Monday Thoughts

No, no. This will never do. Not my favorite comfy, warm slippers.

AH... so much better .

Now can I just say that THIS is the ONE and ONLY thing I have to show from last week. That is not to say that I did nothing else. But it is the only thing that I did that stayed done. All three kiddos were on break from school. I think it took us until Friday just to adjust to each other. Back to the same old, same old today. But this, and a lot of other things that happened last week, have me doing a lot of self-evaluating. Probably good and necessary, but hard.

I have always had a hard time being PRESENT. I am always thinking of the NEXT thing, even as I do whatever now is. It makes me impatient on a good day and depressed on a bad one. It makes me rush through some things and avoid others. It makes me constantly see the interruptions and inconveniences because I can't get to C if I haven't done A and B first. It makes me not enjoy taking care of my home and children far too often. It makes my brain a spinning wheel of "To Do" lists that change constantly and are never done.

I don't WANT to do this. I WANT to be calm and focused and fully here. Content to only get one thing done in my week that stays done, as long as I've done those other things with my best work.

Baby Gets the Short Stick

I remember my mother telling me the story of the decline of her baby record keeping. How my oldest sister had a baby book with quite a bit filled out. My next sister? A baby book with the newborn stats and not much more. Brother? An envelope with some hair from his first haircut (kind of ironic if you know him) and some things written down. Me? A few random slips of paper with whatever seemed interesting or important at the time.

Now, I THINK I was smart enough to never think that wouldn't be me. I wasn't necessarily on top of a lot of things even with the first one, so by number three just about every "never" or "always" has gone out the window. Did I ever feed them crackers at the grocery before I paid for them? Yes. Have I given in to whining just to shut them up? Yes. Do I still have an almost 5 year old who decides somewhere in the night to come down and crowd me in bed? I am SO SORRY to say yes. Painfully sorry this morning ;-) And coming to a last first with #3, you might think I would be all over trying to make it really special for her and for me because my baby is not such a baby anymore.

Truth is, she lost her tooth over a week ago. The battery on my camera died as I was taking these pics and it has taken me this long to charge it and load the pictures on my computer. And the plastic bag? Yup. That was the glorious thing we threw under her pillow to wait for the tooth fairy. Best of all, I am totally fine with it. Bigger fish to fry with these kids. Bigger fish, indeed.

Happiness is a Quick Fix

Hey there, Happy Spots!

You are making my Craigslist office chair look rather spiffy!

And making my little computer corner cheery indeed.

Now.. what else can I spruce up?

We Want Another One Just Like the Other One!

Tate brought home another face. This one even more interesting to me.

I think I am impressed largely because I always felt that people and faces eluded me when it came to drawing. I took a look at his faces and thought, "Hey, that's almost as good as work I was doing in high school!" So I dug some of them out.

The weird thing is that 20 years gives you some perspective. I actually was okay at this drawing business! Why was I so hard on myself? I really did not see any talent beyond my years here.

If my kids brought home sketches like this from school I would be high- fiving them! And I think my parents did too, in their own way (I remember them complimenting my art and being proud of me), but I also am not sure I showed them a lot of things. Oddly enough (ahem) 20 years has also blurred my memory a bit.

So I am having a fun little trip down memory lane with these sketches and seeing drawings that I have not even looked at in close to two decades.

Stay tuned for some more sharing. I'm not doing anything much in my CURRENT artistic life, so why not reminisce? ;-)

Slippery Slope

I've never really been anywhere to go sledding. Sort of funny, considering I live in snow country. But, growing up, my parents had property and hills. Some of my friends' parents had property and hills. I think, only once, did I ever go to a park for sledding and that was when I was a teenager. My kids have been sledding, but also at my parents and some years we've had so much snow we've just built a hill in the back yard! So, when friends invited us for an MLK Day afternoon at a local hill, I wasn't sure what to expect.

What we found was a beautiful and slickly packed hill on a warming afternoon and a whole lot of kids. We had a little storm over the weekend (Oddly, the only of the season this year) and already the temps were rising again and turning the run into an almost icy slant. Today it is raining and slush abounds but a whole lot of people had the right idea yesterday: enjoy it while it's here!

There were a few collisions and a LOT of bumps, spinning sleds and tumbles, but mostly there were brave and daring kiddos

happy smiles

and some learning to steer and stop.

I suppose we'll be forced to do this again. ;-)

January Things

January has been very Januaryish, except regarding the weather which has been warm- and- green- and- rather weird- but- we'll- take- it- ish. No worries. A big storm is coming, supposedly (which probably means we will get two inches of snow but the kids will be all vamped up hoping for a snow day), and the temps will drop and maybe we'll get some pretty snow. But then we have to shovel. Toss up over here on how I feel about that. Otherwise though, January is January. Full of beginnings and hopeful organizing and sickness. So in and around the sinus infection, pink eye and ear infections that have been going around at my house the past couple of weeks, here's what's happenin'.

There is some basement demolition going on. Slowly. Mike tore out some of the end paneling because we had a gross incident which required a visit from Mr. Roto-Rooter, a few days before Christmas in the basement, that kind of yucked up some spots worse than they were previously. The plan is to fix this "finished" space up as a sewing/crafting room for me, but with a little "hang out" space incorporated (that may also serve as a "guest room" of sorts eventually) and a place to watch tv so I can sew but still hang out with Mike in the evenings. Right now, we're just taking some old parts down to the bones to see what is in good shape and what we need to do and just how many nickels we will need to rub together just to do a simple job here.

He also took out the bar that used to be in this nook. Might be replaced with a kids/Mama crafting table and storage or might be part of the "hang out" area. Waiting to see how things come together. At any rate, I will be pretty much doubling the amount of space I have in my current sewing room so I have no complaints as long as it is cleaner than it is now and it's warm in the winter!

While I have been busy trying to begin (once again in my adult life) to incorporate some exercise time into my week and scheming ways to make our house space more pleasant and beneficial to our family, my boys have been creating. Calvin, at church kid's club, got crafty with paper.

Mr. Tate brought this home from school. I think both of my boys show artistic talent beyond average and, while I'm not one to cry "genius" at every little thing, this one caught my eye for a 7 year old.

Meanwhile, the warm temps have brought Gigi several dates with her boyfriend, Charlie Dog. Isn't he gorgeous?

And I, in my infinite "I know a useful bargain when I see one" way, am buying this locker cupboard from Charlie Dog's mama for 50 bucks and rearranged my living room to suit. Hello there three cubbies which have excited my children into actually putting away their things! I like you. Too bad you remind me how BLAH my walls are, but stop pointing it out. It's not on the current list.

Something that has made the list is recovering this old desk chair, which has taken quite a beating from my kids in the last couple years. Of COURSE, I didn't look ahead of time to see how the vinyl was attached so I bought awesome, albeit fairly heavyweight, fabric to cover it with but now I am afraid it will tear without some fused interfacing. So, here the split seat sits until I get my next coupon for Joann's.

Maybe, I should now get off MY seat and accomplish something in the quiet while everyone is at school. 45 minutes is going to go awfully quick.

Christmas 2011 Parts 3,4, and 5: Three Christmases

Three Christmases and many pictures, so I have picked one from each day. The end.

12/24/11 Christmas at my parents'

everyone was there, including my soon-to-be niece-in-law (?), whom i had never met

there was music and much talking and laughing

and football around the ipad

12/25/11 Christmas at our house

first Christmas, with just us, where we have not had to leave during the day

started way too early... a little after 5am

kids were wonderful and appreciative and no tantrums until maybe 7pmish? a record

disappointing green weather

Christmas naps

12/27/11 Christmas at Mike's parents'

time with aunt laurie again....and her barbie dolls ;-)

games on the ipad, games on the table

Papa making tiara's with Ellie

food, food, food

Merry Christmases and, we're done!