Do you ever?

*Disclaimer: I wrote this post last night. I just didn't post it last night. It was a long day. A hard day.*

I have been ending most of my days lately, feeling like a parenting failure. Why do I feel this way? Because I spend so much of my days after Dylan for this or that. I mean his offenses aren't anything HUGE but it all comes down to him NOT listening. He tends to get to rough with Ethan at times. I try explaining things to him. But it doesn't seem to work. He isn't always like this. And leaving the house and going somewhere isn't a fix either. I don't know. Obviously there is *something* that I am doing, or not doing. Do you ever feel like you fail? At parenting, or...anything really?

Wow, that was a downer huh?! Some days are hard. For me. Some days are pleasant. That pretty much sums up life though doesn't it? It's a phase. We will get through it. Right now though its a bit stressful. For me.

Do you ever have those days when it would feel fantastic to just lay in bed all day? Maybe lay there, watch movies and drink coffee all day. Wouldn't that be so refreshing? Or wouldn't it be nice to have a day where your 2 little boys get along all day? And didn't whine? All day? Ok, maybe that's just me.

Weird Wednesday

Have you heard the saying "You learn something new everyday."? Well this may be the time of your day that you learn something new!
Here's some weird or odd facts for you. Just something different here at the ol' blog!
I guess that researchers in Rome have discovered a whole crap load of...well, crap. Ancient crap! Back in A.D. 79, a volcanic eruption burried the town of Herculaneum in Italy. So they stubbled upon this and are now analyzing everything to get a better understanding of these people's lives back then. Here is the story if you'd like to actually read it. NatGeo.
Scientists recently discovered a new worm! Whoa! Yeah...So its a worm that lives way down in the dirt. Like miles down. Remember the movie "Tremors"? Kind of like that. Only teeny tiny. Read about it here: NatGeo.
Scientists are finding thousands of new species in New Guinea. From the time period between 1998 and 2008, they found over 1000 new species! Unbelievable. See photos and read about it here. NatGeo.
Did you know that there is a version of the ice cream truck for dogs? Well there is. Guess where. Cali! LA to be more specific. Check here for the full story.
Do you think someone can make a living by scraping city sidewalks? This guy says he can! He uses tweezers and small tools to scrape mud off of the sidewalks, and then sifts through the crud he finds to get the valuable stuff. Click to read more and see a video.
Do we really need science to tell us that whining is annoying? I don't. I hear it everyday and I am annoyed. No one needs to tell me that it is in fact annoying. Well I guess some people needed science to tell them that. Want to read the article? Click here.

Its been a rather whiny week here. And its only wednesday. Both boys are so whiny its ridiculous. Reading some of those stories made me laugh and at least took my mind off of some of this whining. Have a great day!

When is quiet time?

Allergies seem to be on high alert today. I can't stop sneezing and I am all clogged up. Yuck. Yesterday was exhausting. Ethan woke up shortly after 6 am again. And he was kind of a turd the whole day. The best part of the day was the evening, after dinner. He was most pleasant then. Today he slept a little later. But hey, guess what?! The freakin phone rang BEFORE 7am!!! Who does that? Who in the world calls another person before 7? Not me! But apparently this guy calls people that early. Of course, right on cue, Ethan wakes up after the phone rings. I don't think the phone actually woke him up. It usually doesn't. But still. *Yawn* I wanted to sleep!! I think that I am going to have to accept the fact that Ethan will be an early riser. I got spoiled with Dylan. Dylan, at this age, slept until 8am. He went to bed at 8pm and slept until 8am. Now listen, just because Ethan is an early riser and I just need to get used to it, it does not mean that I can't complain about it. I can complain about being up at 6 am for no reason if I want to.

This weekend is the July 4th holiday weekend. We have a very busy weekend. Maybe. Ryan may or may not be doing wheat this weekend. That's what he says anyway. I know nothing, except for what he says. So it could be a busy weekend, or not. We have a couple of family things and then a get together that we go to every year with friends. And right now it looks like it will be a hot weekend. I would be happier with 70s. But oh well I guess. I can't do anything about that. I need to run to the store and get food to make for the weekend. I just went to the grocery store yesterday, but didn't even think about the stuff for the weekend. With everything I need, there wouldn't have been enough room in my cart though. So no big deal.

After my last post about being disappointed in the lack of weight loss, I have gotten some advice, so thank you all and I will take it all to heart and give it a shot. I am trying to switch up the time on the treadmill as well. One day I will do a walk/run combo and the next I will stick to my power walking. I am trying to alternate those day by day. Although the running part is much harder on my body. Mainly my knees. So I am working at that slowly. I can't give up.

A nice...cool day

The weather outside is wonderful. The sun is out. There is a great breeze blowing, keeping it nice and cool. I have the windows open! It is 2pm and 71 degrees. I love 70 degree days in Ohio. This, to me is perfect Ohio weather. Ryan had stuff to do today, so the boys and I are just hanging out here. I had Dylan watch a movie this morning, and Ethan played so great by himself. Then they went on the screen porch to play while I got some stuff done inside here. I didn't get everything done that I wanted to, but oh well.

Ethan slept a little later today. But I think that was partly because it took him FOREVER to fall asleep for his nap! It was ridiculous. I am still hoping that the one nap thing is working. We will see how tomorrow morning is. Its probably been about a month since I bought Ethan his summer shoes. He has nearly outgrown them already. I even bought them a little big. Or at least I thought he did. They seem to be snug on his toes. The soles are not scuffed at all. They are perfectly good shoes and they are almost done. Hard to believe that his feet are growing that fast. But I don't think the shoes are shrinking!

A bit of disappointment. The first month with the treadmill, I lost 4 pounds. Since then I have been stuck. Lost nothing. Nada. Zip. It is very frustrating. The only thing it can be is the amount of food I am eating. I have to cut it down some. I need to be more cautious about how much I am eating. Ugh.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend!!!

Friday...Fotos...

I am in a bit of a personal funk. I just need...well, I'm not sure. In the meantime, please enjoy these pictures.

Ethan and I went out on the 4-wheeler yesterday evening. I needed a little peace and just took him with me. He really enjoys it. Anyway, the sky was pretty, so I snapped a few. These were just 2 of the best. I know there are usually more pictures on Fridays, but like I said, I am in a funk. Tomorrow will be better I'm sure.

Boring...

The boys were absolutely driving me nuts this morning. It was a bad combo of them being wild and crazy and me. Guess I woke on the wrong side of the bed. So I thought maybe getting out of the house would help. There were some things I needed anyway. So off to Walmart we went. I wish I could say "off to Target we went." But there is none close enough for a quick trip. Anyway...as soon as we got in the store Dylan started whining because he wanted to ride in the cart or he wanted to ride ON the cart, or he wanted to push the cart. Ugh. I managed to look at everything I had on my list, but it as not easy. Dylan was all over the place. It was me constantly saying something along the lines of "don't touch that" or "stay close." He doesn't normally act like that at a store. So I guess it was my fault for even thinking that getting out of the house would help. Ethan whined off and on too, which didn't help my nerves.
Ethan is still waking very early. Earlier than I want him to. There is no reason for him to be up before 7. Really, there isn't. It just makes the days that much longer. Right now he goes to bed at 8pm, and gets up between 6 and 6:30. I don't let him take his morning nap anymore. So he doesn't go down for his nap until 1 but usually falls asleep between 1:30 and 2. He sleeps until 4.  So he usually naps for 2-3 hours a day and that's it. I don't know. Maybe not having that nap will catch up to him eventually and he will re-schedule himself.
2 days ago Ryan cut Ethan's hair for the first time. I saved some of it! It took Ryan only about 5 minutes to do it, and there was NO crying or fussing on Ethan's part at all. Ryan said he seemed to like it. I think he looks a little older with his hair so short. So no more curly hair when its humid. No more bed head in the mornings. He really did need a haircut though. If he would've gone much longer people would be calling him a girl out in public! Both boys look so cute with fresh haircuts. Dylan will be the next to get a haircut. And I am curious to see how fast Ethan's hair grows. Dylan's tends to grow kind of fast.
Lets see....what else...Oh! I had a short dream about vacation. Thankfully it didn't last long and the worry in the dream must have woke me up. The dream started with us getting into the car leaving. I dreamt that we got clear to Virginia before I realized that I forgot the boys' bears that they sleep with. I left Ethan's paci in his bed, and his blanket. I also forgot everything that I had gathered on the dining room table that was supposed to go with us. Things like the kitchen stuff, baby gate, stroller, pool floats, ect. The only thing that made it into the car was our clothes, and a small cooler with drinks in it. Then I woke up. Stupid dreams! It felt so real though! I couldn't imagine actually forgetting all of that stuff though. Weird!

Giveaway Winner

The winner of the UPrinting giveaway is Steph! Congrats! I sent an email to you as well, just in case you miss this post.

I used Random.org to randomly select the winner. I also tried to show you the results but it wouldn't show up over here for some reason. So I just took a picture of my computer screen to show you. But blogger wouldn't upload that either. The only reason that I got that UPrinting pic to show up was copy and pasting it from my older post. Blogger won't let me upload anything into the blog right now. So I apologize.
The winner was the owner of comment #1. I had to laugh when I saw that. Anytime I enter a giveaway from a blog, I always avoid being the first commenter. I thought that the first comment never won anything! So I always waited and avoided being an early commenter. I guess I was wrong! At least now I know!!!
I don't know what is going on with blogger today. I had some other pictures I wanted to share with you all in another post, but who knows if that will work or not. I will give it a shot later today and see what happens. Again, I apologize for not having the results actually shown to you all.

The longest day of the year

Today is officially summer! Ok so maybe that exclamation point at the end of the sentence wasn't really needed. It's been feeling like summer for quite some time. Today is no exception. It is hot. Humid. Blech. It is a very beautiful day though. The sun is out, and a breeze is blowing. I just prefer to enjoy it from inside where I can breathe.
Ethan was up bright and early this morning. Just like he was yesterday morning. Just like he has been for a few days. I am not a bright and early person. Ethan has been a 6 am, bright and early person lately. So yesterday I didn't put him down for his first nap. No big deal, because on Mondays he normally doesn't get that nap anyway. Today, I did the same thing. He had a brief window of crankiness, but to my surprise it didn't last long. I think it was more from boredom than tiredness. So he made it through that, and has made it through lunch. We will see how the rest of the week goes, but I would be fine with him giving up that morning nap. The only issue I have is that the mornings is  when I would jump on the treadmill. I have most of my energy in the morning rather than the afternoon. But it is just something I will get used to. I *could* get up before Ethan does in the mornings, but like I have said before...not a morning person. Who wants to get up at say...5 am? Not me. Not when I don't have to. The point of this paragraph? I hope that taking Ethan's first nap away, will eventually lead to him sleeping to at least 7 am.
I wanted to share this comparison last week, but for some reason I am just now getting around to it. So here is a photo (taken with a cell phone) from last year. July I believe.

And here is one I took last week. Time flies...

Switching topics quite a bit...
Watching 'Good Morning America' this morning they did a short piece on a new product that hit the market in Europe. Germany more specifically I believe. Anyway...I laughed when I saw it, yet at the same time I was a little grossed out. Remember David Hasselhoff? Baywatch...Knight Rider...America's Got Talent...those shows? Well I guess he is still hot shit in Europe. Who knew...Well, Del Monte just made a popsicle in his likeness. Yeah...WEIRD! I guess I find this so amusing because he kind of grosses me out for some reason. He always has. But I want to share a few links with you so you can see the....(wait for it....wait....) HOFFSICLE!
Here is a link to a tabloid artice from the UK... http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/3619949/Britains-Got-Talent-judge-David-Hasselhoff-is-turned-into-an-ice-lolly.html
And here is a you tube video. And if you have missed hearing the theme from Baywatch, well this video will fix that for you, haha!

Haha!

Don't forget about the giveaway! It ends tomorrow. Go to the giveaway post and leave a comment if you want to be entered into the giveaway. You can't enter unless you comment!

Guess What?!

...the giveaway is still open! Go enter! Click HERE to be taken to the post!



I have said it before...I am not a good weekend blogger. We do stuff on the weekends, yet we don't do much. Does that make sense? We went out to eat on Sunday with Ryan's family for Father's Day. I was happy to not have to cook! The boys did well. Ethan got a bit restless towards the end while we were waiting on the check, but I just took him outside and he was perfectly fine. We had a light dinner that evening, so it was a decent day. I got Ryan a couple of cookbooks for the smoker. I had Dylan give him one and Ethan give him one. Ethan really didn't want a part in the giving. He wanted nothing to do with even touching the book. Oh well, I tried!
Dylan had school today. He was as always, happy to go. Once we get home I fed them both and then they played. Dylan is completely wired. Ethan is getting sleepy. That combo is not good. They aren't playing well together right now. Oh! and I let Dylan stay in the clothes he went to school in. Not 10 minutes after being done with lunch, he was stretching and chewing on his shirt! Grr! Its been almost a week since I told him he can't wear shirts at home anymore. I don't know if its not working or if there just hasn't been enough time for it to work yet. Either way...its still frustrating. So I made him change.
It is raining here and there is thunder off in the distance. Again, it is so peaceful. I would love to lay down and rest once the boys go to their rooms this afternoon. But I really do need to get back on the treadmill. I didn't do it all this weekend. Saturday my back was hurting, so I used it as a rest day. Sunday I just didn't have much of a chance. So I must make myself get back to it!!
We don't have anything going on this week as usual. Can you believe that it is almost July?

A Giveaway!!!!

I was recently contacted about holding a giveaway from UPrinting.com. UPrinting is an online company that prints lots of marketing products. They do posters, brochures, catalogs, flyers, cards and so much more. They really do offer a lot! So...

This giveaway is for One (1) 18" x 24" Poster in semi gloss/high gloss!!! And its normally a 1 business day turnaround!

Click the image to see the posters that UPrinting can make. These posters are great for photo enlargements or high-quality advertising! This giveaway is for US residents only please. And I must mention that you need to be 18 years or older to enter! If you have won anything from UPrinting.com within the last 6 months, you are not eligible to enter. We have to give everyone else a chance, right?

How do you enter? I am so glad you asked...

Please leave a comment for each separate entry!

1. Be or become a follower of me.

2. "Like" UPrinting.com on Facebook

3. "Follow" UPrinting on Twitter

The giveaway will end on Wednesday June 22. So let's get to it! Once a winner is randomly selected, you will be announced here and I will email you as well. I will need your email address, so please make sure your email is connected with your profile. If you don't respond within 48 hours of the announcement/email, I will select someone else.

Good Luck!!!!




Disclaimer: This giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting, no monetary compensation was given and I will receive a poster for hosting. Check out UPrinting.com an online printing company and their posters.

Foto Friday: Brothers

This week (and it probably won't happen again, haha) I am going with a theme for this Foto Friday. And as always there is a link up. Hope you enjoy!

And here are the rest:

Side note: I am working on getting a giveaway together. Fingers crossed that it all works out! So keep checking back in the next few days!

A nice day

It was a pleasant day out again so we spent the morning outside. The boys played well with each other. And another day of Ethan tolerating grass. As long as he doesn't fall down. If he falls, then he freaks out.

So, notice that Dylan isn't wearing a shirt. Well after a few weeks of constantly getting after him for chewing on his shirts and stretching his shirts I decided that the only way I know of to get rid of this annoying habit is to remove the problem. It is summertime, he certainly won't freeze. So as long as we are here around the house, he will no longer wear a shirt. I took them all out of his room too, so he can't find any and get them out. I will give it a week, and then let him wear shirts again to see if the habit is gone. He will be fine. Make sure you stop back by tomorrow!

Whiney Wednesday

Its raining here now with low distant rumbles of thunder. Its actually pretty peaceful. Well it would be if there weren't 3 different noisy toys going along with 2 kids squeeling and growling. I really wish it were naptime right now. It would be nice to lay down and just listen to...well nothing. The rain and the distant thunder. By the time they boys to to bed in an hour it will probably be over. While we were outside yesterday I snapped a few pictures of Ethan. He is getting used to the grass. He isn't 100% ok with it, but he tolerates it. Sometimes.

I sat down in the grass and he got brave enough to walk away from me after Dylan started to the barn. He stopped for some reason in the spot these pictures are taken in. He stood there for the better part 10 minutes. Not moving. Whining off and on. I sent Dylan over to take his hand and lead him back.Then we walked around the yard for a little while.
Before my camera died I also snapped a couple of pictures of the dog running. If I can get my camera to focus fast enough the pictures can be pretty entertaining. I had quite a few of them, but they were out of focus, so I am only sharing the few that turned out.

And here is the only picture I managed to get Dylan in before the camera died. He was off pushing his wheelbarrow around.

Did you know...(again)

...that for some reason, my patience is low.

...Walmart makes me mad. You go in there looking for something. Something they should have. Like shorts for little boys? Well *shocker* they don't have it.

...the weather has been so nice these last couple of days. It really shouldn't be in the 90's this early, so the 70 degree weather we have now is so pleasant.

...I'd like to have a personal chef. I do enjoy cooking, but lately its just a pain in the butt.

...Ethan seems to have made peace with the grass today.


...After I sat down in the grass I feel like ants are crawling on me. Ick


...Ethan loves to be pushed in the swing. But when he's done...he's done. Now.


...Naptime is my favorite time of day.


...Ryan is probably going to be working late tonight, so it is spaghetti night here.


...He is not a fan of pasta in any form, so I try not to subject him to it much.


...that it is 2 months until our vacation!


...we did find a floaty thing for Dylan at Target the other day. And Ryan wanted something, so we got 2 floats for us. Target had them for a wonderful price.


...My finger nails grow way too fast. To the point where it is annoying. They grow but they aren't all that strong.


...The most used words in my vocabulary are "no" and "quit."


...I swear that the media likes talking about this latest political blunder *just* because they like to say the word "wiener" on television over and over and over and over again.


...I took a nap yesterday afternoon. I couldn't help it. I was so tired for some reason.


...I need to get my white legs exposed to the sun a little more. I do not enjoy wearing shorts though.


...I have the Kindle app on my cell phone, and would like to use it. But I don't want to pay for the books, haha! I don't even know where to start either to look through the free books. I like non-fiction books. I have a very hard time finding fiction books that sound good. Any suggestions?


...I am going to quit boring you now with this random non-sense! Have a nice day all!

Im not a weekend blogger

Ever since the weather has gotten warm, posts don't always happen on the weekends. And if there are posts over the weekend, its usually because I have written them on a Thursday or Friday and scheduled them to post on Saturday or Sunday. This isn't a scheduled post though. I just have a few moments free.
I will go to pick up Dylan here in a little bit. I am sure he is enjoying himself. Friday after I dropped him off, I called mom to ask her if she would come over to watch Ethan so Ryan and I could go to dinner. So she got to spend time with Ethan and Ryan and I got a nice night out. We ate at a place we'd never been to before. The meal was ok, nothing special. A bit over priced. Oh well, it as still nice. I was a bit stressed out during the meal though, because on our way up, storms started popping up all over the area. I was worried about a bad storm coming through here at home while mom and Ethan were here. I kept my eye on the radar during the whole meal. I couldn't help it. Thankfully nothing bad came through. On our way up to the restaurant though, Ryan and I ran though a storm. The rain was very heavy, and it was hard to see. Then it started to hail. I thought for sure that the windshield was going to break. It was so loud! And I don't know how it didn't dent the car. But we came through it just fine. There were people crowding their cars under gas station canopies and pulling off the side of the road under trees to escape the hail. I would have done the same if I were driving. Not Ryan. He kept driving. It didn't phase him much. No idea how!

Saturday we didn't do a whole lot. Ethan woke up in a great mood. He napped well for his first nap. But he fought sleep the whole afternoon. He cried most of the afternoon. It was not fun. He ended up napping for less than an hour that afternoon. We went to a birthday that evening. Ethan did ok, but we still left early. I don't know. I had just had enough by that time. My patience was gone. We came home, and put him to bed. Finally some peace and quiet. So it wasn't a bad weekend. Kind of busy though. I am so glad Ryan and I got to go out. No plans for the week.

Friday. Time for a link up!

I took this picture and posted it on Saturday. So yes, you have already seen it, but that is ok. Its my blog and I can do whatever I want!

I did do some editing. Saturation, a vignette, and then a light 1960's wash to it.

They got all of the crops in the ground this week. Done until wheat. Yesterday a friend of mine came over with her 2 boys. It was so hot outside. We played outside for a little bit, but even standing in the shade, sweat would just roll off of you. Ethan ended up sleeping most of the time they were here though. He didn't sleep when he should have in the morning. Instead of sleeping during his nap time, he spent that time just jabbering in his crib. So by the time the afternoon rolled around, he was cranky. I put him down and again, he sat back there and jabbered a while before he finally fell asleep. Dylan had fun.  He had someone to play with him. He did well. He even fell asleep during his quiet time. The heat will do that to you.

Not too much going on this weekend. Dylan is going to spend the weekend with my dad. We have a birthday party to go to on Saturday. Other than that, nothing at all. Hopefully Ryan doesn't end up working all weekend. 

Random pictures

I have some shots left from being back in the fields the other day. So I'd like to share them. They arent anything special, just what we see around here.

The pond. Most of the time it gets pretty shallow in the summer time because it can be so dry around here.

This is a close up of those tall green things sticking up all over the place. Wild onion.

Wordless Wednesday with lots of words (haha!)

Like I said yesterday, Dylan went out with Ryan. Ethan and I ran out at dinner time to take them thier dinner. So on the way out I snapped quite a few photos. Ryan even took Ethan for a round in the tractor. Dylan had a moment of panic when I asked him to get out so Ethan could get in. I promised him that he would be able to go right back in the tractor when Ethan was done. He was ok with that. Here are a few pictures. I have more to share later in the week.

Dylan waiting on the 4-wheeler while Ethan rides in the tractor

Ethan and daddy as they pass by

Today was the second day this week that Ethan and I ran out on the 4-wheeler. He loves it. I thought he might be scared, but he surprised me. I took Dylan out a lot when he was Ethan's age and he loved it as well. Between the tractor and the 4-wheeler, we gotta start 'em early! 

Batteries

I have been quite productive around here today. Which is a little surprising since Ethan had me up sometime during the 6 O'clock hour. Dylan is out with Daddy in the tractor, so it was just me and the whiny butt this morning. Since he was up so early he also went down for a nap a little early. I hopped on the treadmill for a bit and then went to getting some things done around here. I won't bore you with the list! Anyway, after Ethan went down for his second nap, I gathered up the toys that needed new batteries to change them. I have a bad habit of letting toys go for a while without batteries before I actually get around to changing them. So since I was on such a roll today, I did them. We had stocked up on batteries around Christmas time when they were on sale and almost free.

So yeah, there was quite a bit of things to fix. And yes, I know my table is dirty. Oh well! The only batteries I didn't have were the aaa size. So I had to put a couple of things up until I get them.

There are a lot of batteries! So that is done, and so am I. Now that Ethan is re-charging his batteries with a nap, I will re-charge mine and rest a while. I hope you all are having a nice week!

A few things...

We didn't do much over the weekend. But it was a nice weekend. No big plans for the week. The boys are off and on moody and hyper as always. I have been staying up way too late in the evenings and waking very exhausted. I had been staying up waiting on Ryan to get home from planting. I need to start going to bed at my normal time. The 7 am wake up calls from Ethan are getting rough. Also, I gave in. I started my list for vacation. Wait, did I say "list"? I meant listssssssssss. Multiple. One for each kid, one for Ryan and I and one for general items. I also cleared the dining room table. (For probably the 4th time in 2 months.) I am going to use that to set items aside to take. I know we aren't going until August, but I can't wait until last minute to get it all in order. I will stress myself out and make it worse than it should be. So for sanity sake and so I don't forget anything, I am slowly adding things from time to time. Things we aren't using day to day. Leave me alone...that's just how I need to do things. Plus, I am totally excited, so this helps! Again, leave me alone...I can be weird. Yes.

Today I am going to link up with Chic Homeschool Mama for her Monday Rewind. It has been a long time since I've done this link up. Mainly because I forget. I forget a lot.

Oh! My camera strap tends to irritate my neck quite a bit and more so now that it is hot out and I sweat. So I got to looking around on the good ol Internet and of course they make something to remedy that. You can make camera strap covers. And there are a lot of people out there who make them as well. So after I looked around for those, I went to searching for a "how to" for making them. I did this knowing that "I" would never be able to make them. So I found a site, and emailed Ryan's mom. Turns out it is pretty simple (but certainly not for me who is sew deficient.) So I emailed her, she looked at it and voila 30 minutes later she had completed a camera strap cover for me!! She had left over fabric from a purse she made me a while back and used it. Perfect!

Here is the purse:

And here is the camera strap:

So now it doesn't hurt my neck!!!