Ice cream and Kroger

The last pictures I took were almost 2 months ago. Shame on me! Here are a few favorites from January.

Zachary was so proud of his homemade "lava lamps." My sweet, sweet boy.


And this was the best family picture on New Year's Eve. We have an annual tradition of appetizers and watching a family video, and then we have a "Happy New Year" cake. Both the kids were trying to touch the fire here...

I think that some day my life will return to normal. And then I wonder if I keep waiting for "normal," how much am I missing out on? Got to embrace every second of the day I have.

Today was a good day. Accomplished a lot at work, my kids picked me up, took them for ice cream at McDonald's. Kenna had her first ice cream cone (the really small baby one) and demolished it. She's very much in the "I-do-it-myself-or-I-scream" phase. It's super fun. :) Despite her determination and strong will, she is such a BUNDLE of JOY. She has never met a stranger, waves at everyone, and had every resident of Marc's grandmother's nursing home charmed last week. She has finally started saying real words as opposed to baby babble. Her new favorites are "cheese" (which she says whenever she sees a phone or a camera), "backery" for Zachary, "ma-ma" (mom or dad, whoever is closest), please, "welcome" (for you're welcome and thank you), and "owl" (her lovie/blanket). She just melts my heart about every 5 minutes. I feel bad for all of you who don't get to spend time with her....that's how cute she is.

Zachary got to go to school today for the first time in about a month. We had horrible snow storms in Feb, then the last week/half he spent traveling to AL to see Marc's family and to pick up a replacement car (thank you, in-laws!) for the one that is almost-but-not-quite-totaled from yet another snowstorm several weeks ago. Thank you, Lord, for guardian angels, protection, good insurance, and income tax refunds that pay for premium deductibles. Hard to complain about what we were "going" to use that money for, when I'm just thankful that we had it to begin with. :)

Anyway, back to Zachary. He is 4 going on 14. Talks incessantly, as those of you who know him can vouch for. He is a lover of words and recent lover of the Disney channel. He is in that phase of "if-I-can't-watch-TV-then-I-should-be-able-to-play-a-game-on-the-computer-because-it's-not-the-same-thing." It's heartbreaking when he doesn't get his way. Do you hear my sarcasm? :) He also loves to read, practice his letters, and play with his Hot Wheels cars. His favorite color is light green and his favorite fruit is watermelon. Even in the winter, he wants me to pay $7 for that nasty out of season watermelon. He has gotten very logical, too. Today he said, "I think we're out of something." When I asked him to explain, he said, "we need to go to Kroger. Dad said we're out of something & we need to go there." (totally made up, but funny & logical nonetheless!) We recently had some family pictures done. He was so shy & nervous, told us he wasn't "going to do THAT." Gets up there, and starts giving us these poses like he was born to be a model. Hi-larious!

Marc & I....well, we're surviving. This new life is strange, but it's not altogether bad. Just very, very different! I don't think it will last forever, but we're trying to make the best of it. The most awesome part is the amount of time we've had to reconnect & spend together. Sometimes too much time, considering how we hardly saw each other for 2 years while he worked 2 jobs, but mostly we are really enjoying it. I think this experience, if nothing else, has given us both a WHOLE new appreciation for the jobs the other has been doing. I do love my job, so that is a magnificent plus. If I hated it, I would just be absolutely miserable without my kids all day. I love knowing that they are home with their Dad and not stuck at a daycare or another mother's house. I'm so thankful that at least we're able to have this arrangement and I know that others aren't as fortunate.

If I were a drinking woman, I'd go get a glass of wine, raise it, and toast to "no more snow!" and an early spring. We're tired of the snow around here and ready to play outside! Hope this finds all our friends and family doing well and serving our Lord. Love you!