Peace Like A River In My Soul

Today was a good day.

A little hectic to start out with, but good. Asher kept me up until about 4 am (I was on baby duty while Daddy got some much-needed rest) so I got to sleep in a little bit while Nathan fed the boys their breakfast. Unfortunately, in my sleep-deprived stupor I miscalculated how long I could sleep in; somehow I thought sleeping until 9:45 would give me and hour and a half until our 'departure time' at 10:15. Don't ask.

We didn't get out of the house until 11:00. Oops.

But get out of the house we did, and headed up to Hillsboro to have Christmas festivities with Nathan's mom's side of the family...but not before dropping the boys off at Grandma's and braving Costco on the last weekend day before Christmas. One word: stupid. We did, however, manage to get in and out of Costco in 25 minutes flat. And yes, I do believe that may be a world record. It was nice to have a chance to hang out with my husband, just the two of us, doing the sort of every day stuff we use to be able to do so easily...you know, before twins.

The Christmas festivities were a bit delayed, yet incredibly relaxed which was a bit of a departure from the norm. I think my favorite part was that the gifts were all truly from the heart. With the budget being a bit tight for all of us this year, we had to get creative with our gift giving and it was such a pleasure to sit back and watch how touching each gift was. It's so easy to lose ourselves in the commercialism of Christmas and this year I really desired something...deeper. I think I got my Christmas wish.

After we got home, I (fueled by a Dutch Bro's skinny Kicker) immediately tackled the four loads worth of laundry that needed folded and put away, not to mention the dusting and rearranging of our room that has been taunting me for weeks on end. Seriously, does anyone want to hire someone to just fold and put away my laundry? That's all I want in life...to not have to fold and put away FOUR LOADS OF LAUNDRY. EVERY WEEK. Guess I should have thought of that before having twins.

I had just gotten done with putting away said laundry and was proceeding to give our master bathroom a much-needed scrub down (Got the toilet bowl cleaner from Dollar Tree, Kate. It works like a charm!) when I heard something resembling an "OH NO!" from downstairs. Evidently the downstairs bathroom door had been left open and our sons immediately proceeded to give themselves a bath in the dog's water bowl. Keep in mind that we had already attempted to put Levi and Asher to bed at this point, so we thought leaving the door open was safe.

Needless to say, a 10:30 pm bath became necessary. Have I mentioned how much the boys enjoy splashing in the bath these days?

I realized tonight just how much I wish I could be home for the nightly bedtime routine. It's pretty much impossible for Nathan to pull off the whole bath-and-a-story act by himself, with twins...they're just too wiggly. Tonight after their bath, however, we turned down the lights, curled up on our bed, and read The First Christmas while the boys snuggled with their new stuffed animals from their Auntie Kate and Uncle Eliot. Once the story was finished, they immediately settled into their cribs and I haven't heard a peep from them since. And I can pretty much same the same thing for their father, too!

I, on the other hand, finished cleaning the downstairs. I love that feeling when you get your house all clean and tidy, and then you have some time to yourself to just enjoy the order of it all before it is torn to shreds again by your children/husband/dog. Determined to make the most of it, I settled into the recliner with my down blanket, a cup of mint tea, and P.S. I Love You (the only movie that is 100% guaranteed to make me cry EVERY TIME).

Like I said, it was a good day.

Remember how I mentioned that Asher kept me up until 4 am? Here's what I did to fill the time until I was certain he was going to stay asleep for longer than 20 minutes at a time.



I must say that I've become a bit addicted to sewing. I can't seem to stop. I guess I find it soothing and rewarding, something that gives me a bit of a break from being mom/wife/911 dispatcher. I found these two fabrics in the 99 cent fat quarter bin at Joann Fabrics and instantly fell in love...they're so soft and I love how they contrast (one is modern while the other is flowery-girly) and yet compliment each other so well. And the pattern was incredibly easy. You can find it here. I left out a couple of elements because I didn't want to clutter up the simplicity of the outer fabric but I made a second purse for my sister in law with more of the detail work and it was still quick and simple.

Now I just have to find my next project!