March Randomness

March randomness consists of: Spring, sushi, selfies, early mornings, and my boys.

I planted daffodil bulbs a couple of years ago.  This year only two bloomed.  I'm not sure if it's a lack of rain or if I didn't plant them the right depth.  Maybe they need a year or two more to get established.  Despite the lack of blooms, I'm still proud of my two pretty flowers.  Their blooms mean the change of seasons.  Winter is over and Spring has begun!

Bees are another sign of Spring.  Here they are doing their thing in the grape hyacinths in my yard.

I like sushi but Mark doesn't.  After a busy week at school I treated myself this weekend to sushi from Whole Foods.  Will shared it with me and really liked it.

Selfies with my favorites 

Early in the mornings when I get home from workout I take a moment to drink a cup of coffee and think about the day.  Sometimes I read the Bible in the dim kitchen light and other times I just sit and pray.  The morning I took this, Ben woke up when he heard me get home and he wanted to snuggle with me while I drank my coffee.  You can see his bear and pillow and the corner of his blanket in the photo.

I won't lie.  The early mornings really kick my butt.  Sometimes in the afternoon it's all I can do to get dinner cooked before I crash.  In this photo I sat down for just a minute after school and I didn't think I was going to be able to get up. 

Of course, you know I can't blog without photos of...

 my Will  

my Ben 

We have a sweet family friend who is an amazing seamstress.  She made the boys pajamas pants.  They couldn't wait to wear them and they wear them every time they are clean. 

Ben has the most animated expressions.  I love all of the silly faces he makes. 

Will's hair is too cute in this photo.  I bought the boys bathtub playdoh at Lush.  It's really soap but it last a long time and they really like it. 

Saturday we had a laid back family day. We got to hang out at Watters Creek and enjoy being outside in the beautiful weather.  I got to sneak in a trip to Charming Charlie while the boys walked around outside.  Even though they are just 4 and 7 they already refuse to go into "girl stores".  Lol!  Typical males. 

 I LOVE moments like this.  Will is reading, Ben is listening and there's a random bag of popcorn on the bed.  This is pretty much representative of our life.  My boys aren't perfect, they fuss and fight like any siblings do, but they are really good friends.  Their bond is special and it makes my heart happy.

 

Look how big Ben is!  Go Ben!  He can climb the playset wall like a champ. 

This is our friend Ashley.  She's a teacher at our school and she goes to our church.  Mark and I decided that we need to adopt her as Will and Ben's older sister.  They love playing with her and she keeps them entertained. 

Here's my teacher BFF, Kacie, and Will.  They were ready for Opening Day in their Rangers t-shirts.

Let's Go Rangers!!!

Final photos of March.

Will getting ready to eat a baked potato for supper. 

Ben made a "sandwich" with cheese and crackers for supper.   

Monday Morning Encouragement Hebrews 6:19-20 & Matthew 11:28

 We have hope and that hope can be found in Christ.  

Play Ball!

Baseball season started for us this week.  Will has moved up from tee-ball and is playing coach pitch baseball this year.  We had our first games in a pre-season tournament that started Monday and ended on Saturday.  They played a total of 5 games before they got beat out.  It was great practice and the team looked good.

He looks super cute in his baseball uniform.

Here he is up to bat. 

He's been playing in the outfield.  He got several good stops.

 I can't leave Ben out.  He's been the  #1 fan.  He and Mark's parents have cheered Will on at all of the games this week.

Mark's helping coach Will's team. 

My personal thoughts on sports...

Maybe it's because Mark and I are teachers and in the past we've both coached for our school, our perspective might be a little different than most parents.  We've made it our goal with our boys when they are playing sports to focus on 3 things: having fun, doing your best because you're on a team sport with others counting on you, and staying positive.  We have made a point not be critical of the officials/umpires.  We also try to be supportive and encouraging with the words we say.  We're happy Will wants to play and we want him to have a positive experience.  We know he won't be going pro in baseball so we this is all about developing skills and building character.  We want him to have a healthy competitive attitude.  With all of that said, I think we are going to have a great season and he will have lots of fun.  I know we really enjoy watching him play and we love to see him having fun.

My First Mod Podge Project

I tried my first Mod Podge project!

After a few tweaks, it was perfect.

I had 3 old canvases that used to hang in Ben's nursery.  They haven't been up for a while, and I decided to repurpose them and cover them with a few large prints.  The canvases are 12x12.  I ordered 12x16 prints from Sam's Club and used my paper trimmer to make them square.  

I applied the Mod Podge using a foam brush and then attached the photo.  I decided not to put a layer of mod podge on the photos once they were attached.  The photos already had a matte finish.  I've seen tutorials where people did, so it would probably look good.

The only issue was that the photos weren't a true 12 inches in width.  They did not extend all the way to the edge so there was a slight gap.  You could see a small part of the original design in a few places.  It wasn't that noticeable, but I could see it and it bugged me.

I took the advice of my instagram friends who saw the photo above.  I used paint to cover the small sections where the design showed. It blended in perfectly around the edges.

Below you can't tell there was ever anything behind the photos.

It was a quick, simple, affordable project and I'm happy with the end result.  I have three of my favorite photos hanging in our play room. 

Spring Break 2014

Spring Break

2014 

Tex-Mex at our favorite place started off the break.  Ben took this photo as I reached for my phone.

We always end up in the book section of Target and Walmart.  We are a family of book lovers.  I'm glad the boys enjoy reading, too.

Ben and I watched Planes so, of course,  we needed our planes out while we watched it.

On Monday of the break we stopped by Mark's alma mater, East Texas State University, which is now Texas A&M-Commerce.

Dandelions mean Spring (and allergies) are near.

I only worked out twice over the break.  I'm sure I'll pay for that on Monday morning at workout.

Mark and I had fun day in Dallas.  The boys spent the night with his parents and we got to go to random places that the boys would hate, for example Crate and Barrel.  I loved this display there.  If we had a beach house, I'd want it to look just like this.

Will and Ben don't get to do all the fun stuff.  Even though they weren't with us, we went to our favorite froyo spot and had frozen yogurt for dinner.  

I bought some new TOMS for spring/summer.  My other pair is almost 4 years old and they finally got a hole.  These are the Hemp embroidered classic.  

We took the boys to see Mr. Peabody & Sherman.  I thought all of the history references were hilarious.  Very cute movie even if the boys didn't get all of the jokes.

This time change has been awful for us.  Ben has fallen asleep twice in the car and it's been crazy to get him to sleep at night when he wakes up.

We don't have any bedtime routines or rules when we're on a break.  Will was staying up extra late watching cartoons.  I hoped that would make the boys sleep late the next morning but no such luck.

It took me 10 tries to get this photo!  10!  They refuse to be still or pose.

They will be still if something interest them, like this Lego Movie sticker book.  They love the DK sticker books.  It keeps them occupied for hours.

On Friday of Spring Break my teacher friends and I had our annual shopping day.  We always have such a good time together.  We had lunch at Chuy's, shopped at North Park and Park Lane, had dinner at Thai Box.  Good food, good conversation, good fun!

Lush is one of mine and Kacie's favorite stores.  

Angie and Alichia are my other two friends who love to shop.  We usually have more teacher friends with us, but they had plans and couldn't make it this time.  We're already planning our summer shopping trip for June.

Spring Break 2014, you were great!

Funny Boy

I started this just to remember the funny things that my boys say.  

The first ones below are from 2012.  I never published it, but I decided to save it and add to it.
This is for me and only me, but if you read it and laugh that's great, too.

2012
Ben has said some really silly things lately. 

"Daddy, be a nice grouch."

"I want my long-sleeve pants on."  That would mean pants and not shorts.

And yesterday for Ben is translated "last day" or "last night" if it's in the evening.


Ben saw his legs in the sunlight and said, "My legs have whiskers."

I found this blog post saved in my drafts and decided to continue to add to it.

2013
Most of Ben's sentences started with:
"Did you know...."


January 2014
Ben doesn't say yesterday, he says "last-day" instead. We tried to correct him but last-day has ended up being "lasterday"

Will, Ben and I were talking about Barnabas and Paul.  Will had learned about Barnabas in Bible class.    I referred to Paul as "Paul the apostle" and Ben said, "Paul the fossil".  

Ben refers to the instructions for something as the "constructions" so when we are putting together a new Lego set he follows the constructions.


Here's a post from way back in 2011 with funny stuff my boys said.