"Life"

I feel like I often blog about the events that go on in our family's life but leave out the every day details that make my heart smile.  The events are fun, and we make special memories with them but it's the little things that happen every day that make being a mom wonderful.  Sometimes, it's the little things that happen every day that make being a mom incredibly difficult.  I guess that's life though, and I don't want to miss out on "life" in my blog.
I've been telling myself a lot to stop and take a picture of the small, funny things around my house that I want to remember.  Like when Andrew stuck his suction cup toothbrush sideways on the counter and then put a toilet paper roll on it.  Or how every time I get ready to turn the dishwasher on, Daniel has, without fail, already put the soap in.  There's also the billion times I've been out by myself and I put my hand in my pocket only to discover a pack of fruit snacks, a pacifier, and ten ritz crackers smushed to smithereens.  None of that is really worth talking about but that's just it.  All of those things have made me smile inside and think, "I sure am glad I have kids."
We've been really having a hard time with our kids getting along recently.  It's been TOUGH!  I am seriously dreading the teenage years with all my heart if this is what six-years-old looks like.  Phew.  We've made some progress though and even though they are baby steps, they are baby steps in the right direction.  Every time one of our kids doesn't freak out when the other one does something that annoys them, I just beam.  They are small victories that will add up to a lot one day.  Josh and I have SO many things that we want to change about ourselves as parents. Each time we take a baby step in the right direction, I know it's progress.  We're not even close to perfect, or even sane for that matter, but we are trying to make it.  Life is busy and hard and challenging.  At the same time, life is fun and exciting and joyful and we feel incredibly blessed to call one another family.

 These are pictures we took for our laundry room.  I hung a quote above them that says, "The most memorable days usually end in the dirtiest clothes."  I found that quote years ago and now that I have a house, I was finally able to make it a reality.  I plan to post some house pictures soon.  I realize that I never have.  We are coming up on our one year anniversary of owning this house.  It is very hard for me to believe that's it's already been a year.  Time is flying!!  The kids LOVED getting all muddy to take these.  We had to remind them several times that this was a ONE TIME THING!  Surprisingly, they haven't gotten back in the mud without me knowing.  Who knows, maybe they're listening to us after all....

(Love those rolls, btw).