Cloud 9

 Our Bugg celebrated his ninth birthday

on Cloud 9 in May.

What???!!!  you say.

He's NINE?!!

 

 It's tradition to go rollerskating

for Bugg's birthday.

We all love cruising the rink with his hot wheels.

Wyatt just finished "3rd grade."

He's in a special class with absolutely 

the dearest angel friends - students & teachers & helpers.

Every year at the end of school,

we invite all the kids' teachers and aides

over for cookies & milk.

 We love to honor the wonderful influences

that are part of the lives of our children's education.

And any excuse for me to make cookies?

I'm on it!

 Thanks, everyone, for the comments

and love you've sent since I fired up the blog again.

xxoo

Bugg in summer

 Bugg knows he'll get a reaction

if he blows razzberries.

So hilarious.

 

 Summer was always my favorite season as a kid.

We were big time water lovers,

going waterskiing at the lake weekly,

swimming and bbq's at the pool, Water World adventures.

Plus, I have a July birthday so bonus!

And my girls just loooove the water, too.

I remember going to the big water park a few years ago.

I had only 3 kids, I got this, right?

Well, Wyatt needs all my arms in the water

so quickly I saw that it wasn't going to work.

But I bend into ridiculous pretzel shapes to make summer fun & "normal" for the girls

so dang it, we're doing this!

With a 5 year old and a toddler to look after and follow, no, no, this was

definitely not going to work.

So what happened?

I sat down and bawled my eyes out.

Sobbed.  Felt sorry for myself and my kids.

But I learned a lot that day.

There's limits to what I can do and it's okay.

So now I get a sitter or wait til the Hunk can come along.

Bugg gets to go to summer school for a few days a week.

We take advantage of that time to boot.

 Or we find other things we can do together

like these blessed trampoline parks that are popping up all over.

Genius.  (In fact, where were those when I was young?  'Cause now this white girl can't jump.

Holla, all you mama's out there.)

Indoors safe from heat, contained area so I can eyeball all the girls, A/C, crazy fun for all, 

including Bugg.

He loves to jump, supported of course.

Or lay down and we gently bounce him.

He gets hysterical!  It's so awesome.

Cheers to summer!

Celebrating {Ma-hood}

 Mother's Day 2015

 Being mom to these guys?

Soooooo sweet.

And hard and overwhelming and frying and frustrating and haaaard.

But mostly really awesome.

our crew

Ella {6}, Bugg {9}, Mia {10}, Adeline {3}

hi, hello, & forgive this girl

Echo!  Echo!  ECHO!

Gee, it's been quite some time since we last visited

in this sacred space of mine.

I think about my blog often, I never meant to disappear.

But I see from my stats that people still swing by often.  

I'm impressed with the persistency!  You'll be rewarded 'cause like, 

Here I Am!

A few silly photos:

birds ~ I'm like freaking obsessed with birds of prey.

And my heart sunglasses.

And clouds.  I'd like a whole wall gallery of clouds.

So, may I ask.....who's here reading?  Give me a shout!

Oh, my goodness, I love them!

I had such a sweet Mother's Day!

Don't you just want to squoosh all those cheeks?

just me

Fall 2013 ~ Battle Creek Falls hike

Right now, I'm......

~ craving some chocolate, wishing there was a baked goodie somewhere.  But alas, I ate the 5 hidden cookies yesterday.
~ tired from another pitiful night's sleep.  Mia is sick and has a horribly itchy rash.
~ loving my new bright blonde hair.  The Hunk reminded me recently that I was blonde when we met and that he really liked it.  So I obliged. 
~ hearing an almost 2 year old Adeline NOT taking her nap.  Please don't outgrow those naps yet!  But Mia & Ella were 2 1/2 when they were done.
~ wondering what's for dinner tonight?  Or even if it's important.  Cereal?  Yay!
~ thankful for my husband's new-ish job that he is enjoying.  After a bout of unemployment, it's more like amazingly grateful!!!
~ ridiculously giddy that Season 3 of "Call the Midwife" starts soon.  I've spent absurd amounts of time watching it on my laptop in bed at insane hours.  It's THAT good!
~ mad that this laptop is missing 13 keys ripped off by curious little hands.  This is taking forever to type!!
~ missing my California old school friends and their laughs.  Reunion in our future, girls?
~  thinking that if Spring keeps playing PeekABoo, then I'm going to paint a sun on my ceiling.  I'm ready for adventures on some hikes with the girls.
~ wishing for more time to read.  I couldn't get into The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin so I dropped it.  I'm on The Women in Lincoln's Life by H. Donald Winkler.  So interesting!  And I just finished Visions of Glory by John Pontius and Jane Goodall's autobiography Reason for Hope.  The latter being truly inspirational, the former being life-changing!
~ proclaiming myself a Bird Nerd.  I have oodles of pictures of different birds on my camera and have loved thumbing through the new field guide to match their identities.  Followed a flying egret trying to get closer pics yesterday.  So beautiful & fun!
~ hearing peace from Adeline's room - YES!
~ looking forward to the weekend.  Bugg has a professional photo shoot for a special needs project, hooking up with my BFF, and of course, the LDS Women's Broadcast which Mia is able to attend now.

~~Cheers!!!~~

a good dose of Bugg

You're totally welcome!