I love my red shoes!

I've always had Santa bring the boys shoes, but apparently that's not exciting when you're a young tike. I remember last year when I got Ryne a sweatshirt for Christmas and he opened the box and threw it to the side. It was some nice, way too expensive Nike sweatshirt I had bought thinking it would be extra special for Christmas. Yeah, apparently three-year olds (at the time) don't care about that, so I'm sure as a four-year old this year it wouldn't be much different. When their shoes came in the mail, I decided I couldn't wait to put them on them and that Santa just wouldn't be bringing shoes this year (along with no clothes). I sang Ryne the Pete the Cat song, "I Love My White Shoes", but sang "I love my red shoes!" The boys actually loved their new shoes and thought it was funny that Rhett had them too!

I think Rhett's little red shoes are the absolute cutest. They are a little too big (since I had been thinking Christmas time), but I still wanted to put them on him. Reed has HUGE feet for his age. The size I got Ryne is almost too small, of course. I did that last year when I bought Reed's shoes too! Apparently I'm not good at guessing their sizes or shoes fit completely different! 

This picture of Ryne cracks me up. He loves Rhett and is always up in his face. So, when Rhett started crying Ryne looked shocked. HAHA. Some how Reed looks really sympathetic to him too, which is so sweet except he usually is yelling at him to stop crying! Also, take note of the binkies in all of his pictures, because in less than two months they will all be GONE. Santa is taking them to boys and girls who need them, and in return he will get presents. It worked for Ryne like a charm when we did it, but I'm still hesitant about it with Reed!

I feel like there has been a full moon for days because these two have been fighting non-stop. Totally brother appropriate, I know..but I had bought them extra Cars 3 cars so that they wouldn't fight. Lightning McQueen, Cruz, Smokey, Mater, Jackson Storm..I literally bought two of each so that they wouldn't fight over them since that seemed to be a common problem this past week. Genius idea, right? No, not at all. I swear middle child syndrome is real. Reed will do anything to purposely make Ryne mad and he knows how to push alllll his buttons. Here's how it usually goes:

1. Ryne plays with cars.

2. Steps away for a minute and comes back to realize his cars are gone.

3. Begins getting upset and demands Reed to give him his cars.

4. Reed stars screaming and runs from Ryne.

5. Ryne chases him now crying or whining that he has his cars.

6. Reed continues to run screaming.

7. "RYNE AND REED!" I say.

8. Ryne cries harder because I "yelled" (I don't yell, I raise my voice so they know I'm upset or if I yell it's because I'm upstairs and they're downstairs). 

9. Reed yells at Ryne to stop crying.

10. I remind myself, this is my circus; these are my monkeys.

11. Check my watch to see how many hours are left until bedtime and I can regain my sanity.

12. 1-11 repeat multiple times.

Anyone else's kids fight? I had two older brothers, so I understand siblings fighting (we still argue sometimes). But HOLY COW. Let's keep it together here Philips boys!

Ryne brought me home flowers earlier this week when Derek picked him up from school. He was so proud of them and kept asking me, "aren't they so pretty?" and "don't you love them?". He also has reminded me daily that if I don't water them they will die. He obviously knows my lack of a green thumb! Do these need sun? Do they need shade? Who really knows! The truth is, I honestly think he chose these yellow flowers because they resemble dandelions a little bit and he loooves picking dandelions in the summer!

I really thought it was special that Derek did this with him, and I thought it was even better that he let Ryne pick what he wanted for me. I hope that he continues to see these special things that you can do for special people in your life. I love the plant, but the card I think was the sweetest part of it all.

I think my kitchen needed some brightening up, so the plant was just perfect and was from the best little gentleman. His teacher's birthday is this week so he is excited to pick her out something too!

When I was taking these pictures of Ryne and his flowers, Reed wanted to be in the pictures so bad and Ryne kept shoving him out of the way saying they were HIS flowers that he got mom. MY WHOLE HEART. Don't mind the fact you're kind of being a little poop stain to your brother, my heart is melting that you think they're YOUR flowers. 

What's something your kids have done for you that you have never forgotten? 

I'm off to bed finally. This whole time change is for the birds. Does it really need to be a thing anymore? Can we take notes from Arizona and not do it? It's so rough on the kids and I absolutely hate having it dark before suppertime and light in the morning! The only nice thing about it is that it means we are getting closer to Christmas! It's definitely official now, Hobby Lobby had Christmas music playing and Menard's has lights on their trees outside! Does anyone else have their tree up already? I'm loving siting in the room with ONLY the Christmas tree lights on, Christmas music playing, and Christmas Spirit diffusing! 

xoxo

J

Happy Halloween!

Our town's Trick-or-Treat night was actually last night, which means our Christmas tree is up in full force! Well, half force I guess. I'm short two strands of lights and Menards is a solid 55 minutes away. It still is cozy having the half-lit tree up! Has anyone else noticed how you can't mix and match lights from different stores? Once you commit to a brand of lights, you have to keep getting that same brand. Colored lights at Walmart don't match the colored lights at Menards, and no two white lights are the same anywhere, unless you can find the same brand!

I was super bummed this year that the boys actually wanted to decide what they were going to be. Ryne has told me for quite awhile that he wanted to be Superman, which led Reed to being Batman. He has wanted to be Batman for months, but you betcha when Trick-or-Treat night rolls around, he 100% does not want to be Batman. After bribing forcing his Batman outfit on him, he refused to wear his mask. Ryne begged and cried and begged Reed to put on the mask but he wouldn't budge. Luckily you can't tell any of that in these pictures. :)

Sometimes it is so hard being a parent. I literally was tackling Reed on the ground trying to put his costume on. Pretty sure I even broke out in a good sweat from it. These are supposed to be nights that are enjoyable so I try not to lose my shit, but the energy that it took for me to not lose it made me exhausted. But look at the pictures I got for keeping myself together. Mom 1 Lost Shit 0. 

They seriously are both so sweet and ornery. I'm always exhausted by 10 in the morning, but I feel so lucky to be their mom. Sometimes it's a blessing that I'm tired by 10, because then the rest of the day I'm just too exhausted to break up fights, care that they've eaten pop-tarts for lunch for the third day in a row, or that they've been walking around in their underwear.

I had bought Rhett a Flash costume to go along with the superhero theme, but we decided to have Derek got as The Man in the Yellow Hat and Rhett go as his little monkey, Curious George. Apparently newborn in monkey size is completely different than newborn in baby size, because the newborn costume was huge on him! I ended up just being able to use the monkey mask, but I think he still made such a cute little monkey! I also think Derek made a perfect Man in the Yellow Hat since he is so tall, is a man, and wore a yellow hat. :) 

Since they didn't have Trick-or-Treating today, I let them hang out in their Halloween jammies all afternoon! I'm obsessed with Peanuts and love Hanna Andersson's Charlie Brown pajamas! They didn't have them in Rhett's size, so he got to be a cute little pumpkin instead!

 This is usually how pictures turn out. I am pretty sure I take 50 pictures before I maybe get one decent picture! Sometimes these are the best ones though. Rhett crying because Ryne gets all up in his face, Reed begging me to let him have his binky back..this is reality!

Not pictured: five more binkies in a stash that Reed is waiting to grab. Note: Santa is taking Reed's binkies this Christmas. Important note: I will be in hiding for a couple weeks after!

I love this time of year because of all the holidays. I can't wait to indulge in some delicious meals in November as we give thanks for so many things in our life. All my Christmas decor is up, Christmas music has been playing, and Christmas candles are burning. I swear I saw a few snowflakes over the weekend and the cold makes me so excited for this holiday season! 

If anyone is doing any early Christmas shopping, Target has a great deal where you can text TOYS to 827-438. They will send you a link with a coupon code for 25% off a toy online or in store! I texted so many people to ask them to send me the code so I could buy multiple toys! Ryne has been asking for the kid-sized Paw Patrol tower for forever. It was on sale for $84.99 (had been $99.99) With 25% off I ended up getting it for $63.74 WHAT!? I also used my Redcard and saved 5% more and got free shipping! So exciting! I love deals. :) 

What was everyone for Halloween this year? Does anyone else have their Christmas tree up yet?!

xoxo

J

Happy National Pancake Day!

There’s not a lot of food I like more than pancakes (except tacos). I try to flip some pancakes at least once a week for the boys, but let’s be honest, the UPS man delivered 96 chocolate Pop-Tarts a few weeks ago and we have put a good dent in them. Sometimes when Amazon has a good deal on some good (not good for you) food, you just go all out! According to Google, it looks like some people think National Pancake Day was yesterday, some think today, and apparently IHOP just randomly chooses a day every year and they call that National Pancake Day! No matter what day you celebrate, one thing is for sure...a few pancakes slabbed with butter and drenched in syrup was never bad for the soul!

PSA: If you are here for fancy recipes, perfect pictures and a storybook life, you press that little “x” button up in the corner of your screen because I promise you you won’t find any of that here! I mean, I’m hoping you aren’t reading this hoping to get an awesome homemade pancake recipe, because I don’t have one! :(

I can tell you that Hungry Jack has a mix..in a box..that you just add water too. *Gasps!* I’ve learned since being married, that Hungry Jack must be the real deal because one time I bought Bisquick and Derek asked me to buy Hungry Jack in the future. No, this is not endorsed by Hungry Jack, this is me being obsessive over delicious pancakes that you just add water to. If you want to get fancy (which sometimes I do), you can get the Hungry Jack mix where you add milk, oil and eggs!

I was deciding between doing a pancake bar for supper where you can pick your own toppings, or making a pancake that looks like a raccoon. I decided to choose the raccoon! Ryne has preschool from 12-3 so I thought I would be able to have them done for their lunch. 😂 Joke was on me. I am not sure if I’ve ever cooked hot dogs in the microwave so fast so that he would have something to eat before school. The half-made raccoon pancake ended up being an afternoon snack that I finished while Ryne was gone. Let’s be honest, the thing is mediocre. But I’ve decided I’m just a mediocre mom who can only cook mediocre things and take pictures that make you think, wow..she is mediocre!

My kids thought he was the greatest thing ever though! Which was so nice. Ryne is so positive and told me, “Mom, you made this?! How did you do it?!.” These are the moments you soak in as a parent and your heart melts. You soak it in because soon they realize that you only made one raccoon pancake because you didn’t make enough mix, accidentally messed up the raccoon eyes and lost a pancake to the floor in the process. Then they fight..a nice WWE style wrestle match breaks out and no one eats the raccoon pancake (except for the bite I asked Reed to take in the picture below).

Happy National Pancake Day anyway! I hope you have a chance to flip some pancakes this week and feed your soul! I’m going to go feed mine with the raccoon pancake no one ate. :)

xoxo
J

Welcome!

I'm so glad you're here! I can't wait to share with you about my life as a stay-at-home mom to our three sweet, ornery, huggable boys Ryne, Reed and Rhett!  My hair is a mess, my house is a mess, and I can't cook, but our house is full of love! I do love a good Ree Drummond recipe and some occasional baking, but otherwise you can find the Schwan's man delivering to our door every other week! I'm in love with the Chicago Cubs, obsessed with Christmas and have no shame admitting I love McDonald's.

I'm married to my husband of five years, Derek. I think he is one handsome fella and I swear only gets better with age! Bring on the gray hairs! We currently are living in our third town and third house together! When we met he was a 5th grade teacher in my home town, then we booked it 30 miles west for him to be an assistant elementary principal, and just this summer we headed 75 miles farther west for him to be a head elementary principal. I can't keep up with this guy! You'd think we would be pros at moving but I decided we are FAR from it. The best advice I could give is to hire a moving company. Third time was a charm with that one! He loves his job and I'm always proud of him! I'm also lucky that he is sugar daddy material for me to be able to stay home with our boys!

We decided Derek can only make boys because we are three for three with that one. Ryne (4.5 yrs), Reed (2.5 yrs) and Rhett (1 month) have blessed us more than we deserve.

Ryne was named after Ryne Sandberg. He is in preschool for three hours a day which is a nice little break for him and Reed to have time away from each other! He is obsessed with trains, loves building and making things, has recently discovered his inner Picasso, isn't afraid to sing out loud and can talk your ear off! Mostly sweet with some attitude. He was the easiest kid until he turned four and I tell you what, four-year olds can be rough stuff! He is so loving and compassionate though and I often catch him giving his baby brother hugs and kisses!

Reed wasn't named after anyone specific. I wanted Ryne to be named Reed actually! Since Derek ended up naming Ryne, we ended up agreeing on Reed for our second! He is definitely our free spirit and can hold a solid conversation with you if you can interpret what he is saying with a binky hanging out of his mouth! He is what we call our sour patch kid, first he is sour, then he is sweet! He is notorious for hitting or throwing, getting in trouble, and then wanting to snuggle with you. He loves drawing and doing crafts. You can also catch him busting a move to music, which he loves!

Rhett's name was chosen when we decided our last baby should have a "R" name since our first two did. We were riding in the van one day and I mentioned the name Rhett and Derek was all for it! He took the least amount of time and discussion to name. (Our second choice was Rizzo!) He is such a sweet little baby. I keep telling Derek he gives me baby fever even though he is only a month old! Derek insists he is our last though! Rhett loves to snuggle and rarely cries! I mean, this kid is around his rough and tough older brothers and just kind of looks at them like they're crazy. He doesn't have a consistent sleep schedule, but lately he has only been getting up twice in the night. Eek! I'm excited to see what little personality he has as he grows!

We have made our life out here in the Midwest and I feel very fortunate. We live in a little town of 4200 people. There's no McDonald's or Walmart here! It was definitely a culture shock when we moved. We also moved into a well-taken care of 1930s home! As soon as we got the keys to our home, we began fixing and updating it. It's definitely a work-in-progress and since Derek is adamant about doing things himself, I can ensure you that we will be fixing it up for a few years! My DIYer does do a great job at his projects though, his wife is just impatient while her house is torn apart!

Meet our family! My cousin snapped a few candid shots for us while she visited this past weekend! We love having her visit! I'm so glad you're here and I can't wait for you to come along on our wild journey with us!

Derek. Reed. Ryne. Jillian. Rhett.

Reed

Rhett. Jillian.

xoxo

J