Good morning and good day! As fate would have it, today is my first day in this new journey I blogged about and I'm not sure how I feel. I do know one thing - I am on mission to make this work! So, before I go down the path of talking about how that looks, let's talk about my weekend.

Friday
My Friday was...interesting. As I mentioned in a previous post, it was my first day in the land of self-employment/stay-at-home-mom, so I woke up a bit not sure of myself. No, scratch that. I didn't want to wake up and face the day because of the emotions I was feeling but I did. I had kids to get out the door for school.

After dropping the kiddos off, I stopped by Walmart to pick up a few things: toothpaste, milk, etc. While in the store, I mentally came up with every reason I could think of not to workout but, alas, I forced myself to go to the park and get in some walking. I'm glad I did because my mood improved and I feel reinvigorated. I made all kinds of plans for the rest of the day - work on my business website, send out some cold emails, etc. After doing that, I came home, showered, dressed, talked with Hubby (who was on his way out to a YouTube conference) and sat down at my computer to work.

I was in a serious groove until lunchtime when the emotions took over me again and I decided to lay down. Well, that "lay down" turned into a 3 hour nap! Before I knew it, it was time to get back into work and get ready for my client conference call. By the end of the day, I picked up the kids and had a fun evening with them and Hubby.

Saturday
For some reason, the baby was up bright and early this morning. Hubby and I decided the night before to go check out Arabia Mountain Park with the boys. We've never been and I'm so glad we did. We had a great time. We hiked about 1.5 miles in to the river, then we jumped a creek and did some playing near a small waterfall. Then we started the trek of going back to the main trail, which was another 1.5 miles (uphill, mind you). By the time we finish our day, we were exhausted and hungry. So very hungry LOL We managed to drag ourselves home with food, shower and lounge for the rest of the day. Here's my Snapchat video our Saturday:



And here are a few photos from our adventure:

My son's new friend

Helping his new friend add his hook to his fishing pole

His friend caught a fish and couldn't wait to tell us about it

Hubby and the boys

Sunday
Sunday was a much lazier day. My husband had to work so the boys and I were left on our own. We ran some quick errands and then paid a visit to my parents. After an hour of them playing chase with my dad, we headed home to finish cleaning and relaxing. Early afternoon, my mom called and said she wanted to come over and use our grill, so, we had an impromptu cookout. I love my family and we will find any reason to do something that looks like a party. Needless to say, we had a great time together with some even better food.

How was your weekend?

Image courtesy of Pexels

Today is August 18 and I am now officially a stay-at-home, self-employed mom of two. Whew. It's weird to finally say that out loud.

I'm constantly asked, "So, how do you feel?" and it seems to baffle some folks when I say I'm a range of emotions. From happy to scared to worried to freaked out to positive - all within a five minute timespan. More than anything, I'm open-minded.

This new journey I'm about to embark on will be filled with ups and down but it will be a journey and path that I lay. One that I control and set for myself and my family. If I'm being transparent, I am terrified as I write this post but fear and faith can't live in the same place, right?

So, today marks a new beginning for me. One that I know will propel me forward without looking back.

Cheers

Good morning and Happy Tuesday! Despite all of the changes in my life that will occur later this week, I'm feeling pretty good. Before I sat down to write this post, I managed to go for a long walk, do some yardwork, clean up my kitchen, and even cook myself some breakfast - something I rarely do. Now, let's jump right into my weekend...


Friday
Friday was business as usual. I spent most of the day on the phone with work or work-related stuff so I really didn't get to do many of the errands that I had planned. By the time the late afternoon rolled around, it was time to pick up the kiddos and the ingredients for our Family Movie.

Before I get to the movie stuff, will you look at this? Since when did they start selling meat, let alone ribeye, at Dollar Tree?!

I'm confused

The movie of choice was "Sing", which doesn't surprise me because my son knows EVERY SINGLE SONG. *face palm* Even the two year old was singing along too. On the menu for the evening were tacos. I LOVE tacos, like, obsessed with them so I did these little soft shell ones. Believe me when I say they were husband-approved because he had about 8 (they are two-bites only). Everything was freshly made by yours truly. The salsa is my claim to fame - it truly is THAT good.

So good!

I wanted to do something fun with the boys so we built a fort to sit under while we watched the movie. Much to my husband's chagrin, he grinned and sat on the floor to eat picnic style with us under the fort. AWWWWWW! He's such a good guy LOL

These little munchkins loved my fort building skills

It wasn't the best looking fort but it worked LOL You can't tell but I think we had every comforter we owned on the floor there.

Saturday
I woke up Saturday morning just as my husband was leaving out for a meeting. Since this was the one weekend we had absolutely no plans, I declared it pajama and potty training day. That's right. We locked ourselves in the house and kicked back. I put some undies on the little guy and every 15 minutes, we were off to the potty. And every single time he would pee on the floor as soon as we walked out. GAWD!!!!! It couldn't have been my timing but this little guy is stubborn so I have my work cut out for me.

I was probably more frustrated than him so I decided to clean out my linen closet to relax. This led to me organizing a few more closets in the house. By the time I was done, I had about 4 bags of items to take to Goodwill  and some nicely cleaned out closets. Take a look.

Linen closet

The linen closet was pretty quick. I like baskets and keeping things out of sight so I used a few more to organize toiletries. I had a TON of queen sized sheets that weren't relevant anymore since we have a king size bed now.

Son's closet

Coat closet

The coat closet by the front door was another feat. The hangers we had in there were so flimsy and always broke so I bought some new sturdy ones. I also got rid of a bunch of old coats that we couldn't fit anymore. The boxes on the floor contain school supplies - again, another way to keep things nice and tidy.

Sunday
Sunday was totally uneventful. We all lounged around in pajamas and relaxed. The boys were getting way too rowdy around midday so we took them to the park for an hour to burn some energy off. Good thing we did that because they settled right down when we got back and took naps. We also managed to get them both into bed at a reasonable time so that we could enjoy Game of Thrones (wasn't it fantastic??!).

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend. How was yours?

1. Homeschooling doesn't mean babysitting. You are actually teaching your kids, just in a different way. 
2. Homeschooling isn't for everyone and that's ok. Do what feels right (and best) for your child. 
3. Preparation is key. Every day should be scheduled and prepared. 
4. Flexibility is also key. Kids some times have bad days the way adults do. Don't ever feel bad about throwing your schedule out for the day and winging it. It's ok. 
5. There are more families of color that homeschool than you think. 

If you want to learn more about homeschooling, do your research. There are tons of groups, organizations and websites that dig deep into how you do it and determining if its right for you. And if you want to know more about my experience, let me know - I'm happy to share!

Image courtesy of Pexels.com

I’m so over the Terrible Twos. I love my little munchkin, but how the heck did I forget about this part of parenting? You know, the part where they go from being sweet little angels one day to acting like Tasmanian Devils the next?

I am – by no means – calling my kid a Devil but his flip in attitudes is crazy sometimes. Case in point, his latest temper tantrums these days tend to have something to do with the controller to the PS4. Either he can’t reach, we won’t let him have it, it’s not charged so it doesn’t light up or he can’t find it; either way, he’s going to pitch a fit. Usually I ignore him and let him ride it out, but then he goes a step further and throws things.

*record scratch*

Nope, not happening. The experts say that you should soothe, and talk to them about their feelings and what’s happening; help them understand that this too shall pass. Uh, yeah right. If I’ve learned anything about parenting in the almost-9-years that I’ve being doing it, you can’t calm “The Beast” once it’s provoked. Save your coddling and talking through things for when they aren’t in the middle of an epic meltdown – trust me on this.

So, what now? How do you survive the Terrible Twos with your sanity intact, house still standing, and people not battle weary? I think I may have figured out a few things to get you through it:

1. Move them to another room where they can wreck it and let them have at it. Listen – everything isn’t meant to be a talk about feelings; sometimes kids just have to let it out. Give them the space to do that and you can go clean the kitchen or watch tv until there are civilized to talk.
2. Time out. I don’t think timeout really works on kids younger than 3, but if it works for you, use it. Have them sit on the couch or in a chair next to you while they settle down. When they are calm, ask them what’s up and what that situation was all about. You might be surprised with the answer.
3. Take something away. My boys LOVE certain toys, so when their behavior is less than stellar, they lose the privilege of having that toy. My oldest has had a toy taken away for as long as year – mainly because I forgot about it and couldn’t remember where I hid it.
4. Grin and bear it. Time and time again my little guy goes from zero to thirty at the most inopportune times, case in point: the grocery store. I’ve been that mom with abandoning a basket and carrying a screaming child out of the store while red with embarrassment.

On Friday, August 4, we celebrated my oldest son's 9th birthday. I can't begin to tell you how crazy it is to me that I have a 9 year old. Seriously. I remember when I found out I was a pregnant with this kid (near Christmas) and then gave birth to him just as our first African-American president was running for office (and who happens to share the same birthday as him). He has been the biggest blessing and challenge of my life.

No one looks at parenthood as a challenge but let me tell you, it is. It's a challenge to think about how you will love someone so much and pray about how you hope you don't screw their lives up. My son(shine) is an absolute joy. This boy is a ball of pure energy, mixed with the biggest imagination ever, sprinkled with the brightest smile, touched with a huge heart, tossed in an amazed mind and topped with pure love. He is literally love and God personified. Even when he drives me crazy, makes huge messes, gets on his little brother's nerves, and can't seem to sit still, he is the best thing that ever happened to me and serves as a reminder of why I push myself so hard every single.

You can follow his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/kendallslemonadestand

we had the absolute best time ever. It’s memories like these that I cherish – my son hanging with his BFF at an amusement park. We spent the entire day there and “the odds were ever in our favor” because the sun was nowhere to be found. In fact, it was scheduled to rain but we managed to hit and ride every ride we wanted to. By the time we left the park, everyone was in need of some food and a shower. It was a great day had by all. If I’ve learned anything about Six Flags this year, it’s that a season pass is worth the investment.