A Special Holiday Treat!

Hey Ya'll!

Thought I would let you know about a wonderful offer from one of my favorite companies, Tiny Prints. They are offering 50 free cards to anyone that blogs about them.

My favorite card that I had made from them was Brycen's birth announcement. Fell in love with it! I can't wait to pick out a fabulous holiday card!

Birth Announcement

Last year I bought the cutest metal Santa Claus card holder. I can't wait to use it and fill it with all of the cards y'all are going to send me! :)

Follow this link to find all of the wonderful Holiday cards Tiny Prints offer!

Visit this site for more information-- Hostess with the Mostess

Happy Holidays!

Happy 4th Birthday Thompson!

Thompson,

4 years, wow!

I know I say it every year, but I still can't believe you are this big.

To be honest, it breaks my heart. I see you growing everyday, but I still see you as my baby. My first born.

When you came into this world, something inside of me clicked. Everything made sense. I was young, almost 22. But knowing that the one job I would have for the rest of my life was to be your Momma, there is nothing I could have wished for more.

You, my baby boy, are the best little boy I know. I see so much of myself in you. The way you react to things, reminds me of myself. (Funny, because baby brother is just like your dad) You have such a strong will, yet you are so soft, you are so eager to please, and you always have a smile on your face.

You have matured so much over the last year. I really think starting school has helped you. Today, you were saying the "Pledge of Allegiance" and it melted my heart. I videoed it because you asked me too. You are such a ham and always love to "cheese" it up for the camera. You can turn on that smile like no other.

You love your brother more than words can say. He is your little buddy. He likes to test you sometimes, as do you to him. But at the end of the day, seeing the smile on his face when he sees you is priceless. He loves his big brother. You are learning to share more with him. Your favorite time is to play with him the bath tub. Ya'll splash and laugh and it honestly is my favorite time of the day.

Every night as I tell you goodnight, you never fail to tell me how much you love me. We do it back and forth and sometimes as I walk out the door, I can still hear you telling me it as I walk down the hall. Always ready for me to tell it back to you.

I love you, Thompson Lee. No matter how big you get, no matter what, you will always be my baby boy.

Happy 4th Birthday!

Oh, Monday!

As most of you know, I started my new job about 4 weeks ago. I love it. Seriously, love it. We stay so busy that sometimes I look up and half the day is gone. Monday is our busiest day of the week, so it really goes by fast.

Last night I was giving the boys a bath and I took this picture of Brycen.

Such a cutie!

I saw this on Twitter today. 

Oh. My. Word.

Pancakes + Cinnamon Rolls

The two together? Heaven, help me!

Tomorrow I am working a 1/2 of a day because I get to go pick up a special fella from the airport. :) I have calculated that we have spent 10 days together in the past 6 months. Not the most ideal thing I had in mind. We are surviving. Being married and raising 2 kids together 1500 miles apart is frustrating at times. We have been utilizing Face Time. The boys LOVE it!! They show off for their dad, which melts both his and I's hearts. 

We like to wake dad up extra early! ;)

Saturday will be Thompson's birthday party! He is so excited! He reminds me about his cake and his party every day. Love it!

That's about it. I will probably be quiet for the next few days! Hopefully, I will have lots of pictures to share when I come back.

Sick Kiddos!

Beware if you have a weak stomach...

Thursday evening, I took the boys out to dinner. Thompson had to go to the bathroom a few times while we were there. Brycen was having a bout with diarrhea himself, so I had a hunch that this wouldn't be good. I bathed the boys, put them to bed and I went to bed myself. I woke up at 4:00 to Thompson yelling from his room. I went in there thinking he had woke up early, but as soon as I got to the door I could smell it...

Vomit. Everywhere.

Lovely, let me tell you.

Surprisingly, he wasn't too upset. I got him up, cleaned him up, took the sheets off his bed and let him come lay down by me. When we woke up at 6:00, he had awful, awful diarrhea. (Sorry if this is TMI)

Brycen woke up with it too.

So I asked Brooklyn if she would stay home that day and take care of them. I hated to miss work seeing as I had only been there for 3 weeks.

The boys were fine all day. They didn't have any problems yesterday evening too.

At 4am (again!) Thompson was up with diarrhea. Brycen woke up covered in it too. Ugh. So off to the bath again this morning. Thompson seems to be better, but Brycen is pitiful. His little bottom is raw from having it so bad for 2 days. So today we are trying to rest up and hopefully will start feeling better.

I am hoping so because this week is an exciting one for us--

Robert will be home and Thompson is turning 4!!!

Where I work!

So I thought now would be a great time to tell you a little bit about where I work! I have found an incredible place. The people truly make it so enjoyable. 

We are an e-commerce company. We have around 10+ websites where we sell everything from baby items, to scrubs, to cowboy boots, to fishing poles, to blenders, you name it we probably got it! We are adding more and more brands every day!

Some of my favorite ones (which could get my wallet in a lot of trouble!) are from our site, Hectic Gourmet. We just added Kitchen Aid to our list! You all know how I love Kitchen Aid. If I hadn't already bought a stand mixer, I would be getting one now. One thing that I have been needing for a while that I will probably be asking for for Christmas is a new blender. This one looks like a great one from Cuisinart.

One of my favorite things is that any orders over $100 qualifies for free shipping! 

Oh, and a great site you should check out is Fat Chance. 1out 10 orders is completely free! Pretty awesome! 

So if you are wondering about some of our sites, here are a few!

Musket Creek
All Around Dance
Scrub Shopper
Trail's Edge
Toughweld
Country Outfitter
The Baby Habit

Definitely check them out!

10 Years Later...

Today is the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. It still feels like yesterday...

I remember being in 10th grade English, Ms. Shinn's class, when our librarian ran into the room telling us to turn on the tv. We saw the other plane hit the 2nd tower. I didn't fully understand at the time what was going on. I knew it was bad. We watched the coverage throughout the day-- when the towers fell, when the Pentagon was hit, and when the plane went down in Pennsylvania. Surreal. That is the best I can describe it. Everything seemed like a dream. America was the safest place I knew, how did this happen?

I honestly thought the world was going to end. I have never seen everyone in such hysterics. I remember there being an hour wait just to get gas because the gas stations were packed. I never knew that this one day would affect me so much years later.

Robert's birthday is on 9/11. He turned 18 that day. And that day, he decided to go into the military. He tried to join right out of high school, but couldn't due to recent knee surgery. So he waited til he was 22. We had been dating for about 9 months and I remember the exact moment he said he was joining the Marine Corps. I cried for hours. The war had been going on for 2 years then, so I somewhat knew what he was going to be doing. (You never fully understand war, I still don't) I knew that I loved him with all of my heart and I would be right there by him no matter what.

We are the lucky ones. Al Qaeda not only took the lives of those on September 11, 2001, but has taken all those killed while trying to find survivors of the attacks and those who have fought in the wars against them. Robert made it home. I know too many that haven't. It's not fair. It's not fair that our innocence was stolen that day.

Here we are 10 years later. Still fresh on our hearts, I believe it always will be.
 

Happy Birthday Robert!

Tomorrow is my wonderful husband's 28th birthday! We have been having some "talks" about him turning 28. (Basically me super excited because it's his birthday and him grumbling about how old he is!) Today I think he has finally realized that he is older than what he has always thought he was. If you told him to go run a mountain, he would. If you told him to do a thousand push-ups, he would drop down and do them. He has always been so physically active. Playing sports, being an active runner, a gym rat, he loves it all! And sadly, with his blown-out knee, he is realizing he is not 16 anymore. But, as long as you are young at heart, that is all that really matters! :)

I am always super pumped about anyone's birthday, especially his. And as much as I hate it, we aren't there to celebrate with him. But, hopefully we can celebrate his and Thompson's together real soon!!

I am so thankful for Robert. I am so proud of the husband and father he is. Without him, we wouldn't have our beautiful boys. Without him, I wouldn't be me. I love him with all of my heart and he definitely deserves to be celebrated on his special day!

It's a new day!

I have been keeping that little phrase in mind a lot lately. It helps put a smile on my face and get me ready to face the new day.

I thought I would do a few randoms... because it seems I never have a complete thought. Not kidding.

Stress + Me = Best Friends! I wish this were true. Most days I am so frazzled, some days nothing phases me. I prefer the latter.

I go today to fill out all of my paperwork for my new job. I am ecstatic! It is my first "official" job in almost 4 years! Yes, being a full-time Mommy is DEFINITELY a full time job. I obviously mean outside of the home. I am so, so, so grateful to have gotten to be with my babies this long. I wouldn't trade those memories for anything!

Since I have been home for 4 years, my wardrobe shows it. I don't think my new job prefers my Florida souvenir shirts and yoga pants. So today I am going to go find a few outfits.

I dyed my hair this morning. Yes, my name is Lenora, and I use a box dye! And I love it! I am hooked on the new foam ones. SO easy! Funny thing is that my natural hair color is dark brown. From past, unfortunate experiences I have learned that if I use anything even close to my natural color my hair will turn out black. Not pretty. So I have learned to use 'light brown'.

Spotify-- I never really knew what it was until I saw someone on Twitter talking about it. I downloaded it on my phone, but couldn't figure it out. Then I realized I had to download it on my computer first. You literally type in anything and it will download instantly for free! You can do a premium package and get it streamed to your phone. It is awesome! I have been catching up on some early Dierks Bentley. ;)

I can't think of anything else. I know there are a ton more thoughts running through this ol' brain, but that is all I can gather into complete thoughts for now. Have a great Thursday! It is almost the weekend!!

Blah

Do you ever have one of those days where everything is just 'blah'? I am having one today. I am desperately missing my husband. His birthday is in a few days and I am sad that we won't be able to celebrate together. When we thought he would be coming in on the 16th of September, it seemed okay. Now, we don't even have a date. He has a doctors appointment on the 19th and that is when he will get his surgery date. It could be that week or who knows when. So we have no clue when he will get to come. And it's depressing. And frustrating.

I try not to be such a Debbie Downer because I know he has it 1000x times worse than me. Most of the time I try to put on this big front that everything is fine. For the most part it is. But the part where I am away from my husband and my kids are away from their father takes over. We chose to do this. I knew it would be hard. It's just those days where I feel like running back to California is what gets me. 

We have 2 years left. And I know that they will not go by fast enough. I am never one to wish time away, but I have been here lately. When either one of us start doubting our decision, we try to be the rock to reassure each other that this is the best thing for our future. It helps. But it's tough when we are both down. Robert hates his job. He is unable to do the things he loves due to his knee. This kills me. I hate that he is hurt. I hate that he loathes his job. If I could find a way to make it all go away, I would. But I can't. So we wait. And we take it day by day.

Sorry to dump so much emotion. But this is my blog and I want to be honest. We will all be okay. Eventually, we will all be back together, under one roof for good. What an amazing day that will be!! That is what keeps me going.

Pictures!

It seems more and more I take pictures with my IPhone! I love it! I love Instagram so it works out perfectly! Here are some of the pictures I have taken this week of the boys.

Oh, I love this boy... and his poses!

Wearing brother's hat (which fits him, by the way)

Cool dude!

Night Water

Papa's Boy

New Path

As you all know, we have moved back to Arkansas to try to get settled before Robert gets out. He has 2 years left in the Marine Corps and I didn't want to be struggling to find a job when he got out. When you have 2 kids, it just cannot work that way. So, we decided back in April for me to start looking for a job here. I struggled. The economy is so bad and even though I have a degree, it didn't matter. It seems like everyone wants 5+ years experience for every job. What about the girl that just graduated???

This summer I decided to try and get my Non Traditional Teacher Licensure. I would need 2 classes this fall plus complete the 2 year program. I was nervous about this. I really thought it would be a great career, I just always had my reservations. I decided to go for it anyways.

Fast forward to a week ago. I interviewed for a company here in NWA. I fell in love! Do you ever just go to a place and just feel that you were made for it?! The people are so welcoming! I knew that I wanted to work here. Thankfully, they offered me a job. After talking with Robert, we decided that I would take the job. I officially accepted it today.

I am so excited about this new chapter in my life. I am anxious to see what I can accomplish for this company!

Firsts!

We have had quite a few firsts around here lately!

Thompson started preschool last week! He loves it!! We have been putting him in bed by 8 every night so that way he is able to wake up in a semi-decent mood the next morning. We have a few times where he is tired and decides he doesn't want to go, but eventually comes around and is excited to see his friends! We are lucky to have his close friends go to school with him!

Here is the big boy on his first day!

With his new backpack!

The boys also went to their first fair! They had a blast! Thompson got to ride rides with his friend, Kalli! They are two peas in a pod! So sweet together!!

Brycen enjoyed the food! ;)

Another first that is driving me crazy is that Brycen now prefers to be a nudist! I have walked into his room 3 times this week to a naked boy! How he can get all of his clothes off plus a diaper gets me. I also introduced him to the potty seat today. He keeps asking to potty and telling me he does. I didn't potty train Thompson til he was about 2 1/2 years old. He was ready then. He comprehended it. So it's hard for me to think Brycen could even be remotely ready. We'll see. I am definitely not pushing anything. I honestly don't know if I am ready for my baby to be that grown up.

Planner Love!

Ok, to some this post will be ridiculous. In a sense, it is ridiculous.

But.......

I am in love... with my new Erin Condren Life Planner! Oh, the joyous love!!

Let me tell you the story!

I saw everyone on Twitter talking about this day planner. I really didn't know what all the hype was about. So of course I looked it up and that is when the infatuation began.

I really could not see spending $50 on a planner, unless it were to write itself as well as cook me dinner. I am just too stingy for that. But I saw on an email where Plum District (one of those daily coupon sites) was offering $50 store credit for $25. I definitely thought it was more doable. Plus, I found a coupon that made the total $20. So I bought the coupon and then went to work on picking out and personalizing my planner. I found another coupon for $10 dollars off the Erin Condren site. (The shipping itself was $10, so it was basically free shipping!) So I placed my order and was counting down the days til it shipped.

A few days later I got an email that the E.C. site had been hacked and they had lost the thousands of orders that had been placed. Of course mine was one of them. So I quickly placed my order again (using the coupons) and waited a week for it to ship.

It arrived today! To say I was giddy about this thing when I saw the box was an understatement. I quickly opened the package and ooohh'ed and aawww'ed over how pretty it was, how functional it was, etc.

Here are some pictures of my planner! Sorry for the poor quality, I took them at night with my phone.

They even included some nifty paperclips along with some sample gift tags! That will probably be my next purchase! It includes numerous pockets along with a pouch to store things in. Very, very clever! The tabs also make it very easy when flipping through the months.

If you would like to order a planner, One Kings Lane is offering a $50 gift card for $25. The deal ends tomorrow at 10am CDT. Enter WELCOME10 at the EC website when you order to get an additional $10 savings! 

And just because this boy makes me laugh... Never a dull moment with us!

Preschool Fun!

If you know Thompson, you know that he has begged to go to school. He sees his big cousins going to school and preschool and hasn't understood why he isn't getting to go.

Well luckily, we were able to get him into preschool this fall! He has been so excited since I told him and asks 1000x a day when he can go.

I am excited because he is going to a great preschool here in town; I actually went to the same one when I was his age. He is going to be going full time and I know that he will be benefit from the socialization and educational skills. I have to stress that he is a good kid. He is well-behaved and very polite. He just has a BIG problem with sitting still. It literally kills him to sit still for 5 seconds. When I am disciplining or explaining something to him and absolutely cannot sit and listen to me. He has to be moving his head, moving his arms, rolling his eyes around, making facial expressions, or jumping around. I know... he is 3. I think being in a school setting will help this. He will hopefully see the other kids acting right and hopefully will follow along. I know he is a smart kid. He will catch on, I believe, with no problems.

So we are super excited around here this week! I can't wait to share pictures of his first day!

{Last night he was calling himself Mustache Man and proceeded to ask everyone in Wal-Mart if they liked his 'stache! Oh, this boy cracks me up!}

Good Day!

I am so happy that we have had some rain and cooler temps! The forecast for this week calls for a chance of rain everyday-- I don't think I have ever been so happy to see that. Definitely makes me start thinking that Fall is not too far away.

Today I went to the paint store for my sister. Call me crazy, but I LOVE going there. I am a dreamer, naturally, so I love going and picking out different colors and imagining how I would paint the rooms in my "dream home". Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams both have apps where you can take a picture of something and it will match the color to one of their paints. So neat!

The boys have been pretty good here lately. (I probably just jinxed myself...) They went to Silver Dollar City last Friday with my mom and sisters. They sent me some cute pictures. Looks like they had a ton of fun!!

 I also scored 2 new drink dispensers at Sam's Club today. They are usually $20, but right now our store has them on sale for less than $10! I am hoping to be able to use them sometime in the next 5 years! ;)

Hope everyone is having a good week! :)

Thankful!

Yesterday, we got some pretty disappointing news. A few weeks ago, Robert hurt his knee while doing a night land navigation with his students. He had it checked out and they thought he might have tore some stuff in it. He had a MRI done on Wednesday and sure enough he has torn his ACL along with some other stuff. (He had actually already had surgery on his other knee when he was in high school.) They have put him in rehab for the next 6 weeks then they are going to do surgery. He is one to blow off how bad things are or how bad he is feeling. And it upsets me that I am not there to take care of him. He has assured me that there is nothing I can do (which is true) but my motherly instinct kicks in and I feel useless.

I am also bummed that he was supposed to be coming home next month and of course this will now hinder that.

So why am I thankful?

I am thankful that my husband is well, for the most part. He is here and I alive. For that I am thankful. I am thankful that we have insurance and the thought of "how are we going to pay for all of these medical bills" has never even crossed my mind. I am thankful that I have a strong husband who would rather pretend he is just fine to make sure that I don't worry about him more than I have to.

Life isn't what we always plan it to be. In fact, it never works out just as we think it should. But the fact of knowing that if this is the biggest hurdle we have to jump right now, is just fine with me.

Almost 4!

I can't believe that next month Thompson will be turning 4! He is turning into such a big boy these days. Going to Bible school, running around with friends, and spending the night with his cousins. I got teary eyed the other day thinking about how in 2 years he would be starting kindergarten. I look at him and get so excited thinking about his future. Will he be a doctor, or a policeman, or a firefighter? Of course, then I start to think about the woman he is going to one day (when he is 30) marry. Will she take care of him like his momma does? I know that all of this is WAY far away, but it just goes to show you how fast time flies. It seems like yesterday we were at the HOGS game when my water broke. (True story!) A few hours later we had this beautiful, 7 pound baby boy whom I couldn't love more!

It definitely makes me hug him and Brycen more and more each day. Knowing that one day they won't enjoy it like they do now. I pray for that to never happen, but you know teenage boys! ;)

Lunch today

Look at that heart breaker!