be sure, and it said his lunch is at 11:55.  Gary and I met at the school with Bush's chicken at 11:45.  (Hayden said he was feeling like chicken...lol)  

Wellllll.....guess who was correct.  Our neighbor works at the school and she saw us sitting at the parent table.  She mentioned that half way through the year the lunch schedule changes.  hahahaha!!  You know what?  It was ok.  It was so fun to sit in an elementary school cafe and tell stories about school lunches of ours.  We had a nice little break and even saw a few kiddos we know.  It was God's way of telling us to slow down and just enjoy the moment.  Even if it was in a loud cafeteria.

As the clock struck 12;20 guess who giggled and laughed and said, "told you so!"   His little face was so cute as he entered the cafe doors.  He ran-walked up to the parents table and sat right down so happy to have us there.  He scarfed down 2 rolls and several pieces of chicken.  He pointed out his friends and where he usually sits.   He gave us the scoop on how many servings of tater tots you can get away with eating.  

Oh that boy is just such a good little man and so full of sweetness.  He has a friend who gets food sent home from the school with him every weekend.  He was so carefree as he told us the story.  It sorta broke my heart, but Hayden doesn't care and the little boy doesn't care either.  We all need to take some tips from pure hearted kiddos.  God love them all!!

I'm thankful for my soon to be carefree 3rd grade little man!

it's the simple things

Sometimes a water hose and some baby shampoo is all you need for an afternoon of fun.  Well and the slip n slide too.  

All this slip n slide fun had me camera happy, so out of the bag came my "big" camera.  100 or more pictures later here we go....I just can't help it!  I only added a few to spare you the over posting of pictures. ;)

Yesterday reminded me of when the kids were littler and we lived in Haslet.  The backyard fun we had there was so simple and fun.

The kids are easily entertained and of course they make it look so fun that Gary has to join in.  I'm pretty sure Lily wanted to slide too, but she didn't want to get her new collar wet!  

The kiddos are on summer break countdown.  They have 8 days from today and they'll be out for SUMMAA!!!!

sloppy joes and sparklers

Gary worked late tonight so we stayed in and I made sloppy joes.  I've never put cheese on my sloppy joe, but I did tonight and it was a.maz.ing!  We had BBQ chips with our sandwiches and they were good too.  I had forgotten how yummy they are.

I really love our outdoor area.  I can't wait to buy a home to live in 'forever.'  I want to make the backyard all our own.  Our family is constantly outside and so the house can be cool, but the backyard must be off the chain awesome!

After our dinner we decided to play with sparklers.  It was a fun low key night, but it's those nights I love the most.  This little sock footed lady remembers getting burned by a sparkler once, so she was super cautious with her footing and where the fire fell!

We love weekends!!

what in the world?

This hilarious picture popped up in my timehop feed this morning.  

I'm not quite sure what is going on, but it looks like a yard sale of sorts.  Oh how I love this silly family of mine and I love my addiction to my camera!  

Muted Monday - A trip to Tonkawa Falls

Jungle Book at the Cliftex

Saturday evening the kids and I had a date with my Aunt to see a movie.  

We went to the movie in my hometown of Clifton.  

This wasn't just any theatre, it was my childhood movie theatre!  

I can't count the number of movies I saw at this tiny little place.  It wasn't so tiny when I was little.  The road seemed smaller too after the movie when we walked out into the dark evening.  It's so funny how when you're a kid things seem larger than life!

I just love downtown Clifton.  I think big things are happening in that quaint little town.  It is a happening place and I'm so happy to be living close by again so I can visit and see all the growth.

The kids had to stand and pose by this mural.  

Layla made sure to point out that it says, "Life is short, break the rules."

Hayden Cole is crazy.  He has a style of his own with the camo shorts and plaid shirt.  Goodness gracious, I just didn't want to break his heart with all the pattens he is sporting, so I didn't.  I just let him be him with the bright orange monkey around his neck.  The both wanted to take stuffed animals with a jungle theme to the movie.  I told them it was fine with me, but I wouldn't be putting those fluffy critters in my purse.  I've had many random things in my purse in my momma years!

Layla was very shocked by the fact that there was only one movie showing in one theatre.  There was not a list of movies to chose from.  There wasn't a 7:00 showing and a 9:00 showing.  They liked it and they can't wait to go back for movies this summer!

The Jungle Book was a great movie. Go see it!!!  We all enjoyed it way more than we thought we would.  I remember seeing the animated version while babysitting when I was a kid. It was such a cute movie and the non animated version was perfectly done! It was great for us animal lovers.  The movie started at 7:00 and promptly at 8:00 the screen went dark and people started getting out of their seats.  Layla looked at me with confused eyes and wondered what in the world was going on.  She also commented about what a 'clifhanger' that was.  Hahaha! She said she hoped there was a second movie. We all busted out laughing.  It was intermission time.  What theatre still has a 5 minute break?  It was awesome and such a fun and educational night in Clifton Texas!

Mother's Day 2016

  

We celebrated my first Mother's Day back in Texas.

I had a great day with my people.  They spoiled me all day long.

We all cracked up laughing when we set up the timer for this picture.  Lily licked Hayden right on his face.   I couldn't find the selfie stick so we did the best we could with the auto-timer on my iPhone.  The family is so sweet to let me get pictures.  I asked for a family shot and they totally knew it was coming!  I've got them trained right! ;)

All  I wanted for lunch was Chicken Parmesean.  

Gary decided on Carino's, back where Gary and I worked once upon a time.  We splurged on Italian nachos, a salad, entree and a tiny dessert.  The dessert shocked me. It said mini, but it was really mini.  I got a tiny square of cheesecake and I was not impressed by it's size.  I saved my chicken parm to take home and finish for dinner.  I purposefully only ate a little so I could have room for dessert, but the dessert was definately different since we worked at Carinos. Kindof a bummer, that they were out of TIRAMISU. What in the world??

Gary got chicken picata and the kids got pizza dippers.

After our lunch they took me to HEB and let me pick out a hanging basket for my back patio.  I'm easy to please.  Anddddd since the cheesecake I ordered was so tiny we ended up getting another whole cake. LOL!  oink.  It was just a little frozen turtle cheesecake, but we all had more dessert and laid around full for the rest of the day!

Happy Mother's Day to all my favorite moms!!

a hand full of memories

So much has changed during the 4-ish years our family has been gone from Texas. 

One of the big things is that my grandparents moved from an assisted living to a nursing home.  

A very similar thing happened with Gary's mom who was just a few years younger than my grandparents.  I leaned all the things my parents are learning now when it all started with Gary's parents.  It is not something you can ever prepare yourself for and in a nut shell it pretty much sucks.

Gary's mother had physical health issues worse than my grandparents.  My grandparents both have memory loss, but they are healthy for the most part.  It is very hard to see the people who had such a positive influence on your childhood not even know who you are.  Heck y'all, they aren't even real sure who they themselves are.  My grandma didn't realize my dad got married and wasn't sure who my mom (her daughter in law) was.  Eeyeyeye!

 My grandpa looks so frail.  He was shivering and it wasn't even really cold in the room.  He was sleeping quietly and seemed just like the grandpa I remember, but he isn't.  His hair was much longer than I remember and he wasn't wearing his glasses.  I could really see his blue eyes shining, but there was no expression. His face was clean shaven and he had a bandage on his arm he kept fiddling with.  I've heard he has bad moments of irritability and grouchyness.  I think I'd be irritable too if I had to sit in a wheel chair all day long.  The nursing home is just a sad place and it breaks my heart.  My grandpa wants to be out working and doing man stuff, but that isn't his reality.  The nursing staff is awesome and do the best they can to help him feel like he's working.  The get him to put his flannel shirt on by telling him he's heading to work.  I think he is getting good care, but it's still sad.

My grandmother looks very different.  Her skin has a pretty glow and her eyes are a wonderful blue.  I don't think I ever realized how blue they are.  I don't remember ever looking at her and seeing her without makeup or jewelry.  Her hair wasn't curled and coated with spray-net.  I looked at her and remembered all our phone calls.  I remember her asking about Layla and Hayden back when she actually remembered them.  I think back to the long chats we had when I was a kid.  I remember standing on a step stool and making mac-n-cheese or scrambled eggs.  She would always encourage me and she was a great listener.

I think for me I have to stand there in the moment of reality and remember all the memories because they can't. I want to remember them enough for us all. I know they would be proud of me and who I am today. When I'm an aging parent I want my kids kids to remember me and the way I spoke to them and the fun we had.  I know they will see me in my shell of a body, but I'm doing things now to help them have more in the future harder days.  We're all going to get old y'all.

While I was standing there talking to them both yesterday I couldn't help but focus on their hands.  Their hair, faces and facial expressions look so different.  Their posture has failed, and their legs are tired.  But their hands still folded and laid flat and twisted and fiddled with their wheel chairs.  Their hands.  The hands that helped me and hugged me.  The same hands that have touched so many lives, written so many recipes and built so many projects in the garage.

I just had to grab my iPhone and take a picture of their hands.