just add frosting

If there's one thing I've learned over the past few months, it's that it isn't much fun walking through the fire. But once you do it, you're stronger for it.  The experiences that you gain along the way and are able to share with others, are incredibly empowering.  As of right now, I'm still in the fire, but I'm embracing it as it warms me from the outside in and gives me a nice healthy glow.

"Bring it, baby!" I say.

"Bring It!!!" 

When I told my mother a few weeks ago that I walked out of my job - my career - she was stunned, but she understood the dire situation I'd found myself in.  My mother has been hearing, almost daily, the same story for the past two and a half years about what I've come to recognize is a hostile work environment. And Mom agreed that there is only so much you can take before you decide, enough is enough and off come the gloves.  Consider, one day my mother up and left from a 23-year marriage that was toxic and she knew was putting her health in grave danger. The stakes were great, of course, but she understood what she had to do to save herself. So she did it.

At the moment, I'm still working but there is a lot happening behind the scenes that I can't write about. There's also a lot that I still need to sort out including that subject of what I'm going to do with my career.  I'm more convinced than ever that there are no accidents. All of the events that have transpired the past few years and all of the decisions that I've made (ever since I've been an age where I could make decisions), have led me to this precise point in time. Believing that this is exactly where I'm supposed to be, has certainly helped me to embrace the uncertainty of it all.

So while I continue to pontificate on those things, I intend to share some photos and snippets of life from around our home the past few weeks.  Remember, just because I'm not writing every day doesn't mean I'm not taking an abundance of pictures and thinking about updating my blog. It just means that I'm watching a lot of live streaming movies on Netflix and hoping it snows soon. So, I have quite a few pictures that I need to post. Including these of my little buddy, Henry, who helped me make his father's birthday cake a week ago, tonight.



As always, this little one is so cute and has a knack for taking my breath away.

(Especially when he curls up next to me, asleep.)



Wow. This little guy is such a handful. 



I honestly don't remember that the triplets had this much energy, across the three of them, when they were five years old. Am I forgetting something? Because when his eyes are open this child is "ON" and is a ball of nonstop little brother energy the likes of which I've never witnessed before. 

Exhibit 1.  Here's his sister carefully rolling a skein of yarn in to a ball in preparation to knit ... as Henry beats the sin out of a helium balloon with a wooden spoon, directly behind her.  He's wearing his sister's thermal underwear shirt, his spiderman pants, his father's Marine Corp triathlon cap and my apron. This is the 17th outfit that he has worn in the past two hours.



Can you imagine the sound effects?



WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! WHAP!



WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! WHAP!



WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! WHAP!

Now, insert ear piercing screams.  Everyone around him is oblivious to the noise. Except the dog who is hiding somewhere downstairs.

(Lady that feeds me cheese when I sit and stay? I promise I'll come back up stairs and curl in a ball by your feet once the little person that makes BIG noise is tucked away for the night.)

Meanwhile, Elizabeth crafts her very own birthday cake for her daddy ...



She also created a little something that she has dubbed, "Mr. PlayDoh."



Henry stops beating the balloon and general hell raising, just long enough to place candles on the cake that he helped to make, that I had to bake in the toaster oven because our tiny oven was occupied with a roast. The cake tasted better than it looked thanks to an abundance of frosting.  Then again, a cow paddy could be edible with enough frosting...

(Notice, new shirt ... pajama top which brings our outfit change to #18).



(The lighting is better in this picture and the cake actually looks enjoyable, right?)

There was a moment of peace as candles are lit and we launch in to our birthday song...



And all the children gather to help their father make a wish.

Earplugs. Noise reduction head phones? 



According to Charlie, all of his wishes have already come true.  And although my hearing may not be as sharp as it was a few years ago ... there's no question, my wishes have all come true, too.

Life really is good and sweeter than frosting.