Christmas

So Christmas has come and gone again. I like this think this one was a success. No one got into a crazy fight, the kids received awesome gifts, my hubby gave me the one thing I wanted, and dinner was amazing. It was also a miracle no one was sick on Christmas day. The boys were sick the Saturday and Sunday prior, my dad was down for the count on Monday, and the rest of us were seriously sick the day after. 

So every year I tell Mike that we need to cut back on getting the kids so much stuff. Their room is ridiculously over run with toys. When they were gone for the summer I made an attempt to clean out their  toy box. I tossed out one bag full of stuff and they still had two over flowing toy boxes. Well this year, despite my efforts to cut back, they once again received an obscene amount of toys. My family is a bunch of jerks, because they always try to buy obnoxious toys that will drive me up the wall. This year, silly string in the stockings wasn't the worst part. The title of most obnoxious toy goes to the remote control flying shark. Yup. Flying shark. This thing is HUGE! You fill it with helium and there is a little motor that is attached to the bottom that makes the fin move. It's ridiculous. Thanks dad. 

Having my dad here for Christmas was amazing. I got to witness him and Mike yell and scream at each other over football on Sunday. The boys crawling all over papa is another favorite of mine. As much as my dad complains about the Texas weather, deep down I think it's growing on him. I just need to show him some small towns and I know he'll want to move. I'm thinking in another year he'll be living out this way.

So finally Christmas is over. No more gifts for the boys till birthday time. I'm actually debating on hiding some of the unopened toys and re-gifting for the birthday......

  

Lets give thanks

All month I've watched a good chunk of my Facebook friends take time out of their day all month to post something they are thankful for. I would love to say that I'm the kind of person who would be able to follow through with something like that. I'm not that kind of person though. I would post maybe for one or two days, skip 4 days, post a couple more, then give up. I just don't have that kind of attention span. Instead I've determined to write one blog post dedicated to the many things in my life that I am thankful for. 

First off I'm thankful for my children. They can be a handful sometimes but they bring my so much joy and pride, I honestly feel like I'm going to burst sometimes. It's hard to picture what my life would be without them. 

Secondly I'm thankful for my husband. We have been together for so long that I'm kinda surprised we still like each other! Kidding! He has been the best partner a woman can ask for. I'm not always the easiest person and I have the tendency to overreact and get wound up, but he never yells, or gets mad. He is just always there, calm and collected and it makes me realize how ridiculous I'm being. He just completes me. 

This year I'm very thankful for our move to Texas. A year ago we were still new around here and were still unsure if this move was for the better and still missing everyone back home terribly. This past year I've really recognized that this move was the best thing that ever happened to us. Moving to Texas has put my child in an amazing school district which has helped him improve tremendously. Moving to Texas has also made our dream of buying a home and much more realistic goal. Buying in CA was not an option and if we were able to pull it off, we would have had to move to a crummy neighborhood and work our butts off to live in a house we didn't love. By this time next year I'm positive I'll be adding photos of our house in this blog, and giving thanks for it. 

And finally I'm thankful for the rest of our family and the friends we've made here and the ones we had to leave behind. My sister and brother moving to TX made my life here easier in many, many ways. Having them close is also really good for my kids. I'm very pro family (blood relatives or not) and it's been amazing to start building a support system out here for myself, Mike and the boys. I still miss the friends and family in CA and I'm glad we've been able to maintain a close relationship even though I'm so far away. 

I could go on and on giving thanks to my job, car, cat etc, but that would take way to long. I'm very thankful for my life and all the positive changes and positive people in it. During these hard times I see people struggling all around me and it's humbled me in so many ways. We could very easily be one of them, but we're not and I'm grateful for that. I hope next year is just as amazing as this years been and brings us new happiness and more friends and family to be thankful for. 

Time to get back to "normal"

So Thanksgiving has come and gone and it was once again a chaotic holiday, full of frustrations, laughs, and of course enough food to feed an army. I'm a big fan of large family gatherings on holidays and this one was that and more. The entire week leading up to the holiday was also a little chaotic since my best friend was in town on vacation. I took a couple days off work so we can hang out and be tourists, but that was had a small hiccup due to my oldest coming down with a nasty virus. Sickness has the uncanny ability of rearing its ugly head at the worst possible moments. We still managed to have a great time and I was also able to get some bonding in with her fiance.

Despite all the craziness of the past week, Thanksgiving was amazing. My husband showed off his amazing deep frying skills (after my friend and I injected and rubbed the bird down). My best friend and her sister in law showed off their amazing kitchen skills by putting together some super yummy sides. My kids behaved for the most part and we had a great time drinking wine and gossiping like old maids.

Now that the holiday has passed and my best friend is back in CA, it's time to return to our normal lives and prepare for the next round of crazy AKA Christmas. My dad will be flying in for two weeks for that one and my boys are going to go bananas when they find out (it's a surprise). So here's to my "normal" couple of weeks! 

Mommy Guilt

I think at one point in every working moms life, you've been over come with mommy guilt. The guilty feeling you get when your at work knowing that your child has a school event/program going on that your not able to make. How do you explain to a 7 year old that mommy had to submit contract modifications and time sensitive offers so she couldn't make it? How also do you explain to them that we have bills that need to paid so mommy has to be at her desk? 

Today Mikey had a Veterans Day program where he was going to sing. I knew a program was coming up but a reminder note was never sent home and sometimes Mikey struggles with communication. He was able to tell me about this morning (you know, the day of) and I had to let him know that I couldn't make it. The look on his face crushed me. If I had known maybe a day or two in advance, I could have tried to get an hour of two off so I can attend but the day of just isn't enough time. Mike was able to swoop in and tell him that he was going to try to be there so Mikey did come back to life before school.  It still didn't help my disappointment. 

Mike was able to make it to the program which brightened Mikey's day. I'm glad one of us were able to make it but I'm still racked with guilt. I would love nothing more then to be available all the time to attend every program, event and even volunteer in the classroom. Unfortunately we live in a time where having a two income household is necessary to thrive in this world. Sure I can quit my job and live off Mike's income, but then that means we'll never have enough money to buy a house, never buy a new car, won't go to fun events or take vacations, and we'll have to eat ramen and hot dogs every day. Not exactly the life I want for my children. 

So I'm going to work and have days like this. Days where I wish I didn't work. Days I wish I can run and be at the school in less then 5 minutes for anything. Days I'm going to have to shake off the mommy guilt. 

  

CA Invasion

It's officially time for me to start getting excited about Thanksgiving. This Thanksgiving is going to be extra special since my best friend and her family are not only going to be in TX for this day of feasting, but she's going to be around for the entire week! Even thought we were together in August, I still feel like it's been ages since I've seen her. I haven't seen her children since I left CA so this will be fun to see how they've grown. 

One of the fun things we'll be doing while she's here is dress shopping! My girl is getting married August 2013 and since she was TERRIBLY (being sarcastic) selfish and waited till I left CA to get married, her and I are going to do some wedding stuff while she's here. I've already made two appointments for us to try some dresses on and get a feel for what she wants. 

Another exciting aspect of this trip is that I'm finally going to have a chance at knowing her fiance. I've met him once before, but it was very brief and I wasn't able to really get to know him. He seems to make her happy, so therefor I am happy as well. 

I sure do have a lot to be thankful for this year. 

Free time? What's that?

Lately it's been on the front of my mind that I don't have any free time. None. Zero. Now, I'm not looking for spa day or a cocktail lunch or bar crawl, but maybe an hour to just sit in silence and read a book. That's not too much right? Well, in my life I'm not sure where it would fit in. 

During the week my day begins at 6am and it includes preparing not only myself for the work day, but also two little boys who act like dressing themselves and brushing their teeth is worse then death. After we're dressed, there is breakfast to be cooked and served and lunches to be made. In order to arrive to our different destinations on time, we must leave the house no later then 7:10am. I've given my hubby the task of taking the little one to daycare so I can make it to work on time (since the school and daycare on opposite ends of town, cause having them right next door would be WAY too easy), so after I drop Mikey off I get to sit in traffic for 30 minutes then put in a 9 hour work day.

On to the ever thrilling afternoons. I have to leave work no later then 5:30 so I can arrive to daycare before 6, then it's off to other side of town to grab Mikey from the YMCA before 6:30, then we get to go home and prepare dinner! I pre-cook my meals on Sunday, but it still take roughly 15-20 minutes to re-heat. After dinner, we have homework, baths, and then bedtime at 8:30. Once the kids are down I can either A, clean house, or B take my "hour" free time. Guess which one wins? Yup, A. The house won't clean itself. By the time this has all concluded I'm ready for bed. The weekends are never a good time either since we always have something going on or some errands to run. Sundays are dedicated to football/cleaning and cooking. If I don't pre-cook on Sundays my work week evenings are dragged out even longer. 

In closing I'm pretty much saying what every mother on this planet already knows. When you have children, your life takes a back seat. They are the center of your world and every waking minute you have is devoted to them. I do hold on to the hope that once they get bigger I'll be able to sneak in that hour and read a good book......one day.  

Oh joy, the holidays

Ah! It's that time of the year again. As much as I would love to say the holidays are my favorite time of the year (and in some ways it can be) lets be honest, the holidays bring on a whole new level of stress that we get to avoid the rest of the year. I really need to break down the positives and negatives.

Let's get the bad out of the way first. My biggest complaint is the financial strain the holidays bring. Halloween costumes, pumpkin patches, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas gifts, Christmas cards, Christmas related events. All these are added expenses that just don't exist the other 9 months of the year. I grew up with a single dad and 2 brothers and 2 sisters so needless to say, we didn't have a lot of money. We were what you would call POOR. Being poor growing up my dad taught me the difference between a want and a need. It's hard for me to spend a ton of money on things I don't really need, but on the other hand I want my boys to experience things I never got to, which brings me to the next bad point about the holidays; stress. The stress of cooking large meals and playing hostess (something I've never mastered) brings on a whole other batch of problems that I also don't have to deal with the rest of the year. One day when I'm a millionaire (come on lotto!) I'm going to hire planners to take care of all the stressful planning, maids to do the stressful cooking and personal shoppers to spend the money for me. Yup, when I'm a millionaire.....

So now that I'm done being Debbie Downer, I have a ton to look forward to this year. Last year since it was our first year in TX, we spent the holidays alone. My husbands mom was with us for x-mas, but she comes with her own slew of stresses that I just don't have time to get into. This year my sister and my brother are local so we'll be doing all the events with them, and my BB (bottom b****, more on that term later) will be here with her family for Thanksgiving (I need a solo blog post just to express my excitement about this!) and my dad will be flying from CA for Christmas. This move was really tough for me, so knowing that family is coming and going to be around thrills me to no end. It's very important to me that my boys keep familiar with family and feel the love on such important events.

So with Halloween approaching, this holiday season is about to get started and I'm actually kinda looking forward to all the stresses and financial woes its going to bring!! Well kinda......

Why can't my husband age already?

I know I can not be the only wife out there who married a freak of a man who never ages. Today is his 33rd birthday and in my eyes he still looks like the 21 year old man I met all those years ago. Sure a grey hair will appear if he lets his hair grow out, but he keeps it so short and trim, those suckers are no where to be seen. Now here I am at 27 and I feel like I'm 50. I have to dye my hair on regular basis (cause let's face it, keeping my hair as short as his isn't an option) to keep my grey at bay, and my energy level at the end of the day is nothing compared to his. It seems this is an unfair advantage he holds over me.

So on this day of his birth, I will toss my pangs of jealousy aside, give him another awesome gift and let him know how happy we are celebrating this day together. I'll harass him about not aging another day. 

And it begins...

So when Mike and I had kids we always knew we wanted boys. This shocks most people because they have this notion that most moms want pink, princesses, and little ribbons and bows. Not me. I wanted boys. I wanted rough, tough, sports loving, little boys. That being said, I thought I had a few years before my boys started noticing girls. I mean, my oldest is only 7 and the youngest is 4. WAY too young for girls to even be on the radar. Nope. I was wrong. 

About 2 weeks ago my brother was kind enough to pick Mikey (the oldest) up from YMCA for me. He brought him home then informed me that Mikey told him that he has a little girl friend at school. After some detective works, I was able to discover that this wasn't a "girlfriend" but a little girl who liked to chase him around the school yard. His dad had a nice chat with him that night about whats appropriate and whats not and then we went along our merry way.

Fast forward to this morning and I'm taking him to school and we pull into the drop off zone and notice that the local high school football players are out there directing traffic and opening doors for the parents. Out of nowhere I hear Mikey whisper "ohhhh cheerleaders!" and low and behold, the cheerleaders emerged from the building. I can't believe it. 7 years old and the cheerleaders/girls have caught his attention. Damn it. I'm not ready for any type of contact with the opposite sex. I know I have a few years until dating comes into play, but this is a sure sign that my little man is getting older. Didn't even see it coming. At least I still have the 4 year old. 

Thanks for breaking on a Saturday car!

My car has failed me today. I normally love my car. She (yes she's a female) transports me from point A to point B flawlessly and we always have a good time getting here. This morning was a special Saturday morning. I had to work, Mike had to go pick up the kids from their sleepover but you know what happens? Car doesn't want to start. Thankfully my brother was just wrapping up an overnight shift and was able to come in and take me to work and lend Mike his car while he naps it out, but it was still an incredibly stressful morning. All I could think about at work was "how much is this going to cost? Will this repair be covered under warranty? Please Please let it be something stupid like the battery". Needless to say it was long work day. Of course this my normal grocery shopping day, so as always, this happened at the worst possible time. I don't think there is ever a "good" time for the car to take a break, but it sure didn't have to be on a day when I have tons to do. 

Any way, after a full day of worry I get both the good and bad news. Bad news is, my fuel pump is no more. Repair costs are in the $700-$800 range. Crap. Good news! It's under warranty!! Yay! I just cashed in some major karma points! So instead of hitting up the Chili Cookoff, or the Fall Festival at Cedar Park YMCA, we'll be home. While the kids may complain about the lack of activites this weekend, I'm going to be thrilled to sit at home and catch up on TV till the car is ready for action again. I'll make it up to the kids next weekend with a trip to the pumpkin patch. All will be forgiven then and I'll be the "best mommy ever!"   

 

Every story starts somewhere....

I'm not sure why now I've chosen this time in my life to start blogging. I don't know if it's because of all the changes that have happened this past year, the fact that I'm getting older, or because I always have a million different things going on in my head at once that I need a way to get them all out. What ever the reason is, blogging seems to be a good solution.Before I start rambling on about my every day, in the off chance someone who doesn't know me personally comes across this they should have a little back story so they are somewhat up to speed....

I was born and raised in sunny Southern California. I was lucky enough to call California home for the first 26 years of my life. I met Mike when I was 16 and we've been together ever since, did the marriage and kids thing and we were living in CA up until last year. We just knew CA wasn't going to bring us everything in this life that we wanted, so in June 2011 we packed up, jumped in a u-haul (think Beverly hillbilly's) and set up shop in Round Rock, TX. Just a couple months ago I was able to convince my older sister and youngest brother that CA wasn't going to fulfill their hopes and dreams either and they packed up hillbilly style and joined my clan here in TX. 

So as of today I've been in TX for over a year and I'm still adjusting. I have some goals in mind that I want to achieve by the 2 year mark like get out of our freaking apartment and give my 2 boys some running room before our downstairs neighbors freak out. My husband wants into a better career as do I. All this will come in time as long as we keep putting in the hard work. 

So there is the back story. It hasn't always been easy and there have been many times I've wanted to throw in the towel, but I wasn't raised to be a quitter, so I just keep trucking along. Wish there was someone out there who could of warned me that being an adult was completely over-rated......