I wish I was a better blogger

Well, here I am....this is starting to be a common theme in my posts! The weird thing is I love writing and I am online a lot so I don't understand why it is so hard to put the two together! Life is feeling a bit bittersweet at the moment. For the last 5 years, I've wanted the boys to get older....to make it easier on me. I never understood why moms were sad sending their kids off to Kindergarten. My selfish mind thought, "Hey, it'll just mean less work for me, what's the big deal?" Well, I'm learning it is a big deal. A really big deal. Phili wrapped up two years of pre-school last week and is looking forward to starting Kindergarten this fall. I'm hyperventilating a little bit ha. It's starting to dawn on me in a very real way that these last 5 precious years that I've been able to stay home with him are going to be over in a flash. I'm starting to wonder, Have I spent enough quality time with him? Have I instilled enough morals and values in him? Is he going to do ok at school? Will he spill his milk at lunch and be embarrassed? Did I spend too much time on Facebook and not enough time playing with him? The list goes on. And on and on. I know it's all a part of life but I don't like this chapter in our life ending. I don't like endings period. When the closing music comes on Jay Leno at the end of the show, I have to turn the channel because the ending makes me feel nostalgic. How weird is that?

Life

So I guess I'm not that great of blogger afterall :) Thanks for hanging with me if you're reading this. The funny thing is I have so many things I'd love to sit down and write about but with two very active boys who don't nap, that presents a challenge. It doesn't help that I usually fall asleep while reading to Wesley every night! But, I've been removing time suckers from my life (which for me are facebook, tv) and I'm starting to focus on the things that are important to me and this is one of them. Where do I begin? You don't know this but I've been sitting at my computer for a while now, trying to figure that out :) Well, for starters I still love living in RW. At first I didn't want to move away but looking back it was the best decision we could have made. I still stay home with the boys but between caring for a friend's kid weekly and serving at the Y, I keep busy which I like (when I can keep it all in balance). I say that last part because I have a way of getting out of balance with my time and usually it's my family that suffers when that happens. It's hard for me to say no to people when they need a favor so I end up saying yes to everyone and then end up exhausted for Richie and the boys. I love to be helpful but if my family has to sacrifice in order for me to do it, it is no longer helping. The first few times I said no to people was seriously hard for me to do but it felt good to put my family first. Funny I had no intention in this post going this direction but it's a daily struggle for me so I guess it's on my mind more than I thought. Da boys. Aww the boys. They are so full of laughter, fun & craziness...man do they feed off each other's energy! Who knew two little people could bring me so much joy and frustration in a matter of seconds. Phili is our calm intellectual. I had to google how to spell that so you know that daddy is the one that works with him haha. I don't want to be a braggy parent so I won't go into detail lol but Richie is very dedicated to teaching him educational skills and it's amazing what there little minds can understand and grasp if given the time and opportunity. I on the other hand have been busy teaching them armpit farts, how to be respectul and lots about Jesus. It's a nice balance. But for real though, that kid sits and thinks all day, you can see the wheels spinning in his little mind and he asks questions all day. Oh boy, does he ask questions! They're usually mathematical ones. Last month, I was looking forward to a 2 hour drive home because I thought it'd bring peace and quiet and they would fall asleep in the car and I'd get to listen to music. Not the case. Phili thought with Wesley sleeping, it would be the perfect time for us to take turns counting to 1,000. Haha I love that kid, Richie junior for sure. Then we have Wesley. Oh Wesley. Now, he takes after his mama. He's more about having fun. We try to work with him on letters/numbers but he can't sit down long enough to focus. Maybe that will come with age or maybe it's payback for what I put my parents through :)He is very adventurous and daring. I mean, we've reached our deductable every year with him and he's only 3. Phili's never had a serious injury. Wesley on the other hand has had constant bruises, a set of stitches, a broken collarbone, and oh yeah a fractured skull (hoping you all know that story). Come to think of it, he's broken both his collarbones because he broke one while I was giving birth. He is one tough cookie. I love that boy's spunk though and I love when other people appreciate it and see his heart and not just the energy. Well if you've made it this far, thanks for tuning in. I promise to be more dedicated to posting!

Funny Boy Phili

I was kind of sad yesterday thinking about Phili going off to Kindergarten next year so I asked him to come cuddle with me and he quickly refused saying, "Mom, I'm like a man now!" Funny boy. There's been a lot of sickness going around this winter and we were victims of the stomach bug that went around about a month ago. I thought this picture was pretty funny as it summed up those few weeks of sickness. Phili actually was the one vomiting on this particular day so I love his face in this photo :)

"So thankful for this moment"

I took a yoga class today (not the norm for me) and during the class a song played with the lyrics, "I'm so thankful for this moment". That verse stuck with me because it is so fitting to where I'm at right now. I wish I could just freeze time and keep Phili 5 forever (Wesley could fast forward a few months if it were up to me lol). I'm suddenly realzing that this fall, Phili will be in Kindergarten and these precious years I've had home with him will be over in a flash and we'll be entering a totally different chapter in our life. I feel like I'm really holding on tight to these days and don't want to look back with any regrets. We've been doing more library, forts, finger painting, late nights watching Full House hehe, because I know that next year will be completely different. In our town, when you start school, you go 5 full days/wk right when Kindergarten begins. I won't go into details but I'm not sure I will be sending him to the publie school. He may go to the Christian school which is 3 days/wk and I've even been researching homeschooling. I'm learning more towards the Christian school but we're just not sure yet. Stay tuned for all of that!

Guess who's back...back again.....

Well, after almost 2 years (what!), I've decided I want back in the blogging world. I love looking back on posts about the boys and really love that it's a smaller community to share things with that I don't want hundreds of people to see. If you've forgiven me and are letting me back in your blogging world, I thank you :) If this is your first exposure to "Phili's mom" (oops time to update), I hope this serves as a place for you to catch up on our life, maybe have a laugh and hopefully be encouraged by some of my future posts that have been stirring up in my heart. I love writing, I love encouraging people and it's been too long since I've done both. Thanks for stopping by!!

Content

Wow....I am almost ashamed to even blog, it has been so long! Life is good. It is really good. I am very happy to be home with the boys and am honestly trying to cherish these days because as every old woman in the grocery store checkout line tells me....they go by so fast!

We have been very busy in the Lockwood home chasing Wesley around and making sure he doesn't destroy anything too valuable. The kid is busy! He is so much fun though and so incredibly happy. He can frustrate the heck out of me and make me laugh hysterically all in a matter of seconds.

Phili is coming around to him. It was a struggle for a while every time Wesley was, well, in the same room as him. Lego tower? Knocked over. Coloring? Crayons eaten. Puzzles? Hurricane. Books? Ripped. You get the point ;)

Oh! And we added to our family last weekend by getting a dog. I went to the Farmer's Market to get some Gluten Free bread and came home with a dog. And the bread. But most importantly-the dog. The Humane Society had a special event going on and the minute I saw "Lucky" I was in love. Seriously. I don't even recognize this person typing. I am not a dog lover. I love my brother's dogs and that's about it. It sounds cheesy but the minute I laid eyes on him, I knew he had to be a part of our clan. Ha. That is super cheesy! He is a mutt. An "All-American" dog if you ask Phili. They think he has a lot of rat terrier in him. He's very sweet, timid, cuddly. We let Phili name him. Richie & I love the name Jethro for a dog but something about a 10 pound mutt just doesn't scream Jethro. So we tried to talk Phili into Jett. But, being the avid Beatles fan that he is, he named him after his favorite Beatles song-Jude.

I have been working very pt at the Y with kid's since August, not sure if I have blogged about that...ha, probably not since I've only blogged once since then! I enjoy working in the Kid's gym with kids ages 3-7. Phili gets to come to work with me and it's really fun to see him interact with kids. He's at a really fun age right now. Just when I thought I was going to rip my hair out, he turned three and his behavior became so much better. He is like a mini Richie. He loves animals, nature, planets, books, and most importantly, Jesus! He loves to talk about Jesus and it warms my heart. I could write a book about all the funny things that come out of his mouth but I will save that for another time. You know, in like 4 months ;)

I recently finished a training program called "Couch to 5K". It's a 9 week running program which consists of running 3 times a week for people that aren't runners but aspire to be. I can't say I love running while I'm running, but I love it afterwards! I liked it enough to start another program to train for a 10k so I'm training for that right now. My good friend and I are going to split a half marathon this summer. Maybe next year, I'll do the whole half....we'll see!

Richie still likes his job and enjoys being challenged and is learning a lot. In my eyes, he is the bast dad in the world and I am so proud that he's ours ;)

Wow, this is starting to sound like a Christmas letter, so I deem it appropriate to end it with well wishes that this blog post finds you all well and healthy! Haha.....

Here are a few photos. Auntie Abby snapped a photo of Wesley taking some of his first steps. He is all walker now. Oh boy! Enjoy.

Poor excuse for a blogger

Wow-it's been 2 months since my last post!? I am not sure if anyone will still even check this but kudos to you if you do and thank you for still checking after I have so sadly neglected you for so long. I have a silly monkey boy crawling all over me but I just wanted to assure you that we're all still kicking in our house! I will leave you with a cute pic of the boys in hopes of forgiveness!?