Fall, Football & FUN!

As we rushed home tonight in order to make my husband's fantasy football draft, I quickly realized summer has come to an end AND that I drew the short straw.  He is at a bar, drinking beer, talking crap about who got who and I am trying to get a extremely tired, off-schedule toddler to bed.  YES I AM JEALOUS.  I have been around football and fantasy drafts since the days my dad left the house with a timer and two pieces of poster board (no computers or iPads HA).  I guess it is time to put all the beach gear away and bring out the football gear.

I truly enjoyed this summer.  Emily was at the age where she had a blast, whether we were at the pool, beach, on the rides or just hanging out with her grandparents.  BUT all good things have to come to an end.

Now I can start thinking about how I want to decorate my house for fall.  I now have TWO mantels that I can decorate and more than one room done in our house.  Oh and Halloween costumes, pumkin beer, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin spiced donuts, hayrides, orchards...OH THE FUN.

Goodbye summer and hello fall, football and more fun :)

Very grateful

This has been an amazing summer filled with trips to the beach, parties, friends and family.  E has truly had an awesome time at the beach and swimming.  Throughout all the car rides with crying kids, 10pm bed times,  random temper tantrums, we tend to forget how grateful we are.  We have two healthy kids, two beach houses to go to and are surrounded by wonderful family and friends.

I sometimes sit her frustrated at the world because I only got 3 hours of sleep. In reality, I should be happy I have two kids, sleeping or crying.  It could be worse.  I feel guilty sometimes because I sit here worrying about such meaningless things when other moms are worry about TRUE issues.

I write this post as a reminder to not just moms but to everyone, to stop every once in a while and think about everything you have.  And when you think your life sucks cause you didn't get to finish your coffee (yes I admit I do this!), think that it could be worse...a lot worse.  

I am so lucky and today I reminded myself that!!!

It's been a while...

Things have been crazy the last month or so.  A LOT going on!!!

On a "me" front...The older I get, the more I know who my true friends are.  People really amaze me.  I am so lucky to have the friends and family I have, I don't need people in my life that will drag me down.  The last week I have spent some quality time with my friends and family and that's all a girl can ask for!

On a mommy front...my babies are getting so old.  C will be 6 months tomorrow and E will be 2 next Tuesday.  WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?! I cherish every hug and every smile I get from them!

I spoke to E's preschool teacher and she went on and on about how she is so smart and will try anything.  That makes me so happy.  All parents want is for their children to be happy and progress in life.  I mean I am not opposed to a doctor in the family :)

I cannot believe summer is almost over.  Only two more weekends at the beach.  :( :( :(

I am however looking forward to fall festivities with the kids.  Oh and Pumpkin lattes YUM!!!

Hopefully, I will go back to regularly blogging soon but smooches for now!  I am off to enjoy the Jay-Z JT concert with 3 of my favs.

White pants and whistling

Two very random thoughts...

If you are a mom of young kids, is there ever a time white pants can be worn?  I have never been a person to wear too much white, since I go with the black makes you look slim thought, but I got these white jeans earlier this summer.  I tried to wear them Memorial Weekend and within minutes there was watermelon and spit-up on them, so I quickly changed. Since then I have neglected those poor white jeans. 

Finally, I seized the opportunity to wear them to my girls night out (or shall I say dinner out). When you are a working mom of two, any chance to spend a few ours or even minutes enjoying some "me time" is greatly appreciate and makes me a happy person.  When I put these white jeans on, I forgot I have to pack the kids up, drop them off at my parents, pick them up and take them home.  I made it there and through dinner with no issues.  As I was putting E in her carseat, I leaned up against the car and in a matter of seconds, a black smudge appeared.  COME ON!!  Every second and every stain was worth it for a few hours out and that mandarin Cosmo!!

On to the next topic...

As I was trying to clean out my closet with a toddler squeezing in taking out all my shoes, I heard someone whistling. Thinking there is no way this is E, my almost 2 year old.  Sure enough I turned around and she did it again. When I started whistling, she tried to do it again, but was unsuccessful. Where does someone her age learn to whistle? She amazes me everyday with how much she is growing up. I mean the words "ewe" and "yeah" are part of her vocab now ;)

No shoes to bed

For some reason, E has become obsessed with shoes. Normally I would think this is cute and she was being a girly girl but she has taking it to a new level. Now she wears them to bed every night.  Not flip flops either...full fledged shoes.  Last night was Toms and tonight was Converses.  

I know this is not a major issue or anything but she sweats and sleeping in shoes each night does not help those stinky feet hahaha!!! "Shoes mommy! Shoes!"  Tonight I tried to coerce her into wearing her kitty socks instead, which she agreed to.  She also has a kitty obsession since being over her Aunt Liz's and met two real cats. However, this backfired and she ended up wanting to wear shoes too.

What can I say...this girl has a mind of her own and loves clothes and accessories.  I guess she isn't much different than most girls or women even ;)

Terrible Twos are FUN

After being at the beach for a week, I am now back to reality and not enjoying it.  This means an overload of laundry, no food, trying to get the kids back on their normal routine and my pants are just a little tighter.  WELL WORTH IT ALL THOUGH!  Emily had the time of her life at the beach and pool.  She has however hit the "terrible twos" a tad bit early.  The whiny, temper tantrum phase is not fun at all.  I absolutely hate when she does this in public too.

Our first trip to Funland, my dad bought 100 tickets and Emily got on 1 ride, which was all of 1 ticket.  This time, after she through a FIT, would not get in the stroller, wanted french fries but they were too hot, but ended up getting on 2 rides, both of which I had to get on with her.  I mean who would have thought the mini roller coaster would be what she loved.  I mean it was pretty fast and I did not enjoy it one bit.  The irony...it is the one she liked.  We used all our tickets since that ride required 3 tickets for me as well.  What a rip off!  Her and my mom played a few games next and had a blast.  Not sure how but they won this one game twice, which resulted in this massive purple and orange ugly squirrel (i think).  But she had fun so that is all that matters.

Next public tantrum occurred when we got to my FIL's country club.  All these kids are playing nice in the pool and like a little diva, E hates the bathing suit I put on her (had the long sleeve shirt) and insists on taking it off.  Nothing like being at a nice country club pool with a screaming naked child.  After some food (once again) she let her guard down and ended up having an amazing time.  Thank god for adult drinks there :)

Next was the beach!  She LOVED the bay and playing in it earlier this week but this time was a different story.  With only a short nap, cranky pants did not like the water or sand.  She just wanted me to hold her in the water... "up mommy". She eventually warmed up here too.  Then we pushed our luck by trying to go to dinner and ice cream.  Oh well.

She is a sassy little girl filled with personality, but we love her to pieces and could not imagine life without her!

Do we need all this?

Going on vacation for a week with two little kids is awful to prepare for! There are so many little things, like pacifiers or Disney movies, that could make or break our trip.  God forbid little E wants to watch Belle and it is still in the DVD player at home.  Little C is easy since he is only 4 months old.  All he needs is clothes and bottles.  I think he will be a minimalist like it poppy and dad! What is even worse about the amount of stuff we have sitting out to pack is my parents beach house and my in-laws both have a pack n play, toys, bouncy seats...you name it.  You would think all we need to pack is the little stuff.

I am not even confident everything is going to fit.  I am sure my mom will take some stuff but still.  The poor dog has been confined to a minuscule amount of space in the back of our new, what we thought was bigger and more spacious car.  In reality, the bigger the car, the more sh!t you bring.  I find the same thing happens with my purse.  If I have a small bag, I am forced to only bring what can fit.  If I have a huge tote-size bag, it is amazing what you will find in my purse HAHA.

Either way once we get to the beach and unpack, I will be relieved, especially since we will be there for a week.  I hate having to pack back up a day or two later. All the hustle and bustle is worth it to spend time with my family and away from work.  I am praying there are no meltdowns in the car like the last trip.  Now I know why everyone else is driving themselves...I would if I could find some way to ship/mail my kids to the beach :)