What do you think of me?!!

Well I've been having a blast over the past couple of weeks with my husbands staycation!! He has been off work for two weeks!! Yippee!! I can't express how awesome its been just enjoying my husband. My dream would be for him to stay at home with me and we just travel the world, visiting diff bed and breakfasts, and writing about our experiences....that would be so awesome. But we are not there just yet. In the midst of enjoying my hubsters, school has commenced and with that are the early mornings etc... And all the business that comes with school. 

Well before school started, I did an exercise with the family taken from one of the various books I've been reading. The exercise was to list positive things about  each person in the family. So we did it. At the end, I took everyone's list and created one individual list comprised of all the postive thoughts for each person gave it to them at the end.  I was utterly amaZed about what the children thought of me. I mean amazed. There were descriptions like "lives life." I didn't even know they noticed. Lol. 

I gave them all their lists and they enjoyed it!  I keep my list and look it at from time I time as encouragement in the moments where I feel like my kids are purposefully trying to hurt and or be mean to me. Helps me to get past that moment more swiftly. Try it with your kids and friends. I'd def like to try this with my family and friends too:) 

Just wanted to let them know that at the end of they day... This is what we think of you:)

For Food Lovers: Foodie Penpals (August 2013)

I'm person who's always seeking new things and exploring...even when it comes to food. I think when I gain weight it's mainly because I get bored with food. Well, I came across this website that has Foodie  Penpals where you send food to a pal.  I thought, hey this is different and this would be a fun way to explore new foods. i'mmma try it.

I told my foodie penpal, Ashely that my taste buds were seeking to discover more crunchy and sweet healthy snacks. Here's what came in my box. Boy oh boy was I excited! 

To know that there's a delivery on your doorstep is awesome and it's filled with sweet and crunchy treats!  Oh yeah! Fist pump!   The Roasted veggie tortilla chips are delicious :)  I can't wait to try the  Salsa Fresca ricesworks gourmet brown rice crisps! Then I have a chocolate theme going with the other treats: odwalla choc-walla nourishing bar, chocchippeanut protein bar (which will be great after or before my workouts), chocolate Belgrade breakfast biscuits, Special K pastry crisps chocolatey caramel & chocolate. My husband and I shared the chocolate pastry crisps last night. It hit the spot for a low cal dessert (100 calories shared means only 50 calls a piece woo hoo Winning!!). All that's left is the wrapper lol. Ashely hit the nail on the head :) with the items in my foodie penpal box wee hee! Here's some close ups on the items just in case you want to check them out yourself :) 

 I can't wait till next month :) 

School Forms Suck!

I guess over the last school year and this school year, I've come to the conclusion that completing school forms suck. Not only do they come as duplicates when you have more than one child, they do not represent the change in families.

The forms generally say parent/guardian or mother/father, they don't speak to different kinds of families. They don't speak to families that are blended, different, or have more than two parents. 

Which brings me back to yesterday when the slew of papers came home with the kids on a day in which we have them... So of course my middle son gives them to me... And what do I do, I fill them out  and when it gets to the mother part... What do i put ? I put my name and their mother's name. So for those lines I put both. The kids mother asked if she could stop by to see the kids on the first day no problem.... Until she finds out I'm filling out paperwork. She sends Swag in to get the papers which I had already completed.  Needless to say, when the papers returned there was crossed off information and stuff added ... Notably (mother) in parentheses where I had already written her name or a crossed out phone number (she crossed out her number that i had written and rewrote it over top of my name). She later called my husband and said she had a problem with my name being on the line that said mother and that I excluded her. 

Sigh. Here we go again. I get it. She is upset that it's not just her name on the form and as long as forms come to this house it won't be. It is no longer her and my husband but it is the three of us parenting. I am not taking away from her being the mother and we will all be on the forms. I feel like she has not totally accepted this. I can't lie and say that this situation doesn't anger me because it does. 1. I hate being lied on like I would purposefully not include her. 2. I am not a mother of them when it's convenient for her or anyone else, i am a mother all the time and that started the day I married my husband. So not only do they have a bio mom but they have a bonus mom as well---3 parents. What hurts the most is that these are little messages that our children are receiving while she's asking for forms and crossing out things.

Disappointing.

Maybe I should advocate for a change in forms to reflect differences in families. After all, I am a social worker, and a part of job is advocacy. I'm thinking the forms should just say Parents and have at least 3 to 4 lines.

School year prep: getting Down to business!

Yesterday marked the 1st day of school for Charles county so that meant the  1st day of school for our kiddies and the start of my 2nd yr as a mother of 3 school aged children (1 in elem., jr high, & high school). Yikes!!

As a part of entering into the family, I've tried to establish routines so that the consistency will help them. Last year before the school year, we set our academic goals. This year we did the same, but we added an evaluation of what worked (household wise) last year as what needed tweaking. 

I will say that it felt good to come together as a family and to dream together. I think it's important to teach our children to set goals and to strive to reach them. Plus I believe something happens when we write, verbalize, and visualize their dreams. We read our dreams and goals to one another:) Lastly, We topped the night
off with some red velvet cupcakes and prayer. Here's some pics from our planning night:)

Here's a pic from their first day :) Speedy tiger, Belle, Swag

Single grocery shopping vs family grocery shopping

I've always enjoyed grocery shopping. Something about going thru the aisles, finding the best deals, and finding my favorites has always been therapeutic for me. As a single woman, I had my grocery bill down to a science and I had the luxury of deciding when or if I would eat. ohhhh but I Am Newlywed lol! My how things have changed. My grocery bill ha!! My favorites (house full of fruit) have become too expensive and were gone in a matter of days with kids in the house. Get this, kids eat all the time! Especially when they are bored lol! And! Kids Have to eat at least the minimum of 3 full meals  a day! So no deciding,hey y'all just not gonna eat right now, like I could do as a single. 

So what did I do! Well, I did what I do most times when I don't know something.... Tried various experiments... not so successful... regrouped...Then went to my fav place that has all the answers..... drum roll... i went to the library with two goals.... Save money and learn how to shop for families.

I got a book called click and coupon:) awesome read:). It taught me how to shop. One of the tips was that you make your weekly menu/ shop by the stuff that's on sale instead of just shopping for the things you want. So I tried that first. It worked!!! I was able to save so much money as I didn't pay full price for anything. Now I have a mantra that my goal is to not pay full price for anything :)  in addition to making that change, I got exposed to the world of couponing! Omg!! I was amazed at how a little planning and snipping went so far! I've gotten free floss, snacks for the kids, rita's ice, and cut down on my grocery bill:) I combine my coupons with the sales papers to get the optimum deals:) I love saving money:) and guess what... There are websites that tell u the best deals and what coupons go with deal! Love it! My husband didn't understand it but now he does. He would say if I hear you say you have a coupon for that one more time lol!  I get stuff for .55  or lower and that's when I buy 2 or 3 which holds me over to the next sales etc. Little changes like this work :) wee hee I'm not too young to coupon! 

In fact, I wish I did this in my single state as I would have saved more money!!

Back to school already?!!

It's approximately 6 more days until my kids start school. I can't believe that time has gone so fast. I had an opportunity to go over my summer things to do list .... The list I create for my kids and things I wanted to do with my husband.... And I'll have you know that we completed the majority of things we set out to do:) wee hee! I just love maximizing the time we have. ... The stuff we didn't get to do yet  like rock climbing and horse back riding we will carry over into the fall :) wee hee soon my list will be completed.  More than anything I dislike feeling like I let time slip thru my hands .... That just burns me up. So cheers to all the list makers out there lol!! This was my first year making a list for my family;)

Below is my summer list... We still have more to conquer but I feel good about what we accomplished:)

Camping - twice    Couple/family 👍

Horseback riding -must

Water park or tubing - maybe

Museums w/boys- 👍

Beach -  👍

Zoo - 👍

Aquarium - maybe

Paddle boat - maybe

Family vacation- 👍

Bike riding boys  - 👍

Go-cart - 

Skating - 

Bowling  family - 👍

Cookout ladies - 👍

Winery tour and B and B - 👍

Rebel race - 👍

Rock climbing terrapin adventures - 👍

Picnic - date night

Summer is coming to a close & now starts the prep & planning for the school year. I've already gotten some of the school supplies (I stay looking for coupons and sales)....we also do a dream and vision board before the start of school:) I think this year imma add an hour of personal time for each of my 3 kids. 3 hrs out of the week. I'mma see how to make it happen.  Here's to my 2nd year as a school mommy! What do you all do for your children to make the start of the  school year special?

It's just one of them days...

I remember a song by the artist Monica... "It's just one of them days that a girl goes thru, when I'm angry inside, don't want to take it out on you"  Oh how I loved that song...ha ha and i still do. I believe it was talking about pms and the emotions that come with it.

I don't think I hear too many women talk about their pms and how it could effect their marriage or family for that matter. Well, this may be TMI for some but oh well it's purging time. I think as a single woman who lived on her own, I realized that I was emotional during a certain time  but it didn't affect anyone but me since I lived alone... Well me and my cat. I mean I would watch movies and cry over silly parts (I'm already a cryer but it'd be much worse). I wouldn't want to be around anyone and I'd just chill in my house. It didn't really affect anyone but me. But it's different when you have a family and husband. You can't just run away or seclude yourself once a month.... Even if I tried I'm sure they'd find me lol. Anyways,  I noticed that during those times the littlest thing irritated me or I felt attacked..... Crying, full of anger, things seems way more intense then they really are, etc. oh how I hate it lol.  But then once that period passes (ha ha pun intended) I'm fine. It's like a sense of normalcy. I'm normally able to communicate "hey babe i feel a little down and i'm trippin" but last month was out of control.  I mean my husband told me later, he was like, I just wanted my wife back. So I got to the bottom of it.... Guess what it was?!' Coffee!!! Over this last month my intake of coffee has been overboard. Now I knew that coffee affected me and I had stopped (my doctor told me some time ago about caffeine) but i guess the taste of coffee made me forget and i got back on the wagon. The caffeine in coffee increases pms symptoms, irritability, fatigue, breast tenderness, mood swings, period irregularity, etc. all that. So after analyzing my behavior, which i do often, the caffeine has got to go! I felt so bad for wanting to rip my husbands face off  And of course i apologized. So I have to do what i know:) eliminate the caffeine and work out! 

But would you know that even thru my rough period, my husband had set up a date for me. This guy!  Regardless of the funk that I was in he loved me thru it, gave me space, forgave me, and even had a date waiting in the wind (he said he arranged the date at the height of my emotions). Lawd, he reminds of me of God the father! Here are some pics from our date