Too many thoughts, too little time

It has been a long time. Usually when a long time goes by before blogging it means that real life has been happening. That has been the case here. I haven't been super busy or doing anything fancy, but life has been full and good. There are a lot of things to say and thoughts to share, but I am not committed to writing a long and thoughtful post at this time because I want to just relax tonight and maybe watch the rest of Planet Earth. So I shall just share a few random thoughts of what has been happening lately.

I no longer work for our apartments. By choice of course. Last Saturday at 5 pm I left the office never to return as an employee ever again. I am thrilled to spend Saturdays with my family now. So for my first employment-free Saturday (yesterday) I joined my hubby and several families from church for a trip to the mountains. It was awesome and refreshing and fun. Everyone was tubing...including my scaredy-cat son who apparently is so scaredy-cat anymore! He loved it! River and I watched while everyone else tubed. It was so fun to be in the snow and it made me reflect on how I would really love to go snowboarding or skiing. I have never been skiing...downhill that is, I have been Cross Country skiing with my friend Alice and that was hilarious! I kept falling down and we laughed our buns off. Alice is a way athletic friend who in the past few years has ran marathons...and finished 4th in her first iron-man race. she is pretty much a stud. In fact, thinking about it I could tell a million hilarious stories about her. So maybe I will just save those for a post of their own.

River is so inspiring to me. It amazes me over and over again her determination to learn a skill and her perseverance to get to what she wants. She is crawling and pulling up on things now and I am inspired by her because several times a day, she pulls herself up and then falls down and hits her head, or slips and falls, etc. But when she falls, it never discourages her from her goal. She might take a minute to cry because she is hurt, but she moves on quickly and strives for whatever her goal is immediately. I just wish I could remember being that driven and ambitious. I wish I had that kind of perseverance in my faith where you just jump right back up and keep goign towards the goal. I am learning so much by watching her explore her world! She really inspires me to watch her work so hard for what she wants.

College was awesome. Right now we have several Seniors who are making plans and thinking about college, where they are going and what they are doing and it just reminds me over and over again how much i loved my college experience. Some of my best memories are from college. Some of my best best friends I met at college. My passion for learning and life blossomed in college. I fell in love with learning there. Most importantly, my faith became my own in college. I fell more in love with my Savior and figured out what I think that should look like in my life. But now reflecting on college, my heart is a little broken that my alma mater will be closing its doors at the end of this school year. That place is irreplaceable. I wish there were an alternative, but the harsh reality is that this has been coming for 15 years. But for some reason God made Cascade College possible for 15 wonderful years. For that I will always be grateful. And I am so glad that I was able to be a part of it. The rest of you suckers don't know what you'll be missing out on! :) Tbirds for life!

I have many more things to write, but I'm going to sign off for now. I want to talk to my hubby. Stay tuned for more random thoughts and photos of our kiddos.

We kicked off the holiday season with a stroll down Snowflake Lane. It is a place where every night, live toy soldiers come out and drum lining the streets of Bellevue Way. It is really cool. They play all sorts of Christmas music and they have characters dressed up as Rudolph, Frosty, Snow Queens, etc. Here is Liam and Jeb with a toy soldier on stilts. They pass out candy for the performance. Then for the finale they blow bubbles from the top of the buildings so that it "snows" every night. It was really fun and we were able to go twice this year. I would have taken pictures of River, but she slept in the stroller through both times we were there. Liam was afraid of the characters, he commented afterwards both times that he wished they would just dress up like people.
Speaking of snow, we were given a generous share of snow the week before Christmas. This was our first snow day where we went for a walk to a nearby restaurant. It is so quiet here when it snows. Everyone slows down and stays in. We had a great time staying home during a time when usually we are running errands frantically looking for the perfect gift. This year we just enjoyed sitting in our nice warm apartment with the glow of the Christmas lights going. Liam helped me make cookies and we ate a lot of family dinners at home. And Liam has really grown up from years past regarding snow. He discovered how much he loves it. We built a snow man, had snow ball fights, and we finally had to have him come in because his hands had turned to ice.
Here is our girl all bundled up for her walk in the snow. Don't you just want to reach out and squeeze her cheeks.

And during the snow, it was also a milestone event. Here is River before her last meal of exclusively drinking milk. It amazes me still that she has grown from a brand new 7 lb 5 oz, 19.25" girl to this....20 lbs and 27 " all on the food that God gave me to give to her. It is a pretty amazing thing that He made and so good for her to! Aren't they all so sweet!

This is our latest. Jeb had an all-nighter for the teens this past weekend and they kicked off the weekend with ice skating in downtown Bellevue. It used to be under a tent, but when all the snow came, the tent collapsed and so now it is so beautiful. You can skate with the white Christmas lights on the trees around you and the downtown skyline right behind you. Simply beautiful and fun. I didn't skate, but the kids and I bundled up to watch Jeb skate. Please excuse me for a moment where I have to boast in Jeb's ice-skating abilities. He is really agile on the ice...I guess all those years of roller blading as a kid have paid off! He makes it look so easy. I wish I could skate even half as good as he does! This photo does not do any justice to how pretty and magical it all was. This photo is facing the ice rink with the city behind in it. Such a fun time!

Gifts

In light of some recent events that have taken place, I am convinced more than ever that each day is a gift. Treat it as such. I sometimes have abused months worth of gifts...wishing days away while I aimlessly browse the internet and wish away moments that once passed are gone forever. So for this upcoming Thanksgiving, I am thankful for every day because every day spent with those you love is a true gift to be treasured. I hope to truly live my life like someone that is thankful.

Historic Moments

I had my own personal historic moment last night. For the first time in at least an entire year I slept straight through the night. No midnight feedings. No interruptions. Oh the bliss of a full night's sleep. I feel like a million dollars!

Happy Costume Day

So it was another Halloween last night. And as I sit here typing I am soooo glad that it was last night and not tonight because we would have been wet. Last night was Liam's first real trick or treating experience. We usually have just been doing church stuff on Halloween, but this year we had nothing going on so we took the kids out trick-or-treating. Liam has been very opposed to wearing costumes lately and if you remember from the Halloween photos that I put on here last year, he's been crying his little eyes out every time I try to put something on him. So I had to get creative and think of something that was just like wearing normal clothes. So he went as a campaigner or politician or what have you. We even made his little Vote 08 sign out of a thomas the tank engine track and a priority mail envelope (that doubled as a candy-holder). He looked sharp in his suit and he was so darn cute every time when someone answered their door he would proudly say "trick or treating". We kept trying to get him to just say trick or treat, but he always added the "ing". And River was a beautiful little ballerina for her first Halloween. She was adoreable and kept trying to suck on the tutu. And here we are, your all-American family going out for trick or treating. It was a fun night had by all. Thank God it only happens once a year!

Vote People!

I sometimes forget to send in my ballot during local elections. I am quite ashamed of it actually. I really feel like it is a privilege and an honor to be able to vote. Many people over the course of history have fought and died for their right to vote. To think that it was only several hundred of years ago that we declared our indendence is somewhat baffling. We formed this country and with it a government that is for the people and by the people. That in itself should be enough incentive to make sure you vote. Consider the fact that blacks have only been able to vote in US elections since 1865. And fellow girlfriends, you better make sure you participate because you have only had the right to vote in all US elections since 1920, a mere 88 years. Does your vote matter? Yes. Get out there, become informed, and make the choice to vote people! It's an honor as a US citizen...do it for all the people who fought so hard to earn you that vote!

Where's River?