Father's Day

Unfortunately, I didn't see my dad for Father's Day because he has been working in China for the past three months, but he is on his way home and I will be going on a mini vacation with him and the entire fam at Great Wolf Lodge on Sunday! So looking forward to it, but first he needs to get here! He was supposed to arrive this afternoon, but his plane was diverted to Bejing. He should be taking off at around 10 p.m. est, so thankfully he'll make it home in time for our little getaway. Safe travels Papa Yang!

Even though I didn't spend Father's Day with my dad, I did get to celebrate my hubby and his dad. What was just supposed to be breakfast turned into a 6 hour shuffle board tournament. It was a blast! Matty had a great time playing with his cousins and was pooped by the end of the day since he missed nap time. Here's a recap of the day in photos...

Music Monday

Lately, being Matty's mama means never tiring of singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." He requests it over and over again at bed time. He also throws "You Are My Sunshine" and "The ABC Song" into the mix, but mostly, it's just "twinkle star" as he calls it. Although I am getting slightly sick of this classic children's tune, I do cherish these moments. When I'm in a rush to get through our bedtime routine, I remind myself that this will be over all too soon and why the heck would I be in a hurry to tuck my baby in when all I'm trying to get to is laundry and dinner dishes! Those things can wait :)

My recent bedtime repertoire inspired tonight's Music Monday choice...Bad Company's "Shooting Star."

slow down sunday

Yesterday was all about chores, but today was rather lazy and perfect. We started out at Target where we purchased a Diego potty seat so we are all set for potty training now {tonight was the second night in a row that Matty pee peed on the potty before bed!} Oh and we also bought him water shoes for our upcoming trip to Great Wolf Lodge.

Matty went down for his nap by noon. I did a little tidying up, ate lunch and hubs and I were just about to choose a movie for an impromptu afternoon date on the couch, when Matty woke up earlier than usual. A little disappointed at first, but that's ok because I got to play logs with my love instead:

He gets really excited when he accomplishes something these days and starts crying out "I did it, I did it" in the sweetest little voice. It is the cutest thing. He does also get frustrated when he thinks he can't do something, which we experienced a few times this afternoon when he had issues getting the logs to stay together. I tell him to calm down and encourage him to keep trying. He loves to "try." That is one of his most used phrases these days..."I try it, I try it." He wants to try everything he sees mama and dada doing, especially when it comes to cooking and fixing stuff with tools. It's amazing. He is just amazing.

Now that the boy is in bed {we struggled a bit tonight, I think because he was overtired}, it is finally time for that date on the couch with big Matty ;)

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend. Night!

Music Monday

After a slight hiatus from these types of posts, tonight I'm happy to bring you Music Monday again. Matty's been watching a show called "Oswald" on nick jr and it features an octopus, so I thought it would be fun to listen to "Octopus's Garden" by The Beatles. For Matty, I hope it stimulates his imagination and for me, well it provides a cute little creative escape...
enjoy!

turn that frown upside down

Both Matty and I have been a bit cranky lately and I am not sure which of us is worse {actually, I am positive it's ME}. Matt's been dealing with both of us, plus the stress of a new job, so kudos, kisses and hugs to him!  I am going to blame some of it on the fact that it's been hot {though today was absolutely perfect} and although we have central air, the bedrooms are upstairs and do not cool properly, so I haven't been sleeping well. Plus Matty has been waking up in the middle of the night, probably because he is hot. We're also going through a stage where Matty pretty much wants to do things his way and only his way. Frustrating.

Admittedly, I have been a word that rhymes with witch and as much as I hate it, I can't seem to stop it.

Looking back at the photos from our holiday weekend, I feel like I wasn't really ever there in the moment and that makes me sad. My mind was wandering about all of the items I wanted to check off my mental to do list. I hate that when I am completing chores and errands, I am thinking how all I want to do is just RELAX with my boys and when I get the chance to relax, I think about all of the work that needs to be done. Ugh. I also have a ton of writing/crafting projects in this brain of mine, which I can't find the time to work on. My framed poetry for my Etsy shop that I refer to in my about me section is far far far from becoming a reality!

I feel better writing it all out. I believe life is about balance, but it is not easy to achieve with only 24 hours in a day. I will keep striving toward it and will definitely be working on my attitude which has been sour lately. I 100% agree with the quote "happiness is not a destination, it is a journey." I just need to snap out of it. That said, I leave you with one of my favorite photos from this past weekend.  It totally sums up how I want to feel about life every.single.day. Carefree and cherishing the simple things. Even though Matty has been a handful lately, he always manages to bring my heart back to a peaceful and happy place and reminds me of the person I want to be...