Hmmmm...Self-Reflection?

Ok, so when this first happened, John and I were cracking up in the car. The story is a little embarrassing on my part- so I almost didn't want to share it,.....but I have a good sense of humor, especially about my adventures in parenting! :)

So we were in the car the other day, and I was really frustrated about something. The day just wasn't going right, and John and I were debating where to go and the order in which our errands needed to be run. We had both kids in the car- so of course, as John and I were trying to talk, the kids were making a loud racket in the backseat. Finally, the noise and my frustration level was hitting a high note, so I let out a huge frustrated "Ugggghhhhhh!!!!" You know the sound I'm trying to describe? That frustrated noise you make when you are overloaded and have had enough and you want everyone to be quiet??

Anyway, my outburst must have started Bella......and apparently freaked her out a little bit when she heard that noise come from her mom....because the car fell silent, and I heard her little timid voice ask,

"Mommy, are you being a monster?"

I guess that's the noise monsters must make when they are frustrated.

*Sigh*

Anyone want to nominate me for mommy of the year? Anyone?

Not Me! Monday (Night)

Has it really been a week since I last posted? Sometimes I can sit at the computer a lot, and sometimes I barely get a chance to sit at all. So here is my confession for today's activities....enjoy!!

1) I did not eat a cold piece of pizza for breakfast this morning....with a cup of coffee- no less :)

2) I did not cancel my dentist appointment for no good reason other than I simply don't feel like going!

3) I did not secretly really enjoy watching my TiVo'd episode of "17 Kids and Counting" on TLC. **(By the way- does anyone else out there watch that show?? Its bizarre, enthralling and exhausting to watch- all in one!)

4) I did not forgo all my morning chores and opt to instead have coffee and girl-chat with a girlfriend at my house this morning. (PS- Thanks for the impromptu visit! I love any excuse to ignore the housework and laundry!)

5) I did not recite (word-for-word) the entire book of "Pinkalicious" with Bella tonight. I've read that darn book with her too many times.....

....and finally....

6) I did not get a little sad today when Ty kissed me and the thought flashed in my mind that little boys only kiss their moms for a short amount of time. *Sniff* That adorable little man just breaks his momma's heart.

Not Me! Monday :)

OK, so quite a while ago someone told me about a mom's blog that I should read. Since then, I've seen or talked to so many women who have also been followers of this woman's blog. Her nickname is "MckMama", and the story of her life and her 4 kids is inspiring. She really relates to wives, mothers, sisters, daughters...just plain women in general. One of her fun ideas is to post a "Not Me!!" blog every Monday that talks about things that she absolutely did NOT do.....

I've jumped on the bandwagon.....so here is my "Not Me!" Monday tidbits......

1) I did not hear our son crying at 6:15 this morning and ignore him (pretending I couldn't hear him) until 6:45.- when I was finally forced to wake up because Bella jumped in our bed and therefore woke me up for good.

2) I did not bribe Bella with a gigantic gumball at the mall today so that I could get her to stop talking for a few minutes and get my errand run in peace.

3) I did not forget to buckle Tyler when I put him back into his stroller after lunch,.....and I did not start to run him over before realizing that he was slipping out the bottom!!! Not me!!

4) I did not just look down at my arm and realize that I still have a half-worn fake Cardinals tattoo on my bicep from yesterdays football game (ok, so I don't have much of a "bicep", but what else can I call my upper arm?!) Who hasn't showered yet today? Not me!

5) And I certainly did not spend my precious free-time, while the kids were napping, eating my lunch on the couch and flipping through my People magazine. I'm much more productive than that.

So there you have it. Stay tuned until next Monday...and jump in if you want to deny the things we all know are true...and funny :)

NFC Champions!!!!

Who would have thought??!!

We were so incredibly excited to witness history for Arizona today...and sitting in the 9th row, we had an amazing view of 2 touchdowns by Fitz right in front of us!! The entire stadium was on their feet for over 4 1/2 hours.....and you know its loud when you can feel yourself screaming at the top of your lungs, but you can't actually hear yourself :)

The tailgating, the pep rally and of course the game itself- made for an amazing day. With only a few seconds to go in the game, we actually looked at each other in disbelief thinking, "is this really happening?!!!!" And some really large man hugged me- ...but given the circumstance, I'll let that go :)

Watch out Superbowl 43.....here come the CARDINALS!!!!

See our pictures from the game by clicking this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/Bri.and.John/NFCChampionCardinals#

The Difference Between Boys and Girls.

Everyone told me they would be different...but its just hysterical to watch how different Isabella and Tyler truely are. Bella is ultra feminine and just wants to twirl around all day with her Princesses and in her dress-up clothes.

Tyler just wants to dump things out and destroy things. If Bella puts together one of her Princess puzzles, Tyler will happily mess it up in a matter of minutes. If Bella is playing with her Barbies, Tyler will take one when she's not looking and dunk it in his basketball hoop as if the Barbie was a ball. You get the idea.

So today Bella was playing with all her Princess Barbies- lining them up on the playroom steps, and over in the other corner, Tyler had dumped all his legoes out of his dump truck and he was trying to figure out a way to climb inside. I thought the picture of the two of them was so hilarious, so I grabbed my camera to demonstrate the difference between my two munchkins :)

First- here is my girl playing with her dolls....

And here is my little man- trying to climb in his dump truck :)

Once he got in...he got stuck, and freaked out a little bit...

So his big sister came to the rescue and pulled him out of the truck :)

The whole scene was quite hilarious.

I'm sure this is just the beginning of discovering how different they will be! We have some fun years ahead :) .........

In The Beginning God Created the Heavens and the Earth...

We've been having some amazing sunsets lately!!

As a native Californian- born and raised- its been difficult at times to adjust to the new landscape and culture of Arizona. Although Scottsdale is as close to SoCal as you can get outside of California- I still sometimes miss the deep colors of all the landscape and vegetation in good ol' Cali. But just when I start to miss certain things about home, God surprises me with a gorgeous sunset, and reminds me that He delights in me and still wants to "woo" me with His amazing creation. Let me tell you- I'm not always that delighted with the prickly cactus and dessert greenery around here, but God has great plans for our family here, and He keeps surprising me with things like this beautiful sunset to enjoy.

I took this picture right outside our house in our cul-de-sac after dinner one night. Isn't is gorgeous??!

Couldn't have done better myself :) But isn't that the point?!