And Shine it Did

We had the most beautiful weekend here with highs in the 60's on Saturday and Sunday. The kiddos enjoyed finally getting to play outside without any jackets. (They do have them on in these pics but this was Fri evening right before sunset & it was cooler.). I got a little tree trimming in, and had the windows up most of the weekend airing out the house. I haven't spent much time outside in a long time, and now I realize just how much work there is to do. I wish someone would buy our house before it's time to do all of that stuff! It was a little glimpse of spring, and boy am I ready for warmer weather?! Now, it's freezing again. I even saw some flurries today, which were not at all welcome here! It was great while it lasted, and I hope there's another break in the freezing temps soon!!


Grant is finally swinging on his own. Last year, he swore he couldn't do it alone, although I think he just like someone out there with him.


My brother & his girlfriend were in for the weekend so the kids were entertained all weekend long. They even spent the night with them at my mom's & we got to sleep until 7:30 Sat morning & then go to the gym together. It was so nice!


Just had to post this because her hair totally cracks me up. The sun was setting behind her hair & it was FULL of static from the swing. So funny!




As you might've seen above, I'm moving my blog to another address. I'll probably completely remove this blog over the weekend if things go as planned. The new address is above.

Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun

Mr Sun:

Thank you for coming to visit today. It had been way too long since we spent any time together, and I missed you dearly. Just seeing you briefly over these past few weeks has been really, really hard on me. Please come back again soon...tomorrow if you're up to it. I know it must be exhausting up there, but you make this girl so happy. Surely that's worth something to you.

Thanks & it was so good to see you!

A Few of My Favorite Things

I intended to post this yesterday, but after some drama with the USB port on our computer, I just wasn't up to it. In honor of Valentine's Day yesterday, I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite things right now...in no particular order.

Diet Coke - my love affair with DC began back in 2003 when I gave up real coke in an attempt to lose weight prior to us getting engaged. it took a long time to transition from the real stuff, but i really think that there is something severely addicting about Diet Coke. I now crave it, however I'd choose a real coke from McDonald's any day. The whole $1 drink they've had going for a long time has been a really bad thing for me :-).


Doughnuts...but not just any. I am not really a doughnut lover. They are one of the only things that give me reflux, so generally I don't eat them. However, there is one place in town that I absolutely love their doughnuts, but that's not all I get there...



This is a ham & cheese croissant from the same place. Thanks to Meleah for introducing me to these. I don't know how they do it, but the ham & cheese are totally enveloped in the croissant, served warm & gooey & just totally yum!



This probably should've been at the first, God & our church. We have been so blessed by our Sunday School Class and our Small Group in the last several years. It's amazing how many great friends we've made at the church that I actually grew up in, but felt like I knew almost no one when I moved back here after we got married. It has been so helpful to be around people in the same phase of life, struggling with the same things.

We've had what seems like a month with no sunshine. However, Friday night the sun came out just in time to set & the sky was so colorful. I grabbed my camera and the kids & I drove down to church just to enjoy it for a little bit.

This is from the other side of the parking lot...My camera is also something I'm loving right now.



My central vacuum. I have a love/hate relationship with this thing, but mostly it's good. It makes cleaning up so easy, but I just hate vacuuming in general. It is soooo much easier on the hardwood floors though!


My hubby. We went out Sat night to see Up in the Air and then watched the UT/UK game at Logan's afterward. It was a good night..but not for Vol fans, which I am not. Go 'Dores! :-)


Clementines: I had not eaten these until recently, and now the kids and I are obsessed with them. They are so easy to peel, so sweet, and just the perfect size for a snack.


Philosophy's Amazing Grace perfume & body wash. I love this stuff. It's such a light, fresh scent & just makes me feel good.



My little guy (& sugar cookies). He couldn't quite comprehend holding it out so I could still see his face :-).


His contagious laugh & smile.


My crazy girl, who I'm pretty sure is going to be the death of me but look at those big brown eyes!


Moments when they actually get along. Here they were on Weds afternoon making Grant's valentines for his classmates for Thursday's party.



I hope you and yours had a Happy Valentine's Day!! What are some of your favorite things?

Dancin' Diva

This week's theme at i heart faces is "I Wanna Dance." I love this picture of Claire when she and Grant were breakin' it down with the Doodlebops CD :-)!

We're Walkin'...

sorry about the whino i appeared to be yesterday...today is a new day and a new post.





Last weekend, because Blissdom was in town, lots of bloggers were here too. Two of those happened to be Angie & Amy from i ♥ faces. They set up a photowalk for Sunday morning in downtown Nashville. Since it's not something that comes around very often, I dressed the kiddos and sent them to church with Pookie & headed downtown. It was cold, very cold. I thought I'd be ok, but after a few minutes, my fingertips were so cold they were aching & felt like they could break off at any minute. I did wear gloves, but thin ones so I could actually work my camera. I got a new camera last week and since our weather has TOTALLY STUNK, this was the first chance I'd had to test it out. Anyway, a group of 30 or so of us met up and walked around downtown taking pictures of whatever struck our fancy. I have to say that this was challenging for me. I think if I'd been some place new, it wouldn't have been so hard, but since I was some where I see nearly every week I struggled...plus I was cold!





I also just prefer taking pictures of people. There was a couple participating in the walk that had their kids with them, and I took more pictures of them than anything else. They were so patient while all of us snapped away.






Besides Angie and Amy, there were some other bloggers at the walk (there were others, i just don't know all of the addresses). It was neat to meet some new people. I can only imagine how cool Blissdom would've been putting faces with all of the blog names. Afterward, we had lunch at Big River before heading home. There were lots of people that were MUCH more creative than me in the photo taking that day. You see the flickr stream here.



More snow in the forecast this weekend...yuck!!! Spring hurry up. My mind & body (and camera) need you :-)!

Tired

I am tired......

tired of working, tired of cleaning, tired of breaking up fights, tired of rushing ALL of the time, tired of the bedtime battle every. single. night, tired of living in this tiny house, but scared to think about moving to a bigger one when i can't clean the one i have! i am worn out. i go through this stage every few months when i think i just can't do all of this anymore. it is hard to be a mom and wife. it's hard to go to work (most) every day and come home to a messy / dirty house that is simply overwhelming, cook dinner, give baths, etc. when what i really want to do is relax. i am so thankful for my children & my whole family, but that doesn't make it any less stressful. i am not complaining, just documenting life as i see it right now. i KNOW that this is small potatoes to what alot of people are facing this very moment. i'm reminding myself of that, but regardless, this is hard. i need to refocus, think about what's important, and prioritize my life, but right now it seems like a huge chore on the list of many that i don't even want to face. in the background right now i hear my two children fighting with one another. i'm not even going to check on them because they need to learn to handle some things on their own. i cannot be there to "fix" everything all of the time for them or anyone else. sometimes i need a break from being "in charge." is that horrible?! i just don't want to bear the burden that comes with it. i'm sure i could go somewhere really really "deep" with all of this, but i won't.

this is so not my typical post, and i'm not really trying to be a downer, but i just needed to write it down. hopefully it will help me wrap my brain around it all and channel my energy in the right direction. it's almost friday..surely that's something to be happy about :-)!

I Know There's More Snow Up in Colorado...

..but our roofs finally saw a sizeable amount this past weekend!!

Friday was a waiting game until about 10 or 11 am. I went to Wal-Mart a 6 am to make sure we weren't missing any essentials. While I was there, I picked up this dress for Claire, which she immediately put on over her pj's.


We kept checking outside to see if it was snowing.

Grant sat by the window and/or door most of the day.


I decided to make a dessert while we were waiting and one of the ingredients happened to be chocolate pudding. Claire & Grant cleaned the bowl for me & talked to mammy on the phone at the same time.


We ended up with lots more snow than we've seen in about 7 years. After bundling up on Sat morning, we headed outside. Claire was so unhappy to have on Grant's clothes & jacket! She didn't stay out very long at all!


After hunting for a sled all day on Thursday to no avail, we ended up with this tube. It probably would've worked, but we have no hills at our house! Pook pulled Grant around the backyard on it. At one point he had the rope tied around his waste pulling Grant behind. He looked like a mule or something :-)!


Shortly after that, we decided to go to my mom's and camp out because her neighborhood has lots of hills. I actually grew up in this neighborhood, but in a different house, and have LOTS of memories of sledding down these same hills.

Grant HATED walking up the hills. He kept saying he'd just crawl. Claire hiked up the first one, then turned to me and said, "mom i need to go poop!" Seriously, after all that work...right back to the house!

I love this picture of Grant following his daddy up the hill. His ski gloves make his hands look HUGE!


He loved sledding! They were going so fast that it scared me. I went down a few times and drug my feet to slow down. I have really turned into a chicken in my old age!

Just so you can see, it was no small hill. And, yes, that's a main highway at the bottom. Thankfully, we were stopping well before we got to it.


He was in heaven!



Sunday wasn't quite as cold so Claire ventured outside sans all of the clothes. She still wouldn't get on a sled, but she enjoyed watching everyone else. We headed to Pook's mom & dad's Sunday to try out a different hill.



This time, they had a little assistance getting started from Beth. This was a fun place to sled because you'd go down one hill and up the next and could turn around and do it going the other way.


Beth strikin' a pose.


Claire returned inside to relax on nana. Grant was in a similar posture on another couch.


We all enjoyed spending time with family and just enjoying the wonderful snow! Now, I wish the slushy stuff would go away. It's a nasty mess around here!