Fears

I have fears. I'm guessing everyone in this world does.
I have a fear of baths. (Not showers. I do like to be clean.)
I have a fear of leaving one of my children somewhere accidentally. That seems to always happen to parents at some point.
I have a fear of drowning. I won't go into the ocean past my ankle bones due to the undercurrent.
I have a fear of outliving any or all of my children.

But the thing about these fears is this: I find comfort that if/when any of that happens, God will give me the strength to handle it. (Even the bath thing. I've had to take a few baths in my adult life and I had to do some serious mental blocking and heavy breathing to get through it, but I did get through it.)

The fear that I have acquired as of late, it isn't allow itself to be tucked away. Everyday I think about it. Everyday I pray about it and try to find some peace. And I can't. I just can't. And I feel like it's somewhat of a silly and embarrassing fear.

I'm scared to grow old.

I'm not scared to get wrinkles. I'm not scared to have a bigger nose or bigger ears. I'm not sacred of gray hair because hair dye exists, and I'm not even scared to die. That doesn't bother me in the slightest. Even the thought of murder or a car accident doesn't truly bother me because I just think about how I'll be going somewhere so much better. But growing old? It just makes me sad. When I was younger, I just assumed that my mind would stay equal with my age and when I was old, I would think like an old person. But there was one day in college, when I was having a conversation with my great aunt, that old age came up and she remarked that sometimes she had to remind herself that she had an old body because in her mind, she felt the same as she did when she was in her twenties. I was shocked. It had never crossed my mind that that was a possibility. And I'm finding it to be true. My mind hasn't really changed at all as I've gotten older. Sure, I learn things and hopefully mature as the birthdays go by, but I don't feel any older than I did that day in college. My body is starting to show signs of breaking down. Just little things. Sore knees. Sore back. Sore shoulder. Can't jump up off the couch if I've been sitting there too long. Little things that some person that is actually old would laugh about. But they are all signs saying, "It's coming. It's coming."  *shudder*   I don't like it one bit.

But on a brighter note, I've yet to find a gray hair and for that I'm very grateful.

She riseth also while it is yet night

This afternoon I was thinking about how much better our days would be if we all got up at six in the morning. Instead of our routine taking up the better part of our morning and school not starting until ten, the chores could be finished and school could start at eight or nine. Some of you might be thinking that three hours on chores sounds ridiculous but let me tell you something... it takes a long time to fix breakfast, eat breakfast (this takes longer than anything else), get dressed, brush teeth, make beds, pick up rooms, feed Nora and clean up the kitchen.

Anyway, I was thinking at least if I didn't get the girls up at six, Jason and I could get up and I could have breakfast made and have myself ready for the day before the girls got up. That should shave an hour off the morning duties at the very least. And that way, I'm not putting off getting dressed until ten since that is the first moment I have for a shower. Then I realized that it's not likely that Jason is going to get up at six if he doesn't have to. Neither one of us are morning people. My first feeling when I had that thought was irritation that I knew before asking that the answer would be no. Then I thought of the verse in the title of this post. I realized that it isn't his job to get up so early, before he really has the need to get up. It's my job to rise early and ready the house for the rest of the family. It's my job to be prepared so that our days are as smooth and productive as possible.

It's my job to be virtuous.

So I came up with ten things that I want to try to implement this week.
It's a little intimidating to list them here before you all but I think it will be a good incentive for me. Here they are:

1. Get up early before everyone else to prepare breakfast, shower and dress, read, etc...
2. Get girls up earlier for a more efficient and producive day.
3. Be more aware of other's needs. Implement this awareness in my children.
4. Be home more.
5. Memorize more scripture with the girls.
6. Exercise with the girls every day.
7. Pray in private every day.
8. Write Lynn every week.
9. Read aloud to girls every day.
10. Cook a "J" meal once a week.

So there they are. I wouldn't mind a little encouragement here and there.
Love,
Rebekah

The one where I take it all in.

Instead of hanging it down by her side, as usual, she had placed her little arm on my arm; flesh against flesh. Her fingers raised and wiggled involuntarily. Her breath shuddered as it went out because she had spent the last few minutes crying in her crib. Her little head was sweaty from the exertion and when I bowed down to kiss it, I smelled the sweet baby smell that seems to vanish as soon as they have their first birthday. Every now and then, she would lift her head to give me a short stare while sucking violently on her pacifier and then slowly lay her head back down on my chest and close her eyes.  She needed her mommy.  What a blessing.

A little baby, a little craziness and little bit of exhaustion.

Guess what I learned? You can't take a baby into the theater after 5pm. Want to know how I found out? Sit back, grab a cup of coffee and I'll begin...
I have been wanting to see the movie The Help ever since Big Mama wrote about it on her blog. That was a while back. Maybe even a month ago. I tried to get a group together to go see it about three weeks ago but the plan fell through. Then I went on a double date with some friends and I thought for sure we would watch it but the guys weren't really into the idea and we ended up doing the movie run-around and finally just sat in on the last 20 minutes of a very dumb movie. (That story is another post for another day.) 

So, when my cousin posted on Facebook that she was going to go see the movie last night and anyone that wanted to join her should show up, my brain started rolling out ideas of how I could find a babysitter. Jason was gone for a paint-out so he wasn't an option. Finally, I called Misty for babysitter references and she said to just bring the girls over to her house. She and Thomas had seen the movie last week (NOW he decides he wants to see it) and her kids would love to play with the girls. I met Mom in town and she hopped in our van and we ran to Target to get some essentials before dropping the girls off. One thing I had to buy was a new laundry hamper for my room. The old wicker basket I had from 8 years ago finally gave up the ghost on Monday. I was about to push the cart out the doors when I noticed the new hamper had a big hole in the side. So Mom took the girls out to the van and I ran to the service desk to make a quick exchange. Finally, we were all loaded up and we dashed over to Misty's house.  I ran the girls inside, heated up a bottle for Nora and we took off.

Incidentally, I have come to the realization that I was overfeeding Nora. If she gets more than 6oz she is in spit-up city.

Anyway, I heated up 9 oz. because I wanted to feed her and then have a little left over in case I needed it in the theater. Mom feed her the bottle on the way and before I realized what was happening, she had guzzled the whole bottle.  We ran inside, hoping that we had made it before the movie had started. Now, insert the first paragraph here. I was turned away. Forsaken. Cast aside. And all because of cute, fatty-licious, smiling, drooling Nora James. I sent Mom on in and I headed back out to the van very bummed and a little aggravated.

I had locked my keys and my purse in the van.  I hadn't realized I had left them in there before this because we had bought our tickets earlier when I had met up with Mom so this time when we got there we just walked right on in. I didn't panic because it is for reasons like this that we pay the AAA people. But then I realized my AAA card was also locked in the car and on it the number to call for help.  I went back in the theater and asked the man to please let me and chubs run into Theater 5 so I
could see if any of the other ladies had a triple A card.  He did and they didn't. So, back out to the lobby we go and I start calling anyone and everyone trying to find someone at home who could get online and look up the number for me. I finally succeeded and the man said it would be 30-45 minutes before help arrived.

I called Misty and let her know what was up and she suggested I go next door to the yogurt shop and eat a treat while I waited. Wonderful idea, I thought. I could use a little pick-me-up. I saddled up Nora and we made the trek up to YoLo. Once there, I started to look around and concoct my dessert in my head. And then I remembered that my wallet was in the van and of course my money was in my wallet. So I walked around and looked at the paintings on the wall and visited with the girl behind the counter.  Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that the whole time all this was going on, Nora had been dousing me over and over again with spit-up. It was so much that it had soaked all the way through my jeans and my spanx to my underwear.

Finally. the helper man showed up and I was able to get in my van and get the girls and go home.

And now you know why I didn't finish painting my room last night.

And, to top it off, when I got home, I emptied my pockets and found the cash the movie place had given me when they refunded my ticket. You know, right before I went to the yogurt shop and didn't get yogurt because I didn't have any cash.

It's my days like this that have prompted my sister to make her phone play this song whenever I call.

Monday already?

I am having so many issues with Blogger right now. I want to add a gadget on the left side and it just won't cooperate. Is anyone else having problems?


I have a confession and it's an embarrassing one. A few weeks back, I started the HCG diet along with my mom. I did it for about a week (maybe?) and then I had a guilt trip because I was feeding Nora goat milk more than nursing her and my milk supply was steadily decreasing. So I quit. Mom kept going like the disciplined solider that she is and once more I started completely nursing again. Nora's seemingly decreasing spitting-up came back with a flourish. And I should clarify that when I say spit-up I really mean gushing vomit. Obviously, the goat milk is easier for her little tummy to digest than breast milk so we decided to go ahead and put her on just a goat milk diet.

Since my milk supply didn't matter any more, I decided to get back on the HCG diet and lose the baby weight. Guess what? I was a total flop of a dieter. I did it for one day.

One. Day.

It's embarrassing to admit. But really, it wasn't good for me because I had very low energy on that diet and it was hard for me to keep up with the house and the girls. It was my very first time to try a diet and I failed. Miserably.
But my sister was doing Weight Watchers and I decided I would try that and see what happened. Guess what? I love it! It is so easy for me to do and I'm not hungry at all. Woo Hoo! I'm not a complete mess- diet wise.

I'm off to start painting my room at 9:30 at night. I never do these things sensibly.

Iiiiiiit's Monday!!!

The new week has started! It always feels good to start fresh. I'm glad it comes around every 7 days. Elaina had a fever on Saturday so Sunday Jason stayed home with her while I took the other 3 girls to church. He had a root canal earlier in the week so he didn't mind resting and taking it easy. He said it feels like someone broke his jaw.

Elaina is over her little fever virus so today is going to be a good beginning to a good week of school. Bring on the learning!!

I'm feeling a little Martha Stewartish this morning. I'm sure it's the weather and I'm wondering if I should try to do a fall craft with the girls. I always want to do these things and everyone is so excited when we start and then about halfway through it all falls apart. Someone cries because they don't like their finished product, someone cries because they've spilled glue (or something just as messy) all over them, and then I lose my cool and the whole thing becomes something very unpleasant.

Last week we finally did our first entry in our nature journals. The girls LOVED it and I did too. The only bad part was that we weren't able to do it until about three in the afternoon so we were sweating pretty bad by the time we came in. Eily gave up pretty fast but that's ok. She's three.  Elaina and Claire did their own Nature Study the next day while playing outside. I was really excited when I overheard their plans.

I've stayed on top of the housework for a whole week. I started doing the baby steps from Fly Lady again. I did them right after I had Eily and it was the calmest time of my mother-life. So my sister, Leah, asked me to do it with her again and I really felt it would be a good start to getting my household back in order. It's been a little crazy since before Nora was born.

And speaking of Nora, I hear her squealing in her bed. I'm off to get some baby smiles!

Living in a dream world

• Some days I struggle. I struggle with getting out of bed. I struggle with getting dressed. (Think postpartum belly.) I struggle with doing laundry. I struggle with staying positive and happy. I just want to curl up in bed with a pillow below my head and a pillow on top of my head, a fan in my face and the blinds closed. I want to nap for 4 hours. Oh, sleep. I miss you. I miss you much.

• Eily had a little bout of sickness. So far no one else had any symptoms and I'm crossing everything that it stays that way. 

• I really, really want to spend all day in a kitchen and cook fallish food. And then I want someone else to clean up the mess. 

• I want to go out to eat with Jason and not stress about the money being spent on frivolous food. I want to put on a pretty dress and fix my hair all pretty like and have a relaxing date. Without any children. 

• I want to paint the furniture and the schoolroom and be organized already.

• I want to not want so much.

30 years of Thanks

Today I turn thirty. And I'm excited about it.

Thank you to the ladies who took me out to dinner. Thank you for the VERY LOUD birthday song you sang to me in the middle of Marketplace. Thank you for waiting until most of the other customers had left before singing.

Thank you, Misty and Thomas, for supper last night and for the delicious birthday cake. Thank you for always wanting to hang out with us and always feeding us.

Thank you to my girls for the adorable, off-key birthday song. Thank you for the excited smiles you gave in my honor. Thank you for your sweet, smelly morning-breath kisses. Thank you for sleeping in this morning.

Thank you, Jason, for my breakfast coffee. Thank you for marrying me. Thank you for saying yes to four babies even though my pregnancies are probably harder on you than me. Thank you for working hard 24/7 so that I can stay home with the girls.

Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with Jason, Elaina Ceridwen, Rachel Claire, Eily Edith and Nora James. Thank you for placing me with Mark and Pam Green. Thank you for my 5 siblings who I love and who still love me. (I think.) Thank you for my church. Thank you for amazing, Godly grandparents who played, and still play such important roles in my life and the lives of my family. Grandparents who love my children as much as they love me and who continue to be wonderful examples. Thank you for Nana, who may not always remember us but is still so excited to see us and wants us to stay all day. Thank you for my in-laws that love me and consider me their daughter.  In-laws who put up with my traveled-out cranky self and constant "no's." Thank you for my Aunts, Uncles and cousins. I can't believe how much I love them.

Thank you for thirty years of wonderful memories.

Love,
Rebekah

Welp,
Nora is almost crawling. She gets on all fours and rocks back and forth and she can move her legs forward but then she rams her face into the carpet. Once she figures out how to move her arms forward she'll be driving her sisters crazy following them around where ever they go.

Jason is moving his studio out of the house. He took the first load of boxes to The New Studio this afternoon. It's very exciting for all of us. Jason is excited about have almost triple the amount of room and I am excited about turning the current studio into a schoolroom/playroom. I have a vision. Oh yes, I do. A vision of white and soft blue. Of shelves and knobs. Of space. So. Much. Space.  Of a stained cement floor with a colorful area rug.  Of a painted coffee table turned craft table and a painted china cabinet turned bookshelf. (Someone hand my mother the smelling salts.) I have a vision of order. And space. (Did I already say that? Sorry. I'm really excited about the space.)

I cleaned the kitchen for over 4 hours today. I meticulously cleaned the refrigerator and the pantry. I scrubbed baseboards and cabinet doors. I rearranged cabinets.  I tired.

This day has had its ups and downs but I'd say, overall it's been a good day. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Church, family and friends. Never a bad combination.

I know half the week is already past but I have decided that I will post this week's goals and see if that gives me a little more motivation.

10 Goals for my week:

1. Complete a week of school where everything gets accomplished. (I'm talking to you guys Artist/Composer Tea Time/Nature Study!)

2. Get the laundry caught up

3. Iron 5 things

4. Return something

5. Read 4 chapters in my book

6. Write a friend a note

7. Mentally catch myself before I yell a correction and speak softly

8. Drink Tea

9. Kiss Jason 5 times every day

10. Pluck my eyebrows

Going to bed with the house picked up makes all the difference.

And, yes, Grandpa, I know the actual house wouldn't be literally picked up but I think you know what I mean.

Today was a full day. It started as the first day since school has started that I actually woke the girls up instead of just waiting until they woke up on their own. I hopped out of bed bright and early this morning and took a shower. This NEVER happens. It was nice to get a little head start on the day before the chaos would begin.

We got in the car -didn't melt before we had pulled out of the driveway, for a change- and started on our way. I had to stop at the McDonald's for coffee first and foremost because I already felt the need to take a nap and it wasn't even nine o'clock yet. We stopped at Mom's to drop off some food that I needed to take to my cousin's house later on in the day, and exchanged Eily for Lillie. Eily really, really, really wanted to spend the morning with Grandma and Grandpa so Mom took her to story hour and then dropped her off at their house. In the meantime, the girls and I made our way to the house that will be our home-away-from-home every Wednesday.

There are several families in our area/my life that homeschool and we are all meeting once a week to do some extra-curricular classes such as cooking, writing, music, a Montessori style class, manners, etc...
The house hasn't been lived in for a few years so it had a lot of cleaning that needed to be accomplished. We worked hard all morning (some of us more than others)(and I'm the others, not the more)(baby was a little cantankerous this morning) and then Rachel and I ordered the kids some pizza and took off. Rachel went home. I went to Mom's house. (Isn't this thrilling?)

First, I stopped by The Grandparent's home to get Eily. They were all having such a wonderful, sweet time together that I decided to say, "Yes" to the pleas to continue the visit. And Eily wanted to stay, too. So I went next door to Mom's and prepared the rest of the food, went to the grocery store to get even more food, ate some food and weighed/portioned some food. Then we headed out the door to take the food to Stephanie's house. She just had a baby a week ago and all the women from church are taking turns bringing supper to the new little family of three. Just in case you are wondering, I brought Peach-Whiskey BBQ Chicken, broccoli, mashed potatoes, corn-on-the-cob, yeast rolls and strawberry cheesecake. FYI, the chicken? uh-mazing.

Then I got back in the car, put the baby's passy in her mouth, wished I had a passy to put in Claire's screaming mouth and started for home.

And that was basically my day. What was your day like?

Oh yeah, and I went and got Eily at some point before going home.

Then End.

A post full of...

Wow. It's so easy to not post. For a long time I had nothing I really wanted to record. It is hot was about the only thought I had running through my brain. But for the past couple of days I've really had a lot on my mind and I wanted to sit and record it all but there just wasn't time.
We are almost finished with our second week of school. It is fantastic. And hectic.


I wrote that above passage 5 days ago. I mean, it is really hard to get a post in around here. I'm feeling random so here we go:

I find it strange to say that I'm on a diet yet I'm eating delicious and filling meals.

I love my girls but.... they are terrible at interrupting. Number one thing to work on around these parts.

Week three of school starts tomorrow. Really? This year is going to fly by.

I keep trying to upload some pictures but the camera cord thingy thing isn't working right. Someday....

I love frozen chocolate chips. And I miss them.



And that's really all I can think about right now.



Oh yeah, and none of this is what I originally wanted to write about....

Nora James 4 months old. She wears size 9-12 months and that size is really tight on her. She weighs 2 pounds more than the two babies that are a good bit older than her at church. She's Jolly. :)

For me to remember

1. Eily came in the kitchen crying. "I got water in my nose!" Me: "You got water in your nose while brushing your teeth? How did you do that?" Eily: " I was trying to goggle and I put the goggle in my nose."
Translation: I was gargling and some of it splashed into my nose. .

It was good for a chuckle.

2. The girls were looking out the front door. Claire, in a sweet, soft voice that one might use to talk to a baby: "Elaina, look! There's the dog that pooped on our tree the other day. Awwwww." 

Really? Awwww??

3. (My favorite moment of the morning) Yesterday Claire was recovering from a little fever and was still in a very emotional, cranky mood. At one point she was sent to my bed and after a while I went in there and we talked about having a christian attitude and how that means we should strive to be like Jesus. We are human so we will make mistakes but we should always try to do what Jesus would do.
I overhead Claire talking to Elaina this morning. (This was right after the pooping dog came to visit and probably make a deposit.)
 "Elaina! I was about to grab that stelecope out of your hands and I remembered, be like Jesus! So I took my hand back. Momma told me yesterday to always do what Jesus would do. And I did!"

As a side note I would like to state that Elaina, hearing what Claire said, smiled and said, "Here Claire, you can have the telescope. I'll be sweet too!"

It's been a good morning.

And a shout out to Aunt Sarah for the "stelecope." It's been a very popular toy.

A piece of us.

I always feel like a refrigerator is a good reflection of the family in whose house it resides. I usually spend a good 5 minutes just standing and looking at the notes and pictures covering its front and sides. I decided to give you a peek at our refrigerator and its decorations. Feel free to take 5 and analyze.

Shall we delve in?

Here we have a magnet that I bought for Jason on our second anniversary. He was finishing school and the future was somewhat of a question mark. We also see a note on a napkin. A few months ago, Marketplace was running a special where kids ate for free during a certain time of the day. Jason met us in Fort Smith and we had a yummy meal. When the waiter brought us the payment booklet, this napkin was inside instead of a receipt. If you want to read it just click on the picture. It was a pretty cool night.

This little section of the fridge is fun. There is the first picture Jason and I ever took together. Jason had it in a little frame for years but it finally broke and the picture earned a spot front and center. There is also a fortune that came out of a fortune cookie that reads, "Your financial outlook is great at this time." It always makes me laugh because at the time our financial outlook was the exact opposite. There is also a comic strip that my cousin, Kathryn, mailed to me a long, long time ago. It's pretty funny and a good example of our mentality during the time we opened that fortune cookie. There is a Lucy magnet from my friend, Kayla. It represents my college life when, more than once, I performed the Vitameatavegamin routine in their kitchen. And there is a sweet picture of Claire that my cousin took while she was babysitting so that Jason and I could go to Jason's biological father's funeral. It was originally placed there to get it off the bar and throughout the years it has become a fixed item. And last, there are a few of my George Washington magnets I bought last year when Kathryn and I visited Mt. Vernon. 

There's not a lot to say about this section. A few magnets that I loved and a picture of me from college. That's to remind Jason that inside this worn-out, fatigued body is a skinny, well-rested, kept up lady that has a personality. In other words, don't despair. :)

These are just my super cool grocery/menu pads.

Now in this section of the refrigerator we have a picture of the girls from a few years back. I love how fat Eily looks in this picture. There is also the List of Attainments to remind me what to work on with Elaina.

I love this. It's a strip from a photo booth in the mall. The girls did this for Jason's father's day card last year.

This picture is pretty obvious. I have small children.

What might be a bit of a puzzlement is the white scarf placed over a majority of the magnets.

I have no explanation.

A Pointless Post

We are up and going today. You know how I feel about that? Negative. I want to be lying in the bed with the covers up to my chin like my husband is doing right now. Lucky duck. But on the other hand, the girls are so funny this morning and I am cracking up listening to them play. These days, everything is said in a British accent. My name is Motha. Except to Eily who just informed me that she has a different mother. Said mother has yet to make an appearance to help with breakfast or take her turn as the parental figure that isn't in bed. Some mother.

Yesterday we went to Booneville so that Elaina could have a piano lesson and so that I could grocery shop sans children. (Thank you, mom.) I was up all the night before trying to breathe and stay hydrated. I was not feeling up to pushing the 50lb. fake car all around Harps while keeping the one child that doesn't get to "drive" convinced that being my co-pilot and sitting in the front basket is the best way to ride. It's a thin argument and usually is effective for about two rows. Then I have to rotate children and by the time we are leaving I have lost a few pounds in sweat and my back feels broken. But hey, we walk out with organic and gluten-free food so I guess it's worth the agony. Normally. But not yesterday. I just couldn't do it. So this morning Elaina panicked halfway through her waffle when she realized, "This is gluten!!!!!" After I explained the situation she calmed down and admitted that really, those were her favorite kind anyway and secretly she was excited about eating them. It's the small things that make life special.

I had to take a shower at about 10 o'clock last night. When you are The Walrus and have a watermelon sitting on your bladder and a hacking cough......
Well, unpleasant things can happen. And they did. And it wasn't pretty.
So I showered and went to bed with wet hair which means this morning I'm sporting the wildest hair this side of the Mississippi.

I guess I need to go do something. Have a great Tuesday!

Milestones

Elaina completed her 100th reading lesson just a few minutes ago. It is a good feeling to say we did it. We finished that entire book. It would have been easy to quit about 10- 15 lessons ago because she was already into real books at that point but I felt that for the sake of example we needed to finish the book. Finish what you start.
She amazes me.

Eily is hilarious. That girl has no fear and will probably be the one that breaks a few bones during her childhood. Jason and I like to stand at the kitchen window and watch her play outside. The other two girls have to rely on her to stop the wildly swaying see-saw because they are too scared to put their feet down while going that high. Eily just swings her legs over the side, holds on to the poles and drags her feet on the ground until it slows enough for the girls to feel it's safe to dismount. Then she opens her hands, drops to the ground and runs over the playhouse to climb up on top of the roof.
She makes me laugh.

Claire is becoming quite the fashionista. This morning I picked out a Chuck-E-Cheese play shirt for her to wear and she had to put it back and get a ruffled long tee because that one was "much cuter." I guess it is very important to look good for Charlie, the dog.
She makes me smile.

Thoughts

I have hit rock bottom as far as energy is concerned. I think the baby is having a growth spurt and maybe that's why. Last night and again this morning there has been more movement and limbs poking up and out than ever before. I think baby is running out of room and wanting to let me know that it doesn't want to be in my tummy forever.

I did go outside and play with the girls in the snow yesterday. That was really fun. We made a snowman that was pretty awesome and then Charlie knocked him down flat. We also made snow angels and jumped on the snowy trampoline. Guess what? Getting up from a snow angel position when you are The Walrus proves to be difficult.

It has been on my mind a lot lately that Elaina truly starts school in August. I'm a little intimidated and excited all at the same time. It's not the teaching that intimidates me but establishing school as a daily, first-thing-we-do-each-day habit. That is something that I have started to implement but not to a very strict degree. If we have a good morning, we do school. If it's low energy, we don't. That won't be acceptable next year. First grade is not a cheating year. I can't just cancel school to go meet Nanny in Fort Smith. While I am excited to get into this phase of life I'm a little sad to give up the freedom that we have had for almost 6 years.

The Tidings We Love For You and Your King

For two days I have been trying to get to the computer so that I could write a post. I had so much on my mind. And don't you know that now I can't remember anything I wanted to write about. 

Poor old Jason pulled Daddy duty all night last night so he is sleeping the morning away. I woke up and folded laundry. Good morning. Here is a huge pile of laundry to wake you up this fine, beautiful, sunny day. Enjoy! And really, I do enjoy the way it all looks when the laundry is folded and put away so if you think about it, starting the day off with a cleaner living room isn't that bad of a deal. (I realize I'm rambling. A lot.)

Elaina looks so good in black. I know that's random but she just came in here in a black turtleneck and what I think, you see. Sadly, that's how it's working today.

Have I totally confused you yet? Lost you? Ran you off? Scared you away?
I thought so.


Yesterday I worked a booth at a very boring Boat Show for almost 12 hours. This little clip of this video kept me entertained and happy.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We are finally home!!

Two weeks is a long time to be away from home. Let me tell you. Last night Elaina asked me when we were going to travel again and I said it would be about 5 weeks and she burst into tears. She said, "I just want to stay home!!!" So now we have a little bit of laundry, a little bit of dishes and a whole lot of mail to sort through.

Now that we are home I am looking forward to posting regularly. I also finally got the prize for the contest in the mail and soon I will be posting a qualifying question.

We have been home for less than 24 hours and Elaina has already cut Eily's hair. It doesn't take them long to get back into destruction mode.

Baby is doing well. Kicking all the time and pushing tiny little feet and hands up into my rib cage.

Enjoy what you are doing for it is the last time you will do it this decade.

I think I may make some resolutions this year. I haven't done that in about 5 years. I think it's time.

A Few Things

It's not that I forgot. I tried several times to post but it wouldn't download the pictures I wanted to add to the post. I think it's because I had used photoshop to make them look crisp and nice and apparently that's too much for blogger to handle. I will try again later and if it doesn't work this time I think I will just use the original photos.

Elaina and Claire are going to be in their first Fun Run this morning. It is half a mile and they are really excited about it. I have been wanting to get Elaina in one for a while but I never could find one for her to do. Their cousin, Aaron, will be doing it with them so I think the whole event will be a fun experience.

Claire is too adorable. And a stinker.

We had an ultrasound this week and I am proud to say we didn't cave and find out what the baby is. The girls are 100% for sure it's a boy because "it looks like a boy in there" but I had to tell them that they all looked like little old men when they were born. Especially miss Claire. They are still convinced it will be a boy and I have to admit I think of it as a boy also but I expect it to be a girl when it is born. It's just a habit. My babies are born. My babies are girls.

Everyone have a happy day today. That's an order!