The trip to the daffodil field was a success

Believe it or not, I didn't post every picture I took. But it's so hard to choose! Love a daffodil.

The events of yesterday, not to be confused with yesteryear

Yesterday was a full day. We started ridiculously early by surprising Whitney with a birthday breakfast, followed by a pope being chosen, Gap and ending it with watching Duck Dynasty tonight. Yes sir, that's a full and diverse day. 

Let me break it down. 

Starting with the obvious, six o'clock in the morning is too early. Did you know it's dark outside at 6am? I didn't, nor did I want to. Found out this morning. The early surprising of Whitney was determined by others to have a pre-crack of dawn delicious breakfast made by Lydia and Mollie, as well as the giving of shoes to her for her birthday. I was totally fine with the surprise, but 10:00 would have been much more manageable, even though many attendees would've been at work. Now the reason for the shoe giving is because for the last several years Whitney's been giving the girls in the fam shoes for their birthdays, so it was decided they would each give her a pair to return the gifting. 

The shoes ranged from NBC peacock slippers to garden and casual. All in all, except for the early hour, the surprising and the shoe giving was a huge success.

William was there and enjoyed the peacock slippers. 

He also enjoyed some strawberries AND some "raspberries."

While admiring himself.

And totally surrounded by women. One day he'll staunchly avoid parties like this but for now, he enjoys the snacks that come with. 

Then after the party some poor suckers had to go to work, while others may or may not have taken a nap. The may or may notters will remain nameless. After I woke up, I turned on the TV to find that a new pope had been chosen, being revealed to us by the white smoke coming from the official pope chimney. It was very exciting. And I'm not being sarcastic. It was all very moving to behold. However due to the fact I had a surprise party to attend, and due to the lack of jetting to the Vatican City, I have no pics of the pope picking. BUT. In the last two days there's been much discussion at our house about pope picking. It began on Tuesday as Olivia and I saw the black smoke come out of the official pope chimney, which of course is a sign to the world that a majority pope vote had yet to be achieved.  At which point Olivia stated, "You know if we (meaning the U.S.) did the whole chimney thing when we elect a president using red and blue smoke, I'd be much more interested in the process." I most heartily agreed. 

Then yesterday, after the pope picking, Caitlin, Olivia and I were awaiting the first appearance of the newly named pope. The news peeps were talking about how the papal tailor (we added ALL KINDS of new words to our vocabulary in the last few days) had to make small, medium and large vestments due to the fact they didn't know what size the new pope would be. Which caused Olivia to say, "You know why they have to do that; there's obviously no quality control in the papal garment industry." Which caused me and Caitlin to laugh out loud. This statement although hilarious is not her original thought, because at our house, when our girls are conversing about the sizing of clothes they buy it causes their father to state, "You know why sizing varies so much? It's because there's no quality control in the garment industry."  The nerd herd is alive and well.   

Then yesterday Emma subbed for the lady I work with, and as we were sitting outside in the glorious sunshine, a 5 year old girl came to tell me she had, for some unknown reason, been instantly shunned by a 4 year old causing immediate sadness. I talked to the two for a sec and sent them on their way and as I did Emma said, "What I really want to say to her is five year old girl, life is hard and people are jerks and sometimes they are really mean so you better get used to being tossed aside and forgotten and treated like crap. Grow up and get over it!" We both agreed five isn't the age for that revelation.  

Then when we got home, John and I ate a different taco salad that wasn't very great and the rest of the night was spent fighting for the shower line while watching Duck Dynasty. 

And that, in a nutshell, is how yesterday played out. 

The excitement of my life can't be contained in one blog post. 

It's just too thrilling. 

Gots to go. 

Peace out popers.

Here we go

Spring is springing even though the cold weather refuses to concede the day. It's still freezing! Which causes me to have to stay inside with the Gap munchkins. We went outside this week and I'm not even sure why I like to go outside, because they have a remarkable ability to find any and every single thing they shouldn't have. At least when watching a movie they are contained in a small space with few distractions. It's something to think about.

Emma continues her world tour by leaving for New York on Saturday morning. And yes I know it's only the United States and not the world, but the world tour sounded better than a state tour. She has many plans for the trip including going to a Broadway show as well as other stuff. Please pray for safe travels as she goes. My heart skips a beat now and then when I think about it coupled with the fact she will graduate from college in May. And by May, I'll have two college graduated girls. Fifty percent of my children will be out of school. I think I need to line up a plastic surgeon! Have mercy on my soul Lord. And I cannot even believe the third 9 weeks of the year is almost over and summer's just a stone's throw away. How when and where did a year go by already? And at the end of this semester....high school and college, I'll have two seniors, which means next May I'll have a high school graduation and a college graduation to attend. I think I need two plastic surgeons! OMG getting old sucks. But achieving goals rocks!    

Having said all that, earlier today one of my children annoyed me, so I called John to vent and as I was venting, one of the unoffending children came home for lunch. When this child deduced I was annoyed, this child immediately texted the other two unoffending children to warn them that I was annoyed. When I got off the phone with John, I asked the child present, "You've already sent out a warning text to your siblings haven't you?" To which this one said, "I just sent out an "FYI" Mom's annoyed so heads up!" Whatever. I decided to change the names to protect the one who annoyed me, although I don't know why. But it's done.  

I've now been blogging for 3 1/2 years,and I've gone back and read a few things from years ago. Some of the things I wrote make me want to shake my own shoulders and yell, "Snap out of it!" I think I've lightened up and maybe stuffed some emotions and I'm really OK with that for now. But I'm gonna stop here cause I don't want to get all whiney and crap. Cause I'm just freaking sick of whining. Which reminds me about 6 or 7 years ago I tried writing a journal for a time, and when I'd finished one whole notebook, I set it aside to start on the next one. Well, about a year or so after finishing the first one, I went back and read some of it and it made me want to vomit due to the stupidity I found in the written words of my mind that were now on a page for someone to find and read. I hated what I read and SO, I burned it. And I still don't regret it. All I read was whine. And not in a good way. There really is no good way to whine. BUT! I'll not be writing any more journals unless I can harness and silence the inner cry baby that exists when I write for my own privacy. Tough times brought on by living life is what caused it. I know that. But you know what? The truth is life IS really hard, difficult, unpleasant, unpredictable, frustrating, overwhelming, tragic and sad. And lots of times the bad guy wins and the good guy gets kicked in the privates. Which really sucks. BUT! Life is also beautiful, awe inducing, breathtaking, rejuvenating, seasonal, amazing, unpredictable (works both ways), inspiring, exciting, sweet, fun and funny. I'm grateful for who and what I have and I'm moving forward. So here's to no more whining. I hope I make it. I have absolutely no faith I will. 

This small amount of writing took me almost 24 hours to write and check and change and fix and rewrite and blah blah blah.... It can be exhausting. 

I'm ending this post with some examples of beautiful things.   

Tulips make life lovelier 

Tater tots. 

That's a word play on later taters.

If I have to explain it, I think I ruined it. 

OK, I'm done. 

A December photo shoot

These are some photos of William taken by Olivia, Emma and me before Christmas on an afternoon when he came to our house. The last two were taken by Olivia in one of the rare moments when she actually points the camera at something or someone interesting instead of taking 45 photos of a ceiling fan. I think she's quite good at it when she wants to be. Anyway, there's no need for commentary of the cutie pie boy in the striped jammies who was almost 3 months younger than right now. That's like dog years when talking about a baby and all they can accomplish in that time. He wasn't crawling or standing alone or thinking about walking then. Now all those things are on the table! Time goes so fast. 

In the meantime, I'm off to get my teenaged boy and then to work. 

Later to the taters.