The Toy Box Years: Eat, Shop, Clean?

The Creators of the Toy Box Years

The creators of the Toy Box Years are my two beautiful daughters and wonderful, handsome soldier husband.

"Nani" (our oldest) is a 11 year old 6th grader who loves Taylor Swift, ballet, books, fashion designing and sewing. Ask her what she wants to be when she grows up and it changes daily to anything from "an artist" to "a teacher" to "a singer/dancer". Nani is also currently fighting a battle against brain cancer -- recently diagnosed in June 2016.

"Nudgie" (our youngest) is a very smiley, very happy, very giggly, very spirited 8 year old 3rd Grader who's favorite toys are anything that gives mommy an anxiety attack - ladders, stepstools, the climbing wall at the playground. Like her sister, she has a love of reading and coloring, loves gymnastics and still provides mommy lots of snuggle time!

"My Marine" is my high school sweetheart. We've been married over 20 years and met when we were 17. (You do the math....) His favorite toys are Blackhawk helicopters, the lawnmower, our steam cleaner, and microbrew beer bottles. My husband is also my hero in that he proudly serves his country as a Blackhawk crew chief (hence his favorite toy!). And need I say that there is nothing hotter than my man in uniform!

All About Me......

Once upon a time I had a career and worked in the corporate world. Once upon a time, I dreamed about leaving that all behind to follow my true calling -- being a wife and mommy.

The first part of my calling was fulfilled in 1995 when I married my Marine (now soldier) and my love. Little did I know that being a military wife would change me in so many ways and that because of that, I would have an extended family all over the world from Japan, to California, to North Carolina.

The second part of my calling took a little doing, but I finally achieved that dream in 2004 with the birth of our first child, followed 4 years later by her baby sister.

So now, when someone asks me what I do for a living - I simply smile and say proudly that I'm following my calling - I'm a mommy and a wife -- and I couldn't be HAPPIER -- I'm living in the Toy Box Years!!

So, after my pity party yesterday morning, I got a lot of hugs & support from my little blog community. Thanks everyone for the pick-me-ups! Shortly afterwards, I decided to put on my big girl panties and just deal with it. Usually, my way of "dealing with it" is to either eat, shop, or clean.

Eat? Yeah, that was pretty tempting -- especially with this sitting on my kitchen counter.

Shop? Shopping is what got me into this whole mess to begin with. As much as I feel the urge to go shopping at Old Navy for yet another black v-neck tshirt...I couldn't shop because....well....I'm broke and I know that as a recovering shopaholic, this would be an extremely dangerous time for me.

Clean? Well, overall the house isn't too bad -- if you turn a blind eye to this....

or this.....

So, I found other alternatives.......

Thanks to a post I found over at The Snail's Trail, Nani & I did this cute little craft yesterday afternoon.

After naptime, I heard giggling & laughter from behind my loveseat and caught this moment on film.

Then this morning, I met a dear friend of mine for storytime at Barnes & Noble (with free cookie afterwards!) and then went to the spray park down the street.

I don't know about you, but how can you be down when God has given me this.....

9 comments:

The Four Week Vegan August 7, 2009 at 3:24 PM: That looks like quite the fun therapy session: painting, stories, and water play!
Lisa Anne August 7, 2009 at 3:41 PM: That was a really great post. I'm a total shop-o-holic too. Not quite on teh road to recovery, even though I should be, because like you I am broke!! after reading all these cool DIY blogs, I want to go shopping at a thriftstore for great finds and I can't even do that. lol

I wish the site of my son would make me feel blessed. lol When he's asleep I feel that way, but when he's awake with his mouth, sometimes i feel cursed. Is that bad?

LOL
Christy Killoran August 7, 2009 at 4:49 PM: Good for you for finding something fun to take your mind off of everything. That Barnes & Noble looks exactly like the one we went to in upstate NY a few weeks ago. I wish our local B&N was that cute.
Claudya Martinez August 7, 2009 at 6:07 PM: I'm glad you are focusing on what you have that's good.
kw August 7, 2009 at 9:26 PM: That turned out sooo pretty! The spray park looks super fun, I wish we had one!
Margaret aka: Fact Woman August 7, 2009 at 10:25 PM: It looks like it was the perfect day!!! I love the spray park there and the Farmer's Market on Saturdays. I'm going for corn in the morning in fact.

Oh and, Tag, You're It. The instructions to this weekly game are posted on my blog. I hope you'll come out and play!
Mimi August 8, 2009 at 5:22 PM: God has given me this...that's what it's all about. My boys are 17 & 14 and I'm still totally in love with being mom.
melaniet42 August 8, 2009 at 9:01 PM: What fantastic artwork - sounds like a fun day!
Personalized Sketches and Sentiments August 11, 2009 at 2:05 PM: I had to hop over to one more post, before I get back to the house calling me! (I'd rather be here, but...)

It looks as if your girls have grown quite a bit from when they are with you in your profile pic. All our 3 are 3.5 years apart and had many giggling moments growing up...and still do! They get along so well and love to laugh with each other. Only recently have we heard some of the tall tales that the older one would tell the younger sibling... And with each, the younger ones always hung on every word.

How sweet your girls are in the pictures of them together.

And awesome art!