The Little Engine That Couldn't

I'm tired...and cranky. 

I had a To Do list to accomplish today. 

- clean up house/mop/vacuum (this could very well take up half of my day)

- finish laundry (this could very well take up the other half)

- wash dog (who thinks it's fun to chase the cute bunny rabbits up the hill in our backyard and through the grass and dirt, and then roll around on the ground in what I can only assume is the cute bunny's poop, so as to mask the fact that she is a dog and properly "hunt" the cute bunny rabbits)

- run and get small toiletries for trip to California 

- try to fit in a pedicure so that people will know it's a human's feet they are looking at and not, in fact, an elephant's

However, the only To Do that I seem to be To Doing is sitting on my hind region all morning. 

My 4 year old, Cody, had a rough night sleeping last night. He wet his bed (which he hasn't done in a while...and he did it TWICE!) and then came to sleep in his sleeping bag on the floor in our room. Pair that with my thank-the-dear-Lord-he's-so-cute husband's snoring, and it makes for a difficult night's sleep. All the motivation I had yesterday (when I was making the To Do list) is now struggling to get up steam. 

My only saving grace is that the cute husband took the equally cute bed-wetter out, so I only have to deal with the adorable tornado that is my 2 year old, Tyler. He's quietly watching cartoons while he eats his lunch, so I'd better get off this blog and make the most of this time.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. 

In Love

With this song:

The Frames - Falling Slowly

If you haven't heard The Frames yet, you should. Plus, they're from Ireland, and we all know great things come from that place.

Enjoy :)

The hills are alive...with the sound of whining

My two year old, Tyler, is going through a couple of rough phases right now. They are the phases beloved by all mothers of toddlers; the I Will Whine to Get Everything I Want phase and the ever endearing No, Mommy, You Cannot Go Anywhere Without Me, Including to the Bathroom phase.

As always, consider it noted that I will miss these things one day when they are in the teenage phases. You know, the I'm Going To Grunt Instead Of Speaking Actual Words phase and the Drop Me Off At The Curb So My Friends Don't See You phase. 

Oh, the joys of parenting :)

The one where I can't go anywhere without him is the one that is truly causing me anxiety right now. We're supposed to leave Saturday (4 more days!) for our trip to California, WITHOUT KIDS. My (awesome) parents are coming up to watch them for us, and I'm already praying that it will go smoothly. The one thing that I'm banking on is that when we were in Florida, if Tyler wasn't crying for me, he was crying for my Dad, his Pop-Pop. 

Cody, on the other hand, cries for Grammy (my mom) or Bubbie (Mike's mom) when he's upset at Mommy and Daddy. We had put him in time out the other day because he was not treating his brother very nice, and when I came up to speak to him about it he said, "I need to LLLLEEEEAAVVVEEE and go see (choke, sob) GRAAAMMMYYYY". My other favorite is when I send him to his room for being naughty and he says to me on the way up the stairs, "Mommy, you're breaking my heart". Yeah, that doesn't feel like a kick in the stomach, does it? 

I guess it's just one of those buckle down times in our life - we just have to ride it out and keep doing what we're doing. Oh, and praying....A LOT of praying :)

Countdown to Cali

6 more days until I am in the air, flying with NO KIDS to California for 5 glorious days.

I can already hear the guy in Pretty Woman in my head. "Welcome to Hollywood. What's your dream. Everybody got a dream."

In preparation for our trip I have begun to assemble my California wardrobe. I wanted to get a couple of cute new things, but I'm on a budget. So far I have:

- 3 lightweight cotton dresses (I got all three at Wal-Mart for less than $30! Two are the same dress but in different colors, because it's so comfortable!)

- 3 tank tops (2 of which were also bought at Wal-Mart)

- 3 three pairs of shorts (one white linen pair bought at Wal-Mart)

- 2 dressy shirts for going out at night

- 2 pairs of jeans (one comfy and one for dressing up)

- 1 summer scarf, as seen worn by many a trendy celebrity (Except I didn't get mine at Dolce & Gabbana. Mine came from...you guessed it...Wal-Mart!!)

16 pairs of flip-flops (okay, not really, but I'm considering bringing 5 pairs...what can I say, I love to accessorize with shoes!)

- 1 pair of sexy peep toe heels for going out at night

- 3 bikinis...since I plan on spending the majority of my time on a beach or by a pool somewhere :)

I am so excited for this trip I can't even stand it. If any of you have been to - or have lived in - California, and you are reading this...what are the MUST DO'S out there?

Happy Father's Day, Daddy

Today is Father's Day, and I'm so sad that I can't be with my Dad today. We had a great time while we were in Florida, but I do wish that we could've stayed just a little bit longer so I could spend this special day with him. 

In honor of my Dad, here's a few things I love about him:

- He's the best Pop Pop to my boys. 

- He's always there for us, his family, no matter what. He can change your air filters, install your wood floors, change the brake pads on your truck...he does it all :) I'm convinced he can fix anything with some bungee cords and a little bit of superglue.

- He taught me how to fish...and I LOVE IT.

- He only missed ONE of my tournaments when I played softball as a kid, and that's because he'd just had knee surgery. I hit my first home run during that tournament, and I did it for my Dad. I don't think he ever missed another game my entire high school sports career.

- He tells the same story, sometimes 3 times...I love that.

- He eats RRREEEEEAAAAALLLLLYYYY SSSSSLLLLLOOOOOWWWW, but I think some of our best conversations have happened while waiting for Dad to finish his dinner :)

- I walk - and run - just like him. 

- He has only ever loved my Mom. I'm lucky to have a dad who loves his wife so much - and who taught me to expect nothing less than that in my own life. 

I love you, Daddy. Hope you have a wonderful Father's Day, because you are THE MOST WONDERFUL father.

Silence is Golden

My sweet husband has just taken our boys to Chick-fil-A for lunch to get them out of my hair for a little while (actually I think he's trying to save them - and himself - from the crazy hormonal woman they live with).

When it's this quiet, the voices in my head get LOUD and all I can think is that I have A LOT of thoughts. Here's a few rolling around right now:

- It is both glorious/horrifying to be a woman. Yes we can birth babies, but the flip side of that is the monthly unpleasantness (I'll spare you the details). I have always loved how Southerners have referred to the Civil War as the "War of Northern Aggression". I choose to nickname my monthly cycle the "War of Fallopian Aggression".

- What do you do with a man who is so Type A that he CANNOT sit still even though he is on "vacation"? The idea that he should spend a whole day at home is madness!

- I have a volcano of unpacked clothes/toys/shoes that needs to be dealt with downstairs. I'm thinking I might just throw it all in the guest room and call it a day.

- I miss my family and friends. There, I said it. Now I must move on or will be forced to sit here and cry at the computer for the rest of the afternoon.

- Does anybody want a dog? She's such a sweetheart - she will sit in your lap for hours. But if she knocks at her metal food/water bowls with her paw ONE MORE TIME I might just need to be locked away in a mental institution.

- There was this hummingbird that would visit the feeder on my kitchen window almost every day before we left for Florida. 

I had major anxiety about going on vacation because I was afraid this sweet, little hummingbird would not survive if we left and were not able to refill the sugar syrup feeder I was sure he was getting his sole sustenance from. Well, he survived, and apparently he told all his friends that the Mann house was where it's at, because this is what we found in our front porch light when we returned home.

Home Sweet Home

We've been gone for two weeks visiting family in friends in Florida, but now we are HOME. I've never missed my bed so much!

Here's a smattering of things that happened while we were in The Sunshine State - which held up to it's name almost every day (minus the hour or two in the afternoon when the thunderstorms decided to make a visit):

- Went to the beach!

- Went out on my dad's boat with our family (including my ADORABLE nephew Logan. The boys' first time on the boat together...so fun.

- Went to the pool!
- Went to a neighborhood water park! (okay, we did a lot of water related activity)
- Saw some movies with the kids...Disney's Up and a free movie screening of Open Season
- Had a surprise birthday party at the beach for Mike with all his friends :)
- Had an anniversary...number 7!! Love you babe!!
- Had dinner at a Greek Restaurant and danced on the table with the belly dancer (I can mark that off of my list of things to do before I die...haha)

- Had ice cream from our FAVORITE ice cream place, Sloan's. I get the Circus flavor, it tastes like cotton candy and it has gummy bears in it....YUM-O.
- Drove by our old house at 923 Charles Street and almost died because the owners have pulled all the vinyl siding off and it looks like they're restoring it back to the original wood (something I would've LOVED to have done, but OH SO MUCH $$$!)

We only got three stations on the TV at the place where we stayed (FOR FREE thanks to our sweet friends Patrick and Christy), and I didn't have internet access, except through my phone, which didn't always work, but it was a nice distraction from the everyday busy-ness. I usually get a little cranky when I don't have time to write, but who can be cranky when you have a beach nearby!

So I am home and I am very thankful to be back to writing, but have to admit I am a little sad to have left all of our family and friends...and the beach :) It is at this point that I have to remind myself we will be in CALIFORNIA in less than two weeks (without kids)!!!

I feel like I'm cheating...

on Georgia with Florida! We've had so much fun on our vacation thus far, and I can't wait for some more!

I have very limited access to the Internet right now, so I'm not going to be posting very often.

We have so much enjoyed catching up with friends, and soaking up the sun - when it actually decides to show it's lovely face!

Tyler has had a blast at the beach. This is only his second visit to the beach in Florida, and I think it's a hit. He did not want to leave the beach the other night when my Mom and I took him down for a little visit. Every morning he wakes up saying, "Water? Beach?"

Tonight we visited with some friends and all their kids. Between the three couples we have 8 kids, so it was loud! I got to go fishing in the lake behind our friends' house, and I caught a little bass - I was in heaven.

That's it for now. Hopefully, it won't be too long before I can give another update!

Crazy Days

This weekend was a bit of a blur, since I was without a husband for most of it. His filming duties kicked into overdrive because the boy's baseball team at the school where he teaches won the State Championship! He's done with school and home now, so that has been a huge relief.

And as most of you know, yesterday was Mike's birthday, so I was too busy taking him on a surprise kayaking trip down the Chattahoochee River to post. I'm actually quite surprised that I'm able to type this, because I thought for sure that I wouldn't be able to lift my arms today. 

We rented a two person kayak and off we went. The first part of the trip was really fun, because there's a couple of small rapids and the pace is pretty quick. However, the second leg of the trip was BRUTAL. The river comes pretty much to a standstill, so you have to paddle the rest of the way to the pickup point. 

Now here's where I'm going to be perfectly honest with you people and tell you that I pretty much don't exercise. EVER. My version of exercise is chasing after my kids or hiking laundry up and down the stairs in my house. The last time I really pushed myself to exercise was in college. Needless to say, I was not prepared for the strenuousness of this excursion.

The trip was only going to be 2 hours, so we didn't really bring much to drink or snack on. After the first hour, I realized that I had forgotten to eat lunch - which normally isn't a big deal, but I was burning a lot of energy, what with all the paddling and all, and I actually thought I might have to jump into the river and catch a trout with my bare hands because I was SO HUNGRY.

This situation is perfectly typical for our relationship. We have laughed MANY TIMES over how things are "supposed" to go, but actually turn out quite different. We even nicknamed our relationship "CAN'T GET RIGHT" after a line in a movie we saw when we first started dating, because it fit us perfectly. In lovely "CAN'T GET RIGHT" fashion, I will not be posting pictures because I can't find the camera we took them with. So, hopefully pictures are to come :)

Despite the fact that we were both pretty hungry, we had an incredible time. We both kept saying, "Gosh, it's so quiet out here". With two little boys in the house you can be sure that the volume is usually LOUD. :) It was awesome being alone in nature with the person I love the most in this world. Happy Birthday Baby!