See ya later brace face

Joseph got his braces off a few weeks back.

Hooray.

and yes Joseph is a hairy man.

The lesson of a clean house

So lady like....it is working. hahaha

My house is generally a clean place.

You cannot eat off my floors but my house is usually picked up, dishes put away, things in their place, etc.

There are PLENTY of times during the day that different areas of my house are messy, toys thrown all over the place,etc.

But during nap time and after all little people are in bed for the night, I clean/pickup.

It helps me to feel organized and sane.

I cannot breathe when there is stuff all over the place.

I've tried really hard to teach my children that having a clean home is important and that working hard to have a clean home isn't always fun but it's worth it.

I also try to teach my kids that having LOTS of fun is important too.

We aren't all work and no play.

2 weeks ago Abbey and Jack were outside playing with our neighbor girl, Radikah.

Radikah is 10 almost 11 and an only child. She loves my kids and is so sweet with them.

She invited Abbey and Jack over to have icecream. They were so excited to go.

Radikah is from India so they have lots of beautiful statues and things in their home.

They were so excited to see all of her foreign treasures.

After a while they came home because it was time for Radikah to practice piano.

I inquired about their little icecream party.

Abbey told me all about all the icecream toppings and fun things they found in Radikah's house.

Then she said "but Mom her house was messy. Things all over the counters, dishes in the sink, and Radikah had books and things all over the floor of her room".

And I replied "oh, how was that?" not really thinking anything of it.

Abbey quipped "I didn't like it. A home should be clean like ours"

That night I began to ponder the things we teach our children purposefully and the things they learn by watching and listening to us.

I don't ever talk about why I clean in specifics. (*Abbey we clean the bathroom sink b/c it's disgusting to look at the chunks of toothpaste you leave behind. And Jack we clean the bathroom floor 1000x a day b/c of the lovely surprises you leave behind on the floor* not so pleasant HA)

So obviously my children have learned by watching me pick up and having them pick up.

I hope that my children will pick up the good habits I have and not the bad ones *which I will not reveal ;)*

As a woman I hope that I set a good example of how a woman/girl should act and dress. That I will never let my insecurities regarding my body or anything else cross my lips so that my children will hear them and feel those things about themselves.

I remember when I was a little girl my Mom always joked that her diet started on Monday.

Which is funny but I don't want them to wonder when their diet is going to start.

Our kids really are sponges.

When they see our insecurities/habits, etc. they will mimic them.

Sometimes this parenting stuff is hard work.

*and when I have these moments of intense thinking and brain usage, I pray my kids inherited their Dad's brains because I'm not built to handle it.

And now I have to erase that before they read it. :)

Soccer!

Please note all the Dads- they were 100% serious. You would have thought they were trying out for the World Cup team. UMMMMM hello they're 3!

Jack had his first soccer practice 2 weeks ago and he loves it.

He loves anything that involves running and a ball.

I love seeing his cute chubby legs stuffed into his shin guards and soccer socks.

The only thing that Jack isn't so fond of is when he doesn't score ALL the goals.

So we watched a few matches over the weekend and now he understands that there usually aren't too many goals scored and that there isn't any crying in soccer (due to others scoring a goal including teammates).

YAY for soccer!

Jack starts school!

Last week Jack finally started school.

He thought it was so lame that he didn't get to start when Abbey started.

He loves school.

This year he goes 3 days a week.

On his first day he looked up at Joseph and said "Dad are you going to come to my school and have lunch with me today?"

It just about broke my heart.

On Fridays Joseph goes to have lunch with Abbey at the "big school".

Jack was heartbroken when we had to break the news but I bought him a milkshake at chik-fil-a and he was over it.

Jack is such a sweet boy who is full of energy and love.

I love to see that he is so confident and adapts so well to new things.

He is GREAT.

We love you Jack!

Sad b/c Dad can't come to his school for lunch. :(

Happy to be at school playing with friends!

Kindergarten

Today was Abbey's first day of kindergarten.

She was so excited and couldn't wait to get her day started.

We all drove together over to the school and walked her to her class.

She could barely be bothered to say goodbye and give us loves. She was ready.

I was feeling sad and gave her a quick smooch and excused myself before I flooded the classroom.

Joseph was surprised that I was so sad about her being gone all day.

I tried to explain that being the Mom-is my job.

She's been under my care for the past 5yrs. It's hard to hand her over to complete strangers for 8hrs a day.

She had a great day.... and then came dismissal.

She is used to seeing all the cars pull up to pick up the kids. She couldn't see me and we hadn't talked about dismissal at all. I figured that would be cake.

I pulled forward they called her name on the walkies. She finally heard her name and walked out of the building with huge tears silently falling down her face.

That just about killed me. She threw her arms around my neck and just cried "mama, i was so worried".

Oy.

She calmed down quickly and we talked about it when we got home over fresh chocolate chip cookies.

Now she knows the procedure and knows that Mom will NEVER leave her at the school.

She made 2 friends and one friend even let her borrow her fancy bracelet for the night.

We are so proud of her.

Sweet

Abbey gets to meet her teacher tomorrow.

I'm so excited for her but I'm also a little sad.

I'll save that post for later.

So I've been thinking of something that I could make/do for her teacher.

I thought about doing a bottle of nice hand soap with a little note with something like "if you need a hand..."

cheesy, i know.

And then I thought about what I would want. I would want cupcakes.

I love cupcakes.

5yrs ago before this whole cupcake craze I told Joseph that I wanted to open my own cupcake shop.

He fully supported my plan but the only thing in the oven was our baby (abigail).

Fast forward 5 years and there is a shop on every corner around here.

BOO.

So Abbey and I made red velvet chocolate chunk cupcakes with homemade creamcheese frosting.

Man they are good.

And I stuffed them into mason jars, wrapped some ribbon around the top.. fin.

She is so excited to give them to her teacher.

yummy

best secret ever. I can't keep my muffin tins clean to save my life.

Now I can. Stuff a large ziploc in a water pitcher, fill with batter...

snip the corner and fill the tins.
Repeat with homemade frosting.
So easy and NO mess!

The final product.
Wish us luck.