25 Ways to Beat the Winter Blahs

After a week or two of cold wetness outside and hacking feverishness inside, my whole family was a little stir-crazy. If it hadn't been for this recent warm spell, we might well have lost our minds. I sat down a few nights ago and made myself a list of things that I think I can do to help myself and my family beat the usual winter blahs.

1. Make praise and worship music be your background noise, broken up by bits of classical music, or whatever else your family likes. . . BUT. . .
2. Carve out an hour of pure quiet time every day -- some time to get away from eachother, breathe, and listen to yourselves think.
3. Spend more time on your beauty routine, especially in the area of moisturizing -- condition, lotion, pamper. . .
4. Invest in a good computer game, deck of cards, or puzzle book. . . or just clip the crossword puzzle out of the paper every day.
5. Read at least one chapter of a good book each day. And by book I mean something with a cover and pages made of paper, not an e-book.
6. Memorize a good poem, passage of Scripture, or piece of literature.
7. Do one creative thing each week.
8. Spend some time talking with your spouse each evening after the kids go to bed. If he's not the talking type, then sit and enjoy a snack and TV show with him.
9. Reserve one night every week for a "date". If you can't afford dinner and a sitter, then just do something special at home.
10. Limit screen time, both for yourself and your kids. It may seem like the only thing to do some days, but too much TV or computer will only lead to headaches and bad attitudes.
11. Read, aloud, at least 6 picture books or 3 chapters of a children's chapter book to your kids each day. There's your TV alternative.
12. Take your kids out for at least a 30 minute walk at the warmest part of each day. If you have a heat wave, get the kids playing outside as much of the day as possible; you take a book out and enjoy the fresh air as you read your obligatory chapter.
13. If the weather will just not permit a walk, do some pilates, yoga, or dancing with the kids inside for 30 minutes.
14. Sit around and tell family stories whenever the kids get bored. See if they can tell any family stories on their own.
15. Sit down and sing with the kids. Get out the Mother Goose and go over those good ole nursery rhymes. And, of course, sing Christmas songs from the end of Thanksgiving all the way through the first week of January.
16. Read poetry -- all winter. Jot down each child's favorites, and then help them each put together their own anthology. Let them decorate each page using a variety of art forms -- collage, paint, pencil, rubbing. . .
17. Help each child start their own scrapbook full of their favorite memories and pictures.
18. Have each child start a nature notebook. Spend time each day observing, identifying, and sketching critters in the backyard.
19. Put together a winter craft supplies bin, and don't be afraid to use it. Whenever you have some spare cash, head to the dollar store for supplies and coloring books.
20. Bake something with the kids each week.
21. Make every moment special. Whenever you turn on the TV, snuggle up together with a bowl of popcorn. When you have a snack, get all the kids to the table to chat over the goodies.
22. Plan next year's garden! Google seed companies and order a catalogue from whoever will send you one for free. I find that those that offer heirloom seeds are especially fascinating and lend themselves well to dreams of lovely cottage gardens. Then get out some graph paper and plot away!
23. Deep clean a new room of the house every two weeks. Stretch your tasks out over the two weeks so you don't feel overwhelmed. Then, you won't have to spring clean when the time comes!
24. Have dinner guests over once every week or two. Get the kids excited and involved in helping with food preparations and setting the table.
25. Write a hand written letter or note on paper to a friend or family member every week. Stick it in a paper envelope, put a postage stamp on it, put it in a mailbox and send it on its way.

Care to add to the list?

What Are We Doing?

Last week was a trying time for my husband and I. A long and enjoyable weekend with extended family was quickly ruined when one of my exhausted children acted out in anger at both her brother and her grandmother. When my husband and I finally arrived on the scene, some hurtful, spiteful things were said to me about my children, my family and my parenting. I walked away, but the trip did not end without my anger showing through. We got home, calmed down, rested. . . and I appologized for my anger only to learn that others had *serious* problems with me, my children, how I parent, and how I run my home. This sent me into virtual hiding for a little over a week, led to some boundary setting, and set my mind thinking, "What am I doing wrong? How bad am I that someone would say and think these things? What do I need to do differently?"

And then I picked up Sally Clarkson's Season's of a Mother's Heart. I wish I knew that lady personally. She inspires and encourages and convicts every time.

When I read the chapter title, "Freedom from Guilt," I was looking forward to receiving help in dealing with the guilt I was feeling over my poor parenting and house keeping. What I got was even better.

Sally wasn't talking about freedom from the conviction of the Holy Spirit over things we, as mothers, are actually doing wrong. She was talking about freedom from the guilt brought about by other people's standards, judgements, comments, criticisms, ideas, methods, books, tapes, teachings. . .

All week I had been beating myself up, pounding my head, wracking my brain trying to figure out how to correct all these wrongs that these particular people found in my parenting and housekeeping. *All*week*! And it was a waste of time. For all the problems that they were able to point out to me were merely man-made standards and opinions. Not one thing was an actual sin or step out of line with the Word of God.

As moms, wives, homemakers, women. . . there is only one infallible source of information, one perfect how-to book on our jobs -- The Bible. We need only read that, pray for guidance, be open to the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit, and step out in faith to what we think God would have us do in every situation. Advice, self-help books, and seminars are all good and wonderful in their place, but they are not the the Inspired Word of God or, necessarily, the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

When we allow the opinions and judgements and criticisms and advice of others send us into an emotional whirlwind of self-critique, we essentially push God off the throne of our lives and put some imperfect human up in His place. Is this really what we think is best? Is this really what we want to set up as a standard for how we run our homes -- human imperfection? Not me, I want to follow God, not a relative or author or good friend. And it is deplorable when we try to set our standard up to others as the mark of perfection that they should try to reach. We can share how we do things, but we must realize that we were never appointed to be God to anyone.

I encourage you to read these Scriptures, referenced in Sally's book, and ask yourself some serious questions:

Galatians 5:13-26

• How are you treating the other moms in your life? Are you serving and encouraging them; or are you biting, devouring, and consuming them?
• Does the Bible contain all you need to be a godly wife, mother, and homemaker?
• Are you proud of your ability to raise well-behaved children, maintain a loving marriage, or keep a clean and organized house?
• Do you feel that you are in competition with other women?
• Or do you feel jealous or envious of any particular mom or wife or homemaker?

Colossians 2:16-23

• Do you feel you are not measuring up to someone's standards of good wife, good mother, or good homemaker? Is someone else condemning you or sending you into a self-condemnation spree?
• How much stock are you placing in "human commands and teachings"? Is your faith in man becoming greater than your faith in God's Word and the Holy Spirit's guidance?

Romans 14:13-23

• Do you see your judgement of other women as stumbling blocks in their lives? How can your criticisms and judgements cause other women to stumble in their faith or hinder their relationship with God?
• Before you offer advice, do you think about how necessary that advice is? Do you weigh the pros and cons of offering the advice? Do you see how there could, in fact, be cons to offering corrective criticism or opinions sometimes?
• Is your judgement of other women, perhaps, based on your own self-doubts?
• Do you feel that you are under condemnation or that you are condemning others?

Romans 8:1-4

• What does God have to say to you about any and all condemnation that you are under, whether warranted or not, whether self-induced or brought by the judgements of others?

Reclaiming Joy

A while back I posted on facebook that I had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. I listed my circumstances and then went about my day. . . like a person who woke up on the wrong side of the bed would.

Not long after, I read a blog post about making your situation right so that you will be more pleasant to be around. Then, I recently began reading Seasons of a Mother's Heart in which Sally Clarkson does what she does best -- encourages mothers to live a life of joy, peace, and love. One of her first "assignments" for readers is to list the things that are keeping you from experiencing joy, and work on fixing those situations so that you can live in joy as a mother.

I looked back at the circumstances I listed that morning: I had gone to bed too late the night before and woken up too early that morning, the house was a mess, the kids were ravenous and I didn't have anything to feed them that was not going to take considerable time to prepare, I had already had a little spat with J, and I just wanted to get a way for a minute to collect myself a bit.

That list of unfortunate circumstances pretty much sums up the five things that most often keep me from experiencing joy as a mother:

1. Lack of sleep leading to weariness and sometimes exhaustion.
2. Lack of cleanliness and organization in the house.
3. Lack of a well-thought-out menu and stock of food in the house.
4. Lack of peace in my marriage as evidenced by a tendency to argue.
5. Lack of quiet-time to prepare myself or calm myself down in the midst of the stress.

And all five of these things are pretty easy to remedy:

1. Get into bed by 11:00pm, Sunday through Thursday.
2. Find a system, any system, that works to get and keep the house clean and organized. For me, the Sidetracked Home Executives' (fore-runners of the Flylady) material has worked literal wonders.
3. Make a meal plan and stock the kitchen with groceries that will keep the kids well-fed and me sane (still working on this one -- I've got four really good eaters).
4. Commit to not arguing. Just don't do it -- with J, the kids, or anyone else.
5. Guard a daily quiet time, and take the time to get alone for just five minutes when things get really hairy.

So, I've committed myself to slowly making these five remedies to "wrong-side-of-the-beditis" into habits. I'm reclaiming joy -- the joy that should come with the blessings of loving a husband, raising wonderful children, and keeping a cozy home.

On My Mind ~ Crying Babies

From late spring

Wrinkled nose and wide-open, toothy mouth scream and cry for immediate attention. Squinted eyes and angry tears tell me that someone isn't getting their way. Frazzled hair and stomping feet let me know that this little one is a very unhappy.

I see it every day -- really, every-single-day. The angry, crying baby looking up wondering when mommy will give in. I've seen this every day for about seven years.

And I love it. To me, this is beauty.

So I pick up the sweaty, angry little mess at my feet. I wipe the tears, I kiss the forhead, I coo in the little ears, and I give a gentle squeeze to the baby that is mine -- a gift from God.

Care to share a favorite picture? Go to Heart Reflections to share what's on your mind.

What a Weekend

We had quite an interesting weekend, our family did. It was collectively a sort of comedy of errors, really -- a line up of fun and excitement with just enough strange surprises thrown in to keep things interesting and make for some good stories around the reunion table many years down the road.



Friday night we decided to go out for an out-of-the-ordinary dinner at McDonalds after-which J took the boys to a baseball game and the girls and I headed out for some grocery shopping. We meandered around, grabbing another cap-gun (for Teeny) and looking at shoes and such, then collected all the groceries we would need for the week. . . The whole time I had this haunting feeling that I might not have my check card with me, but I kept blowing the idea off. Finally, when I got to the check out counter, I couldn't take it any more. I decided to check my wallet before loading my things on the counter. Good thing. I was missing both my check card and my driver's license. Ugh! So, I went around the store returning things all the while panicing over where I could have lost these cards. I got home and rummaged the house, interrogated my daughter, and then found them on my third check of the kitchen basket.



Saturday we all went back to a camp that J used to work at a few years ago. It was great getting to see old friends. We had so much fun catching up and laughing with everyone. The kids were thrilled to get their faces painted, go on tractor pulls and barrell rides, hikes and walks, to play putt-putt and bouncy house. . . G was especially happy getting to see one of his "best" friends. It all was just so wonderful, we decided to top it the day off with a trip to an old favorite ice cream/fast food shack before leaving town. This particular eatery has a couple different wooden play structures set up for the kids to play on during the visit. I had just found a slightly shaded table, and J had just been handed the kids' three chocolate cones with sprinkles when I heard an agonized Teeny cry. I looked over and saw her holding her mouth. . . I saw blood. . . I figured it was just a mouth injury and casually walked over to get her and bring her to the soothing balm of ice-cream. But when we got to the table and forcibly removed her hands from her face, we saw a huge gash in her chin. There was a collective intake of breath coming from all the surrounding tables. People bagan shaking their heads and offering us napkins and wet wipes. G grossed out and refused to look. After collecting our thoughts we loaded back into the van and attempted to make the two hour drive back home so we could go to our hometown ER; but Teeny was just too uncomfortable, and we couldn't get G to stop crying hysterically in sympathy with her. So we stopped after about half an hour. I stayed in a mini-van with three rambunctious youngins while J held Teeny's hand as she got five stitches, poor thing.

Sunday we went to our church plant's first ever Sunday morning worship service. Hailed for the last month or so as a "practice run", we met at the local YMCA. We were all excited to be there, especially the two older kids who have been wondering when we would start having "morning church" again. We dropped baby and Bud-Jack off at the nursery, and they both seemed fine. Then we went to the work-out room. . . I mean "sanctuary". . . for worship. Now, the kids, unfortunately, have been spoiled by children's church. So they were horribly antsy having to stay in the service (we are not at the "children's church" point with this plant). I was totally unprepared -- had nothing with which to entertain my children -- so I handed G (definitely the antsier) my notebook and pen. He set to work drawing monsters. Then Teeny wanted a pen, so I got up and went out to the car to go hunt one down. When I got back, I found, to my dismay, that the doors to the Y were locked. You could get out but not in. (Closed on Sunday). I took a deep breath, went back to the car, got a good book, and came and sat down outside the door to read and wait for someone to notice I was missing. But no one noticed. Evidently, right after I left to get the pen, the lady in the nursery came and got J because little M&M was in hysterics and wouldn't calm down. He left our two oldest, thinking that I'd be back soon and either come switch out with him or stay in the service. G and Teeny tell me they were "well behaved". I know that a family that we are good friends with came and sat with them when they noticed I hadn't come back -- they assumed I was sick or something. So, I got a good 25-50 pages read out in the fresh summer air, J got to experience nursery duty while explaining to the nursery lady why we homeschool and have so many kids, and the kids managed to sit through church maintaining some semblence of quiet without my intervention.

Makes me wonder what the week holds for me.

Real Beauty

Beauty:

• A solitary weekend retreat to spend time in meditation and prayer.
• A fulfilling and life-changing ministry to people in spiritual, physical, and emotional need.
• An hour or so spent in intercessory prayer daily.

Real Beauty:

• That hour of "quiet" every day during which my children know mommy reads her Bible and prays.
• A fulfilling and life-changing ministry to four beautiful children with very real and very important spiritual, physical, and emotional needs.
• Teaching my children to pray for others.

Beauty:

• Afternoons of fun as a young, childless couple.
• Weekend trips to exciting places.
• Date night almost every night.

Real Beauty:

• Afternoons of fun parenting four adventurous children.
• Weekends of playing at parks, reading children's books, and watching G-rated movies. . . and the occasional family vacation.
• Having the oldest kid ask us to hire a babysitter and go on a date every-once-in-a-while.

Beauty:

• Lovely, new children's clothing.
• "Quality" wood and fabric toys that spur the imagination of young ones.
• Hours and hours of exploring nature together or reading books out loud.

Real Beauty:

• Clothes with holes and stains that show they have been put to good use.
• Sticks and bricks and other backyard finds that have been magically turned into swords, houses, food, babies. . .
• Looking at my kids nature finds and listening to them read books to eachother as I clean or tend to the baby.

Beauty:

• Garden beds about the house.
• Beautifully decorated rooms.
• Gourmet meals.

Real Beauty:

• A haphazard fairy garden that the children have helped design.
• Crayon drawings hanging in every room.
• Homemade pizza and wings on Friday nights.

Beauty:

• A new wardrobe every season.
• A body toned and in kept in shape through an hour of exercise every day.
• Manicured hands, pedicured feet, plucked brows, and styled hair.

Real Beauty:

• Every spot and stain on my shirts that shows that I have kids with messy hands or babies that spit up.
• A belly stretched out by four miraculous blessings, and the daily exercise of picking up babies and chasing kids.
• Dish-pan hands, dirty bare feet, tired eyes after a night of nursing a baby, and the pony tail that the kids like to twist around their fingers.

I want to beautify -- to minsiter, meditate, pray, make love, date, romance, explore, read, provide, garden, decorate, cook, shop, exercise, primp. . . . But right now I have to embrace the real beauty in which I find myself during this season of my life.

This time next week. . .

. . . Lord willing. . . this stomach bug will have kindly shown itself the door and said adieu.

"This too shall pass."

You Want a Piece of Me!?

That is what I feel like saying to my four dear children sometimes. It seems they all want a piece of me all the time, all at the same time.

M&M gets me. . . well, almost any time she wants. She nurses and she probably is the one that gets most of my attention right now. I'm sure the others covet her ranking on the "totem pole" of kids here.

Bud-Jack is second in line at this point. He still gets me at nap time, diaper changing time, and in the middle of the night when he crawls into bed with J and I.

G comes next thanks to school. He gets at least an hour of my undivided attention.

Poor Teeny, the one who probably needs one-on-one time with me the most, gets it the least.

Most of the morning, G begged and begged me to go out and play catch with him (he's prepping for T-ball in May -- signed him up today). I finally got around to it this afternoon. We all went outside. G and I played catch while M&M played on the deck, Teeny searched for her friend down the stream and dug in the mud beside me, and Bud-Jack occasionally tried to join in the game but mostly climed on the yet-leafless lilac bushes/trees.

When we came in, Teeny begged and begged to help me make dinner; but first I had to feed the baby her late lunch. While I fed her, Bud-Jack begged and begged, "Baby share! Pease!?". When I offered him his leftover lunch he literally threw it across the table, cried, and forced his way into my lap. He didn't want baby to share her food, he wanted her to share Mommy.

So, after I finished feeding the baby, I took Bud-Jack up to bed and cuddled with him for a while. Then I remembered Teeny and dinner.

I finished up snuggle time with Bud-Jack and went down to make dinner with Teeny -- who, incidentally, got the credit for mixing up the black beans for the meal tonight.

So, what to do? I think M&M is good to go on Mommy time. Bud-Jack will get me at nap time; and if he misses nap time, I'll do some cuddle time with him in the late afternoon/early evening. G will continue to get me at school, but we'll probably keep practicing baseball in the afternoons for the next several months. And, since she seems interested, Teeny will keep helping with dinner prep -- I'll guard that time from the other three -- no one helps but Teeny. I'd also like to start going for evening walks with her so we can have Mommy-daughter talks.

Oh, and then there is J. He gets me after the kids go to bed!

Lenten Realities and Revelations

Every Lent I'm reminded of my own limitations, of my imperfections, of my inability to measure up and my utter need for the grace of God. I'm a weak woman, I am. I am not so disciplined as I'd like to be. I fall through on my commitments, I shout at my kids, I get angry at my husband, and I find a million things to do rather than cleaning the bathrooms.

But, I'm saved by grace through faith. And while even my faith is sometimes faulty, God's grace is always perfect. It is all I need. And so these forty days of coming face to face, once again, with my weaknesses and sin just serve to make the awesomeness of Christ's sacrifice for me that much more meaningful. What would I do had He not come and died on the cross? How would I ever make it if He had not shed His blood to cover my many sins?

I wouldn't. I couldn't

Praise the Lord for His incredible love that He demonstrated on that cross so many years ago. Without it I would be utterly lost and without a hope in the world.

Setting Reasonable Standards in a House Full of Littles

Life is, as you can imagine, more than a little hectic around my house. I have four children, ages 6, 4.5, 2.5, and 10 mos. I homeschool. And, to top it all off, I'm imperfect.

All these things come flying down on me when I look around my house some days. It seems that just as I finish picking up the living room, M&M pulls a shelf or two's worth of books down. When I bring a load of clean, freshly folded towels up to the bathroom, I find that Bud-Jack has filled the sink with Captain Crunch and Crest. While I'm hanging pictures and curtains in the girls room, G is pulling down the curtain rods and disassembling the dresser in his own room. And as I help the boys pick up their toys and clothes, Teeny is in hiding in the next room cutting up her doll clothes. It all just becomes so overwhelming and so discouraging.

That is when I have to remember that this is, truly, just a stage. All my kids have gone through the "pull all the books off the bookshelf" stage; I hardly think a teenager will have any desire to fill the sink with cereal and toothpaste; G merely needs some space and materials to deconstruct and construct in the garage; and Teeny will eventually realise that she likes her things enough to keep them around for a while.

Still, all the positive thinking in the world is not enough to make me feel good about my house on those "special" days. What I always need is a plan of action -- a go-to method -- some small steps that can help keep a minimal semblance of order around here. I have my husband to thank for my three daily to-do's:

1. The first thing on my to-do list is to wash two loads of laundry. This used to be an overwhelming feat, but J simplified my life when he came up with the basket method. He placed four baskets on our laundry room counter: one for me, one for him, one for the boys, and one for the girls. These baskets hold *clean* laundry, not dirty. Twice a day, I unload the dryer into these four baskets, not folding the laundry. This makes getting two loads washed a breeze. Towels and dish rags get folded and set on the ironing board. Once a week, during an free moment, I have a folding fest, and the kids and I spend about 20-30 minutes putting laundry away.
2. The next thing on my to-do list is The S. J came up with The S one day when I was panicing about cleaning the whole house for that evening's dinner guests. He stood in the living room and told me that our adult guests would not venture anywhere beyond the foyer, the half-bath, the living room, and the kitchen. In our house, these rooms form an S shape. So, every day I clean The S first and work to keep these areas looking good.
3. J's third wonderful idea is the hardest to accomplish at this point; but as he finishes school, I believe we'll get more consistent about it. The plan is: J puts the kids to bed at night while I pick up the living room (usually books, dirty clothes, and a coffee cup or two) and clean the kitchen (dinner mess). After we're both done, we sit down together and enjoy our evening together. It is incredible how mood-altering it is to both go to sleep and wake up to a clean living room and kitchen.

I work on these three steps and wait for J to come up with more brilliant ideas. I'm also working through the ideas at Messies Anonymous.

After I get my house in the right order, I can focus on the atmosphere. But part of creating the right atmosphere involves relaxing my standards and giving myself and my family a break. I read a great line at Femina once: "The only thing that absolutely must be organized in my house is my attitude." Isn't that the truth. What is the point of keeping a clean and orderly house if it causes me to nag and berate my husband and family all day and night? What do I or my family gain by a neat, orderly mother/wife who is too busy to read aloud, hunt for worms, play catch, watch a movie, listen to ideas, . . . "go to bed" ; ) ?

The Ups and Downs of Having Littles

G has almost memorized all of Luke 2:1-20. We move next to Matthew 28 -- the story of the resurrection. His brand new bottom tooth is coming through already -- a nice big one that he is quite proud of. He has become quite the demolition man, and consequently has had his room cleared of almost everything. . . including the tools that Santa, ahem, brought him for Christmas. He also recently got the inside of his snow boots wet, but insists on wearing them for some reason unknown to me. His one solution to the problem, shoving colored tissue paper into the boots before putting them on, turned his socks a variety of pretty colors. We now refer to the coveted socks as "The Rainbow Socks."

Teeny got a few new shirts recently and has loved every minute of wearing them. She too has become a bit obsessed with her snow boots. Not sure what that is all about. She had a rough day on Friday. First, during a game of hide-and-seek, she climbed half way up a very tall pine tree and couldn't figure out how to get down. Then her younger brother pushed a piece of wood over on her and cut her head. She topped it off by biting her tongue. Yet she didn't once scream as loud as she does when G makes a funny noise that annoys her.

Bud-Jack is as cute as can be. He is a big Indiana Jones fan and most often tries to get himself out of trouble by saying cute things like, "Nope. Me Jone. Dis me whip.", "Dis me gun. Han up. Pakew, pakew.", or singing the Indiana Jones theme song while running around in circles. Such cuteness even softened J's heart the other day when Little "Doc Jone" took his "whip" (a belt) and whipped our flat-screen TV, cracking the screen and ruining the picture.

M&M has become even more personable in the last few days. She has taken to talking very aggressively and excitedly if you will talk back. She has also developed a very hearty laugh that takes her daddy by surprise sometimes. And there is also her cute little sideways glances that melt our hearts too. I really need to get some new pics of her because no description can do her justice. And this I remember when she wakes up early in the morning, just before sunrise, and decides she is going to have a hard time going back to sleep.

Kids are a handful. They try my patience like nothing else in the world. But God made 'em cute for that very reason. No matter how much sleep they cost me or how many TVs they break, I'll never stop loving their little unique selves; and I know I'll miss these days like crazy when they grow up.

My Christmas List

A Pair of Earplugs
Calgon ("take me away!")
A Year's Supply of Ben & Jerry's

Can a Mother of Four Littles Bake?

I ask you, *can*she*!?

Because, my baking skills are failing me. I used to bake quite well -- not boasting here, it just sorta came to me. I think it might have been genetic. But, lately, well . . .

I can't roll a pie crust, my cakes stick to the pan, my pizza and cookie bottoms burn, and I'm constantly loosing count when measuring! I add too much yeast or too little flour. . . It is very disconcerting. Baking has always been my stress reliever. Now, I think it is possible, that stress is ruining baking for me. My nerves are, perhaps, frazzled to the point that I can no longer focus enough to get baking right.

So, tonight, I drown my sorrows in Americone Dream -- my new favorite Ben & Jerry's -- rather than in Christmas cookies.

One of Those Days

It all started when we came into the kitchen for breakfast. We had. . . nothing. . . to eat. So, being the "realmomma" that I am I threw up my hands and surrendered to *ice cream*. Which would have been wonderful, had someone (Bud-Jack) not gotten in the fridge yesterday and messed around with the thermostats, turning down the fridge to the "softened butter" setting and the freezer to "hard as rock ice cream" setting. After fighting it out with the tub of ice (cream), we sat down to our breakfast and family worship time.

My morning prayer time was repeatedly interrupted by various child needs, but I flowed with that. Bud-Jack woke M&M up from multiple naps while I was busy cleaning and doing school with G. I breathed my way through those figuring it was all going to work itself out in the end. But, having little M&M up and fussy at all the wrong times got in the way of a few items on my agenda.

I baked two loaves of honey-wheat bread -- with an accidental overdose of yeast, and two loaves of French bread that turned out just plain funny looking. My afternoon quiet time was non-existent. While attempting to play cards with G and Teeny while holding a crying baby, Bud-Jack pulled all the DVDs off the shelves, put them in a basket, brought them to the kitchen, spilled milk on them and then slipped repeatedly on the wet floor. After changing the poopy diaper I discovered after about the fifth fall, I shooed them all outside, but not before wrestling with the dishwasher and consequently shattering the coffee/tea pot. Yippee.

I did get the kids out and the baby down and *finally* had a moment to talk to God. "Lord, something is wrong. I don't know what, but I feel out of sync. Please, get me on track; give me direction." Which led me to the 21lb. smoked pork shoulder that needed to be divied up, bagged, and stored. 15 meals that baby will provide! At least!

But, at the end of it all, we had dinner as a family, went to our "small-town" library together, came home, . . . the kids went down all at the same time in spite of their collaborative mission to keep me from putting the baby down for the night. . . and I got to spend time with my husband. Right now he's off buying me some root beer. When he comes home, we'll settle down to read or watch a movie.

sigh.