It's gonna get mushy!

I'm so proud of my girls this week! Paige got a lot of recognition at her awards ceremony including Honor Roll and Brooke did great in her little musical performance! She is so shy though! It's so very cute to watch. She was singing along with the music but she wasn't doing any of the dance moves. I'm still a very proud mama though! It's hard for me to believe that Paige is advancing into the fourth grade and Brooke will be starting kindergarten! It's crazy! And to top it all off, Myles just turned 3 years old yesterday!

Paige with her certificate.

Brooke after the show.

Cupcakes and ice cream for the birthday boy!

 Paiges certificate

Two of the shirts we bought Myles.

Ok, that's enough of the pictures.

I just wanted to show off my kids and tell you all how amazingly awesome they are! I'm so proud of all of them. I teared up a bit at Brookes' school today, it's sad to think of how fast they grow up!           The teachers pointed out today that Brookes' class is the "Graduating Class of 2025" and I had never felt older in my life. It's depressing. 

I love all my babies so much.

Alright. That's it. Thanks for reading!

Peace Out!

xoxox

Memorial Day

I hope everyone had as much fun as we did on Memorial Day! We all went over to my Moms' new place for her first official family cookout. I'm happy to report it was a success. Even with a tropical depression lingering and promising lots of rain, it was still a good day. It did rain for a little minute, but it was mostly a heavy sprinkle and we were all inside eating at that point so it didn't matter. Mom made her "famous" chicken dip and homemade mac and cheese, Clay (my step-dad) was in charge of the burgers and hot dogs, I brought the beans and Grandma Jackie made the potato salad. Mom also tried her hand a new cake recipe, it was red, white and blue, with a homemade icing. It tasted like a colorful pound cake with amazing icing! She did a great job on the cake! We also managed to squeeze in a few games of Foosball while we were there. I suck. I did start to get a bit better, but my reaction time just wasn't up to par.

It was still fun though. The kids were able to get in on the action. Paige didn't want to stop playing! She loved it. Our friends, Jessica and Mike, were able to join us for the day. Jessica was able to go for a ride on Clays' motorcycle (with him) for the first time. She was so excited and scared at the same time! It was funny! She did good. Later, we all went back to our house and Jessica asked to see some of my scrap booking supplies because she's thinking about getting into the hobby. Well, she asked for it. I pulled out all three of my totes from the closet that are slap full of stuff. Stickers, paper, cut-outs, stamps, stencils, punch out designs, fancy scissors, all sorts of crap, and yes, everything is labeled. She actually told me that she knew I had an "addiction" but she had NO IDEA it was "that bad" and I busted out laughing!! I told her that I'm planning on going through all of it to get rid of some if it because I really do have a tad too much, and I told her that what I don't want I will just give to her to help her out since she wants to start doing it. She gladly accepted the offer.

Me and my Bestie (sorry the pic is a little blurry, I guess my Mom couldn't hold still!)

So all in all, it was a great way to spend our Memorial Day. I hope yours was great, too!

Thanks for reading and don't forget to follow me on Twitter here

For the love of Pinterest!

Found this. Fell in love. Had to share.

I hope you love it, too!

Scrapbooking

Yesterday I picked up almost 100 photos from Walgreens for the Girls Scouts scrapbook that I want to make Paige. But now that I have everything I need I don't want to do it. It always seems like it's going to be a pain in the butt to do a themed scrapbook, but it's actually not. Once I get started it doesn't take long for me to finish because I will keep at it until I'm done. It's just so overwhelming because I have so much stuff to choose from for the book itself, stickers, stamps, stencils, cutouts, you name and I bet I have it. Which is a good thing, it just makes for a lot of options. I was also able to update some picture frames around the house since I printed so many. But there was a good sale going on, so it was pretty cheap actually. And who doesn't love cheap? 

Pinterest, thank you

Found these on Pinterest and wanted to share them with you all.

Everyone Poops

Today seems more like a Monday than a Tuesday. Tuesdays are suppose to be "good" days unlike the typical "bad" Mondays. But today seriously sucks. It's only ten in the morning, and so far today I've already had a fight with my huni, gotten a busted lip from my son and now I'm stressing because I have no money to put gas in the car, so now I am not sure how I am going to be able to pick the girls up from school later. This sucks. WTF is wrong with you Tuesday?! What are you thinking? I thought we were friends. Guess I was wrong. 

And now my son is bouncing up and down and walking on his tippy toes in hopes of stopping the inevitable, which is just going to the bathroom. Silly boy, when will you learn? Everyone poops. Stop fighting it. So now it looks like most of my day will be spent in the bathroom trying to get you to poop. Thanks. If  you weren't so damn cute, I don't know what I would do. That cute card does wonders for you, son.

This is seriously how I feel today.

I wish it were that simple.

Pucker up Buttercup

One sure fire way to piss off a stay at home mother is to act like her "job" isn't important and what she does doesn't matter because she doesn't bring home a paycheck. Seriously? Being a stay at home mom is not a walk in the park, sure you don't really have to get dressed if you don't want to and you don't have to report to an office or punch a timecard. But that doesn't give someone the right to belittle someone because they don't get paid for their services.

Lets see, for me, a typical day starts at 6:00am and ends usually around 10:00pm. In between there, I'm getting kids up and ready for school, taking them to school and then coming home to clean house and take care of the toddler who isn't in school. Then, it's lunchtime and naptime. After that, we're off to the school to pick up one daughter, then not even an hour later we're off again to pick up the other one. Then we have homework, dinnertime and bathtime. Then there's alittle bit of time to relax and settle down for the night before doing it all over again the very next day. And the day after that. And the day after that. And lets not forget to figure in trips to the store and errands that need to be taken care of, because, lets face it - Mom is the only one who can and will do it. Also, there is "the list" of things to do or things that need to be done that is always in the back of my mind, you know the one telling you not to forget the milk again at the store, wondering if you forgot to pay a certain bill, what's for dinner?, what's for breakfast?, Hell, anything for lunch? It's a never-ending list of reminders. And it never goes away. I carry so much weight on me everyday all day, that it's amazing I can stand up, which I do ALL DAY LONG typically because if I sit down someone is going to ask me to get up and do something or get something or something period AND if they don't and I actually get to sit there - it just feels so... wrong. Like I should be doing something else, anything else, besides sitting down. 

So I think you can get my point. Maybe. Maybe not. But until you have ever been a "stay at home mom" you can't really judge me or anyone else who is. I remember when I was little all I wanted to do was be a mom and stay home with my kids while Dad did the work and paid the bills. I don't regret my decision and neither should you. And for all those nay sayers out there, pucker up and kiss it.

Busy Bee

  So I took the kids to the Kids Workshop at Home Depot this morning. They love it, they always have such a great time! They love being able to build stuff! This month they made planters and gave each of the kids a veggie plant to accompany it. 

Brooke and Myles

Myles

Brooke

But of course my darling little ones wanted flowers instead so we ended up buying a few cheap ones. Then, after getting home we realize the plants we have are too big for the planters that they made, so instead we (and by "we" I mean "I") planted them along side the sunflowers. And it looks great! I'm so proud of myself! I have never been one for gardening but it seems the older I get the more I want to do it. But I just suck so badly at it even though I try so damn hard! Stupid Black Thumb!

The Garden

Also, while at Home Depot, I bought a very pretty pink Orchid for inside the house. I've always wanted one but they are expensive and since I have a bad habit of killing everything I had never bought one. But today is different. I talked with one of the store associates in the garden department and he assured me that they are simple and easy to take care. So I have the beautiful and expensive Orchid sitting as the center piece to our kitchen table.

My Orchid

So here's to a fun filled Saturday morning! 

I hope yours has been as great as ours!

And here's to hoping the plants don't die!!!!

Cheers to my Mom!

So with Mother's Day quickly approaching I find it compelling to write about my mom, Debra. Growing up as the only child of a hard-working single mother was no joke. She worked so hard for everything we had. She did what she needed to do and she always put me first. I was so lucky, so blessed, to have her as my mother. Now that I've grown, and have kids of my own, I can truly appreciate all that she has done for me as a child and even as an adult. She is strong, independent and most importantly a survivor. In more ways than one. She has overcome a lot of health issues and even breast cancer, but she has never let life get her down - she's too strong-minded for that! I love her so much, she is my best friend. 

Here we are together at "The Big Pink Ribbon" event last October.

This was for the "Put Your Pink Bra On" walk last October.

I love you, Mom!

Thanks for reading! 

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter: @iamshellfish

Get off me!

Why is it that the very second you sit down to do something, i.e this blog, the kids need you for this, or need you for that. OR they want to climb all over you, like my son Myles is. It's so aggravating! I swear it's as if the kids don't even know Dad exists at times. He's right there! Go ask him! Sheesh! Get off me!!!!!! It drives me bonkers! Don't get me wrong I love all three of my amazingly gorgeous children but when mama is trying to do something or talking on the phone, leave me the hell alone and/or ask dad. It's really quite simple but yet they make it seem as if it's impossible. 

Here is a recent picture of my livelihood. 

I told you my kids were amazingly gorgeous! And Dad isn't too bad either! ;)

Now that I've had a bit of a rant, I should probably warn you that this new blog of mine might see a lot of that. Not too much though, can't have the whole Internet knowing that I'm a crazy bish. Or can I?




Pardon my ADD but I feel the need to change the subject.
I started this blogger page yesterday after talking with a good friend of mine who gave me the push to do so. After some time and lots of scavenging on the web I started this one. With all the millions of people who have blogs and do it regularly, I feel like a really small fish in a big fucking ocean! Some blogs focus mainly on one subject while others have lots of topics. I'm not sure which is best for me, I do have a lot of interests, some of which I don't think I know enough about to really "blog" about it. The ONE thing that I know I'm good at is being a Mom. The Mom. That is my job and I do it well. But I don't want to limit myself to just a female audience. So I find myself conflicted. It will be interesting though to see how this all comes about. My page will be a work in progress for the next couple of days I'm sure. 


OK, so I think I am done for now. I hope you liked what you read. Feel free to comment, and make sure to follow me on twitter here: https://twitter.com/#!/iamshellfish


Thanks!