Do you have anything in your life that is a little off kilter?  I know I have plenty of things I could mention, but tonight CJ and I went shopping after he was done with Youth Group.  We went merrily along our way picking out a couple of things for his 6th Grade Recognition assembly tomorrow (major deal for them, dress code and everything, but I’ll save that for tomorrow) and some groceries to get us through the end of the week.  Toward the end of the grocery store adventure I decided to grab each of us a quick drink from the milk section (CJ wanted strawberry milk and I wanted orange juice).

I know I don’t usually walk you through my grocery store wanderings, but I have a point …

I don’t hesitate to frequently pay over $4 for a gourmet coffee, but it nearly KILLED me to pay $1.43 for an orange juice.  Seriously. 

Perspective changed somewhere along the way.  The not-at-all-healthy coffee that takes me a whole minute to order (not really LOL) and costs a small fortune (but ironically now less than the price of one gallon of gas) is considered just a part of life.  While the healthy single serving of nutritious orange juice that costs less than half the price of the coffee (and aforementioned gallon of gas) seems outrageous.

How many other things in life are twisted that way?  How often do I not notice where the perspective has gone off balance.  Far more often than I like to admit.  So I dared to take that thought to my spiritual life and I came to a challenging conclusion …

If I can take the time to write or read a blog post why can’t I seem to squeeze in reading that one little chapter from the Bible a day?  If I can read over 50 emails a day why can’t I spend some time alone talking with my Savior? 

Ooooooh! Ouch!  Reality of the price I’m willing to pay spiritually kind of works in a rather backward way!  I’m the one who pays big time if I don’t take a moment to be filled and refreshed each day.  And since when did all those other things somehow become more important?  Sure, I don’t logically think they are actually more important than my spiritual well being, but my behavior is saying that they are. 

Actions speak louder than words.  So I’m announcing here and now that I am in need of a priority recheck.   Feel free to hold me accountable.  Really.  Ask me next week if I’ve been regularly feeding my soul not just my outbox.  See if I’ve been spending as much time with the Lord as I have writing blog posts.  After all, sometimes all any of us needs is a little nudge here and there to keep us accountable and on track. 

I had planned on getting back on track today … offer a deep and thoughtful Mommy Reality for you.  Mommy reality has struck me full force.  Nothing deep, nothing too thoughtful, just a lot of reality.

I woke up Sunday morning thinking that my lips felt strange.  I went into the bathroom and one look in the mirror confirmed that they were very swollen.  The only other time I’ve ever had swollen lips I also had hives all over … not so this time.  I took a little Benadryl, just in case, but all that ended up doing for me is landing me back in bed for a 3 hour nap.  Like I have time!

Once I got up instead of getting better, they were worse and now it was too late to go to the walk in clinic to get checked out.  How miserable! 

As we all know … moms are NOT allowed to have anything wrong with them.  It is an odd circumstance that a day will go past in the life of a mother where the housework still gets done even if she’s not the one to do it.  So a sick day often means that much more work in mom’s life the day she gets better. 

My husband is wonderful with the children but … well … that’s all he can handle.  I don’t blame him, if you don’t know the daily routine well or how to predict and (usually) thwart the twins’ mischief you can get in big trouble before you know it.  So he has learned his limits.  Even leaving the room to make a cup of coffee or a snack for them can be treacherous LOL.

So today instead of giving you an inspiring Mommy Reality lesson I simply have to tell you that due to my own reality hitting hard I will be making a trip to the walk in clinic and PRAYING that they can give me something … anything to ease the discomfort and let me feel halfway normal again. 

I won’t get into the pride that has me dreading the thought of going anywhere people can see me.  Nor will I talk about the fact that I can hardly speak nor can I eat anything without pain.  Oh, and I wouldn’t dream of mentioning that I have ten zillion loads of laundry to do today in addition to caring for my kiddos. Nope, I’ll just hope and pray that you have a NORMAL dose of reality today!

Blessings!

Do you ever find yourself making a To-Do list that never ends?  I was an avid list maker all through my teen years and even into adulthood.  My mom was always commenting on my lists and my family all knew I kept them.  To this day if I sound like I’m out of sorts or confused my mom tells me to “make a list” LOL!

I still have many of the lists I made when planning my wedding.  Amazingly there are even small shopping lists from before the wedding that my sister and I were laughing about when we stumbled upon them as we were cleaning one day. 

Let me share one with you:

To Do

*Get marriage license stuff from apartment and take to church.
*Go to bank & deposit money.
*Go to drug store for eyeliner.
*Purchase shoes.
*Fix wedding program at work.
*Be at work for a meeting at noon.

We seriously laugh at that list now.  Oh, to be that organized again … that would be amazing and miraculous.  The details I kept as I made the list - I’m surprised I didn’t schedule in potty breaks as well LOL.  And for Heaven’s sake WHO ON EARTH ONLY GOES TO THE DRUG STORE FOR EYELINER?????????????

Good grief!  This was my life.  Even after we were married I kept lists, the house was always tidy, there was fresh baked bread in my hubby’s lunch every single day!  Seriously! Wow!  To be in that place again!  But the craziest part of all is that the list above is so super short even though it was made DAYS before my wedding day!!!!!

Now my To Do list would look a bit like this:

To Do AM

*Make Granola, Get kids up, rush them through showers, make their lunches, get them out the door for school.
*Find something to entertain the twins so they don’t kill themselves, all morning long.
*Do 3 loads of laundry.
*Feed little three lunch
*Get little three down for naps

To Do PM

*Clean kitchen, fill and run dishwasher, wipe down table, chairs, windows and sweep floor.
*Do three loads of laundry
*wipe down bathroom (boys miss … need I say more?)
*Get little three up from naps to cuddle for a bit.
*Big boys get home, start dinner.
*Prepare dinner, while filling the dishwasher again and folding another load of laundry.
*Create menu for following week and shopping list.
*Serve dinner to family and make sure no one has an event that evening
*Check all homework, clean up dinner, run dishwasher again, do another load of laundry
*Get kids to bed, work, blog and answer 50 emails.
*11:30pm - get to bed!

Sadly that doesn’t completely cover everything I really do.  Throw in there that I check email in the morning and work on design and blogging projects during naptime while I do several loads of laundry and then you’re getting a little closer to the reality of ONE DAY in the life of this mom.  Each day that list could change, but instead of getting shorter I forever seem to be adding more and more tasks to it. 

I am in the process of getting a more organized cleaning schedule under control.  I have it printed out, just haven’t posted it yet, and as we all know if it isn’t posted somewhere very visible … it doesn’t exist!  So onward I trod, not looking back … except for today when all of you hopefully got a good laugh at the carefree To-Do list of a young woman.

I’ve been in a rut for a while now, desperately in need of activities for the little three and a schedule for our day!!!!  I have the activities figured out, thanks to the Parenting Zoo (I highly recommend their parenting toolbox, it’s only $10, I blogged about it over at Froggy Reviews), I just need to get a few supplies, but the schedule - ARGH!!!!  Seriously!

I need to break up the day into short increments - but what??? Every 15 minutes, every half hour, a little of this and a little of that???? HELP! 

The twins are definitely ready to do activities, crafts, and have some structure.  Here I am every day trying to figure out how to balance three children at home (six during the summer), the laundry, the housework, blogging and designs - I know I’m not the only one!!!  It is a full plate, but I know I can do it better. 

The twins are simply bored.  As I type this they have been busy doing a little project that involves sticking “foamies” into coloring books, but I see Monkey walking around the room with about 6 stuck to his bottom LOL!  These are great activities, but they don’t last forever, so I need several of them throughout the day.  They aren’t great at independent play, but can handle it for little bits of time (whether they think they can or not) so I have to incorporate time for the individual areas of my home and work. 

The trick really is finding something that will work for us.  I have used many different planners and schedule ideas, but they ultimately were either too difficult for me to manage or just didn’t offer enough flexibility.  I’m not a schedule person … I know I should be … I try, really I do … but I CAN’T {Yes I’m Whining!}.  So as I work this week on putting together a schedule for my kiddos, feel free to give me ideas, suggestions, things not to do even.  I have tried many things before, but I’m always open to hearing what works (or doesn’t) for other mommies!

My new word - I invented it today and promptly bestowed it upon Bug when trying to find a food that would make this slightly feverish 2 year old Baby happy.  He wanted cheese and only cheese {well, for the moment anyway}, not the pretzels to go with the snack {apparently they hurt his mouth}, so he kept digging for it and saying funny things when he found a piece {”hungy mama, hungy”}. 

Let me repeat it SNOOGER!  Know what it is?  Take a wild guess!!!  Here’s a hint: only the most adorable, pip-squeakiest, persnickety little ones can be called this when they are being … well an adorable persnickety pipsqueak.  Let me tell you I have a few that fit the bill an awful lot of the time!

Then he must wear the title again when he incessantly hands me the tv remote saying “Wubzy, mama, want Wubzy nooooow” complete with whiney-cutesy-you-can’t-resist-me voice. He slept most of the morning and now it is naptime - the only time of the day that I watch a couple of food shows while I catch up on work and laundry.  So, he’s up and Monkey is down {Lion is rebelling against rest time too and being very naughty, but rebellion simply does not fall under the definition of “Snooger”}.  Do I turn on Wubzy for him?  Or try to get him to rest again.

Did you figure out what Snooger is yet?  No?  Ok, hint 2:  It is a combination of two words that most people probably don’t refer to their children as, but I often occasionally do.

As I type this the Wubzy conversation Bug is having with me has risen to a pleading and begging session which is scary-cute: “Pweeeeeeeaaaase, mommy, watch Wubzy peeeease, I wike it Wubzy mama, peeease”.  See scary!  So, now I’m off to give in to the adorable “please” of the slightly ill 2 year old {who, I’m sure will be forever damaged by my giving in to his whim - I’ll expect the blaming to begin later in his life LOL}.  Can I just say that the oddest part of this conversation is that they DO NOT watch the show very often AT ALL!  They just don’t.

Still wondering where Snooger came from?  Well, let me tell you, it’s a combination of Snot and Booger - there you have it!

Happy wordless wednesday everyone, or in my case, not so wordless!  Many of you are aware that my “baby” is growing up.  I have very mixed emotions about that these days and I’ve held my piece as the moodiness began, even when he grew 2 inches since Christmas (and outgrew all of his clothes - grrr), but reality is setting in a little more each day.  I have been noticing over the last couple weeks that his voice is beginning to change (I’m just noticing it now, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been going on for a while) and tonight we took him to Jr. High orientation (they don’t start here until 7th grade thank goodness). 

This is my boy (not a great picture):

I have to show this next photo since it includes all three of the oldest boys: CJ is 12, Salesman is 9 and Tater is 8 and yes, there IS that much of a height difference (for the moment anyway):

Guard them!  I could seriously leave this post right there and have still spoken the foundation of what I feel led to share today.  Guard your mind and thoughts ladies!  It is far too easy for us to let them get carried away.  

As women we have a tendency to read between the lines, or let our thoughts run rampant and grow.  Far too often we don’t hold them in check, then we’re left with a heap of rubble inside or out.  It is - in my opinion - most often the first place of attack by the enemy for women.  One little thought, one little nudge, one little crack in a normally healthy way of thinking can lead to something much more than we ever could have imagined.

Letting our mind run amuck is - again, in my opinion - truly where many anxiety and stress issues begin. In Psalm 55 the second half of verse 2 and the first half of verse 3 says: “My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught at the voice of the enemy.”  The Bible even mentions that Daniel’s “thoughts terrified him” (Daniel 4:19 and 7:28).  Obviously this is not a new idea by any means.

How are you today?  Does your mind need to be restored and refreshed with a new and purer perspective? I don’t even want to begin to think how many days I have begun - or ended - with a “messed up” thought life.  Maybe I’m the only one, but there are days when the events all seem to build until at the end of the day I am left with a mountain of rubble to sort through. 

As a mom there are so many more things that add to this!  Some of the less than positive conversations, a situation with a child that I would rather not have had - suddenly reappear in my mind at the end of the day only to be met by a tired and half-rational thought process that blows everything out of proportion.   Also be very careful what you allow into your mind through movies, television, books and even inappropriate or insincere conversation.

~ “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” Phillipians 4:7

I am so very thankful that we can always go to God for renewal of mind and spirit, and most importantly for peace! 

~ “You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.” Psalm 139:2
~ “The mind of a sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace” Romans 8:6

This post has been given many titles throughout the weekend … seriously!  By the time we arrived at our cabin Friday night the title was Two Year Olds & Tradition by the time we checked out on Sunday the title had changed to What to Do When Tradition Goes Awry then upon return and having a moment of peace for the first time all weekend I realized that I had simply had A Little Two Much Reality. 

I can honestly say it was an adventure and a learning experience.  Outside of that I’m not really sure … tradition still rates super high in my book, but I’m the first to admit that your traditions still need to fit within the reasonable limits of your sanity. 

Friday night we made it about 2 1/2 hours without incident.  Dinner time rolled around as we rolled into the last large town on our way to the final destination.  One of the Twinkies was stinky, so we stopped at a family restaurant to have dinner.  It is always an eye opening event as the boys really do behave quite well when we go out to eat a nice sit-down dinner like this.  We don’t do it all that often, but it is nice to see them behave so well. 

Unfortunately things didn’t progress quite so nicely for the rest of the trip.  The Twinkies weren’t at all happy about being loaded back into the car and their little cups from the restaurant could only entertain them for so long … then the screaming began.  In order to help calm the chaos CJ would occasionally hand each of them a cracker, after a while though Bug was just D-O-N-E.  Problem was we were still quite a ways from our final destination. 

About a half-hour before we were there Bug got sick … Car sick … not just the turn green and need air type, the full out oh-my-goodness-did-he-really-eat-that-much kind!  Yup - that kind!  He was covered, it was so awful (side note: Monkey historically is the one to have car-sickness, but he was absolutely fine in that department, Bug has never gotten car-sick).  As a mom this was the last straw, my baby was so upset about being covered in “yuck” and kept trying to clean himself up.  It was the saddest, most pitiful thing I have ever seen and I began to cry!!! 

We were towing our fishing boat behind the Yukon and were in such a rural area there wasn’t even a side of the road, let alone anywhere to stop.  By the time we got to the cabins to check in he had fallen asleep.  As Hubby checked us in I quickly stripped him down to his diaper and asked CJ to donate his favorite Football Sweatshirt to the cause - he happily did, blessed boy! 

Whew, we were finally there, drama was dealt with and were into the cabin.  Now for the marathon of getting crazy-excited little boys to bed.  We let them explore the cabin and get the wiggles out for a little bit as they worked out the sleeping arrangements amongst themselves.  It was decided that CJ would have the downstairs bedroom all to himself.  I have no idea how he managed to get that, but he was thrilled!

The next morning the boys were up at the crack of dawn (literally) and I was exhausted.  It had taken a couple hours between hubby and me to get the babies to go to sleep.  But we got up, showered, made breakfast and were somehow out the door with everyone and everything in tow by 9:00(ish) am.  In “regular life” that would be almost a miracle, so I have no idea how we pulled it off there.

A quick stop at an espresso stand (thank goodness for something civilized) and off to the lake we went.  Hubby launched the fishing boat with CJ’s help and as soon as the car was parked he and the 4 oldest boys were off fishing in the lake.  There I was … all alone (well, except for my MIL) … with the twins … and my in-law’s rv. 

No toys to play on anymore, aparently the state decided it needed to be torn out, but I did the best I could.  I grabbed a couple of balls out of the back of the car, which entertained them for about 5 minutes - maybe 10!  That is all!!!  Then we ran around, but the problem isn’t that they are active two year olds, it is that they love to go the opposite direction from one another and they will NOT stop when asked.  We have worked and worked on this, even when there didn’t seem to be a reason to work on it, but ……… 

Anyway, I took them to the sand pit - another 10 minutes.  Then I decided to try snack-time, another 5 minutes.  Hmmmmm, considering that the other guys would be out on the boat for hours I was in a bit of a pickle!  So I contained them in the RV for a while.  Trying to get them to color or play with play dough or something.  Finally naptime rolled around and then I had another dilemma … I had been thinking I would take them back to the cabin, but with hubby on the lake and the boat trailer still hooked up to the SUV I wasn’t going anywhere.   OK, plan B (or K as the case may be) - put them to sleep in the trailer.  So, MIL kicked FIL out of the rv so that I could try and put them to sleep - it was a long and grueling process, but just as they were about to drift off to dreamland the boys came back in - ha. 

Which plan am I onto now????  Well, they did finally take their nap, the boys eventually finished fishing for the night (poor things, only Lion caught a fish and they all tried so hard) so we went back to the cabin for dinner and bed.  Things went a lot more smoothly Saturday night.  Our cabin was beautiful!  It was a little scary with the stairwell and the twins, but other than that I enjoyed it so much. 

The story to beat all stories is being posted very soon, but it will be protected so if you want to read it send me an email and I’ll give you the password

We made it home in one piece, but not without a few thoughts about future trips (I’ll share those another time too - no password required).  It was honestly the first time I had a chance to relax all weekend.  Not to say that it was absolutely terrible, but it was very challenging and I was on edge the whole time trying to anticipate (and thwart) any life-threatening decisions the twins made.  On the up-side, the older four were a dream (well, outside of the bickering in the car that is)!  Even LION - who still had to be watched like a hawk and is apparently smitten with 3 year old girls with curls - heehee!  He loves to fish with all the big boys and could be trusted to be in the boat or on the shore (with an adult nearby of course) without incident.

So here I am finally able to breathe and hoping you’re still awake as I am pondering my double dose of reality this weekend.   I can honestly say that I hope your weekend was a little less eventful than mine

More than a weekend away, this little mini-vacation we’re taking as a family starting today is steeped in tradition.  A tradition that my husband has been participating in for … well … basically his whole life.  This tradition takes place the exact same weekend of every year, in the exact same town, to fish in the exact same lake. 

We will be staying in a rental that is larger than our home and as I mentioned earlier I am SUPER excited.  But more than that I am happy to finally be back, celebrating this wonderful tradition with all of my boys again.  You see, we have taken three years off. 

Three years ago we moved into this house after having lived with 4 sons in a 30 foot RV for 3 months … I was DONE with camping or even the remote idea of spending any time in a campground!   Then the following February 1st we had our Twinkies … 6 weeks early … 2 weeks in the NICU … major risk for RSV.  There was NO WAY I was taking those little ones that far away from home, but no way I wanted to be left alone for even a weekend either.  So we didn’t go.  Things weren’t a whole lot better the following year with the variety of ages, so here we are - seriously needing to redeem ourselves.

Traditions are something that I strongly encourage other families to make and keep!  We have been so blessed by the traditions we have and the wonderful security and passion our children have toward them.  You hear it often, but the years truly are fleeting.  I am amazed as watch our 12 year old young man now.  Thankful that we have instilled what we have in him, but wishing I could have done more.  A normal reaction I know, but I don’t want to wait until it’s too late to recover our lost traditions. 

So I’ll be away for the weekend, busy with our excited half-dozen sons as they get to go fishin’ - some for the very first time in their young lives.  This ought to be fun :)  Wish me luck … or better yet, pray hard for me!  And remember to take advantage of the little opportunities to create a tradition with your children.  We only have them for a few short years and we have to make the most of it!  Be blessed this weekend ladies

Gag Sensitive Reader Warning:  If you cannot stand to read about sick children and the life of a mom caring for them you will want to pass on this post today :) . 

Why is it that children only get ill (yup, I mean the vomiting type) in the middle of the night?  Can someone answer this for me.  And why is it that the things that are coming back up are the strangest, most random part of their last meal?  Gross, I know, but I have 6 children - each and every one of them has been sick many times in their lives and this is something I have been wondering for a long time as it is one of the few consistent things you can count on when a child becomes ill.

We had a sick-y last night our 4 year old, Sir Lion graced us with his poor little presence in the middle of the night after another child had decided they couldn’t stand sleeping alone in their bed.  His little tummy hurt and he had thrown up.  He could hardly talk about it, but we got him settled into Daddy’s chair and he seemed ok for the most part.  I think he got sick a total of two or three times through the night, so it wasn’t quite as bad as the last bout of stomack-ick we had around here with the Twinks. The poor Twinks are acting a little under the weather today too, so here we are, just hanging out. 

I’m supposed to be packing for a long-awaited weekend away.  Fishing weekend, an annual tradition in this household with only a few exceptions since my hubby was a little boy!  We haven’t gone since the twinks were born, so the kids are super excited!  But now I’m a little afraid that I’ll be spending most of the weekend in our rental with sick kiddos. 

Not that I’m complaining too much since the place we have rented for the weekend is larger than our house, with more bedrooms and BATHROOMS!  I’m really excited about the bathrooms part (sad, but true LOL).   It would almost be a great excuse to hang out there and catch up on a little reading and writing *sigh*. 

I have to admit although there is mess all around me today I love that Bug is resting with me and that Monkey wants to hold my hand.  I don’t love the fussing they are directing at me, but I love the cuddles.  They are so independent in that regard (heaven forbid they play independently though) that it is fun when they decide to snuggle up. 

Sir Lion seems to be his usual busy self this morning and the night of sickness seems almost like a distant dream (other than the mess in the sink I had to clean up this morning that sent me into a gagging fit).

But seriously . . . is it possible for them to get sick during the day instead of in the middle of the night?