Eat a cupcake...or a DOZEN!

We interrupt the regularly scheduled blogging to party hard and celebrate my birthday today. 

My crew took me out last night to Village Inn, the kids' choice, because they know I like breakfast :)...another reason why I am became a mama!!

Have a great day!!  Eat a cupcake! We all know cupcake calories don't count on birthdays and I want to spread the love to yall too!! :))))))

 

Did you just call me bacon?!

Shane has been out of town all week and to say our time has been eventful, is like saying guacamole is only tasty.  Our week has been full of one issue after another and crazy busy, not just eventful, just like guacamole is essential to almost every meal, not just tasty :).

The week started Monday with Claire coming home from school with an ice pack ON HER FACE.  Apparently, my graceful dancer, fell into a pole, face first.  Luckily, very minor bruising.  Monday night, I started to feel a sore throat coming on and by the time I went to bed, I was 100% sure I had strep.  BOOOOO!  So I stayed home from work Tuesday, took antibiotics and tried to get some rest. Back at work Wednesday, I get a call from Owen's teacher. Owen tried to break up a fight between his buddies and got his chin busted.  He was fine, just scared he was going to get in trouble.

We are so excited for Daddy to come home and we were all in good spirits this morning, even though we slept in, SHOCKER (why in God's green earth can I not get up on time!!??)!  After we dropped Bree off at Moms wearing a tshirt, diaper, and a pair of dress up high heels, whilst carrying a very cute and very ORNERY puppy, we made it on the road on time.  On the way to school, Owen was pestering Claire and the conversation went like this:

Me: Owen, cut it out, do you want a spanking?!


Owen: (quiet for a few minutes)...Mama did you just call me bacon?!

Claire: *rolls eyes*... Good Lord Owen, I can't wait for you to go to class!

Owen: Whatevs Claire, I am a second grader today...with you!

I have no idea where they learn this stuff! :)  Needless to say, we need Daddy to come home and save the day as Daddy's do.  This weekend is Claire first dance competition of the season, so we have so much going on and I need a partner in crime to get everything done.  Last night was dress rehearsal. To keep the younger monkeys from running wild through the auditorium or fighting like a couple hyenas, I gave them my phone...and Owen took some pictures...

Today I am wearing a pretty scarf though!
 

So what does Rachel learn from weeks like these?  Love my Shane and appreciate that he always saves the day for the four of us!! :)

Peace out bloggers!!  Happy almost Friday!!

Weekend Festivities

This weekend was one of those weekends that by last night, I told Shane that we needed a weekend to recover :).  It was also a weekend of more adult activities than children activities.  That is always so nice with a big heaping dose of mama guilt as well.  :)

Friday night, we we went to dinner for Jayme's birthday.  Nice night out with the ladies, and I even stuck to my diet, with the exception of one more 100 calorie Italian margarita than planned :).  Shane's parents took the kids to a movie so Shane got a nice night to himself. All around, the Browns were happy campers :).  Fun night!

My pretty sister, Tara :)

Mom, Jayme, me and Tara

Saturday, we did some lunching and shopping :)...Claire and Bree love carrying the bags and getting their picture made. This has nothing to do with Claire trying to earn the right to texting on her iTouch and Bree wanting a cupcake.



Saturday night was Mandy's birthday dinner so we got dressed up and took our handsome men :). 

All of us girls with the pretty birthday girl! 

 Mom and Tara

 Me and Boni

 Me and Tara

 Boni, muah, Nicole, and Tara

 Me and my handsome

 Tara and Boni

 Me and Mom

 Tara and Nicole

Yesterday, after church, was a busy dance day.  Claire and I spent the day together in dress rehearsals!  Busy busy day, but fun :).  As usual, I spent most of the day in tears watching not only my little one dance, but all the big girls too.  Love me some dancing!

Did I mention that Claire and Owen were chosen to model in the Northwest Arkansas Fashion Show? Oh, I didn't.  Well now you know :).  Sorry, very proud Mama here. 

Happy Monday!!  As I am going into a VERY busy week, I am keeping my eyes wide OPEN for moments. Lord knows I am going to need them :)...have a great week!

My Moments

Day to day life as mothers can be rough.  Can I get an AMEN?!

Some days go so smoothly and after the kids are in bed and I am in comfy cozy with the hubs, I thank the Lord for the great day. 

Some days are are just a big disaster from the beginning and after the kids are forced to bed and I am alone trying to de-stress, I thank God that everyone is still alive and ask for a better day tomorrow. 

Yall relate?

But you know what?

I have realized that even a bad day can be turned around, just as long as I see it.  I have noticed in my later years, at the ripe old age of almost 31 :), that I need to see and realize the moments from the Lord that can make ANY day better.  I have seen now, how the Lord can even use my little ones to help me.

You see, my kids feed off of me.  Shane is pretty much even all the time. Yeah, he gets stressed at work and can bring it home sometimes, but overall, he is as stable as one can get.  Myself, on the other hand, can fly off the handle pretty easy and may or may not have been known to lose it in certain situations.  Thanks to motherhood, experience, maturity, and medication, I have gotten better.  But I have realized that when I am able to keep myself calm and maintained, my kids are easily deterred from the stressful situations. I am still guilty of not calming down, and that is when I see how the Lord always listens.  He never fails me. He always shows me the glimpse of sunshine.  I pray every night for patience with the kids and to be a better mama.  The crazy thing, it sometimes takes me forever to see it. 

One day this week, we slept in. Like didn't get out of bed until 715.  Of course this is one of those days that I did not have clothes laid out for everyone, and needed to get up earlier than usual.  By the time we were in the car, Owen had cried for at least 20 minutes straight because he was tired and boy cannot be rushed, Claire was furious with her outfit, and I was fuming.  We get to school and we barely talk all the way there.  I feel bad as we are walking up to school and getting them checked in.  I am walking ahead of them, trying to get them to their classes, already 15 minutes late.  We drop Claire off and start the walk to Owen's class room.  I am holding his hand and just looking straight ahead and thinking about the conference call I am going to have to call into in the car as I am REALLY late to work.  Just then, Owen starts tickling the inside of my hand he is holding.  I ALWAYS do that to him when we are holding hands and he can barely stand it.  The kid is so ticklish, that even barely tickling the inside of his hand can practically take him to the ground in a laughing fit.  I look down at him and he is grinning so big.  We are to the door of his classroom and give him a huge hug with tears in my eyes, tell him bye and I love him.  He was just fine.  I get to my car and thank the Lord for my sweet Owen and that sweet moment.  The rest of the day was fine and not as bad as I expected it to be (I didn't even get a shower for heaven's sake!)  I thanked the Lord all day for fixing my day and Owen's.  I will never forget that moment.

Next week is Claire's first dance competition of the season. I am not at the studio as often as I used to be due to work, so I feel a bit disconnected.  A month ago she brought home many costumes, tried them on, and was supposed to be put them away in my closet.  All of sudden this week, it hit me how close we were to competition as I was seeing all the emails coming out on all the accessories, tights, shoes, etc, she was going to need next week. I started to panic as I know Claire, and she is not the most organized (and only 8) and I had not seen any of the accessories mentioned in the emails.  I knew she had cleaned out her dance bag a couple times and if these things were in her bag (where she stuffed her costume every time, and these things were sent home with costumes), they were long gone!  So, I prepared myself (read: got good and mad at me and Claire for not being better organized) to go through her costumes and do some inventory. I was going to have to eat crow and go to the studio and ask where I can buy the missing items.  Of course I forgot about it by the time I got home. Suddenly I remembered last night about 11.  I was immediately mad (mostly at myself) because I had waited too long and this was going to be stressful.  I get all the costumes out.  I find that not only had my big girl hung them all up nicely in my closet, but she had hung a bag on the hangers with the mentioned accessories folded with each costume. I got big tears in my eyes as I realized how she was such a good girl and responsible.  I thanked the Lord for that small moment that I needed and didn't know it.  I told Claire this morning how proud I was of her and was RELIEVED today at lunch when it was not spent running around like a wild person.  That moment was awesome.

Even on the mornings we get up on time, we are almost always acting like we have never gotten up for school once in our life.  Some days, Owen gets up fine and does as he should/told, but most of the time, he is walking zombie and needs parental assistance :). Claire is pretty self sufficient and I as long as I holler every once in awhile to make sure she is on task, I don't have to worry about her.  Bree sleeps in until right before I take her across the street to Nonna's house.  One day this week, we were up on time, everyone was in a good mood, but Owen was in his own world.  We are gathering bags and doing our last task of putting on our coats and Owen suddenly realizes he cannot find his coat.  We just put a coat rack by the door for heaven's sake and he cannot find his coat.  I am immediately stressed as it is 22 degrees outside.  I send him upstairs to look, Claire to Nonna's to see if he left it over there, and I am looking everywhere.  Just when I think he has lost it at school, and ready to blow up as this is the only coat he will wear, Bree comes around the corner in her pjs, a fur vest, rainboots, a fur hat, and carrying Ruby and a purse.  She was ready to go :).  I immediately started laughing, grab her up and stop and thank the Lord for keeping me from losing my cool over a stupid coat.  By the way, Claire walked in with the coat from Nonna's.  I laughed all day about Bree's gear :).  That was a moment to remember.

All of these moments are so small in the great scheme of things, but these are the moments I will never forget as a mother.  This blog explains this so well. She calls these moments "kairos".  No one ever said this motherhood gig was going to be easy or wonderful all the time.  But there is are alwasy going to be moments that we will only see if we keep our eyes open for them. 

Thank the Lord for days slept in, lost coats, and over filled dance bags.  Without them, I would not have these memories. 

Happy Friday bloggers!! Enjoy yourself this weekend!!

Pistol Packing Mama

So anyone that knows Shane, knows that he is an avid gun collector and loves all things firearms related :).  Guns to him are like handbags and shoes to me. He has quite the collection of hand guns and rifles and knows everything and anything you need to know about them.  He has his concealed carry license and everyone also knows that it would never be a good idea to sneak in on our house at night.  Just sayin :).

For a long time, he has wanted to take me out to the shooting range and have me shoot his hand guns.  I have been putting it off and we are always busy.  Finally this weekend, we went. 

He made fun of me when I came out dressed for Saturday as I usually do in a cardigan, scarf, jewelry, boots and all.  Apparently, that is not the usual at the shooting range.  Whatevs.

I am pretty sure, me shooting a gun, pretty good at that, was the best looking he ever saw me :).  I have to admit, it was fun shooting and very empowering.  He taught me how to load it and all the safety precautions.  By the time we were done, I knew everything I would need to know, and even more thanks to "over-prepared for every situation Shane".  My favorite was the 9mm. I know he was proud of me and even mentioned getting me a ladies pink handgun.  Puh-lease.  I do not want a pink gun.  Everyone knows that my favorite color is red. :)

It was great to spend some time, just the two of us, doing something that he is so passionate about and loves.  I read just recently that it is important that wives remember that our husband's hobbies are important too.  I know that Shane loved it.  Here are some pictures he got of me in action...

 look at my face here :)

Where were the kiddos, you ask?  Well, Tara and Kristin took my two older ones and Kristin's daughter Abbey to Big Cedar in Branson Saturday and came home Sunday.  My kids are so spoiled :).  Bree stayed with grandparents.  Here a few pictures of the kids from their fun weekend.  Tara has a bunch on her blog...

Bree on her way to Nonna and Poppy's Saturday night :)

Have a great week!!

Party like it's Friday!

Woohoo it is Friday!! The only thing that got my monkeys out of bed this morning was the fact that it is Friday and we had a three day weekend!  Not a whole lot to blog, but this funny picture...

Yesterday evening, just me, Owen and Bree were home and Owen asked me to take his picture with Ruby.  He picked her up and posed with her like this...something tells me he has not mastered the art of taking pictures with dogs like his sisters :)....

 We all got a good laugh out of that!!  Here is a picture of her sweet face...

Happy Friday!!! Have a great weekend!!!!

Days like these...

Hello party people!! Happy mid January!!  I hope y'all are staying warm and enjoying life back to normal.  We sure are.  January is always great for us to get back to life, but it is still a busy month every year.  For some reason, Shane and I always have traveling to do the first few months for work and we are entering Claire's dance competition season. 

We have been taking it easy this month when we can and it has been great!  I got a couple comfy blankets for Christmas and I literally look forward to getting home every night, getting everyone fed, bathed, kissed and tucked in for the night so I can get my blanket, the puppy, my ipad, and a cup of decaf to relax :).  Per y'all's recommendations, I just finished Candace Cameron Bure's book, Reshaping it All and it was FANTASTIC!! I am also doing the Made to Crave 60 day devotional and I highly recommend it as well!  I am back on track on my diet and feel great.  I have already planned our Easter outfits and my dress in hanging in my closet, a full size smaller...praying hard I get there :)...

So, besides work, school, church, dance classes, a new puppy, and corralling three kids, we have been quiet :).  I am participating in the January Photo a Day Challenge on Instagram, so I do have pictures.  Here is the challenge, my pictures and a few other instagram pics thrown in there :) :

Day 1 - You

 Day 2 - Breakfast

 I tried the trick with the wooden spoon on the boiling pot of water to keep it from boiling over (per pinterest) and it worked for me!

 Ruby hanging out one night way too late :)

 Day 3 - Something you adore - my early Birthday present from Shane - a new Michael Kors watch!!  (FYI - birthday is 19 days away :))

 Day 4 - Letterbox - This is a picture of my busted mirror from me hitting a mail box...errr letterbox :)

 What I was talking about earlier - my blanket and warm cup, this time 100 calorie hot cocoa!  This is a hot cocoa K cup, light whip cream and a few marshmallows - three enthusiastic thumbs up!

 Day 5 - Something you wore - my outfit that day!

 Day 6 - Makes you smile - Claire and Owen walking up to school together just chatting away :))))

 The first DIY of 2012! Burlap wreath!! Thank you once again pinterest!

 Day 7 - Favorite - my most favorite little boy in the world!

 Day 8 - Your Sky - it was a gloomy day Sunday, so after church, Shane had to work, Claire had rehearsal, so me and the littles cuddled and watched movies and this was my sky view :)

Bree and I cuddling :)

 Day 9 - Daily Routine - taking these two monkeys to school :)

 Monday night - first time to make jambalaya in honor of the BCS National Championship - crock pot recipe from Plain Chicken

 Day 10 - Childhood - Me :)

 My two youngest last night - out for the count together :)

 Day 11 - Where you sleep - no time to make the bed this morning :)

 My scarf today!

So now you are all caught up! :)

Have a great day!!!!