i am the earring queen.

hi friends!

these are my favorite earrings- bought at a walmart in topeka, kansas for $5.99.

And then! two weeks back I saw the same earrings in GOLD! at target! not ugly gold but funky-bollywood-gold and I loved them! but I had already spent too much money on earrings that week, and at that very moment had 2 pairs in hand to take to the register!

so i put them back. the minute i left the store, i knew i made a grave earring mistake.

so, the next day, i went back. and they were GONE! My earrings! oh, i mourned those earrings!!

i guess it wasn't meant to be.

{but there are two more Targets in the area. how silly would it be to check out those stores?
 don't answer that.}

Have you ever made a grave earring/shopping mistake?

and in other news, yesterday's post was the most I have ever blogged in one month!!

up and down and round and round

Thumbs Up: I have been taking a new medication for my bi-polar depression!

Thumbs Down: This medication makes me as tired as a first trimester pregnant woman, while I get used to it. I fell asleep on the couch Tuesday for 20 minutes when all the kids were up! Yikes!

Thumbs Up: It's the weekend! which means I am currently spending two straight days with my love, and all our little people! Woot woot!

Thumbs Down: I counted over 40 mosquito bites between Will & Theo this week after they got out of bed. I think a mosquito {or two} made its way into their room. My poor babes.

Thumbs Up: Today we are having a birthday party at the park for Jack {whose bday was last week} and Theo {whose birthday is next week}. I am super excited to celebrate our boys and visit with friends and family!

{and because I would rather end on a good note}

Thumbs Up: I have heard from so many wonderful, new readers this week! Thank you so much everyone for all the comment love!

Tell me....what has you up & down today?

ha. hahaha. ha.

If I am not perfect as a spouse, then I am definitely not perfect as a mother. I have been rocking this gig for 7 years and by rocking, I mean: trying, trying, trying and failing often. 

It's trial and error, friends. And laughing at yourself a LOT! And if you are a parent, you already know that. If I had to think of one piece of best parenting advice, it would be this: 

Have fun and enjoy your children. 

I struggle with this often- in fact, I am struggling with this today. 9 year old girls are no joke. Neither are boys- of all ages. And there do have to be rules and consequences for breaking them, and all that. But life is short. SUPER DUPER SHORT! I surely do not want to wake up tomorrow and wish I would have done more fun outings, smiled more, laughed with my kids more, hugged them more.

I try sooo hard to remember that for kids, playing and being silly is their job. That's how they learn and grow and their sweet innocence about it all is meant to teach us {the boring adults} as much as we need to teach them.

Mas'o'bass rocking it out!

So, while I can never get it just right {bc hey I am still human} I say, HAVE FUN! 

and THAT is my best parenting advice!

Kelly's Korner is hosting a link up with your best parenting tips. Feel free to add your 2¢!

proudly sporting my nerd card

i should be embarassed to show you this video. 

but...i'm not.

i am a nerd and i embrace it fully. 

plus, i had a blast on this bachelorette weekend camping trip with my besties!

without further ado, here i am {along with some great girls} in all my nerd glory: 

Songfest 2011 from Nicole Drysdale-Rickman on Vimeo.

life keeps on rolling

and i want to share all of it with her! i am growing, changing, loving this life. I want to thank her for giving me this life to love. i want her to know how well she mothered me, how well she gave me the tools to be a spectacular mother to my own crew, how she rocked her time here.

if i only had 17 years with her, i should be sad. and lots of times, i am! but then, i think: i had 17 years with this amazing blessing of a mother, and some people don't have a mother at all. or a family. and she laid down a fantastic example for me and it was a gift.

words could never express how thankful i am for this gift.

and this is how i end up hiding in the bathroom at 730am.

It starts out smoothly.

I open the door to the babes' room. {Hurray for doorknob covers that lock the crazies in!}
We go downstairs.
I change diapers.
I throw away diapers.
I wash my hands.
They ask for bananas.
I give them bananas.
Will asks for water, Theo asks for soy milk.
I give Will water, and Theo soy milk.
I grab a banana myself.
But, see?
Their bananas are already eaten.
They see my banana.
And each want a piece.
Which ends up being over half my damn banana.
So, instead I grab my banana.
Head to the bathroom
and lock myself in.
Hey, we do what we have to do.

he is as crazy and wonderful as the faces he makes.

Oh how I love him!

blogging is an amazing thing.

How many times have I woken up, feeling thoughts of doubt, thoughts that I thought were only mine? How many times have I scoured the internets, only to find that all across the world, there are people feeling things similar to my feelings? How many times have I read a perfect stranger's words and related so well, that they now become my friend? How many times have I been surprised to connect with a perfect stranger across the globe, or right in my own neighborhood? Blogging surely is an amazing thing.

Here are a few blog posts that have had me thinking the past few days: 


AllisonO's bold statement to the world! {Go Allison!}

Sweetney's candid thoughts about changing lifestyle and other's reactions

Steph's thoughts on saying yes more to your kids! 

Marianne's view on being an American, a stay at home mom and a resident of France

This weekend, all we did was lay low and veg- it was great! This afternoon we plan to spend the afternoon splashing in a kiddie pool and eating popsicles- what are your plans for the day??

me giving marriage advice...this should be good.

It's laughable, really- because we have far from the "perfect" marriage. I am learning that such a thing does not exist. Matt is absolutely the only one for me, but we are certainly not perfect. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful, hardworking partner and a loving, very present father for our children. However, that doesn't mean things are always easy or lovey-dovey. We keep learning, and keep trying. I think that is what's important. We have gone through our fair share of trials this year alone, but we always come out the other side- happier and wiser.

As for my two cents worth?

.01- For every five things you want to say to your partner, hold your tongue four times. If you are anything like me, you stick your foot in your mouth. Um, a LOT. I have been learning to thiinnnkkkk before I speak.  

These three questions help me. Before I speak, I think:
1)Is it true?
2)Is it kind?
3)Is it necessary?

Obviously, there are times we need to say the things others need to hear but about a year ago, I was to the point where all I was doing was criticizing Matty- and noONE is that awful. I really needed to change my way of thinking and talking, and I have, and it has helped our marriage sooo much.

.02- Make time for each other, in whatever way you can. It is oh so important! Matt and I do not have family that is willing to watch our kids so we can spend time together. Because of this, we have had to be creative. We can't always afford to fork out $50-75 for a sitter. In the times we cannot, we put the kids to bed a bit earlier, and eat dinner together. No tv. No phones. We unplug and talk. We have really had to learn how to squeeze time in, but it is worth it! 

There happened to be an occasion just like this a few weeks ago. We only had the babies {who are not babies but I refuse to stop calling them such} and they go to bed at 7:30. So I placed PB&J's & bananas in a baggie and loaded my kids in the car. They munched, and we drove to get Chinese food. See?

That right there is a gourmet dinner. 

Yes, my 3 year old is in only a diaper. It's summer. And they didn't get out of the car. 

Yes, Theo is only in a diaper and shirt. This is how desperately we needed a date night. 

Will dug his dinner-in-a-baggie!

My handsome date for the evening...

Tired mama ready to spend time with her love...

When we arrived home, the kids were done with dinner! So we brushed their teeth and put them to bed! Then sat and enjoyed our Chinese and a drink without being climbed on...

Can't forget the cream cheese wontons!

And that's how we have to do dates sometimes. It has been so refreshing to have us time back as a priority. And has truly helped refresh us too. So there's my .02¢- it works for us!

Feel free to head on over to Kelly's Korner and link up your best marriage advice!

random strangers: take note

A couple things:

#1. Despite what you may think, I do NOT need your parenting advice. Just because my parenting style is not the same as yours, does not mean either one of us is wrong. As long as I am not physically harming my children {which I am not}, what works for your family is fine for you and what works for my family is fine for me.  OPEN YOUR MIND.

#2. I realize that by having multiple children, many people think I know everything about raising babies. Guess what? I don't! Each of my kids is a new child, with a new personality, and each one responds differently. I have a lot of experience raising babes but my children and I are learning with each other, and I don't know everything so please try and use the same compassion you would give a new mother.

#3. When you see me and my children out in public, please try to understand that you are viewing less than 15 minutes of my life and my kids. You have no clue what has just happened in the car, on the way in or what our particular kids excel at or struggle with.

#4. I know that having 3-5 kids on any given day is bound to draw attention to us anywhere we are, whether it's the grocery store or the library. Guess what else? We do not like to be stared at. If you want to talk to us, come talk to us. Have a question? Ask. {as long as it abides by the previously stated guidelines} But, please, don't gawk. Yes, we have five children and our hands are very full, but so are our hearts. :)


#5. And this is most important: MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!

I sincerely hope this penetrates the brain of the better than thou parents I keep running into.
Parenting is hard, people. For all of us in different ways- try your hardest not to judge.

**Rant over.**

i want to run away

Anywhere else but here is fine. 

How many times do you tell your 3 year old to pick up his tracks? Because I have just told him for the 45,000th time and its still not happening. Timeouts? those arent working. Spankings? ha.haha. that's a joke. It seems the only thing that does work is supervising him through every.darn.second. of pickup. And that, friends is just exhausting. And I don't have time for it.

My 7 year old is in his bed for the night {at 5pm} because of his straight up attitude all day, non stop, every moment. AND he lost going to see the new Harry Potter movie with me tonight. 

and Theo? Well, Theo is just sweet. However, after dealing with his two crazy brothers and a doctors office that prescribed me a new med which cost $400 out of pocket{yeah,not happening}, which then resulted in phone call after phone call BACK to the doctors office which I spent ALLLLL Morning at, WITH my three boys in tow, just to get ANOTHER prescription FINALLY at 5pm, and DURING that time there was an entire container of brown sugar spilled unto the floor and an errand to run a box {yes, a box} to Matt's work, poor Theo is not getting much of his mama!

Yep. It's time to run away. 

Even if it's just to Starbucks.

{It's 12am, I am exhausted, and other random thoughts}

The good 'Ol insomnia bug has made it's way into my head! And it's fuuuunnnn.

I also don't sleep when Matt goes out of town, but the plus side to sleeping by myself? I love freezing cold sheets, but they warm up fast and when I have the WHOLE bed to myself, I get the whole bed of cold sheets!

I have decided to start canning some homemade jam. I read a blog post about it and it seems fairly simple. Please tell me if it is really not, because simple is all I can handle these days.

I started an Encouragement folder in my email. I put inspiring quotes I find in there, nice things people say (via fb, blog and/ or person to person). When I am having a down day, I go read through the folder. It's a bit silly but it works. Truly.

I am currently watching The Sopranos and am highly jealous that Matt falls asleep the moment his head hits the darn pillow!

I wish I had my phone with me upstairs because my aunt is also a night owl (hi aunty enchilada!) and we have good chats in the hours between 10p-1a. I am too lazy to walk downstairs and get it.

We are having pancakes in the morning (my matty makes the BEST, from scratch pancakes) and Will has been asking and asking. I think he gets sick of my breakfasts. I dole out lots of toast, eggs, cereal, bars, bananas, and oatmeal. But not all together, of course. I am NOT the cook in this family. I do bake well though!

Typing out this blog post, on my iPad no less, has finally! made! me! sleepy! And so I bid thee adieu...

Missing my hammock...

Here in these Colorado parts, the afternoon rain storm has become something fierce! There is flooding in many parts of the state, and you just never know when you will be caught in a downpour.

Add in the extreme heat {ok, it's probably not extreme for some but it IS for ME!}, and the crazy vicious mosquitos this year, along with a city that has not sprayed for the buggers yet, and being in my backyard is not so fun. Even with heavy duty bug spray my kids are still coming in with welts from the bites.

We have a lot of splash park playdates, trips to the air conditioned mall play area, and ice cream runs. I am really missing the spring days where I could take a book and a drink to my lovely hammock.

Oh spring, how I miss your calm. 

I cannot do this now or I would have 15 bites in 30 seconds.

ahhh, bliss.

There was definitely ice cream.

                                                                  the masonator

                                                                    will.i.am.

                         and my sweet theo baby, who does things his own way!

above photos were stolen from my Instagram loving husband. :)

The word of the day is sandwiches.

Today could not have been more perfect.
Seriously.

My boys slept in until 9am. NINE AM, FOLKS!! Which means, so did I.

I gave them toast with peanut butter and oranges for breakfast and then hopped in the shower. And took a shower from start to finish {including shaving!} with no tantrums from either the 2 or 3 year old and no arguments between the 7 and 3 year old.

Showering by 10am just doesn't happen to this mama. So I was THRILLED! and feeling brave enough to venture out of this house...

Packing us all up was easy-breezy, and we were out of the house 30 mins later and headed to meet a friend at the splash park, picnic supplies in car.

My kids all listened, ate pb&j sandwiches, played in the splash area, I REMEMBERED to put sunscreen on my kids before we got there, I was able to watch and play with my boys AND chat with my beautiful friend. It.was.perfect!

After 2 hours,we left {with no objections from any kids!} and decided to take advantage of Sonic's Happy Hour!  Four drinks for $3.00! Can't beat that!

On the way home, we were driving right by Mason's dad's grandma {does that make sense?} so since Theo was sleeping and we had an extra drink, we stopped by. Mason ran up to the door and nana came out to visit with us for 20 minutes. Then we had the car ride home, with no screaming! {There is usually always screaming}

We came home where one boy laid down for a late nap, one boy watched Matilda {Will's new fave} and one boy played with his Lego Star Wars. I read a blog, did some dishes, read a blog, folded towels and so on and so on.

Matt will be home soon, Theo will be up from his nap soon and we plan to take some Tofurkey sandwiches to a downtown square we have locally. They have sculptures for kids to play on, a fountain to throw pennies into and shop windows galore to gaze into. And there just may be an ice cream shop smack in the middle.

Then home for bed.

Perfect, no?

And sometimes that one is me...

Sometimes one learns that one's extended family are really the friends one has chosen to be in one's life, not necessarily the family we have married or been born into.

Sometimes one learns that the love you share with your partner can overcome more than ever imagined.

Sometimes one learns the true character of another person, or even one's self when that person is pushed to {and then beyond} their limit.

Sometimes one learns that the very people one thought would be there, are in fact not. And the very people one thought would not be there, in fact, are.

And sometimes that one is me. As for me? I have sure had one of the roughest, most emotionally trying weeks of my life. And you know what? It has made me, the relationship I have with my immediate family, with my Matty, and with my God stronger.

I sure am thankful for that.

Um. So. My brain is full.

I am a bridesmaid in my good friend, Jessi's wedding tomorrow, and therefore all I have on the brain are dresses, alterations, spanx, sparkly shoes, lilac nail polish, and the mile long list of to-do's before I must arrive at another friend's house {at 8am, yikes!} for hair and makeup.

I love getting dolled up, I love standing up with all my other besties and watching someone I love very much commit to their love forever. I have loved, loved, loved spending so much time with friends very dear to my heart, but being in a wedding is sure expensive! and i am looking forward to having a blast tomorrow and then enjoying the rest of the summer, financially free from all wedding costs!

and because this wedding has consumed all free time and space in brain, I have been a bit absent as of late. I DO promise to be back blogging sometime next week with loads of pictures, k?

Enjoy your 4th and all that the wonderful day means!!