Peanut Butter Ball EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

Today was the day...one day a year our family gathers (and anyone else we can rope in) to roll out HUNDREDS of peanut butter balls. Then we dip them. This was the first year that Molly and Katie not only attended but actively participated (read: dipped every possible thing they could find in chocolate). We rolled and rolled, ate lunch, then dipped and dipped. It's a fantastic (read: dreadful) experience. So, for those of you that care, PEANUT BUTTER BALLS ARE HERE!!!!!

The kicker to my day......what a fantastic moment in my road with Molly. This little girl, the one that was a total miracle, the one that melted my heart and changed my life in a way that I can never describe, she rocked my world today. She walked right up to me, hands on hips, and screeched: "Mommy. You. Have. Ruined. My. Life." It was one of those moments when it seemed as if time stood still because I was honestly trying to figure out what I did. But more importantly, I wondered how at the age of 4 3/4, I could have done something so AWFUL that I had ruined her life. Isn't this the kind of line that I should expect when she's 13 and I refuse to pay $160 for a pair of jeans? Or when I tell her that she CAN'T wear the make-up that makes her look like a street walker? (That's a true story.....my mom did that to me....ruined my life. Ironic, huh?) So, I realize I have two choices - I could handle this the sweet, nurturing, don't want to harm her psyche way OR I could go about it in the Pat Day Way. It's patented. The Pat Day Way was created by an amazing woman who has raised 6 children (5 of them girls, so Pat Day has ruined lives many times over). It is guaranteed to work. Perhaps not in the way that pediatricians or child psychologists would recommend, but for a mother who is up to her elbows in peanut butter, it's an amazing tactic. I decide to go the Pat Day route. Molly is still standing there with her hands on her hips, perhaps even tapping her little toe at me, waiting for a response. So, I turn and look at her, put my hands on my hips, and say, "Well, get over it kid. You're not even 5. There's not much life there to ruin." That outta get her movin'! Yes. I'm not only a fan of the Pat Day Way, I'm a user too! Of course, my child, this sweet little girl who loves to cuddle and give kisses can't just let this pass. She proved to me just how much of a sponge young children are. She used my own words against me. And it was one of those mommy moments where I sat back and thought about other life altering things I could have said and done today. She threw her hands up in the air, rolled her eyes, and said, "Ugh, Mommy...you're killin' me here." And she walked off. Y-IKES. Make better choices, Julie. Always remember to lead by example because nothing I say or do will go unseen......

My husband starts his winter hours tomorrow. He's up at 2:00 a.m. and to work by 2:30. Winter is almost a period of hibernation for the Marroquin house. I tuck all of them in by 8:00. It's a beautiful time of the year for me because I find that I enjoy the quiet evenings. Don't get me wrong, it does get a little lonely after a few months. But after going through this with him for 10 years, I have found that I love these months for various reasons, most of all for the fact that it's a very introspective time for me. I get to read without interruption (I even joined a book group!), I get to work on my sewing/scrapbooking/cardmaking/project of choice without having to monitor glue and scissors, and I get to control the remote. I couldn't ask for anything better! And, I am quickly reminded of the dedication that my husband has for our family. He'll get up at 2:00, work at a job that very few people would want (he works for the wastewater treatment plant), leave work at 2:30 in the afternoon and pick up both girls, get home and put together any loose ends to the dinner I've planned for us, clean off the driveway if it needs it, pack his lunch, play with the girls, wrap up his day with me, and then collapse in to bed just to do it again the next day. It's truly like Groundhog Day for him. I have so much respect for him and I'm humbled by the fact that he does this in order to provide such a fantastic life for the girls and I. He's amazing and I love him so much. We're a very lucky group of girls here in this house...