i haven't blogged in an entire year. i did plenty of reading and writing during that time. i finished my master's degree in elementary reading and literacy. it was an accomplishment, a team effort that was challenging for the entire family. i am hoping my little people remember very little about eating cereal for dinner and mommy hiding out in her room writing papers.

Blog your heart:

1. i am back at work. i have 29 kindergartners. you never realize how far you move a class until you have to start over again. in june i am happy to say goodbye. always. in august i desperately miss those people i said goodbye to. it is a strange profession.

2. i started going to yoga 4 days a week. i feel exponentially better about myself, my body, my life.

3. i am exactly where i want to be. right this second. that makes me happy.   

a change of pace

it felt like the changing of seasons. it felt different and completely the same. subtle changes.
no long stroller rides. no need to put babies down for naps. no movies. no sippy cups. no bedtime routines.

it was effortless. sunscreen and water. lots of water. they were content in the sand for hours. running ashore to show me sand crabs and grab a snack.

she laid on her belly down the shore and talked to herself and made drip castles.

he ran along the shore and rolled in the sand and i wiped sand out of his eyes and he didn't cry.

it was the changing of the tide. and that's where we are in life too.

sandy bathtubs

there are a lot of days in summer where i get to dinnertime and i think, how did this day slip away? what did we accomplish? what will they remember? why can't i get a dinner put together before ryan gets home? eh.

an overwhelming sense of panic kicks in when i look at the calendar. summer is nearly over. we haven't been to to zoo 100 times like i anticipated. no library trips. not enough stories read, too much tv. and mommy guilt kicks in. nobody wrote about the mommy guilt in those baby books. i'm still waiting for it to go away. someday. sigh.

then, as i rinse out the tub, as i watch the little grains of sand slip down the drain, i feel slight relief. today was a good day. i can see evidence of it right here. 

ThredUp

 

my sweet cousin, who lives way too far away, told me about ThredUp. it is an online fashion resale shop. it's like buying nice hand-me-downs. and i LOVE hand-me-downs. i was sold when she told me i could return anything i didn't love. i am a risk-free-shopping kind of gal.

thredup has a mobile app, so i browsed and added fun stuff to my bag without too much thought. i filtered our sizes, so that made browsing easy and quick.

 the box was beautifully packed and each item was nicely folded. each item was tagged and they provided an inventory slip.

 moo bear is a dress lover. she will wear a dress every day of the year... it's a good thing we live in sunny san diego! she was very happy with this find. 

i also splurged on the true religion jeans. considering the deep discount, we can pretend to be name brand people.

all three of her items looked great. no noticeable stains or problems.

 this dress fit me perfectly. and it was $8.00. EIGHT DOLLARS! the pictures don't do it justice.

 i tried 8 items for myself. i felt like being brave considering the prices. i kept 2. everything was in great condition. most items were too big or just not my style.

 dane told me he looked like a cowboy. his two shirts fit him perfectly.

when we were done playing dress up, i packed up the items that didn't workout. i logged into my thredup account. i followed the directions to the returns page. a page pops up with all your items and you select which ones are being returned and the reasons why. then you hit print and three pages print out. the return slip you place in your box and a mailing label. there is a charge of $8.99 for return shipping. i felt like $8.99 was worth the experience. and i would have paid way more than $8 for that black dress.

you can also pick free return shipping and store credit instead of a refund.

i was pretty thrilled with my experience with thredup. everyone walked away with new treasures and the price was right. 

i will be shopping thredup again... and now you'll know my name brand secret!

if you use my link you will get $10 off your first purchase.

http://www.thredup.com/r/57NWD0

{i did not write this post for anything other than sharing a great thing}

a beautiful butterfly

he was the easiest baby boy. compared to his sister.

he turned one. he turned challenging. he didn't find it necessary to conform to a sleep schedule. he didn't want anything to do with the right foods, or food groups for that matter. and he cried. and he cried and cried and cried. and i was sure something was really wrong with him. and every doctor's appointment said otherwise.

he is naughty at preschool. he frequents time out. he is a boy. lots of jumping. lots of arms and legs everywhere. lots of noise. he has the highest pitch scream known to mankind. but now that i think about it, we don't hear it as often.

i see baby steps in the right direction during these long summer days. as he happily floats around a friend's pool on his noodle. when he catches butterflies. in the moment he tells me why we do not kill bumble bees. when he sees trash on the ground he will tell me it makes his heart sad.

yesterday i watched him button his shorts. he didn't know i was watching or surely he would have waddled over and asked me to do it. he tried four times. he got it. then he pushed his belly out to see if he could pop the button open. i smiled. i know how to do that same trick.

i praised him afterwards. i told him i liked how he didn't give up. he looked at my face.

'mommy, you are smiling because i buttoned my showrts.'

i am. you are a good boy for trying all by yourself. that makes mommy happy.

that night i tucked him in and he counted ten hugs and one kiss and said:

'mommy, you are happy because i caught a beautiful butterfly and i buttoned my showrts'

that's right dane.

he has become a sensitive little soul watching our faces and catching beautiful butterflies. those beautiful butterflies are colorless moths. in his eyes that doesn't matter.

2014 Favorites

a few of my 2014 favorites.

favorite girls 

favorite memory 

 favorite picture

 favorite place

 new favorite restaurant: whisknladle la jolla

 

favorite trip

 favorite 4th of july

 favorite professional accomplishment: the day i got the job

 favorite "mommy" accomplishment: potty training Dane

favorite view

 

favorite place to shop: target

favorite find... each and everyday

favorite quilt

favorite husband... still ;)

favorite time of the year

 

favorite santa picture

 

kindergarten

we had ten minutes until school was out. i asked them to clean up. all of the sudden i hear {in a shrill voice}...
'but i don't want to go hooooooome'

i looked at him and said... that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me. he looked confused.

some days i feel like i want to hit my head against the wall, but today i walked to my car with my head held high. 

Disneyland

our maiden voyage. it took us awhile to muster up the courage to take this trip. and it went amazingly well. {i mentally set the bar low so i could enjoy the day} the only real hiccup had nothing to do with the kids. my sweet mountain man of a husband put his pocket knife in his pocket like he does every morning. 

of course they spotted us. we casually walked a few feet back, he stuffed it deep inside his pocket and we returned. an undercover lady walked up and told us to hand over the knife or return to the car. the car that is miles away. 

ryan ended up flagging down a cab driver and paid him to mail it to our house. so... we shall see if it ever shows up. {he may have paid a guy to steal his knife} 

anyways... we let this debacle roll off our backs and we actually had a really great time. 

we went mid-week in the hopes of low crowds. i think that trick worked. early march is also a good time according to the Disneyland website. 

the weather was PERFECT! oh how i love california. 

our first ride was the merry-go-round. 

toad's wild ride was less than a 10 minute wait. 

no wait at the tea cups. and no WAY i was getting on them. {notice the snarky princess testing my 'i'm going to be a great, patient mom at disneyland' outlook. urgh.}

threatening to toss her to the pirates seemed to snap her out of it. my favorite ride. maybe it's the smell of chlorine.  

they loved the pooh ride.

and i loved the treats at pooh's store. 

i set a mental limit of one treat and this was worth every.single.calorie. 

moo's only request was to see princesses. we didn't see any of the well known ones from our movie collection. moo didn't know who mary poppins was or the evil witch, but she did recognize snow white. 

 this lady was so in character. i felt a connection ;)

we stopped by city hall at the end of the day. there wasn't a line compared to earlier. we snagged some free pins to celebrate their first trip. moo took it for sharing today. 

and somehow, by some small miracle, we got away with only bringing home two balloons. that i {the i.do.not.like.balloons mom} held the entire way home. 

dane jumped and screamed for joy when we bought them. he, unlike me, has a true love of cars and balloons. his life was complete.   

and i felt pretty complete too.

on the way home we stopped at islands. moo screamed out 'it's like the tiki room!' it was so sweet. 

a few random tips:

we brought lots of water and snacks. i tucked it all discretely inside our diaper bag. there were no issues with that. and i saw a lot of other people with their own food and drink.

for my fellow double bob lovers- do not stuff your stroller until AFTER the bus ride into the park. otherwise you will be that mom who is chasing all the water bottles and bars that have fallen out while waiting in the bus line.

i brought empty sippy cups to fill throughout the day. i brought empty ziplocks for left over snacks and things to save from lunch. 

a small revelation: 

there is the universal tantrum. i saw so many kids throwing fits. so many kids being naughty. so many kids just being grumpy.

and when it was all said and done... it made me feel good. sometimes i feel like my kids are just the craziest kids that walk this planet. nope. they are not alone. and i am not alone. oddly, i found comfort in seeing this at the happiest place on earth.