Happy New Year!  (Better late than never, right?!)

This year my “resolution” is to be a Super Mom! 

When I was in elementary school, our local Super America gas station held a contest “Why My Mom is a Super Mom”…and I won (for obvious reasons)!  I don’t remember exactly what I wrote, but I do remember that the picture I drew looked exactly like my mom.  Anyway.  A couple key points that I made about my mom being a Super Mom were that she always drove me where I wanted to go and bought me things.  Holy shit…I’d like to apologize for thinking it was that easy, Mom! 
Having my own two darling children now, I realize how spoiled and selfish I was growing up (well, okay, it hasn’t really gotten much better as an adult).  My point is, I realize how much sacrifice my mom made for my sister and me and how much I feel like I give up for my kids.  As for my “resolution”…2013 will be the year of balance which in turn will make me a Super Mom.  There are a lot of things that I want to do and by doing them and taking care of myself, I feel like I will be a much better mom!  Or at least a well taken care of mom…

Here’s a partial list of what I’d like to do:
take naps, play outside, pedicures, date nights, shower, put down my phone, color, exercise, keep a clean house, eat better, start karate again, get massages, find a hobby, take bubble baths (without a 3 year old), read, walk our dogs, cultivate friendships, drink coffee while hot, blog, etc…

So my list is pretty silly but it’s things that I don’t take time to do right now.  My days consist of being Charlie and Cash’s slave- which I love and am so blessed to be able to stay home and do…but I often devote so much time to them (and suffer from extreme mommy guilt) that I don’t make time for myself before the day is over. 
I will find balance and I will be a good mom.  Hopefully even a Super Mom like mine some day! 

Hope your New Year is starting out fabulously!

xo-
Lindsay**

lindsay**

After last month’s karate graduation fail, Cash had a better attitude (and a longer nap) this time!  He was pumped!

Daddy had to give a little speech to all the graduates to make sure that they did the best they could.  I think Cash is in the process of saying “Yes, Sir!”

Cash was lined up and ready to demonstrate all of his karate moves!

He got to perform one of the moves all by himself!

If you didn’t catch it, he made sure that everyone knew that he is still only 2 and not 3 yet! 

And then it was time to get his belt!!

We need to work on the art of shaking hands…but he was so excited to show me his belt certificate he forgot about everyone else!

Before we left, he had to pose with his instructors (cousin Nick, Daddy and Mr. Dalton).  Huge muscles! 

So Cash is now a Double Gold Stripe (whatever that means).

-lindsay**

Chris has been trying to teach Cash how to spell his name…and somehow it turned into working on saying ‘okey dokey’ and ‘uh oh spaghettiOs’. 
This makes me and Cash laugh. 

I left my tennis shoes at my mom and dad’s house last time I was home and decided that I missed them so it seemed like a really good excuse to get new ones.  So…I took my kid shoe shopping.  It took us each about 30 seconds to decide on the pairs that we wanted. 

Surprise.  Cash found Spiderman shoes.

He loves them so much that he decided that he had to take a nap in them. 

And that he had to sit in his favorite chair and talk about animals with me in them.

And that he needed to wear them while watching a movie.

Oh, and this kid loves his shoes so much that they had to sleep in his bed.

We’re on day 2 of the new shoes and he wore them all day again.  I convinced him that they could sleep on his floor instead of in his bed since they got a little dirty today.  Wonder how long this will last….

-lindsay**

What a crazy Friday!  Chris left today for a little weekend getaway with one of his bro-friends.  I’m actually looking forward to a weekend alone (with Cash).   Before he left, Chris asked us to run 6 errands in 5 different cities so we had a busy day.

My sister and I are having a Thirty-One/Vault Denim party on Sunday…come and visit from 1-3 at the Dojo or check it out online at mythirtyone.com/jennykramber! 

Time for 5 Question Friday, hosted as always by Mama M at Five Crooked Halos. I haven’t participated in a while, so I’m excited to be back!

1. What did you wear to prom? Include a picture if possible.
I have never understood the appeal of paying a lot of money for a dress that you will only wear once…luckily (or unluckily) I have ended up wearing both my prom dresses a couple extra (random) times.  For my Junior prom, I wore a lovely black velvet-like number.  This picture was actually taken because my high school BFF and I were Homecoming Queen and Princess in the same year (so I recycled the dress).

For my senior prom I wore a lovely gray dress that I bought in Canada.  I thought I really liked it and even squeezed back into it several years for a ‘second chance prom’ with Jordan Knight (from New Kids on the Block)!

2. Would you rather be on the biggest loser or a food eating challenge?
I’d rather be on the biggest loser, but I would be way too lazy and probably quit.

3. Done fave sonic drink? Refreshing summer drink? (Hey, Kristina…was that a typo, or some “done good” Southern thing?)
I have only been to Sonic once and didn’t order a fancy drink….I do love myself some McDonald’s sweet tea though.

4. What was your first car, and what did you call it?
I’m having a hard time remembering which car was my first…my sister and I have been though a lot of cars!  I think my first car was the ‘salad bowl’ passed down from Amy- a Chevy Citation with no power steering. I also had the Brown Beast, Silver Sable, the Yota, Chaco, and Walter.  My current car in unnamed.

5. What’s one thing your child or spouse does that sends you over the edge?
Just one thing?!  Well, for my child, it would be whining and not trying to do things for himself. 

As for my husband, he has little respect for other people’s time and plans and it drives me crazy.  For example, he lent our Manny his car for prom this weekend…but it turns out that his car is still in the shop…so he then offered him my car.  Did I mention that he was heading out of town today?  Yep, so that would have left me with no vehicle for a weekend.  Annoying.  But Chase, the Manny, left me his car and Chris ended up not driving so it worked out in the end. 

Have a great weekend!

-lindsay**
 

A couple of weeks ago in our ECFE class, Cash planted a ton of tiny seeds in this little container. 

Like the good mother I am, we immediately brought it into the house I forgot it in my car for a week or so but decided to try to salvage it anyway.  Cash diligently watered it for a day and it started to sprout!  Lucky us.

Sprouts kept popping up so we decided we should give them a new home.  Cash picked out his own planter, gloves, and a gnome and re-potted his sprouts all by himself.

Oh, and he had to buy his own watering can.

This is his finished product.  Unfortunately, Peter (my idiot horse-dog that did this (nasty!)) ate the gnome…so we bought a new one and moved the sprouts back inside.  They are now not doing as great as they were in their original container.  Oops.

-lindsay**

Saturday was Cash’s first karate tournament…and what an exciting day it was.  *Sigh*  I actually expected it to be much worse than it was, so I guess it wasn’t so bad after all. 

Apparently, Cash was too excited to sleep and decided that 6am would be a good time to start his day.  Turns out he doesn’t do well getting up at 6am! 

We took off for the 45 minute drive to the Minneapolis Convention Center at 8am.  When we got there, Cash’s attitude really started to suck.  All I heard was whining and “get me outta here!”.  Poor kid. 

Anyway, this is what Cash looked like sitting by his assigned ring waiting for his turn.  He was actually in the first group of kids but refused to put on his uniform so he couldn’t compete. 

After a lot of crying and a lot of sitting and waiting….Cash decided that he actually did want to participate.  He was able to join the last group of kids in his “age group” (he’s a little too young to actually be in karate). 

He didn’t really do a whole lot of karate as you can see:

But he got a good score anyway

And a TROPHY!  (They gave all the little kids 1st place trophies which was so cool!)

Cash decided that the best thing to do with his trophy was the eat snacks out of it.

After trying to coax him into his uniform for over and hour at the tournament…Cash decided that he wanted to wear it at home for the rest of the day.  Grrr.

His next attempt for the next belt graduation is coming up in a couple of weeks…maybe this trophy will inspire him? 

-lindsay**

Am I happy that Chris changed the empty toilet paper roll? 
Or am I annoyed that he can’t get the old roll in the garbage?

-lindsay**

Chris, Cash, our two dogs and I loaded up the truck and headed to my mom and dad’s house for a quick road trip. 
Like a 46 hour trip…13 of those hours spent in the car!  Ugh.

After a little bit of a late start (like a day and three hours late), we had a pretty uneventful trip.  Chris took two pictures and I took zero so I guess you don’t get to see what I look like with a Karlstad shower. 

I was able to read an entire book on the way up there which is a bonus!  Sometimes I’m glad Chris is a man of few words. 

We pretty much made the trip to see my great grandmas…I was feeling a bit homesick. 

And this post pretty much sums up how exciting my life is.

-lindsay**