memorial day weekend

when i say, "i'm really busy this week"...i mean it.

i don't mind business.  sometimes i work best under pressure.

like today, for example.

i am decorating 21 buckets for aiden's end of the year class party,  making 4 cell phone cases for the teacher's end of the year gift, making sure that the kinect and snow cone supplies are ready to go for the 5th grade graduation party tomorrow, taking the kid's graduation books up to the school to be signed by the teachers, picking up honey and taking her to lunch, going to colt's basketball game tonight, planning aiden's impromptu, birthday, slumber party for friday night, and hopefully folding a wicked mound of clothes.  i'm not factoring in doing all this with flicka on my hip or dinner or the animals or the picking up of kids or the attempt at getting rid of some crazy, wet, dog smell coming from the kennel in our closet that no amount of bleach is seeming to eradicate.  those are all just bonuses.

anyhow...i thrive under pressure.

i also have a tendency to get a little cranky.  like yesterday, when i found a 1/2 full water bottle...from who knows when...tumped upside down in the dress-up bin upstairs and went all kanya west on the kids.  i felt bad about it.  but geesh.  can they not just do me a solid and keep the drinks in spill proof containers?

i'm fine until i come in at night...after the whirlwind of celebration and activity...to a house that could appear in an episode of hoarders.

i guess my philosophy for this week will be:

enjoy the last few days of this school year and go out with guns a-blazin.  sleep will come next week.  after all...it's the end of elementary school for colt.  and that deserves my full attention.

memorial day weekend in pictures.  because...let's face it...

that's all i really have time for this morning.

while i tackled getting dinner in the crock-pot and the obvious kitchen disaster...flicka worked at her "station."

and this lasted a solid 4 minutes.  i'd say that's a success.

she fell in love with my favorite bear from when i was little.

apparently we are wearing goggles on a regular basis now.

whatever floats her boat.

happy last few days of school!  they should be something to write home about!!  

James Dobson, Goosey Lucy, and Hip Hop

Well it's never a good sign when a perfect stranger suggests that you read James Dobson's

The Strong Willed Child

after spending a half hour with your 2 year old.

Of course, she meant well.

I smiled...caught Flicka before she dismantled the fish tank...held onto her arm tightly...and politely said,

"Kiss my @&$."  "I'll check it out."

I thought about it the rest of the day.

How we can't "let her be in control" and "let her get away with everything because she is the youngest."

No doubt...I agree.

But I came to the realization that she's got my number.

Annslee looks at me and thinks,

"That woman's tired."

She can sense defeat from a mile away.  She's thinkin'

"She's got 4 of us.  She's totally out numbered and she's got very little fight left in her.  So if I kick it up a few notches...I've got it in the bag."

And I swear...we DON'T let her get away with everything.  But I will admit...sister gets away with waaaaaay more than the other 3 did.

For example, this was after I told her to put the hat back where she got it.

This was when I told her...

"Annslee.  We are not buying that hat.  Please put it back where you found it."

This was when I told her to stay sitting on the bench and to not touch the shoes.

This was after I told her to sit down while she was eating.

This was after I told her not to puddle jump.

This was after I told her she was not going to have her drink in the car.  I can't remember who was supposed to be holding it for her so that it wouldn't spill everywhere.  But...I blame them.

Chad has said from the beginning,

"Why do I get the feeling that she's gonna be the one we are draggin' out of parties by her hair when she's 13?"

Maybe I need to give James a little looksee.

****

Aiden had her Chicken Little play today.  These are some of the cutie pies in her class.  Well...AJ squeezed herself in there...but you get the drift.

She played Goosey Lucy.

Yesterday, when I picked her up from school, I asked her if she was excited to do her play the next day.  She said that she was very excited.  I asked her if she was supposed to wear anything special and she said,

"No.  We can just wear regular clothes.  But I woooooould like to wear something...Goosey."

That's as "goosey" as we could get at such short notice.

Side note:  It drove me absolutely bonkers that her ribbon at the end of her braid was untied the entire play.

****

Chase hosted a hip hop dance party in the driveway for us last night.  There was a lot of dancing going on.

And that's when I decided that the happiness that can be found dancing in the driveway is really underestimated.



the birds and the bees.

a few days ago, i noticed that my morning dove friend was back.  i know.  i'm announcing her return to my little corner of the world with non-mindy-flare emotion when normally i would be making welcome home signs and making everyone in a two block radius come to see her.  it's all about balance.

we can't always have fan fare.

although...my friend deserves it.

after what she's been through.

i saw the new nest in the tree one day last week.  it's not exactly in the same place that it was...but right next to it.  i think it's sturdier.  and her nest is definitely bigger this time.

i know what you're thinking.

how do you know it's really the same bird?

well...either that...or...

is she seriously telling us about this bird again?

to answer possible question #1...

i know because she told me.

i'm just kidding.

that would make me sound crazy.

i really don't know.  but i am choosing to believe that it is.  and we all know that if you tell yourself something long enough........you start to believe it.

why do you think there are so many people in counseling as a result of ridiculous things that they were told as children?  why do you think i still call myself "flamingo legs?"

and to answer possible question #2...

yes.  i am.

i went out this morning to get a good look at the nest and to see if there were any eggs in it.

little did i know that there was a platoon of mosquito's waiting in the bushes to attack the first sign of human flesh.

while i was trying to get in a good position to take a picture...i looked down and witnessed the sneak attack.  now i have...literally...like 14 bites on my legs and arms.

naturally i started swatting and flailing and jumping around in the flower bed...before making a mad dash back into the front door...because that's how we roll around here.  i hate mosquito's.  i'm convinced they are from the devil.

****

on friday afternoon, chad, colton and i were sitting in the "lodge" room when we noticed a massive swarm of bees in the front yard.  i have never seen anything like this.  it looked like a plague.  after about 30 minutes of swarming all over the place on their part and frantically calling local bee keepers on our part...they settled nicely into our tree.  the bee keeper said it was a thermal bee ball.  evidently, the queen bee was tired of flying and needed to rest.  so...she picked this spot in our tree and all of the other bees surrounded her.  this is where they will stay until she is ready to fly again.  we put cones all around the sidewalk and wrote "BEES" really big with an arrow pointing to the tree so that people wouldn't walk under them and disturb them somehow.

the problem was that this was the night that we had sleepover 2012 at our house.  colt had some of the boys from his class and a bunch of the girls from their class were at another little girl's house.  chad brought up the possibility of the girls coming over to either wrap the house...put a sign in the yard...ding dong ditch...etc to my attention at 11:45 pm and then i obsessed and panicked and entertained the movie "My Girl" for a while until i finally called and woke up one of their parents.

apparently the girls were making duct tape purses and had not even entertained the notion.

so...all was ok.

and the bee keeper was right.  when that queen was rested and ready to fly again the next morning...

they disappeared as quickly as they came.

it's just a good thing they stayed away from my bird.

or we would have had problems.

and that, my friends is your nature lesson for this fine tuesday.

****

speaking of the birds and the bees...

i am attending a showing of some film on puberty that is being shown to the 5th grade boys at the school this week.  i can't wait for that.  the entire group of boys from the 5th grade...my 11 year old son...a documentary on puberty...and a few mom's who thought that it might be a good idea to see what they are being told...all in one room?  that's my idea of a party.

what if i'm the only mom that decides to go?

i'm gonna need some kind of disguise.

futher more...

doesn't this fall under "dad" duties?



this post is so "tubular"

i've learned some things this weekend.

first of all...did you know that you can find out all sorts of stuff if you play truth or dare with a bunch of 5th grade boys?

secondly...the word "beast" is out and "tubular" is in.

here is an example of how to use it appropriately.  just in case you need to.

"that emenim song is so tubular."

and if you're really down with it...

"that emenim song is tubsies."

just keepin' it real.

****

friday night, we had...like...a billion kids spending the night.

colt had 3 friends.  chase had 1.  aiden had 2.  and annslee counts as 3 people...easily.

aiden got a big mess of melted marshmallow in her hair.  we just pretended it wasn't there until i could get her inside and wash it out.  we were a little concerned that we were gonna have to cut that hot mess.  but...in case anyone is wondering...melted marshmallow comes out of hair relatively easily.

saturday was her last game of the season.

and tuesday is the first game of my new season.

i've recruited some friends to play on our team for the summer.

this should be good.



day's as a mother

being a mom is nothing but extraordinary.  i asked God to help me live an extraordinary life...and He reminded me that He had given me a complicated husband and 4 children.  ("complicated" being a good thing.)

you can't really put all of the thoughts and emotions that come with being a mom into a nice, little paragraph of words that will make sense.  it's more like speaking in tongues.  like...you grunt and groan and sigh and ooooh and aaaaahhhhh and close your eyes tightly and let your heart be overwhelmed with gratitude and love, while hoping that God knows what your conflicted heart is saying.

and it's really strange that you have to go to school for four plus years in order to be employable and, better yet, acceptable for a good number of jobs out there.  however...anyone can become a mother.  even children, themselves.

i take my job extremely serious.

i can't let anything get in my way of a job well done.

and that includes a bitter heart.

it's clear to me what kind of mother God wants me to be to these precious angels that he gifted and entrusted me with.  i asked for them.  and he pooled together his resources and He let 4 of His children...whom He loves more than anything in this world...go and selflessly gave them to us to love and teach and raise and cherish.

how hard must that have been?  you take a young, scared girl who gives up her baby to a couple, who she doesn't know, to raise and love and trust to do what she thinks she can't...thinking of the child before her own self and times it by alot....and that's the situation.  it's selfless, sacrificial love at it's finest.

only He is trusting me to do what He knew He could do a whole lot better than me.

Love them.

my truth is that i can allow myself to dwell on the stuff that doesn't really matter.

i have written that "i am a person that desires and craves validation and appreciation but have chosen to live with the title wife and mom...where my payment comes in the form of hugs and kisses and the occasional "i hate you for saying no" instead of awards and promotions."

and if i let myself...

i start believing the lie that my worth is wrapped up in my payment.

so...when the kids get a little older and the "i hate you's" become a little more frequently received than the hugs and kisses...i lose sight of my truth.

the joy...

the rewards...

the gift is in my journey.

my every day.

the service.

i must serve...

because i'm serving Him while i'm serving them.

and although i will never get a paycheck, telling me that i am appreciated...

there are hidden moments in the every day...

that when you open your eyes...can't be missed...

moments that say, "thank you."

it's confusing sometimes...

learning how to turn frustrating/angry/end of your rope moments into kingdom focused/thankful/eye on the prize ones.

but...

i'm learning.

and the truth is...it's often that the jobs that you volunteer for end up being the ones that you go to bed feeling the best about.

i believe what God say's love is:

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on it's own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoce at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends." 1st Corinthians 13: 4-8

when i die, i want my children to say...

"our mom?  well...she sure did know how to love."