Little Realizations

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. I can definitely vouch for that. Having a husband travelling for a week (or more) makes you appreciate having him coming home even more than you did when he left. Hearing from him while he's gone gives me a huge sigh of relief just to know he's okay, but when he walks through the door, yay!!!!

I don't know how people parent as a single person. Whether they chose to raise their children by themselves or not, it is a HUGE undertaking. I keep thinking of all these things I'm going to do "when Dave comes home" just because it's something I'll need help with or so that he can watch the boys for me while I do it. Just knowing that this single parenting is going to end in x amount of days makes it a lot easier to handle. So hats off to those who have made it work!
  
It's kind of funny the things I have noticed that I do while Dave's gone- leave the supper dishes to do after the boys are in bed, clean furiously as if he is coming home sooner than expected, use the other side of the bed for laying stuff on (as if to pretend he's there??), give into the boys WAY too easy, stay up way too late, put my pj's on long before bedtime, THINK too much because of the low availability to talk to him, realize how much I wish he was home! Even though it's only been 4 days, I am really ready to have him back.

Next time, I'm going to France with him!! 

Contained Excitement

Sameul had his 2nd to last soccer game for the fall this past Saturday. His team has been playing bigger and faster teams, so this past week when they were actually scoring, it was a big deal!

Naturally, as a parent, you have your camera out to capture ALL the moments. But as soon as you turn the camera off or put it away, something even bigger than you expect will happen! So I had it both off and put away and absolutely missed his first goal of the season. Once I finally did get the camera out, I was able to capture his excitement from making the goal, but it didn't get the HUGE smile and thumbs up that I saw right after he did it! Arg.

Bee-day

Nothing makes this mama happier than a little boy with a super cute birthday cake surrounded by family & friends! The Bee-day boy had been asking for a "Bee Birthday" since the last time one of us had a birthday- in MARCH! So I had plenty of time to try to come up with something and this cake looked like the easiest to do. A couple times he thought he was going to change his mind, but after finding all the cute things I could do, I wanted to go through with this one!

So this is my time to brag... here are some pictures of the cutesie things I did for his party. Complete with a picture of the one Bee game I came up with. (Sticker stinging!)  You'd think I would have done more for it since I had months to prepare.  Oh well, he had fun and was exhausted that night!!

What makes us happy?

So I've been trying to notice little (or big) things that makes our family happy. Not only to see that there are actually ways to get everyone to feel good, but to use those positive things as incentives and motivators.
For some reason, this week with Adrian has been trying. Well, not only this week, but it seems more than usual. I think it's lack of sleep- he has a hard time staying in bed if there's someone else up (or if no one else is up!) and he definitely does not want to go to bed earlier than anyone else! Anyway, there have been some little things that help with his negative behaviors. Such as when I ask him to "help" carry my towel after my workout, he thinks he's big stuff putting it in the bin... probably because Sam used to do it for me and he feels he's filling his shoes. And when he wakes up from his afternoon nap he usually says "Mom, is it time for me to get up?" If he's not waking up crying, I know he's ready to get up, so when he says those words happily, it's going to be a good next hour or two until Sam comes home from school! Adrian also has had hives from something lately and his way of coping with the itching is to take off his shirt! So, naturally, when he wakes up shirtless in the morning, he is cold and wants to be snuggled!! That's good, happy times for a few minutes until we both realize we need to do something else... his something else is playing!!
Samuel has been a bit emotional this week, too. One day he came off the bus boo-hooing for quite a while before I found out he had just fallen out of his seat on the bus. And it seems that every night this week I have fixed supper that is exactly what he hates!! So for some things that make him happy are: running around like crazy (in & out of soccer practice!), food he loves, going to school, riding his bike, and visiting with grandparents. He is always asking when are Grandpa & Grandma coming! Or when can we talk on Skype to Gpa & Gma Jones?? Hmm... maybe we should arrange something..!!!

As for Dave & I, we are pretty much content with mostly anything as long as the rest of the family is happy and peaceful. A couple nights ago, Dave asked us all about what the best & worst part of our day was. It was fun to see what everyone said. It gave us perspective on each other's feelings and insight to what we could do to make something better for each other. Well, that's how I viewed it as anyway!!
Oh, and Rodeo is happiest with a stick!

Picture from Mother's Day 2011

Starting Out

The basis of this blog "Happy Hoots" does NOT indicate that we are happy 24/7. That is hardly the case. The intention of our family is to be happy, yet that happens maybe 40-50% of the time. 2 certain boys have something to do with that. And the "just be happy!" saying has been around since the last one year birthday or so... even including happy face boxers, come out when you're happy time-outs, anything to make you happy, etc.

I hope this doesn't sound like we are NOT happy at all! I think about some situations that could have changed everything from where we are today and realize that I am perfectly content with what we have. Not to say I wouldn't change a few things, but overall we are pretty happy. I love this quote:

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude."

~Maya Angelou

Needless to say, I've had to change my attitude about quite a few things, even though that is much harder said than done!

So, now that you know what "Happy Hoots" means, let the fun begin! I hope I don't use this as a soapbox, but no guarantees! :-)