Ice, ice, baby...

We've been iced in for a couple of days! Schools are out, David's work was cancelled, Netflix and Hulu are stocked with my favorite shows and my fridge is stocked...it was prepped to be an awesome snowcation. 

We woke up this morning to about 1/2" of snow to top off the ice...not much as far as snow goes, but for Isabella and her friends it was the perfect amount for zipping down hills on their sleds, which they did...from 10 am until 6:30 pm. Only breaking for snacks and cocoa. These kids and their love of being outside getting dirty and playing all day are pretty darned special, I love their little guts.

Beckett and I spent the better part of an hour watching the kids zoom down the icy hill for the better part of an hour. Anytime he saw them speeding by he would say "whoa!!" I admit the speed they were gaining was pretty impressive for their little 40 lb frames. 

Every time We get snowed in I whip up a crock pot of home made hot chocolate. It's a big hit. 

I got a wild hair and decided to do some organizing. In a small house with 5 people living in it I have to get pretty creative as far as storage goes, I'm a huge toy rotator. I can't stand the feeling of waste when my kids are wallowing in a mess of 100 toys they're not interested in. So every two months I rotate. It helps their toys stay interesting and fresh and they love it. Bella is a little old for rotation now, most of what she does is craft, media or book related anyways, unless she's playing outside. But here's how I managed the twins closet. A few favorites in a shelf, their absolutely favorite toy in the world is their play kitchen and table. They "cook" for eachother for hours. 

Bins of blocks and puzzles are stored in here. Books we keep in the living room. The twins love it when I clean their room. 

Nora's got this whole thing figured out. Wait at the table for him to bring her food. 

I also enjoyed the lovely view of my new backsplash. My hubby sure did a great job. 

I just love under cabinet lights. They really add something. 

So many other household projects I want to delve into. I'm currently mentally preparing myself to paint the entire interior of the house grey and add crown molding. Just another step in the long process of getting our house seller ready.

Warm fuzzies brought to you by Smiles Inc. 

 

 

When B&N get quiet...

....mischief surely ensues....

Panty liners make great stickers.

Make-up makes a delightful splash.

Entire rolls of TP are simply irresistible. 

And lastly, milk makes a great medium! 

All is forgiven you adorable little miscreants, you! ❤️

Shine baby shine

I was reading to the twins today and I just loved this passage. 

"Shine, baby, shine,

graceful child of mine.

Be like the firefly who glows

no matter how the darkness grows.

Shine, baby, shine."

- Maryann Cusimano Love

- Maria van Lieshout

I hope that if I accomplish anything in my parental career it's that I teach my kiddos to shine bright no matter what or who tries to "puff them out" :) 

Let's talk about love.

Love is weird. 

Now before you go rolling your eyes saying, yeah like YOU'RE some kinda love expert, let me preface this with, I'm not, nor do I perceive myself as such. I am however, a human who holds in her possession a heart, a fully functioning soul, and a few years of trial and error under her belt. 

I've loved and lost, I've loved and won. I've cheated and I've been cheated on. I've walked away from love, I've ran smack into it. I've soared and I've sunk. I've got a past. I've sinned. I have gnitty-gritty unpretty parts in my story that taught me more than any textbook I paid $300 for in college. And I'm not one bit ashamed of any of this. Not one iota. It's shaped me and taught me, it's given me a frame of reference for the three individuals who count on me to guide them through this messy thing we call life. 

I didn't sit like a damsel in distress twiddling my thumbs. I made blunders for sure, but I seized days, even when I flopped I took something useful away from it. 

Also, I'm not stupid enough to think that everyone doesn't have at least one thing in their past that makes them smack themselves on the forehead. 

Now I'm a mom, my world's changed, axes have been tilted, my priorities are changed and suddenly I've started looking at this whole love thing in a totally different light. 

I'm divorced. *gasp* Yeah, turns out that doesn't earn you many points in the mommy groups. Ask me if I care. 

We co-parent, and we have our things that make us tic, but I can say with pride that after years of ironing things out here and there, and a husband that was amazingly supportive from day one,  most of the time things go pretty darned great. We've got an amazing kid that came out of it. She has four parents. FOUR! All four of them love her, all four of them want the best for her. All four of them are there for her. Some kids don't even have one parent that wants all of that for them, so as far as I'm concerned divorce was a win for me and everyone else. Why? Because we LOVE her. 

I used to think love was ferver, fantasy, romance...all that gunk you see on the Ryan Gossling flicks. 

WRONG.

But Ryan Gossling ain't bad........

Ahem!

Here's love. I'm so deep in it. My husband. Whew! It's real. But as it turns out, real love isn't pretty! I wish I could reach all of the young girls in this generation and shake them by the shoulders and tell them this. 

REAL LOVE IS KINDA UGLY!!!! Totally worth it. BUT KINDA UGLY!!!

Real love is your husband snoring with his mouth open, but pulling you in to snuggle in the middle of the night. 

Real love is your hubby loading the dishwasher with your naked kids.

Real love is your hubby doing last nights dinner dishes while you sleep in.

Real love is enduring each others morning breath.

Real love isn't flowers and satin sheets, it's him filling your car up with gas, helping you clean up your kids puke splatters off the floor while you both laugh at the splat sound it made. 

Real love is supporting him through his big decision that you're actually kind of nervous about.

Real love is him holding your hand while you get a scary prognosis.

Real love is him bringing you ice water while your head is in the toilet because carrying his babies is making you sick as a dog. 

Real love is forever. Forever can be daunting. Forever ain't always fresh as a daisy. But forever? It's forever man....think about that. Someone loves you SO MUCH that they said 'ya know...I'm gonna deal with this human forever' 

that's HUGE!!! 

Real love is work. Backbreaking work.

Real love is effortless. It's a paradox. 

Real love is him empowering you. And you him. No resentments.

Real love is forgiving him.

Real love is him forgiving you.

Real love is sacrifice.

Real love isn't petty, it doesn't keep score. 

Never keep score. 

Real love is him holding you while you have one good weep, because someone you love broke your heart in a way you didn't think possible. 

Real love is him helping you mend that broken heart day by day, encouraging and being there through it all.

Real love is crying you're eyeballs out together when you hear your babies first squeak after the doctor delivers him.

Real love is being broke as a joke together and not minding one bit...because you're together. 

Real love is encouraging one another. Complimenting even when you don't feel like it. 

Real love is setting goals and lovingly holding each other accountable. 

Praying for him. Him praying for you. 

Real love is being each other's accountability.

Real love is having respect. Respect for your marriage, the vows you took. 

Real love Is understanding boundaries and being ok with them.

Real love is fighting some times.

Real love is trust. Recognizing it's value. Rebuilding it when necessary because you LOVE that other person. 

Real love is going shoulder to shoulder and plowing trough life together, day by day, year by year. 

Real love is saying I'm sorry. And meaning it. 

Real love is repenting. 

Real love is understanding that real love is a commitment, and a commitment is a decision you make. 

Dancing in the living room....after the kids are in bed and you kick a few Elmo toys out of the way. 

Real love is understanding the need of space from time to time. It's ok to need that. 

Real love is not watching the next show in the series until he can watch it with you. 

Cherishing the little moments that add up to a day, a week, a month, a year....

Real love is tag-teaming that crying baby(ies) in the middle of the night. 

I don't take it lightly that this big, tall, dark haired dude pledged his life to me. I love him with all I got. And through hell or high water, and there WILL be both in marriage, I'll love him still. Cause he'd do the same. 

So yeah....it's not some grandiose gesture all of the time, although those can be nice every once in a while, but it's beautiful. It's a dance of commitment and tenderness mixed with just the right amount of turmoil to keep you both grounded. 

Yep, that's love alright. 

Don't blink

My sweet little boy.

In a rare moment it was just he and I. Isabella was at a friend's house and Nora Jane was napping, but Beckett just couldn't settle, so we sat in the floor and he made "soup" 

He stirred it and stirred it, then he would feed me while I proclaimed it was the best soup I'd ever tasted, and that made him giggle every time :) we did that for about 45 minutes until all of the sudden he stopped and took my face in both of his chubby hands and gave me the biggest kiss...then he was off to clank his trucks together. 

This time with them has passed so quickly. They're growing up minute by minute and I'm practically frantic to slow it down. But since I can't, I'll savor. 

I just won't blink. 

Some days

Some days we don't get much school done.

Some days we learn things like how to prepare a meal for the family instead. 

Some days we don't get much school work done, because some days we have just a little too much "help". 

Some days we don't get much school work done because we decide measuring our little brother is more fun. 

(Princess Nora was sickly this day, and was down for a marathon nap, but she got measured too, don't you worry :) 

Some days we don't get much school work done but we do learn som real life lessons outside of the textbook...

Like how to sign our signature for our new library card...

Which we did very well I might add! 

Some days are just like this. And I'm leaning that that's ok. 

But my eye still twitches. 

A mom posted this is my local homeschool support group...

Trying to remember this. Not succeeding. Some days mama stresses is all. 

Fast and the Furious

Recently, hubby and I were making our budget, when we added up how much we were spending a month on eating out...sobering and embarrassing are the first two words that come to mind. 

So we decided to go on a restaurant fast. That includes fast food windows. (Cue in weeping and gnashing of teeth) I'm guilty on all counts. I'm so busy homeschooling, keeping kids satisfied, changed and fed (read: alive) and shuffling Isabella around to her various activities, that by the end of the day I'm so exhausted, we end up grabbing take out. 

Well, after seeing what we were spending a month, we both knew it was time to make some changes. So I've challenged my family to a two week restaurant fast! As my husband put on our kitchen chalkboard, we are currently two days incident free! 

Little dude enjoyed himself some sugar snap peas! Nora just opened them up to picked out and play with the peas. 

I'm taking this as another opportunity to clean up some habits in our diet...note I'm NOT health nut by any stretch of the imagination, but at this point I feel like any steps in the right direction, no matter how small, are an improvement! 

I decided that we needed to curb the red meat and ground beef out of our diet a little, and incorporate more fish. So for the first time in my life I ordered from the seafood case at my local grocery store. I had to avert my eyes from the various marine life staring back at me, but I ordered some filets and got the heck out of dodge. 

My husband is a smidge on the picky side, so I was a little nervous about tonight's dinner of baked cod (it was good!) brown rice and steamed broccoli. He ate every bite-even the broccoli! Anybody who knows my hubbs knows what a feat that is. 

The twins weren't enthusiastic, but Isabella cleaned her plate...and just in case anybody was afraid I had gone all healthy on them, I baked a chocolate sheet cake for dessert. Holy mackerel! (Snort-get it?) it was good! I'm not telling how much I ate, but it was in the range of  less than four but more than two slices....

Not eating out is going to be a huge sacrifice of convenience...but we are saving for our dream home, so I'm trying to look at the BIG picture here...but boy oh boy those Golden Arches just tease me when I drive by...what I wouldn't give for some steaming hot French fries!!!