Life Lately

As you can imagine, I don't get a whole ton of down time these days, but life is still happening and I want to try to keep it documented because I know will look back and smile, in fact I already am:)  So here goes:

Our friend Ellie turned 6 and invited us to go ice skating with her for her birthday.  I wasn't so sure how it would go because Josh was working, and my kids aren't exactly the most coordinated kids on the planet (and let's face it- me helping them is kind of like the blind leading the blind!), but I was very pleasantly surprised.  

 Ryan, Ellie's dad and one of Josh's coworkers, stayed on the side with his baby and Aaron, who thankfully slept most of the time in his carseat, and Becky and I went at it on the ice with these four.  There was a lot of wall clinging at first, but by the end the older three were able to do it some on their own, with falls of course.  We had a blast and I am excited to try it out again sometime.

 Sadie had the time of her life but pretty much needed someone holding onto both of her hands.  Becky gave me a little breather and took her for a bit.

I know everyone thinks girls' clothes are the cutest but I actually really really love dressing boys.  And Aaron will sit and take a picture for me.

 The others... not so much.

Josh had his last inpatient service block last month (woohoo!!)  He was a solo senior again, which means the only days he got off were days he had found someone to cover for him-which means he worked for them a different month.  So we didn't see much of him.  On the third Saturday he worked in a row, it was a good thing we had the YMCA to go to.

 When he got home that last night, we celebrated with a game of one of our favorites, Uno.

 Sadie actually follows along pretty well.  When I was her partner she realized after the game that we still had cards and put her head down on the table and said, "Why did we lose mom??"

The girls still love being my little helpers, especially in the kitchen.  And we spend a lot of time in there- man alive these kids of mine sure can eat.  I feel like keeping them fed is a full time job these days.

These girls are pretty fun:)  They fight a lot, but when they are getting along they are so cute together.  Lately Marissa has been trying to impart a few pearls of wisdom to Sadie before she turns 3, like "Sadie, did you know you don't have to cry?  You just have to tell mom!" as if it were a huge epiphany she had (still waiting

for her to apply some of those gems though she has gotten so much better lately)

We gave the sister missionaries a ride somewhere and on the way home Sadie fell asleep and Marissa had the whole time to herself to talk, and she did:)  Somehow she got on the topic of bad guys and jail and what kind of things they had there.  She asked me a dozen variations on "what do villains deserve mom?  They definitely don't deserve books right mom?"  Well, actually...

It was Marissa's turn to bring snack to school- we found a way to have a little fun with it even though there 

are so many rules these days.

Aaron can cheer her up like nothing else.  If she is upset, I will say, "do you need a hug from Aaron?" and she can never resist.  I am looking forward to not having to worry so much about spreading germs, though I think Daddy may be bringing home more than they are.

Shane can still not be bothered to put his clothes on right a lot of the time.  I said, "seriously Shane?? Did you not see the zipper??" And he said, "mooooom, I can't see my bum!"  

Getting to hold or talk to Aaron before he leaves is a huge motivator for him to get ready quickly in the mornings.

Poor Aaron can't catch a break and caught something else.  Luckily we have a nebulizer now and that has helped some.

We haven't had a whole lot of snow, and I am not complaining.  The kids have gotten to go out a few times in it.  It'll be cold for a few days,

and then warm up for a few days.  It is an unwritten law that if it is in the 60s on a Saturday in Indiana, you go to the park.  I think half of Fort Wayne was there.  Sadie was super excited it was warm enough to wear her new rain coat instead of her big poofy jacket.

I put the little kids in the jogger and Shane and Marissa tried out running with me.  I wore my GPS watch which was super motivating to Shane because I could tell him exactly how far we had gone.  Afterwards he said, "we ran over a mile!" and I said "well, ran/walked," and he said, "so you're saying, we rocked!"  

 

Life is definitely full these days- today if there were a picture of me at Costco it would have showed me trying to carry a baby while pushing the cart because he woke up screaming in his car seat- then hurriedly getting our things (did I mention my kids eat a lot?? I need a lot of groceries these days) and leaving the cart stranded for a minute and pulling the girls out and running to the front of the store because Sadie needed to go potty, and Aaron was still screaming and by now hungry so I thought what the heck and nursed him on one side on the floor of the family bathroom while the girls did their thing.  Yep, there are those moments where I am that mom and I just think to myself, "don't make eye contact, just don't make eye contact!"  

but there are even more good moments when I smile to myself and think how lucky I am to be their mom and just stop a minute to try to soak it all in because I know how fast it goes.  Our life is messy, but it is beautiful, and so good.