Thursday, February 28, 2013

When the kiddos are away, the mom will...

Be lost??

What in the world?

When the kiddos are away, this mama doesn't always know what to do. 

In these RARE moments when I am at our home without 2, 4, or 6 pattering little feet...

I DON'T always know what I should do.

Strange. Trust me -- I KNOW.

I think that it's I actually have 20 billion things I NEED to do.

And since that is impossible...

I'll take five-ten minutes...

eat a little yogurt and granola while SITTING down...

surf Facebook...

and do a little blogging.

There.

Three deep breaths...

Whew.

I know I feel better.

Off to do what mama's do...

I miss my babies.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

When in doubt....put it on the plate!

I had a day of laundry, fetching snacks, cleaning up messes, kissing boo-boos, and catching every hug and sugar possible -- you know, a regular day. I had pretty much decided to pan-sear some tilapia for dinner, but didn't have the rest of the plate decided. I was scrounging around for what was to coincide alongside Nemo (yes, I realize Nemo isn't a Tilapia...bare with me) when the lightbulb went off. Wild rice and corn, steamed asparagus and roasted radishes. Whaaaaa? You no likey? Come on, Mikey...have you even tried it? My only true experiment was the radishes. I actually first saw the recipe through a link of link of a link....For real, it was from a fellow AWB. (NWA Foodie: see here)

Everything came together really quickly (which is always nice). I will say somewhere between running back and forth to the laundry room, kitchen and chasing the little lattes -- my house exploded. But, that's normal, right? Anyway, Hot Coffee came home just in time to toss the Lattes in the tub (what a champ -- he slept a total of 3-4 hours tops after driving 19 hours, worked an 11 hour day and STILL handled my littles for bath time and jams -- MUUUUUAHHH! Oh, and by the way -- that's another story in itself: to be continued) while I finished up our evening meal.

Now where was I....goodness knows whoever reads this gets lost....I get lost myself and these are MY thoughts!! (yes, I'm the girl that occasionally makes coffee without the water. so sue me)

Any-ka-whooie....

Dinner...

YEAH --

So -- my worries: what are the lattes going to think? Sugar? Maybe. Spice? NO WAY!! Baby Bean? Somewhere in the middle.

I rang the dinner bell.

Ok, so I yelled, "SUPPER's READY!!!!!"

And they came a runnin'.

We try more often than not to offer the same thing we are having to the littles. I think it's very important for them to at least TRY a wide variety of foods (especially in the fruit and veggie department). I don't force them, or make them sit until a bite of something new is gone. I may say, "no treat or dessert" if they don't, but I don't consider that forcing... (they probably do, huh?).

And now to the point of my story (enough already!!): Aside from one spear of asparagus hitting the floor (you guessed it -- SPICE) -- I had an overwhelming POSITIVE response. GO JOE!!

Sugar CLEANED her plate and asked for SECONDS of rice/corn and RADISHES! Spice even ate the radishes -- shocker!! Bean scooped up the rice and chewed on the asparagus. Even the Hubs gave everything a thumbs up!

I realize it could have easily gone in the other direction. But for tonight...

Mama wins!

Love a little variety in life!

Oh, I wish I had a pic -- but, I totally forgot to snap one in all the craziness. It really was a pretty plate...

**stay tuned for my re-cap on our very first Coffee Family Ski Trip to Red River, New Mexico!! We had a BLAST!!!!





Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Loving every minute

In the past, not having a picture of an event may have kept me from blogging about it. 

For one reason or another...

Often, it's a picture that brings the moment back to life. Triggers thoughts and emotions...and then the words just come.

Tonight, I have no pictures from our special visitors, but wanted to record the memory anyway. My brother and his fam came for a visit. It was fast and furious. But, it was fun. Special. Time shared with cousins. Giggles, squeals, and shrills of joy. 

There were times when a crazy gathering like this would be taken for granted. 

Not any more.

Time is too precious. Life is short.

This moment did not go unnoticed.

It left a craving...

dreaming and hoping for more.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Days like these

Today was a good day.

Every fiber of my being is totally exhausted, but.....

today was a good day.

We didn't do anything too out of the ordinary...

Sunday School, church, drove to Texarkana, ate lunch out, went to a birthday party at a skating rink, shopped at Sam's, drove back home, ran seven miles, helped the hubs fix dinner, tuck in three girls...

That combined with four hours of sleep from the previous night...

yep, I'm ready for bed!

Throughout MOST days, our household experiences a mixture of emotions.

Laughter, tears, fun, fighting...

But, most of all...

LOVE.

I love these beautiful girls and my super sweet sweetie!

Thank you, Lord, for this BEAUTIFUL day.


These pictures are not even from today. They are from another crazy day from the Coffee House Life...

So glad we took the time to capture these moments.

We went to eat lunch at the Tavern at Old Washington last week,,,












Happy Day, to you! (actually night. night-night!) 


One Proud Mama

Well, the results are in.

And I'm ONE PROUD MAMA!!

Allow me to preface this by saying how grateful I am that we have local organizations willing and able to put on an event such as this. Thanks so much JA of Hope!!

Today was the day of the Fruit Loop 5k. I headed out early to join our running club in helping to set up the race site. It was pretty CHILLY this morning (perfect for running. not so much for the bystander) Hot Coffee and the rest of my crew were scheduled to arrive a little before the 5k, Hot Coffee was running the 5k and Sugar and Spice were scheduled to do the Fun Run. It was nearing race time and the hubs and crew were not there. I started to get a little anxious, and then remembered....HELLO -- 3 kiddos = time, work, patience, etc to get up and ready! ha! 

I was so glad to look across the campus and see them rolling in -- race ready!!

We cheered the hubs at the start line, went inside to thaw our fingers and toes, and then returned outside to cheer him across the finish line.

He did GREAT! We were all so proud! Way to go Hot Coffee!! (I am admittedly jealous of his ability to train very little while still doing very well. He is just talented that way! ;) )

Next up: FUN RUN

At this point, the girls were beginning to wonder and doubt just how fun it was going to be to stand around and wait a little longer in the cold, and then do their thing. The "hold me"'s and "I'm freezing!!"'s were flowing steadily.

All was forgotten at the word GO and after a little bit of a confusing start -- the Coffee crew was off and RUNNING!! (the hubs went the extra "mile" for the team and ran with little Spice...bless her heart.  She is and will always be my little gecko runner.)

Sugar did AWESOME!! She ran her little heart out! My heart was beaming!!

After Sugar finished, I looked to see where Spice was on the track. She was wearing down a bit and had to get in the arms of the hubs for 30 seconds or so, but after a little re-coop time, she was back and running. The crowd made a big deal when she crossed the finished line, and she acted a little shy....but she DID IT!! (and that's what she was telling me as we all ran in hand-in-hand. "I did it, Mama!! I did it!!" Yes -- of course I was PROUD!!

I love so much that my family was able to do something like this TOGETHER!!



A few photos from the morning...


 If you look closely at this photo -- the hubs has the attention of several people. Way to go Daddy! Way to get yourself and THREE little ones to a race ON TIME and all in one piece!!

That's right -- Bean was there, too. (with Lammie and paci in tow, of course)

Go Daddy, GO!!

 We ran to the back of the parking lot so we could see the hubs...


all smiles!!

STILL smiling nearing the finish line!!

Spice giving a congratulatory hug!


Time for the fun run...


Go Spice, GO!!

 Go Sugar!!



a little "pick-me-up"



THE FINISH!!

 look at that medal!!

my sweeties


**favorite shot of the day. SO PROUD of my crew!!

post-race oranges...






Congrats to Hot Coffee!! 2nd in his age group!!

Congrats to Sugar as well -- she won a TROPHY!! (second (I think) in her age group) I'll have to add the pic from my cell phone soon.

FUN was had by all! 

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Warm up those engines!


 READY...

SET...

GO!!!

These little cuties will participate in a RACE tomorrow a.m.!

So -- we thought we should go and practice.

Our local Junior Auxiliary group is putting on the race and the proceeds will benefit their projects and the children of Hempstead County.

Good enough reason don't you think?

I didn't have any great pictures after they took off -- they ran so fast I couldn't  keep up!!

I know they will do great!

Stay tuned for race results!!


Thursday, February 7, 2013

Oooops! I did it again....

Not that I'm apologizing again (I said I wouldn't)...

I've let a pretty big time gap in from post to post.

Bummer.

It's that "I'm human" excuse trying to come out of my mouth.

New goal: to get over my must-write-a-book-every-time-I-post TO write-it-down. post-it. make-it-happen!!

I have three beautiful littles in my life. Stuff happens MANY times throughout the day. I can MAKE the time to record at LEAST one of those moments. Surely, I can (yes, I participate in self-encouragement often)!!

Whether it be a blurry action shot from my phone, or a more focused, fabulous moment from my SLR -- I will try my best to get it to the blog!!

I am trying to stay involved with AWB with hopes and dreams of one of these fabulous bloggers giving me all the advice I'll ever need...how to get photos uploaded faster, easier, LARGER. I look at some of these blogs and am AMAZED at how in the heck they ever got all of those images on there in a decent amount of time. My post on Baby Bean's Little Bird party took HOURS (and me, days) to get uploaded. 

Okay. 

Enough ranting and raving.

I'm posting a few pics and calling it a night.

 Sugar. This is her wink pose. Pretty darn cute if I may say so myself.

Spice. Spice? You say?


Baby Bean. Where did my baby go?

Goodnight and happy blogging!