Egan's come to town

We were so lucky to have our dear friends come visit us for a few days. Made for the most perfect birthday celebration for me. Besides us mommy's being in best friend heaven, our little ones were too. They had the best time. Amazing that thru the miles of our families being apart, they are such amazing little buddies at such a young age. Hard to believe that this was my 24th bday to celebrate with Jen. We have so many amazing memories. Even crazier to believe our munchkins will have known each other 35 years by the time they are my age. No family we would rather be closer to. Lots of love to the Egan Clan!

Whew...where to begin!

This is not going to be a very exciting post, since I have no pics of my sweets! But wanted to FINALLY update the blog. It has been 6 months since my last post....so ridiculous I KNOW! I promise our life hasn't stopped and my kids have been doing tons of funny crazy things. Honestly, I just got too behind in telling you about our craziness that I started feeling overwhelmed and didn't know where to start. So, since I can't sleep this morning, I thought now would be a perfect time to catch up on on our life. Excuse the bullet form, just kinda how I see it in my mind. So here is the wrap up of the past 6 months (gosh where has the time gone).

• Coop turned 5! Yikes, I have 7 weeks left with my sweet boy before kindergarten! Holy Moly...before we know it he will be hitting puberty.


• At the end of Febuary we moved about 45 min from our old house. Still not too far from Downtown Nashville. We wanted to be in a better school district for Coop's K experience and also be closer to Tuck's new school.


• Tuck started his new school, which is AMAZING!!! We have seen such huge progress in him. He is really starting to talk and put words together, successfully feed himself (when the booger wants to eat), and become more stable with his fine/gross motor skills. I think not only is this due to his amazing teachers, but the school has a clinic attached to it. So all of his therapy (physical, occupational, speech, and feeding) is done there onsite! So nice. Some of you have asked me about his diagnosis.....I will do another post on that later. (Gotta get thru the 6 months of catch up first).


• My parents came for a visit in March, so nice!


• Chris' family visited us in April for Easter. Was great and the Easter bunny was too good to us. My ASS thanked him for the candy!


• I had the best Mother's Day gift ever this year. A visit from the Egan family!!! We had the best time and we also got to Shower Jen with a pink baby shower celebrating this sweet girl that should be here anyday!!! Can't wait.


• In June, we were fortunate enough for Chris to get offered a job to stay at Vanderbilt Hospital. Such a huge blessing in so many ways. He will be working at their Children's Hospital. I coudn't be happier or more proud of him. Almost here at the end....FINALLY! To surprise Chris for is accomplishments, I threw a big surprise party here for him. He had no idea. All of our family on both sides came into town. Was so fun and the kids had such a great time!

Whew...I think that was a quick wrap up. Lame...I know! Pics always make a blog. I am guilty of not wanting to read a blog if they don't have any pics. I am one of those people today. Sorry, now that I have gotten the last 6 months off my chest, I can post some cute pics to go along with my wrap up....once I get them organized! I am forever on this hamster wheel of organizing. I love the thought of being organized, but seem to not quite get there!

Until the next blunder (which I know there are many),

Amanda

A trade off.....Your Don'ts for your Do's!

I have a blog that I read called 320 Sycamore. If you guys don't read it, you really should. I love that Melissa is so honest and creative! She had a post about how she trades her do's for her don'ts. I loved the post and thought I would do my version of it!

As a daughter, sister, friend, mom, wife, etc.....there is just too many hats to wear! Do you ever feel like you cross off one thing on your to do list, just to add 3 more things to the list!!!!!!! Yikes, it is never ending and I feel like there is ALWAYS something to do! But, one thing I have started to learn (maybe I am becoming wiser as I get older) is that you have to trade your DONT'S to get your DO'S accomplished! Everyone has a different list of don'ts and do's! There are many many many things I choose not to do in order to get to my do's! Here are some of my trade offs (don't judge by the pictures you are about to see):

• I DON'T sew (not a lick...not even a button...hoping to learn someday), but I DO talk with my friends and family on a regular basis.




• I DON'T (rarely) ever make food from scratch, but I DO have a weekly family game night that we ALL look forward to.




• I DON'T scrub my bathroom or floors as much as I should (sometimes I even stick to my floor..YUCK), but we DO have family picnics often.




• I DON'T iron my clothes (I either don't buy the kind that require ironing or I throw them in the dryer to try to get the wrinkles out), but I DO read to my kids everyday.




• I DON'T have a clean car (I think some of my kids afternoon snacks consist of Cherrios or Goldfish that were found in their carseat), but I DO try to get in a good 5 min cuddle (AT LEAST) with each of my kids a day.




• I DON'T dust often enough (sometimes when you walk by the dust bunnies, they are big enough to actually chase after you), but I DO go to the park or zoo as often as I can.




• I DON'T fix my hair (usually in a pony tail) or wear much makeup, but I DO craft often with my kids.

My children have helped me to realize that my DON'TS just aren't that important. I know that they will be so grown up so soon, that I am trying to be present in EVERYDAY! I might need reminders here and there, but I am really trying to soak it up.

Things get done when they need to, which is usually before guests come over. HA! My Do's out weigh my don'ts by a mile. My Do's are what make me happy and give my kids great memories!

What are your don'ts so you can have your Do's?

Family Pics

Recently I had a friend of mine take pics for our family and LOVE how they turned out! I was feeling like the worst mother EVER because it had been 2 years since our last family portrait! Which doesn't sound that terrible, until you realize that Tucker is 2! HA! He was 3 weeks old in our last family photo. To say he has changed is a huge understatement! Here are a few of my favs! Enjoy!

Yummy and Funny Boys!

These boys are SERIOUSLY so yummy! As everyone mom would agree about their own kids, they totally melt my heart with their voice, smile, laughter, and quirks! They are DELICIOUS!!! Coop got a new Dan costume from Bakugon (we are SO obsessed with this stuff...and I just don't get it). Anywho, he thought he was the S@#T and had to strut his stuff as DAN! Sweet Tuck had to get in on the action too!

While Tuck was eating his breakfast (Lucky Charms) a blue marshmellow got away! Unbeknownst to Tuck, look where it ended up! Perfect Hilter 'Stache!
Last but not least, the boys and I had to venture to Walmart today! Of course, when we got there Coop had to use the potty (for some reason now, every where we go publicly...Coop needs to POOP, ALWAYS). So, all 3 of us went into the big potty (handicap) so we could all fit into it together. While helping Cooper, I turned around and saw Tuck doing this! Guess he just needed a little rest!

He loved this little seat and it took me FOREVER to get him out of the stall! Thankfully, I have remebered my camera for these little moments! To top it off, when Coop was done he used tulip paper (how he says toilet paper....loveit) all by himself! Growing up SO fast!

Til the next blunder,

Amanda

Halloween Fun

We started the day off with some fun! The boys were SO excited you would have thought that they woke up and ate candy for BREAKFAST! We played a little inside and a little outside! Notice the boys have different clothes on? We ususally have about 5 wardrobe changes a day (thanks to poop, pee, boogers, shmutz on our clothes from food, or playing in the hose...no matter what the temp is outside).


Time for our costumes and Trick or Treating couldn't come fast enough! But, finally it had arrived. Our evil Darth Vader and adorable Fireman couldn't wait to Tee Tee Tee (Tuck's version of Trick or Treat....totally melted my heart).




It was another successful fun year at Halloween! My hips are thanking me today for the generous amount of chocolate I gave them yesterday! I hope you had a VERY HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Maskless Vader and Halloween Treats

Coop had his Halloween Party at school yesterday and got to wear his costume! He is Darth Vader this year! A rule that the school has is no masks allowed at school! I totally understand the rule, but super hard for a 4 year old to understand when he is SO excited about Halloween!

This was Coop's face when I walked into his class! I got so choked up, because we all thought I would have to miss. The party was the same time as Tuck's therapy! Thankfully a great friend of mine sat at therapy for an hour while I had some TREATS with Coop!

We have had a great time making some Halloween crafts/goodies! I will say that I don't have any original creativity! I am really good at attempting to copy other people's craftiness!

These are homemade pumkin playdoh that we made for the kid's TREATS for their friends at school! I got this idea and the kitchen print out idea from my friend Ashley! She is one of the most creative people...I have NEVER met! Ha! Just a friend I know through blogging that was introduced to me thru my dear friend Kim. You should check out her blog! She has

creativity billowing out of her ears! http://www.lifewiththeparks.blogspot.com/.

Another one of my favorite places to get my creativity is from http://www.howdoesshe.com/ This site is AMAZING and bursting with ideas about crafts, love, cleaning, etc! These ladies are awesome! The kind you want to be friends with! HA! They made these cute little mummy cookies, so we thought they looked yummy and fun to make! I think they turned out great!

Last but not least, I am all about a cheap way to decorate for the holidays! I got a dinged up frame from Hobby Lobby at 66% off (I try to find one with a little hiccup to get the extra discount...he he he). I think I payed a total of $2.80 for the frame. Then I got this FREE downloadable from http://www.servingpinklemonade.blogspot.com/ and VOILA! An inexpensive Halloween decoration! Super cute!

What fun crafts/goodies did you make this Halloween?