You've Got to Have Friends....

Wow! I am so blessed by the friends that surround me daily, hourly...all the time. Friends, co-workers, neighbors....I have people that support me, love my children, and go above and beyond to help me out in my daily life. I have this best friend, Julie~who was sent to me with such a purpose. She is an amazing mother, friend, teacher, and person. I have this unbelievable friend Kari who amazes me with her strength, faith, and amazing ability to be so giving to everyone in her life. My friend Courtney calls to check on me, loves me for who I am, and has been there for me since college. I have fabulous coworkers who email me and call me just to make sure I am alright. My kids and I have a Grammy J that offers to come help us should we ever need it, and whom my kids love as another grandma. I have these incredible neighbors that play with my children and offer to help whenever it is needed.

Here are some of the unbelievably kind things the people in my life do: make me dinners ahead of time so I don't have to stand and cook after working all day, lift my kids up and tell me to sit down to take it easy, watch my kids so I can go grocery shopping without having to lift anyone into the cart, come over and play with their kids to keep my kids busy when I am supposed to be resting, call me from their vacation homes to check on me, jump on trampolines with my daughter since I can't, offer to come down from L.A. and help us with whatever we need should that situation become a reality, love my family unconditionally...I could go on and on listing the selfless acts my friends constantly do in our honor. I am blessed. You've got to have friends. Friends are the family you choose for yourself. :-) We don't have "blood" family close by, but we certainly have family. We have a circle of friends that is just as close and bonded as a blood related family. We are lucky. We are blessed. We love you all! Thank you for loving and caring about us.

Everything I Need to Know....

Okay, well maybe not everything I need to know, but I sure did learn alot this summer and over our latest vacation. For example, did you know that 18 holes of golf always includes lunch and a beer afterwards? I did not know this was a "standard." Thank you for my husband, mother-in-law, and good friends, Mary, Kari, and Scott for clueing me in on this one. Isn't it unfortunate that four and a half hours with the kids (while said husband is golfing) doesn't also include lunch and a beer? Hmmmm. I also learned that our latest vacation was "Ryan's vacation"...I was just "on summer break." Honestly? I love my husband more than words, but please tell me he didn't really say this to me during our time in Bellingham. What has my summer break consisted of? Let me tell you. Lots of throwing up, lots of feeling cruddy, cleaning (okay, not as much as I should have), laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, day trips with the kids, and playing with the kids. Oh yeah~that's what I ALWAYS do! Thanks honey! I love my life but let's just dream for a minute that we experienced a "Liz's vacation" moment. Although I wouldn't be golfing, I would definitely take four and a half hours a day, four days in a row to do whatever I please and then have lunch and a beer (okay diet coke since I am pregnant) afterwards. Then, I would return back to my family just as the kids had started napping or were ready for bed. How dreamy! I know I sound bitter, and really I'm not. Ryan loves to golf, and it's also a huge part of his job. And, for the most part, it's free for him. So, what am I complaining about anyway? I think I need to find a hobby other than being pregnant or sorting through maternity clothes right now!

Everything I need to know I have learned in the past nine years of marriage. So, maybe I still have some learning to do, but feel much more equipped to have a successful marriage now after celebrating nine years together. I have learned that most importantly, not everything is worth an argument. Although my way is more than likely always the right way (wink, wink), I shouldn't criticize the effort of those I love. I have also learned that no matter what, Ryan and I have always found a way to work it out, make things work, or go to work and start fresh when we get home that night. Life is hard. No one ever said it was going to easy. Raising kids, working, and having a happy marriage is not always a cake walk. I have learned though, that if you focus on all the negatives~of your spouse, your situation, your job, whatever it may be~it just makes you more annoyed and frustrated. We all have our flaws. Thank goodness my husband looks past mine and loves me for who I am. In nine years I have reminded myself that we fall in love with a person for who they are~not for who they might be someday. I love my husband~flaws and all~tremendously.

I have learned this summer that my kids LOVE every vacation they take to visit one of their six sets of grandparents. They don't need a theme park. They just need a grandpa and grandma that spoil them, love them to pieces, and give them oodles~I mean oodles~of attention. Family is so important. Too often we see people put work, money, and/or possessions before family. Can our family frustrate us? Absolutely. Can they get on our nerves? Of course. Do we do the same to them? Undoubtedly. But in the end we are family~those are the things we do best! :-) Families argue but remember this~you will never get that time back. Every moment spent angry or upset with a family member is a moment lost. My dad taught this to me early on. Every moment is a gift. You will NEVER get that moment back. I have learned that it is so much easier to forgive, forget, love, enjoy, laugh, and count my blessings. Life is too short.

I have learned one more important lesson this summer~I really stink at being pregnant! As if I didn't recognize this from my first two children, it really stares me in the face now. I am eternally grateful and blessed to be able to get pregnant so easily, but watch out. Once my body figures out was is going on~oh boy! This will be our last child, and I have slowly learned to enjoy this pregnancy as much as I can when I am not throwing up~and cherish these moments. I will never get them back!

Deep sigh...

As my good friend Kari told me last week, "You'd better blog again soon. People are going to wonder what's been happening with you." She is right. I haven't blogged because I haven't had any motivation. As many of you know by now, I am pregnant and we are expecting our third child on February 17th. Actually, it will be more around the 10th of February, as it will be a scheduled c-section again. I loved both my other c-sections...but that's for a later post! I have been really tired and not feeling that great. The kids have been going to preschool a few days a week and then I lay on the couch and try to be semi-productive here at home, or running errands, etc. The other days, we have been swimming and hanging at the beach. The kids are such a fun age and love just having fun! Here are some pics from the 4th of July, and some of our summer outings. We really have loved only living 15 minutes away from the beach. We hop in the car and then we are there. So blessed and loving it so much! Enjoy the pics, and I will write more soon (sooner than last time!).



Emma and cousin Kaili playing on Long Beach, Wa.



Dylan and Grandpa flying kites on the beach.



Running through the sprinkler at Grandpa and Grandma's!



Grandpa giving all the grandkids tractor rides.



Swimming and playing in the water with Daddy!



"Look at the size of those waves!" (We didn't know there was a high surf warning that day. The waves were HUGE!)



Lastly, the sunflowers that Dylan and Emma planted in front of our house. We all love seeing them...so cheerful!

Busy at the Beach

Whew! The kids have been so busy since our arrival in Washington. We went to my parents' beach house in Long Beach, Washington. While there, I don't think Dylan stopped moving for more than one nap all weekend (an hour on Saturday) and at night to sleep, at which time he snored loudly to help me not miss Ryan so much! Just kidding. Here are the activities that Dylan did at the beach: fishing in the canal with Granpa and Uncle Kai, taking the paddle boat out, flying kites on the beach, swimming in the ocean, flying model airplanes, playing croquet, playing baseball, building a campfire in the backyard, making smores, letting off our own fireworks, and playing with anyone around! Emma took part some of those too, but was also busy playing dollies with her younger cousin Kaili. They are pooped! They had so much fun! Dylan will remember these times forever. The time he spends with Grandpa and his Uncle Kai are so precious to him. He LOVES these times!

The Washington coastline is such a beautiful place. The mix of Evergreen trees with the ocean really is unparallel to any other kind of beauty. The weather is much cooler at the beachhouse, ranging from 60 to 70 degrees when we were there. So comfortable and refreshing! A simple life, no internet, limited cell phone service, and no crazy hustle-bustle. Fireworks going off on the beach for as far as the eye can see. It is so good to be reminded of how easy and simple life can and should be. It was a wonderful Fourth of July and a wonderful weekend with our family.

A different kind of peace

So, the peaceful feeling that I was experiencing last night, changed a little around 3:30 am. Emma called out for me. She was sharing a bed with Dylan. So of course, she woke up Dylan. I had them both come lay in my bed with me, because I was in a queen sized bed and they were in a double. I had them both, each one snuggled up on one side of me. Ahh~a different kind of peace. The kind of peace knowing that only a mom can make it all better in the middle of the night. The kind of peace that both kids could not have possibly snuggled any closer to me. So wonderful! Well, for a while. At 5:12 am when they were both still awake snuggling and whispering next to me, that peaceful, easy feeling was, well...gone. I had to do a little threatening. They did fall back asleep and when we woke up at 7:12 my original sense of peace had been restored.
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On a side note, a funny from our plane ride up here yesterday. The plane was a smaller one, with two seats on either side of the aisle. Emma and I on one side, Dylan in the aisle seat across from me. In the seat next to him, he had a 79 year old lady who had never flown before. She was scared to fly. She was very sweet to Dylan though, and he is an expert flier these days. Anyway, I took out our bag of snacks. I always take cold pizza cut up into small cubes for lunch/dinner on the plane. My kids LOVE it! And it isn't messy when it is cold. I also had packed some grapes. This nice lady saw my bag with the green grapes and said, " I'll take some grapes too please." So of course, I obliged. A little blown away, but I didn't know what else to say but, "okay." Kind of funny!

Peace

I just need a little peace sometimes. I am sure you can all relate. I have not blogged in three weeks. I have not cleaned my house during those same three weeks--gasp! I. AM. TIRED. Tired all the time. Seriously tired. However, today I was able to just enjoy an overwhelming sense of peace. I didn't have to look at the dirty mirror or window I've been meaning to clean. I didn't have to think about what I would be making (or ordering) for dinner. Imagine that. So dreamy. Yes, my friends, I am on vacation. I. LOVE. VACATION. Tropical? No. Cruise? No. Island getaway? No. Theme park related? No. My favorite vacation spot in the world~my parents' house. The kids LOVE it! I relax. Grandpa and Grandma play with them the whole time. This is better than Disneyland for them! Love it. My mom plans out every meal. Love it. As long as I have this I will never need a tropical vacation of any type. The only thing missing? My husband. Work calls. He loves his job. We are thankful he has a job. But alas, we miss him so.

Praying tonight for my friend whose brother has had cancer return to his body. Praying that God can help to provide peace, strength, courage, and hope for him and his family. Praying for my friend. She has been through so much in her life. Praying for her strength and hope too.

Lastly, thankful for my family. My husband and kids, my ADORABLE little niece Kaili :-), my sister, parents, extended family, in-laws, and friends who are family. We are SO blessed by those that are in our lives. We are so fortunate to have support all around us. We have FABULOUS friends and EXTRAORDINARY family. We love you all!

Hamster in a Wheel

No. We don't have a hamster. We don't even have a hamster wheel. We have a me. Yep. A me. That's right. A mom. A wife. A Mrs. Harlow. A Liz. I am the closest human version to a hamster in a wheel that you may ever lay your eyes upon in your lifetime. No joke. Imagine it. Me. In a wheel. Going in circles for hours making no progress. Yep. And of course, I'm having a heck of a lot of fun with a smile on my face the whole time.

This morning did not start off well. I woke up with a RAGING headache. Dark circles. (The night before my eyes were so puffy I had to sleep with a cool washcloth on them.)I started to worry how I would get it all done. Laundry. Report cards. Report card comments. Placement cards. Dishes. Shopping for the birthday party. Uploading pictures for school. Grocery shopping. Paying bills. Visiting friends who just had babies. Cleaning. Finishing the fence project. And oh yeah--let's not forget that I wanted to actually have FUN with the kids this weekend too. Ryan had to leave for work. The kids were both up before seven. Did I mention that I had a headache? Sweet husband went to get milk and caffeine (Starbucks) for me then off to work he went. I dreaded the day ahead. I was so sure that the kids and I were going to be at odds all day. Oh and I forgot to mention that it is Dylan's weekend with the classroom stuffed animal Fluffy. Fluffy needs to go around town with us and we document where he goes. Yep. Take pictures of Fluffy. Upload pics of Fluffy. Pick up pics of Fluffy. Have Dylan write about pics of Fluffy. And yes, all due back in class by Monday morning. Hamster. In. A. Wheel.

Around 10:30 I decided that we needed out of the house and for a morning I dreaded, the day could not have turned out better!

We ran off to Home Depot for the kid's clinic. They each made a tool box with me. Yes. Me. I can pound a nail and line up wood like no other. Okay, well maybe I had to try a few times, but hey the kids loved their toolboxes! And yes, Fluffy had his picture take during the process and after.





As we were leaving Home Depot Dylan said, "Mom, that was so much fun!" Melt my heart. We all held hands and off to the car and our next stop we went. If you have never been to a Lakeshore Learning store you must go. They are known for their teacher supplies and educational games, etc. My kids love everything there! Today they had free puppet making and a man playing guitar and singing. Last week was story time. So fun. And free!!!



Of course, Fluffy had his picture taken there too!



So as the day is now half done I have successfully worked on the most important item on my lengthy "to-do list"....have fun with kids!