Wordless Wednesday

My favorite things 2010

Being inspired by Oprah's favorite things (Did you SEE that madness?)...I have been thinking about some of my favorite things this year. Now, I'm not giving them away or anything crazy...just a little fyi.



1. My Kindle: My favorite buy ALL year. Super handy and I have several books at my fingertips. *LOVE*

2. St. Ives Collagen Moisturizer: I saw this on a blog, and picked it up. It makes my face so soft, and I could be imagining it, but it seems by staying-up-late bags under my eyes have vanished!

3. Modern Family: Favorite show, hands DOWN. My only complaint is that it's not longer. Mark and I laugh out loud at this show.

4. Muk Luks: I wear these babies CONSTANTLY. Sometimes (almost daily) I wear them to drop off the kids at school....yes they are house shoes, but they are so comfy and they keep my feet warm!

5. My Blackberry: Yes, I'm fully aware that it's wrong to have two electronics in my fave things....but I have the Crackberry disease. I can get so much done; emails sent, pictures loaded, Facebook checked, texts...you know...all the important stuff? *insert eye roll HERE, Mom*

6. My CHI flatiron: Expensive? Yes. Burn your face off? Yes. Worth every penny to flatten my oh-so curly mane? Yes.

7. Jennifer Lopez 'Glow After Dark Perfume': Can't explain the smell...but I get compliments on it all the time.

8. Skinny Jeans: I'm one of those almost-30yr-old Moms that wear them.

9. Paramore's Final Riot CD: This has not left my CD player in months. I LOVE live music...it's like the energy of the concert is in my car. Favorite track?
#6,#8, and #14. I also adore "Feeling Sorry" off their Brand New Eyes album.

10. Hmmmm, now they are not "things" per say. But my FAVORITE things are kisses from my kids and my hubs. xoxo

Turkey Day 2010

We shared our Thanksgiving this year with a family friend. Akin is actually more like an Uncle to our kids...we've known him for awhile now. We are going to be stationed with him and his new family in June at Camp Lejeune. We made a HUGE feast and gorged on some plate(s) full of food. Then we proceeded to melt into the couch. I, of course, had to capture it because I'm ADDICTED to my camera.

And Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without going around the table telling what we are thankful for.

Mark- Our family
Ethan- My parents
Adelle- My clothes (?)
Amanda- Our health
Akin- Our food
Max- Bread

This continues Max's food theme this year...at preschool the kids were asked what they were thankful for- every single child mentioned someone in their family. As for Max...well....

old pics...

Today as I was looking at some old pics, I came across these FAVES of mine and had to share.

Love the new camera!

As you can tell- my picture quality lately has been HORRIBLE. That's because I've been taking pics with my Blackberry. I recently upgraded to a FujiFilm FinePix S1800. I am in awe. I love the quality and although its not professional grade- it's definitely a step up from the point-and-shoot cameras I've had in the past. I'm not a photographer by ANY means- but it's hard to take bad pictures of these cute subjects!
Here are a few recent photos I've snapped.

Our Anniversary

Today, 8 years ago, Mark and I took a leap of faith. We were broke- by broke, I mean not a penny to our name and in debt. We had our year old daughter. He was fresh out of bootcamp. We were moving FAR away from home; FAR away from everything familiar. We had all the odds stacked against us. The one thing we did have was our best-friend-ship. It was rough...there were many days I wanted to move back to my safe haven in Kansas. We kept on, and kept on- even when it got hard....and then when it got harder. I'm not saying we are out of the hard times yet, but looking back I have great pride knowing we made it through the tribulations of those first couple years. Mark is always real and never fakes anything. He's passionate- and when he says something he means it. He's also a loudmouth and we fight often about stupid things because we are both stubborn- but he's mine. We also have TONS of fun- we laugh every day. Knowing we made it through the crap makes me have faith that we can make it through many more years together. I love you babe!


"More marriages might survive if the partners realized that sometimes the better comes after the worse." ~Doug Larson

Happy Halloween!

We had an awesome Halloween! We had the company of Darth Vader, Buzz Lightyear and an 80's rocker. Here are a couple pics!

First day of school

Oh happy day!

The kids were so excited this morning I was SURE their heads were going to pop off their tiny bodies.
They were happy to have hot cocoa and chocolate chip muffins for breakfast. Adelle was SUPER excited to wear her new Converse "Chucks" on her first day.

Ethan was just happy to see all of his friends. Max starts preschool in a couple weeks, and then I may lapse into a childless coma. They are getting so big!

Fewer and fewer

my blog posts have become. Summer is a busy time for us, and although we have been home from vacation for 2 weeks now, I'm still drained. I am slowly catching up to my pre-KS routine. We "vacation" to KS (did I really just write that?!?) every summer for at least a month. The kids enjoy spending time with the family, and we just relax. We had many happenings this summer which include birthday parties, ice cream dates with cousins, movies, 4th of July, Cole's first B-day, boating, cliff jumping, tea parties, Mexican Train, surfing, pool time, river walking, and bike riding. Mark and I also had an overnight trip to KC kid-free which was so much fun! We had a fabulous time and can't wait to go home for Christmas!
The latest picturoos~

MIA

Wow, it's been awhile since I was on Blogger. My life has consumed me! May is our busiest month hands down. Since my last post, we had Adelle's First Communion, family here, Ethan's birthday, end of school, potty training Max (successfully), MOPS wrap up...I could go on and on. My last few weeks have been filled to the brim with things to do. As the middle of June approaches, we are finally slooooowing down a bit. My mother is here on Tuesday, and then the kiddos and I are headed to KS for a month. Everyone is happy and healthy, and I can't complain. I'm looking forward to some long days in the KS summer sun. Here are the latest pics....enjoy!


Uncle Danny and the kiddos




My chunky monkey nephew Cole



Adelle's big day



Ethan is 6!

Carnival

Saturday we went to School Carnival. We enjoyed watching the kids partake in pony rides, face painting, jumping on inflatables, dancing and hula-hooping. Afterwards, we took the kids to our new favorite place for some Italian ice. Fun family day!

~I love my Mom because~

She inspires me
She always wants what is best for me
She knows how to put me in my place
She loves my kids more than anything
She endures
She pushes me
She gives me great advice
She has never scared me
She laughs
She cleans
She makes fun of me
She is thoughtful
She steals my purses
She lets me steal hers too
She is faithful
She still does my laundry
She isn't scared to tell me like it is
She is sincere
She laughs when I have to give blood
She reads
She is my best friend
She gives me the best "Mom" hugs
She teaches
She is kind to people
She taught me so much, and still does
She has put up with me
She teaches Mark how to put up with me
She has dealt with all the curveballs I've thrown at her with grace
She still lets me polish her toenails and cut her hair
She loves her Mother
She loves her Mother-In-Law
She taught me what love is

Epidural legs and 2 bikes on his back.

Now that's a title. During the course of our marriage, Mark has supported, encouraged, inspired, taught, entertained, motivated and provided for me. But along with these great things, he has also provided many occasions when I feel more than one emotion strongly.

The first one that comes into mind is my labor with Ethan. If you have ever had an epidural you know that sometimes it can make your entire lower half go numb. While in labor with Ethan, my legs kept sliding off the bed. I had NO control over what was going on down there. I guess this was a hilarious sight for Mark and my Mother, because they pointed and laughed for like, hours. As I welcomed the distraction from labor, I was laughing, but the same time furious with him. I hated him playing with my dead epidural leg, but I couldn't stop giggling like it was the funniest thing I had seen EVER.

The latest crazy duel emotion onset was just yesterday during our bike ride with the kids. We were so motivated to go on our first bike ride as a family, we didn't think for one minute that 8 miles might be a little long for our 8, 5, and 3 year old children. Nooooo, we said- they go at least that many miles around our cauldesac every night!
So we set off, the first 5 miles were GREAT; sunny day, birds chirping, happy kids....and at one point, Mark even leaned over and held my hand while we were both riding. (Which if you ever do that, make sure when you let go, you just let go- NEVER pull away.) It was a movie-moment.


Then the first whine happened. Then the second. Then the third. Until it was a full blown- we need to stop or all the kids will DIE whining. So we stopped, and the older two decided they were done. So the following conversation happened-

Mark: "OK, if you guys are done, get in the trailer." "Manda, help me strap these bikes to my backpack."


Me: "Are you sure that is going to work?" (Really saying- "That is the stupidest idea I have ever heard, let's just make the kids ride it out...we can go slow.")

Mark: "Can you just help me?"

Me: "Alright." (Really saying- "I still think this is dumb, but I think it's kind of hot how you want to adapt and overcome.")

Mark: (strapping the bikes on his back) "Yeah....er...this is going to work...we just have to go quickly...(grunt).....(curse word)......ok, let's go."

So this has to be, hands down, the HOTTEST and STUPIDEST thing ever.



I'm happy I married a Marine- Mark refuses to say "I can't." If it was just the kids and myself, you couldn't have paid me enough to even ATTEMPT that.