MCM

Happy Monday!!

I thought that in honor of MCM I'd share some of Joseph and my favorite things :) Just random things we love to do together or just both really love! 

1) World Cup Soccer! (Ahhem, Joseph calls it football because you know, he's cool like that, and has even taught Charley to call it football as well!) the World Cup begins THURSDAY! And we are getting prepped and ready for the month long celebration of the worlds sport. I've ordered shirts and jerseys and have big plans for house decorations in the works! It will be so fun! 

Us at the Netherlands vs Denmark Match at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa - 2010

2) Luther. Joseph and I love watching good tv and we have been in search of a new "show" for a good while. We love what the BBC produces, and Luther does not disappoint. It's about a homicide detective, John Luther, his genius ability to get in the minds of criminals, and the big question of what is truly right and wrong. It's sometimes gritty (it is a show about murder) so we have to watch after the girlies have gone to bed. It is a mini series so there are only four or so episodes a season, but they are so stinking good! We only have time to watch one at a time, which is good, because mentally I think that's all one can take. We stream this on Netflix. 

http://youtu.be/aEwrOnrlERY

3) Basin Burger. http://www.basinburgerhouse.com I'm not sure if it's sad or awesome that I have their number programmed in my phone!? While we love to dine in when we can, takeout is more convenient for us and the girlies early bedtimes. The best burger in town in my opinion. Homemade buns. Yummy sweet potato and regular fries, and their meatloaf is to die for. When we eat here we feel like it's a game to see which "side" we sit on. The "family" side (on the left of the door with the booths) or the "cool" side (on the right of the door with the bar and patio). We only get sat on the cool side when we are sans kids. The only con to Basin Burger is it's all the way across town. But it's well worth the drive :)

4) Indian food. Gosh it's no wonder out waist lines aren't slimming down with all the tv and food we enjoy ;) But seriously, this place in Midland: http://www.indianfoodmidland.com has the BEST (and to my knowledge, only) Indian food. We only do takeout since he last time we dined in someone got stabbed in the parking lot. No lie. It's so delicious and the garlic naan is out of this world. A little pricey, but then again we do order A TON of garlic naan plus simosas and our entrees ;) (Also across town and in a shady hotel. Strange thing: they also make pizzas!)

5) Books. While we don't necessarily do this together, we do this together. As in we typically read in bed before we go to sleep (or we did before we found Luther!). We both love reading and it's a treasured part of Charley's bedtime routine that we swap out on. 

6) The Girlies. Obviously. :) We adore our lil ladies and love watching them grow into bigger people (even if it is painful that they can't be little forever!) It's amazing to think that we are allowed to be their parents forever. When I see our girls I just see the Grace and Bigness and Beauty of our God. So much goodness. 

MCM

This is going to be a super quick MCM post. Not because my man doesn't deserve a long, well-thought out, lovely post, but because we are both exhausted and want to lay in bed (at 8:25pm) and enjoy some down time.

Last night was our first night of hardcore, no more bringing the baby to bed when she cries night. And it was killer. On us all. I ended up sleeping on Liza's floor because she seemed to be comforted with me in the room and it's like less of a bandaid pull to break her from co sleeping with me to being on her own. 

Just now Jojo pulled Charley's trundle bed in there so that when she starts wailing {in about one hour I'd say...} I can have somewhere more cozy to sleep. 

My husband is awesome! He really is the foundation of our family and the level headed thinker, the do-gooder, the selfless giver, and the happy maker :)

Throw in a few years of travel, kids, Austin living, adventures, and lots of love, grace, laughter, and food, and you've got yourself eight years of a wonderful life! And that ain't no joke :) We will celebrate eight years tomorrow :)

Here's a short timeline in pictures: 

2005-little babies in love without a care in the world! Both college students. Engaged. And he gave me a puppy for Christmas that year (enter Addie!)

2006: we got married!!!! Hip hip hooray! I remember being so elated, it being hot, and not wanting to leave the reception cause we had such a blast with our friends! 

2006 we also took the trip of a lifetime to Italy! Ciao Bella! (Even though we honeymooned in San Francisco!)

2007: We both graduated with our Bachelors degrees. Attended tons of weddings, went to the beach with the fam, travelled to Mazatlan, Mexico with friends. 

2008: we lived it up in Austin staying involved with our church community and friends. And I had really super short hair. 

2009: we vacationed in Managua, Nicaragua and had the most relaxing, low-key and least pretentious vacay to date. 

2010: we had another trip of a lifetime attending the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa! On the way there we had a layover in Cairo, Egypt and got to see the great pyramids. We went on a true African Safari, drank in African bars with some awesome people we met at match, saw two football games, and had adventures in Johanessburg and Cape Town. So much goodness this year! 

2011: we made the decision to move back home so we could start a family. We boldly and blindly moved. No jobs. No prospects. And how God has so provided for us. This year we got pregnant with sweet Charley Girl, got big people jobs, bought our first house, and took a just me and you road trip to Santa Fe, NM and Durango, CO. 

2012: we welcomed Charbear into our world and family January 4. She has changed us forever, teaching us the simple joy that is found in being goofy, to love unconditionally, and to smile and laugh all day long! We visited California with a baby (crazy people!) and worked on this whole grown up-you-have-a-kid-now-thing! 

2013: we adjusted to our new roles as parents, loving the life of a toddler and getting happily pregnant with baby number two. We took our annual vacation to Cali to visit family, worked on the house, and stayed busy awaiting the arrival of Elizabeth Jo. Liza was born on December 4, 2013, making our girls exactly 23 months apart! We have two amazingly sweet, full of personality, and healthy (thank you Lord!) little girls and life is so grand! 

2014: to date, there are 1800 pictures in my 2014 folder on my phone. We are just living life with our little family and close circle of friends. We hang out with Meemaw and Papaw a lot, and love takeout food. Traveling is a bit harder with two babies, but we have Cali planned for later this year and are working on a mommy/daddy getaway! We play a ton, read a ton, listen and dance to music, and laugh and occasionally bicker. 

Joseph Lee, we have done SO much together in just eight short years! Just think what is in store for the next eight or twenty, or fifty! 

I am SO blessed to be your wife. You're my best friend. My bees knees. The creamer to my coffee. You're like my favorite comfy t-shirt that I love to wear over and over again. Seeing you become a daddy has made me fall ten-fold more in love with you. You're our family superstar and I love you a million, jillion, bazillllllion heepie gobbers! 

Happy Anniversary Man Crush!

(also, I realize this turned into a rather long post...got a little carried away, huh?)

Exhausted!

Happy MCM! As usual, my man crush is the hubster, Joseph, for many great reasons! 

First off, I'm so so so so so so sooooo incredibly exhausted from the events of the last few weeks. The emotional state I've been in has heightened with the passing of my sweet Grandma Ruby, and as usual, our extended family cannot just be civil or in any way normal, thus causing more emotional turmoil and worry. 

Look forward to another Grandma Ruby post as she deserves one all on her own. :)

We had her funeral last Wednesday. On Thursday, Joseph, the girls, and myself headed out for our first trip as a family of four!!! {what was I thinking!? Ha!}

We had planned to visit San Antonio that weekend anyway and with the passing of Grandma Ruby, we all, especially me, needed a break. 

I kind of forgot though how hard it is for mommy when traveling with a kid. Ahem, now two kids. Yikes! 

The trip down went really smooth. Two stops. Two kids. Six hours. Not bad at all! Charley has all of a sudden refused to sleep in the car and got a little fussy, but considering that she was strapped in and doesn't understand why mommy can't "hold 'er" when we drive, she did exceptional!

We got in early Thursday evening and decided to walk the Riverwalk and find some food. Joseph and I haven't been to the Riverwalk in quite some time, and wow, times are a changing. (Either that, or you just notice different things as a mom!) True to my fashion, I packed at the last minute and forgot Liza's sling...ouch for my back! So Charley held one of our hands while we carried baby Liza around. Not the greatest of scenarios, but a stroller would have been near impossible in the crowded space. I honestly felt like a crazy person for taking my two year old and four month old there. It was nasty, over crowded, full of scary looking folk, and just about every single person was smoking.  Ya, not my finest parenting moment. We grabbed a quick dinner at a tex-mex place on the river, ate inside (90% humidity!!!), then headed back to the hotel for baths and bed. 

Seriously, y'all, Charley did SO good. No nap all day I was looking forward to (or not) major public meltdowns, but she did great! And look at that handsome hubby! I'm a fan of the facial hair! Yay mustache :)

Friday started off a bit rocky. We don't own a double stroller (or at the time of this trip didn't) and our options were to buy one (something I have been putting off for forever now because I am just that indecisive!) or to take two seperate ones. We opted to buy one there. The problem with that was that it delayed our day, one store we called in advance that had "so many options" just had one, then we ended up at Babies r us. We figured we could have just bought one in Midland. But...on the plus side, the Babies r us we went to had maybe three double jogging strollers to choose from. Joseph called another store and a worker overheard him. He showed us a stroller that a lady had returned because she didn't like the color and he said his manager would give  us $200 off. A brand new stroller. SOLD! And even more awesome? We love it! Jojo assembled it in the parking lot :)

Most of the day Friday was spent at the San Antonio Zoo. Charley was so excited and had a blast!!! Liza pretty much slept the whole time :) Jojo and I had a good time too, but I'll be honest, after you've seen real life African elephants in their natural environment and lions eating antelope, the zoo and it's ONE (?) elephant are kind of underwhelming :) We agreed to start saving to someday (like in ten years) take the kids on an African Safari too!!! 

I think Charley's favorite part of the day was riding the giraffe on the carousel. (Also, just a note...the San Antonio zoo did not have any giraffes :( major disappointment.)

Friday evening was a total bust...after attempting to eat out, we just settled on the hotel room early and ate Subway. Lame. But that's sometimes how it goes with two tired kiddos (and a cranky wife). 

Saturday was my favorite! We had no plans, no agenda, and just walked to a sweet Mexican food restaurant, Mi Tierra,  for breakfast. We did some shopping, saw the Alamo, got sprinkled on with rain, took Char to the children's museum, the kids napped while we watched a movie, then we walked to dinner again. 

Sunday we packed up, got breakfast on the run, and headed home. I had to talk Charley into napping, a quick 30 minute nap after telling her to close her eyes. 

Considering how tired the girls were they did excellent. Sometimes I buckle under pressure and when I'm just overwhelmed or tired. That happened several times over the weekend. It reminded me that My husband is awesome for putting up with my crazy, to take time for myself (still working on when to fit that in), and that once baby Liza is finished nursing, we will take an adult only trip and eat with both hands!!! (Since one hand typically is holding a crying baby/toddler). 

It was a fun weekend but I'm in no way ready to do it again :) 

MC (man crush), thanks for being fun, smiley, and not uptight even when I'm a whole lotta mess! 

This week: atttttttempting to get rid of Charley's pacifiers and getting Liza to sleep in her crib. 

Prayers appreciated :) 

MCM

I'll keep this man crush Monday short and sweet and to the point...

Joseph is awesome because he supports me one hundred percent, all the time. When I got a difficult call this morning he immediately said, go, do it, and let me know if I can do anything to help. 

Love this man! 

Also, this weekend while he was off work, he dedicated a great deal of his time doing yucky yard work while the girls and I got to spend the day at the park with friends! Just look at these sweet kids holding hands and playing! Joseph and I have had the pleasure to know their parents since we were all in high school. It has been so much fun growing up together and now getting our babies together for play dates! 

MCM...on Tuesday

I owe my hubby a big fat apology...and a date night ;). (Or weekend!)

With so much going on, emotionally, I'm spent. True to my nature, I get super grumpy when I'm tired. Which is usually at night. When Jojo is home...how convenient. Not! 

I'm sorry Jojo for being a huge grump, taking things too personally, not laughing at your sarcastic jokes, and acting like it was the end of the world when I couldn't find a deck of cards and thought the heater was broken :/

And thank you for checking to make sure that the heater, in fact, was not broken. :)

Thank you for always fixing the appliances I seem to always break. :)

Thank you for loving me despite my {many} flaws! 

I love you Joseph Lee :)

MCM

I'm finding that writing really releases great pleasure for me :) Hooray for a hobby! 

In an effort to be consistent (maybe no more cluster posts?), I'm motivating myself by making Mondays, MCM, or Man Crush Mondays! ...because I constantly talk about the littles and need to dote on the dude too! 

My hubby is spectacular. I don't ways give him the credit he deserves, and most times I'm much too hard on him for those naggy wife things I get stuck on, so I need to complement all he does so lovingly well! 

Jojo is a great daddy! Just ask his little girl! Once I asked Charley what her friends name was, "Sydney". "Is mommy your friend?"  Silence. "Is daddy your friend?" "Daddy! Friend!" There ya go! That kid adores her daddy. 

I'm thankful Jojo is an active and involved daddy. I'd say about half the nights of the week Jojo gives Char her bath. He plays in the floor with her every day. He puts her on the potty and wipes her hiney. He takes her outside to jump and swing. He fetches her milk and water when she requests it. He worries about what she does and doesn't eat. He cooks us yummy breakfast. He does dishes. He feeds the dogs, always. He buys the dog food. He buys the people food most times too. When I ask him to wash the soiled panties, he does so without a grimace :) 

Mondays will be my ongoing little love notes to and about my sweet Jojie! Love you a gabillion zabillion heepie gobbers :)