day 152 - our fly girl

lilly had a wet soccer game this evening.  it is always fun to watch lilly turn on her after burners and go for the ball.  sometimes it seems like she's flying.  the girls lost tonight 6-3. they have one more game this weekend - hopefully it will turn out better than tonight.

day 151 - boys and contra

i made it through my second day of working out - phew!  i am a good sore.  i have found myself debating about running the seaway run at the end of june.  i can't help but feel like it would be a fun thing we could do as a family.  unfortunately dave will be out of town - but, i'm thinking the kids and i could do it together - we'll see.

as i sat this evening and watched my daves playing contra i couldn't help but remember the hours i spent as a kid playing the game with my brothers and friends.  it made me miss my family.  although i was able to hang out with my dad and bro while in new york for a little bit - i found myself still missing all of them tonight.  love you boys!

Day 150 - gotta start somewhere

Day 149 - memorial day fun

day 148 - old friends

day 147 - still...

i am still in bed.  i have tried to convince myself that i am ok and yet i still feel like crap.  whatever this bug is that's going around - it stinks!!  caleb has for sure gotten the worst of it, poor kid.  he has lost almost 8 pounds over the last week.  fortunately we are in a fabulous place and i can fully relax.  thank you bob and shar for always being so hospitable!

Day 146 - special night out

day 145 - so glad to be home

yesterday/today was spent trying to get home.  once home i found myself sick.  boo!  i can't believe how happy i am that i was able to find my way home instead of in cleveland for the night.  if you are going to be sick you need to be sick in your bed, in your bedroom, in your home.  no picture today.  oh well.

Day 143 - love NYC

day 141 - change of plans

day 140 - tourney fun

day 139 - traverse city excitement!!!

today we pulled the kids out of school and made our way up to traverse city for the cherry cup tournament.  both luke and lilly are playing with their teams over the weekend.  weather forecast looks awesome.  of course we couldn't make the drive without a little bit of excitement...

day 138 - nails & hair dye

lilly and another team mate hatched a plan last week that included having dave dye their hair.  little did they know their little idea would turn into a full fledged partay!!  we invited lilly's entire team to our house for pizza, nails and hair dye or feather extensions.  the idea was that it would be fun to have a team building party in preparation for their upcoming tournament this weekend.

 moms and dads from the team painted nails and put in extensions while dave proceeded to bleach and dye hair.  at one point we had a bunch of foil heads running around the backyard!

if you have known my husband for longer than 5 minutes then you already know how much he LOVES hair color.  we all had so much fun hanging out, watching dave in his element and being around a bunch of giggly girls.  gotta love girls soccer!

day 137 - more painting!!

i thought it would be fun to share one of the pieces i am working on.  i am currently creating a number of different painted wood backgrounds in various colors and textures.  it requires a lot of paint, sanding, and distressing.  i can't wait to see how it all comes together.

day 136 - paints

i have switched gears here this week and started a brand new project that required fun colors and painting.  at one point i looked down at my hands and thought i had more paint on my fingers than the wood i was painting!  i love my job and the fact that i can have so much fun with paints!!

Day 135 - delicious!!

It's even better when someone else makes them and you get to enjoy the aroma and tastes with no effort!!! Yummmmmmm

Day 134 - #1 mom

I wore my #1 mom pin all day today made by my darling daughter. It was a beautiful day full of serendipitous moments and opportunities. I am blessed.

day 133 - life lesson

today was one of those days.  dave and i had a super fun day/evening planned as a couple and as a family.  we shared our plans with the kids and we all looked forward to a fun time together.  INSTEAD we found ourselves sitting in the family room with the kids expressing our disappointment in their behavior and how as a consequence we would not be following through.  i don't really care to go into all of the details of what happened.  however, after a long talk about expectation, grace and forgiveness and a family prayer i couldn't help but think about the life lesson my kids learned today.  life lessons can be difficult to face and/or endure - but they are a critical part of life.  i pray we weren't too hard on our kids and in the end they remember how much their dad and i love them.

day 132 - A is for...

Lilly pointed out her piece of art displayed in the art fair at school and all I could see was a big "A" on my shirt. I totally laughed out loud :) in Lilly's world "A" is for "art"!!

Day 131 - sweet friends

day 130 - one on one time

 

tonight i was reminded how important one on one time with my kids is.  luke and i found ourselves with a little more than 30 minutes to spare so i asked if he wanted to run into pints and quarts for an appetizer - he looked up and said, "just you and me? YEAH!!!"  he chose our table and asked that i sit next to him (we were totally cute sitting on the same side of the high-top table).  over the next thirty minutes we laughed.  he told me all about his field trip.  talked to me about his friends.  he shared deep thoughts with me including things that make him sad.  we laughed more.  he virtually talked my ear off.  i loved every minute of it. 

day 129 - home remedy

tonight i went in search of the best way to remove a splinter.  i remembered a while back someone posting on pinterest and found the article here.  i'm really hoping this simple concoction does the trick because making lilly cry while i try and dig out a month old splinter is not in my top ten favorite things to do! 

day 128 - boo

i'm trying to get over the fact that my fabulous new ipad fell out of my hands onto the ground and shattered.  really?...boo...

day 127 - it would still be you

i woke up from a dream today and couldn't help but smile.  talk about waking up on the right side of the bed.  in my dream i was preparing to marry dave.  it wasn't a flash back to our wedding day or engagement.  it was current day and we were in love at our current age today.  we didn't have kids or barely a history together.  our friends were all there to celebrate along with us and help in the prep for our big event.  i couldn't help but feel absolutely in love with my husband to be.  i'm not a dream analyst but i woke up and realized again how in love i am with my sweet husband and how i would still choose him today - even in my dreams.  i love you dave.

day 126 - pretty cool

tonight after the soccer game we went over to meijers to go grocery shopping.  yes, we went as a family.  i REALLY dislike grocery shopping so going as a family at least makes it a bit more bearable.  it got about a thousand times more awesome as we walked down the aisle and i realized my new line had just been rolled out!!  if you look closely you will see photos of some of my most favorite people and places.  it was pretty exciting to see my art filling an endcap - and WAY nerve racking :)

Day 125 - night out

Always fun to go out with friends!!!

day 124 - early to bed

Tonight I'm calling for any early bedtime. My head hurts too bad to stay up any later. I'm hoping a good nights rest will lend itself to a pain free morning.

On the brighter side we ordered two new pairs of glasses!!! I can't wait for some cute new lenses.

Day 123 - not broken

Such a relief to know our sweet girl doesn't have any broken bones just a sprain. It's so hard to see your child in pain. Hopefully she will be back at full capacity in a few more days!! In the mean time I think she is totally digging the extra attention - even more now that she knows it's nothing too serious.

day 122 - out with the old

I have been in a purging mood lately. I have cleaned and emptied closets, drawers, cupboards, and rooms. I somehow still have a lot more to do and keep finding more things to donate or repurpose. How is it that we have so much stuff?!

Today I made the decision to get rid of all the kids old plastic dishes. These are the dishes we used for every meal for years and years. Goodbye sponge bob, strawberry shortcake and bob the builder you have served us well!!! I never thought there would be a time when these items would no longer be useful to us - how fast time goes by and how quickly they grow.

Fortunately, even with this realization I can still take joy in the fact that my kids, although not toddlers, are still young and need me and their dad. I was reminded of that just this evening as Luke took my hand and held it as we walked from the car into the restaurant and when Lilly asked Dave to carry her. Time may be moving fast but I refuse to get too caught up in worrying about how fast life is passing by and instead celebrate the time I have with them today!