Family time

My dad and two siblings on his side of the family have come down to visit me.

The house is insane. I live in a little basement apartment with a roommate and now three more people have come in. I'm a bit worried about them staying here. Usually when I'm with family I have a room I can escape to. But this time my family has taken over my room and I'm sleeping in the living room. So I have no privacy for the next few days.

I'm not sure how well I'll cope. When family visits me I have the luxury of having my nights alone to decompress. To have some alone time to watch Netflix and sleep. I don't have that luxury now. I can't even take my afternoon nap.

They're here for two full days, and it's day one of the two. I can do this. I have to do this.


In other news, I didn't have lunch at Tims with my family. It's a law in Ontario that all the calories are posted beside the food items at restaurants with over 20 locations. It's awful. I need to know the calories in what I eat, but when it's pasted up on a board I feel as though it's being yelled at me, shaming me for having food. I get paranoid that others are adding up the calories in my order. I like looking at the calories before hand, in private.

I came home and ate lunch but it's very frustrating to not be able to take part in eating lunch with my family.

Family time

My family came down to visit my yesterday, and, as much as I love them, I do struggle spending time with them.

It was mostly a good visit though, after a nice chat, we headed out to Candian Tire to fix a few things in my house, and then went for a hike. Kyle was super busy but managed to take about an hour away from his work to come have lunch with us, which I really appreciated. He writes his math GRE in under a week, so I understand how much pressure he is under, but he still takes some time for me and that means the world to me.

It's still tough for me to be around family, the relationship between my mom and step dad can be a big trigger for me. I'm constantly worried that they will split up as they fight a fair bit, and I don't know how I would handle that.

My relationship with my stepdad has been improving though. When we talk about neutral subjects like math and university life and gymnastics things are great. It's when we start talking about my illness that things get rocky.

Overall, I have to say that this is the best visit I've had with my mom's side of the family in quite a long time.

Thankful Thoughts

Wow. I cannot believe its already the ninth day of December.  Where did November go?

Y'all probably know Thanksgiving is my favorite, favorite holiday so before we get into holiday spice flat whites (which are the yummiest), trees full of sap, and little elf spies, lets recap a few thankful thoughts.

Thankful for these 2 blonde beauties and all the love they hold in their hearts..

And of course these 4 babes who are always up to something or conspiring together.

This beauty who happens to be an amazing SIL and aunt.

This woman who prepares a Thanksgiving feast suited for a King but doesn't bat an eye at the request of a PB and J.

This man and all he has taught my husband without ever failing to listen.

These 2.. 

Because everything from buying groceries for a Thanksgiving feast to waiting 2 hours while your car gets serviced is always an adventure.

This little girl, who celebrated her big 2 year birthday and always puts a smile on my face.

These people..  Who have tolerated my boot wearing grouchiness for countless weeks.

This girl, who never complains and smiles incessantly..

Cute cousins that can make it through an entire Charlie Brown movie when supplied with plenty of popcorn and diet coke.

The opportunity to see Broadway shows in your own backyard and family members that trust you when you insist they accompany you

So, that's it.  Guess I'd better get back to decking the halls with these little turkeys.

About Dads

Growing up I often heard the tale that girls end up marrying someone like their father.

I laugh at the truth in that statement from time to time.

Both my dad and my husband have the strongest work ethic of anyone I know.  They are both extremely driven individuals and the 2 smartest men I know.  I still blame my dad working 12 hour days for the reason I sit up late at night.

Summers were awesome because often it was light enough outside when he got home to shoot a few hoops or swim in the pool.  He always got me with his double or nothing game.  Basically he would start shooting 3 pointers by saying $5 bucks if I miss this.  He would miss 10 in a row and I'd be calculating how many NKOTB posters I could buy before he killed my dream with a simple swoosh of the net.  Now I realize he knew what he was doing the whole time and missing on purpose.

If it was a swim night sometimes he would swim with me and others he would challenge me to see how fast I could swim laps.

And, as I've probably said before, if we were indoors lots of night Rosie would fix us bacon, eggs, and toast and we'd catch up on Bond movies.  Sorry Pops, Roger Moore will always be my favorite.  But we can both agree we like our eggs sunny side up.

Just like my favorite moment of the day was when Pops rolled in the driveway my kid's favorite moment is when their dad walks through the door.  The minute they hear the door open its "Daddy's home!", "Daddy's home!" Usually there's a quick game of tag followed by hugs and kisses.

I love watching that part of the day.  Some days he beats us home, some days he surprises us and meets us at the pool, but no matter where, their little expressions when they see him never get old.

Especially when they are surprised at ballet performances ;)

And  I might have forgotten to mention who they prefer post bath snuggles from.

So, happy Father's Day Daddy and Pops.  Carsyn, Hank, and I are blessed beyond measure to have you.

Lately..

We've been hanging out a lot with this sweet boy..

I've been running on lots of iced coffee..

(FYI…Chickfila >Sbux)

We've been having lots of pool days..

And sprinkler days at Camp Rosie..

I've been trying to up my running game..

Carsyn has discovered Monster High makeup tutorials on YouTube..

And Hank is amidst potty training!

Easter

I'm always far behind on posting events as they happen, but I figure I started this blog for memories sake so technically it doesn't really matter.

We had a wonderful Easter weekend celebrating with friends and family.

We went to Camp Rosie Saturday and hid eggs and had dinner with my mom and dad.

Both of the kiddos were really into hiding eggs this year.

Side note.  Apparently turkey hunting season coincides with Easter and Pops informed the boys they needed to show up in their camo Saturday.  Soooooo…they showed up like this.  Rosie was THRILLED.

We spent the night at my inlaws Saturday night and the kids were excited to find the Easter bunny had delivered their baskets Sunday morning.

We made it to my favorite church Sunday morning and I snapped a pic of our Easter Sunday stroll.

I think this is my favorite picture yet…….here's a few past..

We went back to my in laws for dinner Sunday afternoon.

My MIL is such a phenomenal person.  I love her so much and love what a special relationship she has with Carsyn.

The kids spent some time in Carsyn's playhouse and I finally got the answer to a question I had been wondering.  I thought perhaps the kids would use the space as a shared house, but Hank moved his trucks in and sister was having no part of it.

The still love each other 95% of the time though.

Gosh.  It was such a good day.  Really wishing I could freeze time now.

Lately

Hope y'all had a great weekend and great start to your week.  The first thing I did Monday morning was back over my garbage cans.  I rewarded my stupidity with a trip to Krispy Kreme and picked up a few boxes to deliver to friends.

Is there a possible way to eat a donut without feeling guilt?

Could you share it with me?

Rosie visited us Friday and we went to Cincy to do a little shopping.  

I have to say my kids are pretty good shoppers.  My strategy is to get them a snack and plop them in the stroller.  Usually they get in and out about 50 times.  Then after an hour or so they get really wound up and I decide to let them run laps around the mall.

They are really good at those.

Its a no brainer we eat at The Cheesecake Factory if we are at Kenwood.  Its Carsyn's absolute favorite place and every time we are there she proclaims her love for eating in Egypt.

Saturday Shane had a golf date so I loaded up the kids and drove to Camp Rosie to have a little belated birthday celebration for pops.

It becomes more apparent every time I'm with my niece and nephew that the girls are going to be super close.  Carsyn will not have a sister, but a sweet female cousin kind of makes up for that.

The boys are too.

We got back to town late and the kids slept the whole way back meaning we were all up until 1 or so.  Hank requested we watch Frozen and he held my hand for almost the entire movie.  Love my boy.

On Sundays my sister has been coming over and walking/running with me.  Usually I try to squeeze in a quick 2 before she gets here.  Every year after the holidays I find myself scrambling to drop a few pounds.  And every year it gets harder.

I LOVE sister time though.

We watched the Grammys Sunday night and I have to add Kayne.  I just can't.  You are a talented soul.  But you are classless, disrespectful, and rude.  

Can we all agree the best performance of the night was these guys?  I mean give me all the classic rock!