Life is busy.

Today, I happened to read a friend's blog ( I love following these friends and their thoughts).  It makes me feel normal, it makes me feel like I'm not crazy, and that the struggles are real - BUT the blessings are even more real in the struggles we all have.

So...I decided to look at my blog and my last post was in 2013, about EVY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS! My crazy, sassy, beautiful, animated almost 3 year old was 1 month old...and all I can say is because life is ...  Busy! The title of my blog - shows you where Kevin and I were in our life.  I started it when we moved to Florida (hence the name) in order to help family keep up with us and those special moments.



My precious babies are now 4 1/2 and 2 1/2.  Everyday, I check my time hop app and see just how quickly my two sweet children are growing up.

 Eli is turning into such a little man.  He's still one of the most kind-hearted children I know.  He cries if I yell or get upset and starts apologizing frantically because he can't stand the thought of me being upset.  

And Evy - what a pistol!  She is also sweet, but so above 2 - when I say her age, it just doesn't match her actions.  She has always wanted to be right there doing what Eli is . She started walking at 9 months (full walking) and can have a complete conversation with you including vocabulary like disgusting and patient.  They both absorb everything said to them and believe you me - will repeat back at you during the appropriate time.



On a different note, this past year I personally know so many people who have lost loved ones or that have situations where they are struggling to get through the trials they are in.  I take these things to heart.  When someone loses a loved one, it almost literally breaks my heart for them.  I put myself in their shoes and just can't imagine how they feel and I selfishly pray I won't have to for a long, long time.

Specifically, several friends have lost husbands and children.  Don't get me wrong - I feel that all loses are hard, but I just can't fathom losing one of the most important people in my life.  The ones I share daily life with.  The ones who see me at my best and at my worst and still love me 100%.  

So with that said - one day, whenever God's timing happens - memories will be all that I have left or my loved ones have of me.  So I'm going to do better. I'm going to make more time writing things down (typing in this case) so that my children and my husband get to see exactly what went through my head , especially in special moments.

I hope this blog doesn't come across as morbid or depressing, but it is very real life.  It's a wake up call to me that life is short.  Tell people you LOVE them, show people that you LOVE them, and take the time for what matters.

Evy's first Christmas and Eli's first Santa Visit...

Obviously, with two kids at home and a normal busy life with everyday stuff, my blogs are delayed a little bit but I will catch up. :)  Tonight is the first night in my married life that Kevin has ever gone to bed and I have stayed up in the living room to have "me" time and all I could think about was catching up on stuff for my babies.  I finished my pregnancy picture week by week book, my pregnancy journal and now it's blog time.  With all that said... first up = CHRISTMAS!

This year we were super excited.  We knew that Eli was at the age (2) where he could understand somewhat to expect at Christmas this year.  He could get excited about Santa (Ho, Ho) as he called him and would love opening presents.  Kevin, me, Eli, Evy & Muffin all set off for the 12 hour trip on Friday, December 20th at 4 a.m.  I know it sounds crazy, but we thought the earlier the better because the babies would sleep and it would still be dark out AND since most kids were still in school we could beat travelers and rush hour traffic.  We made it home and the babies were wonderful.

While we were at my parents house, we had a family get together and celebrated Christmas together with my dad's side.  This year was so much fun with that side (not that it isn't normally...but you see I've been the baby on that side of the family for years and now me and Crystal have kids and so we got to watch our babies and it was chaos and FUN).  We also saw several other family members and friends at different times.  My family is always so sweet about coming to my mom and dad's house so we don't have to travel with the kids alot.  ALSO, let's not forget to mention that we were all packed for North Carolina weather...we got there and BAM it was in the 70s.  We were so sad!  We have that in Florida all of the time!  We wanted COLD! But, because of the beautiful weather, Papa got to ride Eli on the lawn mower (which may not sound like a big deal but he has been waiting 2 years to do this) and Evy was sweet as ever as she was passed around from arms to arms.  Our kids were spoiled with presents galore. Every one that Eli opened he responded with "WHOA!"...then the 2 year old came out in him as he would say, "MORE".