Around Here, Lately...

Sack Lunch

Let’s talk school lunches, shall we? It’s been a hot topic around my house lately…

Ayden told me last night that he doesn’t want me making his lunch anymore.

He just doesn’t like the food we’ve got.

I told him, “Son, one day you’ll look back and feel pretty dang lucky that your mom made your lunch each day & your Halloween costume (for that matter)!”

Which my husband then said, “You’re pretty much just setting him up to be a nerd.”

A nerd?  

What?

Really?

When did bringing your lunch become so “un-cool?”

And standing in line for the “cafeteria special” is now the hot alternative?

Here is what I remember about school lunches:

They tell you a lot about a person. Like being naked in front of a crowd, what your mom or dad packed in your lunch…shows the whole world who you are!

“The contents of your lunch said whether or not you and your family were okay. Some bag lunches, like some people were Okay and some weren’t. There was a code, a right and acceptable way. It was that simple.”

I remember having the same old boring lunch packed for me every day:

Bologna on white bread.

Grape drink. (no brand, just grape drink)

And a bag of BBQ chips.

I don’t think this lunch could be any worse for a girl growing up, and a chubby girl at that.

It was a fat man’s lunch. A fat man who works at a construction site and wears a hard hat.

I longed for peanut butter and jelly…

Only every time I opened up my lunch, there it was. Bologna.

Who eats that stuff? (Besides my grandma).

But even as I sat there and ate my bologna sandwich that after each bite would get stuck to the roof of my mouth… it still wasn’t as bad as cafeteria food: a flimsy plastic tray filled with food that was lifeless and colorless.

Insert soggy green beans, a chicken sandwich and a side of fruit cocktail…with all the juices flowing together like a broken levy. Gross.

And now it’s cool?

Maybe they’ve come a long way since I was a kid…

Because now my extremely picker eater is demanding it.

No more turkey roll ups, go-gurts, snack packs, cinnamon graham crackers, grapes or apples.

He wants floppy green beans and French bread pizza.

Well see how long this lasts…

Sweet Baby Boy

Meet Tyler.
My sweet baby boy nephew.
He is SO beautiful.
My sister was a champ.
I was SO proud of her.
And she celebrated with her baby in her lap & an In & Out cheeseburger in her hand.

An Extra-Ordinary Life

One of my very favorite quotes...

such a perfect reminder to slow down in life and really cherish these fleeting moments. 

And not let the stresses of life distract us from what life is really about.

Love.

"Sensing the ground shifting beneath my feet,


I resisted the new, unknown territory,


already nostalgic for what I'd so recently taken for granted.


I missed my old world and it's funny little inhabitants,


those great big personalities still housed in small,


sweet bodies.


I missed my sons' kissable cheeks and round bodies,


their unanswerable questions,


their innocent faith,


their sudden tears and wild infectious giggles,


even the smell of morning breath,


when they would leap, upon waking, from their own warm beds directly into ours.

I missed the person I had been for them,


too-


the younger, more capable mother who read aloud for hours,


stuck raisin eyes into bear shaped pancakes,


created knights armor from cardboard and duct tape.


Certainly my talents didn't seem quite as impressive anymore,


my company not as desirable as it once had been."






-(excerpt from The Gift of an Ordinary Life)

Week 2

Well, I survived my first work week! (phew!)

The first day was a lot harder on me than I had thought.
I think it was rements of my night before my first day cry...
I just couldn't sleep, and thinking about all the little things I was going to miss out on now, made me really sad.
I thought the world would stop if I was away!
haha!

But honestly, the boys hardly know the difference.
Kyle changed his work schedule, so now he is the one that gets to take them all the school and he picks them up, and by the time they all get home...I'm back :)
Being off at 2 is great and walking up at 5 each morning really hasn't been too bad. It's peaceful, and I get to see the sunrise.

Except for early am drivers; they are the most rowdy, intense bunch of commuters! And I just don't drive fast enough for them! I think I've been honked at, yelled at and have had brights flashed on me each day...but I'm not getting a ticket for those crazy folks, so I'll keep on doing what I do.

Through all this though I'm learning such a valuable lesson to lean on my husband more.
I have a serious tendency to think I can do it all, so I constantly assume all this responsibility and become weighed down by it...supermommy syndrome.

But now the whole dynamic of our family shifted and it's honestly helped us more than it has hindered us...(at least for now anyway).

The Getaway

Well we did it, Kyle & I got away for an entire weekend (thanks to my awesome and very brave mother in law)!
We planned our whole weekend around our favorite mid cent shops in Palm Springs and we even found the most amazing hotel right off the blvd that was built in 1947 and totally true to that period...it was heaven for a couple of vintage junkies like ourselves.
Checking labels every where we went...

The only thing on a agenda was the complimentary cocktail hour at 5:00.
We ate popcorn and talked to strangers...it was so much fun.

It was perfect. The place was just our kinda place.
We decided to make it a yearly tradition...

355 more days to go!!

34

Happy Birthday,
to my best friend,
partner,
and love of my life.


I'm so happy I get to live this life with you by my side.
I love you SO MUCH!


Happy 34th Birthday!!!
xoxo