Epitome

Today was the definition of a perfect summer day.

Spent outside in the water, sun, playing and enjoying the weather.

We started at the park, played on the play structure and then headed over to chase and harrass play with the ducks

On our way to feed the ducks. Brielle was strapped on me
in the Baby Bjorn and Liam was in the stroller...

 Then we played inside taking a little break from the sun and put Brielle down for one of her naps

Liam got a present from a dear family friend in the mail and LOVES it

Then Richard watched Brielle (he is working on secondary applications he is already being sent by medical schools who are just getting his application aka: things are going great on that front) while Liam and I went to the splash park

(wow sorry for longest sentence ever)

First bites of cotton candy. He was a fan

He had so much fun! Look at that face of pure happiness :)

So a day spent completely in the sun,

No nap (he is starting to not need naps...but it means early bedtime so I am not complaining),

Running and playing all day

Makes a tired tired little boy.

...hahaha! We came home and I put a little something on for him while I made dinner and when I looked over I saw that scene. He couldn't keep his eyes open and kept falling asleep. I have never seen him like that. He was one worn out little man.

I love summer days playing.

And today was the epitome of a great summer day.

(all pictures taken on my phone)

Things I am afraid to tell you.

In an effort to burst the whole "everything is perfect" bubble that is created at times through blogs, some blog writers have been confessing aspects of themselves that are less than...perfect. Confessing things about themselves that are real. I love learning all aspects of others, and thought I would join in on the fun. So here are a couple things that I am afraid to tell you (in no particular order).

#1 I am pretty certain that I have a mild case of OCD. I have never had an official diagnosis's, but I am pretty certain that I do. Most times I can control it and work through it, but when I am tired or overwhelmed/stressed it's much harder to control it. My "OCD" flares around messes and dirty things. I sympathize with Sherlock Holmes when he said in the second movie "my curse is that I see everything" (or something a long those lines). When I am tired or stressed, it takes all the control I have not to clean for hours until I can't see any more dirt or imperfection. Honestly, when it's really bad and I don't do a good job controlling it, I can have mild panic attacks. It can be nice though because my house is clean most of the time. When I say that I thrive when it is clean, this is what I am talking about. This is why Richard and I spend at least 30 (more like 60) minutes totally cleaning the house every night after the kids go to bed. I just thrive in cleanliness. 

#2 I have a bad guilt complex. Not just healthy guilt over things that it is warranted by, but unhealthy things. I feel serious guilt when I take time for myself, when I do things that make me feel like not a "perfect" mom (like letting them eat Cheetos etc), not doing everything for someone else even though it is really inconvenient for me, when the house isn't always immaculate etc. I have to either talk to someone else (who is usually my rock in life aka: Richard) or talk myself through things so I don't feel guilty for ridiculous things.

#3 I had an eating disorder in high school. My sophmore year of high school I had a mild form of Anorexia. I just skipped most meals and when I did eat, it was a tiny little meal (just enough to get by). I did it as a way to have control over my body and (this is embarrassing) fit in. I was part of the "popular" group (haha sounds so ridiculous now) and all my friends were doing the same thing. Luckily my wonderful parents started noticing that I was always "too busy" or gone for breakfast and dinner. They made a house rule that I had to come to dinner and eat, and we eventually discussed my problem and fixed it. If I hadn't had such involved parents, I am not sure when it would have ended or how bad it would have gotten...BUT it turned to be a good thing. After I was able to get over my problem and face it, I had a huge fire of interest sparked. I decided that I wanted to become a counselor for girls with eating disorders which is why I got my degree in Psychology. I actually have put many years towards research in this field (helping girls with eating disorders) and have a lot of theories that could change the way professionals try to "fix" it. Maybe one day after the kids grow up, I can focus again on my passion regarding helping girls with eating disorders.

#4 I am feisty and have an attitude. I attribute it to a strong Irish heritage, but whatever it is, I have an opinion on pretty much every subject and a strong one at that. Luckily though I am very socially aware of things that I shouldn't say, so I am (usually) not "in your face" about my opinions. I just definitely have them. my feistiness and attitude was the biggest problem I had in high school and was definitely a source of grief for my parents :) Sorry guys...I still get really feisty and "wound-up" pretty easy. But luckily it doesn't stay that way for long. But I do have to control it.

#5 I am a serious people pleaser and I hate confrontation. So even though I have strong opinions, I am willing to change my ideas or not say anything about them just for the sake of peace. Sometimes I get walked on by others that don't care about peace because I am such a people pleaser though. So it can be bad. And sometimes I don't say things that should be said because I hate confrontation so much. 

#6 I get really angry if anyone says or thinks anything bad or rude about any member of my family. Mess with my family and "mama bear" comes out in full force and then I don't care about peace or my fear of confrontation anymore. That is when I have to enact a lot of self control not to say mean mean things...

#7 I hardly ever cry, but I get chocked up and get emotional over silly, ridiculous things. Especially if "mood" music is involved. I am very very impacted by music and so I feel things in movies and situations really strongly which makes me get chocked up a lot. And even in slightly positively emotionally charged situations in normal life, I have to fight back the ball in my throat. Like think pregnancy: constantly. It's embarrassing.

#8 I don't like odd numbers, which is why I had to write an eighth thing! Couldn't leave it at 7 :) This is why I want 4 kids instead of 3 or 6 kids instead of 5! So anyways, number 8? I have a hard time living in the now and not looking forward to a later date and saying "I will be happy when _______ in the future". This is actually a huge reason I blog so much, because then I see through writing that I have a lot of wonderful things going on in my life and I don't need to look forward to the future for my "complete" happiness. Like right now, I have a hard time not thinking: "I will be so much happier and life will be easier when we move out of our tiny apartment to a place with a fence backyard...." Don't get me wrong. I am totally happy. But I have a weakness of thinking that everything will be perfect and easier when something happens like the semester ends, we move, when he's a doctor, when our kids are older/independent, when we aren't students etc. 

P.S. that is not a cold sore on my lips, but finger prints on the mirror :)

So now it's your turn:

What are some things you are afraid to tell people??

If you decide to do this, send me a link to your post because I would love to read what you come up with!

Her first fountain

One thing I have always been so excited about having a girl, is little girl pony tails and other fun hairdos. Brielle's hair has been blonde, wispy and cute since she was born but we realized the other day it looked possibly long enough to put in a fountain (my families "special" way of saying: a ponytail on top of a little girls head). So we tried it and my heart almost burst from excessive cuteness. 

So beware. 

up close and personal :)

I love her scrunchy face smile!

Lounging on her "meow" 

Side view after we put a bow on her little fountain

Gosh dang I love her wispy blonde hair!!!

It's one of my favorite things. ever.

It makes me crazy it's so cute! I love playing with it and I can't wait to really be able to go legit fountains soon!

So I dont forget.

Saturday was one of those days that memories are made of.
One of those perfect, beautiful summer day spent outside with my favorite people ever.
One of those days I hope I never forget.

I hope I never forget...
...How wonderful it was that Richard let me sleep in
...How excited Richard and I were to take Liam to his first air show, considering how much he is obsessed with airplanes
...How much fun the airshow was with all the planes doing such neat, astounding tricks
...How overloaded Liam was by all the neat airplanes and cars (little boy heaven #2)
...How much Liam loved the band that played swing music and how cute he was when he was dancing to it
...How cute Brielle was while she danced to the same music
...How excited Liam was to sit in an airplane just his size
...How tired the kids were when we got to the car to head home (we stayed an hour into their nap because it was so neat we didn't want to leave)
...How they both fell asleep for their naps minutes after getting home allowing Richard and I to take a 2 hour nap ourselves 

I hope I never forget...

...How excited Liam was when we told him as soon as he woke up that we were going to have dinner over a fire (he had been talking about fire for a couple days before)

...How funny it was to watch Richard cut the wood with his...tool... (I will leave it at that so he isn't embarrassed...)

...How enthralled Liam was while watching Richard make the fire

...How Liam was scared of the fire as soon as we made it and wouldn't come near it

...How much Brielle loved eating cheese puffs and pieces of my hot dog bun

...How terrified and worried Liam was when we roasted marshmallows (funny story about that later)

...How cute Brielle was

...How much fun we had on our first family fire roast

funny story time  (in Richards words)

"McKenna and I took Liam to roast marshmallows at the Park for dinner. After Liam watched one marshmallow catch fire and melt, he looked distrubed, then said "marshmellow sad!" at which point he grabbed my marshmallow stick (with the attached marshmellow) and the bag of marshmallows and ran off to save them. I wasnt allowed to roast any more marshmallows.

saving the poor marshmallows from burning

After liking the stick he said "those are GOOD" and...

proceeded to eat as many as he could before we left.

She has him wrapped around her little finger more than any daughter I have seen

Like I said.

Perfect day. The entire day. One of my favorites.

Full of making wonderful memories that I hope I never forget.

I hope the summer has many many perfect days in store for us.

p.s. I have been doing the June Photo Challenge everyday. There are some fun pictures and confessions ;) I will have to post them soon but know I have been doing it everyday. You can check it out on my instagram page, but apparently you have to have an instagram account to see them. 

15 & 16

The last 2 days have been beautiful.

And O so much fun. Especially today. It was a day I will remember fondly for years. But because it's late and my #1 main man is waiting to cuddle up with me and watch a movie before bed, I am going to make this quick. So I will post the pictures from yesterdays and today's Instagram June Challenge

Day 15: Yellow

Day 16: Out and About

first fire and marshmellow roasting of the summer

I have so much more to write.

Like I said, especially about today.

But that will wait until tomorrow when I have time to bomb you with overly cute pictures of my family and tales of a wonderful, beautiful, warm summer day spent with the 3 people I love most.

Complete with a sunburn.

Day 14: Time

Day 14: Time

So yesterday's photo challenge for June was Time. Ironically, I read this quote on pinterest while I was eating my breakfast and I decided to take it as a challenge for my day. Let everything else wait while I spent the time with my kiddos, loving them and doing what they wanted to do. 

So we...

(Official June Challenge picture)

...took the time to make duck faces before naps 

(Liam thought that was the funniest thing. we have about 20 similar looking duck face pictures)

...Blew huge dandelions and explored the field next to our house 

...cuddled with cute sister

...and took time to smile and be happy.

And it paid off.

Liam is always a good boy, love him. But since he is stuck inside a lot (we have no fenced back yard so when I have things to do, I don't feel comfortable letting him run around outside by himself because we live next to a big road), he  has been feeling cooped up and and acting up a little bit. Compound that with the fact his favorite best-friend-daddy is gone a lot. So taking the time yesterday to play with him, talk to him, listen to him, be silly with him, really made a difference. We had no power struggles and limited tantrums (which were only because he slept in and so didn't take a nap). 

I am a believer.

Giving your time to your children is the best thing you can do for them. More than having a perfectly cleaned house, checking off all your to-do's or making a dinner fit for a restaurant.

So speaking of, it's time to go kiss my little boy and girl with beautiful blue eyes.

(All pictures taken with my phone)

Just the swift kick I need

Is there such a thing as bloggers block?
Cause if so, I got it. Bad.

Not because my kids aren't doing cute things, I haven't inspiring or hard moments I want to write about. Sure time has been severely limited, but what's new. I could blame it on some crazy outside forces that have been making life...interesting...for us lately (our family is totally fine no worries.). Maybe later I will blog about it, because it's quite a story.

Whatever it was, bloggers block is a good description. 

I still really want to get back on to the wagon with my Project 365 and needed a swift kick in the pants to get back to it. 

Well, I found it.

I tried it before, but this time I will be better. Almost half-way through the month I have decided to do the "Photo A Day: June" on Instagram (come follow me!!). I will also be posting up other pictures I take during the day and writing about them, but if nothing else, I will have that to record our days and give me inspiration. 

So today is Day 13: ART

Liam drew this picture today and when I asked him what it was he said:

"it's my Daddy"

We hung it on the front of the door to welcome Richard home for the night from campus. 

Hanging pictures Liam draws on the door for Richard has become a fun tradition. 

Some other cute pictures from my phone from today: 

it's summertime: eating watermelon for dinner

My handsome handsome boy

So I am back.

Project 365 is back.

I am done neglecting.

(does anyone read this anymore? I think I hear crickets chirping...)

His little boy heaven.

I have said it before, but Liam loves any support that involves a ball.

Saturday my brother-in-law was having a baseball game and as soon as the kids woke up from naps

we whisked them out of bed, slathered on sunscreen and jumped into the car so Liam could watch his first baseball game.

He was in heaven. He brought his own ball and held it the whole time.

He was enthralled watching them throw and hit the ball.

As soon as the game ended he ran as fast as he could on to the field.

Here are the comments I heard at the same time as he ran out there from the young college kids watching:

"awww! That is so cute!"

"I want a little human"

"I am so jealous of her with her cute kids!"
"look at that cute little boy"

i felt famous. My kid was the cute one everyone was laughing at the whole time.

Watching him run around with a perma-smile of pure joy and being so enthralled with everything that was going on on that field

It was one of those proud mommy moments that make your tummy turn with happiness.

I love watching him have so much fun like that.

I have a strong feeling that we will be sitting through many games in the future where Liam will be playing.