It's a ache...

When I had Brooke design my blog back in 2009, I LOVED my header tagline: "There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you."  I loved it, because I lived it.  Or tried.  Writing that year was akin to breathing for me.

Three years later, and I'm so sad to see the decline in my blog posts.  I haven't made the time for myself to do the thing I love most to do.

And I am determined to change it.

The next few weeks are insanely crazy for our little family -- not even so much with the holiday madness that every one of you are facing -- but with trips and parties and surgeries and birthdays and more surgeries on top of the two surgeries we had in November....ugh.

But come January....I am resolved.  Jim seems to have the bedtime touch.  It's amazing.  When I'm not in the house, he can get the kids (all three of them) down peacefully and without much fuss.  So, I think that I'm going to start disappearing on Tuesday nights.

Not all night.  Just sometime between dinner and bedtime, maybe after James' dinner feeding/nursing.  There is a coffee shop just 2 miles up the road, with free wifi, and I think there is a seat that has my name on it.

I want to escape to my writer world, if only for a few hours.  Just long enough to let Jim get the kids to sleep and for me to spew some of the backlogged words that have been choking me for months.  Too many months.

I've only written 20 posts in the last 90 days.  And only 45 in the last 6 months.  That is UNACCEPTABLE.

I don't even care if anyone is reading anymore.  I need to write.  I NEED TO WRITE.

Seth’s 5th birthday celebration

Everybody always feels badly for Seth, whose birthday falls just a week or so before Christmas.  But let me tell you, this kid gets his celebration all sorts of  drug out. =)

We decided to start the fun by having a cake-and-presents party over the Thanksgiving holiday when Tiffany would be in Ohio with us.

I can’t tell you how unbelievable it is that he is 5.  I mean, doesn’t FIVE signify a rite of passage of some sort?  Like, leaving the toddler/preschooler years behind, and now he is a bona fide KID?  Eek!  I don’t feel any older than I did when I delivered him at 27!

I decided to do a homemade cake this year, and I have to say, it turned out great, albeit simple.  A double layer chocolate cake, with green mint icing in between the layers, and whipped vanilla (his fave) to frost.  Some simple food coloring in the left over frosting, piped onto the edges, and a couple swirly candles later, and voila!

Of course, I’m realizing now that I have no pictures of him opening his gifts, because I wasn’t on camera duty, but rather on hand-out-the-gifts-in-an-orderly-fashion duty.  We kept it pretty simple this year; he received several more of the Rescue Bot action figures he’d been wanting from Tiff and the grandparents, and we gifted him with a Kindle Fire.  And let me tell you – that was plenty, and, we felt, appropriate for this year.

And I have to say, as I’m typing this, I’m realizing that Seth’s FOURTH birthday TOTALLY got the shaft on the blog, too, since we were in the middle of our move…..

Eek!  Here!  Reflect with me! ;)

We did a doctored-up Walmart cookie cake to take to his last night of Cubbies, and then Gramma ordered another cookie to snack on during the actual load-‘em-up-move-‘em-out portion of the week that overtook his birthday, and we devoured that one while we were crashing at the Cooper’s house:

And that’s just how we roll!

I definitely think that we have at least another year or two where Seth is going to struggle with being the only kiddo in our family to have a birthday that ISN’T in May, but that just means that we will have to work extra hard to make him feel special when it IS his turn.

Thankswinning!

 

She is on her way!!!!

Over a year ago, I tossed out the idea to Tiffany that she should spend Thanksgiving with us, and despite a million and one changes that took place in both our lives since that conversation, the day has come!

She is on her way north to spend 11 days with us, which will include a birthday party for Seth and Thanksgiving dinner and Black Friday and movies and Phase 10 marathons and songs and hot fudge cake and laughing and so much good that my heart can hardly handle the anticipation.

This time last year, she was helping me pack up our beautiful Tennessee home, both of us drowning in unshed tears and denial.  But we've survived our first year apart -- different time zones and different ZIP codes -- and each visit just grows sweeter and each night spend under the same roof just solidifies her place in our hearts and in our family.

Do you have that person?  That unconventional, unpredictable friendship that turned into so much more than you would ever have imagined?  I'd love to hear about them if you do...

Halloween 2012

It’s blurry, but we move at the speed of light around here.  It’s the best group shot we’re gonna get!

It was SO cold and dreary, but the kids had so much fun.  They were so excited to dress up, get candy, and hang out with some of their favorite people.

In case you can’t translate….Seth was a Rescue Bot (Heat Wave), Erin was a ladybug, and James was an owl.  I worked with what a had and pulled together a genuine “Disheveled  Nursing Mom” costume.  It was awesome. ;)

Due to Sandy damage and weather and such, my inlaw’s town postponed their trick or treating until Saturday, so we may get a do over (and a chance to up the Resse Cup count. Duh!).

Not that we need any more sugar around here!