Well Hello Again

I can't believe I haven't made a blog post in almost 3 years.  It's amazing to me how much social media took over everything and made blogs obsolete.  I used to love blogging.  I loved recording all the memories and sharing them with people who chose to follow along.  I'm a little sad that it's taken me this long to resurrect this amazing place.  

When I checked my reading list, I noticed that almost all of the blogs I used to follow have also not posted anything in 3+ years.  Why did we all just disappear?  Maybe they've gone to new platforms?  Maybe the are just using social media accounts like me?  I miss reading about other people's lives, the good and the bad. 

A lot has happened in the past three years.  

I went back to work!  I was looking to re-enter the workforce at some point and life events pushed me to do that a little sooner than I had expected.  But there was an opportunity and I took it.  It wasn't the most pleasant job, in fact, I absolutely hated it, but it gave me the confidence I needed to find the job I really wanted.  Now I'm happy with my job. 

My children are still amazing, though slightly older and slightly more difficult.  Ashlyn has the attitude and hormones of a teenager already.  She was given a phone and it's been downhill ever since.  She played cello for a year and then decided to change to drums and bells.  I think she's going to like that much better.  She's also on her third Girls on the Run session and will be completing her third 5K in November.  For some reason, I decided to sign up to be her running buddy this time.  Not a great move but it has motivated me to start working out again.  She'll be moving to middle school next year.

Also, she's almost as tall as me.😧

Bryan is onto his second year of violin.  He doesn't love school but doesn't hate it either.  He likes that he has his own set of friends at school and doesn't seem too bothered by the work load this year.  He still likes to cuddle and he still carries his blue blanket around with him.  We've tried getting rid of this disgusting blanket but he's very attached to it and I have a feeling, if it doesn't disintegrate, he will have it for the rest of his life.  I don't really mind.  He's a lot like me and has some anxiety issues so if it gives him some comfort, what's the harm?

Davis is still the baby bear.  I messed up with that one.  He was so special to me after my loss that I gave in to him way too much and I'm paying for it now.  He's very sweet but dam he is wild!  He doesn't seem to have any interest in any instruments or sports.  He hates school, mostly because 'it's so long' and he would rather be at home playing on his tablet.  He's still the biggest cheerleader, always encouraging and complimenting people.  He's completely fearless for the most part, a little daredevil.  This is equal parts fun to watch and extremely frustrating.  I like how adventurous his is but he is by far the scariest kid.

We took them to Florida and they had a great time.  We didn't plan the trip in enough time and we were unable to get Disney tickets but we did get tickets for two of the Universal parks and SeaWorld.  The trip was not the greatest.  We went over Christmas break.  Very bad idea.  Don't ever do this.  The parks were so packed that we barely got to ride any rides and the rides we did get on had 45-90 minute waits.  Not so great when you have three impatient kids in tow.  We enjoyed SeaWorld the most as we were able to see all of the shows.

The other bad part of the trip is that we were all sick at some point.  We each had a day or two where we had a fever or stomach issues or just felt like shit.  Whatever it was, it passed quickly and we were able to enjoy our time.  Meeting the Grinch was the best!

All in all, the kids have just been enjoying life.  We've watched a lot of movies, made a lot of popcorn and have just spent a lot of time together.

I won't go into details on the not so fun stuff, I'll save that for a later post but here are a few not so fun things that have happened in the last three years:

All three of my dogs died.  Katie, Utley and Camo all gone within two years.

My grandmother died.  This was HARD.  This is fresh and still stings.

My parents are moving to Florida.  This irks me for a number of reasons.

My husband and I separated.  This is a whole mood.

I'm sure there's so much more I could say but that last sentence makes my heart hurt so I'm just going to leave it at that.  I don't know if anyone will read this or if anyone even reads any blogs anymore but if you do, thank you and just know that I appreciate you.