Awwwwww, how sweet is that?

Another Mommy blogger, Angela at Time With A&N, nominated me for a Liebster Award! That is so nice of her to do. I have to admit that I am thrilled anytime someone comments on my posts, so to be nominated for an award for new bloggers is extra exciting. To accept this nomination I have to perform the following six tasks.

• Link back to the blog that nominated you.

Time with A&M, where Angela, a fellow teacher shares the woes of balancing motherhood and life. 

• Nominate 5-11 new blogs with fewer than 200 followers.

I nominate The Truth About Mommy, for her brutal honesty.

I nominate Raising the Light, and the awesome ladies who post there about faith and family.

I nominate Super Punk Rock Mommy, for the fun of it.

I nominate Working On / Working Mom, for the tremendous effort she has put into her most recent food challenge.

I wanted to nominate The Deliberate Mom, because she is just one of those cool Moms that everyone should know, but I just checked and she officially has 202 followers. I'm nominating her anyway! (Check her out anyway.)

• Answer the questions posted for you by your nominator.

1. What's your dream career?  Winning the Lotto.
2. If money wasn't an issue how many kids would you have? Shouldn't this question be "If your  husband wasn't an issue...?" I kid, I adore the two I have, periodically think about throwing in a few more when these are potty trained, but I don't think we should worry about new babies for a few years and then see how we feel about it then.
3. What's your favorite vacation? The ones that haven't happened yet, when we get to take the kiddos all over the place. With that one rainy camping trip to Enchanted Rock being a close second place. Actually when I was in college I went on a really cool two week trip where we learned Geography by doing Geography. Once when we were dating, Mr.PJ took me to Pensacola Beach, it was kinda romantic. I like getting away and this is not an easy question.
4. If you could go visit anywhere where would you go? Everywhere. Seriously, as a Geography nerd I get excited about a lot of places. Except the really violent and sandy ones. 
5. Where did you meet your significant other? I met Mr. PJ the old fashioned way, in a bar. Some of my friends were playing in a band there. Mr. PJ was there. We met, talked and the rest is history. Actually the rest is a story for another post one day.
6. How long did you date before you were married? We dated six months, he was on deployment for the six months after that, he came back and we moved in together, we got engaged and then married a year after that. I was 22 when we got married and I'm still kinda crazy about him, even though he can drive me crazy sometimes.
7. How long have you known your longest friend? My sister, her whole life, 25 years in July. My longest not related by blood friend, Estelle, has it really been 12 years?
8. When was your last date night with your husband? Some may not count this, but we just got done with a season of co-ed softball. We are on a team for my campus and every Wednesday night for the past several weeks has been a game night. Thank you to my awesome Mother in law for babysitting. Thank you to Mr.PJ for that epic grand slam in the last game of the playoffs. It was very romantic. Go Treefish!
9. Where do you live? In a cute little two bedroom, one bath, fixer upper that we are quickly outgrowing. It breaks my heart that the home we started our family in needs more TLC than we can give it. I know we are going to have to make a decision soon about what we want to do, but it is just hard for me because I have been in this home longer than any other single place in my life. 
10. If you could only eat three things what would they be?  Well, being vegetarian, my diet is already kind of restricted. I'm going to go with.......dang this is a hard question. I say carbs, dairy and home cooking. I'm sorry, I really love food and I can't pick just three favorites. 
11. How long have you been blogging? Since January, so six months. I'm really enjoying it. 

• Share 11 random facts about yourself.

1. I gained close to fifty pounds with both of my pregnancies. I lost it by nursing and running around like a chicken with its head cut off while attempting to take care of all of those tasks that we call life. 
2. I am a Hurricane Katrina victim. At the time we were living in my home state of Mississippi and  most of the Mississippi Gulf Coast was wiped clean. We were lucky our home was still there, but with five feet of floodwaters nearly everything inside was ruined. I can honestly say that we have been nothing but blessed since moving to our current home. It did take me a long time to get over the shock of being forced to move because of the storm.  I still want to cry anytime an area hit by a  natural disaster is on the news.
3. My son and I were laying on the couch snuggling the other night. My husband walked in and told him it was time for him to get a shower. He responded, "Um, I'm not done with Mommy yet." I hope he never finished snuggling with me.
4. My daughter took her first steps earlier tonight! We were at the little dude's soccer practice and she took a step towards her Daddy.  How cool is that? Fact number four- I was nervous about having a daughter, but I could not be more delighted. 
5. I cloth diaper and nurse my babies. I know that there are people out there that think I am crazy because being a working mom takes up a lot of time and so does pumping and washing diapers. I feel like in a way, that is time I'm giving back to my kids. I know it is not for every family, but it works for us. 
6. I pretty  much neglect every other aspect of homemaking duties all week long. My most hated chore is washing dishes. When we do move, I hope we can get a place with a dishwasher. My home is usually embarrassingly filthy.
7. I was an adult before I got serious about my faith and religion. I think that that is one of those topics that will be a longer post for another day. I do have to say I enjoy reading other blogs that post inspirational stuff. It helps keep me on track.
8. My Godson has downs syndrome. His Momma is one of my closest friends. We have known each other since before we started having kids and we met at church. His downs was a surprise, but he couldn't have a better family and he is a great little kid. I hope our kiddos are always as close as they are now. 
9. Sometimes I have a hard time relating to other adults, especially if I let myself be judgmental, which I hate doing. I mean, it is easy to make a quick assumption about someone, but then I always feel guilty later on. When I see someone doing something that I think is dumb, I just want to write them off, even though I know that is not the right thing to do. I have been working really hard on having more patience and being intentionally nice to people even when I don't want to. 
10. When I was a freshmen in college I saw a girl get killed in a drinking and driving accident. A drunk driver hit her car and fled the scene. They caught him later, but I watched the girl die in the arms of her friend. 
11. My husband and I are kind of opposites. I'm vegetarian, he is not. He will have a beer with dinner, I don't drink. I went to college, he went to the military and then trade school. He smokes I don't. We both love each other madly, tolerate each others craziness, keep each other sane and I hope that he knows how much I love and respect him. I hate it when I realize I'm nagging him about stuff.

• Create 11 questions for your nominees.  

1. What is your favorite family tradition?
2. What quality about yourself do you want to improve on?
3. What prayer do you say the most often? 
4. Who inspires you?
5. Who is your favorite author and what was the last book that you read?
6. Which radio station do you listen to / what is your favorite music genre?
7. What are you sick of making for dinner / what is your most hated chore?
8. Which blog do you read the most and why?
9. What are your hopes for your kids when they grow up?
10. Have you ever paid to see a movie in the theater more than once or what is your favorite film? 
11. Where do you see yourself in ten years?

• Contact your nominees and let them know you nominated them.

Done! Whew, that was a beast of a post. It took me two days to do. Nominees, I wish you good luck.

If you made it through this extra long post, go the extra mile and click below to vote for me. Thanks!