Mama of 2 P's in a Pod

Sometimes, it'd be nice to get a glimpse into the future. Not to change its potential or cheat, but just to know that I and or we are headed in a good direction. And to just kind of see, that despite all of our faults, our procrastination, pays off at some point. But I know that we have to leave that up to faith and knowing that our plan is really not our own. But my patience is not the best. And my motivation hasn't been either. I hope my family can forgive me for my laziness and just lack of motivation all around lately. Tomorrow is a new day. For lots of reasons, but mostly to start holding myself accountable. Finish what I start. A New Year's resolution of sort, but more of a new life resolution. For myself. For my family and for our life together. And for the future. Little P and our friend M at Big P's 8th birthday party! Big P and her besties! Big P being crazy on her birthday! The P's and their Sami! What a nice birthday surprise!

All 3 members of my family are sound asleep. Higbee and I are the only ones awake this Tuesday after Christmas. I'm sure the post Christmas exhaustion has settled in, but unfortunately so has some virus of some sort. I do believe Big P was up all night. She complained of various body aches and a headache most of the day yesterday. Overnight she said she felt nauseous, so after a Zofran and being nestled in mommy and daddy's bed, she has been asleep for almost 2 hours! Poor baby! There is no more of a helpless feeling in the world than when your child is sick. Little P is just a sleeper. She is our teenager, and could easily sleep until noon if we let her. I am enjoying watching her in her sleeping bag while I'm camped out on the couch with my laptop. Watching them sleep is very peaceful. In fact I am having a hard time not snuggling in next to her, but if I sleep past a certain time I feel groggy for the rest of the day. Our house looks like a Christmas explosion. Yester...

I am happy to report that I am sitting in my bed, with my laptop, ignoring the laundry that is folded but needs put away. I promised a friend I would do something for me, even if its just 15 minutes of vegging, its for me. So here I am blogging. I was doing some Pinteresting, but that really can suck the time away and it makes me hungry, which is not a good thing at 10:18pm. But man, I am craving some cheesy potatoes! The girls went to bed without any fights tonight. We had a little 'come to Jesus' meeting earlier before Big P's basketball practice. (she is amazing at basketball by the way, such a natural. not to come across all braggy about my kiddo, but the girl has game!) We had the usual whining, fighting and just outright rudeness after school today and I had my limit! 'Santa' texted us before we went into practice and I have to say thank you to the man in red for getting through to the girls in a way I have been unable to! So thank you 'Santa' for he...

Christmas is two weeks away. Big P turns 8 in one week. Needless to say December seems to always be one of the craziest, quickest and most expensive months. I love this time of year, don't get me wrong. I love being part of the magic and enjoying the family get togethers and most of all, watching the girls celebrate the birth of their Saviour. Thankfully, they know the reason for the season. But, like most kids, they are giddy over the excitement of it all, presents included. Along with just the craziness of schedules, extra activities, shopping, wrapping, decorating, cleaning, and everything in between, there are the changed attitudes we get from the children. Like most kids I'm sure, they are bouncing off the walls on a daily basis. They can't seem to stay off the naughty list, and over the past 48 hours, they have found their way to the top of that list. I am keeping my fingers crossed they can shape it up over the next two weeks, or birthday parties and Santa visits m...

Life has a funny way of catching up to you when you get too busy to enjoy it. Tonight as I thought about my friends and life and the busy-ness of life lately I realized that only a handful of people we are close to have been to our home, our first actual HOME. It hits me personally for some reason, maybe it's a pity thing or an off night, but it makes me sad. I'm sad that my circle of friends seems to be more of a triangle lately. We are all in our own corners and wrapped up in life that we have lost the connection. I miss talking to my friends, text messages out of the blue with something funny that reminded them of me or vice versa. Dinners out even if for just an hour but because we need mommy time and we need to hear each other laugh. It seems to have gotten lost along the way and I am sad. I miss that connection and I wish I knew how to fix it.

I really do. I want so badly to spill the beans before the person I am supposed to be surprising is supposed to find out. I usually avoid them it makes it easier. But tomorrow is the day. I can finally stop keeping a secret...... NO! Its not what some of you may be thinking. As a matter of fact why do people always assume when a married woman has a secret its that shes knocked up?!?! Sheesh! My mother-in-law has always had someone take a grandkid picture each Thanksgiving. This year we hired a good friend of mine, Brie Halseth, to capture the grandkids, all 9 of them professionally. Especially now that we have a new edition. And the pictures are REALLY REALLY good! So its so hard to not share them! SO since I doubt she will read my blog, here are the pics!!! LOVE THEM!!! Such cute kids! So sweet! A & S brother & sister...they are so grown now! I remember when they were the age of our P's! W, V & Baby C...sisters! Of course they just had their pict...

So today I am being lazy, which sometimes is hard for me. But today is necessary since I have another stomach bug. Hoping this one is as short lived as Kris' was. This will be round number 2 for me since we moved. Hoping it skips the girls completely again! I know its a bug, I can feel its a bug, but I also know 24 days of limbo thanks to the largest bank in America has taken a toll on my stomach. Unfortunately for me, my stress goes straight to my stomach. I won't go into great details but thank God for whoever invented modern plumbing. Hey maybe this will help my scale go down a little. So instead of sleeping again, which I've done off and on since the girls got on the bus, I am being a couch potato, laptop in hand and dog under my feet. I am excited about the holidays. I know its a bit of a downer for our family who was gearing up for Disney World this time last year. We loved it, every moment! So I am hoping to get all of them just as excited this holiday season. Our...

We closed. Finally! It only took 24 days from the day we moved in! Thank goodness we were blessed with amazing sellers and a rockstar Realtor! We are officially homeowners, 10 years in the making! I am proud of Kris and all the hard work he put into getting us here. A lot of weeks with just me in the mom and dad seat on my own. Its been worth it! Now to enjoy the home and make it our own. Wouldn't it be awesome to have like a surprise fund to get things decorated like you want? I didn't realize how expensive paint and things of that nature are...sheesh! One room at a time! We have had a fun couple of weeks getting settled into the homeowner status. We enjoyed Halloween with the girls. One of the few Kris has actually had off to trick or treat with us. The girls came up with their own costumes this year. They re-used their recital costumes and turned them into Pizza Planet Aliens thanks to homemade antennas and covered pizza boxes. It was a great time and beautiful weather for...

I am not a very patient person. I try to be. I pretend to be. But really I am not. I have learned to be a bit more flexible in this area as a mom, but am not very good at it. Its something that I continue to work on and work on and work on. So while we are still waiting, I am still not patient. And that is wearing on everyone I believe. I am looking forward to having a non-stressed out family night in our new home. I pray that is soon. In the meantime, here are some pictures some of the highlights we've had these past few months. Hoping to add pictures of a closed on house very soon...again with the patience! The P's and cousin Shelby headed to the Taylor Swift concert in Kansas City! Those binoculars came in handy! The P's ready for the concert....posing of course! A very happy Little P! A few nights later, Kris & I got to get away a bit to KC to watch our Pittsburgh Penquins take on the LA Kings.... The hockey dorks I mean brothers.... The P's ...

There have been a lot of changes in the Dodds' household. One of the biggest, is the house. We moved the first weekend in October, literally just down the road but now live outside of town. It was a whirlwind to get to this point and we are still caught up in the whirl of it all. While this is a good move, the outcome of a dream Kris and I have had for a long time, its a very stressful one and will continue to be until all of the papers are signed and everything is done. Until that point, our lives are in limbo. I keep telling myself that we have come this far, another week or two of waiting is better than not being here at all. There are the dark moments though that creep in when sleep deprivation settles in. But we are vowing to keep positive and try to find our way around the boxes and make it our own. The girls are loving it of course. Their own rooms and they get to ride the bus to school most days. Its nice to hear their ideas on how to decorate or listen to them pretend they...

Would someone please tell me where the heck this summer wandered off to? It seems just like I was watching my family blow stuff up and we were celebrating our country. Now, we are almost in the middle of August and starting a new school year! I am pretty sure our summer got sucked up by those triple digit temperatures we dealt with for like 3 weeks?! Maybe thats where it went. Either way, it has flown by! I would like to say I got my projects completed. But no I didn't. I got a few done, but our house right now, looks like a hurricane or an F-3 tornado hit it. The girls room, sigh, is what it is. However, 7 am will come early when I wake them up to get to work on it. I would also like to say I got a lot of writing done. But no, I didn't. I can say however, we enjoyed the summer of swimming, playing, and more swimming. The girls got quite a bit accomplished in their list of things they wanted to do. Big P passed her swim lessons with flying colors and Little P lea...

There are a few things in life that seem to always catch me off guard. One of those being how people live up to my expectations. And yes I know that most people can't live up to their own, let alone mine. But the degree of disappointment or sadness I feel is still very real, no matter how realistic my expectations are or not. Add into that my expectations for how they own to my children and yes I realize, most people will fail us. But, this still doesn't take away from surprise. Some of this recent blogging headache is too personal to share with the world of blogs. But it is truly saddening and in some ways makes me downright, wanna kick a chair angry. I wish adults would realize their actions or lack of, have such an effect on so many others. And I wish some people would just grow up! That said, sometimes being an adult stinks! I miss the beauty and innocence of life as a child. And I will fight tooth and nail to ensure my daughters don't lose any of that too soon, expecta...

The last lazy day of summer. Let the girls sleep in. Went back to bed after Kris left for work. Still laying in bed, blogging. Going swimming later. May do some laundry. May make the bed. (ok I will make the bed, the one thing I do every day to make it seem like I accomplished something!) May start my kitchen project. May play barbies or lps. May make a picnic for our living room for lunch. May take the girls biking tonight while I run. May go see Kris at the station. May do lots of things, but first to enjoy this last lazy day!

Little P turned 6 last Thursday. I find it unbelievable how quickly time seems to fly when it comes to children and how they grow. It seems like only yesterday she was toddling away trying so hard to walk good enough to keep up with big sister. Now, she is headed into first grade, FIRST GRADE! Yikes! Being Little P's mom has been a blessing in so many ways. While she is definitely our entertainer, she has always been my saving grace. Her sweet eyes and amazing smile have always found their special place in my heart. She is truly a mama's girl. And most days, I love this. There are times however, I feel maybe we've babied her too much. But she is the baby, and I'm sure this is a thought of every parent. She is a joy to have around. Her honesty is such an asset. I wish more kids were as honest as she is. We have had a few moments when that has been a tad embarrassing, and we've had to tell her there are some things we don't repeat in public or tell everyone. But a...

Its been a pretty busy summer here. It almost seems to have flown by in some ways and seems to standstill in others. The P's have been pretty busy with softball, dance recital, swim lesson (I think they've swam every day this summer) and lots of fun times with family. I've enjoyed being home with them again this year. Its a learning experience every time. I had the chance to watch two little girls, and while the time they did spend with us was fun, I definitely like being on our own schedule. So I don't think doing summer child care will be in my future. I'm kind of selfish I guess, I like my time with the girls and with Kris and the flexibility of doing what we want, when we want. And considering my time during the school year is with other peoples' children, I don't want that year-round. Little P had the opportunity to go to the Melody Brown Fun Factory for two weeks in June. I went to this arts camp when I was her age and loved it. She did too. She is our...

Today is the first day of summer break. And amazingly I've managed to cram it full of catch up housework, errands (including an invigorating trip to the tag office) and a little of this and a little of that. However, the P's were amazing waiting in line for an hour and 15 minutes. That little burst of surprise has put some joy into my day. Its made up for the fighting they've already decided to partake in and the turtle bob neck thing Little P did when she was telling on her sister. (so hard to not laugh during that moment). But today is also the first day of a few "projects" here at home and here at Liz. I found a blog called the "happiness project" and while I won't be doing it all word for word the way the blog's author does, there are some great ideas and advice on this site. Sooooooo I am doing my own happiness project. Hoping that with finding my way to true happiness within myself and my home, that others around me, the people I live and b...