what they said...

Before school one morning...
Isaiah: "Hey Mom, can you put some Jello in my hair?"
I think you mean gel, dear. 

While randomly surfing my phone looking for some good scoop...
Matt: "I have to say looking at your text messages are just so boring. They all say the same thing-- 'I'm so sorry I haven't called you back in 3 weeks.'"
Yes, I am boring... And yes, calling people back is not my strong point to say the least. Both of which I am so glad he discovered after we were married!

Grace: "Mamma, Zah and Doggie (Isaac) are trying to climb on the ruuf (roof)."
Me: *eye squint* "Huh? What?"
Me: *eye squint*
Then I ran out the door to see what the heck was going on. Seriously, how I ever get dinner made is amazing. So yes, I am A-MAZ-ING for making dinner every night (or every other or 3 times a week, same diff).

Matt, being totally serious: "My Facebook page is blowing up. In the past hour I have 6 new friends!"
Totally blowin' up, Babe.

After telling Grace that I had a belly ache...
Grace: Moms, my lipstick will make it all better.
*sigh* If only life were that simple.

While trying to find my way around Tampa, Isaiah says to me:
"Mom, don't you know I am like am like a GPS. Just ask me and I will tell you how to get there."
Sadly, at only 7 years old, he does seem to know his way around better than I do.

Grace every night before bed...
"I want to wear my diaper and belly button to bed."
As you wish, my little one.

As Matt was trying to dress Hope in her pj's for bed...
Matt: "How is it that I have been totally defeated by a 10 month old."
Yea, I have to admit it was great entertainment to sit back and watch Hope destroy her dad in the battle of getting her pajamas on!

Somehow Matt and the boys managed to put these puppies on her though.

Grace: "Momma, I love you as much as I love your makeup."
In her little world this is actually like the greatest compliment that she could give me. So thank you my Gracie girl and I love you more than your makeup! 

Matt: "Babe, don't take this the wrong way... because I am not saying that I don't like your glasses, but don't you think you are due for a new pair...like a new stylish pair... Just saying."

Yea, maybe he is right. I have had these bad boys since 1997. 

What do you think?? Help this 'no sense of real fashion' momma out!

1st Day

I am sitting here coffee in hand, snuggled with my Gracie girl and my computer, after having just dropped off the boys at their first day of school. With the boys gone, Grace had her choice of Netflix productivity and of course she chose Ninja Lego something (the boys have trained her well :).  

It was like the perfect morning *sigh*...(besides Matt's alarm going off at 5am and then 5:10am, making it so I couldn't go back to sleep, but hey when is life ever completely perfect). 

I finally got out of bed at 615am. I went and nursed da Hopie girl and then we woke the boys from their slumber at 630. The boys literally bounded from their bed in excitement to go to school. From there the morning continued without a single hiccup or in our case a single melt down, which should be documented as a Loboda miracle.  My Matt stayed with the girls, while I had the privilege of dropping the boys off for their first day.  We were greeted by the joyfully shining nuns saying: "What a beautiful day for the first day of school!"  And it was...

This is how she chilled on her way to pick her brothers up. 

7 Quick Takes: Don't do it

Joining Jen for some 7 Quick Takes: Vacation Style! 1. The past couple of days we were blessed to be able to head north for a little family vacay to sunny Orlando. It was super nice to just be away with de munchkins, Mags (my sister), and Matt.  But really, is it ever truly vacation when young kids (x4) are involved? Maybe not, but it is always vacation when my wonderful husband is around for 3 full days and not answering his phone or making a business call even once in my presence. Now that was lovely, simple lovely. 

Mags with 3 of our littles. 

2. Awhile back when I was like 180 pounds preggo with our sweet baby Hope, we took the kids for an outing to the Bass Pro Shop. For my boys walking through this ginormous store full of everything boy, fishing and gathering is the equivalent to Disney World. (Seriously, why take your kids to Disney, when you can go to Bass Pro for free.)  So, while walking through this haven a super nice lady was selling trips to Orlando. In my mega pregga state her vacation stand was like a big fatty cheeseburger, fries, and oreo milk shake just begging me to eat, eat, eat (or buy, you know what I mean). So, we did and were super excited about our promised 2 nights and 3 days at the awesomest resort with pools galore and food at your service for only $125. (Plain and simple my heaven is a hotel room with room service.) AND on top of that $100 in gift cards. Pshht, no brainer, right? The only thing you had to do was listen to a 2 hour presentation about the resort. No problemo, where do I sign... 

The day we bought our vacation package. 

Their rides at Bass Pro Shop. 
3. Now fast forward to a week ago when I found the package stuffed away in my night gown drawer, that never gets touched because I don't wear night gowns. I look at de folder and realize that we have like uno month until it expires! So now I start dialing the number and praying they can give me the only dates that will work for us, which is like the next day (planning in advance are words that don't breach my everyday life). Well, God was looking out for his little girl (me) and they said we could come! 4. So a day later we arrive at our resort destination, but check in isn't until 4pm. 3days my arse! Since when was a day considered to start at 4pm. Anyways, no biggie, moving on (kind of)... Our "first day" (starting at 4:30) was good. We swam, played splash bball, enjoyed the kiddos, and explored our new little apartment size room. 

5. Day Two: We start the day off by letting the kids have popsicles for breakfast, making us the the most awesome parents around. Then we head out to enjoy the pool once again. At 11:30am, though, we have to rush the kids back to our room, so that we can make it to our 2 hour presentation about the resort. So, Mags watches the kiddos and we speed off with my hair dripping wet. 

Isaiah enjoying his morning popsicle. 

6. Then we enter the pressure cooker/dungeon of regret. This very nice man begins talking us through the why's of why we should invest bucco bucks and thus make vacations our top priority. So an hour into our guilt trip of "the only way we are good parents is if we invest in their vacation resorts for our kids and then pass this investment all the way down to our grandkids," I tell the nice man: "I just want you to know that I have a nursing baby back in our room with my sister, so we really need to stay within the 2 hour time frame that was promised us when we bought this package."  "Okay, no problem," he says.   Well... another hour goes by and we are still there, looking at vacation resort destinations that we will never be taking. The pressure to buy is now beginning to make me a little nauseous. I say again, "I do need to get back to my baby really soon, because she is a nursing baby."  "Ok, no prob," he says again. 

Matt waiting in line for our presentation/meeting/hell. (Don't worry he is giving the fake finger)

Another pointless hour goes by while we are still trying to say NO we are not going to buy into your great deal because we are obviously very, very stupid and don't love our kids and don't want to provide the best vacations possible for them. By this point I begin to discreetly put my hands over my ears, drowning out some of his noise while now feeling like I am listening to Charlie Brown's teacher. Still he keeps talking and talking.  So now going on 3 1/2 hours,  I interrupt once again saying: "My baby only gets her milk through the breasts that are on my body, so I will be leaving now." My standing up helps him to catch my drift, but still he has the nerve to ask before I go if I could give him 5 referrals. Hell no! I would not put anyone in my phone contacts through this 3 hour misery. Then somehow I slither out and leave Matt to deal with the rest of the headache where I speed to my babe, who really does need to eat by this point.  7. So the next day (our 3rd dia), we are ready to vacay it up, but check out time is 10am. So much for 3 days! The first stared at 4pm, the second was interrupted by an infuriating presentation of buy, buy, buy and the 3rd was cut short at 10am.  7.5 So, short cut to the chase: The kids had a blast, we made some great memories, loved swimming and being able to have popsicles in the morning. But, we will never and I mean never sit through another time share presentation again. Just sayin'. 

I look a little stoned in this picture, but I'm not, promise. Just full of kid lovin'.

In the Still of the Night

Most mornings when the clock screams 7am and the boys are bouncing by my bedside ready to go for the day, I groan to myself saying: Why, oh why, do I stay up so late? But... then the day goes by, tickety toc, and night comes back around and once again I am up til 2am.  I like to blame my unbreakable cycle on Hopie girl, because hey I wake her up to do her last feeding between 12 and 1am, so really I just can't go to bed before 2, right? 

The culprit of my late nights. 

Actually, it is probably this little 3 year old chica who is to blame for my need to chilllllll into the wee hours of the night, so that I can gear up for the next day of her constant at-ti-tude. 

When I am pregnant (which seriously seems like the last 20 years of my life) I go to bed at 7:27pm every.single.night for nine months straight. Yea, I am just heaps of fun for my dear husband! So, when I am not pregnant, thus not sick and tired ALL of the time, I love the mere fact that I can stay up if I want to. I also love the fact that I can just get some plain ol' sh*t done. (Sorry for the random cursing. It just feels damn good to put it out there. I still love Jesus. Promise.)  If you were a fly on my wall from the hours of 10pm to 1:30am, what would ya see me doing? Actually, a better question might be what would you not see me doing? I clean up the home front (which takes a solid hour and a half on a good night), scrub the floors, paint my stubs/nails, make dents in the laundry pile, pound away on this here computer, organize the pantry, workout to a dvd, watch movies with Matt, watch whatever show I am addicted to at the given moment, eat me some popcorn, munch on handfuls of semi sweet chocolate chips, and of course nurse da Hopie girl, which is why I am up anyways (haha!). I have been trying to go bed earlier, (my fingers crossed just a little bit), but it is just so dang hard. I love the quiet, hangin with my love or chilling by myself. No one wakes up and more importantly no one is asking me for an-y-thing.  So really, what can I say except that it is just so plain nice to stay up late. But, holy momma can I pay for it some mornings... But, in the still of the night (like right this second) it's all worth it. 

What I Wore Sunday

*Linking up with Fine Linen and Purple*

Happy, happy Lord's day!

- Last night we welcomed in the Lord's day with our great friends Laura and Travis, who so kindly hosted us and all our babes. Laura is a dear friend from College and she and Travis have 3 adorable littles, one being my sweet Godson whom I just love to pieces. 

Laura with the Lord's day candle and prayers.

- So last night was awesome, but this morning not quite as dreamy... Before the clock even struck 9am I had already lost my cool with one particular blonde haired 5 year old boy two and a half different times. Matt like always took it in stride, while filling in the gaps during my rants on sitting still while I put sunscreen on and eating the breakfast that I slaved over. Later though, when things had settled down, my Matthew encouraged me to make a commitment to take specific time to pray every day this week, because as he said: "Well, it could only help you."  Being the incredibly nice man that he is, he said this comment oh so kindly and lovingly to me. But if I were him I would have probably said something like this: "Girl, you really need to pull your sh** together, so please start praying for some serious grace from our good Lord." 

Well, then again at Mass tonight our priest challenged the whole congregation to set aside daily time to pray. Thus, I am taking this as God gently tugging at me to come to him at the start of my morning each day this week. 

Pray for me, as I will for you!

- The boys have been kayaking all day with my Dad, Uncle Nate, and Aunt Mags, so it has just been the girls and us. I wish I could say we spent the whole day at the pool and on our bikes, but instead we were camped out at carmax looking for my new, hot, mom mobile. 

The girls were good for about the first 2 hours, but lo and behold when they hit melt down the ENTIRE car lot knew about it, which seemed make Mr. chatterbox (our salesman) feel the need to draw out the process even longer. We barely made it out of there before I resorted to putting plugs in my ears. Next week when we go back to check out the Toyota Sienna that is being transferred from Clearwater, I will be bringing lots of snacks and crossing my fingers that it will be chatty pants day off. (See, there again my need for prayer at its best!) 

Hope y'all have a great week!