Time.

Time is a crazy thing. I feel myself being pulled by Time. Sometimes I want it to go by fast because I want the next best thing to happen. Like the girls Nutcracker show, Christmas, a break from school, competition season, and SUMMER! But then I remind myself that Time is already going by too fast. That my kids are growing right before my eyes and if I blink, they might be gone. The days already rush by with our life schedule and more often then not, I am cursing time because I want it to slow down. The only battle I can win with Time is getting the most out of each and every day. That doesn't mean filling my day so full that I'm going here there and everywhere and running around feeling overwhelmed with a chaotic life. It means slowing my day down and doing less of what doesn't bring me joy. It means taking time to listen to my kids after school, playing games with them, reading books before bed with my girls. It means taking more time to connect with my family and friends and worrying less about the state of my house or checking off all the things on my to-do list. It means taking the time to enjoy Lily's company while I still get to have her in my home. Making the most out of each and everyday is so important to me. Is life perfect? Of course not. I have my moments like anyone else, but I am truly happy and am feeling really content with my life. I will do whatever I need to do hold onto that because it feels so darn good.

Well anyway, I can sure get rambling and then forget what the purpose of this blog was to begin with, which by the way is a little update. So, what does making the most out of my day look like right now...

Of course the majority of my day is spent with this sweet girl.

She is such a joy and we have so much fun together. We go to gymnastics, swimming, to stay n play, and have play dates with friends. The other day we headed out the door for swimming lessons and we just got out of the driveway when I realized something wasn't right with my tire, so I turned around and pulled back into the garage to check it out. Sure enough it looked like this..

Now here's an example of me being patient with life. Usually I would be mad and annoyed because our plans were ruined and therefore the day would be ruined, but this time I took a deep breath, stayed calm and showed Lily the tire and explained how it was broken and we couldn't make it to swimming. She also handled it really well and got right on her fake phone to call Ryan to have him come and fix it. We went back in the house and built a fort downstairs and read books in it instead. No use getting frustrated with things we cannot control. So we miss one swimming lesson, no big deal. Ryan came by and took a look at it, filled it back up, and we haven't had a problem with it since. Seriously, so weird. There wasn't a hole or anything. Maybe just a little test to see how I would react to the situation. I think I actually passed.

My evenings usually start with dance. Its nice though because with McKenna I can just drop her off and pick up later. I rarely stay anymore. I'm still not quite ready to leave Hayley so I'm usually hanging out at the studio while she dances, but I love visiting and connecting with the other Mom's. I also get to take Lily to dance once a week and its been so fun bringing a little one to dance again. Picking out her cute tutu and watching her make friends and show everyone her spins and how well she points her feet.

Waiting patiently for their turn

The girls are working hard on their competition piece's and also have a Nutcracker performance next week.

I love these two girlies relationship and I hope they will be best friends forever. I love it when they come home and tell me all about their day. I've also been reading the Harry Potter series with them together and then I read with each of them separately before bed. It has become one of my favourite parts of our routine. I just love being their Mom.

The boys are fortniting their lives away. Ha ha. They do love their fornite but we kind of have them on a strict schedule that they don't necessarily love, but they humor me. They hang out with friends and will both start basketball soon. They help out around the house and Nate babysits quite a bit. They are both just growing up and  I can't believe how mature they are getting. It makes this Momma so proud. We love to play elimination Uno with them, and Nate is getting really good a Settlers. I sure love my handsome boys.

I've been cleaning and organizing my house and getting rid of anything that we don't use or need. I came across my baby calendar for McKenna and got a little emotional reading it.

Having McKenna so young when my Mom passed was such a blessing. Being able to watch her grow and develop brought so much joy into my life that it made the hard stuff a bit easier.

I just bought this new scratch map which makes me very excited but also makes me feel a little bit lame. As you can see we have a lot of work to do. Haven't traveled very much but I hope to see a lot more color over the next 10 years.

Thankfully the Halloween candy is pretty much gone. I loved how serious Hayley took picking which candy she would eat though. She would dump it out, sort it, and then choose what she ate. Every.single.time.

And then there is this...

But I guess its okay because that means we can start getting ready for Christmas!

Well Time. I guess I'll always have a love/hate relationship with you. Maybe we can make a deal though. I'll promise to cherish you and make the most out of you, and you can maybe slow down just a tad for me.