Life & Lemons

Well. Things are crazy.

If you don't know me, or haven't caught one of my rare "I WORK THREE JOBS AND I'M TIRED" status'.... here is the sitch.

Yes, I work three jobs and I classify jobs by something I get paid for. :)

We'll start with what starts first in my day, since I really can't put them in order of importance or any of that. I love them all.

I am a paraprofessional in an Elementary School. What do I do? I pull small groups out of class and work with them on reading and math, trying to get them up to grade level. It is the closest I can get to being a teacher, with out actually having my own classroom.

I am a photographer. I am pretty sure I graduated from momtography over a year ago.  If you don't believe me, you can check me out here.

I am an author. That sounds way cooler than it is, because I'm not published or doing book tours or planning out the movie. I self-publish my own books but so far they've been doing pretty well.

Here is my Author Page on Amazon.

Anyway, this post is more about what is coming next. What now? School lets out on June 6th, which means we have FIVE days left. This summer will be different than any other I've had thus far. My girls will be staying in school and I'll be working from home. Photography keeps me plenty busy, for one, and I also need to work on the third book in my Exceptional series.

I also will not be going back to school in the Fall, at least full-time. I am going to be subbing 2-3 days a week and focusing on photography/writing/housework the other days. Right now I got to school from 9-3:30, get home with both girls around 4:30, and start up photography/book work until bedtime.

I am really looking forward to getting my work done during the day so that I can finally be a mom at night. I want to be able to cook dinner and play with my girls when they are home from school, not expect them to entertain themselves because I have work to do. I am looking forward to getting the cleaning done during the day so we are not scrambling on Saturday mornings. I am looking forward to being able to be more efficient in my other jobs, now that I will not be working full-time. Especially this summer, where I will have four whole days to work! I plan on keeping the girls home for Fun Fridays if I can. :)

This post has no pictures so it is boring, but I will have some of the girls coming up. Plus some party planning stuff for Molly's 3rd Birthday!

My plate is full.

But my stomach is not. [more on that in a moment]

To say that I am doing a lot is an understatement. Being home with the girls is a lot on its own. They are at the age where stepping away from them for a minute can mean shampoo on the carpet, hot chocolate mix on the couch, cream of wheat on the dog, and so on. This means that every day chores don't get done like they used to. The girls naps start at different times and I have about an hour from the time Brooke goes down until Molly gets up, which means shower and lunch!

It is fun but busy!

Then we add in the Photography business, which has been great. I love meeting new families and babies and capturing special moments in their life. It has been an awesome experience. Here is a picture from a recent shoot.

Then we add in work. I got a job as a cashier/hostess at a local Amish restaurant. It has been a ton of fun and I really love what I do. I go in around 5pm at night and sometime do not come home until 9:30. I have been working four days a week, plus most of the day Saturday so there goes the rest of my time!

Check out my awesome uniform.

Then we add in my hobbies. I like to read and write and I refuse to give that up! I try to find time for at least one of those each day. It keeps me sane and happy.

So why is my stomach empty? That was a bit of an exaggeration, but I joined Weight Watchers on Friday. I have been in a weight loss slump for the whole year now, and have actually gained some weight. Enough is enough! These 20 pounds are getting kicked out the door. With inspiration from my friend Ashley at The Stauffer Shenanigans and Alyssa at The Heystek Family... I think I can do this!

Carolina Vacation Part 2

The week was perfect weather wise. We had one morning of rain but it cleared by lunch so that we could still have some time on the beach. The girls loved the beach, which I was very thankful for. I have met babies who refuse to touch sand or who are terrified as water, which can be normal, but I just didn't want to deal with that! Getting them ready and down to the beach was a production, and then of course Molly kept getting sand in her eyes and would freak out. They mostly just played in the sand or in the baby pool under the cabana tent. Brooke went into the water with my cousins a few times but we never ventured that far with Molly.

I'm a kid at heart...

Our house was awesome, as usual. We had a pool so we would come back from the beach in the afternoon and soak in the pool for a little. Brooke did really well swimming around in her puddle jumper, but Molly wasn't the biggest fan of the pool. Each family took a night to cook [we did a taco night on our night!] so we didn't eat out or anything. We did go miniature golfing one night and we took Brooke with us. She stayed up a couple hours past her bedtime every night like a champ.

Girl was a natural.

Then it came time to leave and we managed to make it home in seventeen hours this time. :: sigh ::

We'll see you again soon North Carolina. Til 2013...

Carolina Vacation Part 1

I am officially back from my mental/blogging break. Between vacation [which is never vacation with kids], photography, and starting a new job... my mind is fried.

SO several weeks later I am ready to write about vacation. I say the CarolinaS because we started in Myrtle Beach and then moved north from there. Dustin had to work most of the day Thursday so I spent the day juggling the girls and packing the car. Amazingly I was able to get almost everything into the van before he got home, which meant we were able to leave shortly after. It's a good thing I saved us some time because the drive took 18 hours. 18 HOURS. The girls were unhappy for the part where they were awake so we had to stop a few times. Then they were crying off and on all night, which shouldn't have affected our time, but I'll blame that. Then when I was driving, around 5 in the morning, we got stuck in stand still traffic. It was rumored that the road wouldn't be open for another six hours so we turned around on the high way and a cop escorted us off. How many times will that happen again?

We finally got to Myrtle beach to Amy's house at about 11 in the morning. It was so nice to see her again! We all ate lunch together and then Amy and I took the girls shopping while the guys went home to relax. On Saturday Amy and I were able to have a girls lunch with just the two of us which was AWESOME.

Then Saturday afternoon we headed up to Emerald Isle, North Carolina to start our vacation.

We were the last ones to arrive but that meant everyone else was unpacked and ready to hold the girls for us! It was great to see my family. There were 22 of us, and then the 4 babies [my girls and my two nephews].

I'll write more about the week later but until then, enjoy some pictures.

Brooke enjoyed lots of this


We all enjoyed lots of this.



And this...



And this...



And of course THIS.... [the mint colored house was ours]

Fair Week

This week is a big week in our county, the 4-H Fair is open! I grew up doing 4-H, but our fair back in Philly was NOTHING compared to the one here in Indiana. Elkhart has one of the largest county fairs in the country.

Sunday we went for free day [so basically no admission] and took the girls to see all of the animals. There is a little petting farm but we also went and saw the larger animals; like the pigs, cows, draft horses, and alpacas.

Last night we left the kiddos at home and just Dustin and I went. We met our friends Chad and Mandy there for the The Band Perry concert [Do you know how weird it feels to write 'the' two times in a row]. The grandstand seats are free and Chad and Mandy got there early enough to get us in the third row. It was awesome! We ate enough fried food to meet our calorie consumption for the rest of the week and sang our hearts out.

Well, I'm off to zip up our suitcases and throw them in the car. We are leaving for vacation tonight! I'll see you all in 10 days. :)

Is this thing on?

July is probably our busiest month of the summer, so that is why my blog may seem neglected. We have had BBQs and days at the lake. We spend our days outside swimming and sunning, and the Nook has been getting lots of use. In just over a week starts the local 4H fair, which is one of the largest in the country, and we already have two nights planned to be there. The weekend after that we leave for vacation. Where are we going you ask?

And yes, that is the beach right on the other side of it. When I stand on the beach and look back, I'll see this.



We also have a pool and hot tub



A nice kitchen



And entertainment...

There are also 8 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms. There are beach chairs, game systems, kids stuff, and even a huge sandbox underneath the house. There will be 22 of us going and I have been looking forward to this since we booked it this past Winter. Now on to making myself look good in a bathing suit...

MY birthday

Sunday, June 12th, was my 25th birthday. I didn't make a post because Molly's birthday kind of out shined it, which is okay. Plus, my birthday kind of turned into a week celebration so I wanted to wait until it was complete to make a post about it. On Sunday my parents were still here so we headed out to lunch with my family and Dustin's, to my favorite restaurant Granite City. I mean, you really can't go wrong with that place.

With Jena and Kathy, my mother-in-law, outside Granite City!

With my parents

Sometime during lunch Jena gave me two cards. The first had a paper with a picture of an iPod on it, saying that for my birthday gift from them and Dustin, I got to go to the Apple store and pick one out. SWEET! The second was a poem from her.

Get ready for a Special Day
with your favorite sister, Jena Rae

A bunch of places we will go,
what they are you will not know

Brush your teeth, I'll do your hair
I'll even tell you what to wear

So be prepared to laugh and play,
I hope you'll enjoy your Special Day!

So this past Saturday we headed out for my Special Day. Jena picked me up around Noon and we were both armed with our wallets and dressed in pretty sundresses. We went to lunch at a cute sandwich and salad place, and then to this store called Charming Charlie. If you have never been, find one nearby and GO. We spent almost two hours in there, and we probably could have shopped some more. Then we headed to the mall to do some damage. It was so nice just to be able to look through racks and try on clothes with out a two year old pulling on my pants or a one year old crying to be picked up out of the cart.

From there we headed out to dinner, which was a surprise until we actually arrived there. We went to Bonefish Grill! I had never been there so it was a nice surprise. Also, when we got inside Dustin and Jena's husband, Wes, were waiting for us! I also had my first martini that night, which was super yummy.

Dustin and I. Hello forehead shine!



Jena and Wes

Outside Bonefish

Our matching sun hats!

Afterward the next location was a surprise as well, and we ended up at Strikes and Spares, a cosmic bowling place. They also had indoor mini golf and go-karts. We did the black light mini-golf first, which went fast, and then moved on to a round of bowling. We had a great time dancing and just having fun. Jena and I went to Old Navy after that and then ended the night with Ritter's ice cream.

We liked posing with the statues in the mini-golf course

Jena: Where are you? Me: Down here!



This guy obviously needed some help...

So as you can see, I had an AWESOME birthday. It was nice to have a relaxing day out and just laugh and play with Jena and our husbands. I don't get to hang out with Jena very much so it was a nice change of pace of the hustle and bustle of a life with two toddlers.

With the poem :)

O-HI-O

Friday afternoon I packed the girls up and loaded them into the van for a trip to Ohio. We drove down with my mother-in-law, Kathy, and her mom Ruby. Dustin stayed behind to work on the basement and came the next afternoon. Anyway, after an almost five hour drive we made it to the ever wonderful Dayton, Ohio for a visit with family.

Saturday morning I headed to Columbus to see some of my wonderful e-friends I have been wanting to meet for awhile. One in particular happens to be my e-twin [click to view her awesome blog], and we have wanted to meet FOR.EV.ER. We met at COSI in Columbus which was amazing, and then had a carb-loaded lunch at Spaghetti Warehouse.

The coolest water table EVER

E-TWIN!

We got back Saturday afternoon and an hour or two later Dustin, his dad, and my sister-in-law and brother-in-law arrived. We had a big dinner for Dustin's Uncle and then headed out with his cousin to go rollerskating. Yes, you read that correctly. I think we were the only people in there [besides the workers] above the age of thirteen. It was so worth it though.

Skaters

Sunday morning we headed to church, where Dustin's Uncle Don is the youth pastor, and let me tell you... it was amazing. This was out first time going and I was blown away, especially by the tribute they paid to those who have served for our country. There were very few dry eyes in the house. Later that afternoon we went to a graduation party for Dustin's cousin Cooper and then loaded up the van to head home.

How to pick up chicks: 101

We affectionately dubbed him Brannon Bieber

Ruby with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren [and the married-ins ;)]

All in all, it was a quick but FUN weekend. I am very blessed to have married into a family that feels like my own, and that has welcomed me so easily, and willingly.