Train potty

I miss blogging and am craving an outlet for my rambling, you guys. Life updates, stream of consciousness, a way to get all of the thoughts out of my head and into semi-cohesive sentences....I miss it all. So please oblige me as I type away without a real topic.

I've been blogging at this domain since 2007. For nine years this corner of the internet has been mine, and it began as a place for a newlywed in a new state to update friends and family on life happenings. In those nine years I've changed as have my posts. There have been new jobs, three children, a new house, thoughts on motherhood, finding a balance with all of the roles I hold, and a million other stories that I enjoy over-sharing with strangers. I love the feedback I get from my readers. I feel a strong sense of 'I totally get it, I'm going through that, too,' with you guys. Blogging is certainly not for everyone and yes, it's sort of 'out' compared to all of the other social media outlets these days. Probably 90% of my blog friends are no longer blogging at this point. There are plenty of big wigs out there, with beautifully groomed photos and helpful posts, still utilizing their blogs for a specific business purpose. But the average 'let me tell you about my life' blogs seem to be dwindling if not extinct. I am basically a geriatric blogger at this point, but I'm owning it and moving forward in my archaic state.

I am not tapping out from my blog days just yet. I certainly don't feel the pressure to post every day or even every week, which is freeing and fits in much better with my other responsibilities. But I want to mention the fact that I still value this space and hope to write more often.

Life is good lately. It's wild and hectic and ear-piercingly loud, but it's good. I've been feeling antsy at my job, after being there for five years. I'm not sure what the next step is with my career but I feel like I can offer more than what I'm doing currently. I just don't want to lose my flexibility and I don't want to work full time....so there's that. ;)

We are talking a lot about building an addition onto our house, so much of my days at home are spent calling and emailing contractors, architects, banks, loan officers, etc. It's super exciting and also terrifying.

Nate is on track to launch his own business, finding his passion in his career. He's already dropped his hours at his primary job to make room for his side gig that will hopefully become the main gig. His focus will be on golf, and specifically Physical Therapy for golfers (but also non-golfers, can't be too exclusive). He really wants to make golf for kids a huge thing in our area, so Juniors development will be a main goal. I am so stinking excited for him and of course a little nervous because starting a business is a total leap of faith. I have faith in Nate though, he is truly one of the best Physical Therapists in our area and his patients are obsessed with him----a really great start. Shameless plug: if you are local and know anyone who loves to play golf, is injured, or wants to improve their game you should absolutely check out Pure Golf Performance. The website is a work in progress and I'm attempting to be their social media manager, so any support would be much appreciated. (End of plug).

The kids are getting so freaking big it's just disgusting. And awesome. But it still makes me a little panicky when they keep growing out of their pants in a single season. Truman is literally up to my chest. Cecelia is 95% legs. Porter is 0% baby and 100% two year old boy. See, this would be a nice topic to divide up into separate blog posts, but for now I'm just going to show you some of the DIY photoshoot I did for our Christmas cards. I'm pretty stinking proud of how the images turned out. Top secret tip: bribing them with Halloween candy still works. Capitalizing on nice sunshine at 11am in our backyard, along with some new semi-dressy outfits (thank you, Hanna Andersson), I asked them to take a few pictures with me and they totally knew there would be a sugary reward to follow. We didn't do professional family pictures this year but I'm confident one of these will be just fine for Christmas cards. To show that Nate and I still exist, I'll probably slap a family selfie on the back and call it a win. But these three kids? Showstoppers. I'm throwing it back to 2013 and asking for votes on the best photo for our cards, please!

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Tough call, right?

There are more words to share on the subject of life, but a certain Junior Kindergartener is getting out of school soon. And a certain two year old is stripping down in the corner and might need a diaper change before we go. It's currently 39 degrees and windy outside, which means multiple layers of winter gear and an extra 10 minutes with every excursion. Better be on my way, but it was nice to chat with you again.