Yowza!!!

Holy blogging break Batman!!! I just realized that when this posts tomorrow (hopefully) that it will be exactly 2 months since I last posted anything. I would like to blame it on being on summer vacation. But summer and the word vacation going together ended a LONG time ago for me. I could blame it on work. And that would be totally legit as I just started a new job on the 9th of August (8-9-10 how cool is that?!?!?) but mainly it has been that I decided that this summer I wanted to more time offline than online. And that I wanted to really revel in my children's childhood. They are 4 and almost 2 now and when I talk with my daughter I realize how quickly she is growing up. But now that school is going to be getting underway again and we will be on a more consistent schedule I am making a comeback. So without further ado...........stay tuned for part 2.

Uh Uh I didn't just do that......

I have taken what I'd call a Blogging Sabbatical for the past two months and now have decided to come back with a vengeance and was stoked that I decided to do it on a Monday so I could participate in Not Me Mondays at Mckmama's place. I love this carnival. It makes every Monday worth it so why don't you head over there when you're done here and check it out but first things first:

I absolutely do NOT call and leave myself voicemails when I get ideas for what I want to blog about. I have such a better memory that I can remember for 20-30 minutes what I want to write down.

It is so not me who looks forward to Sunday nights because that means there is a new episode of Hannah Montana Forever or Good Luck Charlie on and I've got a 50/50 chance that it's the latter. Because I have SO many more pertinent things to do than watch a tv show that is about a great family and has great family values but whose demographic is the tween girl and not the 30-something year old that I am.

It also was not me who in an attempt to not break my daughters heart decided to spell that we could not go on a picnic on Saturday and then said picnic and spelled Wednesday, don't ask why I'm not sure what the mix up was there.

It is not me who every single day when I come home say to my 4 year old who is waiting by the door for me, "Where are your pants?"

What did you NOT do this week?

Wordless Wednesday...Ice cream brings us together

Head here for more Wordless Wednesday Posts.

I am not 25.....

....and I seriously need to remember that.. To help me with this is my what I learned this week post....

I learned that if you go out on a Friday night and drink like you are still 25 and DID NOT just celebrate the 6th anniversary of your 25th birthday your 4 year old will joyously serenade you with "You are my Sunshine" at the top of her lungs at 5:03 am.




I learned that one smile from a 17 month old can make a day all worth it.



What did you learn this week? Head over to see Julie here for more What I Learned This Week

I am not indestructible.......

....as I once thought I was. There was a time where I could do cartwheels for ages and not feel a single muscle crying out in pain, there was a time when I could play on a swing set for hours and not feel any different, there was a time when I could spend eight hours sitting in the dirt pulling up weeds from their roots and not feel sore three days after the facts, oh wait no there wasn't. That's what I did all day on Saturday from 8 am to 4 pm and I'm still feeling the effects of said activity on Tuesday morning.

Welcome to yet another edition of What I learned this week hosted by Julie at Inmates here

I learned that after weeding out the front area of my house for the above mentioned 8 hours I was having a hard time following along to the sit and stand instructions at church

I learned that when pulling weeds I should not position myself directly below my son's room since he can see me from the window and will shrilly screech "MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!" in the hopes of getting my attention to come and get him up from the no nap he's taken

I learned that my two children will have a pushing and pulling hair fight over the shovel (of which we own 4 identical ones) until one of them gives up.

I learned that my 4 year old will find the soap and water mixture in the spray bottle that I've been using to spray my buds to keep ants off of them and will promptly decide the porch needs cleaning and spray down the grill then proceed to attempt to wipe it up with toilet paper....it just makes a mess.

Finally I learned that my 4 year old will kiss the top of my head and say "I'm a big girl momma I'll put myself to bed" when I'm so sore I literally can't get up....

What did you learn this week?

I need them....

It's true that every child needs someone to love them. That no child should ever have to endure not knowing what true unconditional love is. But I think for me, as a mother, I need my children more. I need them to point out the beauties that are in life amidst all the hardships and sorrows. I need them to love me unconditionally as only children can do. I need them to show me the beauty in despair, to show me the face of innocence in evil, to show me how to live and love fully.

Two bloggers that I regularly follow (Kristen and Mckmama) recently embarked on a trip to Kenya with Compassion Bloggers for two weeks to witness the despair, slums, and hope that their sponsored children live in. What these two women do and open their hearts to amazes me. But it also got me thinking as I do sponsor a child as well that as much as that child needs the money that I send to them, I think I need them more. I need to know the wealth that I live in that can be deemed not very much, but when compared to the slums that they live in and the hardships that they go through and are witness to every day I live like royalty. And maybe I do. In their eyes. I'm sure that my modest home, that is heated by the gigantic oil tank in my basement, that has electricity that I so frequently forget to turn off, the hot and more important running water that flows through my house that is clean that I wash my babies in, the hot meals that I can cook, the abundance of food in my home that allows for my 3 year old to "snack" all day long, would be viewed as a palace to these children that huddle together at night just to stay warm, whose families try to keep an impeccably clean living arrangement which can be difficult when the "floors" are made of dirt or even worse garbage. I implore you to read the stories here and here and if you are able sponsor a child through Compassion bloggers. It may not seem like a lot to you but to these children you'd be their hero.

And to my children who have the ability to open their hearts so freely and openly and willingly share everything that they have, you are my heroes.