A Good Day.

I spend many of my days feeling overwhelmed. It seems like there aren't enough hours in the day, especially when you have two little ones trying their best to keep you from doing anything and everything that would involve something other than playing with them. I desperately want to do it all, to keep a clean house, to feed my family delicious and healthy meals, to volunteer more and whine less, to host lovely parties while making it look effortless, to let my kids play with paint and glitter and not freak out about the mess, to go back to school and start an amazing career, to write letters and keep in better touch with family and old friends, to leave my husband sweet little notes to remind him how much I adore and appreciate him, to finally make those zucchini banana muffins since my kids don't eat enough veggies, to clean out my closets and organize the garage, to mentor the underprivileged children that Oprah convinced me to do, to flip my mattresses as often as I'm supposed to, to grow my own organic vegetables...okay I'm getting a little carried away here, but you see where I'm going with this. The reality is, just getting - and keeping - everyone dressed, fed, and happy takes the better part of the day. And then there's all the mess that is created during the eating and the playing and the dressing. It's a vicious cycle. I feel like I'm constantly trying to multitask to get things done. Feeding lunch to the kids while we grocery shop or paying bills with my right hand while building blocks with my left are just a couple examples. I want so badly to be the best mom, wife, daughter, friend, and neighbor that a girl can be, but it is just not in the cards right now. Most days I feel lucky to keep my head above water. My close friends and family used to jokingly call me Martha, as in Martha Stewart. I heart Martha (minus the whole insider trading scandal and that creepy hoity toity accent) so I always secretly loved it and felt it to be such a compliment. Well folks, Martha has left the building. I was recently asked on a form for Luke's school what my hobbies include. Uhhhh...hmmmm...hobbies? What are those? :) So instead I thought back to what my hobbies used to be and remembered that I loved to cook, garden, sew, read, craft, watch movies, hang out with friends at Happy Hour, work on DIY home improvements with Steve, and many, many more. I must admit now that I cooked Hamburger Helper for dinner this week. Gasp! In my defense it was a new kind which promised to be "wholesome" and "all natural" and "rich in whole grains". Um, it was "disgusting", "bland", and "never-to-be-purchased-again". Martha would be soooo disappointed. :) If only I had time to pour over my cookbooks like I used to and to experiment with new recipes on a weekly basis like I used to. And if only my children would actually like the food I prepare. Ugggh! Some day, I tell myself. It's these times that I find myself wanting to fast forward a few years to a time when diapers are a thing of the past, when both boys attend school five days a week (I get giddy just thinking about that one), and the Terrible Two's/Three's are over. I always feel guilty about this, knowing that I will look back and feel like it all went by too fast (at least that's what I'm told). This reminds me of something I've heard my grandfather jokingly say, "It's not about the destination, it's the journey." (Or something like that.) Actually I think maybe my aunt Tracey (his daughter) says this about him. Anyhoo. So today I made a huge effort to just live in the moment and appreciate the fact that I am lucky to be spending this time with my boys while they are so young. This was the perfect day to do so since we were heading to a pumpkin patch. Every year we visit Sweet Berry Farms twice, once in April for strawberry picking and then in October for their pumpkin patch. It's a lovely little farm complete with lots of great photo opportunities and tons of charm. They have the coolest pumpkins and gourds for sale, and even make their own pumpkin ice cream - yum! You could really spend an entire day out there, stuffing scarecrows, painting pumpkins, walking through their maze, shopping at their lovely outdoor store, and much, much more. Unfortunately the farm is located an hour from our home and the kids NEED their afternoon nap (and I need them to have it) so we only had time for photos, a hayride, lunch, and feeding the goats. Here are a few pics. I must add that the sun was beating down and it was ridiculously hot out there today, certainly not the pumpkin patch weather I would choose. This made for some not-so-good photos of the boys squinting and looking down. Oh, well. I did score a gnarly blue pumpkin and a small white one for outside the front door. Maybe Martha would be proud after all. :) If you're still reading and not completely bored with my ramblings, here are some photos from our day:

Me and my boys...

Cheesin' for the camera...

Zach in the boat...


"Look Mom, I'm a pun'kin!"...


Darn sun...

I bought a cup for a dollar that we could fill with as many flowers as we could pick.

Luke loved this...

"Luke, wait for me!"...

Luke smelling the flowers. This is the third year I've taken this picture...

Hayride pic...

Luke in a tree...

Zach loved the goats...

Luke feeding the goats...

This is Zach either raisin' the roof or telling me he wants nothing to do with these strange green pumpkins...

Even Luke thought it was too darn hot...

So, it was a good day. I vow to stop and enjoy these times more often, to enjoy "the journey". Strangely enough, I had a conversation with a man on our hayride who told me to enjoy my children why they're still young, that they grow so fast. Was he in my head this morning or what?! The strange part was that he didn't even have kids, only nieces and nephews. Good advice just the same.

Hope you all are enjoying life, too!

xo,

Jess

A New 'Do and Back to Schoo'

I know, I know, my titles need some work. :)

I had finally heard enough out of Steve and decided that it was time for Zach's first haircut.

Zach was not pleased.

You'd think he had actually felt pain with every curl being cut...

Until the nice lady handed him an animal cracker...

(Duh! Why didn't I think of that?)

Ten animal crackers later and VOILA, a new kid...






Luke had his first day back to school on Wednesday.


This was his reaction when I asked him to smile for the camera...

(Such a toot!)



These are a bit better, but talk about cheesy...


Such a ham!!!







This was just before Steve took Luke to his very first Longhorn football game...


By the way, Steve said it will be a LOOOOONG time before he does that again. I don't think my poor hubby got to see much of the game.





In other news, Zach is officially a walker. He was slow to start but is really taking off now...


(I realize it seems as if my children are always half naked. I promise I clothe them fully every morning. They just like to be nudies!)





"Look Mom! No hands!"

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

xo, Jess

Summer VaCaTiOn!!!

Just a few pics from our summer vacation...

Suckin' down Mind Erasers with my cousins. Don't ask and don't judge. :)

Zach's first trip to the beach. (Not really. I forgot my camera on the first day - Shhhh!)

Luke LOVED playing miniature golf! He even got a hole-in-one! Needless to say, Steve was very proud.

This is where we put the boys while we went to the beach. Just kidding!!!

Ashley's poker face. We played lots of Texas Hold 'Em at night.

GiGi was such a great sport while Zach tackled her.

A big thanks to Ashley for taking Luke to the Helicopter Museum!

Boys, boys, boys...

It has been a hot summer. I mean seriously HOT!!! But that hasn't kept Luke from playing T-ball. He is still loving it and loving those juice boxes afterward, of course.

Safari Luke
Last week was "Safari Week" at Luke's summer school. We were told that on Thursday the kids could come in their safari gear. Safari gear? What? Well on Wednesday night after a glass of wine and a quick Google search, I decided I could make a safari hat out of a paper bag and a tupperware dish. The binoculars are empty toilet paper rolls. Luke seemed pleased. My mommy-friends thought I was a dork :).

Zach is not walking yet, but he sure is getting good at climbing. He loves going up the stairs (supervised, of course) and especially loves climbing onto this dump truck. As you can tell by the expression on his face, I'm not sure how he feels about his big brother pushing him around...

Luke's Photo Shoot

Luke's new favorite activity has been to take pictures with my camera (thank goodness for digital). Steve and I get a kick out of watching him shoot away at random things around the house. Sounds pretty easy-going for me, don't ya think? Maybe I'm secretly hoping that he'll break it so I can get the new fancy shmancy one I've been drooling over. Bwaaahaha!

Here are a few shots from his last photo shoot:

So as you've probably noticed, I pretty much have given up on Friday's favorites. (That didn't last long, huh?) I will continue to do them, just not every week. Even I was getting sick of picture after picture of Zach in his highchair and Luke half naked :).

By the way, I'm a little surprised that I haven't been receiving more harassing e-mails and phone calls from all the grandparents insisting that I update our blog. Hmmmm, maybe all of you were getting sick of them too? :)

Friday's Favorites

This week's big excitement was Zach's birthday party. Hard to believe our little guy is already one. Where did the time go?

Lindsey and Romy flew in from Philadelphia to help us celebrate. Here are a few pics from the big day:

The new play kitchen is providing hours of fun for the boys. Thanks Mimi!

Zach with his godmother, Lindsey.

Luke, the naked chef.

Friday's Favorites

Zach's new swing. Happy Birthday to him.

Getting into trouble after a bath.

Swim lessons.

Action shot.

I think Zach's telling me I'm due for a pedicure :).

Sprinkler park at the YMCA.

Playing at the YMCA.