Are you a Woman of Influence?

This past weekend I was fortunate to attend a Woman’s Event at my church, this year is was called “Woman of Influence”, and I feel as though it was the perfect title to the stage in life that I find myself in these days. Although truth be told, we are all in that stage in life no matter our age. During this event they had giveaways and if you won something you were encouraged to whoop and holler in excitement, a 92 year old women won something and she joined in and even gave a little dance. She dressed up in a purple flowery blouse with a purple hat and her joy of life was evident, later I glimpsed her with her walker which was also decked out.  Her personality was vibrant and all I could think about was how she was influencing so many of us in that very moment. WOW!

92 years old and loving life!

I struggle and have struggled as a mom so many times, I wonder if I’ve done anything right this whole time and if I will ever get the motherhood down or if by grace somehow I manage to be a woman of influence – mind you with the right kind of influence. I think back to my son when he was three years old and at the time he didn’t call me “mom” or “mommy” he called me “Yvonne”. As I started to go to church and change my life and my priorities, one day Chris got behind me in the crowd as we exited the church and just like that his voice cut through the crowd and he called out to me “Mommy!” The whole world stood still and my breath was caught. What a change in the influence my life was having on him.

Guest Speaker - Pam Tebow

I was able to attend this event with a couple wonderful ladies I love very much and in the moment you realize the influence they have on your life. Momma Rachel (my best friends mom) and anyone else’s mom if you so need her to be or my daughters other grandmother in my case. Her influence has impacted my life for more than 15 years showing me her unconditional love.

Connie from Momma of Dos, is a woman of influence in the blogging world leading and paving the way for so many bloggers that have followed her footsteps. In so many ways a woman of influence showing me that hard work and consistency pays off – follow your dreams and don’t let someone tell you it can’t be done or that (worse) it’s a waste of time. There is a good chance that she’ll take you up on that offer and show you otherwise.

What kind of influence are you? Do you inspire, encourage and love? Maybe you are a teacher,  protector and nurturer - I hope you are and I hope you realize that years from now you’ll step into the knowledge that you have inspired someone along the way. 

Women of Influence 2016

Weekend Snapshots | Jellystone Park

Hello everyone and welcome to the 4^th week of school! Hallelujah we made it! I know I’ve been a little MIA but the beginning of school is always a rough time for me at work, to add on to it we’ve had family member in the hospital and time has been scarce. Thankfully we’ve made it through, my family is at home recovering and the roughest time of year is settling down – YAY!

So of course we should totally go camping right? I know, maybe not the best time, but we did it anyway! Actually we had booked this little trip back in June but it was rained out and moved to this past weekend. So we packed up and headed out and let me tell you it was a welcomed chaos, to completely detach and worry about packing, food, supplies, and clothes and camping gear, was a total de-stressor!

We didn’t head far just an hour or so away to Waller, TX to Jellystone Park, the perfect place to go if #1 you don’t like camping and #2 if you have kids (or you’re a big kid yourself!). Why is it the perfect place to go camping if you don’t like camping? You can rent a cabin! A cabin with a bathroom, bed, kitchen, couch and a TV! See easy-peasy, we decided to use our tent so we booked a tent camping spot, minus some of the luxuries of the cabin the “tent camping” includes water, electrical outlet, one picnic table and a fire ring. Bathrooms and Showers are not far away and super clean, believe me I have been camping all my life and I’ve seen some bathrooms and showers that make you want to pee outside and you feel perfectly fine being stinky so this is a major plus!

At Jellystone there is something for your kids to do all day long, they have the swimming pool area, with kid’s slides and they have a few grown up slides too, they have a lazy river and a splash pad. Out of the water they have miniature golf, a playground, human fooseball, giant tetherball, a craft center and a stocked lake for fishing. The park organizes something to do all day, like free craft time and a train ride twice a day. You can take the kids to meet Yogi Bear (although Hailey really didn’t know who he was!!) and they throw in things like a Foam Party and a Fire Truck that comes out to spray the kids down! Really you will not be bored, they also plan events all year round for Halloween, Christmas, Easter and even Mardi Gras! 

We ended up using our trip to celebrate my little bears best friend's birthday and it turned out to be awesome! Just before the trip I made some shirts for the girls to celebrate their "wild" side and they had a blast. Even my 19 year old was able to have a good time, he even ended up have a little fishing lesson with the girls and they all did so great. Hailey was able to cast her line several times but most of all she was able to bond with her big brother. This crazy weekend was just what we all needed after some very stressful weeks in the real world. Little Bear says her favorite part of the trip was spending time with her fiends and family, sound like a girl after my own heart.

Finally being able to sit down and re-cap my Weekend Snapshots feels super good, remember to check out the other ladies at 3twentysix & The Reinvention of Jessica to see what they were up to this weekend! 

Yummy Breakfast! Eggs, bacon and pancakes! 

Yogi who?

Besties having fun! 

Human Foosball! 

Fun in the Sun

My little bear fishing! 

The girls just hanging out :)

My whole world...

The much needed group selfie!

A great feeling of accomplishment when you get the tent to fit perfectly back in its bag! 

Back to School | Seeing Things Clearly

Most parents around this time of year are running around getting everything ready for the next school year. You are probably stocking up on supplies, buying new school clothes, and maybe getting doctors appointments out of the way.

This year little bear is going to 1^st grade! How did that happen? Just the other day she was tiny and fast asleep on my chest, I could hear her little breath and feel her warmth… and this really did happen the other day ha! She is still a tiny human to me and even more precious she is a little girl. She is full of sassiness and life, Hailey is known for being a little fearless and in the same breath she is a worrier and an over thinker. At this young age she can dance around the house and not care who’s watching but then worry about what her friends at school are going to say about one little thing or another.

We are like this as grown-ups too don’t you think? Dance around the house with a broom and then fret about what to wear to an event and what others might say about you. Even the most confident worries some times. Thankfully our kids have us to back them up and help them out, so don’t forget about all the little tiny worries your kid might have as they take on this big scary new school year.

Towards the end of the school year Hailey started telling me about her trouble seeing in class, I knew then that she was going to need glasses – mind you my husband and I wear glasses and we have worn glasses since we were young kids. I was not totally surprised. Since little bear worried about what kids might say if she showed up to school with glasses from one day to the next and as a mom I also worried she’ll loose them or take them off because she is not used to them. I decided to wait and get her glasses when school was out.

So over the summer we went to the optometrist and she picked out her new glasses! After she tried on each and every pair of course! Just a few weeks in and little bear is super great with her glasses she wears them all the time. We chose to get her transition lenses to wear out and about to protect her eyes from the sun and a pair for indoors with a blue lenses to protect her eyes when she is one her tablet or watching TV. She has been super responsible wearing them and she even will switch them out when she plays on her tablet.

I think it’s important to build up her self-esteem and make her feel comfortable about the changes in her life. Although she worried about her first day at church and what her classmates would say she still rolled with it as she got ready for church and made sure her outfit matched her glasses :)  

She walked out of her room the other day hands on her hips and simply stated “I don’t care what anyone says about my glasses, I can see everything now!” I know I am a little bias but to me she is the cutest tiny human wearing glasses that I have ever seen! 

You & Me

Hello my blogger readers :) I am having one of those “moments”, one of those I have something muy importante going on and my first reaction is to close up, shut down. In January I made the decision to change the format of my blog from sharing my running and weight loss to sharing with you my daily crazy life. I promised to share more and I’ve tried to do just that. It’s easy when things are fun and exciting and we are just goofing around but I am out of my comfort zone when it comes to the dig deep and share with you what’s really going on. {insert deep breath here}

For Spring Break my little family is planning an awesome trip from Seattle down to Sacramento. We are so excited because we have never been to the west coast. We are more excited because the biggest part of our trip consist of a three day stop in Portland Oregon, to visit what is most likely where Chris will be going to school next fall.

The most asked question in the past week –“Uh-oh momma are you ready for that?”

My answer is indisputably “yes.” I get in return a blank stare or the “yeah right” look. Trust me I will more than likely want to fall apart the minute I leave Chris in Portland and I have no idea what it’s like to even be me without Chris. For those of you who don’t know my story, I’ve been a mom to Chris at this point in my life longer than anything else I have ever done or ever have been. I became a mommy at 17 years old, which be it crazy and not something I recommend, I wouldn’t change it for anything in the whole world. If offered to go back in time – knowing what I know now – I would do it all over again as long as it means that “Titan” “kiddo” “Gigantor” “Christian” would be my son and I would have the amazing experience and the honor of raising him.

Early on just like most parents I wanted to make sure that Chris would do more and be more than I ever have. I’ve told him to fly. Chris is a free spirit an old soul, if you know him you know. He has struggled with the fact that he was never quite sure about what he wanted to study or maybe he did, he just didn’t realize it was an option. I’ve told him to be himself, to do something that he loves and not be afraid if it didn’t fit the mold or if it didn't match what everyone else around him was doing at the time. He has a love for photography and not in a family portrait kind of way. He sees photography as a complex art form and he wants to pursue that passion. 

Around the time I meet my husband I fell in love with a song from the Dave Matthews Band “You & Me” and it was the song not just because it was a love a song but because I felt Jose and I believed this song truly before we had Hailey.  My husband was ready to join me and help me teach Chris to “fly” from the very beginning.

Am I ready for Chris to go to Portland this fall, yes I am, you see I’ve told my son to fly all his life and I can’t clip his wings now. What will I do while he is away? Well I guess God planned that out long ago because I have this crazy 6 year old spunky little girl and her flying lessons are daily. 

Weekend Snapshots| Weekend of Love

Busy weekend much? Yup this one was another crazy weekend and I was fighting a cold the whole weekend that is still trying to get me down. I almost didn’t recap this weekend because I feel like poop but I have tons of pretty pictures so I’ll share! I'm linking up with 3twentysix with Weekend Snapshots the perfect way to recap all the weekend fun!! 

Friday Night: We played it low key and grilled some shrimp and potatoes and sipped some vino while we chilled in our own backyard. No fuss no muss just us :)

Saturday: We took the bear to Froberg's Farm in Alvin, TX to pick strawberries!! This is something we do every year and it was time to get picking. I think the warm winter made for a not so great strawberry picking season but the girls had a great time and we still filled a whole bucket.

In the evening we went on a double date with my bestie Clari and her hubby and we had a great time. I didn’t take pictures of our dinner so you’ll have to take my word on it. We decided to live on the edge and we all ordered the “Chef’s Tasting Menu" at the Rainbow Lodge here we were at the mercy of the chef and had a six course meal with a little bit of everything on the menu from swordfish to venison (YUM). It was an experience and it was delish! For some after dinner fun we headed to Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar as always it was a good time :)

Sunday: The crud started to really hit me :( we made it to church and had a nice breakfast with our family but I just wanted to crawl into bed and not move fortunately with the bear things don’t always go as planned. We made chocolate covered strawberries and homemade bubbles that the bear could catch and bounce! Thank you Pinterest! (again)

We wore cute matching shirts "All you need is Love" 

So not the cute picture I was hopping for :( I just felt so blah I just wanted to cuddle on the couch with my bug. 

I figure strawberries are full of vitamin C - so it's okay!  

Monday: Presidents' day aka a day of no school for the little one. We tried to go to work but after only two hours we were done. We came home and took it easy, we worked on some crafts and I made some soup. I don’t know about you but soup makes me feel better. 

Creamy Wild Rice and Chicken Soup - Warm and Yummy

Free Printable | Valentine's Love Bug

Is love in the air at your home? With Valentine’s Day right around the corner we should all be googly eyes and loveable kisses :) Unless you have kids, right? That Valentine’s Day Party for school is about to go down!! LOL

At my house it’s about the same, I just have one little one and she just makes everyday life interesting. To find her Valentine’s Day card/craft I headed over to Pinterest (as always) to find the one. I came across this cute LoveBug Valentine from Shanty2Chic and I was pretty much sold. If you know my little one she loves bugs. She is the fastest at catching lizards in our back yard not to mention the fact that she made me read her a book on Spiders that made me gag. So “Love Bug” was a go – until I made that mad dash to Hobby Lobby to grab paper and little baggies for the worms. The bags I grabbed were a bit too small for the labels :( 

My wheels started turning and I came up with my own little design, the bear loved them!

Click here to download

I am kind of excited to share my first Free Printable with you!! If you love it just as much as we did it would be super awesome sauce if you pinned it ;)

I also finished up my entry way Valentine’s Chalk art! I think it turned out pretty cool :)

It’s my birthday month along with a bunch of my beautiful friends so adding “and a little bit of Cake” was quite fitting for us! 

Weekend Snapshots| F*R*I*E*N*D*S

Today I'm linking up with 3twentysix and a quick recap of my crazy busy Weekend Snapshots! 

Throughout the years you've seen me post running pictures, before a race, during, after and in training. Sometimes in the rain, on a beautiful crisp morning and even at times before the sun rises. What you may not realize is that in the past few years the girls and I have been through so much more.

Kemah Toughest 10K - Sept. 2015

January 2013, I remember sitting at my dad’s kitchen table and telling everyone for the first time that I wanted to train to run my first 5K - Alma (my aunt/sister/close friend) said without hesitation if you do it I'll do it. Shortly after that I posted to FB and our friend Cindy chimed in "I want to do it too!" little did we know what would become of a little 5K Color Run before it was all said and done Lety joined us and Clarissa too - Fatima our little cheerleader.

In the past three years we have set out to celebrate our little girls birthdays, our birthdays, husbands birthday's, holidays and life together bringing us closer than we ever thought.  Our girls love to get together just as much as we do, all of them BFF's in the making. Let us not miss more than a couple of weekends without seeing each other and the girls start demanding a Friday night BBQ :)

Cheers to my birthday girls!! 

This weekend we celebrated our February birthdays, a bachelorette party for another beautiful friend and of course the #SB50. 

I wouldn't change it for anything in the world I can't imagine a major life event happening without one of these ladies by my side... or even just another Friday night BBQ for that matter!!

My ride or dies :)

Having fun with my new #Fujifilm #Insta