Ice Cream Cone Fun!

Enjoying the amazingly gorgeous weather out here in AZ! Sunny, "warm" ( 80s) and a great time for ice cream cones! 

the other day, the boys played quietly for 3 hours by themselves, setting up chess, and then going outside to play dinosaurs who are eating "lemons"- love them

I have been in such a writing slump lately. March typically is like this for me because I get out of routine with family in town and anticipating family in town. Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to lately.

" Mama, can you take a picture of me?"

root collection

trimming and selecting just the right root for his collection

such a sweet pair

my almost 6 year old!

bathed, changed, dry pajamas on, why?

Days Are A Blur

Sometimes, when I'm bored, I reread some of the blogs I have written. I laugh out loud, literally, at the moments that were captured by a few key strokes and a few dedicated minutes to capture that particular moment forever.

I cannot remember my days unless I look at a calendar. If you asked me what I did Thursday, without referencing a calendar I could not tell you. My days blur together, like paint dripping on a canvas that is uneven- those are my days.

Our days are full to the brim and yet things keep coming. Life doesn't slow down. I realize this. I don't slow down, I realize this. Yet, taking a few moments to blog, to write down a moment, or two really aids in looking back and embracing how full life is.

I pray that I will always dedicate moments to blog a bit so that when the kids are grown and life " slows" down- is that an oxymoron, I can look back and laugh and shake my head at the crazy, painted life we led.

If you don't write these moments down, I encourage you too- its made me feel so appreciative of the here and now as well as how quickly time slips.

Painting Is Never "Neat"

Today, Jayden went to a really cool body performance with some friends so the three other ones worked out with me and then we went to our local grocery store to buy some art supplies. I have checked out some really fun books at the library geared towards preschool and kindergarten ages and can't wait to dive into and create all the fun projects.

morning hair :)

One of the books focuses on the zoo. Each craft is simple but reinforces a different zoo concept. Riah and Austen love painting and crafting and wasted no time opening up the paint and free styled it. We recycle now which I am so excited about because I hate wasting and that also lends itself to many craft options because they were not thrown away.

There is newspaper everywhere, paint everywhere, pipe cleaner and pom poms and some great looking imaginative "flying" squids, an oatmeal container that is a robot and Riahs' very girly painted egg crate . I am not quite sure what it is, but it screams " girl" with glittery pipe cleaners and turquoise, fuchsia and purple paint drying.

The kids are having quiet time and then i will take each one to do our language arts and math and then hopefully create some more to our castle landscape today. What better day to make our home more messy than Mondays, right ? :)

Let's Throw This Day In the Toliet

Yesterday was a day where I pretty  much wanted to scream for sanity sake and run. I honestly thought it was going to work out perfectly. I had a very successful workout in the morning, came home and thought- " Today seems like a great day to bake homemade bread!". Austen wanted banana bread and we needed regular bread. Everything started out well. We kneaded the homemade bread, followed the directions and 2 hours later the dough was a lump of coal sitting lifeless at the bottom of the bowl. The banana muffins emerged from the warm environment of the oven only to be rock hard, as well, and completely tasteless. I still have no idea what went wrong. I even used the terrible for you flour and they still did not turn out.

Then, Hannah ate Greek yogurt for breakfast and successfully smeared it all over herself, her hair and snotty nose. So, the next logical step was to give her a bath. Filled the bathtub full of warm, sudsy water and let her play. Ben went to take her out and she was squatting with a very worried look on her face. " Amanda, what is she doing!?!?!"- " Oh, probably pooing in the tub." I say nonchalantly. Because, of course, why WOULDN'T she be pooing in the tub.

Moriah was in very rare form. She threw fits and crying stories all day long. I have tried the logical approach with her as well, " Moriah, you remember the story of the boy who cried wolf?". Instead of turning into a teachable moment she just wants me to repeat the story over and over until I want to cry wolf, have her look and me run away.

My dishwasher, at times, smells like hell- and I mean sulfuric smell. I have no clue, again, what is wrong with it but I think I will be calling the landlord. I am not sure if its the city's water or what but a mixture of a crappy dishwasher ( probably the only complaint of our great house) and the crappy city water and our dishes would be better left to the hands and not the machine. However, this poises a problem because then the dishes from breakfast, snacks, bread and muffins that turned out terrible and lunch all become backed up into the sink until I throw a ton of baking soda and vinegar into the dishwasher for a dry cycle.

The house looked like someone ran around and just tossed things to and fro and school was just not going to happen in the "traditional" sense of the word. I asked all the kids to go up and bring down some games, laid Hannah down for a nap and we played. This went pretty well for about three games and then Moriah kept having melt downs. She has a really bad cold, like Hannah, so I think that has a lot to do with her meltdowns but I can only handle so much. I had everyone, and I mean EVERYONE take a quiet time- then, Riah and I , later that day, went outside for fresh air, she rode her bike and we played a game called "whack" ( the kids had made it up the previous day). The person on the bike has to avoid getting whacked from a pool noodle. Trust me, I took way too much pleasure in this game, " No Riah, you keep riding and I'll keep whacking." I"m terrible, I know...but you know what.....much of my tension started to fade away.

Today was a new day, a good day, a productive day...my oatmeal pancake batter spilled everywhere this morning but I refused to let that set precedent. We ended the day with a great movie, " Johnny Tremain" by Disney- I highly recommend this movie and pizza. So thankful yesterday is done and today my sanity returned in the morning..." His mercies are new every morning" and so are mine :)

Regrets

Life is life and it will always be busy. That is something we cannot escape. I can take the occasional vacation to move away from the hecticness of life...but that is the exception not the rule. How can I create an environment free of regrets in my day to day life? Here are some examples:

I will never regret leaving an unswept floor to read to my three year old.
I will regret sweeping my floor and telling my three year old "later"
I will never regret cuddling with my children in the morning.
I will regret packing our days so jam full that morning cuddles are prohibited from happening.
I will never regret baking and teaching my children how to bake cookies, even if the mess is unavoidable
I will regret baking alone, to avoid a mess, and stare at a perfectly clean kitchen while my kids watch tv in the other room.
I will never regret pulling games out of the closet even if it means that there is no organization in there, EVER
I will regret opening up a perfectly organized game closet and know we never had the time to play them.
I will never regret sitting in the sun to eat our ice cream cones first
I will regret making my child sit at the table to finish every last pea for two hours because, " I said so"
I will never regret watching my children dump legos all over their hiding place and never quite being finished
I will regret constantly having them clean it up so that it feel "neat" to me while their creations break apart
I will never regret a fridge covered in drawings and paintings and reminders
I will regret a shiny fridge with all the drawings tucked away in their "special" folders

I will never regret the days that I spend reading, playing, holding, kissing, laughing, correcting, teaching and watching my children. I will never regret not quite having the house perfect so that I could spend more time with my children. I will regret if my choices reflect a lifestyle that is not for this season. Organization is important, trust me, I am organized. Yet, I am praying that God will continue to show me this year, what does organization, in this season, look like to me. My time with my children is too precious- I hate regrets, therefore, I will make choices now so that I can look back with beautiful memories- my mind will not remember a messy kitchen, cluttered closets, unmade beds or poopy diapers. My mind, will remember the clamor of children running through the halls, the crashing of legos being dumped everywhere, Winnie the Pooh bellowing over the cd player every morning, babbling from baby Hanns and memories, oh the memories. Breathe, mamas, life is to be experienced, not to be rushed. Just breathe.

Gingerbread Pops and Brussel Sprouts

Today was such a great day. The kids and I took down ALL of our Christmas decorations and against Ben's request of waiting for him to take the tree out the door....the boys and I took care of that. He just didn't want me doing it alone, so I recruited some help. My home is ALL put back together, clean and we are on the upswing of all of us getting a very "fun" virus over the past 1.5 weeks.

The kids played outside and rode bikes for a good hour while I fed Hannah breakfast and cleaned the kitchen. It was hilarious, I wasn't really paying any attention to Miss Hanns when I looked in her direction and noticed that she was fixated on me, with the widest smile her sweet face could muster. She melts my heart!

Later in our afternoon, after laying Hannah down for a nap, I kept the three older ones up to make gingerbread cookie pops. These were so cute and fun to make. The first part was to layer the icing between two of the gingerbread cookies in order to make a hard glue like fastener. While we waited the 30 minutes for this part to harden, the kids and I headed upstairs and sorted, folded, and put away six loads of laundry. It might have been more but honestly, anything over three is just an exurbanite amount of clean clothes and towels.

We then, came back downstairs so the kids could  decorate their cookie pops and I read a chapter from Little House in the Big Woods. The day was a GORGEOUS 75 degrees and after Hannah woke up we all walked down, in a tank top ( for myself), to the park and swung, climbed trees, ran, slid down the slide and walked in the beautiful, warm sunshine.

Ben has to work tomorrow so I wasn't planning on doing any special dinner for New Years Eve- wrong idea Amanda, next year plan something special...everyone was looking forward to it! Instead, hahaha, I decided to experiment with a new dinner recipe. Ready?? Drum roll please!!!! Brussels Sprouts, Basmati Rice and pecans. Yes, folks, you read that right....never fear, after everyone giving me VERY disappointed looks I ran to the store and bought cookie dough and moose tracks ice cream- you are WELCOME :)

Finally, Ben and I relaxed after putting the kids to bed, then he had to go to bed for work and I decided to stay up a few extra minutes to watch the Times Square Ball drop. Super exciting night- but that is honestly how I wanted my evening to go, at home in my comfy sweats, relaxing with my family and looking forward to what God has for us this year and thanking Him for His hand in our lives this past year.

The icing on the cake, for me, this evening, was Hannah waking up around 9:30 and me getting her out of bed, our home was silent, we sat under the light of the lamp by her toys and played with her barn animals, her blocks, pretend phone, read some board books, I tickled her and listened to her laugh- just listened and in my heart I am thanking God a million times over, and whispering, underneath her laughing- thank you God...just thank you. You saw this moment, two years ago, when all I saw was death and devastation. Thank you :')

Why Mama, I love playing with you only you at night, after I pull my hair ties out and the birds have gone to bed.

"seeese"

up close, drooling and way too personal :)

Away In the Manager

The other night, I heard Riah moving around upstairs and decided to go check on her. Here was the scene:

Her room is dark, closet light is on, her back is to me and she is rocking a baby doll gently in her arms. Her sweet, melodic voice is singing "Away in the Manager" and she is kissing her baby gently on the head. She quietly talks to her baby after her song is done and bounces her to the bassinet where she gingerly lays her down for bed. Then she turns around, looking at the other dolls in her closet and  says, " ok, what should I do now?"

Thank you God for a little mama, for a very passionate, kind, loving, gentle spirited daughter. My heart swelled with so much pride watching her mother her babies. Such a beautiful spirit coming out of Moriah. Moriah- Jehovah is your instructor. You bless me, sweet, sweet growing up too fast daughter of mine. " I want to hug you"

Dirty Underwear By the Laundry Room Door

I had to smile the other evening as I walked past the laundry room door and there was another big boy pant sitting there with a few wet dabbles on the front. Earlier that day, there was a big girl pant with Cinderella on the front and a sweet little streak mark sitting in it. Every day, two of my children will leave a pair or two of underwear sitting outside the laundry room door, if Hannah is sleeping ( yes, she sleeps in the laundry room, yes she has a pack n play, yes she loves it and yes there is a fan in there.) or put them in the dirty basket.

There is a sweet innocence that I find in these little pairs of thrown undies. It's a " I"m having so much fun I can't stop" or a potty dance with tears, " I gotta go potty, I gotta go potty!!!"- well just go potty then! Or, I'm drinking waaaay too much water during bed time and oops a little slipped out before I could make it to the bathroom.

My bathroom is cleaned daily and every day there is spilled fish food, toothpaste smears, toothbrushes laying all over, splattered sink marks, water sprayed or splashed on the mirror, bath toys spilled all over the bath tub, little yellow marks on the back of the toilet seat, and a million towels pulled out of their cupboards to clean up the millionth spill of water or the child who decides that SHE wants to cleanse her feet in her own mini spa with our foam hand soap and sink - sorry water conservation, I can't be in all places at all times!

The bathroom, to me, needs to be spotless and clean- yet, each day I have the same routine of cleaning it. I used to get frustrated because it was always dirty by days end. Sorry guests who dare venture into the kids bathroom. Now, I am starting to shift - this is my season in life with my children. Someday, my bathroom will be untouched, unmoved and unlived in. There will be no speckles on the back of the seat or bath toys of any kind in the bathtub. The purple, orange, red and green toothbrushes will be replaced with boring white and the oh so creative " red stripe". The fish will be dead and even if he is still alive, the food will always end up in the bowl and not accidentally strewn all over my clean counter.

Life is put into perspective when it is written into words. My emotions and mental mindset is much too precious to me to be wasted on getting frustrated over something that will occur daily, not because my children are being naughty but because their skills are not fine tuned.

This is my life. I have a guest bathroom now, thank you God- my suggestion, if you arriving late in the day, that should be your only option. Love my children :)

A Penny and a Car

The other night when Austen crashed into the corner of the wall and received a huge bump and small gash on his forehead, my other son Jayden wanted to bless him. As Austen slept, Jayden snuck a penny under his pillow as a surprise for him when he awoke the next morning.

Jayden's entire thought process blessed me, his compassion, his heart and his love for Austen. Anyways, Austen was elated to find a penny under his pillow and carried it around with him all day yesterday and today. With his penny in his pocket, he looks up at me with his huge blue eyes and husky voice asking, " Momma, do you think we could go to the store today so I could buy something with my penny?" Now, you and I both know that there is nothing in the store that costs a penny. The days of "penny candy" washed away with poodle skirts. However, Austen doesn't know this and I hadn't the heart to break it to him that there would be no item priced at $.01.

So, with a humongous grocery list that spanned five stores in hand, the boys and I took off. Austen clutched his penny and his eyes danced with excitement at what he could possibly purchase, on his own. We collected the few groceries at Walmart that were on the "Walmart list" and headed to the toy aisle.

You need to understand something about my kids. They are not beggars and they look at the toys and talk about them in the sweetest sense that you want to buy the store for them, only you don't. Austen stood there, penny in one hand, clutched and viewing all the many toys that his eyes could behold. Quietly, peering.  The average price on a hot wheels car is $1.07 and just a fyi, these cars cost $0.98 five years ago. Anyways, he found the "perfect" car and asked if I could get it down for him.

I picked it off the hook, handed it to him and the smile on his face almost brought tears to my eyes. " C'mon Jay, let's go check out". We pulled into the checkout lane and as it was time to pay I said, " Austen, can you give the cashier your penny?" He hands her his penny with the most proud and satisfied look on his face. I pay the rest of the amount, over 100x, what he was able to pay, knowing full well he would never have been able to afford this without my help. We happily leave Walmart.

As I stepped out of the sliding doors the Holy Spirit spoke to me in a a way that brought me to instant tears, He said, " This is what I do for you, my daughter. You may only have a penny but I multiply it 100x....I am able to use your limited resources, trust me." This word was spoken so soft and gentle to my spirit, I said, with tears running down my cheeks, " Austen, hold my hand" and as he did, I saw me in him and God in me.

We may only have a penny to raise our children with, God will give us 100x over to provide for our children. We may only have a penny worth of emotional strength to make it through the day, God will take that penny's worth and multiply it in ways that are, in any other sense, impossible. " Nothing is impossible with God"

Life's been a little busy lately, dare I say even a little stressful, $400 electric bills don't help either. Maybe I've been lacking on the faith issue and maybe, just maybe, God knows my heart, insecurities and fears even better than I care to admit. So, God I give you my penny, it's all I have, I want to hang onto it because its valuable to me, but allow me to release my grip on it...,my son understood, he KNEW, that I would only give him good things, there was no fear about the cost of the car or how it would work out to purchase it. No. All I cared about was his joy and his face, so You look at my face and desire to fulfill me with you joy. Give me the faith and trust of a child. God, here is my penny. Released.

Things to Remeber Today

*Jayden forgetting what he was saying and me saying, " was it about school, dinner???..." and then Austen pipes up " chocolate trees?"
*Riah refusing to be called Riah ....only "Cubbie" will do
*Riah calling Hannah " Breann" and telling me that is her name now.
*Jayden sneaking up behind me and jumping out and literally scaring me half to death
*At dinner, a couple of nights ago, sitting next to Jayden and him waving a spinach leaf next to me and said , " I'm fanning you"
*Making the kids eat the most horrid vegetable soup ever known to man, Ben coming home, trying the soup and silently dumping it out and stating with a smile, " I can't believe you are making them eat this"- it was that BAD!
*Hannah waving her arms and clapping excitedly when she saw Riah dancing through the door window and saying over and over ," Isa, isa" ( for sister, sister!)
*Jayden, crying hysterically at our bedroom door tonight because he is the "only nocturnal person alive" and he wanted to fall asleep
*Moriah, who peed the bed the other night, climbing in for a nap yesterday and wiggling all around in her warm, sweet smelling, fresh laundered sheets and bedspread and saying, " its so warm and cozy, I love cozy"
*Coming into Riah's bedroom with every single item pulled out of every single drawer and her entire closet pulled apart and seeing Austen's sheepish face when asked if he was apart of this mess- answer, yes.
*Moriah waking up at night, having to go potty and then as I carry her back to bed she rests her head on my shoulder and pats my back gently.
* Hannah situating herself directly under her high chair with a stone serious face on eating dried morsels.
* Listening to Hannah sing in a high pitched, angelic voice
* Asking Jayden what 5+1 is and him stating, " I don't know, my brain is hurting me now"
* Austen sounding out words and saying, " I hope Hanns doesn't find us in our secret hiding spot" as Hannah rounds the bend of the living room to the dining room and smiling
* Hannah walking around last night with access coupon paper stuck all over her feet- out of control, impulsive.
* Riah wearing only her big girl pants and her cubbie vest this morning

Autumn Mornings

 Cool Mornings.Red.Orange.Brown. Sweet Syrup. Soft, browned waffles. laughter. silly talk. no rushing around. Autumn in New England. Cinnamon. Maple Brown Sugar. Smells. Fall.

Schedules

Today was quite an interesting day, to say the least. I am going to revamp some things in my life to remain but yet change at the same time. My head is kind of spinning today with every emotional outcry from my three year old, frustrations at the stores and school that was not accomplished today. I am ok with a day or two like this but honestly, I think this year, especially, has been my learning year that life typically needs to happen in the afternoon after naps and mornings are a no go.

I love morning time but with all the school that the kids are doing this year, and the NEED, not want, of a quiet time in the afternoon I am going to try and workout later in the day, before dinner. Maybe a 75/25 change. I need my workouts, so this part is not changing but I am still fumbling, trying to find a routine that benefits us all.

I think I am purchasing, Managers of Their Chores. I think this will be a great investment not only in my life, but in my children's lives as well. They did such a great job this morning, sorting laundry, cleaning bathrooms, making beds, cleaning the kitchen that if I can get them to learn to do these things on their own accord, eventually, it will be such a great, practical teacher, in initiative.

Home Educating is a family effort so taking care of the home is as well. Sorry this is not that interesting of a post, I am just rambling my thoughts together trying to figure out how to feel "on top" of something. That is all. On ward :)

Night Time Coffee

Smooth.Creamy.Chocolaty. Warm. Relaxing. Tantalizing.Refreshing.Calming.Not Sharing.Peaceful.Favorite Red Mug.Quiet.Still.End of Day.

The Tooth Fairy

Last night, we arrived home from football practice and Austen bumped his large, round head into the front of Jayden's rubbery mouth. The end result was his very loose top tooth was not even looser and he cried over to Ben, who calmed him down and after a few wiggles and tugs his first top tooth was laying in his hand!

We completely do the tooth fairy....some of you may think that's strange as we don't play up the Easter bunny or Santa Claus and for me the answer is simple, there are no religious ties to loosing a tooth as there is to Santa Claus so I don't feel like I have to "fight" the current of trying to instill why we celebrate something from a Christian perspective vs a secular....but ANYWAYS that was a tangent :)

I am laying in bed and all of a sudden I start sobbing, like all out sobbing, uncontrollably sobbing. It had everything to do with this mental picture I kept seeing in my mind of dropping my little 9 month old off at the local YMCA and his lower lip puffing out, tears welling in his eyes and his stubby teeth staring me down as I kissed him and hugged him and reassured him my 30 minute workout would go FAST!

Slow down Jayden!!!! I am so proud of you, so proud of your character, your heart your ability to learn and to be sensitive to others feelings. I could not ask God for a better son than you. You bless my heart everyday!! You are selfless, sensitive to the Holy Spirit. You encourage, love, are loyal, love the Lord. But son, if you could do one thing for me, please slow down. Your "big" tooth is bulging at the seams inside your gum and it is only a matter of time before that enormous tooth comes racing down to fill the gap where your once little baby tooth sat. I'm not ready for this part yet because, to me, that symbolizes a new stage in our game. A boy stage. Not a little boy, but a boy. Where is the time going, who can I talk to about slowing the clock. Where did someone have the idea of let's grow up as fast as we can???? I mean I know I always wanted to be 15 when I was 10 or married when I was 15 but seriously, that was me. It is NOT ok for my kids to move this fast......please, just grow up just s   l     o      w

It was last night's moment with mascara smeared everywhere that I just thanked God over and over for the ability to home school. Homeschooling gives me the time that would be given to someone else. I now am able to breathe life into them each and everyday. Someone asked me yesterday is it overwhelming? Overall, no...sometimes, of course. But the whole it is a blessing beyond my wildest descriptions and I am gaining precious, precious moments, snippets of time that collectively will add to my beautiful memory bank. I am thankful to God, thankful for His love and His grace and thankful that he blessed us with Jayden, our beautiful surprise.

PS. Jayden asked that I write the toothfairy a letter ( I cut it as a butterfly) and ask her to leave the tooth and Austen asked to know her name, our resident tooth fairy is " Lady Dainty" . Who's yours?

My Cup Runneth Over

So lately, life has been busier than I had intended or liked. This has nothing to do with "what can I take out of my schedule" but rather, I have four kids and we have a life so there isn't a lot to take out. I enjoy being with them but most of what I do these days is for my family ( minus my coffee and workouts- all about me). Anyways, I am sitting here at 1:10 in the afternoon, quiet time around me, nap time around me and still in my sweats= they are the cute VS sweats I might add, but still sweats nonetheless and I want to write about yesterday.

The day started off a little crazy, as most Saturdays do trying to get 5 people fed, clothed and out of the house for Austen's 8 am football games but we made it and we were fine. From there, I was suppose to meet someone who wanted to buy my running stroller, they never showed, needed to buy a birthday present gift and wow, I'm feeling really hungry now so made a quick stop at Target. I decided to forgo my workout, for the time being, go home and have the kids take an early nap/quiet time so I could try to get something done around the house before the early afternoon birthday party. The house was a disaster from the morning so I tried to do the best I could picking up the main living areas and felt that I made some major headway. Then, looking at the clock I realized that it was almost time to leave and that this was a pool party and I would have young children that needed to be in the pool which would than require me to be in the pool which than equated to " I have no 'family friendly' swimsuit to wear"---soooooo, found a coupon for Kohls ran into the store with all the kids, found a swimsuit that matched my taste, ran to the fitting room, tried it on - fit, score- and left. Austen, picked out a hideous one piece teal and black striped suit for me. I thought, if I ever found myself in that suit may it be at my funeral- thanks Austen, but I'll pass, I am still in my 20s son :)

We arrived at the party, fashionably late to the tune of 30 minutes. No problem, the kids had their suits on and all the other kids were swimming. Riah didn't really want to swim a ton anyways so I could have skipped the suit buying but oh well. We enjoyed our time at the wonderful birthday party but I was getting more and more tired by the minute. We needed to leave at a certain time, so that we could get home, have dinner and then leave again for church. My friend's son was getting dedicated that night and I really wanted to be there for that. We played the games, ate the cake and food, asked if the birthday boy could open up his gift before we left, he loved it and we left.

We walked, walked, walked to our van which was parked a thousand miles away, I am feeling more and more tired and just wanting to get home. All of hte kids piled into the car and Moriah locked me out, smiled at me and then pushed the lock button again. " Unlock the door Moriah" " Dis?" " Yes, open it" - no action taken. So now, I'm talking through the van window, Austen moves in and opens it and Moriah gets a warning. We drive home, right before we get home Riah give Hannah a toy, only problem is it hits sleeping Hannah ( who had hardly any nap yesterday) square in the temple. Now, sleeping Hannah is screaming Hannah and hungry Hannah and hold me now Hannah. " Can we listen to something?" " NO!"

We arrive home, get inside, I go and check to see if the person who had wanted my running stroller from earlier emailed me, Moriah announced she needed to go potty and off she went. Then, Moriah, comes back. She smells of poo and is wet - wonderful combinations. " It all wet, I all wet, come please". Then, it hit me like a boulder falling off of the side of a mountain- Jayden told me before the chaos of leaving for Kohls and the party that he had plugged the toilet and could I help him---well, I had forgotten.

Quickly walking to the bathroom, my heart stops as I see the toilet overflowing with poo water every WHERE!!!!! Riah is walking in it, slips in it, falls, Hannah starts screaming crawling towards me from the other room, Jay is crying because he feels bad that the toilet was plugged and Austen is observing this whole scene and asking if he can play " lego.com". I am going crazy trying to find towels- the only ones in our home are the clean ones, the ones I just cleaned that are in a pile in the kitchen along with 8 loads of clean clothes that need to be put away because I've been gone all day and haven't had a chance. I run into the kitchen grab towels, try not to think about what I'm doing or I will loose what little food I ate. Drop the towels like they are stepping stones and make my way to the plunger. Unplug the toilet, Jesus help me! Go back into the kitchen, stepping around screaming Hannah and crying Jayden and tell him in a very umm not patient voice " Bring her in the bedroom and play with her there"- so now on top of thinking about getting out the door in 10 minutes for church, cleaning up this mess, now having to bathe MoriahJayden to my list of things that are swirling in my head.

I fill the bathtub with Pinesol and boiling water, sop up the disgusting mess with my yellow gloves, towels, and a mop all the while standing on my "stepping stones". I gather the towels all up, throw them into my beautiful front loader washer, thank goodness for that thing, and return to get Moriah. I put her in MY bathtub, fill the water, wash her from head to toe and let her play. I go back, remop the entire bathroom until the smell of pine sol out weighs the "ahem" smell. The bathroom is sparkling clean now, go wash my hands, find Jayden apologize for being snappy and tried to explain it wasn't him, just the incredibly time pressing, stressful situation of poo, water, overflowing toilet, baby crawling, screaming towards the mess and wow, why does my house feel like its 100 degrees in it now. Oh, Jay I wish I could be so calm all the time.

Thankfully, 3 out of the four kids were ready for church. I loaded them up, quickly dried and dressed Moriah after she came crying and walking out of the bathroom, naked, cold and wanting a towel, got her in the car. Searched my bedroom for a quick outfit, found a dress, brushed my hair, a dab of makeup here and there and we are calling it good. I called Ben and asked if he minded if we stopped for dinner, remembered that my mother in law had given us some $ for a "buycott" cause and went to the restaurant before church. Arrived at church and prayed that Hannah would be ok in the nursery because, wow, I needed to sit. We were only 10 minutes late and I did not miss my friend's baby's dedication. The worship was uplifting and I was thankful to be alone. Ben sent me a text, " You are beautiful and a great mom and wife" - sometimes, his words are the only encouragement I need to get through the day.

Today, we are intact, no place to go and taking it easy. The only upset we had today was upon cleaning the entire frig and freezer out, sweeping and mopping I decided, " hmm, let's make banana bread and I want dear Moriah to help"....well she did, and she decided at the very end to turn on the kitchen aid by herself , full speed mind you when we just put in 3 cups of flour. My kitchen and her were coated with a white fluff of snow in a matter of seconds and she just looked at me and said, " My kirt ( skirt) dirty now"....yes Moriah and so is my kitchen. Then, again, looking for something to clean it up I noticed that there was a brown mark on the door to the bathroom. I asked Moriah and she informed me that " yeserday, I wiped the stinkies off my finger" Lovely.  Hahahah, love life, love being a Mom and love laughing because sometimes, that's all you can do :) Happy toddlering :)

Little Moments

Yesterday was an amazing day...the whole day went smooth! We started on school around 7am and were done by 1030! It was awesome. Hannah slept the whole morning...which made doing school a little bit easier since I wasn't having to stop and feed her every other second. Austen played on pbskids.com for a little bit in the morning and Moriah was very helpful which makes a big difference as well.

I didn't have any milk so breakfast was a pretty basic eggs and plain cereal and fruit. I am really beginning to understand what little tasks need to be taken care of the night before to make my mornings and , for the most part, entire day smooth. One is clean kitchen! If that kitchen is messy, dishes not put away, crumbs on the floor, etc..it literally throws my whole morning off as I am not only getting more stuff out for breakfast, especially since many of our breakfasts consist of waffles, oatmeal pancakes and oatmeal, but I still have the dinner mess from the previous night. I love waking up to a clean kitchen!

We progressed through our day rather quickly. I introduced multiplication of 100 and 1 to Jayden. He caught on immediately so we didn't need to spend too much time on that. With Konos, we are still on the circulatory system for a bit more. I had to go to the store yesterday to buy 4 bottles of Gatorade as we needed the bottles for a heart experiment we will be doing today ...but after that, I did the KONOS review at the end of the circulatory section and he answered it all correctly so I feel good that he understands.

Also, Language Arts is becoming more of a smooth transition too as Jayden's writing is becoming easier to him and not to mention the amount of writing in the curriculum we use now is so much less than in SSRW. Finally, we wrapped up with our Bible Geography, Jayden's devotions, family bible reading and an art project with both boys.

I found this art curriculum that my Mother in law gave me, Art Pac I and was pretty excited to get started on it. It was fun for the boys, especially Austen who colors amazingly in the lines, uses so many different colors and is so creative!

That boy of mine, Austen, is such a blessing to me. He is so smart, learns so opposite than Jayden and just has such a tender heart. I am so thankful to be homeschooling him. I am thankful to not expose my children to daily bullying-especially having boys (even though girls can be just as cruel). I love just sharing life together, even on the hard days!

Yesterday, Austen sat on our back patio with a huge piece of chalk and nonchalantly wrote an amazing signature of his name! I will take a picture today because this is just Austen. He learns by observing and then doesn't want help, but wants to do it himself. Which, in turn, astounds me with what he knows!!!!! I am just enjoying playing games with him, reading to him and getting ready to introduce the BOB books....kindergarten is all about exploration, not book work and we are having a blast!

We had friends stop over yesterday too, which was unexpected but so much fun! It was awesome how I had gotten everything done in the morning and when they stopped over we were literally getting ready for quiet/nap times and so it was perfect. The boys had a great time with their friends, playing legos, animals and outside " finding dinosaur bones and buried treasure". Thank you Jesus for friends!