I'm not THAT mommy

It isn't me who:

• Went to Walmart and let her 4 year old go in his Batman costume. Nope, not me. But if it was me, I would have made sure that he wore his tennis shoes and not his "woody boots" because Woody boots and Batman costume just simply do not match.
• Opens up Goldfish containers and feeds them to my boys while I shop and then sheepishly pay or an empty container at the end of our shopping fiasco. Nope, not me. But if it was me, surely, I would have pretended not to notice the strange looks as I opened up the little container.
• Gets my kids McDonalds because when I think about lunch, all I see is another mess to sweep up and dishes to wash. Nope, definitely not me.
• Says "oh that store is closed or the oreos are all gone or oh my, McDonalds stopped serving ice cream cones a little while ago..." just to avoid a meltdown. Nope, not me because I always have long rational conversations about such nonsense and my kids always agree with me.
• Is at times a "short order cook," running around my kitchen fixing whatever my sweet lovies desire. Nope, not me, the healthiest eater on the planet
• Rejoices when my oldest eats applesauce and a nutrigrain bar - all in one week. Nope not me, because he is full of nutritious choices
• Leaves puzzles all over the floor for 2-3 days beautifully put together by my loves because I simply don't want to sweep or mop the floor. Nope, not me, but if I did, I'd really enjoy looking at the hard work and determination that went into completing the puzzles.
• Often forgoes bathtime and thinks to myself "they really didn't sweat today." Nope not me...
• AND it most definitely was NOT me who snuck a big bowl of ice cream for me and my hubby during rest time and only gave the boys 1 tiny scoop each after rest time. Oh, and my bowl most definitely did not also happen to be covered in chocolate topping. :-)

What about you, friends? What did you most definitely NOT do lately? ;-)

Wordless Wednesday

(I know I know, it's actually Thursday, but this picture was taken on Wednesday... I was sick last night, so no blogging for me.)

a whole lot of randomness

So, I suppose when you're a mom (or maybe just a woman... don't really remember my thoughts B.C. -Before Critters), there's a whole lot of random thoughts swarming in your mind at any given time of day. Particularly in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep but you. Why in the world does that ever happen? Beats me... here goes. The list of randomness for today or last night rather:
1. We have several "junk" drawers - drawers can be used loosely as really they are junk areas. We have one official junk drawer, one big brown bag that catches a lot of junk and the top of the washer and dryer that catches the rest. Why does any family need 3 junk areas? Must attend to those soon. Anywhoo.
2. I am addicted to Nestles Quik. Seriously. During my weight loss journey, I've challenged myself to give it up for months on end. This is not one of those months... and I've gained 2 pounds. RRRRRRR.
3. We almost got roped into teaching middle schoolers at church yesterday cuz the teachers were sick. Well, let me tell you, I almost threw up in my mouth at the thought. Middle schoolers give me heartburn. :-)
4. Planning a Disney trip for the fall - everyone tells you to start early. I feel like I'm already behind. Oh gosh...
5. My son changes underwear more times than Elizabeth Taylor changes husbands. Seriously -I have no idea why, but he changes underpants about 5-6 times each day - and NO, thank goodness, he doesn't usually have accidents. He just gets the urge to have a new superhero touching his stuff I suppose.
6. I actually watched most of two football games yesterday and sort of liked them. Don't tell Billy though!
7. Scrapbooking is better than therapy.
8. Why were there absolutely no snowmen built this time around? I think it was pretty sticky snow - not one single snowman have I seen after last week's snowstorm. Maybe it's because other mommies like me hate being cold.
9. The Bachelor is my guilty pleasure. I even referenced it in my Sunday School class - we teach seniors in High School. Embarrassed? Nah, not me! I admit, I looked at the spoilers online last night. Don't know why I do it every season. Will I still watch? Of course. Reality Steve has to be wrong sometimes, right?
10. Case 39 is the scariest movie I've ever seen. Period. Rent it if you like scary ones!

See, random - I told ya!

Glad I got some of that out of my brain and into cyberworld. Happy Monday ya'll!

Dear Jonathan,

You and Jacob are "going to work" - nice tie and hat!

See - there's your favorite toys - all lined up in a row. Funny!

To my sweet little Jonathan,

Life hasn't been easy for you the last few months and I am so sorry for that. I am so sorry that you had to endure not 1 but 3 surgeries last year - two in December. Poor baby. I am hopeful that 2011 will be a GREAT year for you! You are so sweet and have the most infectious smile. It truly truly warms my heart. You are a ton of fun these days. Your interest in pretend play has really blossomed and you absolutely love your brother to pieces. You want to be where he is every second of the day. Ya'll play together so nicely - most of the time. :-) You have a couple of favorite things right now. You love Toy Story 3. You love to watch the movie, but more than that, you love your new Toy Story toys Mamaw and Papaw got you for Christmas. You love it when we hide them and you have to find them. When you hide them for us, it's hilarious. You put them all in one spot and you show us as soon as we come into the room. You also still LOVE books. It is so cute. When you finish a book, you always say "amen." You and your brother have this new favorite trick - you get on the top bunk and he gets on the bottom and you both read books then trade them by passing them through the secret passage. It is so fun to watch you play together. He is very patient with you and gives in most of the time when you want something. You should be so grateful! You also love your Hermie puzzle. it is quite hard, but you do it very well. You also have really started to like trains - you got lots of Thomas stuff for Christmas and you enjoy it a lot!

You are very smart - you know all your letters, colors and your numbers to 10. You also know most of your shapes - at least the basic ones. Your speech is fantastic and I can understand everything you say now. You are quite the chatty Kathy, actually. It's funny that we were once worried about your speech. I think articulation is still problematic at times, but it is much much better.

You got a new sound machine and you are obsessed. It has a little projection screen thing and puts pictures of moons and stars up on your wall. Seriously. Obsessed. And you like the heartbeat sound, which if I'm being honest, totally creeps me out. :-)

You have been having quite a bit of trouble sleeping and it's getting a little old. I hope the memories of what happened in December quickly fade, so you will no longer be afraid to sleep. Sleeping is cool, my friend. very very cool! I promise!

I think you inherited a little of mommy's OCD traits and I'm sorry little man! You like to stack things and put them in rows. You like things to look and feel a certain way. Tags irritate you and you ask me to take them off - even off your stuffed animals. (who you oh so creatively call "bear, monkey, elephant and teddy bear.)" I tried to give them more creative names, but you like to stick to the basics. You also are really into counting things - and you do a great job at it! All the way to 14. Way to go!

I love you little bug. You are a precious gift from God and I'm grateful to be your mommy. I promise to try to be more patient with you at night time and those tantrums??? well, let's just get rid of those all together, m'kay?

Love you, Mommy

Dear Bird Man,

This is your "going to work outfit." Perfect!


You have this strange affinity for my shoes. Always have... you are too funny!


Dear Jacob,



My sweet little 4 year old. I love you so. You are full of life and energy and you have pretty much two speeds - asleep or wide open. You are fast and funny and love to be doing something every second of the day. You have recently started to share my love for card games and board games and I love that! You love to play Uno with me and you are really good at Candyland and Chutes and Ladders. But more than playing with any particular toys, you love love love to play pretend. Pretend work. Pretend church. Pretend library. Pretend Preschool. Name it and you'll pretend it. It's really fun and you are very creative. The other day you were playing with Jonathan's Toy Story 3 toys and you created this big story about how Buzz swallowed a penny and had to go to the hospital to have his tummy cut open. I have NO idea where you heard about that, my love, but it sure was cute. You also still love Batman and put your costume on almost every single day! So cute!



Jonathan adores you and wants to play with you all the time. You are pretty patient with him and guess what??? You actually really like to play with him too! Your favorite thing to do with him these days is to "give books." You get on the bottom bunk and he's on top and you each pick a book, "read" it then pass them to one another through the secret passage. It is so cute. I love the bond that you two have.



You still love preschool and are learning so much about sharing and caring for others. You also started Tumble Time and you do a great job. I love how well you follow directions. You are very strong willed at home sometimes and direction following is a little harder at home, but you still work very very hard.



You are sleeping very well these days - I just wish you didn't need us to lay down with you every night. You did go to sleep on your own 2-3 times in the last month. Way.to.go! We are still working hard and praying for your eating habits. You have actually eaten applesauce a few times at home (a major accomplishment) and ate a nutri-grain bar today. Now, let's just eat a few veggies, okay?



I love you more than you'll ever know. Thanks for being such a sweet little boy. You melt my heart! love, Mommy

Challenged to love deeper

(*warning* airing dirty laundry below)

To say that I feel challenged by something we learned in our Couple Time Bible study last night is an understatement... I've been mulling it over all night and know that I have a lot of work to do. We are so blessed to be a part of an amazing "couple time" group - 6 other couples our age, all with kids, which meets once each month. We look forward to it so much each month. We are currently doing a study by Andy Stanley called "I Marriage." The basis of the study is that we are to drop all our expectations of our spouse and simply love them because they.owe.us.nothing. Last night, in the video, Andy said something like this.. "you are chosen by God to be the earthly conduit by which God pours out His love on your spouse." WOW... that means that my primary job in my marriage to be "Jesus" to Billy. To truly love him the way God loves him, without wanting or expecting anything in return. Now, I'd like to think that that's a piece of cake and we do that naturally for each other, but let's be real. I don't. I am selfish and often "keep score." I don't even mean too - really I don't. Sometimes when he's playing ball or playing video games, I think to myself "when's it my turn? When am I supposed to get some me time" And then I'm reminded that Billy lets me exercise nearly every day while taking on full responsibilities for the boys when I do that for about an hour each day. Or when one of the boys wakes up and I secretly lay there thinking if I don't move, he'll get up and go so I can stay in my warm bed...or even worse - I jab him awake and say Jacob wants you... :-) Or when I'm cooking dinner and think "he better enjoy this... and I sure hope he cleans the dishes." Or when I get all passive aggressive about stuff and sulk around pretending to do my own thing around the house. Sometimes at the end of the day, I think to myself "omg if one more person needs something from me today or asks me to do something for them or says my "moooooommmmmyyyyyy" one more time, I might just crawl under the covers. Sometimes, when 5:00 rolls around and Billy comes home, I've got very little left to give him...(not that I'd ever do those things, but just sayin' what if?)

Oh my. I am so thankful for Billy. He is a wonderful man and I'm so privileged to call him mine. No better life partner could be found for me I'm certain. We really are a perfect match and love each other very much. But I've been challenged to try to love him even more deeply. With no selfishness attached. I know that's only possible by the grace of God and by my efforts to continually know the Father better. Only if I am truly being led by the Holy Spirit can I make this even remotely possible. Ya'll be praying for me and hold me accountable, m'kay?

Dr. Kirby to the rescue...

Let me tell you a little about our adventure on Monday... I took the boys to the dentist for the first time. We went to our good friend, Kirby, or as my boys like to say "Tate's mommy." Well, all started out okay... lobby full of fun toys and books about teeth and big knights with shiny armor to greet us.

Then they called our names....holy moly. Jacob about crapped his pants. We got back in the room and he did pretty well when Kirby's assistant said, "I'm just gonna count your teeth, okay?" Jacob had this look of terror, but did pretty good. Then it was Jonathan's turn. He too did fairly well with the whole teeth counting trick. Dr. Kirby enters the room (drum roll) and that's when the fear set in. Jacob let her look in his mouth but then when she started to put the fluoride treatment in, he freaked out. Seriously... I had to hold him down while he was screaming. Heaven forbid if he ever gets a cavity. We'll be on the DL for 6-7 weeks for that. Jonathan hopped on the table after that and cried a little, but not too bad. Jacob was scared out of his mind for his little brother. Poor Kirby... I hope my boys weren't the worst she's seen. :-) When we were leaving, she said, "don't worry boys. Next time I'll see you, I'll just be Tate's momma." So sweet!

After the "trauma" they got new toothbrushes and a toy, so all was well. Oh the joys...

DIY... I wish!

Well, I've been dreaming again. I often do that - I come up with some grandiose plans for home improvement... except most of the time, they are just that - plans that never come to fruition. Because you see, my lovely hubby and are aren't the handiest tools in the shed. On a good day, we know where our hammer is and may use it to hang up a picture or two... The only other "fix-it-up" ability in the Stover house is that which is found on the cute little cartoon Handy Mandy, which can frequently be seen on the Disney channel. Oh I kid...except not really. We have really good intentions, but really don't even know where to start. We fear the unknown... we walk in Lowes and feel like fish out of water. Seriously! Take my newest idea for example. I want to re-do our bathroom. It is tiny, but I think we are way under maximizing the space and potential. I'd love to put in a great pedestal sink (though I've been warned that I would desperately miss my space in our current vanity) like this one:


And then I really want to get rid of the laminate and lay some beautiful ceramic tile - maybe like this one:


Or this one - only not on the wall - I think it looks gorgeous on the wall, but I just wanna tackle the floor first.


But, idea shopping is as far as I've gotten. I don't even know where to begin - who to ask to come measure... who could do the work... better yet, who could teach us how to do it since we are on a bit of a tight budget these days.

Maybe 2011 is the year - the year that Billy and I will conquer our project phobia and just get 'er done. :-) Or if any of my sweet bloggy readers want to volunteer to do it for us, we'd probably take ya up on that too.

Where in the world is Jonthan Patrick Stover?

Anyone else watch Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? So picture that song... only where's my little man? He had so much fun hiding in this closet at my parents' house over Christmas break. But that's not the reason for this post... it was just a super cute pic.

Anyway... I knew the day would come - my little guy is growing up so fast. His speech is improving every single day and I'm so glad. But one thing he says, I hoped would never change. Jonathan has called his brother "bubup" for as long as he could talk. We never ever corrected him because we both (and our speech therapist too!) thought it was so cute. We even started calling Jacob "bubup." And now, the last few days that has changed. Now, Jonathan calls Jacob "Jacup". Clear as day. I must say, I'm a little sad at this turn of events. It's another reminder that time goes so fast and these little treasures won't be little forever. Tear!

I did it! I did it! I did it!

I DID IT!! Today I completed the Hangover Classic - a TEN mile race in Louisville. Yes, I said ten miles. I am so proud of myself. The most I'd run in the last month or so was 6 miles so this was definitely a challenge. I did pretty good until mile 7, so I had to really dig deep to finish. :-) The weather was nice - in the low 50s and no rain during race time. It was very wet though, so my pants and shoes were soaked. When I got close to the end, I saw the big blue van with my three favorite fans in tow. I was so happy to see them - it gave me a needed burst of energy. Here's a pic with one of my fans!

I'm pretty sore tonight, but it was oh.so.worth.it. Hooray!

What a cool way to ring in the new year. I wonder what my fitness goals will be this year?