Valentine's Day Haters Need Not Apply

I love Valentine's Day.

I love the hearts, the chocolates, the overpriced flowers, the parties....

The romance...

I love that there is a day to celebrate love.

As I was scrolling through my newsfeed this morning, I read the typical posts that "Valentine's Day haters" post.

Here's the two common themes...

"I hate Valentine's Day! It's such a commercial holiday!"

"I show my (so and so) that I love them every day of the year! I don't need Valentine's Day to show them."

To me, Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate the idea of love.

We go through life every day busy with work, kids, school, family...

Life is busy!

It's nice that there's a day in the year to remind us that without love, this world would really suck!

It doesn't have to be romance today.

Since becoming a mom, I always do something special with my kids today.

I want to celebrate our love for them!

I completely agree that this holiday is totally a commercial holiday meant to make money, etc. etc. etc.

But I'm an optimist, and to me, that means it's a day for people to spend money and stimulate our economy! BOOM! HOW ABOUT THEM APPLES (or chocolates)?!?

Seriously though...

Your negativity is not needed on a day most people like to celebrate love.

Do ME a favor and stay off Facebook today if you don't want to see everyone's "cheesy" Valentine's day posts and photos.

I have noticed most (I said MOST) of the people who are negative about today tend to be either my very pessimistic friends, single friends, or friends in bad relationships.

And if you aren't gonna stay off social media, maybe you can find a little bit of positivity and LOVE in your heart, and tell someone on Facebook that you love them!

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all!!

I do personalized Valentines for Dannika's school every year!

Valentine's Day outfit for school!

Nick and I always go to the gym on Friday mornings today. He told me he couldn't go yesterday because of school stuff, so I went by myself. I came home to all of this! The note next to the remote said "press play". He had the TV set to play all my favorite country tunes!

Dannika had a Valentine's Day ice cream sundae party at her school, and Nick, Mattis, and I got to join in! It was so much fun!

My princess opening her Valentine's Day gift this morning! We don't spent a lot of money! I buy her some cute knick knacks from the dollar section at Target! She loves them!

I got this stud a toolbox for his new truck!

SUNDAY

Just a random Texas sunday...

Texas girl...

Big bow...

Jean Jacket...

Tulle skirt...

 Selfie before church...

Lunch after church...

Two peas in a pod...

1-2-3....Do-Re-Mi...

Studying on this gorgeous sunny 70 degree day...

And this absolutely adorable face....

My neighbor's dog Buckley...

I love my Texas life...

Rainbows and Unicorns

Ever since moving back to CS, people have told me that they've never seen me look so happy.

Is it that obvious????

Does it look like the sunshine just follows me around with rainbows and unicorns all around me?!

I have to pinch myself to believe that this is my life right now.

I am FINALLY living back in Texas...my home state....my home sweet home...my sanctuary.

I am in a place where it isn't snowing and below freezing all winter.

I am in LOVE with our house and most importantly our neighbors.

I am gainfully employed as a full time student, and finally feel a real purpose in my life (since getting out of the Marine Corps).

My marriage is in a great place.

My kids are thriving. 

I can't help but grin from ear to ear thinking about my amazing life here. 

I told Nick that he may have to "geobach" the rest of his time in the Corps, because I'm not gonna want to leave here!

I mean seriously...

There is NO WAY we would be playing outside in February like this in Massachusetts...

I like to add dialogue to Mattis when he's playing since he doesn't really talk yet...

Mattis: Hey man...check out my sweet ride.

Eli: Dude, I know it's your sister's car. You can't even reach the gas.

Guess he ran outta gas...

Or maybe it was a flat...

We went fishing today.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous (and windy)!

Another Gunny that is part of the MECEP program with Nick came out with his kids and his dog (in the picture).

I can't believe the weekend isn't even over yet, because it's been such an amazing weekend so far.

I am truly thankful for the opportunity for us to be here.

I really do believe that some of the hardships we endured as a family in Massachusetts was God's way of getting us out of our comfort zone.

Texas is just are reward....

Happy Saturday, y'all!

Sippy Cups and Ear Infections

As a mom, I have struggled with finding the perfect "non leaky" sippy cup.

I don't care what advertisements say, I had came to the conclusion that there was no such thing as a "no leak" sippy cup for my toddler.

That is until my little sister introduced me to the thermos brand "sippy cup" with the straw.

 It has a flip top lid, and the straw has a valve to keep liquids from flowing out of it.

A problem I found with most sippy cups for kids was that the valves in the straws made it extremely hard for the average kid to suck liquid through the straw.

But this thermos is super easy for kids to get the liquid through the straw without having to lose their breath!

 

Dannika and Mattis both have one, and LOVE them!!

I HIGHLY recommend them, and this isn't even a sponsored post!!!

I was just really really excited to FINALLY find a sippy cup that Mattis couldn't destroy my house with!

My little "Bobby Lou" (our nickname for Mattis...future blog post) has his second ear infection in a month :(:(:(

Thank God for our nanny today!!

She cuddled him and took care of him so that I could get stuff that I needed to get done today.

Nick managed to get out of his lab tonight to take him to the doctor so that I could take Dannika to gymnastics.

Just a random hilarious photo that I took of Mattis yesterday....

His hair was a HOT mess...

I am so grateful for such a supportive husband, and SO SO SO grateful that we have made our school schedules work productively together.

Our children aren't neglected, and we still get to be there for their appointments, classroom parties, and walks to and from school (most days).

We've gone through so much as a couple that I feel like college life is the easiest thing we've ever had to tackle together.

When I look at this picture...

I remember the struggles we went through as new parents...

the struggles of recruiting duty...

the struggles of the drill field...

the long hours...

the sleepless nights...

I am so grateful for our life today.

Even with a sick kid, a 5 year old with a schedule more demanding than most adults, and two parents both in college full time...

It's still WAY better and way easier than deployments, special duty assignments, and just regular Marine Corps life.

I can't complain...

Super Bowl Weekend

Did your team win?

My team didn't make it to the Superbowl, but I figured I had a pick a team to root for to win it.

I chose the Seahawks because I have a strong hatred for Tom Brady and the pats. 

When the Seahawks lost (after the worst call in Super Bowl history), I took it extremely personal.

I mean, the Seahawks aren't even MY team, but just the fact that the pats won fueled my anger.

My strong hatred for the team really started with my time in New England.

I left New England with a bad taste in my mouth, and MOST (not ALL) of the Patriots fans I ever met were SO annoying, in my face, and rude.

I once wore my Dallas Cowboys hat to Target, and some random guy in the parking lot started talking crap to me in front of my children.

If my children weren't with me, I'm pretty sure there was no way I could have been the bigger person and just walked away (like I did). 

New England did give me some amazing memories (and delicious "lobstah" and "chowdah")

 I grew a lot as a person both spiritually (thanks to the amazing church we found there) and emotionally, BUT I was the most depressed when I lived there.

Let's face it...I'm not cut out for 6 month long winters, snow, no sunshine, traffic, and Boston sports fans.

I realized that a lot of people who are not patriots fans don't like the patriots for the same reasons I don't...

1. Tom Brady is annoying.

2. The fans (most of them) are rude and downright jerks.

I actually hate the Red Sox too...for the same reasons (well except Brady since he doesn't play baseball).

ANYWAY...

I have calmed down now, and I'm over the Super Bowl.

I'm ready for baseball season (although, I don't keep up with baseball like I do football).

Besides the fact that I had a mini tantrum over the game, my weekend was pretty amazing!

Here's a little recap through my iPhone...

Nick always cooks breakfast on Saturday mornings, lets me sleep in, AND does the dishes.

I don't think there's anything more sexier than that! 

Our neighbors have chickens!

Dannika and her friend that lives down the street from us love to help feed them, clean the coop, and get their eggs!

On Saturday night, we had a "family date night"!

We all went to have some good ole fashioned TEX MEX food at Chuy's!

Nick and I are complete Mexican food snobs.

After living in SoCal and Texas, I refused to eat the atrocious food they called "Mexican" in Massachusetts.

We are planning on completely taking advantage of the delicious Mexican food here in Texas!

Sunday afternoon, I spent my time studying and working on a research paper for school.

After finishing, I had a glass of wine and relaxed while Nick and the kids were outside.

This view from my living room into our dining room made me smile

I am absolutely in love with our home here in Texas...

Our next door neighbors hosted a Superbowl party.

Nick and our neighbors both smoked ribs and they boiled 20 pounds of crawfish!

There was SO MUCH food, and to be honest, no one paid TOO much attention to the game.

It was a true Texas style Superbowl party!

Super Bowl was a blast.

The food was awesome.

The company was amazing.

Besides the outcome of the game, I couldn't have asked for a better time.

I just wish Superbowl was on a Saturday...or Monday was a national holiday....

And lastly...

I got a new Shark (steam mop) today....

D and I were so excited to use it!

You know you're old when you get overly excited about trying out your new steam mop....

Mattis is afraid of it, so he just sat on our coffee table and watched us play with our new toy :)

I hope y'all had a great weekend!

I've been catching up on all y'alls blogs!!!

School has been kicking my butt, so I'm not blogging as much as I would like to, but I've been doing my best to make time!!!

HAPPY FEBRUARY!