Turning 10….

Our smallest girl had a birthday and turned 10.  And. It. Was. Fun.

For her party she wanted to have a "Frozen" birthday party theme.  Why am I not surprised….our entire house is obsessed with that movie right now.

What 10 year old girl isn't, right?

However, in our state and probably in the entire world….no Frozen birthday party decorations were to be found.  Okay, not entirely true.  We did find a balloon.  The only thing in the entire city…not kidding.

So with one balloon, we planned our party.  Creativity at it's best, people.

So with snow on the ground outside, we made it look like snow on the ground inside.  We hung snowflakes from the ceiling, put out a blue tablecloth and scattered to the wind, silver snowflake confetti EVERYWHERE (in hindsight….wasn't the best move on my part.  We're still finding that confetti in things).  Balloons, streamers, the works.  She loved it!

Cupcakes were her cake of choice….blue and white, of course.  She even wanted to decorate each and every top a certain way.  Trust me, that girl knows what she wants.

But before this crazy girl had her dinner of choice (pasta Alfredo), she just couldn't wait to open her presents.  A. Moment. Longer.

Of course for a Frozen party, you gotta get the movie…just so glad her birthday fell after the movie was release in the stores.  It would have been a sad day for this little one.

And this little girl of mine is my hugger.  She loves, loves, loves to hug you.  Sometimes it's more like a lean if she's tired.  But always she needs this affection.

Well, except maybe from her brother here….then it's more "pestery" than affectionate.  Figures...

And this man, I'm so thankful he gave me all of them.  Even the affectionate, leaning, pestery ones.  Love them all so very much.

Happy 10th birthday, my little noodle.  

State and Regionals…..

…..in less than two weeks, whew I'm tired.  

Of course, I'd be worse if I had swum in the meets.  Probably dead, really.  Well...at least it would have given those lifeguards there something to do.

Okay, digressing I see…

Well, we are done.  Well done.  Our swim season was a huge success.  The girls came away from both  swim meets with fantastic times (and one or two 10th place finishes…in the state.  That's my girls).  I cannot say this enough, my girls love, love, love to swim.  They have to swim.  They live and breathe it.  I'm so very happy that with that passion there still is the joy behind it all.  

We're taking a couple of weeks off for a rest, but the reality is that the girls started bugging us the day after the meet to take them to the pool.  So I'm not sure how long our break will be.  My fishes need water….

For now, we'll leave you with a some pictures from the swim meets. 

 (this one's my favorite…we were beyond bored at this point and were texting "selfies" to my son back at home with Grandmom.  He DID NOT think it was a funny as we did.)

Again?!?….

I woke up this morning to something called thundersnow.  Yes, you read that right.  Thundersnow.

I'm sure it has some technical definition but basically it is a boatload of snow coming down in just a short amount of time.  Not to be confused with a blizzard (unfortunately, we're really familiar with here) which is accompanied with high winds and blowing snow.  Nevertheless, it's snow….

Again.

I can't tell you how tired I am of doing this….again.

Losing these….again.

Tripping over these….again.

And wiping up these….again.

So this stuff…again?

Is it ever going to end?   

On to State, baby….

This past Sunday was a big day for our swimmers….Sectionals.

At Sectionals you have to swim certain times in order to qualify to go on to the State meet.  Even if you have swum that certain time all year, you must swim it at this meet to qualify.  It's nail-biting and intense and lots and lots of hoopin' and hollerin', and sometimes tears.

Tenths of seconds count.

At this meet, the swimmers are up against themselves and no one else.  They all know their times to beat and each and every single swimmer rises and falls by those times.

I'm so happy to report that our girls qualified to go on to State in all the events they swam in.  Not to say there wasn't some nail-biting going on up in the stands with their Daddy and I, but….they did it.

It's on to State, baby!

(On a side note….our oldest son choose not to swim this meet because he really needed a break after the intense training of high school swimming….and lots of lots of sleep)

Today I cooked my Halloween pumpkin….

Oh yeah, you read that right.  I cooked…okay, technically roasted is the term...my Halloween pumpkin.

Crazy?  Yes, I know.

Or at least that's what my husband thought I was, when I put all of our Halloween pumpkins over to one side in the garage in late November.  I'm sure he thought they were going to rot and smell and decompose right then and there.  But the truth of the matter is that, a pumpkin is a melon and believe it or not can be perfectly preserved in a very cool/cold area for many, many months before any type of decomposition ever takes place.

You see….by placing them outside where it's basically freezing, I just slowed down the process.  Plus, I bought me some time.  Because at that moment in November, I didn't want to deal with cooking 4 large pumpkins, figuring out where to put all that puree in my freezer, and/or cook a bazillion things with pumpkin.

So today, on my time, I finally roasted one of them up and will make pumpkin muffins with cream cheese icing (this recipe).  It's just what we all need here in the depths of a very cold winter.

And it's a good thing I've got a few more pumpkins to use, because winter here….

 is never going to end.

Frozen...

It is stinkin' cold here.  All. The. Time.  So what does an entire family do in the middle of the coldest winter known to man….okay, made that one up, but you know what I mean….

You go see a movie about being frozen.  Sounds normal, right?

We are faaaarrrrr behind on our movies.  One, because it costs SO MUCH MONEY for our family to just walk through the door to the theaters and two, there really hasn't been anything I felt worth all that money to go and see.

Until now….

This past weekend we took the entire family to go and see the movie Frozen.  By golly, if you haven't already seen it you really need to go.  It is phenomenal.  The songs, the story, the characters.  It's wonderful.

I realize that it's been out since Thanksgiving, but in case you're like our family and don't get out much to the theaters, here's a clip from the trailer…



Go see it…you will laugh out loud and sing along.  Loved it!

16 years...

My oldest turned 16 today.  16 years.  I know I say this for all of my children but where does the time go?

16 years…

ago….

I gave birth to this little one.

It took almost 24 hours to get him into this world and he was a big ol' thing…weighing in at 10 pounds.    He was our first boy, first child and the first one to steal my heart away.

You learn so much on your firstborn.  What to do.  What not to do.  What you should have done.  What you would like to do.  You question everything, you know nothing and yet you survive.  In the end, you make it through.  People tell you that time will fly past, enjoy these moments.

They.  Are.  Correct.

16 years….

I am realizing all too quickly that my time with him...  Time to teach him about this world and teach him how to become the man God wants him to be….  Is running out.

I have been given a blessed gift.

It's my honor to be his mother and for that I will love that boy till the day I die.

Happy birthday, my son…