Our little puppy... and moving on

Do you ever have one of those days where all you want to do is floss your teeth but you can never quite get to it.... No? Well, humor me because that was totally me today. Our Hopie girl who is teething (when are babies not teething??) puts every.single.particle big or small in her mouth and it literally scares me to death. She is like this little puppy dog, nose and mouth to the ground, finding all that she shouldn't or that I swore I swept up an hour earlier and putting it as fast as you can say: "Really Miley bird!"in her little pie hole. My brother, Father Zyg, was in town this last week and I had him pray over her for sheer protection from small objects that some how (even with my needle eye going through ever-y-thing time and time again) find there way onto our floors and into Hope's mouth. Asking for your prayers too. Thanks a million, I owe you big time! 

Don't let her sweet innocent face fool you.

On an entirely different note, life is settling in for us Boda clan here on Davis Island. I think I am finally waking up from my dream of this being a really, really nice vacation to -- this is actually our home and where we live. A friend asked me the other night if I mind having no friends, you know since I am new to the area and have yet to totally spread my wings and fly. (Granted my friend asking is one of my best friends and lives 15 minutes away, but I knew what she meant, haha!) The question brought a lot to the surface because I do miss all of my beautiful friends that I was/am so, SO close to who live in Naples. And I know that yes we will remain friends, but the daily life we had together will never be the same. When I let myself really go there to "it never being the same" I get super teary eyed and have to pull myself up from dwelling on what I am missing to instead what I have been given here Tampa. But darn, it can be hard to let go... let go of play dates at the park and beach, countless dinners out and in our home, parties with multiple families that had kids all around the same ages as ours and where we could just kick back and let loose, our church, my women's prayer group and girls nights out, etc, etc. But, at the same time, I trust in God and know that He has me and our family exactly where He wants us and where we need to be.  So to my Naples peeps, know that you are never far from my heart and I can't wait to visit your paradise and land where there are no mesquitoes super soon. And please come visit us!! Just bring lots of mesquito repelent, because these little bastards up here are out for blood and I am mean every drop they can get.  

Davis Island living. 

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. 

7 Quick Takes

Joining Jen@ Conversion Diaries and the whole gang for a round of 7 Quick Takes!

1. I just found a 3 week old draft of 7 quick takes in my archive of posts. I thought that I had published this bad boy, but somehow forgot. This "thinking I have done something but not actually doing it" happens to me ALL of dee time. Like take for instance texting. I always think I have texted someone back, because in my head I do and I say things so perfectly there (in mi head). But in reality nothing ever hits my phone in the form of a text. Same goes for emails and calling people back. Literally, I have conversations with people in my head and think that they actually happened. So with that being said, I am doing a group apology right now to all of you who are the victims of my careless and blondish ways. I am sorry and I love you.

Back to quick takes. So, I will be including old and new takes, because I could never let precious pics and captions go to waste.

HereWeGo...

2. We are so blessed here at Team Boda for all of the holy people that we know and who brave a visit with us! Father Isaac, Matt's bestest friend, came to visit us, which is one of our kids (and Matt and I) fav visitors! Father Isaac is a CFR Friar and he is nothing but inspiring with the way in which he lives for God, serves the poor, and is just so "real" while being so holy. Father Isaac writes for the CFR Blog too, so CHECK IT OUT.

I couldn't get Grace to stop sticking her tongue out. 

3. I took these 8 months pics of Hope late and once again I am late with the 9month pics. I am just a little slow with the sticker picture thingy. Better slow than whatever.

She really is the sweetest babe ever. 

4. My mom helped me pack up the rest of our Sailfish home, so I made her be in the shoot too.

I hope that I inherit my mom's "young genes". 

5. I had the best photo idea this morning and stewed on it for over an hour trying to figure out the best moment to present it to the kids. My idea: I wanted to snap a pic of all the kids holding signs telling their age. Fabulous, oh-so original idea, right?! Great in my head, but to get all 4 kids to cooperate-- not so good. To say the least, it was a quantum fail.

Even my dear instagram could not help me out. 

I did manage to snap a cute one of Hopie girl though. And as usual she has been the best behaved all day.

I got this one too. 

6. So, like a month ago our car stalled in the middle of the road (aka: we ran out of gas like a mile from our house). How do you run out of gas this day in age when there is a gas station on each and every corner, I do not know, but embarrassingly enough we did. The only non logical explanation I have for this very stupid stupid mishap is that my name is Kristin Loboda and the 3 bigger kids were with my parents while Matt and I were taking breakfast date/break from packing the house with Hopie girl and we must have been so googly eyed at each other with no whiny kid distractions that we just didn't notice the neon yellow light screaming NO GAS.

I shall continue... so our car stalls and we put our flashers on and cross the street. We begin flagging people as they drive by, so that they know to slow down and go around our car. Like so in the picture below.

Well, one guy was texting and never even saw us on the side of the road or our van stopped dead on the road.

And *Boom* *Crash*

The first word out of my mouth was a looooudd curse word of the worst kind, scandalizing the ears of our innocent lil babe and shocking my dear husband. And thus showing even demonstrating more my desperate need for prayers from friends and strangers alike.

The texting guy was fine, just looking for his phone when he got out of his truck, but our car was totaled.

So, the moral of this story is DO NOT text and drive. EVER. And do not run out of gas in the middle of the road.

7. Jen put a challenge out there to blog every day for the next week and funny enough Matt has been challenging me to do a 30 day in a row blogging run. Would anyone actually want to read everyday for 30 days. Probably not, but I think (still just a think) I am going to try it. Don't worry I will let you know via FB and I will completely understand if you de-friend me during my 30 day blogging fest.

7.5. Does anyone else have a child who insists on looking like Rambo everysingleday??

7 Quickidy Takes

Joining the troops with Jen@ Conversion Diaries for another shot at 7 quick takes.

Before I begin, my typing fingers are insisting that I mention without hopefully sounding too, uh I don't know, weird that I was SO excited that Jen- the superstar blogger, speaker and tv star, made a comment right here at Team Boda. When I saw it in my yahoooo inbox, I nearly squealed that she would take the time to read my blog!!

And really for all you who make comments, there really is nothing better and they make me smile from ear to ear!

1. So, without further ado, I must start this here Quick Takes with one that I THINK ALL SHOULD READ, because I feel as if I have hit some sort of epiphany, which most of you probably hit eons ago, but still I must share.

Matt and I always thought that we would NEVER be one of those parents who would turn on movies every. single. time. we got in our car. Ridiculous, we thought! Our kids will read books, look out the window, talk to us and each other. Well, for the last 3 years we have done the exact opposite of what we thought we would do.

I was out with a group of moms a week ago for dinner and what did we talk about when we were kidless and carefree-- OUR KIDS, of course. So, one mom was sharing that although she has a dvd player in her car she never uses it unless they have been in the car for over an hour. When I heard this the lights went on and the bells started ringing and Mariah Carey's song All I Want for Christmas is Youuuuuuu Baby started playing in this lil' old brain of mine. Why Mariah's All I Want for Christmas? Because it is my favorite song in the whole wide world, of course!

And then I wanted to throw my hands up and scream right there in the restaurant: "Oh my gosh, I am so sick of my kids yelling at me from the back seat to put a movie on, whining for me to change the movie that is currently playing, and fighting over the movie that they want to put in next!" Thankfully, due to my pride, I did contain myself and only screamed this in my head.

So, what did I do the very next morning as soon as the kids woke up? We had a team meeting and I told them no more dvd player unless we were in the car for over an hour. One child immediately started crying and stomping his foot, the other two looked at me dumbfounded.

Verdict after NO tv in the car for a week= Peace!!
And, I am loving it. We listen to music and half the whining that use to take place is gone.

So, I just had to share this gold mine that I have discovered, which again I am sure most of you learned long before going into 7 years of parenting.

2. The other day the boys and I were cleaning out their room and closet, getting rid of toys they no longer used, etc. After we were done they discovered a new secret hide out in upper rungs of their cleaned out closet. They spent the next 3 hours up there reading books, playing and even wanted to be served dinner in their new space. It was the best 3 hours of Matt and my life! (By "best 3 hours"-- I may be exaggerating a little, but not much.)

They let Grace bring her princess (primpress, if using Grace language) and join them.

3. This year I have been cooking and experimenting more than ever, which by most standards simply means cooking dinner every night. I attempted an "easy" strawberry pie, assuming I would post pics and a how to on this blog. But the pie was literally inedible by the kids and I (Matt was out of town, so it was thrown out before he could even try it). How does one mess up a pie with the main ingredients being sugar and strawberries? I really don't know. But I did.

This week Sahmy posted her super simple recipe for pie. And after reading her post, I knew I must take another stab at it, even if it was my final attempt of pie-ing in the kitchen.

Let me just say, it was the best thing EVER and only took me 10 minutes to prepare. As they say, the proof is in the pudding and Matt said: "I can't believe you made this. I will be a happy man if you make this for me on my birthday every year." So, if you like pie, you must GO and try it!

Matt was saying: "This is da bomb."

Am I embarrassed that Matt and I polished off over half of the pie by ourselves? Yes, VERY embarrassed. 

4. Our sweet little Hope has gone from baby to one of the kids in like days and I am really kinda torn up about it. She has become Little Miss Explorer in what seems to be a matter of minutes. She follows the kids on her knees to their rooms and really, really wants to play with them. She is climbing up on anything that is climable and wants to suck on all things not toys.

Look Mom one hand!

Grace and Hope playing together at the Mall playground, real sanitary I bet!

Even though she is super cute discovering all things new, I desperately want to go back to a few months ago to where she was just my little kangaroo and press the pause button.



5. I must show y'all this picture again, even though I posted it on Facebook. My kids have started CrossFitting at my gym.

I signed the boys up for a trial class, expecting Grace to sit with Hope and I, as she (Grace) is too young for the class. Well, what was I thinking! Because of course she wanted to be a part of the action, even though she was dressed in flops and wearing a scarf, pink skirt and big flower headband. The kids LOVED the class and it was so cool to see them learn how to workout.

6. I haven't mentioned this yet on da blog, but we are moving. I can't even believe I am typing those words out. Soon and very soon Naples will be a place that we just visit and Tampa will be our home. It is bitter sweet.

7. Lastly, I shall leave you with the cutest pic of my parents who are still in love after 37 years of marriage. Matt and I have been given such a great example. Love you mom and dad.

Have a great weekend everyone. 

Off to workout, all my love!

7 Quick Takers

Linking up with Jen at Conversion Diary and all the other 7 quick takers again!

~1~ 

CrossFit day 3 done. 

I'm still walking, a good sign. 

This mamma is happily sore and now knows what a burpee is, which should be renamed as the move that will kill you (literally) if you do 30 in a row.

~2~

Like usual, my husband has been amazing this week. He watched the kids 3 mornings in a row while I was sweating away at the gym. Thank you my dear Matthew for being committed to getting my abs back. They (my abs) will never forget your kindness as they are being tortured to and fro.

~3~

It's our nephew Ziggy's 5th birthday weekend. Check out this cutie patootie. Nate and Katrin generously watched our 3 biggers last night so that they were able to celebrate today at his party. This meant that Matt I were home alone with just baby Hope and oh the fun we had! 

But I do have to say that it is nice to have all 4 home and snug in their beds tonight.

Ziggy and Isaac are 2 peas in a pod. 

~4~

We celebrated Gracie girl's birthday this past weekend, so of course a photo shoot was due for our little diva. Here's to hoping that by her 4th birthday she will be fully potty trained.

~5~

Hopie girl is 7 months old. She is almost into a full blown crawl, but still trying to master her sitting up skills. We just can't get enough of this little girly. I am sure you can see why! 

~6~

I am slowly unfolding the Instagram App. I started a profile under Teamboda. Let me know if you think I should start posting to it. It looks like a lot of fun, but a teeny bit addicting.

~7~

I am bound and determined to learn how to french braid my girls hair. This was my first attempt on the Gracie girl. I need a LOT of practice, but she thought it was "cute Momma".

Love and prayers to you all!!

7 quick takes, late style

Per usual linking up with 7 quick takes late, late, late. 

What can I say,  I am a procrastinator at heart. 

Really can't help it I was born this way, which is my excuse and I am sticking to it.

A lot has been going on this week, so I decided to use my iphone pics to dictate how my quick takes will go.

~1~ 

One of the best things about livin' in Paradise is that far away friends are always taking vacations right in our backyard. This week one of my good, dear, sweet high school friends Courtney was here with her adorable little girly Molly and stud husband Ben. Is there anything better than being with friends who have known you since high school. I think not. I feel so, so, SO blessed to still be in touch with so many of my besties from High School, even if it is mostly via email. 

They all have such a big ol' spot in this heart of mine and they think I am funny to boot,

which is a huge plus for this boring mom of four.  

Anyways, we met up for dinner with all the kids and mine surprisingly were very well behaved for the first 45 minutes. Of course, I made the mistake of pointing this out to everyone saying: "Wow the kids are being great." Within minutes of my uttering those words, they turned into jumping beans/crazy monkeys. And poor, sweet, unassuming Molly was surrounded as all 3 of my biggers were totally up in her grill, giving her no personal space and treating her like the new shiny toy/friend that was the best thing next to the ice cream that they had just slurped down. I kept squeezing Isaac's arm trying to make him behave, which later I caught him doing to Hope's arm. When I told him he couldn't do that to his sister he said: "Then why were you doing it to me." Touche, my son. 

~2~

Midweek we made a quick visit to Tampa with the girls and saw my parents. Hopie girl loved sitting with her Jaja.

~3~

Next in our busy week, Uncle Mark and his son Mario came into town!!!!!!! I can't put enough exclamation points behind that sentence to show you how much we loved having them.  My boys have literally been counting down the days til they came to visit. 

A little back story on Mario and his amazing family. Aunt Lauren and Uncle Mark (Matt's brother) are amazing parents and amazing people. They have 2 little ones and then adopted Mario just last year and now they are pregnant with twin girls! Their story of bringing him into their family is really amazing. Maybe Lauren will be a guest writer at Team Boda and share it with all of you. But long story short, Mario has been destined to be in the Loboda family. He is amazing and so is their family. I wish we lived closer so that we could see each other on the daily, but I'll take what I can get and this week was Awesome. 

~4~

Since Uncle Mark and Mario were in town, we also got to see Uncle Tommy and Aunt Jess and their crew! 

~5~
Aunt Jess just graduated from nursing school, talk about dedication going to school with three kiddos and a husband to take care of as well. She is amazing. We are so proud of her and seriously whoever gets her as a nurse is blessed by God. 

~6~ 

What's a blog post without a picture of Daddy and Gracie girl.

~7~

 Finally, nothing better than beaching it with all the kids.

That's all she wrote for tonight.

Love you all!! 

5 Favorites

I'm linking up with Hallie at Moxie Wife blog for 5 favorites!

I love this idea of 5 favorites. Everyone that links up with Hallie is short, sweet, and right to the point. I, on the other hand, have already thought of a monologue for each thing listed, but I will do my best to follow suite and constrain myself. 

As I was thinking of my favorites, I also thought of my not-so-favorite to parallel each item and it was really cracking me up. Does anyone else do that?? Probably not, but for some reason I just HAD to mention it.

1. Babies who are 6 months 

Love n' me some 6 month old babies. I just can't seem to get enough of my Hopie girl and her best friend, Zuzu, who is also just as cute as a button!

2. The CFR Friars who are visiting! 

There is nothing better than when the Friars are down for a visit! Brother PT, who is holding Hope, is such a dear friend and it just feels like family when he is around. Not to mention we can talk about our mutual love for his niece (my God daughter) Therese, which is so much fun. We have been truly blessed to have him and Brother Ignatius in our home for the last couple of days.

3. Udi's Bread 

Here at Team Boda we seem unable to survive without this here bread. Hence, packing all four kiddos in the minivan at 4pm today to make an unexpected visit to Trader Joe's. (We also needed a solitary tomato for tonight's taco's, so the trip was well worth it. :) And yes, we pay a whopping 5 dollars for each loaf we buy, and yes, Matt makes a comment at least once a week about how outrageous that price is. But as far as gluten free bread is concerned, this is the best we have found. 

4. Kind Bars

Today at Trader Joe's we also picked up some of these amazing bars. Have you ever tried them? The kids and I love them. They are super good and this particular one tastes like a chocolate dessert. They are gluten free, high in protein and low in sugar, all things I love in my granola bars. The down side is that they are a tad bit pricey when handing them out 4 at a time. But I figure a buck 80 a pop for breakfast or quick snack is better than stopping at Wendy's, which we never do anyways. So I am actually saving money, Right? Did you follow that logic? 

5. Babies on the Beach

For more go and visit Hallie and all her friends!