Me....

        Hi everyone! My name is Mary and I am a wife to my super awesome hubby Derek and a mom to the two coolest boys in town, Benjamin (3 in 5 days) and Sullivan (just turned one in April). My boys are 22 months apart and I LOVE them being so close in age. They are best friends and I love watching them play with each other. We plan to have one more child in the near future (like get preggers within a year), and while I would love to have a girl and pray that I do have one some day...my boys are so fun that I just can't help but think it would be super fun, and crazy, to have 3 boys. I like the idea of being the only lady in the house...lol!
         I am a teacher for the local public school district here. I love teaching and I feel as though it is God's calling on my life. I teach at a title 1 school, which means the school I teach at is majority low income. I love where I teach and I am super excited for the upcoming school year. Teaching is the BEST job to have when you are a mom. You get all holidays off, all weekends off and all summer off, plus the teaching community is very understanding and supportive when you need to take days off to do mommy stuff! Being a teacher has been such a blessing. My husband is a police officer. He LOVES his job...it is hard being a wife of a police officer. I know every time my husband leaves for work he is at risk of being hurt, and that is not fun to deal with and I am home every night by myself, which is also not fun to deal with. But, I trust him and his decision making and we pray for him every night that he will be safe and come home to us in the morning.

                                   We are BIG Giants (baseball) fans, and try to go to a couple games a year!

                     My husband's family has a beach house so we are there quite a bit throughout the year.

      We both love where we live, in the Central Valley of California, and we want to make a difference in our community. I can't imagine living anywhere else. This is where we were raised, this is where our families are, this is where our friends are and this is where we want to raise our family. It is a great place to raise kids and we are lucky that we both have jobs here and can stay here. I hope you leave a comment and I will make sure to visit your blog too!

Spring!

            So...it looks like I will just be posting once a month until school is out (I am a teacher).....which is not ideal but I am doing the best I can here! I am doing a link up with Kelly, so I will do a little background before my usual update... Summer break will start at the end of May for me! Yay! More time with my little boys and my hubby. Being a working mom is tough to say the least. At times I feel stretched so thin that I am going to break...but most of the time I manage. I truly love my job and feel as though I was put on this earth to be a teacher, it is definitely my calling in life. I am always nervous to say that because I feel like stay at home moms judge me about that statement, or I feel like there is something wrong with me because I choose to work....But it works for our family. And, let's face it teaching is the best job for a mom. Summers off, holidays off and I work in an industry that is very family oriented and when I need to take a day here or there because they boys are sick...it is encouraged. We also are lucky because my husband is a police officer and works 9pm-7am (and while it is a stress on me, and him, that his life is in danger every time he leaves for work,and no one seems to understand that except police officers and their wives, but that is a whole other post on its own) it is amazing for our family. My husband's days off are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays...and I am in a job share so I only work Monday-Thursday, which means that our boys only go to daycare for 2 days.
     Now, onto what we have been up to lately, I am the Matron (sounds so old) of Honor for My DEAR friend Lauren. It has been such fun planning showers and her bachelorette party. For her bachelorette party we went wine tasting in Paso Robles. It was a blast!!!!
I cannot believe that the wedding is next Friday, a week from today!!! It is going to be such a beautiful day!

                                                                     All of the ladies!
                                                                      

                                                                     Wine Tasting

                                At one of the wineries they let you hit golf balls into the vineyard!


   My little boys have been so much fun lately, well always really, but especially lately. They have been playing so much together. I am so glad that my two boys are so close in age, 3 in June and 1. They are already such great friends and I know that they will be best friends in the years to come. My boys have SO much fun together that I am almost convinced that I only want boys! Especially since they are so close in age! There is nothing like a bond between brothers! I see it with my husband and his brothers and I already see it with my boys.

                              Another day at the zoo, a zoo membership was the best money ever spent!

                                                                     Happy Sully!

                                            Friday Fun Day! Aqua sand and ocean animals.

                                                                  Painting flower pots.

                                               A first: Sully fell asleep while in his highchair.

                                                        Planting flowers in our flowerpots.

 Thanks for stopping by! Follow me, I need inspiration to blog more!!! Leave me a comment and I will definitely return the favor!

wow...

Life has been CRAZY! I started a new job...a job share for the combo classes at my school. I love my job but it has taken a lot of getting used to, that is for sure. I only work 4 days a week, but those days I am gone from 7:00-4:30...long days (which I realize most people deal with all the time, but for me it is new). I am also the Maid Of Honor in Lauren's wedding!!! It has been SO fun planning showers and bachelorette parties and I have loved going with her to he dress fittings!! We also just had Sully's first birthday party, I can't believe my little boy is 1. Crazy! Do I have baby fever...some days yes, some days no. We will have one more baby, but not right at this moment. I am loving watching Benjamin and Sullivan play together, it is the sweetest thing ever. Of course, they already fight at times....but that is to be expected...LOL. Life is busy, but we were able to take a week long vacation to the beach. We went to 2 Giants games, the aquarium, the boardwalk and of course we went down tot he beach several times to play in the sand!!!

2011

January: Playdates with friends and preparing for Sully
February: Last vacation as a family of three...Sea World and the San Diego Zoo
March: Last month as a family of 3
April: Sullivan...need I say more?
May: 1st mothers day as a mother of two!!
June: Our Benjamin turned 2!!!!!
July: Sully and I visited NC and daddy and Ben went to the beach house
August: Derek and I celebrated out 7 year wedding anniversary!
September: Hot air balloons
October: Trick or Treating
November: Thanksgiving fun, we decorated turkey cookies with Maxxy
December: Christmas time!!!!!

It was incredibly hard to choose just 12 pictures...I could have chosen 12 per month, but that would have been boring for you I'm sure!!! We have been incredibly blessed this past year and we are so looking forward to the new year...I know amazing things are coming our way, including my new job that I start TUESDAY!

October update..late I know

Hello friends! Even though it is mid November (YIKES) I want to do an october update on our little life together! Things have been crazy and time is moving WAY too fast. Our little Sully bug is already 7 months old (November 1st) and I can hardly believe it. He is so precious and so handsome! And Benjamin is...well...2 1/2, that pretty much explains his moods lately....He is so sweet one day, and the next he is acting crazy! He keeps us on our toes and keeps us laughing! He is so full of personality!
What Sully is up to....
- Will rock back and forth on all fours (not ready for him to crawl!)
- Is eating carrots, squash, green beans, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, apple sauce, pears, banans, rice cakes...and little bites here and there of whatever we are eating. ( I make all of his babyfood, just like I did with Ben...SO EASY!)
- He likes to have screaming competitions with Ben
-  He loves his big brother...even though at times Ben has a hard time remembering to be gentle.
- Can sit up for LONG periods of time
- He likes playing with toys by himself
- He likes to stand up and play with his bead maze
- Sully loves to cuddle and nuzzle his cute little face into my chest...although recently he nuzzles and then BITES.
- He has two adorable bottom teeth and the two top teeth will be here in the next couple of weeks!
Sully is such a sweet baby and we are loving watching his little presonality come out! He has added so much to our family and I cannot wait to watch the realtionship with him and his big brother to grow!
What Ben is up to...
- He goes to school on Mondays...he likes it and is learning a lot. He is already learning site words!
- He LOVES mac n' cheese. Whenever we go out to eat he always orders it, yes we make him order his food! It's so cute too.
- Ben would spend all day everyday outside if he could.
- He loves the park and plays so well with other kids at the park
- Still loves oatmeal with peanutbutter
- Ben loves buliding castles with his blocks
- Ben loves to read books with mommy and daddy
- He loves his baby brother and thinks all babies are "Sully". He is sharing his toys and tries to help when he can.
- His favorite thing to say is "stop it, please"
- Ben loves to help make dinner
- He likes to pretend to be Prince Charming....I pretend I am asleep and he comes over and gives me a kiss to wake up and says "I'm Prince Charming"

We did the rounds for Halloween...started at my parent's house, his friend Max's house then Derek's parent's. We took Ben tirck or treating. This was his first year going and he was a pro! He went up to all the doors by himself, rang the door bells, said trick or treat, thank you and Happpy Halloween! Cound not have been any cuter! Benjamin was a elephant, which I  made....it took forever, and Sully was going to be a peanut, which I also made, but no one could tell he was a peanut, so last muite we put him in Ben's robot costume from last year. My boys were just so cute I could hardly take it! We are looking forward to Thanksgiving...this will be the first Thanksgiving Derek has had off so we are really looking forward to that! I feel kind of bad for Thanksgiving because I feel like it is an overlooked holiday...so sad. But we are totally going to enjoy November and take time to be thankful for all we have!

Big boy!

We tood a trip to the Lemoore air show

First time on a pony

Making Pumpkin Cookies