in which I talk about Christmas in February.

I haven't been in this space much lately. My fingertips {and my heart} are aching to release my thoughts, feelings and emotions, even if it only makes sense to me.

Shall I catch you up??


We officially moved. We were in a five year lease at our old house, at which time we had plans to buy that home. However, the owner of our house, declared bankruptcy and allowed the house to go into foreclosure. We had no idea this was happening, until a random woman knocked on our door one day at the end of October telling me she had to put a foreclosure sign on our house and take video proof that it was there.  We were not thrilled to find this out, to say the least.

However, we had been unhappy with certain aspects of the house- there were so many projects in such an old place. That, along with the almost 1 acre lot that needed hours of lawn care began to overwhelm both Matt and I. And the mice problems?? ICK.

We had a few months until we had to be out of our old house but we were ready to find a new home and get settled. We found a house we liked and moved, 9 days before Christmas. Which leads me to my next stress factor:

We hosted Christmas. Matt and I were eager to have our new house feel like a home, and what better way to do that than to create Christmas memories there?! So, we unpacked, cleaned and decorated like mad and hosted our 7 plus 7 other people. It was a lot of work but I am so thankful we made the choice to celebrate in our new home.

We potty-trained one of our children. I mentioned the topic briefly back in November. The first two days of potty training Will were HORRIBLE. I thought my son would live out the rest of his days in diapers. Miraculously, on the third day, it started to click in that noggin of his. We have conquered one beast at a time: first- staying dry all night, then- potty-ing in public bathrooms. Now using the restroom is second nature to Will, and we only have one little boy in diapers. It has also saved us about $50 a month just with the use of less diapers and wipes.

I made the decision to go part time for school. Actually, the school made that decision for me, as each class is a prerequisite for the next one. I am getting down to the last classes I need before applying to nursing school and so I can only go part time- there are no other classes to take to equal full time. I found I was usually dropping a class each semester anyway while going full time. It was too much. Part time fits our lives perfectly right now. Of course, once I am accepted to a nursing school, I will be full time. At that point my babies will all be in school, so it will be good timing for our family.

It has taken me until now to really catch up from everything that has been going on. I found I was missing a piece. I finally realized that piece was the writing I do here- as insignificant as it is.

It's good to be back.

refreshed love.

He called me at home and asked me if I would want to come to Philadelphia with him next week.

"Next week?!"

"Yep. I talked to my parents and they can keep the babies."
It somehow all worked out (Daph and Jack were with their mom for the weekend, Mason's dad had Monday off to stay with Mas)

And so we were off.

We have walked and explored the streets of Philadelphia, eaten tons of yummy vegetarian goodness, and just spent time together-talking and laughing. In fact, I don't think we have spent this much time together, alone, in YEARS.

It is too easy to get lost in the raising of kids together, the bustle of everyday life, to forget one another, to lose sight of the two of you that started it all.

But you know what?

I am still madly in love with this man who gave me my sweet babies, my wonderful family. 

Madly, deeply in love and I plan to keep it that way, for you know-


FOREVER.

:)

i missed you too. :)

I smear butter onto a hot dog bun (we are out of bread) and peel a Clementine.

I watch my son take two bites out of the bottom of his bun, and then declare the newly shaped food item, "a choo-choo." He "wheels" it along the table.

I love his world, and I love that he shares it with me.

glimpses of my life

Matt wraps his arms around me, and sings, "All I ever wanted, all I ever needed, is heeeeeere in MY arms. Words are very unnecessary."

Theo sees me begin to cook and comes running in the kitchen. He scoots a chair over to me, climbs up next to me, points to the stove and says, "Beary, beary hot."

We drop Matt off at work and start the drive towards Mason's school. He reads 'I'll love you forever' to his brothers and sings the song

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living,
My baby you'll be...   just like I sing it to him. 

Theo is crying for more milk. I ask him to go get his cup, but he is being 2 and refuses. No cup, no milk buddy. Will hops down from his chair and walks over to his baby brother. "It's ok, Feo. What's wrong? You want your miwk?" He walks into the living room and gets the milk cup for his Fe-o.

They teach me so much more than I could ever hope to teach them.

it's a monday.

I have one sick kid on the couch, who started puking in the car. {Yay for empty cups left laying on the floor!}

I have one potty-training kid who stayed dry ALL DAY yesterday! And that includes one episode of I-am-going-to-scream-while-I-poop-because-it-is-surely-the-most-horrible-thing. Will has sat on the potty for a total of 35 minutes today and still no pee. I am thankful we made it to my school and back home with no accidents but now I am pumping fluids into him to get some out! Wish us luck!

My sweet two year old? He is not so sweet these days. He has a new love for biting, and hitting his brothers with lightsabers. We're working on it. Good thing he is chubby-faced and adorable!

School is wrapping up in about a week and a half, and I am in full writing papers/finishing projects mode. I am sooooo ready for the break. Have I said that? Oh, I have? Well, I am.

Matt and I are also fighting colds, so it's been a bit exhausting around here. And Christmas...don't even get me started on Christmas, because well, I haven't started. I KNOW.

How about you, friends? Are you ready for Christmas, or just out of the holiday spirit this year??

yeah, I'm confused too.

I pretty much tried to do NaBloPoMo and failed miserably.

I mean, PEOPLE! I am trying to finish a semester, stay on top of the med situation, try to start to maybe, just maybe, THINK, about packing up an entire house with two toddlers underfoot and I.just.can't.

I run out of time every.single.day.

I am so ready to have a month off from papers, projects and deadlines, oh my!
I am ready to show you all some great things I have up my sleeve for this little 'ol blog during the month long break from school.
I am ready to accomplish more than just dishes, dinner, and assignments.

For heavens sake, I went grocery shopping this morning and they are not even all put away yet! It's 315pm here. 


I would also like to add that, while writing this post, I have been interrupted three times:
1. For snuggles after a head bonk.
2. For fixing of Will's precious train {which always defers to Daddy. "Oh, Daddy will fix that when he gets home!"}
3. For the filling of sippy cups AGAIN.

This sure is a glamourous life!

In summation:
-I failed at NaBloPoMo. -I feel not an ounce bad about it.
-My life is busy. -Blog posting is hit or miss.
-Please continue to come visit. -Love you all.

thankfulness, part one.

You may have heard about the thankful challenge on Facebook. The challenge is to post something that I am thankful for every day in the month of November. The following is the first part of the month's thankfulness.  


November 1st-Tonight I am thankful for my husband and all that he does and brings to our family. We are so blessed!


November 2nd-Tonight I am thankful for my precious family and the joy they daily bring to my heart. I cannot imagine my life without these 6 wonderful people!


November 3rd-Today I am thankful for modern medicine! I have bipolar disorder and am just so grateful that there is medication that helps me, and I am able to purchase said medication without a second thought.


November 4th-I am thankful for the wonderful, and diverse, friends that I have. Each and every one of them was placed in my life purposefully, and I am so grateful.


November 5th-I am thankful for the two, blissful hours of clothes shopping I was able to do today, thanks to my Matty. Its amazing how efficient one is at shopping WITHOUT a screaming 2 & 3 year old. I scored a pair of $50 jeans for myself for $10! It's the little things!


November 6th-I am thankful for new beginnings! I started Weight Watchers today and am excited to get healthy!


November 7th-I am thankful that God gave me the gift of motherhood. There are so many people who struggle with conceiving and carrying a child, and I was blessed to come by both of these quite easily. I am so thankful for that gift and what it brought me- my gorgeous boys!


November 8th-I am thankful for the precious gift of my Mason God gave to me! I was a baby having a baby, but it was all in Gods plan. Love my oldest boy sooooo much! { And I already said I was thankful for my sons, but I don't care, I am saying it again.}


November 9th-Today I am thankful for my home. It is not perfect and it's nearly always messy but it's warm, cozy and safe. There are many people in this world that cannot say that.


November 10th-I am thankful that both Will & Theo are napping at the SAME TIME! This hasn't happened in months!


November 11th-I am thankful for every man or woman that has fought or served to give me my freedom.


November 12th-I am thankful for this body I have. It's not perfect and has some major fixes (working on it) BUT ( Big but!) it nourished three lives. I grew three humans and my body is miraculous for that!!


November 13th-I am thankful tonight for being lucky enough to have five wonderful senses to experience this beautiful world with. I am blessed to be able to see, hear, smell, taste and touch life!!


November 14th-I am thankful that I am a stay at home mom. I am living the life I used to dream about, and I need to remember that on the hard days.


 November 15th-I am thankful for a messy house...it means my children are making memories. :)