The Best Kind of Busy

Oh goodness.....my girls.  My beautiful, feisty, bold, loud carbon copies.  Gosh I love them.  I will admit that I have been using some of my "free" time to go through past blogs here.  I am ever so grateful that through it all I have kept up with our news right here on this forum.  My girls are growing up.

I have come to the realization that the worst thing  you can say to a mother of young children is "Oh, it just goes by so fast."  Because it doesn't.....I mean it does........but it doesn't.  When you children are running up and down the grocery aisle, knocking things over and nearly tripping the old man....I promise.....its not going by fast.  When you stop and look at the pictures of Evie 3 years ago?.......the time is flying.

We are smack dab in the middle of raising kids.  Evie has been put on a special diet in the hopes of helping her with her irritability and allergy symptoms.  Lily is living the 1st grade life full of all its drama, excitement and challenge, Bob is travelling, I am travelling, and we are training for marathons.....WOW.  Being an intentional parent who is determined to have functioning, bright, bold, compassionate and kind children is A LOT LIKE WORK.  Parenting a giant is hard.  Parenting 2?  

It really is our greatest challenge   Dude......We so got this.

But its busy and constant and sometimes frustrating and annoying.  I won't lie......I sometimes wish I could cash in and run away. Can adults do that? Or is that only a kid thing.......oh the places I could go, oh the things I could do.   But I digress.....

I wouldn't have them any other way.  They drive me crazy and yet are the most amazing 2 humans that share my own flesh.  I love them and their boldness.  I swear to get them to adulthood smiling as brightly as they are now.  I believe without doubt that their life is richly full of purpose.  I will always be in their corner even when they throw punches at me.  They are the best kind of busy and busy is what we do best!

Lifetime TRI Tempe 2017

A couple of weekends ago I got to race the Lifetime Tempe TRI. I cannot tell you how excited I was to actually be racing it.  I ended up in this race as a result of my race cancellations last year and I am forever grateful that they allowed me to defer my entry to this  year.  It was a blast to be back in Tempe for some triathlon.  The last time I swam in that lake was on IRONMAN day.....almost a YEAR ago.  My does time fly.

I flew solo for this year's race due to the fact that we were watching some extra kids and the fact that we discovered a leak in our attic the night before the race.  I won't lie....my anxiety was through the roof dealing with that stress.  I was grateful for an opportunity to  run away from home for a few hours.  The kids weren't the problem......the repair chaos was.  Whew it was nice to be out.

The AZ TRI Club showed up in a big fashion for this race and it was a BLAST to connect with everyone.  I found a few of my IRONMAN friends and we were all smiles at the start line.  The community you meet in triathlon is amazing.  There are just no doubts.  Nothing unites you quite like TRI.

So last year I had all of these amazing photos from the race as well as my husband.  This year, the photo below is literally the only shot caught of me in action.  I promise I rode my bike and ran too!

The race was  a really great time.  I have slowed a bit in my swim, but for not being focused on it, I still managed to hang on okay.  I got out of the water and onto my bike.  I LOVE the Tempe TRI course for the bike.  Its 2 loops and fun.  It really is a great setting and I had a blast.  I got of the bike in pretty good time, but knew that I would have to haul on the run if I wanted to attempt placing.  I don't think at my core it was the goal, but once I get on the run and find my fast legs, the thought swirls around as I pass athlete after athlete.

I had a solid run, but it was hot and I lost quite a bit of time needing to slow down for water at every aid station.  That's okay....better safe than sorry I would say.  I cruised into the finish feeling great and managed a 4th place finish.  I'm looking forward to making Olympic distance my thing for a while and maybe start to get on podium in the bigger races.  

For this day though, the opportunity to race and enjoy my friends was enough.  Now I head into full on marathon mode and set aside my swimming and biking for a while.  

Lifetime Tempe was a great race and I am looking forward to doing it again next year!

Teach Them to Build

I love that quote by Ann Landers.  What a poignant thought and what an incredibly valuable idea.  Teaching our children how to live in a world without us is one of the most important things we can do by far.  Equipping our children to think freely and problem solve on their own is such a gift, and it starts so early.  

I will admit, Bob is far better at this idea than I am.  Yes, I encourage independence, but I don't like mess and experimentation, HE LOVES IT.  Last week I lost 2 wine glasses and a personalized water bottle to a freezing experiment they all did.  I sometimes get caught in the loss.....while he sees the gain.

Amidst a bathroom remodel and leak repair, training for marathons, school, homework, business travel and all that is our life, the other day Lily asked Bob if she could build a small dog house/playhouse (yes a dog is in our future).

While everything in me screamed, "AHHHHH, we cannot add one more thing to the project list right now!"  Bob took Miss Lily to Home Depot, outfitted her with her own tools and a bright orange bucket, purchased as much 2x4s as our Prius would allow and made the time to teach her to build.

And boy.......she LOVES it.  She has a saw and a tape measure and a hammer and a special ruler just for her.  She thinks and problem solves and by golly....she is building her house!

Lily is learning all about labor and how important it is to be thoughtful and smart about how you work.  She is learning that big things take big effort and that Rome wasn't built in a day.  She is learning about process and journey.  She is also learning about tools and safety and understanding purpose.  So much life skill here.

Thank God we have Bob.

As Lily grows up we are seeing more and more likenesses to her Daddy in her.  She has much of my anxiety, perfectionism and drive, but she has her Daddy's thirst for challenge and discovery.  It excites her. 

Lily loves this kind of stuff.  She loves building and finding ways to make her visions possible.  Her passions are really big and while they overwhelm me many days, they excite her Dad.  

Evie is of course project manager and official pencil holder and distributor.  She is not quite big enough to handle the big equipment, but loves to be in the middle of everything asking questions and sharing opinions.  She is learning too and it won't be long before they are creating something together.  

My girls are learning to build.  And with that knowledge they will conquer the world.

The Boy Next Door

When we moved into our house, the Lord blessed us with AMAZING neighbors.  Kim and Lucas came into our lives at a much needed time and I cannot even begin to convey the magic that is their friendship.  God is good, He is faithful and he provides relationship.

Mr. C is a bit younger than my girls so initially there was a big play gap between everyone.  Easy going and chill, he loved following my wild ladies all around and just playing supporting role in whatever they were doing.

Well, this year things have gotten even sweeter.  As Lily has spread her wings and developed her school bonds, Miss Evie has been somewhat left in the "little kid" zone.  She can play, but only sometimes, and lets face it, when you are 7, having your 4 year old sister tag along can be rough.  

I thank God for this little boy and for the relationship that he and Evie have discovered.  They are bossom buddies and each cannot wait for a chance to run down and play with the other.

I pulled my camera out the other day while he was over and captured some moments.  Mr. C, chill, fun and ever so willing to smile sweetly for me.

Then there is this kid.....Lordy.  Getting her to be still, smile, not put anything in front of her face and look in my direction is a task only a pro can handle.  Can't you just hear it?......but Mommy I am smiling!  Good thing my camera catches fast motion!

These two are amazing friends and companions.  They have spent many an afternoons together and simply love playing together.  They sword fight one minute and play dollhouse the next.  There is nothing sweeter than a best friend......especially when its the boy next door.

A Bathroom in Progress

 Goodness its been quite a month and its only the 21st!  I should know by now to expect busy Falls, but every year it takes me by surprise and every year I find myself shocked when nearly all of our weekends are filled up until Christmas.  And lets face it.....we didn't exactly have a relaxing Summer!

My photography business is ramping up which is AWESOME and I love it.  That coupled with other work items, being an involved and consistent parent, actually feeding my family, working on a marriage, attempting to have friends and training for races........well.......whew its a busy Fall.

In true Longmire fashion all of the above was only peanuts so we decided to remodel the girls bathroom too.  HA......seriously, when I write it all out I have to giggle, we are funny.  We went all in and demoed our bathroom.  When we go....we go big.

When we bought our house we knew that there was a lot of work ahead of us.  Given the age of the home and the quality of the fixtures, remodeling was gonna be in order all throughout our space.  The girls bathroom has been high on the priority list following the floors.  Over the past year several of the fixtures have broken making the remodel even more important so we decided to go for it.

One thing is for certain, we are GOOD at wrecking our house.  

I loved the blue color and the FROZEN theme I initially went with, but with the new fixtures I felt it was time to literally Let it Go and move onto a sophisticated Non-Disney bathroom.  So I painted the space to match the rest of our house and I love how bright it made it!

Bob and I are nothing, if not frugal, so we have been able to remodel this bathroom with very little cost overall and we have overhauled everything.  We were very fortunate that the previous owner had built a useless counter space in the hallway and we were able to re purpose the granite counter top for this bathroom.  It fits perfectly and Bob was able to  grind the edges and fit it on the existing cabinets.  After a coat of paint on the cabinets and a shined up counter the bathroom is already looking so much nicer!  We then took the light fixtures from our master bathroom (cause that remodel is next) and instantly the classy side started showing.

Bob got our travertine floors laid the other night and our new toilet installed.  We were rocking this project to completion when we noticed some strange warping happening in our office flooring.  Upon careful inspection we noticed that the problem was systemic and that there was a significant amount of water under our flooring.  OH NO!

Bob instantly made the call to tear out our floor, open up our wall and find the root of the problem.  So 2 hours later he discovered a leak in a pipe all the way in the attic.  The leak had been active for about 2 weeks and had been consistent enough to pool under our flooring ruining most of it.  Oh man, when it rains it pours.  

So, our bathroom is now stalled for a little bit while we repair the damage to some old pipes and ensure that we don't have any future leaks.  I am so glad that I married such a handy guy who LOVES fixing problems and who LOVES to remodel.  I also love that he is a guy who is not afraid to cut holes in walls.  I kept hoping we could just imagine the problem away.  The guy has no fear....after all, he can fix it.......I on the other hand had to shut my eyes and walk out of the room while he took a saw to our walls.

It's this kind of stuff that makes for good memories and a quality life story.  Life is fraught with unexpected stuff and once the initial freak out happens, you sit back, smile and add another hiccup into the story.......

Honey....remember that one time we remodeled the girls bathroom........ 

Here's hoping we get the final product soon!