Happy Friday... A Day Early! Let the Fun Begin!

I'm absolutely giddy that today is my Friday! Tonight is all about packing and karate. The weekend is all about FUN! Time at the water park, crafts with the girls, time with my mom and maybe even snuggles, popcorn and a movie to wrap it all up on Sunday. Bring on the long weekend!! The best thing about this long weekend is that there's another one right after it. WOOHOO!

So, tonight is our last big, homemade family dinner with the six of us for a while - a busy calendar has us going every which direction, often opposite directions - for the next few weeks. So, we've decided to make it extra yummy. We'll be having Cheese Stuffed Meatballs....

https://stepawayfromthecarbs.com/cheese-stuffed-meatballs/

We'll serve these with Dreamfield's spaghetti and these awesome looking Low Carb Buscuits that I keep coming across. We'll add some veggies on the side too, of course. I've read several different Facebook comments and blogs that link back to this biscuit recipe, so I'm excited to give it a shot. I also have The Hubby making Cowboy Cookies while he's home today to take to deer camp with him this weekend. I laugh because my dad gobbles up all of our THM recipes and tells us how delicious they are. Little does he know how healthy they are. Muah ha ha haaa! 

We have more karate tonight as we gear up for our testing. There are just 17 days until our first belt test and I think The Hubby and I are just as nervous as Emmy Lou, actually probably more so! We are all excited at the prospect of adding some color to our very white uniforms though. Our other older daughter won't be with us the day of the belt testing and hasn't had enough classes to meet the requirements for testing just yet since she can only go on the days she's with us. She'll get to test in March at the next belt testing. The little ones move up in ranking based on attendance. Again, our youngest can only go when he is with us, so he has less classes. Abbycakes will have enough classes to move up to her yellow belt the same week as her big sister (although, it's a Dragon grade belt, meaning she will have to start all over again when she gets into the Junior class), Everyone is still having a blast though, so that's a good sign!

It is unfortunate that we have to have the pains of a blended family - parents who live in different towns, schedule conflicts, disagreements, power struggles, and some unfriendly atmospheres that go along with the joys - watching all four play so well together, looking forward to "missing" members coming home, and doing things as a complete family. It's hard... much harder than I thought it would be when we decided to get married. There's a big difference between dating a man with kids and being a part of their lives on a regular basis and being married to a man with kids and joining everything into a combined home. Everyone is buried in a lot more baggage with the latter. I'll admit, some days it is utterly overwhelming and there are plenty of times The Hubby and I don't see eye to eye, but it is rewarding to see all six of us enjoying things like family movie night or going to karate together when we have that time. 

It's especially fun for me when I can take all four away for a weekend, give The Hubby a break and have some time alone with them making memories. It's rare, but we try to do it once a year. This weekend is our once a year this year, so to heck with the stress and the frustrations... We are setting the GPS to Memory Making Zone and making the most of our short excursion. Here's a look at last year. The kids have plans to have even MORE fun this year!