Five on Friday.

1. I had an awesome "Mom Moment" in the Dollar Tree last weekend. James and I were wandering through the store (his first time there) and he had the "gimmies." He kept saying, "I want this, and this, and this." I'd said yes to a few things - a pirate costume set for him and Will because they have a pirate day at camp this summer - but for the most part I was saying no. He'd started saying, "But I can buy it with my money." As we walked past a grass skirt (you know...the Hawaiian kind), he said he NEEDED that (seriously?) and I mentioned that if he bought it with his money that would be FOUR times wiping off the table or FOUR times of sorting the laundry (because we currently pay $0.25/chore). A woman who was a bit older than me was walking near us as this conversation took place. She caught my eye and as I sort of rolled my eyes about James and his "needs" she gave me a thumbs-up and said, "Good job!"Y'all, I almost cried right there in the store. So often (especially in public) I feel like I am NOT doing a good job. It was SO nice to have that affirmation from someone else that what I was doing was the right thing. Whew! Motherhood is so tough sometimes, but that was awesome.

2. I went searching for our favorite go-to "Taco Tuesday" recipe and realized I didn't have it anywhere on the blog. SO. I'm going to remedy that right this minute. Here, in all it's easy glory, is Crockpot Chicken Tacos.

Ingredients:

* Frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts (3-4)

* 1 cup salsa

* 1 can black beans

* 1 can pinto beans

* 1 can enchilada sauce

Place frozen chicken in crockpot and cover with other ingredients. Cook on high 3-4 hours or until chicken shreds. You can also throw frozen fajita veggies in for the last hour or so if you like that kind of thing. SO easy and my family loves it. I have to pick all the beans out for James {he's a wimpy eater}, but he doesn't complain that they're in there WITH everything else. We serve on flour tortillas with cheese, Cholula, sour cream, and guac! Mmmmm!

3. I finally got around to renting and watching Saving Mr. Banks this week and I LOVED IT. Y'all know I'm sort of a Disney nut anyway, so the "real story" behind things is fascinating to me. The movie was SO great. I felt so sad for P.L. Travers the whole time, though. Have you seen it? What do you think? I may wind up purchasing the DVD. :)

4. Mother's Day is Sunday and while it DID sort of sneak up on me, I pulled it all off and got what I needed to get. I also bought gifts for myself. Ha! We have a busy Mother's Day weekend. I'm going on a date with my biggest boy on Saturday night and I'm SO excited about it. We're having family pictures made with Mom on Sunday. And then I have big plans to take a NAP. That's what I want for Mother's Day. Guilt-free lounging.

Guess where we were last year on Mother's Day? Take me back!!! James was smitten with Minnie, huh? I asked him what Disney Princess I should be the other day and he said either Ariel or Merida. Think he has a thing for redheads???

5. I'm on the hunt for new running shoes. My favorite pair is so worn out that they're rubbing blisters on me so I switched to an old pair and I have had sore legs all week. Shin splits and IT band pain and that just won't do. SO. I've been looking around at different shoes. I'm leaning toward an Asics Cumulus. I have narrow feet with a high arch. Let me know if you have other suggestions. If we have time on Saturday I'm going to go by the running store and have them look at my feet and help, but if not I'm on my own (we don't have anything like that in town...unless I just don't know about it). I keep hearing great things about Asics, though.

Five on Friday.

Five Ten on Friday.

All of the last three weeks - every bit of Sonny being in the hospital and Mom being there with him and us being back and forth, every bit of it has made me want to count my blessings more and more. I'm probably going to be reading Ann Voskamp's book 1,000 Gifts again very soon. It didn't have as much meaning before as it does now. Count the little things, as well as the big things, every day. It all does matter! I think I'll do more than five this week.

So here's my list - big and small, silly and meaningful - in no particular order. 
I'm thankful for...

1. Pumpkin Spice Latte. Thank goodness this is back. Hello, old friend.

2. A husband who will bend over backward, put everything else on hold, and do before being asked to do. And in-laws and parents who will also bend over backward, put everything else on hold, and do before being asked to do. We've dropped our kids off and left a good bit recently and I couldn't have done it without any of them.

3. Lots and lots of time on the phone with my mama. Thank goodness for cellphones. We've talked every day even though we've been miles apart. And on that note, FaceTime. Seriously, one of my favorite inventions ever.

4. Photos like this of a trip that I didn't want to go on and really pitched a fit and acted ugly about having to go on. (I have a whole post on how I think God's hand has been all over this family crisis. He knew and has orchestrated this whole summer.)

5. Friends who step up. We have been blessed with a group of friends who have called, texted, and visited me - and called Eddie when I've just not wanted to talk anymore about any of it. It has been hard to answer all the questions over and over, but I am so thankful that they are  incessant. If you've called and I've not responded, please know that I'm not trying to ignore you. We've just been trying to keep our heads above water over here.

6. Audiobooks. :) Silly? Maybe. But I have been thankful for the in-car entertainment when I just don't want to think.

7. Target online. I broke not one, but TWO pairs of sunglasses this week. Thankfully, I have two more pairs on their way to me right now! Ha!

8. Sweet baby boos. We have a sassy-mouthed almost-four-year-old and a teething, whining, snotty eighteen-month-old right now. But they have been CHAMPS at the drop-and-runs. They've spent the night in five or so different places in the last three weeks without a hiccup. I'm so thankful for that.

9. Holiday pajamas. There isn't much cuter than a pajamaed baby. And cute holiday pajamas? Even better. I have two pairs of Halloween jammies for each boy on the way to us right now. Found them here.

10. The glory of not being tied to any particular television show. Because of this and that this summer, we haven't had a moment to watch television. It's been turned on at night here and there (and really, Eddie's watched it more than me and that's not much!) and I've turned it on for the boys in the afternoon when they're grouchy, but other than that - nada. I have watched a good many Netflix movies this summer, but nothing recorded at all. No series. I feel free! I'm considering unplugging even more, which would make my husband oh, so happy. Cellphone and computer rules at night? What do we think?

Y'all have a good weekend!

Five on Friday - Back to School Edition.

Public schools in our county started this week. My boys' preschool starts in two weeks (they were actually supposed to start Monday but it got bumped back because the building has been renovated and isn't quite ready.) Safe to say that everyone is in back-to-school mode around these parts. SO. In honor of that, I'm doing Five on Friday - Back to School Edition this week!

1. Sarah from Life {Sweet} Life is one of the cutest mamas ever. Last year I saw this printable on her website and I sent it in James' folder on the second week of school to have his teacher fill it out. It was SO helpful. I would never have known that she really didn't like Bath and Body Works products because the smells gave her a headache. I would never have known that she collected snowmen. I would never have known when her birthday was or that she had a Kindle that she loved to use to read. BUT. Because she filled it out for me I did learn all of those things and we were able to give her gifts that she {hopefully} really enjoyed!

Find the printable HERE.

2. Last year I bought a frame at Hobby Lobby and sprayed the glass with chalkboard paint. James held it up in his pictures so that I could later add the date and year of preschool to it. I plan to do the same thing this year with both boys. Their start days are different (James on a Tuesday, Will on a Wednesday) so it will be a little different, but hopefully we'll get cute pictures of both! It was SO simple to do. Seriously, if I could do it...anyone can! Take the glass out of the frame, put it on newspaper in the yard, and spray a few coats on! Easy peasy!

3. The boys' preschool doesn't have lunch, but they do eat snacks. I've always sent a sippy cup of water with James anytime I dropped him off somewhere. Because he's technically not a baby anymore (he's MY baby!) and he's really beyond the sippy cup stage (he's almost FOUR for crying out loud!), I picked up three thermoses/water bottles for him this year. One is THIS brand which we'd bought for t-ball anyway. One is THIS brand but it has dinosaurs on it. I can't find our Superman one and but it's THIS brand...I'd better remedy that before school starts! (I've always used Inchbug Orbit Labels for sippy cup labeling - I need to get some for Will!) He is THRILLED with this option over sippy cups to say the least!

4. I am not super high maintenance about a calendar. I don't carry a planner around with me and I won't buy one of the popular $75 planners that you'll see in the blogosphere. I've tried that and it didn't make me anymore efficient so I've given up. (Eddie has joked {not really joked...} that if you pay $75 for a planner it ought to make appointments, take phone calls, and clean your house.) What I DO have is a wall calendar that I hang on the side of our refrigerator. I bought a new one last week at Target and it is filling up already. I am not the most organized person on the planet (by a longshot!), but I am pretty good about having an organized calendar. Also, I will forget things in the coming days just for announcing that. I know the picture is the WORST ever, but I couldn't find the one I bought online anywhere and I thought the chevron at the top was so cute.

5. School Door Hangers! I love, love, love a wreath. But something else that I've started like a LOT is a wooden door hanger. This one is from Bronwyn Hanahan. You can find her fabulous work on Facebook (and all over Pinterest!). I LOVE it. Isn't it precious?

My talented friend Jen did this one below and I LOVE it, too. Isn't she good? I'm trying to convince her  to come to my house for wine and crafts night so that she can repaint whatever I make. Ha!

So that's it! My boys don't need new clothes or supplies since they're just in preschool. I did buy James a brand new shiny pair of Nikes a few weeks ago, but that's IT! Here's to a great school year! Hope you and yours enjoy it!