Life Lately

Last night the kids spend the night at Nate's parents house, getting all the visits and snuggles in before we head out for a few months.  Nate was working in Odessa, so I was home alone all by myself.  This has not happened since the birth of Ian.  Nate is generally home, or I always have the kids with me.

I was so excited with all these great aspirations (staying up and sleeping in - eating whatever) - well the reality of the situation, I fell asleep by 9 pm, slept terribly, woke up at our regular 06:20 am, and was more tired them being gone, then when they are home - what the heck? This is some serious mom problems.

I have spend this morning catching up on some house work, working on a couple of recipes, and now trying to so a little blog update. 

Life lately have felt so busy (I hate that term) but I have been so busy prepping for our trip home, and getting all the kids school work together (the beauty of home school) and getting everything ready - generally we don't put this much prep into travel because it is a week or two, but since the kids and I are going to a few months I have to be on top of it.  We will also be spending a couple of days in Atalanta, visiting my friend.

A couple of weeks ago Hayleigh broke the news that she wanted to cut her hair shorter, I was semi devastated because it took us her entire life to grow the hair that she has.  I thought about it, and we made the appointment.  She is loving her new cut, and I think it looks pretty darn cute.

I love how much they love each other (don't get me wrong they have their moments of sibling rivalry) but for the most part they are best friends, and it brings me so much joy.  I love how they play together, imagine together, and just do life together.

We had Nate home for a day last week, and it was such a beautiful day that we made something off it and spend the afternoon at the park.  It is one of my favorite things to do with Nate - the kids play, and we "splurge" on a little ice coffee, find a bench, hang out and watch our kids explore and make friends.  Life is slowly starting to resemble what we use to do - minus the travel (we are still working on that part.)

It is so bittersweet how fast they are growing up - my heart is kind of not prepared.  I wish I could keep it this way for a little while longer.

I have been trying to get up a few minutes before the kids in the morning, but this tends to be in impossible task in our house.  It doesn't matter what time I plan to do this, they wake up five minutes before hand.  So I try my best to embrace the early morning "chaos," I remember when they were way little and they use to play trains at my feet while I sip on my tea - now they lay in Ian's bed while he reads to her.  My heart this can't take it...

My breakfast game has been strong, now they hang around like little vultures to eat whatever I take of the griddle.  These are our some of our favorite pancakes.  Then by the time it is all cooked, they are full, and I sit by myself and eat while they run off to play.  We generally eat together at the table, but sometimes it is nice at the end of a long week, to have a few minutes to myself.

I am super stoked that I finally perfected my Indian food game.  Our all time favorite restaurant was this little Indian food joint in Germany (a total hole in the wall) and it is seriously delicious.  Over the last several years I have made it my mission to try and recreate some of our favorite dishes - and I super happy to report that I did it.  I will share the recipe soon.  We can eat this meal pretty much every night of the week.

The kids and I went on a little date the other day - a lunch date is our love language - especially if ti involves burgers.  We have never been to this specific burger joint, and it is a new favorite.

We went to this cool little Lego exhibit after lunch, and the kids enjoyed it.  I love doing little things like this, and we use to do it more often, so I am tying to work on being a little more spontaneous.  This place have really managed to suck the life right out of me, but I am taking it back.

I am so excited to go home, I can hardly contain myself.  It has been way too long.  We have some fun plans of things to do, but I am really just excited to see my family and spend some quality time together.

I have been pondering this even more intense, and I have seen an overall improvement in my attitude and well-being after really focusing on practicing gratitude. So much so that my kids have picked up on it, and they are starting to focus on everything we can be thankful for.

One Thousand Gifts.

27. Freshly cut little girl hair...

29. Finally recreating the best Indian food ever.

30. Frozen coffee.

31. Family date at the park.

32. Purple tulips.

33. Family dinners around the table...

36. Butter piled high in fresh blueberry muffins.

37. Lunch with my friend Lora.

We only have a couple of weeks left here at home before we head out, and I am so excited that Nate will join us half way through this trip.  Beach house here we come.

Happy Saturday!