Tis the Season for Cookies

Well, here we go again.  I start a blog and fall swiftly and deeply in love, then my commitment begins to wane and eventually it sits here sad and ignored.  I'm sorry, blog.  I'll always come back to you.

I'm going to go ahead and pull the "it's been so busy around here card", because in truth, it really has.  My favorite months of the year are October, November and December; I feel like they FLY past me, though.  Just when I think I've got some control of my life, I turn around and Christmas is over and the decorations are already down.  2013 is days away.  It's madness.

While I'd love to present a beautiful timeline of how the last month has gone, that would require so much more energy than the last few days have left me with.  With the whirlwind of Christmas with three children + a good ol' fashioned sinus infection, I'm fairly spent.

So, I'll choose to share a day of gingerbread cookie making with Grandma Pam; because after all, next to celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, the second most important thing about Christmas is cookies creating memories with family!

 Inevitably, when baking with littles, there is flour everywhere.  It doesn't get a whole lot cuter than flour on the end of my little guy's nose.

A little too young to bake- she is an excellent supervisor.

Didn't see this one coming, did you?  I have no idea why he wasn't wearing pants.  It's not unusual, though.  Not for him.  Not in our house.

She made this one especially for daddy!

That sums up our holidays fairly well... we spent a lot of time together, visited family, created memories and celebrated.  The Christmas season is my absolute favorite!  While I might be a *little* burnt out at this point, it won't be long before I'm longing for Christmas music on the radio and sparkling lights on our Christmas tree.  Only 363 more days until next Christmas!

A Day in the Life

So I've been planning this blog post in my head for quite some time, but I took FOREVER to upload the pics to my computer and edit them.  Ah well.

I've seen bloggers and photographers do this little "day in the life" project where they are very intentional about keeping their camera on their hip for the day to capture all the small details of their day.  I love this!  So, in September I went for it!

Unlike Ke$ha, I do not wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy (nor do I have a $ in my name, but I digress).  Rather, I wake up to the sound of my older two busting out of their bedroom and heading straight towards us.  

 On a normal morning, Will is usually holding something that he isn't supposed to have and that I didn't think he could reach.  1st thing any mom of boys knows is that they will always find a way to get it if they want it.  Kate has some intense bed head most mornings- this particular morning seemed to be an exception, with just one teensy strand escaping the restraint of two hair bands.  Most mornings, she already has 16 questions prepared to ask me within the first three seconds of my eyes opening.  "Why did God make us special?"  "Why are there blue pillows on the couch?"  "Can we buy a Barbie today?"  BecauseHelovesusverymuch.BecauseIlikeblue.No.

About this time, the ruckus wakes up the tiny one.

She doesn't wake up feeling like P. Diddy, either.  She's her mama's girl.  The utter confusion on her face cracks me up.

 I usually grab her and bring her back to our room for a little family snuggleage so I can put off the inevitable need to get out of bed, change diapers and feed children.  It doesn't last long, but it sure is sweet while it does.

This was all before Kate had started school for the Fall, so there is sweet playtime, cartoons and extended jammie wearing!  I read an article, maybe from Pinterest, about things you should say to your child to make them feel great.  One of those things was, "I love to watch you play!"  And honestly, I really do.  I love their imaginative spirit and their ability to make a dollhouse into a whole different world every day.  Kate usually wants a playmate- someone to play with her and put crazy voices to her dolls; Will is impressively independent in his playtime- he's happy to sit and make up his own little situations.  They are so fun!

Eventually I have to get out and get groceries before my children waste away (yeah right), so we get our act together.  I'm learning each day to pick battles... Kate wanted SO badly to wear last year's Christmas dress.  My first reaction, in my head, was No!  That's a nice dress!  But really, if it gives her that much joy, then she might as well get some extra wear out of it and enjoy it.  So, satiny red dress it was.  Commence rolling all over the couch, floor, backyard as we scramble to get ready to head out the door.  Next stop, Target!

I know, baby girl!  I love Target, too!  That's my girl.

 On this particular day, we made a stop at Starbucks before we started our shopping.  I like to think that Kate was giving thanks for a mommy who said YES to the red dress and YES to chocolate milk and a shared scone.  Lately, if Kennedy is in a happy enough state in her carseat, I put her seat in the big part of the cart, thinking it will take up so much room that my bill at the end of the shopping trip won't be way more than I thought it was going to be.  Did you know you don't need much room in your cart at all to spend too much money?  Hmm.

And they're off!

Then its home for lunch and nap time.  Beautiful, beautiful nap time.

This is how Kennedy spends a solid portion of the day.  My left arm is jello by bedtime (for some reason, I just can't feel coordinated carrying her on the right).

This guy wakes up and heads straight for the toothbrush.  You've got to admire his commitment to dental hygiene!  It is not too long after that that it's time to make dinner.  Dude goes in the high chair, tiny goes in the bumbo and big sis bounces back and forth entertaining them both while I cook.

How stinking cute are they?  Honestly?

That is about where the camera got detached from my hip and I ended the pictures... but it was a fun little project that I'll have to repeat!  Our schedule is so different now that the big girl is back in school, so our day looks quite different!

I just had to add this one for no good reason.  Its just adorable.  And below, Kennie-bean has started solids!  I put it off for as long as I could, but she was starting to drool at the mere sight of a spoon, so I figured it was time.

So that is the update!  Feeling much better now that I have that done!  Phew!

Miss Know-It-All | What I Thought I Knew

Before I was a mom myself, I found it super easy to look around and decide just how I would be as a mother, and just how my children would act.

In my mind, I was going to be super mom.

Me?  My diaper bag would be neatly organized and, much like Mary Poppins, would hold every single item that my children and I might ever need.  I would never yell; only reprimanding in the sweetest, most gentle tone.  I would laugh off messes and spills with a bubbly, "Uh oh!" instead of letting out an exasperated sigh and dramatically grabbing paper towels while giving my kids the "I told you that was going to happen if you put your cup too close to the edge" look.  I would certainly never give in and give them some kind of bribe just to make it through a trip to the store.  I'd sit and calmly do crafts with them daily, never stressing out when the PlayDoh colors began to get mixed into one gray-brown clump of gross.  I would put a firm limit on the number of "No's" that left my mouth in the course of the day.

Them?  Why, they'd be perfectly delightful, of course.  Tantrums wouldn't happen more than once, because they'd quickly learn that that kind of behavior gets them no where.  They would eat veggies.  They'd always cover their sneezes and would certainly understand the difference between outside voice and inside voice.  Not a whiny voice would their sweet mouths make.  And they would have the self control to never ask loudly, "Why does that lady have a mustache, mommy?!"

Life is funny.  I had all of this figured out, then found myself pregnant with Kate in 2007.  I knew at 5:45pm on November 18th, 2007 that I was in trouble.  The nurse told me we'd start pushing shortly and that, my friends, is when it hit me.  I have no idea what I'm doing.

The older Kate got, the more I realized how hilariously clueless I'd been about parenthood. Then we added Will to the family- my dramatic tantrum boy. By the time Kennedy cruised into the fam, it was all too clear that perfect, fairy tale children do not really exist... but honestly, if they did, I don't think I'd want one.  What fun would that be?

We've learned a lot of lessons in the last few years.  Lessons about patience; lessons about priorities... the different things we've learned are too many to count.  I've certainly learned to "never say never".  I didn't think I'd ever let my kids go to Costco in the crazy dress-up outfits they chose.  I didn't image myself letting the kids have dessert if they didn't finish their dinner.  And you know, sometimes I win and sometimes I lose, but I've become fairly comfortable picking my battles.  I guess that is just part of motherhood.  That, and walking around in public with only one hand of painted fingernails, because the baby woke up before I could finish the other hand.  That's part of motherhood too.  Oh yeah, and yoga pants.  Important part.

So life is busy.  My mini-man turned two at the end of July and other than the daily occasional tantrum, he is the cutest, sweetest little boy ever created.

I have a special soft spot for him, because he is our only boy.  There is something so sweet about little boys and their innocent chaos.  So many people told me that I'd be shocked at the difference between the way that a little girl plays vs. the way a little boy plays; honestly, I wrote it off as cliche.  But for real, they are so different.  While Kate would color, look at books and be generally peaceful, Will would rather climb, fall off of stuff and break crap.  But it's all so innocently done... I don't even know how that makes sense, but its the truth.  He's just so darn cute.

Poor, sweet Kate cannot wait for school to start again, because clearly, I am a boring person to be around all day, every day.  While we've been busy enough, there still isn't enough in her day to make her feel like we've done all the coolest stuff ever.

We have crossed plenty of things from her summer fun list, though!  So far, we've crossed off quite a few items...
- Go to the zoo
- Play in the pool
- Blow bubbles with bubble gum (well... she tried at least)
- Make crafts
- Make our own rock candy
- Play at the park
- Blow bubbles
- Ride bikes
- Make strawberry cake (ok, technically we made strawberry muffins, but it works)
- Play with make-up

And many more!  She's even completed two different weeks of Vacation Bible School- so much fun!  Soccer is over and we've moved on to T-ball.  Turns out she is more of a soccer girl than she is a t-ball girl... there's too much standing around in t-ball to keep her attention, I'm afraid.

And Kennedy keeps growing.  I keep feeding her and she keeps growing.  Milestones and growth are fun things, but let's be honest, my heart breaks a little each time my tiny baby grows.  Each milestone is one more step on the way out of babydom.  And being our last... well, let's not even talk about that.  It makes my heart hurt too much to know that one day, I will not have a baby in my home.  I know- I'm a little dramatic, but really.

Seriously?!  I hate feet- hate them.  But baby feet are in a totally different universe than big people feet. Every single little toe is deliciously perfect.  Ah, piggies.

I think we're officially beginning the teething phase... that might explain why it has taken me so long to update the blog.  Because she doesn't sleep ever.  Except for right now... and hence, blog update!  But she looks so sweet chewing on her fingers.  Okay, yes.  I think she looks sweet doing everything... even her crying face is pretty cute.

I am getting super excited for school to start and for the schedule to be rolling again.  Kate starts on September 10th and I know Jr. Kindergarten will be a blast.  She is in this strange in-between age group this year because of some changes in California.  This school year, children must be 5 years old by November 1st to enter into Kindergarten.  That is 17 days too early for Miss Kate to make the cut-off, so she'll do a year of Junior Kinder.  I'm actually really ok with that- many of her friends from school will go into Kinder this year, only to repeat it again next year.  In the end, she'll end up in the same school year as most of the friends she has, so it isn't a huge deal.  Plus, with so many people choosing to hold their children back on purpose, I think it will benefit her to wait another year in the long run.  So thank you, Lord, for one more year before Kindergarten... I don't think my heart was ready for that milestone yet!

That's it for now... I've got two out of three babies sleeping, emails to answer and Pinterest projects to complete!  Ready, set, go!

Time keeps on slippin': Catching Up

It's been a month since I updated... and I feel like it's only been about a week!  The last few weeks have moved at such a rapid pace that everything is kind of a blur... how does that happen?  When I was in high school, I truly thought that high school would n.e.v.e.r end.  Never.  Ever.  But now, it's whizzing by in a flash of colors, memories and giggles.  If you were sitting here with me right now, sipping coffee in my living room, I'd tell you in my best old-person-voice: the older ya get, the faster it goes.  Cliche?  Sure.  True?  Mos' def.

So the last month... where to begin?
We made the pilgrimage trip to the little town of Keota, Iowa for the Conrad family reunion.  I've been married into the Conrad family for seven years, and been around for close to ten, so if I had a nickel for every time I've heard about Keota, I'd have a crap-ton of nickels, for sure.  So it was a whole lot of fun to go and see this place I've heard so much about.  The thought of traveling with a 4 year old, an almost-2-year old and a two month old was pretty daunting, to say the least, but it actually went impeccably smooth.  It didn't hurt that we always had some extra family members traveling with us on our flights- my mother-in-law and father-in-law on the way to Iowa; my brother-in-law and niece & nephew on the way home.  Phew.  For real, I'm not sure that it would have gone so well without those extra {amazing, helpful, sweet} hands.

Having never been to Iowa, I thought I knew what I'd find there.  My imagination conjured images of brown, wheaty, flat-as-a-pancake land that would lull me to sleep in an instant on the road.  Did you know that Iowa is kinda, actually, really pretty?!  Who knew?  We flew into Cedar Rapids (which I also had pictured as something completely different than what it was) and began our little drive into Riverside, Iowa where we were staying at the local casino.  The accommodations were in a little set of condos apart from the actual casino itself and were perfectly well suited to what we needed.

The next few days we got the grand tour: meeting aunt's and uncle's of my husband's that I had heard so much about, exploring little towns and even visiting the gravesite of the first Conrad to come to the United States from Germany.  How is that for a history lesson?  We visited the Kalona Cheese Factory and enjoyed a little fresh curd (one of the many places I'd previously heard about and was so very excited to experience).  The kids had an absolute blast!  I really felt very comfortable in the rural, small town setting.  The kids had so much room to run and play, the people were friendly and a big part of me wanted to buy a farm and settle in.  We didn't, though, and came home... back to the usual.  Which is ok... I do love our usual, too.

After Iowa, we've spent lots of time with family and lots of time outside!  Matt's sister and her girls were with us in Iowa, and were able to be here for a couple of weeks afterward, so the girls had so much fun together; Kate cannot get enough of them!  She loves being with them- even when they get into their girl drama arguments, ha!  They had so much fun playing "school" with grandpa... he is a pretty tough teacher!

Kennedy is growing by leaps and bounds; she is the sweetest little thing.  I'm not biased, either.  It's simply fact.  She has a killer smile, a snuggly personality and a laugh that makes my brain turn to absolute mush the second it starts.

We spent the 4th of July up at my mom's, because Grandma Pam's house has the BEST view of the fireworks without having to worry about parking or drunk people.  It is AWESOME!

I've been spending lots of time on Pinterest, trying to figure out great things to do with the littles now that Kate doesn't have school three days a week.  We've done some fun crafty crap, but honestly, the simplest things are the ones they love most.  Who doesn't dig finger paint and washing off in the kiddie pool?

I'll be honest- painting the cement with water is one of the.best.things.ever.  No mess, just a little water and no kidding- they were SO entertained by it!  A lazy mom's dream come true.

So that has been our month in a nutshell ("Help!  I'm in a nutshell!  How did I get in this nutshell?  What kind of shell has a nut of this size??"... bonus points if you understand my crazy...).  We keep busy.  We make messes.  We love on life as it is.

Next up: Project 2nd Birthday Party.  My Will-man is going to be TWO!!!  Stay tuned... will it be Fishing themed, or Pirate themed... you'll have to check back to find out!