Capture Motherhood

I was recently tagged in a photo on Instagram by a company that I follow Regalo Baby about capturing motherhood

Capture motherhood with us by sharing your favorite quotes, stories, and pictures. Simply tag us @regalobaby to share and use the hashtag #capturemotherhood. (@airkaka @oursmalltownsquad @alytoash @_mama.woo_ @sahmclothmom @jojoremy We love your IG accounts and would be excited to follow how you #capturemotherhood) . . . . . #tinymoments #uniteinmotherhood #momsunite #momlifeisthebestlife #candidmotherhood #our_everyday_moments #strongmother #momentsofmotherhood #mynameismama #mom_hub #ourcandidlife #simplychildren #illuminatechildhood #parenting101 #bestofmom #letthembelittle #teammotherly #writeyouonmyheart #motherhoodinspired #ig_motherhood #motherquotes

A photo posted by Regalo Baby (@regalobaby) on Oct 13, 2016 at 5:50pm PDT

I love the words they posted "I didn't lose myself when I became a mom I found myself."

Its something that I've been thinking a lot about lately so it was fitting and exciting when they tagged me to share how I capture motherhood.

My younger self never had a definitive plan as to what the future held.  All I knew was that some day I would be a mom.  It was a natural transition for me, but I did have to give up a lot to be able to be a mother.  Social mental, financial. Being a mother takes, and takes, and takes.  Sometimes it takes so much that you feel like you never get anything back.  In just the past couple years I was forced to stop and look at things much differently in all areas of my life.  Things that seemed to be one way, ended up being another.  I had to build myself up more than I've ever had to in order to be the mother and the person I wanted and needed to be.  My perspective on motherhood has changed so much since then and I am glad I've had to change.

For me capturing motherhood is about the spontaneous fun, the mundane and the down right boring moments.  Moments of chaos, and moments of calm.

Its the little mom fails. Getting ready to feed your baby a bottle then dropping it right on his face.  He doesn't want to be near you any more, so you make it work.

Losing a battle with a 3 year old about wearing a winter coat when its 90 degrees outside and he's sweating, but it makes him happy.

Having a continuously messy home even though you swear to your husband that you spent at least an hour cleaning it, oh well.

My squad 💕

A photo posted by Erica Jenkins//Good Job Momma (@airkaka) on Oct 5, 2016 at 10:56am PDT

Seeing your kids have a love for the same thing (technology) and play nicely together.


Being a mother is my job.  Just like if I had a job outside the home, and I bust my butt everyday.  Its hard, its lonely, its worth it.

Thank you Regalo Baby for inspiring this post today.  If you want to join in capturing motherhood use the hashtag #capturemotherhood and tag @regalobaby  on Instagram

Hey Mommy Style Monday. "Water" You Up To?

Hello to all!
Its Monday and I am joining in on mommy style Monday again with some rock star moms in the blogasphere!

This time around its all water day!

I've written the book on the perfect places to have a water day, but I confess, I hardly ever take my kids to pools or splash pads. Whoops!

Yes, it the perfect escape from the dreaded heat, but I guess my excuse is my little guy.  Its hard to go to places outside where he can be over heated quickly.  I've tried many times to go to the splash pad not to far from my house, but it just hasn't worked out yet.  I'm determined to go at least once before they close for the season.

We do outside water play around here. Running through sprinklers, water on the trampoline and making mud pies.

Even though its at home we still make sure we have everything we need to make it a fun time.

Sunscreen, water, towels, sunglasses, and of course the most favorite part of water days, otterpops.  

Since we don't leave the house often to cool off I get the luxury of sporting my mom uniform while we play.  On occasion, if I'm getting all in, I'll wear my swim suit but for the most part its baggy tees with leggings.  The ultimate in comfortable play.

But lets be real, I'd wear this out in public too. Just not to Target, I've got a rep to protect.

Little brother is still unsure about the whole water, outside, nature thing, but he's coming around. 

Big brother though is happy to take on any water day duties for both of them. 

**sisters were at school so they missed out of the epic photo shoots ** no water day actually happened in the name of these pictures ** i'll be having a water day today to make it up to Camden for not letting him play in water when i asked him to model in his swimsuit ** #worldsokayestmom **

Go check out  all the other lovely ladies participating in water day. 

Kiana // Glitter & Donuts

Madeline // CaseyLand

Bekah // These Are The Days

Jen // Jam Tart Boutique

Beverly // What a Day 

Kristen // Eat Play and Go

Monica // It's All About

Jessica // Mason Jars and Lemon Bars

Want to sign up for the next Mommy Style Monday??  Go to >> Kiana <>Madeline << blogs to sign up! 

Summer Break Is Over

Well we made it through summer break.

The girls started school this past Monday.

They woke up around 5 am and got ready right away and were walking around with their heavy school supply filled backpacks for 2 hours.  They tried to be super quiet for my sake, and not bother me cause they know I don't get much sleep at night yet. I guess they played with Leo in the crib next to me for awhile so he would be quiet for me too.  They are such sweet girls and I will admit I do miss them during the day.  They are so willing to help with Camden and Leonard.

Whoops kinda got carried away there for a bit.
 
They are loving school, sure its only been a week, but I'm hoping that they continue to love it as the year goes on.

Camden had to get in on all the picture taking action before the first day too.  

I love the first day of school pictures cause its the perfect time to compare at how much my girls have grown and this past year they have grown a LOT! 

It literally blows my mind!! I know kids grow fast but just seeing this jump is unreal! My grown up girls!

Summer haps

Its funny because its true!

**crying noise, crying noise**
**nose blow**

Oh summer.

This summer has been, obviously, very different than past ones, and it is throwing me out into the deep end.

I guess I underestimated how much work it would be to entertain 4 kids 24/7.  

I can do it though. I've got this.

I have a few tricks up my sleeve to get us to the end, happy, and alive.  I'll talk about that another time, whether it worked or not. *crosses fingers*

So this has been a sufficient post, so back to the grind.

Summer days{1}

First week of summer is over and we survived! Yay!  I'm starting a summer days series to recap what we've been up to each week.

We ended the week with our weekend in the woods family get a way.

During the week was spent playing, cleaning, & swimming.  We normally start swimming in the beginning of May.  We say that after my niece Rylee's birthday we can swim.  Well it has been so freakishly cool this summer so far the water hasn't had a chance to warm up so we hadn't been swimming yet.  Last week was the first time to swim at my parents this summer. It was still freezing!!  It started to rain a bit later that day.

What is happening?!?  I mean don't get my wrong i am happy for the cooler temps, but i would like to swim and have it be just a littler warmer for that.

Anyway, here are a few pics of the week.

Its nice having three minions running around. They volunteered to clean the dishes. Ev washed, Mia rinsed & Cam put away.  They noticed i took a pic and asked why, and i told them it had to be documented, there were being great helpers, Ev just rolled her eyes.

My squad.

We ended up staying and making a whole day of fun at my parents.  My sisters came over with their kids, and the cousins all played and had a great time.

My mom introduced my sister Kim and I to a card game called Canasta (not sure the spelling) my sil Amy knew the game but it's called Hand & Foot. It took a while for me to figure it out, there are like 100 rules to the game!  I will play again, so don't worry mom! OH and i found out that Chris knows the game? What? I guess some are more educated in complicated card games then i am.

See that bird in the picture above?  Well Kim and i were talking and the kids were playing outside and all of a sudden she looks behind me and was like "uhhhh, Cam is about to grab that bird?!" I turn right as he is just an inch away from picking up this bird!  It flew away and startled him pretty good.  It didn't go far and Cam just followed this bird around for a good 10 minutes, just walking in circles.  It was so funny, and the weirdest! Always an adventure for Cam. :)

Hope you make this a great week!!

Weekend in the woods

We packed up and headed out Friday morning.  Drove a couple hours north to my parents cabin in Heber.  This crosses off visit the cabin in the kids summer bucket list! YAY!

The kids and i haven't been since last September, so its been awhile.  It rained almost the whole time we were there but we had the doors open and the kids ran around the porch, and we enjoyed the fresh cold air.  When the rain stopped for about an hour it dried up a bit and we went on a little walk around the property and picked up the perfect painting rocks.


We drank hot chocolate, played rummikub, watched movies, colored, and just relaxed.  We noticed a break in the rain and wanted to go to an antique shop in town, so we got in the van and headed out and within minutes it started pouring, LOL, oh well.  We still went and basically had a heart attack every time the kids breathed on the antiques. So many beautiful things in this shop! I wanted a picture of the outside, but you know cameras in rain don't usually end well.

I always plan to take a ton of pictures then i get home and i'm like, DOH!  Here are a few pics we managed to take while we were there.

We attempted to take a family picture, it took a few tries before getting a 'that's the best one we'll get' shot.

Attempt 1:

Attempt 2:

Attempt 3:

Money shot, attempt 4:

It rained, but we still had a great little getaway as a family. Until next time Heber house.

life update

You guys, I haven't done a life update in quite sometime.

Here's whats up with my life as of late.
(disclaimer: as usual, i am the worst at taking pictures, these came straight from my phone.i hope you enjoy grainy.)


-We registered Amelia up for kindergarten. Excuse me? how is she old enough for this! She is so excited. It'll be just me and Camden at home. It will be weird at first, but many walks to the park with friend will probably help cam not miss his sister.

-Speaking of Camden. This dude will be 2 in less than two weeks! I can't even believe it.

-Evelyn had a birthday in January she is now 7. I have a 7 year old kid!! It boggles the mind folks. I took her out of school for lunch and we went to Subway, then we went to dinner later, her choice, Applebee's of course.

-I read books now. Weird i know. We'll one book a month, I'm in a book club, have yet to attend a meeting but still I'm reading. February book: The Giver.I need to watch the movie now.

-I gave up soda, for about 5 minutes. I am drinking about a gallon of water a day though, so that's good, right?

-Evelyn and Amelia are playing soccer for the first time.  They had their first games last week. They are not on the same team, they just both ended up with blue teams though. Evelyn's team is Blue Lightning, Amelia's team is Blue Ninja's.

Their first games were entertaining.  Amelia smiled the whole time even though she didn't get the ball much, but she had a great attitude and loved it. Evelyn smiled, kinda, about half way through the 40 minute game she said "I am so over this" way to be Evelyn. :)

Camden saw the girls line up and ran right up to get in the shot. :) 

 -It has been so nice the last few weeks, we've been spending as much time as we can outside. Love AZ "winter" weather.

-In November-ish, i started working from home. I'm working for my brothers roofing company.

-I have been branching out, meeting new people, getting out of my comfort zone and its been awesome! Amazing things are happening folks! Stay tuned!

I've got a busy life, but its awesome. 

Thanks for stopping by!

You stay classy

THE END.

baby center

i've been a member of baby center since i was pregnant with evelyn, so awhile i guess.  they send me weekly things about milestones, behavior issues, safety, etc. and all that jazz. 

i love the title of the emails they send. my personal favorite was for i think it was amelia. "is your child normal?" haha thanks baby center for making me think my child is a freak!

anywho, i occasionally read through them, and yes i get some great tips and keeps myself educated on how to help my children.

since my baby is now 26th months i looked though what milestones she should have reached by now.

 

Point to an object that you name. [check]

Recognize the names of familiar people, objects, and body parts. [check]

Use short phrases and two- to four-word sentences. [check]

Follow simple instructions. [check]

Repeat words he overhears. [check]

Find an object even if you hide it under two or three blankets. [check]

Sort objects by shape or color. [half check]

Play make-believe. [check]

the only thing she is kind of lacking is the shapes and colors things. she does organize things but not by that.  it's hard to teach her those things when your 4 year old pipes in every time and trys to show off her skills.

"yes evelyn, i know you know these things but i am trying to teach sister them."

yeah that gets said alot around here.

anywho, i hadn't said anything about my kids really in a while so i thought i would talk about the small one today.  :)

my favorite picture of this one.

happy friday ya'll.

i'm so flippin glad it's here cause i'm not babysitting any kids today!

it has been a very VERY long week.

story time

well folks its September. WOOT!

First off if you'd like to join my No Soda September let me know by checking yes or no in the little poll over here------------>>>>

I must say today is already a crazy one and its only 10am.  My girls have been getting up earlier than usual.  Yesterday, for instance they woke up of 5:30 and did not go back to sleep.  Today they got up around 6:30.

Seriously children, if you want a happy momma during the day you better stay in your little beds until at least 7:30 or 8.  Now that i'm not relying on soda, for my kick into gear in the morning, this is a warning you better sleep or i may just go a-wall.  yes, i just threatened, with my fist of fury in the air too. you betcha i'm that mom.

Besides getting up too darn early, the girls sharing a room is amazing!

Perk one: They go to bed at the same time now. YES!
Perk two: evelyn does not need the tv to fall asleep anymore. YES!
Perk three: they seem to be sleeping better. no waking up in the middle of the night. YES!
Perk four: they fall asleep every night to me reading them stories. YES!

I've always wanted to be a story reading mom, but they haven't wanted me to be, they would just yell and scream when i would start to read a story (evelyn is usually the one doing this).  Its nice to be something that i had only seen done in the movies.

PS. When evelyn saw my hair for the first time she said, " Mom, your hair is brown just like ME!! So pretty! (she pauses for a second and is staring at me) Wait, no mom, your hair is BLACK not like me!!!"

oh children.

boxes

the joy a simple cardboard box brings to children is amazing!

i remember all the fun things we would do with the giant cardboard boxes my dad would bring home on occasion. it was amazing!

so when the hubster got a new lawn mower and it came in a big box we couldn't resist not giving it to the kids to play will.

yes there has been fighting triggered by the box, the box has been in time out since too, but its still so much fun!

in NO WAY are these my kids,

but you can get the idea of how awesome a box is.

Organize

One of the many many goals i have for myself this year is to be more organized.  So far......not so much, but I'm at least thinking about being more organized.  Gotta start somewhere right?!

I've been thinking about my girls rooms lately.   They will eventually be sharing a room, and the rooms really aren't all that big, so I've been thinking of different ways to have space for all their junk. (i probably should just get rid of things and that would solve most of the problem right there.)

First off the closet.  They don't have doors, they were sliding ones, we took those off the second we moved in.  I didn't want to have to hear Evelyn playing with them in the middle of the night.

Next the beds.  To be able to eliminate a dresser for more space i think beds with storage would do the trick perfectly.

Okay this last one is a dream.  I know the girls would love it but i'm not about the spend thousands $$$ on my girlies bed that they will just destroy.  Sorry kiddos momma is not that nice and/or made a money.

Any tips on what i should do? 

I think i have too many projects/ideas for my house right now.  I need to stop, but i guess having a plan is better than not.