Ready for School

Now that I have more than one follower I feel a certain amount of responsibility to entertain and make you smile, think, laugh, cry, whatever. (thanks Dr.J) My blog reminds me of Seinfeld. I remember that is was billed as being the show about nothing. I read some blogs that are self help, DIY guides, craft project resources, recipes, considering I am an expert at nothing my blog has just become these spotty posts about nothing. So with that in mind. . .

This morning I was getting the 3 ready for school. We were on track this morning and had about 5 minutes before we needed to leave. So I did my final plea, "Get your backpacks and jackets we need to head out soon." J walks in to the bathroom and says, "OK, mom, I'm ready." I am still finishing hair and teeth and getting myself ready as well. When I see this over my shoulder. Made me laugh. Made me love that blank-ity-blank puppy (who pooped in cage while I was gone today).

Olive

So for the 2 blog followers that I have, I think you already know that I gave my girls and the hub a puppy for Christmas. My good friend graciously offered/was coerced into keeping the puppy and delivering her on Christmas morning. She even stuck her in a box and tied it up with a candy cane bow. Anyway, said puppy was a HUGE hit. I don't think that her feet hit the floor for the first 2 weeks we had her between the girls, the hub and my dad. She was held and babied and loved nonstop. AND then the girls went back to school and the little she-devil emerged. Olive has learned to do business outside--awesome and inside and in her cage and in the laundry room and in the kitchen and on the outside rug. She had learned to steal socks. Rip paper and terrorize Ox. BUT last night it was all worth it. Walking down stairs after tucking in the angels. I heard these sweet words, "Thanks mom for getting us Olive. We really love her and she makes me happy." My heart melted. I had a good mom moment and then the she-devil aka Olive started crying at 4am. Let's just say it was not pretty and today she cried all day. ugh!!! The things we do for our kids.

SHE's 8 !!!!

So hard to believe that J is 8. The Hub was in grad school at Purdue when we had her. She was actually born in the same hospital that I was. My dad went to grad school at Purdue, too. I remember I had this list of things that I wanted to get finished before she came. Silly things like clean out a closet and iron some shirts for A to wear to interviews. I stayed up late on the 9th trying to get it all done. I fell asleep only to wake up to the unmistakable pain. I was so annoyed. My list was not done. So much to do before I had 2 kids. But J did not care. She came when she was ready, not when I wanted her to. I have spent the last 8 years trying to learn this lesson over and over again. Her time is not my time. Her path is not my path. Her way is not my way. But slowly I am beginning to understand that her time works. Her path gets her there and her way is just fine. She is an amazingly kind hearted, smart, funny, and extremely self sufficient little girl. So here's to J, then and now. Happy Birthday!!!

Pressure

So let's be honest, I am not a blogger. Sarah is a blogger. Sarah's blog is beautiful. I tell her all of the time that I wish I could blog like her and take pictures like her and sew like her and craft like her. You get the idea. And then she linked her beautiful BLOG to my so sad blog and now the pressure is on. So here goes attempt number 285 to be a blogger. (Really this is only attempt number 22 cuz that's how many postings I have in total).

Last week was an unusually blue week for me. I was really missing my mom and faced with the reality of another one of my daughters getting older and for some reason the milestones are hard. Anyway, enter my dear friend T to the rescue with a project. Really a crazy project and for me the best kind because it had a quick deadline. You see T is the kind of mother and mother in law who sends her children care packages full of homemade cookies and love. Let's just say, this is not my reality. Anyway, T wanted to include in her boxes Happy Valentine's Day banners. Sounds simple right!!!

Do you know how many letters are in Happy Valentine's Day? So we picked out the fabric and started sewing. Well, I started sewing and T started cutting and cutting and sewing and cutting and sewing and before we knew it--8 banners were finished. 2 mailed in packages on Friday, those lucky kids. 2 for us. 3 for friends--lucky YOU and 1 for later. Honestly, there was something very healing in the making and finishing of the banners or maybe it was the friendship.

Ugly Pancakes

The kids were sick all week so I was really looking forward to the weekend. In retrospect I am not sure why because really it was more of the same, kids around, cleaning, cooking, fighting, I mean sisterly communication. Good times really. We actually had some beautiful weather and it was nice to get out and so some yard work. Well the yard work was not so fun, but getting our was great. The Hub spent most of the day fishing and working on the community soccer fields and the kids and I cleaned and watched a lot of HGTV. Sunday was also pretty low key. We have started a tradition of having breakfast food for dinner on Sunday. So this Sunday I decided to whip up some Pioneer Woman Sour Cream Pancakes. You can check out her blog here. My good friend is a long time stalker of this blog and gave me the cookbook for Christmas. I have made a few meals from it and it is all FABULOUS. In the effort to tastiness ratio the food is well worth the effort. The only problem is that the batter is so think that I had a hard time flipping the pancakes, so they were really ugly. But paired with some fresh strawberries and sausage they were a great end to a lazy weekend.

Happy Birthday

I can't believe she is 11!!! She stayed home sick today and spent most of the day watching the Brady Bunch. I sat in my room and listened to her laugh. Adam came home and made her cake. (He always makes the cakes). This year we have been watching a lot of Cake Boss. CB decided she wanted chocolate ganache and fresh strawberries. And you wonder why the hub makes the cakes. . .and of course she would like that cake made into a piano. No problem!!! Aren't they cute!!!

End of January

Yes, I did take lots of pics of Christmas. I even got 2 new lenses, but why blog in chronological order? So as I read back over my 18 posts it seems that I am always shocked that time passes quickly and that I don't stop and record it. I know that I can make time to do it, I think I struggle with what to blog about and who to blog for. Really, there are only a few out there that even looks at it. My family doesn't even read it. But if I wrote it for me I think that it would be really depressing. Not that my life is sad, but when I sit down to write it is the sad that comes first. Like today my friend's father died and that is sad. I am sad for her because losing someone you love is never easy and I am sad for me because loss brings back loss. It makes me think of my mom and miss her. Tomorrow is the birthday of my friend's little baby girl who died. That is heart breaking. For some reason it makes me feel guilty that my own daughter's birthday is on Thursday. She will be 11 and honestly that makes me a little sad because I already feel like I am watching her need me less every day which is a good thing and part of the plan. But still a little sad. See what did I tell you the sad comes first.

Today was a fun day with my kids. There was no school today and we played with friends and played outside with the new puppy. It was successful day for me because here I sit at the end of my day having fed my family, cleaned my house, and played with my kids. Who knows tomorrow I may even post some pics, but seriously don't hold your breath. It maybe March before I post again.