Wednesday Random Ramblings

• Seasonal allergies are attacking our house. My head feels like it weighs 900 lbs. Brady woke up this morning saying his head and throat hurt. Marley, our outside dog, has yucky goo in her eyes. Even Ethan, our friend who is staying with us this week during the day, has a runny nose.





•  I have been trying to find things to do inside today to help keep the allergies at bay. And every one is acting drugged and tired.
• We made these cute hand print giraffes. They are gold because I didn't have yellow paint on hand. It kept them entertained for a few minutes.               

This one has an extra leg. Oops!

• I have been a SAHM for a month now and I am mostly loving it! I am still  getting used to it, but I feel like I am much more on top of things and more available to every one. (It has been a huge adjustment for me, more than I expected. I am not sure what I expected though.)  I am relaxed and  happy! That is good.                                           
• September is filling up fast. It is quickly becoming a very busy month, more on that stuff as it happens. I am really excited about most of it.
• Caleb just finished reading the first Hunger Games book. I read the series a while ago, loved them, and have suggested them to every one, including Caleb.  Of course, he wouldn't listen to me. After hearing some others talk about it, he decided to read it. It is fun to experience it through him. We were both thoroughly disappointed in the sneak peak for the movie. I am clinging to the fact that they are still filming and that is the excuse for a pitiful sneak peak. I am actually really scared about how the movies will be. In my opinion, they could be really awesome or really weird and overdone. We shall see.

Images from Google and/or clip art.

Weekend Fun!

We had a pretty busy weekend, but it was mostly by choice. Friday night we just ordered pizza and stayed in. We order pizza from Papa Johns, because it is close to our house, they will deliver, and we like it. I started ordering online a couple years ago, because it is easier to me.  Also, you earn points with each order online and when you get 25, you get a free pizza.  Well, we had enough points for a pizza Friday so that is what we did. We order quite a bit of pizza, so we get free pizza's pretty regularly. It is my definitely my weakness.

Any who, Saturday Caleb had to work. Brady and I tagged along with my mom to a friend's pool. It was really nice out. Brady was so so so good! He loves to swim and does really well with the life jacket. It is always scary when it is time to leave, that is usually when he loses control and the fit happens. However, he did really well.

We came home, took showers, and headed back out to a birthday party. Luckily it was just a few miles down the road. They rented a bounce house. The kids loved it!  I think I heard one say, "best party eva!!!" Caleb and I may have enjoyed it a little as well after several of the kids went home.

 

Sunday, we just hung out at my Mom's house all day between worship services. Brady took a long nap. He was so worn out from Saturday.

This week we have an extra little. Our friend, Ethan is staying with us this week. He is three.  So far it hasn't been too crazy! Hopefully it will stay that way.

What is in your pocket?

This morning we went to the park.

Brady LOVES the park.

 He ran and played for a while, about an 1.5-2 hours.

We came home when his hair was more wet than dry, we ran out of water, and I was literally dripping sweat down my leg.

I know, Gross, but true.

I attempted a picture at the park, but Brady wanted to take a picture of me.

I let him.

This is it.

 Impressed?

Yeah didn't think so. Maybe this will impress.

We came home, had lunch, and Brady took a nap.

As soon as he woke up, he started talking about food for his animals.

He named off all his stuffed animals and said he had their food in his pocket.

Being the great mom that I am, I played along nodding and discussing how great of a care taker he is.

Until...

I realized there was actually something in his pocket.

Had I actually been a great mom, I am certain I would have noticed his pocket buldging before this point.

I felt around on the outside, because, honestly, I was a little scared of what was in there. I mean, I had no idea how long it had been in there.

Finally, I braved it and reached in the pocket.

It was hard, dirty, and rough. At first I thought it was some sort of food he stashed in his pocket.

Then I pulled it out.

Here is what I saw.

Wood chips from the park.

He and this other boy were pretending to feed the "horses" and I guess he thought his stuffed animals at home would like to be in on that action. He stuffed some in his pocket and must have forgotten until he woke from his nap.

I told ya, boy loves the park.

Can't bring your friends to the park, bring the park to your friends.

An Act of Kindness

Yesterday, we had a pretty amazing thing happen. A crazy, unexpected, undeserving, humbling thing.
It is a long story, so I will try to only hit the important parts. Hang with me, I am not good at para-phrasing. I like details.

• A few months ago, Caleb's car(the car I got when I was 16) broke down.
• It broke down right in front of a privately owned mechanic shop.
• Caleb and a random stranger pushed the car into the mechanic shop.
• The mechanic said it was dead and would require a lot of work(money) to fix, but they would buy it if we didn't want to spend the money to fix it.
• We sold it. Got the money and went on to purchase a different car.
• Caleb found out this particular mechanic does oil changes for pretty cheap.
• This mechanic got a new customer, as Caleb has been taking our cars their for oil changes.
• Caleb had to return this week to tie up some loose ends with some unexpected paperwork with the car.
• While there, Caleb inquired about new tires for my vehicle.
• This mechanic gave him the name of who they use and to tell them he sent him for a discounted price.
• Caleb did and took down all the information and told them he would call back if/when he decided to get the tires.
• Within an hour or so the tire place called Caleb(he did not give them his phone number) and said the tires have been ordered and he can come in whenever they come in to have them put on.
• Caleb began to get mad because he DID NOT order the tires and DID NOT agree to pay for them.
• The tire company told him that it was all taken care of and all we have to do is show up to have the tires put on. The response to who did this was someone just wanted to make sure you were taken care of.
• wow. shock. thanks. humility. loved. awe. blessed. unworthy. amazed. powerful. unbelievable.

Who does that? Just pays for some one to have new tires put on their vehicle. No questions, no requests, no strings, just kindness. We are fairly certain that the mechanic paid for the tires. NO ONE else even knew he was going. I didn't even know.

I don't know about you, but I feel God was all in this one. He is good. He is in control. He is faithful. He provides. Not always when we expect or in the way we expect, but he provides. 

I mean I did just quit my job and the family budget is quite a bit tighter than it once was. Although we can afford tires for our vehicle, it is a huge blessing to be able to save that money or use it towards something else. After all tires are expensive. Just Amazing.

"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you..." James 4:8

My Crazy, Funny Boy

Brady has been a little mischievous and entertaining recently.

The other day he was supposed to be washing his hands. When I went to see what he was doing, this is where I found him, just hanging out on the vanity.

 I grabbed my camera(it was really close by) to snap a picture and he took a picture of me with his "camera" also. That is what he is doing below.

He also poured out a large bottle of bubbles in his room, but I didn't get a picture of that mess. I didn't stay very calm during that incident.  

He was playing with a sock puppet the other day and I snapped this picture. I think it is so cute. It was just a sweet moment and the picture shows exactly how I remember it. He named it cat and I believe he was pretend talking for cat at this very moment. Cat went every where with us this particular day and ate all of Brady's food.

Brady spent Saturday night hanging out with his Papa(Caleb's dad). I let him choose his outfit for the night. Brady decided on overalls, his blue and green stripped shirt, sandals, and bunny ears. He also insisted he take daddy and baby monkey.  Caleb's parents got a huge laugh out of Brady with his bunny ears walking in. It was pretty funny.

When we went to pick him up he was playing his little heart out with Papa. He was playing with an old, cordless phone. Think Zack Morris. Caleb asked Brady what he was doing with that phone. Brady immediately said, "just texting!"

We all lost it. 

He has a huge imagination and keeps things interesting around our house. I know there is more, but that is all I can remember right now from this weekend.

A little update

We haven't really done anything exciting this week. I am still trying to figure out this whole stay at home mom thing. I feel like I have so much time on my hands. There is always something I should  be doing like cleaning or cooking, stuff like that, but I don't want to do that ALL day. It is just going to take me a while to figure out some kind of schedule and balance. I am working on it.

I think that will all start to get better in September. I am planning on joining a Ladies Bible Study one day a week and the Story Time toddler program starts at our local Library at the end of September. I think it will help me to have some scheduled, weekly activities.

Like I said, we have had a pretty low-key week. Here are some pictures I snapped this week. I sure do love having so much time with my sweet boy.

"I rocking out!" -Brady





He loves water and fountains.

 

Being a little model! I think he is pretty cute. He corrects me and says, "I handsome".

Hands on his hips was all him. No coaching needed!

Like I said, not a lot going on this week. Maybe next week will be more exciting!

Home Run



Taking a water break in the dugout. Look how red Brady's face is.



Caleb's was off today, so we talked him into going to the park with us this morning. Brady and I try to go to the park several times a week. I get to walk, then Brady gets to play on the play ground. It does us both A LOT of good to get out of the house, soak up some Vitamin D, and get out some energy.



Learning to throw and catch



The walking track is around the baseball fields and nearly ever day there is a young child with a parent practicing while we are there. Nearly every day Brady tells me he has to play baseball on a team on that field and that he and his daddy need to practice.



Running.



Before I was a mom, I never believed parents when they said their 2 and 3 year old children told them they wanted to play a sport or join a specific class. I do now! This is exactly what Brady does. (We don't know when we are going to let Brady actually start playing on a team. We are still discussing it and want to see if the interest sticks around. We definitely don't want to push it.)



Running to home plate. He usually ran into the dugout, instead.



 We asked Brady when we got there if he wanted to play on the playground, ride his tricycle, ride in the stroller, or play baseball. Obviously, he said baseball. Then he drug Caleb onto one of the fields. While I walked, Brady and Caleb practiced baseball. It was so cute. I love to see my boys playing together!



I think Caleb is explaining the order of the bases here.



Caleb was trying to teach Brady how to catch and the order of the bases. He did pretty good.  He kept yelling, "home run" and would take off running the bases.  He ran the bases probably 20 times.



High Five!

I am thankful Brady has such a good Daddy and that they are building a strong relationship. Such a blessing!

Operation Barrett De-clutter

Our house was pretty organized and put together before we had Brady. I have tried to keep it that way since, but some how it got out of hand. I have done well on a few things like packing up and organizing the clothes he has grown out of and keeping things in sight clean and put away. However, if you open ANY of our closets, cabinets, or drawers, you will see mass chaos! So, I have made it my mission, while spending my days at home, to get this under control.


I started by making a monster of a to do list. Seriously, it is so so so long. I won't bore you by listing the actual list, but I will show you a picture of the list.

 Yep, that's 3 pages! There is a lot to do.

 I knew I needed to purge, de-clutter, and deep clean several areas of our house, but I had no idea how bad it really was until I got started.  For example, my first project was to clean out the pantry. I pulled everything out. I found 4 bags of brown sugar, 6 cans of Rotel tomatoes, 5 bags of flour, and 2 open boxes of Bisquick and many other duplicate items like 5 cans of chicken broth. Really. Out of control is kind of an understatement! There may have been a thick layer of dust and some spiders hanging out as well.

I know. I. am. ashamed.

Cleaned out pantry. I promise it is looks much better.



Brady's closet. I added the bins at the top, they all have a different category of toys. This is also much better. It had become an enter at your own risk situation.

 I moved all the toys to the closet or this corner. Much more practical.



  Then when I cleaned out under my sink in my bathroom. I found a necklace and some  bracelets with the tags still attached that I do not remember buying! I also found some unopened deodorant and shower gel I didn't know I had. It is exciting, but I also felt guilty because I let it get that bad.






 So, this is my goal in a nutshell to accomplish while at home. So far, I have thrown out about 4 bags of trash total and have a couple to donate. It is a pretty good feeling, but seems like it takes forever.  I have a feeling by the time I finish all of this, it will be time to start over. Such is life.

Feel Good Friday

Here are a few reasons why I am feeling good this Friday...

• I was able to spend my entire week at home with this sweet boy. It has been a good week. We have really enjoyed each other. It has gone faster than I thought it would.                                             
• We spent the earlier part of the day here. Caleb also got to come. We had a blast watching our fearless little man. We had to leave due to a storm and Brady took it relatively well. He started to throw a fit, but changed his mind after a couple threats about never getting to come back. ;)

  

                                                     

• I got a couple BIG projects completed this week, cleaning out the pantry, Brady's room, and Brady's closet. This is something I have deemed Operation Barrett  de-clutter. The more I get into it, the more I realize how filthy our home is. I am embarrassed! I plan to do a more thorough post about this madness next week. Ya'll I am serious when I say it is bad!!!

• Caleb got accepted into a program at his work. There are several qualifications, an interview process, and then only a handful of people are chosen.  The regional manager brought the news of his acceptance with these balloons. He is really excited about this opportunity. It is a huge honor. We are so proud of him!!! 

        Brady is a creeper. Ha Ha! He immediately confiscated the balloons! 

•  Brady and I have been reading some Bible stories this week. We shoot for at least one every day, but don't always get to it. Anyway, When Caleb gets home I have Brady repeat the story/stories we read that day. Earlier this week we read about Adam and Eve. Brady's version went like this...

      "Daddy, God made Adam and Steve, um I mean Eve. They didn't wisten to God, so they were sad. Then God kicked them out of the garbage.".



Last year's Halloween costume, found when cleaning out Brady's closet. Of course we had to try it on. He would scream at the sight of it last year!





You're welcome! Hope you are feeling good this Friday as well! Happy Weekend!



Life is better with Sprinkles...

(I didn't have my camera, so I had to use my phone. Sorry for the poor quality, but hopefully you get the idea.)

Caleb was off yesterday and had to run an errand for work, so Brady and I tagged along. We passed Krispy Kreme on the way home. Although the  Hot Now sign wasn't on, we decided to take Brady in and have a late doughnut breakfast anyway.

We let him pick his doughnut and of course he chose chocolate with sprinkles. He cheered, "Yay Yay!" when she put it in the box and again when we gave it to him to eat. Then he cheered again when he realized we were taking some home.

I don't think I can fully explain Brady's excited spirit, thoroughly. He gets so so so excited! It isn't always something you expect, either. It can be because we are reading his favorite book or because the waitress delivered his water. To him everything is so very exciting! It is infectious. It pulls you in and forces you to smile and come see what all the fuss is about.

Yesterday was no exception, Brady got the attention of every one there. After seeing his excitement, they made sure he had a balloon, hat, and doughnut. An elderly couple even came over to share in his excitement! I think the man called Brady, King Doughnut. Brady just smiled and nodded, so I guess he agreed.

I absolutely love that about him. The way he gets so incredibly excited, he literally can not sit still. The way he lights up the entire room with his smiles and cheers. Caleb and I can't help but smile and laugh with him. It is just something you have to experience to fully understand. Once you do, though, it has the power to change you.

It has changed me over and over again and I hope it continues to do so.

I am so thankful I get to see life through his sweet little eyes, a life overflowing with sprinkles.

Fuzzy Fuzzy!!!

Brady seems to really be enjoying our new arrangement. He is so funny. I could laugh with him forever!

Over the past couple days, he has started calling me fuzzy fuzzy. I have no idea why, but he will walk up to me with a tractor and say, "I got your tractor, fuzzy fuzzy!" or "follow me, fuzzy fuzzy!"  It is so funny. I asked him why he was calling me that and he said, "just because!"

Yesterday was my birthday, so Brady looked for my cake all day. He kept saying, "I need to blow out the candles and make a wish." He didn't understand why I didn't make myself a cake. It was my birthday after all. He was so so so excited when Caleb brought this home.

 

I thought I would do a little 10 question interview with him and post the answers. I have seen this done before on a few other blogs and it is always so cute. It is also something I can do at random times and look back and see how his answers change.  I just made up my questions and typed the answers exactly as he gave them.

So here it goes...

1. What is your name?                      Brady James Barrett

2. How old are you?                           2

3. Where do you live?                      In my house

4. What is your favorite color?         Blue

5. What is your favorite animal?        Zebras

6. What makes you happy?               Zebras and Giraffes

7. What makes you sad?                   Lions

8. What is your favorite toy?             Trains

9. What is your favorite food?           Pizza

10. What is your favorite song?         Uh oh, Uh oh       (Stuck Like Glue, Sugarland)

I  told him today he looked so cute. He looked right at me and said, "yep and handsome too."

Oh my! What a mess! We may need to work on being humble.

First Day

First of all, Thank you so much for all the support and kind words about my leap of faith post.  I have had so many phone calls, texts, blog and facebook comments and messages, and face to face comments, way more than I expected and all so sweet and supportive. I really appreciate people being so understanding throughout this transition. I did not expect that at all, though I am not sure what I expected.

 I also did not realize how many people are out there reading. I am glad you are, but I never think any one besides my family and a couple others keep up with this thing. Ha! So, if you are reading, please let me know. It is just nice to know who I am talking to and I am happy you are here.

On to my post...

I don't plan on documenting every thing we do every day, so don't worry. However, since this was my first day as a SAHM, I thought it only fitting to at least document the first day.

Brady was up around 7 a.m. today. We ate some breakfast and watched a little t.v. 

By 8:30 we were dressed and out the door. We headed to the park. There is a park a few miles from us and I thought I would walk and let him play before it got crazy hot. It was already pretty hot, so I walked a little over a mile and then let Brady play on the play ground. There was a slight breeze and the play ground was empty! He really thought he was something.

We left there and headed to the grocery store and the bank. Caleb works for a bank that is inside the Kroger near our house. It is super convenient. We talked to Caleb for a minute, while I did my banking. Then we took our time grocery shopping. There was hardly anyone there, either. So nice!!! It is usually packed full when I am there. I even remember to bring my own bags and let Brady have the buggy with the car on it.(I loathe those carts, but since the store was practically empty I gave in.)

From there, I had a couple errands to run. We made it back home by 11. I was so impressed, especially since these are things I usually have to do after work.

When we got home, I fixed Brady some lunch to eat while I put away the groceries.

Not long after lunch, Brady went down for a nap. While he napped, I did some cleaning, laundry, made a casserole for supper, watched a little t.v., and made a HUGE to do list.

After nap time, we had a snack. Then we just played and Brady helped me clean up and put laundry away. He loves to help.

He wanted to "pway the danc'n game", so we played just dance on the wii. Then he took a bath and I finished getting supper ready before Caleb got home.

Last night was so relaxed. I could actually sit down and watch t.v. with Caleb or just talk to him and not be doing 100 other things at the same time. We all had dinner together. Caleb commented that Brady seemed more relaxed and not so attention starved last night. We will see if that continues. 

 Right now, this just feels like a vacation. I am not sure it will really seem real until next week and I still don't go back.