Today..

Today I have my head down with my hat over my eyes, or at least I would like to. Today was an emotional cocktail of ups and downs, and I sure didn't have any alcohol to go with it. Today I worked 10 hours. Tonight I came home from a LONG day at work to 3 amazing people that I am blessed to call my family. Tonight I tucked in 2 of those 3 people and snuggled their faces and smooched their chins and lips. Tonight I sat on the porch on this beautiful night holding hands with 1 of those people, telling him all about my day. Today I wanted to have my hat over my eyes, but tomorrow I will throw that hat on the ground and face the day head on. I'm not promising that I won't want to put that hat back over my eyes tomorrow night, but I will sure try not to!

Simple...

best buds and an amazing backdrop.

Who whould have thought?

Turtles and Lemurs are best buds in Madagascar? What a sweet sight to see.

Super Dad

This guy is my hero! He is a an at home daddy to our little peanuts. Although I would love to do his job:), they are so lucky to have such a sweet and loving teacher every single day.

Our sweet 2nd born...

This little girl is somethin else!!! She is a beautiful ball of spunk, sass, and personality! Liv is full of her own opinion about life and isn't afraid to show it. She is a little talker and is formulating sentences that we clearly understand.."I want it" "I got it" "NO" "oh-tay" are just a few...when asked what her name is she says "Harper"...She can count to ten and sing her abc's. She still LOVES to read and will be found sitting in a tornado of books quietly reading to herself or aloud. She wants to put her shoes on by herself, loves to brush her teeth, and still loves to drink her milk. She is still a picky eater but is getting a tad better about this. She still doesn't like sweet things and perfers meat, cucumbers, tomatos, pickles, chips, and crackers. She can sing words to various kid songs and loves to dance around both in the house and car. She loves her movies (Vinko the dancing bear, Barney, Boz, and Diego.) Her little spunky butt lights up the room with her big brown eyes. She does this cute head tilt slightly down when she is being shy. She continues to want to be in my arms when I am around and although it isn't always condusive to doing things, (like getting ready for work) this time will soon pass, and she will be running out of the house to be with her friends instead of me. I cherish her sweet little soul, am head over heels in love with her & her sis and couldn't be more proud to be their mother.

Sisterhood...

Sisterhood is an amazing bond that grows overtime. Although they are immediately born into this situation, it is there choice to be friends and develop a sisterhood front. I am blessed to have that in my life, not only from my blood sister, but two other amazing women who are my sisters by sisterhood definition. The girls are coming to the age where they are starting to play more and more together. It is so fun to see them worry about each other, cooperate, and start the building blocks of a sisterhood relationship. YAY!

Not so "terrible" after all..

Dear Harper Sage King,

My nearly 3 & 1/2 beauty who is extremely full of zest and life. The other day I was thinking and even spoke aloud that you are in the "terrible two" phase at three and then today I had this realization that the "terrible" are simply moments and rather this phase of your life is so amazing. The "terrible-ness" simply makes your dad and I be on point more, to teach you the lessons of life, so it's not so much as terrible rather challenging us to be better parents. I will say that I am not always on point with that and am constantly working on being more patient with you and finding ways to make those "terrible" moments more positive. You are a sponge and a lover of this life of yours. You still attend preschool two mornings a week and have some favorite friends that you have made. You saw two of those fav friends at the zoo with daddy and sissy, you clamed up and became that shy little Harper I know oh so well. Although you have come out of your shy shell in the past year, you will still turn to that when presented with new situations. It takes you less time now to snap out of that mode, and you turn into an outgoing little lady. You yearn for new experiences and to learn new things. In the past month or so you learned to write "H" for Harper. Tonight, you drew an awesome picture of yourself with circles and a smile, you were so proud of your work as was I. In fact, everyday I am extremely proud of you. You are a sweet and loving big sister. You tolerate having a little sister around who likes to take your things and you ALWAYS have to be the bigger person. You know why? Well, your sister is LOUD and very scrappy, so you tend to have to let her play with your toys and teach her how to share. She loves you very much and definately looks up to you, its just, she marches to her own beat most of the time. You greet her very sweetly in the morning and she usually yells "no" at you. She is a tough one in the moring and I will have to say she gets that from her momma. You are very pleasant in the morning and ready to breathe in every moment there is to be had. You still take a nap most days which revives you but you still don't see the benefit of that and try to refuse it everyday. I keep reminding you that your brain gets smarter when you sleep, so you have to take your "siesta." You aren't a fan but will do it most days. Because I'm your mom, that entitles me to brag about you. You are a smart little peanut. You amaze me daily with your conversations, the way you observe the world around you and then articulate it into sentences. Just tonight you told me to be quiet and tip toe out of your room so that your daddy who was laying on your bed wouldn't wake up and therefore would sleep with you. The other day we were at the lake and we all sleep in the same room. You told me that I can't snore and that if I was going to snore then I should sleep on the couch. WHAT? Are you kidding me? When I told you that I can't help it, you still insisted that I take my snoring bum to the couch. TOO CUTE! Speaking of lake, we will be spending most weekends there since Spring has sprung. You love that place and the freedom of the nature and the simple life. I do too sister! We have so many people around us that love us unconditionally and we are blessed to have such a community of pure love and understanding! My dear, I love you with every inch of my being and look forward to all the moments ahead, both "terrible" and "fantastic" Thanks for being you!

Love,

your mother (as you have started to call me lately:)

St. Patricks Day 2012

I can't remember a St. Patricks Day where I actually went out and celebrated. This year I did just that with some of my favorite ladies;) We headed out to see Matt Nathanson at a local pub. Since I haven't ever officially celebrated this day I found it only fitting to buy party favors for the crew so we could celebrate in style. Teaf stayed home with the kiddos while we had a much needed girls night out on the town. Fun times I must say!

Flamenco fashion show

Last Monday, we had to pause for a fashion show while managing clothes. We came across their Flamenco dresses that were gifted to them from Aunt Susi. Harper is a tough one to convince to wear dresses. She is not the kind of frilly girl and when I put any dress on her she will first tell me that she doesn't want to wear a dress and then she will ask me "mommy is this a dress?" I kind of fib a little and tell her it's a long shirt. I know I know not good. I only tell her that when I have the legings on because it's kind of true?:) So it was a bit tricky to convince her to wear the Flamenco dress, but she did it. Liv doesn't really mind too much about dresses but she was not into the fashion show due to it being past her bedtime. We snapped a few photos in there cute dresses and then off to bed they went.

that grandma...

that grandma...she's pretty awesome! She called a few weeks back and asked to come visit on HER spring break to help us switch clothes for the season. She is a professional clothes organizer and is good at mastering the task;) I am so grateful for the help. We are lucky to have mostly hand me downs from her cousin Kenle but it becomes overwhelming with the amount of clothes the girls have and the different sizes and the whole growing out of sizes. I don't manage my own clothes well, so again I am ever so thankful for her help with this. We did venture out for a fun outing before the managing clothes began. We love having visits from Grandma!

It has already begun...

where we will spend our weekends enjoying life at the lake. I had this moment last weekend when we were there. I was with the girls and Ryder on top of the hill looking down onto the trailors and water. It was this moment of peace. Peace that we have this community of family and friends who actually like hanging out together so much that we have another trailor to fit everyone comfortably. We actually like to talk, play, and enjoy each others company to spend nearly every weekend together! (except during the winter months;) It is so peaceful to be at the lake and we are all blessed to have each other and the beautiful nature that surrounds us.

I am blessed...

• I am blessed with an amazing family
• I am blessed to have an amazing husband and 2 amazing kids
• I am blessed that I have a job and that it keeps my life in perspective everyday
• I am blessed that I feel safe and secure in my life right now
• I am blessed to have so many women in my life who enrich my lives on the regular
• I am blessed that the weather has turned to perfect and I am able to enjoy it.
• I am blessed!