Hustle & Bustle

Oh, so much to do! Shopping - ummm, ya, do I even have to say how much I like THAT?! Baking - pretty much always bake something every week anyway. Yes, I am addicted to sugary sweets. Oooey gooey ones too. Photos - trying to get one of ALL four kids, well, is hard to do. Decorating - this year I actually got everything up by the day after Thanksgiving. Wrapping - not my favorite thing to do actually. Gone are the days when I begged my mom to let me do all of the wrapping. I am thinking about asking a teenage girl from my church to help me again this year. She did a great job last year!! Yummy smells - cinnamon, cloves, and more oh my! Christmas music. LOVE it! Church - programs and services. Parties - who doesn't like a party right?

So, with all of the hustle and bustle of this holiday season, it's sometimes hard to remember WHY we have this holiday. My five year old put it so simply last night at bedtime. Honestly, it shocked me coming out of his little toys-r-us-infatuated mouth. After our bedtime story and before our prayers, Little Miss E said something about presents. Five year old B said "Sister, it's not just about the presents. Christmas is about Jesus."

What? The five year old DOES listen to me!! Of this I am excited and proud. And he gets it this year. Jesus IS the reason we celebrate.

And for this we can say Thanks Be To GOD. Amen.

Today

Today was a good day. Simple. Comfortable. Just a good day. Which got me thinking...on these sorts of days, when nothing spectacular or awful happens, why do we forget them? Why do we focus on remembering more bad days than good? I can easily remember more "bad" days from my youth than good. Like the time when I almost broke my nose because I wasn't watching where I was walking as I was looking at a cute boy. Seriously. This did happen. And I REALLY didn't need any help in the big nose department!

I guess what I am trying to say is that maybe we should TRY to remember the good days, even the mundane, simple, routine days with more fondness. Because really, lives are short and smiling, well smiling just makes it better. It just does.

So, I will remember today as being a particularly good day. I hugged my kids. I watched them play. I went to church and taught Sunday School. I only had 2 kids in my class (and one of them was mine!) but we had a fun time. I went grocery shopping ALL by MYSELF! I got a tall gingerbread latte. Yumm-o! I got a few Christmas gifts. I read to my kids. I swept and mopped. We ate somewhere in there. And now I sit here, kids are snuggled in their warms beds dreaming good dreams, waiting for my wonderful husband to come home, ready to watch a movie and drink some hot chocolate. Mundane. Routine. But gotta love it. It's an everday day.

Today was a good day.

Did you know...

...it's hard to blog with the kids in the room.

That's probably why I have made Facebook my bridge to the "real world". I don't tweet just so you know. FB allows me to post a snippet of what might be in my head. And sometimes, that's all that time allows my hands to be on the keyboard. I love my job of being a mommy. However, someone always needs something and if I sit at the computer too long, my house will quickly become a mess. Not that I would know or anything...;)

Here's the other thing that has been on my mind and might be one reason why I have stayed away from my blog for some time now: can I really talk about anything thought provoking that is halfway intelligent without talking about my kids? Probably not. And there really is only so much about my kids that any one person might want to read about. They really are cute - if I do say so myself - but it's like I am finger painting on walls rather than oil painting fine art on canvas. Can I still speak of things as if I still listen to NPR on a regular basis? Or am I stuck on Sesame Street? Nietzsche vs. Elmo. Oh my poor brain.

As blogging goes, I feel like Carrie, from Sex and the City, except there's no...ummmm....er...City. More like, Mindy, from Mommyhood and the Suburbs. I wonder if in the next Sex and the City movie, Carrie will be a mommy. Hmmmm, it sure does change things.

Don't get me wrong. As I have already said, I really do love being a mommy, but sometimes I fear for my brain. Is it turning into mush? Could I pass a 9th grade vocabulary test? I know I couldn't pass the math.

So maybe I will slowly blog again. Maybe you will read. Maybe not. But if anything, maybe you'll come back to see whether it's about kids...or not...

So it's been a while!

I have been REALLY bad at posting!! Facebook has gotten the best of me! It's easier to just post little tidbits sometimes!

Things are going well here! We took a trip to Austin which was fun. We are about to take a cruise so it was a great trial run being in the car and in a hotel for a few days!

A couple of the kids are sick with summer (yes, it finally is summer around these parts!) colds and the asthma has creeped back into our lives. Inhalers galore around here!

Mother's Day was fabulous! I really have awesome kiddos! J was even sweet, which is good for a 13 year old!

The picture below is what happens after baby's nap time when mommy wasn't looking! Crazy kids!!

Easter Egg Hunt at the lake

OH, did we have fun at our own Easter egg hunt at Grandpa and Grandma's house! We went to church and had a wonderful lunch with them. While all of us were finishing our lunch at the table, B got up and lied on the floor and stared out the window - plotting out which eggs to get!

light sabers at the lake

A little help from brother!

For My Mom

Some WEIRD Texas Sky

I was driving home from pre-school and the grocery store and letting the kids play at the park (read - Mom got suckered into that one) and this is what I saw in the sky. WEIRD!! These are from my camera phone so the quality isn't all that great but hello...strange sky!!

Our Song

T and I met a little more than 7 years ago. The first "date" we had was at a coffee shop. Long story short, he had told me that he made the best coffee in town and I said I doubted that! So, we met at a coffee shop! We have been inseparable since that first date.

This past weekend, we were driving back from our lake house and this song came on. ( Gotta love satellite radio!) I liked it immediately and I looked at the info...it's called, "Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop" by Landon Pigg. It's on my playlist to the left. So, after more than seven years, we have a song. Our song. ;)

J is 13!!!

J turned 13!!! Crazy! This is one of my new favorite pictures! I love it!!

Allergy, Schmallergy

Oh my sweet girl...she is so darn cute! (ahem...if I do say so myself!) But darn these stinkin allergies.

Ok, so here's the braggin' part. I took E to get her blood drawn for her yearly RAST (allergy) test. I have had the orders to do this since December - ummmm, can you say avoidance??!!

I was dreading this but well...it had to be done. So, I finally remember to put the orders in my car and on a whim, decided to take her before picking B up from school.

I walk into the lab with E and R (in his infant seat blowing raspberries of course) and there is NOONE in the waiting room! Yippee!! The woman called E right away. I had not told E where we were going or what we were doing. THe nice, kind, lovely and smart (;) ) woman gave E a handful of stickers. Yes, there was a Dora one and a Princess one in the bunch! Then the craziest thing happened. The woman poked the needle in E's arm and drew the blood into the vial and E JUST WATCHED!! She watched the whole thing!!! And didn't move or say a thing! When she was done she got a pink band-aid - is the any other color?? - and just hopped down and said bye-bye to everyone! Those ladies were shocked! So was I! E said "Mommy, I was a brave girl," just as casually as the whole deal had gone down! That's my girl! I had to let out a serious "thank goodness that went well" sigh!

Well, the results came in and her peanut allergy has worsened. That seriously stinks!!!! She is now considered a Level 6 peanut allergy which is the worst. But having said that, all kids/people can have different reactions regardless of the level they are in. Since she has already had a anaphylactic reaction to such a small amount of peanut, this isn't surprising but I still was hopeful that her levels would go down. The doctor said because of her numbers going up instead, it is unlikely that she will outgrow her peanut allergy. But, we are already taking all of the precautions. It still stinks!

BUT...all of her other numbers went down! Eggs, milk, wheat and soy all decreased!! Yay! She did have corn show up this time though but only a small number so whatever is what I say!!

SO that's the dealio. But really, E is sooooooo easy going. She just takes everything in stride. She is such a blessing. She's my little girl and I am a proud mama!

R's Half Birthday

Today, R is 6 months old! B wanted to have a "party" so we did! I had just made oatmeal cranberry cookie bars so that's what we used for "cake". And B decided that all of us should draw a picture for the presents. It was too cute!

That's my boy!

Yes, he CAN do chores!! And enjoy it too!!

Random Pics

The little boys having fun at "rest time"! Obviously, no resting was happening!

My sweet girl not resting either!!

B took this one of the two of us!

The Princess(es) and the Superhero

Yes it was dress-up time today!

R's first bites of cereal

Well, the time has come! Baby R has tasted his first bites of cereal! He loves it! Eats it all up! But poor baby, I almost didn't get pics of it! Poor baby of 4 kids! And where is the bib you say? Ya, I forgot to put one on him! I am just lucky to get to eat myself! You'd think these last pregnancy pounds would be easier to lose!!

Valentine's Day

Well, actually the day BEFORE Valentine's Day, which was of course Friday the 13th, ohterwise known as B's birthday!! He had his V'day party at school and I got a few pics of B & E. It's hard to take decent pics anymore - R is always in the other hand/on hip!!

Randomness

T is still at judo, J is at his dad's house, B is spending the night at mema's, E is asleep and so is R, Max the dog is barking in his sleep...it's just the mouse and me. Yes, I think there is a mouse in the house. Anyone have a cat the will lend me? Oh ya, a hypoallergenic cat? Did I tell you that I have a fear of mice? I just found that out.

Here are a few pics.