January--Goal Update

1. Plan a weekly menu.
   Menu planning is my sweet spot.  I can do this and grocery shop like it is my job.
   
2. Organize all tax paperwork.
   I hate taxes.  I love getting my money back, but I hate taxes.  I have it all piled up in the dining room to work on and one day I will actually work on it.
   
3. Clean out master closet and dressers.
   I started in my closet area and dresser as well.  I still have some work to do since I have a 4-6 size range of clothing to choose from.  I also have a LOT more than I actually need.
   
4. Clean out master bathroom cabinets & organize them.
   This was actually kinda fun and it didn't take me very long.  Expired medicine and cosmetics take up a lot of space in cabinets...  I love having a 'clean cabinet.'
   
5. Begin cleaning out the playroom closets and  storage dormers.
   We lost a pretty expensive Christmas gift this month, so the playroom got searched by default.  I also reorganized all the toys into bins and encouraged my kids to keep it clean that way!  It is so much easier to find the toys when they are in the right place!
   
6. Exercise 20 times this month.
   Nur.  That's a NUR from me.  I didn't even come close to this.
   
7. Start process of ceiling repair in kitchen.  Either hire a contractor OR DIY.
   Nope.  Moving this to February since we have a break from school and I hope to get it done then!
   
8. Clean giant window at front of house.  Caulk it.
   I need a giant ladder that's clean... anyone?  Once I get that ladder I can get this done!
   
9. Print a canvas of the latest family photo session for the living room.
   Printed.  Ordered.  On the way!
   
10. Select a color theme for the MK & dining room.
    I have decided to do a light blue/green and grey theme for both.  I'm excited to get this done in the spring!
    
11. Research cruises for family in 2018...
    Nope.  But I still have a ton of time for that.  I decided I should wait for the wrestling schedule to be released so I can compare times to cruise departures, etc.  

I like the idea of breaking this down monthly.  I need to compare my yearly goals to this monthly list and do the difficult/important things first.  I know the things that take up a lot of time need to be done early too!  

He's seven.

This kid of mine.

I posted this picture a few months back and I can't help but love it a lot this week.

He turned seven this month.

That is more than one hand...

It requires two hands to indicate his age now.

He lost 3 teeth in the month of January, technically one weekend.

He just got notice that he has tested INTO the gifted program in our schools.

He's a genius, no denying it now that we have proof.

I love watching his kindness on display for others.

He is cautious and calculated with every move he makes.

He follows the rules and is motivated to do all the things.

I love watching him with his sisters.

He wrestles tomorrow and I'm already a nervous wreck.

Seven years ago this month I was learning about love.

I had no idea what it was like to be a parent.

I was terrified and still am, most days.

But if he's the first edition, then we are doing alright.

He's my favorite boy in all the world.

The celebration begins with a parade...

Soooooooooooooo, we stayed at this sorta scary, sorta cool hotel.  I'm a mom with serious hotel standards, but I let them SLIDE this one time.  We did Disney for less than $500 for a family of 5 and it was possible due to our awesome hotel!

First off, a parade at Magic Kingdom.  The kids loved every minute of it and I was thrilled we caught some of their favorite characters dancing!

We rode the monorail too.  I love riding Disney transportation because it is so easy with the kids!

We have a nice plethora of strollers to choose from, just in case we run out or need options.  These are two of my favorites and I really like having choices.  Judge me.

This girl doesn't look pumped, but she was.  Swear.

Woody!

Chip and Dale!

My baby chunk and her Daddy.  She went to Disney when she was about 6 months old and slept a lot.  This trip she was awake and awesome!  She had a BLAST!

Annnnnnnnnndddddddddddd, the Tea Cups.  We love this ride and my kids are rockstars about it.  We laugh the ENTIRE time.  It is awesome.  I cannot wait to take all 3 of them on it and have their Daddy watch.  He can't ride.  He pukes.

 And the ultimate family competition ride.  Can I please just beat Daryk ONCE with this!?

I did this trip!  I did not cheat, no matter what he says.  I actually just used my time wisely to make sure that I got enough points while the ride was stopped.

Prisoners of the evil Emperor Zurg.

Disney Day 1

We are only about 6 months behind in life and the blog.

We traveled to Disney World on Thanksgiving Day in 2015.  Our sis and bro in law hosted our early dinner so that we could load up and head out early!  After dinner and no nap we loaded everyone up and I drove.  It works better if I drive since Daryk drives like a grandpa....

We had a tiny break in wrestling season from Thanksgiving Thursday-Sunday and that was the ONLY 4 day stretch that we had off all season!  I booked that trip to see THE MOUSE as soon as I realized we had the funds and the time off!

So I drove.  So we could get there at a decent hour.  Pretty sure we pulled into the scary $30 a night outside door hotel around midnight with plans to get up at 7 the next day.  The scary hotel with outside doors had a HUGE room.  After check in and unloading, we crammed sleep in and then we got up early the next morning, courtesy of our real life alarm clocks in the form of PRESCHOOLERS, and grabbed breakfast at the hotel before we hit the parks!

Traveling with this dude means the never ending hunt for the ORANGE Mountain Dew.  He is always thrilled to find it and buy as many as possible for the trip!  It isn't sold in the metro  Atlanta area, so we always stock up when we travel.  

At some point we stopped for dinner at a Cracker Barrell, because they were open on Turkey Day and changed the kids into their jammies.  If Chick-fil-A isn't open, we shoot for the CB since they have a space to walk around and good food!  Plus, their bathrooms are usually pretty clean!  

Sleepy babies as we pulled into the hotel and checked in!  

Day 2:  Coming soon!

Frozen Finale

I'm pretty sure we had our last gymnastics session with Hayes this spring.  He's too big and too old and too busy to be bothered with them now.  I'm not sure what we will do with him from here forward...

He tried soccer.

Loved it!

He is currently participating with wrestling and he loves it!

I'm curious to see what happens next!

I bought a minivan.

I don't know when my mind was changed, but at some point along in this parenting journey I changed my mind and decided to dive headfirst into the world of the minivan.  I had zero desire to do this until I experienced loading two small people into my small SUV and wrestling them into their car seats while freezing or getting rained on or sweating.  I made up my mind to start shopping for a new mode of transport once I realized that wrestling 3 of them wasn't going to get easier AND the car seats wouldn't fit in my Escape.  I loved my little road turtle and I was sad to see her go, but she will get to live a fun life with a college kid from here on out.  

I bought this beauty and I'm in love.

She has more gadgets than a spaceship.  The doors open at the push of a button.  Several buttons actually.  I don't have to wrestle them into their seats or the car anymore.  I'm thrilled that they can also climb into the car by themselves.  No more wrestling for me... for now.  She has a DVD player (praise God) and leather seats.  The bonus was a sunroof and a heat/ac control board that I'm still trying to learn how to use...

Ignore my extremely tidy garage shot...

The weekend we were car shopping happened to be right after the second nasty snow/ice storm and my parents were kind enough to take the kids!  We had already planned for them to go to the lake for that weekend.  Instead of watching a state wrestling tournament I managed to buy a minivan and get a stomach virus all in one day!  Pretty sure my children had a much more enjoyable Saturday than I did!

They got ice cream and played on a playground!

Leave me some love.

I'd love to hear from you!

Daddy Time

This man.

This man who is the father of my children is an amazing human.  He comes home from wrestling practice and gives my children a bath every night.  He sits with us at family dinner and then cleans it up too.  He plays with them each night and manages to say prayers with them every night before bed too.  He lets this little girl squish his face and hit him on the head with a hairbrush brush his hair every time she asks.  He will even sit with them in the chair and let them squirm all over the place while they ask him 90 questions.  

He talks about super heroes, dinosaurs, and Disney movies with Hayes.  He makes faces and teaches him important things about being a big boy, like how to pee in the toilet and not on my bathroom floors...  He spends time coloring 'art' with him and uses every opportunity to teach him something.  He sings silly songs and will dance around the living room if Hayes asks him to.  He helps Hayes choose his clothes every single day and he even makes sure he matches.  

I understand that not everyone gets the whole 'married to a coach' lifestyle.  I knew he was a coach when I married him.  I didn't anticipate that this 'wrestling family' would become mine by default, but I love them too.  I'm grateful for the friendships and the love that community provides to my family as well.  I'm thankful that my husband, the coach, comes home to love on my children after working all day with everyone else's.  He shows my children so much through coaching.  

His love for wrestling and those wrestling kids is phenomenal.  Hayes and Elizabeth both know all those guys as 'daddy's boys' from wrestling.  As far as they are concerned, all those boys are their friends too.  I'm so proud of my husband, the coach.  Sure, there are nights I resent wrestling.  Most of the time I'm tired and the kids are trying my patience and I'm ill about the fact that I'm doing the 'parenting' all alone.  I know I'm not the only mom doing things by myself... and I know that I'll have my parenting partner home soon enough.  

And you know what, he's a darn good partner.

And parent.

And husband.

And I love him for all of those things.

Weeknight Tree Decor

Daddy is in the middle of wrestling season.

I am a solo parent most nights until about 6:30-7 p.m.

Most of the time I don't mind it.

Last week as I was recovering from the sick I wasn't a fan.

Every night was hard and I was already tired.

I think my Publix bakery knew my struggles.

They had these amazing cookies out for display.

I bought two.

The children spent at LEAST one hour decorating them.

And then they ATE them for dinner.

Judge me.

Go ahead.

I was so thankful for them to have a break and some down time.

I saved all the extra icing for another cookie decorating time later.

Senior week

This is Sean and Daryk....

Or at least their look alikes during senior week at AHS.

I have never laughed so hard at a group of kids who had a blast.

They loved dressing up like our staff and did a great job!

You can hardly tell that they aren't male coaches...

Uncle Joe

Yes.

We have socks on our hands.

Yes.

That is our neighbor/uncle, Joe.

Yes, the children had a blast.

And no, Libby doesn't have pants.

Your point?!

I think he's their new favorite person.

ALX Wrestling

The Friday before we left for Disney was a crazy day! 

We always have wrestling state finals the week before we have that break in February.

I hate it.

It is the most stressful time in the coaching season and it kills my husband.

After it is over he is so tired he sleeps for about 10 days. 

Not really, but something like that.

He and his brother, Sean, work so hard for 4 months and then they crash, hard.

Watching the rounds on Friday.

They watch with such anticipation and excitement.

I can't imagine what their blood pressure is.

I know mine is through the roof while watching and I'm not the coach.

And among the disappointment, you have moments like this one.

Deandre won a state title.

Finally.

This kid.

Ummmmm, you know those kids you see that have an amazing story that is heartbreaking and sad?

He's that kid.

And instead of being that kid who falls between the cracks or uses that as a disadvantage

he uses that and motivates himself to do better.

He worked SO hard for this title and I couldn't be more proud of him!

Such joy in that moment!

He's our little machine that never stops working.

And he won.

Well deserved.

Three state champs this year!

Not too shabby ALX!

ALX Seniors. 

So proud of those boys!

And that sweet little baby is Kendall, my niece.

You can read allllll about her and her mommy here at New Beginnings.

She is clearly amazed by her feet, I mean, the champs.

That's a wrap people!

Friday night consisted of some feet dancing/walking with Daddy after big brother went to bed early.  

Do any of you parents have suggestions/ideas about fixing the picky eater syndrome?

We have started putting him to bed early if he refuses dinner...

Mind you, we aren't starving him.

But the child cannot survive on food bars alone.

If you'll notice her giant belly AND grin.

I think she loves him.

Daddy was home alllllllllllllll weekend.

He didn't have a wrestling tournament.

We haven't had him home for a weekend since November.

No joke folks.

It was SO nice to have Daddy home for a day or two.

This is my new book.

I bought it from Amazon, my favorite website everrrrrr.

I love Jill Conner Browne.

Go buy all her books right now.

You'll laugh until your belly hurts and then you'll laugh some more.

If you can't appreciate Southern sass, humor, and charm... don't bother reading.

You just won't understand...

We snuggled up today for a little bit after naptime.

They were still for about 5.5 seconds.

But it was a really sweet 5.5 seconds.

Can I get an amen?

And then this happened after bath and before bed.

My heart melted and I got a little weepy.

I love those people right there.

Being the wife...

Y'all, I'm so proud to be a coach's wife.

It is HARD work and I know I complain about it a lot, but it is not the end of the world.

It takes endless hours away from my family and I get annoyed, and often jealous.

It means sometimes my husband comes home later than I would like.

Sometimes my kids don't see him for days at a time.

Sometimes when they do see him, he's so tired he isn't much fun.

Sometimes he misses dinner, and bathtime, and bedtime.

He came home last night for about 5 minutes only to rush back out again.

But one of his kids needed him.... so we ate dinner, did bathtime, and bedtime without dad.

He loves coaching.

He is more passionate about that than most people understand.

There are days when I want to tell him to quit.

Days when I want to yell about how angry I am at the things it keeps him from.

Days when I'm annoyed because I've been alone with little/no help from him for too many hours.

There are times when I want to ask him why these kids seem more important than my family.

But then I go watch him coach and I see it.

This is what drives him.

Something deep inside of him would change if he stopped.

It is part of his lifeline.

A necessity, if you will.

Saturday I was able to leave my mom duties and my own coaching duties to someone else for a while.

I got to drive south and watch my husband do what he does.

I drove to Macon to watch him coach our boys.

They are OUR boys.

I feel like they live in my house sometimes because I hear about them OR from them so often.

The ones who have graduated stop by to say hello.

Some of them even call me Momma and that makes me smile.

This is the 4th year in a row that we have taken 2nd place.

2nd place is a HARD pill to swallow when you were counting on 1st.

It is not something my husband wants a congratulations for.

Good job, or great work... but not congratulations.

2nd place is not 1st.

And I can assure you that my heart broke as I watched the matches unfold Saturday afternoon.

I cried as I realized the score wasn't going to be in their favor.

Each time the referees blew the whistle and the score changed I cried a bit more.

Slowly understanding that mathematically, we couldn't catch up.

We were going to lose, take 2nd place, not win. 

All that work....

All those hours....

And we came up short.

Devastation.

Someone asked me if he cried too.

He did, but we didn't see it.

And Sunday morning, after the sting wore off, he began prepping.

He began busily compiling notes on his iPad on how he could make his kids better.

Notes for them on things to work towards.

Things to improve, change, eliminate, etc.

He spent the majority of the day working through his disappointment and anger with notes to get better.

He helped with breakfast, and lunch, and dinner, and bathtime for the kids.

He cleaned the house and took a nap.

We talked about every match and what could have happened differently.

He started to pull himself back up and trudge forward by the end of the day.

The pity party was over and the work was just beginning.

He left the house Monday morning more determined than ever to make it work.

To win again.

His next chance, well THEIR next chance at a state title is in 5 weeks. 

I know it's all I'll hear about until it's over.

I'm prepared.

Remind me that I said that when I vent or whine about it, okay?

Side note:  I teach with the husband.

We both coach.

Somewhere between coaching and parenting I find time to manage his managers.

These are just a FEW of my girls.

They travel all over the state helping to take care of OUR boys too.

I am so thankful to know they are part of our world.

They work hard and take it hard when we lose. 

After ALL is said and done...

This is part of my family.

They love my babies.

They love me.

They love my husband, even though some days they might not LIKE him very much.

I wouldn't trade them for the world.

A few new things this week

Sunday afternoon Hayes says, 'Momma, take our picture in this chair.'

End result, best picture ever.

I die.

Thanks to my Aunt Patsy and Daryk's fear of online shopping, I got new chucks for Christmas! 

I love my new shoes. 

They go AWESOME with all my ALX gear.

This chick has been practicing for summer.

She was ready for a bath before I was ready to put her in the tub.

Seriously, I was cleaning the toilet and she managed to dive into the tub.

Weird thing was I didn't hear a splash at all.

I just noticed her laughing after she came up for air and was soaking wet

Dress, leggings, socks, shoes, and all.

She's pleased and I laughed. 

My big boy turned 3 last week. 

We celebrated his special day in his classes at school this week.

He could have cared LESS that I showed up at all.

He was thrilled with this new puzzle Mrs. Greene bought for his class. 

It had bugs on it.

I've been following this blog called Crossfit Mamas for quite some time now.

I decided to participate in her 90 day challenge and I've started incorporating elements of her WOD as well.

I've been doing Crossfit type exercises and cardio all week long.

The result:  my pants fit better, my body is sore, and I feel awesome.

Success!

Also, it's time to restock my homemade detergent bottles.

I got my recipe from One Good Thing by Jille here.

Easy, fast, smells great, and it is the least expensive way to clean the mountains of laundry at my house.

It makes me SO happy to save money and still get great smelling laundry.

Lastly, this bracket dictates the future of the ALX wrestling program.

We are fighting for a state title this weekend.

Safe to say that I'm a NERVOUS wreck as the coach's wife.

I even filled in my own bracket so I can see who is coming next.

I'm ready for another state title ring in my house!

Y'all say a prayer for us this weekend.

Countdown to Disney

48 DAYS PEOPLE!  

We are going to Disney World in February after I endure the last of wrestling season.

I think that's a fine reward for being a wrestling widow for the last 4 months, don't y'all?

I cannot wait!  

I think this little girl will just light up and run everywhere.

She loves new things and I am certain she will enjoy this trip!

 48 days until I get to drag go with my husband to the happiest place on earth!  

Pretty sure the kids will be dragging us back in once we finally get there!  

I know this little guy will be thrilled because he will get to meet the laundry list of Disney men he loves.

I am so ready to go I might start packing now.  

I have been prepping for this since LAST summer, when I had Elizabeth.

I'll share the details about that later!

Oh, and Happy New Year!