Tired.

There's just a lot going on right now. And so many of my close friends are hurting. My heart aches, but there's nothing I can DO except pray. I know that's a lot, but there's still a part of me that wants to somehow make it better, to ease the pain. But that's just not going to happen.

Plus our little family has quite a bit going on, and I'm really trying to watch my attitude. But sometimes there's a fine line between being realistic and being negative, and I'm definitely walking it right now.

I've mentioned a couple times that I have a "deep" post coming. It's still brewing, getting ready to serve :) But what it all boils down to is my identity. Who exactly am I? We've all seen the long lists of titles - wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend... not to mention chef, janitor, secretary, taxi driver... But what is most important? I am a child of God. But frankly I don't feel like I'm doing a very good job of demonstrating that on a daily basis. I tend to say I'm human, and use that as a blanket excuse for my many shortcomings. But I also can't get caught up in guilt.

I'm tired.

Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. And God's peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7 (Amplified)

Weekend Recap

So what has our little tribe been up to? Well, we headed off to the Pirates movie with the kids on Saturday. They had a good time, but I have to admit I was a bit disappointed: not much music, the dialogue wasn't all that witty, and no mention of Christ. (Evidently there was a little evangelistic message at the end, but our kids had been sitting long enough so we left right away). Still a nice outing. Plus we found out that AMC Theaters have a weekend special - showings before noon are only $5. Not exactly dirt cheap, but a bit more affordable. You might want to check it out - how 'bout a Saturday morning date? :)

After the movie, we walked the MEGA mall. Our only purchase was drumsticks for our kiddo (which he slept with last night). Also got cornered by some research people who wanted to have our kids test child-proof lighters. "But we talk to them about how they should leave them alone." Um, right before or after you tell them to use it?!? No thanks, think we'll just keep steering our little pyros clear of flame makers.

After church yesterday, we met up with my brother for lunch. Tried a new (to us, anyway) place, and laughed at the kid's antics. Came home, and actually had a fairly restful afternoon. Our daughter has a nasty sounding cough, and we ended up sending her to bed early... this led to some quality father-son time building a castle. Yes, this is the one I rescued from the trash pile a few weeks ago. I still can't believe that they were throwing this out! We were only missing a few minor pieces, and it certainly isn't noticeable. I have a hunch that our little boy will be spending many, many hours redesigning it anyway!

Back to the daily grind today. In fact, I hear my dryer calling me! Later...

Not-So-Funny Friday

Well, exactly two weeks after her 3rd birthday, our daughter has gotten her first "real" haircut.

From her brother.

To say I wasn't pleased would be an understatement. I actually had tears welling up in my eyes as I took in what was happening. I was washing dishes in the kitchen, and just a few feet away in the living room, our son apparently told our daughter that she needed a haircut. She obligingly stayed still.

He did some serious chopping, and her hair is now approximately 1/2 inch long in some places. Thankfully those places are in the back.

So this is what D cut off. Check out the looooong, cute curls.

This is what I trimmed off, trying to make it somewhat presentable.

And here's the final result. Actually somewhat cute, but I'm already missing those curls. I know it's just hair - and it's not as though she really cares. When she saw herself in the mirror, she just started giggling. Guess I oughta take my cue from her :)

The Princesses

Last night our daughter was upstairs playing with her dress-up things while her brother was downstairs coloring. He eventually got bored, though, and went up to see what she was doing. They came downstairs together, and he excited told me that they were BOTH princesses!

Oh. My.

It really is a hoot to watch these two together, though. One minute they're playing Rescue Heroes and the next they're having a tea party. Balance is good, right?

I also wanted to share our son's Biblical insights. Sunday afternoon we were looking at his papers from Sunday School, and I asked him what he had learned. He proceeded to tell me that Jesus had helped the man to see. "Oh," I said. "Was he blind?" His response: "No. His hair was just too long and it was in his eyes."

Must be one of those new progressive translations :) Seriously, though, we did pull out the Bible and talk about the story. Still not sure where the hair idea came from!

Monday Madness

Well, it's now 3 PM and this is what's still on my feet. Yep, those are fuzzy slippers (topped with flannel jammie pants). Can you tell what kind of day we're having around here? I've gotten a few things done, but can't say I've been super productive. As I was shuffling around in my slovenly apparel, it hit me that I'm not going to be able to do this much longer. D will be in school this fall, and I will DEFINITELY not be one of "those" moms. Anyhoo, on to other exciting events...

We have a MOPS meeting tomorrow, but thankfully I don't have anything to prepare. I am helping out with some other stuff at church right now, so that's taking up a bit more time. I also just finished up another round of rubber stamped samples and got those shipped last week. I still have a long to-do list here at home, mostly purging and organizing. I'm struggling to stay motivated, as it seems that the progress is soooo slow. But there is just too much stuff piled up around here, and even when things are "clean" they're still cluttered. Ugh. I'm also noticing that the kids are picking up some of my bad habits, which is definitely not a good thing. Gotta keep moving forward on that.

I had the camera with me at church yesterday, and I captured this photo of our little girl. What a little lady she's becoming (snort). And yes, that is diaper bulge under the tights - still waging the potty training battle here. Where oh where does she get her stubborn streak from?!? (No comments on that particular issue, please :) Seriously, though, she really is growing up. She looooooves music, and as we were leaving church she started singing, "You never let go." Even though she's downstairs during the service, she's picked up the chorus just from being around during worship team practice. How very cool!

In crazy little boy news, here he is drumming his heart out. Yes, these are the ones we pulled from the trash a few weeks ago. They're propped up on a cardboard box and he's using chopsticks, but he was still in rhythm heaven. Real drumsticks are going on the next Musician's Friend order.

And lastly, while I might be sporting warm but decidedly unfashionable footwear, there are others out there who are wearing cool brown boots. You go, girl! (Yes, there is a story behind this. But no, I'm not going to share!)

Have you're all having a great Monday! I promise a slightly less crazed post later in the week :)

Friday Funny

All I Need to Know About Life I Learned from a Snowman

It's okay if you're a little bottom heavy.
Hold your ground, even when the heat is on.
Wearing white is always appropriate.
Winter is the best of the four seasons.
It takes a few extra rolls to make a good midsection.
There's nothing better than a foul weather friend.
The key to life is to be a jolly, happy soul.
We're all made up of mostly water.
You know you've made it when they write a song about you.
Accessorize! Accessorize! Accessorize!
Avoid yellow snow.
Don't get too much sun.
It's embarrassing when you can't look down and see your feet.
It's fun to hang out in your front yard.
Always put your best foot forward.
There's no stopping you once you're on a roll.

We now pause for this commercial break...

For any of you with kiddos, the LeapFrog site has some screamin' deals right now. Our kids love their leap pads, and the books are being cleared out at around $4 each. Tons of other stuff, too. PLUS use code "HL7LM" and get $5 off your order of $20 or more.

Click here to shop.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Who You Are... and who I'm meant to be

One of my all-time favorite worship songs. More thoughts on this later...

Birthday Girl

Well, our daughter certainly had an interesting birthday celebration!! We had considered taking the kids out to see the Pirates (which would be their first theater movie), but decided to wait for a week or so. When we asked our daughter what she wanted, she said she wanted to roast marshmallows. Um, do you realize your birthday is in January little girl? The weather was unseasonably warm, though, so we thought we'd actually be able to have a little fire in the backyard. But then it started to rain. We ended up having an impromptu celebration with a friend at lunch, and then decided we'd have Chinese for dinner and then a "campout night." Campout nights are pretty exciting things around here. We generally go to the library to pick out a movie or two, and then everyone brings their blankets into the living room and we just sort of goof off and cuddle until falling asleep.

But it was not to be. I pulled into the library parking lot as they were locking up. (Five o'clock? Seriously?!) I then went to go pick up our food. I was early, of course, due to the lack of a library stop. I sat in the car and caught up on my reading while waiting for the pick-up time to arrive. When I was finally only five minutes early, I headed inside to pick up our yummy food. Mein Fun here we come! Except that they had no record of my order. What?! This is the place we always order from. After some discussion with the very nice lady behind the counter, I realized that I had placed an order with another restaurant. (They're on the same street, and their names differ by a single letter. When the new flier was shoved into our door handle, I didn't pay close enough attention and just figured they had updated their menu). Sigh. Get back in the car and drive 15 minutes to the other location. Finally make it home and we sit down to eat. Dinner was disappointing (that menu has been discarded). We ended up watching an old video, then sending the kids to bed when they were getting incredibly whiny.

Saturday was better, though. The kids played outside while Daddy and I did some yardwork. Managed to have a small fire - the wood was all damp so it was incredibly smoky and never really got hot - but it was enough that we were able to roast marshmallows.

And the end result? Well, our "baby" is officially three!!

Friday Funny

The local news station was interviewing an 80-year-old lady because she had just gotten married -- for the fourth time. The interviewer asked her questions about her life, about what it felt like to be marrying again at 80, and then about her new husband's occupation.

"He's a funeral director," she answered.

"Interesting," the newsman thought.

He then asked her if she wouldn't mind telling him a little about her first three husbands and what they did for a living. She paused for a few moments, clearly reflecting on the past. A smile came to her face and she answered that she'd first married a banker when she was in her early 20s, then a circus ringmaster when in her 40s, a preacher when in her 60s, and now in her 80s, a funeral director. The interviewer looked at her, quite surprised, and asked why she had married four men with such diverse careers.

She smiled and explained, "I married one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go."

More Random Thoughts...

We have a clock on the wall in our kitchen. It can also be seen from the living room, and that's where I always look to check the time. Well, last year the clock died. I picked up another from a yard sale, but it only lasted a few months. We had been "clock-less" for a couple weeks, and I decided to remedy the situation using a gift card we were given for Christmas. I was very happy with this one - simple but still has some personality. Works with the current colors in the kitchen and will still coordinate when we repaint (tentatively scheduled for later this year). Hubby came home, and I asked his opinion. He glanced over and said he liked it. Looked again, and then said, "You know that's going to drive me crazy." Say what?

Check out the four. Far as I know, that "number" doesn't exist. At least they got the nine right! What's even funnier is that I really looked at the clocks earlier today while I was out shopping (at a different store, I might add) and they had four different models that were also wrong. And I noticed that a friend's clock had the same issue. So now I'm seeing it everywhere - and wondering if the issue will be eventually be corrected or if "IIII" will eventually become acceptable.

In other news, I had cheetos today. Well, actually Crunchy Cheese Curls because I'm too cheap to buy the name brand. These are seldom seen in our home as they tend to disappear too quickly, but I tossed a bag in the cart when I went shopping earlier in the week. Had some with lunch, and it struck me that I was also sipping Diet Coke. Not exactly a healthful combo, but I had to document the occurrence for you, Jenn! Wanna play cribbage now? :) (For those of you who want in on the joke, my college roommate and I spent many an evening playing cards while dining on fine fare such as this - time that probably should have been devoted to studying, but we sure had more fun doing it our way!)

Random Silliness

Aw, the joys of having young kids. On Monday, D came running out of the bathroom to get us, announcing, "You have to come quick! The water keeps coming out." Ugh. We're still not exactly sure what happened, but we do know that he kept flushing, hoping to make it better. By the way, that approach is not recommended.

Continuing in the potty humor vein, this morning he told me that he was going to be extra warm. When I asked why, he told me he "put sumpin in his underwear pocket." I was mystified, and asked him to show me what he meant. Well, turns out he had stuffed a bunch of toilet paper in the flap of his undies. After I stopped laughing, I had him pull it all out (and let me tell you, there was a lot in there!) Of course now he wants to know what he can put in the pocket. Not quite sure how to answer that, but I definitely don't recommend a wallet or cell phone!

And finally, I just wanted to show you the great sandwich he made himself for lunch. I had all the supplies out, but then A needed to go potty. As I was helping her, he decided to make his own sandwich. The photo really doesn't do it justice - there was probably a full cup of peanut butter in there. I scraped most of it off (enough to make his sister's sandwich and even some for mine), and he still proudly ate HIS sandwich. No J, but extra PB please!!

Skater Girl

A very kind friend passed along these skates - complete with knee and elbow pads - to our daughter.

You'd think with all that gear on she'd be safe. Particularly since she's on carpet.

But you'd be wrong.

This girl is a klutz of the first order (much like her mama) and she managed to fall forward into the couch and smack her lips and chin pretty hard.

I'm telling you, if there is a way to get hurt, we'll find it! :)

Friday Funny

Happy New Year!

Well, we've officially survived another holiday season. The house looks bare without its holiday finery, but much more spacious. No resolutions here, but it's always good to evaluate and adjust as necessary. You'll be hearing more on that in the days ahead.

So what else have we been up to? A couple days after Christmas, a friend called to tell me about an awesome trash-picking opportunity. We cruised on over and I happily rifled through trash bags while my hubby ducked down in the car (he was apparently rather embarassed by my zeal). It was kinda cold, so we ended up tossing two entire bags in the back of the car and hauling them home. Our son ended up with a bunch of cars and motorcyles, a very cool Matchbox playset (complete with crane!), skates that slip on over his shoes, part of a drum set (although he hasn't been allowed to play with it yet), a castle building set (lego-sized megablocks - the bags had never even been opened!), alphabet magnet set (in a storage case), and some miscellaneous transformer-like figures. I still can't believe the stuff that people throw away. Anyway, the deal was that NONE of it was allowed in the house until we sorted everything we already had. We did a very thorough purge of the kids toys - dumped every single drawer and bin and went crazy sorting it all out. Pitched everything that was broken or missing pieces, and set aside several bags to pass along to other families. It felt so good to get it all straightened out! The kids are also old enough that they're able to put their things away properly (i.e. in the box within the drawer, rather than just tossing everything into the drawer). Now I think we're ready for our daughter's birthday next Friday :)

Other funny story about the trash picking - my friend called me while we were at the drive-through ATM. Well, I got so excited that I grabbed the cash and receipt, then drove off without my ATM card. First time I've ever done something like that. Thankfully I realized what I'd done that evening, so was able to go to the bank the next day and get my card back. A bit embarassing, but thankfully it wasn't a big hassle.

So what else has been going on? I renewed my driver's license (yes, I do live a very exciting life!), continued the potty training journey with our little girl (she's now wearing underwear, but still having occasional accidents), visited the thrift store, and just generally enjoyed down time at home. We did go out on New Year's Eve - hung out with some friends. Ate, chatted, and played "Apples to Apples." (very fun game, by the way! Will definitely be adding it to our stash when I find it on sale :) We did a sort of sleepover with the kiddos, which just means that we were hoping they'd all fall asleep so that we grown-ups could play our game uninterrupted. It sort of worked, and our kids were quite disappointed to wake up in their own room on Jan 1.

Well, I think you're all now caught up on happenings at the D House. I have some deeper stuff rolling around in my brain, but I need to think on it a bit more before putting it into words. But all in all, I must say that so far it has been a good year ;)