Today

I would really like to start blogging and writing more again. I cannot believe I haven't written in a YEAR.. wow.  I am going to make a small goal that I hope to OVERLY SURPASS. Of Blogging at minimum ONCE a MONTH.
My house is messy, I should be cleaning it, especially since we are having a couple framily people over this Saturday. But I know I just need to write, to take the time and just sit down and think. And not keep going through my newsfeed on facebook or pin things on pinterest. I do need to think about what fall dessert or two to make tomorrow evening for Saturday.
I seem to have entered the transitionally slower pre holiday season at work. I'm hoping it is a shorter one this year. it is so much nicer to be busy on the days I am there, then I feel i am using my time wisely. Especially when I could be spending time with Miss Stella, before she gets swooped up into those school years when you only see your kids less than half the day.
I really truly love living in Belle Plaine. It is close enough to everything. But also far enough away that there is a kind of Peacefulness in the air. A Sunday Nap feeling. I do wish I would take the time to unclutter my house that has become my home. There seems to always be something to put away, or a picture to hang, or a drill that needs a battery, or trash that needs to be taken out, or toys that need sorting or light bulbs that need to be replaced. but alas .. that what living in a house is like. I have not lived in a free standing house probably ever before. i believe when i was a child we lived in a few duplexes and a condo and a town house. But this is my first house. Houses have very different bugs than 3rd floor apartment buildings. I have had my challenges with various ants and spiders and centipede like creatures ... ew.
The boys are growing up so quickly it seems .. 9th grade and 5th grade.. Cole was in 5th grade when I met him.. now Hayden is in 5th grade.. bizarre. They are becoming little men. They have their mature moments here and there.. but mostly they are still kids.. which i am extremely thankful for. They arent 'know it all teenagers' YET. They are both so very smart and talented in their own ways. And with being 4 years apart, they really get along quite well. And they both LOVE their Sister. Cole is great at making her forts and slides and pulling her on blankets around the living room, Hayden is a great couch cuddle-r and book reader.

We really truly are a family. I love our family. I love our home.

At the end of this Month Nick and I will have been together 'offically' 4 years. It feel like WAY longer than 4 years. I believe it feels that way, because of all the life we have lived together in these 4 years, all the growing up and growing together we have done. There will always be more growing and more changing but as long as we are doing it together that is what matters.
Those are my thoughts on this lovely autumn afternoon in October.

~Natalie