I’m a little embarrassed to know it’s DSD

For those of you not in the loop, today is Digital Scrapbooking Day.  I know you are mortified that you forgot, and you will be contacting iCal and Google right away because it is not pre-filled on your calendars.  For me, the fact that I’m even aware of this day denotes a serious shift in my creative life.  It also speaks volumes about me that I’m actually disappointed because I will not be able to celebrate it online with chats, crops, challenges and freebies due to “life”.  What is wrong with me?

Here’s the scoop.  I recently had to pack up my fun craft room in our basement in attempts to get the house ready to sell.  Granted, I very, very rarely had time to go down the stairs and enjoy this paradise so it’s departure really didn’t affect my overall life significantly.  However, it did force my transition to digital scrapbooking – an idea I’d been tinkering with for a while.

I realize that scrapbooking in general seems silly to some, but there are multiple industries dedicated to it so it can’t be that weird that I enjoy it, right? (somebody give me some love on this).  For me, it’s a creative outlet that allows me to marry my love for telling stories with my love for photographic documentation.  I don’t do it much because I tend to spend so much time actually living life that I don’t have much opportunity to chronicle it.  When I do get to play with my PSE and scour the internet looking for free deals, I really have a good time.

Now I’ve admitted it.  Judge me accordingly.  And in honor of DSD, here are a couple of my creations…

I Love This About My Mom

She is the only person I know who bakes 12 dozen assorted cookies & wraps them in individual decorative goodie bags to take to the hospital for HER OWN SURGERY!

Her gift of hospitality goes above and beyond in everything she does.  When asked why she was in such a baking frenzy on the eve of this major procedure, her response was simple.  ”I always bring sweets for the doctors and staff when I have something done”.

I’m glad she is my Mother.  I wish she was my patient .

Halloween

I realize you were hooked when you saw this catchy title, but I’m tired so that’s as good as it gets tonight.  We’ve never made a big deal out of Halloween, but it is fun for the kids to dress up and score some serious candy.   This year was no different.  Nothing exciting, but there are a few stories to tell.  I’ll try to make it quick.

Arabella was actually the most prepared  as we picked out her costume a couple of weeks ago. She was a Barbie Musketeer, the latest Mattell marketing masterpiece.   Corrine to be exact, and although she looked very similar to every other princess on the streets, she was indeed a girl-power lovin’, prince savin’ fighting machine.  Except of course for the fact that she wore her cape around her head most of the time because it was “itching her neck” .

On the morning of October 31st, Mother of the Year (that’s me) headed out to Party City to pick over what was left in attempts to outfit the big boys.  I am proud to say that we walked out of there without a pre-made, expensive yet cheap costume, and instead went home inspired.  Joseph decided to be a Greaser.  He had never actually heard of The Fonz, but picked up the part quickly.  I was glad he chose to dress up at all since last year he was too cool for it all.  He had a good time playing it up.

Jacob chose to be an Explorer.  The costume idea quickly grew into a full fledged theme.  He was transformed into “Raiders of the Lost Pig”, toting around his Silver Piggy Bank and posing for multiple photos.  I knew that old leather jacket of mine from college would come back to life one day.

And let’s not forget Abraham.  He had an adorable Lion Costume from Old Navy …

Of course, we all remember that he just turned TWO and he absolutely refused to put it on.  There was screaming and gnashing of teeth each time I came close to him with it. He claimed in fact that it was too “scary”.  Really?  He was killing me.  Well I couldn’t take him Trick or Treating with no costume at all so once again my PackRat nature kicked in and I dug up this beauty.  A dragon (or to Abe, a Dinosaur) that Joseph had actually worn when he was 14 months old.  Needless to say, it was too small.  He wanted to wear it, though, so we rolled with it.  I didn’t even bother with the pants. He wouldn’t keep the hood on (shocker) and wouldn’t slow down long enough for a picture, but you can get the idea.  The good news… he’s a cutie anyway!

Mom even got in the act this year and dressed up.  Sort of.  The kids thought I was cool and that is really all I was going for.  By the way, I’m not showing you my tail .

We ventured out to meet Nena & Gpop, Aunt June, Jill, and Julie, Raines and Davis at Monni-Moo’s house, as is our annual tradition.  The kids ran around the front yard, we snagged as many photos as we could, then they each received  sugar laden goodie bags from Monni-Moo.  Awesome.

We Trick or Treated at a few of MM’s neighbors houses and I discovered that Abe picked the suckers every time.  He actually opened about 20 over the course of the night, but fortunately the act of unwrapping the jewel was more fun for him than eating it.

We made it back to Monni-Moo’s in time to eat a late dinner and catch the last part of the Florida-Georgia game.  Go Gators!

OK, so I couldn’t resist.  Sorry.  At least I made these photos smaller .

Back to the story…

Later in the evening when I realized Arabella was not Trick or Treated out, we set off again with Abraham in tow.  This time we were in the rain but we made it all the way around the block, hitting the 5-6 houses with porch lights on.  It was very exciting for them and a sweet memory for me.

Overall, this Halloween was a success.

And just in case you were wondering, our trash bag of chocolate is still 1/2 full.  Yikes!

Sugar Daddy

Ok, so I had some left over Trail Mix and Twizzlers, some of my favorite snacks.  I figured this would be a good thing to give out at Halloween.  I would get rid of it, and the sugar filled kids would get something remotely non-horrible for them – win, win.  So you would think….

Joseph claimed that to give this out to the children of our neighborhood would be lame, an embarrassment, and a poor reflection on our family.  His father apparently agreed.  He came home last night with enough chocolate candy to literally fill a trash bag.

He was a hero, and I feel confident we will have left over chocolate to tempt us for weeks, not to mention the poor sure-to-be-untouched Trail Mix stash.  Oh well, at least no one will egg our house .

So Sad, So True

“Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.”
―Phyllis Diller

Sometimes I think these “Quote of the Day” people are reading my mail .  I’m in serious clean up and clean out mode in my house these days and as I work on one room, the kids are destroying another.  Gotta love it!

Sing it, Girl

Brad apparently had extra helpers hanging around him in his office tonight and decided to make the best of it.  This video was posted to his Facebook page and it makes me smile!  It highlights how adorable Arabella is, how active (and pacifier-addicted) Abraham is, and what a good daddy Brad is.  Can’t beat that!

Yep, He’s Two

I have a post that is still in my mind and is filled with wonderful emotion about my 4th child and how very much I love him.  That post is yet to come.  For now, I will leave you with this tidbit.

I tried to be a good mother Saturday on my sweet boy’s second birthday.  I threw together a last minute lunch party at Burger King complete with cousins, a grandmother, ice cream cake and presents (thanks to Grandy & MonnieMoo).  We met at the wonderful play place that also happens to serve food and the party was on!

To make a long story short, this is how it went…

But wait, there is more. The good mood didn’t stop with the littlest among us.

And how many times can you call a child’s name to take their picture and have them ignore you and grunt?

At least six, apparently.  Persistent photographer, more persistent toddler.

Fun, fun party, said sarcastically.

I still love you, Abraham.

Just Another Day Off

And this is why I my blogging time is limited …

• 6:15 Up and at ‘em

• 8:00 Take kids to school

• 8:20 Target run with Abraham

• 9:30 Clean out toy closets with Abraham’s help & spend a few minutes trying to identify the funky smell coming from the boy’s room

• 10:30 Put Abe down for nap, then continue the process of toy purging – much more efficiently

• 11:00 Brad takes time out of his busy day to come home to watch napping Abe so sweet boy can sleep instead of experimenting with random dental equipment

• 11:20 Pick up Arabella early from Preschool… painful

• 11:40 Dentist appointment for me & Bella – No Sugar Bugs, Yea!

• 12:45 Eat lunch, do some laundry and clean the kitchen (sort of)

• 2:00 Take Abe to Mom who generously agreed to watch him for the meeting we have at school, again attempting to prevent destruction of property

• 2:30 Back to Target for the gift I forgot on my earlier visit & Halloween costume, after stopping in monogram store to order adorable baby gifts (where Arabella picked out her next “wish I had”)

• 3:15 Teacher conference at Calvary

• 4:15 Dance class for Bella

• 5:30 13th Birthday Party for sweet cousin

• 7:30 Home

• 7:35 Clean out kids bookshelves while the kids entertain themselves with the TV

• 8:30 Put Abe to bed and try really hard, with limited success, to get other kids ready for bed

• 9:00 Give up and clean out my dresser, filling a “give away” trash bag with clothes I’ve resigned I’ll never again wear

• 9:50 Sit down in front of Fox News to watch the O’Reilly Factor paused from the hour before

• 10:05 Get frustrated as my boys scurry through the house getting water, etc.. when they are supposed to be asleep

• 10:15 Write this post & check my e-mail

• 10:40 Rotate laundry once more, then head to brush my teeth & wash my face (my nightly “beauty ritual” – ha)

• 10:43 Move Arabella from my bed where she finally crashed, then climb into the spot she warmed

• 10:55 Pray that sleep comes quickly

And interestingly, this schedule seems less frantic than the other days of the week that I spend at my office.  Weird, huh?

I love my life.  Seriously.

 

Real beauty

“You can only perceive real beauty in a person as they get older.”
-Anouk Aimee

This quote hit my inbox on October 4th… my 40th birthday.  Really, it did.  And I love it, more today than last week .  Now, when this old lady gets enough energy, I’ll share more about my special birthday.  It was memorable and marvelous!

A quiet moment in the midst of mayhem

Last night, the usual chaos engulfed our house.  I came home too late from work to feed anyone a proper dinner, requiring them to basically fend for themselves with the help of their sweet father.  Abraham and Arabella were yelling and demanding multiple things of me, including more food.  Joseph needed my help doing a class project that he had procrastinated starting.  And Brad had to run out because the alarm was going off at the church office, then was gone a while because he kindly ran the dreaded grocery store errand to get the necessary frozen waffles and milk.  In the middle of this, Jacob quietly came to me and spoke these words… “Mommy, can we just sit by ourselves and talk about life for a little while?”

So what does a harried mother do with this?  Multiple thoughts entered my mind including all of the reasons “sitting and talking” were not on my evening agenda.  In the end, however, I sat with Jake on the front steps, ignoring everything but the most intense blood-curdling screams and we discussed a little bit of life.  Actually we discussed Dinosaurs, but for an 8 year old, that was close enough.

Those are the moments I will always treasure.  Thank you, Jacob.