So Darn Happy

Sunday night

I’m sitting here on the couch, with the ceiling fan whirling at warp speed above me.
This house gets ridiculously hot when I cook.
It’s why I’m begging for a window unit in the kitchen before summer gets here.

We ate dinner together at the table. The TV was off. The only sounds at all were the kids laughing and good conversation, which included Elliott trying to say, “rooter tooter booger jenny” and finally getting it after some coaching from Faith.

Now the kids are watching “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” (that’s meatmalls if you’re 3) and Cory is playing the guitar.
He’s serenading me with old gospel and western tunes. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The oscars start in 11 minutes. We usually don’t watch, but Steve Martin is co-hosting this year. And if you know our family at all, you would know that Steve Martin is legend.
Don’t come into our house and say things like, “I don’t think he’s that funny.”
And yes, we do in fact one shelf that’s entirely full of Pure Drivel.

I start a new job tomorrow, and I’m a tad apprehensive, just like I always am when meeting new people.
I feel good about the job itself. I get to continue working with kids to a certain degree and the hours are so much better for our family.
And we’ll have enough money to live..which is more than I could ever ask for.

My friend Lisa posted 25 things she wants to do before she turns 26.
It made me wonder if there were any goals I wanted to achieve before I turn 30. Keep in mind this is a mere 4ish months away.
I think it best to keep the list at 4, one a month.
Otherwise I’ll get overwhelmed and give up. I know me.
This is something I don’t want to take lightly…I’ll sleep on it and update you tomorrow. Or the next day.
Or I might just abandon the idea completely.

I’ve been watching these videos and loving them. And it reminds me of one of my goals, and that’s to play the guitar.
I know a whole three chords, but I need to start playing every day.
I want to have that kind of legacy. The ability to play a tune for my grandbabies when I have them. To pick up and play to worship, or just because it’s Friday and I’m bored, or in love. If you get that then we’re meant to be together.

What I did last night...

I stood in awe, next to the love of my life enjoying the most amazing band in existence in all their glory…

We recorded just 3 videos. Because I’m a genius and didn’t take extra batteries.

Thursday Things

I want to make these. How ridiculously fun are they? I’ve decided that I want to put up a big sign in our kitchen that says “Don’t Play With Your Food” with the don’t crossed out.

This would look fabulous in our house. I don’t even want to think about how much it must cost. I’m trying to think of a way to re-create it in some fashion to put over our dining room table.

A cool place for littles to listen to stories. I’ve even listed to a couple.

The stupidity of some people. I don’t even have the words…

I adore this picture. In my head this summer I will wear white floaty skirts and vintage cowboy boots. In reality I’ll probably be wearing the same cut offs I’ve been wearing the last two summers and whatever shoes happen to land on my feet first.

I can’t wait to go here. I’m nearly giddy with excitement.

I would love to do something like this…

I wonder what years 30-36 will be like. In 6 years Faith will be 11, Elliott will be 9 and Otto will be 7. The thought makes my head spin. But then I think about 6 years ago..and it seems like it was yesterday.

I’m gonna go hug my babies now.

being there. really being there.

“Let’s go home and get on our computers then yell at the kids to be quiet.” It went something like that..our conversation while trying to decide what to do the other night.

I tell you guys this knowing that I can do it without shame, because we’ve all been there.

While I love the idea of independent play so they can build their own imaginations, I confess that I am way too often a lazy parent. I turn a movie on for the kids hoping they’ll sit quietly and watch it so I can read, knit, or just get a load of laundry folded. That hardly ever works by the way.

We’re really trying to work our way out of the slump though. I am proud to say that yesterday I worked a puzzle with the kids. I realize some parents do this every day. For me though, it’s done on such rare occasions that I deserve a round of applause. Word to the wise: when you’re going to be working a puzzle with a 5 & 3 year old, don’t get one that holographic. And while I think I did nearly lose my temper once with Faith and said a little too loudly, “You can’t force a piece to fit!” it was a lot of fun.

While dinner was cooking, Cory played a new game with the kids. Pictureka! We didn’t buy the $20 board game. We’re cheap. We bought the card version. And the kids loved it. They followed all the instructions and it was so fun to watch the wheels in their tiny heads turn.

Please ignore the sharpie on the table. It’s a sensitive subject around here. Anyone know what’ll take that out without hurting the finish on the table?

So we finished yesterday with a great sense of accomplishment. I managed to spend quality time with my kids and went to bed with a clean house. That’s because it was Monday, my day off work.

It’s so hard to find that balance. The place where you’re being a good parent, a good wife, a good housekeeper, and taking care of yourself at the same time. To say that it’s exhausting…ya know…

But it’s also rewarding. Very very rewarding. Especially when Elliott gives me a huge bear hug and says, “You’re the best mommy.” It pretty much makes me want to have 15 more babies.

Faith and Elliott explain “Batman and Robin”

Yes, Faith has a tutu stuffed in her shirt. She’s very crafty. It’s, in fact, stuffed in her swimming suit..so it won’t fall out. But even though she’s “with child”, she’s forever stylish wearing her heels..which are quite slippery. She seriously wipes out in those things at least 3 times a day.

And yes, Elliott is wearing Faith’s clothes. We’ve decided to find it adorable that he loves to wear girls clothes.

Epiphanie Bags

These bags are gorgeous. Drop dead gorgeous.

It’s on my wish list. And to anyone interested, it would be an amazing gift for a certain someone’s 30th birthday.

But anyway…they’re having a giveaway on their blog that I’ve entered.

But don’t enter too because that’ll lessen my chances. Unless you’ll give the bag & camera to me when you win.

Our Second Born

All of my kids have these glorious imaginations, but Elliott is by far the most creative of the three.
He has even created his own superhero, the Green Defender.
The Green Defender consists of:
His green cape

a fishing hat, and his undies.

With the creativity comes this side effect. Elliott has his own world in that adorable little head. When I’m telling him something important I have to stress to him that he look me in the eye while I’m talking, and even then I can tell when his mind starts to drift off and he’s immediately defending some super important city while his cape is flying in the wind.

We were out eating the other night and an estimated 10% of the soup in the spoon was actually making contact with his mouth. The rest was falling back into the bowl. I thought it was so adorable that I grabbed the camera.

As soon as I started taping, The Green Defender was obviously saving someone very important because Elliott wasn’t with us. Physically he was, yes. Mentally? Nope. He recovered at 0:15 & rejoined us.

And in other news, I’m thinking of having the kids do movie reviews for your enjoyment.

I got this flash of brilliance while listening to them explain “Batman and Robin” the other day. We got it for them thinking it was the most kid friendly Batman movie, being ridiculously cheesy and not horribly violent. They’ve since developed a fascination for Poison Ivy. And you just have to see them do the thing where she blows a deadly kiss across the room. You’ll thank me. I swear.

Today, I have..

Washed and put away 2 loads of laundry, with many more to go.
Cleaned up the kids room.
Cleaned the bathroom.
Swept the floor.
Kept up with the dishes.
and done my ultimate goal for the day: a new self portrait.

I hate doing self portraits, but that’s just me being self loathing and ridiculous.

I find it funny that at nearly thirty I’m still finding it difficult to truly love myself.

365:030

After my hiatus, I’m trying to get back into the swing of things. I may not be right on track with the rest of the world that started on January 1st, but the most important thing is that I get 365 photos right?

And here they are…Atticus and Scout

I’m no deep thinker

Cory says I have “pretty house, pretty tree syndrome”. I love the simple things in life, like miniatures that go in doll houses or watching the cream swirl in my coffee in the mornings. I rarely allow my brain to delve too deep into the things that most people think about. I’ve never really thought this a bad thing.

Take Cory, for instance. Sometimes he dwells on things with such deep meaning that his brain starts to swell. Figuratively of course. It spills over into every other facet of his life. I don’t have that kinda time.

This is why I usually read books that require no deep thinking. To be perfectly honest with you, I’ve never finished a book on spiritual matters. I’ve read bits and pieces of them and taken what I need out of those bits and pieces, but one has never been read from cover to cover. It’s why devotionals work well for me. I can handle a 2-3 page lesson a day. Any more? Forget it.

So I’m trying to read this book. And let’s just be honest, I’m having a hard time getting through the second chapter already. What Cory called a “fast read” has been quite labor intensive for me so far. I think part of it could be my comprehension level.

In life some of us are born with book smarts..some with common sense. I’m heavy on the common sense, but I was definitely a straight C student through high school and college. And it wasn’t because I didn’t try. I would study for hours to come away with a C. My darling husband? He could cram for an hour and get at least a B, usually an A.

But I have enjoyed the videos that go with the book. I’m a sucker for interactive things like that. This one really hit home with me.

And here goes..I’m going to confess something to you…
Over the course of the last 5 years or so, I’ve been questioning whether God even exists. I’ve told only my closest friends that. Why? Because there’s such a stigma attached to doubting God’s existence. I recently watched a “30 Days” episode where an atheist spent 30 days with a Christian family.
They give some crazy statistics. Like how atheists are the least trusted group of people in the world. They were less trusted than homosexuals. When asked who parents would least approve of their children marrying the most common answer by far was an atheist.

Going off a tangent here…it’s no wonder the world has such a distaste for Christianity. We should be ashamed. Jesus didn’t hang out with people from the church while He was here with us on earth. He hung out with the people that most Christians today would look down upon. I know I’m preaching to the choir here..but seriously.

But the whole point of this book is to dwell on the awesomeness of God.
I’ve forgotten that I can look at my children and see him.

Just in the first chapter, he brings some pretty heavy arguments for God to the table.

On page 27: “Did you know that when you get goose bumps, the hair in your follicles is actually helping you stay warmer by trapping body heat? Or what about the simple fact that plants take in carbon dioxide )which is harmful to us) and produce oxygen (which we need to survive)?”

And another one I loved: “He didn’t’ have to make hundreds of different kinds of bananas, but He did. He didn’t have to put 3,000 different species of trees within one square mile in the Amazon jungle, but He did. God didn’t have to create so many kinds of laughter. Think about the different sounds of your friends’ laughs-wheezes, snorts, silent, loud, obnoxious.”

I think that believing in God is a conscious effort I have to make every day. In order to believe, I have to spend time dwelling on Him..thinking about Him and the things around me that could have no other explanation than a higher power.

I’m getting there. Maybe someday I can bring myself to making myself vulnerable by walking back into a church. For now I’m just feeling a little more peace and comfort in every day life.

And totally unrelated, having a laptop that enables me to sit on the couch comfortably into late hours of the night might not be the best thing to happen to me…

This is what I was doing at midnight last night…