The J-Man turns 9!

Holy crap, my first born is 9! How can this possibly be? What's more crazy is that he seems to finally be catching up to his age. What you say? Well, from the moment he came screaming into this world it was clear Jake was an old soul. He has always seemed beyond his years in the way he thinks, acts, and the aura he emits into this world. And watching him this past year we have really been able to see this in the way he approaches school, sports, being the oldest child, and helping out in our lives. He starts his day by getting up and fed so that he can get Miles up and fed. He recognizes when I'm overwhelmed and asks if there is anything he can do to help. He puts forth every effort in his soccer games and works hard at home (when weather permits) at his skills to ensure the next game will be even better. He has read the entire Harry Potter and Percy Jackson series and is now on the Hobbit and tackling The Lord of the rings series and asked if he could start the Hunger Games series as well. Beyond. His. Years. This kid never ceases to amaze me, what a lucky mom I must be.

His birthday fell on a Thursday so it was school all day, but that evening Chris returned from a long business trip and we had a great family night with lime chicken for dinner, ice cream pie for dessert, presents from family, and watching Turbo together. An awesome night all around.

Jake decided this year instead of a bunch of presents from us he wanted a party at Scallywag Tag - a laser tag and arcade place. He invited 10 friends and Bren got to have one friend as well. They had a blast playing laser tag, getting tickets in the arcade for prizes, eating pizza, and of course chowing down on cake - one kids said it was the best cake ever, go me. There was no doubt Jake made the right choice and had a great party.

     

  

    

Grateful

We all have things that make us who we are. For me that has been being negative or down on myself. It's who I am. And I'm ok with that - to a point. Going through years - and I do mean years - of depression and therapy to resolve this and other things, I learned how to deal with it. No I'm not little miss sunshine now, but I know that I have to do a lot of self checks to be sure I'm not getting myself too down or those around me. Sometimes I'm good at this and sometimes, well......

Any way, lately I've been reading a lot from one blog - Hands Free Mama. She talks a lot about being imperfect and trying to step back from it all so that you can really take it in, all of it, good and bad. And so I've been thinking about what I can do in my life to take my naturally negative, down on myself nature and spin it so that I can see the positive and enjoy life, all of it, good and bad. 

So here it goes.....

The past two weeks have been hard, but I am grateful Chris will be home tomorrow

Rylan challenges me to the point of tears most days, but I am grateful I have a daughter that knows who she is and is willing to fight for what she wants 

It's hard to play the single mom role when Chris has to travel for work, but I am grateful that Chris has a great job and I have a great support system of family and friends when I need extra help

We had a snow day yesterday that really threw off my schedule, but I am grateful that I got to spend a relaxing day with my kids after spending the previous day off in whirlwind of nonstop craziness 

Trying to coach with all four of my kids at the pool takes a lot out of me, but I am grateful that I have a job that allows the flexibility to bring my kids and that my kids get to see me in my element

There are days when I want scream, cry, tear my hair out, etc. when my kids are, well, being kids, but I am grateful that I HAVE four amazing kids 

My body hurts and I'm exhausted all the time, but I am grateful that I have the drive to keep going because I know I will always feel better if I do

There are few days that I don't feel overwhelmed and wondering if I'm in over my head in some aspect of my life, but I am grateful that I am here each day and that I continue to find strength I didn't know I had

So I think you get the point. No matter what the negative is, there is always something to be grateful for out of it. The real challenge will be to remind myself in my most trying times. It's easy now as I sit here in a quiet house with all the kids asleep, but how will I do at 4p tomorrow? When the boys get home from school and need to do homework, Rylan is pulling at me to help her with a snack, and Miles is screaming because he wants to be picked up....how will I do then? Hopefully, I will be able to find the strength to take a deep breath and remind myself of all the things I am grateful for.

Miles Turns 1!!!

It's official, no more babies :( At least not until my babies start having babies, and I hope we have a looooong time before that happens! ;-)

I'm definitely ready to be moving into the toddler phase, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't going to miss having a baby. I may not miss the long nights, the feedings, the puking, the real "joys" of the first year, BUT I DO LOVE BABIES! And its such a short phase - in the grand scheme of things that is, not necessarily in the way that the1st year feels like an eternity when you haven't slept or showered for days and you wonder if you can make it. That first year can be a killer, but now that its over I see how fast it really went and how much I'll miss the good parts. I love the snuggling and rocking and holding and squeezing I get to do, that's what I'll miss. The time when they WANT to be held instead of just looking for what they can get into next :) When a smile on my face is the only thing that will put a smile on their face. All of these little things that they want for a full year and not just a fleeting moment like when they are toddlers, preschoolers, big kids, teenagers, and so on. When YOU are their WHOLE world. But its time to say goodbye to that and move on to the next phase.

And as much as I love babies, the toddler years are pretty cool too. The amazing faces of a toddler! They show EVERY emotion on their faces, they haven't learned to edit or hide any thing from the world yet. Everything is new for them and it is SO AMAZING to watch. I have commented through my previous 3 toddler experiences how I would love to know the exact moment that amazing display of emotion for all to see goes away because I don't want to miss it. Yet it seems inevitable that you wake up and find your toddlers have become big kids and just don't see the same amazing faces as often. So one more chance now for me with Miles to see the emotion and delight plastered across his face for all to see :)

Anyway, enough of my on and on about babies and toddlers and blah, blah, blah. This was supposed to be about Miles and his big day :) So Miles turned one last Friday. Chris had to leave early for work that morning and I didn't get home until late the night before so it was a quiet day at home for the most part. I spent the day making our traditional birthday cake and running errands to get stuff for the birthday boy. Once Chris got home we had a nice family dinner that Miles chowed (as usual), opened presents, and ate cake. Miles LOVED the balloons I brought home for him and seemed pretty happy with the other gifts. We even had a hard time pulling him away from a toy his Aunt Meredith sent when it was cake time. Once we got him to the cake he seemed a bit unsure, after all this was his first cake experience. But once Chris gave him a taste, he was on board!

A very low key day, but I think he enjoyed it and knew it was a special day for him :) Here are some pictures for the Birthday Boy! (I tried to put some videos up, but it wouldn't let me for some reason)

PRESENTS!!!!!!!!!!

As they called themselves: Taco Heads, waiting for cake

CAKE!!!!!!!