Life has a way of sneaking up on you. Never more true than when you have kids. Tiny, helpless, infants one minute. Jabbering, running, giggling toddlers the next. It's crazy to think our sweet Kensie girl turned 3 today.
But, that's how life is. It's sneaky and crazy at the same time.
This girl loves all things princess and picnic related.
With both in mind, I decided this year to keep it super simple and to the point. We love you. We think you're a princess of the King. So let's do what you love most and have a picnic!
We started the day off with a decorated bedroom door. Squealing with delight does not even come close to the sounds that girl made when she woke up in the morning. Wish I would have caught her in action.
Then later in the day a tasty picnic dinner in the front yard...
No other guests. Just us.
But it was lovely.
No extra decorations (besides the helium balloons). Everything else we either had or borrowed.
No "real" gifts this year. The kids have more than enough toys and we wanted to change their perspective on birthdays a little. So, a quick trip to the library to pick out her favorite movies, and then to the grocery store to pick up the helium balloons--and the girl was thrilled.
We also signed up for a child through World Vision. Her name is Saundarya. She's the same age and has the same birthdate as Kensie. For now, Kensie loves watching the 15 second video of Saundarya coloring on a piece of paper (she watched it 4 times in a row) and she adores the fact that they both love playing with dolls. Hopefully this will mean more to Kensie as she grows up. Just another way to keep the focus away from us on our birthday. Planning to get Mason a child on his 3rd birthday as well.
Sometimes the simplest birthdays are the sweetest.
Life has been full here. As most of our lives are.
Full of hard things...
So much work and little time with my hubby and growing up even when we don't want to and diaper-changing and house-cleaning andgetting sick and then getting better again and raising kids and yelling more than I like.
Full of good things too...
Laughing and tickling and chasing each other down the hallway and snuggling and reading together and coloring and learning new words and being silly and going for walksand feeling full of life.
So to keep this post more interesting than my life ramblings thought I would share my favorite pins from this week...
Okay so I thought this was funny. Ummm it has 63 repins and 30 likes. I mean I DID use the word "hilarious" in my description but sometimes I don't get how Pinterest works. 63 REPINS?? Come on people....there are way funnier things than this.
Nachos, quesadillas, enchiladas, and our favorite...
TACOS!
I found the following recipe about 6 years ago online (before Pinterest, gasp!) and it makes homemade tacos simply the BEST. I saved it to my desktop in a word document so I don't have a clue what site I found it on. If you know where it originated, please leave the link. I would love to thank the person who came up with it!
On top of Greg working 14-16 hours every day last week, here's a quick snapshot of the past seven days on the home-front:
Monday: Sore from the Amazing Race. Like, the kids barely brushed against my shins and I wanted to cry.
Tuesday: Still sore. Managed to take the kids to an enclosed space where they can climb and slide and run while I sit the whole time. It's called the mall playground. Life-saver I tell ya.
Wednesday: Finally feeling like I can walk without a limp. Meanwhile, the kids decided to fight over every single toy in our house. The baby stroller, the legos, the blocks, the paper towel tube that we turned into a "trumpet". Does it matter? Took them to a park to burn some energy in hopes that they would forget what toys are.
Thursday: Even more fighting over toys. Pretty sure I threatened to donate ALL our toys at least 6,923 times. Took the fighting siblings to another park--not for them but for me. I needed some clean, fresh air.
Friday:Started the day with a nice and relaxing play-date at yet another park. Thought this day would be smooth. Nope. More fights, disciplining, and tantrums throughout. Then at 7:35pm Kensie felt impelled to throw a wooden truck toy close range at Mason's head. Blood streaming down his crying chubby face. Once I got him cleaned up enough to reveal how tiny the cut was, I decided he wouldn't need to visit the ER for stitches. I still feel bad at how I screamed at Kensie.
Saturday: I was mentally and physically exhausted. Almost zero patience with my kids. Missing my hubby like crazy. Just needing a break from LIFE at this point. Thankfully a sweet couple from our Sunday School class invited us for a boat ride and dinner date (pre-planned with two other couples). Long story short, I found a babysitter last minute (I would have sooner but with Greg's schedule I wasn't banking on even going). Greg rushed home from work just in time so we could have a few uninterrupted hours together (without kids!). It was lovely. Just holding hands and walking the pier. Bumping knees on the boat ride. Laughing with friends. SO needed.
Sunday: We went to church separately. Greg went to first service, and myself and the kids went to second service--we passed each other briefly in the hallways. Followed by more work in the afternoon (for Greg), then he rushed home so I could attend a baby shower with some former college teammates of mine. Again, with NO kids. Although there were other kids there, I felt FREE as a bird! It was definitely refreshing.
Taking pictures are good for recording. But writing is good for actually remembering.
{Wow. Just had a light bulb moment there.}
They did have SOME sweet moments of giggling and fun last week.
I feel much more prepared and refreshed to start this week. But, sometimes a girl's gotta vent.
Thanks for staying tuned in my friends. And being okay with a little venting now and then.
This race was truly amazing...and truly exhausting.
I wish I could tell you every detail of our two-day adventure. The places we got to see, the things we got to do and the memories we made as a team. It's incredible how much we did in such a short amount of time.
All I know is team RED had
SO
MUCH
FUN.
We solved over 45 clues in just two days.
This was TWICE the amount from the race in Chicago.
There were also different "challenges" along the way .
Some had to be completed by the whole team--like the zip line course.
Some of the challenges were individual. Like this one...
Greg had to jump in and retrieve a clue that was tied to a rusted pipe underwater.
He didn't even hesitate.
My husband is awesome.
This next one was a picture challenge. We had to find a specific road sign and take a pic with 2 of our teammates in it. ..
This was not the correct sign btw--whoops!
We usually went into the challenges with NO idea about what we were going to do. Meaning, you couldn't always line up your "best player" so to speak. Plus, we had to always rotate--meaning you couldn't have one person do 2 challenges in a row. Make sense??
So....
Some challenges were two-person. Like when Greg pulled me in a wagon around a softball diamond blindfolded. That was fun...and funny looking!
Here's another individual challenge. Nik eating two HUMONGOUS pasties from a restaurant.
(He actually enjoyed every bit and finished the whole plate in 10 minutes flat)....
And I didn't mind dressing up like Goldie Locks to run around a Bear Farm looking for clues...
But the ultimate physical challenge....
The one we hoped wouldn't be too hard.
The one we NEEDED to close the gap on some teams ahead of us.
The challenge said something like,
"Pick 2 teammates by water and 2 teammates by land to retrieve your next clues"
We could visibly see rowboats down on the water, so we decided as a team to send the boys by "water" thinking they would have the harder task. Us girls set off down the trail on foot guessing that we'd be hiking or running somewhere close-by.
We then got our specific clue to tell us where we were going.
"Follow the blue trail to the Upper Falls"
Jamie and I sprinted down the boardwalk trail for maybe 200 feet and that's when we saw it.
The sign that said,
"4 MILES"
Ummm, boy did we RUN...
and RUN
and RUN.
This was not a nice smooth, flat trail either. About 90% of it was full of tree roots that stuck up a couple inches. I was certain one us was going to roll an ankle (we didn't). We just kept running and running. There were hills, stairs, and winding trails only 5 inches wide at times. It felt NEVER ENDING. We ran for a good solid hour.
I've never pushed myself so hard.
In my whole life.
And Jamie and I just kept encouraging each other. We were determined to pass the teams in front of us.
And we DID!
When we finally saw Greg standing at the opening of the trail ahead of us I almost started crying my eyes out. I thought we were never going to get out of that forest.
And this was the picture right after that insane run where we got our next clue....
We ended up falling behind after this point in the overall race, but that was definitely my #1 Amazing Race highlight. Hands down.
Other things we did but I didn't get pictures of:
- I shot a gun. A real live gun people. We all got to shoot at a clay pigeon as one of the team challenges.
- Nik ate 75% of a fish he caught RAW. No lie.
- Jamie and Greg kayaked out on a lake to find a clue in the middle of the water.
- Nik dislocated a rib trying to get a Nutrigrain bar in the back of the van. Also not kidding.
- We played disc golf as a team on the hardest course ever with the worst plastic frisbee ever. Don't ask what our score was. - Jamie did one of the fastest memory challenges I've ever seen.
- There were so many beautiful lookouts and beaches we saw (for very brief moments that is).
Team RED placed 5th overall in the race. But, we were all so proud of ourselves for never giving up, and having (mostly) good attitudes throughout. What a great experience to have with good friends!
If you EVER hear of one in your area, get yourself signed up!
It's one of the best experiences you will ever have. Seriously.
***
I was finally able to upload a clip from the race after I posted this.
We were often unsure of our whereabouts. This clip is a perfect example...
We ended up going exactly where the next clue was. It was just a LONG drive through the middle of nowhere.
There is a lot of excitement over here these days...
We will be competing in our second Amazing Race this weekend!
We competed 2 years ago and had such a blast! It was held in Chicago. Read about it HERE.
I had also just found out I was pregnant with Mason a week before the race...so I guess you could say Mason was there too!
The Chicago Race was so physically exhausting! I think it was harder than any volleyball tourney I've ever played in or any track work-out I've ever done. Seriously the hardest athletic competition of my life. Two solid days of racing around downtown Chicago in 100*+ weather, on foot, carrying all our belongings. We guzzled water all day long and still felt dehydrated by the end of each day. I think we were all sore for the next 4 days straight. Seriously, so TIRING. I'm sure it didn't help that I was pregnant either.
Anyway...
This year the race is held in the upper part of Michigan. It's called the UP (that stands for "Upper Peninsula" for my non-Michigan friends).
Basically this whole part of the state...
Instead of being on foot the whole race we are allowed to drive our own vehicle. This is good news because there is not much civilization in this part of MI. It's known for it's beauty, hiking, waterfalls, and campgrounds....but you won't be seeing any large cities in these parts. Just lots of trees and wild animals.
We are so excited for another chance to race with our good friends Nik and Jamie! It will be a totally different kind of race than last time but we are ready for anything!
The race starts Saturday at 7:00am and ends Sunday evening.
Wish us luck! I'll update next week how it all went!
