Daily routine...

So the night I last blogged about choosing joy Haddee was up twice and Eva had about an hour cryinig fit during the night. My kids both usually sleep great all night - so it was REALLY hard Tuesday to wake up and be positive for the day, but I was - I forced myself. And now today I feel back to my old self again (happy and fun, not the person I described last week - for those of you that were thinking that is how I normally am) :-) So I thought I would share with you a little about our days - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday are our "normal" days. The girls wake up around 7. Haddee calls my name until I come tell her she can get up then she likes to lay in bed with us if Eva isn't awake yet. Then we have breakfast and get ready for the day. We play a little and then Eva goes down for her first nap around 9:30. That is Haddee's favorite part of the day. Her and I have "school" for 30 minutes. I am amazed how much she knows already. Right now we are working on stuff like - shapes, sizes, numbers, letters, positions, etc. Her favorite thing is to color, cut and paste stuff. After school she gets to watch a movie. (That is the 30 minutes I have for the morning to get all my work done) Then we play more and Eva wakes and we all eat lunch. Time flies and soon it is time for naps again. Then I head off to basketball at 3 and don't see them again until after supper or sometimes the next morning if we have a game. I LOVE coaching basketball, but look forward to spending evenings together as a family again. I could go into our "special' days - Wednesday and Friday - but I will save that for another post a different day. Here are some pics of Haddee having school this week. Saturday we bought her a Diego desk. We used to sit at the kitchen table for school, but she LOVES her new desk. Enjoy.

THE FINISHED PRODUCT...

AND ONE OF EVA...

You have filled my heart with JOY...

I haven't felt much like writing this past week. Life has been really busy and it has taken a toll on everyone. I haven't had much patience with the girls or Scott. I am tired (and should be in bed now). Scott has been gone a lot and is leaving again for the weekend. I have to admit our home has not been very pleasant the past 5 days - and it mostly has to do with me. There have been days this past week that have felt overwhelming and looking at the weeks ahead I don't see a break for quite some time. I needed to remind myself tonight that in spite of the things that aren't going so well... there is still so much to be grateful for. Our church's women's retreat is coming up and the focus is JOY. I have been thinking a lot about the topic over the past few months. I am convinced having joy is a choice. In the good, and the bad, I want to choose JOY. Lord, forgive me for not choosing joy this past week. Your mercies are new every morning. Starting anew tomorrow - help me choose joy. AMEN!

Hopefully something lighter and more interesting real soon!

Valentines

Scott was gone on a youth trip for the weekend so I spent Saturday home with my girls. He had left some cards and hidden presents for each of us. Haddee had a great time finding and opening everyone's presents. He is such a great dad and husband! After the girls went to bed I made Valentines cards for church friends with Christmas pictures I never gave out.

I wanted to post some pictures of Haddee's first time "playing princess". She has never been one to play dress up and we have never gone out of the way to encourage it. The morning of these pictures (taken last week) is the first time she has asked to put these dresses on. The blue one was given to us over a year ago by a friend (thanks Jenny) and the pink one is passed down from Emma, Haddee's cousin. Haddee had to put on jewelry, a crown, and "lipstick". And she kept saying "I'm so pretty" the whole time I was taking pictures. For never playing dress up before she sure looked like she knew what she was doing. I am not the "princess" type but for this one morning it was pretty funny to watch.





This last picture is her new smile.This is how she poses for every picture - head back, eyes closed, and teeth showing. So funny.

Date Night

Every other Saturday evening is date night. We are in a group with 3 other couples that each have 2 kids roughly the same ages as our girls. It is a great time for me and Scott to get out alone and focus on each other. And when it is our turn to babysit it is a fun time to watch our kids interact with friends and to grow closer to our friends' kids. Tonight was our turn to watch the kids. Here are a few pics from our evening. We are missing Lily, Toby, and Adalynn. Just a piece of advice ... if you have young kids - get a date group started!

The Best Super Bowl Ever

It was a great game tonight, but that's not what made it the best super bowl ever.

Haddee woke up this morning feeling warm. I didn't think much of it. She is NEVER sick. She didn't eat any breakfast and we headed for church. I packed our bags to be gone all day - a birthday party after church, then to my parents, then back to the church for our youth super bowl party. But plans changed and I found myself in the car headed home before church even ended. Haddee kept crying that her stomach hurt and she had a serious fever by now. She fell asleep in the car on the way home. I found myself grumbling as she slept on the couch and I made lunch and fed Eva. I didn't want to stay home all day. I wanted to be with my family and friends and yes, even the youth kids. Why did I have to stay home with a sick kid? Maybe I could just take her anyway or at least I could go to my parents for the afternoon and leave Scott home with the girls. But in the end I did what was best for my family and I stayed home. As Scott left to hang with the youth kids he told me, "Have fun." I gave him a nasty look and said something to the effect of yeah right this is gonna suck. (sorry, just being honest) I missed the first half of the game as I cleaned up dinner, gave the girls baths, nursed Eva and got her to bed. At 8:00 I finally laid on the couch with my sick girl and turned on the tv. We were just in time for the half time show.

Haddee was very unhappy as a baby. Along with all her crying, she NEVER cuddled and couldn't fall asleep anywhere but in her crib. That has made cuddling moments now that she is older a lot more special. Tonight for the first time in 2 years she laid on me and fell asleep. For 2 hours as I watched the rest of the game she was in my arms. I didn't mind there not being anyone to talk to (although I had to text Scott when Arizona scored the touchdown and I thought they might win). As I held her close, kissing her head and playing with her hair, I thanked God for her and repented of my selfishness. There was no where else I would have rather been and no one I would have rather been with for those 2 hours. I just had to think about how earlier I was wishing away that evening and how instead it turned into the best super bowl ever.