I don't Scrapbook

and this is why: I would never be "done" and I would be hopelessly behind, and I certainly do not need one more thing in my life that is forever unfinished. I mean, I still have weekly dreams that I am in college, it's the end of a semester, and I've suddenly realized that I forgot to go to my 10 a.m. tuesday class for the last two months.

It seems that almost every scrapbooker frets that they are "way behind" in scrapbooking, which is no surprise, considering that moms who scrapbook about their life are too busy doing all the things recorded in their scrapbook to actually cut out pictures of it and paste it on a page with buttons and ric rac. sure, there are those Type-a's out there who are not behind; in fact, they have everything recorded up until yesterday, and they are pasted neatly and artistically to boot (or, better yet, digitally rendered). But I know just as many type-a's who would never even start a scrapbook in the first place. :-)

BUT.

I have this blog. and I am forever hopelessly behind with it.

And, well, I keep a blog for many of the very same reasons people keep a scrapbook. I want to show off pictures of my kids, I want to record (for my own memory) funny things my kids said or did. I want to put in words the thoughts and feelings I want to remember later, maybe because they were funny or poignant, or maybe because writing them down puts things in perspective. I like it as a creative outlet. But, deep down, I just want to put my life on a page, mostly for my own reading and reflection. I want to share it with other people, for sure, but I also want to see the page evolve over the years as life twists and turns and winds its own unique little path. And, like life, it's supposed to be unfinished. And sometimes I'm a little behind on life. and that's okay! Somehow I'll make it to that elusive Tuesday 10 a.m. class and I'll cram for a few days and get caught up and squeak by on the final, and then I'll realize that I had a 1 p.m. Wednesday class, too, and that class actually ended last year and I totally forgot to go.

But, somehow I will still manage to graduate life on earth someday, and what will be left behind is this little snippet of a messy, disorganized, forever-behind housewife's life, and it will be perfect. So, kudos to all you scrapbookers out there with all your works-in-progress. I might not glue things on pages, but like you, I get to see the beauty of life on a page, and I'm not going to feel guilty about being behind.

The Great Birthday Cake Fiasco

So, full disclosure on this post today.

I admit that I am no Martha Stewart. My bed doesn't have hospital corners (nor is it actually even made), I don't serve dinner on fine china with cloth napkins, I let paperwork pile up on the counter, I can never keep up with laundry and my kids have been known to go long periods with gunk all over their face from lunch. That's okay, I accept myself that way. I have lots of other, more positive, attributes, and my family likes me okay.

Still, you'd think I'd be able to make a simple birthday cake for Cole's fourth birthday. I mean, it was from a mix, not from scratch, so there's no way I could mess that up, right?

Um, wrong.

I tried to be fancy. I had my fancy-shmancy stoneware from Pampered Chef so I could bake my perfectly flat cake. Pulled the cake out, waited for it to cool, and cut it into thirds. Started frosting..realized maybe it's not quite cool enough, as the knife was tearing the cake. Plugged away anyhow, because that's how we impatient non-MarthaStewart types do things, and tried lifting the second layer on top of the bottom piece. that's when everything went downhill, and before I knew it, I had this:

Yes, folks, Martha Stewart I ain't.

I was able to salvage a decent-looking piece that was big enough to hold four candles:

I will say, in my defense, that while the cake looked like, well, that, it was a very tasty cake pile, and I have pictures to prove it.

In fact, during the writing of this entry, I was enjoying a very nutritious bowl of cake.

At any rate, Cole had a great birthday. He has been eagerly anticipating being FOUR for so long, and now he's finally there. Of course, he was disappointed to discover that he didn't magically appear in a classroom that very day, since, apparently, you go to school when you are four. I think that we found a good compromise, though, and instead spent the day at Jungle Java with his best buddy (and partner in crime), and IKEA later for an ice cream cone.

I will leave you today with a picture of my delightful four-year-old:

So, I'm 37 now

I guess that happens when you have a birthday, you get older. I remember when I turned 35 and posted something on Facebook about having old eggs now. Fortunately for our family, one of those "old eggs" became my new daughter, even though that was the last thing I thought my eggs would be doing at the time!

In the last week or so, things have gotten more difficult. With the baby, yes..she's fussy at night, like many babies. And she LOVES to eat, like, all day. And does not like: the swing, the pacifier, rocking, stroller rides, massage, or even the front carrier for long periods. But the baby really isn't the problem. She's a blessing to our whole family. My hormones, on the other hand, have got to go. :-/ My baby behaves like a normal baby. I behave like an emotional basketcase, at least some of the time. I'm like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're gonna get.

I'm not too much of a basketcase to count my blessings, however. With all my heart, I am thankful for the friends and acquaintances who have jumped to help me and support me and our family, whether it be making a meal or listening to me vent, or just keeping me company when the days still seem so loooonnnggg. I am thankful for my older children, who have really stepped in to help out, and my husband, who, for my birthday, took Amelia during her fussy hours and let me get seven hours of uninterrupted sleep. I am thankful for Amelia, for her health, for the little moany sounds she makes when she nurses, for the way her hand stay suspended in midair when she sleeps, or rest folded across her chest, like a sweet little cherub. I'm thankful for the blessing of a wonderful, hot summer (the way I like them!), for a new car that actually works, for school starting tomorrow. :-) So in my dark hours (roughly between the hours of 5-9o'clock, if you're wondering), while I pray for mercy, I remember the verse we sang in church yesterday,

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, WITH THANKSGIVING, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. " (Phillipians 4:6,7)

If I Wait Forever

..for something important to say, it might be another year and a half before I actually post something. So I'll just say whatever I can think of today!

So, my car is in the shop, again. My cars, over the years, have seemed to get a kick out of breaking down multiple times, right around the time I give birth to a baby. I guess it makes life more interesting to see a mom 36 weeks pregnant, or pushing her week-old baby in a stroller, and walking across crowded streets with a parade of children, in desperation to 1) get out of the house, and 2) run necessary errands. Very Little House on the Prairie. Come to think of it, horse-drawn wagons would have their advantages. Unless the horse dies, the vehicle never breaks down, and gas is amazingly inexpensive. Since all electronics, or all things powered of any kind, seem to spontaneously malfunction the second I touch them, I often think I'd be better off living in the 1800's. But, man, it would so not be fun to have to tromp out to the outhouse in the snow at 2 a.m. if I have to pee.

Oh, who am I kidding. Even an outhouse seems preferable after years of snaking toilets and finding things like socks, magic gliders, turkey basters, and toilet paper dispensers inside.

So anyway. We are on day 9 as a family of 7. They say (or used to say?) that it takes a village to raise a baby, and I have to say, that's definitely what's going on around here. We end up with so many visitors (who I invited) and a handful of eager neighborhood kids (who I did not invite)swarming around at all hours. Audrey, the little mommy-in-training, is not thrilled about having to share Amelia with anyone...not even me, really. :-) While I admit I'll miss having Audrey around when school starts, I will be blessedly relieved to get all these extraneous children out of my house. At last count, I seem to have enough of my own. I do realize that this is my fault for not having a backbone and making all of them play outside like all the other, smarter, moms in the neighborhood do.

Tonight I do get my baby all to myself as I am going for a girls' night at a friend's house. Ahhhh.

Talk more later!

It's MEEEEEE!

So it's been 14 months since I last posted, but I figured, I started this blog when I was almost due with my last child, so why not restart the blog when I've just given birth to my big surprise baby, Amelia. 5 days postpartum, I feel ready to begin again, especially after reading through all my old posts from those previous newborn days with Cole. I can't believe how much I sounded like a befuddled and overwhelmed first-time mom, when it was my *fourth* go-round.

In an attempt to move forward with a little less naivete, I thought it would help to write again. So here I am. Read if you want! It will still be random, and still include tales of chaos and the joy that comes with it (most of the time anyway!).

Stay Tuned!

Audrey's a Composer

Her newest songs: (the first inspired by her mother, no doubt)

Stop Crying
By Audrey

"Stop Stop" Crying/everything is gonna be allright/if you stop crying all of us will stop crying if you stop "to"/so "stop stop" crying/you'er gonna be all right

Well everybody cry's all the time/just stop/just stop/it's all right


Their is Greatness in Love
by Audrey

Love is great and hate is bad/I don't care if you hate me, just love other people

I love you but you can't tell me what to do/Sometimes it's difacolt to say this but/we're gonna stay up all night until we get a party pronto

I love you but you can't tell me "what to"/Parents say it's kinda weird we "aren't listening"/where gonna stay up all night waiting for them to finally say yes

I love you but you can't tell me what to "do"/ sometimes it's difacolt to say this but where gonna stay up all night

short one

I've been waiting for something interesting to happen so I could blog about it, but things have been relatively quiet around here....not something I'm complaining about, mind you, but just nothing worth writing about. My friend Lori suggested I write about Cole taking a steak knife from the dishwasher to cut his own orange, and then threatening Ashton with it, but to me, that's just ordinary every-day stuff in this house. I did have to buy a purse yesterday because someone (no one is fessing up) slammed my former purse around and managed to crack open a jar of nail polish inside it. I really wonder if they were just merely trying to help me out and give me something blog-worthy.

I'm going to get out today and enjoy the gorgeous weather - it seems it's been a long time, and the waters in my backyard lake are still receding (but not leaking into my basement). I also want to get out in order to remove my messy children from the house, since we have dinner guests and 24-7 Mess Monitoring does not seem like fun. Right now the little seem happily occupied with the new bowling set I got them, which replaced the bocce ball and plastic cups they were using before.

I hope you all have a blessed and warm and toasty day.