Parker Reed

Last night I had to run some errands before everything closed so I missed bedtime. Parker was still awake when I got home so we sat on stairs to talk for a bit. 

Usually when this happens, I sit and listen to him tell me (very thorough) stories about Tranformers or LEGO cities or the Polar Express, but he said he said he couldn’t think of anything so he started asking questions like, “what kid of house did you live in when you were five and where is Arkansas and what kind of car did you have and will there still be little kids in our family when I grow up?”

I answered everything and to the last question I told him yes, hopefully, and they will probably belong to him and Hayes and Lily.

“But how will I get the kids?”

I said that he would grow up and find a girl who he would marry and she would have babies and be the mommy and he would be the daddy. 

“But who is she?!”

I told him I didn’t know but he would meet her when he was older. He is apparently holding out for his cousin Hensley because he told me then that he was old enough for Hensley right now. I had to laugh at that and told him that he wouldn’t marry Hensley (which he frowned at) but he would marry someone else. 

“But I don’t know her!” 

I told him that I don’t know her yet either but God knows her and has her all picked out just for Parker and that we can pray for her in the meantime.

He seemed satisfied (or bored) with the conversation by then so we moved on to what I would be doing before I went to bed. I told him I’d most likely watch tv to which he replied that he couldn’t WAIT to be a grown up so he could stay up and watch Transformers. I laughed and said that he could do that all he wanted but his wife may want to watch something else from time to time. ;)

Also, Hayes filled one of my boots full of pretzels and a whole cookie....so that was a fun little find!

The Chrome Mixer and Geico

I’m thinking this may have been a bad week to start my blogging resolution as we are pretty boring around these parts. I am having a major Christmas/travel hangover and we have been in our pajamas the last two days. Actually I take that back. I have been in my pajamas the last two days. Bryan was Saint Dad yesterday and took the kids to the Science Spectrum and then to play at McDonald’s (these are literally my children’s favorite indoor activities...we live a wild life). This was all a favor to me for some time to clean and unpack, which I did not do. 😬 

Instead, I framed our family photos (I really want to take photos of our little rental...I actually enjoy it a lot!) 

And  I made a new cookie recipe (the Charmina cookies on The Modern Honey blog) with my new “CHROME” mixer. 

I was shocked to open this and then even more shocked to find that “Caribbean Blue” was indeed labeled on the giant box. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Me no good at reading item descriptions on boxes. It’s the brightest blue I have ever seen in my life but it makes some GOOD cookies and was fun to use so I don’t mind.

Lilybug enjoyed them with a side of kisses. 

I also made the salsa verde pork tacos for dinner from my freezer meal party with MOPS and they were delicious! Definitely a new favorite.

-1.5 lb pork loin 

-1 jar salsa verde

-1 T cumin

-1 t onion powder (You could use 1/2 chopped onion but Bryan hates onions so I always omit that.)

Combine in crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours. Shred pork about an hour before serving. Serve with corn or flour street sized tortillas, cheese, tomatoes, avacado, Mexicorn, you name it! We bought a 3lb pork loin and cut it in half and then doubled the other ingredients to get two freezer meals out of it. 

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I’m struggling this week. The house is still not unpacked and the laundry is just sitting...staring at me...taunting me. I pretty much just want to eat and sleep though so that’s fun! I’ll get it all done eventually and probably at 3am like any sane/normal person!

We have all been very distraught that Bryan didn’t put Christmas lights on our townhome this year (What a humbug). Bryan has defended this decision by saying that he couldn’t hang lights because we gave all of ours to another family who needed them (...Sooo Goodwill? Because thats where the lights went). Anyways, Parker was watching that Geico commercial with the guys hanging their Christmas lights with Bryan last week and after it was over, Parker looked over at Bryan and said, “Well, I think we need to switch to Geico so we can get more Christmas lights.” 

I just thought that was cute.

Also, P is quite the card shark when playing Go Fish and I kind of think it’s adorable. 

Happy 2018!

One of my New Years resolutions (I only have like 3) is to blog every day of 2018.  I downloaded the blogger app on my phone with a goal to write a quick post on my phone every night (or morning) to recap our day (and bonus, all of my photos are already on my phone!) so I’m hoping these little changes help especially since my track record of keeping resolutions is pretty weak. ;)

I am also a horrible writer on my phone....like I can’t string along good sentences in my head. Something about the small screen and tiny keys, but I am on a time limit and therefore do not have the time to care!

You have now been warned about any and all upcoming grammatical errors. 

Yesterday (New Years Day) was the coldest day of the year. Also the warmest. (Bryan’s joke, not mine!) I was able to go the Dillard’s sale kid-free and with my favorite youngest sister-in-law. I snagged some awesome deals on many smocked dresses for Lily and then maybe some other things...

But aren’t these cute? Christmas Future clothes galore! (For like the next 3 Years. I plan ahead.)

The store was NUTS but I loved bumping into people we know and having some lively activity to start the year! 

The kids and Bryan were at my in-laws all day I believe mostly watching football and building legos. Parker is such a pro at legos, he has completed every set he got for Christmas by himself (except for when Bryan “helps” because he secretly wants to build legos too). 

(This was not taken yesterday, but it is one of his new LEGO sets from a Christmas.)

I was a total slacker mom yesterday and pretty much shopped and then showed up to talk, play with Lilybug, and eat my mother-in-laws food for dinner. (I did open some cans of green beans and black-eyed peas. Does that count as helping?)

I didn’t get the dime. I actually don’t think anyone did but we all got some dime-soaked juice so hopefully that means we will still be lucky. 

I mean how cute is that little ponytail girl watching kitty vidoes on her big girl phone? (I can not be sure but I think Judy and Abby are trying to make her into a cat person which I am not a fan of!) 😉

We left after watching OU lose to Georgia and once  two of our three kids were freaking out (aka fighting with each other). I was so tired I could barely hold my eyeballs open which sounds bad because I did pretty much nothing but shop and sit. Oh also, I pulled into the garage but not far enough and so the garage door tried to smoosh the bumper of the van which made Bryan SUPER happy. It was an accident! I maybe didn’t get enough dime juice. 😬

After I got the kids in bed and Bryan (we think) fixed the garage door, I fell asleep on the couch while Bryan watched the Alabama/Clemson game and that was pretty much it because I didn’t wake up till 5am. ;) 

Alright, kind of a boring day blog-wise. Here’s hoping today is more eventful! 

October

It's October!

We have been doing all the fall things lately, and today I decided to share the three most recent. As I always say when I get the wild whim to blog, this year is flying by at a rate that makes me happy, but also sad (because the babies are growing!) and tired. But it's all fun! So often lately, I keep looking around and realizing how blessed we are with this home and community full of friends and family that we get to do life with. I really couldn't ask for anything better. It's nice being able to laugh with our friends about embarrassing our kids when they go to prom together and actually being serious about it.

Yesterday morning we went to The Orchard in Idahlou with MOPS and I got to enjoy watching Hayes pick apples. He was very into it and for some reason it was just the cutest thing to me. He's such a rough and tumble boy, but also very tender and cuddly and loves to show off how big he is and what a good helper he can be.

 

Hayes does not actually like apples, by the way, but I'm going to make some apple crisp with our haul and serve it with ice cream and see what he thinks. He also loved the hayride. I have this secret dream of him being a farmer when he's grown, mostly because he is the kid who yells about all tractors, animals, and windmills we see off the road. I kind of love it and am thinking we need a farmer in the family so it really would be perfect. 

Last night we crashed the Shallowater High School Homecoming game with our Maxwell friends. We made it to half time, which I'm calling a personal win. I still remember the first time I drove out to Shallowater with my friend Kaitlin. We were 18 and had just met at LCU's cheer camp (a very short-lived venture on both our parts...long but funny story) and had become fast friends. Anyways. Shallowater is cute; true small-town-Texas like so many of the towns that surround Lubbock. My friend Alli has a cousin who plays on the team so we got to sit with her whole family (Whom I always love! Sweet ones, that bunch. And very hospitable should you ever need a family to have Easter with, like me and Bryan did about seven years ago.) 

The kids have not been very well educated in high school football or Homecoming festivities ("MOM, why are there racecars on the football field?", when referring to the convertibles used to parade the Homecoming court around the track), so I have deemed that problem to be remedied here in the next few years.

We ate a lot of snacks, and then went to the concession stand for more snacks, and then listened to Lily ring a cowbell to the point of obnoxiousness, and then Hayes pooped so we left. ;) It was really fun though, and I'm glad we went! 

Tonight we ventured to The Pumpkin Trail, which takes place at our town's arboretum and is adorable every year, and actually quite impressive. I read that there were over 2,000 jack-o-lanterns donated this year. After looking at them all, Parker is bound and determined to carve an "Angry Birds Transformers" pumpkin and donate it next year. 

We met Jenny and Jude and talked and laughed at/with our kids and took lots of pictures, and the boys studied their favorites along the trail and Lily was perfectly content the whole time. 

There was also a weird storm right before we got there which left the prettiest sunset behind.

It's Been A Day

Darn I was determined to write on this blog more! 

Here is today:

1. Lily has had goopy eyes for a week and today was kind of the last straw. We are going to the doctor tomorrow. Not one of my favorite Mom jobs. 

2. We found out our closing date has to be delayed two weeks. We are moving, by the way, and our house is full of boxes. More on that later. 

3. It took us about three hours to get out the door between showering, nursing, changing diapers, getting a kids dressed, breaking up Transformer fights, and cleaning up breakfast....

3. Once we got out the door (at 2:30pm) we pulled up to our first stop only to realize that Hayes was not wearing any shoes. 

4. We returned home to retrieve the shoes and on the way Hayes spilled his sprite all over the newly cleaned backseat.

5. Parker was playing with his racetracks in the living room this afternoon with a cup of water (still not sure why) and misunderstood me (or I misunderstood him) and used a towel with the expectation that it would protect several cup fulls of water that he needed for his game from getting the carpet wet. It didn't. 

6. I ordered a pizza and took the kids to the park tonight with plans for a fun picnic. Two kids who don't know how to swing and a grumpy baby and no napkins at a park is hard by yourself. 

7. A very kind Mom played with the boys (and her daughter) while I watched Lily. As we were leaving, I turned around to see Parker using the restroom WHILE WALKING near the swing set. That just doesn't work. Enter embarrassed Mom face.

8. The boys were screaming at each other after baths and Lily was crying at me to feed her. I grabbed the toy they were fighting over and yelled, "WE DO NOT YELL IN THIS FAMILY!" So that worked well.

9. I marched the kids to bed without stories and said a quick prayer that I be a more patient Mommy and they be more kind brothers and turned out the lights.

10. As soon as I walked out the door....the smoke alarm started beeping. Well, fudge. I may have mumbled a worse word when that happened.

You will be happy to know that I changed a smoke alarm battery for the first time in my life tonight. I am a grown up now!!

It wasn't all bad. I had some sweet moments singing with the kids this morning, watching the boys race cars, and I had chili cheese fries for lunch. Also, Bryan is coming home tomorrow! That's the best. 

Happy 3rd of July!

Yesterday we celebrated the 4th on the 3rd and it was every bit as fun as it usually is, wrong day and all. 

We chilled most of the day and did "relaxing" activities, including chalk, golf cart riding, and eating watermelon. 

I have taken extreme advantage of extra hands because I took a nap. And slept in (in between nursing...). Pretty much every day we've been here. It's been awesome! 




As I've said before, my family has been coming to this house on the bay since I was I think 7. We do pretty much the same things every year, and I am so happy to have my children join in on our traditions now! One of my favorites is the 4th (3rd) fish fry. My moms side of family are big fishermen (which is why the house was originally purchased), so they catch it and we eat it. 

 

I think Lily was a fan of the day. Mostly. Have I mentioned we are teething hard core right now?

I watched Hayes jump the waves for a bit. He sure is cute when he is not attacking his brother with styrofoam swords (which he is doing right now.) I think it makes me a preofessional Mom (or maybe just a bad Mom) that I can ignore that level of crazy. 

Lily went to be ocean for the first time!

My favorite favorite tradition is shooting off fireworks on the beach. Both boys were so into it this year and even got to light a few themselves! Lily didn't flinch at anything, and kept quiet in the golf cart with her paci and my mom's cousin Dixie for company.

4th of July may be my favorite holiday. I can't decide. Even when it's on he 3rd.

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Today (on the real 4th) we headed down to Murdocks and The Strand for some shopping and sweets. La Kings Confectionery didn't disappoint as usual especially because we got taffy from the taffy master as it was being pulled! Delicious. 

It's the cutest place.

 Also Lily bit me hard while I was nursing her at a table there and in my unexpected shock of pain I entertained several other patrons while they enjoyed their sweets. 

I went to Gracie's which is just the kind of store I would like to open if life ever allows. It's a fave!

I didn't get any photos of people today but I am tired and that's the way it goes.

Right now we are watching fireworks on TV and analyzing the Music (?) of Joe Jonas. 

The boys were so sandy and stinky but have been bathed and are playing Wahoo. 

And we are MISSING our Dad and Husband in Omaha!

Waterslides and French Fries

We have had quite the whirlwind of a week (I hope to update later), and have managed to get ourselves to Galveston to spend the 4th with my family. 

Bryan was called out to a storm so he was only able to enjoy the gulf breeze for a day before leaving for Omaha. We miss our husband and dad but are having a blast otherwise.

We've done a lot, but in an attempt to keep this short, I will just say that we have beached, we have napped, we have sat in the porch swing, gone on the boat, ate really good brisket and tomatoes, and today: we went to Schlitterbahn. 

Schlitterbahn is a family favorite and I especially love it now that I have two rambunctious little boys who are conquerors of the water slide and lazy river--I am kind of proud of this as a parent. Mama loves a good water slide! 

Hayes wa-hooed and yipeyed all the way down the big tube slides and kept up on the many (many many many) cases of stairs with me. And hung on to his paci. A feat many cannot master. 

Lily Mae was her usual stylish self and hung with Nonnie and my big sun hat. 

Lily is also teething. Her personal refrigerators are not fans. 

We took a tired and hungry crew with Shrimp N Stuff in the historic district of Galveston for supper. We waited a bit too long because, truly, we all could have eaten our arms by the time we got there and Hayes was on a mission to get a FWEN FYYYYYYYY!! French fry. I have never seen him so distraught over food! 

The meal was delicious and I highly recommend the coconut shrimp. 

I'm so thankful to spend this time with my family. We have been coming here for 22 years now. How's that for tradition?