I am admired. . .

A few nights ago in yoga, my instructor told us to focus on our breathing and either count and use a mantra to control our breathing.  I usually am not one for mantras, but on this particular day, repeating a few phrases was really motivating to me.  At first, they were ones that I try to repeat to myself numerous times throughout my day just to remind me of my strengths, "I am a good mother, "I am a good wife," "I am strong."  Then out of nowhere came one that sort of came out of my unconsciousness, "I am admired."  I could tell that my breathing changed a bit because that is not something that I would ever think of myself.  I don't think people admire me.  I don't think that I do anything that deserves admiration.  I am a SAHM like so many of mothers out there, and to be honest, I am don't even really think that I am a very good mom most of the time--so it hardly deserves admiration.   Yet, when I got an email from my sister a couple of weeks ago that said, "I admire you," that was probably the best compliment that I could ever receive.  I didn't know why at the time, but it hit just the right spot to me. 

Skip ahead to this morning at church--throughout the season of Lent, our church is focusing on the book.

Now, I must be honest and tell you that I am only about one chapter in, but I can already tell you that what my love language is from the above example.  My love language is most certainly through Words of Affirmation.  Simply put, I feel most loved when those that love me are open and expressive in telling me most specifically how much they appreciate me.  However, now that I know that about myself, I also know that in my role as SAHM is know for a fact that my girls a very rarely, if ever, going to tell me how much they appreciate me.   I know that they are not going to say thanks for cooking breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc.  I know they aren't going to tell me how much they appreciate me driving them to school, picking them up, being at every party, school function, field trip, etc.  I know that most (ok, probably all) of my "job" is thankless.  It's just everyday life, but realizing that I also thrive on those statements of appreciation, I realize how that one statement from my sister was able to touch me so much more than even a simple, "I love you" would have.  I just need to know that someone's life is better because I am in it, and not just knowing it, but hearing it from them really goes a long way for me. 

Now of course there are other love languages and the key is to figure out what your love language is and even more so--to figure out what others love languages are.  To know that, helps us to be better partners, wives, parents, friends, daughters, sisters, etc.  So, thank you to my sister for knowing what my love language is.  Somedays it is just the thing you need to hear to make it through the day, and on that particular day that I got that email, it meant the world to me :)

Longing for Spring

It's been a slow week on the blog-sorry :(  I guess it's just that time of winter where we are starting to get cabin fever and nothing really exciting is going on around here.  I am ready for some nicer days to get the girls outside, and I know they are ready for that too!!! Our swingset looks at us longingly saying "come play on me," we have bikes that need to be ridden, and a pool that has been closed for far too long.  I know I should be excited about the 2 inches of snow that we got, but really, I'm kind of over it now.  A couple of weeks ago it looked pretty when we had a good snow, but now, it is just annoying me (and we haven't even had a lot of snow this year).  But, the light at the end of the tunnel-I did sign the girls up for swimming lessons yesterday for the SUMMER-as in swimming outside!!!! So, I have to believe that Spring is right around the corner.  Come on Spring!!!!!

Home

So Kevin and I had an awesome time on our date night down in the city on Saturday night.  We went to the auto show, went to happy hour, had a nice dinner and met a friend out for drinks afterwards.  We slept in on Sunday morning and went back to our favorite breakfast place and my favorite cupcake place.  It was so great to be able to spend time together and just get to enjoy each others company.  And it was nice to get to wear a nice "going out" dress that I knew wasn't going to get dirty hands all over it before I even left the house.

But, I must say that after seven short months, the city no longer felt like home to me.  I got to about 9:00--right after dinner and I must say that I was ready to go home.  I missed my girls, I missed my dogs, most of our friends were busy doing their own things and couldn't meet us out, times had changed and so have we.  While there are things that I miss about the city, I feel at home here at our new house.  Maybe it is because I grew up 10 minutes from our current house so the area is so familiar and comfortable, but I feel a lot more at peace here.  While the bustle of the city is nice once in awhile, I realize that it's not the place I wanted to raise my girls.  I'm so glad that we decided to move when we did because I now see them making friends that they will have hopefully for a lifetime--kids they will ride the bus with, kids that they will invite over to play and in the summer spend countless hours outside before I have to call them in, friends that they will have sleepovers with and share memories with.  And for me, while making friends has been slower as one would expect for a 30-something, I too am glad that I can make friends that I hopefully will be able to call when I need someone to pick up one of my girls from school because I am stuck in traffic and it's nice to run into a friendly face that I know almost everywhere that we go.  It's nice to hop into the car and drive somewhere without worrying about the parking.  It's nice to know that this is the place that we are going to be long-term. I feel much more at home now than I even realized I did before our weekend away.  I guess I am just a suburban girl at heart :)

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!!

Whew, it's 9:00 at night and we have been on the run practically all day.  Between holiday parties and getting back to the gym and girls not napping, it has been a busy but good week.  But, more on all that later because today we are wishing my mom and the best grandma in the world a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Today we hope you get a cake. . .

 Don't be shy. . .

 And don't just watch others eat your cake. . .

 Really dig on in (or start by rubbing it on your legs Ella-style). . .

 And enjoy your day!!!!

Hope you have a great day! We love you and can't wait to see you soon. XOXO!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

So sorry for the lack of posts this week.  It's been a bit busy and I am trying at night to fight off this cold that has been creeping around me for the past couple of days.  I definitely don't want to have a cold for my BIG DATE NIGHT on Saturday.  Can you tell I'm excited?  Well, I am!!!!

I only have a few minutes before I am off to spend the day with my little loves.  Kiley is finally getting to the age where holidays are exciting to her and you should have seen her face this morning when she came down for Valentine's Day breakfast--definitely makes it all worth it :)  Anyways, more to post tomorrow, but for today

Happy Valentine's Day 

 

Hope you have an awesome Valentine's Day!!!

Highlights/Lowlights

It's Monday night and I have a ton of tv watching to do--as in, I am taping three different shows at the same time right now.  Don't judge, there's a lot of good tv (ok I can't exactly call the Bachelor good, but entertaining) on tonight so I will keep this short.  The weekend, was well, a weekend with some highlights and some lowlights. 

Highlights
1.  I got out on Friday night to go to a wine tasting at a friend's house.  It was a much needed girl's night out after a long week.  The wines weren't that great, but I didn't even care, I was out of the house for a night!

2.  Costco run on Saturday morning-have you ever gotten their cilantro lime shrimp--it is delicious.  My friend, Jill turned me on to it and she said it was from Costco.  The first time I went to find it, I thought it was in the frozen section and couldn't find it--well this time, while getting a pre-prepared salad for dinner that night, I saw those little babies.  Oh happy day!!!  Also, we found some chocolate covered blueberries that are AMAZING!!! So next time you are at Costco, find the shrimp and blueberries, I know weird combo, but you won't be disappointed.

3.  I went out for a run on Saturday afternoon.  It was pretty nice out for a February afternoon, well aside from the wind which almost kicked my butt (oh and actually running hills).  I'm used to the nice flat terrain of Chicago, and also having to stop at a stoplight every few blocks :)  Better get myself outside running a bit more often instead of camping out on the treadmill.

4.  My sister came up on Sunday morning and went to church and breakfast.  It was so nice to see her since I haven't seen her since Christmas.  

5.  Kevin watched the kids and I am cleaned the entire upstairs of the house in a couple hours on Sunday afternoon.  It was so nice to actually feel like I accomplished something from start to finish at one time.

Lowlights
1.  Ella's double ear infection.  Thankfully the antibiotics are finally starting to seem like they are working, so today has been a much better day.

2.  Needing a highchair at Chick Fil A and the only ones they had were being occupied by sister's who were no joke probably 4 or 5 years old.  Seriously-your kindergartener can sit on a chair, right?

3.  Sitting down on Saturday night to have a glass of wine and read a magazine I got at CVS the day before.  Notice, I said day before as in 2013.  So, I go to read the magazine, look at the cover and realize the date on the magazine says June/July 2008.  What???

4.  Having to wait 20 minutes at Egg Harbor for breakfast on Sunday.  Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but with two kids who are restless and hungry and there not being a good place to wait, it was a long 20 minutes. 

5.  Same breakfast ending in Ella puking all over me after having a temper tantrum which led to a coughing fit.  Luckily, she spared the little girl next to us as she came within centimeters of puking all of the little girl's hair. 

So, there you have it.  Our weekend in a nutshell.  I am SUPER excited about next weekend though because Kevin and I have a date weekend planned thanks to my sister for being able to stay with the girls.  I can't wait!!!! 

Snow Day!

  I swear I think that I had this same post last year about this time (I went back and checked, yep I did and here's the post) It's crazy to see how much the girls have changed in one year.  We weren't going to go out to play, but after being stuck in the house all day, taking the 20 minutes to get all bundled up to go down to the get the mail seemed like a good way to kill some time. 

. 

I have absolutely nothing to report for Fitness Friday--why, you ask--oh because I haven't worked out in now going on 5 days.  Yep, still sick at home today.  Oh well, I could do a workout video at home but we can't get any of our dvd players to work and sitting in front of the computer to do a video just seems a little odd to me, so I guess I will just go with the workout break.  I am hoping that Kevin can get home a little early today so maybe I can get to the gym, but my motivation really seems to be lacking in the afternoon/evening so not going to lie, that probably won't happen.  It's been a long week, but long weeks definitely make the TGIF saying all the more true!