Please don't go.

Dear Summer,

Are you leaving so soon?

But you just got here!

Pull up a chair, crack open a cold one.

Stay awhile longer...

Please?

We've got more goggles to adorn.

Swimsuits to wear from morning till night.

Stay just a bit longer.

Though the days are getting shorter, it's still light out.

Enough time for one last swim.

Summer - we're crazy about you.

Sunshine.

Warmth.

Flipflops. ('nough said)

So, while you're still here, we'll hold onto you a little bit tighter.

Lest you disappear, as quickly as you came, not to be seen again until next year.

Morning...

Though I've never claimed to be a true "morning person," I will admit that there is something truly magical about the morning time.

I love the smell of coffee in the morning.

I love the welcoming shadows the rising sun sprays across the floor.

I love reading  my Bible.

I love being able to think.

Uninterrupted!

And I love that my quieter, sweet son is almost always the first to wake. His charm is endearing. Though he's just beginning to read, I love that, on his own, he chooses to read his Bible in the morning. like his mom.

And if older, quieter son happens to not be the first awake, then it's loud, crazy busy son who is. Oh, I cherish those (few) moments he allows us to restrain him in his high chair for his breakfast... after that, Mommy's day is non-stop exercise chasing our little explorer around, keeping his inquisitive little fingers out of danger and prying choking hazard objects I didn't even know existed, much less in our home, from the jaws of life grip he secures.

Next up, our smiley girl. And, what does she do from the moment she wakes to the moment she goes to bed?

Yeah. Pretty much smile.

(except when she's in the throws of a 3 yr. old tantrum, but more on that later. or not).

As the morning goes on, my first born wakes latest of all. She stays up late reading. And I let her. I once heard that you should never squelch the voracious reader. Buy them a book light. Let them stay up late. So I did. And I do.

And after she's done eating and dressing, I can usually find her doing something smart again.

Puzzles at 9:00 a.m., anyone?

In this house.

Yes. My husband does work. These pictures were taken on a Saturday morning, silly.

But I loved the father and daughter, (my 2 little brainy nerds), bonding over puzzles pictures so I had to include them.

 

Ah, life is grand. And when I'm off typing a quick work email, or doing one of a gazillion other things I need done, I can always rest assured that someone will help "watch" the baby for a moment.

Or, put him in a plastic bin of toys as a "playpen" to restrain him.

Yes, this was 1st borns idea.

I said she was smart.

I didn't say she always practiced common sense.

But, no matter. It's all good. Whatever works.

Peace and love and kissies all around....

Disappearing Act...

I have not fallen in a hole.
I have not decided to stop blogging (though I've never claimed to be the most consistent bloggie).
I have not been on a long vacation (though, that would have been nice ;)

What I have however been doing lately is this:
Driving kids to swimming lessons.
An intensive Beth Moore (awesome) bible study.
Driving kids to swimming lessons.
Playing with my kiddos.
Working.
Field trips.
Driving kids to swimming lessons.
Trying to prep for next school year.
And, last but not least, driving kids to more swimming lessons.

There is, however, one little fishy of mine who LOVES the water, but is not in swimming lessons.

Can you guess who?

Peek a boo!

He loves the water.

Loves his bath!

And here's something else that he loves...

His Momma rocking him in the middle of the night. For hours.

Which is, yet, another thing I've been doing lately.

Or, should I say not doing...

Sleeping.

Sleep training is a [insert expletive].

If I were a potty mouth, I'd use a bad word- because that's how frustrating and exhausting it can be.

But, since I'm not- I'll say (with all the emphasis in the world), Sleep training is HARD.

And exhausting.

But, lucky for this little guy, when he's not sleeping (and when he's instead doing cute things like smiling at me in the bathtub), his Momma forgets about the 2.5 hours he screamed his head off the night before (...and the night before that)

(...and the night before the night before).

So, three cheers for sleep training.

And three cheers for when the training actually makes the child SLEEP!

And three cheers for when I'm not so exhausted from driving my kids to non-stop swimming lessons - and not so exhausted from, ya know, the whole not sleeping thing... that I can actually take some time to post a few of the fun pictures we've taken at all the fun things we've been doing in the last few weeks.

So to that end...

Three cheers to posting something more (hopefully) soon!

Nature

THERAPY!

As in, therapy for YOU, not me.

I suppose, judging from the pictures below, it would appear that I'm the one in need of therapy!
No, no, no, my friends- this little gem of a post is for you.
It's my weekend gift, from me to you...



How, you ask, are pictures of my horrid pigpen laundry room therapy for my reader?

Simple! All you need to do is take one look at these pictures, and see for youself how much BETTER your laundry room looks than this torrential disaester area- and then sigh a big sigh of satisfaction, pat yourself on the back, and go enjoy the rest of the weekend, knowing that no matter what little mess you have lying around, it couldn't possibly be as messy as my laundry room.



Unless, of course, your laundry room IS as messy as my laundry room, in which case I might have actually made you feel worse about yourself.... which might then lead you to therapy, rather than provide it for you. If you fall into that category, my apologies!


But for those of you who don't have as big of a mess to tackle as I do this weekend, Congratulations.

And you're welcome.

And just to be clear, so you don't get the wrong idea here, we're just talking about my laundry room, folks. The rest of my house is pretty Stepford worthy, thank you very much (except, of course, when it's not).


I'm not sure if Christian is laughing or crying in this picture. I was too busy trying to document my clean living room for you.

Enjoy your weekend!!

Where has Mommy been?

Besides the regular hussle and bussle of daily life and coming up on the heels of Christmas, I had the misfortune of having my laptop break. Never a good thing. Never. Especially when I do accounting for a small business and need to have reporting and tax information prepared by the end of the year.

I've been - for the most part- off line for the last few days trying to get myself up and running again. And here I am. Up and running. On my new laptop. Loving my Toshiba laptop. Loved my last one, too... until it broke, that is.

We've had several events in the last week... so many pictures I've taken that someday I will transfer to my new computer! But, for now, I'll leave you with my precious little peanut and promises of more later...

Baby, it's cold outside...

Wherease that has, unfortunately, prevented my car battery from starting my car, it most certainly has not stopped this little adventurer from riding her bike in the house...

Frankly, nothing's gonna stop her from riding her bike(s). She loves her bike(s) so much that each and every night at dinner she recites the same prayer...

"Jesus, ride my bike. Amen."

Yeah. I have no idea either.

Because it's cold outside, she scoots around on her "indoor" bike. I had to designate one of them an indoor bike after repeadedly losing battles where she would drag in any number of outdoor bikes that she was in the mood to ride. Now it's only the giraffe that scuffs up my wood floors.

But better that than scuffed floors and dirty carpet.

Yeah, it's cold all right...

But we don't even have to leave the house for food!

"May I take your order, please?"

Mmmm... fresh, hot pizza...

Straight outta the oven...

Yes. I said, 'oven." What else does that look like to you?

This is not your "average" restaurant, folks. No, sir. It even offers complimentary entertainment. While I ate, I enjoyed the "boy on bouncing ball" act.

First rate. Let me tell ya.

When you live up here, folks, you've gotta be creative. Or I'm not sure... maybe it was, you've gotta be 'crazy." Yeah- that's it. You've gotta be crazy to live where I live, because..

baby it's COLD outside!

I don't know about you, but I think I've seen (and eaten) enough turkey to last me until- well- next Thanksgiving. So, instead of posting pictures of turkey and people eating it, I think instead I'll talk about what else we did this weekend.

Those of you who know me, know that I am most definitely an outdoor person. Think of the word that's the opposite of love.... that's how I feel about winter. So, as long as we're still able to be outside without seeing our breath, you are sure to see our family squeezing every last moment we can out of fall.

And there is no better place to do that than at my Dad's house (aka "Papa").

I used to try to try to tell him that I had a better backyard because we live on a pond. But then our pond dried up. So much for that. We had the pond- but he's always got the view.

And not only does he have an amazing view of the river valley, but all sorts of interesting wildlife frequent his yard as well. Wild turkeys, deer, bald eagles soaring over the valley. Okay- so I never really thought our yard could compare in "coolness" to his, but it was fun to try to compete. Now if you saw our "view" you'd laugh. A dried up mud hole with a few weeds poking through here and there. But I digress...

Not only does Dad have the view- but he's also got the toys.

 Not toys as in, "miniture Escalade's that kids sit their lazy butts in, push the battery operated "go" button and tool around the yard in".... no... toys as in "you need to use your own strength to make it go" kind of toys.

He's got ropes to climb on.

Ropes to swing on.

Swings made out of rope to soar in.

I can't forget the zip line. Yes, I said- ZIP LINE. He actually has a zip line hooked up in his yard. It's fun. I've tried it. As a matter of fact, I think sometimes the adults have as much fun (if not more) than the kids do on it. You should hear us elderly's squeel with delight... "weeeeeeee!!!" Too bad I didn't take a picture of it. Maybe next time.

And if you're not in the mood to be playing with or on some sort of rope, there's a bucket full of footballs, softballs, sticky mitt catch balls... you name it.

The kids have a blast when we come to Papa's.

Unfortunately, not everyone is able to play outside. When the weather is too brisk, some have to stay inside and watch longingly from behind the glass...

But if you're really super cute, you're Mama just might feel sorry for you and bundle you up nice and bring you outside with the rest of the gang.

Now we're talking.

Ahhh, that's better!