A couple things I really love.

Do you know what I love? I mean besides getting a good deal...?

I love the feeling my heart gets when my kids, in their sleepingness, tell me they love me too when I whisper I love them as I tuck them back in before I go to bed...

I love being a mom!

I also love the way God works in allowing me to spend more time with my family. I have no shifts at BPs this week which means I get to spend more time with them and I get to see more of our friend, J.D. King as he will be up here for the week...Preaching at our church Wednesday and Friday...and teaching at the school Tues through Fri. Jellybean is quite excited to see her friend's daddy...

And the house is quiet...too quiet

It's just me and Bug; it's been that way ever since we woke up. Rush had a sleepover at Tasha's house and Jellybean had an impromptu sleepover with Rebekah. BigB is out with Wayne doing church things...well, mechanic things really on the church bus. So here I sit with a cute Bug on my knee (who I just lost because his two buddies from across the street came over. Their mom is going to help a friend of ours from the church move and I am the babysitting mom).

The house is no longer quiet. I have 3 boys, all the same age, plotting and planning their time together, talks of Spiderman, race cars and police cars have now filled the once quiet air.

I guess it's back to washing walls for me...

I found out Bug's Calling...Advertising...

Overheard this morning at breakfast, as Bug sat at the kitchen table all by his lonesome...

"These honey nut cheerios are sweet AND crunchy!"

And then we lost one...

We had a full house of kids at our house on Saturday; we decorated some eggs, ate some pizza, watched a movie, visited, played, the moms went out for dessert and then...we lost one. As we were getting the kids that don't "belong" here ready to go home we sat Tristan up on a kitchen chair while we wrestled the youngest sleeping one into his jacket and boots. It only took a minute; we turned around and...Tristan had disappeared... This is where we eventually found him...

...sound asleep, curled up with my Bug and the Pink Panther. We made an executive decision and concluded to leave him there and his mama would bring his church clothes with her so he could change. Bug was quite surprised when he awoke the next morning to somebody's feet in his face (as Tristan had flipped around during the night). He (Bug) sat up in the morning, took one look at Tristan's feet and said, rather perturbed, "Who is that?".

Crazy? I was crazy once...

Yes, these are my children and yes, I did send them to school looking like this and it was on purpose. Was I crazy? Had I lost my mind? Was reasoning and ration thrown out the window? Nope. It was crazy day.
Now, I realize that Bug doesn't look all that crazy here but if you were able to look at the entire picture and see all the little details...he was nuts. He had on green soccer pants, a blue hockey shirt, a brown plaid "cowboy" shirt, a baseball helmet, took a football and had "football eyes". He was about as crazy as a 4 year old boy can get...

Jellybean doesn't really need to be explained...does she? She really does look crazy in this picture: burgandy striped socks, star long underwear, blue plaid skirt with a pink ballet tutu, pink striped shirt, lime green sweater, raggedy anne doll eyelashes and "spider" hair, topped with the piece de resistance...her Watoto doll. I don't even think I am going out on a limb when I say that she just looked darn right crazy.

It was a lot of fun getting the kids crazied up...a lot of fun. Jellybean laughed harder and harder with each piece of clothing we put on her and Bug was just tickled that he is finally old enough to get to do all these "fun" school things.

Chaos erupts in our living room during Women's Conference

Last weekend was the Women Who Want God conference at our church; it was a very busy weekend for BigB and myself as we were there first thing in the morning until the late hours of the night. Rush and a friend (another teen from the church) watched the kids from the two families at our house. The following gives you a good idea of the chaos we walked into Friday and Saturday night. Please, look away if you have a sensitive...funny bone...

Here's my poor Bug looking like he was clothesline by the two girls. We came home to him lying on our living room floor like this and he was mad the next morning when he found out we had moved him to his comfy bed.

Saturday night the scene was a bit funnier as the living room was wall to wall children on our floor. This picture is missing one of the teenagers; I just couldn't get them all in the picture. If you will look to the farthest right hand side of the picture you will see a poor pitiful sight...Little Neena with her head stuck under our fish tank moaning for her sister to "moooooove"!

It was a tangled mess of blankets, pillows and kids...ah but they really do love each other.

Finally, the sushi pictures

Here are the pictures from our sushi making fun. I know, I know...finally.

The first is our dear friend and teacher, Yoshi.




Yoshi helping Jellybean roll and form her sushi. She put rice, cucumber, fried egg, hot dog and shrimp crackers in her sushi. (shudder)

First anticipated bite of sushi and the verdict was...she really doesn't like the seaweed wrapper...


...however, she LOVED the inside!

The 'Circle of Life' has circled

My dad has always chewed Copenhagen snuff for as long as I can remember and growing up I always wanted to try it. Finally, he let me; told me not to swallow it and...I swallowed it which then resulted in my puking my guts out.

Yesterday Bug tried some of Grandpa's "candy" (Grandpa's terminology) which resulted in his puking as well. It brought back all sorts of fun and "fun" memories from when I was a kid and so that it was kind of nice.

Jellybean & Bug also lost boots in the muck and the melting snow at Pa's which once again brought floods of memories of getting stuck at the farm and needing Grandpa's assistance to get out. The great fun of growing up...ah the circle keeps on circling...

What a kerfuffle...

I just finished reading one of my past blogs from 2005; Bug was nearing his 2nd birthday and I was wondering who I was outside of being a mom. Here we are in 2008, somewhat close to his 5th birthday and I am weighing and measuring myself in the mom dept and I have found myself lacking.

I don't have the opportunity to do any of the things I used to do for & with my kids. I can't remember the last time I baked them cookies or walked them to school. I may be working 2 jobs again and missing out on some things but it is time for me to make my spare time meaningful in the eyes of my children and in my eyes.

I don't work Monday nights; we have church Wednesday & Friday nights and I sometimes work Thursdays and then there is Sunday morning service. But who is to say that I cannot make better use of the time that I do have? Why can't I make them cookies on a Monday night or play a game of hide and seek or something? This path stops right here and now.

I have been getting really frustrated with my day job and am ready to not be working there full time. Not like I want to wish the y ear away but, July can't come soon enough for me. I want to be able to say yes or no to working some shifts so I can be a "mom" more.

I miss that job...Imiss being able to just be that. I miss being able to focus completely on the welfare of my children and of their daily needs and of the needs of my house. My heart breaks for what I feel I am missing out on...my children.

When they think back on their lives, will I have been a good mom? In their future opinion of me is it worth me not being here as much as I feel I should be? What kind of example am I setting for them to follow?

Perhaps I am needing to re-evaluate somethings...

Jeff Healey dies at 41!!

After a lifelong battle with cancer, Jeff Healey has passed on. I found inspiration in a man who did not let a rare form of cancer rob him of living life and who became quite successful inspite of his illness...