Oreo blizzards

There is no doubt that having two children changes the dynamic in the family. We have to "spread the love" between both of them and be aware of each of their affectionate needs. Because there is such a big difference in their ages, they both have completely different needs. While it seems we pay much more attention to Shep, it's simply because we have to meet so many of his needs whereas Ella is much more independant and can do things on her own... such as making her own drink, brushing her own teeth, taking a shower, etc. But to her little mind, she sees us with Shep all the time and she can get quite jealous. So, we make sure that we spend extra time with her when he isn't around... and being that his bed time is 7:00, this works out perfectly for us. We usually put him down and then have an hour or so with her, put her down and then it's quiet time for us. All of this is on a perfect day, of course... it usually happens on Fridays! So, this past Saturday night, we decided to have Oreo milkshakes and game night after T.O. went down. The cast of characters:



Pour 1 cup of milk into blender.

Next,gently drop ice cream in blender...

Blend, pour and top with oreos and enjoy!

The Benchmark

Scott and I have figured out the benchmark on how I'm feeling from day to day. I get tired of him asking me "how are you feeling" "you ok" "you sure you're ok" and on and on. I KNOW he does this out of love and compassion. I KNOW how much he deeply cares about me. And if anybody is close enough to us, it's obvious that he loves some Da... ;) Always has. And I pray always will. He's quite protective of me. So, if things are not quite right with me, he constantly asks me. He just wants to make it right. How blessed to be loved. Well, I SO appreciate him and thankful that he does care about me but if I'm asked over and over again how I feel... well, it makes me think about how I feel when I wasn't otherwise thinking about it. If out of the blue he asks me, I may just say ok. I do say that 90% of the time. But after he asks, I may start thinking... well, my back does ache a little. What could that be? Or ooh... I have a bump on my forehead, what is that a sign of? Just silly, crazy things I know. Sooo... we've figured out that the best way for him to know how I'm feeling is to be observant before asking. How am I carrying myself? What am I engaging in? Mainly, what HAVE I been doing? We've both discovered that if I'm feeling good, then here are some things that I might be doing.

I may be making a honey do list
I may be planning a trip
I may be spring cleaning
I may be blogging

So, ya wanna know what I did yesterday and today?

-Called Scott with a gazillion ideas for our house (on a shoestring budget, mind ya)
-Looked up ideas for a trip for our 15 year anniversary (which is next year, sheesh!!)
-Cleaned the house yesterday (sans upstairs... ugh. That one's a doozey)
-Purging books, books and books.
-And I'm writing a blog post.

Now... do you need to know how I'm feeling today? ;)