Right now

Life is keeping us awfully busy and I'm not blogging as much as I used to.  There was no energy for anything after our big weekend and I caught up on some of my favorite blogs last night.  As always, I was inspired by Amber at London Reid. 

I've never done a right now post but loved hers. It's like a little fill in diary. Here is a little snap shot of right now for me...

right now I am...

watching...The Bachelorette.  It is embarrassing that I like it because it is absolute trash television, but Emily seems almost NORMAL and I am intrigued by her choice to stay home and expose the eligible bachelors to real life.  I will give myself to mindless entertainment for this.  And I love to see what she's wearing. She is too cute!

 

 

reading... I just read books one and two of the Fifty Shades trilogy.  Whoa nelly!  I didn't know what it was about when I started and just wanted something new.  I got sucked right in and read them both in a little more than a week.  WARNING: For mature audiences only.

eating...watermelon.  It feels like summer when we're eating ripe, red watermelon.

drinking...Caramel Drizzle coffee. Still obsessed with my  Keurig.

wearing...lots of dresses.  That feels like summer, too. 

 

 

avoiding...putting away laundry.  After packing lunches that might be my least favorite thing to do.

feeling...anxious.  There are a lot of things on my personal to do list, as well as my business to do list.  The weekend was a complete blur and I'm having trouble getting back on track.  Clearly.  I am here and not working on either of those lists.

missing...my girlfriends.  They're called Brown Girls.  I am missing them all so much and wishing that time and distance weren't such a factor in our relationships.

thankful...for a wonderful weekend with my family.

weather...warm & sunny and I can see the navy blue sea through the kitchen window.

praying... for clarity on some business decisions.  The right choice for me isn't always the most obvious.

needing...to exercise.  I see it in the way my clothes are fitting and how tired I am.  A little exercise could cure an awful lot for me.

thinking...about enrolling the kids in summer camps. I've NEVER been this late.

dreaming...about vacation in Italy with E next month.  It still seems like a dream. 

loving...all the fun we've had lately with our baseball friends. Pizza parlors, bonfires at the beach and afternoon dips in the pool have been fun for all of us.

And you? What does your right now look like?

Sacrifice

All weekend long we've been watching our kids shine in soccer and baseball.

The Princess scored two goals in soccer on Saturday to help her team to a 6-0 win. She is sassy and intense and we love her for her spunk.

Her brother is playing game five in a weekend baseball tournament for his All Star team. They won three of their first four games and are feeling their way around each other as they become a team for tournament play.

We haven't been home for anything other than a little sleep since Friday night and as I hauled the cooler and the chairs out the door again this morning I felt like a huge sacrifice to give up another day.

How selfish of me. I know there are families who have at least one parent serving who may have never seen one game of their children's seasons. Or families who have lost a parent who never will see their children make all stars.

Those families won't ever see this either but they deserve to be remembered. To all of those who serve and sacrifice in ways that I can never even dream of . . . Thank you. We are thankful for your service.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Flashback Friday

As this baseball season wraps up I am completely overwhelmed with admiration for my husband and his mini-me.  These boys have both worked really, really hard this season. E is such an impressive role model to the boys he is coaching and his son (AKA all-star first baseman!!) adores him.  He is absolutely worthy of the adoration he's receiving.

When I was making the Athlete's all star poster this week I tracked down photos from all six years he's been playing.  Six springs of dirty white pants and team jerseys.  Where has the time gone??

Spring 2007

Spring 2012

I love, love, love my boys. Life gets better every year with them both. Have a wonderful weekend.

Good and Plenty

So much goodness is happening here in our corner of the world.  We are busy.  We are healthy.  We can hardly wait for summer.

someone sassy scored three goals in her indoor soccer game!!!

There's a new man in the house named Keurig.  He makes a perfect cup of coffee in a flash.
TRUE LOVE

Our Athlete was  nominated to the league's All Star team.  SO PROUD

Life is certainly not perfect, but it's plenty good for now.

Love Notes

There have been exactly seven nights since April 18 that I have slept in my own bed.  I have missed my family and always hope they miss me.  I got home last night and found a stack of hot pink post it notes scattered on my night stand. 

To be loved "more then the beach"  is the greatest gift in the world.  My heart is so full.

The grass is always greener . . .

There is no noise in my house besides the sound of me swallowing Starbucks and my fingers on the keyboard.  That doesn't happen to me very often.  Maybe never.

I needed to work today and really couldn't bring myself to drive to the office.  My extraordinary husband volunteered to take our kids to a museum in San Diego so I could work at home.  God Bless that wonderful man.  What may seem like an insignificant gesture to anyone who doesn't know us or our situation right now it is the equivalent of him flying me to Paris for dinner on a private jet.  It is grand and leaves me speechless and completely humbled with gratitude.

There is a quote that I came across somewhere recently that reads something like

"the grass is greener where you water it"

That doesn't seem like much, but in a world where marriage is increasingly disposable it says everything.  Good things only grow when you make the time to tend to them.  When the opportunity presents itself, watering the grass could be a grand romantic gesture or a generous gift.  When the need is there, it is an afternoon with a laptop and coffee.

Our grass is green and glorious.  My husband is wonderful and I am grateful.  Thank you Lord for all of it.

Time to make the doughnuts

Remember that Dunkin Donuts commercial 20 or 30 years ago when the little man would leave in the dark and go to his shop and he'd get home in the dark and then go do it all over again?  I really liked that commercial.  At that point in my life I am sure the true meaning was lost on me.  A lot can change in 20 years and I TOTALLY get it now.

Earlier this week I was in my office until 3 AM and I am in the office by 6 AM a few days a week right now.   In between office hours I am desperately trying to keep up with laundry and bedtime prayers.  I fully understand and empathize with the bleary eyed little guy mumbling "time to make the doughnuts".

My schedule won't be like this forever and I have a really terrific new team that is talented, committed and kind.  Our business' most high profile, high pressure events are happening now and there's no time to dwell.  We leave for a seven day trip today and have one more just like it seven days from now.  That's an awful lot of doughnuts, but I know I'll make it through.

When I am home, I am the proud owner of the loveliest family around.  My husband deserves some sort of never heard of trophy for the amount of responsibility he's taken on for our gang.  He has more than compensated for my absence and hasn't complained once.  I am beyond grateful for his support and love for us.

And these kids.  These kids make all the doughnuts in the world worth it.  I am so blessed they're mine.

Now, it's time to make the doughnuts.

Bucket Filler

We've been talking about filling each other's buckets at our house this week.  I LOVE IT.  According to our first grade population here is the definition of a Bucket Filler:

Offering a kind word, a smile or something nice to someone else fills up their bucket.  When you're nice to someone else it feels good and their bucket is full and your bucket gets a little filled up, too.

I just love, love, love this.  Every chance I get I am asking my kids and E whose bucket they filled today.  It is so wonderful to hear my family talk about what they did for someone else and how it made them feel.  I can't say enough about how much I like this analogy and the positive impact I see it having on my family.

There is also a bucket dipper.  Again, according to my favorite first grader the definition of a Bucket Dipper is:

Taking a big spoon and taking someone else's good to fill up your own bucket.  It doesn't make them feel good when you take away from them and you don't feel good either.  No one wants to be a bucket dipper.

Isn't that the truth?!?!  I never feel worse than when I am unkind or unnecessarily harsh with someone.  We talk some about being a bucket dipper but careful analysis shows that none of us dipping from someone else, that we know of.

In the spirit of being a bucket filler I am staying on track with the Thank You Project and trying to be extra careful to show my family how much they mean to me.  I got this text yesterday after someone unexpectedly received a thank you note from me.

Seriously, that might be the nicest card I have ever received.  Thank you for making my day :) xo

Her bucket was filled and my bucket was filled.  Wouldn't it be nice if life was always so easy and fulfilling?!!?

And the little buckets I want to fill the most have just started spring break and need some extra TLC. I "decorated" for them before I picked them up at noon.  They were so excited about this and their buckets were certainly filled for that moment.  My bucket, of course, is overflowing.

Little things are big things to little people.

Be kind to your children.

The world is harsh and they deserve to know how much you love them.