Thursday, January 12, 2012

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.

Monday, January 9, 2012

A Decade

Ten years.  Double digits.  One decade.  Not long ago she looked like this and then I blinked.


Now she's 10!

She wanted to go skating for her birthday

with some friends

and she even invited Isaac


Having fun with Darla, and Katelyn



A roller-skate birthday cake.  With jumbo marshmallow wheels.  Dipped in sparkly colored sugar.  Because Abby loves sparkles.

And sparkly colored-sugar pompoms.  If you tear a jumbo marshmallow in half.  Wet your hands slightly.  And roll the halved-marshmallow into a ball.  Then dip it in colored-sugar.  It will turn into a pom-pom.  True story.
And if the birthday girl decides to take some pictures of her cake while you are putting the finishing touches on it.  And then DROPS her camera in the cake.  It will take at least a half hour to fix it.  True story too!

Presents!

I got her paper party tablecloth from Target.  The colors are so happy!


I may wall-paper my entire house with it.  Maybe :)

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Happy Zoo Year!

We celebrated New Year's Eve at the zoo. With...
Friends

Felines


Festival of Lights and Fireworks

More Friends

and Family.

Then we had Food.  And it was FUN :)

Monday, January 2, 2012

Christmas Past

And now it's over.  What a wonderful Christmas and lots of great memories.  We are so blessed!
Christmas Eve in Indiana at my sister's home.

All 18 of us + one !

Lisa Stewart?  Lisa Crocker?  Lisa Ray?  Um...no, even better --  Ricky's Lisa with her first apple pie.  Love her!

Ella Bella

Buddys

Grandpa reading the Christmas Story

Peeking!

L and R

surprises!

Abby and Grandma

Little Brayden

Presents!  

Robbie, Tricia, Grandma, Katelyn, and Abby!

Christmas morning at home.  C'mon Mom, let's get this show on the road!

My sweetheart

Caleb

Abby

Ella

Isaac


Poached eggs, toast, fried potatoes, and bacon by Chef Carl

Christmas at Grammy and Pappys 

presents!

hugs!

and Grammy's beautiful table set for a delicious Christmas dinner

and then monopoly

some fun competition

and even some new rules made up along the way :)

So thankful for Christmas!  For Jesus, the reason for the season.  And for time spent with family and the memories we made.  How was your Christmas?