dreams

I have this reoccurring dream that a storm is coming (most often a tornado,  but sometimes a huge snow storm.) and I am frantically gathering a bunch of random belongings (pictures, antiques, things that can't be replaced) and putting them into basements, into the house to be safe, or into a car if we are being forced to evacuate our house. I watch the storm approach, full of excitement and fear, and try to make sure we're all safe.

I'm not sure why I have that dream so often, but I do. Could be my intense love for weather and the beauty and unpredictability it could bring. My pal Teri would say it's a way of trying to control the unknown and wanting to.
I could see the latter, most definitely.

A few days ago Jack came bouncing into our room at way-too-early o'clock and jumped onto our bed.

"Mom! I had a dream a snake was coming to attack me, but then he started talking to me and we became friends!"  (p.s. kind of scary he had a dream about a snake trying to befriend him, but so it goes. He has a love/fear of snakes.)

Well done, my son. Shifting the story in your dream is a hard task and one that takes a lot of dreaming practice.

He often tells me of his wild and crazy adventures in his dreams. I love hearing about them. John isn't a big night-time dreamer (he spends all his time dreaming in the day and actual future ;)

I wonder what Zoey dreams…I can't wait to find out.

that time of year again...

for some of the sappiest, but most precious mother's day videos ever.







you can just never have too many of those ;)

songs

I love how songs can take you back to a place that you haven't visited in a while.

I somehow burned a copy of an old, old mix cd that has sat on my iTunes playlist for, I don't know how long. It took me back, man. Like, took me back to driving around in my old '89 Honda hatchback right before I met John and right before everything changed. I had some serious angst going on back then, let me tell you what. John and I listened to it and I told him how "teen angst" it was, although I wasn't a teen anymore, so mostly just a whole lotta angst. We laughed and held hands and then I realized, he isn't in those memories. It's strange as our journey together grows deeper, those memories apart become less and less. Those songs take me to a place that he can't go. And songs that hold memories without my kiddos. I'm thankful for those flashbacks, but also thankful that some of that angst has lessened to just sleep deprivation. Haha.

I'm bout to start a little series of different songs and the journey they take me on. If this is going to represent some sort of journal for my kid's some day, then they might want to know the songs that changed me life.

Here's the first song on the playlist. Still so good, still love it.

//

this little miss kept me up a whole lot last night. She has pink eye and for some reason was in the most pain of her life (my vote is sista didn't care for the eyecrusties that happen when you have green goop coming out of your eye.) She has a little bit of a….dramatic flare (not sure where she gets that) but she doesn't enjoy pain, or the thought of it, and spent a lot of time doing gymnastics in bed and crying and wanting to be walked around and rocked and cradled and cuddled.

I really didn't mind. Those moments go so quickly, friends. And pain in a little two year old is so sad to see. Even if it's mostly discomfort. I get that! 

    I see some teen angst in this girl's future. That face.

    I love Jack's face in this picture, like…wait a second, who is up in my business?

   haha. they were just waking up from a nice nap.

these pictures were from a while ago. Still catching up and rekindling my love for this whole blog thing. You're welcome, kids. Sorry mom is inconsistent with her blogging. 

calm before the storm

This is how many Sunday afternoon end up. The kiddos are awake, John is resting (actually sleeping, whose kidding?) and it isn't long before the covers are kicked off and little feet start a jumping!

There's just enough time for me to capture a few pictures. 

oh, little clan, we've been talking lately about the future hopes and plans and the idea of adoption and what adoption means. Jack is very very curious (he's like Curious George's cousin, though he can talk.) and asks about 5,000 questions a day, and he's really good at eavesdropping so whenever we have a conversation, he asks a dozen questions in the midst of often times a private conversation. We've had to start spelling our words (that might not work for long.) I love how curious he is and John and I both try to be really intentional with giving him honest and clear answers. 

So, Jack asks a lot about adoption and what it means and even though we tell him we're praying for a little sister, he always tells me, "you mean a brother." without skipping a beat. We've also been talking a lot about other languages and cultures and how not everyone speaks English. He still disagrees and thinks the only two languages spoken are English and Spanish and he can speak both. hahaha.

I told him about little Dema in Ukraine and how he was Jack's age when I met him and he couldn't speak English, but he spoke to me in Russian all the time. Jack just giggles when I speak to him in Russian.

praying that life gets a little bit crazier and beds get a little bit fuller too.

i missed Christmas!

We tried to be intentional this Christmas and be all-in with our kiddos. We did a little advent tree and had a list of fun Christmas-season things to do. (note to self, don't overwhelm yourself or you will dislike the month of December.) We visited Christmas lights around town (perhaps a few times a week) and watched Christmas movies and made Christmas cookies. I did almost all my Christmas shopping on amazon which made the season even more delightful! A pain deep in my heart will always be the lack of actual winter here in AZ. Don't get me wrong, I am so thankful for beautiful weather, but it just doesn't feel like Christmas without snow. At least our kiddos don't know anything different ;) This winter was especially warm, but we cranked the heat and turned on Christmas music as often as we could. We watched the Polar Express on a regular basis and White Christmas at least once a week (you think I'm kidding.) We watched it enough for Jack to learn this song.

This Christmas Eve I made John's favorite ham and cheese rolls his Grandma made when he was a kiddo and our kids loved it! (which is a rare thing in our little fam.) We kept some nice and warm in tin foil until daddy got home, but couldn't wait for him to eat. I also made this delicious potato soup (per a friend's recipe) and we chowed down for days on that.

Get ready for picture overload.

It amazes me how much Jack has grown even since these pictures were taken.

We also rode on the Polar Express with Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Justin, Aunt Leilani, Aunt Maggie and cousins Andy and Aaron. It was so much fun! Grandma and Papa came up early to make cookies with us. 

this is just so them.

our ham and cheese rolls. we may or may not be watching a veggie tale christmas movie.

Christmas morning!

that's a fake fire, for the record.

 our birdie was happy to just chow on raisins.

these two were busy for hours.

and little miss had to remove both her's and her dolly's clothes.

merry Christmas in April!!!!!!