Blissful Chaos

There really is no better way to describe my life right now than blissful chaos. It's the chaos I've always dreamed of having my whole life and the chaos that I will ache to relive years from now. And I love it all. I love my baby with her cute little pig squeals and grunts, my cooper and his LOUD destructiveness, Lyla and her sneaky little smile, and jane coming home from school with wide animated eyes, telling me all the amazing things she is learning at school and about how she played with the new kid at recess because she looked lonely. Here are a few snippets from life lately:

 Lyla has been hard for me lately. She needs SO MUCH human interaction. More than I can sometimes give her. If she had it her way we would play games and watch shows all day together without my attention being averted in any way, shape, or form. So I took the afternoon the other day to try to fill her bucket. We went to eat lunch with jane at school, went to get an ice cream cone, and then went to wal-mart to help her pick out a christmas present for jane. The girls earned 100 peace-maker points (self explanatory) which was what they needed to earn a shopping date with me where they could pick out a present for the other. I think this smile speaks for itself.

 Jeff bought me a treadmill. (and no, that does not make him a fat-shaming anti-feminist like some people might assume) We got it used for only $80, and it's safe to say it will get A LOT of use! I thought I would be the one to use it the most but so far my girls are really loving running on it too! Jane says "I love these sort of things! Fun, but hard!" Hahaha if you know jane, that shouldn't surprise you. But, it does HAVE to be her idea if she is to do something "fun, but hard" if you know what I mean ;) I really hope she loves to run her whole life. Lyla has been taking turns too, and cooper just watches, mesmerized, as he plops his bum down and eats a fruit snack. I've run a few times for the first time in a long time and it felt great.

 I love waking up to this every morning! She usually gets a little whiny around 5am and i'll bring her in the bed to cuddle with me until we are woken up by cooper's loud "MOMMA!!!"

 Little Adeline is still a dream baby. I sound like a broken record because I've said this with every baby. I keep thinking I'll get a really hard baby and I keep getting super lucky. She sleeps like a normal baby (waking every 2-3 hours) and loves to be snuggled but will also allow me to lay her in the swing to nap sometimes. She also SMILED AT ME for the first time this week. I was not expecting it and my heart just about burst. It was the cutest smile ever.

 Jeff (I love that awesome man!!) graduated as the honor graduate in the Captain's Career Course, which honestly makes me kinda sad. It has been so nice to have him home so much the past year.  And this chapter is just not a chapter I am eager to be done with. We have loved living here so much.

 My absolute favorite past-time. This was right before we signed our names about 38173947 times to CLOSE on our very first home! We are moving to El Paso and are super excited to have our own house. We have lots of ideas, we will see how many of them are executed.

 We went to see Frozen 2 and I loved it so much! We went with a big group of our good friends and had lots of little princesses with us ;)

 We had a smashing successful friends giving, and, as customary, the only picture I got on thanksgiving was of the food. I always underestimate how much time it'll take to make the food on thanksgiving. I only made a few batches of rolls, sweet potato casserole, and my first homemade pie (banana cream) We ate so much yummy food that day. It was deeply satisfying. The most un-dry turkey I've ever had and a homemade raspberry cheesecake stole the show for me. My banana cream pie was not the prettiest but it was also one of my favorites. The transporting of our food to the church was a very stressful situation.

My favorite thing that happened in november was sweet baby Brooklyn being born! My brother had his first baby- and it's my kids first cousin on my side. I love her so much and, even though I have steep competition, am so determined to be the favorite aunt. I hope Brooklyn and Adeline are BFFs

 Babies and matching blankets. I was hoping they would kinda look alike since me and brendon look so much a like. NOPE. No resemblance whatsoever. Haha but they are both so cute!

 Holding each other's babies. We made a day trip to bentonville just to be able to meet Brooklyn. 6.5 hours of driving in one day was worth it though! Loved seeing my brother as a dad- and kacee as a mom. Brooklyn is so lucky to have them. She will learn how to have the purest, kindest heart just like her parents.

 Cooper is so much better with Adeline than I thought he would be! He is only ever so soft and gentle, stopping his antics every so often to kiss her little head. Man I love those 2 babies of mine.

And Lyla's obsession with Adeline is showing no signs of waning whatsoever. The only issue is that she thinks she can handle her the way she sees me handling her. She always wants to lift her up and hold her on her chest. We are working on it, and in the mean time I will be watching her like a hawk any time she is holding baby Addie.

Some days at the end of the day, Jeff and I just look at each other incredulously because of how insanely draining it can be to keep up with all the kids. But then we also look at each other with beaming smiles wondering how we got so lucky.

I love these children, and I am humbled every day by how much they love me, too, despite the fact that my very best efforts fall painfully short some days. I wouldn't trade the blissful chaos for ANYTHING.