what's next?

A couple weeks ago I beckoned my neighbor Wendy over to show her my latest project (she is a really good sport - she humors me with all my projects and is so encouraging). When she got here she asked, "So, do you just go from one project to the next?" To this I thought quickly and replied that I do.


Here are my latest projects; who knows what will be next (actually I already know what is next -painting the basement and hanging pictures down there, oh and painting my chairs).

This is Lily's wall of L's. I love monogramming and it was such fun mod podging these.

I painted my table black. It looks so great and I am so glad I did it. Now I just need to paint the chairs.

what do you do with a tub of goo?

That is...what do you do with a Tub of Goo who is having a birthday!!!!

At the restaraunt (I was feeling a little under the weather if you can't tell).

Opening his gift from Lily.

Can't you tell how excited he is to share his new toys...Look at Gracie's temper tantrum as he holds the train above his head...

Yesterday was my boy's fourth birthday. Can I just tell you that I feel like I have hit the jackpot with this little boy. He is just the very BEST!!!! I love how tender and sweet he is. He always tells me how much he loves me and every morning he comes and climbs into bed with me and cuddles right up. He is so sweet to his sisters (even though he does like to tease them - but is it always in such a fun-loving way). I just love this boy! By any description he should really get on my nerves - he never eats his dinner, he didn't potty train until a month ago, and he is like a bull in a china closet (talk about destructive), but for some reason I am able to just smile and be patient; it is really hard for me to get too angry with him. There is just something about his funny little personality that just melts me. Plus no one can make me laugh like him (Gracie is a close second). He pulls out the best one-liners. Needless to say I have a really big crush on him.

So back to his birthay....Sunday night we went up to my parents' house and had a family celebration. Then yesterday Scott and I took him out for dinner. Then when we all got home (I had to pick the girls up from Michelle's house) we opened his presents - that is after I woke him up. He was so tired he fell asleep on the drive home from the restaraunt. He seemed pretty thrilled with all he got and very reluctant to share with Grace.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM - I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!

funny kids

This is how we spend our days. While waiting for dinner to finish cooking, Lily thought it would be fun to see if she could fit in the booster seat. Once she discovered that she could, she decided it would be fun to try and dance with it buckled around her. Silly Lily!

I got out of the shower the other morning and this is how I found Adam and Gracie. They had pulled out all my bowls, measuring cups & spoons and put a can of food in each. It kept them busy for about an hour.

They keep me entertained ALL day!

Ode to the Blessed Blog World

WARNING: I am about to step on my soapbox. I am going be long-winded.

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people talk about how irritated they are at how bloggers only seem to portray the happy things in life. Apparently it is annoying that people will only put the good things that are happening on their blogs. I hear complaints about how these “happy” bloggers are all trying to convince us all that they live perfect lives and never have anything go wrong. This attitude bothers me; let me explain why.

A few years ago I discovered something about myself. I discovered that I love to be around people that motivate and inspire me. It makes me want to be better. For example, I have a friend, Britany, who I met during our time in Washington. Britany is one of my dearest friends – I really love her. She is so talented, and one of her many talents is that she is an amazing organizer and housekeeper (even at this moment she is rolling her eyes with a little chuckle, just as she always does when I tell her this). You can stop by her house at any time, completely unannounced and it will be clean. Not only will be clean, but she has used such style and creativity in her decorating. She is amazing. When we became such great friends and I started to learn this about her, I really wanted be more like this. I have been making an effort ever since because she motivates me to be better.

Another friend of mine is one I have known for a long time. Rachel, is a friend of mine from high school and since the day we met when we were 14 years old I have never known anyone to want children more. She has always loved children and has always wanted to be a mother. She now has four beautiful children and anyone who reads her blogs or talks, even briefly, with her can tell that she adores them. For her, it seems, they are a complete wish come true and that is how she treats them. She is such a sweet and lovely mother and she inspires me. I love being a mother and sometimes when I don’t love it as much as I ought to I think of Rachel and it makes me want to do better. I never feel like she is bragging or boasting, whenever I read what she has written about her kids it comes through as complete love. Just as a side note, I truly think she is a wonderful gift to her children – they are the luckiest children to have such a mother!

One last friend is another from Washington. My friend Heather is amazingly creative. Quite possibly one of the most creative people I know. It just seems to seep from her pores. I love being around Heather because I suddenly feel like I can be my quirky, unique, and wanna-be creative self. She brings it out in me and I love that feeling. I am always motivated to do something beautiful with my surroundings or look at the world a different way. I love being inspired to be more creative.

I could go on about every person on my link list (and so many others), but I won’t. My point here is that isn’t it fun to be around people like this. Don’t we all want to be better in some way? Aren’t we here on this earth to become perfect? What better way to do this than by surrounding ourselves with people who also have that goal in mind? I view the blogging world as this – a world where people can inspire me to be better. I like that people tell me about the good things in life. I love the creative ideas, the recipes, the outings with kids, and latest snapshots! I like knowing that my friends are happy. It inspires me to do more with my kids, make some fun changes in my house, take better care of myself, etc, etc. Plus when I am feeling down, all I have to do is look at the wonderful people around me who have filled their lives with good, productive things. And that inspires me to leave the pity party behind and get to work. Somehow this works like a charm every time!

Everyone has bad days. You are a fool if you think otherwise. Some have more bad days than others. So it goes without saying that even though we are posting utopian entries of bubbles and rainbows we are all still having the occasional hiccup. And I don’t think that by blogging about the good stuff we are trying to convince the world that we or our lives are perfect. But think about it – would you really want to skip from one downer blog to another? I don’t mind reading about someone’s bad day occasionally, everyone needs a chance to vent a little, but it wouldn’t be fun to read about everyone’s bad days everyday. In fact, it wouldn’t even make me feel like my life was better because everyone else is struggling so much. If anything, it would just bring me down. I think we all get our own little doses of reality when we are feeling down ourselves – why bother with everyone else’s reality as well?

Really the bottom line is this – is reality really THAT bad? I don’t think so. I think when we do feel a certain way we ought to do one of two things; either look around and see all the blessings we have and the amazing life we really are living or go see a doctor and get on some medication (because if the first doesn’t work, then the second really is the best option). I can tell you I have seen some of the darkest corners of Africa and the most desperate of ghettos in places like Thailand and Mexico and there is no one that I associate with on a regular basis (either in real life or blogging) whose situation can ever come close to that. There are women who are abused in so many different forms everyday, women who live with literally nothing, woman who are raising several children alone, woman being driven from their homes, women who are starving, sick, or dying. I have met so many of these of women and it is amazing to see them smile and look at the beauty of life. They have inspired me, they have inspired me to be more thankful, to be happy, and to always make the best of life.

I know this was long, but I have been wanting to get it off my chest for so long. Mainly because most of the blogs I read are so great – I love seeing what you all are doing (good and bad). I want the blogging world to know that there is someone out there who loves reading all the happy, sappy, and sometimes totally cheesy posts written. Thank you oh blessed blog world!

Okay, so I will step off the soapbox now, and I will try to not rant and rave again anytime soon.

aren't they adorable

The other night Adam wanted to sleep in Lily's bed. Figuring it wouldn't last long, I agreed. I was wrong. This is how I found them a couple hours later. I thought it was pretty cute...

belated

Happy Birthday Mom...that is, happy belated birthday! Saturday was my mom's 60th birthday. We had what you might call a whole birthday weekend in celebration. Saturday we plotted with my dad to take her to a matinee so that some of us could go and deep clean her house. All our lives whenever we'd ask her what she wanted for her birthday she'd always say, "a clean house and happy children." Well, I figured that after all these years she finally deserved it. Really there wasn't that much to clean, but we were able to dust, sweep, vacuum, clean the bathrooms, and the toy room. Then we had a recent picture of the six of us framed and left it with some beautiful roses that Renee bought. She was elated! Then that evening we took her out to dinner. Sunday after church my parents came over to my house for dinner and then everyone else joined us afterward for cake and ice cream. Renee made the most awesome cake in the shape of a 60. It was such a fun weekend and it was nice that my mom didn't have to make or clean dinner the whole time. I love you Mom!

farm animals (they have dragons on farms)

Halloween was a hit - of course. Anything involving candy and costumes is going to be a hit! Gracie was a chicken, Lily, a piggy ballerina (she came up with that on her own), and Adam was a dragon. I really wanted him to be a cow because it would fit the theme better, but the dragon costume was so cute, and I am pretty sure that if dragons were real then they would totally live on farms.

PS The smoke in the bottom picture is from Scott's fog machine that he just had to have. It did add a pretty spooky touch when the kids would come knocking at our door...