Goals and Resolutions

What crazy things are you tackling this new year? Did you claim it as yours? I did not. However, we have signed up for a few half marathons, a life/ business course with Scott Miller, along with a few other drastic changes that were long in the making. I have goals to make A’s in my doctoral courses and I am resolved to run those races and read 24 books.

I can not wait to see this year unfold, but for now we are definitely off to an amazing start. And as always, we recognize God’s amazing grace in all of our blessings.

Reminder set attainable goals and resolve to do something that builds you up.

Wishing you a great week!

Parents Night 2018

A year of after last year’s incident on the field- where the school chose to ignore and violate a court order by escorting Doug off the field… he was finally given the opportunity to walk the field. Granted it was with our other child. This bonus dad proudly wore his glitter Eagles cheer dad shirt and walked his daughter- a 3 year varsity athlete down the line. This was a great moment for our family, however a few cheerleaders behind us an all too familiar moment was unfolding.

What Hanna High School continues to fail to see is that kids can and are being loved and raised by biological and bonus parents. Not all families run a cookie cutter design. In this case, there was a biological dad, biological mom and bonus dad, but only two tickets had been issued per cheerleader.

In our situation, Madison has us- mom and bonus dad- and – dad and bonus mom. They declined to be a part of this event and so it wasn’t an issue for our family.

However, it was unfortunate to see a heartbroken bonus dad walk away because the school only allowed 2 escorts.

At a similar event last year, one of the Harlingen football players was proudly escorted by his 4 parents. What a blessing to have a school recognize that 4 adults can coparent and rightfully deserve a role in these moments.

Bonus parents are as important as biological ones. Doug is a bonus dad to our children. They want him present in their small and big moments. I’m sure the family behind us was/is the same.

Which is why I can’t understand why a school would purposefully create a document that promoted exclusion?

Maybe eventually they’ll understand that family dynamics are evolving and encourage parental involvement. Which is a far step from following the current model which allows parental alienation guised as in loco parentis.

Happy Thursday ya’ll!

Are you growing?

I’m a teacher by trade. I love love love what I do. But we have our side hustle and podcasts which I’m also loving. So as the days are going by I’m listening to all the podcasts and watching the lives on Facebook or IG doing the life coaching or reading books. Every moment is used for growth and gratitude. As I believe it should be. Seeing our shirts on parents on the field or people drinking from our cups-that’s what encourages the late nights. Kids commenting on the podcasts- makes the effort worth it.

Reminder who’s watching. So do what you love so that they can ask how do I stay motivated instead of man I never want to be like that.

Happy Wednesday!

The results of the first meeting…

About 2 weeks ago, Doug received a call from our priest indicating that he’d recieved a complaint about Doug. Evidently, this person (I’d give you three guesses- but you only need one) was extremely upset about Doug attending mass because he is not Catholic. Now, Doug has been a parishioner at this particular church for quite some time (about 20ish years) as have I, so he agreed to have a meeting with the priest.

The meeting was scheduled for this past Monday. And he looked forward to it as I expressed in the previous post.

Ya’ll, God is amazing. He’s the only one who will determine who is welcome in his home and at His table, I wholeheartedly believe this. Always remember that God will step in to show who’s in control. This Sunday, prior to the meeting, God did just that for our family.

At Sunday’s mass, our family was selected to bring up the offerings, including the Eucharist.

I can not explain to you how beautiful it felt to have our children and family blessed in front of the congregation. It further reaffirmed the belief that no weapon formed against us will prosper.

During Doug’s meeting this Monday, the priest provided Doug with papers and guidance for our family.

I’d prayed for this for our family, but didn’t know where to start. And now as a result of malicious intent, we will begin this beautiful process. Never underestimate God’s goodness in your life.

We now begin the journey and continue to pray for a result in our favor. We ask for you all to pray for our family as well.

Happy Saturday!

#tolmanadventures

It’s been a while so it’s kind of a long post…but here’s what summer was like…

It’s been an absolutely blessed summer. I mean I had a lot of professional development. Our family had wonderful moments. We were able to coordinate with the kids dad so that his 30 days would be while I was at trainings so as to not lose time with them. The kids also hung out with him while I was at work. This is what coparenting should be about- the kids.

This particular post however is about our #tolmanadventures and learning to make magical moments happen.

So here are our #tolmanadventures

Doug and I drive everywhere because it allows us to continue building our relationship (and it helps us listen to books). And this summer we had one of the greatest trips to California. We stopped in Roswell because that was on my bucket list. Followed by a stop at White Sands National Monument where Doug surprised me with sledding on sand dunes. Stopping at Doug’s alma mater- UC San Diego. Taking a moment to admire the ocean views at Torrey Pines gliderport. Sitting with one of his college friend’s getting to hear stories of his college days.

This amazing man humored my touristy side by hiking up the Hollywood sign (well the 6 mile mark because well I was in no condition for the 13).

We attended our conference, where we got to learn how to continue building our business.

We got to enjoy a day at Disneyland and California Adventure. Where we played and rode rides and ate Mickey bars. We caught a break with tickets to the Astros vs. Angels game. He humored me again by sitting through Mamma Mia on opening night. Every day was an adventure with my bestfriend. And pie. There was this pie shop down the street that was such a lovely place to sit and do business strategies.

On our way back we stopped at Roberto’s Taco Shop before leaving California… fun facts about this place

1. Burritos were huge

2. They were delicious

If you’re in the area find one- you’ll have no regrets. We stayed in Deming so that we could wake up to a mini mountain view and continued on our way.

So why am I sharing all of this? None of this was planned. We knew where we were going and just went. We forget or lose sight of what’s important by trying to create planned experiences. The most unexpected ideas result in the most memorable moments. Savor the unexpected moments. Spend time with your significant other and continue to grow together.

Happy Saturday!!

FYI Books we listened to:

I’ll Be Gone In the Dark

Girl Logic

Kitchen Confidential

Astrophysics for People In a Hurry

Pandora’s Lab Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong

A Polaroid Guy in a Snapchat World

Father’s Day

I love and miss my dad terribly. But i was blessed to have him in my life for as long as I did, and I will carry his lessons and love with me always.

As a mother, I want my children to experience the same unconditional love.

This picture sums up what co-parenting should be like and what unconditional love is.

This is my son at bat with his biological dad pitching and his bonus dad (my husband) coaching him from first base. He doesn’t know anything other than the love of his family supporting him. The biggest blessing is that both these men love and are teaching the kids that their (the kids) happiness is the most important thing to us all.

Happy father’s day to all the dads and bonus dads, may your children also know and experience unconditional love.

Gotta have faith

In 1998, 20 years ago this month, I was able to do my Confirmation from St. Mary’s Catholic Church. I can recall my retreat; I remember being surprised by my family as we enjoyed a potluck on our arrival, I have all those wonderful moments incredibly present in my mind.

This year, our daughters, who were Baptized there as infants, will each be receiving the sacraments of Communion (Andi) and Confirmation(Madison). I cannot put into words what it is like to be a patron of this church for over 20 years and getting to see my children learn the word of God through the same doors I did.

Through the ups and downs of life, I feel that it is important to have the strong foundation of one’s faith in their lives. This is what St. Mary’s taught me at the age of 15. And this is what I hope to continue instilling in our children as they continue their religious education beyond sacrament requirements.

Always have the presence of mind to continuously teach your children to praise, love and seek God… and to always have faith.

Happy Monday!

The challenge ends

Day 26- We took a picture 📸

Day 27- I thanked him for always being present for our kids and in our relationship.

Day 28- Reflected on this past month:

The challenge was an opportunity for us to ensure that we had moments for ourselves. More importantly, the challenge showed our kids what stable loving marriages should look like. The gestures were nothing extraordinary, but genuine gestures that we would normally do for each other. In fact, many of them were naturally being done, so integrating them into the calendar was easy.

Even my students say that Doug and I are relationship goals (Or in their words #relationshipgoals 😂). They see his small gestures (homemade cards and love notes) and then big ones like the delivery of roses, the PINK plates on the Jeep.

Anyhow, the challenge was fun and with our recent book purchase, Husband and Wife 100 Day Love Challenge, our marriage can continue growing with God’s blessing.

 

The challenge continues…

We are on the last three days of the challenge so I’ll quickly recap this last week-

Day 19- We discussed our goals and dreams- personal and for our family.

Day 20- Making dinner together was fun and it was more like taking turns since the kids still had homework they needed help with. Nonetheless, all were fed.

Day 21- We did not get a chance for this last week, but we’ll definitely do it this weekend. Although, with us Tolmans, winning is everything so this will have to stay friendly.

Day 22- Done- no complaining from either of us.

Day 23- I had ordered him the greatest shirt, which was perfect for Charro Day weekend. (It’s the air accordion one on the Instagram feed). He bought me an essential piece to complete my cuptisserie.

Day 24- Patience runs deep with Doug, but not so much for me- Saturday as I trekked nine blocks in the blazing sun with 3 children to get to him. I made sure to smile and make the best of it. And it was worth it. The kids had the most amazing time riding in the Jeep during the parade.

Day 25- I am unsure if the walk down the Walmart aisles will count, but that’s the only chance for a walk as we bought home essentials.

This weekend was great though. The early release and day off from school allowed us to spend quality time with our kids. They went to the movies, participated in a fun run, came out in a parade, cleaned their rooms and visited the laundromat for the first time. (Our dryer parts are finally coming in so yay!) We went to church as a family and made sure to be thankful for our countless blessings… and they are many. And those are the moments that matter.

I can’t wait to tell you what the best part of this challenge has been for us…but that will be posted later this week 😉