Weekend

This past weekend, Daddy and the kids had a special time together. Friday night they went to the Holiday Inn Express to stay and play in the swimming pool. We love staying at hotels - pools, breakfast, television, travel size shampoos and soaps. Holiday Inns are so kid friendly, plus with all of Daddy's traveling we usually have the benefit of a free night! Patrick said that the kids had a great time swimming and playing at the hotel. Saturday, they all drove down to Golden to the train museum. They rode a train, played with some Thomas trains, and had a wonderful day. I was MIA on this trip because I was long gone my own trip. My friend Susan and I drove our way across Nebraska; me to see my sister Lisa, and her to see some college girlfriends. We both had delightful times at our prospective destinations. Friday night my sister and brother-in-law and I went to a really great restaurant called "The Mill". It had the atmosphere of a "Hard Rock Cafe" and very yummy food (and drinks!). We had to drive a ways to get to it, but that just made for more fun talking together in the car. EARLY on Saturday morning, we drove to Omaha where my niece Ashley was to compete in the Midwest Spelling Bee. It was quite an event, with only the best spellers in the Midwest present. Ashley did such a great job! She survived through many difficult words and got out with the obscure words "dearth" and "pundit". I've never heard of those words, and we were pretty sure that the man giving out the words hadn't heard of them either because he didn't pronounce them clearly OR correctly. Most of the spellers met their match on those 2 words. Ashley was disappointed, and yet still proud of herself for how far she had come with her ability. It was awesome to be apart of it. The rest of our day brought shopping, shopping, eating, and more shopping! We had so much fun!!! All except for Lonnie... he probably should have gone to see a movie or taken a nap rather then try to keep up with the 6 of us girls. It was a blast for me to shop with my sweet nieces - they are such unique and special individuals. Each of them has their own style of clothing as well as their own way of spending their money. My niece Brittany, who is 9, has quite the eye for putting outfits together; I wouldn't be surprised if she ends up with her designs on a fashion runway someday. The weekend was perfect. Lots of laughing, great conversations and wonderful togetherness. I missed my family so much, though. It was great to get home and give them all hugs and kisses. I am so blessed that Patrick is so creative with the kids and willing to do more than just sit at home with them while I'm gone. They had such a great time together I don't think they even knew that I wasn't with them. This coming week is spring break and we are so excited for the time off from school. It is going to be a great week!!!

Busyness

Life at our house has been business as usual, but over the past week it seems as if the business was more "busyness". Daddy was traveling, I was in charge of leading the Brownie meeting, everyone needed their hair done before spring break, Maddie had her talent show, we were all getting ready to go away for the weekend, and the list just kept going. It was a great week - when the chaos was under control. But how do I keep the cap on the chaos?? I love our family life, even when it is busy, but I DON'T like chaos. It robs me of all joy, and I find myself wishing for things to end rather than enjoying the present moment that we are living in. I have really been wondering about this over the past week. The only answer that I have for myself is to take it one day at a time, one event at a time. Yes, I have to do some planning, but I really need to make sure that I don't get overwhelmed with all that there is to do because then it turns into chaos. I am sure as time goes by I will get better at the busyness. My greatest desire for our family is to have balance in our home, so it is to that end I will keep directing our days. Here are some pics of some of the things that we have been doing!