Somewhere in the Middle

     Alright, so I don't know when I became clueless about clothes but it's happened and now I am not a fan of shopping.  I love jeans and I'd wear them daily for the rest of my life if I could.  Currently I do not own a pair of favorite jeans and that bothers me so instead of heading out with babies in tow to go shop for some I took to the internet.  My problem arose when I discovered that my choices are low rise, hip hugging teen jeans or the dreaded blob of blue that is called "mom jeans".  Why hasn't someone invented a stylish pair of jeans that young moms can wear(without exposing their panties and derriere)to flatter our curvy figures??  I am serious, this is ridiculous.  I refuse to wear jeans that come up past my belly button but I can't go around with my muffin top hanging out either.  I'm about to celebrate my 2 year anniversary of turning 25(lol)so I think that entitles me to own jeans that I feel comfy and classy in. I guess I'll just keep on searching and hopefully I'll find a great pair of jeans soon.  If not I can be in the next Saturday Night Live commercial for Mom Jeans.  Haha!

Hearne Family Update

     I haven't posted anything on this blog in forever!  I made it awhile back just for myself to write randomness that I didn't want on Facebook, but now since I no longer have fakebook I decided to make this our little family info page.  Hopefully I'll have time to write about stuff every once in awhile that the guys are doing and post some pictures on here too.  Can't make any promises though, it gets crazy hectic around here. 

     Anywho just a quick update.  Jesse is in 2nd grade now and we've informed him that this is a big deal, no more S for Satisfactory but real grades.  He got his first taste of just how real it was yesterday when he came home with 2 sheets of math homework back and front, spelling & vocabulary words to study, and reading to himself for twenty minutes.  He was not happy at all after 3 hours passed...poor guy.  He likes his teacher though and so do I!  She actually taught him for awhile in kindergarten too; as an aide to his teacher then.  He's super glad to have three good buddies in the same class with him.

     Jacob started Kindergarten this year and of course he LOVES school!  He actually couldn't wait to go to the "real school" as he calls it.  I'm guessing he thinks that expensive preschool we sent him to last year was just for fun.  Haha!  Jake has already made a best friend named Lee who sits across from him.  Thursday was Muffin's with Mom because their letter of the week was "M".  His teachers seem great and friendly too.

     Joseph wishes he could go to school.  He gets sad/mad when they get out of the car in the mornings.  Over the summer he got really close to Jake and will mimic the things he says or does, too cute!  He is doing a bit better with Jude but it's still a work in progress.  I am glad that me and Joe Joe get some one on one now that school has started.  We've gone to the Children's Museum with his little buddy Konner and they had lots of fun there.  Joey's new thing he's into is reading, he will go climb the boy's bunk bed ladder to reach the higher books on the shelf.  He's a pretty smart 2 year old and thinks he can do anything big brothers do.  Joey no longer sleeps with Mom and Dad! After 7 years now we have the whole bed to ourselves...never thought it would happen. Lol.  One last thing cute that he does, anytime we sit down at the table to eat he will reach both hands out and say, "come on, amen" meaning he wants to hold hands and say the prayer before we eat.  It never fails to make me smile.  Sometimes he wants to say the prayer more than once in the middle of eating.  He's getting closer to God. :)

     Jude is now all over the place!  He crawls but not the normal way; his knees never touch the ground and Phillip says he looks like a bear cub but I think it somewhat resembles the exorcist chick crawling down the stairs. Hah! Jude also "cruises" and for a least a month now he's been standing up on his own and prefers to do so without something to hold on to, it's crazy.  None of the other guys were this ballsy at his age so I'm foreseeing a dare devil...not good.  He eats and eats and if you are eating you better get him some food too or he'll squeal at you.  Jude still sleeps in his own bed and he wants to be placed in his bed when he gets tired, he doesn't like sleeping on me.  It still shocks me, but the guy likes his space and his bed. 

     Well, the second week of school is over and the boys have already brought home the first fundraiser of the year...gotta love PTO.  The thing that irks me is they send the children to the auditorium/cafeteria to listen to the fundraiser people give a speech informing the kids of all the goodies junk(that usually falls apart in one day)that they will receive by selling things.  Jake just came home and gushed, "Mommy I getta ride in the big, long car(hummer-limo thingy)and eat pizza!"  Seriously??  I know I know, the school needs to make money somehow and I am totally supportive of that. But come on, my five year old isn't exactly aware of how much he needs to sell in order to win that camera he wants(72 items!)or the awesome ride in the hummer with a pizza party. We have done a ton of these in the past and they are just a big headache.  I'm all for buying a t-shirt, a magazine, or my fav tub of cookie dough(that disappears w/o actually baking any cookies)here and there, but it's only been two weeks of school so far people! 

     During the first week they had a movie watching party and beforehand they sent home a list of junk food that the children could purchase to consume during the movie.  Yay!! That's exactly why I send my kids to school...you know, so they can eat candy, watch movies, and become young jump-down-your-throat salesmen.  LOL!

     Anyways enough ranting about public school.  Today is Friday and also the 5th day of my di...lifestyle change.  I ultimately want to drop at least 30 pounds.  I realized no weight was coming off by doing my walk/jog on the treadmill thus the dietary change.  I thought I would miss my sweet, sweet tea but I actually don't have any hankerings for it.  What I didn't expect is how much I would drool over chips(any kind of chip).  Lol.  Ending my love affair with chips is so sad.  I eat way too many so I had to cut it cold turkey since I show no self control what-so-ever.  On a great note, thank the LORD for pork rinds! 

     Last Saturday we took family pictures for the first time EVER! 

I have plenty to give out but I will need to buy the right stuff to send them in so they don't get bent or I can wait to give them in person.

Beach shot...too bad we weren't really there.

Our little guys all together.

Joey and Jude were always doing there own thing, lol. One of the many reasons we waited so long to take family pics.

My lil cowboy is almost 9 months!

Had to capture those blue eyes before they're gone.

Jude dude wasn't giving smiles at all but as soon as we left he was happy again.

Seeing how much Joey has grown up here is so bittersweet!

He's half way to 3 now.

I can still see Jake's little baby face, always so happy and smiling.

Can't believe he's in kindergarten, time flies!

All I thought here was my gosh, Jes is 7 going on 17.

Such a good big brother and helper to mom.

First baby and last baby.

My two babies in between. Subconsciously I think I had 4 kids just so I could avoid hearing "middle child syndrome" stories, not buying it. Lol.

I love this man so much. Almost 10 years together in November!

    

The World of Fiction

     Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of make-believe. I have been since I was a little girl and my room was filled with porcelain unicorns and posters of rainbows; not to mention the entire collector's edition of The Wizard of Oz figurines. Okay so all that being said it is easy to understand why I enjoy sticking my nose in a fantasy book and spending time with my imagination in another world far different from my own. Now I know what all of you are thinking. Yes I have a family and of course I love and adore my life. I know I am very blessed and I thank the Lord each day for what I have. Sometimes though a women has to find her identity again.


     Some women choose therapy shopping, others enjoy cooking, many of them go for a walk but for me I curl up with a great fictional book about romance and vampires. Yes vampires! Not the evil and demonic kind but the good and vegetarian kind. Okay so if you haven't guessed yet I am a twilight fan or twi-mom, twi-hard, whichever you prefer. I know that many men out there are wondering "what is it with women and this vampire crap?", right? Well you have come to a good source because my husband asked the same question to me just last night.


     As a student who is majoring in psychology I am always trying to think of why we do the things we do. I know why I enjoy these types of books and here is my list.


1.) Love and romance

2.) Mystery

3.) Something to look forward to

4.) Escaping the land of diapers, and "come wipe my butt" shouts from down the hall

5.) It makes me happy

6.) Excitement

7.) When I read them I feel like I'm a part of the adventure

8.) Something that is my own and isn't based on me being a mother or wife

9.) I laugh and giggle out loud

10.) Its something for me and I enjoy it!


     I think that everyone in general needs something that they enjoy that is their own. My husband provided a good example to this with some men and football or other sports. Or for example its hunting season right now and some women hardly even see their spouses or boyfriends during this time. The definition of a hobby is an activity or interest pursued outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure. There you have it all in a nutshell yet because reading about vampires doesn't seem normal we are constantly being questioned why. No one can say "well sports are a normal hobby but reading about vampires is weird", because it doesn't work that way. I'm pretty sure there are men out there whose hobby is porn but do we question how normal that is? Okay sorry that was the sarcastic person in me, bad analogy.


     I simply know that for me personally I enjoy having something to do with my spare time if I even get any. I get a thrill waiting for the next book in a series to come out just like a dude gets excited about fight night. I love when they turn the book into a movie because it means I get to see a world I have been living in(through my head)come to life on the big screen. I'm not the woman who enjoys shopping for clothes and cooking isn't fun for me unless it involves baking some sort of dessert. Reading is my hobby and right now more specifically it is reading about vampires but I also read other things too.


     Prior to having children I loved any Nicholas Sparks book and saw the movies and purchased the soundtracks as well. The difference from the old me to the present me is that back then I had many other activities going on so my reading didn't monopolize my time because I was always doing something. The me now is defined first as a wife, then as a mother and that is it. My days are spent doing chores, cooking, taking care of my little boys and working from home while going to school part-time. What else do I do or have that does not involve doing something for my husband or children? Well let me tell you it's not getting pampered and going for a manicure every two weeks like I use to pre-baby days. I can't look forward to dressing up nice and going out with my hubby either since we live hours away from the closest family member who can watch my children.


     So to the men-who-hate-the-vampire-crap I propose that you be sweet to your ladies and deal with it, just like we deal with your fishing, hunting, football, and fight nights. Or there is that saying if you can't beat them join them! Who knows you might enjoy the vampire world too.

Junior High Blues

     My youngest sister headed off to junior high this year, she's officially a seventh grader. I called her after her first day of school and we began discussing how her day went. She told me of her possible fav-teachers-to-be and that she got lucky in getting "A lunch" instead of B or C. All of this junior high talk started to take my mind down an awkward and miserable path that I hate to remember in the slightest bit.

     Junior high was awful. We had moved that summer and I was forced to say adios to my old friends and enter into a brand new school with kids that had already formed their little clics from attending elementary together. I was on the outside looking in. I still remember with a vivid mental image how happy and excited all the other children looked to be in a "big" school were a teacher no longer escorted you from one class to the next.  I on the other hand was not happy; I was crying and screaming on the inside. When my mom's car pulled up she said, "Okay have a good day, I love you!". I desperately asked her why she wasn't walking me in and she replied that I was too old for that and had to go on my own.

     I'm laughing as I write this now but back then it felt like what a baby bird might feel if a mother bird were to kick her out of the nest and she had no skills in flying and was tumbling to the ground sure to face death. Once I made it inside it was apparent that I had no friends and had to stand against a wall by myself until the first bell rang. It continued on this same way every day for what seemed like an eternity, but were probably just a couple of weeks. Then one day in dreaded P.E. our coach wanted us to play basketball and picked two girls to pick their own team-mates at random. Yep, we've all witnessed this scene in movies and TV but until your actually living in it you really don't know the humiliation and horror.

     So, here I was lined up against the cold brick wall while two pretty, popular girls went back and forth calling out everyone's name but mine. Thank goodness this is when the Lord decided to throw me a friend and her name was Vanessa.  I will never forget it because we were the last two girls standing and waiting to be picked. We began to talk and laugh about how embarrassed we were and became friends quickly; after that junior high wasn't so unbearable.

     My whole reason for writing this though was because now that I am an adult I'm wondering why the heck that coach suggested picking teams like that in the first place? She had to have known that at the age of 13 children aren't picking team-mates based on their skills in basketball. It was solely based on popularity and friends. The whole awful moment could have been easily avoided if the coach would have numbered us all 1 and 2 like they did in elementary and then we would have been separated evenly into two teams with no conflict. Did the coach want to see the loners suffer or was she thinking that this rejection process was something that all kids have to go through at some point? In my opinion it's as if there is a junior high staff meeting being held each year where the teachers discuss the different ways to "help" us kids get ready for high school.

     Maybe I am being melodramatic but I had to put that thought out there. I am praying that my sons will not have to suffer as I did. Hopefully they'll get their Dad's good luck in school and have tons of great buddies...but just in case the process of rejection is still around I will be quick to remind them to help out the new kid and give them a spot on their team first.