Please don't call child services!

I'd been planning about posting something adorably entertaining, like a story about Isabelle Kate's growing (fierce) independence, which would've been titled, "Mumma, I do it."  And I would have written all about her twenty minute attempts at pulling up her little socks, her crazy-mad obsession with zipping her pants, her coat, her pajamas, her sweatshirts- her everythings, and of course I'd have included a clever tale about her newest fixation: brushing her hair (sometimes mine, and I love it!) all by herself and putting in her own pretties (barrettes, clips and bows) with the biggest grin imaginable.

We hear the phrase "Mumma, I do it" a LOT around here these days.  :)

But alas, the events of last night have taken center stage for the time being, and brave soul that I am, I thought I'd share.  Please promise not to make that call, k?

We had just finished cleaning up after dinner and I was working on my...thing, but the boys were demanding my attention like mad, and positively driving me insane with their wrestling, jumping, boxing, and general testosterone-driven mayhem.  Just so you know, we had spent tons of time making treats, eating treats, playing and conversing earlier in the afternoon, so they hadn't been overly ignored or anything.

Anyhoo.

In one of those split second say-out-loud-what-you're-thinking moments, before you have the chance to actually think it through, I may have muttered something about taking their battle of strength outside to see just how invincible they were.  And I may have proposed some ridiculous, shocking contest to see who could last the longest...in his underwear...outside in the yard.

I remember laughing at the absurdity, thinking they would see right through my jest, have a chuckle and quit the bickering about who was strongest, smartest, cutest, bravest, most creative, tallest, biggest.....but they were too busy stripping down before my very eyes and flinging themselves out the door onto the snowy ground to notice the jesting part.

Now here's the part that troubles me a little bit: I let them do it.  In fact, I thought it was really funny, so funny that I grabbed the camera to record it forever.  You should have heard their squeals of mad delight!  They were having a blast!  And they weren't arguing.....

  

Ethan was way too cool to stoop to his little brothers' level until they actually did it, and then he couldn't help himself- he stripped down FAST!

(I figure this is the last pic of this big boy in his undies that I can share, sigh, since he's getting older and I think it crosses the line between cute and yuck when they're older...)

Their escapade outside lasted all of 60 seconds, and they came in shivering but completely happy and animated.  Problem solved.  Or on hold.  They head upstairs to start getting ready for bed (it was kinda late, for us anyway.)

Suddenly, I notice that it's quiet.  Too quiet.  In a panic I realize that I haven't seen Isabelle for quite a while.  I had no idea where she was...until I remembered that she'd gone downstairs to The Pit to play with her big brothers.  Man oh man!  It's chilly down there, there's a ton of stuff that I don't want her curious little brain conspiring to get into, and there are a few things that are just outright dangerous to her.

Bill was closer to the basement door so he went down in search of our princess.  I heard his laughter all the way upstairs- she'd been playing Mama to her babies and had the family all lined up around her, reading and singing to them, which was sweet but not the entire reason for his laughing.  I'll let you see for yourself.

So between encouraging my three boys to turn themselves into skivvy-wearing ice-pops and totally forgetting about a little girl in a potential mine field of danger for an hour or so, I won't be expecting to receive any particular parenting honors any time soon.

And if someone from child services comes knocking on my door, I'll know one of you ratted me out, and I'm not answering!  Ha Ha

 

look at the hood under the hat!!  ha ha ha ha

Hiatus

I'm still here, just in case anyone might be, you know, wondering- ha!

I'm up to something, something really big, and it's requiring the majority of my free (blogging) time.  I know that isn't much of an explanation, but that's all I can share at this point.

Believe me when I tell you that I'm struggling with balance big time!  I am such an all-or-nothing kind of girl, it's quite pitiful!  So I'm feverishly trying to find and maintain the many necessary balances between spending time with and serving the Lord, loving and caring for my family, all that crazy exercise (which thankfully IS doing something, finally!!!!), and honoring the special friendships in my life.  Then there's the added secretive something, and that demands much time and effort, but I feel SO alive, a feeling I haven't had in a very long time.  I told a dear friend last week that I feel like God has given me the green light to LIVE, and not just exist, to stop wasting my talents and dreams, because the alternative is devastating.  I've lived that alternative for a decade now, and I can no longer justify or make excuses.

Okay, so that was way more than I was going to say, but....

Hope you are all in good health and spirits!!  I'm going to throw in a pic of my cutie girl, because she's well, so cute!  :)

Our Birthday Girl

Yesterday we celebrated Isabelle Katie's 3rd Birthday with some of our good friends from church.  I had SO much fun getting things ready for the big day!

I had also planned on finally posting pics of her birthday dress that I made last month, but...since her party turned into a lovely butterfly (posa, from mariposa, according to Isabelle) theme, I did not have the strength to resist the adorable little butterfly dress at Gymboree, which was on sale and I had my bucks to play around with....it was perfect!

We asked her friends to come wearing their sundresses, as we'd be having a picnic in January!!

So much fun!!!

 All the girls all looked adorable!!

Here are some pictures of the big day...

My darling girly birthday girl!!!

Someone's a little ex-cit-ed!!

Lots of pink and yellow flowers
Tradition has it that I buy one or two new pretty plants for New Year's...
of course they're dead within two months, but...
they work well for a summer party in the middle of winter!

 The other flowers are recycled from the Valentine's Day box, all purchased on clearance a few years back~ each year I add to my collection of white porcelain vases, usually at TJ Maxx or Marshall's for two or three dollars each, and they worked perfectly with our theme. 

Ginormous tissue paper peonies~ loved these!
They were also on the stairs with a couple of pink balloons.

I kept the crepe paper at a minimum for this party~ between the windows and draped across the tiles on the fireplace.

Easy as pie...which is ironic, since I cannot make a pie to save my life...you get the idea!

Truth be told, I'm not one to do goody bags for birthday parties.

I think I've done a handful in the past, but mainly it just adds to the stress.

But these were fun and cute and I loved putting them together!

 

Inexpensive paper bags filled with just a couple of things from the dollar aisle at Michael's~ I got things with multiple items, like princess crayons, and divvied them up among the bags.

The butterflies are clips, 2 for a dollar I believe, so that was the biggest expense.

I think they turned out really well and the girls were very excited to take them home!

Miss Isabelle giving things the once-over earlier in the morning

I think she approved- she kept dancing around saying "My birsday party, so pretty!  So many pretties!"

Onto the...Birthday Cake!!!

I was a little disappointed that I didn't have enough room for a fancy letter "I"

But I think the cake turned out pretty- that's a heart shape on top of a round layer.

I added the paper doilies to give it some more summer charm and personality...that, and my plate is a black print, so a bit sophisticated for three year olds, ha!

 

 I can see now why I don't get paid the big bucks for my confection creations- so it wasn't very smooth on the sides there, but it sure tasted good!

I think I was in love with that beautiful pink frosting.

We also served true picnic fare~ green and red grapes, cheese & crackers, and pink lemonade. What a nice change of pace for the middle of winter!

I'm going to throw in this one last picture of the explosion that went off in the play room. Or at least that's how it looked, ha!

Who says only boys make b-i-g messes?

We're so thankful for our good friends!

Thank you!
So grateful to God for bringing us our special princess!!

All In A Day

***Hello and welcome to my blog!  Kelly is hosting a Typical Day In Your Life blog hop this week, and I remembered writing this last month.  Please don't judge me, okay...but have fun! ha ha  :) ***

And a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my 9-year-old Jonah Gabriel today, the one who entered our lives amid the infamous Nor'Easter of 2001!!  March 5th will forever be one of my favorite days, so my day will also include lots of fun birthday things,  like making smiley face lollipops for school and special dinners!! 

**********

I thought it might be fun to capture the many moments of a typical day on film, mostly for future reference, as I'm all too aware of how easily those memories come and go with time.  Monday used to be Big Clean day, but I've been tweaking my schedule (yes, I clean on a schedule, and I think it's the only way to go!) recently.  Or rather, getting back to even wanting to have a schedule.  Ahem.  Ok, so what did we do?

I'm up early, crazy early. (4:30ish)  I like to be alone to think, pray, read, plan (and now I've got my big project I'm working on!).  When this time is removed by small humans, that is not a good way to start my day.  Happily, yesterday was good.

Then there's the usual morning routine, getting lunches finished, breakfast started (I like real breakfasts), shooing naughty cats off the table, and getting boys up and at 'em.  That's sometimes easier said than done; yesterday was one of those times.

25 minutes and three tantrums later, all from the same child, the first 2 were out the door and off to school.  I love that Caleb and I get to linger.  I'm not so much loving the frigid rude awakening as I bundle up Isabelle Katie and myself to walk Caleb up to the corner for the bus, only to return 4 minutes later and de-bundle.  Isabelle used to sleep until 7:30 so sometimes I walked C really quickly up and would be back before she even awoke.  Anyhoo.

My arctic rush outside yesterday morning literally sucked the air.from.my.lungs.  SO COLD!  Isabelle is in the jogger with the shield, complaining away.  I'm thinking, Get over it, babe, 'cause we're going for a long walk in this beast today- snow on the road or not! (And yes, we did that!  Way to go, me!)

Color time.  And playing with my new camera.

Giggles.

 Laundry. Lots of laundry.

Most mornings we go to play groups, Bible studies, errands or grocery shopping, but not today.

Playtime in the snow.  Isabelle Kate was chirping to the birdies, sprinkling snow "seed" on the driveway for them.  Very cute!  Phone rings- run inside and it's a friend from Grace Group.  I chat away while watching Isabelle from the window.  She still looks so cute out there!

Isabelle inside.  Two attempts at playing with beans in a pan.  This was always Caleb's favorite activity.  Isabelle thinks it's fun, but she makes a huge mess.  Not so much fun for me. 

Doesn't that grin just scream "Let's see how quickly I can get all these beans off the pan???"

 

Stared down the pile of flannel for the boys' PJs.  Nope, that wasn't going anywhere yesterday.

Lunch.  More laundry.  Vacuuming before Calliou at noon.  Since Isabelle hasn't been napping every day lately, I was wondering if I'd need to contend with a tired, non-sleeping toddler on my hands in the afternoon.  Thank you Jesus, she was asleep fast, after singing, reading "Clissorf"- Clifford- and snuggling, which then gave me time for other equally important things, like watching my friend's copy of Twilight for the...third time- thank you SARAH!! 

Oh Edward, how you've captivated my feeble little human heart.  Just in case you're wondering, no I'm not serious.  At all.  It's just a movie, folks!  :)  It was productive- I was folding the mountains of clothes AND doing the occasional lunge or karate kick!  See that?  No time wasted!

Boys home. Tantrum boy still not so much fun to be around.  Hot cocoa and snacks in the making.  Twilight soundtrack semi-blaring in the background from my playlist (on the photo blog)- for a pianist, it's really quite motivating and inspirational to me.  Trying to wake up darling girly girl...still.  Not many skirmishes between the testosterone crew, which was a pleasant surprise.  Homework patrol.  Tantrum boy...better...a little.  Carrying armfuls of folded clothes upstairs (and squeezing those glutes at the same time!) Start dinner.  Bill home- yay!!!!!  Help Ethan figure something out on the piano.  Finish up a thank-you basket for the hostess/friend who prepared an entire 3-course delightful meal for all the ladies in Grace Group.  Paint pretties on Isa's fingernails (she calls them handnails- ha!)  Quick game of chase thorugh The Loop.  Dinner on the table- meatloaf, baked sweet potato rounds, steamed baby spinach, milk and wheat rolls.  Yum.  I was so hungry and had a hard time refraining from nibbling while I waited for my own feast at 7:30, which, BTW, seems like forever when you're used to 5:30!  So worth it, though!  It was wonderful to catch up with these special women and hear all that God has been doing in their lives- we've been on Christmas break and won't reconvene for another 2 weeks. Missed Bill, since I was out all evening, and he was in bed by the time I returned at 11pm- too late for me on a school night!  Yawn.

So, that was my day!  I know I missed a few things, but I think I've remembered the important parts. Whew, now I'm tired all over again!  :)

On Sunday, Jonah had a recital and did a wonderful job playing...and waiting.  Many of  the adults who played chose really, really, really long songs, which just made all the children wait and wait.  I'm all for the arts, but c'mon people- just because you can play a 15 minute concerto doesn't mean that you should be playing it at a recital!  I'm just saying...

Way to go, Jonah!

He is actually going to be taking a break from lessons because of his recent behavior- I'll save that for another day.  Sigh.