My Mother's Poem

I was complaining about not being able to find a half hour to clean my bathroom yesterday and my very wise mother reminded me of this....
I have no idea who wrote this but my mom had a version of it on the wall when we were little.

I hope my children
look back on today
and see parents
who had time to play.

Dusting and scrubbing
can wait 'till tomorrow
for babies grow fast
we learn to our sorrow.

There will be years
for cleaning and cooking
but children grow up
when we are not looking.

So settle down cobwebs
and dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby
and babies don't keep.

In Love and War... and Easter Eggs!

The following is a ridiculous amount of pictures from our Easter egg hunt at Nana and Pappy's house...its almost to much cuteness for mere humans to handle....you have been warned....

looking out the window for eggs!

The hunt for the baskets begins, Isabella said we had to do this first so she would have a basket to carry all the eggs she was going to find... the girl thinks ahead.

maybe in the playroom....

not a basket... but something....

Swords!!! Yay!!! Now we can beat each other and mom and dad won't yell!!!

...or we could just hit Nana and Aunt Julie... either way....

Finally, Isabella finds the basket....Tommy is still over on the battlefront trying to finish off Nana :)

It must seem that all Daniel does is eat while the rest of us have fun... not true... sometimes he sleeps :)

Tommy is getting ready to hunt.... he feels protective head gear is more important than and egg receptacle.

Nana is giving her the pep talk....

Or the guilt trip... 

"Tommy is little, let him find some too."

I too am the oldest child, so I've got that speech memorized.

And off we go... with cute shoes of course....

And now my favorite part of the whole day!

Bella found the last egg... then she waited for her brother and showed him where it was..

My heart is happy :)

And so is Tommy's!

So this is what my mom meant when she said there will be moments of unspeakable joy...

I love that they love each other.

I remember watching Isabella play at a playground when she was little and I was pregnant with Tommy and my heart ached for her all alone, surrounded by all those big kids, she looked a little lost, and more than a little overwhelmed! This is a big part of why we have three kids and we will hopefully have more, there is something special about someone with whom you share your whole history, someone who was there with you from the beginning. 

If you want to know how your girl will treat you after marriage, just listen to her talking to her little brother.  ~Sam Levenson

 

To the outside world we all grow old. 

But not to brothers and sisters. 

We know each other as we always were.  

We know each other's hearts. 

We share private family jokes. 

We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys.  

We live outside the touch of time.  

~Clara Ortega

Easter Eggs and Mr. Clean to the Rescue.

Easter Eggs    

Eggs are often identified with Easter. 

Long a symbol of fertility and immortality, the egg reminds Christians of the rock tomb from which Christ arose.   In medieval times, eggs were traditionally given to all servants at Easter.

It is said that King Edward I of England distributed 450 boiled Easter eggs, dyed or covered with gold leaf, to members of the royal household.     

Today, in most countries the eggs are stained with plain vegetable-dye colors. 

The Syrian and Greek faithful present each other with crimson eggs in honor of the blood of Christ.….

(from www.parentingideas.org)

Who knows if this is the real origin of Easter eggs? But I thought it was beautifully symbolic... and I'm a sucker for tradition, no matter how messy.

It was not as bad as I had feared... please ignore my toes... at least they are polished :)

Nana came over with Aunt GG and brought our supplies... this is the only proof I have that she was even there.... she is not as angry as she looks :)

Here is what GG and Daniel did the whole time... to say they love each other would be an understatement!

This is reality, this is how we look most mornings... and a lot of afternoons too. There is a certain joy that can only be found by staying in your pj's all day... we are very joyful around here.

They both used spoons to take their eggs in and out of the dye... I can't believe it but we didn't loose an egg or spill a cup, we had a few close calls but no catastrophic messes. 

The were both very careful. I was very proud... 

until I heard my mom go in the living room when we were done and gasp...

Tommy drew on the couch with the clear crayon...

this is his second offense. 

If you didn't know clear crayon shows up bright white on upholstery.... just my luck.

The first offense was and electric teal color and it almost made me lose my mind trying to figure out how to get it out. In the end we used a magic eraser... I truly believe it is magic... I haven't met a problem yet that couldn't be solved with a magic eraser, and some good old fashion determination.

I made him help me clean it up this time as a punishment... he loved helping me so I may have just made it more enticing to draw on the couch again! Figures......

But mostly they are very neat and clean kids.

I think the reason they try so hard to be neat is because I have made them crazy.... 

they both hated the fact that we couldn't get the dye off of our hands.

I was trying to get a picture of them together, when Daniel dragged himself in and distracted everyone.

...I love that they love each other.

This is our sad attempt at a group shot... 

Daniel wants the egg bad,

Tommy is about to become an unsuspecting victim, 

and I don't even know what to say about Isabella....

seriously.... what are you doing!?!?

He is Risen.

Tonight we talked about Easter with the kids,

in the vain hope that somewhere in the blur tomorrow they will remember..

Its not about my pretty new dress,
or my white patent leather shoes.

Its not about the cool necktie... just like Dad's.

Its not about the chocolate rabbit the size of my forearm.... 
(that one was for me!)

Its not about the money in the Easter eggs we found.

Its not about the stuffed puppy or the sparkly pony Nana got me.

Its not about the delicious ham....  
(that one was for my husband.)

Its about Jesus.

"God's Son!", Isabella shouts.

We say yes... remember how God took Sheba to heaven?

"Evan?" Tommy asks.

"Yes... but I miss her..." Bella says sadly.

God made a way for us all to go there by giving us His Son.... Jesus.

He died for us... for all the bad things we ever did or ever will do.

He was punished instead of us... even though we were bad...
not Him.

And then to prove he was God's Son, 

and show us we would all live forever in Heaven, he rose again, 

He came back. 

"So we can go there too?" Bella asks.

Amazed.... she is always amazed when we tell her.

At first when we explained Heaven she was afraid... to her the thought of not coming "home" was scary.

She wanted familiar, known, comfortable.

I can relate... I think most of us can.

But once we explained more... always joy, never tired, or sick, or lonely.

"Are there toys?" she asked.

I said yes without thinking...God is a God of love, he is our Father, 

His Son loved Children and often exemplified there faith and devotion... of course there must be toys!! 

 That was all she needed to hear :)

Hopefully by the time she's headed home she won't care about toys anymore.

Hopefully, she will just want to stand face to face with her Lord and her Savior and say Thank you.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

1 John 3:16  This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

Things to Smile About....

My windows are open and my curtains are blowing on a warm breeze.

I can see daffodils from my window.

Poppy seed Cake!

Tom is on his way home and he is all mine until Monday... well mostly :)

New Shoes!

Isabella asked me to paint her toes pink... when I said yes immediately and got up to get the nail polish her smile was priceless.

*note to self... say yes more often*

She wants me to paint my toes to match... I'm relishing this short time where she want to do everything with me.

The way Tommy talks right now.... 

"Base-Ah-Ball-Ah".... 

"Yook ma! Anoder Boodie!" (look mom another birdie)...  

"Sock-Ah Ball"... 

"Bellya"... 

"Yessaa Mammaa" (Yes ma'am, he says his with a Jamaican sort of accent...sounds more like Yeah man :)

Daniels army crawl.... he drags himself like his leg is injured... and somehow he is still so fast!

Daniels smile, he only has his two bottom teeth, kind of like and inverted Easter Bunny.

The sound of Daniel growling at his Daddy.

Tommy and Bella screaming and giggling while Tom chases them.

How grown up and serious Bella looks on her new bike.

How excited they all are to go to the Zoo tomorrow.

Jack the Ripper

I mentioned before that is was a certain little princesses birthday... and even though her gift from us is her party I wanted her to have something small.... (read cheap) on her actual birthday. 

So the night before her birthday, Aunt Sarah came over and let us go on a date and we picked her up a little snow white doll... no big deal.. $4.88 to be exact....

Well her dad gave it to her when he got home on her big day, and she was thrilled... 

clung to it,

slept with it,

ate with it. 

loved that silly little piece of  plastic.... 

then she put it down for a minute. 

And Jack got it...

I took me about 24 hours to get to walmart and buy another one... in that time I heard the question 

"where is my new princess?"  about a thousand time...

followed by

"Ohhhh.... I'm so sad dat I yost her..."

....."Mommy I just don't know where is she?".... 

"can you help me find her?"

So $4.88 turned into... $9.76... fine ... whatever... its her birthday... she is sad... its not her fault...

Two days later... went to feed jack in his cage... and I am once again faced with the horrific scene

Jack the ripper strikes again

There are two other princesses just like this one!! Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty...

WHY THIS ONE AGAIN!!! 

WHY THE ONE SHE IS GOING TO NOTICE IS MISSING!!!???

I guess he doesn't like blonds....

If you are a cute brunette, with fair skin, and and you smell like rubber... watch out...

there is a killer on the loose.

 Don't give me those eyes... your in the dog house buddy... and you owe me $14.96... 

*sigh*

Hi-ho, Hi-ho... its off to Wal-mart I go....

Forgivness and Friendship.

I saw an old friend from high school today.

It has been about two years since I've seen him, if you don't count bumping into each other at wal-mart.... 

which I don't.... wal-mart is nothing if not impersonal....

 George Herbert said,“The best mirror is an old friend.”

I have no idea who he is... but he was spot on. 

We were at Isabella's birthday party at my parents house. 

The backdrop to most of our mischief, parties, late night conversations, and funny stories.

And the thing that I loved was that it felt like not a day had passed... like we hadn't missed a beat.

 Forget that what we actually missed was an engagement, 

a baby shower, 

a baby, 

a couple birthday's, 

a miscarriage,

another baby.... 

the list goes on... and obviously so does life.

I love that there was no weirdness. Two, five or fifty years later. I love that we can pick up where we left off.

But on the flip side of this same coin, I am so sad that not all my old friendships have survived the way that this one has... and sadder still to realize how much of that is my fault. When I look back over things I've done wrong the list seems painfully long. I thought in high school that you picked who you wanted to be and then you struggled to become who you wanted to be. 

I was so wrong. 

You don't take a sunflower seed and try to make it grow an oak tree...

You can be better, you can change habits and small things,

But the essential parts of who you are, those are God given... those are the basis for you.

Those are the talents, the interests you should feed and water... and see where they take you.

I wish I had done more of that and less of the superficial stuff.

 I can tell you that if I had it to do over I would have put courage to my convictions, stood up and said something when I had an opinion, rather that waiting to see what my friends thought.

I would have pursued my interests... whether or not it was cool. It was all in my own head anyway, I know my real friends wouldn't have cared if I played chess or tried out for the musical or any other thing.

I would have been friends with people no matter what 'group' they were in, does it seem ridiculous that I didn't realize this was an option!?  It seemed like you picked your tribe and you stayed there... loyalty... knowing where you fit in... safety in numbers... it seemed so important at the time... why?

Most of all I wish I had know more about forgiveness. 

Not just for others... though that would certainly have helped... but for myself too.

Knowing I didn't have to be perfect... couldn't be perfect, 

knowing my friends weren't going to be perfect.

I wanted my friends to fill a void in me that I've now found only God can fill.

How many hurt feeling could have been spared? How many fights wouldn't have happened? 

If your reading this and you are one of those people I hurt... 

I'm sorry.

If I once threw a glass across the room in a fit of rage about God-only-knows-what...

If I put the so-called-affection of some silly boy whose name I no longer remember... ahead of you...

 

If I didn't call when I should have....

If I threw a phone through a window pane once when you were on the other end...

If I suddenly dumped your friendship for no reason... (it was me who lost out I'm sure)...

If I kissed him... even though I knew you liked him too... and it hurt you..

If I paid no attention to your feelings because I was too consumed by my own...

If I made fun of you for being different than my definition of  normal...

If I used you in any way...

.... forgive me?