Difficult times......

See this cutie?

I love her to pieces.

She's smart, she's compassionate, she's creative....


But lately ** and by lately I mean the last I can't remember when it started it was so long ago*** she has also been difficult, demanding, defiant and quite contrary.


I still love her of course.... I just wish her behavior didn't include screaming at the top of her lungs because we didn't go to McDonalds for lunch.
It is a phase, right?


I was thinking earlier, I haven't knit anything in a year! A year!!! Time to change that!

Rough Start.

This is the story of a beautiful bracelet and its owner who in a crazy bizarre sequence of events lost the bracelet and but then found it.... but it looked like this:

and...
and last but not least,

as you can imagine, the owner was very upset. There were tears... she was disappointed, sad, and frustrated. And yes, she knows that is "just a bracelet" (even though she loved it and wore it daily even though it pinched her arm hairs out one by one, and had sentimental value) and in the grand scheme of things it's really not so bad....right?

But most importantly, she has an example to set.

There are two little people watching her get upset and throw a fit over this beloved bracelet.

She doesn't want them to think that they can't be disappointed or sad over things like this, but she also wants to show them that it doesn't have to ruin their day/week/year.

So, I sucked it up and started doing what my mama taught me to do when stressed....

clean.

When I came down stairs to get the paper towels, I saw this:






and heard, "Here Mama, here is a new bracelet that you can wear every day and it won't break! Can you tie it for me?"

Could she get any sweeter?

Then, a bit later she even helped me fold laundry.

I sure do love this girl. She helped make a day that started out bad into one that has seen more smiles than tears.

And who knows, maybe I'll get a new bracelet... some day.

Flyin' By

I can't believe the 4th of July is this coming weekend!

This is the last "lazy" week of the summer for us, so today I ran all my errands, except getting a new drivers license, so that we can just chill at home before the craziness sets in.


We are having fun though,
swimming


catching naps when and where we can

crafting, gardening and play, play playing!

First Race

Over the weekend our little town hosted a Community Days 5K with a kids fun run and then a school carnival... it was quite a day.

At the last minute a friend and I decided to run the 5K... all I will say about that is I finished and ran better than I thought I would, only walking once, and thank you Jamie for your motivation!!

After my race the kids had a fun run, which we were told would be one mile, but ended up only a quarter of a mile. It was so awesome to see Isaac so excited! He was so excited he pulled a tooth minutes before the race!!


(the least flattering picture of me, but Isaac thinks it's hilarious!)

He and his buddy Elijah had already planned on running the race holding hands, but we were afraid of an injury, so we talked them out of that.


Stretching... very important before the big race. (Meg was not happy about not being involved... plus during one stretch, she said, "this is just like with Jillian, I know how to do this!")




And... GO!!!!!


Isaac did awesome! He wasn't winded in the least and on his own decided to do an entire victory lap!!

Since I didn't register Meg, (she was to young) she and Mark did their race a few steps behind the big kids...


Meg made it the first turn, then Daddy had to take over until the very end...



And everyone finished and received medals! It was tons of fun.

Smokin'

You know how you don't realize you say certain things until someone points them out to you?
Apparently, I say, "Smokin'" a lot.
As in, "it's smokin' hot today. or let your food cool off, it's smokin'"
Well Miss M has picked up using the word too. She says, "Mom! it's smokin wet at the water park! This air conditioning is smokin cold!"
I'm not sure exactly what she thinks it means.... but it's smokin' cute!
Here are our latest adventures in the heat with Steph and the girls! Thanks for introducing us to this park! We will definitely be back!

two peas in a pod

These two...

I don't know what we're going to do with them.

They are nine months apart.

They have a love/hate relationship, and are as close as sisters.

They are both sweet as can be... most of the time.

They are both a bit on the ornery side.

The gruesome twosome...

Aggie and Meg

Park It!

With the weather as awesome as it has been this week, (and with this weekends forecast looking cool and bleak) the kids and I have been hitting the park... sometimes twice a day... we're addicted.

New endeavors at every new play ground. Each time we go to a fav, instead of being bored, one of them gains more confidence. Amazing that my babies are getting so big and independent. It's great... right? This is the first time in my experience as a mother, that I haven't had to be a shadow at our outings. It is amazing to just sit back and watch.

I love how Meg says hello to everyone.... and I mean everyone, until they say "hi" back.
A few unfortunate mishaps have taught a certain little someone that they are just not able to do everything a certain older sibling is. My eldest, well, lets just say it was for kids like him for whom parks were created. (Is that the correct use of whom? I never know.) He is a lightening bolt up and down, left then right. I have to keep him in a neon orange shirt just so I can spot the blur running past me.
Thank you, Park builders... we are huge fans!

We're having issues....

Two year old not listening issues.

Four year old being too big for his britches, issues.

When Mama gets stressed, she bakes, issues. (which doesn't help with the trying-to-be-healthy-and lose weight issues.)

Daddy is going to be gone for 10 days, inducing said stress baking.

New discipline actions have been implemented... no more zillion warnings... you get one and after that is straight to time out.... as of now, 9:15 am, both hooligans have been in time out, one of them twice. I'm tired. I am tired of yelling, tattle telling, whining. Oh my gosh the WHIIIIINING!

Wanting to move, buy a new home, sell our house, issues.
I have officially become a real estate stalker. Mark is convinced I know more about the houses on the market than most agents... I'm not so sure that is a good thing.

The house he wanted, sold. The house I like, he doesn't. Issues I tell you.


I'm trying to remain optimistic. Realizing that my issues are pretty run of the mill, pretty boring actually, except to me.


Homemade Strawberry Tarts and Apple Pie seem to help a bit.
Send any good baking recipes!!!