Will's Preschool Graduation

We are so proud of Will!  We attended the sweetest graduation ceremony at his preschool this morning.  I didn't think I'd get emotional, but I'll admit that I cried.  Another mom sat down next to me and said, "I'm going to cry."  I thought that I probably wouldn't, but when his preschool teacher started talking about the children and got a little choked up, I couldn't help but shed a few tears.  It's very sweet to know that Will's teacher cares so much for the students in her class.  Will has thrived in preschool and learned a great deal socially and academically.  We are thankful he has had the opportunity to learn and grow in such a nurturing environment.  *Check out his preschool diploma.  I love the retro/vintage design!

Look at the surprised look on Will's face.  Will had no idea that there would be so many people there to see his class graduate.  His preschool class is small, only 3 kids.  It's run through the school, and the numbers aren't very big.  I think he was shocked to see a room full of people--lots of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  These kids are definitely well loved!

Also, we had to get a photo with Miss Melodi "MiMi"

Mark's parents, Papaw Jerry and Mamaw Carol, attended as well as our niece, Maggie. 

Mark and I can't believe that we will have a child in kindergarten next year! 

Can't leave out little brother.  Ben was ready to hit the playground after sitting still and quiet for the graduation ceremony. 

Mother's Day 2012...

I know I was going to take a "break" from blogging, but I agree with Jill's reason about why blogging is important.  She said she's motivated to blog so she can document her kids' lives.  That's basically why I blog, and I didn't want to skip one of the most special days of the year.  While I was at it, I got out my digital time machine AKA hard drive and looked up Mother's Day photos from 2007 until now.  Those sweet photos remind me how blessed I am and thankful that I'm Will and Ben's mother.  It also makes me grateful for the best Mama in the world.

Mother's Day 2012

Will is 5 1/2 and Ben will be 3 in less than a month.  

The day started with Mark making a donut run for the family.  I indulged and enjoyed my favorite--a jelly filled donut.  Next we headed to church.  The boys were really well behaved in church this morning, which was probably the best Mother's Day present of all.  After church we went to eat at my favorite Tex-Mex restaurant.  This has almost become a tradition.  We stopped by the nursing home to visit Mama Winnie before returning home.  Too bad in the afternoon Will started to run a low fever, otherwise it would have been the perfect day.

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Mother's Day 2007

Will was 6 months old.  I remember going to church that Sunday and everyone wishing me "Happy Mother's Day".  What a neat experience and special memory.  This started our Mother's Day tradition of taking photos every year in front of the house.  I love how bright the Stella d'Oro daylilies are around Mother's Day.

Mother's Day 2008

Will was 18 months old.

Mother's Day 2009 

Will is 2 1/2 and I'm 36 weeks pregnant with Ben in this photo.  Ben would make his arrival in the world in less than a month after this was taken.  This Mother's Day always has a special significance.  You can read more about the health issue I developed that day here.

 I'm not sure why I didn't stand up for this photo.  Mark says it's probably because Will wouldn't be still.  Wow!  Looking back I think that I didn't stand because I was so big. Clearly I was huge!

Mother's Day 2010

Such a special Mother's Day since I had both of my precious boys.  Will was 3 1/2 and Ben was 11 months old.

Mother's Day 2011

Will was 4 1/2 and Ben was almost 2.

I know this is crazy, but I can remember going to eat at my favorite Tex-Mex restaurant after church and thinking I was crazy for wearing these white pants, ha! 

We visited my grandma at the nursing home on the Saturday before Mother's Day. 

Well, that's Mother's Day 2007-2012!

24 Hours

I've been choosing to spend the 24 hours that I have each day doing things a little differently than I normally do. 

It's made me a bad blogger but a better wife and mother. 

Lately I've been spending time away from the computer, which means I'm blogging less and doing other stuff more.  (I still have my iPhone and I'm "connected" to email, pinterest, facebook and instagram.  I haven't taken a complete hiatus from technology, ha!)  The other stuff that I've been preoccupied with instead of blogging includes: spending more time with my boys, reading, working out, gardening, doing a better job keeping the house clean and watching t.v.  Normally I would write on my blog and read/comment on other blogs after my kids were in bed at night.  Occasionally I'd find some time in the afternoon to blog, but instead of using my free time for blogging I've been hanging out with Will and Ben.  I still love blogging but right now my interests have changed.

The thing that's changed the most is the amount of reading I'm doing.  I've read more in the last month than I have in the last 6 years.  Before I had children, I used to read all the time.  My husband thinks I'm more easygoing when I'm not spending so much time on the computer.  I think he's right.  I'm definitely more relaxed.  Maybe there's something to reading and relaxing after all.  I'm not reading anything profound.  It's strictly for entertainment, which translates to lighthearted chick lit.  That's my current literary genre of choice.

Another reason I'm more relaxed is that my house is cleaner and better organized.  When my house is out of control, I'm in a terrible mood.  (Mark can testify to that!)  When I blog a lot I tend to ignore cleaning my house and that leads to a messy house.  Like I said, a messy house makes me a mental mess!  It's a vicious cycle.  Spending just a little more time on house work has really paid off for my mental health.

I realized there was a shift in how I prioritized my time when I stopped getting on the computer for consecutive days.  It took me a while to figure out what had specifically changed, but then it hit me--I was ignoring my blog.  Hopefully my blog friends don't think I'm ignoring them.  For those of us who are connected by other social networking websites, I'm thankful that we've been able to stay connected and in touch.  This summer I'll have more time to blog, but until then I'll have a mini-break.  Hopefully the blog break will leave me refreshed and eager to blog again just like I enjoyed it when I started blogging two years ago. 

Have any of you gone through a phase where you have taken a break from blogging?

I'd love to hear about it.  Share your thoughts.

My Blog is Two!

Today my blog turns 2!

I wrote my blog story last year and explained why I decided to start a blog.  It's only natural to reflect on anniversaries and think about the past and plan for the future. 

I can't help but look back over the last two years and feel happy about being a part of the blogging community.  Two years ago I started blogging in secret.  I slowly started to share with family and friends that I had a blog.  I didn't keep it a secret because I was embarrassed about my blog.  It's more because I didn't know if people would understand.  Fellow bloggers you know what I mean.  You get it.

It's taken me a while to figure out what direction my blog would take.  I've always considered it a haphazard collection of the events of our lives, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to focus on at the beginning.  I never minded sharing personal experiences and my thoughts.  That always felt pretty natural.  I'm a teacher and when I first started to blog I participated in teacher link-ups.  I quickly realized that teaching is my profession, but it doesn't define who I am.  I decided to stop focusing on that and focus more on my family.  First and foremost I think of myself as a wife and mommy.  It takes little effort to share the joy I have from being Will and Ben's mom and Mark's wife.  It's no surprise that Will and Ben are the main focus of my blog.  It's always easy to write about other random things that are going on in our lives--family, church, traveling, music, milk glass and food.  Usually I try to keep the blog cheerful, but there are times when life is tough and I can't help but feel heavyhearted.  I end up sharing those thoughts, too.  I still occasionally link up to Misc Monday, What I Wore Wednesday, InstaFriday and Life in an Instant because those are great places to meet new blog friends. 

Blog friends.  Well, that leads me to my next thoughts in reflecting about my blog.

This blog is proof that life is ever-changing.  It was fun to read last year's post and realize that as my blog has evolved so have my blog friends.  A lot of you guys were here from the beginning, and there are new wonderful people I've met since then.  You can read my blog roll titled "Delightful" to see the current blogs that I adore.  There are many more on my blog reader, but those are ones I try to read as often as I can. 

Thanks Angela, Kathleen, Nicolle, Heather, Jill, Emily, Katie, Genn, Katie, Paige, Angee, Jennifer, Susanne, Lorri and Andi and Stacy for your comments and encouragement, I {heart} you guys!  If I left someone out, so sorry!  Social networking is connecting us more and more.  I've had fun connecting with some of you on facebook, pinterest and instagram.  I've figured out how to navigate those in addition to blogging.  Twitter still freaks me out so I won't have an account there any time soon.

Enough reflection.  Let's discuss future plans and dreams.

As we look ahead, Mark and I are starting to make plans for our dream home or forever home.  Hopefully there will be a lot more blogs posts about that  in the near future.  Also, Will is starting kindergarten this fall and that will change the dynamic of our family.  Ben is growing up and leaving the baby stage more and more every day.  These changes are bittersweet.  Mark and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage this summer and I can't wait for our anniversary trip to Vegas. 

So many things to look forward to, and I can't wait to share them with you!

Thank you for choosing to spend time with me.  I treasure our blog friendship.

Much love,

Michele

Instagram Fun

It's time for my weekly phone dump.  I was a loyal hipstamatic app user until recently.  Now I'm addicted to instagram and rarely use hipstamatic.  I finally figured out how to follow people on instagram.  Following is fun!  I'm @redbirdblue on instagram.

Almost every night/morning the boys end up in our bed.  I don't really like them sleeping with us because it's not very comfortable.  They are restless and I don't sleep well.   We are definitely going to work on them staying in their rooms all night this summer.  Here they are sound asleep while Mark and I get ready for work.

Will and Ben's daycare had a special father's week because they won't be in school in June.  Mark went to a special party honoring father's and they boys came back to school with him after it was over.  It was a nice surprise to see them at the end of the day.  We're just about to leave and head home in this photo.

We visited Mama Winnie in the nursing home. 

Cruisin' 

I had a moment of weakness on Sunday and had fajitas at my favorite Tex-Mex restaurant.  It was worth it. They were delicious! 

All aboard.  I bribe the boys with coin operated rides while we are shopping.  If they are good they get to ride.

I'm getting things ready for Ben's 3rd birthday party, and I had to get a few things at Toys R Us.  The boys have to play with the cars every time we go there. 

 Another moment of weakness.  Mark's favorite cake is red velvet.  Our favorite ice cream is Blue Bell.  It's a given that we're going to try the new Blue Bell flavor "Red Velvet Cake".  Friends, let me tell you that it was delicious!  I'm glad all we bought was a pint because we would have easily eaten a 1/2 gallon if we bought it.

My friend, Alichia, had a jewelry party at her house.   While she was showing us around her house, we spotted her new luggage.  How awesome is that huge Vera Bradley rolling suitcase?  Look at all her coordinating pieces!  I'll admit that I have luggage envy ;) 

This is the necklace I bought.  It's brighter and bolder than something I'd normally wear, but I thought it was perfect for summer.  In a couple of weeks we are having Ben's three year photos taken.  Lauren usually takes a few of our family and I thought I'd wear this necklace and the white ruffle top.  

Stella

Here's Stella.  Isn't she beautiful?

The daylilies are blooming in my yard.  My stella d'oro dayliles are my "little flowers that could".  I can always count on them to add some bright color to my flower beds at the beginning of May.  They are always in bloom on Mother's Day, which is just around the corner. 

I'm working on a real blog post, whatever that means.  My two year blog anniversary is later this week.  Expect a few shout-outs to my blog friends.  Love you guys!

Small Town

My husband and I both grew up in a small town.  My cousins also grew up in a small town in East Texas.  Last Saturday we went to a Crawfish Boil in rural East Texas.  It's an annual thing but this year all of the money raised went to help with Clay's medical expenses due to his brain tumor.  By the way, we didn't eat any crawfish.  We ate fried catfish instead.   

I was surprised at how many people were there. (I saw someone on facebook say close to 1,000, which is more than the population of the town!)

Will was so happy when he saw the bounce house. 

I love this candid photo of two of my cousins.  It's their brother, Clay, who had the brain tumor, and I didn't manage to get a photo of him.  He looked great considering all he'd been through--almost as if he'd never been sick. I hadn't seen any of them since the brain tumor and it was so good to see everyone.  It's been an unimaginable thing to go through. It was really nice to see them laughing and having a good time.

Ben had a blast playing in the sandbox with Sam. 

Coco

He belongs to my in-laws.  He's a good dog. 

Ben 

Will 

One of the small towns near us has a grocery store with kid-size shopping baskets.  My boys love them!  The only thing you have to watch out for is getting clipped in the ankles when they forget to stop. 

I didn't buy Blue Bell for myself, although I really wanted to.  It was for a friend who just had a baby.  I took her a meal and thought she'd enjoy some ice cream with the chocolate cobbler I made her. 

Dad's shoes are the best. 

Our small town grocery store is the epitome of small town life.  We're in there all the time picking up things I forgot to buy.  We know all of the cashiers by name, and they even let Will and Ben help scan the groceries.  You can't get service like that at Wal-Mart or Target.

"Power to the Push up" might be an appropriate caption for this.  I found these ice cream push ups at our small town grocery store.  They remind me of when I was a kid. 

I'm on instagram now.  You can find me @redbirdblue.