Thanksgiving Eve

It's Thanksgiving Eve, it has me feeling very nostalgic.

I've been thinking of all that I am grateful for.

To have a K, the cupcakes, my parents, my brother, his wife and my niece.

To have K's parents, his sister, her husband and their children.

To have our friends and extended family.

To have a roof over our heads and food in our stomach.

To have God, to have complete faith in Him.

To live in this wonderful country, to have freedom.

To have so very much to be thankful for.

Sometimes, when the day is long and hard, when attitudes are quick or tempers flare, it can be hard to think of these things.

To remember how truly blessed we are to have so much.

I'm grateful to have a place to come, to share and experience life with others.

To have such a loving community of friends.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

To hear children's laughter, to converse and express our thanks.

To eat yummy food {woo hoo for mashed potatoes!} and spend the day together.

See you tomorrow my lovelies, xoxo

 

Do you ever not hit publish?

I have found that sometimes I don't hit publish after writing a post.

Normally it is a post that I have felt compelled to write that is either deep or too real to share.

You know the raw, emotional stuff that a lot of us like to pretend that it doesn't exist.
Other times I write something and then forget about it, oops.

Sometimes when struggling with what to write about I peruse all of those draft blogs.

I read them and wonder why I felt nervous about publishing them in the first place.

Then I chicken out AGAIN and leave them sitting there with the word draft next to it.

Sometimes I envision writing up a blog post forewarning everyone that I am going to publish all of my brain vomit all at once to then be free of it.

Or maybe scheduling them to post at like 3:00 in the morning.

It's not that I have anything scary or secretive in those posts, some of them are just boring nothings and others are the things that just feel really personal.

Here are a list of things that I have either chickened out of writing OR have written and never pushed publish:

Having some postpartum depression after having Abby.

Every time I hear a certain song I think of Emma.

I even wrote a post talking about politics *gasp*

Some posts are silly:

K cutting down a tree in our front yard and it looking like a totem pole.

Going swimsuit shopping for the first time in seven years.

Some of these are just things that I write and forget about.

Some of them though I hold close to my heart and protect, they just feel scary to let go of.

Does anyone else just not hit publish?

No?

Oh, is it just me that does this?

Friday ramblings

~This morning the kids were wild, WILD I tell you.

So I did what any other stay at home mama does when her sanity is at stake:

I told the kids we were going on an outing.

I had no idea where I wanted to take them as it rained all day yesterday and last night.

All of a sudden I decided that the zoo was the place to go.

The girls and I thought this little turtle was just precious.

We stood their for a good several minutes just watching it chomp on some lettuce.

Abby was especially interested in watching it.

She kept waving at it and saying "Hi!"

Yes, she did suddenly become a toddler although I CANNOT really admit it to myself, it would just break my heart.

Instead I choose to still call her my baby.

The zoo had so many things for the kids to climb.

Abby was really into crawling on everything.

I was thrilled that she sat still long enough for me to snap some pics.



~I am seriously considering cutting my hair.

Cutting it short.

I feel like it has been long for such a long time that a change would be nice.

~I am seriously missing Adison.

Like a lot.

She has been gone since Sunday.

Sigh.

We pick her up tomorrow though, so that is wonderful!

I think it has been even worse as she does NOT like talking on the phone.

~I am loving blogging again.

I feel like writer's block or whatever was keeping me from really writing has been lifted.

Yippee!

Maybe it was my sinus infection/ear infection that was blocking my thoughts from coming through...

~I am currently craving a cupcake.

Like madly craving it.

I would also really like a frou frou, fancy coffee to go with it.

While I'm at it, how about dinner just showing up too.

I mean, why not go for it, right?

~My brother's wedding is a little more than 3 weeks away!

We are having a lot of family come in town, I can't wait.

~My house is a disaster.

Plain and simple disaster.

I have been trying to keep up with it, but Abby and Ainsley seem to have some tag-team Tasmanian Devil thing going on because it feels impossible.

Oh well, no biggie.

~I just finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy.

It was really good.

K read all the books too.

I love when he and I read the same books, it is so fun discussing them.

~I think that's it...I'm off to "try" to clean my mess of a house.

I just can't handle the mess.

I'm thinking it may be time to purge toys.

Have a great weekend everyone!
What are your plans?







Wow, is it really Tuesday?

For some reason I thought that today was Thursday and yesterday was Wednesday.

I am thinking that this is due to my weekend being so busy that there was no resting going on.

Some interesting things going on around the House of Cupcakes:

1. Ainsley keeps telling me that she feels like she has a baby in her tummy.

Interesting.

This goes hand in hand with asking me ALL the time who she is going to marry.

2. My once loving and delightful little sister duo are now anything but.

They like to hit each other and take the other's toys away.

Sigh.

I know that this is just a taste of what is to come.

3. Adison has started working on multiplication in math.

When I discovered this yesterday I think a small part of me started crying.

WHEN DID MY BABY GET SO BIG????

In other news, my allergies are in full swing.

My head feels like it could explode from the pressure.

We get so little really nice weather here though that I vow to spend as much time outside as possible.

Summer is rapidly approaching and I know that means that we will once again be trapped in the house like we were much of the winter.

I am so happy that Adison takes swimming lessons indoors.

I am hoping to sign Ainsley up as well, but the lady will not return my call and does not answer her phone.

Grrr.

I realized this morning that I have almost reached 300 posts.

Yikes!

I can't believe that I have written that much!

Thanks to everyone that reads my blather :)

Anything specific that you guys would like me to blog about???

Abby's cranky/mad face.

Feeding her baby doll.

Lee giving her baby a shoulder ride.

{Yes, there is a baby on her shoulders, it's hiding behind all of her hair}

Yesterday after school Adison had Spanish Club.

While waiting for her to finish, the littles and I went to the school's playground for a bit.

Going down the slide by herself!

When did she get to be such a big girl???

Ainsley getting ready to go down the super fast slide.

Things are going really well around here.

Just busy as usual with enough time though to enjoy the moments and not get too overwhelmed.

I hope that you have a marvelous Tuesday!

How is it Wednesday already???

Abby's mismatched, jungle-themed pj's. Too cute!

Okay, I am dong a list today.

It has been a while, why not?

1. I am trying Disqus for comments now. Please tell me what you think. I really would like to know.

2. Abby is still teething, it is miserable. She has been crying and/or temperamental the last week or so. We get little glimpses of her sweet disposition then she is crying again.

3. I am feeling a bit better, but am still taking it easy today. Ainsley and I watched Mary Poppins today. We both loved it. I was so surprised at how well she did watching it, she seemed quite enthralled.

4. I cannot believe that it is Wednesday already, I kept trying to convince myself that it was really Tuesday.

Woo hoo, the week is half way done.

5. Adison has had a huge growth spurt. I can hardly believe it! I think we have reached the long and lanky stage. She seems to be all legs! All of a sudden her shirts are too short and the pants that were too big are now too little!

6. I have been feeling God working in my life a lot lately. It just amazes me how He reveals things to us, often without our being aware of it. He also uses others to reveal things to us.

7. This verse has been bringing me so much comfort when I feel like I am in uncharted territory.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

8. We are trying Abby on a gluten free diet to see if that helps with her diarrhea, I am happy to report that it seems to be helping...I think. We are going to have to wait a bit longer to see if it is the gluten or the teething that is giving her problems. Anyone have a wheat allergy?

9. K is such a supportive hubby. I just had to throw that one out there, I don't feel like I talk about him that much.

10. Ainsley is super sweet. I love having one on one time with her, to really talk and listen to the funny things she says.

11. I don't really have an 11. Would you care to add one for me?

What to do about comments?

I love getting comments.

I love reading them and looking at your blogs too.

I love reading the comments because then it feels more like a relationship rather than me just writing to the great wide open.

Here is my conundrum though, how do I respond?
I have thought about responding on my blog, but am not sure if people would then check back.

I have thought about writing back on your blog, but then it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Instead, I end up commenting on your blog post and write something if you asked about something specific or wrote something that I needed to respond to.
Today I tried replying on my blog.
I am just trying to figure out what works best.

I just don't want anyone to feel as though I don't care by not responding on my blog.

I wish there was an easier way to respond, like a button I could push and then it would somehow let you know that I have responded.

Ugh, why can't I be more technologically gifted and think up a better way or make something that could do that for me?

Alas, I am not, I struggle tremendously with all things electronic.
(Although I will tell you that I finally learned how to get pictures off of my phone and onto the computer so that I could put them on here! Take that technology!)

If anyone has a better idea or way of doing things, please share with me.
Please!