How.

How do you keep a 2 year old from putting their finger painted hands on their face?

How does my house become a disastrous mess in a matter of minutes?

How did my bangs grow so long overnight that I can no longer see?

How did I manage to drop my large glass prep bowl only to have it shatter all over the kitchen floor?

How is it possible that both boys have cried, whined, complained and thrown more tantrums in the last three days than in the last month?

How have I managed to make it through this week?

Coffee.

And loads and loads of Patience.

A Few Things.

I'm tired today.

Jacob decided it would be a wonderful idea to start his day a little too early and then once he was down again Ethan decided to wake him up forty minutes later. 

When I asked Ethan why he woke him up he said, "But I love him and I want to play with him."

How can I be mad at that?

Anyway, here's a few random things for you.

I made pasta last night with this...

I don't usually buy stuff that's all organic since the price is just too high for us, but these were on sale so I gave them a try. They're already cooked so all you have to do is just chop them up throw them in with some pasta and sauce and there you have it.

I used whole wheat pasta, regular old tomato sauce, sprinkled some mozzarella cheese on top and baked it. 

Yum! It was a hit!

Ethan liked it but didn't eat the sausages, which is fine by me. 

So, I recommend it to you. 

My sister gave me a recipe for a great make it yourself chex mix.

I've been eating it by the bowlfuls.

I'm contemplating attending Blog Sugar.

It's a blogging event that will be held in September of this year.

It would be out of my comfort zone to go so I'm still thinking about it.

I'm always so nervous to meet new people and put myself out there, but I think it would be good for me. 

I don't know, I talk myself into it and then talk myself out again.

We shall see. 

Sometimes I pretend to be crafty. My sister showed me how to make these cute little flowers the other day.

I've had this little chalk board for some time and I knew I wanted it my fridge but I wasn't sure how to decorate it. These flowers are perfect.
And that's my word of the year up there, which I need a lot of it today.

This my very clean and organized bedroom.

It hasn't looked like this in a very long time.
Ever since Jacob has come into our life this room has been a mess. Everything was just getting thrown in there and I'm tired of it.
Jacob is no longer in our room at night or for naps so there is no reason why we can't make noise and put stuff away. And yes, the pack in play is still up, but it's leaving asap.
I challenged Brett and myself to keeping it tidy for one week.
My hope is that the tidiness will continue into the next week and the next.
Wishful thinking? I hope not.

I came across this photo and love it.

My future soccer player.

That's all for now.
Happy Fat Tuesday!

Word of the Year.

At the beginning of 2010 I came across several blogs that had the wonderful idea of choosing a word as a theme for the year. I loved this idea, but I never picked a word because nothing seemed to stick. I thought of a lot of different words to signify our life as a family, but nothing really rang true. 

This year is different for me. Over the last few months the same word keeps coming to mind and I feel that 2011 will be my year of...

Patience.

I have very little of it. 

I want things right now. A solution right this minute. I want an instant outcome. I don't like to wait. When I don't like the way things are going I want it to change right then and there.
I'm not proud of my lack of patience and I truly want to improve.

I want to have more patience with Brett. We are two very different people who move at different paces and with that comes some conflict. I need to learn to be more patient with him as we come to a compromise, which sometimes takes more time than two minutes.

I need to have patience with my boys. I'm finding that being a stay at home mom of two young boys is not so easy and it requires more patience than I ever imagined.

I need to have patience when I go outside of my house, and the checker isn't fast enough, or the lady in front of me isn't driving quickly enough. I need to slow it down and be patient.

I need to be patient when it comes to losing the baby weight. I would have loved for all of it to melt off with little effort these last four months, but that's just not going to happen. It's going to take some time and work,  and as much as I would love to be wearing my old jeans right now, it's just not going to happen for awhile. 

I need to have more patience in my daily routine. I'm always looking ahead and planning in order to be on top of the next curve ball that is thrown my way. Instead I need to relax and be patient, and trust that everything will work out in the end, planned or not.

I need to have patience in knowing that God has a plan for me and I don't get to know it. When I don't understand why certain things are taking place, I need to be patient in knowing the outcome will result in what is best for me and my family.

My hope for the year 2011 is that I will grow into a better more patient person (and possibly a little smaller too).

Happy 2011!