A Photo An Hour.

 Last week, Steph from Southern Mess had a fun post called A Photo An Hour.  She decided to host a link up with Meg. O from Meg O. on the Go to have everyone else join in on the fun.

My day can be pretty hectic/boring, but I thought this sounded really fun.  Some photos were taken with my camera and some with my phone.

I woke up before the kids. It's a miracle. I spent some time drinking the green juice I made last night (Kale, Kiwi, Pineapple, Mint) and a coffee.  I sat down with my devotional and my bible study book to get some uninterrupted time in.

The kids are up, so I made them some breakfast.

I attempt to put on makeup and get dressed

I have to unlock Olivia from the bathroom because Jordan locked her in while I ran to the basement to grab some clothes. How he managed to lock her in while he was out of the bathroom, I have no idea. The skeleton key wouldn’t work so I had to take apart the door.

My makeup is finally done and I’m dressed, which means I put on a clean tee and clean leggings.

I’m going stir crazy because I haven’t been to the gym in a week because the kids have been sick so I try and get in a workout. It was a success.  I loved the Love Your Body HIIT workout workout from Tone It Up.  (My booty is still sore this morning!)

I make some lunch for everyone, homemade mini pizzas.

I attempt to put little munchkins down for a nap. I was not successful.

Jordan’s doing the usual, destroying the playroom. He’s pretending his safari truck is a lobster and yes, he is wearing his rash guard and swimsuit.  He said he wanted to wear it so we could go to Long Island on a long long drive to go see Grandpa and Grandma and go in their pool.

I attempt to clean up my office/sewing/guest room so we can put the new bed in.  (I wasn’t that successful  and I swear it really isn't "that" bad, the pictures make it look a lot worse.)

I start doing some meal prep.  I’m making spaghetti squash for dinner and I decided to try out the oven method for hardboiled eggs.  It turned out pretty good.

Jordan passed out right before 6, so Olivia and I are having fun playing in the kitchen while we wait for Tj to get home.

 Olivia gets a bath and then goes to bed. Somehow her brother is still sleeping (and slept until 8 am this morning!)

Sparkly shoes can make any bad day better.  I'm also a million times more productive when I wear these around the house. 

 I find Wickett curled up in his new favorite spot, the kitchen sink.

I decided to take an Epsom Salt bath and go to bed!

This was a really great idea.  I'll have to remember this so I can do another one!

2014 Goals

I’m a little late on the blogger bandwagon of sharing my goals for the year. Better late than never.

I try not to overload myself too much but I always like having goals to strive towards.  I try and break them down into categories.  Here are my goals and a few cute picture of my kids.

Personal:

Be present more: In this day and age with all of the technology, I want to be more present with my kids and my husband and spend less time with technology when I am around them.

Faith: I want us to be more active in our church.  My son goes to Sunday School every week, but us actually making it to church is hit or miss.  I also want to start doing some bible studies. I’m a part of one right now that starts tomorrow. I’m pretty excited for it.

Self Care:  I’ve already touched on this subject last week.  I want to take care of myself better, so that I can be better equipped to take care of those around me.  So far this goal is working out well.  I have been trying to care out time for myself here and there.  I got my hair cut (for the first time in 9 months), I have taken a few bubble baths and put on my favorite masks. I also want to improve my health.

Run a Half Marathon:  This is pretty self explanatory.  My goal is to run one half marathon this year.  I wanted to try and run the Buffalo Half Marathon at the end of May, but if that one doesn’t pan out. I plan on running in the Mighty Niagara Half that’s up by Niagara Falls.

Blogging:

• I want to increase my followers to 100.
• I want to be consistent with posts 4-5 days a week..
• Plan ahead- I don’t want to be writing posts last minute.  I’d like to write them and stock pile them up to be published so I don’t feel so rushed and flustered.
• I would love to be in a place to accept sponsorships/ad space.

Professionally:

• Open Etsy Shop- This is been a goal of mine for a while now.  This year I am going to make it happen!
• Take Photography and editing classes.
• Open a Photography business- I would love to be able to do family pictures, events, newborns and maternity shots.  Not necessarily to make a ton of money, but to be able to do something I have a passion for and to be able to support my hobby.

 So what are some of your goals?  

Guilty.

Before kids, 9 times out of 10, your #1 focus is on yourself.  You make time to stay in shape.  You make time to get massages or facials.  You put yourself first.

Then it happens, you give birth and see your child for the first time, that you love more than anything. Something changes, instead of focusing on yourself, your entire life begins to revolve around that little human being.  You stay up late with diaper changes and feedings, you’re typically covered in spit-up, you can’t remember the last time you showered or brushed your teeth. The next thing you know, you’re looking at yourself in a mirror and you don’t recognize yourself. It wasn’t as bad after baby #1, but once Olivia came around, I was 100% guilty of this.  I still am and Olivia is 18 months old.  

I was reading reading one of my favorite blogs, The Naptime Diaries, and came across a blog post that she wrote titled 5 reasons mamas don't take care of themselves. Something clicked in me after reading that post, that in order to take care of my family, my friends and others around me, I need to take  care of myself first.  Self care is much more important that you realize.  One of my goals for this year was to start taking care of myself.  When  you take care of yourself, you are more confident and happier. I want to be happier, I want to take care of myself and to be a good role model for my daughter as she grows up. 

For the rest of January, I am going to really focus on getting in some me time.  I want to start going to bed at a reasonable time, so I can start waking up early. I want to be able to have some un-interrupted time to be able to have some time with God, to focus on my bible studies.  I want to go to the gym and eat to fuel my body. Not necessarily with the goal of losing weight (but that would be a great bonus!), but to become healthier and to help relieve some of my most recent symptoms (I’m allergic to something and have “attacks” weekly. but we can’t pinpoint what it is).   I want my children to have a role model in being healthy and in being in touch with their faith.  

This is my year.

What I’m Loving Wednesday.

It’s been a rough couple weeks, so unfortunately I fell off the 30x30 wagon.  We’ve had some big changes in our house that we’re still trying to adjust to, so hopefully the next challenge I’ll be able to complete the whole thing.
Today I thought I’d share some of the things I’m loving this week.

-Having this little guy home with me full time!

As hard of a transition it is from him going to school two full days a week to now being home full time, I’m really excited to try my hand at homeschooling him and spending a little more time with him.

-Watching the kids play together.  The older they get, the more the interact together and I think it’s just too precious.
Here’s a cute video of them splashing together in the tub.



- All Christmas all the time! Christmas is 2nd favorite holiday (Halloween being the 1st) so I’m happy that it’s finally socially acceptable to put up Holiday decorations.  Our tree is up, but not decorated yet and I’m hoping to get it done in the next couple of days.  I really want to decorate the outside with some lights or something, but we have no electrical outlets outside.  I’m hoping we can figure out a solution.

-Last, a (semi)clean playroom! I’ve been trying to get out house in order and in the past month or so this is the best that our playroom has looked! Having such a long playroom (18ish ft) is a major challenge in keeping it clean.

Five on Friday

Last night was the first night in close to TWO weeks that we did not have a child wake up and end up taking over our bed.  It was amazing and yet I still feel like a zombie that didn’t get any sleep.  Hopefully they can keep this up so I can feel human again.  I found this great link up and thought I would join in on the fun. 
So here’s my 5 for Friday!

1.) Going out with my husband tomorrow!-  I think my mom could hear the desperation in my voice and she’s going to babysit the kids tomorrow with my step dad for us.  We have friends in town for the Bills v. Jets game tomorrow, so we’re all going to go out to dinner and maybe get some drinks afterwards.

{Hard to believe this was almost 5 years ago}

2.) This Quote-  This is certainly something to keep in mind on my quest to lose this baby weight.  I’ve been guilty of comparing myself to others and then getting discouraged and just losing all motivation.

3.) Losing the Baby Weight-  With the kids being sick, I only made it to the gym one time this week.  I planning on making a little schedule for this upcoming week and attempting to take a few classes.  I’m pretty shy and get really nervous around new people, so I’m hoping that I can make it happen.   The Y will be seeing a lot of me this week (and the kids, which they love)

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4.) Christmas Lists-  I’m knee deep in making Christmas Lists.  I have both of the kid’s lists made and I’m working on mine.  I’m hoping Santa actually pays attention to the list this year.

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5.) Decorating!- I have the itch.  All I want to do is decorate for Christmas, but my husband would kill me.  I guess one should actually clean their house first, which is on the agenda this weekend.  Apparently two sick kids make a bigger mess than two healthy kids.  My house looks like a bomb went off.  I'm also going to try and get two toddlers to sit still and act like they like each other so I can get my Christmas cards ordered.  I am trying to be ahead of the Christmas game this year!

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Fall

Every year at the end of September, we go to the Great Pumpkin Farm in the town of Clarence.   My dad and brother have a competition barbeque team called Hoof and Hog Smokers and Oinktoberfest is held at the Great Pumpkin Farm.  It’s nice to be there to support our family and have some fall fun.  I really enjoy the built-in babysitters that we have at these competitions, my niece Alyssa and nephew Connor (They’re twins).   I’m sure my brother doesn’t mind l us stealing them, it keeps them out of his hair.

The Pumpkin Farm is really great.  They often hold races and different events there throughout the fall season.  We also love that there are plenty of family friendly activities.  They have a mini maze made out of hay, a playground, a petting zoo and lots of pumpkins.

Hoof and Hog Smokers did fantastic on the second day of the competition.  They got Grand Champion.  It’s so awesome to see all of their hard work pay off.

Now for some photos.