One Day

One day I know that I will have it all figured out.

One day I know that I will be able to balance work, motherhood, and marriage with little stress.

One day... one day...

But sometimes, it feels like I will never get it all together. I'll have a success at work and an epic fail as a mother. I'll be so patient as a mother that I could be nominated for 'mother of the year' but then pick a horrible fight with my husband for no reason at all. One day I hope I'll figure out the balance.

I often wonder if I'm the only one out there that is actively trying not to get caught up in the rat race of life. I hate the speed of modern society. I really want life to slow down, become simpler, and more enjoyable.

One day...

What A Week

It's Friday evening after a very long and stressful four day work week. I've missed dinner every night this week and two nights I didn't even make it home before the kids bedtime. Work doesn't always keep me away this much, but when weeks like these happen, I miss my boys so much my heart hurts.

I wonder, is this normal?

I love my job. I love the satisfaction that I get out of completing a tough week like this, but then sometimes I have to wonder if it's worth it...

I often tell myself that I would probably go crazy if I stayed home with the boys every day, but is that just something I tell myself to make it easier for me to leave every morning.

This morning as I was ironing my work clothes my littlest Ellis looks as me and asks, "Mommy, you not be long today, right?" I told him I would try my hardest to be home before bedtime. He looked at me with the saddest eyes and said, "Nooooo, you only be gone a little." He brought tears to my eyes.

I don't really have much of a point, but I just wanted to capture this feeling in the pit of my stomach where I am aching for my kids.

Tomorrow it's back to the office for a few hours but I'm going to bring my oldest Owen with me. Even if he's sitting in my office playing his Nintendo 3DS, at least I'll get to see him. (And I've promised everyone that Sunday we will do something extra special.)

A Belated Merry Christmas

It's a little late, but I wanted to take a moment to say Merry Christmas. We had a wonderful holiday. The week before Christmas we headed up to Charlotte, North Carolina with my sister, niece, nephew and parents. We spent a few days at the Great Wolfe Lodge. We had a wonderful visit and the cousins had a wonderful time playing together and swimming.

I love how much these cousins like each other. We had a great time visiting as a family.

My husband will probably hate me for writing this, but he is a NASCAR fan. If there is a race on TV he's watching it. He doesn't have much of a desire to watch a race in person, but if it's on TV it's on at our house. There have been many Sunday afternoons spent with the sounds of the race track in the back ground at our house. Since the race is always on, my boys have grown to really LOVE race cars. When we were in North Carolina we were so close to the Hendrix Motor Sports Museum that we had to check it out.

My mother-in-laws favorite driver, Dale Jr.

Back at home, Christmas day was perfect.

It's become a tradition in our house for the boys to unwrap a new pair of PJs on Christmas Eve.

Santa delivered a Nintendo 3DS, Mario game, and wheel barrel for Owen. Ellis got a new wagon, a basketball set, and "Woody Garbage Truck" (from Toy Story 3).

It was great getting to spend the day with my sister also. I miss her dearly.

After opening presents at our house and having some breakfast we drove over to my parents house in Alabama. We got to spend the afternoon visiting with family. Owen got a new iPod which he's really excited about. Ellis got a skoot bike and a camera. (I think he enjoyed the presents from Nana and Papa more than anything he got from Santa or Ed and I.)

Overall, it was a lovely holiday. I made an extra effort to take some time to just enjoy what was going on around me and I think it was a success. 

Happy belated Christmas!

Enjoying the Holidays (and not rushing through them)!

As the children get older, work gets more demanding, and my extended family moves further away the demands of the holiday season can get overwhelming at times.

This year I'm trying my hardest to just enjoy the time that I have with my family.

A stolen few moments at the local park with the boys...

Time with my parents (even if we bore my dad to sleep)...

And play dates with neighbors that my boys adore...

I'm not stressing about giving 20 holiday presents to my co-workers, but I am sending a hand written personalized card to them. I'm not going to spending 2 days in the kitchen baking holiday goodies, but I'm going to enjoy the 2 hours I got to spend with the kids on Sunday morning baking one batch of cookies. The kids aren't going to have fifteen presents each under the tree this year, but we've picked out five presents that they will LOVE!

We're still going to find time to do some of our family traditions like having a nice Christmas Eve dinner at the house, going ice skating, and driving around at night through downtown looking at the Christmas lights. I know that these moments that we spend together are going to be the memories that the kids have as they grow up.

(And, to be honest, Santa is bringing Owen a Nintendo 3DS, and he's getting an iPod from his grandparents, so it's okay that there a fewer presents under the tree.)

Happy holidays everyone!

Is it really December already?

The fall season has flown by and I'm amazed that December is already here. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. My family came over to eat and it was delicious.
The boys are doing great and the new job is busy and a challenge, but it's great.
And now, a few of my recent favorite pictures...

A Job Well Done

One of my unfaltering principles that I try to live by is to do the best job possible and you will be rewarded. One of the reasons I was so discouraged when we moved to LA after college is that I felt like you were more likely to succeed in the television industry because of the people that you knew, and not the value of the job you were performing. Does this make sense?

In my professional life I have tried to do the best possible job and have been fortunate to be promoted and given additional responsibilities.

Today, I was promoted to a new position. I'm very excited about my new role. I'll be taking on a bigger leadership role. I'll have more direct reports. And also, for the first time I will have additional managers reporting in to me.

My new role will be a challenge, but I'm very excited about this next chapter in my professional career.

Fall Fun

Fall is my favorite time of year.

Here are a few of my favorite memories from the last few weeks.

Owen playing at the Fall Festival in Centre, AL where his grandparents now live.

We installed the sink in our new half bath that we are adding. (So close to be finished.)

After months of talking about it we finally bought a family pass to the zoo. I love the flamingos!

Fun times at the local corn maze.

We're happy! and life is good.