TKO

What do you do when your husband leaves you for almost 72 hours AND takes the children with him?

You clean out the game closet, 

empty the fridge and freezer and give them a good scrubbing,

go strawberry picking, 

mow the lawn without having to stop numerous times to pull sticks out of one year olds mouth,

prune your beloved weeping cherry before your husband attacks it,

get Olaf ready to cut out and paint for a birthday present,

have a cup of coffee at 10:30pm because you don't have to go to bed at a decent hour because there are no children at home to get you up at an insanely early hour,

finally get around to drawing that 'Saving for Disney' chart,

catch up on a lot of movies (still not sure how I feel about Man of Steel),

go through the drawers of the fast growing baby of the family,

watch History channel.  All. Weekend. Long.

go over and over your budget and update your envelopes (sacrifice now, good things later, sacrifice now, good things later, sacrifice now....),

make prizes for work,

get every piece of laundry in the house washed, dried and put away (this never happens),

and get some painting done, 

I ate seafood all weekend, paid bills, filled out some financial aid paperwork, got all the dishes done, took a mid evening nap, ran out to the store for the one thing I forgot just because I could, made cookies, and even went to work on Saturday.  So many weights were lifted off my shoulders and that is what I call a

 Total Knock Out Weekend.

Explain this...

The child can't walk yet.

BUT

She sure can scale a slide with ease.

A happy, happy lady

Know what it takes to make this girl happy?

Manure.

Manure and a ton of dirt.

A helpful, handy hubby and son helps too.

And a rain barrel?

Well that's like icing on the cake.

Happy to report

This, my friends:

is the last empty formula container that I will ever put into the recycling bin.  

Can you hear my wallet singing??

Pure and simple beauty

My Mothers Day gift - 

a wonderful greeting every time I come home.

Thats right, Jake

This conversation happened weeks ago but is relevant anytime.  

"HEY MOM!" 

"Today is a new day!"

Thats right, Jake, it is.  

Lets enjoy it!

Happy Mothers Day

As a mother its always wonderful to hear comments about how good your children are, how helpful they are, how caring and considerate they are.  Its compliments like those that remind us we are doing something right in this world with those children even though on the inside we're screaming "Well they why can't they act like that at home?!"

But its the completely random moments, the words from the mouths of babes, that is the true inspiration and motivation to keep doing what we are doing.  That our lectures aren't falling on deaf ears and that actions speak louder than words. 

 

Happy Mothers Day to all of you women out there.  Don't forget that you are a role model no matter your stage in life.

Let it begin

In case you weren't aware, Christmas is on my brain.

A lot. 

Like 365 days a year, 24/7.  

But maybe even more than that.  

So when Bree started begging me to make her a blanket like Holly's, I began a mental Christmas List of ideas for her with a quilt being at the top of the list.  And so it begins.

Homemade Christmas 2014

Dear Lord Almighty,
You know my daughters wants and desires more than I do.  Please guide my hands in creating the most beautiful quilt she's ever seen.  Help her to know in time the amount of stress, frustrations and tears went into sewing, ripping apart, placing, replacing and shifting around of materials to find the "right" pattern all in the name of love.  And let the joy on her face Christmas morning tell me that it was worth every minute and drop of blood shed.
Amen

Ugh...

Yeah, it was that kind of Monday.

Glad its almost over.

Saving my piece of mind

Sometimes in life you have to do what soothes your soul....

to do something that saves what piece of mind you have left...

to do something so simple and laid back that it reminds you to slow down and relax...

to do what feels right...

.... no matter how much your husband complains about stiff towels.

Be happy I'm not hanging your underwear out there.  

Beauty Queen

Just chillin' out waiting for some dental work to be done!

Happy Wednesday!

A New Start

Sometimes you are just so overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done, should be done, waaay past overdue to be done, that you just don't know where to start.

That's me and my relationship with blogging.

So much I need to catch up on, and someday I hope to, but for now I just have to start somewhere.

May 2013 

Bree's Preschool Graduation

December 2013

Jake's Preschool Christmas Program

What a difference a few months can make!

Fred - Days 5 & 6 & 7

Day Five

In the shower for good reason

(I cannot find a picture of this day.  Fred was in the shower clinging to the kid's pump soap and on the shower was written "Stepped in reindeer poop.  Ewwwww...."

Day Six

Sitting in a cabana on a beach

(I cannot find a picture of this day and I even had to reconstruct the cabana to take the stupid picture.  So frustrating.  Anyways... I built a beach cabana out of the kid's mega blocks and dumped our bag of sand from the outer beach underneath it.  I also dug out some beachy Barbie items (like chairs, thermos and beach towel) to set around him and left the note:

What a heat wave!

At 59 degrees, why do you wear a coat?

*hee, hee*

Guess I’m not at the North Pole anymore, am I?  Up there the average temperature is NEGATIVE 34 degrees.

It takes special people like us elves, reindeers and, of course, Santa to withstand that kind of bitter cold. 

Even though 59 degrees feels like a day on the beach to me, you better listen to your parents and wear your coat!

Fred

Day Seven
Making it a White Christmas for us

It doesn’t feel very festive with all this warm weather.  I tried to bring snow from the North Pole back with me but it began melting somewhere over Michigan.  So I came up with the next best thing.  PAPER SNOWFLAKES!!  Tell your mom she may want to add coffee filters to her grocery list!

Patiently Waiting?

She's in her chair.  Her bib is on.  She's staring at her daddy, patiently waiting for him to serve her dinner....

Or maybe not...

I love when they fall asleep sitting up.  So darn cute.

Twins?

Bree at almost one year old:

Holly almost 8 months old:

Its undeniable.  They are sisters.

Reintroducing Holly Jacquelynne Dominique

I think when I left you last Holly looked something like this:

Or maybe this:

 

Well I'm happy to report she's growing!!  And mighty fast too!

Snoozing in her stroller at Shipshewana this summer.

Snoozing, again, at Grand Rapids.

Wide awake at Imagination Station.

She even made it to her first Detroit Tigers game at less than a year old!

Spending lots of time on her belly whether she like it or not.

Jacob was very excited when she started grabbing at toys.

Big sister Bree still willing to help out.

Bright eyed in the morning.

Just getting so big.

With the weather turning colder, the cats came in for the first time since this spring and finally got to meet the newest member of the family. 

Sitting up, being fed... its all so much work.

Big brother Jake sharing his blanket, making sure she's warm enough.

Getting ready for her first taste of cereal.

"What the heck is happening?!?!"

Classic falling asleep in her walker and yes that is drool all over her shirt.

Watching her family carves their pumpkins and somehow ending up with pumpkin on her face.

 

Annual family Halloween picture.

Snoozing at Bree's swimming lessons.

Bath time!

"Help me, Momma!"

Watching Bree blow out her birthday candle lighter.

Most recent picture - Getting pulled around in a box by big sister. 

 

At this point in time Holly is:

 

18 lbs 13 ounces

 

28 3/4 inches long

 

Eating squash for dinner

 

Has two teeth

 

Can roll over from back to front

 

Can mostly sit up on her own

 

Attempts to wiggle her way forward to grab at toys

 

Has gotten her butt up in the air like she's going to crawl

 

Is growing up WAY too fast!