The post about how I ditched my family for 3 days

I've posted on and off about a group that the kids and I are in called MOPS. It stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. Its a ministry for moms of young kids. Once a month, MOPS has a meeting at a local church, the moms come and are split into tables for the year and have a nice breakfast and enjoy uninterupted chat or a guest speaker while nice ladies care of our babes and teach them good bible stuff. Another time during the month we have a playdate. Sometimes the huge group of 30-40 moms and kids, sometimes just the table we are at. Win Win. My kids love MOPS. I love MOPS.

Last year I was asked to be a Table Leader. I was in charge of 8 women, leading discussions, asking for prayer requests, putting together playdates, being a listening ear and bringing food to them when they birthed babies. It was hard, in a sense because I got some moms that insisted on getting knocked up and others that I didn't know how to help, but I loved it all the same. This year I am a table leader again, but also took on a role of hospitality. I bring door prizes, thank you gifts for the speakers and birthday goodies for the kids and mommies.

I was asked to go to their yearly convention when I first became a table leader and I wasn't ready. I didn't know what to expect and I was nervous and just......I don't know. They asked me again this year and offered to pay my way and made it sound fun and helpful and I said yes. So I went.

On Wednesday, the kids were so crazy and picking on each other, I made them hug for 20 minutes straight.  It kind of worked. This behavior helped me not feel bad about leaving.

Thursday morning, I got in a church van with 7 other women and hit the road for Kansas City. OMG I was freaking out. I'd left lunches for the kids at school for 2 days, I'd left Rob lists of what goes in their backpacks, what meds to give them and a million other things. I think stay at home moms have a certain amount of 'everything will fall apart if I don't oversee everything' that they don't mean to have. I had it. I did it to myself. This trip was good because it forced me to give up some things and Rob to take them on. 

We got to KC at 2:30. I was wearing my typical mom outfit of workout pants and a Razorback tshirt. By 3pm I was dressed like a member of society that has a button on her pants and ready to go!

Non Mommy clothes!!!!

I was pleasantly surprised that the convention wasn't all "Shout to the Lord". Don't get me wrong, there was plenty of that.

This one inparticular lasted 3 hours. It involved a Christian comedian so it was all good.

Oh, and this one. This lady has a following like no other. Beth Moore. I was the only one of the girls I went with that had never heard of her. Whoopsie. She was good, had a good message, but she's too grandiose for me.

Instead of all "shout to the Lord" there was a ton of workshops. This one in particular, brought out Sara's inner dork. This woman helped me stay at home with the kids. She taught me about couponing. She taught me about Swagbucks. She taught me about eating from the pantry when money gets tight. I love her. And she was there!!!! My stay at home mom celebrity!!!! Her workshop was about 25 ways to save on groceries without using coupons. SIGN ME UP!

Then, Dr. Keppner from Grey's Anatomy was there! Holy moses. All my worlds were colliding in such a good way. SHOUT TO THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!

Just when I'd had my fill for the day of workshops and shouting to the Lord, the girls and I went out to Kobe for a meal. I must say, MOPS did not feed us great. It was pretty pitiful in all actuality. I was so happy to bury my face in some fried rice.

And Laura drank from the butt of a ceramic lady. It was virgin. We were within a mile of shouting to the Lord, you know!

Our hotel

My girls on our way to a workshop.

Melissa, muah, Laura, Lori.

Amber, Joy, Lynda, Michelle, Amber

A whole lot of women. Not one catfight. Not one, "you have to do what I want to do." Good people. Though we do all have vampire eyes. At least we have matching MOPS chevron shirts.

I rarely talk about my beliefs and such on the blog. This is probably the first time I've said the word God. I've always been religious. I was raised Catholic and this raising made me the person I am today. I wouldn't be who I am without my home church. I've tried my whole adult life to fit in a church like I did in my youth and this happened about 6 months ago when we started going to Sardis UMC. It is a different religion than I'd grown up with, but in my heart, I felt this was best for me and my family and where our beliefs are. We have found a home there, the kids go to school there, and for the first time, in my adult life, I feel very very very close to God. 

This convention would not have been the same for me if I'd gone last year. I wasn't ready mentally or emotionally to learn so much and open my heart so much. I would have rolled my eyes. I would have had stuff go in one ear and out the other. I've done a lot of growing up in the last year. This convention was good for my soul. It raised questions in me that I want to read, listen and learn the answers for. I have a stack of books by the speakers to read and I cannot wait to dive into them. I came home a better mother, wife and child of God. I know I sound like I'm trying to get an endorsement deal, but its the truth.

For any one that cares, I thought I'd list the speakers that I loved and how you can find out more about them.

Kathi Lipp-Organizing

Crystal Pain-decreasing grocery bill

Jen Hatmaker-I loved her so much. She has such a good message

Elisa Morgan-Talked about remaining spiritual in the midst of feeling broken. 

Ken Davis-a Christian comedian. I almost peed myself. I swears. 

Lysa Terkeurst-I want to be her best friend. She talked about being a Mess, like a HOT HOT MESS and still learning life lessons from God.

Jennifer Degle-Identifying things that are draining your energy and what to do about them. this little lady was crazy in a good way.

As for my family back home......

They survived. Rob got them to school and picked them up on time. He took them to a car show AND to the fair. They ate waffles and chicken on a stick and Max saw many many many farm animals. I got home at 3am Sunday morning and at 5:30am Rylan came in to wake Rob up and found me and the "MOMMY!!!!" that came out of his mouth and the hugs and kisses that followed made that 2.5 hours of sleep worth it. Max on the other hand, was like "oh hey" and asked to watch Mickey Mouse. That's my children in a nutshell. Max is easier to please, was an easier baby, and doesn't have the fits, but Rylan has more love in him than I can even describe on 10 blogs. Together they make the perfect pair. I missed them.

Max's 3rd birthday

Max turned 3 thirteen days ago. Bad mommy. Even worse? His party was 9 days before that! The blog needed to be ignored and the babies and the job and the schoolwork and the therapy and the mother of everything that is holy asthma that inevitably rares its ugly head in fall needed 100% attention.

So, back yourself up to September 21. Imagine an ALMOST 3 year old. He wanted a bounce party, so instead of going to a bounce place, it was the same price to rent a bounce house for 8 hours. Rob smoked pork and we did hot dogs for the kids and I went nuts with Nickjr.com on some Team UmiZoomi decorations. All in all, it was a pretty simple party.

I want a bounce house all day every day at my house. This was so fun. I highly recommend it.

We got the kind with the slide. Of course.

The babes pretended to love each other.

So many friends and fam came. Grandparents, school friends, MOPS friends, church friends. The perfect mix of people that we love.

This year I tried to BACK way off on my gift giving. I tend to want quantity and end up getting a bunch of crap. I had heard rumor of

SOMETHING THEY WANT

SOMETHING THEY NEED

SOMETHING THEY CAN READ

It made it so much better. Less expensive, better quality, less crap. We got him a horse barn that had 7 horses. He is wild about horses, donkeys, mules, anything with hooves and a mane. His need was underwear and socks and his read was some Tag Junior books. 

Grammy and Papa brought Max a picture book about himself. He loves it. 

Dear Max

 At 3, you love anything horses, you love farm animals, you love the zoo. You sing all the time and know most of the theme songs to all your shows. You are incredibly smart and blow me away with what you know. You currently sleep on the floor a lot and that's a little.....different, but oh well. You would eat cereal, applesauce, oatmeal, granola bars, bananas, and yogurt for every meal if we'd let you. Basically you are a walking, talking continental breakfast. Max, please know: we love you so much. Always have, always will. You were the last piece of the Rob and Sara pie to make us whole. Thanks for being our kid.

Summer is coming to an end

I'm completely crazy right now. "Getting into the swing of things" is just not something I do very naturally. So, here's a picture post of all the goings on in our house.

Razorback football is in full swing. 

Pool stuff is 75% off. Rylan is reeping the benefits.

When Rylan isn't looking, so is Max.

Fall consignment sales have costumes on the cheap

MOPS is back!!!! The kids are so happy. I'm a table leader again this year and I took on an extra role as Hospitality which basically means I get to spend MOPS's money, but really means I get the speakers gifts for giving us their time, prepare door prizes and have a basket of birthday presents ready. Did I mention I'm having trouble getting my stuff together? Yeah, I need to be more organized if I'm going to take on more roles.

We had a garage sale and Rob decided to make the big move to sell his Budweiser lamp. He marked it at $7 (its rusting at the base) and SUPRISE! no one bought it. 

Almost 3 years after we bought it for him, Rylan is enjoying the swingset

Snow boots not required

Really enjoying it

Until your almost 3 year old decides he'd like to finally have the Terrible Two's. Its awful. His fits are long and not fun. I think this one was about his lack of cereal for a snack.

And, like a typical 2 year old, he's back to normal suddenly in true Jekyll/Hyde fashion

And then you take him to Kroger and he crawls out of the cart and then tries to get back in and his mean mom says "no, you crawled out when I told you not to, now you walk" and this happens. Forever. And ever. I needed a drink. 

This is an hour after the previous pic. Helping me make brownies on Mommy and Max day. ERMAHGERD he's insane.

Insane and cute and unable to sleep in a bed.

In the last month, we've traveled to Fayettville, gone to two Razorback tailgates, put a new compressor in our van, started the kids in a new school, joined a new Wednesday night class and dinner at church, started a new year of MOPS, added a work day, went to a birthday party, reupholstered our kitchen chairs, and had a garage sale. Life is full and life is good. One day I'll get my shiz together. No worries, I'm still able to keep up with Project Runway and almost caught up on Grey's Anatomy. I do have priorities after all.

Finish this sentence Link Up

I've missed like 10 of these. Or maybe 2, but I love them. Even if my readers don't. This is purely selfish. Sorry, not sorry.

My happy place... a checkout at the grocery store when I have a gigantic stack of coupons and the cashier looks like I am the devil. Like she'd have a million other places she COULD be if I hadn't given her that stack of coupons. Second to this is when I knock a horrific amount off my grocery bill.(I know I'm the lamest human at this moment). 

Whatever happened to... women's shirts that weren't paper thin? I embrace the mess that is my lovehandles, muffin top, baby shelf and dunlap, but do I need a showcase for them. Dear Old Navy: I'm done with you.

So what if I.... wore a dress today, not because I wanted to be dressed up, or because it makes me look good, but because I recently discovered I had failed to unpack a small suitcase of clean clothes from the trip to Fayetteville 9 DAYS AGO and I made myself wear something out of the suitcase so I wouldn't have to hang it up. Because I ooze class, responsibility, and cleanliness. 

E! needs a reality show about... life post fast loss show. I watch Biggest Loser, Heavy, Extreme Weight Loss, I Used to be Fat, and I am embarrassed at how much time is spent wondering how many people kept off their weight. All while failing to lose mine in the first place.

My go-to fast food meal is... When Sonic has the chicken tender box with the solo onion ring. I just love it. With a Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper. Because I'm on a diet and all, with my box of grease, I have to have diet soda.

You might not know that I... worked in a Chemistry Lab at one time in my life. My house looks like a chemistry lab explosion and the breakfast I took to MOPS this morn proved to not be my best work in the kitchen mixing ingrediants, so the fact that I was alone with chemicals and such is scary. Luckily I was pretty much a glorified secretary. Job paid good. 

The hottest quarterback in the NFL is... Like I really have an answer to that sentence. Hottest quarterback in a movie? James VanDer beek

If I could... Get my house clean and to stay clean, I'd be a happy woman.

My personality is awesome because... I often act like I could give a shiz. When people are upset about stuff, especially at work, I somehow chill out and remind everyone that its all going to be okay. Which annoys everyone. Plus, later that day, I will bite off all my fingernails and be unable to sleep with worry. I'm crazy like that. But at least I'm able to spread a sense of calm and happy for others.

Twerking is.... Probably a good source for calorie burn, but makes you look like a total douche canoe. It really makes your butt look like its separated from your body. Anybody seen this vid? I know that my moves back in the day, when I frequented da club were not all I thought they were, but how is this sexy?

I think it's super gross when... I go into a public restroom and there's poo in the toilet. I vomit. I do. Or gag. A lot.

Someone needs to tell Miley Cyrus.... don't break my heart. My achy breaky heart. With your foam finger and teddy bear backpack.

New school and Mommy and Max Day

This is like two weeks a tad late, but oh well. My little boys both started a new school late August. Rylan is now going 3 days a week. I am having heart palpitations just writing that. It just feels like time flew. Every parent says this, its such a cliche, but seriously, I was just quitting my full time gig yesterday to stay home with my 10 month baby because it was best for our family.

The church we joined early this year has a Developmental Preschool in it. I've known for years that a lot of my MOPS friends take their kids there to prepare for kindergarten and get some mommy time, but I started hearing lots of good things about their program and started thinking that the way they "teach through play" was right up Rylan's alley. When we took him out of a preschool a year ago and I did HIPPY at home with him, we did ok, but it was obvious he needed more. He has some delays with hand grip and balance, retaining things like abcs and numbers recognition, and he basically needs some class structure to keep him on task. He's had a lot of free time with mom and we butt heads when its time for me to crack the whip and get him to learn.

On Tuesdays Rylan goes to school on his own. He started Pre-K August 19th.

I didn't get a fancy chalkboard, just erased my grocery list. I'm cool like that.

What he wants to be when he grows up:Spiderman

Favorite Food: noodles

Best Friend: Andrew

Favorite Song: I will Wait by Mumford and Sons

On Thursdays and Fridays both boys go to school and I go to work. Here's Max on his first day of the 3 year old class. He's trying to show me his shark back pack. He backed into every room that day to show everyone.

Dapper little kid.

Now onto a new thing at our house: Mommy and Max day. Every Tuesday. The little boy that was born into a home that already housed a 22 month old and has never had mommy alone a day of his life that he wasn't sick finally gets a little Mommy time. It only took (almost) 3 years. He wasn't complaining, but he sure isn't complaining about some alone time.

Our kids aren't really at the "they play awesome together" stage. I hope it comes. For their sake and for ours. They fight. A lot. They don't like the same things, they pick on each other. Rylan is bigger, Max is small and spry. Someone gets hurt daily in what started out as simple playing.

The first Mommy and Max day I offered Max choices of where to go and he chose home. He just wanted to stay home. So we did.

He played with his car ramp by himself like an angel forever.

Then we walked to our duck pond. Captain Crunch for the toddler, bread for the ducks.

.

One day I will write a children's book about bullying and it will star this a-hole goose in the front. If you are being such a jerk that a 2.75 year old says "hey duckie! Calm down!!!" you are being inappropriate.

After naps for each of us, we watched a movie and ate popcorn and snuggled. Such a good day.

Mommy and Max Day 2

I needed an oil change so we ventured to Bryant to try out a new place and play at Chick Fil A after. This kid eats like a linebacker. We'd already had breakfast so I just ordered coffee and apple juice. 10 minutes later he tells me he's hungry for his lunch. It was 9:05am. So we had 2nd breakfast and played for hours while I clipped coupons. It was glorious.

We then went to Walmart for groceries, and because I only had one kid and there wouldn't be a fight, he got to play on my Iphone the entire time. This was awesome for him, but he was too dang good and I stayed forever and spent hoards of money. I think the fact that I shop with a two and four year old saves more money than coupons because when the shit hits the fan, and they start getting cray cray, I am like "who cares what else we need, we're leaving!"

Mommy and Max Day #3

Library time. We went to Toddler Story Time and checked out whatever he wanted then went home and watched his newly rented movies and read all of our books. 

I am so thankful to get this extra time with Max. 

A good weekend and Get Your S*@t Together September

Ahhhh......its the most special time of the year. Time for the Qualls fam to spend copius amounts of time in the car going to Fayetteville, our future hometown, to be major Razorback fans.  This weekend was the first game. With a new coach and a new outlook on our team, we decided to attend the first game, one we usually skip. And by attend, I mean Rob attends and I tailgate only. I don't really have the attention span to make the ticket price worthwhile. Its pitiful.

It really is a damn shame that on the way there, the compressor went out in our van, in 104 degree heat and we have no AC. Its hot, damn hot. Gave the weekend shotty start. Good thing we ended up at the Chateau Tramont, home of two of my sisters, a brother in law and my neice and nephew. Basically most of my kids favorite people under one roof.

My pre-tailgating, pre-humity, pre-hottest day of the year fixed hair and face. Mama got some alone time with a makeup bag and chi iron. I looked presentable!

At this point we were 4 hours in and we were starting to boil. I was ticked at myself for that extra hairsprayed do that wouldn't go into a presentable ponytail. Next time, skip the chi iron and go hat.

The grill meisters.

Afterwards, I straight up stripped down to a tank top in the car

Meanwhile, back at my sister's house. Angie babysat while I got to sit and sweat on myself. It was the most fun sweating I've done in a while!

To be young and not feel heat.

After jumping, there was helmet wearing

On Sunday, we met up with Rob's sister and her kids and went bowling. So fun. I love to bowl. I will update this post once I get the pics off Rob's phone. Kid's first time to bowl. So so so fun. 

A good time had by all!

And now for Get Your S*@t together September. One of the blogs I stalk read, written by Amber, Crafty Healthy Mommy, is coming down off a bad September. She's lost a bijillion pounds and had a bad month. I'm jealous she had a bad month. Like one bad month.  I've had a bad half month for like 4 years. I do half good and half pretty bad each month which has equaled me being 40lbs overweight and the scale not budging. She's had a come to Jesus and is getting her shit together in September. I like her style. I'm gonna get my shit together too. No half month good/half month bad. No more undoing all the good the recent cleanse did. No more having one cheat meal turn into 4 cheat meals. No more no more no more. Thank you, Amber, for the motivation.