Valentine's Ball

 <-- This is an old picture but I had to post it because it's so cute. We were moving and Tommy really wanted to help so we let him get in the moving van and move things around. He loved it, it was adorable. This was just maybe a year ago (I can't believe that!) and he already looks so much bigger. Somebody tell my kids they're not allowed to grow that fast right under my nose! It seems slow day to day, but when you look back at pictures that weren't taken that long ago and they look so much smaller... it's a reality check that time is moving too fast. Must... enjoy... ALL OF IT! That's how I feel all the time these days.

We just went to our first military ball! It was a Valentine's Day ball and it was SO fun. I got to buy a pretty dress (looked all over for one with sleeves... no luck. It was our last chance to go to a ball before Justin's enlistment is up and I wasn't missing it because of a sleeve problem. lol)

 

A big shout out to Kailee Penland for doing my hair! She is awesome and I felt beautiful all night! :) Look at how handsome Justin looks in his suit! You just get better with age, I love you honey!

I am loved! :) 

Before & After

Before:

After: 

I apologize for the cheesy mirror picture. Justin wasn't around to take it. lol I've lost over 30 pounds! My scale is glitchy and can be up to 5-6 pounds off, so I rarely weigh myself unless I'm using a gym scale. I'm not sure exactly how much I weigh now. I have about 20 more to go! Hopefully in a another couple months I'll have the final results picture! (And I can hopefully put on my wedding ring again??)

Men at work!

Mama went a little picture happy yesterday afternoon. Tommy wasn't thrilled but I did get a couple of smiles out of him. We had our weekly pajama day, which entails doing nothing but lounging, playing and watching movies. My favorite! (Okay, maybe it happens more than once a week you caught me! :)

I've been having the boys build and do puzzles. I've noticed when I play with them too there is less throwing toys around and more actually using them the way they are intended to be played with. The picture frenzy happened after Tristan went down for his nap so I didn't get the middle cutie in any of them. Next time, you won't be so lucky Tristan! ;)

I'm babysitting the sweetest little doggy named Versace. The kids love her and it makes me really excited to get a family dog when we get back home. (We don't want to travel home with a dog. It'll be chaotic enough with the 3 monkeys... boy do I pitty the fool who sits by us on the plane! Hahaha)

Landon loves his bumbo. Whoever invented it deserves a million pats on the back for this fabulous thing! I got it when Tommy was a baby and it's held up through all 3 of them. It doesn't even look warn out! Landon loves sitting up and being in on the action. I joke with Justin that Landon is really a 4 year old in a newborn's body. He never has acted like a newborn. He's been playful and curious from the start and he sleeps better than most 4 year olds!

I love his sweet little face. He just melts me. Time flies by in a blur I'm so busy, but I try to remember to take a time out to just breathe and look at how beautiful our kids are. They're feisty little things, for sure. But most days they give me more happiness than stress. (Give or take lol)

Justin has found a promising job for our transition into "normal" life. I can't really consider military life "normal" though it has been wonderful part of our lives. It's a career some soldier's in Justin's field go into after their enlistment and would still be working for the government. So we could choose where we live, not have to work on a military base, etc. while still getting excellent health care and benefits. It's an extremely great opportunity and we're getting his resume, awards, paperwork together so we can mail it in. 5 months and counting!!

This is the best smile I could get out of Tommy. He's much too big and manly to smile for pictures, or so he thinks. He was so proud of his "princess peach" castle. Yeah.. he's probably playing too many mario games. I'd also like to thank Jason Brooke for sending us a Super Mario Bros. movie. Tommy adores it even though I think it's the cheesiest movie I've ever seen. lol


Tommy starts school next year and it's perfect timing. I don't want to move the kids around to different schools so I'm glad we're getting out of the military in time for him to start. I've had "1st day of school" scrapbook stickers for 4 years so I'm getting pretty excited to use them. Hah, Tommy thinks I take a lot of pictures now. Just you wait, you haven't seen nothin' yet! His first day is gonna be huge!

 <-- Landon found his toes!!

When I talk to Landon, Justin thinks I'm talking about food. "Oh you sweet, delicious, chocoloate-covered little morsel!"

♥

New Years Resolutions- January

For every month of the year, I'm going to complete one of my New Years resolutions. I first decided this just two weeks ago and chose really simple things for each month. Afterall, I'm a mom to 3 little monkeys. I don't have a ton of spare time. :)

For this month's goal I tried a new recipe with an ingredient I've never had before. I got the idea from an article I read on weight watchers. I made Hawaiian curried chicken with pineapple salsa. Here is the recipe:

       

• Ingredients:

3 sprays cooking spray

2 tsp peanut oil

2 tsp ginger root, minced

1 large uncooked onion, chopped

1 tbsp curry powder, mild variety recommended

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/8 tsp. sugar

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch chunks

1 cup light coconut milk

2 1/2 cups pineapple, chopped

1/4 cups shallots, sliced

• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 cup coconut, toasted
• 
  
• Coat a large skillet with cooking spray; set over medium heat. Add oil; heat until oil starts to shimmer. Add ginger and onions; sauté until onions turn translucent and start to caramelize, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add curry powder, salt and sugar; cook, stirring, until curry becomes fragrant, about 1 minute.
  
• Push vegetables to side of skillet and sauté chicken until lightly browned, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add coconut milk and reduce heat to low; simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until chicken is done, about 20 to 30 minutes.
  
• Meanwhile, to make salsa, combine pineapple, shallots and cilantro; toss well to coat
  
• To serve, top chicken with salsa and sprinkle with coconut; sprinkle with salt if desired. Yields about 3/4 cup chicken, rounded 1/3 cup salsa and 2 teaspoons coconut per serving.

It was pretty good and I definitely recommend it. For anyone interested, one serving is about one cup and it's 5 WW points. lol And I think the JH on the side of the picture means it's endorsed by Jennifer Hudson, so if you don't like it, you can go ahead and hold her accountable. :)

I decided that by December, there should be an end goal to all of these things I'm doing. Every goal should be part of a bigger goal. In the article it talks about setting a bigger overall goal for the end of the year. It suggests writing that goal down somewhere you can see it everyday.

I don't think I feel more successful than when I set a goal for myself and follow through. For a long time I couldn't seem to follow through with anything I wanted to accomplish, but the past 4 months have been different. I've set goals for myself and succeeded in them. It makes me feel amazing and I always want that feeling in my life. When December comes and I'm thinking about the past year, I want to feel successful. That is my goal for this year.

It's in the genes.

Tommy has been really getting into old nintendo games. We uploaded them onto our wii and it's been all he wants to do. We limit it so he's not playing all day, but it is really cute. Landon loves to watch. Tommy has some serious skill too! It must run in the family because Justin and I both played these games when we were kids. I think his favorites are super mario, zelda, and donkey kong.

We got him a MobiGo for his birthday last year and he loves playing that too. I don't mind it so much because it's actually taught him a lot. He knows all of his letters and where they are on a keyboard, his colors (even obscure ones like teal and violet), and his numbers. Tommy learns so fast! Kids at this age really are sponges. He soaks up everything.

3 Months ♥

 

Our baby gets more and more beautiful everyday!

A little smarter, a little wiser.

When Justin was deployed I was in Arizona for a few months to spend time with family. I thought my life was so hard. Here I was, practically a single mom for 8 months. My father in law told me that my life was easy because I only had one kid and I remember it made me so mad. I'm doing everything alone! How could anyone think that was easy?

Well, it's hard to admit, but he was right. My life was easy. I mistook my life being lonely for hard. It wasn't really hard in the way I thought it was, I was just bored and lonely without Justin. I can honestly say, my life is hard now. I'm happy and I love it, but it's hard. Having Tristan and Landon so close together has been challenging. I feel trapped inside my house. By the time we get shoes, socks, jackets on the kids, put Landon in his carrier, put together a diaper bag and get ourselves ready, Justin and I don't feel like going anywhere anymore. So we go in shifts. Justin will go out and do his errands, I'll go out and do mine when he gets back. We don't spend much time together like we used to because of it. Landon and Tristan have different nap schedules, so I have to wait for Justin to get home for lunch so I can shower. Which means he usually doesn't get to eat lunch and on the days he can't come home for lunch, I don't shower. lol 

There is no such thing as sleep at our house. Landon actually sleeps through the night now which has been amazing, but Tristan wakes up and then he wakes up Tommy too. I get 2-3 hours of sleep at a time. I've never been so sleep deprived in my life. If someone was to grant me one wish, it would be a whole day of sleep and someone to clean my house. I'm literally busy almost all day long, and then Justin gets home from work and he's tired too. So we split the work getting the kids dinner and put to bed, so we can enjoy an hour or two together before finding ourselves falling asleep on the couch and heading to bed.

I know this is a phase in our life and someday soon it'll all be different. The kids will be older and in school. I'll have afternoons to myself to do whatever I want. The kids will start going through growth spurts and sleeping longer than me. There will be a time I can eat my lunch all at once and sitting down. But in the meantime, it's chaos. I love it. I'm needed and wanted. I'm everything to my sweet babies and I wouldn't want it any other way. I'm trying to enjoy all of it. 

I'm trying to relax on the housework and not push myself as hard as I used to. I can't wait for my kids to have kids (maybe a granddaughter... please?) and I'll get to spoil them rotten, send them home and sleep the whole night through. Payback. ;)

I guess the point of this post is, no one has a perfect life. All the posts on my blog may all be of good things, but we're all dealing with our own struggles. I used to think everyone else's lives were fun and exciting and mine was the only one full of mundane things. It's taken until the last couple years to realize everyone's life is boring and mundane to a degree. I'm not the only housewife still in her pajamas at 3pm, right?

...don't answer that.