You Can Never Have Too Many

Hi! My name is Tonja and I have a bathing suit addiction. I’m not talking about a little addiction either. It is a full blown, I need a support group addiction! I have a tub full of bathing suits that I never wear. And the worst part… some of them still even have the tags on them! So it’s not like I am in dire need of a new one or anything. But it’s kinda like Pringles… you can’t have just one!

This spunky little number is my ‘mommy suit’. It’s the one I wear the most. When I take the boys to the pool, this is the one I wear. I actually got it for a smokin’ deal at TJ Maxx last year {I think it was last year…}. I think each piece was only $8.99 or something like that, and that’s not too shabby for a Jantzen swimsuit!

Update:

After lots of careful thought and consideration I have decided to return the really cute swimsuit that I bought the other day. Even though it was really cheap, I have no place for it… or anyplace to wear it. So I returned it in hopes that it would find a good home with someone who will take her out every now and then.

It looks like this mama is going to be wearing the ‘mommy suit’ for now. And when I shed some of those unwanted pounds, then I can think about pulling out one of the cute numbers that are tucked away in the bucket at the back of the closet.

I’m Not In Control

The past few weeks I have been struggling. A lot! It may sound crazy to some so let me give you a little backstory.

The cliffs notes version…

Boy meets girl. Boy and girl get married and have baby. Baby starts to grow up into a toddler. Boy and girl decide to have another baby. Toddler hits terrible two’s. Baby is born. Boy and girl decide that two is enough. Girl gets her tubes tied.

So here I am, almost 4 years later, and as my kids get older I have found myself envious and jealous of all the people in my life that are having babies. I know that it is wrong to be envious and want what someone else has. I was so envious that I kinda fell into this funk and have been there for about a month.

But today {well yesterday now} I woke up with a new attitude!

With the help of the pep talk from my SIL of course. Thanks Becca!!!

I realized that God has chosen this path for me for a reason. And unlike me, He knows what He is doing! I have to trust in Him and be obedient. And if someday He wants me to have another baby, tubes tied or not, I will have one.

I think the biggest problem is I am a control freak and sometimes it is hard for me to let go and let God have it. That is one of the things I have learned about myself while doing my bible study these past few weeks. In order to move ahead with God’s plan for me I have to let go of some of my past behaviors and bad habits!

So starting today I have chosen to quit obsessing over and trying to control the things in my life that I have no control over. And really embrace the things that God allows me to have some control of. Like losing the 10 lbs. I have gained over the last few months.

And as much as I would love to have a cute, cuddly baby to love for the rest of my life, I am uber with the two that I have and I know I am incredibly blessed to have them call me mama!

That Can’t Be My Garage! Can It?

As I have mentioned earlier this week I have been crazy busy cleaning and painting. You know one of these days I will actually do my ‘spring cleaning’ in the spring. Nah! Who am I kidding… no I won’t!

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One of the tasks I wanted to tackle was the garage. Oh how it was a horrible, crazy, looked like a bomb went off in my garage mess! It was so bad even the mice couldn’t survive! So after a short trip to Home Depot for a large push broom and 65 gallon trash can to make the job bit easier I got started.

Unfortunately I I forgot to take a before. And I was a little ashamed and embarrassed of how it looked. Plus, the after pictures are better then the before. It was so bad you could barely walk to the door without tripping over something. Not anymore!

I couldn’t believe how much junk was in there! I kinda felt like one of those people you see on the TV show Hoarders. There for a minute I thought I had a serious problem. Luckily it cleared up as soon as I found out how much fun throwing away trash was.

And the best news, I now have enough room to work on my little projects, make a few bucks selling old baby stuff AND you can walk from the car to the door without tripping over everything in sight.

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My dear, sweet husband oh how I love him, but I think he really does have a problem.

Take a look at all the stuff he hoards in his corner of the garage…

Is that normal? Or healthy? It can’t be… can it?

I am hoping that sometime here in the {very} near future most of this stuff will be in a shop that he is working out of or somewhere other than here.

But until then maybe I will send in the pic to TLC ;)

Front Door Makeover

It has definitely been a crazy week and a half. And because of all the craziness I have completely totally neglected my poor blog. Hopefully things will start slowing down as the new school year gets closer and I will have some more downtime. 

This past week with kids playing outside and going to VBS I have been working my fingers to the bone trying to get my house clean and paint the walls that need to be painted. 

So, while I was working on my entry way I decided to go ahead and paint the front door like I have been wanting to for the past several months.

Here is what my boring ol’ door looked like before I cracked out the paintbrush.

It is coming along wonderfully. 
This was after the first coat of paint. I LOVE the color!!!

Here is the door after both coats of paint were on.
Ain’t she a beauty?

Here  is a close up of my fabulously rustic chic door came out.

And it was super easy! What I did was mix RustOleum metallic paint in Oil Rubbed Bronze {1/2 part} with a faux finishing glaze {4 parts} and brushed it on with a paint brush then wiped it off with a rag. Now I am sure there are better ways to do this, but seeing how it was my first time trying something like this I am super happy with the results.

Drumroll please….

Ta Da! Here is the final product…

Now my door is a one of a kind original! :)

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge: Water

I absolutly LOVE this photo!

I am entering this photo of Jacob into the iheartfaces photo challenge this week this week.

Photo Friday Week 28: Family

I can’t believe it is Photo Friday again with Trina!

Here is a picture of my family on our vacation to Sea World.

I love this photo because of Tyler’s smile :) He is such a ham!

I can’t wait to see all the wonderful family photos that are going to be posted this week!!

Lazy Pool Days

The last couple of days we have been hanging out at the pool with various people. It has been sooo nice to get out of the house and have adult conversation. And we even got some storms!!!

Here are a few pictures from our day at the pool today…

Finger Painting Fun

Boy, I feel like it has taken me forever to get this post up! I just can’t believe how crazy the last week has been. I am so not prepared for school to start yet.

I have been wanting to have more for the boys to do while at home this summer. With it being so hot and not having any kids their age in the neighborhood it can get quite boring here at home with ol’ mom. So last week I was reading around the world wide web and came across a few recipes for homemade finger paints. It was awesome because I had everything needed to make them and I was letting my creative side through {which I don’t do a lot}.  

They came out pretty good for a first timer. I just know that next to tweak a few things so they set up a lot smoother than they did. I guess the only one that it bothers is me because the kids haven’t complained once about them.

Homemade Finger Paint Recipe

1/2 cup cornstarch
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups cold water
food coloring

In a medium saucepan mix together all the ingredients except the food coloring. Cook over low heat for about 10-15 minutes, or until the mixture starts to thicken. Keep stirring until the mixture has a smooth, thick consistency. After it has thickened remove saucepan from the stove and let cool. Once the mixture is cool, spoon into containers and add food coloring to get your desired color. Store is with lid tightly on.                                                  

Next time I make the finger paints I will defiantly add a tad bit more water so they will have a smoother consistency when set and also pull it off the burner a little earlier so it does not cook too much.

Happy Painting!

A Very Blessed Thursday

Look at those faces!!
God has blessed me above and beyond with these two boys!

Today I started this wonderful bible study at a local church!
It’s crazy. The past couple of weeks I have had this deep desire to learn more and dig deeper into God’s word. I just haven’t felt like my spiritual needs are being met. I have never had a burning desire like this before and was not sure what to do, so I started searching local churches for woman’s bible studies. Then I came across this one. It meets on Thursday mornings and they have childcare! Yay!  I am two weeks behind though so I have some catching up to do, but I am so glad that I decided to jump in instead of not doing it just because I am behind. So far I absolutly love this study. I will keep you updated as the study progresses.

Also, today I signed up to join MOPS!
These last couple of weeks as I have been digging deeper in my spiritual journey I got to thinking about how wonderful it would be to have some ‘mommy friends’ that I share things in common with. And I remembered a conversation I had with a friend of mine about how she was a part MOPS. She told me that I needed to sign Tyler up now so I would have a slot for him come September. So, I immediately called her and asked a million questions. Then I called the church to track down the lady in charge and guess what?? They had an open slot! Yay! I can’t wait to start this new ‘mommy adventure’!

Our 4th of July Fun

This 4th everyone we knew was out of town, so we got to spend some good, quality family time together. I have to admit that it has been nice spending so much time with Michael. I don’t think we have spent this much time together our entire marriage! And I know the boys are enjoying it too!

We started our fun with a water balloon fight! The boys had never even thrown a water balloon so we were all excited about it. {I would have taken pics during, but my camera was getting nowhere near the water} Then we cooked hamburgers on the grill. Michael even taught the boys how to spit watermelon seeds into a bucket. It was so cute watching them. All in all we had a wonderful day together as a family.

Here is a little collage of our day together…

Hope everyone had a wonderful and happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th Y’all

Hope you all have a wonderful and safe 4th of July!

Rain!!!!

Oh! My! Goshies!

IT RAINED YESTERDAY!

Okay, it was not a lot of rain and lasted less than 15 minutes, but it was rain none the less.

As soon as these wonderful clouds started rolling in we started praying!

I had forgotten how good the smell of rain was. We sat outside the entire time that it rained just to take it all in.

We set up little ‘rain catchers’ all over to catch the runoff from the roof.

Can you see how brown it is?

That is from the dirt on the roof!

My garden soaked it all in. They desperately needed it.

Here is a random pic of the water droplets on the garden fence.

A pic of my beautiful {but struggling} garden!

Has it been 6 years already?

Today my wonderful husband, Michael and I have been married for 6 years!

I can’t believe it has been 6 years! {We have been together 9 years all together}

I am extremely blessed to have him in my life. I know that we have had our ups and downs the past year and a half, but we have pulled through better than anyone could have imagined. God has blessed us in so many ways.

He is my rock. The one who is always there for me no matter what. The one that is my soul mate. The one that still puts that fuzzy feeling in my tummy when I see him. The one that can make me mad and sad and feel loved all at the same time.

And to top off all his greatness… He is an amazing father to our two handsome boys!

Here are a few pics of us through the years…
{I wish I had some from before we got married on my computer}

Baby, I just want you to know that I love you with all my heart and I can not picture my life without you in it!

Love you, xoxo

Fresh Fruit Pops

With the afternoons reaching well above 100* around here, I thought it would be nice to search for a healthy, refreshing snack for the boys.

So… while I was searching the world wide web, I came upon this recipe from skinnytaste.com. It looked absolutely yummy! Once I showed the boys, they couldn’t wait to pick out the fruits they wanted to use.

These are a wonderful, healthy alternative to store bought popsicles. Yes,they may take longer to make… but we had fun and they really are delicious!

What we rounded up: strawberries, kiwi, orange juice, small {cute} plastic cups and popsicle sticks.

I cut up the kiwi and removed the stems from the strawberries. I cut them into little pieces as well.

I layered the fruit in the cups and stuck the popsicle stick right in the middle. It stays perfectly in the center with all the fruit holding it in place.

I then poured some orange juice over all the fruit. Then it dawned on me… I had bought some hiccup berries {blueberries}, so I added some for color. Plus, the boys love to eat them.

Then you just pop them into the freezer until frozen.

Here is our finished product…

They were a hit! The boys absolutely loved them. Now we have a healthy treat for those hot summer days.