Celebrating and Snow

Celebrating my birthday.  Flowers from my Mom.  Tulips, my favorite!


Little hands attempting a birthday cake.

Handmade cards.  My favorite!

Carl took us all out to PF Changs, my favorite!


Gifts from my kids.  And I don't have a pic but my favorite mother-in-law mad me a delicious birthday dinner and a caramel cake.  More birthdays, please!

Saturday, we took a trip to Perfect North.  Carl & Caleb have been there many times, but it was a first for me & Abby.

Gearing up.

Board on, Dude!  (I think that's what your supposed to say :)



Abby and I watched from the balcony 

and warmed up by the fireplace playing WordsWithFriends

Next time I go I'll be on a board :)

And a couple random shots of the 5 solid minutes of snow that we have had this entire winter.  Somehow my camera focused on that ONE single snowflake.  I'm sure I couldn't do it again, but love how this turned out :)

A Blast from the Past

Happy Birthday to me!  Celebrating the gift of life today and so thankful for the years God has given me. 

I haven't changed that much, have I?

Normal

Just a normal day.  From moments to minutes to hours.  Then days, months, and years.  Time does not slow down.  I tried to document one of my "normal" days today to remember forever.  I know these days go by so quickly and at the end of the day I often wonder what I've accomplished.  I want to find joy in the mundane.  These ordinary moments that will be gone so soon, and remember how really wonderful they are.
5am 
A fruit smoothie for Carl as he's walking out the door.  No, I don't always make a smoothie, but I do always get up to pack his lunch and spend a few minutes with him. 


6am
Alarm clocks and breakfast (not mine, who feeds their kids this stuff?) and showers and pencils and papers and the school bus

Seriously?  A whole extra 6 minutes to make sure Abby has no bumps in her hair.  Thank You!  I need it!

7am
More showers and breakfast.  And hair.  That's a whole different post.


Kisses and hugs and prayers.

8am
Laundry.  (Wash. Dry. Fold. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat)

Blogs.  Yep, I love them!

And legos.

9am
Dishes

and a chat with my Mom.

10am
Isaac practicing writing his alphabet.  He loves it.  Not that I would ever brag, but he knows all his letters, their sounds, and can write the whole alphabet by himself.  Uppercase and lowercase.  Left-handed.  And he's only 4.  My kids are multi-talented.  Some are dancing ironers.  And some can write :)  I love how different they are!

11am
Must check!

Did I already mention laundry?

Then "just relaxing" on the couch.  Isaac calling Grammy and Grandma to check in.  I'm pretty sure I'm sitting right beside him editing my hourly pics and eaves dropping on his conversation.  He asked for Grandpa (who was working) then told my Mom she should really have more kids so she wouldn't be alone today :)

12pm
Off to run some errands.  (code for I'm going to GoodWill)

My sidekick (no wonder my days are happy)

Bank & Library

1pm
and GoodWill

I tried on a small stack of stuff but decided "Nah"
But I'm still thinking of this coffee table.  Espresso.  Solid wood.  Probably WestElm.  Still thinking.

2pm

Pick up my room and dream about a nap

But I know starving kids will soon be home.  

Cheesy quesadillas with ketchup, or A1, or taco sauce, or sometimes a combination.

A reminder list

and some homework

3pm

Snow!  Big huge fluffy flakes just as the girls were getting home.

4pm

We're off to Caleb's guitar lesson

where Isaac gets to hang out with his good buddy.

6pm

Together.  My favorite place to be.

Dinner.  Fried potatoes, mini turkey cheeseburgers on slider buns and mixed vegetables.

8pm

Just being with my favorite people.  And the last load of laundry (for the day) goes in the dryer.

9pm

All I hear is snoring.  Everyone's asleep except for me, the blogger.  And Ella, the crafty-girl.  Night-Night!

All pics were taken with Abby's ipod and edited with Instagram.