Getting Caught Up...

Where does the time go? Out the window, under the rug, out with the trash (do you have days like that too?), just gone. Sometimes I get a little sad when all of the sudden I look back and think, "When did my daughter learn to do that?" or "How many days have gone by since I talked with my folks?" or even "Whoa, how did I get this far and not even know it?" my favorite, "What day is it?". Enough of my complaining, sorry :( Allow me please to digress a bit...

One of my favorite questions that I hear from people, "How can you spend 3 hours of your Sunday at church? Don't you want to be at home with your family?" Well...it is the only time that I know I have guaranteed to slow down and focus on something not me, or my husband, or my daughter, or my house, or my job, or the laundry that needs to be done, or the toys that need to be put away, or the emails/phone calls I need to make to my students' parents, or dinner that needs to be cooked, which always makes me think of the groceries I have to buy. It is the only time I really, truly give myself to let God fill me up, because shamefully so, I don't give Him all that attention as much as I should throughout the week, and I need to. He gets the backseat sometimes and I think it's easy for me to push Him there because I know He is going to love me know matter what and not give me grief about it. He's just waiting there for me to slow down and drink Him in. I love Sundays. Why can't we have 7 of them?

I know that amidst all my craziness and hayday is that, despite it all, I'm alive, I have a wonderful, seriously amazing husband who comes home to us everynight to eat and play and give baths and read stories (I love you hon!), I have a sweet little girl who melts my heart even when she's being a stinker and especially when she's having a wonderful conversation with me about her dress up clothes and what they match and ... this could go on forever, I have a home to come home to, I have an awesome job that I believe (aside from parenting) trumps most others anyday, I've got clothes to wear, my daughter has toys to play with, I love my students' parents so I don't mind talking with them anyhow, we have food in our pantry to cook, and money to buy the groceries that cooks the meals we eat. Yeah, I'm done complaining...thanks for walking me through that theraputic moment :)

We are blessed. I have some wonderful moments to share with you all over the past month with our family. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Picking out the perfect (little) pumpkin!

Hauling it away in the wagon ;)

Decorating with Mama.

Obviously done with the craft...she's now stacking markers ;)

The finished products. Abby's on the left, Mama's on the right

(she did draw the face on her's all by herself-eyelashes and all!)

Carving the big pumpkin with Daddy.The finished product.

Tinkerbell, Leonardo (I think), some football player, and another Tinkerbell.

Abby, Daddy, and Mama with Miss Spider.

She talked about that cake for months before and is still doing so now...thanks Hol!

A visit with Grandpa Kelly!

Abby helping me and Kyle (see below) make a pumpkin pie for

her preschool Thanksgiving feast.

Michelle (my awesome sister) and me on Thanksgiving.

All dressed up (minus shoes) for her preschool Christmas program.

Oh yes, she is the only one standing up throughout the entire show ;)

Papa got it all on film!

Getting a candy cane from Ol' St. Nick.

Abby with Mama PJ.

Abby and Nana Kate.

Papa, Nana Mary, and Abby.

Because Grey Matters.

Many of you know that my father-in-law, Jim (Kate's husband), was diagnosed with brain cancer over 13 years ago, 1 year after they got married. Through many procedures, treatments, the help of amazing doctors and nurses at Barrow's Neurological Institute, rehab, and support from countless friends and family members, we were extremely joyful to celebrate Jim's current state of being- he's here with us today. What a blessing. Simply being.

The guest of honor, Jim, and Abby.

When my mother-in-law, Kate, found out about the Brain Tumor Walk held in Tempe, she jumped at the chance to invite as many people as she could to walk in support of Jim and those who are fighting their battle with Brain Cancer, and in memory of those who aren't. She also planned a lovely coffee hour at her home that evening, filled with yummy foods (see the cake below!), great fun, and amazing music sung/played by Kate, Gavin, and some of their dear friends who have been singing in coffee houses with Jim and Kate for a long time.

The cake.

Kate, singing "the Pal song" to Jim. It was incredibly touching ;)

Many of the people there have been there from the beginning of this long journey- sometimes disheartening, but also many times of triumph and joy and hope. I, for one, have only known this family as one that is surviving and growing in spite of this disease and the changes it has forced upon their dynamic. Having watched this family make their way through this, I am still utterly amazed, awed, and inspired at how resilient people can be and how really, no matter what, they rally around as much as they can, putting their faith in God that He will see them through.

Just some of Jim's many fans and supporters.

Nana Kate and Abby.

Kate and me, sporting grey.

Me and my wonderful family!

It was a wonderful night. A night full of hope, joy, thankfulness, and love. I am so glad that I was there to witness the love and affection everyone had for Jim. What a way for God to witness to us that He has a plan, one we may never understand, but one none the less. He tells that He never promised it would be easy, it would only be worth it. I just want to end this post with one of my very favorite scriptures, one that brings me so much peace and hope in God is this,

"I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me." - Phil. 4:13

So it's been awhile...sorry :(

I really would like to apologize for lapsing on my posts (there really is no excuse, but I'll try anyway...). We get busy. Is that good enough? Maybe not? How about, "I was trying to get ready for the 1st quarter to end, and be away from my classroom right before on a business day, plus taking care of a child who is now on her 9th round of croup."? You'll settle...I truly appreciate it ;)

To be honest, nothing super exciting or worthy of some magnificent revelation has happened since I last posted, but I'll share what I can rummage up:

1. My 29th birthday. It was a blast! We had some of our awesome and amazing friends over on Friday night and had yummy food and drinks. And I must give major credit to my darling hubby for organizing the treats with my girlfriends. You can see the beautiful (and delicious) cake my friend Holly made for me. It had daisies, my FAVORITE, thanks Hol!

2. Julian's 4th birthday. What a great kid to share my birthday weekend with! He had such a great time with all of his fun cousins and friends- pinata and all ;)

Me and my little cousin, Greggy- he's a firefighter in a far-off, distant land...

If you look carefully, you can see the worm my daughter spotted (it's to the left of her sucker).



Here is Julian, holding the worm ;)

This is Abby and Julian examining the worm after moving it halfway across the yard.
They decided he must not have been happy where he was before...


"Woo Hoo! You've got a worm!"

Abby & Maeleigh: These girls are trouble!!!

What's a little football when you are in HUGE yard!

Hello, down there!

3. Round 9 of croup with Miss Abby. Never fails, October weather settles in and I begin to count the days into the month until I hear that distinctive bark, I mean, cough... this time we made it 6 days into the month- woo hoo! Oh well, it doesn't scare me anymore, it really is a way of life for us throughout the months of October through March :( I woke up at 2:07am on the dot to one, count it, ONE barking cough and knew that we were in for it. At least it was before Fall Break and not during it so we could enjoy our time together more!!! This time, her doctor even prescribed a nebulizer for us to keep at home so no more trips to Urgent Care for a breathing treatment in the middle of the night- I am sure on some level you can understand why this is so exciting and such a blessing for us. If you can't, well, thank your lucky stars! So anyway, all of you gambling folks out there...Kyle and I are taking bets as to how many times Abby gets croup this winter. Is that terrible? Maybe so, but we need to find the humor in it somewhere...Please keep her in your prayers ;)

She wasn't too sure about this...

...but she's a pro now!

4. Fall Break!!! Does that say it all? It should ;) Sadly, I do not have any pictures of how I spent my first few days of Fall Break. It was amazing, seriously, I'm not kidding. I don't know if I have an illness in my head or what, but it is the one break I really look forward to because I know I get to CLEAN MY HOUSE!!! There is nothing like the satisfaction you get from scrubbing your house from top to bottom (except blinds and our 'junk room'- not touching that one with a 10 ft. pole without Kyle's help!). I did it all (again, with the exception of those said items listed above): baseboards, door frames, the faces of the doors, moved couches and cleaned the floors beneath them (oh how embarrassing it is when your husband asks if the dust you are holding in your rag is chinchilla hair- nope, just plain ol' dirt honey), moved some pictures around, donated a car load of stuff to Goodwill...I really could go on and on, but it is just simply beautiful, and SOOOOO satisfying ;) How long do you think I can keep my husband and daughter tied up to keep it this way?

I HAD to add a picture of my favorite cleaning agents!!!

(from the left: Holy Cow Glass Cleaner, Holy Cow All-Purpose Cleaner, Orange Glo- for wood, and my NEW favorite...Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day in Geranium scent!!!).

Tools of the trade: a small Clorox scrub brush, a microfiber washcloth, and a pet hair remover ;)

Anyhow, enough about my craziness ;) The 2nd half of Fall Break will prove to be more fun to 'normal' people like you- hanging out with the cousins, getting our ceilings textured (what? that's not fun to everyone?), and camping with our friends. I'll post pictures of that later!

Ciao! 'Til next time (which won't be this long...)

It was a BIG weekend for Miss Abby!

This weekend was jam-packed with fun (and some work)!

On Saturday, Daddy and I built Abby's BIG, big girl bed (we called her toddler bed her 'big girl bed'). That, in and of itself, was a trip to see.

It was a true testament to my darling husband's patience- with me...

You see, one of my wonderful co-workers gave us their daughter's older bed when they bought her a new one. It is SO cool- it has a slide! Anyhow, from said reasons above, it did not come with instructions. We were on our own (cue the scary music)...

After getting one side all nice and tight, I took a look at it and sighed a heavy sigh, telling Kyle I believed we messed up and it needed to go on the other side. He didn't bat an eye (although he did mention that he thought we did it right the first time...) and got right to work switching the pieces.

Needless to say, after attaching BOTH pieces now, I stood back and looked at the puzzle of the bed and realized that I was wrong (remember this statement always, I don't usually admit when I'm wrong, especially in print!) and sighed an even heavier sigh than the one before. This time Kyle just looked up at me with knowing eyes, waiting for me to say what he already knew I was going to say. "I messed up. Sorry!" were the words out of my mouth. He just silently shook his head and started unscrewing things...

After a much longer time than needed be, here is the end result:

Abby was SO happy! I think that made it all worth it in the end ;) Thank you, honey, for being far more patient with me, than I often am with you. I could stand to learn a lot from you ;)

Snow Excursion (what?!?)...

So our darling daughter, Abby, came out one evening last week, informing us that she was, in fact, ready to go to the snow.

And she was.

Well, almost...you see, she had almost all of the appropriate attire for snow weather: warm fuzzy hat, sweater, and mittens...and of course, pink, fuzzy slippers ;)

What she was missing was pants (which, when prompted to go get some pants on as well, she came out with these hot, pink shorts- at least they matched!) and of course, snow...

How do you explain to a 2.5 year old that we are in the middle of a SCORCHING summer, and we are in the middle of a desert? Thankfully, due to the minute length of a 2.5 year old's attention span, we were spared any tears or arguments as she quickly moved on to something else ;)

Please Pray...

I am so sorry to have to even post this, but I believe prayer works and it works in numbers. I am asking anyone who reads this post to please pray for my cousin Dana, her husband Rene, big brother Noah, but most importantly, their twin boys, Liam and Reed, 4 weeks old. Both boys have been hospitalized recently with an unknown cause (last information I received) and they believe that Reed may have had a stroke, because he shows no movement on his left side.

No one could even begin to imagine the nightmare they are going through right now. I'm just asking with everyone to keep these little boys in your prayers...thanks.

What to do on a rainy evening...

What? It rains here? Believe it or not, yep...then it gets humid ;)

So Monday proved to be a bit spontaneous in the Dosil household. My dear hubby is not what I would call a 'baker', although I'm sure he would disagree and tell you that his cookies from a tube are highly qualified enough to be considered real baking ;)

Shortly after he came home from work and finished dinner, I observed him milling around the kitchen. Not sure what he was doing, I figured he wasn't making any noise, or a mess, so I let him be ;) Then he started to ask me where things were. Things that belonged in cookies. So I went in to investigate.

Sure enough I saw that he had a collection of ingredients on the counter (although when he asked me what the difference in our two flours were, I noticed he had taken out the whole wheat kind and swiftly replaced it with the regular, white kind). I also noticed he had mentioned using our Smart Balance spread instead of checking for butter in the freezer...oh boy.

My darling husband, Kyle, getting it all together...

I moved in. So did Abby once she heard the word 'cookie'.

Abby and Daddy once she took her place in the kitchen ;)

Once she took her position on the counter (thanks Melynda!), she began helping Daddy make yummy, chocolate chip cookies. Since I was, of course, photographing the event, which it was (an event, that is) , I was not paying attention to Kyle's method of mixing ingredients- which is "Throw everything in the bowl at once, regardless of directions, and have at it." I made him scoop as much flour as possible out and follow the directions.

Mixing some of the ingredients together...

She's just too precious...

Rolling the dough into balls- a daddy habit ;)

Getting ready for the oven...

Licking the dough off her hands ;)

Man, oh man, guys don't like following directions, or being told to follow the directions- even in the kitchen ;)

Abby and Daddy's 1st homemade batch of cookies- YUM!



Intermission- getting ready for bed

Despite some minor recipe directions infractions, the cookies were saved and I must say, it really looked like he and Abby were having a good time! They turned out very yummy and it was an utter joy watching this fun Daddy/Daughter evening ;) Especially tasting their goodies!

Ready, set, COOKIES!!!

Umm...good ;)


Finishing every, last bite!

I love my family.