Sharing

The relationship between Tara and Coryn is amazing. They have a really special bond. And while sometimes there is screaming, hitting and probably a bit of hatred, the flip side is something beautiful. It is best seen at night when the two of them sit together reading books. They will gather a stack of 20 picture books and read until they are both exhausted. It is sweet to hear Tara ask Coryn questions about the pictures, text and read with such expression. It is just as sweet to hear Coryn ask questions and constantly say "read this one next".

We have four bedrooms in our house which seems perfect for our family of five. But over the last year this has been less than perfect, because of these two little people who love each other so much. We can put them to bed at night and after a few minutes hear them finding their way together to sleep. Usually this is Coryn moving from her bed into Tara's. OR they both decide to take all of their bedding and sleep on the floor in the loft area. A lot of times Coryn ends up in our bed. This morning I woke up in a panic realizing that her head was down by my feet under the covers. Luckily she was still breathing! But surely one of the scariest things for a mother. We have known for awhile that this set-up is not ideal, but what do we do?

Today we solved our problem. Just because we HAVE four bedrooms does not mean that we HAVE to use them all for sleeping. The girls have loft beds, but Coryn wasn't keen on being up hight SO we lowered both of the beds and put them in one room together; head to head. They are completely excited about sharing a room. As a child I always wanted to share a room with my big sister. She would never hear of it, so I guess I can live vicariously through these two sisters.

Connection

The girls and I went to Potter's Haven today to paint. I love painting pottery. It's such a nice way to relax and also connect with my kids. Ella painted a vase and a letter "E". Tara painted an icecream cone. I painted a deviled egg tray. We chatted and had a nice morning without sibling squabbles and cries of "I'm bored".

Temptation

As a kid, my mom would make a pot of tapioca pudding a few times a month. It was considered a treat. She always divided it up between the four of us with my dad getting a man size serving. We would pick numbers to see who got to lick the bowl or spoon. The bowl was the better option. Today, warm tapioca pudding is the ultimate representative of comfort food for me. I rarely make it because my family all compare it to snot. And I really don't want to consume an entire pot all by myself(ok that's a total lie) but I shouldn't. Tonight was a thundery rainy night and I decided to treat myself. So good and warm. Just like my mom used to make.

Breakfast

Breakfast for dinner. One of our favorite meals. Tonight it was French toast made with Sara Lee cinnamon and brown sugar bread. It was so good. Smiles all around.

Boredom

It is day one of Spring Break and the "I'm bored" comments have commenced. Which really is funny to me since the last three days have been jam packed with playdates, basketball, the rodeo, church, a family dinner at the inlaws and a swimming party last night. You'd think they could use a day "off". We didn't go anywhere until late this afternoon when I loaded everyone up to go to my parents house to look for wood for our firepit. Who could have ever known that would be the highlight of today. Now we just need some chocolate, Graham crackers and marshmallows and we are good to go.

Ten

GeoTagged, [N39.01396, E94.34935]

GeoTagged, [N39.01396, E94.34935]

Ella and Lauren became friends ten years ago when the Balls and Buckners were neighbors. We have all moved a few times since then but have continued to hold on to this friendship.

There have been times where we have gone a year or more without seeing them, but these two pick up like they have never been apart.

I remember their first meeting well. Lauren was just home from the hospital and Ella was six months old. Ella rolled all over the Ball living room while I held a precious brand new Lauren.

Success

They didn't win their final game but Tara finally got the hang of basketball. She was on fire. Her coach asked her what she had for breakfast. Good season Goodyear Eagles!!

Cougar

Coryn had a lunch date with Cooper today. I tagged along and chatted with his mom, Kristi and another friend, Heather. Cooper was quite smitten with Miss Coryn.

Effort

So I have spent the last week trying to figure out my phone blogging. In an effort to get back into the swing of blogging, I started small with a word and photo of the day.

Day one was a picture of an empty laundry basket with the word being accomplished! Rarely are all of my baskets empty and I can't explain why, but I feel awesome when it happens and will walk by my laundry room and just gaze at the empty baskets. I'd take another picture, but it would be a lie as two have clothes in them again.

Day two(yesterday) was a picture of my friend and partner in crime, Teresa. We went on a hike yesterday while all 6 kids were at school. We hiked, slid and climbed our way through mud and deer crap! We joked about it being just as good as a high priced spa treatment. We found an old tree house and I had an awesome picture of her all muddy. I felt like a kid again when I would get lost in the woods for hours.

So I tell you this because I realized yesterday that the pictures weren't posting here. So I have spent yesterday and this morning trying to figure out why and in my effort I deleted the pictures. I think I have finally figured it out though...SO without further ado I will start on Day three today. You will just have to imagine the pictures from the first two days. I am going to try to do this through the entire month of March. Stop laughing at me, because I really am going to do it!

IPhone I love

So to make my blogging easier and also more accessible, I now have a blog app on my phone. I fall more and more in love with this little gem of technology each day. Oh I hope you get sick of me!

The ups and downs of a hiatus

My blogging ebbs and flows with my moods. I kept trying to come back to it, but I just wasn't feeling it. And like anything in my life, if I'm not feeling it, it gets pushed to the backburner..i.e. laundry, dinner, activities...you get the idea. I've been in a slump. Not really sure what got me here, but I presume it has something to do with this:

It looks pretty, which is why I took a picture of it. This was before Christmas, but this same weather has continued repeatedly. We've been spoiled the last few winters with mild weather and so I think this one has caught me off guard. I have stopped taking pictures, because white isn't pretty anymore. I want to see the sun, see the little green buds on the trees AND see my kids outside!

The other thing that got me down was a health concern that I had. I had an ovarian cyst rupture recently. It's nothing new for me, it happens. My doctor sent me for a sono where they found a mass! I spent the next week freaked out, because, hello??? MASS! They had a sono from two years prior that showed the same mass, but it had grown. So I imagined my daughters growing up without me there or with me there in a diminished state. UGH! Not a healthy place to be. I finally saw my gyno last week and she put my mind at ease for the time being. I am taking hormones to hopefully shrink it. I will go back April 20 for a follow up sonogram. But I am feeling good about it at this point. I have to, because I couldn't keep living in fear of it until there is truly something to fear.

Along the bad news line, our house in Pleasant Hill is still ours. I feel like this house is our own personal plague. It makes no sense because it is a beautiful house on a beautiful lot. I hope it sells here soon. If you know anyone interested in a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, home in PHill, We can hook them up ;)

OK now for the good news, my kids are healthy and relatively happy. We have an awesomely wonderful group of friends and of course our families, J.R. has a job and a good one for that matter, We are able to house,feed and clothe our family and still participate in things that interest us. We are blessed! I know this deep down, so I need to spend more time looking at these blessings and thanking God for them and not let the weather, health, or a second mortgage get me down.