Little Things

The smell of fresh baked blueberry muffins zips through the house and a little four year old is curled up next to me relaxing his bum leg and two littles sleeping upstairs. Bo and I cleaned his house today we moved toys out of the way, we vacuumed and rearranged and moved everything back. We dusted the dust off of the shelves that hold all of their toys and polished the pictures hung on the wall. We swept the floor covered with crumbs enjoyed around a scuffed up with memories around the family table. A baby stirs. Cartoons play muted out in the background. Cars zoom down a traffic ridden race track. All is calm.

Guess it's the teacher in me making play time educational --- story time focused on Dinosaurs!

Added a great aroma on the 'ice day'

This past weekend I experienced more calmness. Since I started up this semester I either teach or go to school five days a week (something I haven't done since my freshmen year!). Talk about a busy week and by the time the weekend rolls around I'm exhausted! However most of my weekends this month have been filled with overnights with the littles or dinner date nanny time. Don't get me wrong I love seeing the boys but every now and again a weekend off is much appreciated. Last weekend I slipped away to Farmington (first weekend off all semester!!!) and spent some quiet, sans preschoolers, middle schoolers, or toddlers! Oh, and homework --- snow days sure have a way of keeping you ahead of the game! We watched a lot of movies and made yummy food, covered fruit in chocolate to make the healthy taste even better hehe! And we of course splurged on our favorite take out and shared a bottle of bubbly! The X-games were on this weekend and we awed in admiration of talent those athletes have in the snow and as the events carried on my eye lids grew heavy and it lulled me to sleep.

Believe it or not I have not had a latte in three weeks until this one was purchased not by me, but Bradley!!

Spur of the moment delay led to adventures around Ann Arbor --- cannot wait for my next trip to enjoy some dinner and exploring AA.

Bubbly and Pitch Perfect --- talk about Perfect!

Homemade chicken and mushroom dish followed by yummy chocolate covered fruit -- everyone needs to splurge!

There is a change of pace when I got to Farmington I'm sure it is the company I share in and the quietness that covers the city, Brad's apartment building is occupied by a mix of couples, singles, elders, and small families so the atmosphere is soothing and calming. Over the course of the weekend I slept for 20 hours with a two hour nap in there. Talk about being rejuvenated and relaxed! As the weekend came to a close I packed my things and we headed for Ann Arbor where I took the train back to Kalamazoo! My intentions were good I carpooled to Farmington with Jen and was going to take the train back --- not using my gas and using other modes of transportation. Well with the combination of weather and delayed trains I got back to Kalamazoo three hours after I was supposed to. Can't say I won't do it again, but man oh mister was that frustrating!  I am definitely looking forward to working this weekend away again and then heading home to Holland for another escape of a fast paced world and of course to see my family!

I have been overwhelmed at times, filled with love, filled with laughter, filled with tears, filled with frustration, filled with worry, filled with gratitude, and filled with exhaustion. But I have also been filled with the feeling that I am right where I need to be and that with each one of those feelings I am being changed, molded and moved to become a better person. I am continuing to work on myself, like I mentioned in a earlier post, and with doing so I have been loving the little things!! Happy Wednesday all!

This semester I have been dedicating more time to working out -- this means early morning wake ups in order to make time for it. I have been enjoying the quiet mornings and the routines I have been working on establishing. This morning called for pancakes!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day meant a day off for us three rented movies, Chinese and a glass or two of wine we called it a great day!