Having a fire fighter in the family really is a blessing. I was talking to my dad last week as he was on his way to the local fire station. He was headed there to pick up some of the third graders at his school who were there for a field trip. A field trip…at the fire station. My kids visit the fire station at least once a week! I don’t think Maddie really appreciates it much. She loves going to visit daddy and makes an occasional trip down the fire pole. Sometimes she likes to sit in the truck and pretend she’s driving. But Collin…that little boy’s eyes light up as soon as we turn on to Citrus and he sees the station out of the car window! He yells, “Daddy! Daddy!” and beelines to the trucks as soon as we get out of the car. He could spend hours just walking around the place…touching everything he can get his little hands on. Even the inside of the station is like Disneyland to Collin. Daddy is a hero to both of my kids. He is a hero to me too.
We are fortunate that we live close enough to daddy’s station to make trips there whenever we want to. It’s for this reason we’ll probably never move too far from Redlands. When daddy is gone sometimes for a whole week at a time, it is nice to be able to take the kids by to see him on our way home from Target…or to stop by after Maddie gets off school to show him one of her art projects. My kids needs that…I need that! Last week was one of those weeks when Chris was home just one day…Thursday. Thankfully, it was the day that Mads had her tooth pulled. I really needed him home that day. It’s nice when things work out in our favor. Seems like that doesn’t happen very often, but we’ve gotten pretty good at just going with the flow and making the best out of the situation. It is our life. We chose this path and we need to live with it. Chris will miss birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day, Easter…the list goes on. It is inevitable and it is okay. It may not be traditional, but it is our normal. We deal with it. It’s not always easy and I would be lying if I said I’ve never been frustrated/upset/angry/sad when I find out Chris isn’t coming home from work. However, I do my best not to let my emotions get the best of me and I do my best to make each and every day fun for my kids…even when it’s just a day at home doing laundry and cleaning house. We are blessed to live in a beautiful home with a huge yard for the kids to play in. Chris works really hard for this and I’ll be damned if we take it for granted.
I am pretty proud of myself for keeping things together at the house…holding down the fort if you will…while Chris is out busting his butt for our family. I think I work equally as hard raising the little monkeys (they both have issues/it’s all my fault), feeding them three healthy meals every day (we occasionally order pizza/Chinese/McDonalds), doing the laundry (sometimes it takes a week, whatever), cleaning the house (I dearly miss my housekeeper and I’m in the market for another), keeping up with my fitness (I would go INSANE if I didn’t workout) and actually doing REAL work too (I manage to squeeze in about 15 hours of paralegal work somewhere each week). It’s hard and not always pretty, but at the end of the day, I can look back and say I did my very best and my kids had FUN. I lose no sleep. I am blessed. I am thankful.
I started off in a real funk on Friday morning. It was one of those days when I got out of bed and felt like doing nothing all day. Needless to say, the kids weren’t pleased. They feed off of my funk and start acting all funky themselves. I saw things starting off on a downhill spiral and new I had to turn things around. It was a beautiful day and we were going to enjoy it. We loaded up the Tahoe and headed down to Walmart to pick up some sunny day supplies! We bought flowers, potting soil, bubbles, sidewalk chalk and pinwheels. Total cost about $20. Let me tell you…we had the BEST weekend with our $20 worth of sunny day supplies! We spent HOURS outside enjoying the beautiful weather and making memories. Grandma and Grandpa made a trip out to join in on the fun on Sunday. We went out to lunch and had a great visit with Great Grandma Guire. We even got to visit with daddy who was on a call at Grandma Guire’s retirement home. I love it when things turn around like that. Here are a few pictures from our fun-filled weekend. Enjoy :-)
We are fortunate that we live close enough to daddy’s station to make trips there whenever we want to. It’s for this reason we’ll probably never move too far from Redlands. When daddy is gone sometimes for a whole week at a time, it is nice to be able to take the kids by to see him on our way home from Target…or to stop by after Maddie gets off school to show him one of her art projects. My kids needs that…I need that! Last week was one of those weeks when Chris was home just one day…Thursday. Thankfully, it was the day that Mads had her tooth pulled. I really needed him home that day. It’s nice when things work out in our favor. Seems like that doesn’t happen very often, but we’ve gotten pretty good at just going with the flow and making the best out of the situation. It is our life. We chose this path and we need to live with it. Chris will miss birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day, Easter…the list goes on. It is inevitable and it is okay. It may not be traditional, but it is our normal. We deal with it. It’s not always easy and I would be lying if I said I’ve never been frustrated/upset/angry/sad when I find out Chris isn’t coming home from work. However, I do my best not to let my emotions get the best of me and I do my best to make each and every day fun for my kids…even when it’s just a day at home doing laundry and cleaning house. We are blessed to live in a beautiful home with a huge yard for the kids to play in. Chris works really hard for this and I’ll be damned if we take it for granted.
I am pretty proud of myself for keeping things together at the house…holding down the fort if you will…while Chris is out busting his butt for our family. I think I work equally as hard raising the little monkeys (they both have issues/it’s all my fault), feeding them three healthy meals every day (we occasionally order pizza/Chinese/McDonalds), doing the laundry (sometimes it takes a week, whatever), cleaning the house (I dearly miss my housekeeper and I’m in the market for another), keeping up with my fitness (I would go INSANE if I didn’t workout) and actually doing REAL work too (I manage to squeeze in about 15 hours of paralegal work somewhere each week). It’s hard and not always pretty, but at the end of the day, I can look back and say I did my very best and my kids had FUN. I lose no sleep. I am blessed. I am thankful.
I started off in a real funk on Friday morning. It was one of those days when I got out of bed and felt like doing nothing all day. Needless to say, the kids weren’t pleased. They feed off of my funk and start acting all funky themselves. I saw things starting off on a downhill spiral and new I had to turn things around. It was a beautiful day and we were going to enjoy it. We loaded up the Tahoe and headed down to Walmart to pick up some sunny day supplies! We bought flowers, potting soil, bubbles, sidewalk chalk and pinwheels. Total cost about $20. Let me tell you…we had the BEST weekend with our $20 worth of sunny day supplies! We spent HOURS outside enjoying the beautiful weather and making memories. Grandma and Grandpa made a trip out to join in on the fun on Sunday. We went out to lunch and had a great visit with Great Grandma Guire. We even got to visit with daddy who was on a call at Grandma Guire’s retirement home. I love it when things turn around like that. Here are a few pictures from our fun-filled weekend. Enjoy :-)
Maddie wanted a picture of her flying a kite. I had her lie down and I traced her. Collin immediately laid down next to her and wanted to be traced too. He was so still!
The kiddos :-)
Maddie with her self portrait.
Our beutiful butterfly (Maddie did MOST of this herself).
My beautiful butterfly!
Silly boy didn't want to miss out on the fun!
And this is what your back looks like after you lie down in chalk :-/
This Jeep gets more use than any Power Wheels vehicle ever owned...true story!
My climber...always trying to stand on top of something!
He's so handsome!
Collin loves being driven around the yard.
The kiddos :-)
Maddie with her self portrait.
Our beutiful butterfly (Maddie did MOST of this herself).
My beautiful butterfly!
Silly boy didn't want to miss out on the fun!
And this is what your back looks like after you lie down in chalk :-/
This Jeep gets more use than any Power Wheels vehicle ever owned...true story!
My climber...always trying to stand on top of something!
He's so handsome!
Collin loves being driven around the yard.
Bubbles!!!
This little guy came slithering up on the patio while we were hanging out with Grandma & Grandpa. We have LOTS of lizards at our house, but I've never seen one like this. I think it is an alligator lizard. It was creepy.
Of course Collin was ALL about it...right up close and personal. Freaks me out.
Grandma and Maddie with our yummy homemade lemonade. We picked all the lemons in our backyard. It was soooooo yummy!
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