Five on Friday: Mom Confessions

The boys have field day today (but they call it fun day). I'm so excited for them. It's definitely one of the best days of the year. And it's the Friday before Mother's Day!! Last year Chris had emergency surgery on Mother's Day, let's hope nothing so exciting happens this year.

For Five on Friday I thought I'd share 5 confessions I have as a mom... They are also probably things I would have thought were terrible back when I only had the boys. Live and learn (especially about not judging).

1. I do not like going to Target. I used to. The boys would get Icee's and look through the toys. I'd pick up knick knacks and essentials. It was a fun time for all. Now it's a time a suck. And even if I have a list somehow I'll miss an item or two or they are out of something. I love target online but I need cartwheel to apply! Looking forward to when the drive up and pick up option opens!

2. I throw away things the kids make. Not everything. But a lot. For preschool I save items and put them in a big under the bed storage tub (but it goes in the attic) and for elementary school I put things in a paper storage tub which goes in the attic. Some things might make it the shelf, but most of the time they end up in the trash. I used to blame Dali for throwing things away and the kids always believed me.

3. We have more than enough together time. Even if the boys have been at school for 8 hours, the  minute they are home they are arguing about something. So if a friend doesn't come up to play I send them away. The arguing drives me nuts. Years ago I would have gushed over how much I missed them and I need a full report on their day. Now I get bits and pieces over the afternoon and dinner and I honestly wondering how many camps is reasonable for the summer.

4. The other day I gushed over Katherine saying Mommy and Momma and Ma. And turned around to tell T if called my name one more time he was going to time out. Funny isn't it? I spent sooo much time wanting each of them to call my name and now I can't get them to stop! (and seriously don't ask me where is soccer socks are one more time because they are always in the same place...even if you don't put them away, I do).

5. I definitely don't get enough one on one time with them. This is a confession I've been thinking a lot about recently and hope as summer comes and schedules slow that we can make more time for it. T probably gets the brunt of it, which is rough because he's a fairly needy kid. But there's always tomorrow.

And a threw in a few pictures of the girlies from recently (the boys like to approve the photos posted and they aren't home to do that currently).

Have a great weekend!! I hope you get to celebrate loved ones whether near or far, here or gone, I hope it's a time to honor and share love with those around you.

Linking up with April, Natasha, and Christina :)

This and That

Hey! I'm so glad it's Wednesday. All day yesterday it felt like Friday, which makes this feel like a long week.

Do you have Mother's Day plans? I arranged a sitter for Saturday night thinking my mom and mother in law would visit Sunday. Instead they decided to come see the boys play soccer and then head to lunch at their favorite restaurant down here. I still need to pick up presents. And I feel a little guilty for keeping our sitter Saturday night.

We have lived in our house for 2 years now! It seems like we've been here forever. While there are a few things I miss about the old house (the breakfast nook being the biggest), I love that our kids are growing up here. We're a mile from Chris' office and can walk to school, the y, starbucks, and whole foods. We finally have a flat yard and a long flat driveway for the kids to play in (and they do...). And the best part is the boys have lots of kids around. It's fun to see them head off or have friends visit. It's so similar to my experience growing up.

That said I'm itching more and more for our remodel and addition. I follow a few local builders and contractors and my absolute favorite, Montgomery Hobson Builder, just did an addition and total gut of a house near us. It looks amazing. We have a couple friends who have used them so I'm hopefully we can swing working with them.  I'm also completely lost in the process. Structural engineer first, architect, designer, contractor... I have no clue how it works.

Katherine hit 17 months. She's at one of my favorite stages. She talks all the time, loves baby dolls, eating, and her blankets (she cannot sleep in her crib without them).

She thought it was hilarious when the boys copied her the other night in the kitchen. And they thought she was hilarious doing "yoga" in the kitchen.

She will beg to go for a walk, to the point she will climb in the stroller. At night now she will request a walk before bed. I was on bedtime duty alone last night and she refused to sleep and kept saying "Walk" so off we went for a few minutes.

 The kids spent 30 minutes climbing the tree after church. KC was in it for the first time and was so mad to leave she threw the worst temper tantrum. Three years ago getting her to church was a problem, now it's leaving.

I love when the girls match (I did the same with the boys when they were younger) and KC loves to match Katherine too.

KC turns 4 in less than a month. We are trying to plan a party for her. I'll probably do a ton of research and then just not do anything. I'm the worst at making choices. The worst. A house remodel should be super fun. 

With the warm weather I've lost all motivation to cook. It's all salads and frozen pizza around here. Our blender broke a year ago and we've yet to replace it so we can't even make smoothies! Warm weather makes me crave them, luckily a Clean Juice is opening nearby (my favorite)... I'll just have to go without the kids because $40 in smoothies is a bit ridiculous. 

And also, I'd like to throw out our xbox. 

I hope you have a great Wednesday! Thanks for reading :)

Thoughts for Thursday

Last week I brunched, lunched, and had date night. This week has been pretty much the opposite. Meetings at school, cavity filled, kid drop offs and pick ups, but the weather has been nice so that makes all the craziness better. I will say I keep thinking every day is Friday. I had a pretty intense meeting Tuesday and after it I kept feeling that Friday feeling... so I'm really looking forward to tomorrow.

Random thoughts for today:

My kids see the sidewalk as an invitation for a walk at any time of day, shoes on or off. We'll be playing in the front, or back, or driveway, and off they go. It's really cute until I tell them it's time to turn around.

Katherine has been wearing all of KC's old clothes and it makes me so happy. I associate so many memories with clothing and I love that Katherine has a completely different look so different items really look adorable on her that maybe didn't make such an impression on me with KC.

Katherine loves books. She pretends to read them all the time and has some memorized. Chris and I are a little relieved because as the last of 4 kids she really didn't get the same reading experience the other kids received.

Did you vote early? I took the girls Friday to vote, but we ended up leaving before getting a chance (it's at the library so books took priority). I made a point of telling KC we were going Monday and I needed to vote first. She was upset she didn't get to push any buttons. I even met one of the candidates I voted for when I was leaving. And another candidate attends our church. I'm starting to find local politics really interesting!

Speaking of our church, a couple Sunday's ago the 4th graders were invited up into the bell tower. It was so neat. There are about 5 flights of spiral metal stairs to make it up. Once up they were allowed to play the carillon. I think there are only two in Charlotte. There was also a beautiful view of uptown.

I love spring in our neighborhood. Last fall we planted 3 dogwood trees. They were on super sale at Lowe's but we had hopes. 2 of the 3 made it through the winter and we had one flower. It's silly to say it's exciting but it is. We planted these in memory of our sweet dog who we lost in November and call them Dali's Dogwoods. It's right by the sidewalk and she loved talking walks when we moved here. I'm debating preserving the flower and framing it beside a picture of her.

 The homeowner before us had the best green thumb. She planted some beautiful peonies. I tried to move them this fall to another location, but it looks like I may have just divided them? This bloom was picked over a week ago and is still going strong and my kitchen smells amazing.

 My parents came by to visit Sunday. We spent lots of time outdoors and of course got ice cream.

My dad snapped this and I honestly love this "real" picture. I'm sure N and Chris are talking about some soccer thing, T is glaring down KC for some reason (probably related to taking her "spot" or wanting the rest of her ice cream), KC is asking Katherine for a lick, and I'm making sure Katherine doesn't fall out of the chair. 

Still a big fan of ice cream...

I hope your Thursday is going well. KC wasn't late to preschool, I got in a 2 mile neighborhood walk, and Katherine is currently napping... things are starting off pretty well!

Linking up with Natalie and Annie!