.:diary of sorts:.

so i’ve tried to keep the blogs i write away from a sort of diary entry… and more so like an update or a newsflash, however today i’m feeling the need to just talk it out. bear with me as my diary entries tend to be scattered and often broken as my mind jumps from here to way over there.

we had a meeting this morning at work with our 401k account representative on the overall status of the markets and our money. i find myself terribly overwhelmed with the task of keeping myself and now dave and the girls financially afloat on a day to day basis without having to think about saving for my retirement years now.

this meeting was coupled with a time in my life where i am feeling like life flies by in the blink of an eye… maybe some of you reading are thinking to yourselves “ha! she’s only 24!”- well i’m feeling it, folks.

too much time goes by between visits with loved ones far and near… but there just isn’t enough time or gas money in one day. there also isn’t enough time to have sufficient quiet, down, and alone time while wanting to complete all the other visits, adventures and tasks necessary and desired in life.

how do i find this balance? listen to my core? take alone time when i need it and visit family when available?

let me pause for just a minute… i am absolutely NOT complaining about my life. i am absolutely ecstatic to be alive and to be where i am. i believe i am just learning about how to have a real relationship with a real man, how to be a caregiver/nurturer/confidant/role model/provider (amongst other things) to my precious princesses, how to own and care for a home while still doing my best to meet the needs and desires of both schaeperkoetter and hope families.

sometimes it really doesn’t feel like there is enough time for everything… and so much which we want to complete. schooling, career growth, financial security, vacations, a new home, a bigger car… aye ye ye!

this really was intended to be a positive post! i am happy! i want to do so many things for my family and your family- i’m just finding the time for it all.


…maybe i’ll stick to updates and newsflashes.

.:that’s a wrap:.

we had another fun thursday with the girls. dave and i found a new spot on the green river that is really rad. it’s a bit steep to get down to, but the girls were amazing- well ella was dead asleep in my arms, so my trusty flip flops and dave’s hand helped us down… but nonetheless they were troopers. ella slept the whole time in the 90 degree weather, drenching my dress and the whole side of her head. bless her heart she was very hot, but too tired to care. lily, chloe and dave dug chloe and lily into the ground and got sand everywhere. dave found his goggles before we left and he and the big girls went scouting. they actually found a shopping cart at the bottom of the river! we tried to talk dave into pulling it out, but i guess it was really stuck and the currant was pretty strong. so best he didn’t do it.

we changed the girls at the beach (that was fun!) and carted them off to their mom’s. both lily and ella had a hard time saying bye. it’s bittersweet really, it’s nice to feel loved, but it’s tears us up seeing them sad. we remind them they can call us anytime… and we drive off.

dave and i have another event filled weekend. his mother’s side of the family is having their family reunion this weekend. many of dave’s family members he hasn’t seen in years… and i mean years. i think he’s very excited to reconnect and to have me meet a lot of people that i won’t have another chance soon to meet. so we’re headed over the mountains this afternoon to meet up with his sister and her family for tonight and then the rest of the family will start trickling in tomorrow morning. we will maybe stay the night saturday or come home in the evening. my older brother is also in town this weekend from la! hooray for family! dave and i would also like to float the river on sunday, wrapping up our weekend at my ma’s for dinner. should be busy… should be fun.

hope all is well… love to you and yours.

happy sunshine.

xokb

no pictures from last night, but here's one to keep you smiling.

.:just another manic monday:.

it sure has been awhile since we wrote anything… life has been busy and then slow… and then busy again.

dave and i continue to work on the house, making it our own. we recently did our bathroom. we painted, hung up a towel rod and two hooks. we had a shelf in there before that was better suited for books and knick knacks, not bathroom toiletries. we will have to re-mud and then texture our bedroom walls before we can paint, so that one is a little far off. the girls are anxious to have their rooms painted… ella and chloe’s room is a bright, off green color right now and lily’s room is blue swirls with bugs?! i’m still not sure the thought process behind the past decorating, but nonetheless dave and i have very similar tastes and we’ll have these walls sorted out in no time.

we had the girls this last weekend. and for once we pretty much cleared the schedule and didn’t do a planned thing. we hung out with the cox’ on friday night so dave could install/hook up their cable. saturday was such a beautiful day we headed down to the river where we played all day. i made a big batch of what the girls now call ‘kristi special’ which is just a basic tuna pasta salad- but they seem to love it (and i’m okay with the name!). we filled up all our water bottles and grabbed our beach towels and didn’t return home until dinner time. no sun burns, sand everywhere, and tired girls. sunday was another lazy day. we were told that lily had baseball practice and since we don’t have the schedule and/or coach’s info like we’ve requested we were left standing at a high school baseball field in covington for half hour twirling our thumbs, as no one else showed up. we still haven’t got to the bottom of that mystery. ella crashed on the way home, i changed my clothes to my sunday sweats (as said to the beat of “sunday’s best”), and we just chilled. dave pulled out this old piece of art that he bought at a garage sale a long time ago and we cleaned it up and brought it in the house. it is a picture of mt. rainier and a clock, it’s kind of a shadow box type of frame, except nothing inside, ya know? just a deep frame. i really love it… now if we could only find a C battery to make it work.

we wrapped up the night with a bike ride. dave spent a good portion of saturday patching lily’s tire, his tire and fixing his old bmx that doesn’t have brakes. we all cruised around the neighborhood and felt the wind in our hairs.

dave and i curled up and watched shooter last night… i thought it was alright. dave’s rating jumped from a C- to a B+ and then back to a “ah, I don’t know”. so watch at your own risk, there are mixed reviews.

so now, here we are: monday. a new week. overcast today but supposed to get nicer throughout the week. my older brother gets into town later this week… and dave and i hope to float the river this weekend too. we hope everyone is well… take some time to smell the roses.

kb

.:join my team!:.

this is the first of many reminders, requests, and updates! i have started a team to participate in the Light the Night Walk on september 26th! as some of you know, my mother was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma about 2 months ago. she's put up a great fight already, but still has a battle ahead of her. i want to walk for her! and fundraise for a great society that has provided much help and support to my mom and many, many others. i want all of my friends to walk and fundraise too! it's a great cause and touches my heart deeply. please check out our team's homepage and make a donation- or even better- JOIN OUR TEAM and walk with us!

SPARTANS! Prepare for GLORY!


Welcome to our Team's Homepage

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.:ridin' the wave:.

well i thought i would get to this post sooner rather than later… but it seems to be later already.

we all had an amazing time on the boat. we owe carl, mom and eric one HUGE thank you. i think i’ll let the pictures do most of the talking, but we all had a blast to say the least. this will definitely not be the girls’ last boat ride.

love to all.

.:big surprise:.

dave’s brother called it. dave’s ex must have had somewhere to go. she revoked our privileges of having the girls overnight on thursdays. thank you so much for doing us such a favor, katy.

she requested that she have the girls on saturday from 3 to 8- for her sister’s daughter’s birthday party… do you think that maybe the party could have been scheduled on a weekend that katy had the girls?! probably. when dave told her no because that’s our weekend- she flipped and told him he would no longer have the girls overnight. pretty healthy game of ping-pong for the girls to be in the middle of, eh?

dave and i have jointly agreed that it’s best that we stick to the court-mandated schedule until such time that it can be reviewed- regardless of any more games she’d like to play.

lily is asking when she will have a say in where she spends her time. chloe and ella are asking to stay overnight… hearts are breaking.

dave constantly reminds me that our job is to make them happy, comfortable and full of laughter in these confusing and complicated times. so we plan to do just that.

lily has her last softball game on saturday with the end of the year bar-b-q immediately after. chloe has recital pictures somewhere in the middle of all that… and as for sunday- drum roll please –carl and debby are taking us alllllll out on their boat! one big HOORAY! for the HOPE girls. they have never been on a boat and i’m pretty sure this is going to blow their sweet minds. we always have such amazing weekends with them. i’m sure i’ll have some drop-dead-cute pictures of the little ladies on the sparkling lake for next week’s post.

hope all is well with everyone. shall return next week.
kb.

.:hope girls’ first race for a cause:.

what an amazing weekend! the weather was great, the race was great… smiles were all around.

we started off with a slow fun evening on friday… hit the park, had some super melted grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner… my soup was not without the saltines.

saturday we hit the road early to see my little brother bowl in the state tourney. he bowled six games and split it about down the middle, half over his average, half under his average. he didn’t move on to nationals this year, but i’ve got some high hopes for this kid and his bowling career. carl, my ma and eric took us all out to lunch at wendy’s! frosty’s and french fries… yummy. we said our goodbye’s and were on the hunt for a cheap cool birthday present for lily to take to her friend’s party later that afternoon. we found this rockin’ huge water toy- i think it was this big whale that the kids could sit on, and water spouted out of the top… maybe you could aim the spout?! clearly i don’t remember it too well, but nevertheless it was $7 and we were in the check-out line. we dropped lily off at her birthday party, hit a few garage sales and another park. we just hung out outside for the rest of saturday as sunday morning was coming quick and early!

sunday morning we left the house at 6:15am… the girls were rock stars! dave did some weird loud bird call inside the house to wake them up… lily stumbled from her room, but it didn’t stir chloe or ella. we put our REPORT shirts on and piled in the car. what an event this was! so many people had come out to join the fight against juvenile diabetes. we were on our way! 4 miles here we come! ella and chloe were already in the double stroller we borrowed from the cox’ and lily was keeping up with us perfectly. it was a beautiful route through the university of washington campus. we all did an amazing job at the race and it was near flawless… except for when the blankie got caught in the wheel and dave scraped his knuckles trying to get it uncaught.

we cruised inside of husky stadium for awhile after we crossed the finish line… there was water, and bananas and key chains galore! there were sponsors set up all around the field and we were able to get a few give-aways. there was also face painting and balloon making available to the girls… i stood in one line and dave stood in the other. we all got balloons made, lily a crazy hat, chloe a flower hat and ella a flower… i asked for an anchor. dave requested a skateboard, but it was a bit over the clown’s heads. the face paintings were adorable, lily got an army TANK on her cheek… for those of you that don’t know, she’s got this sweet little crush on a boy named TANK. she definitely got us with that one. chloe had some sparkling flowers and ella requested some delightful balloons on her little chubby cheek. we wrapped up at the stadium, and walked….very….slowly back to the car. our legs were tired! dave’s arms got a great workout from pushing the stroller too!

dave requested that we visit gas works park as he had never been, along with the girls. i gave my dad a call to find out where to go- i had been there many times as a kid, but obviously never drove. we were on our way and my dad also suggested that we check out the fremont troll as he figured the girls had never been. and he was right! they were amazed! well, lily and chloe were pretty amazed, ella was pretty passed out. we played on the troll for awhile, snapped a few pictures and headed home.
some of us rested when we got home, some of us played… but then we all wanted to be outside again! so we went down to one of lily’s favorite ‘beaches’ on the green river. sat, dipped our toes… and ate some sandwiches. we headed home as all the girls seemed to need to use the bathroom… and the outdoor, public, community potties on a hot day, didn’t seem like the best idea.

we wrapped up our night with some otter pops and tossing the baseball. the girls were picked up late as usual -which we love!. every extra minute is a blessing. and there dave and i stood: sweaty, slightly burned, tired and with a messy house- sans our three monkeys. it’s still a very surreal feeling to have them with us one minute and then them be gone the next. and not surreal in the dreamlike, Salvador Dali sort of way… weird like: something isn't right.

so, we look forward to our thursday, when we can once again be parents for a day.