Sweet Baby Second grader

Tomorrow is B's last day of first grade!
 How does my sweet newborn baby go from this....

and this....

to this...

and this....

I feel the time slipping between my fingers...
The top of that sweet baby boys head is now between my chest and shoulder.
That sweet baby boy has real opinions, ideas and dreams.
That sweet baby boy wants to impress his dad (he use to only want to impress me..sniff, sniff) 
 and likes to have time to himself in his room (when before he never wanted to be away from us)
That sweet baby boy now gets a little embarassed sometimes and is begining to care what others think.
That sweet baby boy is growing. He isn't a baby anymore.
HE DOES..
still kiss me goodbye when he gets on the bus
still tell me he loves me
still get excited and waves when he sees us sitting in the crowd at his first grade awards ceremony.

Tomorrow at 1:10 in the afternoon he will be a second grader and not-so-much a baby boy
BUT
He will always be my sweet baby boy.



.

Her everything

A heavy heart for my friend these last few days
She lost her husband. He was her best friend. She told me he was her "everything."
I can't imagine her shock and pain.

I have had thoughts before...
What if...

What if something happened to J?
What if something happened to one of my littles?
That thought takes my breath away.

I have God.
BUT
WHAT IF YOU DON"T HAVE HIM?
OR
WHAT IF YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD DO IT BUT YOUR PAIN HAS CUT YOU TO THE CORE?

How do you come up for air when you can't catch your breath?
How do you navigate something like this without faith in Him?

My friend is strong, one of the strongest people i know but watching her broken is horrible.
When I found out, i cried with her and told her sorry but i have no words...
Today I pray I find the right words.
I pray for her comfort and peace.
I pray for her to find her way to Him, to God..to get her through.

Two Days

How does life get so busy that i have not posted in almost two weeks?
I worked 5 out of 6 days and then J and i celebrated our 10th anniversary with time alone for more than an evening (gasp!)
We have not had more than a night away together since B. was born ,7.5 yrs ago.
We like to be the ones to be with our little ones, we don't get a babysitter very often, we adjust our schedules so they are usually with one of us- Most of the time they tag along BUT
this past week was different....
We went to the lake for TWO (yes, count them ONE. TWO. nights).

A lot of times when we try to get a sitter or do something special life gets in the way; family drama, someone gets sick, blah, blah...
A week ago as i was packing, working, not sleeping and dealing with family drama i was waiting...


waiting for something to happen...
waiting for the other show to drop...
waiting for our plans to backfire, explode...(i know im a glass half full kind of gal)

BUT
They didn't!
well...we left two hours later than expected, my car battery died because he (oops, i mean someone) left the dome light on but with my wonderful "mr.fix-it" husband,  we got on the road in no time.

 The battery needed to be at least 14 volts before we dropped my car off for my parents to use.. cause that would be tragic if my car battery died when my parents had to transport my kids for the weekend-eyeroll

AND we finally took a breath...

thats us taking a breath..do you like my road trip hat?

We listened to our tunes and sang on the 4 hour drive...
and ate twizzlers (cause that's what we do on road trips)..

We sat by the lake and talked...

We shopped...

ate ALOT of food..

took a nap, read a book, talked about our lives for the last 10 years and what we hope for the next 10 years.


We laughed and laughed.

We reconnected.
We also sat in silence and in comfort knowing that God's plan was to bring us together as husband and wife.

A little ditty about friendship

i have considered myself very lucky in the way of friendships.
many people have friends from work, from church, from school and friends that they gained from marriage.
i do have those AND some of those friendships are so amazing, nurturing and special to me...
BUT i also have friends that i have had from "back in the day".
Those friends that knew you "when"....

In elementary school you shared clothes and shoes (she wore one of your pink converse hightops and you wore one of her alphabet stamped converse hightops- cause that was cool to share shoes with your BFF)
You had that awesome Best Friends Forever necklace. She wore one half, you wore the other.
You wrote notes and passed them to each other..in class, in the hall.
You went to summer camp together.
You shared a locker with her (and took an entire day planning how you would decorate it)
She knew you when you had bad hair, when she had bad hair.
When you got caught by her parents drinking in high school at a 4th of july party (A.K.A. the friends who knew you or were with you when you made bad decisions),
 These are the friends that you could cuddle up with on the couch, eat an entire pizza with while watching Oprah.
They held you when you cried, heartbroken over him.
 You held her while she was heartbroken over him.
They were your friends when you drove by his house (in a bit of a stalker fashion) just to catch a glimpse of his car.
They were your friends even when they knew he wasnt right for you, they knew you had to find it out for yourself.
They've danced with you, laughed with you, cried with you, puked with you, been afraid with you.
These friends know your family secrets and don't judge you for them. They love you for them and know that sometimes that is why you are the way that you are.
You stood by her at her wedding.
These are the friends when on birthdays and holidays you really don't need to get each other a gift, because your friendship is enough.
They are who you called when you found out you were pregnant and when you held her newborn baby...when you saw her become a mommy, your heart swelled and you loved her baby instantly because it is part of her.
They know you for your goods, your bads and your uglies.
These are the friends that God gifted to you to navigate life with. These are the friends who have been with you from the beginning and will be with you until the end.

I wrote this post awhile ago but just decided to post it.

One of my peeps will turn 35 this week (holla to you LDD).
She had a girls party this past Saturday to celebrate the year we all turn 35.
Fun times. (except for the strep throat i came down with)
Yummy Sangria. Yummy Watermelon Martini
Dancing, eating, laughing

So... yes, i am 35 and i spent the night at my best friends house (thanks to our husbands who understand our need for our best friends). i kind of wish we could spend the night every Sat. night like when we were in high school...im not thinking the husbands would support that though

Here i am at 2am, with tissue shoved up my runny nose, stuffy head, and a scratchy & painful throat.- strep throat...eeeekkk!

I am awake (if you look closley my eyes ARE open) .
I am curled up on my best friends couch, in a blanket...talking until 2am...because that is what friends do....if you're 15...25 or 35.