Life Update: Summer 2020 Edition

Well, geesh could this year get any more CRAY CRAY!!!???

I’m so ready for life to get back to normal and no matter what it has to because we can’t stay locked up forever and live off the government.  The economy is already in the toilet and I don’t know how much further we can fall?  There has been so much division and animosity with everything going on in the world.  All I can do is pray.  Pray that God will watch over all of us…no matter what your view on things is or what color your skin is.  I pray for the world and the people in it.  For peace, agreement, friendship, and love.

I turned 39 a couple of weekends ago.  I shall now forever more be 39 because I’m never turning 40.

I refuse.

I had a great day celebrating with my family and celebrating another year of life.  I’m so incredibly blessed by all my family and friends.  This has probably been the hardest year I’ve ever had emotionally and mentally.  I’m thankful for the continued prayers and love from family and friends.  I always have the best intentions of blogging about everything, but then I get overwhelmed and it seems much easier to post on Instagram these days.  Bless Heidi’s heart.  With Connor I documented EVERY.SINGLE.THING.  Ha ha!

We’ve been watching a lot of TV.  Like everyone else waiting for new shows to hit each week to fill our time.  I found a fun new site called WikiBuy and they have a great deal on HULU right now if you want to check it out.  It’s great for saving money on a lot of items right now too.  Just click and earn credit for your purchases on popular sites like Walmart or eBay. Then use your Wikibuy credit to buy gift cards or make future purchases with Wikibuy.  Get paid to shop for things I already need is A+ for me!

All I wanted for my birthday was a family photo with the 4 of us because we haven’t gotten one since Heidi was born in the hospital.  AND- I’m a photographer….what in the world???  Love this little family of mine so much!  God has blessed my life indeed.

My Mom finally retired this year after over 30 years of teaching and she’s been a sewing “machine” basically and sewing outfits for Heidi and my niece Ella.  We now call her “Nana Boutique” and we’ll cherish the outfits she makes for the girls forever.  This little dress is so cute and it has buttons on the back from my Great Grandmother’s button stash.

We’ve been spending our evenings grilling and swimming in the pool.  I’ve never been so thankful for a swimming pool.  We never wanted one, but when we found this house it came with it.  It’s a nice escape after a long day and a good way to spend time together.

I think Heidi really enjoys the water 🙂

I can’t believe my baby girl will be ONE in less than 2 weeks.  This year has gone by so slow, yet so fast.  I know time goes fast in hindsight.  I love her so much….and Connor James will be a 5th grader next year.  It’s crazy!  He’s not so much into taking photos anymore unless he has something silly to show off…but I’m thankful I took so many when he was a baby because I look back at them fondly.

How are you spending your quarantine time?  I’m pretty much back to work now.  Heidi is still in daycare.  Connor started summer camp.  It feels pretty normal again.  I like normal.  I like routine.  We will overcome all of this…because that’s what you do in life.  You wake up and make a choice on how to face each day.  And I choose to live and not be fearful of tomorrow.  God will provide (we never went without toilet paper!).  God always does.

Always Eat After 7PM: Final Thoughts

This post is brought to you by our sponsor, “Always Eat After 7 PM”. The opinions expressed below are my own.

Okay, so now that I have the knowledge about how to implement all the ideas in Always Eat After 7PM…how am I going to keep these up?  A lot of it is self talk and self discipline.  I’ll continue to utilize healthy eating and a lot of the recipes provided.  I’ll be more aware of the healthy fats and carbohydrates that I put in my body.  I know now that dieting isn’t how much less you can eat, it’s the quality of food and time you eat. You can also check out posts ONE, TWO, & THREE for more information and my thoughts on this program.

Book Summary:

Based on surprising science, Always Eat After 7 PM debunks popular diet myths and offers an easy-to-follow diet that accelerates fat-burning and allows you to indulge in your most intense food cravings: Eating the majority of your calories at night.  We’ve been traditionally taught to avoid carbs, have an early dinner, and never eat before bed. But the fact is, the latest scientific research shows us this earlier model is not the most ideal.  Bestselling author, Joel Marion, is a fitness expert and nutritionist debunking the myths underlying traditional dieting and offers a simple, highly effective weight loss program.  Joel Marion’s Always Eat After 7PM program makes dieting easy and eliminates 90% of reasons for resistance. The most challenging times to curb hunger are just before bed and in the morning. By following the Always Eat After 7PM program, you have the most willpower to stay on the diet because you are eating during the hours when you are most hungry. This also puts you into both intermittent fasting increasing testosterone and your metabolism, while putting you into ketosis.

Always Eat After 7 PM: The Revolutionary Rule-Breaking Diet That Lets You Enjoy Huge Dinners, Desserts, and Indulgent Snacks—While Burning Fat Overnight by Joel Marion is now available to purchase.  Learn more about the book and how to purchase HERE.

The Summer of Quarantine 2020

“This has been the longest summer ever!!!”  Said every parent in the world.  That’s because our summer unintentionally started after spring break in March this year.  Dear God I sure do hope school resumes in the fall because this season of life has been all kinds of chaos.  I miss walking around the mall and let’s face it…buying mostly snacks and food.  I miss seeing my friends and family without feeling like I am going to infect them with something.  I miss normal schedules and daily routines.  Movie theaters, restaurants, birthday parties, sports, and so much more!

That’s the thing about change, no matter what you just keep on going.  So that’s what we’ve been doing and I know I haven’t been great at blogging…but here’s a little recap on our lives lately in this strange and crazy time.  I’m still working and trying to home-school (sort of) and maintain everything else that goes on in our lives.

Heidi turned 10 months old and is crawling and pulling up on everything.  She does the cutest little noises and rolls her tongue.  I’ve never seen a baby do that and it’s hilarious!

The ice cream truck visits our neighborhood once a week and it’s the highlight of Connor’s day.  The second that music is heard through his window he comes shooting out the door. “Mom the ice cream truck is here!”  My best friend Ellen and I had an idea to start a coffee truck.  We’d roll it around town and make lattes and have every suburban mother chasing after us in pajamas without a bra on.  People…especially hot mess Moms are that desperate.  So I know this is a genius idea.  Ed Sheeran on the loud speaker and coffee will have them runnnnnning!!! Ha ha ha!!!

Terence turned 39.  I know he’ll thoroughly enjoy the last year of his 30’s and if he’s not fully gray headed by the end of this year I’ll call it a win!  Hey at least he still has a good head of hair right?  I think working from home and having a baby in the house along with a tweenager who thinks he knows more than you do adds to the chaos.  But I love our life and our craziness too. Happy Birthday Ter-Bear!

Speaking of working at home.  Here is Heidi helping Dad work 🙂

Thankfully we’ve had the pool to jump into for an escape.  Heidi loves watching her brother play in the pool.  Everything he does is hilarious to her.

We made a trip home to Arkansas a couple weekends ago and had a wonderful time seeing Nana and Poppy.  We even made a trip to the farm to see Nannie Sue and it was so fun!  We stayed with my sister and her family and all the kids had a great time seeing each other.  Connor and Jarrett love each other and fight a bunch over games and the girls are BFFs and don’t know it yet.  Ella is so cute with Heidi and rubs her head and said “baby”!

Our sweet Nannie Sue

Me and Bon Bon The best food EVER! The boys eating their Nannie’s goodness And this is how we feel about our LAST ortho appointment for Heidi’s ankle.  Everything looks really good and is healing perfect!  Summer 2020 here we come like it or not!  

9 Months

9 Months old baby girl.  I can’t believe in a couple of months you’ll be a year old!  I can tell you are going to be a feisty one…once you get your mind set on something you will do anything to get it down.  That includes sounds, crawling, and climbing onto anything.  You scare the crud out of me most of the time because you are constantly getting into everything.  When I yell “No” you just turn and giggle and continue getting into stuff.

You are doing the funniest little noises right now and have found your voice.  You are LOUD.  You keep us on our toes and are the sweetest, happiest, most delightful little angel.

 

I love you Heidi Lynnea

Bluebonnet pictures 2020.  Heidi you think the WORLD of your big brother and he does you!  I love seeing how much you both love each other….and annoy each other…but that’s what siblings do I guess.  My beautiful babies.

Corona Crazy

Hey Y’all!  This sure is a crazy time we are living in isn’t it?  I meeeeaaan????!!!!

Anyway, before all this corona madness happened we had a pretty chill spring break and enjoyed being outside in the beautiful weather.  Connor has actually jumped in the pool a couple of times.  We are working on cleaning up our back yard and getting it summer ready.  We put a new fence in after a storm knocked it down last summer…so bye bye tax return!  We’ve all been stuck inside and I am so ready to see PEOPLE again.  I don’t do well locked in the house, I’m definitely a people person.  The best thing that has come out of all this Corona crap is the hilarious memes.  What would we do without memes ya’ll?

We’ve been living in lounge wear and comfy clothing.  Thanks to TVStoreonline.com for sending Connor this Fornite dance shirt.  He loves it!  Also, just because school’s out doesn’t mean he can Fornite FOREVER unfortunately.  But this kiddo does have some awesome moves.

Homeschooling the dude above has been a challenge.  I’m not the best teacher, I will say that.  I’m questioning my long division skills right about now. It’s so sad because so many businesses have had to close.  My job (I work at a dental office outside the home most days) has had to shut down as well and it really sucks.  I can’t imagine families where both incomes were effected.  Thankfully Terence has been able to work remotely from home.

Lunch date with my kiddos at Shake Shack.  They have a malted milk ball shake right now that is TO.DIE.FOR. ( You remember back when we could go places?)

TVStoreonline.com also sent me a t-shirt to lounge in with one of my all time favorite TV shows….The OFFICE!  I love it!

Heidi bug turned 9 months old and she’s just about to turn 10 months soon.  Before you know it she’ll be a year and I can’t stand it…time goes by so fast.

I never regret taking photos of my kids.  I know one day these pictures will be my greatest treasure when I’m old and gray.  

Here is Heidi in a dress on Easter that used to belong to me when I was a baby.  She is now crawling everywhere and she’s super fast!  She’s also pulling up and standing on everything too.  Her favorite foods are spinach, pears, peas, guacamole, oats, banana, and yogurt puffs.

We’ve really enjoyed our local ice cream truck too.  Being stuck inside is no fun, but when we hear the music from the ice cream truck we go a running!

Heidi loves to watch her big bro in the pool.  Connor is full of flips, flops, and tricks in the pool these days.  I know everything runs together right now…but I’m trying to focus on this time with family.  Building memories and getting a few things done I wouldn’t have otherwise.  I know with all my heart God is in control of everything and as long as we have faith and trust in HIM everything is going to be alright 🙂  xo Becky

Connor is TEN!

My sweet Connor James.  I can’t believe it’s been 10 YEARS since you were born.  It seems like just yesterday I was writing a blog post about your birth. You have grown into such a sweet, kind hearted, hilariously funny,  and loving young man.  You never meet a stranger and you love to play all kinds of sports.  You are quick to defend someone who is being treated wrong and try and make it right.  Of course like every kid your age you enjoy Roblox and Fortnite and that’s pretty much all you want to do these days.  Your dream trip is to the beach somewhere, preferably Hawaii or so you say! LOL!  You are a great big brother and love your sister so much.  Nobody can make her laugh like you do.  The minute you walk into the room she lights up and giggles.

You are curious and have a thousand questions a day…but that’s a good thing.  Your favorite food is cheeseburgers, especially Whataburger.  You also love ice cream and milk shakes.  I love how much you love Jesus and want to learn more about God.  You recently asked Jesus into your heart this year and it makes my heart so happy!

Your favorite color is blue.  You also want a Bugatti someday after you start your own business with your cousin Jarrett.  Ha ha!  You both named your business JarCon Inc.  I hope you both do become millionaires because that would be awesome.  I wonder what your brilliant idea will be 🙂

You have the whole world ahead of you son.  I pray that God watches over you every step of the way and always know you can talk to him whenever and wherever you want to.  I know God has great plans for you!  This has been a crazy year full of changes and lots of craziness…but you’ve been a great helper and a ray of light every day.  I thank God for you…you and your sister are the best thing I’ve ever done and I’m so proud God chose me to be your Mama!  What an honor that is.

I love you…HAPPY DOUBLE DIGITS….

Mommy

The coolest thing ever.  Card My Yard Colleyville did a wonderful job on the birthday sign in our yard.  It made Connor’s day and he felt so special.
Heidi’s first time to experience birthday waffles
Birthday Whataburger lunch at school

Oh how time flies…

“Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away. The moments that used to define them – a mother’s approval, a father’s nod – are covered by moments of their own accomplishments. It is not until much later, as the skin sags and the heart weakens, that children understand; their stories, and all their accomplishments, sit atop the stories of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones, beneath the waters of their lives.”
― Mitch Albom

8 Months: Heidi

Happy 8 MONTHS Heidi Lynnea!  You are really coming into your own these days and are trying so hard to crawl.  I love doing these comparison pics of you and Connor at the same age.  I can’t believe your brother will be TEN years old on Wednesday!  Time sure does fly when you are having fun…you and your brother are the best thing I’ve ever done in my life and I’m so thankful for each of you.

This has been quite the eventful month when you rolled off of Connor’s bed and had to be transferred to the hospital via ambulance.  You hated that neck brace and fortunately you didn’t have to get a cast and only had to wear a boot!  You are done wearing it and healing up really well!  With all that going on and some other DRAMA…I’m glad things are back to normal.

You are starting to eat solids much better and your favorites are carrots, pears, and spinach.  We think you are so beautiful and you smile all the time and it just lights up our lives.   Mommy will try to do a better job at blogging…but it’s a lot easier to post on Instagram these days….because it’s INSTANT!  But I still like to write about the memories.

You are doing great in daycare and are a social butterfly. You LOVE to get out of the house because you get bored easy.  You put EVERYTHING in your mouth no matter what it is…gross!  Ha ha!  But we are trying to fix that issue.  You are my little cuddle bug and we love you so very much!

Happy 8 months baby girl!  Mama loves you to the moon and back.