The One Where I Let Go Of My OCD For A Day

So the other day my husband was running water through his paint sprayer to see if it still worked correctly before he put paint in it. The water was spraying out and Emily came outside and started playing with the water that was coming out. She was laughing and giggling and having so much fun, that when she asked if she could play with the water hose, I said yes.

Normally, I think I would have said something like no, you just got dressed, you don't need to get all wet, or something like that. I'm pretty OCD when it comes to things like this. But I saw how much joy she was having and I thought, why not? It's just water. She had such a good time and my heart was so overjoyed to see that.

When she was done, she changed clothes and we went a picked up Ethan, who was playing at a friend's house. I took them to the library where they were having someone playing music outside. Ethan was more interested in the music than books, so he waited for us outside and listened to the music while Emily went in to check out the books.

This girl loves to read and will check out 3 or 4 at a time and will read them all in a week.

I then took the kids to the park. Both of them bee-lined it for the pond with the ducks, but the ducks weren't having it. They quickly swam away and wanted nothing to do with us.

While Emily played on the play scape, Ethan was looking for sticks. He didn't want to play and I asked him if he was getting to big to play at the park and he said yes. My heart was a little sad. Don't get me wrong, I am ready for Ethan to start maturing, but too old to play at the park?

Well, Emily had a great time playing.

I had such a great time even though I let go of my OCD and I know my kids had a great day as well.


After the park, we went and return our Redbox movie (Wreck-It Ralph, which I fell asleep on but it looked like it was cute), then McDonalds and finally grocery shopping.

I'm hoping for more great Saturday's like this.

Share A Laugh Sunday

And I've been keeping a mental tally in my head all along! This is genius!

Just kidding!

Have a great week, Jennifer

Dad's 60th

This Saturday we celebrated my dad's 60th birthday. He is not one to want any kind of party or big deal on his birthday, but this was the big 60! We had a few family members come over for the par-tay!

My dad wanted Frito Pie (or chili pie, whatever you call it where ever you're from, with Fritos, chili and cheese!) and I made his cake.

Yes, I made it with Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls! No, I am not a genius! I found the recipe from here.

But I figured that Little Debbie did all the hard work by making the Swiss Cake Rolls, so I took her up on the already made goodness and make this here cake. I just added chocolate pudding and Cool Whip.

We all had a good time. My dad bought Ethan a left handed guitar, so he brought it out and practiced a little. But his attention span is about 4.5 seconds, so the practicing didn't last too long.

My man was there.

Emily and I were being goofy.

And let me just say this... you can give a child all the expensive toys they ask for, but pure joy comes from the simplest things. Emily had the best time with a party hat, a party favor blower thing (whatever they are called) and some left over streamers while rolling around in my grandmother's rolling walker or as I call it, her hot wheels! But Emily was happy and content doing this for a long time and it was hilarious to watch her!

So happy 60th birthday, Dad! We love you so much! I have just one problem with you having a birthday, that means mine is a week after yours! Oy!

Share A Laugh Sunday

Do you ever get the Sunday Night Blues? I do.

You know, it's Sunday evening and Monday is coming. I need to make and pack lunches, set alarms, make sure backpacks are ready to go, make/eat/clean up supper, get the kids to bed early and look at the weather for the week because #1. I live in Texas and it's 90 degrees one day and then it's in the 40's the next and #2. It never fails that I will iron everybody's outfits for the week (without checking the weather forecast) and it will always end up being the opposite.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for my job. I'm thankful for it while we are in the season that we're in (husband is finishing up 2nd master's degree & trying to get his teacher certification). But if you've read my blog for any length of time, you know my dream is to be a SAH mom and make totally awesome cookies on the side. Between batches of cookies, I could totally iron some clothes!

So when I saw this ecard, I knew I had to share!  So here's to the Sunday Night Blues! I gotta go now. I need to iron a weeks worth of laundry.

Share A Laugh Sunday

I found quite a few funny things on Pinterest lately and I thought that I'd share some for Share A Laugh Sunday.

This is true. I rarely get on Pinterest but sometimes there is absolutely nothin' there and then there are times I hit the jackpot and pin like crazy.

I pinned this one in honor of my husband. He had a pair of ugly, grey sweatpants for years, and he called them his happy pants because once he put them on, he was staying home and wasn't going anywhere!

Because I'm a woman...

I totally feel like I'm trying to keep up with 10 things at any given time.

Because I'm going to be 35 in less than a month...

And because I'm a mom...

What I'm Loving!

I thought it would be fun to show you a few things I'm currently loving...


#1.  This isn't anything new I'm loving, and it's no secret...

Man do I love a good Diet Coke, and the best is from McDonald's. I'm not sure why their Diet Coke is so good and strong, but it sure 'nuff is.

I saw these cookies  on Pinterest the other day. I may or may not be a little jealous I didn't think of these first.

And I also saw this shirt I think I need.

And my birthday is coming up. I think this cake has my name on it. For reals!

#2. Did you catch this mini series? I really enjoyed it. We DVR'd all the episodes. I was so moved by the final episode, I went back and watched it a second time. I loved the way it brought so much of the Bible history to life!

#3. Am I the last one to jump on the bubble necklace bandwagon?

I love this one! I think I need a trip to Sam Moon soon for a bubble necklace!

#4. I'm loving this ecard because I do this!

Ha! Mark hates that I do this and I know I shouldn't, but I always wait until after my light goes off before I get gas. I think I have it down how far I can go after the light goes off, and I've never run out of gas *yet*, but never say never! I just hate having to stop off and get gas, but it's a necessary evil. Can anyone else relate?

#5. In a previous post I proclaimed my love for Whataburger!

Yes sir, Whataburger is the bomb.com! Nom, nom, nom. Their Diet Coke isn't bad either.


#6. Last but not least, I'm loving this toothless grin.

Baby girl lost her first front tooth! I can't wait until the other one comes out and she'll have that big gap up front. I swear there is sugar in her cheeks! So sweet !

Share A Laugh Sunday (On Monday!)

Last night Ethan and I went to a church in Pflugerville, Texas to go see christian comedian, Dennis Swanberg. I've seen him several other times and we watch his videos at home and on YouTube, so when I heard he was coming to Pflugerville, I was so excited! I knew we had to go. Unfortunately, Mark needed to try and finish up a paper and a project for school, so he had to stay home. I took Ethan with me and we had a wonderful time!

I'm always nervous when I'm not sure where I'm going, but I was able to find the church easy and once we walked in, we spotted a couple that goes to our church, and we sat with them.

A few minutes after the program started, I hear my name called from behind me and I turn around, and there were two lovely ladies from our old church! I was so glad to see them. They are precious, precious ladies who mentored me and I know for a fact prayed for me and my family through the birth, life and death of Chandler and through the adoption of Ethan. It was a wonderful reunion.

Ethan and I had a great time. We laughed and laughed and I was so glad that it ended up just us two. I put my arm around him and hugged him all through the service. I was so glad that the Lord gave us this special time together.

Ethan had my camera through the program and tried to take pictures but none of them came out! Bummer, I wanted to remember our fun night!

But in honor of our night of seeing the hilarious Dr. Dennis Swanberg, I'm posting one of his videos. I love it when he talks about his mom and dad and he does some spot-on impressions! So I hope you enjoy, it's an older video and it's a little long, but this is a great story!

Spring Break Bust!

For spring break this year, Mark and I got the wild idea to take the kids down to San Antonio and go to the zoo and then the Alamo. Seems legit and within reason, right?

What normally should have been about a two hour drive to get to the zoo took way more that two hours. It took for-ev-er!!

They had the main road to the zoo blocked off and rerouted everyone around. We were crawling and once we got to the point where they rerouted us, it took another hour to get to the zoo. It was bumper to bumper, every parking lot was full and once we got to the front of the zoo, it would have taken about another hour to get inside. Apparently, everybody else had the bright idea for the zoo, too.

We decided to forget the zoo and move on to the Alamo and the Riverwalk. Once we finally found a parking garage downtown to park in, we were all cranky, tired and hungry.

We turned a corner after coming out of the parking garage and what did I see? Only a slice of Heaven in front of me! Whataburger! If you're not from Texas or another state with a Whataburger, then I have to tell you, these burgers are so good! We ordered, got our number and sat down to wait. The number we got didn't surprise me considering the day we had so far.

Emily's face describes how we all felt.

But oh how I heart Whataburger! If we ever move out of Texas and to a state without a Whataburger, our visit's back to the Lone-star state will definitely include a trip to this fine establishment. Whataburger with cheese, please!

Mr. E and me!

We decided to move on to the Alamo. It was crazy there, too! The line outside the
Alamo wrapped around the building, so the kids weren't able to go inside. Ethan was disappointed because he had been studying about the Alamo in school, and he was telling us all about it's history.

Me: Maybe we can go to the Alamo.
Ethan: Yeah, we've been studying about that in school.
Me: Really?
Ethan: Yeah, we saw the movie.
Me: You saw the movie? That's how you've been studying the Alamo in school?
Ethan: Yeah, and that Jim Bowie was mean and he drank alcohol a lot.
Me: Oh! My school tax dollars at work! Thank you education system!

But this is about as close as we got.

Here's Mr. E in front of the Alamo.

So then we made our way to the Riverwalk. It was just as crazy over there. The wait for the Riverwalk boat ride was another hour or so. We decided then that San Antonio on spring break was not such a grand idea and decided to start heading home.

We stopped at the outlet mall in San Marcos and shopped for awhile, then we stopped at the Crackle Barrel, which was yummy as always.

OK, so the highlight of our San Antonio trip was Whataburger and the Crackle Barrel! Ha!

The next day I had an order for some cookies, so I baked these...

Funfetti Cake Mix Cookies

And these...

Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

And on Saturday, Emily and I went to go see my dad get ordained. Mark and Ethan were working at our church's clean up day the first half of the service, but they came later and was able to catch the actual ordination.

Me, my dad, my mom, Emily and Ethan

So a major lesson was learned. Don't, I repeat, DO NOT visit San Antonio during spring break! Do however, run don't walk to a Whataburger near you! (LOL!!)

 But it was nice to spend time with my family! I enjoyed it all!