Doing nothing? Yes Please!

I think that this was the 1st weekend since the New Year we haven't had any plans!  No place we had to be at a certain time, no place to go, nothing we HAD to do!  It was pretty much amazing!

Friday night we were able to catch up with good friends.  The Blatchford's came up from Omaha with their new baby Sophia and the Olander's came over with their little girl Molly.  We sat around feeding the kids full of sugar and watching them play.  I laughed and thought, "Man how have times changed."  If this was 5 years ago we would be getting all fancied up to head to the bar.  Staying out way too late and being worthless the next day.  It was fun, don't get me wrong, but as I sat looking around at all the people I love, I realized that my life has changed for the better!  We now have more to live for than a good time.  We have these perfect little beings that rely on us for everything!  We need to be our best for them!!!

Melissa & I

Molly & Blake

Nathan & Sophia

Beau playing with the boys...Did I mention we all hung out in our jammies??!!!

Saturday was pretty uneventful.  My sister stopped on her way back from Sioux Falls.  I am so blessed that she is in my life again!  I met her (and her twin) when I was 18.  We were really close for a long time and then she got married to a guy who did not like us.  We were "stuck up" and he liked being in control.  I know what she's going through is hard, but I am so thankful I can be there for her & that I am a part of her life again!

Then later in the afternoon my bowling buddy Ann stopped with her daughter who was born a few days after Blake!  It was so fun to watch the kids interact and catching up with her. She's definitely on my list of people I need to see more!!!

Saturday night we played with the boys then spent some quality time together when they went to bed.  By quality time I mean watching DVR'd Ellen and Up All Nights and putting together church directories!  It was still fun to do NOTHING but menial, mindless tasks!

This morning we went to church.  Our Ash Wednesday was moved to Thursday because our pastor and his wife were at Mayo.  Thursday there was bad weather so it was cancelled....So we had the Ash Wednesday service today.  The boys got ashes for the first time.  Later in the service I looked over and Cole had a black crayon and was trying to draw a cross on Hunter's head :)

We went down to Vera's and had Turkey, stuffing, potatoes and gravy with her and Aaron's family.  Rod's Birthday would have been this last Friday.  We usually have a steak dinner but because of the weather, we decided to wait.  It was a good day! 

We came home & I took a 2 hour nap with the boys and Beau went out and worked with the horses.  He was able to get Starlight completely saddled up and foot in the stirrups and she did great!  She has been saddled up once last October and has never been ridden.

On the calendar for this week: Working my 2nd week as a full time employee then my parents are coming up on Saturday!  YAAAAYYYY!

WinTeR WoNdErLaNd

The boys had fun in the snow!!!!!

Another Great weekend!

I have the most amazing people in my life & because Valentine's Day week, I'm feeling a little sentimental!  Not sure if I posted on here but starting Tuesday, I will go from working 3 days a week to 5.  I was really back and forth for a long time about whether I wanted to or not, but I really think that it will actually make me less stressed!!!  Anyhew.  Tuesday and Friday were my last days off during the week.

Valentine's Day was amazing!  Beau woke up with the boys and got Cole on the bus for school.  My AMAZING husband let me sleep until 10!  I don't remember the last time I did that.  He could've bought me anything in the world but that was the best, most needed gift EVER!!!  He made me scrambled eggs for breakfast.  We snuggled our little munchkins and enjoyed being home with them.  When they took a nap (my time to do housework) Beau and I laid on the couch and watched National Treasure!

See!  It's a good thing we love each other because I'm not sure who else would :) 

After Cole got home from school the boys rode Charlie Brown and then we all played at night!  What a wonderful day!


Friday night was sooo much fun!!!!  We took the boys down to stay with Aunt Kimm and cousing Myles!  We had a date night with another super fun couple!  We went to Red Lobster!  (Thank you Mom & Dad for the gift card!!!!).  Beau had steak and I had crab & linguine....We even got mine for free because it took so long!  But the company was good, so it didn't matter.  We stopped at a few bars on the way home then we went and played some cards!  I was tired the next day, but def worth it!

Saturday we watched my niece Myles & the boys loved playing with her!  She is always the Princess and they are her "Hunnys"  Here is Hunter drawing a sign for their house in his vest & cowboy hat!

Sunday my sister and niece joined us at Church and it was a GREAT service!  How lucky are we to have such a great pastor & great congregation.  My kids were so tired & ready for a nap after their fun weekend with Myles they all took a LONG nap...And once again we laid around and watched Grey's & Private Practice!

Tomorrow its back to the grind!  Boys are going to daycare & I'm getting stuff done I need to get done!  Have a great week everyone!

LIFE

If you know me at all, you know how much I LOVE quotes!!!!  Some of my favorites are

"Beginnings are usually scary.  Endings are usually sad.  It's what's in the middle that counts."  This one is from the movie Hope Floats.  I believe I heard it when I had just gotten out of a relationship & didn't think I could get past it. (If I only knew Beau was waiting for me :)

In my scrapbook I made when I was a senior I wrote these things:
* Smile always & often
* Be a little crazy
* Cry when you need to
* Tell those that you love, that you do
* Observe miracles
* Dance in the rain
* Practice Patience
* Forget Trouble
* Love
* Laugh Long
* Live life to the fullest
* Count your blessings
* Spread joy to everyone
* Keep a promise
* Make new friends
* Have faith
* Grow
* Slow Down
* See the sunshine
* Give
* Comfort a friend
* Rediscover old friends
* Have fun

I probably wrote this because I thought it was written in pretty colors & a neat font...Only now do I realize how VERY important those things are!  Wow!  I need to print this out and post it in my house & in my car to help me remember!!!

Going back to my New Years Resolutions...I hadn't even thought about making myself or others happy in a long while.  My life was on auto-pilot....Get kids up and ready and out the door....Go to work and get my job done...Come home and make dinner, do laundry, clean house, do dishes, get kids to bed. 

I was only living the length of my life....Not the width of it.  I can't believe how much my life has changed in 2 months just because I have a different perspective on life!  I couldn't be happier!  I enjoy my kids...Tonight we played hide & seek & I LOVED it.  I have become closer to old friends I have slipped away from.  I'm so thankful that Ladonna & her family came up & she is still part of my life...Now looking back, I don't know how I did it without her!  I am doing my job with my heart and it is truly gratifying!  I can't imagine doing anything different!  I have made new friends!  It's crazy.  I have been "friends" with people for years and think they are amazing.  Then I meet people that I can be myself around & they love me anyway!  Even though we haven't been lifelong friends, I already know I can count on them.  I got rid of people in my life that were holding me back or in my life just because they were nosy (hence the new fb acct and fewer "friends" on there).

I found a new quote and I love it...It sums up everything!!!! & this is exactly what I'm going to do!

Rodeo at the Bensens!

Cole was practicing riding Charlie Brown by himself!  Got a good video!

The I went inside & I guess that's where the fun started!!!  Cole got Charlie Brown loping...apparently Charlie Brown wasn't a fan...He started buckin and freaking out....Cole slid off the saddle, had one foot in the stirrups & had ahold of the horn, got him stopped...He was still holding the reigns, muscled his way up in the saddle & said, "Geez"!

Maybe it's a good thing Mommy wasn't out their with the camera....Beau said I would have wanted to sell him :)

Blah-Stress-Blah-Work-Blah-Busy!!!

I'm finally waving the white flag!  I am spread too thin!  There is so much going on, I can't keep up!  With work, church responsibilities, kids, house stuff, I'm exhausted! I always seem to over commit myself! So right now all I can do is read my new tattoo and know I'll get through all of it!

I LOVE my job!  For those of you that don't know I am an Early Childhood Special Educator!  I work with children ages birth-5 who need some extra help in some area of development.  I work with kiddos at their home, at daycares and preschools. At the beginning of the year I started with 12 kiddos in 3 schools, now I have 26 kids and 5 more referrals I am working on in  4 towns.  If you know me at all, you know I'm an emotional person.  I love every single one of those kids I serve.  I want to to everything in my power to help them!  Right now, I feel like that's not even possible.  There are so many kids and so much paperwork that I can't do my job well!  This year I've been working part time (3 days a week) but I went to my boss about having me go full time.  I love working part time, but when I spend my days off doing work stuff at home & I'm not able serve the kiddos the way I need to, I knew it was time to ask my boss for full time.  He goes in front of the board on Tuesday for them to approve me going full time.  It will be a huge weight lifted off my shoulders if it's approved!  I can give my kiddos the time they deserve!

I also LOVE that we have become more active in our church.  We have an amazing pastor and enjoy listening to him on Sunday!  Our "church family" is also growing with some new, younger people starting to attend our church!  We had a "young adult" night last weekend with no kids!  We went out to eat and bowling with 3 other couples who have kiddos our age.  I used to bowl on a league but because of expenses I stopped last year.  So I was able to bowl (Bowled a 174!) and have soo much fun!   I've also taken on the task of being the VBS director!  It's something right up my alley & I love planning and organizing.  Our pastor is also in school to become ordained so I am serving on the internship committee.  So I am busy with meetings at least once a week.  I also am formatting bulletins for service during lent.  I'm finishing up the church directory where I took all the pics, edited them and added info to each picture.  I'll be ordering the prints today! Once again, I love helping out and being a part of it, but there is A LOT going on!

And of course there are everyday things, like laundry and cooking and dishes and meeting the needs of all my children!

So....Even though I love everything I do, it's too much.  My New Years resolution is to not be so uptight, stop worrying about everything...It's to spend time with family & friends.  That part of my life is great!  I've spent lots of time with friends!  We have people more often, we go out and socialize more.  On Friday we had our first Mama's Night Out!  It was a success!  We had 20 ladies who came to my house.  We had a Passion Party consultant here and there were tons of laughs and chatter!  Girl time is sooo important & am so glad everyone came!  The party was a success!  about $1400 was spent!  Who says were in a recession? :)

Blah-Blah-Blah-Blah!  I feel like I'm just rambling!  So, what am I going to do about all this?  I'm gonna work my butt off today to get caught up with everything I need to do & start fresh come Monday.  I'll take one day at a time & get done what I can.  And what I cant get done....well, it will just have to wait.  I'm going to try to remember what is important!  My friends! My family!  Those I love!!!