THERE IS A BIRD IN MY WALL!

I swear the moment Jason left my life was like "so everything is going to go wrong!". So let's rewind to a few nights ago, our boys sleep in the attic and pretty much stay up there all day playing Lego's and probably beating each other up with play weapons and what not-look I'm not up there all I know is their room is always a mess. So anyway, like a lot of people who want to air out their rooms they opened their window to let some air in. Yup! They really did let air in AND A BIRD! I'm not going to lie, I didn't think it was really in there and assumed if a bird did get in it would be afraid of them and leave, but it sure was. It then flew in the unfinished part of their wall and decided that was a nice nest. Let me just say, it is really creepy to be alone, in an attic, with some creepy noise coming from INSIDE THE WALL! Yea, needless to say I packed up most of their room and called my landlord basically crying like a crazy person. I'm slightly positive that the bird has since passed away, still in my wall, so now I wait for my landlord to come remove it and my brother in law to come finish the walls and maybe put a screen in the window to avoid these things. For now the boys aren't allowed up there because birds honestly are the scariest things to me and I don't want any of my kids near birds. Well, now that you all have that to make fun of me with, go ahead! If you aren't scared of birds I suggest watching "Birds" or "Psycho" and then coming back and you'll truly understand why this is so scary.

Love the Little Things

Yesterday was one of the most relaxing days I've had in awhile, because Saturdays are a moms best friend. I mean my day did start way earlier than I wanted-seriously people please don't text me before 9 am! But, it was okay because one of my toddlers was up and playing already, yea I know I'm a terrible mom tried to sleep in a left a two year unattended! To be fair, it was 7 am and most of the time they're all still sleeping. Anyway! I got up with her and we played "tea party" for a bit, it was nice to finally spend some time with my kids and not feel rushed. Most of my morning was just so peaceful and playful, because well honestly I didn't feel like doing anything other than being with my kids. I realized at that moment, it was exactly what I needed. I needed to play tea party, I needed to show my daughter how to braid her princess's hair(even if I didn't really know what I was doing). I need those moments of peace, don't get me wrong I did actual work too. I got laundry done, I cleaned some of our bedroom, and went through some of the kids clothes, but it doesn't compare to how complete I felt after playing with my kids. It was then that I decided Saturdays are officially not going to be super structured to keep my sanity. It probably sounds weird and the opposite of what you should do to keep your sanity, but that unstructured playtime made my mood like 100 times better, plus my kids were happy to have me play with them and at the end of the day they are the most important part of my life. So thank you Skyler, for being awake early and showing me that sometimes I just have to play with you guys to fix my mood.

Mom life-1 Me-0

I think it's safe to say I am not made for this single parent life. It is so exhausting and I am running on Red Bull and Dr. Pepper, I know super healthy! The first two days I thought I might actually be able to survive this, but now almost a week later I'm seeing that it's emotionally, physically, and mentally draining. Obviously, I am not throwing in the towel because I'm a mom and moms don't quit, but I think it'a time for mommy to have a super long nap. Here's a little recap of everything we've done this week, Skyler and Ryker graduated preschool. That was pretty emotional, especially since people kept coming up to me asking where Jason was and I didn't want to answer that, which actually causes more questions. Savannah graduated preschool as well, a little less sad-I guess the parents in her class either don't care as much or they didn't want to be rude by asking. So officially three of my kids are summer vacation-yay! That means my mornings are slightly less hectic. I also learned a new skill, don't make fun of it, making grilled cheese. Yup! I seriously had no idea how to make it until recently when Jason saw me making it and was like "That's not how you make grilled cheese" and he was kind enough to show me and make a really good grilled cheese for me. Anyway, my kids love grilled cheese so I made them some and I did it correctly! Thanks Jason for teaching me that important life skill, not sure how I made it 22 years without it. My kids were shocked because normally Jason makes the grilled cheese, because you know I couldn't, and they gave me some pointers for my next attempt. I was also able to get all kids to school on time, get my homeschoolers homework done, walk the dog, do dishes, do laundry, get rid of old clothes/toys, and somehow I haven't broken down in tears-yet. Everyone kept telling me that as the days go by it'll be easier, but honestly it seems harder now than it did the first day. I truly believe that once summer officially hits and they're all done with school I will be able to handle it or cry whichever happens first.

One Day at a Time

We are on to our second with me being a single mom and we aren't sure if I'm winning at this lifestyle or not. Yesterday was pretty easy because two of my helpers were off work, but they both went back today so it was me against nine kids this morning. Did I mention I worked until 1am last night? I feel like that's an important part of this story. When my alarm went off this morning I was pretty upset, normally Jason gets up with the kids and does all the morning things so I can sleep. I know, I sound super lazy, but I work more than 40 hours most weeks-so mama sleeps when she can! Anyway, the alarm went off and I got up still sleeping for the most part and yelled to each kid to get ready. There's a reason Jason does this and not me, he's so chipper in the morning and loves breakfast foods. I'm impressed when I get cereal and toast ready successfully. Once they were all dressed and ate their super healthy breakfast I realized we had like twenty minutes to get everyone to school, which start all at the same time but our no where near each other. Luckily, Tyson has a few friends he can walk to school with and was able to do that this morning and get to school on time. I was actually shocked that they all made it to all their activities and what not and I was able to do some of my chores today. We'll just pretend that I had energy when doing all of this and that I wasn't fighting back the urge to throw a fit over all the little things in life. I do want to warn all of you now, this blog might turn into a bit of a diary so Jason can read it when he gets the chance and catch up on all of the things he's missed in life. Just the thought of all the things he's going to be missing kills me inside, our wedding anniversary, six of our kids birthdays, Fathers' Day, kindergarten graduation, baseball games, Brooke's moving up meet, teaching our kids to swim, and so much more! I am so not looking forward to being the only one experiencing these fun activities, but I know if he doesn't do this now he'll permanently miss everything in their lives and I'm not okay with that. I can't wait till he gets home and I have my best friend and number one supporter back, because I need him like crazy.

Temporally a Single Mom!

Let's get down to business(I hope you all got Mulan stuck in your head now). If you know us in real life you already know this, but for those of you in the dark, Jason has decided to go to rehab. I don't want to get into details, because honestly it's his story and if he decides to tell everyone he can. Anyway, with him being in rehab for at least three months I get to attempt being a single mom for a bit! I'm already exhausted at the thought of doing this, but know it's what has to be done. I'm not sure if school ending soon is going to make it easier or not, but I will quickly find out and figure out how to make it all work. I am so grateful that we have so many awesome friends and family members that are able to help when needed, because I know this won't be easy to do without them. My goal for this first week of being alone is to figure out a schedule that works well for us, between working full time and having kids who do pretty much every activity under the sun I know without a schedule I will lose my mind quickly. I am terrified of the thought of failing at this single mom life and really hope I can figure it out and that Jason gets the help he needs and can come back to us. I really want to take this moment to thank all of the people who have sent us so many prayers during the passed few months, we wouldn't have made it this far without you. I hope you still have our backs as we go through this next chapter in this wonderful thing we call life.

30 Day Minimalist Challenge!

I really just want to take this moment and apologize to all the people who follow me on Pinterest. You have probably seen me pin tons of different challenges, most of which I never actually do, but this one is different. I found a fairly easy 30 day minimalist challenge. See, the biggest struggle I have with cleaning in general is I always try to do everything at once. Which then leads to me getting angry and deciding to give up and just let our house be a mess. However, this "challenge" split it up so well that even I could do it. Plus, it's called a challenge which makes it even more fun in my overly competitive mind. Anyway back to my point, we started this yesterday and it already seems to be going super well. Zayden and I decided we were going to work together on it since he is really the only kid okay with becoming a minimalist and he's super excited about the thought of getting rid of things that we don't use. Yesterday the challenge was to get rid of five things, we decided to get rid of stuff from the boxes that have been sitting in the hallway for about seven months now. Once we decided what we wanted to get rid of and bagged it up we were quite proud of our accomplishment(Jason made fun of this because it was so easy). Todays challenge was a little harder for us because it required cleaning my least favorite room-the kitchen. I don't know why, but our kitchen never seems to get a deep cleaning. Maybe it's because no one sees the point because we mess it up ten seconds later? I'm not sure, but the challenge today was to clean the counters. For us to do that we had to actually decide what needed to stay and what served no purpose. If you know me, you know I love candles, probably more than a human should and my collection from Yankee Candle is quite large. While cleaning the counters I had to decide what to do with them and sadly that meant getting rid of some. I will admit, the ones I got rid of didn't have much wax or I didn't enjoy the smell, but that's not the point! I love having a sweet smelling home and it pains me to get rid of things like this. I keep reminding myself, things don't make you happy memories do. I think I will survive without a few candles and I am very proud that I'm making such large leaps with the minimalist journey. It's hard at times because so many people say I can never do it, but I know what being a minimalist truly means and I'm okay with not being the perfect one. My main goal is to make sure I don't end up on hoarders one day to be honest, because sometimes I feel like we have so much stuff that we're headed that way. I can't wait to see what our house looks like at the end of our challenge and I really hope I can stick to it!

Minimalist Mother's Day

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday and that all you mommies got super spoiled. My kids were amazing with all the little things they did for me, especially with them not getting me anything that would take up too much space. If you have been following this blog, you know that we are on a journey to becoming minimalists. That journey is quite long, but it's becoming easier everyday. I explained to my kids that I really didn't want much for Mother's Day and all I really wanted was a clean house-which I didn't get but that's not the point. The point is they listened, they realized I really wasn't interested in jewelry that I would never be able to wear or little nick-nacks. They knew what things I actually enjoy and what drives me crazy. This year was probably the best Mother's Day I ever had and it was probably also the simplest one ever. I mean really, my kids just made me breakfast and CLEANED IT UP!(moms know what I'm talking about here!). That alone was more than enough present wise, but just having a relaxing day with my family was the best gift ever and I'm so glad we did it. I am beginning to realize that no amount of stuff will ever be able to replace the feeling I get when I am with my family. That feeling is the most amazing thing in the world and I am so blessed to have gotten to spend an amazing and beautiful day with them. I am not going to lie, the fact they each got rid of two toys helped a lot, but even if they didn't do that and we just hung out all day it would have been just as perfect. So, to my kids and my amazing husband-thank you from the bottom of my heart for being so amazing and understanding what I truly wanted and needed yesterday. Now, to figure out what to do for my husband for Father's Day, because he is not nearly as easily pleased as I am about holidays. Wish me luck! Happy Mother's Day yet again!

Kidbox vs Kidpik

As you all know we recently did a review on Kidpik, today we received a "Kidbox" box from a very similar company. I was a little worried that it would be exactly like Kidpik, but since it also offered boy clothes I went ahead and ordered one for Zayden. Zayden is very good at fashion and makes me feel bad about myself when he's able to match all his siblings clothes in a matter of seconds and I'm still trying to find matching socks. He is not as picky as Brooke is when it comes to clothes because he feels like he can make anything work. With that being said, I knew he would be the perfect kid to test this product on. Much like Kidpik they ask you what styles, size, and products your kids like to wear. Zayden prefers higher end things vs the sporty things Tyson wears, so I knew this was going to be expensive. As I was filling everything out I read that they donate an outfit to a child in need when you keep the whole box. That was pretty awesome to me! It's a good way to encourage people to buy the whole box that's for sure. So after about three weeks of waiting for his box it arrived-yay! He was so happy that he ripped into, made up his mind on what to keep, and had it all packed in the prepaid return package before I could take any pictures. He was pretty excited to show me what he had picked out and I was glad he made good choices without any adults present. He choose to keep a cute penguin shirt and really nice dark blue shorts that match it, and honestly probably match most of his other clothes as well. He told me the reason he chose not to keep the other products was just because he had similar items already. They sent a polo shirt, khakis, a nice button up shirt, a plain grey shirt(as if Zayden would wear a PLAIN shirt), and khaki shorts. I was pretty impressed with how nice everything was and really liked that if he had kept the whole box- it would have cost less that $100 and they would have donated to a child in need. Now to the part you all want to know-which do I prefer? Part of me wishes I got Brooke both boxes so I could truly compare, however from what I've seen I kind of like Kidbox more. I think it's amazing that they donate to a child in need and the prices are pretty good. However, we got more with the Kidpik box, Brooke got accessories and shoes and she gets a box every month vs Zayden only getting one every season. I think in the end it will balance itself out for our kids and maybe one day Zayden will have enough clothes for his liking(probably not seeing as I purge clothes often). All in all, both boxes are great and I would suggest either one for you and your kids. If you decide to get a box(or two) let us know! We'd love to hear your experience with our favorite products. Here's a link to get $25 off your first Kidbox! http://refer.kidbox.com/fwyw7

Happy 2nd Birthday Skyler!

Oh my word, how are we already to this point? I remember this moment like it was yesterday, we got the phone call that the little girl we would be adopting was born about two weeks early. Jason was just the boyfriend at this point and didn't actually have to come with me, but I needed a ride-thanks babe! So we went to the hospital where he was the second person to hold our little bundle of joy. I knew from that moment she had broke him, the guy who was afraid to get close to a child who wasn't biologically his was falling in love. From that moment on she was his girl and he was her daddy. This little girl is truly the glue that holds our family together, she makes us smile in the darkest times and always has a smart remark to say even if she doesn't realize it. For being only two years old she seems like she is so much older than that half the time, she speaks so clearly and plays well with her siblings(sometimes). This little girl is obsessed with everything "girly", if it's pink and sparkly she wants it! She loves "nernaids"(mermaids) and loves "fishies". I am so glad that we have her in our lives, even though terrible twos seem to be hitting her full force. I honestly couldn't imagine going through life without her. Skyler Ro, you are so beautiful, so funny, so outgoing, so smart. I could go on and on about how much I love you, you are one of my favorite people in the world. I love you to the moon and back, happy 2nd birthday Skyler!!!

School Wrap Up!

Our first year of homeschool has officially come to an end(well almost, they have tests but that's it). A lot of people have asked about our opinions on homeschooling and what we're planning on doing next year in regards to schooling. This first year of homeschooling has made me realize I love teaching my kids, I love being with them when they learn how to do new skills and am so glad that I have had this opportunity to do so this year. So of course, our kids who were homeschooled will for sure be homeschooled again next school year. As for our kids who went to regular school this passed year, for the most part they will remain the same. Callie, Estella, and Tyson all love being in school, as much as I would love to have them home with me I know that isn't best for them. Those three need constant interaction with different kids and they get that at school, so I will swallow my pride and let them do their thing. Now onto Hunter, if you didn't know this our son Hunter has Aspergers and we tried mainstreaming him this passed year, it was not a good fit for him. He was biting kids, he was hitting kids, he was having a hard time. We realized that he needs a different kind of schooling, so we went ahead and found a special needs school in our area. Since switching him to this school he has made incredible strides, he went from being an angry child who couldn't channel his anger back to the sweet kid we know and love. He has only bit a few children since then, seeing as it was a daily occurrence I saw this as a win, and hasn't hurt himself since. As for our homechooled kids, we learned a lot about learning styles and my teaching style. I learned that following the books perfectly isn't needed, we don't need every single homeschool book on the market, and most importantly I learned that it really is okay if you have a day where you just don't do work. Working full time and homeschooling is a hard task, I'm sometimes exhausted in the morning and more than once I have taught my kids while holding back tears and being physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. Just recently I decided to put on an educational show and let them learn from that instead, obviously I don't do this often, but I learned it is more than okay to let them double up some days and relax on some. I am so excited that this school year is coming to an end and summer is upon us, I miss being able to sleep in and to see my kids for more than just a couple hours. I just hope I can muster up some energy to get through these next few weeks(4 to be exact). Here's to summer!