Being Happy

Sometimes when you're completely exhausted from running around like a chicken with its head cut off just to get everything you've piled on top of yourself done it's really hard to be happy with what you have.  Of course I'm happy with my family & such, but other things.  Things that require a ridiculous amount of your time away from your family...like that little pesky thing called a job.  Don't get me wrong.  I really do love my job & what I do, but when you're getting up at the crack of dawn to get ready, being gone all day, & then not really settling down until around 11pmish 5 days a week it's difficult to be happy all the time.  It is amazing though how 2 blissful days away from the office changes your perspective on things.  Thank you weekend for giving me my happy back :)

Happy Birthday Logan

Almost there....

So this time last year I was spending my day trying to get the contractions that had woken me up at 4 in the morning started again.  I was 39 weeks pregnant & so ready for my baby to come out & meet us.  I remember spending my day walking up & down our steps as much as I could & walking the dog.  I even dropped Jake off at vacation bible school on my own to keep them up as much as I could.  I didn't want it to be another false alarm.  I was done being pregnant.  There's a few more hours of some mild labor that I had to deal with & a few hours of very active & very difficult labor this little bugger of mine put me through before we could meet him, but at this time last year we were almost there:)

Food Snob

So as it turns out I'm a food snob.  Now I don't mean like all organic all the time.  In fact I rarely (if at all) buy organic.  I don't find anything wrong with organic, but I just haven't taken that last leap of snobbery I guess.  Maybe it's that I'm getting closer to 30 (still a couple years to go, but 30 is creeping up on me) or maybe it's being a mom of 2 now.  I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I would much rather stay home & cook a good meal myself (or have the hubs cook) than order out.  This is how I was raised.  We never got to eat out as kids, we always had a home cooked meal for dinner & we sat down all at the dinner table together to eat...and if someone didn't cook that night we were eating left overs.  Getting to eat out was a special treat for my brother & I.  When I first moved out on my own (with my husband) we still cooked here & there, but we definitely ate out way more than we should have.  What early 20 something really wants to spend the time it takes cooking after working all day when they can easily run thru a drive thru or order delivery?  As the years have passed I've moved more towards wanting to cook & cooking more often.  The past couple of months it's definitely become more of a habit for me to go grocery shopping for the week & have our meals planned out every night.  I can't tell you the last time we had fast food at all - sadly physically you can't see a difference, but I know I feel better for it.  I do remember the last time the hubs & I ate out though...it was date night & we went to a restaurant, but it's allowed for date night.

I'm definitely enjoying cooking our meals lately.  I am happy to be able to create something that taste good & is good for my family to eat.  Its not a task like it used to feel like before.  It's a pleasure now.  If I'm not up to cooking that night (since I do work 40 plus hours a week outside of the house) then the hubs will pick up the slack for the night.  Or now that it's grilling season he might just be doing it anyway.  The thought crossed my mind the other night...between myself & my husband's cooking our kids should never eat fast food or take out on the regular.  And while as a kid I know that's disappointing for them I'm so happy to be able to give them good nutritious food to eat.  So I'm officially a food snob & proud of it!

Some finished products from the weekend

Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies from the weekend

My matching nails for the week.  

Stupid Easy Spruced up Crescents

Wanted to share in the genius of these really yummy crescent rolls:

Literately take regular pillsbury crescent rolls & before rolling them up to bake spread peanut butter on them, sprinkle some chocolate chips over the pb, roll them up like normal, & then bake them per the instructions on the can.

You're welcome

Busy Weekend

Saturday morning started up at 7:30am to take Jake to karate by 8:30am.  Came home, had breakfast real quick, & back out to work until 2pm.  Home to clean for a party (we were told about while I was at work) for my BIL.  Sunday I started cooking.  In total I made potato salad, peanut butter chocolate cresent rolls, cheese itz chicken, fried potatoes, corn on the cob, & oatmeal cranberry chocolate chip cookies (that's all one type of cookie lol).  All of this is between the hubs helping out a friend with manual labor, managing the kids, oh & an impromptu run to the office to let someone in who locked themselves out lol.  Oh and laundry I always forget about that probably because I hate it.  Once all that was done we settled down to start to watch a movie.  Oz the Great & Powerful.  We didn't finish it all...had to stop part way through, but so far we both enjoyed it.

We're also excited to have company coming TODAY.  Our Aunt's from VA are coming for a couple of days.  Jake is excited to have some kids closer to his age to play with for.

Last One of the Day

This was just too good not to post.  My mom's freaky cat.

4th of July toes!

July

I've created a grueling schedule for myself for the month of July.  A busy work schedule including working 2 Saturdays, Jake has vacation bible school that he'll need to be dropped off to & picked up for an entire week, & Logan's 1st birthday is smack dab in the middle of all that.  You may not hear much from me during all of that...I'll try not to forget to blog much lol.

Loving Myself

I read a blog today about a girls weight loss journey & I found it extremely sad.  I don't mean to say that I'm never trying to lose weight or anything along those lines because I will be the first one to tell you I'd love to lose about another 10lbs or so, but I'm not going to kill myself to do it.  I don't consider myself over weight & ultimately if I don't ever lose those last pounds I'm ok with that.  I've got a bit of a stomach that I would be thrilled if it went away, but I can't hate it because I carried my two beautiful children in it & yea I may never fit into skinny jeans or a bikini again but my kids were totally worth it.  I hope that girl (I don't know her age, but she seemed rather young) finds a way to love herself the way she is & while I don't have a daughter (2 boys here) I hope that by loving myself the way I am & striving to live a HEALTHY lifestyle I can inspire other young girls to love themselves as well.  I think of my cousin who hasn't hit the pre-teens yet & how perfectly built she is...I hope she grows up to love herself the way she is.  I hope my boys love themselves as well, but we all know there is generally less pressure for boys than girls.  I hope that my husband & my strives to live healthy pass along to them.  We're by no means a fruit & veggies only family, but we're definitely on the right path.

Welcome

My name is Brittany Stout.  I am a wife, mother of two fantastic little boys, daughter, sister, worker, boss, friend, and the list is endless.  This blog is intended for fun only.  Whatever I feel like adding up here basically; my daily thoughts, adventures, tips, food, whatever may pop into my head.  Hope you all enjoy & don’t be shy…leave some love.

Please be patient while I get started on here.