hello? hello? anyone out there??

hello poor neglected blog.

i've missed it.  i've missed you.

i am not even sure where to begin with catching up.  i have that overwhelming feeling of being so far behind i don't even know where to begin.  i'll just keep swimming and plugging away to catch up when i get time. 

i am hoping to be able to carve out some time each week to get some posts up.

so far 2012 has been kicking my rear.

our days are busy with school, errands, keeping up with the house, and kids stuff.

you know, the usual.

 in order to take control of 2012, i've started a new morning routine. i had gotten out of the habit of getting up at o'crack of dawn.  i was still getting up around 5:30 or 6:00 but by that time i was starting to run my to do list through my mind.  once my to do list gets going in my head, i go right to the list and don't get a workout in or have time before the kids get up to blog, read blogs, have quiet time etc...

so i've started getting up earlier than o'crack of dawn:

the thing about getting up this early is that i am about half way through my workout before i actually wake up. ha!

it has also given me time in the morning to have some quiet time, catch up on emails, etc... before its time to get the kids up to start school.

i am loving this time.

i am also needing to sneak a nap in about once a week and my bedtime has become as early as my children.

i am amazed at how just this little difference, getting up super early, has made a difference in our day.  our day runs much more smoothly when i have gotten a workout in and had some time to myself before we start our school day.  our mornings aren't rushed which means a more peaceful start to our day.

even though 2012 has kicked my rear a bit {but i am taking back the rest of 2012}, it's been for mostly good reasons that i've been mia.  here's a little look at what we've been up to for the past two months:

at the beginning of february, i flew to seattle with my friends kaylynn and kara.  

we were on a secret mission to surprise our friend janna.

we had been planning and keeping this a secret for 4 months.

more on this trip and the surprise coming soon. i promise!

two weeks later, i flew with morgan to spokane for a gymnastics meet in coeur d'alene.

it's always a favorite meet for the girls.

they look forward to this all year long.

i came back from coeur d'alene with a cold which turned into a sinus infection

after two and a half weeks of not being able to breathe, i finally got some meds.

so thankful for meds.  i felt better in just a few short days.

this cute boy turned 8.

i am sort of in denial that he is 8 and growing up far too fast.

we had a secret agent spy party for his 8th birthday

it was so fun

definitely a post with all the details coming soon!

i went with some girlfriends to the hunger games premiere

it was SOO good

so worth only getting 2 1/2 hours of sleep before morgan's state gymnastics meet

i think the lack of sleep helped me from getting too nervous

 gymnastics competition ended

basketball ended

now we are spending our evenings at the baseball field

this boy has improved so much from last year

he is playing so well

its so much fun!

this was our 6th easter in idaho

every year it is cold and windy or it rains

this year we had fantastic weather

it was sunny and warm

perfect day!

 we took our spring break around easter

one of the things the kids wanted to do was check out a new indoor play center

this indoor center had a high ropes course

the kids loved it

they are so much braver than i am

this mama is not a fan of heights

you can put me on a roller coaster and i will love every minute of it but don't even think about asking me to go on a ferris wheel. no way!

 i've been reading. 

lots and lots of books.

it makes my heart happy to have time to read. its one of my favorite things to do.

this book was a pleasant surprise.

i read the first book and thought it was pretty good. i would give it a 3 on a scale of 1-5.

the sequel, was a 5! so so good. it stinks i have to wait an entire year to read the 3rd book. not fair!

of course there have been plenty of play dates with friends

trips to the park

running through the sprinkler

bike rides

what have you been up to while i've been mia?