Future Football Players

At least once a day Morgan will come ask to play catch with me. He loves football. It is amazing to see this little 3 year old boy throw an amazing perfect spiral like a rocket to you. Before his throws he will get set up, make sure his hands are in the right spot and then fire away at you. He loves it when I yell -- TOUCHDOWN! The twins love chasing after the loose or overthrown balls and being the little retrievers. They will come stand in front of me with the ball raised up to their shoulder and act like they are trying to throw it. It won't be long until they do I'm sure and then things will get really wild! I love it though. I enjoy the moments where they all play together and can catch little glimpses of what it will be like in the future. It's my dream to have a yard big enough someday where we can make a little football/soccer field for the kids to play on.

Bye Bye Bottles

Today I spontaneously decided that today was the day I was getting rid of Cooper and Kale's bottles. It was something I have been wanting to do for a while, but I had been afraid of the consequences -- no sleep. They are almost 15 months and that is a lot longer than I let Kendle or Morgan keep theirs. They only get one at nap time and bed time, (the most crucial parts of the day), so out of the blue figured I would make the leap today. We got home from picking up Morgan from preschool and I filled up their sippy cups and laid them both down. They were SO mad. They cried and cried and gave me their best dirty looks and threw all their blankets and the cups out of their beds and shook the cribs. I quietly went in and picked everything up and laid them back down and they cried for a bit longer and then went to sleep. I won't be jumping up and down until bed time goes as smoothly. What a relief it will be to no longer have bottles lined up on my counter and the chore of scrubbing and washing them day in and day out. And let's face it, they both look big and strong enough to bench press each other so it was starting to look a bit silly for them to have a bottle anyways. It was a comfort thing at this point. It is so crazy to think it was not that long ago that I would rock and hold one in each arm and feed them both. How did I ever manage that, I do not know. Now they hardly sit still long enough to let me hold them and rock them unless they wake up at night. There are days when I wouldn't mind going back to those times as I'm already starting to forget the little details of their early months and their cute little newborn faces. We are moving into a new stage of life here folks.

*Post Edit: Last night went really well!

The Hard

Today was just one of those weird emotional days for me. It was a just a strange day. Riley has been coaching the last month or so and has been out of town almost every weekend so I've been either taking the kids to church by myself while he's gone or having friends and family help me watch the twins so that I can get to church and make sure Kendle and Morgan can be there. It has been really, really tough. It takes a lot of effort to make arrangements and figure things out just to get there. Today was the second week in a row that I was the recipient of some big time selfless service from friends who offered their help. It has been very humbling for me to receive so many acts of service over the last year or more since the twins were born. I know they don't view it as a big deal to help me, but it really means a lot to me and I don't take it for granted.

I realized over the last week that there is a season and time for everything and this is just a really, really challenging one for me. I've been fighting it and fighting it, and feeling that I can handle anything that comes along, but it was a losing battle. So I've finally given myself some permission to just let those feelings go. I feel like a little of the stress is gone.

It is NOT my season to be the person that volunteers to help out for everything that comes along.

It is NOT my time to try and keep up and worry about what everyone else is doing and what fun things I might be missing out on.

It IS my season to like going to bed early and be more of a home body because I'm really needing all the sleep I can get.

It IS my time to be home with my children every day and try my best to make their childhood wonderful and they are the only ones I care to impress with my time and devotion.

It IS my season to have an imperfect home with toys left all over the house and messes being constantly made, because four little children live in this "cozy" little house of ours.

I don't know why the simplest conclusions are the hardest to come by sometimes, because I feel like this was kind of a "duh" moment for me. I wish I could push rewind and go back before the twins were born and tell myself that the next few years were going to push me and challenge me and mold me in ways I never thought possible and that it would be emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausting - every single day. That basically no matter how hard I tried to imagine what it was going to be like, there was no way to prepare for it. That I would simultaneously wish every day for a vacation, yet also dread leaving my little ones behind. That every day would be a roller coaster of emotions and ups and downs. That those two adorable little boys would be SO DARN BUSY. AND CLEVER. AND FAST!!!

But I found while offering a friend some advice the other day, that it was exactly the advice I needed to be listening to myself. (Why is that?)  I said something along the lines of "that from the hardest challenges come the greatest blessings" or "sometimes the hardest things are the most worth it". Something like that. And then I remembered one of my most favorite lines from the movie A League of Their Own where Geena Davis tells Tom Hanks that she was quitting and going home "because it just got too hard." And then he replies to her, "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard everyone would do it. The hard, is what makes it great." Gah! I love that movie.

Well, it is late and I am starting to ramble so I need to go to bed, but I just felt like I really needed to write these feelings down. I want my children to know how much I love them though, and how every single thing I do for them is worth it and I couldn't imagine life without each and every one of them.

Happy Birthday Riley

Today Riley turns the big 30! Welcome to the 30's, it's really not so bad. I thought I would write down 30 things about him in honor of his big day.

1. Favorite author is Tom Clancy
2. Loves Johnny Cash and vintage country
3. Favorite college football team is Ohio State
4. Some of his favorite TV shows are Deadliest Catch, Ax Men, American Pickers, and Pawn Stars.
5. Loves to sleep in and take naps
6. Likes mowing the lawn and making our yard look nice
7. Loves coaching
8. Favorite colors are blue and green
9. Is an awesome bbq man on the grill and would love to start up his own bbq/catering business.
10. Favorite ice cream is cookies and cream
11. Loves chocolate milk
12. Favorite book is "A Place Called Freedom" by Ken Follet
13. Born in Moses Lake, Wa
14. Used to be a sleepwalker as a child
15. Is good about doing things for our kids' sakes so they can have fun. (ie, riding the dumbo ride with Morgan at Silverwood and riding all the roller coasters with Kendle)
16. Favorite professional soccer team is Manchester United
17. Knows almost all the words to all the teen pop songs on the radio (he spends a LOT of time in the car for work)
18. Favorite meal is fried chicken and mashed potatoes
19. Favorite treats are rice crispy treats
20. Loves being a dad
21. Refuses to give in and start a facebook account
22. Hates onions, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower
23. He is great at running errands or stopping to pick things up that I need
24. Is a night owl
25. Loves any sort of athletic clothing by Nike or Under Armor
26. Pretty much let me pick out all of our children's names
27. Can fall asleep just about anywhere
28. Has a great sense of humor and makes me laugh
29. Loves avocados
30. His perfect day would consist of some golfing or hunting (or both) man food, a good game, rice crispy treats, and a good nap.

Riley's morning got off to a great start with his favorite breakfast - fried egg sandwich and chocolate milk. Tonight the kids are excited to have a little "party" for dad with cake and ice cream. Making his favorite - yellow cake with fudgy chocolate frosting. (and some peanut butter cups might be finding their way onto the cake as well)

Happy Birthday Riley! I hope this is a great year full of lots of wonderful things for you.