Dear Friends and Antiques

We had an amazing weekend!
We took off at 6am on Saturday morning for a 5 hour drive to visit our dear friends.
The car ride wasn't great, but it also wasn't awful.  It was a good warm-up for our 24 hour trip slated for December.

We are so blessed to call the P's our friends!!
They are the type of family, that it doesn't matter how long it's been since we've seen each other, it just feels right, good, relaxed.  Like we just spoke yesterday.
We soaked up every single minute of them.
Our kids played and laughed and reconnected.
Our sons interacted like they were old buddies (even though nearly 6 years separates them)
I loved watching it all happen.  It felt comforting and filled my heart.
Of course, we were so busy laughing and eating and catching up and eating some more that we didn't capture one single picture of the adults together.  This HAS to be a higher priority the next time we are all together! 

And then to TOP of the weekend, Ed (actually all of us!) got to visit a very special place.
Antique Archaeology.
The only way it could have been better was if Mike or Frank had showed up.
Ed is a BIG fan of the show American Pickers and it was so cute to see how happy he was to be there.  I loved it.  And when he scored a t-shirt, I swear it made his YEAR!!!
(Sorry for the crappy iphone pics)

Look at that grin!!

 

The kids got to test their 'picking' skills and choose an item and barter for it.  It was cute.

The weekend went WAY TO FAST.
It was really difficult to leave.
The entire drive home, I Thanked God for bringing the P's into our lives.
Can't wait until the "bushes are trimmed" and we laugh together again.  Love you guys!

Pretty Pumpkins!

We had a blast painting pumpkins Wednesday night.
The girls were so impressed with their brother's creation, that they ditched their ideas of patterns and designs.
I have a few Picasso's on my hands :)

 

Can you guess who each pumpkin belongs to?

 

 



 

9 Year Old Favorites

The Tradition continues.
Here's E's responses when she turned 8.

Year 9...Here we go:


What is your favorite color: Pink

Favorite animal: Monkey

Favorite food: Sesame Chicken

Favorite thing to do at school: Read

Favorite activity: Track, specifically high jump

BFF: Kennedy and Anna and Chloe

What do you think of your sister H right now: She’s pretty nice/kind

Who cooks the best: Mom and Dad

Favorite TV shows: Good Luck Charlie and Jessi

Favorite breakfast food: Donuts and Dad’s homemade pancakes

Funnest thing we've done so far this year: The Heart Heroes Super Run

Favorite pet: All of the pets I’ve ever had

Favorite day: Monday and Friday  (mom note:  WHO the HECK likes MONDAYS????)

Favorite people in the world: my family

Favorite place to visit: Las Vegas

 

Favorite thing about my mom: She’s Awesome (AAAWWWW!!!)

Favorite thing about my dad: He cuddles with me.

Favorite thing about my brother: He’s so fun to play with

Favorite thing about my sister: She plays with me

Favorite kind of ice cream: Mint Chocolate Chip and Cookie Dough

What's the nicest thing you've ever done: Helped a friend

What scares you the most: Scary stuff (mom note: pretty much everything!)

What’s your favorite place to shop:  Target and Justice

What’s your favorite restaurant:  Jimmy Johns, Red Robin and Hy-Vee Chinese

What’s your favorite candy:  Skittles and Snickers (a girl after her daddy’s heart)

9 years

Nine years ago on a Monday at 2:10pm my life forever changed.
Oct 18th, 2004 - I became a mother.
A mother to this adorable baby girl with tons of black hair

She's been all my firsts.
My first baby.  My first daughter. My first sleep deprivation.  My first crawler, walker, talker etc.
My first mistakes as a mother (good thing she often accepts my apologies). Dang near my first of everything.
She was my first chunk:

And she continues to brings lots of firsts into our lives.

Our sweet, sweet E......Happy 9th Birthday!
We are proud of the young lady you are becoming.  You are kind and generous to others.
You are a great big sister.  we LOVE you!!!

We look forward to all the 'firsts' yet to come :)

Control......and an unexpected Blessing.

I'm a control freak. 
I KNOW....most of you are SHOCKED right now. ha!

I like thinking, as least, that I have some sort of control of my life and that of my family.
Funny thing is....I KNOW BETTER, but still want to feel/think that I do.

I do know that I can control me.  My words, my actions, my responses.
That's it.  Just me.  That's it.  (Had to say it twice for good measure).

I have ZERO control over ALL the REST!!!
And "All the Rest" is a LOT....you know, little things like my children, my husband, my parents, my siblings, my boss, my co-workers, my friends, my neighbors, the people driving to work at the same time as me, the weather, the reactions/responses of others, the crap people don't do, etc etc etc.  You know...ALL THE REST!  All the rest that is the oh, I don't know....my entire life, being, existence.

Every single day (YES....Every single day!), I chant/quote/think/ponder these sayings to help counter my 'control' issues:
1. Give it ALL to God and Let Him take care of it.
2. Worry about Nothing...Pray about Everything.
3. Let Go and Let God
4. And lots of other little sarcastic comments, usually littered with some curse words.

It's hard to let it all go for me.
Really it is.
I like knowing.  I like having a plan.  I like having a schedule.
You all know that's not how it goes.

Over the past few months, I've struggled with this a bit more than likely ever before in my life.
There has been plenty of 'stuff' that has transpired that I feel I have had little control over.  I could only control my reaction.  It's been hard.
I have felt wronged, disappointed, SHOCKED, sad, humbled, and honestly PUT IN MY PLACE.
I know who PUT ME IN MY PLACE.
And I deserved it.
But it's still difficult.

Over the past months, I felt that I had some control and direction over my life, over my career, over...well, a lot of things.
God had different plans:

Pretty stinking cute already, right??!?!?!

Ok...I'm not stupid...I KNOW where babies come from (the stork, right?).
So yes...I know I had some control over that.
BUT....this little miracle was a bit of a surprise for this momma.  A beautiful, joyous blessing....but still with some good ole shock value attached.

God needed to 'shake me up' a bit.
Guess I hadn't been listening so well.  He knew THIS was big enough to stop me in my tracks.  Probably close to the only thing that would have.

So over the past few months I've had to wrap my head around this all.  This little miracle baby has made me stop and think.  Rethink my career path.  Rethink my relationships, both personal and at work.  Rethink my parenting skills (or lack thereof) and decisions.  Really....rethink it all!
That's been overwhelming to me emotionally and spiritually.  Then add the physical demand of growing a baby and I'm wiped out.

So you all have probably noticed it.
Noticed my total absence from my blog.  My absence from phone calls and get togethers.  The absence of my mind and memory. I've withdrawn a lot.

Please bear with me.  Please pray for me (or actually pray more for my husband and my kids).

Control's a silly thing.
I'm just continuing to learn to let Go and TRUST IN HIM!

Oh what April will bring....

April will bring a little more than showers........

 

 

Surprise!!!! (the good kind of surprise...but still a surprise for us all :)
Baby Anibal #4 slated to make their grand appearance on 4/4/14.

I adore the girls response :) 

Soccer....

Today I'm going to participate in my very first Throwback Thursday!
Not because I'm jumping on the bandwagon of most folks on FB and Twitter.
Nope, not me.

I'm tossing in a nearly year and a half year old picture of H because her current soccer has ended and I DID NOT TAKE ONE SINGLE PICTURE!!!

Seriously...EPIC FAIL on this mom's part.
An entire season passed.  No pictures of H.  No pictures of her team.  No pictures of her awesome coach.

H -- I'm really sorry, but honey, the memories of your mad soccer skills are burned in my head...promise!
You and the Pink Cheetahs ROCKED IT!

There's always next season, right???