Mama of 2 P's in a Pod

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...