oh hey, yeah, i'm still here.

Ethan has reminded me that I can't stop blogging because it's our family journal.

Ok.  

Here is how our week went.

My schedule was funky and it kinda through me off, but we survived.

** I had lunch with Anna.  I am happy to have found a good friend, 

I joke that we are soul sisters but I'm only kinda kidding.  

** Watched TV and lots of chatting with Cam and Mich.  SO nice to have good friends really close by. The kind that you walk in each others houses without waiting for someone to answer the door.  

We swap kids when we need to get our houses clean and drop off sodas when needed.  

** Pieced a quilt top on Thursday. I used this 1600 jelly roll quilt pattern and used two jelly rolls.

I love it.  I can't wait to have it machine quilted and use it on the couch.  I loved how it turned out so far.

** Finished another Ivy and Bean with the kids, we are on book 5 now.

** Had a late night vent/dessert session with a coworker.

** Took the kids to see the chipmunks movie at the cheapo theatre.

Pretty excited that for 3 tickets and 2 kids meals it was only $13

** Two Jacks date with Ethan on the couch Wednesday night.

This is kinda a non planned weekly thing, I stop on my way home from work when I work late.

I can't help but feel so grateful for all the little tiny things that make my life happy.

Diet cherry coke, reading/snuggling with the kids, dates with Ethan, texting (keeps me close to my SIL's and far away and not so faraway friends), chai lattes, instagram (i'm obsessed) 

PS I'm still not done that stinking book.  It has taken me so long to read.

lately.

Lately I have been loving instagram way more than blogging.

I added a button over on my sidebar where you can see my pics if you don't have instagram.

Friday night Ethan was out of town (visiting Kurt in Arizona) 

so I had some of my girlfriends from the neighborhood over.

We had italian sodas and snacks and laughed and talked.

It was so fun.  They stayed from 8 pm to 1:45 am.  WHat?!!?  

I hope we make it a monthly thing.

Saturday night the kids slept over at my Mom's because I had big C inventory until midnight.

When I got home I was not ready for bed so I read a bit.

I asked my FB friends for book suggestions and Jenna suggested the one above.

So far I like it, though I want it to pick up the pace a little.

Sunday was good.  Ethan and I now teach the 8-9 year olds at church.

They seem to like us and we like them.

Today I had off for Martin Luther King day and the kids were out of school.

We worked on Add's valentines and met Ethan for lunch.

I also worked on some snack bags I saw on pinterest.

They come together really quickly and the kids love them.

{that is my mom on my desk holding me as a baby.  i love the glasses and v neck.  love you MOM.}

>>>

It has been a while since we had reading time before bed.  The kids share Add's bed most nights.  She asks Kade every night if he will sleep in her bed.  It is sweet.  When it is time to read I cozy in between them and we read and read.  Usually Kade will follow along and then chime in for a few pages.  They snuggle up and ask for more chapters.  I can hardly resist reading them more chapters b/c I'm so happy they like books.

Let me back up.  It was a long afternoon.  Add was in tears pretty much ever since she stepped off the bus.  She wanted to play with a friend but I couldn't get a hold of the Mom.  She wanted someone to play at our house so bad.  She was a mess.  Finally after dinner it was 7 PM.  Let's go read.  Just what she needed, snuggle time.  We read 3 chapters to finish up book 3 of Ivy and Bean.  Then half a chapter of Ramona the Brave (jeez the chapters are long in Ramona books!) and then 6 or 7 Shel Silverstein poems.  They love the Shel books.  

My heart is so full.  So happy that I finally listened to what they needed...ME.  We spent nearly an hour reading and laughing and just being with each other.  Kade asks every night if I will sleep with them too.  (Maybe he would be into the "family bed"?)  Since Ethan wasn't home yet, I said I would stay with them while they fell asleep.  It was like they were little babies all over again.  Like they just needed the warmth of their mama as much as I needed them to need me.  

I am grateful for small moments that make the crappy days better.

and yes, I was grateful to have my remote to click away while reading....

this is what happens when

...Addi and I decide to play around with the remote Ethan gave me for my camera.

We bought a new chair the other day and set up a little reading spot in our bay window.

It's kinda hard for me to get a good shot b/c of all the light in the morning.

Add loved taking pics with the remote while we face timed with Grandma on the iPod.

I love this little spot.  I love the stars Jody made me, they make me happy every day.

I cannot believe it's January 5th already.

This week has flown by.

 {me trying to lint roll her while she takes pics and cracks up}

Here are the last couple days we spent in Billings.  

We set up Kade's marble run.  It had really crappy directions but we figured it out.

On Friday it was 60 degrees and sunny.

We loved being able to be outside with no jackets.

We rode bikes, skateboarded and read on the grass.

It was perfect.

We left and drove home on Saturday morning.

We had pretty good roads except through Island Park (that is usual) and made it home in 9 1/2 hours.

Thanks for all the fun!

Whoops forgot a few pics.

I loved finding the boys sharing a chair and reading.  I think CP is flipping me off :)

For Ethan and Jody's birthday we took family pics and then had lunch.

We went to a movie and had a piñata filled with money.  SO fun.

We also had our nails painted with Delaine.  The little girls also got hair cuts.  

Christmas in photos

We drove up to Billings on Friday, December 23 after Ethan was done with work.

We stayed the night in Ashton, ID.  When we got to the motel there was a sign saying to call b/c no one was there.  Ethan called and they said to go in and pick a room and that the doors were unlocked.  I was a bit nervous but we didn't get killed or kidnapped.

We made it to Billings by lunch time.

We had lunch and the kids were happy to play with all the cousins.

They had matching pajamas.

We had dinner and did the pass around gift.

Christmas morning went so well.

We got up and opened gifts, had breakfast and went to church.

It was a powerful service, lots of music.

After church we played with our gifts and played football outside.

The weather was unseasonably warm.

Ethan made a delicious prime rib for dinner.  

We spent the rest of the week hanging out with Dane, Jody and Ash.

We love eating at our favorite places and playing games.

It was a great break and now we are back.

PS ---- I stole most of these pics from JODY>  thanks!!

Frankie has invaded

Last year, Jody sent us an elf.  The kids named him Frankie Peter Elfington.

He has been all over the past month. Thank heavens for instagram and pinterest for ideas.

Add especially has been so excited each morning to see what Frankie would be up to.
She loves to talk to him.

Though, I am grateful that the month is almost over and Frankie can be done.
I'm getting burnt out on finding cool ideas for him.
The last few nights Ethan has had to take over for me.

PS. I have seen naughty elves but our elf is nice.

{chit chatting with Frankie}