Mommy Truths

I am thankful for a new day.  Yesterday was brutal, okay this entire week was rough with my boys.   I don't get it last week was heavenly, this week torture.

Side note- some quick background I have a 3 year old with some attitude, doesn't listen well, always talking back and challenging authority, you know typical 3 year old. Then we have a strong willed 18 month old who talks up a storm, wants mom a lot, doesn't get into playing with toys much, doesn't eat meals and gets into anything and everything that isnt a toy.  Again very typical, I know I'm not alone here and that's why I'm sharing.

I don't know what it is or what puts us on this rotation.  Can we just have good days everyday?

Unfortunately I know we can't.  My kids aren't perfect, I'm not perfect.  I have grumpy days and they do as well.  What I can do is try to control myself better on these bad days.

Some days it's easy for me to feel woe is me, and that I've been dealt with extra difficult boys. ( I mean it seems mine are always the most misbehaved, weren't good sleepers, whiny toddlers, and awful eaters)  On those days I have to remind myself to be thankful that I have my children because it took us awhile for our first and I remember wanting him more than anything, also that they are healthy, they don't have any life altering disabilities and they are some darn cute boys.  While sometimes it helps, most of the times it doesn't.  It's so hard to think logically during a day where the peace hasn't been kept for longer than 5 minutes at a time.

Im ashamed to say in my frustration, anger and stress I can act just like my boys and have seen my kids live out things they have seen me do.   WOW does that ever put you in the bad mommy place!
( The other day Noah told me, I was making him really upset, wonder where he heard that one?  And the same day ran to his room when I told him no and slammed the door.  Yeah this momma is guilty of being one bad example)

I sigh a lot, I have thrown toys, yelled when I shouldn't, expected them to act way beyond their years, slammed a bedroom door, ignored them when I was in the middle of something I wanted or felt I needed to do.  The makings of a great mom I know.

 Earlier this year I got to be part or a Pre- launch book read of No More Perfect Moms by Jill Savage and I encourage all moms to read it. It's an awesome book and an easy read.  This book let me breathe a sigh of relief throughout every chapter!
It helped to remind myself I am normal and my feelings are normal.  Life just isn't perfect and it never will be and the sooner I adjust my expectations for how things should be in areas of my life the happier life I can live.  

I wanted to leave you with an except from an email challenge that went along with the book the month before it came out.

“You know, motherhood has caused me to come face to face with my less-than-wonderful qualities. Sometimes my kids bring out the worst in me. However, God doesn’t waste a thing. He uses my kids to bring me to Him. When I come face to face with my shortcomings, my weaknesses, and my sin, it’s a reminder of my need for a God who wants me to be more like Him each and every day.” –Jill Savage, NO MORE PERFECT MOMS

Motherhood brings with it a wide range of emotions. It’s amazing the different feelings our kids can arouse in us in the course of one day. Joy, frustration, love, and anger can all bombard us in the span of an hour. With the wide range of emotions, it’s easy to feel like a failure when our words or actions don’t match up with the love we have for our children.

Our kids seem to learn from an early age how to push our buttons, making us want to raise the white flag of surrender and shout, “I can’t do this!” We can’t do this on our own, but things are possible with God’s help. Yes, raising kids is messy, and many times we fail, letting our emotions get the best of us. However, with God’s grace, we can learn from our failures and become more like our Creator in the process.

Challenge:  The next time you let your emotions take control, take a minute to honestly apologize to your kids. Admit that you failed and ask for their forgiveness. Not only will you be setting a positive example on how to handle imperfections, you’ll draw closer to your child and your God in the process.

So just wanted to share in case any of you other momma's have had a bad day, week or month, or year with your kiddos.   You are not alone!  We are in fact, just more imperfect moms trying to do their best!

Hive Five for Friday

Linking up with with Lauren from http://www.frommygreydeskblog.com/ for 

The biggest High Five was I started a new blog this week.  My husband has been working hard to get it set up for me and I started posting Monday here.  I have been blogging about our family for a few years at www.mattandjenjones.blogspot.com but wanted to try something new.  

He did a wonderful job and put up with my indecisiveness on what I wanted.  

Now onto 5 More! 

1) Got to have a lunch date with my hubby on Tuesday

2) I got the afternoon off work yesterday and had some free time while my boys finished the day at daycare!   

3)  Because of that afternoon off, I got the house cleaned and made a quick trip to our "mall"  (If you would see it, you would laugh that I even called it that, but a small town girl goes where she can in between real shopping trips)  and bought a few super cute new clothing items, WAHOO!

4) Took my  two boys grocery shopping this morning, made it to two stores, without a fit from either one and with only 2 extra things they had to have that weren't on my list.   

5)  Heading out of town tomorrow to stay with my hubby's twin brother and his family.  Our boys are similar in age, we love hanging out with them but don't get to see them much so excited to get out of town even if it only is for one night!

Dreaming of Spring

Our whole winter was mild, hardly any snow or ice.  Groundhog day came and went and I thought we were getting warmer temps here in Illinois.  Instead it's been snowing every other day it seems.  I've got a bad case  of the winter blues and am beyond ready for some spring trends and colors!

Since right now I can only think about what to wear when the weather gets warm I thought I would share some of my must have's for Spring and some super cute Pinterest outfits I want to put together!

 First off, Mint Skinnies!  Every look I see with them, I absolutely adore so this is one of my top items I must  would really to get.  I also would like to add some coral skinnies too.  I have some winter colors but love, love all the bright colors for spring/summer.

Another cute look with mint.  Love the casual feel of this one, and the scarf.  I have a huge collection of scarfs, love them, buy way too many of them and hardly wear them because I my hair is always short and they seem to look funny on me or drive me crazy being right where my hair sits. #shorthairproblem 

Next these are all like double wants! 

Maxi skirt and chevron, how could you go wrong?

 Love the chambray with the maxi as well!  

 Another obsession I don't have but want some, Ombre!

I'm not so much on the ombre hair but love it everywhere else, tops, dresses, skirts, nails, home decor!  Love, love, love!  

Every where you look you see maxi dresses, we saw them a ton last year and I never felt like they looked cute on my.  I'm determined to find one I love this year or maybe 2 or 3.  

Also I may/ may not have purchased this dress already as a pre-order.  (Hoping I like the fit, this girl has some trips planned and needs some cute travel clothes!)  

Going to need some shoes to go with all these looks, 

Love the sandals and flats with all the gold additions!  

Tori Burch Lookalikes

And you can't go wrong with cute flats either, Lace and bows.  

So I realized something in doing this, I have a few too many things on my wish list this season.  

What are some of your favorite Spring Trends and what won't you be starting this Spring without? 

Clean Eating Link Up

Clean eating isn't always easy.  It takes some dedication, planning and sometimes a lot more prep time.
I was so excited  to see that Mama Laughlin and Skinny Meg were hosting a link up!  I could use new recipes to my clean eating mix!
And to show that clean eating doesn't always have to be difficult, I have a few recipes we use that are delicious and simple.

Here are a few I love

- The no-brainer TACOS.  You guys all know the drill, lean ground beef, whole wheat tortillas (someday I will make my own, on my list of things to try) and your favorite veggies.  I use the following recipe for my taco seasoning. The recipe is for 1lb of meat but I just make a bunch at a time and keep it in a big shaker.

1 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper

- Quesadilla Casserole 

-Spaghetti Squash with Grilled Chicken and Sun Dried Tomatoes

Okay I know not everyone believe you should eat potatoes, but if you are a potato eater, these are delicious!
Crash Hot Potatoes

Stuffed Pepper Soup
I don't even like Stuffed Peppers but made this for the hubs and tried some and actually really liked it.  I left out  the sugar and used brown rice and it was still delicious!

Slow Cooker Southwestern 2 bean Chicken

Slow Cooker Chicken and Broccoli (no cream of whatever soup)

Chicken Stir Fry 
Here is my favorite clean eating website as well if you haven't ever heard of it.

http://www.thegraciouspantry.com

There are so many recipes and even one for clean Chocolate bars!  I didn't know those two things could ever belong in the same sentence.  I haven't tried them yet but hoping to get a chance to make them in the near future!

Good luck to all of you on the cleanse!

Trim Up Tuesdays

Welcome to Trim- Up Tuesdays!  

I'm glad you stopped by. 

Since we are just getting to know each other here, I need to say a few things to start off. 

I've always been a yo-yo dieter.  My weight goes up quickly and it slowly goes down.  Goes back up and back down.

I used to diet.   I used to do some working out and have never been considered skinny, but also never really been overweight except for a really brief period in college (darn freshman 15).  

Now I've had two kids and have worked hard to get where I am.  I weigh less now than I did before I got pregnant with my first.  I gained 47 pounds with my first son, and 33 with my 2nd.  Now I have lost it all and then some and it feels good.  

I believe in a healthy lifestyle, I believe in making good food choices, and letting myself have some "junk" here and there (more than I would like to admit especially when it comes to candy). I have a long road to get where I want to be when it comes to healthy eating but every day  I do what I can to make big strides o eat better and better.

I'm a wannabe full on clean eater but haven't made it longer than 2 days.

I love to workout but I know that there's more to being healthy. 

 I have seen this quote on a lot of people's social media and love it.

When it comes to exercise, I'm good at it.  I enjoy exercising a lot but the eating part I struggle.  I love to cook, I love to bake even more.  I love new recipes.  I'm a stress eater.  Each week I'm going to attempt clean eating and binge the day before to "get wanting the junk out of my system".  If at lunch I "ruin" the day by eating something unhealthy, my mind thinks the day is shot and I should just eat whatever from that point on.  Changing our brain and the way we think is hard.  That's my biggest issue.  My ultimate goal is to view food as fuel and nothing more!  Obviously I have a long way to go.  

I saw this on Pinterest  and thought it was great.  It definitely is a great place to start.  Now my goal isn't to be skinny.  I want to be fit, and toned. I want lean muscle mass not just to be bones but you still get the point!  There are some great rules to follow.  

What are your biggest setbacks when it comes to reaching your goal weight?  

Need a Snack??

After my boys go to bed, I start to have that mental fight with myself over a snack.

I think I need a snack..
No you don't, just think about something else or go to bed
Not working,  I still need something
Fine, but have something healthy

For the record, I usually cave.  Sometimes I listen and have a healthy snack like the one I'm about to share, other nights I grab a massive handful of chocolate chips and keep going back for more.

Last week one night I was strong and remembered a  healthy recipe I had pinned on Pinterest.

I adapted it a little but here is the Pinterest picture the goodness came from so you can see why I thought it was a good idea to try these.

http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com

Here is how you can have a healthy snack in less than 5 minutes.

Start with an apple, any kind will do (I used Granny Smith)

 Peel the apple and cut into slices.

Put the slices into a microwavable bowl and add the following ingredients

You can use a spoonful of sugar, sweetener, or I chose to use honey
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water

Mix items together.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap.  Microwave for 2 minutes

Enjoy your healthy, warm and delicious bedtime snack!

Menu Plan Monday

Welcome to Menu Plan Monday

Each Monday I will be linking up with Orgjunkie.com for Menu Plan Monday

Sunday- Family Outing to Panda Express, fancy right? 

Monday-  Salisbury Steak/ mashed potatoes and gravy/green beans
Not my personal favorite but the hubs has asked for it a few times lately, so it finally made it onto the menu this week!

Tuesday-  Homemade Pizza

Wednesday- Chicken and Rice soup

Thursday- Leftovers

Friday- Quesadilla Casserole   I have had a certain mexican casserole that I have been making for awhile.  I found this recipe about a month ago, tried it and we decided we liked it better so it's our new go-to Mexican casserole.  If you are a clean eater this is a great mexican choice!  

Saturday- Wait and See!  

Happy Menu Planning!

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog!

Thanks for stopping by

If you are new to my blogs, I have been blogging for about 4 years and have previously done so at jonesaddition.wordpress.com and mattandjenjones.blogspot.com.  These are our family blogs and I will continue to use them as such.  I wanted a new space to write about a little bit of everything and thus Five27Jones was born.

Get ready for menus, recipes, organization projects, Mommy Tales, Fashion and more!

If you trade buttons feel free to grab mine on the side and let me know so I can add yours as well.

Can't wait to get started, I love blogging and love reading others blogs!