Quirky Side

Somewhere around this madhouse there is a camera with pictures that I had intended upon posting. It is the camera that I keep in my purse, but it is not in my purse. I remember where I had it last, but it is not there and that can only mean one thing - Heidi has done something with it. I'm sure it will resurface soon with a bazillion crooked pictures of her dolls. I'll be sure and post those pictures too. Once I find it I will, but until then you get to learn a little about some quirky habits of mine.

Lately I have been rewatching the Bama fan jumping on the OU fan clip that is surfing around on Facebook. Normally I am not a fan of such assault or online bullying, but it is the music that makes me watch it over and over. As a person who walks to the beat of a perfect rhythmic drum I am a lover of all things choreographed to music. Everything in life must go to a beat - even when the windshield wipers are on...

Not that anyone would, BUT if somewhere were to write a movie about my life it would have to be a musical.  

A musical or it would have to have everyone talking and walking to a soft background music.

I have seen several clips of the horrible assault, but my absolute favorite is the one with Wrecking Ball playing in the background. Totally not a Miley fan, but this video and that song = perfection.

Back to the posting topic...

The other day at lunch my friend Holly called me a strange bird. I am - I have many quirks that I thought I might share with the blogging world.

1 - I've already written about this one above. Everything around me must go to music. For instance, Harrison is playing with a few musical toys on the ground and my fingers must type to the beat.

2 - I eat M&Ms two by two and the colors must match. After I have eaten them two by two if there are any odd ones left {odd meaning without a color matching mate} I bite that one in half and eat it. It stresses me out to pop a handful in my mouth without knowing how many of each color I have eaten.

3 - If I step on a crack with my right foot I have to step on a crack with my left foot.

4 - I would love to be on a show like Survivor or the Amazing Race, but the food challenges scare me.

5 - I give personification to inanimate objects - hence the reason I have a hard time getting rid of things. I am scared I will hurt their feelings.

6 - I will not put air in tires because I am scared my head will explode. Someone told me a story about that happening once and I have been scared ever since...

7 - Everything must be stacked largest to smallest {or reverse} and symmetrical.

8 - I plan an evacuation route wherever I go.

9 - I'm competitive about almost everything. It is horrible. When Heidi wants to "race" I hate letting her win.

10 - I cannot be the last person in the house to fall asleep.

There you go! Ten little things about me that you were dying to know - ha! It does make me feel better that I am not the only strange one in my family. Heidi likes to put her froggie washcloth to sleep...

Recent Family Pictures

With moving and getting settled, not to mention traveling and spending time with our family for Christmas we are just now getting our Christmas cards mailed out. I don't care if they are late. I have them, they are addressed, and I will mail them out. We had Molly take our pictures again - Harrison's 6 month pictures as well :) I can't believe he is 9 months old now and we will be taking those pictures the next week or so - you could say I am a little picture crazy. Molly will be moving in a few months, but hopefully we can schedule the kids pictures around her coming back. *All pictures by Molly Smith Photography.

First Movie

It is New Years Day. The day is also wet and rainy. Neither John nor I had to work, so we told Heidi a few days ago that we would take her to a movie. Her first movie in a theater! For a week or so Heidi has seen the little snowman {Olif} on Disney singing his song from the movie Frozen and each time she asks to watch the movie. That is why we decided to go! The four of us went and it was such a great movie and we all had fun. At first I was very nervous about Harrison because during the Mickey Mouse preview {he loves Mickey}because he started getting really upset. I'm not really sure why Harrison got so upset. He calmed down after Mickey and up until the last 10 minutes sat and watched the movie. Heidi had a great time! I will definitely not choose the seats behind the bar again because of the climbing issue, but it was still such a great time! I grabbed my camera and then apparently still forgot it at the last minute - so all pictures are on my phone. I hate phone pictures...but oh it is what it is.

Happy New Year!

Goodbye 2013 and HELLO 2014! It is crazy how on January 1st it somehow feels like a clean start - a fresh beginning. 2013 was a great year for us. We made a huge family decision and decided to build a house which is super exciting - now to find that perfect plan! Moving during Christmas is not something I will ever suggest or want to do again. Our biggest and most joyous moment of the year was definitely adding little Harry-bug to our family. I remember after we lost Hudson that I wanted a girl because I did not want to be reminded of my grief even more than at that current time. Finding out we were expecting a third I knew he was a boy immediately and I knew we would be ready and wanted a boy to add to our family.

I like to set goals each year and it is always more helpful to have them written out to keep an accountability. If they are written down it is always nice to review them throughout the year or when needing to remember them. So, here goes!

1 - Continue strengthening my walk with the Lord. This is always on the top of my list because even the highest of scholars/leaders can still learn and strengthen their relationship with God. I took a break from my regular Bible study - one I have been a part of for the last few years - while I have been adjusting to a new family, work, and life schedule. I am looking forward to when I can join in a new study.

2 - Striving for a healthier lifestyle. Recently I gave up meat. Totally not me {John felt my forehead to see if I was sick} and I am looking to increase the fruits and vegetables in my diet. I did not give up meat just because I wanted to, but because every time I took a bit I felt mentally sick. So, no more meat or eggs {well, eggs if they are in something, but not a plain egg} for me for right now. This also means increasing my exercise and getting back in shape. Instead of complaining everyday I need to do something about it.

3 - Declutter my life. This is something I am constantly striving to improve. I have a tendency to hold on to everything and become surrounded by junk and then becoming overwhelmed by the junk. Right now life is completely chaotic - but in time it will be better!

4 - Continue building my friendships. I have some amazing friends in my life. I want to make sure I put in the time and effort in those friendships and not focus on the ones that seem to be a one way street. Lately I have really taken notice of the friends who do not seem interested in being friends. When people ignore calls, texts, or when they visit and never make an attempt to see you or your family. I know we are all busy, but something I have learned is that you make time for the things or people that are important to you.

2013 was a great year and I am looking forward to everything that 2014 has to bring. There is so much to look forward to and so many things that remain unknown of the future. I look forward to more time with my family and the sweet surprises to come. May you all have an amazing end to your year and a wonderful start to the next!

Bike Riding & Playtime

We have moved and I am loving being back to a familiar world. The 20 mile difference is amazing - in so many ways. We are closer to all of our activities and friends which is great! The next few months are going to be a little stressful with starting to build {trying to find the perfect house plan} and living a little out of our comfort, but it is going to be great! The kids, especially Heidi, are adapting well and loving the new living situation. John and I are both ready for the house to be ready. My goal is to be settled in by October, but before Thanksgiving at the latest.

While building we will still maintain all of our normal activities and routine - luckily with half the distance {half the gas bill!!!} and half the time in the car. Less time in the car is always a plus for me! Heidi was given a bike for Christmas and she has been riding it every day that it has not rained. Harrison's nap time is filled with the question, "when will Harrison be awake so I can ride my bike?".

Harrison wanted to join in the bike ride fun as well. He loves being around his sister and Heidi makes him laugh so much - like all the time. We went around a small part of the neighborhood and both kiddos loved it. Heidi felt like such a big girl riding her new big girl bike around and Harrison - well, he fell asleep.

After the bike ride Heidi wanted to play on the swing set for a little bit. This little girl loves to be outside. I love to be outside too, but in the back of my mind I have 100 things I need to be doing - trying to learn to let go a little bit and enjoy the world through my sweet little girl. Heidi does not see the loads of dirty laundry, dirty dishes, dirt - or any of the other things - that need to be done.

 

Birthday Party

Trying to get a little head start on my New Year's resolution - blog often. So, rather than letting my need for order get the best of me I am going to continue on with the blog as things happen.

Heidi was invited to a birthday party and we were so excited to go! Now that we have moved we are so much closer to everything going on it makes it much more enjoyable to attend events to which we are invited.

The party was a Princess Sofia theme and such a fun time! Originally Heidi wanted to wear a princess costume, but we were regular clothes and brought the costume just in case. Only the precious birthday girl was dressed up in a princess dress, but Heidi did not want to change. There were a few other kids from the class at the party and I am sure it was nice to see the other kids since they have been out of school for a week. I love watching how Heidi interacts with her friends.

I also go to meet up with a few friends this weekend! I love having a chance to catch up with old friends. Facebook is great to know what is going on, but nothing will ever compare to actually getting to sit down and chat with friends. Looking forward to more times like these!

Fake Perfection

It is a Saturday afternoon and I am actually able to sit down and write. We have been busy little beavers over here lately, whether from traveling, packing, moving, unpacking, Christmas shopping, regular activities - it has been a crazy past few months. Nonetheless I still have been aching to sit a blog. Not just random recaps of the past three months, but real blog posts with substance. I want to be able to document everything going on - each day/week/month, but life has been incredibly busy and sometimes there are things that just have to be put on the back burner.

Not only has life been hectic, but I guess there are days when I think of things in my head to write, but I just don't feel like they are good enough for anyone to want to read. Some days I think I feel like I need to have some eloquent post that people can relate to and others I just want to type with all of my grammar mistakes and let it be. This world puts so much pressure on us these days. Everything needs to be exactly perfect. The past few months I have had three separate conversations with three completely different groups and I can sum it up in a few phrases.

We are afraid of the judgement of others because we judge.
You know you do it. You think people are a certain way because of the way they dress, act, talk, deal with their kids. I'm sure it is possible that you might not even be aware that you are doing it. Maybe it is even coming up with excuses as to why they won't like you. The last sentence is something I struggle with constantly. When I take Heidi to preschool I see all of the little moms gather together and I feel completely left out. My thoughts are more of wondering what is it about me that they don't seem interested in? There is one lady that for the past year and a half it has been my mission to get her to smile at me. I think she has, once. Don't get me wrong, people are nice and I have conversations with them, but it is as if the conversations aren't really that important and I'm not someone they would want to hang out with as friends.

We push the facade of perfection.
Would you like to have unexpected guests to show up at your door - right now? Chances are you answered no because your home is not tidy. I know one thing that bothers me is walking into a completely put together house because it is an internal put down on my own house keeping abilities. I go to homes of busy working moms and their houses are immaculate and then they say what we all say, "oh gosh, please pardon the mess". I'm thinking - there are no dirty dishes, there is not a spec of dirt or dust, and it smells like heaven. Come on over to my house on any given day and there will be a whole wad of messes in every corner and a dog that smells like a dorito. I know we all take pride in how our homes look, I mean it is a reflection of us. Apparently I am a hoarding slob, but I have embraced my inner self that shows through my house keeping. I am working on it and during this move a lot of things will {hopefully} be tossed and organized, but for the most part walking into your clean house just stresses me out. Thinking about it stresses me out - pardon me while I shove another peanut butter blossom cookie in my mouth.

We want to have it all together in ways where we think everyone else has it all together.
Seems strange, right? We all assume that people are judging us so we bust our little hinnies off to show off how "together" we have it. Everyone wants everyone else to think we have it all under control. No one wants to be perceived as a failure. Anything less than perfection is of course, failure. We all compete with each other because if one person and seem to have that perfect look then we strive with all of our might to achieve this non-existent level of perfection. It stresses us out to the point of being completely miserable.

With all of these things that we all do I realized - we do it to each other. Why do we make each other feel miserable and unworthy? I blame it all on social media. Pinterest, blogs, Facebook - full of women who I swear must be robots and never sleep. Maybe there are some women who can do it all. I know I wish I could because in my head it would make life run much smoother. As much as I would love to have a perfect home that is clean and always in order, kids with coordinated outfits, leaving the house with my hair and makeup in perfect order - it is just not going to happen and I am trying to embrace that idea. Maybe if we all embraced it a little more we would not stress ourselves out competing with a lifestyle that I really just do not think is possible. Seriously, there are only so many hours in a day and if you do have all of these things perfect, then what is it that you are giving up to achieve these things? Your own happiness? Church? Sanity? Spill your secrets...