Messy house = Lots of Love

Do you think my kids will measure my love for them by how dirty our house is? I sure hope so.  If not, somebody please impress upon them that having a messy house means I'm a good mom.  I recently came across this quote, for the second time in the last few months. 

"Good moms have sticky floors, messy kitchens, laundry piles, dirty ovens and happy kids."

Goofy. And yes, her hat is on inside out.

The first time I didn't think much of it.  A good excuse for being lazy maybe?  But this time I thought about it a little more.  And maybe I saw it in a new way because of a blog I had just discovered called Hands Free Mama. (I'll probably be writing more about this later.) The main thing I take away from it (the blog and the quote) is to live in the moment with my kids. They are growing and changing so fast if I get too caught up in other things - like cleaning my house, checking items off my to-do list, texting and checking social media - I'm going to miss all the fun and great things they have to offer right now. And maybe even miss knowing my kids. I get a little choked up when I think about that possibility.

Peek-a-boo!

Now mind you, I really do try to keep up with some of the housework. I don't want my kids living in complete filth after all.  I really hate having dirty dishes in the sink, laundry must be done, somebody's gotta buy the groceries and cook a little so we can eat and with a dog and a one-year old it's pretty necessary to vacuum at least twice a week. Ok, it should really be done every day but I'm pretty happy if I get to it twice.  But I'm trying to keep my number one priority of being a stay-at-home mom as being a mom, not a house cleaner, amateur photographer (this one is hard because I love taking pictures of my kids, especially with my new camera and I want to record everything so we can hang on to the memories), chef, blogger, etc.  Afterall, spending more time with my kids is why I wanted to stay home in the first place.

Sometimes I feel like I should be able to do it all. But the only thing I really need  to do is take care of my kids. And I need to remind myself that what I really want is to be the best mom, not the best at everything (or anything else for that matter). Like they always say (whoever "they" is), "Jack of all trades, master of none."

So, to quote another pinterest post I saw recently, "please excuse the mess, we're making memories here." And if you want to come to our house any time in the next oh, seventeen years, you should come to terms with the fact that it will probably be at least a little bit messy.  I finally have. Or at least I'm working on it.

Luck of the Irish

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

I have no Irish in my background. But Matt sure does (have you seen his hair?). And having gone to Notre Dame I really appreciate the Irish heritage. And I think St. Patrick's Day is a fun holiday to celebrate.  Definitely for the over 21 crowd, but it can be lots of fun for kids too.  I mean, what's not for them to like - little funny men in hats, rainbows with pots of gold, fun music and lots of green treats. So I enjoyed trying to make the day a little special for the kids.

One of the crafts we did last week. I think the gold glitter was her favorite part.

We started our day with green milk, green eggs, Irish soda bread and sausage.  Those Leprechauns sure are sneaky, turning our food green.  We listened to lots of Irish music and I tried to teach Kaelyn to jig.  I should have had a video of it.

Our Good Luck Charmer.

I tried to make Corned Beef and Hash for dinner.  It was edible but we ended up giving the kids last night's leftovers.  But they got to enjoy some special St. Patrick's Day mint chocolate chip cookies that Kaelyn and I made.  Brennan couldn't get enough.

And Kaelyn enjoyed her green beads. Big surprise.

Wishing everyone the luck of the Irish!

A Bee-Day Party

So, at least Brennan can never accuse me of not putting enough thought into his birthday parties.  At least his first.  I may have gone a tad overboard on the theme.  If you only knew all the other things I had planned in my head and on pinterest but didn't have the time or money to get to, you'd truly think I was crazy.  Anyway, once I discovered the Bee theme party I was sort of hooked and all I could think about was bee's for the past month and half.  I realize Brennan probably won't remember anything about this party except for what he sees in pictures but I had a lot of fun planning it and it's sort of as big of a milestone for me as it is for him.  Most of his future parties probably won't be this elaborate though.  And really, the most important thing was being able to share the day with people we love.  Uncle Jay couldn't make it.  And Uncle Joey was planning to come but got stuck in Wisconsin by some crazy March weather.  And some of our friends were out of town.  But, all in all I think we had a very good time celebrating with everyone.  And Brennan is especially lucky that he get's to share his birthday with my favorite nephew, his cousin Tate.

Without further ado, here is Brennan's 1st Bee Day Party in all it's glory.

Lots of Bee decor

My greatest achievement.  A lot of hours went into making these banners.  I was originally going to buy a similar banner on etsy, but decided to do it myself.  It took a loooooooooooong time and several breaks for hand cramps, but I had fun being creative and I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

Favors!

Homemade Beehive cake.  Didn't turn out quite like the picture but acceptable for an amateur. And the recipe was delicious - Brown Butter Banana cake with honey and walnut icing. The candy bees were store bought.

Tate's cake (I did not make this one. One cake was all I could handle for the day.)

Brennan trying to play with the big girls (and shoving a cracker in his mouth of course)

B's beautiful big sister in her pretty new dress.

Happy birthday boy

"Happy Birthday to you!"

First bites of cake

Looking up to his big cousin and getting a little help with his cake

This picture needs no words

The birthday boys!

Happy Birthday to my baby boy!

Ok, so I realize it's been forever since I posted anything.  And I still don't really feel like writing.  I'm still recovering from planning and throwing the most awesome one-year old birthday party ever.  Toot-toot!  Once in a while I have to toot my own horn. I realize there have probably been better parties in the history of time, but I was pretty proud of some of the stuff I did.  But right now I don't want to talk about the party.  I'll write another post about that later.  Right now I just want to talk about my amazing little one-year old (it's kinda surreal to actually say that).  I know people say it all the time but I seriously cannot believe it's been a whole year already since he's been born.  It went too fast!  As fun and exciting as a one-year old is, can't I keep him a baby just a little bit longer?  Please, pretty please!?  Somebody once told me that the days are long but the years are short.  Truer words have never been spoken.

Brennan had his one year check up this morning and here are his stats: 32 inches long (95%), 23.4 pounds (60%), head is 47.3cm (75%).  The doctor said he was doing great.  He already has 8 teeth and 4 molars coming in (along with a lot of pain, poor little guy).  Oh, and he may have said his first real word at the party on Saturday: ice - pronounced "eyessshhh."

Some of Brennan's favorite things at one year:
His big sister
His big brother
Snuggling (He has been such a super snuggler lately!)
Tackling his big sister
Chasing his big brother
Opening and closing the CD player
Little Einsteins (mom of the year already letting her one-year old watch cartoons)
Glow Worm
Putting lids on things
Playing in the pantry, the fridge or the bathroom cabinet
Climbing
Bubbles
Balloons
Swinging
Cars (especially when someone drives them over his head and down his back)
Playing in the play kitchen
Taking all of his clothes out of the dresser and putting them back in (sometimes)
Touchy-feely books
Bouncing on the bed
Dancing
Paci
Cake (like mother, like son)

We love you little boy!