Being a better mom

I have, for a while now, wanted to be a better mom. Don't we all? We are never "good enough" for ourselves I think. Yesterday, I had one of those proud "I'm doing better moments".

I was in the midst of laundry, which was way overdue. I had 8 loads to tackle throughout the day. I have learned that it is impossible to fold laundry with a 1 year old and a 2 year old, so I let it all pile up, clean, in to baskets during the day, and start folding at 8pm when the kids go to bed, usually while watching some good show on tv. Yesterday, there was a basket on the floor in the living room, and wouldn't you know, it looked like so much fun to my two little kids. They both decided to start tossing all of the clothes out. I wanted to get mad, but took a moment and paused.

I realized, the living room floor was basically clean. Maybe a few Cherios that I missed from the day before, but that was it. There were no dirty clothes on the floor, so I knew that whatever they were pulling out would be clean when I decided to fold them later. So, I let them do it. Aside from that, I realized I needed another laundry basket, as all were full, and this gave me one. And I stayed cool and calm and realized what they were doing just wasn't in need of me getting mad about. This was my proud mommy moment of the day.

Oh, and I made a dinner with lots of yummy veggies and sausage, thanks to the Crockpot Lady, and when threatened with bed, Zach actually ate it. That made me feel like a good mommy too. :) This was after I let Elmo babysit the kids while I took a shower, which I am off to do again...

Weekend fun

This has been a fun weekend for us. Jon woke up early Sat morning, as he was suppose to go to a men's breakfast at 7:45. He showered and went back to bed, deciding not to go. Sat mornings are the only morning he can make breakfast for us, which he loves to do, and did not want to miss that. So the kids slept until almost 9am. So nice! We got up and got dressed and had homemade chocolate chip pancakes. Yum!

Then we headed to our friends' house. Matt and Brooke are expecting their first little girl any day now. They just, bought their first house, and Matt needed help installing the garage door opener. So, we went to offer help. Our friends Greg and Sheri also came, and their daughter Izzy, who's little girl is 5 days younger than Hannah. The guys spent the day outside and the girls stayed inside with the kids, just talking and having a good time, giving Brooke all kinds of mommy advice.

Then we dashed home, arriving at 4:50. We had a sitter showing up at 5 and our house was NOT appropriate. Jon quickly threw all the dishes in the stove haha (I promise, this is the first we've ever done that!), and cleaned up the table and kitchen as best as he quickly could. I changed diapers and took them all out as the sitter pulled in. Jon fixed Zach leftover pancakes and Hannah some baby food and the sitter started feeding them while we changed and left within 10 min.

We were worried we were going to be late... Our young married couples group at church was having a date night. We were actually the second couple there. We ate at PF Changs. It was a lot of fun. Only four couples showed up, but we really got to enjoy the time together and being out. Then Jon and I went to go see a movie- Law Abiding Citizen. A good movie, def not a disappointment. When we walked out, our car was covered in 2-3 inches of snow. It took us 45 min to get home (normally about a 15 min drive) And we couldn't get up our road. Thankfully, we live on a circle and we were able to get up the back road, otherwise we'd have been walking up our street at midnight haha. When we got home, both of our kids were awake! Hannah had woke up at 10 and woken Zach up. They were being good, but I felt bad for the sitter. They both went right to sleep when we got home.

So this morning, they slept til 9:30! We were suppose to be at church at 9:30 haha. But, there was also a lot more snow, so we felt like it was pretty dangerous to try to go since it wasn't really necessary. So, we stayed home. We ended up having to cancel lunch for the second week in a row with our friends, which I felt bad about, but thankfully they were very understanding. So here I sit, kids napping, Jon watching football, still in our jammies at 1:15. Gotta love a day like this after a busy day like yesterday. I'm about to do the dishes (that are still in the oven ;-)) and some laundry, then I might do some sewing this evening. Overall, it's been a fun and great family and friends weekend.

Sad day

Today I got my new laptop (yay!!!)...(and pink!!! DOUBLE YAY!!!) So now, I will really have time to start posting more often. And to read other people's blogs again. I miss blogs/blogging.

Today has been a hard day. First of all, it's Veteran's Day. Locally, we have lost a LOT of military men recently. The news station is showing many of their pictures with the dates they were KIA.

Also, I am very actively involved on an internet forum. At the end of last week, one of our members, Shelly, passed away at the age of 54. This is the first we've lost someone on the board. It's hit us all really hard, and today was her funeral. She was an amazing woman of the Lord. Worked with her church's youth group, was a great mentor, volunteered in their food pantry, stood up for what she believed, and so much more. She was a great example and wonderful woman and I'm sad I never met her in person.

We also remembered the 5 year anniversary of one of our board member's sons who was KIA today 5 years ago. Her name is LeeAnn and her dear son was Thomas. Thank you to Thomas and all of the other men and women who have given their service, and even more so, their lives for our freedom. And to their families as well.

While Jon is a Veteran, we've been blessed so far in our marriage, since he works within the US, and has not had to deploy. But I've met so many people who's husbands are gone. Their husbands are in my prayers, along with them and their children. I am so thankful for them and what they do.