A Collage of Things.

Yesterday, the kids and I spent our afternoon with Grammy being busy bees. We were fluttering from one store to the next picking up all sorts of fun supplies that the kids will need for school and extra curriculars.

I love to shop. I love to hang out with my mom. Yesterday was pretty grand.

London will be starting ballet and tumbling classes this fall, and Grammy went with us to pick out her first outfits for each class. I want to save the full effect of how stinkin cute Miss Priss looks for the first day of classes, but here is a little sneak peak...

When we finished shopping, we headed to Dylan's Little Gym class. He was so excited for Grammy to get to come, and he did a fantastic job. Grammy and I were both amazed at some of things he was doing. I was always so afraid of the uneven bars when I was doing gymnastics that I quit just so I wouldn't have to do them. I am so, so glad Dylan is not. In fact, he loves them.

After Little Gym, we went out to eat and then Grammy spent the night with us. It was a real treat for all of us, even Daniel got to hang out with her a bit when he got home last night. And to top all that off, I woke up this morning to freshly cooked pancakes in shapes of hearts and butterflies. Thats our Grammy for ya. It was a fun way to start off our day!

Today, has been the opposite of yesterday. We have been lounging around the house, watching too much tv, taking extra long naps, playing with play dough, coloring pictures, and practicing our letters. We have stayed so, so busy over the past three or so weeks and today was much needed. The only times we left the house was to go to toddler time at the library, because the kids would have freaked to miss it, and to grab some drinks at Sonic.

I love busy and fun days.

I love slow and fun days.

I pretty much just love spending the days with

my two little rays of happiness.

Now they are tucked in and I have some quiet time to enjoy before my hansom hubby gets home and we get to hang out together.

Life is good.

Refreshed

After working 12 plus hours everyday this week, including Saturday, our Daddy finally had the day off on Sunday!! I can't even tell you how nice it was to have a whole day (or more than two hours for that matter) with Daniel! It was so relaxing and refreshing, just what the doctor ordered.

It was like most any other Sunday here in the Hilburn household. We woke to a lazy morning, taking our time to get ready and hanging out watching tv, and chatting. Then, off to church followed by lunch with a group of friends. *Bliss*

After lunch we decided to stop for some snow cones, even though it was well into London's nap time. And snow cone, they were just weren't the doctor ordered too!

The boys spent some much needed "boy time" together while London and I got in our beauty rest. Oh, how I love a long Sunday nap! When London and I got up from our rest, Daniel and cooked supper together, another favorite Sunday ritual.

We decided that we deserved another Sunday treat, just because, so we headed to our favorite ice cream place, Frosty's. We love, love, love this little place! It is just full of charm and storries from 57 years ago when they first opened. The orginal owner's grandson now runs the joint. We just love this place and its vibe.

We decided to squeeze in just a little bit more fun, even though it was now past our little ones' bed time. We blew bubbles, ran in the grass, inspected bugs and spiders, and snapped a few picture here and there.

Daniel read the kids their bed time stories, and hour after their bedtimes, and tucked them in. He is not home in time for bed these days, so it was a real treat for them, Daniel included. Then it was time for me an my hubby to curl up and watch our favorite tv shows together. It was pure bliss.

We sure do miss Daniel right now while he's in "crunch" mode at work, but one thing is for sure, we appreciate all the small things much more when he is with us. Its those little moments that make our family so happy and complete.

My body and spirit are both refreshed, my energy and love tanks are full, and I am ready for a great week!

My Energy Tank is EMPTY, but My Love Tank is FULL

My poor, sweet hubby has been working crazy hours for the past month or so. We are talking 12 plus hours a day, six days a week. Craziness. The first couple of weeks actually didn't feel too, too bad. Its summer, and the kids and I are soaking up every bit of fun that it has to offer. Last week, I started to feel the weight of the situation a little bit. Daniel is such an amazing daddy and is completely hands on with the kids. He is an amazing help to me when he gets home from work. But with him not home as much, I am doing most things on my own, every.single.day. And this week, I'm so tired. I drained. I'm done with this situation. I need a vacation. With my hubby and our babes.

Its a situation that cant be helped, and really, in the grand scheme of things, its not all that awful. Listen, I know people have it a lot worse. I am grateful he has a job to go to. I'm grateful that he comes home to us at night. I a grateful. I'm just tired.

I'm afraid that today, I am at my wits-end. I keep catching myself getting snappy with the kids at things that would normally not bother me. I keep taking deep breaths and trying to "reset" my mood. I've apologized, more times than I care to admit, to my kids for snapping at them and being short tempered.

By the end of the night tonight, I just felt completely wiped out. I put on a movie for the kids to watch and unwind to before bedtime, but London wanted nothing to do with that. So, I decided to take her and lay her in her bed and read a few books to her so that she could unwind and we could have a little special time, just me and my girl. I read her two favorite books to her and rubbed her soft little back. Then, I cuddle up next to her and said "London, Mommy has been kind of grumpy today, and I'm sorry. I'm just really, really tired." My sweet girl looked at me and said "Tired, Mommy?" in the softest, most sympathetic voice and then patted me on the back with her small little hands. My heart was pumped so full of happiness, love, and peace in that moment that I thought it might would explode. I stayed a few more minutes to soak up all the love my sweet girl has for me, and I for her.

I had already decided that I would let Dylan stay up an hour past bedtime for being such a trooper and helping me out so much, especially this past week. I came in the living room right as his movie was ending and sat down to cuddle him for a minute. I didn't think my heart could be any happier, but those cuddles proved me wrong. I then told him my plans to let him stay up and I thanked him for helping me out so much. "Mommy, thats part of growing up", thats what my sweet big boy had to say about how helpful he's been to me. Again, I thought my heart would explode.

I'm still tired, but my heart is happy. I have two beautiful, happy, healthy babes and husband that I love more than this world. The days lately might be hard, but life is good. I'm grateful. And I can't wait for the hubby to get home tonight for some cuddles to make my heart complete.

Summer So Far.

I have not done a great job at blogging this Summer. My camera has been broken twice now, but its been replaced both times... praise the Lord!, and in part because we have been so darn busy and by the end of the day I'm just pooped. Keeping track of the little things that make up our days is so important to me though, so once again, I'm going to try to do much, much better.

So, our Summer so far...

Its been full of playdates, slash-parks, "regular parks"(as Dylan calls them), library time, pools, picnics, day camps, shopping trips, sonic happy hour, bubbles, nightly movies, and just a whole lot of playing. Basically, Dylan thinks summer is the best thing that has ever happed to him. Last Summer, London was so little that we couldn't stay out in the heat and sun too much, so what we did was much more limited. The summer before that, I was WAY pregnant and HUGE and again what we could do was limited. So I think that Dylan may be on to something when he tells me every other day that "This is the best summer ever!", its the best one he can remember well anyways. The summer before I was pregnant with London, so 2007 was full of all kinds fun summer things too, and we were at the pool every. single. day. because thats what he loved to do. I don't think he remembers that though. And this summer is just as grand if not better, because this summer its THREE of us having a blast. And the weekends are the best because thats when we hit our magic number of four, with our Daddy tagging along with us wherever the spirit of summer takes us.

Last weekend, we took our Daddy to our magic place, the splash park. We go at least a couple times a week. There is a huge shady tree where I sit, read a book, and watch my babies soak in the joys of Summer. Daniel has been working crazy, crazy hours this past month, so he had not been able to come join us until last Saturday when we packed up our babes, some snacks, and each or our books and hit up Sonic for happy hour. Then, Daniel and I settled under the big tree sipping on our drinks, reading our books, talking about how much we love our little family, and watching our little bundles of love running, laughing, and loving life.

Occasionally one of our sweet babes would ask for us to swing them, slide with them, or help with the monkey bars. We were more than happy to oblige.

And then it came to me. The heat. It was unbearable. Ha. No, the brilliant idea that we should be splashing around with our kids, making memories and loving summer with them. And so we did.

And the kids went crazy with happiness when we jumped into the sprinklers with them. We ran around like crazy people squealing and giggling with joy as we chased each other in a game or two of tag. Then it was time to dry off and head home for movie time, a summer ritual now.

And that is pretty much how we try to spend every weekend so far this Summer. Family, laughs, sun, and water of some sort. Happiness, thats what Summer has been so far.