Easter

Easter 2013 has come and is almost gone. We enjoyed some Easter activities and our low key day today.

We colored eggs.

This morning the girls woke up and found their gifts from us. As usual our bunny hid clues in eggs that led the girls to their baskets.

The girls found their baskets in the downstairs hall closet. Which I took a photo with on my phone because my camera batteries had died and I needed to charge them:)

After the girls finished going through their Easter stuff they got ready and then went outside to enjoy the warm weather.

They did stop playing for a few minutes so I could take some photos outside.

All in all it was a great Easter! We enjoyed the weather and all of our Easter activities and goodies!

Junie B with Mee-Maw

One day my Mom called me at work to say that Junie B Jones was coming to the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts and wondered if the girls would like to go. I checked with the girls that night and they were all about it! They took in the show, had some dinner and even managed to get a mini-pillow pet when they stopped at the store. The girls had a great time! It's nice that they get to spend some quality time with their Mee-Maw making memories. I love that my Mom knows them so well and knows when something is going on that they would enjoy. I love that she takes the initiative to plan these days with them. We are all lucky to have her!

Conversations With My 13 Year-Old Self

I love Pink, the artist, I like the color too, but currently I'm talking about the artist. Anyway, the other day I was in the car listening to one of her songs. It talks about her having conversations with herself at 13. Interesting to think of what we would go back and tell our younger selves if we could.  Maybe not myself at 13, but maybe at 16; things that I now try to voice to my girls at times.

1. Don't be in a hurry to grow-up and have all those grown-up responsibilities. Enjoy being young and the responsibilities that you have as a kid. All the grown-up stuff will come, the good and the bad, the mortgage, jobs, family, life decisions, etc. You will experience all of it in due time, for now enjoy being a kid.

2. Don't worry so much about pleasing everyone else. Look inside your heart, what makes you happy? Who do you want to be? Do those things, be that person. When you are true to yourself everything else will fall into place, you don't always need to put everyone else first. Sometimes it's ok to put yourself first.

3. Try not to hold on to resentment and anger. We can't control what others do, but we can control how we process our feelings about things that have happened. It's important to process them and move on. Holding onto the anger won't change anything and chances are they have no idea of the consequences of their actions and the impact they had on you.

4. Just because people have things doesn't mean they have stability. Make responsible choices, and not choices based on keeping up with others. Think long-term but create a balance to let you enjoy life as you go too.

5. If you want to learn how to do something, or do something you love even better, learn how to do it. Don't make excuses or list all the reasons you can't. These are things that push you, let yourself be pushed, don't let the "uncomfortable" feeling or fear of failing hold you back. If you do that you will miss out!

6. Recognize those that stand by you. Those who have never left you. Those who have always CHOSEN you. Cherish them, appreciate them and try not to lash out at them. They aren't the ones whose choices have hurt you, they aren't the ones who deserve your anger.

7. Your instincts are usually correct. If the thought of a possible situation or activity makes you uncomfortable it's probably because it's a bad idea. Listen to your gut, you'll have less "I wish I wouldn't have done that." moments.

8. Try to keep it positive. Try to keep that optimism. Yes, the world will suck at times and yes there will be days when you feel like crawling into a cave. Don't! Take on the world and remember that "This too shall pass."

9. Guess what? Not everyone like you and you won't like everyone. Sometimes people won't like you for reasons that you don't know or don't make sense. Regardless, always be respectful of others, even if they aren't being that way to you.

10. Have confidence in yourself! It's amazing what you can do when you want to. You are smart and you can do whatever you put your mind to! Always believe in yourself, while you will have others who believe in you too, you must always know that you are capable of anything!

I suppose if we could go back and say these things to ourselves we may miss out on some lessons and learning some things that we need to through our own experiences. I still try to shine these perspectives into my girls. They might not all sink in, as some of the above are ones that I still struggle with, but for those that do will hopefully aide them in a better outlook at times and make life a little easier.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

We have finally gotten some good snow. You know the kind. The kind that stays around long enough to play in throughout the week, the kind that is fluffy, the kind that you can use to make good snowballs and snowmen with. My Mom, bless her heart, bought a sled from Cabella's (I think:)) and we have been waiting and waiting and waiting to use it. 

Now don't get me wrong, I love me some warm weather, the sit on the porch with no shoes on, drink a frosty beverage and watch my girls play in the yard kind of weather. However, when you live in Illinois and you must experience winter each year you should at least get some good snow to play in. 

Sunday we headed over to Mee-maw and Paw-paws to play in the snow and finally use that sled. Mom blew it up and hooked it up to the four wheeler and away we went:).

In the shed. Ainsley plugging her ears because the air compressor was too loud for her liking.

The girls 

Just laying around.

Helping Mee-Maw

Ready to go!!

Paw-Paw hooking up the sled to the four-wheeler.

Lets go!!

Hold on!

Due to a slit we had to change sleds:)

Building a snowman.

All done.

It was a fun winter day! Now bring on spring:)!

Do I know you?

Sometimes I wonder if my posts are too "debbie downer"? I don't mean for them to be. So my apologies if they ever seem to be. Honestly I'm like a walking Hallmark card....WAY emotional. At they same time I like to keep it real and I'm not a fan of hypocrits. I have always been a writer, journaler, or whatever you want to call it and I often utelize my Blog for that.

So how many times do we hear stories of one day everything is normal and the next day it's changed. Could be due to a move, death, or even one day my child is 5 and the next thing you know she is 8. It happens. But  what do we really do proactively about it?

This week a good friend and I had lunch and chatted about a friend of hers who is going through something that will cause her, and her loved ones, lives to not be the same. It brought back memories of my Grandma Riker and the end of her life. It was sad and it made me wish she were here, I wish she knew my girls.

I like to think her, and others I have lost are watching over us together. I also like to think that I am living in the moments and soaking in everything I can in relation to "my girls". After all wasn't it just yesterday they were 23 mos and a newborn?

Last week my Mom emailed me about Junie B Jones tickets and taking the girls. It warmed my heart. She saw that, thought of them and wanted to experience it with them. She will get an afternoon with them, enjoying something they love with them, sharing a memory with them. She knows them. She makes time for them. She makes plans with them without prompting from me. She wants to know them and build that relationship. That I love!

I love it because it means 2 things. One, she knows me well enough to know that I tend to "hog" my girls, so if she wants to spend time with them she will mostly need to proactively ask for that. She also knows the importance of that and making it a priority in her life.

My girls are blessed to have so many who love them and even more blessed for those who make them a priority and make spending time with them a priority.

For tomorrow maybe more time...but maybe not and for that we can't depend on. We have to live in the moment. We have to take advantage of what we can today.

Week, week Go AWAY!

This week has been...well long, stressful, draining and just not one of my favorites. It started out with our typical Monday dance and Jump Spot, but it was the first Monday of the month, which meant PTO. So Brad came so I could leave early to go to PTO. We have our annual Pancake and Sausage breakfast at the school tomorrow. The Boy Scouts do the pancakes and sausage, the Girl/Daisy Scouts do the Bake Sale and the PTO raffles off baskets. So there were last minute details to cover.

The rest of the week seems to be a blur. Work is nuts lately. I've been spending 1/2 my days training new people (which is fun and right up my alley:)) and the other 1/2 of my day doing a full day of my regular job. There's a lot going on and it's been busy, a lot of people wanting a lot of things. Which for the most part is good, I'm grateful that I'm thought of as reliable and able to do the work, but sometimes it can really drain a person.

We are in the midst of cookie sales for Scouts. Kaylee selling for Brownies and Ainsley for Daisies. This year is direct sales so we had to order the cookies ahead of time and then sell. Trying to tract and figure re-orders, etc has been a little challenging at times. Not to mention trying to coordinate my Daisies for their donations and bake sale shift times tomorrow.

Brad had to go to Springfield one day this week, honestly right now I don't even remember what day, maybe Tuesday? Since he's usually here to get the girls on the bus in the morning, I went into work late so that I could get them ready in the morning and his parents got them off the bus, as going in late meant having to work later. I'm grateful to have the help a phone call away!

Today I planned to leave work a 1/2 hour early, which I did. I was going to go to the bank to get the change for the bake sale tomorrow. However, on my way to work this morning I realized I forgot the bank account information for our Daisy account. I had to get the girls after school to help price our baked goods items for tomorrow, so I decided to run home, grab the bank info, go to school, price items, get girls and go to bank. Simple, right? Well I walked in to find Belle had gotten two bags of flour and opened them all over my family room floor. AWESOME! I cleaned it up as best I could, but couldn't get the dog back into the house. She knew she was in trouble! But I had to get her in the house because I needed to get to the school.

I finally got her in with 5 minutes to spare. I raced to the school to find chaos as one of the buss' had blown a tire in the middle of the road. I finally found my kiddos, got into gym and we priced our items.
We went to bank, got our change, came home and finished cleaning up all the flour.

UGH! What a week. Although I know that my week compared to others is a cake walk. In the grand scheme of life I've got it pretty good, but sometimes in the midst of it all it's hard to realize that. I'm tired, but can't sleep, and have a constant list of things to do always running in my mind:).

I'm happy to have the opportunity to volunteer at Kaylee's and Ainsley's school with PTO, to be Ainsley's Room Parent and to be Ainsley's co-leader for Daisies. Although at times when they all come together at the same time, on top of my full-time job, cleaning. laundry, helping with homework, counting box tops for the school. and whatever other randomness is going on I am drained! I feel it in my being, I get short with my loves at home quickly and quite frankly feel like a cat stuck in a paper bag. I just can't seem to get out of that bag!

I try to keep it in perspective to not allow myself to get too overwhelmed. I picture my Grandma Riker sitting and smiling at me, it was calming, or my Grandma Duffy sharing stories of her life that made me feel not so alone.

 I focus on the fun things of the week, like going over to my Mom's and taking her the cookies she ordered from the girls and hearing about their trip. She got the girls some souvenirs and money for taking care of the chickens. They were excited!! She also made some donations for the Bake Sale tomorrow, which was amazing because it meant I didn't have to, and she let us borrow her cash box. She always comes through to help me not lose my mind:)!

So yes, I'm glad this week is over. Will there be more chaotic weeks to come...ABSOLUTELY! But for this week we handled it and succeeded! So for the weekend I will bask in my victory and get myself ready to tackle next week!

Skating

This afternoon was the Towanda Elementary School annual Family Skate Night at Skate-n-Place. We are one of 2 elementary schools in Unit 5 that still does a roller skating unit in PE. At the conclusion of the skating unit they have a skate night.

I would be lying if I said this morning, with the threat of ice, I wasn't hoping that maybe that ice would cancel the skate night. The girls were really excited, but honestly I was tired, there was laundry to be done and all of the other activities that seem to accompany my Sundays. Needing to feel all is organized and the house is clean as we start our Monday, and work week, all over again. However there wasn't much of the "ice" we were to get and there was to be no cancellation insight.

After have done the skating I am SO happy we were able to go and the ice stayed away. The girls had so much fun. Skate-n-Place hasn't changed much, if at all, since I went their growing-up. I think maybe they still have the same skates for rent:) We skated and skated and skated for the whole 2 hour event. They still do the Four Corners game and The Limbo. It was so fun to watch Kaylee and her friends, skating, singing, holding hands and dancing. It was fun to watch Ainsley skate all over and be so proud of herself for being a Kindergartner and being out skating. In school the Kindergarten class doesn't get to do the full skating unit and where the roller skates for PE.

I loved the chance to participate in that with them and relive some of my childhood memories all over again with them.

It really was a great day! A day I would love to freeze in time.