Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!






Have a wonderful day being thankful for life's blessings and getting full on good food!

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Unusual But Special Holiday Traditions

Thanksgiving is next week!
At the end of this week, my family and I will be getting on a plane and heading to the west coast.
San Francisco, here we come!
Our current tradition, since having kids, is to head west for the Thanksgiving holiday and go to our hometown for the Christmas holiday. My mom lives in San Francisco for now and we actually have more fun in California because we're not jumping from house to house visiting family and friends. Those kinds of 'vacations' pretty much suck.

The older I get, the more I like not having the same ol' year in year out traditions.
I appreciate those traditions and know they're always a great backup, but I love being able to travel on the holidays. It would be even better if we could travel with some family members on the holidays but unlike some people who probably wouldn't if their family can't travel with them, we'll probably choose to do so anyway.
It's another chance to make memories with our kids.
A chance to do something with our kids that we weren't able to experience with our parents.

I'm sure there'll be a time when it no longer fits our budget for awhile, but right now, we're enjoying our new tradition. And I'm enjoying taking a break from cooking Thanksgiving dinner for our house.

What are your plans for the holiday?
And what are your special family holiday traditions (including travelling or that special dish that everyone waits for the holidays to eat)?

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Quick Trip to Austin

Last weekend we accompanied my husband to Austin, TX. He and a few of his co-workers went to represent his company at an minority engineering conference career fair.
During the day the boys and I hung out with one of his co-worker's wife. We've hung out before so we had a good time, shopping, feeding the boys ice cream and getting lost.
Austin is a nice and smaller city. The people were much friendlier and inviting than in Fort Worth and the whole city seemed to have an artsy vibe to it. How cool is that?!
It reminded me of my college town but bigger.
After visiting, I wish we would've moved there instead of DFW......but I'll try not to be too much of a sour grape.
Austin is also known for their food trucks and they had a lot more trucks in one centralized location than the Fort Worth food park.....so we indulged. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of my food nor all of the trucks.
One inebriated woman in her mid-30's was actually dancing with my oldest while we waited in line to try the late night popular pizza spot.
Too bad he didn't realize she was dancing with him!


There were 12-15 trucks lined up in a checkered manner. These were the two trucks I ate at. My hubs and our co-worker friends had food from several different trucks but the lines were long and there was not time for pictures. The "Coat & Thai" truck was pretty tasty which it should've been for a 20-minute wait. I'm assuming their name had to do with their expensive tasting thai cuisine fit for 'coat & tie' dining. These food trucks had a decent portion size for their prices compared to my food truck experience in Fort Worth.
The cupcakes were so suprisingly delicious! We all got cupcakes and our boys shared a few bites of mine and my husband's. They were moist, yet dense and not too sweet. Gosh they were good!
My mouth is watering for more as I type this. Fort Worth is definitely missing a dessert truck.



My boys had a good time dancing to the music coming from the sub sandwiches bus. They didn't have a line the whole time we were there. I think their prices may have been too high for their food.
The 2 pictures on the far right are of my oldest LAYING in the dirty gravel rocks. Could it have been the cupcakes or the music? I don't know. Boys just love dirt. At this point, we beat the long line to the cupcake truck so they weren't in anyone's way.





What did you do this past weekend?

Monday, November 12, 2012

Top 5 Reasons Boys Are (More) Awesome (NaBloPoMo)

5) When they fall, you can tell them to 'get right back up' without rushing over to pick them up and you won't 'look bad.'
Of course this does not include the infant/early toddler stage, but around 18 months, you're free to not run and superman-slide to prevent any bruises. This may bother you at first, but we have to encourage our boys to be 'tough' (not rough & tough).
Parents of little girls, have the option of encouraging their daughters to be tough our "girly" in the cutest of ways. <----that takes more superman-slides and resulting rapid heartbeats though

4) Boys are nasty...so you don't have to worry about preventing them from getting dirty.
They actually prefer to be one with dirt sometimes.
This realization and acceptance keeps your blood pressure and frustration levels down.
Plus, your trusty bag of wipes take care of the necessary quick fixes.

~My youngest loves to touch our tires as we are loading and unloading him and his brother into the car. Imagine how it is seeing his little palm covered in black just after you get him in his car seat when his palm was clean as a whistle before exiting the house.

~My oldest likes to stomp, I said STOMP, in the freshly rained on mud as well as lay in gravel rocks. Good thing it doesn't rain too often.

3) Boys aren't bossy.
Boys just like to play, share and not share, and fight over silly things. Girls like to do those things too, but come on, we all know girls are bossy.....and it starts at the toddler stage. It could be due to the fact that girls mature 'faster' than boys in most stages or that girls are better communicators at all stages. Either way, girls are bossy and their bossier than boys.
My husband had a dream a long time ago that we had a girl as our 3rd child.
I asked him, "What was she like?"
He answered, "Bossy as sh*t."
We both sort of laughed and he tried to remember just how she bossed her older brothers around in his dream.
I actually was thinking, "Good, somebody needs to keep those boys in line." Hahahahaaaaa
Bossy isn't necessarily bad, just annoying as all hell.

2) You don't have to do their hair.
Duh. This gives you more time to yourself in the evenings and more time to your bed/sheets in the mornings. Just moisturize, brush and go. Oh and haircuts don't take that long either. Luckily, my husband cuts their hair (for now).

1) Shopping is a breeze.
There's no need for 3-piece items. All you have to do is find a nice looking shirt: button-up to be church fancy, polo to be casual and graphic [tees] shirts to learn shapes, colors, objects and animals from as well as to get dirty in.
Depending on the sizes and selections available, you can be done in as little as 30 minutes. This goes for shoes as well.
I figured this out when I shopped for a baby girl baby shower and bought a jumpsuit-like dress and turtleneck but not the tights or shoes to complete the outfit. It was too much work so I bought a couple of books instead.


What's your list about your boy(s) or girl(s)? Write your own list and let me know about it or link it back to this post!

This post is inspired by and dedicated to my non-blogging besties that have girly-tough girls that make my womb itch.

*NaBloPoMo.....I want to throw up the 'west side' symbol everytime I try and mumble that.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Christmas Shopping...What's Your Routine?

The winter holidays are here! Okay, they're not here just yet.
But they are right around the corner.
My mind is still in the early part of the fall season. The weather here in the DFW area still feels like early fall and I'm pretty darn grateful about it.....although the warmer days are a bit more sporadic. One week, the temperatures are in the upper 70's and then the next week the temperatures are in the low 60's, like they will be next week.
With the year passing by so quickly, Christmas (and my boy's birthdays) will be here in a few blinks.
Have you done ANY Christmas shopping yet? I know I haven't and I'm starting to feel overwhelmed about all of the gifts I need to accumulate in 6 weeks.
I prefer to have all of my shopping done before the 1st of December.
My husband, on the other hand, loves being in the shopping rush in the few weeks that lead up to Christmas.
Sometimes shopping in the rush is fun and other times I get so impatient that I am taken home....by myself. Hahahaaaaa. {my twisted little plan}

He gets more engulfed in the Christmas spirit brushing shoulders with fellow shoppers, hearing the booming speakers playing Mariah Carey's version of "Jingle Bells" and seeing the Christmas decor. He even likes the snow......something I can do without. I think his love for the Christmas season and holiday is why our first son was born on Christmas as opposed to his actual due date. When he was born, there was 13" of snow on the ground by late Christmas morning.
So yeah, I can do without winter snow for a long time.

We'll be travelling so much this month, that I guess I'll have to get creative.

Do you have a routine for Christmas shopping? When do you start and finish your Christmas shopping?

*NaBloPoMo

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Welcome to 30! (NaBloPoMo)

I've had 20/20 vision since......well birth I guess.
It could be due to 30 welcoming me with open arms in February or due to me looking at tiny engineering words, numbers, lines and maps.
Most of the men I worked with would take off their glasses and read the maps and drawings from about 4" away from their face. I always thought they were crazy to not use a magnifying glass but hey.
To their defense, drawings are done in black, gray, light gray and even lighter gray colors. This is to distinguish between the existing landscape (light gray and lighter gray colors) and proposed construction (dark lines) changes. The problem is that proposed construction has to be tied into existing thus causing MAJOR eye strain. The office magnifying glasses were always occupied!

Anyway, I had been straining my eyes when reading my phone and when using the computer. I got my eyes checked and the optometrist I went to said that I seem to have developed farsighted traits and recommended a lens prescription.


At least I got an extremely cute yet expensive new accessory......some cute Michael Stars frames.

What physical (yet not disappointing) changes has age brought you?

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

NaBloPoMo - The Modified Happy Plate

I know that most toddlers are picky eaters, but it took me awhile to actually realize it because my oldest was and still is the best eater in the world [to us].
My youngest, on the other hand, is the typical 'picky eating toddler' statistic. He drives me and my husband absolutely insane.
If he could live solely off of oatmeal, applesauce, bananas, yogurt, pb&j's and his beloved graham crackers, he would. (Now that I think about it......he may. Just kidding.)
Every night, there is some kind of "issue' with him hoarding chewed-up food in his mouth for 30 minutes and the night's particular dinner juices seeping out of his barely closed lips.
Yuck.
My oldest usually eats all of his dinner, but with so much attention constantly going to his brother at dinnertime, we started rewarding with fruit snacks.
Sidenote: We usually only reserve fruit snacks as potty-training rewards.

Dinner a couple of nights ago was no different. My youngest refused to eat his food and instead pushed the food around (and onto the table) with his Elmo fork.
With a little coaxing encouragement, my oldest ate all of his food and said, "I made a happy plate. I want fruit snacks peeease."
While he ate his fruit snacks at the table, my youngest whined, "Fruit snaaaaaaaacks." We explained to him that if he makes a happy plate like his big brother, he could then have fruit snacks too.
He pointed to the small empty spot on his plate and said, "A happy plate!"
The arrows shows my youngest's 'happy plate.' My oldest's plate is on the right.

My husband pointed to the food and asked, "What about this?"
I chuckled.
With my head down of course.

My husband tried to feed him again and my youngest once again leaned over his booster seat's arm rest while saying, in distress, "Noooooooowww."

We ignored him and he proceeded to 'outsmart' the situation by putting his spinach on his daddy's plate!
We acted like we didn't see what he was doing, just so we could watch his mind at work.
Once he got all of his spinach onto his daddy's plate and said, "Eat the food."
Yes, he had the audacity to pose for the camera. I guess he was proud.
We got up, shook our head and held our laughs.
No fruit snacks were given for that 'happy plate.'


On another note, I was a picky eater as a toddler and child so I'm sure this is just nature's payback. Please remember, what you did as a kid will re-materialize in your children.


This post is apart of BlogHer and YeahWrite's November NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month).

Monday, November 5, 2012

NaBloPoMo: November Daily Blog Posting [Challenge]

Today on Twitter and BlogHer, I saw NaBloPoMo. What is that you ask? Its National Blog Posting Month being hosted by Yeah Write. The goal is to post EVERY.SINGLE.DAY for the month of November. Whoa.
The first time I saw this on my Twitter timeline, I brushed it off, because........well sometimes I only post once a week!
The second time I saw it in my timeline, I said, "Hmmmm, I think I could 'probably-maybe-possibly' do that."
The third time I saw it, Arnebya mentioned that she will be taking part of it. I really like Arnebya's blog because she's pretty funny when talking about motherhood.
The fourth and last time I saw it, GG also said that she would be joining in on the month-long writefest here. I always enjoy and connect with her heartfelt posts.

Four is my favorite number.

It was my 'sign' to join too.

I will be writing about topics other than motherhood and toddler antics sometimes since I'm more than just a mommy. (smile)

It'll be a good thing for me to make time to get a blog post out every day since I've never done it. I just hope I can keep up a similar posting schedule once the month is over.

Today is the last day to add your blog to the NaBloPoMo blogroll at YeahWrite and/or BlogHer, so if you see this righ now....hurry on over and join the list.


Sooo.....does this post count???

Friday, November 2, 2012

They Can 'Smell' My Desire To Give In

What goes on in the mind of a child when they cry?
Notice, I said child.....not baby. Maybe I should really say toddler.
Anyway, enough of the technicalities.

What does it feel like to cry at the top of your lungs to get something you want? The age of not being able to communicate is over but not the habit of crying to get the response you want.....not need.

I would have an extreme headache if I cried at the top of my lungs when I didn't get what I wanted the WAY I wanted it. I get slight headaches when I cry for a few minutes when watching a sad movie or hearing of deaths, etc.
I wonder if 'they' get headaches........?
I'm not going to give in, even though that's the only logical thing to do to get the crying to stooooooppppp.
Just like dogs, babies/toddlers/kids have a sixth sense. They can 'smell' fear.
I think my kids can smell my desire to give in.



Do your kids have the same sixth sense? Do YOU give in? Ignore? Or cry-whine with them?
I alternate doing all three.