Mom VoxBox!

I don't remember exactly how I came to know about influenster.com but I think it's a really neat concept. And today my first voxbox arrived! We always love happy mail days. :) I knew it was going to be arriving soon, so for the last several days, Ashlyn has been walking out to the mailbox with me because she loves when packages arrive.

We got back home and she helped me open the box...

Here's what we've got: 

 - The Original Dish Drying Mat 

 - Stash Tea Superfruits Tea Sampler  

 - Broadway Nails imPRESS Press-On Manicure 

 - Nektar Sweetener 

 - DenTek floss (Comfort Clean and Fun Flossers) 

 - Ivory bar of soap 

 - Quaker Soft Baked Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

The first thing I noticed was the bar of Ivory soap...mostly because I could smell it. We tend to use bodywash so the bar of soap is going to my dad. He loves it. I really like the Dish Drying Mat because I don't have a dishwasher and have to wash my dishes by hand...so this will come in handy. I already like DenTek floss and the girls really liked getting some for themselves. I really don't drink tea or use sweetener so those items aren't something I'm interested in. I love Quaker stuff but raisins aren't really my thing so maybe my mom or dad will like the cookie. ;) 


The one thing that was a big hit around here was the imPRESS nails by Broadway Nails. The ones that were sent in the box were a brownish color and shorter than my own nails so I wasn't going to use them. But I do have a diva girl in my house and she was super excited about them. She looooves fingernail polish and we've used the "kid" oriented stick-on nails before she thought these were super special. The brown color also happened to match her leopard print skirt and shirt she was wearing today. 


Of course, now she's realizing that it's hard to do things like pick up little stuff when she has long nails on. I can only imagine what she's going to think if she goes to pick her nose. :P I imagine that she won't want to keep them on very long, but she still thought they were super cool. I really like the pre-colored nails and I also like that there's no glue or anything to mess with. 


Overall, not a bad box. If nothing else, I love the picture I got of Ashlyn and her nails. :) 

TEN YEARS?!

I absolutely cannot believe that my oldest daughter turns TEN YEARS OLD today! It makes me want to stop time and find a way to make it start working in reverse.

Aubry completely changed my life. Aubry made me a mother. I don't know who I would be or where my life would have taken me without this little girl...and I don't even want to know. Aubry has made my life more happy than I ever could have imagined. She is such a sweet and loving little girl. She loves life and improves the day of everyone around her. Ever since Aubry started school, I am constantly told by the teachers and staff that they just love Aubry and that she always makes them smile. She is sweet, friendly, and helpful and I'm very honored to be her mommy.

Some pictures of my beautiful baby girl:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

And my baby girl this weekend when we were celebrating her birthday: 

  HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY AUBRY CHAELYNN!

Happy Father's Day!

The girls went to their dad's early today to spend Father's day with their dad. Even though I think he's a selfish, lying piece of...stuff...he's still their dad. I want my kids to have a good relationship with their dad.

My kids know that I don't like their dad...we've had that talk. There's no point in lying and they're old enough to get it. I don't elaborate on why I don't like him...but I try to help them understand the situation. They used to ask why we don't get back together...but as they get older, they start to get it. When I left XH, my oldest was almost three and my youngest was just a baby. They don't even remember us actually being together. So they (thankfully!) they don't remember the really bad fights that we used to have. But they do see that we don't get along now.

I use those moments they see us bickering now to talk to them about it. I explain to them that their dad is not MY family...he is their family. And that they should love and respect their family and have a good relationship with their dad. They should never, ever feel guilty for loving their dad and I refuse to make them feel like they have to choose between us. Putting him down or trying to manipulate my children does NOT make their relationship with me stronger and it just makes me look like a bad person.

And they will grow up to understand that on their own. I don't want my children to grow up thinking that I interfered in any way of them being able to make their own decisions about what kind of people their parents are...because if I try to influence them, that just leads to resentment. I can't allow my own selfishness to affect what kind of mother I am. I don't do it because I want to...I do it because it's the right thing to do for my children. And THAT is all that matters...doing what is right by my daughters.

I learned all of this from the way my own single mother raised me and my sister. There was no manipulation...just support. When I was little, my dad was a much different person. I didn't have a very good relationship with him. However, as I have gotten older, that has changed...especially once I had my own children. He has been there for me a lot and he has a good relationship with my kids.

And in honor of Father's Day...here are a few pictures with the "dads" in my life (I say "dads" because the rest are my grandpas). ;)

My dad when I was just a baby:

 

My dad's dad (RIP - 1997) when I was a baby: 

 

My mom's dad when I was about 3 years old: 

 

My dad's step-dad (I was almost 6 and my sister had just turned 1): 

 

And a more recent picture...this is one of my favorite pictures of me with my dad: 

 

Ashlyn Softball

This is Ashlyn's first year playing coach (machine) pitch. At the beginning of the season, she wasn't sure that she was having a very good time. But after she started batting left-handed instead of right...she started playing a lot better so she started liking it a lot more. She does everything else right-handed (including throwing the ball)...but she bats left. I never played softball...but I do shoot a basketball left-handed but do everything else right-handed. Something else she and I have in common. ;) Ashlyn does pretty good at third base. It's better when she's there instead of the outfield, because she tends to get distracted by butterflies and playing in the dirt if she isn't part of the more immediate action. ;) 

 

 

 

  

She likes to direct a lot where the ball should be going. ;) 

 

She is very animated throughout the game. LOTS of facial expressions and cheering when her team makes a good play. 

  

  

She looks so grown-up in the last pictures! 

 

 

Aubry Softball

This is Aubry's first year playing kid pitch for the recreation commission. Aubry does pretty good up at bat and she is great at shortstop in the field. Her team has gone up against many teams of different experience. I'm not a big fan of the more competitive teams because a couple of them have girls who are pitching very fast but with no control. It doesn't make me very happy when our girls get hit from a crazy pitch. It's one thing to get hit by a ball...but it's another to get hit by a ball going that fast. These girls aren't on a competitive team...so I'm not real sure why we're playing teams who are...but that's juts the type of league that we have available to us...they have teams of all ranges in experience. Of course, I'm not a hardcore sports nut, either, so that might make a difference. 

I haven't been feeling well so far this summer but I did finally take some pictures at the girls' games last week. 

  

 

This was right after our team had been up at bat and Aubry had slid head first into home...the ornery grin on her face is because of the layer of dirt covering her front. She gets that ornery grin from her dad. :P 

 

The next picture cracks me up...she was trying to get the dust off and it was so cute. I was laughing so I didn't get a good picture of her coughing and laughing from all the dirt coming off her shirt. 

 

She gets the following expression on her face from me: 

  

Aubry is typically the one yelling how many are on base and where the force out is...she looks so adorable when she does it. And she can definitely carry her voice!

 

Warming up for her turn up next to bat...love how this picture turned out. 

  

Going back to second after a foul ball. 

Hopefully I'll get some more good pictures before the end of the season.