Long Weekends and Toasts

So much is going on in our lives. Hence the lack of blogging! I believe in the saying "If you have nothing nice to say then don't say anything at all". So I say nothing. Lack of sleep and other things make it hard to stay positive. Everyday is a new day! What goes up must come down but it will go up again! I know that.

I get to start my long weekend celebrating my beautiful sisters wedding. We will gather tonight in Old Saybrook, CT at a beautiful castle overlooking the water to celebrate my sister and her new husband!!!!

It will be a beautiful night.

I get to toast my sister and her husband. Am I nervous, hell yes I am but I wrote a great speech with a little help from my hilarious husband! He added the funny parts because I am not that funny, more awkward than funny!

Grammy and Pepere are coming down to stay with the littles! I know they will be in good hands.

Sunday will be spent recuperating. We never go out so it will be a lazy day thats for sure. If I am feeling up to it I may have to take Owen out to the park or something.

Monday we will go to a parade and possibly the beach.

It will be a fun weekend! I am so glad summer is here! We are so fortunate to be so close to the beach.

Have a great weekend!

My May

Mothers Day has come and gone. It was the perfect day. A day spent with my kids and my husband, my mother and stepdad, Sister and her new hubby!!!! We looked at pictures of her wedding. She got married in Antigua on April 31. She looked amazing!!!

We ate pizza and drank beer. It was fun and relaxing. Just what I wanted a day to celebrate being a mother to be.

The Brian's passed out after a little walk, full bellies and a few beers.

For mothers day this year I got a beautiful orchid!

The back story here...

For my birthday my sister-in-law and brother-in-law got me an orchid. It was my first one and I loved it!!! It was so pretty and easy to take care of. One day Owen snapped it and it died. I had to throw it away. He felt really bad and was so apologetic. I got over it. Its a plant.

So for mothers day, Owen got me a new orchid. He said this one is a little less breakable. I agree but not when Shane gets his hands on it.

I love it more than anything!!!! Its perfect. (Dad is so smart)

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Its spring!!!! I love spring in Black Rock. Everything is blooming and green. People come out of hibernation and its such a great place to be!!! Shane love being outside. He love exploring in the grass, eating dirt, feeling rocks and playing with sticks. EVERYTHING goes in his mouth.

Owen is playing baseball. He is on the Mariners this year. He looks so cute in his little uniform. I think sometimes he is more interested in playing with his friends than playing ball.

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Shane is pulling himself up on everything these days.

Now that he is pulling himself up and crawling around he never wants to be held! Why would he, he wants to explore.

I have a feeling that little bro will be walking before his first birthday.

I will have my hands full, that is for sure.

He is an amazing eater. The kids eats anything I give him. I have yet to give him something he wouldnt eat, including beets.

My boys are having an amazing spring. Owen is signed up for summer camp again this year. THANK YOU Memere!!!!

We are having lots of play dates to keep busy and some long walks on the weekends. Owen has gotten so good with his scooter. Next I want us all to get bikes and go for long rides. For now Owen can just ride his and maybe I will run after him to get in some exercise.

Have a wonderful weekend!

When Life Hands You Lemons...

Make lemonade...isn't that what they say???

I cant make lemonade. I wouldn't even know where to begin making lemonade from the lemons we have been given. Sometimes we think we can try to make lemonade but in times like these it seems impossible.

I know, I know, think positive, things will get better. I just don't think they will. Our pile is full. There is no room for anything else to pile on. Its falling over and we just cant stack it back up!

I know, my analogies are a bit much.

Today is a beautiful day but it just feels GRAY!

Lets hope for a better tomorrow. I keep telling myself  "it could be worse" and it could. We have our health and our family. Right now one kid is in school, the other is napping, both are fed, dressed and have a roof over their head. Amen to that!

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Mothers Day weekend. Something to look forward to.

Parenthood

(note: these my my thoughts on parenting and if I offend you by my thoughts or feelings then you should probably not read on. I do not judge others based on their thoughts and feelings ever.)

Being a mother is the hardest thing I will ever do in my life. Raising a decent human being is a challenge.

How do you teach someone to respect others, follow rules, be kind, love life, be the person you want them to be. Its not possible. You lay the foundation and they take from it what they will. You cant make them into what you want. They are who they are. I believe you have to tailor your parenting to each child you parent. Each child is an individual.

There are times you will be thrown curve balls and you have to readjust your thinking and parenting style. What you may have thought once is not what you think now.

I know for me, there are so many times I think, man I would love Owen to do "this or that" because I would have loved to do that as a kid. Well, the reality is that it might not be what he wants to do or is able to do. Its so hard to figure it all out.

I am constantly second guessing myself. One minute I think we are doing great and the next I think that I have really screwed them up.

Truth be told, I really dont think there is any way we can screw up our kids. We love the hell out of them, have made them the priority, spend time with them, are always here for them and really just do everything we can do to be the best we can be. Is it enough? No. But its enough for them to come from a place they can call home and always come back to and know there will always be love, someone here for them no matter what.

Owen is now if first grade. I feel like I am reliving elementary school only through the eyes of a boy. Let me tell you, its much easier to be a boy in elementary school. But its still hard to be a kid.

Its hard to sit back and listen to your child say they feel bad about something and not tell them to go back to school and beat the crap out of the kid who made them feel bad. Its hard to not give him the right come back when someone says something mean.

I really would love to just put my kids in a closet and lock them up for ever. Keep their innocence, protect them from harm and just let them coast through life.

Well we cant do that, we would get arrested.

So instead we will coach our kids through life. Help them through each situation they are given and just be cheering for them on the sidelines. We will certainly do our best to protect them from harm but sometimes it wont be enough. We will have to step aside and let them learn how to protect themselves.

I am trying to give my kids the best life I can. I want them to be happy, carefree kids. I don't want them to have to worry about anything that kids shouldn't worry about.

I hope they can look back on their childhood and say "Man, it was so much fun being a kid, we had the best childhood."

If they can do that I will be one happy lady!!!

OK...rant about parenthood done!!!

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Can I just say, we had THE best weekend.

We stayed home but it was so nice. We had awesome weather. Owen had friends over, we had friends over, we walked, scooted, played catch, batted, cooked, relaxed and just enjoyed each other. It was so nice. I am really looking forward to beach weekends. I am curious to see how Shaney does at the beach. I wonder if he will be my beach bum baby. I bet he will and I bet he will eat tons of sand.

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The little man is officially 100% a crawler. This is good and it is bad. The good thing is he is mobile. The bad thing is he is mobile.

He is into everything and is now pulling himself up on any and everything he can. The thing about that is I cant turn my back for a second because he does not realize that when he pulls himself up on the coffee table that he can topple over and wack his head. He is learning that really fast. When I go get him in his crib he is usually standing, crying for me to help him. Once he get up he cant get down unless he falls. He hasn't mastered getting down yet.

The fun thing about all these new tricks is that my once easy napper is fading away. He would rather stand up in his crib than lay down and nap. I used to be able to lay him down and out he goes. Now, I lay him down and UP he goes.

Oh well...if its not this it will be something else that is new in a few weeks.