Life These Days

I am continuing my streak as the worst blogger ever.  I always tell myself I need to get things documented as they happen, but that never happens!  I'm going to try my best to remember some of the things we've been up to lately.



We've spent a lot of time bowling this summer.  I stumbled across some program where kids get to bowl free all summer long at participating alleys.  One of those places just happens to be this nice, new center somewhat close to us!  With this program, Lainey can bowl two games for free EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK!  We also paid $25 for 4 adults to bowl two games every day...best deal ever!  Lainey's not very good, but neither are the rest of us, so it works out!

 We've also spent time attending birthday parties this summer. 

The girls and I went to my parents' a few weeks ago, and Lilly sat in a high chair in public for the first time.  She's been able to sit in a high chair forever, but we just have never put her in one yet.  Here's the sweet girl at the bowling alley in my parents' tiny town...it's like one of three places to eat in town! :)

Here's what this girl has been doing NONSTOP all summer!  She started pulling up about three weeks ago, and hasn't looked back!  She prefers to be standing up against something.  She still hasn't figured out how to cruise yet, and we're hoping that takes a little longer!  This was the best picture we could get of her in her chair because she refused to sit...she just wanted to stand!

I also got to enjoy a much needed night out with some of my friends.  My dear friend Randi (she's next to me) lives in a lovely apartment downtown.  She and her husband have lived there for two years, and they have no plans of leaving anytime soon, and I can't blame them!  They're on the top floor, have a great view, and are within walking distance to so many fun things!  Anyways!!!  We went to Randi's for dinner and drinks, and then headed to the Brad Paisley concert.  I have said for awhile that if Brad Paisley comes anywhere within like a 6 hour radius of me, I would be there!  So we went, and we had an absolute blast.  He definitely did not disappoint!

It's great that the iPhone lets you flip the camera around, but it still doesn't prevent awkward pictures like this one, ha!

 And here's me and Megan before my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary celebration this past weekend.  It was great to see so many of my family members I don't get to see often, and of course was great to spend time with Jake & Megan before they move this weekend.  I really love my brother and sister-in-law, and we're REALLY going to miss having them so close!

And then since the summer is quickly coming to a close, I've also spent some time in my classroom this past week.  I'm that teacher that can't quite turn her brain off and has to get an early start so I don't stress in August.  Here's my Language Arts wall.  I'm in the process of looking for cute chairs and pillows for my reading center. 

Here's to hoping that I can better keep up with our lives once I get back in a routine in a couple weeks! 

Catching Up

Life has, as always, been a little hectic these days.  We've been going nonstop and loving (almost) every minute of it!  I wanted to get a few pictures documented so I can somewhat be able to remember what life was like during this time.

Here's Lainey before church a few Sundays ago.  Jovan really wanted a picture in this outfit because he thought she looked so cute.  I asked her to pose, and this is what I got, ha! 

Lainey started soccer a few weeks ago.  She's taking it through a group here called "Tiny Toros".  There is a club league here, Toros, and the older girls are the "coaches" on Saturdays.  We had Lainey playing through the YMCA last year, and it was basically a complete joke.  In this program, it's a little more pricey, but I feel she is actually learning fundamentals, so it's worth the money.  They all have this lovely neon yellow shirt.  This picture is from her first game, and I'll have to add some new ones after this weekend.  We've had some changes to her wardrobe such as soccer cleats and some fabulous neon yellow soccer socks.  Not really sure why neon is so popular these days, but what can ya do?!

Here are the girls in their matchy-matchy zebra dresses.  Bless their hearts!  They were both sick in this picture!  We have been battling some illness here in the Tosic house this past week, and we're hoping there is an end in sight.  Lainey had strep throat last week, Lilly had a fever paired with an awful ear infection, and I had the stomach flu this week.  Lainey was great once the antibiotics kicked in, but her little sister has had a ROUGH time lately!  She weighed almost 14 lbs. at her 4 month check-up, and she has since lost a pound this month because she has had so many eating issues. :(  Her poor ears just haven't allowed her to do much.  We got to the point where she had to have three days of shots...hoping these ear infections don't become a regular occurance!

This picture was taken of the girls yesterday.  Getting a good one of both of them is nearly impossible, so this was the best we could get.  I still think they're pretty cute! :)  We're looking forward to a weekend home to recover and relax!

Rough Week

This has been a crazy week in our house.  We recently started Lainey in swim lessons, dance, and tumbling, so that takes up three different nights in our week in addition to small group and the day-to-day responsibilities of cooking, cleaning, and lesson planning.  This past week we also got to throw in two nights of conferences for me in which I worked 13 hour days.  Needless to say, I was EXHAUSTED by the time Friday rolled around.  Luckily we had a staff development day Friday so we didn't have to teach all day after our lovely meetings with parents! 

Besides being exhausted, Friday was a big day for us.  Our best friends here in Nebraska, Bryce and Tina,  had Match Day for residency placement.  Bryce is going into the field of pathology, and we were absolutely certain that they were going to be here for residency.  We were able to watch Match Day on a live feed, so we knew right when they did where Bryce had been placed.  Our worst fears came true, and we found out that Tina and Bryce will be moving to Denver for the next 4 years.  We are absolutely devastated, but we know God has a plan for them.  After LOTS of tears yesterday, we've been able to come up with several positives about the move----like the fact that we've never been to Denver, and that Jovan's region is Denver so he gets to travel there.  It's going to be hard to lose them for 4 years, but we're hopeful they will make the return home when it's over! :)

Lainey helping Ms. Tina blow out the candles on her birthday cake

Lainey loves Tina and Bryce!  We're waiting to tell her about the move,,,not looking forward to that one!

And after a completely crazy week, I can look at the following pictures and realize how completely blessed my life is.  I am so thankful to have these girls!!!

What we've been up to...

Well I have officially survived two weeks back at work.  Survived being the key word.  This whole working and being a mom of two kids is HARD!!!  I know being a stay at home mom is hard...I did it for 2 years, but I didn't think life was going to be this busy.  Oh well!  We will adjust!

That said, we've been busy lately therefore not leaving me time to document what's been going on.  My brother and I went to a Creighton University baskeyball game last week.  I tend to have basketball withdrawls and thought this would give me a good little "fix".  It did!  Creighton plays in our huge arena here, and it is just like a Memphis game...lots of blue everywhere!  We had amazing seats courtesy of our friend Wes, and my brother and I went and screamed our heads off.  We both love basketball and will take our fix where we can get it! 


My first Creighton game


Our sweet girl is almost 3 months old.  I cannot believe it!  I was trying to get pictures of her smiling,  but she's no dummy!  She stops as soon as I try to take pictures, fixating on the vinyl J on my phone. 

To say that Lainey has been a "hot mess" lately would be an understatement.  We have been dealing with some unfavorable behaviors for the last couple weeks, which just happen to coincide with when I went back to work.  She's a smart one, as most kids are, and fully realizes the stress Mommy is under and how life got a little more hectic for our family of four after my return to the workforce.  We're thinking she is feeling left out and having a little sibling rivalry due to the fact that Lilly is now in a REALLY cute stage.  Lainey has never been ill towards her sister, but she's starting to take it out on us and getting attention where she can--including negative attention.  We're trying to make a conscious effort to spend quality time together.  That being said, I decided Lainey and I needed to go on a date to Disney on Ice.  We went Sunday afternoon, and I'm not sure who had more fun! :)  We had a blast, and I look forward to going next time they come back! 

And here's my two girls in this little leopard number from Gap.  It's been fun putting Lilly in Lainey's old clothes and doing some comparison pics!  I think they look nothing alike in these pictures, but everyone always comments on how much Lilly looks like her big sister!

Blessed

How can I look at this picture and not just feel overwhelmingly blessed?!?

2012

I'm not usually one for New Year's Resolutions, but I figured if I documented them somewhere this year that I may be able to better follow them.  Here they are in no particular order...

1. Live like no one else, so we can live like no one else! :)

Ok so maybe this one will not be followed exactly as our old friend Dave Ramsey would suggest it should, but I want to make a conscious effort to be better at following the Tosics' version of FPU.  We graduated from Dave's Financial Peace University a couple years ago.  Since then we have attempted to follow the plan, and we've even paid off some of our debt, but we are certainly not debt-free yet.  About a year and a half ago I handed the finances over to Jovan...he is the accountant after all!  I found that when I was the one handling the money, I was a little dishonest.  I spent a little more than I would fess up to and it would result in some heated arguments in our monthly budget meetings. :)  All of this to say, I am fully aware of my spending habits, and I knew Jovan needed to take over to hold me more accountable.  We did a good job with our envelopes for a bit, but I want to make the commitment again this year to really stick to our envelopes and know where each penny we are bringing in is going.  After all, we have a Disney trip to look forward to in December!

 2. Be a better wife.



Jovan and I circa 2003



Jovan and I have been a couple for over nine years.  Over the years we have grown closer together, and with that closeness has also come routine and monotony.  I don't necessarily mean that as a bad thing, just saying that we have maybe become too comfortable in our ways and it wouldn't hurt to get somewhat back to how those kids in the picture were!  We had to read His Needs, Her Needs during our premarital counseling, and it is one of my goals to read this book again and make an effort to focus on putting Jovan first.  So many times I let life get in the way, and I need to remember that next to God, my husband is my priority.



 3. The old stand-by: LOSE WEIGHT!

This would be a picture of me in May of this year.  I lost 35 pounds in 2010, and I spent 39 weeks of 2011 being pregnant.  With this pregnancy came quite a bit of weight gain.  TOTALLY my fault, so now I have to live with the consequences of my decisions and start the weight loss battle all over again.  I'm ready to get back to the gym and ready to get started on Weight Watchers this week.  My goal is to lose at least 40 pounds, but I learned last time that I do better breaking my goal in to small attainable chunks, so here's to the first 10!

4. Slow down and take time to get to know my girls.

This one is a big one for me.  Of course we know our children...it's our maternal nature, but I want to really spend some quality time with each of my girls this year.  I have had a really difficult time with my job this year, and I feel like I can never even do enough to get caught up.  I'm constantly having to do something, and I have found myself taking time away from Lainey to grade papers, lesson plan, and just try to keep up with all the paperwork that comes with being a public school educator.  It's not okay, and I resolve to not let my job take as much time away from giving my family the attention they deserve (this goes hand in hand with my next resolution).  I want to make it a point to have scheduled and spontaneous "dates" with each of my girls, as well as spending time with the three of us.  I think it's important that I develop a special relationship with each of them, even if one of them won't be able to talk with me for awhile! ;)

5. Let my job be my job-period.

This is a picture of me in my first classroom my first year of teaching in 2005.  Oh how young and naive I was!  Oh how I thought I could change the world!  Oh how I learned so quickly that my pipe dreams were far from reality, ha!  It saddens me to say that I used to love my job.  I used to love teaching and all that came along with it.  For some reason, this year has deeply darkened my outlook for several reasons that I will not go into (ya know, things I don't care to remember later on!).  Some would say my resoluteion should be to have a better attitude towards my job, but I have decided that I will resolve to change my outlook towards my job.  I am a bit of a perfectionist and tend to give all I have to my classroom, even if that means neglecting other areas of my life.  Now having two beautiful daughters, I will be spread even more thin.  I have to learn to let my job be my job and not take things so personally, not put more time into things than needed, and not bust my tail for things I cannot change.  By no means does this mean that I will stop caring for my kids, that I will stop putting an effort in to my teaching.  It just simply means that I will do what I need to do to help my kids succeed, but not at the expense of taking time away from my friends and family. 

Updates to come!  Here's to an amazing new year!