Happy Friday!!

Happy Friday!! :)

Thank God It's Friday!!

I saw this picture on my Instagram feed (thank you Lisa Rinna!) and just about wet my pants.  

Have a great weekend, love bugs!

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Vegas baby!

I've been sooo excited to share this post.  My sweet baby boy turned 21 on October 2015!!!



He's legal! :)



This is a huge milestone so, of course, we had to go big or go home with the celebration.

That can only mean one thing in my family........Vegas!

Jim and I met Garrett and Maci in Sin City the weekend of Halloween and celebrated hard for 48 straight hours.  Let me tell you......that is one WILD city......and we loved every single second of it.

Jim's sisters - Carol and Ann Marie - arranged to have a limo pick Garrett and Maci up from the airport and drive them to the hotel.  Cool, right???

I don't think the limo driver (above) was the sharpest tool in the shed.  Garrett asked him a question about gambling and he started rambling about prostitution.  Yikes!!  They still had a great time on the drive over.  :)

We stayed at Ballys Hotel & Casino and it was amazing!



The view from our room.....

And the view from Garrett and Maci's room.....

Let's push pause for a second so I can share with you the scene in our bathroom after we got checked in.  Do you think Jim may have an OCD problem???

Back to the action.  We started exploring and only my child could find this sign....

The first night ended with us taking a tour of Caesar's Palace.  Garrett is OBSESSED with the Hangover movies and wanted to see where they were filmed.  We ate at the buffet - ask Jim about the buffet and you'll see his head explode.  After standing in line for about an hour, the buffet charge was $250+ for the four of us.  Seriously......Jim's head will literally explode if you ask him about his.  LOL! :)

None of us went to bed that night.  This was pretty much the scene the entire night....

By the looks of every person in that photo, no one was winning that hand.  :)  All's well that ends well.  Everyone had such a good time.  Garrett definitely took advantage of the free cocktails and tried almost every drink on the menu.  :)

We took a stroll down the strip before the Halloween festivities began.  You would not believe the costumes we saw!!!  I am not exaggerating when I say that 30% of the males in the city were dressed in drag.......thongs, belly shirts, fake boobs.....you name it!

We hit the Hard Rock Cafe for supper on Saturday night.  The waitress had the entire restaurant sing to Garrett as he chugged a cocktail.  I thought this was hilarious so I won't be receiving any nominations for mother-of-the year.  :)

Finally, on Sunday morning we dragged ourselves back to the airport.  Garrett and Maci didn't have a direct flight back to Dallas.  They had to change planes in Minneapolis.  After Jim and I walked them to their gates, Jim and I had to say goodbye.

This momma was a mess!  An ugly-crying, snot-slinging mess.  Poor Jim was probably so embarrassed but he was sweet enough not to say so.  :)

What a fun weekend!  Dang it went by so fast.


Happy birthday Garrett!!  I hope you had a ball.

Life lately...

Here’s a peek at life lately…..

Winter is in full-swing in Minnesota (-8 on the way to work this morning) so we’ve been doing lots of hibernating indoors.

Garrett recently had blood work done to identify his allergies.  Poor fella, there were a ton of them!

My tough little guy is now detoxing to eliminate as many allergens as possible.  That means no bread, no peanuts, no milk, no eggs, no black pepper…..this list goes on and on.  After he detoxes, the plan is to reintroduce foods slowly to gauge his reactions to them.

I texted him the other day to see how it was going and his reply was:  “I’m hungry!”  L

It breaks my heart that this kid is 1000 miles away from his momma during times like these.  My daily mantra is “God has a plan”.  I repeat that to myself no less than 514 times per day.

Delanie is knee-deep in her high school’s drum line and about to start marching band soon.  They practice at least three days per week and that has me & Jim carpooling a ton.  Sweet Jim volunteered for carpool duty both Saturday and Sunday this past weekend so I could stay in bed.  Dang, I love that man! J

Between band and her school work, she is one busy chickadee!  She got a camera for her birthday so she’s pretty excited to learn everything about photography.

Jim has been traveling quite a bit lately for work.  He’s usually gone 2-3 nights per week.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever get used to that but thankfully I’m the one who gets to sleep in my bed every night.  He’s completely wiped out when he gets home.

It’s already the middle of January and I’m still trying to get motivated for the new year.  Who’s with me on this?!

My word for 2016 is PAUSE.  When I get frustrated, PAUSE.  When I feel overwhelmed, PAUSE.  When I feel my blood starting to boil, PAUSE.  Each time I pause, I look upward and chat with Jesus.  I’m trying to get better at being present each day.  Live in the moment instead of focusing on what’s ahead or behind me……that’s the plan!

Garrett's new digs

Even though I went missing in action from the blog at the end of 2015, there were some major milestones we need to chat about! :)

 

Milestone #1:   Garrett moved into his first apartment!!! 

 

 

Holy moly…….my firstborn is on his own.  Look out world! J

 

A little backstory:  Garrett moved to Minnesota with us in 2011 right before his Junior year in high school.  He spent 11^th grade at Maple Grove Senior High (the same school Delanie attends now).  That next summer, he moved back to Texas to be with Maci and graduate with his friends.  He is now in his third year at University of Texas at Arlington and has been living at home with his dad and step-mom. 

 

Last fall, he loaded up the U-Haul and took the leap.  His apartment is really close to campus and he absolutely loves it! 

 

   

 

He and his buddy, Hutch, are now living the bachelor life. 

 

I haven’t been to Texas since the big move so I’m dying to see the apartment in person.  (I need to know where my baby boy sleeps!)  That’s on the agenda this April. 

 

I’m so proud of this kid!  He’s going to take over the world. :)

Show & Tell Tuesday

I read a few blogs faithfully:  Mix & Match Mama and Pinterest Told Me To

Both blogs are about families who live in TX so it’s like getting my weekly dose of home.  Both blogs have a “show & tell” post every other Tuesday.  I thought it would be fun to play along! :)

January 19^th – Momfessionals  (confessions of being a mom)

Since my kids are older – 17 & 21 – I’m going waaayyy back on some of these confessions!

1. I’ve been known to slip the kids a Benadryl on long road trips.  OK there…..I said it!  I get horribly car sick even if I’m sitting in the front seat.  The only way I could keep from throwing up is to take a Dramamine.  Well, Dramamine makes me super sleepy.  To be even the slightest bit pleasant during those road trips, I would have to take the Dramamine then sleep for the first hour.  After that, I could read, play with the kids, all the normal things a mom would do.  If I didn’t sleep the first hour, I was miserable to be around.  Here’s the catch:  I couldn’t sleep if the kids were playing.   My solution: EVERYONE but the driver slept for the first hour! 

2. At least once a week for supper, we have “fend for yourself” night.  There are just some days that I can’t muster up the energy to fix supper.  I don’t care what anyone eats on these nights…..they’re on their own.  Over time, this night became Delanie’s favorite.  Hmmm……what does that say about my cooking?

3. Mom is officially off duty.  That is exactly word-for-word what I tell my kids sometimes when I’ve had enough of the bickering.  Lord have mercy…..is there anything worse than two kids bickering?  It makes me want to pull my hair out! 

4. I’m the only one allowed to do laundry.  Weird, I know……but the thought of someone else touching my undies makes me crazy.  Plus, let’s be honest, I wanted to do this for the kids.  I love laundry…..especially the folding.  It’s incredibly relaxing to me.  I know I should have taught Garrett how to do this before he moved out of the house (guilty!) but I just couldn’t give it up.  To my children’s’ future mates, I apologize. 

5. Please don’t make me go to Disneyworld or ChuckECheese.  Seriously…..I cannot handle it.  The crowds, the wild kids, the noise……it is sheer torture! 

6. I don’t want my kids to grow up.  Delanie didn’t walk until she was 18 months old and that was fine by me.  She also didn’t give up her “sassy” (pacifier) until she was 4.  I always thought that the best thing I could teach my kids was how to comfort themselves.  That was a life lesson they that would get them through hard times that would inevitably come.  I’ll never forget standing in the grocery store checkout line when the lady behind me started scolding me because Delanie had her pacifier in.  I looked that old bitty in the eye and told her I would be fine if Delanie carried that pacifier to the prom with her!  Garrett’s comfort came in the form of a stuffed Winnie the Pooh bear.  Man oh man….. he would raise the roof if I tried taking it away to run it through the wash.  As he got older – about 4 or 5 yrs old – it became a special blanket we called the “wubby”.  He went to church camp his 6^th grade year and stuffed it into the bottom of his suitcase so he wouldn’t be scared to sleep in the camp cabins.  Too much information??

7. We stopped at Sonic every day after school for snacks.  Every.  Single.  Day.  I was convinced my kids would perish if they didn’t have a snack before they got home (home was 10-15 minutes away).  The Sonic drive-in was across the street from the school and they ordered Texas Toast.  After Jim and I had been together awhile, he volunteered to pick them up from school one day.  He thought it was the most ridiculous thing in the world that they couldn’t wait until they got home to eat.  That was our first huge argument!

So there you have it......my deepest darkest Mom secrets.  It's amazing these kiddos turned out as well as they did!! :)

Hello 2016

Happy New Year!! :)

There is so much that's been going on since my last post.  I can't believe that was September 2015! 

Yikes!! 

Let's start with the holidays....

Delanie spent Christmas in Texas like usual.  When we moved to Minnesota back in 2011, she asked to spend Christmas Day with her dad's side of the family.  We all agreed and the last few years have seen her flying to TX for Christmas and spending New Years Eve with us.  

Since that leaves Jim and I kid-free on Christmas day, we've started a tradition of our own.  Every Christmas Eve, we go shopping together.  Yep.....we brave the busiest shopping day of the year at the mall......and we love every second of it!!  Together, we pick up any last-minute gifts and shop for each other.  Instead of buying gifts for each other, we spend the day picking out our own presents. Win-win!  Christmas Eve usually ends with a movie and popcorn.  :)  

Christmas Day is spent in our pajamas wrapping presents and being lazy!! 

 Even Bailey got in on the action.  (That's my sweatshirt she's using as a blanket......goofy dog!)

While Delanie was in Texas, she spent the day with Bea & Lauren.  They always have such a good time together!  Lauren took them all for a spin in her new Audi.  The spiffy new ride has built-in wifi so Bea face-timed me while Lauren was driving.  They were soaking up the sunshine with the top down while I was freezing my behind off up here in the arctic tundra!!  

  

Cute little suckers.  :)

Garrett joined them a few hours later and they exchanged presents and just hung out.  

   

Meanwhile back in Minnesota, we had our first real snowfall of the year......finally!

Garrett and Maci road-tripped it from Texas to Minnesota the Sunday after Christmas.  They surprised me with that news a few months ago and it's taken all I have to not explode with excitement.  

They packed up Sophie - their new puppy - and headed north for an 18 hours adventure.  We thought for sure they would stop and spend the night half-way.  Nope, they drove straight through!

Sophie is such a sweet puppy!  She is super lovable and wanted so bad to be Bailey's new BFF. Bailey wanted nothing to do with that idea.  After trying her best to get Bailey to play, Sophie settled with resting close to Bailey.   

Sophie is nine months old and is the cutest thing ever.  Garrett and Maci rescued her several months ago.  She has one ear that stands up while the other lays down.  

On Monday night.....Jim, Garrett, Maci and I went to the Red Wings game at the Excel Center.  How perfect was it that the Wings were playing the Minnesota Wild while the kids were here?!

Even though the Wings lost, we had a great time!

Tuesday saw a ton of excitement.  Our sweet Maci broke out into an itchy rash from head to toe.  She went through tons of Benadryl and two tubes of cortisone cream to try and get some relief.  

That same day, I slipped on the ice and fractured my left wrist.  So.......Maci, Garrett, Jim and I ended up in the emergency room.  Maci was in one room trying to find an explanation for the rash while I was in another room getting x-rays.  There should be a Maple Grove Hospital Friends and Family discount.  

We finally figured out that Maci was allergic to our laundry detergent.  Bless her heart, between the sheets, towels, blankets, etc......she couldn't get away from it.  She was such a trooper, though.  If that had been me, there was no way I would feel up to going to dinner and to the casino.  This tough cookie was totally game though (see what I did there?!).

We picked Delanie up from the airport on Wednesday and went to dinner and a movie.  The night ended with the girls were coloring.......

While the boys played video games.....

I had all my favorite people together in one room.  Life is good!! :)

Garrett and Maci had planned to go home Friday morning but decided to stay until Sunday. 

Woohoo!!!!! That made me one happy momma! :)

On New Years Eve, we had a fun hibachi dinner and wrapped up the evening with ice cream.  

Happy New Year!!  

Sunday morning after the kids headed out, Jim and I ran our normal weekend errands......

As I was taking that picture, Jim gave me his trademark "what the hell are you doing?!" look.  Sorry ladies......he's all mine!

Hope your holiday was as wonderful as ours!  It's back to the real world tomorrow.  Check out my new Etsy 2016 planners.  I customized them with pictures of the twin-sister trip to New Orleans.  Check out that post here and here and here and here.

Have a great week!! :)