Cheuffering and my crazy wonderful life

5:55 am - Try to wake up while simultaneously counting how many days it will be till Papa comes home from his business trip

7:10 am - Drive Boo to the bus stop

7:20 am - Drive Patch to high school, then return home and finish loading Tess, Jude, and Mimi's backpack and getting them ready for school

8:15 am - Take Jude and Tess to School

8:45 am - Take Mimi to preschool

9:30 am - Get an urgent call from Boo and take his forgotten notebook to school

11:20 am - Pick up Patch from high school since he gets out early today for testing

11:30 am - Pick up Mimi from preschool

12:05 pm - Pick up Boo from the bus stop who also has a half day

1:00 pm - Pick Tess and Jude up from school (early release every Wednesday)

3:00 pm - Take Patch back to school for wrestling practice and a choir event after that.

9:45 pm - Pick up Patch from high school

10:30 pm - Crawl back in bed and count how many days till Papa comes home from his business trip

Yep, there's an insane amount of chauffeuring going on this year. Yesterday was a little busier than usual, but not really. On days that don't have early release or half days, there are golf and karate lessons to go to and with 6 kids it's not uncommon to drop everything and pick a sick kid up from school. It's actually just plain ol' life around here.

To the sweet personal that commented on Facebook, (and those of you who didn't but might have gotten the same idea) I think I may have done something wrong. I might have given you the wrong impression. In my attempts to keep it real, I may have led you to believe that I'm not happy. If I did that, I was wrong. Sometimes in attempt to not be alone, it's so easy to focus on the stressors of life. But it's quite the opposite. Things aren't perfect, but I want you to know that I am hook line and sinker, without a doubt, over the moon in love with my life! I am happy and blessed and grateful and thrilled to pieces that I get to live the life that I have.

Yes, life is hard. The coming and goings is crazy busy and thus the laundry pile is tall and the sink constantly has dirty dishes in it. I worry about money a lot. Eye rolling is not an uncommon occurrence, and this morning someone who shall remain nameless may or may not have told me to shut up. Getting up early is hard and my aging body is sagging and creaking in ways it never has before. I've been known to blow my stack... regularly. I miss Sunny so so much every single day. Another piece fell off my car this morning. I long for things I can't have like quiet time and vacations. The house needs continual maintenance, and for the life of me I cannot train our dog to not jump up and eat the food of the counter! I forget appointments that are clearly written in my calendar, on many days my second half, my sounding board, my shoulder to cry on and my best friend is thousands of miles away trying to make a better life for us.

But that being said and with all that isn't perfect, I absolutely adore my life. We are blessed beyond belief. We are all healthy, happy and have so much to be thankful for. Laughter comes easily here. We sing. We dance. We joke with each other and I love the company of my family above anyone else. There is no place on earth that I'd rather be than in my home in the middle of the hustle with their company around me. My children are growing strong and straight, and even though I love them always, most of the time I really like them as well. Photography is my bliss and makes me continually reflect how sweet our lives are. After decades to either grow together or grow apart, my marriage has never been stronger. My husband makes (and has always made me) feel safe, special, treasured, provided for, and like the highest priority in his life. I have a roof over my head (a pretty roof at that!) and food in the fridge. As my life has progressed sometimes I'm shocked that it just seems to get better year after year after year. Don't get me wrong. It's not easy, and it's not always fun, but we have a firm realization that because of the challenges life is that much sweeter. I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, but the right here and the right now is pretty stinkin' wonderful as is!

Yesterday will always have things you would change. Tomorrow always has the hopes and dreams of making things better. But in the end, all we have is today. All we have is the right here and the right now, and that's all we ever will have! Are you happy today? Are you savoring all that you've been given? Or are you stuck in the past, regretting mistakes and all the what if's. Are you so busy planning for tomorrow that you miss the ordinary miracles right in front of you now. It's important to learn from mistakes and try to make the path smoother, but it's more important savor the journey instead of the destination.

And folks, my journey is crazy wonderful! I hope you're enjoying the ride as much as I am!

I challenge you... in the midst of the chaos, imperfection and business that consumes us, comment with 1 amazing wonderful thing that went so right yesterday. One thing that made you smile or is good and might even be sign that today is gonna be so sweet as well!

PS - The shoes are in order, with squeaky Mimi's shoe from China on the left going to Papa's work shoe on the right. Each shoe was picked to represent the person it belongs to. The idea of the shoe pic is compliments of the amazing Ashlee Ann who is even more lovely in person that she is on her blog... if that's even possible.