Honey Badger is such a little sweetheart but as soon as he became a big brother, he became quite the warrior. He's already giving his older sister a hard time by chasing her around the house. The photo above was the cutest and most adorable picture that I saw all day! Here's to many more years and memories of playing, caring and growing with your children. Here's to always being there for each other. Here's to keeping the joy, laughter, smiles and love for each other a daily habit for all of us. Thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement and thanks to everyone who continues to love us. Monday, March 19, 2012 Last week was spring break with our kids. It was the first of 3 long weeks away from each other. The next one was scheduled from the 28th of March thru May when I got home. Then after we had a surprise birthday party for the kids. The last one was June thru August when we went to Wisconsin for two weeks and then the last week was the trip to Texas to go camping. So there were three big breaks from each other. Then there was a long 6 month separation. During this time from March thru August there was some great trips and a lot of fun, but there was a lot of missing each other. I did learn to be by myself and to read and go places and play with the kids myself for the most part. I guess that's what I did all those years I was a SAHM so I'm learning a lot about that now. One of the things that I have to remember is that I don't need a lot of help anymore when it comes to my daughter. We don't have that 'one on one' time anymore since she's in middle school but it's been awesome having her call me on her cell phone when she needs me and then coming over and visiting with her. She's home this summer so we have a lot of time to hang out with each other. She and I always get ready for the weekend by setting our alarms for 7:00am. We then head out and hit the local market and get our groceries and then we spend the rest of the time just walking around and doing chores, like laundry and mopping. Oh yeah we also eat in all our favorite restaurants when we go to town on Saturday. When it's just the two of us, we usually watch 2 or 3 movies at night then go to bed at a decent hour. I'm not a huge fan of daytime TV and I have little interest in the daytime TV shows for older kids that are on. I always find them a little boring and then I feel guilty about not watching something that I paid to see so I'm not being a good mom, so I leave the room when they start talking about those shows. The reality is that when you get older you really don't need your parents watching you, it's best if they're watching something else. I try not to worry about what we will do with them or if they will ever leave the house, if they don't, they probably will for college. It's not like we have a lot of time left in the day to have them play games in the house. Right now I just try to watch TV with them. I try not to let them know I'm bored. That's the best part of being an empty nester, I can be in the same room with them without feeling guilt. It's hard being the parent and trying to get them to help me out, but I'm not the only one having that problem. Even though I'm still tired at the end of the day, it's easier to stay up later now that the kids are gone for long stretches during the night. I still don't watch a lot of TV but I did find this show recently on Lifetime that I like. I really can't think of anything that I really want to watch and really, even though I'm at a breaking point with Temptation island, I still can't bring myself to watch a lot of it. I still need to be a little sneaky in watching it. There are also the shows that come on around 8:00am on ABC Family, the Disney channel and the Hallmark channel, but then I see them and miss them. Sometimes I catch myself walking by a movie just sitting on the screen and I'm feeling like seeing it again, but then I remember that I'm too old to have a TV playing in the house. I still love those shows, but they don't have to be in my life anymore. Some of my new favorites these days are, I Am Sam, Temptation Island, Undercover Boss, Big Brother and Survivor. Sometimes it's a fun challenge figuring out what to watch. I've been watching a lot of the TV shows that they show at 8pm on Lifetime. That's when I like watching stuff. This month's episodes that I got hooked on were, Catching Kelsey, Saving Genoa and Undercover Boss. I'm also watching a lot of old favorites like CSI, Blue Bloods, Criminal Minds, Two and a Half Men and a lot of movies. I'm also watching some shows that I've been watching forever like Friends, Grey's Anatomy, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, One Tree Hill, Criminal Minds, Nip/Tuck, American Idol, The Office and my new favorite show, The Tudors. Life gets a little crazy with the kids in the house as they are, so at least the TV is there for me when I need to be distracted. A lot of people ask me how I get along without my mom. I think I'm doing pretty well. I just don't feel a need to go and make her something to eat. I just eat when I'm hungry. I'm trying to stay with my morning exercise schedule, and in the past that has helped me be patient with myself and know that I've earned my relaxation. I try to let my kids know that I have enough things to think about all by myself and sometimes it doesn't get the same reaction that I think I'm going to get. I guess the biggest thing is that I try not to let them take advantage of me in any way. Sometimes I think I'm getting a little paranoid about how they're going to treat me after they leave. Sometimes they are the best part of my day, but other times I feel a little guilty that I'm missing out on so much because I don't have them. These days it's more like once in a while I miss a game that they are playing. Once in a while I don't miss their company, but most of the time I'm glad that I still get to see them and that I can let them know how much I care. I'm doing better than I thought I would be and I still love them. I'm not going to take them away from each other. I'm going to have a lifetime to spend with my kids and I'm thankful for that. There will always be times where I'll miss them and then other times where I can be with them. I'm glad that I don't have to worry too much about them. The best part of today, is that I know that there are people in the world who have more than just one kid and that I've been there. That day was good because we did get some photos of all of them together. I took them out to breakfast at the mall in the food court area. There were two tables next to each other so the kids could spread out and relax with a latte, coffee and of course a big breakfast, so they were all having a good time. I was really happy that we were there because I was not really feeling good. I was glad to get my family photos and I was glad to get to have a nice breakfast for the day. Saturday, March 10, 2012 Since my youngest son was born he's gotten his own personal bedroom. It is a big room with a closet that I kept as part of the basement. They converted a portion of it into my old closet and made my daughter's old closet into a guest bedroom. So it still feels like my daughter's old room. I do need to clean it up a bit because it's kind of messy, but I think my son will have that mess cleaned up in just a few years. My daughter will have her room cleaned up by the time she is off to college. After we ate breakfast I wanted to go upstairs and see if I could clean up my daughter's old room. Then I remembered that there was a piece of furniture in there that was supposed to be in the basement. It was a little closet that they would use when they came home for a visit. I started bringing things out of the closet and then I found one of my daughter's shirts. I had a lot of memories with that shirt because it was the first