I read this on Pinterest and I like it. Its so true. We married them for a reason, right?! Life is complicated enough....we all gotta vent.

Make a husband pact with your friends.
The husband pact says this: I promise to listen to you complain about your husband even in the most dire terms, without it affecting my good opinion of him. I will agree with your harshest criticism, accept your gloomiest predictions. I will nod and furrow my brow and sigh when you describe him as a hideous ogre. Then when your fight is over and love shines again like a beautiful sunbeam in your life, I promise to forget everything you said and regard him as the most charming of princes once more. The husband pact is very useful because you want to be able to vent to your friend without having her actually start hating your husband. Because you don’t really mean all those things you say. And she, the swearer of the pact, knows this.

Lilah had her monthly check up with her eye surgeon. 

I get anxious every month before her appointment. 

I worry they will say "no progress this month."  

Those words make my heart sink.

We discovered her lazy eye right after her 2nd birthday, but what we didn't realize was how terrible her vision was. Lilah is legally blind in her right eye. Her doctor explained that if we don't correct her vision by age 7 she will likely be blind in that eye for life. Thus, we're doing all we can to correct it. We patch her strong eye so the weak eye has to work. 

AND

Today we got great news!

Lilah's vision and lazy eye has made continual progress. Today we got the go-ahead for new (WEAKER) lenses in her glasses. We get to patch 8 hours a day vs. 10-12 hours, and we'll see the Dr. every other month vs. every month. 

This news made me smile.

For the second year in a row we ventured down to Ocean Shores.

This year our group grew.

Kids, swam and swam and played and ran and were caked in sand.

Adults, sat and drank and ate and played games and were caked in sand.

I think we all had some good laughs.

Hopefully we'll all do it again next year. 

We headed over the mountains to Eastern WA. We stayed with Grammy in Spokane and took lots of adventures. We created a new family tradition that we plan on doing each summer. We took the kids to Silverwood. For those of you who've never been (like Mike and I) its a theme park/water park in Coeur d'Alene ID. It is fantastic. Even at 2 and 4 the girls loved it! Its extremely family friendly, clean, and appeals to all ages. 

Playing a serious game of croquet

 

 Lazy River floats at Silverwood

 

 Day trip to Pullman

FIRST STOP COUGAR COUNTRY

 We got to watch practice!

 

 Then home to watch the Everett AquaSox baseball game. I had to add this adorable pic of the girls and Allie taking a stroll.

 

 

I am having fleeting thoughts of wanting another baby. Then I think - am I crazy!! I remind myself how amazing it is that the girls are past the baby stage. We have no diapers. We are sleeping through the night. We are able to leave them with baby sitters. We can enjoy a moment to ourselves without bouncy, holding or chasing after a baby.

BUT.....this is also what makes me sad. We don't have cribs, baby snuggles, baby firsts. Its a whole new big girl world. In the midst of chaos, laughter, tears, prideful, screaming, scared, screw up, what the hell am I doing, moments the girls are growing up. Its bitter sweet.

 It may have taken us 30 some years, but the point is we got here!

Love having my sister and happy my girls have each other.

She's a beauty.......

  No seriously

She's probably one of the most beautiful people I know.

Winding down from my birthday weekend. I feel incredibly blessed to have such amazing people in my life. People that go out of their way to let me know they care. I've never had a problem with aging, its more about feeling content with myself. I know my life is far from perfect. I know I've got areas for growth.  But, I know I have so much to be thankful for. So...a great big thank you to everyone who helped me celebrate. I appreciate each of you so much. 

My top 5 moments from this weekend

1. Meeting a fellow WSU AGD - PC 06 at the bar.And feeling incredibly old, but trying to stay cool and not directly ask what the heck she was talking about most of our conversation. 

(FYI - PC 06 is pledge class 2006).

2. Paul calling his parents to "lock in" a babysitter for the kids.. Promptly followed by a reminder email. That trips gonna happen!

3. Opening my fabulous gifts!! I was spoiled.

4. Singing Ting Tings "That's Not My Name" with Lilah. Windows down at the top of our lungs.

5.My mom. She still knows how to make me feel special. Thank you mom.

Its been forever since I've sat down to blog. Time seems to be flying by. Literally. I blink my eyes and a month goes by. I'm not sure what to even write about. Life continues to throw stones every once in awhile, but we just keep moving.One thing I am learning in life is we have little (sometimes no) control over what happens each day. But, we have all the control over how we handle the aftermath and what we learn from each situation.
Here's a bit about what we've been up to:
* Linda, Tynia and I threw a fabulous 60th birthday party for my mom. It was all women. Lots of wine. Tons of laughs.Celebrating a outstanding woman.
* Georgia got baptized. She walked herself up and waved at the congregation. So proud of herself. I say it all the time..... "god knew" I needed that little girl.
* Lilah has a new best friend from school. Her first self chosen friend. She did good. We love Charlie and her parents. Its a bonus when you get to hang out with your kids friends parents.
* I colored my hair. Went darker. Like it.
* I've made it a priority to get out with friends more often. Been doing dinners galore. Meeting up with girlfriends at least once a week. Its nice.
* We hired the neighbor girl to babysit every Monday over the summer. That's a guarantee date night every week. Super happy.
* Lilah's next eye appointment is June 12th. I am praying they see improvement.Last time her vision was the same. It made me sad. She has such a zest for life nothing seems to bother her. She is an amazing child.

This week I got a text from my sister while sitting in a meeting at work. It said, "apparently if you pee your pants mice will eat your vagina??".

We all have different parenting, right? Well my method involves saying anything and everything to get my children to do as I say. So when Lilah started having accidents...ALL THE TIME! I was loosing my mind. As I was yelling at her to go change her pants (for the 3rd time that day)this slipped out of my mouth. "If you pee your pants the mice are gonna smell it and come eat your vagina. AND it will not feel good." Looking back maybe not the best thing to say, but heck it was worth a try. So now every time Lilah has to go to the bathroom......and she's about to pee her pants because she has been holding it FOREVER. She will run off yelling "I have to go pee. I don't want those mice to come eat my vagina!"

Just shaping two innocent little girls......

sanity??

Sanity....what sanity?

They scream

I scream
They scream louder
Today they won
I have wine-they don't so ultimately I guess I win.

A First for me

This is the first year I have made a resolution - in a long time - maybe ever. So, in hopes that I will stick with it I am writing it down. Here's the deal. I have no problem with aging, but I hate the wrinkles I see on my face. I would do botox in a heartbeat. Heck, I would do anything necessary to make myself feel better. I say if you want work done - go for it! But, in my case money is an issue. Therefore I'm not jumping on that band wagon quite yet. That and Mike told me I can't get any "work" done until I am 100% done having children AND I can't say that with 100% certainty.

So......my resolution is........Take Great Care of My Skin.
Here is what I have done or will do this year:
*I purchased the Age Smart Dermalogica series which I use day and night (including the night creams). Loving it. It makes my skin feel fabulous.
*I will get quarterly facials (minimum).
*I will not be cheap/lazy and pick up products at Target. I know my skin agrees with Bobby Brown cosmetics so I need to get my lazy butt to Nordy's (or get online) and get it. No need to Q-tip the stuff to death then buy something I end up hating because of pure laziness.
*I wanna look into a chemical peel. I've seen some amazing results from these.

Pretty much this time next year my skin better look dang good. If not I just my be looking into botox asap.

Loving the snow.

Since kids New Years has lost its luster.

I mean midnight seems ridiculously late.

I hate feeling crappy the next day.

BUT

This year was different.

We had a fabulous New Years.

We had a dinner party.

We did a mock New Years celebration at 9 for the kiddos.

They were in bed by 9:30.

We played asshole (remember from high school).

We partied till the New Year!

BEST PART

It was with my siblings and spouses.

Whom I adore.

AND

The next day we all watched hours of Parenthood - together - in our jammies - hungover - while the cousins kept each other totally occupied.

This Christmas was special. It was everything I hoped for.

It was peaceful, we did create new traditions and I felt extremely blessed. The girls were excited...excited about everything! Seeing them happy made me happy. I simply heart Christmas.

Making homemade Christmas ornaments

excited about the barbie house Santa left

Christmas eve with the cousins

opening presents......lots and lots of presents

No tears for Santa this year

I have fabulous friends.

Honestly.

I am not sure how I got so lucky.

Its one area of my life I feel completely content.

As I get older I realize how important these relationships are.

I need each and every one of you! Every couple of weeks I look at Mike and say "I need to see my friends. I miss them."

Funny how a night with them can completely refresh the soul.

So around the holiday I feel really happy when I get to spend overnights with some of my besties.

Its blissful.