TOO BUSY

Last week of school is C R A Z Y!!!  I am especially crazy. What am I thinking painting my bathroom, organizing, rearranging, all the while doing laundry for the whole family for this weekend preparing for a trip to Ruidoso for a baseball tournament???? STUPID.

My parents came in town Monday. They have been great to take Levi since he is such a terror at school these days. Today they took me to breakfast and then took the older two for ice cream and to a  park while little terror sleeps so I can finish some of the mess I started stated above :) 

I will have an entire week off next week and then just work Tuesdays and Thursdays for the month of June.  June is the end of baseball, the dance recital finally, AND...........my TWENTY YEAR HIGHSCHOOL REUNION! SAY WHA??? I surely can not be old enough for that?!

Speaking of feeling old. Had the recognitions this week at school. Second grade felt pretty normal. Looking around in the audience at Kindergarten we totally stood out as the oldies :(  And to think, we will be back in four more years for LEVI??!!! 

Pictures to come next week, lots of after pics and of the baseball tournament.

Some of my favorite things are

Rainey Days that make the house all dark...

If you have not had this combination, you are missing out!

The 1974 highchair my mother had for me has been used by my three children as well.

Looked new until the third kid. Getting some wear.

Although we are not too far away from this not being necessary, I want to keep it forever. The vinyl did not bother me one bit. It takes me back to another time, LOVE IT. May have to invest in recovering though to avoid scratching.

So we (the littlest one and I) have been home all week. We tried to go to school yesterday but low and behold more tummy issues.  Not agian till the end of the day and then not again til this morning. He acts completely fine. Eats, drinks, not dehydrated at all. Plays fine. Other than a diaper rash you would never know anything was wrong.  We went to the doc who took a culture but his gut feeling tells him its viral. Thats always nice to hear at the tune of $75. Not that I want it to be anything more serious, heavens no!  Just kind of what I already thought anyway. Understandably the school was concerned.  So we are going to keep up that BRAT diet and make another go of it tomorrow. I guess we were blessed all Fall and end of Spring is Tummy Time at The Phillips House!  Having to be gone is hard on the pocket book but I have been VERY blessed with wonderful people where I work that are always caring and understanding.  Something I do NOT take for granted.

A bit ironic Mother's Day

I typically think of my mom when I am sick and how she was always great to take care of me. Even as an adult, remember Spring Break?!  Well Levi woke up at 4 AM Sunday morning with horrible tummy issues and a very high fever.  I stayed up with him until 6:30 and then got the rest of my family up for church. We go to early service.  Its not what I would pick but I have been going to early since I met my husband and its actually a whole lot easier on little kids since they are up anyway which makes us as well!  Well as I got a quick shower and am drying off they pull me into the kitchen before they leave.  I was SO surprised! I don't remember another Mother's Day with a bunch of gifts! 

The best part is Trent let THEM pick them out and they did really well!  I left it out all day and enjoyed each time I walked past that table. I would have LOVED to have been on the pew with them but baby needed me more. He woke up at about 7:45 and was still in pretty bad shape. I have mentioned before that usually if he is awake he is on the move. Its actually made me really sad not to EVER be able to hold him or just love on him unless he is still out of it and not aware, and that usually only lasts all of around 5 minutes.  I HATE that he was sick but I sure enjoyed holding him.  This continued on until around 5 in the evening.  Poor little dude. He has been fever free since then but still having tummy issues so we are home today.  The day before I was home taking care of Livi who was vomitting!

sick lil bear

SO nice!

 

  Being a mom is down right exhausting.  I never knew I had it in me.  I am an only child and having three has been tramatic!  The loudness and chaos were a hard transition for me. I will say that I have finally acclimated and actually not as aware of it.  I will never forget being annoyed with my husband as he was throwing my children on the couch and encouraging them to jump up and down. Not because I was afraid of them being hurt, but because they kept hitting the wall and messing up my pictures!  He said to me,"Did you not EVER jump on a couch??"  My response," Uh  NO!" I probably grew up a little too fast and have realized I have another chance to be a kid :)  I want them to have fun memories of me.

  There are a lot of things I really enjoy about being a mother.  I love seeing their faces as they run to me after school every day.  I love lazy mornings when they lay all over me and I can steal kisses on their heads. Twirling Ty's curly hair and stroking my hands through it when I go to wake him up for school in the morning.  I love bath time with my little one, playing with his bath toys with him and hearing his giggles.  I love brushing my daughter's long silky hair and putting int in buns and braids for dance. I LOVE dressing up dolls with her and have so much fun shopping for her, whether its girl toys or clothes.  I enjoy being Ty's biggest fan at the baseball field and never thought I would be so competetive!  I love mornings after hearing my name called and go to get Levi how he reaches his arms out to me and lays on my shoulder.  They each have had a huge impact on me. Ty has helped me to learn patience- not there but working on it! He has more energy than anyone I know although his brother is a close second!  His random hugs and kisses are pleasant surprises and reminds me to do it more myself. Let's just say touch is not my love language.  Olivia helps me to have compassion and think of others more.  She is always looking on the bright side when I am being negative. She has a beautiful heart. All of these things are not from me and I clearly see why the Lord has made them and put them in my life.  I think He teaches through them more than I teach TO them!

    I have to end with my favorite memories of my own mother:

*My mom used to put me on her waist and twirl around and sing the song 'Oh How We Danced On The Niiiiiiiiight' and would throw me over her shoulder and pretend I was a purse! LOVED THAT!
 *The day we went shopping for my wedding dress. We went to a place in Dallas right by my church and then went and ate at Chili's right by it. Had the most fun laughing and then went back and got 'THE' dress. One of my favorite days.
* The day my first son was born and seeing her hold him for the first time with tears in her eyes.
*The night we brought him home from the hospital I went to change his diaper in his bassinett and saw his circumcision for the first time and just started crying uncontrollably. She just came and held me and encouraged me.
* Our trip to Nacadoches on Mother's Day weekend probably 15 years ago. Had SO much fun shopping and lunching and staying up late talking.

My Mom

*This past year we spent an entire day together doing almost the same thing. We hit probably 8 antique stores and ate a Home Cafe, my favorite place in Lubbock.  I will have to post pics of that place sometime-its just not describable. 

We enjoy a lot of the same things and I hope that as my children get older we can do more of these types of things more often. I am in the thick of craziness with schedules and if one is not sick another is.  Probably the best time in my life at the same time.  Motherhood is a gift in MANY ways. He is forming through it. Helping me understand His love and pain.  So blessed to be able to have experienced it.

Happy Mother's Day

A MOTHER'S LOVE

A Mother's love is something

that no one can explain,

It is made of deep devotion

and of sacrifice and pain,

It is endless and unselfish

and enduring come what may

For nothing can destroy it

or take that love away . . .

It is patient and forgiving

when all others are forsaking,

And it never fails or falters

even though the heart is breaking . . .

It believes beyond believing

when the world around condemns,

And it glows with all the beauty

of the rarest, brightest gems . . .

It is far beyond defining,

it defies all explanation,

And it still remains a secret

like the mysteries of creation . . .

A many splendoured miracle

man cannot understand

And another wondrous evidence

of God's tender guiding hand.

~Helen Steiner Rice~



MAY

• Baseball games averaging twice a week, as well as practice twice a week
• Two baseball tournaments
• dance recital
• teacher appreciation WEEK, more than three teachers
• one teacher's birthday
• ANOTHER field trip for second grade
• play day on the 18th
• end of year parties
• kindergarten recognition
• second grade recognition
• dad in tournament
• LOTS of people out at work= lots of filling in
• dad busy closing out taxes for the end of the year after buying four companies
• dad's company being audited that same week 
• friends in town
• pajama day.. AGAIN
• Insect Project (Livi did the Butterfly)
• Mother's Day
• 3 birhtday parties

May is quite possibly the busiest month of the whole entire year. Beating December by a long shot thus far!

C'MON SUMMER!

Pantry Organization that can come back to bite cha

I am in the minority of recycling people in my town. I know... I know.. .lets just say the priorities are, well- different here in A LOT of ways! Anyways- two years ago I think? I finally organized my pantry. A fellow blogger inspired me to do so. I used baskets I already had (those gingham lined ones are from Pottery Barn and have been in my laundry room cabinets at my last house and on playroom shelves back before three kids and we had a playroom!) and bought some air tight acrylic bins for snacks and a wire grocery basket on clearance at Hobby Lobby and the bottom green basket was from world market but cheap. I also bought that 'plastic' burlap sack to hold all the plastic walmart bags for trash bags. See the thing is, I was using reusable bags but I buy WAY too much stuff and the bags were taking up too much room before I had bought everything I needed. So I only use them now if I am running in to get just a few items.  I take almost everything out of boxes and recycle those. We FINALLY have a cardboard bin at our local place that we are responsible for taking our own items to. We also are responsible for sorting clear and color plastic, same on bottles and slicks from paper.  JOY! Its not convenient by any means but i have Huge containers in my garage that I take about once a month. 

Back to the pantry. This was a great idea at first, to have the snack basket accessible to the kids. They are required to take a snack to school each day so I buy a variety of things like rasins, pb and cheese crackers, nutellea and breadsticks- thanks to Cita, granola bars, and chex mix and have fruit out on the counter, they pick what they want and are responsible for putting it in their bag. These items are for NO OTHER time! I have other stuff for at home for after school snack. If they got these things whenever they wanted we would go through them too quickly.

Well here inlies the problem. A Toddler who can reach them too and does whenever he wishes. Most things he can open himself. GEESH! I may have to re-think the organization because he is quick and sneaky about it too!

Attention Walmart Shoppers!

Not only does the coffee taste EXACTLY like Folgers for only $6.........

You get the added bonus of cute storage bins! Just rip that label right off.



perfect for storing OTHER things also used at the kitchen table :)

I thought about adding some chalkboard labels but IDK... it may be a bit over the top.  Who knows, maybe I will.

Ladies Retreat in FULL

It makes me emotional to think very much about it.  First of all I want to thank a TON of people for donating items for door prizes and place settings!! I was in charge of these things with a very tight budget. Our Ladies Bible Class took up a donation of about $100 total for prizes.  Most I found were around $5-$7 at Hobby Lobby and discount stores like Ross and TJ Maxx as well as dollar section at Target.  It was quite a challenge to find items that a woman of any age and pesonality would enjoy but I believe The Lord blessed me in this endeavor and made it really fun. I especially want to thank two people for making items and sending them across the US to donate! First of all Nicky Dear Nicole on ETSY. You can find her shop here and follow her blog here.   I am enclosing a pic of the lady who won the BEAUTIFUL necklace she made! I also have bought banners for my wreath on my door from her. SO CUTE! I also want to think Mrs. Tina Sperry, whom I went to highschool and church with in my younger years. I have one of these super cool key fobs and you need one too! You can find them here!  I also had many friends who own their own business donate items from Mary Kay (Mistie Brashier), Scentsy(Mary Katherine Kotara), Thirty One & It Works (Tiffiany Burgess), and my friend TC who sells hair products gave a HUGE amount of samples of great stuff like TIGI, Tea Tree, etc. as well as my friend Judy Price donating a large amount of perfume samples from Dijor and Jenelle Hanks for Dove samples all of which went at the table settings.  THANK YOU!!!

I am also enclosing a pic of my dear friend Denise, and some of the most wonderful women that I admire and have gotten to know, Mrs. Nora Koph and Mrs. Ruth Williams. I often tell Nora that she is who I want to be when I grow up! Her voice and smile just set me at ease.  I have always felt drawn to her and we have a lot in common. Each of these women have a gift for speaking. Ruth makes me not afraid to age and I loved hearing more of 'her story' and relating to her as well. Denise and I go back to the young married living in Dallas days. We were in the same small group there and then she and her husband moved to Lubbock a month after us! We have two children the same age and shared so much of the fear and happiness involved in being pregnant at the same time! She has four children. The most recent precious girl you can read about here

If you went to that link you will understand why she was asked to speak at a Retreat entitled, A Beautiful Heart.  Not only has she dealt first hand on the intricacy of how important the organ is, but I have NEVER met someone with a more Beautiful heart and that is just the truth. I can't ever tell her how I feel about her in person or I turn to a blubbery mess. I have never heard a negative thought or word out of this girl's mouth AND she has a great sense of humor and is super fun!!! A rare combination.  I am honored to call her my friend. 

All three did an incredible job and tears were shed as each one of them spoke. A truly moving retreat to say the least.  We also had so much fun with activities. We made scarves out of t-shirts, healing lotion, recieved back massages by a our sweet certified masooose (Sp?) Jesse, made encouraging window clings, and recieved heart healthy food and recipes as well as date  night ideas. We had wonderful catered meals and desserts.

The women in my church have blessed me in SO many countless ways. I wish everyone could have the kind of support and encouragement and accountablility I recieve regularly from them. I am surrounded by amazing examples of God's Love and service in ways I have never seen before becoming apart of this church family.  I am not aware of everyone who might be reading this but if you do not have this in your life you need it. I don't know how people make it through hard stuff without it.  You may have to make the effort of becoming involved but that is not hard and once you walk through the door, you can't beat it.  I know HE exisits. I see him in all the complicated artwork of nature and I feel him tugging on my emotion. But I believe women need women to cope with life!  The good times too!  I struggle with having faith sometimes. I get caught up in myself. I get caught up in how I think things should be. Sometimes I forget that there might be more to it than I can see. I love that we are at all different places in life and in our walk and because of this there are people who have been where I have been and can encourage me to keep going.  I feel Him more in those circumstances than any other. He talked through several women to reach me about various things this weekend. No not like magic or people being posessed. But ' just the right words at just the right time'. That happens TOO OFTEN to be coincidental! 

On a lighter note, my friend Ashley did all the decorations along with Kerri who made several of the wooden signs and it was like we were at a high dollar hotel or something!  YES those are fish who are color coordinated swimming in those jars/vases. What a refreshing weekend!

Here are some more pics of worship and fellowship times.

Ladies Retreat

I had the opportunity and priveledge to help with my church's Ladies Retreat this weekend. I have now been a member for 9 years and have been to each one. We used to have them at the Holiday Inn in town, its actually a really nice one with indoor pool and everything! But this was our third year to have it at our church instead and I have to say I really like it better this way for several reasons. Its nice to have the time to really decorate how we like to and its kind of like being, well, home!  The theme this year was A Beautiful Heart.  It was a bonus that my dear friend Denise was one of the speakers AND I got to work with all my favorite people in putting it together. People I wish I could spend SO much more time with throughout the year.  Wonderful time with Godly women is JUST what I needed. There is just too much to say about this weekend in the short amount of time I have. I am in between games for a baseball tournament today and clearing the photo card for that! So here is just a preview of what I hope to be a more detailed  post in the near future :) 

Its like a HEAT WAVE!

Its only April and our town is making records in temperatures. The high today??? 101~ A time when I am actually thankful for the dryness out here! Makes it much more barable.  The best thing about this town are the evenings. It can be a scorcher in the day and the night is almost always pleasant with temps in the 70's.  Here are some pics from this weekend that make me excited about summer.  I have to give a disclaimer though. Hearing this music coming down the street is actually a bit creepy to me, but my fun loving husband always darts for his wallet and out the front door chasing him down just like the kid he is deep inside.  One of the qualities that makes him a great dad! Our sweet friend/neighbor Ella joined in but was waiting until after her dinner to open hers. We are a hungry lil family and usually eat at 6 or sometimes even earlier. I am going to love certain things about being an old lady :)  You know like eating at 4m eating pea and egg salad, coffee a few times a day, always having a blanket on me, oh wait- I already do all these things!

Whats up around here

Mostly laundry. This is actually all gone and put away now but a whole new set is coming :) I have a tiny little laundry room that is actually the door way to the garage. I have a make-shift mud room area in a 'freezer' space. I have had quite a list of projects in my head. The laundry room has been one since we moved in. I would really like to add a laminate surface over the washer and dryer to prevent things from falling down on all sides of them and I would love one of those little halltree things complete with hooks and a bench with storage instead of my antique chairs being scuffed beyond belief.  I have had too much time lately to think about these things. First because of a proceedure and then due to illness we have been stuck in the house the entire weekend and now an added day with my daughter. We are thinking its the fresh avacados we used in our soft tacos Saturday night but I am throwing EVERYTHING out to play it safe.  Anyways, back to project list. I now also want to paint my bathroom, bedroom, and dining room chairs!!! HOLY MAD COW, now its all I can think about. I have also wanted a banquette eating area in my breakfast area and would love to replace that lamp you see there on the table.   I am seeing a lot of $$$$ signs.  BLAST HGTV!!!!!  This would not be such a bad thing if I had the two ingredients to make them happen! Time and Money!  How do you keep up with laundry for five people, have a clean house AND soak up that two year old before you blink and he is 6??!!  Of course there is always that thing called a job too. I just work part-time, on purpose because it has always been important to me to be involved in my children's lives in their classrooms, and activities. Also would LOVE to be exercising.  I am struggling to juggle. Therefore, I often have laundry on my chairs :) Besides dishes in the sink its my LEAST favorite thing.
  I am including a picture of my laundry solely because I want to remember the REALITY of my life at 38 with three children.  I think its time for a change though. I am ready to start some of these projects and make time for being healthy.  I definately could use the added energy and with a beach vacation coming up this summer, I would like to actually wear something that is okay to get wet in! 
  Yes I complain about laundry, a dirty house, and even sometimes the screaming children in it- would I change any of it??  All a blessing to have.  Just want to changea the things about me to make all these better.

THE Cinderella Ball

Olivia has not asked to go anywhere ever, well maybe McDonald's but not any kind of event. She got a postcard in her backpack one day that we also received in the mail the same day about the Cinderella Ball and Luncheon. She BEGGED to go. It fell on Trent's birthday, this past Saturday April 14th. I asked him if it would be okay if we went since it was just an hour and a half. Of course he was fine with it. The poor guy actually spent from 6:30 that morning to 2 in the afternoon at our baseball team's garage sale for a fundraiser... His birthday will be my next post. This one is all about Olivia and the little girl in me that got to attend a special ball. We went with our sweet friends Krysten and her sister and mother who is also my friend, Danielle. These girls look more like sisters than most who are genetically that I know!! Such sweet little friends since they were twoin pre-school. Their mom is cute, young and trendy and helps me out in the fashion department often :) She happens to be the one who made the flower pins on my sweater from Easter as well! I guess you can add talented to that list! We did indeed have a BALL!! Complete with wand making, finger sandwhiches, a chocolate fountain, a glass slipper souvenier, and they even got to dance with the Prince! We also got to see him dance with Cinderella, another snipit from the Ballet taking place this weekend. Our same little group saw The Nutcracker back at Christmas time and fell asleep so we opted out on the performance this time.

Announcing, LADY OLIVIA.....
Making Wands

Her wand

with the Ballerina Princesses

Me and my girl

Dancing with The Prince