Little details

I was trying to think of the things I am most thankful for and one of them is my sight. Because of a rare eye condition I have I could go blind at any time. My vision has definitely deteriorated over the years. There is no cure I just have to try to keep myself from going there. So I am thankful for every day that I can memorize my children's faces, just in case. To watch a sunset. To see a Unicorn sky. A beautiful ocean, a running river, a peaceful lake. I am thankful for all the colors of fall, the white of winter, the brilliant green of spring and my gardens overflowing in summer, bursting with life. I will memorize the sunshine's in my husbands eyes, the vibrant blue of bubu's eyes, the warm brown of Atty's and the deep blue eyes with the longest lashes I have ever seen on Spike. The beauty of my daughter's face. All of their expressions. I will drink in the beauty of nature and give thanks. The sunlight filtering through tree branches. Daisy's growing on the side of the road. Ferns. Fields of wildflowers. All the colors of fresh fruits and vegetables. I am thankful for every rainbow I have seen and will see. For rainy days. Snowflakes falling silently from the sky. Every art project the kids do. I love photos, there are pictures all over my house. I love them because they capture memories for me that I can reminisce about as I gaze at them and I am thankful for that. I enjoy looking at professional photographs too, photos that can capture the intensity of real life. Photos that notice the little things and bring them to life. I love studying them, noticing the color, the angles, the emotion. I am thankful for my sight so that I can cook and craft. Scrapbook and make blankets. So that I can type and read and write with ease. Enjoy a good book. Watch a movie. Witness my children playing together, seeing all their firsts, seeing the love in my family's eyes. I am thankful to have witnessed birth, seeing my children for the first time. All their tiny fingers and toes. Baby rolls. Looking at my children as they nurse all snuggled into me. Seeing the love in my husbands eyes when he sees our children. Seeing the emotion in his face when I catch him staring at me. As I started thinking about all these things I realized that there is so much in every little moment that I see and want to memorize, store away in my brain and treasure forever. It's the littlest things, like a drop of rain at the tip of a leaf, or a fleeting smile on a baby's face that I treasure the most. When I was younger I would always draw eyes, I was fascinated by them. Close ups of big eyes with long lashes. When I would draw faces the eyes would always be prominent. I've always appreciated them for their beauty and ability and for what they tell about a person. Now they are one of the things I am most thankful for.

A little bit of thankfulness...

~I am thankful for those rare quiet mornings when all my little early risers sleep in and I have a moment to myself in a relatively clean house. ~ Now that my husband is working again ((big smile)) it's so nice to wake up to coffee already made, and he always makes enough to leave me a cup. ~ We pulled out the Christmas tubs yesterday, and our tree (yes we have a fake tree). I love looking at all the little ornaments we have collected over the years and I am looking forward to putting them up on the tree this week, I call it my patchwork tree. We have collected a lot of Christmas books and stuffed animals over the years too, which I also unpacked last night. I am so thankful that my boys have a love for reading (as in listening while I read). They were the most excited about the 'new' books. Looking at them all snuggled up with the stuffed animals, squished together on the couch, listening to me read Christmas books, it warmed my heart. I over heard Bubu calling God on his toy cell phone and thanking him for Christmas and telling him all about the Christmas stuff we have, it was adorable. ~ While the wind has been raging (crazy wild winds lately) and the rain pouring I give thanks for every night that my children go to bed in a warm home with food in their bellies and love in their hearts.~

I am thankful that children make life so exciting, never a dull moment.

No more. I'm all done. I've been flat out feeling sorry for myself, I try so hard to not get that self centered narrow minded attitude but sometimes I am weak and whinny. From her until Thanksgiving I will only be writing about what I am thankful for. So here goes.

~Oh my goodness as I was writing this Spike was sticking a piece of crayon up his nose! Silly me thought he was quietly watching a movie (literally a few feet away). Well actually he was quietly watching a movie...while shoving a piece of crayon up his nose for no apparent reason. So I guess I will start by saying I am thankful that my husband came home right then and after a few failed attempts at getting said crayon out of his nose I am thankful that my husband was able to take him to the walk in clinic. I am thankful for the doctors that I hope will be able to remove the crayon with out complications...and I will end it at that for tonight...

You might want to skip this one, I'm just feeling sorry for myself.

I went and got my hair cut tonight and I H.A.T.E it. I don't know why I always think I should get a hair cut when I am feeling crummy about myself, because it rarely turns out well. It's horrid. I think I might cry. Trying to not act to upset about it because we really didn't have the money for me to go out and spend on me, but my husband was really sweet and told me to do it anyways. And then I come home and all I can do is fight back tears. All he wanted was for me to feel better. It's only hair. It will grow. But I was just feeling so poorly about myself, after baby and all, and now, well now I just went and made it all worse. Okay now I am crying...officially feeling sorry for myself..blah.

Reindeer!

"Bubu get down off that chair and close that window it's freezing outside!"

"But Daddy's getting a Reindeer!"

"What?"

"A Reindeer, Daddy's getting a Reindeer! I want to see the Reindeer!"

"What are you talking about..."

"A Reindeer!"

(Spike and Atty come racing.) "Yeah Reindeer, Reindeer"

"Bubu, Daddy said Rain Gear, he went out to the shop to grab his rain Gear."

"But I want to see a Reindeer"

"Well you will have to wait for Christmas then, if you're lucky you might spot one."

"Bubu, seriously get down off that chair, Christmas is still a little ways away."

(Although coming up fast isn't it!)

So...Praise the Lord, my hubby was grabbing his rain Gear because the Carpenters Hall finally called and he has a Job! We don't know how long, but this one sounds like it will at least last more then a week (which was all he got the last time they called). We have both been praying for something and we both got a little emotional this time around. Being that he has worked less then three months out of this whole year! So...Praise the Lord!! I'm doing the happy dance!

Not sure if I should label this post Cousins or I Have A Giant Baby!

This is Strawberry's younger cousin, she's 11 days younger. My girl is a giant.

A big, fat, juicy, rolly-polly, stocky, beefy bald baby girl. I see quarterback in her future. Prettiest quarterback Ever!
*

This is Strawberry's older cousin, she is 11 weeks older.

My girl is just as long as her and weighs almost as much! Both of her cousins were born with beautiful full heads of hair, mine...bald...probably until she is two, I was! She may not be the most petite thing, but I'm thinking she will make the most beautiful tomboy some day and That would make a mother proud!!

I just miss him, always will.

I miss this boy so bad it hurts.I've written before about why he means so much to me, if you want to read about it go here. So much has happened since that post. He lived with his mom for about a year and then she got sick with cancer and died soon after. Now he is living with his sister, she wanted it that way, and my hubby felt it was best, but I have a lot of mixed emotions about the whole thing. I mean I've loved him since birth, I raised him for almost seven years, he was my first baby, I've felt like a piece of the puzzle is missing ever since he's been gone. For some reason the holidays are the worse, I've cried a few times already and I know it's just going to get worse as Christmas gets closer. We went to visit them last weekend, it's about two hours away and we just don't see them enough because of it. He saw his new niece for the first time. He was so sweet to her, it brought tears to my eyes. The boys were so happy to see him, they miss him all the time. He towers over me now, the same boy who's diapers I changed years and years ago. I snuggled into his body instead of him into mine. I hugged him over and over again, and he let me, which is not his normal teenage self. He told me he loved me and missed me quite a few times and it warmed my heart every time he said it. I cried on the way home, I think I always will when ever I am driving away from him. Cause every mile seems so harsh.

it's all about the...

REDShe wears it well.

It even makes grumpy look great!

Can't go wrong with a little red.

My little strawberry.

I love this girl.

I'm so not kidding people...

I mentioned in a prior post that lately I get a minimal amount of showers per week.

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This is why...

In the 10 minutes it took me to take a quick shower the other night, Spike got a big ol' shiner right under his eye, and Atty (can't have wheat, gluten or DAIRY) got into some ones milk. Which will make for a long night and you don't even want to know what his digestive track will be like tomorrow (let alone his behavior). And no I did not leave them alone to fend for themselves, my husband was "watching" them.
My husband was also "watching them the other night when I left to have drinks (the Starbucks kind) with some friends. I rarely go out and this is why...as I am buckling my baby girl (note that I am still not going out alone) into her car seat I see motion out of the corner of my eye. I look up and there are two naked little boys running across my front yard. Normally I tell my husband to put the alarm on just to be safe, the one time I didn't, this is what happens. Good thing we hadn't pulled away yet because when I went screeching into the house dragging the boys behind me, my husband was in the kitchen, oblivious. His only redeeming factor was that he was washing the dishes.
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So next time when I am complaining on here that I Never go out, and I Never get to take a shower...or even get a moment peace...now you know why.
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...and yes I am feeling sorry for myself...sniff, sniff...and a tear...

~Move your body~

You know what made my day today?

~

Putting on the Madagascar soundtrack and dancing with the kids while they showed me how to "Move it, move it". Their shrills of laughter, their silly dance moves, the pure joy they find in the movement of their bodies and the sound of the beat. It's so freeing and fun. I'm not sure who enjoys it more me or them.

~

"I want to move it, move it. I want to shake it, shake it"

~

You do NoT want to see me dance to that, trust me...but the kids on the other hand, they don't realize I have no sense of rhythm what so ever, they just think I'm being funny.

A house full of heroes!

Our little lady bug...so cute!

My super heroes and their little ladybug.Atty is not much for group photos, so I bribed him by telling him he could hold his baby sister. He was so proud, and he actually sat still! I will have to see if this will work for our family Christmas picture too.

Us girls can feel safe in a house full of super heroes! ;)

Buzz Light Year, to infinity and beyond! This boy has been cheesing it up for the camera lately. He will try to sneak his way into every picture I am taking! I have to admit it's driving me crazy, I mean he's cute and all but good grief!


This Spider man doesn't have time for smiles, he has crime to fight! Getting Spike to look at the camera now days is next to impossible and getting him to smile...forget it!


...But this adorable Batman does have time between jobs to flash his beautiful grin! Atty doesn't like to dress up in costumes. So instead of fighting him on it I got wise and just bought him some cute Batman PJ's and he wore them no problem. Much cheaper too! I made sure to put it on him a few times before hand as regular ol' pajamas so he didn't think anything of it.

I am a cat every year...no surprises. This year I only painted whiskers on my face and Bubu was a bit disappointed in me. I just didn't feel like washing it all off afterwards, I guess I am getting lame in my old age. ;) My adorable little lady bug stayed snugly in her Moby Wrap (which I Love! I've always used a sling before, wish I had known better.) The whole time we were trick or treating.

My boys on a mission. We had a lot of fun, the rain stopped just in time, and it wasn't to cold out. The boys were all so sweet and polite, it made a mother proud. Atty kept saying "thank you, your welcome" after someone would give him candy, or "Love you, bye". So funny. We made it for about an hour and then it was time to pack it in. My favorite part of the day was when we got home. Snuggled up together at the end of the day, watching Planet Earth and enjoying each others company. When I look around me and see all my children's beautiful faces and my husbands, my heart overflows. I love family time, the quiet (sort of) moments, just being together. Laughing, Loving and Living.