Hello…it’s me…

..i’ve been wondering if after all these “months” you’d like to…read?

that’s my take on Adele’s new song, in regards to myself as a blogger…and you as my reader.  its been since May.  MAY!!!  sorry for my absence. the problem is, my kids just keep getting bigger:

and busier, which in turn makes me busier…and as much as i try, i just can’t press the pause button on time.  so it just flies by, and before i know it…what once was May, has turned into January.  (insert my fave and most used emoji…the wide eyed face ?)

i feel like this past year has been a “settling” year for me.  i’m not one to adjust to change very quickly.  one of the wisest people i know called out 3 things about me the other day:

i feel things deeply

i’m highly sensitive

i don’t bounce back quickly

that’s a slightly scary combo.  (? insert emoji again.  see now why i use it the most?)

but i know its true.  and i’ve felt it this past year, with lots of new things:  new school for my kids, new activities, new schedules, new (and changing) friendships, new (and changing) purposes and roles, new(ish) neighborhood and community, new toddler to chase around…it has taken me awhile to get all acquainted with this kind-a new season.  so i’ll start with a little update…and then i just guess we’ll see where it all takes us!  cause truth is…when i’m not writing on here, or sharing projects, or recipes, or even the thoughts burning in my heart that i just want to tell the world…i feel like i’m deeply missing something.  i’ve struggled these past 6 months with feeling a little lost, purpose-wise.  and i think thats in large part to neglecting my Small Snippet of the world-wide-web.  so i hope you will welcome me back.

first things first…my baby turned 2:

and just in case you are not aware of what having a 2 year old entails, let me just give you some visuals:

i’m trying to think of a word to describe for you life with our spirited, loud, energetic, hysterical toddler, but all i can come up with is {?}!

i love her.  she is completely adored by every member of our family.  she gets funnier by the day, chats my ear off constantly, follows me around like a shadow and is my most cuddly and affectionate baby.  and…she makes me Oh.So.Very.Tired.  and sometimes, when i get the hair-brained idea that i could possibly get some work done when she’s awake, like say, maybe a blog post, this typically happens:

 

but the days are long and the years are short, and i just want to soak up every single second because i KNOW by experience that they don’t stay little for long.

because just yesterday, the oldest crazies were her age, and now one of them is almost as tall as me:
and they just keep growing…not just in height, but in life.  like they are actual mini adults now, with their own passions and talents and work ethics:

Canaan is still playing competitive travel soccer and he made his Middle School team (yes…my baby is in middle school.  so yes, by default,  i am now old.  actually ancient, in his middle school eyes, apparently), so he’s been doubling up the past few months, and still can’t get enough.  i’m officially a Soccer Mom 4 Lyfe. (now imagine me saying that, while cocking my head to one side and throwing out some sort of peace-like sign with my fingers.)  i have the t-shirts and car magnets to prove it, but i might need that monogramed on one of those tumblers with a straw just to be sure.

and Bella started Competitive All-Star Cheerleading this year.  and if you thought soccer was expensive and time-consuming and the parents were nutso, just triple that and then multiply it by a billion, and there you have the world of All-Star Cheerleading, which will seriously make you question your career path and wonder in complete awe why you didn’t go into the business of competitive cheer.  or at least competitive cheer uniforms.  or heck, just cheer bows, for that matter!

but man on man…to get to experience your kid share in your own passions from your former glory days (just kidding.  i had no cheerleading glory days.  at all.  and if i ever for even a second thought that i did, i have been greatly proven wrong because at only 8 years of age, my child has FAR and AWAY surpassed even my dreamiest of dreams when it comes to my cheerleading skills, or better yet…my GREAT lack there of…)

and because Berkeley will start dance this year too {?} and come next December, she will be able to join her sister in the Nutcracker, we are hanging onto ballet by a thread until they can do it together, but we made it through another Nutcracker (#6), and i don’t regret it for one second:

one day i want to write about kids activities and why we invest so much time and money into our kids passions.  its so worthwhile!!  and sometimes as parents i think we need to hear that and remember that we are investing into the lives and hearts of our most treasured assets, all the while preparing those mini-adults to become real, big adults.  but that’s for another day…

the older crazies are continuing to prove their mini-adult status by making their own big-important-adultlike decisions:

i’ve been dreaming about that day for as long as they have been alive…and let me tell you…it did not disappoint!

okay okay okay.  that’s enough of my children.

there’s so much more i want to tell you:  like the details of how we transformed our formal dining room into a craft/activity/multi-purpose room…on a budget.

and some new recipes to share, and an update on realistic Clean(ish) Eating with a busy family of five:

and my favorite Halloween costumes of all time:

or a Rainbow themed 2 year old’s birthday party:

but i’ll stop for tonight.  after all, my girls are in bed, my boys are at church, and i haven’t watched the premier of The Bachelor yet from 2 nights ago.  not to mention…there is a pile of 3 loads of clean laundry that has just been mounding up, so i guess i should probably go take care of some business. ?

until next time, where i promise you something more fun than pics of my kiddos, because although they are adorable…i get it.  😉