Feel free to yell at me

or at least comment in all caps if I do not produce three posts by the end of the week. I need to catch up and it's REALLY been bugging me. I'm motivated. (partial lie) It will be done soon.

As you can obviously tell.

Real Life

Blogs and facebook are a funny thing. We get to virtually enter people's lives. Sometimes we only get a glimpse. Just the surface layer of what they are willing to share. An immaculately decorated home. A professional family photo with coordinated outfits, loving smiles and airbrushed faces. And other times we see everything. Truely. Even pictures of their placenta.   

Each of us have complete control over how much we let our facebook friends or really anyone in the world view our lives. We share. We over share. But it's up to each individual to decide what is appropriate to give to the masses when they hit post/publish. 

But for me...

I hope I am being real. Being honest. That no matter how little or many posts I share, I hope I am sharing the real me.  I hope when I look back over my timeline or in my archives I can remember life as it really was. Not perfect. Not awful. But really hard. And really awesome. 

So for today, here's my real life.  

Real life is that my children are still not dressed. 

Real life is the breakfast of English muffins on the floor uneaten 2 hours later (see right side).

Real life is that Kendyl is shredding up her coloring book with one of Nathan's tools. 

Real life is that I have no idea why, and I don't really care because I got to clean my kitchen.

Real life is the Cherrios that are scattered throughout half of my room. 

Real life is that they've been their for 2 days.

Real life is that my kitchen is clean and smelling of bleach.

Real life is sometimes looking like the person in the background of this photo.

 Real life is Josie jumping on the couch even though I've put her in timeout a million times.

Real life is the sparkly purple nail polish I found on my toilet this morning.

 Real life is letting my kids destroy our balcony just so we could talk to the missionaries when they came for dinner.

Real life is that it still looks that way a week later.

Real life is this.

 And this.

And if I had my phone around after Kendyl pulled Josie's hair I might have posted that too.

Because this is my real life.

And when I look back years later I want to remember what life was really like. 

The big decisions and scary moves.

The drudgery that comes each day. Loading and RELOADING dishwashers, washing machines, and car seats.

The messes.

The mistakes. 

Finally figuring out what worked.

Feeling lonely and depressed.

Feeling beautiful and happy.

The little successes.

The big failures.

Bad hair days. 

Bad mom days.

Ever-evolving relationships.

The yelling.

The smiles.

Feeling completely overwhelmed.

Feeling so good about what I did.

I hope because of what I shared I will remember what I survived: Real Life.

And even more, I hope I learn to thrive. Not despite real life. 

But really, truly because of it.

The end.

Publish.

Looking old today

Not sure if it was the jeans, her long hair, or the tie shoes, but it felt like my little girl wasn't looking so little anymore. I love her. I'm so glad to see her learning new things and trying new things.

And I love J and her goofy grins. We finally get the chance to be alone together when K's off at preschool for a few hours each week. It is great! It's like she's a whole different person one-on-one. I really love it. 

Skipper and Co.

(Mini) Summer Adventure: #3

A few weeks later we went back to Fairfax Lake to try at the paddle boats. For 6 bucks not a bad deal. I'm just glad we decided on a half hour instead of an hour. It gave us a pretty good workout. At one point Josie kind of freaked out and realized she was in the middle of a lake all of a sudden stood up and started having a anxiety attack. But it was a fun way to break up a Saturday. Can't wait until the girls are older and they can paddle us around instead.

 He really is a happy guy when I'm not aiming my camera at him.

Almost ran these guys over.

Girls were happy until the end and they realized they wanted to ride the sparkly purple one instead. Oops.

After we went to Sweet Frog for frozen yogurt. It was a good day.

Hot bliggity blog

Wahoo! Posted 2 days in a row. If I keep this up I might have an ulcer before the end of the week.

Summer Adventure #2: Camping Practice

The Low Down:

We were finally able to get some camping gear. Another thing we've needed to replace since moving here. Our goal was to go camping at the beach by the end the of the summer. We made a trip out to Dick's. Never take children to a sporting goods store. Just really not a good idea. Somehow, 4 stores later we were set enough that we decided to find a spot to camp the next day. We wanted it to be as easy as possible. And it really was. All we needed was a change of clothes and a pack of hot dogs, marshmallows, and a simple breakfast. We camped at Fairfax Lake in Reston which is no more than 20 minutes away. Ended up next to a camp of deacons. They were easily identified as soon as they piled out of their minivan. After dinner Nate went for a short run. They girls eyed the dirt and bugs and didn't do much more. Put them to bed. The bathrooms were pretty posh here. I'd come back. Next year we'll plan better; there's a water park right there too. After the girls finally zonked out, Nate and I watched a movie in the car. What else can you do when you only brought a limited wood supply but stowed away a computer? We all slept good enough. Except Nate took the tent cover off. We all woke up a little wet. It was a little rainy in the morning, but K said another prayer (part 2 of primary talk) and it stopped. She ran out of the bathroom yelling through call the campsites, "Jesus stopped the rain!!" Had our breakfast, packed up and were out before the deacons had roused. Easy, peasy. Ready for beach camping!

Nate realizing that with a whole family of girls, no one wants to help.

Teaching the girls the delicate nature of starting a fire....with lighter fluid. 

Learning the art of camping.

Nate looking sexy with his why-must-you-always-take-pictures face.

Roasting marshmallows. Girls struggling to understand why they really needed to be stuck in the fire first. Case in point: why we needed to have camping practice.

 So hard to convince them that I also did not need to wear my nightlight...all evening long. 

 Even camping we don't wear clothes in this family. 

If you're ever camping with a few otter pops handy, throw them in the fire. Instead of melting right away they just boil forever. Loads of fun to watch. 

Sorry ozone layer. 

 Our Breakfast of Champions: bacon and...

 double stacked chocolate donuts!

 Proof me and my dirty feet came.

just post already

I've really been putting this thing off. I got a very basic new computer after J destroyed the Mac. I am having issues with being back to a PC. Blah. Hate everything about the it, especially in regards to photos. But that's life. So here's a few pictures of what I'll call...

Summer Adventure #1: Hiking Sugarloaf Mountain

Highlights:
1) We drove there knowing full well we were going to end up hiking in the rain. Thus, our typical family style, came completely unprepared for that. No pants. No jackets. We ate our little lunch in the car while the rain pelted around us. I took over the role as Family Pessimist. Nathan decided to counteract that with a an abundance of optimism. After a prayer (inspiration for K's first Sunbeam talk which she gave ALL BY HERSELF) the sky started to clear.

2) I have never told the story Three Little Pigs so many times. We did anything we could to keep the girls going, especially on the way back. 4 straight hours of walking really not that many miles worth. I get now why it took the pioneers all day to walk only 10 or less miles. They had 2 and 4 year olds.

3)We copped out the last bit. When we got close to a road Nate decided to run ahead the last couple of miles and get the car while we waited. Never could be a pioneer. Threw rocks instead.

4) The girls saw cows and climbed "Sugar Mountain" while staying dry. The day was dubbed a success.

Posting this practically frustrated me to death. I hope the effort was appreciated. :) We might not get to the next summer adventures at this rate. Love you technology.