There's no place like home.

This afternoon, we went to the park downtown near the library. (I also went to the library - one of my favorite places!) We thought we were going to have a picnic, but the weather was jut a little bit too cold. Instead, we ate our lunch in the van. One of my favorite houses in Ft. Collins is down near the library, and it is for sale. It's been for sale for a while, but today they were having an open house!! Lucky me!!! So, I decided to be a lookie-loo, and took my little self over to the house. I've always wanted to go inside this house. It is all of my favorite things - old, quaint, unique, situated in one of the best parts of town. I went inside and enjoyed looking through the house, but was struck by all of the things it was NOT - things that are favorite parts of my very OWN house. All of the sudden I realized that maybe my favorite house in Ft. Collins might just be OUR house!!! Yes, the house was cool because it was about 75 years old, but it didn't have NEARLY the uniqueness of Michael's trucks lined up in rows all over the upstairs hallways, or my favorite colors on the wall, or multitudes of drawings by our kids hanging on many doors, or Patrick's quaint gardens outside, or the multiple combinations of storage solutions containing shoes, backpacks, coats, library books, occupying any and all available space in our home. What makes OUR house unique and special is US - the family of 6 that lives here and the memories and laughter that we have and will have. I found myself blanketed with contentment as we drove away from my lookie-loo experience. I am thrilled that I got to go inside this house and appreciate it's beauty, but I was more thrilled to walk into my own home and recognize how much I have within the walls here.

Happy kids, Happy mom!

Last night, I tried to do a few (unexpected ) things that would keep the kids happy which in turn keeps me happy too! I find that this helps with the "missing Daddy" that we all experience when Patrick is traveling. Really, it just helps if we are all distracted so that we forget that he's gone. When he is gone, his absence is certainly noticed all day long, but it seems especially apparent in the evenings. I am very thankful for Patrick's job on many levels. It provides for us, he enjoys it, he now has an office in Ft. Collins, he works with great people. But, he is gone a lot. I think that the kids and I do a very good job at surviving, and even at times thriving, while Daddy is gone. However, the trip that he is gone on this week has seemed longer than the last few, so I've had to tap into the "extra creative mama" that resides within me. Last night, we had a special kid friendly supper (shells and cheese, chicken nuggets, green beans), we made a chocolate pudding pie, we watched American Idol, and we read our book together. We had such a fun night together. There really wasn't anywhere else I would have rather been! Maddie got to stay up a little longer than everyone else as a reward for some good behavior earlier in the week, and she enjoyed that a lot! I am SO grateful for my kiddos and their great attitudes and good behavior. They make life in our house very fun - it's so awesome being the mom to such amazing kiddos. Daddy is coming home Friday, and we will all be very happy to see him come through the door.

Proud to be an American!

I thought the inauguration speech of our new President was wonderful! It was really awesome to hear what he had to say and to watch the pomp and circumstance of America on full display. I loved watching the two couples, the Bidens and the Obamas standing on the steps of the capitol waving goodbye to the Bushs in the helicopter. There was just something about it that was very moving. For such a time as this, Obama is our President, and I am really happy to live in America today. It is really neat to know that we got to see and hear our new President of the U.S. when he was here in Ft. Collins this fall. How cool is that???