I can be thankful before Thanksgiving, right?

  Well good MORNING blogger world! How are you on this fabulous Thursday morning?! I am obviously doing better than most, what with my upbeat and bippity (what does that even MEAN AMANDA!?!?!) mood. Really my upbeat mood is totally coffee/doughnut induced thanks to the man meat I call my absolutely wonderful husband. Today I feel the need to vent, but what else is new? I feel like such a child lately with how much I let little things just ruin my day or how much I let the petty things people do affect me. It wasn't until recently that I was like this and I 100% blame it on being a mom (always finding the best in people and giving them the benefit of the doubt) and my boy scout husband that seems to act as my conscience (I guess normal people have those! and tear ducts? normal people are wack yo.) All too often it seems like I take more time out of my day to bitch about so-and-so and what they're doing to make my life a little less perfect and not enough time to be thankful for every single thing that I DO have in my life. I have a husband, that I love and adore beyond words. A husband who is my very best friend and I can tell any and everything to with absolutely no judgement passed at all. I have, in my eyes of course, the two most beautiful children that have ever walked (or crawled in Emmy's case) this earth. I have a dog... he's just a dog, but he's MY dog, my puppy boy as I so lovingly call him. I have a house, I might not own this house, but this is MY house that I put a lot of effort and hard work into every single day to make it a home. I have a job that I love and adore. I'm trusted to all but raise another person's child every single day and I take pride in doing that and knowing that I'm doing that well. I have the opportunity to turn my hobby of bow making and crafting into something more and I can share that with the world. I put A LOT of effort into everything I do and I think that is how it should be, that's how it will always be with me. I don't know how to half ass something thanks to my mom, I guess it didn't go in one ear and out the other eh?

  I don't want it to seem like I'm "bragging" because I'm not. I just had one of those days yesterday where I let something so petty and so minimal in the grand scheme of things overcome me and upset me and that NEVER should have been the case. I did however see yesterday who my real friends are. I saw who would be there for me and listen to me bitch about my pointless drama and I will say I was surprised, but not really. I just wish that the friends that are really "friends" did something to set them a part so it wasn't so hard to see who is really a two face back stabbing bi-atch of a person... you know like... they could do that coin flippy thing with a double sided coin like Two Face from Batman or... you know... they could just have two faces like him, but really that'd be kind of gross so I take that back. THAT is not the point of THIS post though. I'm thankful. I am thankful for everything and everyone I have in my life. I am thankful for the people that have been there for me through everything. I am thankful for those that have showed me who they really are through childish and petty actions. I truly am very thankful today for everything, the good AND the bad in my life.

  That being said, since I'm so thankful can I celebrate thanksgiving and eat my way into a coma tonight!?! It is Thursday you know : ) Aside from the petty nonsensical drama that I've had going on lately, which even isn't that much , I've just been kicking it with my little ladies. Emmy is getting so ridiculously big it breaks my heart haha She's actually eating food now, which is the best news my tits have heard in a  while, because those things are sore and tired. Har de har har. She's saying, "no." and "bye bye" and if you even mention Winston's name she goes on a mad hunt for that poor animal only to pull his hair and yell (happily of course) into his poor puppy ears, but he loves it and just lays there like a good boy and takes it gladly. It's gonna be a sad day when that pup boy passes away for my girls. I just envision the scene from Marley and Me and it makes me want to cry, too bad I DONT HAVE TEAR DUCTS! KAZOW!.... I'm sorry.... I'll never "kazow" you again, I don't know where that came from. My apologies. In July Lily starts T-ball, which i sincerely hope goes much much better than soccer did. My dear lord I have never see a child hate a sport more. At one point during her last game she was laying facedown on the field and I swear at one point I saw her throw her baby middle fingers in the air and scream, "#YOLO!" and she laid there on the ground and yes... she said hashtag. I think she dislikes it so much, because she doesn't like other people to touch her or to be pushed and the little boys on her soccer team went HAM all day er' day.... on Saturdays really, but you get me. My fingers are crossed that she likes t-ball much more. I did take it upon myself to get Emmy a baby shirt that says Lily's biggest fan on it with a cute baseball that has pink stitching and a pink bow on it. I'm THAT mom and I love it.

  I counted it out and Bryce goes home to mother Africa in 99 days. Everything about that sentence makes me sad, except the mother africa part, I thought that was pretty clever and for whatever reason when I say it I picture my husband standing at the top of pride rock holding a young lion cub in his hands like this:

 

Only, those lions would eat him and then I'd be sad all over again, but he really does look like that... he's a looker right!? I'm just trying to mentally prepare now and part of me wants it to happen already so that it can be done and over with. Once again I am VERY thankful he's not going somewhere insane and he's going to be very safe, but I still hate everything about it. I know a few people that  thinking I'm constantly "bitching" about the deployment, but really ladies that's not what I'm bitching about at all. I'd bitch if he were leaving for a week and you know why? Because HE'S MY BEST FRIEND! Nobody wants to be away from the one they love for that long, I don't care how many deployments you've been though, if there ever comes a time where you say to yourself, "You know, you're deploying and I don't really care because I've done it before." Then something isn't right and as of right now, I am going to bitch bitch bitch bitch B I T C H about him leaving all I want to, so SUCK ON THAT! That being said, I'm thankful I have the means of bitching via the interwebz whenever I want : )

  Alright Blogger world, you have stolen enough of my time and now it's time for me to finger paint and play patty cake all day long. So I'll leave you with this. Be thankful. Be thankful that it could be much worse and even if it couldn't get any worse, you could be dead and nobody wants that. Life's not that serious. Facebook isn't THAT serious. Learn who you need and who you don't and once you cut those ties, you will feel like a million pounds was lifted off your shoulders. Then be thankful that you did. Have a super bitchin' Thursday and remember... tomorrow is... FRIDAY FRIDAY GOTTA GET DOWN ON FRIDAY!!! <3

-Amanda

oh and here's a picture of my shmemy shmoo (yes, we call her that)

that's one cute mom... i mean... baby :p

OH OH and go look at this and possibly like it if you haven't done so? I'm trying to get my "likes" up and get the word out and about so any help is appreciated : )

Itty Bitty Bowtique <3

Wordless Wednesday

I make shit.... duh.

^^ Click that and check out my "bowtique"(original I know) in the making ^^

and enjoy this

no kisses will be taken sissy.

-Amanda

p.s.

I'm awful at wordless Wednesdays :p

We're well on our way to having a "big girl"

  No matter how much I don't want to think about it, I simply cannot ignore the fact that my little baby isn't so little any more and I dislike everything about it. Two days ago Emory Mae turned a whole TEN, that's right ladies and gents (who am I kidding, only vaginas read this thing) T-E-N.... 10.... diez.... and so on and so forth, months old. It baffles me that it's been that long since she made her way out of me and then I look at her and it makes sense. She's now a pro fake cryer, a pro furniture walker, a pro big sister annoyer, a pro teeth grower (we're on number 8 now... in 3 months) and a pro at waving bye-bye, doing "SO BIG!" and clapping. Most moms are overwhelmed with joy when they see their baby doing new things or experiencing firsts, I on the other hand dislike it. Not a lot, just a little and only because I still feel like she is my little baby or she should be at least. I don't know if she still seems so little to me, because I have Lily pops to compare her to or what, but to me she's still my teeny tiny 8 pound 1 ounce baby.

When E Money was 3 days old.

  As I watch her try and fake cry her way out of baby jail, I can't help but feel my heart cringe a little. My girls are going to grow up and I can't stop it. I can't stop them from going to school, well really I could, but I'm a lazy creature. I can't stop them from being bullied. I can't stop them from being the victim of mean horrible wretched girls. I can't stop them from falling in love with the wrong person. I can't stop their precious hearts from being broken into a million pieces by said douche bucket. I can't stop any of it. So what do I do? I embrace it, but not in the way that those creepy "younger" moms do where they borrow their daughters clothes and pretend to be their best friend, because of the fact that they "look alike". There's NOTHING okay with THOSE moms. I'm really going to embrace it and be their best friends. I'm going to be their activists. I'm going to be that PTA meeting, team mom, stick figure on the back of my care having mother and I'm going to love every minute of it, because I only get them to myself for a few more years and then they have to venture out into the big ol' world and I can't stop how that world is going to treat them. Oh and you can bet your sweet ass that once they're in that big ol' world, I'm going to be that mom that still cooks them dinner (providing that they're close enough of course.... or maybe I'll move to them :p) and does their laundry and sneaks money into their bank accounts. Basically, if you've seen Diane Keaton in Because I said so, that's going to be me. A little crazy about letting them go, but always with the best intentions.... and.... I probably won't sleep with their boyfriend's dad. PROBABLY, but no promises ladies.

And NOW she's 10 months.

  Aside from my daily mini freak outs about my babies leaving me, I've just been staying busy as usual. I finally struck a deal with my man meat about my bow business. I get an hour (thats right! 60 whole glorious minutes!) to myself a night to fill bow orders, do paper work.... Facebook and pinterest aimlessly, let's be real thats what i'll be doing mostly. I know it seems silly to have to set an hour aside for myself, but with the way the two of us work lately we're lucky if we can pee on our own anymore. Oh the never-ending joy of being parents right? Speaking of businesses, the daycare is going great! I am seriously so beyond happy that I decided to go this route in life. I have one full time baby and she's amazing. However, if Emory doesn't stop trying to sit on her and Lily doesn't stop trying to put baby doll clothes on her, I'm afraid she'll leave my house a little confused in life as to whether she should wear clothes 6 times too small and be a couch or not. <---- see what I did there? I made a joke! har har har! Look don't judge me, that small clothes wearing couch had me up at 5 a.m. this morning. O K A Y!?

  Now I'll leave you with two pictures. So enjoy those as much as you did reading this....which.... you know was THE FREAKING HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR DAY! (that was me tooting my invisible blog horn) and have a super day or night or afternoon or afternoon poop or whatever it is that you're going to be doing after this. : )

-Amanda.

Seriously, I have the cutest kids ever.
Idk if you noticed, but those are Pinkalicious "hair extensions"
Diva much? You know it.

As much as I love my job, this is the result of it at the end of the day.
A High Life Lite in a pink sparkly koozie on my boobie shelf.
<3

Come to find out, I'm not as much of an adult as I had planned.

  Being a military child/grandchild/wife you would think that I'd be at least SEMI prepared for the very real possibility of a deployment, right? Wrong. YOU are very wrong, because today when my husband looked at me and said, "We need to talk." I didn't think, "OH FUCK YOU'RE DEPLOYING BREAK OUT THE FOTHER MUCKIN TISSUES BRO!" Instead that child in me thought, "What did he buy that's really going to make my Wheaties taste like piss?" Truth be told, you're never going to be prepared to hear that the person you love is going to be leaving you for 6 months, because once it hits you all you can do is think about how much you're going to miss him and how much he's going to miss. I feel like such a brat, because I've been fortunate enough to never have had to really live totally on my own and in five short months that's totally happening and it's all mother air forces fault.
  I feel like I've really taken for granted how much time Bryce and I spend together and how he really is my best friend. Some days, he's the only adult I ACTUALLY get to interact with (besides the cute old ladies at Michael's that all happen to know not only my name, lily and Emory's names as well...problem much? I think so) I m just do used to having it all together all the time and now it's like, no. No you can't know what's always going to happen Amanda, because once you hurdle one obstacle, heres another one. Well fuck you very much life, I'm going to take this deployment by the horns and make it scream uncle, because I AM a very strong and very capable military spouse and you sir will not break me.
  That's being said, let us take some time to acknowledge the sever lack of blogging that I did after Christmas. I mean, 'the fruck was that?! It honestly was me being EXTREMELY busy. There really is no other piss poor excuse for my chitty interwebs behavior. So let us catch up, mmmmmkay? (as if I have any readers outside of my Facebook and lord knows you don't miss a thing about me there since I post every 6.6263 seconds) Aside from Bryce's birthday in January, that month was boring and cold. In February I turned a whole 23 years old! Can I get a woot? Now how about 2 woots? Thank you! I also, after 3 months of waiting, finally opened the FCC in my house and let me say I love love love my job!! Not only do I get to stay at home with my babies, but I also get to hang out with other babies an ct like a child all day. Who wouldn't love that?! March was filled with nothing. in April though, not only was I visited by both my families, but we also received the out of this world A W E S O M E news that Emory Mae Mande will NOT have to have surgery on her heart. Looks like the big guy reads blogs and felt bad that I called him out for being a bully.
 Now here we are already half way into May and I'm loving my life more than ever. With the exception of Bryce leaving me in October, my life is perfect.

It just so happens that not only is today daycare provider appreciation day but it is also military spouses appreciation day as well. Since I happen to hold both of those very tedious, but incredibly rewarding titles I think I'll treat myself to a Michaels shopping trip and a beer or three. Have an excellent mothers day all my fellow mommies, you're amazing and don't you ever forget it :)

-Amanda

OH WAIT!! Did you know I'm the only Amanda Mande in the good ol U S of A?! 'Murka. Fuck yeah.

Phone bloggin' say what?!

Yeah this is happening!! It's Christmas eve and apparently Emory Mae Mande knows it, because she is up and ready to go! I'm so excited for today and tomorrow that I can hardly stand it!! It's funny, because had you told 6 year old me that one day I'd grow up to have the greatest job in the world on Christmas (obviously talking about being mommy Clause), I would have told you that you're a liar and that you're going on the naughty list. Well, you literally could have only told aged 1-6 year old me that and gotten that response, because by age seven I discovered the trunk full of presents all addressed to me, from "Santa".... Thanks brother, you were only kind of a cotton headed ninny muggins for sullying my Christmas that year. *rolls eyes*. Anyways! Back to what I was saying, I'm thoroughly looking forward to cookie making for Santa and seeing the anticipation on Lily's face as she waits for him to come!!! Oh innocence. Right? Not to mention its our first Christmas together as a complete family and Emory's first Christmas ever! Gonna take million pictures?! You bet your sweet ass I am : )
Other than major Christmas excitement my freaking AMAZING husband bought us iPhone's and I have no clue what the hell I was doing before I had this wondrous machine! Oh wait, now I remember, I was wasting my life away with my joke of a phone called the sidekick *rolls eyes again* I'm sure once the OMFGZ I HAVEZ A IPHONE AND ITZ ALL MINEZ!!!!! FCEGHGHGAJIKBFYH!!! Wears off I won't be as obsessed, but for now Bryce gets husband of the week. I'd say year/month, but let's face it, my dad has been putting up with my mom for like 16 years now and that shit is no picnic. That lady is bat shit crazy, I love her, but she's nuts haha Kudos to you dad ;p Here's to hoping she hasn't learned to read my blog yet!
Chances are I'll be blogging again shortly after Christmas and new years (one of my best friends of like almost 10 years is coming to see me on the 1st!!!!!) and I'll have 1000000000 pictures for you to look at!! We all know I love pictures!!! Can you say photo dump? Of course you can.

Merry Christmas and in 5 short days Happy New Year!! <3

"What can I get here that has no sugar, no carbs, and is fat free? "

  Today something life altering happened to me. I had a Five Guys burger and let me tell you, McDonalds will never suffice again. I know I know, what a fat kid thing to say right? Wrong. Very very wrong. Anyone that knows me, knows that I have a mild obsession with diner burgers. There's just something about a good ol' never frozen and always delicious burger that hits the spot for me every time. Add pickles, lettuce, bacon and mustard to the equation and I'm in diner burger heaven.
  It just so happens that I have a very elitist friend (Ashley Watts knows what's up) and he told me that the only fast food burger he will put in his body is a Five Guys burger. Me, being the Five Guys illiterate person I was, thought he was just being Chase. Well today after buying Lily's AWESOME Christmas fish and tank, the man meat asked if I wanted some Five Guys for lunch (srsly, how many times can I say Five Guys in one blog? I should get paid for this haha) and obviously I agreed. $20.00 later (holy crap expensive for burgers and fries right!? wrong again. worth every. single. penny.) and a full belly and I'll never be the same again. I immediately texted him after we left the restraunt and apologized for ever doubting his good burger senses. That being said, if you haven't tried Five Guys yet, you really should. Don't let the messy look of it turn you away, you will never want to eat another kind of burger again.
  Well that's it for my fat kid blog. Time to fast for 12 years since I gained at least 10 pounds eating my delicious burger :p

not my actual burger, but makes me want another one. 

p.s. (of course) I wish the Walking Dead were back on already, I N E E D to know what happens next! My zombie killing needs are going unfulfilled and I hates it. I guess to drown my thirst I'll settle for mass amounts of Dead Island, Left 4 Dead 2 and Zombieland.

GET IT!? 

p.s.s  you totally loved my A Cinderella Story reference didn't you!? I knows it. I'm only 6 different kinds of awesome in one lady. NBD bros. No. big. deal.

Oh Christmas Tree

Something about Christmas will always remind me of my mom. I hope that when Lily and Emory are older, they think the same thing as well. That is all : )

heart melting.

my favorite tree of all time.