{Piano}

The boys are taking Piano lessons. I love hearing them practice. I love that they LOVE to practice & go to lessons.When i hear them playing I think of my Memere & Pepere & the organ that lived in their house. Reminds me of the first song I learned to play on that organ, Silent night. My Pepere was so patient with me. I miss them, but they left me a lifetime of memories & lessons!  The weather was dreamy the past couple of days so while the boys had lessons we went to the park, only leaving to swap out a boy for another. 80 degrees is not bad for mid January. It was a beautiful evening that's for sure. Maddox & Britton played while Cooper & Presley paired up. Tonight bedtime was rough. Its hard putting so many littles to bed alone  night after night. Then came the homework check. & Do not get me wrong...I really really Like T's teacher. She is amazing & the perfect teacher for our bright T, but with that said...her homework scares me to death! Its lengthy & involves a lot of Mom time. I was struggling to get T headed in the right direction on a long assignment that involved a collage so I called my lifeline. Rod. He whipped out ideas in 20 mins. Love him for that! It was such a huge burden off my shoulders! I know he feels badly for being gone months at a time, but he finds his way to help me out back here at the home front.

{sleepover}

Maddox & Presley have been begging for a sleepover. Begging! With the long weekend I agreed. They were super cute and watched movies and Maddox clonked out first. Presley came out of her bedroom a few minutes shy of midnight & asked me to take Madds out. It made me laugh. I carried him (sleeping bag & crumbs and all) into the room where the big boys had just wrapped up their own little late night together. The next day Presley had a super fun party to go to next door for her friend who had been gone for a few months. We picked up our little friend Carson and marched over in princess attire. & Then Presley got the flu and it was a whole bunch of grossness for the rest of the weekend. She is adorable when sick. Is that weird? she was snuggly and needed me. I soaked it in. 

{clock hands}

When Rod is gone week after week after week it starts to become exhaustively normal. I learn to adjust. We all do. Its not fun, but we manage. 5 o'clock rolls around & no one is walking through the door. No kids running to the window when they hear a car door shut. Its me. Its them. Its a lot of noodles for dinner. But between the quiet tic tocs & slowly moving clock hands I find little moments that I wish Rod could see, that i get to cherish. Like Cooper grabbing every ones cheeks, getting right in their face & saying "I love you too!" out of the blue. Like Presley asking Maddox to play with her in her room at quiet time & finding them snuggled together under a white comforter on a cold afternoon. Like Britton reading,no, devouring, every single book in the house & his insatiable need for more things to read. Like Maddox insisting on making every single meal in his easy bake oven with the aid of his trusty rubber chicken. Like Tre offering to cut up green apples for snack time so I can finish folding a weeks worth of fresh from the dryer towels. I get to have these moments. They are mine to keep. It makes these solo months bearable. 

(pictures from winter break. playdate with Carson Paige, play doh, easy bake oven, 

dance parties, reading, sassing back. In no particular order.) 

{2015}

We spent the end of the year with neighbors. The children wore pajamas and robes. Presley matched her dolly. We ate appetizers and sweets. The kids watched a movie while grown ups chatted & watched football. (And googled really strange things.) Rod had to work the next day so I walked up the hill with him and the babies. We tucked them in bed then while rod readied himself for bed I ran back down the hill to fetch the next 2 to put to bed. I kissed them all and while Rod went to sleep I again ran down the hill to finish out the last 2 hours of 2014 with Tre & friends. I cannot help but feel grateful for the past 4 years we have had in this home surrounded by these people. At the same time I feel like I'm marching towards uncertainty. Rod finishes residency in June. We will be done with all his training, all his hellish hours. Its hard to believe. We do not know if we will be moving across the ocean, across the country or across the neighborhood. The wait is hard, but I am not looking for time to rush on by  me. I am going to savor every last moment on this street with these people who have become our family here. How is it even possible that so many wonderful people all ended up on the same culdisac?! It seems so unlikely! & yet they are all so generous & kind. Even if our move is just across the neighborhood I will shed tears. I know the kids will too. There is something special about opening the front door & letting the kids run out to meet up with their sweet friends.  I recognize that this is a special thing we have here. I do not take it for granted.  It was a great way to end 2014 & welcome 2015. Happy New Year!