Weekend Shenanigans

It was my Birthday Weekend! {January 30th is my actual birthday!} We had a fun weekend celebrating. The weather was amazing, the food was superb & the company rocked.

Friday:

+When I got off work Friday, I was pooped! I had zero energy. I fell asleep on the couch when I got home. Kullen stayed the night with a friend, so Reagan made a pallet in our room. She refuses to sleep in her room when he is away. We got Mexican food take-out from our favorite place, Main Street Cafe. Their guacamole & green sauce is ahhhmazzing.

Saturday:

+Reagan & I had a girls day pretty much all day. We did our usual Saturday morning up keep of the house, cleaning & organizing all while jamming to 80's tunes on Pandora. Kullen had his friend over to stay the night at our house. We headed into town for our cousin Caroline's First Birthday party. She was so cute and her mom out did herself on the decorations. I got to see my Aunt & Cousins so I was pretty happy about that. We had to leave pretty promptly, because I had a Photo session to get to. It was the coldest, windiest session but the family was just gorgeous. Like model gorgeous. {it was my friend Stacy's family & it was also her birthday!} Saturday evening, my mother in law, Pam, stopped by to chit-chat and give me my birthday gift. She is the best! She got me so many pretties. It made my heart happy. Love that lady.

We ended our night with a hamburger cook-out {I wanted crawfish, but they were sold out-BLAH!} with our friends, Eric & Gretchen. They brought their daughter, Lily over along with granddaughter Keaton. Keaton is the cutest little thing. I am pretty sure the highlight of here night was when Adam played some electric guitar! She had some moves. Too stinking adorable. We had lots of laughs.

Sunday:

+We got up & headed over to Adam's Dad's & Jan's house for lunch and hang out a while. We love it over there. The kid's ask to go visit all the time! They cooked brisket with roasted potatoes, carrots, broccoli & parsnips. Yummy! Cant forget Jan's famous salad. She is the absolute best salad maker. Hands down.  We also learned that they are engaged! We are ecstatic and so happy for these two. I couldn't have picked a better gal to add to the fam.

{Adam had been saving for a while and got me my dream lens for my birthday! He knew I needed it for my photography business. He really is so good to me, I love that man o' mine!}

Here are the first impromptu snaps with my new lens!

Cheers to another year older! Have a blessed week, mermaids!

Five things on Friday

One. the life-changing magic of tidying up. I am seriously thinking of either, one.) purchasing this book or two.) listening to the audio version of this book. {There just so happens to be one on YouTube} I have really been into purging things in my house this year, getting rid of all of the unneeded items. I sure hope this is a new habit of mine? It really makes me feel better on a whole. We shall see how long it lasts. Any of you guys find this book helpful?

two. makeupbytiffanyd. Raise your hand if you love makeup? I have made it no secret that in my spare time I love to indulge in an unhealthy healthy amount of YouTube Vlog channels. Makeupbytiffanyd's channel is my very favorite in the makeup category. I totally know if she knew me we would be total BFF's. No, but really I just love her "no fuss" realness.  There are others I totally enjoy like the fabulous -Casey Holmes, genuine -NikkieTutorials, inspiring -MyPaleSkin, quirky -Lauren Curtis, lovely -Leeannsays...Just to name a few. Majority of these makeup vlogger's, also incorporate real life into their channels or have a separate vlog channel that aren't makeup tutorials. I mean, maybe I am silly, but I have replaced my hours of wasted aimlessly scrolling through social media looking at all the garbage, by watching these videos. I'm just saying that if I have had a bad day, these gals surely cheer me up. I find it relaxing. Hey, cheap therapy. Don't judge. 

{Not one single channel mentioned above sponsored this, I merely wanted to mention them in case you need a pick-me-up}

three. social media. Speaking of social media. I post a lot...I love to post of my kiddos, and what we are up to. I'm sort of a techy person. I love anything computer related....but geez a lou, lately, I find myself strongly disliking Facebook. Every. Single. Time. I get on there and......I see posts that I don't care to see. I can't delete my page because it is linked to my photography business page where i'd say 95% of my clientele comes from. - and hey, I am grateful for that. I can't take it anymore though. I think I operate better on a "What you don't know, you don't know" and "Ignorance is Bliss" basis. I think there is too much information being put out there. Some say, well- you blog, whats the difference. You put info out there and read other info??!! The difference is that media hasn't taken over my blog....POP up articles/politics/garbage from where my cousins, uncle's daughter's friend who's Mom that I do not know and I am not even friends with liked or shared ________ x,y & z{whatever it may be} - that I don't need to see, care to know or need to know. Yet, it popped up for me to see...... I'm just so over it. I don't mind Instagram, it feels like the "higher end" of social media. I don't ever see trash there. {not that is doesn't exist there, but you have to look for it on there}. I plan on sharing my blog posts on FB but other than that, I think I am taking a hiatus. Sorry for the rant, I just want to know if anyone else feels this way sometimes? 

four. kullen & braces. Kullen got his braces on today. He looks like a cutie with them. {Don't all moms say this?} He did well, but boy, oh boy. He is very sore. I love my boy so much but I think Kullen has the braces version of The Man Cold - if you catch where I'm steppin'.  I do feel sorry for him though. I keep reminding him it will all be worth it. You only get one set of teeth, better make the best of it. He got pampered & had a chocolate milkshake, which may have not cured the soreness but it was good for his heart. Bless it!

five. reagan & tumbling. Reagan has alway's had a ton of energy. Like- a lot. She cheer's for our little town's PeeWee Cheer from about August to November. We take a break for the holidays, but then after the first of the year, she gets bored and needs an outlet. I asked last year about dance and she said she wasn't really interested in dance but would love to do gymnastics. So she took tumbling for a while and then cheered and now she is back in tumbling. She has struggled some in school and even though she is resilient, she still struggles with finding something she shines at. Sure, she has so much more to learn, but she really shines at tumbling and you can really tell she has a passion for it. It makes her feel good about herself. The gym she goes to is also faith based, and they read a scripture at the end of each class, which is wonderful! I hope that she continues to use tumbling as her little outlet to express herself. She has learned that God created everyone with different strengths & weaknesses.

That's all I got folks, another week has come and gone. I have been struggling with worry this week. I came across this.

Hmmm. I've never really thought of it this way? 

Happy Weekend, Mermaids! 

Weekend Shenanigans

Getting back in the groove of things after last weekend being a long weekend. We pretty much had typical Ragland weekend this weekend. I'll give you some highlights of our not-so-eventful life.

Friday-

-We had 5 kids at our house. {Are we crazy?} Kullen had two of his friends stay the night and Reagan had a friend over as well. 3- 14 year olds and 2- 8 year olds. It actually wasn't toooo bad.

-I began doing my household chores for the week. {I'm OCD and the madness of cleaning never really ends} I opted for the easiest dinner route, pizza. You can never really go wrong serving pizza with kids around.


Saturday-

-Adam was up again before daybreak, working on Countertops. That man of mine is a worker, y'all. It is one of the things I admire most about him. He doesn't have a lazy bone in his body. The boys slept in and then lounged and played PlayStation. {Because what else do boys do these days?!} The girls were up at the crack o' dawn ripping a raring to go! The played "store" and "school" together. The highlight of their morning was playing the card game "Goldfish". I continued my chore list, drank a couple cups of coffee and got myself somewhat thrown together to go to town. I had several Photography session scheduled but due to the delightful Texas weather that changed three times from Friday night until Saturday morning, I ended up rescheduling two of them just because we didn't trust that is wasn't going to rain. Guess what. Rain that was supposed to be here at noon, came at 5pm. REALLY!? C'mon. Give a sister a break. Luckily, I was able to complete one Senior session which was super fun. The girls & I had lunch at Chick-fil-a picnic style.

-Saturday evening, the girls begged for Alleigh, Reagan's pal to spend the night again. I obliged. They really play well together. Keeps Reagan occupied and she has a lot of fun. Earlier, we went to Target to gather up cards, stickers & fun stuff to decorate Cards for Hospitalized Kids. We talked about empathy and compassion. Both girls had a blast and it was so neat to see what their little hearts had to say on the cards. It was really precious.

-Saturday night the weather got hairy, I was supposed to have dinner with my friend, Kasi and we almost cancelled due to tornadoes in the vicinity! We ended up hanging out anyways after the weather had passed. I don't see her often, but when I do see her it is as if we never missed a beat. Kasi and I have been friends now for 14 years! I can honestly say that her friendship is the only friendship where we were friends instantly. I mean seriously, the very moment we met it was like we had known each other our entire lives. We never have had to work at it. It comes so easily. She has a heart of gold and I wouldn't trade her for the world.

-Sunday was the windiest day ever! I am such a weather nerd, I loved to hear the wind howling through the trees and whistling around the side of the house. I layed around with a sinus headache all morning. The only medicine that helped was the snuggles with Dino, our Boston Terrier.

{Reagan enjoying Sunday by staying in P.j's all day! Excuse the mess in background}

-Sunday evening- I attempted to prep lunches for the entire week. Sunday's are my lazy days and also my days where I try to meal plan, lay out outfits for the week, organize and knock out our enormous piles of laundry. I can't make out like everything was rainbows and lollipops this weekend. I struggled yesterday, even cried a little before bedtime. Seems as though there is so much heartache in the world. Hearing of people with Cancer, seeing families go through Divorces, children sick or struggling. It can all be too much for my heart sometimes. I tend to carry others burdens in my heart. I am very empathetic. I just had to collect myself, my husband and I went to the Lord in prayer and that seemed to help ease my weary heart. Some days are just hard.

Hope you have a great week~ These stuck out to me this week so I thought I would share them with you all in case someone out there needs to hear it. Later, mermaids!

Five things on Friday!

One:Arachnoid Cyst: Kullen was diagnosed on July 5, 2011{read- the scariest day of my life!} with an Arachnoid Cyst on his brain. It is 3.46 centimeters in size and is located behind his left optical nerve in his brain. We have been going every January to Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas for yearly checkups ever since. Thankfully, other than some pressure, headache and blurred vision, and the fact that the boy cant play football or any contact sports for that matter {and you know how you always want to do what you cant do!}.... the cyst rarely causes any major issues. (a handful of times he lost vision in his left eye and it still freaks him out every time. Totally understandable.) When Kullen gets sick, (Sinus, cold, flu), it does make it twice as bad. It is something he can totally live with, though. There are so many much worse conditions that he could be dealing with. I know that this will be a part of his testimony for years to come. I will also add that his doctor gave us good news. Once he turns 15 {next year}, statistics have shown that the chances of there ever being any emergency issues or even surgeries drops dramatically. We are counting our blessings and are so thankful for a good report.

Two: Hannah Maggs Makeup Bags. {Hey, that rhymes! ha} Hannah is just as cute as she can be. She has a charm about her that is unique. She is natural, a good mom,  cool wife and an awesome entrepreneur. She is so interesting to me. She has her own sense of style and I love it! Her husband is the same. They both crack me up. I am super drawn to people like that. You know, the ones that are truly theirselves no matter what company they keep or how famous they are. I tend to embrace people for their quirks, for that is what makes them, them. I myself can be a little "Black Sheep" from time to time. I honestly wish I could be more real with myself, friends, family and you guys that read my little corner of the internet.  In real life, If you look at my little circle of friends, not one of them are fake, shallow, or followers. They are all different and bring special qualities that make them great for my little tribe. Anyways, back to Hannah. I am so happy I stumbled across Hannah's families vlog on YouTube on that one rainy Sunday afternoon a couple of years or so ago. They live in London. {accents are the CUTEST!} Through the Michalak's vlog I discovered that Hannah sells make-up bags. {You will soon learn I love all things make-up-like obsessed} Maggs London is the name of her company. You can check out her website Maggs London. She sells out as quickly as she restocks due to popularity. You can also follow their vlogs here and here. Her blog here.

annnnd. you can thank me later.

Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are of my own, this was not sponsored by Hannah or the Michalak's. They just bring me happiness and so I thought I would share the love.

{Photo credits from www.hannahmaggs.co.uk)

Three: Grade retention. We have made the decision to retain Reagan in 3rd grade this year. We have teetered the thought of holding her back for almost two years now. She continues to make great strides and has shown so much growth! I really feel like giving her the extra time will make a difference in the long run. She loves her teachers and feels comfortable and safe. She and I are both happy with the decision. I had thought long and hard before putting this out here in the complete public. I did, mainly because I battled this journey for years and often felt alone as a parent. {Thank you to the few who reached out to me! You were a GODSEND!} I thought I would be real with you guys in case one of you momma's is going through the same journey.  We are all in this together! You are not alone. It is all going to be okay. Do not beat yourself up. Just do the best you can, pray about it and over your child, for her teachers. Eventually, it will all work itself out. Know that this happens and not to just your child. Ive definitely had my share of pity parties {yes, plural as in more than one! :) } and meltdowns. Ultimately, its not about me or what I thought should happen with my child. It is about this - she is who she is and her needs may be different than what I had planned. You have to get over those expectations you have momma and embrace the good! Celebrate the small victories with your child. They are very resilient and will feed off of your attitude. Make sure to stay upbeat and encouraging. 

So have any of you momma's held your child back? Id love to hear your experience in the comments! 

Four: Cards for Hospitalized kids. www.cardsforhospitalizedkids.com I can't remember which blog I was reading yesterday for the life of me {mom brain!}, but I can't take credit for this idea. I have been searching for some projects for the kids & I that teaches compassion and empathy. When I stumbled upon this blog mom crafting up cards for children in the hospital my light bulb went off and I immediately knew I wanted to do this. More so for Reagan, but Kullen can gain from it as well because you can never outgrow having a good heart and caring for others. So in honor of Valentine's Day we will be getting our craft on and sending love to these kids to let them know just how amazing they are and a reminder that they should never forget that.

Five: The very existence of my sanity depends on this coffee combo every morning and sometimes at night!  A cup of Starbucks Caramel Latte with International Delight’s Caramel Macchiato Creamer. Nom. Nom. Nom. What’s your favorite flavored creamer? I like to from time to time, switch it up. Id love to try your fav! (Once again, totally not sponsored, just my opinion.)