What I Know to be True

It's so easy to get caught up in "it" all. "It", being whatever happens to be pressing, stressing or consuming my time at any given moment. "It", being school, bills, to do list, events, what we are going to have for dinner, what's on the calender for that day, I could go on and on and on.... but I know NOBODY wants to hear that.  I don't either but I can't turn my brain off so, I'm stuck with it..lol. I'm sure men don't understand this strange phenomenon of non stop thinking, worrying, and planning....or maybe they do and my husband just pretends he doesn't to get out of things...The verdict is still out on that one. Anyway, I'm easily distracted by what's NOT important.

The other day I was watching something or reading something, can't remember. But a doctor was saying that it's nearly impossible for humans to live "in the moment" on a constant basis because our brains do not function this way. We, as humans, are programmed to be constantly predicting, planning and looking to the future. While this is a great function, it has it's down falls. NO WONDER it's so hard for me to sit down and just be. Just be silent, still and enjoy what is right in front of me. I can be having a conversation with my daughter about why we shouldn't roller skate in the house but be thinking about cleaning the bathroom or getting to Walmart.

A week or two ago we were heading home after a t-ball game and a t-ball clinic. We had been there for 3 hours after an already long busy day. It was HOT, all 4 of us were cranky and tired. The kids were screaming and fighting in the back seats, the music was loud and I was about ready to lose it. I looked over at Jeff and he was smiling. What??? Why was this crazy man smiling! I was miserable and about to have a break down and he was smiling. That one smile changed my mood and my thoughts immediately. I didn't say anything and neither did he.  I just smiled back.

We are EXTREMELY blessed. Not just a little, A LOT!! Beautiful healthy children, happy stable marriage, we have everything that we need....everything! So while my crazy thinking continued after the smile, my thoughts (through the screaming, heat and music) were good and were about what matters.

So I'm making a list of things I know to be true. Things I should keep my mind on and concentrate on. Things that are most important and precious to me and things I want my children to know and live by. This is not a complete list at all but things that have been in my head and things I know to be true today. :)

• Family is the single most important thing in my life and where my priority lies. No Exceptions. 
• Kids are a TON of work. They are the only living thing that can suck the life out of you and give it back all in the same moment. 
• Kids are loud, messy, crazy balls of energy all while being amazing, beautiful and life changing
• My girls have taught me so many more lessons than I'll ever be able to teach them. 
• If you are blessed with health, shelter and food or maybe even none of these. You should give back. 
• You have to throw caution to the wind once in awhile.
• If something presses on your heart, do something about it.
• Fun should take priority over many more things than I allow it to. 
• Show compassion when needed, courage when needed and weakness when needed.
• There is no such thing as perfect, not even close. My family is perfectly imperfect.
• Count your blessings often
• Being happy is realizing what you have, whatever it may be, and being thankful for it 

Swimming Lessons

My girls are fish. They love to swim and they are good at it. Jeff and I love the water so it makes sense that they do too. Swim lessons are one of their favorite things. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with being able to wake up and then start getting ready to go for a dip in ice cold water (weird I know, but I guess that's the cool part about being a kid, you don't mind ice cold water first thing in the morning)

Randi and Grace posing before a road trip.

 All the cousins!! Fun times at Papa Bill's and Nana Toni's house.

We've been having fun this summer and I am not ready for school to start at all!! Glad I still have 2 months with by girls before we get back into the school routine. Summers are fun and crazy around here! Just the way we like it.

Grace in Action

Here are some pictures of Grace doing her thing out on the field. 

Pretty cute huh!! She's a great little t-ball player and is doing awesome! Can't wait to see her next year when she's able to play. 

Can't forgot about Randi. :) She waiting patiently in the grass.

On a different note, Mimi got a pool for the grand kids to play in. SUPER fun. The kids love it. Here are the girls and my cute little nephews, Kaden and Mason.

We've been super busy. This week was games, practice, tball pictures, dentist and water park, many visits to the public pool, countless hours spent on the trampoline with the sprinkler turned on and lots of cuddling on the couch with dripping wet little girls, wrapped in towels asking for snacks, drinks and a movie. Yup, that's pretty much our week. 

So that's it, until I figure out how to get the girls recital on here. Hopefully that's sooner than later.

Our Summer So Far

Our summer so far has been crazy. Things are just now starting to get really busy with the girl's activities, but we've had fun so far. Here are a few of the things I happened to get pictures of. I've been trying to get Jeff talked into buying me a GOOD camera. They are like $700.00 though and he's having a hard time swallowing that. But hopefully I can sweet talk my way into a brand new nice camera soon! I need it, I'll use it, and the girls are just busy enough and cute enough, they could make having it fun. So onto some pictures. We did some face painting and it started off innocent enough but before the session was over my girls looked more like boys. SOOOO funny, and just so you know this was THEIR idea, not MINE.

 We spent a little time at the Wild Life and Parks Museum too. That's a great place to spend an hour and keep the girls entertained.

 Now these next set of pictures I hesitated to even put on here, but I did so I have to at least give an explanation. :) My girls have an amazing talent. Really, I've never seen anything like it. They can DESTROY a toy room in record time. This picture is only me standing in front of the door. Their toyroom is 12' x 12'. the entire room looks like this, but I'm sure you can get an idea of how the rest of the room looked.

 And this picture is after HOURS of work. The girls did help, thankfully, but it was still a chore I did not want to even think about. However, now that's it's clean they are doing a super job (with lots of reminders from me) of keeping it clean. Hopefully they keep it up.

 We spent some time with Dad

 Took pictures for their Dance classes. They have been working all year and their recital is coming up very soon. That deserves a post all in itself. But here are some pictures of them.

 And T-ball started. This means we will be spending several nights at the ball park, in the bleachers, and at practices. We love it though and more importantly the girls love it. Here is Randi and her team.

 Grace and her super cute tball shirt. She's in t-ball clinics, so no games for her just practices but still lots of fun! I'll post some pictures of her practice next week.

 Randi at bat!! She's getting great at t-ball and knows how to hustle! Go Randi!!

So we've had fun so far this summer. We're busy nearly everyday and we are all having fun, after all that's what summer is ALL about.  Happy Summer

Track and a Carnival

Friday was a BUSY day for me. 24 cupcakes for the cake walk, a track and field day for Randi, and the Skyline Carnival. However, busy for me, usually equals fun for the girls... so I'm good with it. It was cold and windy! I'm not exactly sure at what age weather matters, but the girls didn't seem to mind freezing. They really never do actually. They could swim when it's 50 degrees out, if mom let them that is. It's so funny what bothers us grumpy old adults and what kids can overlook in the name of having fun. I totally need that part of being a kid back, well and the energy wouldn't be bad either.

So i have to mention that Randi is all about being a girl and all the glorious plus's that come with it. She loves clothes and shoes and jewelery and makeup and anything that is shiny and blings!! So, it really was no surprise to me that she would only do track in her fur coat. I didn't even think anything about it until one of the other mom's said something. She is a girly girl in every since and did track in fashion!

 Grace running in the preschool race, crossing the finish line

 Yup She got SECOND!!! Grace is great runner and takes after her Dad in so many ways. Great job GRACE!!

 Randi doing the ball throw

 After the Fun day was the Carnival. The girls had a blast! They started the night off with showing some school spirit!!

 Duck pool

 Good ole dad explaining how to play the game

So after our crazy busy day on Friday, we got up bright and early to go to Randi's track meet. We had signed her up for track through the Recreation Department and her track meet happened to be the day after her track and field day at school. So we endured another cold windy morning of races and ball throws. And of course the girls didn't mind a bit. Randi actually did awesome in her races!! Notice, the fur coat. ;)

She got second place in the 100 yard dash!! Way to go Randi. She just might have some of her daddy in her after all. Because I am NOT the runner in the family, not the fast one anyway.

So all in all a great weekend for Our Family of 4

Randi Graduated!!

My BIG 5 year old graduated Kindergarten yesterday!!! How awesome is that! It was so much fun for her and a very proud moment for me. Randi is an amazing little person and so many milestones are to come but seeing her graduate from kindergarten was AWESOME for me! I loved every minute of it. I'll start by throwing in some cute pictures of her as a baby, toddler and preschooler. 

And here are her pictures from GRADUATION DAY!!!!

Randi in her class before the ceremony

With her buddies

Getting her Cap!

Getting her Diploma

With her BFF

Randi with her AMAZING teacher Mrs. Temanson

 So my baby graduated!! Yeah, it's only from kindergarten but it still warmed my heart. This girl will do amazing things when she gets older! Just wait and see. :)