Busy, Busy, Busy...

The title of this post is really all I can say about our life right now! Between soccer, softball, t-ball, games, practices, birthday parties, baby showers, bridal showers, bachlorette parties, laundry, meals, housework, school, work and everything else that makes up our "Matthews Madness", I sometimes just have to stop. I have to stop and enjoy my family; stop and remember my blessings; stop and thank God that I have 4 crazy, healthy kids; stop worrying and start laughing more; stop growling at others when I'm in not so great of a mood; stop what-if'ing and start having more faith...I could keep going but you probably get what I'm trying to say.

I find myself saying the Serenity Prayer pretty often...sometimes just saying the first line gets me centered again - "Lord, grant me the patience to accept the things I cannot change..." but more often than not, I have to say the entire prayer :) Most of you know me well enough to know I'm a bit of a control freak - I like schedules and structure and lists and order...I have to work at being spontaneous - a bit of an oxymoronic sentence huh?! I sometimes feel I'm my own biggest source of stress. I have to remind myself that while "my" way may be the best for me, someone else's way can be just as effective. I also have to remember that my kids need to find their own way - again, not my way, their's. Just some things I've been struggling with lately - sometimes just "talking" (aka blogging) about them helps!

So - back to what my fam has been up to lately...last weekend was totally nuts so I won't go into the details...suffice to say that just about everything mentioned in the 2nd sentence of this post happened in 2 days...totally exhausting. I will mention our twins' birthday though - Miss Hannah & Miss Emily are officially 9 years old now! They shared their birthday w/ my cousin Jessica's bridal shower but I really don't think they minded too much b/c they got to dress up AND go to Aunt Anna's for the shower - two of their favorite things! Han picked our breakfast - bagels & bacon - and Em picked dinner - Mi Pueblo - so we ate pretty well on Sunday! Shane's family, my mom & grandma, my dad & step-mom plus my brother Jonah all came over for cake/brownies & ice cream after dinner. Let me tell you, if you aren't a chocolate-lover, my house was not the place to be Sun. nite...Han picked chocolate cake w/ chocolate frosting and coffee ice cream; Em picked double chocolate fudge brownies and chocolate champion ice cream...talk about coma inducing! They both got a lot of great gifts including clothes, girly stuff and cash - I feel a shopping trip coming on!

This week has been more of the same w/ practices and games for all of the kiddos. Kate had a "practice" game against the other Washington U10 softball team - she did sooooo well! Hit well and fielded what came her way...she may have found a new niche! She has another practice game tomorrow night then starts her season w/ a game against Barr Reeve next Thursday. Nick had his first tball practice of the season tonight and did really well too...let me tell you, that boy can hit the ball! His first game is next Tuesday. The twins did awesome last Saturday in their soccer game and have another one this Saturday - we'll be halfway thru their season at that point. I'm thrilled that all of our kids like being involved in sports/clubs/activities - we just have to find a way to manage it all!

Shane is in Talladega, AL tonight for work but will be home tomorrow - nothing like a 14-hr round trip drive for 4 hours worth of meetings! I'm heading to Toronto on Monday for a 3 day trip to our Corporate Office for training...at least as long as my passport gets here in time :) Its supposedly in route to me and should arrive by Saturday so let's keep our fingers crossed! Shane is going to take vacation while I'm gone - will definitely make it easier to manage our family with not having to make his 2-hr round trip commute every day. I was also worried about Sadie not getting her lunch-time potty break while I was gone so his being home means alllll of my kids will be taken care of!

I know this has been a long post that kind of jumped around and was sadly lacking pictures but my camera battery is dead and I knew I needed to get something posted before certain people started hassling me!

Hope all is well for all of you & your's...