A letter to my 45 year old self...

NOTE: I wrote the following in my journal back in January. So I could remember what my life was like at 35. When my babies are little--because in 10 years I'm sure I will forget.

Wanted to share it with y'all tonight.

Dear 45 year old self,

Just a few things I want you to remember in this season of your life. Your babies are 3, 2, and 4 months  old. 

IT IS BUSY. 

Some days we thrive. Other days we limp. 

But, we make it.

Your boys are in these incredible stages...

Easton just wants to learn. And try everything on his own. He can dress himself from head to toe and MAMA...you thought you had arrived! 

Now, you only have to dress 3 people each morning! 

Easton loves to be silly and say silly things. "Peanut" is as silly as it gets but that one word can make him and Linc dissolve into giggles for a good while. 

Speaking of Lincoln, he just wants to please. 

AND eat. 

1st at the table-last to leave. 

His hunting skills improve everyday. He is silent, but so sweet.

 He's smile melts everyone's hearts. 

With that said, when did he stop coming to sleep in our bed??

Knightley is just about to be able to grab his toes with his hands. He tries so hard. He is at such a smiley stage. And so talkative. 

No worries, Mama. 

You take moments just to hold him. 

Just to breathe him in. 

Sometimes, you even leave the dishes for the morning so you can just be with your baby.

Your world is small these days. 

You don't get away very often. 

But, it's okay. 

You realize this is just a season. 

And through every season you have highs and lows. 

Good and bad. 

You try to look at the good and forget the bad. 

Sometimes it works. 

Sometimes you forget.

Some of the good these days are:

1. Slow mornings. Kids don't have to rush out the door to school. 

We relax. 

And play. 

And enjoy the morning.

2. The snuggles. 

All your babies still love to snuggle in the morning upon waking up.

3. EARLY BEDTIME!!! 

Once the boys go to bed most nights you do also-JUST TO THINK! 

Quiet and PEACE!

You should see how Wil and I communicate.

 It's a riot to even complete a full sentence but somehow we make it work.

And I could add more, but it's 9:15pm and I am fighting staying awake!!

You are living your dream. 

A WIFE AND MOTHER!

And, even though you would LOVE 8 hours ALL.TO.YOURSELF most days you never sit, because if you did rooms would explode in 5 minutes flat.

You enjoy your life.

And, try, daily to notice the things that won't be here 10 years from now.

Still tell your boys, "You will be mighty in GOD someday!"

Because, they will.

Trust me.

We got this.

Avrie turns ONE!

A year ago today my brother became a father.

I watched with my own eyes how he grew up a bit more that day.

And I couldn't of been prouder.

Saturday, the boys and I drove down to JP and Tasha's house for Avrie's birthday party! 

What a party it was!!

My sister in love is amazing. 

She can pretty much do anything.

(and...I may have just hired her to do my kids' birthday parties for the rest of their lives!)

We had so much fun...and Avrie was a doll. 

They welcomed us right away with a photo shoot!

No one is as sweet as Avrie. She was such a Princess and was just so sweet ALL DAY. 

Props to her! 

My mom loves to laugh. And so do I. We had so much fun dressing up Knightley. 

And the kid played along!!

Introducing: Mr. Knightley

We all had so much fun playing along. I think all the props were perfect!

My boys had a blast and loved trying on glasses. 

 Cake time! She didn't understand blowing out the candles.....

 But she did understand that ONE cupcake was JUST for her!!!!

At the end of the party, I told my kids they could have candy if they took a pic with all the kids there.

(Mom of the year is what you're thinking I am sure!)

Linc's glasses are the most fought over ones...because both he and E feel they look like Titus Brown in them!
(Family friend!)

This kid. I am sure he will pick my nursing home and these pictures will NOT be in my favor. BUT, I still laugh EVERY TIME!

Good GIRL! Get that cupcake!

Best cousins. 

Happy 1st birthday, Avrie!

So glad we got to be apart of your BIG day! We love you so much and PROMISE to protect you ALL the days of our lives!!

~THE NOLT COUSINS~

A day in August...

CONFESSION: Around 9am I thought to myself...HUH, today would be a GREAT day to do A DAY IN AUGUST...so I grabbed my camera and started clicking, after we'd been up for a while. So, let me give you a brief update on our camera-less (new word) morning.

Monday, Aug. 16, 2010

6:30am: Easton wakes up. I bring him in bed and we all fall back to sleep.

7:00am: Easton wakes up for good. Make bottle. Feed him. Come downstairs. Finish feeding Easton and then make myself breakfast. Boring cereal...or was it toast? I can't remember.

8am: Start the bath. My favorite time of the day. Bathtime with Easton. Last week he learned how to splash and he loves when we just sit and splash. He's not afraid to get water in his face. So kick and splash he does. He loves water. (Just like me) So, we spend a GREAT deal of time in our bath. Maybe like 30-60 mins a morning, or afternoon or evening. When we are NOT rushed to get out the door. And, this is without bath toys. Yes. Pure splashing fun.

GOOD morning....Felt the need to show you what I look like pre-bath.

My little fish. A bath must-haves: BUBBLES. Lots of bubbles. Hot water. Cute baby boy and a mommy. Lots of water-fun.

Loves the camera. This week I realized that we needed bath toys. BUT, if we bought bath toys we'd never get out...so I'm holding off til next week.

He loves bubbles. He tries to grab them...but his hand goes into the water. And he looks for the bubbles in his hand but can't get them. Over and over we try this...til our water gets cold.
Cold water=time to get out! (yep, we run out of hot water every morning we take a bath.)

10am: Easton goes down for a nap. I come to check on him. Poor boy STILL has to be swaddled and STILL has to SMASH his face into a blanket. We are working on it...but what's not broke...we don't need to fix. AND since I'm sleeping and he's sleeping we both our happy. Swaddle and blanket and binkie are a must come sleeping time.

10:20am: I start a load of towels. Let me start again...I start a load of ALLLLL the towels we have in our house. (Too many baths!) But for real, we only have like 8 towels total and so it was time to wash them!

10:45am: I sit down and zone out on facebook and blogger. Facebook just to check to see if anything is going on and blogger to read my favorite blogs. Hoping that my favorites will blog something.

11:45am:Baby boy wakes up and daddy gets to feed him. (yep, pretty sure I've been on the computer that WHOLE entire time.) Oh naptime...you make my heart sing. (My husband isn't mad that was his WHY THE PICTURE taking ALL THE TIME face) Just wait, Mr. Nolt...just wait!)

Noon: LUNCH TIME! Normally, sandwiches or leftovers are for lunch. But, my husband didn't have to work so I made it a bit more fancy. Sweet corn from our garden! Well, husband's garden! Side note: I should take pics of what I eat and post them on facebook ALL the time. Good way to eat less. Didn't want you to think of me as a pig! Moving on....

12:30:Dishes DONE.

12:35: I walk outside to my husband's garden and FIND THIS! I was soooo excited. All I wanted from my garden was zucchini. But, one day while weeding our garden, my husband and I uprooted our zucchini plant. And it died. Or so I thought. But, Jesus healed it and it gave us ONE zucchini. My summer is complete. Almost.

1pm: I head out to get the mail. Fun. Fun.

I DANCED all the way back to the house!!! I had a package and I KNEW exactly what it was! I screamed and danced (again) and started to open it!

After I read a blog about this program I've wanted to try it. I found it on Amazon and bought it...CONFESSION: I bought it without telling my husband. It's the 1st time I've never asked/told him I was going to buy something. One day, I just BOUGHT it. Right then and there. And confessed at suppertime that evening. RIGHT before our marriage class. Yep. Guilty. He took it well. And we both laughed because he KNEW how excited I was about it. Now, he wants a kayak. Sigh. This software wasn't as much as a kayak....

After my whole dance party...I calm myself...as the software is being installed on my computer, (my husband helped me) I sat down to write the family circle letter. My husband has 8 siblings. They started this circle letter with the WIVES of each family. Each wife writes a letter about what's going on in their life/family and passes it on to the next "sister." Then you get to read all the other letters they write. It takes about 4 months for it to pass between 9 families but it's fun to see what they write. AND what you wrote 4 months ago. Most of the letters talk about canning and freezing their summer gardens....mine...not so much. Guess I'm the black sheep of the family. I DID freeze sweetcorn this year but didn't tell them. My little few quarts of sweetcorn would not compare to their bushels of sweet corn, peas, beans, jam, strawberries, blue berries, onions, soups, peaches, fruit mixes and anything else you can squeeze into a canning jar.

2:30pm:Easton wakes up from his 2nd nap of the day. Such a cute little boy and so happy. He makes me smile and I just LOVE him. HE is what I write about in the family circle letter. Him. Because he's what I most proud about. Let them have their canning--I have my boy!

After naps we head out for some much needed fun.....

Just a picture of myself...(not driving down the road.)

SUCH a perfect day outside! I just had to capture the moment. (and the Iowa fence rows)

And since I was born in the South and am a tea addict...I order a sweet tea from McDonalds. Sigh. It will have to do considering the lack of good tea in the north.

I taste the tea and realize it's spoiled. Stupid McDonalds.

So, with NO good tea to drink, I am sad. But, coming to my sister's house, I get over it by eating...

THIS! And, it was slightly healthy. One of our friends who is really healthy made them...take out the choc. chips and it's a vegan cookie. It made up for the spoiled tea.

Hanging out with Aunt Bek-Bek. We took pictures of Easton and another little baby for my friend's new clothes line she is creating. Talent...I tell ya.

Burgers for supper. Husband grills them...LOVE grilling nights!

Quick supper because I am hosting a bookparty with Asborne books. Easton and I LOVE the books so much and we are super excited just to look at them. This is Tristan (Bek-Bek's boy.) He liked to look at the books too!

Look at that book goodness! Lots of books to look at! The Animal hide and seek is Easton's favorite. He goes nuts and can hardly contain themself. And Tristan has our other favorite book that somehow got lost in MN last week. SAD! I'm still grieving over the loss of that book.

MORE book Heaven! I ordered a bath book...in fact it's in the picture! We will have bath toys now!

Lots of books+Lots of friends+Lots of children=TOTALLY FUN NIGHT!

And, the rest of my night was spend filling my order form and looking and picking books I thought would be fun for Easton and I to read when he's older. The party got over around 10 and I was SOOOO excited about my books I didn't go to sleep until welllllll after midnight. Books just do that to me!