Art School...like Mommy like Son?

We're just gonna come right out and admit that if I had to do summer school for "mommyhood" this past summer... I would not be moving on to the next grade. I received an F this summer. Part of me feels bad because I'm failing my children but the other part of me is so tired I feel pretty successful that I managed to keep them alive.

To kick off the fall with our kids, I thought I'd attempt to make it up to my children..so I enrolled Tristan in a little preschool art class put on by the Lake Wilderness community center. It cost me a whole 30 dollars. I really love cheap things. I highly recommend looking into things your community offers. They're usually short lived (i.e 4-6 weeks) so there's not too much commitment and super cheap.

Besides who doesn't love making messes you don't have to clean up?

Eric took Tristan to his 1st week because I had to work, so I got to go this past week. My little peanut LOVES his outdoors. I've mentioned before that he is becoming quite the escape artist when the front door opens. Needless to say, he had a blast...running up and down the hill and saying "tweee... tweee... tweee" (translation: TREE) as I tried to interest in him in picking bark off the tree so we could "impression" it. I ended up doing most of his "classwork" and then I started to worry that we were not getting off to a good start in our future schooling career together... I foresee myself staying up late to "help" finish projects.. :/

 

and of course...our finished projects.

WEEK 1 with Daddy:

WEEK 2 with Mommy:

The Housewife Life

My boss has been out of town so I've been covering her 9-5's for a few days. What a life, I tell ya. If I could work a M-F job with those hours, I don't care if you want me slangin pig's I'll do it.

The PROS:

• You can be a little risque' and stay up a bit late and still get to semi-sleep in and not need to take a nap in the middle of the day...
• Your husband can make you breakfast AND get your coffee started
• Your kids can be watched by other people...
• You can really feel like a normal person. 

It's so great. Did I also mention that your kids can be watched by other people? (HOLY DAYCARE, I WANT YOU IN MY LIFE).

So... I cannot tell a lie. I loved it and all... it was a dream come true. Except, after 4 days I felt like I was really neglecting my Pinterest boards, and all of my quality facebook/twitter stalking.

I really really missed my computer.

Me, in my natural element.

 I started to reminisce about the good ole' days of being a housewife, and I ached for it a tiny TINY bit. Like not enough for me to ever want to do it full time again..but just enough to want an entire day to play on my computer and pretend like I'm going to make sweet crafts and activities for my kids... and enough to want to make a list of all the things I do miss about being a "full time" stay-at-home mom.

1. Endless amounts of coffee. If my cup ran out... well, all I have to do is just stroll over to the kitchen and refill it. Slippers, robe and all.
2. Speaking of-- my slippers. I miss them.
3. Nobody tells me what to do. I'm in charge.
4. I can do anything I want, when I want. Because I'm the mom and I make the rules. If I don't want to go to story time...well then, we don't have to.
5. Sleeping in till 730am. Never thought I'd say that 730 was sleeping in...
6. Wardrobe freedom. I didn't have to shower unless I wanted to. And I didn't have to wash the same outfit over and over every day.
7. Friends! What are those? I was jk about this one ;)
8. Play dates. I'm going to tell you all a secret. They're not actually for the kids.
9. Shopping. I did a whole lot more shopping before I was too tired to even pick up milk on the way home.
10. Ok and last but not CERTAINLY NOT LEAST!... family time ;)

So there you have it. I don't really want to be a big kid. I just want to wear my pj's all day and call it good!

Flying Solo [Summer Ketchup Post 2 of 5}

This Mama (yes, me) lost her marbles this summer. I'd like to say I've found them, but I think a few of them went down the vent and are never coming back. But I did find a few of them in the couch cushions and under the bed.

Part of my quarter life crisis was that I felt that I needed to spend some time on my own. I needed some space to be me, and to just sit and think; to have a cup of coffee with a friend without trying to talk over crying babies; and some time to let loose and feel 24, and not 45.

It is  a wee bit sad that is has been over 2 years that I have gone out with friends without the Hubs or babies. I vow to find more balance on a regular basis.

It's a strange thought that one might be heard without shouting over toddler gibberish, or even in fact, finish a meal entirely without thinking how much this waiter is going to hate us when he sees the mess my children are making on the floor. The only downside to being with friends is that when you are with your children, you are constantly thinking of how much you miss your friends, but when you are with your friends you are missing your family and wondering how they are doing and if they miss you. Oh life, you are so confusing!

Summer Ketchup! {Post 1 of 5}

So I know I vanished, and if you don't stalk my photos on facebook....well then, you have no idea what I've been up to this summer.

A whole lot of CRAZY and a whole lot of FUN.

Keep checking back, I'll promise you'll be filled in...

Join me for a photo tour of my summer...

Ever wonder what those weird mormons do for fun? Well, we ride dirt bikes in our Sunday best through the neighborhoods, of course!

 

^^ Tristan's first time sitting on a real dirt bike. 

I've successfully brainwashed my child.

All he talks about is, "bike, bike, bike, bike"

I LOVE IT! 

CAKE SMASH!

I'm proud to say that my boys sure know how to eat a cake.

Anyone remember this? :)

Following suit...

Followed by the epic wash down. There was some debate about how to clean said Birthday Boy. I voted for the hose. If he's going to be a boy and live in my house, he's gonna get the hose when he gets this dirty. He might as well learn early on that this kind of mess is not allowed in the house...Eric didn't agree. He didn't want anything to do with the hose and crying baby. I think Ryan handled it well. A couple of tears, but they were brief :) 

Daddy was kind enough to give him a real, warm bath directly after. What a nice Daddy, my boys are lucky! ;)

Little Man Mustache Party!

This post is going to be VERY LONG, so bear with me! Lots of fun pictures to share :)

Our little man's birthday party was yesterday. It was so much fun, and SO EASY. Far less stressful than any of Tristan's parties. We had one of the women in our ward volunteer to help with the invites, so we sent out digital invites instead of mailed invites. We may go this route every year, for several reasons. So much cheaper (FREE), convenient, and you typically get RSVP's a lot faster and easier. The only downside to this was that Eric & I missed out on our date night of making the invites. I do enjoy making them together.

We used this digital invite--
(this is a sample-- didn't want to blast our address all over the internet)
I LOVED the wording and couldn't resist.

The best part about this was when I was doing some last minute shopping the night before and stumbled on these shirts...on sale, nonetheless...HOW COULD I RESIST?!

These were both Men's tees, so I just cut mine to make it a little bit more feminine :)

and then I found this bad boy for my mom...she loved it. She wore a mustache the whole party. I think the mustache made her feel very suave because as soon as the mustache went on, she had insta-swag.

Some of the party decor and fun: 

We set up a photobooth for people to get silly with the mustaches...

 Popcorn-- we got these bags for a couple bucks with the cotton candy machine rental and just popped regular popcorn from Costco (total cost: under $15)

 Old fashioned coca cola from Costco as well. We HEART COSTCO!

 Party supplies from First Wishes

 Homemade cupcake toppers, Cupcakes made by my BFF/MadeOfHonor aka the beautiful redhead Kristen Raab :)

 Cake also made by the lovely Kristen Raab

Our friend Felicia helping Eric make Cotton Candy; the machine rental was our "big splurge" for the party-- sooo worth it! Fun and easy, and an ENDLESS amount of Cotton Candy-- we will be giving away Cotton Candy for a few months if anyone would like some....lol

And then some finger stache fun... :) 

My personal favorite part of the party.

And then of course, some candid shots of our guests enjoying themselves... 

I'll have to do an entirely 2nd post of the cake smash & the photobooth pics...so keep your eyes out for more! :)