Something To Think About

So maybe you've noticed a lack of internet interaction on my blog, twitter, and Facebook lately?
Maybe you're wondering what happened to me? Where did I go? Whats going on? Or...maybe you don't really care, but here is an explanation of sorts.


Is it just me or is the internet and technology taking over peoples lives? People feel that since you can see what everyone is doing every day, then there is no need to meet up face to face, or talk on the phone, or have relationships off of the computer. I'm not going to knock the internet at all, I mean there are friends that I wouldn't have become as close with or even have known without it, there is family that I would have never known without it, and I wouldn't have graduated college without it. But where is the line drawn? In a world where there is caller ID, the ignore button, the delete button, and tons of other ways to avoid personal interaction, how do relationships flourish, grow, and survive?

My eyes were opened recently to just how impersonal so many of our lives have become. I work hard to keep my friendships and relationships with people growing. I want to spend REAL time with my friends. I want to sit and talk with them. I want our children to grow up as friends. I can only imagine how having Facebook and Twitter would have tainted my high school experience. Would I have built the friendships I have now with these things hindering face to face communication?

So I decided to take a little vacation from letting the world know where I am or what I'm doing every day. I love to share my world with the world, and I want to continue doing that but I think I am just going to cut back some. I wont sit here and try and fool you by saying I wont check things once or twice a day, I am only human...and a very nosy one at that. But I want to challenge my friends to reach out and remember what it was like before we had the internet. Strengthen the depth of our and your other friendships and relationships. Make a few phone calls, check up on your friends in a real way, not just a wall post, or a mention.

EVERYONE is busy. And I am EXTREMELY guilty of OVER using that word. As my sister-in-law put it to me quite clearly, we are all busy with work, kids, cleaning, cooking, and a bunch of other stuff, but we have to learn to make the time to talk.

Talk to you soon,
J

Thankful Thursdays - 39

This week...well the last few days, have been kind of trying on me emotionally. But I've been sticking with lots and lots of prayer and trying to keep myself as calm as possible. Naturally there are things that shouldn't be shared with the whole world so I'm not going to spill my guts. But sometimes there are things that just go out of your control and you have to seriously just give it up to God. So this week I am thankful for the quiet things and times in life.

339. I'm thankful the content moments I get. When we're sitting around the dinner table and Max is telling us about his day and Bella is chiming in like she knows what she's talking about.

340. I'm thankful for the moment when I get into bed with Ryan and whatever bad or unhappy that happened that day just melts away from me.

341. I'm thankful for the 12:00 to 2:00 of the week days when the kids are sleeping and I am able to do things (like blog) that I need to do to keep me mostly sane.

342. I'm thankful for the weightless feeling that praying leaves me with. It's like as soon as I get whatever I need to tell God about out of me I feel like I know it will be taken care of since I've given it away to him.

I hope you're having a great month/week/day/hour/minute/second.
What are you thankful for this week?

Talk to you soon,
J

Here & Now

Hey there! Happy Monday!!

Obsessing Over: Making plans for our trip to Texas this coming April! This is the first time we are all being able to go (EXCITING!) and on top of that we are driving (faint). Normally we cant all go because we aren't fans of Ryan taking off of work. We like to have to vacation time saved up for when we really need it. But since he literally has enough time to cover anything for the next year or two we decided it was okay for him to come with us this year. Nearly all of our family lives in Texas, and all super close to each other. So this trip should be pretty fun!

Thinking About: Next Valentines Day...I know it sounds crazy haha! But I was just thinking that it would be so neat next February to feature four couples (one for each week) and their love stories! Wouldn't that be neat? To share four love stories during the ultimate month of love?! I love to hear peoples stories anyways so I think it would be great to share them with everyone else! So Look forward to that next year! I just have to figure out who to interview!

Working On: Max's Valentines for his class party. I started them yesterday but it's pretty tedious work. He picked out a box of regular valentines to sign and give to his class mates and I found some really cute ones on pinterest that I decided to go ahead and make...and I thought they would be pretty easy...well they are I suppose, its just the cutting of the tiny masks that is killing me. I'm going to hand these out during his party tomorrow! Anddd I got called SECOND for what I was willing to bring for the party, so I finally get to bring cupcakes! The parties before I've been near the end of the list so I've been stuck with the boring things, which was starting to get annoying but finally I get to bring the good stuff!

Anticipating: This weekend! Since Valentines Day lands on a weekday (lame) we aren't going to be doing much. We are still going to exchange gifts and give the kids their little things, but Ryan and I aren't going to celebrate alone until Friday. We have a little photo shoot we're doing, and then we are going to do the classic dinner and a movie date. It should be a nice little evening together. =)

Listening To: My Pandora of course! "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson to be exact.

Eating: Nothinggggggg...I haven't had breakfast yet, but I do have three (was four before I sent Max off to school) kids here today and I'm surprised I'm even able to sit here and type this right now haha!!

Wishing: We would get a call back about Ryan being the T-Ball coach! I know the games dont start until April so I'm pretty sure thats whats taking so long, but if you know me, you know I have NO patience when it comes to these kind of things. It's taking all I have to not be in the office every day asking questions haha!

I'll talk to you soon,
J

Here & Now

It's another week in 2012 and here's what I've got going on!

Obsessing Over: Birthday party stuff! With Max's SIXTH (Did I really just type that?) birthday right around the corner I figured I better start shopping for the decorations! We're doing a Lego Star Wars theme this year since he is like crazy for anything Lego Star Wars related. I don't know where the fascination with Star War's came from, because we never went out of our way to show Max (back when he first started showing interest) the movies or anything. He just started talking about it all the time...so we went with it. And of course, he has loved Lego's forever now. He has an imagination for days so it's the perfect toy for him. So I ordered the majority of the decorations this weekend and the custom invites too. I dont have too much left to do, thank goodness.

Thinking About: Getting Max a pet lizard for his birthday! I am not the biggest fan of pets in cages/tanks because its just something else that I have to clean. But from what I can see lizards are pretty easy to take care of and maintain. Max would love it...he would be so excited. I just have to convince myself that I really dont mind cleaning a gross tank. blehhhhh

Working On: Getting the kids' bedrooms together! My in home project this week is rearranging the bedrooms to be more conducive to play! I'm getting rid of more toys and re-organizing to make it a little more logical. There are times like this when I wish we were rich so I could buy all the things to make their rooms look the way I want them to. But we aren't, and I cant, so I make due with what we have and it will still turn out fantastic!

Anticipating: Valentines Day! Swoon! I got the kids each a little Valentines Day themed take out looking box, and a bunch of goodies to fill them with (Hello five dollar movie bin!). I always look forward to Valentines Day! I love giving my kids their own little gifts and I love giving my husband all the cards and goodies! Yes, I buy more than one card...sue me. I love them. I'm always giving him cards! But on Valentines Day, I give him two or three throughout the day just to make him smile. I cant even believe I just typed that...I don't generally like to tell people the things we do for each other like that. Some things need to stay private right?

Listening To: The Disney Channel. I didn't turn on any music this morning. I just sat down and started typing. I'll turn it on now and then let you know what plays first. =) --No Doubt's "Don't Speak"-- Holy smokes. One of my faves EVER. I used to put this on repeat on my discman (woah old) and fall asleep listening to it. No Doubt is one of the best groups of all time. I'll be a fan forever.

Eating: Absolutely nothing. I haven't even had breakfast yet. Speaking of eating. I ate like CRAP yesterday. I made chicken wings...that I pulled out our deep fryer for. I made croissant BLTA's...with mayo. AND I made spinach dip...and ate it with Hawaiian sweet bread and various crackers. The only thing saving me from complete and utter black hole food guilt is the fact that I totally left out the usual cupcakes. As I was grocery shopping I came across them...my faves, chocolate with whipped cream icing, and I just looked for a second and walked away. Then later as I walked into another grocery store...I was attacked by the girl scouts and they robbed me for four dollars and shoved a box of cookies in my purse. I couldn't stop them. Ruthless little girls.

Wishing: I could afford a personal trainer to come to my house every day and scream at me while I did my P90X and rode the bike and then forced me to do even more exercise. I am trying my hardest to motivate myself...but it's just so much easier to not do it. Especially on the weekends. There are so many distractions when the husband and kids are home all day long. It's super easy for me to get busy doing this or that.

I hope you enjoyed the second installment of Here & Now! I think next time I'll be incorporating some pictures!

Talk to you soon,
J

Thankful Thursdays - 38

I always think about how I will tell my kids the story of my life. Like what things I will choose to omit, because there are just some things you dont tell your kids, and what stories I will tell over and over again, because there are some lessons your children need to hear from you so they wont make the same mistakes. So this week I am so so so thankful for everyday that I live and the things that I learn along the way to teach or tell to my kids as they grow. Who hasn't asked their parents about the day they met, or how they did this or that in a certain situation. I am pretty close to positive that my kids will be the same way. I expects thousands upon thousands of questions about any and every thing you could ever think of from my kids. And I am so looking forward to answering them.

336. I'm thankful for my memory. There is hardly anything that I can't remember. So recalling things from my past for my kids should be relatively easy. And even if its not, I write almost everything down. If not on my computer then in one of the various notebooks that I have around the house.

337. I'm thankful for photographs. I know things written down can tell an amazing story because I am a reader and a writer and there are so many ways to add description to a story and make it just as good as looking at a picture. But what great fun it is to have pictures to go along with my stories right? That's why I try my hardest to capture everything on film AND paper.

338. I'm thankful that Ryan and I have a good story to tell our kids. Our story may not be so exciting to Max as he gets older because he is a boy, but for Gabriella it is sure to be magical the first time she hears it. A story of two people who went every way but to each other for a while and they still ended up together is a fairy tale if I've ever heard one. =D I am waiting patiently for the day when she starts asking me those kinds of questions.

Do you ever think about what you will tell your children when they're older?
Talk to you soon,
J

Batter Up!

I dont know if I've ever really said how obsessed with sports my husband is. He can talk about them to anyone, anywhere, anytime. He can watch them all day and then before bed he can watch the recaps on ESPN and the other sports channels.

So ever since last year when we took Max to our little nieces baseball game and he announced to us that he wanted to play baseball like his cousins we have been dying to sign him up. That's also when we started talking about Ryan signing up to be coach of his team! I mean really who could do it better right? So last week when we got the flyer saying that it was finally time for sign ups to begin, we jumped at the chance!

We have Max already all signed up but of course the process for Ryan to be coach is a little more that just signing up. There are finger prints, back ground checks, and interviews to do as well. Luckily for us, Ryan has no criminal record or anything like that so I'm almost positive that he's going to be able to be Coach Hill!

I am so excited for Max to play his first "organized" sport and even more excited that Ryan is going to be there with him every step of the way. It just makes it that much more special for me. Back when it was just me and Max I never thought I would be able to give Max all the things a father would generally give him, because I am a woman. But by giving him Ryan I have done more than I ever thought possible. Nothing in the world can make me happier than knowing that even thought Max didn't start his life with a daddy, at least he has an amazing one now and for the rest of his life.

I'll keep you posted on if he get's the spot or not! Fingers crossed and prayers said please! I'd hate to have my hopes up so high, just to get them shot down. Oh, and by the way, Max has no idea! I don't ever tell my kids anything until right before its going to happen, just to avoid any heart break. So it's going to make it even MORE exciting when we finally do tell him!

Talk to you soon,
J