Tuesday, March 18, 2014

St. Patrick's Day 2014

St. Patrick's Day isn't one of those gift holidays in our house, but a little green milk with breakfast, some paper shamrock plates to have our supper on and it makes me happy to celebrate this day with my little family.

When Andrew was little, we'd have green scrambled eggs for breakfast or green pancakes.  This year, I opted for a run for green doughnuts with my Lily love.  She's a total doughnut girl, so this was perfect! She was excited about her green milk after inquisitively looking into her cup.



Violet turned 5 months old on her 1st St. Pat's Day which was exciting to nobody, but me! haha  Remember all her firsts are my lasts...so I'm celebrating them all. :)
I donned my girls in some of their luckiest clothes for the day too, of course. Andrew wore green too, though he kept his hoodie on all day at school. Reagan didn't wear green...bummer for her.

Lily also called it "Paddrick's Day" which I love and her shirt had "paddricks" on it too. 

No one was excited about having corned beef brisket for supper, so I compromised and planned on our version of reuben sandwiches for supper along with some pierogies.  I told George we'll call them Studdards.  Reubens minus the kraut and thousand island.  This will only be funny to us because we remember dumb stuff, but totally us!  Lily and I made pre-cut-out shamrock cookies for dessert. She loves to bake and I wanted easy.

After supper, Lily worked on a treat for her preschool class for the next day.


Easy peasy stuff to do to make another day special for my family.  That makes me happy!

Monday, March 10, 2014

A Free Moment to Check In

Life with 4 kids is hectic.  Weekends when Reagan goes to her mom's and there's less of the school week stuff, it's slightly more relaxing, but generally still busy.  Tonight when I sat down and all the girls were in bed, Andrew still at lacrosse, George running to his parents' house, I heard silence.  Sweet, silence.   Actually the ocean waves on the monitor, but you get my point.   It feels like the first time in weeks I've had that.


Lily is in a super whiny stage. OMG whyyyyyyyyyy is three sooooooooooo  whiny?  It's annoying. So, we're working on correcting that.  I'm up for any ideas if ya got any.  Violet hit her 4 month sleep regression like a champion just in time for Daylight Savings which is awesome.  One more reason to miss Arizona, no dumb time change.  Can't we just opt out?    These two little loves truly wear. me. out.  Good thing they're so cute.


We're about to get a little busier now that lacrosse season has officially begun too.  Practice Monday through Friday except game days.  I'm looking forward to being outside after this winter, though wrangling Lily while tending to Violet should be entertaining.  More babywearing, I predict. 


Andrew is going to DisneyWorld with marching band next month, my mom comes to visit in May, and then begins the co-parent shuffle of the older kids for the summer. 

My blog update is coming along and I'm really excited about it! This place needs a sweet makeover and to add in my little pumpkin to the mix.  I registered Andrew for high school.  Ummm, hello? I remember registering for high school for me. It can't possibly be time for my first born to start high school. This time, next year I'll be registering Lily for kindergarten.  That's crazy!  

Didn't I say hectic at the beginning of this post?    It's life, I get it.  I'm actually not complaining.  Just documenting said life.  Truth be told, I wouldn't trade it. I have great kids and I'm honestly savoring this time home with my girls. 


I read an article recently about when you know you're having your last baby.  I read it will nursing MY last baby, tears streaming down my face. 


All her firsts are my lasts...


Such a simple statement, yet so profound. 


So, I sometimes rock her to sleep instead of putting her down in her crib awake.  I put my phone away while I'm rocking and singing to her and just stare as deeply into her eyes as she is into mine.  Inevitably, I end up with tears streaming down my face.   I haven't quite found "our song" yet.  So, I sing Andrew's and Lily's to her sometimes.  The line I was singing last night that really struck me was, "right here in this moment, is right where I'm meant to be...here with you here with me..."   I know I'm actually living in these moments and I'm so grateful.  I love this little one so much.

I'm so blessed there were these little lives that needed me to be their mama.

Until next time.