My niece Raelyn is 6 today.  Happy Birthday sweet girl!  Hope your day is great!  Hard to believe my niece and nephews are growing up so fast.  Time for another little cousin.  Hint- hint.  :)

Madi and Amanda have been friends since before they were born.  Diana and I met in lamaze when I was pregnant with Madi and she was pregnant with Amanda.  We ended up in the hospital and having our beautiful girls on the same day.  Madi and Amanda love to have playdates trading off at each others houses.  Yesterday it was our turn.  Here are a couple of pictures I took of the girls.

I just realized BOTH of these dresses are courtesy of our friends the Larsons.  Thanks Betty, Svea and Emma!

Two very proper girls ready for tea!

I can’t believe it’s been 11 years since Russell popped the “question.”  I can still feel his hands trembling and my heart racing as I realized what he was doing.  Makes my heart melt all over again.  :)  Eleven years… We’ve been through lots in the last 13 years and none of it (no matter how hard) I would want to change.  It’s those hard things, the good things, the bad, sad and ugly that shape us into who we are today.  We have grown closer in our relationship with each other, as individuals, as Christians, as parents, and as friends.  Hard to believe that was way back when we were just 19!

Gabriel is TEN today.  I’ve been telling him for awhile now how excited I was when I turned ten.  That meant I was a decade!  Well, today he is too.  He is such a sweet little boy who has grown up so fsat.  I remember when he was born…My first nephew.  Doesn’t seem like ten years ago.  Happy Birthday to an AWESOME Kid!  love you bud!

I can’t believe I have not posted since October 16th.  OOPS!  I am starting an in home day care in December. I’m excited!  I already have one baby lined up for two days a week.  I only want to do part-time care.  I had been thinking about doing it, and shortly after the thought, I got a text asking if I was interested in watching a baby. Perfect timing.  Work as been slow for Russell which makes me a tad nervous so it will be nice to be able to contribute a little.  I’m hoping for one or two more part -timers…

The kids are good. Everyone here is healthy and for that I am thankful.  Madi was sick with a high fever for ten days straight. UGH! What a long ten days. None of the rest of us have gotten it. Thank Goodness!  I know its going around.  My prayers are with all of you who are sick or are taking care of sickies.

Here is what Madi did one of the days she was home from school.

She made her first PILLOW

Here’s one of the boys…They were pretty good being cooped up in the house for ten days.

This week has been one of those weeks.  Sick eight-year old, teething one year old, and a little three year old who just wants to get out of the house and do something fun.  Yesterday I finally ventured out to Costco to get a few things. While I was there I noticed there was some liquid vitamin D on sample.  Since I learned six months ago that I am very vitamin D deficient, I thought I’d give it a try. The lady there begins to tell me how great it is, then proceeds to say this ever so kind statement to me “It REALLY helps get rid of the bags under your eyes.”  WOW, I didn’t think I looked that bad!  I didn’t think to much of it until I then went to the bank.  I was friendly as usual and smiled as usual and then the teller says this to me in her most sympathetic voice, “Are you having a long day?”  Well, it was at that moment I realized that I can’t hide (even from complete strangers) when I am worn out.  I came home and was feeling sorry for myself.  I did, however, get over it pretty quickly. I know I am tired. I know I didn’t look all done up. Whatever.  Just gives me something to blog about, right?

So, here we are today and Lincon is DONE being in the house.  I am DONE being in the house.  I am short tempered and he is easily lighting my fuse every time he climbs on the couch or the coffee table, everytime he yells or screams.  Then I take a breath and realize he is so BORED and has been SO good all week.  I am thankful for that. I have to give him some credit there.  He wants to go-go-go. I don’t blame him, so do I.  I call my friend Diana to see if she could possibly pick up some school work for Madi today, when Lincon comes in crying again.  UGH!  Then Diana says this (and this is what saved my sanity for the day) “Hey, do you want  a mocha?  I’ll bring it right over, I’m on my way up the hill.”  Are you kidding me?  Of course I’ll take it.  She saved the day!  I love these little things God does to remind us that he cares.  He used Diana to give me a little bit of sanity to make it through the day.  I’ve had this happen to me before by Russell (multiple times), my friends Kelly and Heather, and several others.  It’s really like He knows what will help and he cares enough to use His people to show it.  I love my friends!!  You guys are the best!  Some people call these things coincidence, or good timing, or a lucky day…I call it a God thing because as I have said before He cares about the small things!

We all have seasons in life.  Happiness. Contentment. Joy. Loneliness. Nothingness. Excitement.  Grieving. Hurt. Anger. Newness. Fear. And, the list could go on and on.  Through all of these seasons, I believe, there is a lesson to be learned.  A story to be told.  A dream to share. A helpful word to someone, somewhere along the way. Life is a journey not a destination.  The journey is not always easy, the road we travel is not always smooth.  However, it’s the bumps in the road that shape us and form us into the people we are, the people we will become and the people that God wants us to be.  No one ever said life were easy.  I have experienced many of these seasons already, and I know I’m not done experiencing them either.  Sometimes that makes me excited and sometimes it scares the crap out of me!  Honestly, I don’t know where exactly I’m headed with this post so I will stop now. Just some thoughts I’ve been having lately….  There are my deep thoughts for the day.

It does not seem like it’s been a year since this…

And now here we are at this….

Trent is such a joy.  We have been blessed!  He is a smart little cookie.  The other day he was looking at a freckle on my hand.  He then looks at his hand, back and mine and tries to pick my freckle off my hand. I love watching his wheels turn.  Speaking of wheels turning, he is already such a boy who loves anything with wheels, wings, or legs.  Animals, balls, books, trucks, trains, tractors, airplanes and all the typical boy things are already his favorites.  He is weaned from the bottle which was way easier than I had anticipated.  he is talking quite a bit, although most of his words sounds the same, but you can tell what he means by the situation.  (If that makes any sense)  He loves to make the sounds of cars and trucks, moos like a cow, growls like a lion and barks like a dog.  I’m excited to see his wheels continue to turn.  Happy Birthday lil guy!

Last night I was sitting the the living room with my friend Brandi, her daughter Brianna, Linc and Trent.  Madi had been back somewhere else in the house for about 5-10 minutes.  I wasn’t sure what she was doing.  Maybe going to the bathroom, maybe goofing off in the mirror, I wasn’t sure.  I didn’t think too much of it.  Suddenly she comes into the living room with a pouty face.  I kinda ignored her at first. I want her to be able to just tell me whats wrong without me having to ask all the time.  She sat there, then bowed her head down in her arm.

Finally, I asked  ”Whats wrong hunny?”

“You’re going to be disappointed,”  as the tears welled up in her eyes.

I haven’t been wearing my wedding ring or my other very special ring because my hands hurt from eczema so bad.  So my rings were my first thought.  ”Does it have to do with my rings?!”

“No.”  Now the tears begin to flow.

“What Madi?”

SOBBING she says, “I tried to curl my Polly Pockets hair, and it melted all over your curling iron.”  She is now bawling at this point and can’t contain herself.

I was the farthest thing from mad or disappointed.  I could NOT hold in my laughter.  I’m laughing again out loud as I type this because I think EVERY girl has done this.  She was devastated that I was going to have to buy a new curling iron and all I could do was laugh.  Brandi sat there laughing with me and she said she did the same thing when she was little.  Madi was so cute and genuinely felt awful. She was shocked that I wasn’t mad or disappointed.    I had her bring in the curling iron and the polly pocket and we all let out more giggles.

Anyway, had to share this funny story.  She just cracks me up.  All my kids crack me up and I love being able to share some of their funny stories on my blog.  Hope you enjoyed this one!