So, I haven't written on this thing for a long time.  I don't know why but I was thinking about it today and I'm going to make another attempt at keeping it updated.

Lots has changed since my last entry.  Like, I have a second kid now.  She'll be two in just about a month.  It's crazy how fast life goes.

This weekend is the first in a few months that we are actually all home and not working.  Nick has been working weekends, and when he does get a day off Lola has been gone.  It was a great day.  Garage saling this morning, house cleaning, spending time outside and then we went out to eat for supper.

It was bath night tonight.  The girls have been taking baths together.  They make a disaster out of the bathroom but they have fun.  They stand up and then flop back down, splashing water everywhere.  Rozlynn is saying so many things.  She's a little parrot, will repeat anything you say.

Lola is really a smart little girl.  They recently had some testing at school and she scored way above average for every subject.  They had a test for listening and she did awesome on it--who knew?! :)  She is tall and beautiful.  She's got blue eyes and her hair has natural highlights.  We're in for it when she gets old enough for boys to start noticing her.  Tonight she told me that her boobs are starting to jiggle when she runs.  Lord, help us.  She started softball last week.  She seems pretty excited about it so far.  I hope she likes it.  We did soccer and she was really good at it, and was really involved with the games but she didn't like it.  I wonder how softball will be...

Rozlynn is a little firecracker.  She's got red hair and the attitude to match.  She's best friends with our dogs, and they are both really great to her.  They let her sit on them and pull their ears and hair.  She yells at them for no reason.  They can be clear across the room and she'll yell at them to get away from her.  She really does love them.  She started potty training herself about 3 months ago.  Suddenly she just said "Potty?" and ran to the bathroom.  So, we went with it.  We have been buying pull ups, which I think is a bad idea but we wanted her to get used to pulling her pants up and down.  We haven't gotten fully potty trained but to be completely honest, Nick and I haven't been that dedicated to it.  We figure she's not even two, that's pretty early to be potty training.

Nick runs the kitchen at the story county jail.  He likes it pretty well.  It's great hours, great benefits and he gets to run it the way he wants to, which is a good thing.  He does a good job and is always trying to make things better.

I am the administrative assistant to the sales and marketing team at Kreg now.  I love it.  I've only been doing it for a couple of months but I really like it.  The team of guys I work for are great, I couldn't ask for a better boss.

Things for us are going well.  We have two beautiful children and lots of family who love us.

What do you know, three years later and I'm still blessed.  God is good.

The List

My husband is at work and our daughter is at Brandon's so I had the day to do whatever I wanted.  After church I went to a couple of stores and then decided to come home and do a few things I've been meaning to do for awhile. 

I started out by cleaning out a spare dresser (don't ever do this, if you have an empty dresser get rid of it! You WILL fill it, I promise. I had a whole drawer of craft/scrap booking things that needed to be gone through and re organized.  I did that and found a new home for them.  Then we had two drawers of random pictures.  We've recently bought a photo scanner so I've been wanting to get the them scanned and onto CD's.  I have this weird thing about "what if there was a fire, how would I grab everything?" So, I figure if they're all on CD's, and all of the CD's are in one location I can just grab the binder--make sense?!  Yeah, I think so too.  Anyway, it was fun going through the pictures.  Some from when I was a kid, and some from when Lola was first born.  In the mix of things I found this list that I vaguely remember writing when Lola was still inside my tummy.  It's a list of things I hoped my daughter would experience.  I wanted to share it. 

1. She finds a community of faith in which she feels at home.
2.  She discovers a calling she is so passionate about that it is impossible to tell where work leaves off and life begins.
3. Good fortune & reasonable caution collaborate to keep her safe in a violent world.
4. Just once she falls in love so hard with the wrong person that the ride is worth the fall.
5. She never has to wear hose and heels for work, only for dancing.
6. She tries anything (legal) that interests her.
7. She spends her life in the company of great dogs, good books and loyal friends.
8. She finds a wonderful husband with a great sense of humor who adores women, especially her.
9. She discovers it is more important to be purposeful than happy, and more important to be happy than rich.
10. The breast cancer epidemic is under control by the time she reaches the age of significant risk.
11. She continues to regard food as one of the great pleasures of life and never gets crazed about dieting.
12. She always knows she can count on her parents unconditional love, even when we drive her head banging crazy.

At the bottom of the page I had written this: "You'll never stub your toe standing still, the faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing it but also the more chance you have of getting somewhere." 

I like this list, and I really like the quote, wherever I got it.  Today has been a day of reflection for me, and it's been very good.  Now, to finish supper before my husband gets home.  What are things you wish for your children?

Sing in your real voice mom...

Tonight is a night that we should have had a video camera following us around. 

I go to pick Lola up for school and she seems like she's in a great mood.  When I got there she was already out in the hallway getting her backpack.   After that I took her to work with me.  On the way to my work I say "What do you think about tuna sandwiches for supper tonight?" She says "Why, where's Nick going to be?" Um....what's wrong with a tuna sandwich?! We did end up having tuna sandwiches. 

Then it's time to go to church.  On the way she's asking how God can make people and grass and everything.  I tell her that God can do things that normal people can't.  She says "Does he have pixie dust?" and I say "No, something even more powerful than that." She thinks a minute and says "A magic wand?" So I go into this explanation about how God can do anything, he made everything, the planet, people, all animals....."I REALLY like holding frogs" she interrupts from the back seat.   Oh boy, she is so random.

We get to church and she's being really good.  She's got the hymnal out, singing along and praying when we pray, only whistling one or two times.  We're singing and she looks at me and says "Mom, how come you're not singing in your real voice?" I think to myself, what is this, my cartoon voice?! I say "What do you mean?" and she says "Just like your normal voice, not that one." I still have no idea what she meant.  I was cracking up every time I tried to sing after this though.

Nights like tonight just make me giggle.  The innocence of children is so comical sometimes.  As far as she's concerned she didn't say anything out of the ordinary.  I wish I could keep her this way forever.

The start of something great...???

I've been thinking about starting a blog for some time now and haven't really had the time.  Or, maybe I haven't made the time...either way I haven't done it.  I decided today, just a couple of minutes ago, that I would start a blog.  It will be a place that I can record all of my family happenings, and that I can write down all of the cute things our daughter says. 

So, since this is my first blog I guess I should tell you who I am and a little about me--although most people who read this will probably already know me.  I'm the mother of an amazing little four year old princess.  Her name is Dolores--we call her Lola.  She loves pink, purple, princess', fairies, anything that sparkles, dresses and high heels.  She is a girly-girl but she also likes getting dirty and playing in the mud.  She is hilarious, and super smart (too smart for our own good I always say).

I am married to my soul mate, Nick.  We have a really amazing story but I'll save that for its own blog. We just got married on October 15th of this year.  It was a beautiful wedding.  Nick just finished culinary school in June and is a chef.  He loves his work and is very passionate about it.  He is the perfect man.  He's considerate of myself and our daughter.  When he makes decisions he always takes us into consideration.  The only sport he likes is golf, and doesn't waste our Sundays or Monday nights by controlling our lives with football or NASCAR.  He helps around the house and is such a good daddy to our daughter.  Lola and I both love him very much. 

I am an administrative assistant for a non profit, pro life ministry.  I have great hours and great benefits.  They let me have time off any time I need it, which is really nice when you've got a child.  The work? Well...that's kind of another story.  While this ministry is a very good cause that I wholeheartedly agree with, office work has not proven to be my forte.  I get bored and office politics drive me bonkers.  Someday I want to work at a retail store like Lowes, The Home Depot or Menards.  Even if just as a sales associate.  For now, for my family, this is the place God wants me so I'll stay here until he decides otherwise.

I suppose this is a good start for my blog for now.  I will be adding some things that Lola has said.  I've got quite a few written in a notebook.  They're very cute.