I see the winds of change, but I don't even feel a breeze.

Have you ever reached a time in your life when it seems like everything around you is changing? Relationships, routines, attitudes, passions, etc? I feel like that is where I am now - everything is changing yet I haven't actively invited or implemented any of it and I sort of feel like I'm sitting in idle watching it all happen. It's very strange, and I guess it means that I need to jump on the bandwagon and get to changing some things.

Until then.. a few pictures of the darlings. The bond between these two gets stronger every day, and they love playing together. They fight too - but more often than not they are laughing and stirring up trouble together. It's fun! (Unless they've conspired to coat every standing thing in the house with vaseline. That, it turns out, is absolutely NOT fun.)

I knew I was missing something..

I have no clue why she is posed this way... I had nothing to do with it. I pull out the camera and for the next ten minutes hear "Oooh Mommy, this is beautiful, take a picture of this"... I believe I'm in big trouble with this one...

Oops. I sort-of forgot about my blog.. I'm finding that the older I get the less time I have available. I long for days of old when I would say "I'm bored; there's nothing to do" - but it seems those days are long gone and replaced with days where I don't have time bathe myself. Or the kids. Rest assured, though that I will drench us all in perfume if you want to come visit. Just don't expect me to have time to talk to you. In fact, if you do come visit please do a chore or two for me. Leave a note somewhere telling me who you are and what you did. I'll send you a thank you note.

Regarding the picture above:

Yes, I have 2 kids. No, I do not have an updated picture of the youngest. Is it because I don't love her as much? No, no - she is quite loved. She just also happens to be quite full of attitude. Anytime I pull the camera out she looks at me long enough to see that I have the flashing/clicking contraption in hand and she REFUSES to look at me again until I put it down. Seriously. I will ask her questions and she will answer- all without eye contact. Perhaps I will post a collage of pictures of Kenly's profile, or the top of her head, or her backside. Because that's all I have.

I will be around more often, as my goal is to produce a little boredom in my life. Who needs a clean house/clean clothes/fed kids anyway?

Weekend fun

Kenly is Queen of the mountain (rock)
Ash is always posing..

Such sweet chaos with these two!

No clue what that face is..

Me and Ash sledding - check out my feet..

Young children + vacation= EXHAUSTED mom and dad! I'm still trying to recover from our weekend in Ruidoso, in fact; if anyone would like to borrow my children for awhile so that I may sleep I will gladly oblige. We actually had a great time despite my ever-present lack of logic. We went hiking and shopping, we rode ponies and had a picnic - I even took Ashlyn sledding. In my flip flops. As in, I hiked through the snow with a kid and huge tube in tow IN FLIP FLOPS. Seriously? Allen said that everyone in that place was saying "Who is the crazy lady sledding with no shoes on?" Yup, that's me. The lunatic.

On a more serious note, one of Allen's good work friends suffered a brain aneurysm on Monday and they've decided to turn his life support off tomorrow as he has no brain activity. This guy is only 22 years old and everyone around him is in total shock. Please pray for his wife and the rest of his family - I know they're confused and hurting so very much right now.

Love to everyone...

Ashlyn and Kenly and bears; Oh my.

We're leaving for Ruidoso on Friday. I have a few concerns.

1. Restless small children (with powerful lungs) in the confines of a car for 4 hours strongly resembles a horror movie. (and it seems strapping them to the roof is frowned upon)
2. Bears.
3. Because we are required to pack way more crap than our car will hold we will be forced to leave the stroller here. I'll actually have to walk.
4. Allen and I don't often spend 4 whole days together, and I'm told that 60 straight hours with me is a wee bit intolerable. We shall see.
5. We are driving home on Monday which happens to be my birthday. It is impossible to properly celebrate the 26th anniversary of my birth in only half of a day. You will all just have to make up for it with jewels. Or cake. Or both.

It's in the "jeans"..or busting out of them.

I'm trying to lose weight for several reasons..

1. No reputable surgeon will perform a disc fusion on me until I do (and when letting someone re build your spine, that someone should apparently be- among other things- "reputable.")
2. Fat just isn't fun.
3. My poor husband (who gets increasingly better looking every second) does not deserve to be forever bound to my post-wedding, post-baby 60 pound weight gain.

I'm currently down 17 pounds which; roughly translated, means that you can see a difference. In my fingers.

On the upside I am notorious for my ability to lose things, so I'm hoping that genetic pre-disposition will also apply when it comes to pounds.

Keep it simple, stupid

After dinner last night I took the girls outside to ride scooters and bikes and expend some energy when I heard the familiar (but incredibly annoying) music of the ice cream truck rolling down our street. I usually avoid the jingling freezer like the plague, with a mind set of “If we never stop the truck the girls will never know what it is – thus I will not be exposed to pleas of “But MOOOOOMMMM It’s the ICE CREAM TRUCK!”

So I was little surprised when Ashlyn saw it and knew exactly what it was…. And for whatever reason (that I can already tell I’ll regret every day when we hear the music) I decided we would get ice cream. The girls were thrilled! They thought getting to choose which bar they wanted and paying the lady was so much fun! Ashlyn even picked a weed and gave it to her. Then they sat in the garage in their little chair and had the best time giggling and licking and getting completely and utterly sticky (hard for this OCD mom to watch). They both thought they had gotten the most awesome little treat and it reminded me that sometimes we shouldn’t ignore the simple things. Who needs Chuck E. Cheese when you have ice cream on wheels?

I was also very pleasantly surprised to know that the failing economy has not caused inflation in the ice cream truck industry. Most of the treats were only $1.00…. this is comforting news. We may soon lack the funds for milk, cheese and eggs, but we will be able to purchase ice cream and we won’t have to waste any gas in order to do so!

Noteworthy Items; in list form:

1. Facebook is causing me to be a bad mother.
2. I purchased new bras and my tata's are back where they belong; just under my chin.
3. Since Christmas, I have acquired 14 new books and have read 9 of them. I'm. A. Nerd.
4. 3 of those books are historical non-fiction; meaning I'm learning stuff. Serious. Nerd.
5. I need someone to explain to me (Again) that 32 degrees is cold. Way cold. When you see that temperature on the forecast for the following day you should wear long sleeves. And shoes that cover your whole foot.
6. My daughters believe that dandelions are the most beautiful flower alive. Because of this every cup, saucer or other such dish I own is housing a dead weed.

That is all.