my Valentines

I have five sweet valentines! And I love them all very much! So to show my appreciation and love, we had a fun dinner at home.

I set the table all fancy like...with goblets and everything!

Then for dinner we had the girls' favorite...hamburgers! To add a little 'love', we cut heart shaped cheese.

We also had yummy cupcakes from a gourmet cupcake place up the road! But they were gone so fast I didn't get a photo.

I sure to love my little valentines!

Bitter sweet

We lost an amazing and beautiful woman this weekend. She was smart, kind, stubborn, fiery and someone I loved very much. And no...I'm not talking about Whitney Houston. :) But instead my great grandma Corinne Hoskins.

In her lifetime- she witnessed World War 1, the sinking of the Titanic, the stock market crash and Great Depression, Pearl Harbor, World War 2, Kennedy's assassination, the Korean War, Vietnam, man landing on the moon, and more. She lived and raised three children through the dust bowl and dealt with segregation first hand. She married at 18 and spent the next 69 years with Harold until his death in 1999.

My favorite memories are of visiting them in Kansas, playing marbles and pitch, snacking on her wonderful baked goods, waking up to the smell of pancakes, eggs and sausage and listening to stories of her life. Although I didn't truly appreciate the old stories until I was mom myself. Hearing about how she raised my grandma and great aunt and uncle, what life was like and what hardships she was dealt- how much she has witnessed and how times have changed. In her later years she let me in on our family's dirty little secrets and our skeletons...I LOVED it! I loved her...I still do!

I will miss her but have peace knowing she isn't trapped in an aged body. That now she is with her friends and family, whole and happy. She lived an amazing life and left an amazing legacy!

Co-existing

We have over 600 photos of Evie...an average of 4 photos taken every day since she was born. And this is the only one with both Evie and Emma in it. And the only reason we have this one...is because just to the left of the photo- just out of shot, Kwynn is holding Emma in place.

Emma wants nothing to do with Evie. She didn't smell her when she came home from the hospital. Doesn't lay with her on the floor. Doesn't lick her face while she's in the walker. Emma even makes a special effort to avoid Evie. I conducted a little experiment a few days ago...Emma was laying on the floor- so Evie and I sat down next to her. Emma immediately got up and found a new spot. So we followed her. And again she moved. We did this about five times until finally Emma went in her kennel.

The strange thing is Emma is super protective of her. Emma's protective of all our girls...Evie too. She will lay on the floor next to Evie's bassinet. She will lay in the kitchen when Evie is in her carseat on the table. And if someone comes near her...someone who is not 'Emma approved' she will growl and put on her mean face.

Weird.

Evie doesn't really have any interest in Emma either. But I have a feeling things might change when she starts crawling...I think Emma will be a bit more interesting. But until then...they are just co-existing.

Never ending

I seem to be having some time-management issues... maybe you know what I'm talking about. You know- where your daily to-do list seems to keep rolling over into tomorrow and you feel like your never going to get it all done. Well, that's where I'm at.

And my blog seems to be suffering the most. See- I'll have a great idea for a blog post and have it all planned out in my head. But actually getting to the computer and posting it...well, not so much.

And then when I finally do get a chance to sit down and blog...I forgot what was so great about the post in the first place. Words won't flow like they did and the humor is long gone.

Take last night for example. All day I had this awesome idea for a post. But we were in Omaha visiting my mom and I wasn't near a computer. It marinated in my thoughts and just flowed so effortlessly together in my head as I ran through it. I couldn't wait to get home and write. BUT we got out of town later than expected and I needed to run and get the kids from school. Then there's the after school snack and home work time, and cleaning up after all that. Second cousins were over so games and things were everywhere. Mean while trying to care for Evie and pick up the kitchen. After dinner, I called my mom to get an update on her afternoon and then relayed the message to my grandma (who, by the way, is a super talker). After 30 minutes of talking to her on the phone and answering emails simultaneously- it was time to feed Evie dinner. Then I had to fold laundry and start another load. I ran back downstairs to wash Evie's bottles and start the dishwasher. By then it was a little after nine and time to put Evie to bed. After twenty minutes of rocking and cuddling - she finally went to sleep. AND I was EXHAUSTED and couldn't even remember what I was going to write about. So no post.

Sad thing is...its not just the post that didn't get posted, its the grocery list that didn't get written, the front room that didn't get vacuumed and trash that didn't get taken out to the curb...all of that was crammed into the morning routine this morning...eegads!

I guess what I'm saying is...I'm overwhelmed. There are only so many hours in the day and only so much that can be done. It will all get done eventually and there's no reason to stress! Right!?

Thank goodness there is a snowstorm this weekend- because I will playing catch up!