Blogging again?

Lance was just asking me last night why I don't blog anymore? I told him that I didn't have time. He challenged me by saying that if I really wanted to do it I could make time. I insisted that he was wrong but knew he was right.  It got me thinking about how much I loved keeping a blog. Mainly, it's for myself and my family/ close friends. I have this crazy strong desire to document everything, lately.  I think it's because I now understand that my kids will not always be little kids. They are growing up so darn fast. There is no doubt to me that these pictures and memories will be treasures to me.

 I feel like I can hardly keep up these days. I am not sure if it is because we moved to Texas and the pace of life is so much faster here or if it is because of the stages of my kids right now. (High schoolers and toddlers is not an easy combo). I want so badly to slow things down. I am entering a stage in my life where I can feel the days of my whole family living under one roof slipping right away.  For heaven sakes Abby has less than 2 years at home. That hurts every time I say it.  I find myself cherishing any night we are all home together.  All the little simple things like taking family walks, bike rides, baking cookies, reading books, playing games late at night after the little kids are in bed, long chats with the kids about their friends, their choices, and budgeting...that is what is important. I want to simplify my life. I want to cut out all the crap that will not matter in 10 years. I want to save all my energy for the things that matter most. Ah, the struggle is real!  

Last Sunday our family enjoyed a nice quiet night. I loved how everyone was doing their own thing yet we were all together. I quietly got out my camera and snapped a photo of all the different activities. 

The whole point of all of this is, I think I am going to give blogging another try. I think I am going to make it a priority in my daily routine. Just typing my thoughts today feels great. Not to mention how much  I absolutely love looking back over the days, weeks, months and years to see what our family has been up to. 

Today is October 28, 2015. I hosted Sam's little playgroup this morning. There are 4 girls and then Sam. Us moms rotate each week which means I get 4 weeks off and then it's my turn. It's beautiful! I love knowing that I have one day a week that I can get things done. This was my 3rd time to have all of the kids. They are starting to get used to playing together. The first time I had all of them was rough. Sam was not happy. He did not want to share all of his toys. Since he didn't want to share, no one else did.  So I had 4 (one girl was missing) 2 year olds crying, hitting and biting for 3 hours. It was hard. Today was much better. It was even enjoyable. I love watching Sam learn to communicate and interact with his friends. He has a super strong personality with lots of opinions. Thank goodness he is a sweet little guy. We will get him trained. 2 years old can be a rough age. This boy gets happier the more and more he can communicate. He needs to be understood!

Halloween is coming up this weekend. I am stressing a little bit knowing that I have not figured out what all our costumes will be. My little kids had such grand ideas. Gavin wanted to be Slenderman ( I still don't really know who that is) and Kate wanted to be a Minion. They had their $40 costumes picked out on Amazon . . . Lance and I kindly informed them that we were not going to be spending oodles of money buying everyone a costume. Instead we suggest that we make our costumes. I think Gavin settled on being a zombie guy, Kate and Emma both want to be old women. I haven't heard Ethan or Abby talk about their costumes.  I have never really gotten into dressing up.  I must say that when Lance and I dressed up a few years ago like Edward and Bella from the Twilight movie, we had so much fun. Maybe we will pull something together. We shall see.

Monday night we carved pumpkins for FHE. That is one of those things that always sounds like the biggest chore but you HAVE to do it. It's a Halloween tradition, right? Once we got going and everyone was laughing and having a good time I was so grateful we did it.  It was fun to see what the different groups came up with. Gavin and Ethan made a scary pumpkin that was puking pumpkin seeds. Kate and Abby made a cute kitty pumpkin with a heart.  Lance and Emma made a cool faced pumpkin.  Sam, and I will include myself because that is who I helped the most, finger painted a little pumpkin. Carving pumpkins - CHECK.

Early the next morning Sam was out admiring the cool pumpkins.