Small Business Saturday

In honor of Small Business Saturday, I thought I'd run a special on all ad space! Below post ads are booked for awhile, but take $1 off sidebar post options--TODAY ONLY!

I hope you've enjoyed some quality time with your friends and family for Thanksgiving and now you're busying yourself with shopping for all the folks on your Christmas list. I was so happy to wake up to a well-lit house. Christmas trees everywhere! Anyone else having trouble keeping the baby from pulling all of them down? Or is that just me?

We'll chat soon!

XOXO

Ethereal Underground *Giveaway

(I was given the opportunity to review and giveaway a copy of Ethereal Underground. No other compensation was received. All opinions are my own.)

My pal from my TTU days wrote a book and asked me to review it here. I jumped at the chance! I knew she wrote a lot, but I never had a chance to read anything by her until now. I also knew she was into fantasy, futuristic, and romance type stories all rolled into one, but let's face it....I think I'm a fantasy gal, too. I never imagined being drawn to those types of books, but I find myself interested in them more and more lately. Ethereal Underground, written by Brooke Kennedy and Briana Gaitan, is the story of Ash and Annalise, two beings who were never supposed to meet. They remained on separate planes of existence until, that is, Anna was sent to reap Ash's soul. Instead, she found herself using her ancient powers of healing. She couldn't explain why she did it, but she knew she landed herself in a whole world of trouble for doing so.

The book cover description reads:

Can the person who was sent to steal your soul, be the same person who steals your heart?
The keepers are protectors of the planet Cabalin, charged with defeating identified enemies and preventing other planets from waging war on their dying planet. They are expected to keep their emotions in check and do as they are told no matter what the consequences. One of their rising warriors, however, has been placed on sabbatical for reasons unknown to those around him. Rebellious, impulsive, and moody, Ash has continued to break the rules by frequenting the Ethereal Underground, the seedy hang out in the eighth layer of the planet. Ash has always believed in the keeper’s cause, but his taste for adventure always seems to get him in trouble.
The seraphs live on a different plane of existence. They watch over the mortals and reap their souls when it is time for them to depart to the afterlife, but do not associate with the beings otherwise. They are duty bound and loyal creatures, each of them having an affinity for a force of nature that they can use when needed. When a seraph breaks the rules, they are banished and stripped of their affinity. These evil creatures are named the fallen. Annalise, a reaper seraph blessed with an affinity for water, has always followed the rules until she is called to reap Ash’s soul and take it to the afterlife. This time, however, she finds it difficult to take the soul.
Their worlds were never supposed to meet. Now everyone’s future is in jeopardy, their lives turned upside down as they find themselves on the run from the very people they thought they could count on. The two of them must search for a way to clear their names and hunt down the evil forces of the fallen, without losing themselves or those they hold dearest. This epic fantasy will take you on an exhilarating quest for love, truth, and revenge.

What I Thought:

Honestly, I didn't think this was going to be up my alley. I thought it would take me awhile to get through it. Once I started it however, I couldn't put it down. It's lengthy but not overly detailed. Sometimes I feel bogged down when authors present a lot of new information at once and I find myself trying to keep up with the world they've created. I'm typically reading for pleasure so if I have to go back several times to understand how the fictitious world works, I get annoyed. I didn't feel like that at all while reading Ethereal Underground. That's the sign of a good writer- when fantasy is flowing and interesting. I read their book in under a week which was pretty quickly since I have two babes who take up the majority of my time. I really really liked it. I had this odd mixture of jealousy and pride in my friend who is a published author of a book (a book!). I just want to finish one at some point in my life. Anyway, I'm a big fan of this book...and not just because I know one of the women who wrote it. I really hope you'll check it out. Perhaps it would be a good Christmas gift for the fantasy reader in your life! 

Kennedy and Gaitan have been writing together for ten years! I think that's pretty cool, but I can't imagine how that would work. You can read more about how they did it here.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Now I'm off to read The Fault in Our Stars. Review to come.

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I'm in a good place.

As a prior-military family, you can imagine that we don't really have a routine Thanksgiving that we normally do. In 2009, we spent the day in Fairbanks with new friends after J served his soldiers a big meal. In 2010, we were on a boat floating around Alaska and Canada. Our cafeteria food wasn't quite what we had in mind, but I treasure that time for more than one reason. The photo above was taken shortly before we got on the boat. Then in 2011, I had a sweet (but colic-prone) squishy baby and tensions were high. We celebrated Thanksgiving in Louisiana by ordering a pizza and waiting on his family to get there the next day. Last year, in 2012, I was very pregnant and tired. J's parents came down to Louisiana to fry a turkey with us.

This year, we're planning on making the rounds at my grandparents' houses and counting our blessings.  Chiefly among these are:

These two sweeties. I can't get a blur-free photo for nothin'. I'm thankful for their lively personalities and good health and development! I love them so very much.

My husband- he works very hard for our family:

My health:

This year has been a quick one, but I'm proud of the changes I've made in my lifestyle. Exercising and attempting to eat better has changed my life (and body!). No turning back.

Being back in Tennessee:

I still can't believe it. I look out at our street and can see the church steeple in the distance. We're in town, but we still have an element of seclusion. I feel as if God picked us right up out of the largest city in our nation and placed us in exactly the right home. It was no sweat for him. One day we're settling into our new lives in sunny Florida, the next we're nestled around our dear mountains of East TN.

*Family, friends, a God who never leaves me, coffee, patience, and many many more are also on that list. I'm in a good place, y'all.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
(and a very happy birthday to my sister, Paige. Love you.)

Arms & Abs

Many of you ask me how I find time to workout with the kids and I just wanted to address that quickly. It's hard. It is. When your kids are running you ragged and then magically, they finally sleep at the same time, sometimes you just want to sit there and do nothing. Working out isn't always the first thing I want to do either. It's a choice...but I encourage you to take every opportunity to be active. It will make you feel better in the long run. Of course, there are days when I decide a long, hot bath and a good book would do more for my soul and those are good days, too. I'm not knockin' those. 

A huge part for me in finding time to workout is being able to get creative here at home. We have slowly started to piece together a small home gym. I say that with aspiration in my voice. We hope one day to have a home gym...right now it's some free weights, resistance bands, some workout DVDs and a stationary bike! My point is, you can work out anywhere. Use your body as your weights if you don't have any. Yesterday, I promised to share one of my workouts with you. I wanted to show you exactly what I did this week, but my kids are tugging at my pjs, looking up at me waiting to be fed so the detailed post of specific exercise routines will have to wait. I've got priorities, man.

Anyway, pinterest has been huge in helping to keep me motivated. I like to pin exercises and reference them frequently. Lately, I've tried these and would recommend them:

Also, try these moves to workout your arm muscles without the strain on your wrists.

These are always good, too-

When people ask me what I do to workout my arms and abs, I immediately pick out planking as the best thing to do for both. You can plank anytime, anywhere (if you don't mind odd looks) and you can try to beat your own times. I usually throw in a 3 minute plank at the end of every workout I do. Try to plank every day. Do it. I dare you.

Additionally, there's a workout trainer app called Skimble that I utilize when I'm feeling very uninspired and need a little kick. It's free!

Have you pinned any exercises that I should add to my boards?

Phooey

Every year at this time, an uneasiness sits heavy on my heart. Call it dread or call it paranoia, but I just know it as memories that won't go away. Thanksgiving is often bittersweet. Life goes on, though...the years passing quickly. Despite the worries that this time typically brings for me, I find it so easy to look around and count all the many blessings that have been showered upon us. For the first time in five years, I'll be home on Thanksgiving day! I can't believe the journey that has brought us back to Tennessee. I know it was orchestrated by the Almighty God; that's the only explanation. We are home and I'm so thankful for that. Even more, I'm thankful for my two delightful, healthy boys who are currently running circles around each other laughing and playing. This post is taking forever to write because I keep pausing to admire K's little curls on top of his head and the sweet smile Baby A gives out to everyone. They are mine? Yes, they really are. I'm so very blessed.

To celebrate this time of year and finally being home, I've already started decorating the house. Every year, I have to fight my husband on this. He would prefer I wait until after Thanksgiving, but because I like to deck (all) the halls it is often a process here. I've been decorating for days now and I'm not even close to being done. I get that from my mama.

To those of you who would say I'm hurrying through life, I'm not thankful, or I'm skipping Thanksgiving to that I say:

PHOOEY!

The excitement my kids express when the trees are all lit up is something I hope to never forget. I want to savor the 5,437x a day I hear K shout, "Christmas Tree!" which sounds a lot more like ChiscasTee. What's so wrong about counting your blessings around holiday decor on Thanksgiving Day? Nothing, I tell you. 

My house won't be complete until we get the real tree up in the den in December, but here's a peek at what I've been up to lately-

6 trees up and at least two more to go!

Do you go what my husband calls "Christmas Crazy" with decorating during the holidays?

Let's Pretend! (A Halloween Farewell)

I always sort of get in a funk when Halloween comes to an end. I think the holiday was specifically placed where it was in the calendar year just so that more fun is always on the horizon in the coming months. Thanksgiving. Christmas. New Years. Those are good times, too. But I've always known that Halloween was just my thing. I used to tell my family when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, "I want to be a kid. I don't want to grow up." You can quote me on that. Those are wise words, my friends. As a child, I loved playing dress-up. Here's my best Michael Jackson:

Because wearing two gloves would be ordinary.

Hehe. Anyway...

Containers full of ballerina tutus, pink barbie heels, and magic wands graced our bonus room growing up. I loved it! My point is that is doesn't have to be Halloween to dress up, am I right? Well, at least it doesn't have to be if you're a kid (Y'all might disown me if I wore some Cruella Devil to church one Sunday morning).

Sometimes the cutest costumes are the ones that keep it simple (I loved Chantal's daughter in her monster costume). Perhaps that's where I failed this year for my boys. No one wanted to wear the King Tritan costume because there was so much going on with it. I'm sticking to my advice to get toddlers a costume they can't get out of by themselves and call it a day. They'll happily toddle around looking as cute as can stinkin' be and are free to let their imaginations run wild while playing and pretending. I found this precious monster baby costume that looks similar to it:

How cute?
Still, I think Halloween must be for adults anyway. Go see this spooky cocktail a friend posted! I bet it's delicious.
Until next year, Halloween!
Bring on The Holidays! I've already been sneaking and decorating for Christmas, much to my husband's dismay. 

Growing Up

Little man is almost completely weaned from me. It has been awhile since he has nursed and I have mixed emotions. On one hand, I feel free. I can leave for longer than three hours without having to make sure I've pumped enough milk to sustain him through my absence. I feel like my body is a little bit more my own again. For the first time in years, I'm not sharing my body with a tiny baby in my womb or solely providing his source of nutrition on the outside. It's liberating, but it's also creating a sadness in my heart. My baby is growing up.

To add to the guilt I feel for weaning him, there's the presence of a nasty virus. Croup, to be exact. I took him to the doctor this morning after noticing his coughing and breathing getting worse through the night. I can't help but to feel responsible for not giving him breast milk very much over the last few weeks. I wasn't able to build up much of a supply for him so when he stopped being interested in nursing from me, that's when I started to realize our breastfeeding days were coming to an end. With all the people in and out of this home lately, he probably would have gotten sick anyway but I just keep thinking that I should have protected him better.

My sadness doesn't stop there. I feel a sort of longing to have a baby in my life. My soon to be one year old feels less and less like a baby these days. He's trying to walk. He interacts and even plays with his older brother, pushing toy trucks back and forth and giggling uncontrollably. I can't believe how fast these years have gone. I just want to soak these little boys up. I want to bottle their laughs, their smiles, and the funny things they do. I want to keep them with me forever.

What a beautifully messy, amazing time in our lives.

I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

Thanks be to God.

How can you turn down this face?

There are five million ways I can think of to spend dual nap time, of these the one I least want to do is trying to find a way to make money because it's an endless road, a big fat circle that will always lead me back to square one- the square that says I've got no skills, no usable degree, and no childcare. And now I don't remember if I was using circles or squares to make my point...and I'm not here to complain, anyway. There are people out there with real problems so I'll try to keep my lips zipped. Anyway, I would like to get a little extra spending money in my pocket for the Holidays so I've been busy choosing (with love) some items to put up for sale. It's an online yard sale by Mrs. K! How thrilling...and I'm adding stuff every day. Come shop my closets. It'll be fun. The cool kids are doing it.

Or you could purchase ad space, too. That'd be swell. I'd treat you right!

What else has been going on? Well, I chopped my hair off and dyed it so you should know that. The curly blonde on my side bar is hiding until the sun peaks out again in spring. Until then, get to know the Mrs. K who has short reddish brown hair and likes to wear baggy clothes and comfy scarves. I like her, too.

She blogs more often and drinks more coffee when it arrives on her doorstep at 2:44pm.

Happy Wednesday, friends.

The Day That Made Him A Veteran

"In war, there are no unwounded soldiers." - Jose Narosky

The day that made him a veteran in my eyes is probably different than the one in his own mind, but I love thinking back to that day. It was one of the happiest of my life. I entered the large holding room, my heart beating faster than I thought possible. How would this play out? Am I really going to see him? Lock eyes with him and touch the patches of his ACUs? Is this truly the end of a twelve month stint in the Middle East? It was surreal.

As I walked toward the gathered crowd, I could feel the emotions of everyone surrounding me. How incredible to see a mother and her newborn waiting eagerly for daddy's arrival. I also witnessed large families all dressed in matching "welcome home" t-shirts, dogs, and mothers waiting to kiss the cheeks of their sons. The anticipation was palpable. I've felt nothing else like it since.

Finally the bus arrived, the formation dispersed, and I jumped into the hug I had been dreaming of for months. My soldier was officially a veteran. He was home.

Happy Veteran's Day to all who have that role heavy on their shoulders. Your service is greatly appreciated.

More Than Enough

The trouble with a blog is that I never write anything I'm proud of anymore. I'm 28 years old today and I can think of a million goals that might not ever come to fruition because where is the time? I haven't had a chance to sit down all morning. When these little fellas who call me Mom (yes, I got "Mom" today) finish their breakfasts, there are mouths and little hands to clean. When they both are excused from the table, there are diapers. As I'm cleaning the kitchen that is suddenly a mess, I break up multiple toy scuffles and by the time I sit down to roll a train across the hardwood floors it's time to start the routine over again for lunch. The time just isn't there. There's so much love in its place, though. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.  I'm going to scoop up my babies on this special day of mine and be thankful for these two precious blessings. I can't believe they're mine. If I don't do anything else in my life, I'll be happy at the end because I know I've poured my heart and soul into loving and raising my sweet boys. That is more than enough.

11 Months

It's hard to believe, Baby A, but you are already eleven months old. This year has flown by and I am struggling with my baby soon being one. Nursing has decreased dramatically and you will soon be weaned completely. I am sad about it, but happy as well. I'm so proud of you and how you've grown. You are a little garbage disposal. Your adventurous eating habits make us thankful for such an easily pleased child. You will eat anything! With an appetite like that, you'll soon outgrow your brother. You're nearly as tall as him now. I know because you keep trying to stand on your own. You've face planted twice already this morning. It breaks my heart the way your lip moves when you're starting to cry. If I could, I would gladly take all the pain you will feel in your life. Meanwhile, I'll try my best to protect you from it. I love you very much!

Love, 

Mama

The Little Mermaid: Family Costumes

Let's talk about how I place such a huge emphasis on Halloween every year and how ridiculous that is. I mean, whyyyy? I have always loved Halloween and I've dressed up every single year (except one and that was because I was vacationing in New Zealand and they don't really do that there). It honestly confuses me when people hate on Halloween, especially kids! My 9 year old nephew decided he was too old for it this year. I almost cried. Kidding. But I do have a ridiculous need to have so! much! fun! on that night of the year. And I want my kids to have fun, too. 

This year's theme for the W Family was: The Little Mermaid

I planned on being Ariel, J would be Eric, my prince and the kids would be King Tritan and Sebastian. Cray K was NOT having his costume (much like last year):

 

He loved Baby A's, however:

So I just did the switch-a-roo so we could actually go trick-or-treating without people thinking we were torturing the toddler. The kid is so dramatic, bless his heart.

I promise Baby A was perfectly content. Ha!

Anyway, J and I threw our costumes together easily and then walked around the neighborhood introducing ourselves to our new neighbors. It makes me smile to think about. I'm sure we were immediately labeled the weirdos. But, whatever. We were having fun!

Ariel has always been my favorite Disney gal. I had my 15 minutes of fun, pretending I was the underwater princess, but honestly I just wanted to get out of that fabric pronto. It was a little hot this year.
We ended up giving out candy, watching Hocus Pocus, and eating pizza.
Perhaps the kids will be more excited next year.

 

What did I learn? 

Toddlers don't appreciate handmade and/or pieced-together costumes. It's best to just get a costume they can't escape and MAKE ALL THE LITTLE PEOPLE HAVE FUN.

;)

Kidding again- sorta.