Four Little Birds

a table worth writing about...or on

2012-02-27T15:01:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday, Internets!

What did you do this weekend?

My husband and I spent a lot of ours cursing and covered in Still Tidewater. We painted the heck out of our kitchen table and chairs.

A little back story on our meal partaking furniture:

We had a kitchen table and chairs that I bought at a yard sale for 20 bucks many moons ago. It's just a simple affair, with one leaf and four matching chairs. We sanded it and painted it and then beat the crap out of it over the years with our growing brood. Over the years I collected four more chairs and painted them to match.

My friend, Renee, also had a black table that she had painted. She also had baby twins at the time and so the original finish didn't get sanded or stripped before it was painted. Consequently, the paint was a bit chipped and peeling. When they moved to Texas last spring (SNIFF), she sweetly gifted me with this big, sturdy table and chairs. And an elliptical machine, which I totally use all the time....honest...sorta.

Like the only photo I could find of this table and chairs..also featured: Renee's kiddos, Ben, Neill and some burritos.

So, the big table with, like a million leaves, moved into our kitchen and the older table moved into the disused dining room to be covered with a vintage table cloth and piled with brik-a-brak and be...disused.

I've been wanting to refinish the table since May but other things, cute things mainly, kept getting in the way. Well, I finally did it! Or, WE finally did it. My husband can't stand the sight of his wife sitting in a puddle of turquoise paint, holding an electric paint sprayer and crying, apparently.

It turned out AWESOME.

Look how the pretty details on the base show up now!

And here's the best part:

Yep, that's a chalkboard painted tabletop, baby! My mind swims with all the uses this has. And the fun! And it's totally washable.

This morning, the husband looked at the table and said, "You know, I think we need to distress the chairs and the base. It would be much more cohesive with the black showing through."

I'm surprised he didn't start that sentence with "Hey, girl..".

Yes, I'm blessed, ladies. My man knows what "distressed" means and not only that, he's totally right. As soon as I get the chance I'm taking some fine grain sandpaper to this bad boy.

Neill copied a place setting for the other side. So cute.

I'm loving my bright and breezy new table. Thanks, love! And thanks, Renee!

Friday Phone Dump

2012-02-25T10:23:00.000-08:00

Little man and I got to go on a date for lunch. He liked his lunch a bit. Here he is eating the lettuce garnish after inhaling his food.

I found these chairs at Western Eagle, a charity shop. I super puffy heart them but being a good wife, didn't buy them. There were like 30 of them...it was a huge sacrifice on my part that I'm sure the Lord will reward with great spiritual fruit.

My kids' school had a field day...literally. I sat under a tree and had a picnic lunch...three times. Ok, I only ate once, but I sat with each of my boys at their lunch hour. We were there from 10:30 until 1:30. The reality of having four kids.

"And I didn't nap the entire time!"

New kicks! Grey All Stars with yellow argyle laces.

(yes, my house is messy. we live here)

One of my kids pulled this Charlotte Russe shopping bag out of the pantry and left it on the floor. I stepped on it and had an epiphany. I may be too old for grey all stars with yellow argyle laces. Also, apparently I shopped at CR at some point.

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This Moment

2012-02-22T12:59:00.000-08:00

My sweet baby boy, going down for a nap in our heirloom crib. My dad and his brothers, myself and my sisters, and all my boys have slept in this crib. It's soaked with love.

He falls asleep staring in wonder at the bird mobile I made him while he was still just the size of a tangerine. I love seeing the world afresh through my baby's eyes. To be grateful for small wonders. For islands of peace and beauty in stormy seas. <3

Linking up to Found on Beautifully Rooted.

The Storm

2012-02-21T10:21:00.000-08:00

I feel like I'm drowning. Not in my own depression, but in my son's.

I'm at a loss how to help him. He truly keeps me humble because I haven't got a frickin clue what to do with him. He's an emotional roller coaster and a freight train in one. I'm daily knocked off my feet by this strange, complicated, exasperating soul. If he's happy he's over-sharing with strangers or neighbors, jumping up and down, chirping like a smoke detector that's run out of batteries. If he's sad, angry, frustrated or overstimulated he's a psychotic whirlwind; completely out of it, irrational...crazy. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

He holds us hostage emotionally.

There is a tension in our house that never leaves. Even when he's away, we know he will be back soon and there will be stories of all the things he did while he was away and we'll have to apologize and quite possibly find new friends. There will be a meltdown from transitioning back to home.

The islands of peace in this current sea of storms and sharks are so few and small and far between. I know, that for him, the storm is inside and it never stops. There are no islands in his sea, only moments of oblivion where sleep or mindless activities and obsessions bring quiet.

At moments like this, where I sit today, it's hard to conjure up the compassion he deserves. Because deep in my bad mom heart, I wish he was different.

I wish he was normal.

I just want some super nanny to come in and show me what I'm doing wrong and get through to him and "rap" on his level (yo). I want magical pills that take it all away, every behavior, every psychotic thought and irrational emotion. I want God to heal him NOW- on my time.

But thank God I'm not in charge. Even when my heart is torn up and my spirit is defeated and I'm kicking my feet in an internal soul tantrum, I know that God is at work in this mess. I know that he is making beautiful things out of dust. Out of fragile, dirty, imperfect us. There is treasure for us, right here in the detritus and the filth. If he hadn't given me this messy bundle of boy, would I truly understand what his sacrifice for me, when I was still his enemy, really meant. Would I still cling to him like I have to now? Would I be where I am today?

Probably not. I am still convinced that God wants to heal my boy but for now I'm going treasure hunting. I'm going higher, I'm digging deeper. I'm not letting go until I have learned everything God intended for me to learn from this confusing, special child.

And so, I ask you, would you pray for us, please? Pray for my boy, that God would heal his brain and his emotions. That he would restore the years the locusts have eaten. Please pray that God would give me the wisdom to parent this child, That there would be grace abundant, overwhelming and all-consuming, in my household. That we would be gentle and humble with him. That we would show him how much he's loved, even when he is being unlovable.

“At times God puts us through the discipline of darkness to teach us to heed Him. Song birds are taught to sing in the dark, and we are put into the shadow of God’s hand until we learn to hear Him.” -Oswald Chambers, My Upmost For His Highest

Friday, er, Monday Phone Dump

2012-02-20T11:36:00.000-08:00

A couple days late here, but it's all good, yo.

Happy Valentines Day!! Gluten and Dairy Free Truffles made by my mum!

Uh-oh, not so dairy free-she forgot and drizzled with white chocolate which contains...dairy. Bubs screamed and had to be held for 24 hours. Here he is, finally, blessedly asleep.

feeling much better!

rockin' out to big brother's iPod

Benny's Paul Gauguin style pastel

Benny's map drawn from memory in about five minutes. See, he even included that one person who lives in Canada.

My valentine cleaned and organized my pantry for me! He's pretty much the best

Sorry if this weirds you out...get over it. He's the last baby I will nurse. I want to remember this eyelock. <3

"My mama keeps crocheting me bear hats. Help."

two birds danced together over the rooftops

And now for the Saga of Gerald the Giraffe:

(a series of iPhone photos I sent to my sister that all started with the funny position Luke left his stuffed toys in)

Gerald quietly endured Bloomer Bear's wrestling antics. If he didn't make nice, who would teach him how to wear bloomers?

Gerald tried to share his feelings about the rough housing over a cuppa' with BB, whose ginseng tea had not yet arrived.

His sentiments were not well received.

And so, Gerald struggled along on his own.

You can follow me on Instagram: betsibirds

Now, can the kids go back to school??

Friday Phone Dump

2012-02-10T09:59:00.000-08:00

I want to start this weekly phone dump by saying I reallyreallyreally wish I could write here more often. I'm drawn to this keyboard so often during the day but just can't make it. In this season of life I'm in right now I've chosen to be gracious with myself. I can't do it all and I'm not superwoman. My relationship with God, my family and my well-being are priorities. Unfortunately, I don't have much time left for blogging, sewing, painting or crafting. My Pinterest board is chock-a-block with great ideas but like all the rest of you pinners (except the annoyingly productive ones whom we shall ignore) I tend to pin in bed at night right before my eyes fall closed against my will and never actually translate these wonderful ideas into real life.

Poo.

But I will try to stay faithful to this weekly FPD. Newborns and crazy pubescent preteens are but a season and I want to be present for them. As my friend Linda says "Wherever you are, be ALL there."

So, I'll shoot this out quick while baby naps in between my workout and shower and before folding laundry. (wahoo for exciting "me" time.) <~~that was dripping with sarcasm.

spring is on our doorstep

Isaac still picks me flowers

I took Neill and my neice Alli to her bestie's birthday party

making our annual free valentines

Favorite XM station "40s on 4"

Neill set up a whole line of change in this pattern...weirdo

Neill: too pretty for a boy

I almost made it a whole post without exploiting this guy's cuteness. Couldn't resist, sorry!

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Friday Phone Dump

2012-02-03T21:50:00.000-08:00

A haircut has occurred:

Before

(someone save this poor woman from the incredibly boring yak that's on top of her head)

After

(hurrah for grown up hair!)

here's another shot of me with my favorite paper towel roll and a clock on my head.

Initially, the stylist gave me the "Rachel", you know the must-have haircut of the mid-nineties. I pointed this out and then to add insult to injury she stared blankly at me because SHE WAS TOO YOUNG TO KNOW WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT. Yes, that had to be yelled. Thankfully, we overcame our generational gap and I was spared from enduring yet another season of "will they or won't they" sitcom drama.

Here's a photo of the Rachel for all those too young to understand:

"girl hair is hard"- Neill.

Yes, Neill, especially for twenty-year-old stylists.

The shirts I will be returning to H&M. I think he looks awesome but..

"My mom is making me look like a wienie."

"I refuse to wear this in public"

"Aaaah, the poorly made hipster wear burns! It burns, I tell you!"

"Yeah, I totally won this round"

Yes, Ben. But the photos will live forever...on the internets. MWAHAHA.

Ahem, anywho...

I know. It's a sickness. I can't stop taking pictures of this baby sleeping.

and here he is awake and chewing on the teething toy his cousin, Alli made him.

And finally, last Tuesday I was shopping in Joanne's after dropping the kids off at school, when suddenly I looked down. And what did my wondering eyes behold? Slippers. I wish it was 2007 again so I could say "Fail."

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Friday Phone Dump

2012-01-28T15:23:00.000-08:00

Here it goes, another week down!

proof that there is a "Mr. Jenkins". Also, I need to clean up my eyebrows.

I went to a conference last weekend at a friend's church. Elyse Fitzpatrick was speaking! If you haven't read Give Them Grace, I recommend it. Justin and I built this cross when they first planted the church.

I hadn't seen it in a few years and never took pictures of it. unfortunately iPhone didn't really capture it that well.

A close up of one of the little paintings on it that I did. I wrote scripture in gold paint in elvish script. yes, I'm a nerd.

the wall mural I did for the church's coffee room

Isaac doing math...for fun. Weirdo.

Benny reads to Luke while I make dinner.

Oh lord, what am I doing to my kids? Someone get them some Cheetos.

possibly my favorite picture of these two ever

i want to eat these

morning sun thru one of the stained glass candles that my dad made me.

You can follow me on Instagram as betsibirds.

Gettin Real All Up In Heah

2012-01-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

"So, Betsi, how's the new healthy lifestyle going?" (Iwon'tusetheword"diet")

*pulls head out of pint of peanut butter chocolate coconut milk ice cream.*

Oh, yeah, um, well...it was going great for about a week. I was exercising a little every day and watching what I put in my mouth and I lost six pounds! I've got the perfect trifecta of weight loss going here: food groups eliminated due to allergy/sensitivity, exercise and breastfeeding.

So, I thought, hey! I'm doing great. Let's celebrate. And I discovered So Delicious coconut milk ice creams. Oh dear. I have missed ice cream. And now I have made up for it. But I bought them at Sprouts so they have to be healthy, right?! Ok, no.

Time to get back on track. Not just because I don't want to regain all the weight I just worked to lose, but also because, frankly, I'm feeling crappy. Exercise begets energy, energy begets a clean house, a clean house begets less stress eating, less stress eating begets, ahem, regulation, etc...

This whole eating and exercise thing is tricky for me. Not half as tricky as it used to be but it has the potential to spiral out of control if I'm not super conscious of my choices and why I'm making them. Before I could write this post, I made myself eat an apple with some Trader Joe's flax seed peanut butter (soo good). Because writing about food and weight triggers my fears and makes me want to just restrict. It's so much easier and offers immediate rewards of self-righteous good feelings and chemical highs. Peanut butter used to be an absolute, no way in hell, off limits food for me. So I eat it to remind myself that I don't need to be punished for being bad and I'm not going to restrict. I'm just going to make more life-giving choices.

I think most women have a weird relationship with food. We tend to put it in the "bad" or "good" column. Even though food, in and of itself, is not moral. The only foods I put in the "bad" column are the ones that aren't actually food; the over-processed, ingredients you can't pronounce foods. My goal in my house is to eat as close to nature as we can.

With exercise I'm dealing with a double edged sword. On one hand, I love running. It makes me feel free and alive and strong. On the other hand, I used to run until I collapsed. It's embarrassing now to think how I must have looked back then, skin and bones, panting for air, running like a drunken toddler. I'm sure I didn't fool anybody. People looked at me and knew I was sick. But I thought I had them all over a barrel.

That's the scariest part about anorexia. The mind games. Lying to yourself, lying to others. Justifying your lies. Getting caught in your lies. Becoming your lies. Believing the Accuser of my soul that I am worthless and evil and deserve to be punished.

Now things are different. The accusations still come but now the answer is "Yes, I am sinful and I do deserve to be punished. But Jesus took that all. I can never justify myself. He's done it for me. And I am so ridiculously loved that none of that evens matters anymore. I don't need to earn my way into Heaven by being good enough or disciplined enough. And Lord knows, being thin enough won't get me there either. I'm not going to stand before my Jesus, the lover of my soul, and explain why I wasted so much of my earthly existence worrying about my earth suit. These flesh and bones weren't made to last. They weren't meant to be worshipped or hated. They are fearfully and wonderfully made, but they are not the Creator, and therefor, they do not define me. He does."

So, back to the healthy lifestyle makeover. I'm easing back into it. Today, I'm going to rely on the Holy Spirit to help me make wise choices with how I fuel my body. I'm going to do a short run on the elliptical. I'm going to be kind to myself. Because I have been won back from death by my Savior. I am not my own anymore and I want to treat his prize with love and respect.

Friday Phone Dump

2012-01-20T23:00:00.000-08:00

We're in the midst of another Benny meds crisis (or is it the same one, just never ending, only our ability to handle behaviors gets worn down periodically?). Things have been pretty teeth gritting around here. Yes, definitely more than usual. Prayer is gratefully accepted!

The boy had his eleventh birthday on Wednesday. I can't believe he's eleven and yet, I think I've been his mom forever, possibly. I'm not the person I was when I first saw that grainy, undulating little person on the ultrasound screen all those years ago. A new person was born the day he was. I'm her. So, in a way, I guess, who I am today has always been his mother. That's as deep and smarmy as I can go at this point. Too exhausted!

My friend, Linda(thank you!) and I took he and his cousin to Disneyland for the day. We rode Star Tours twice and there were tears and tantrums for about 60% of it. Today he said it was the best day ever. Go figure.

Without further ado, the phone dump:

Marti got totes adorable yellow shoes

baby's kissable mouth

g'morning

love the different street lamps and details at Disney

"it's a world of laughter, a world of tears. it's a world of hopes and a world of fears.."

i want these guys in my house.

there's benny, alex and auntie linda in the middle cup!

As always, you can follow me on Instagram as betsibirds!

{late}friday phone dump

2012-01-07T00:59:00.000-08:00

There's a lot I've wanted to say here lately. But I'm short on time and energy to say it. The inspiration to write inevitably comes while I'm carrying laundry baskets up and down stairs, reaching under a table to scoop up a handful of Legos before vacuuming or changing a diaper. By the time all my tasks are done and my littles are in bed the spirit has moved on and I am exhausted and yearning for a trip to Mitford or an Inspector Lewis rerun.

I've been wanting to talk about (in no particular order):

the challenges to parenting with grace brought on by school holidays
my embarkation on a journey back to healthy living and a non-pregnant body able to run miles again
gluten and dairy free recipes I've concocted and found
how lovely and gorgeous it is to have a baby
how exhausting and stressful it is to have a sensitive baby

I've also been bogged down by some sadness that comes from loss of relationship with loved ones. This isn't something I choose to talk about here as it could hurt feelings and betray familial loyalties. But it's been weighing on my heart and mind and causing a blockage of my creative arteries...ewww. That didn't come out quite right. But you get it, right?

I hope to get to those other topics soon. For now, here is my FPD:

bathing beauty

one of three hoop art pieces i made for jenny for christmas

shopping with my niece, alli

he tends to overdo it in the eating department from time to time

a "before" picture in my exercise wear to kick off my return to healthy living (note maternity clothes bags and unmade bed/general dishevelment in background)

proof that i do make my bed on occasion. also proof that justin rebuilt our bed which has laid on the floor since it broke on christmas morning, three years ago when the whole family jumped into it together and there was a mighty CRACK and a topple. i will never again take having a real bed for granted...except in the photo before this where i neglected to make it.

need for honesty causes me to take less flattering front shot of postpartum me, double chin and all (note bed is now made)

this is how we survive school holidays. don't judge. they were wearing proper clothes and reading tolstoy right before i snapped this picture. honest.

As always, you can follow me on Instagram under betsibirds.

Until another more coherent day or one where I simply put a little more effort in, ta ta.

A New Year on the way...

2011-12-30T09:41:00.000-08:00

And then there's this, because it's soo adorable:

Our Christmas and Belated Phone Dump

2011-12-28T14:33:00.000-08:00

How was your Christmas?

Our's was fairly decent. Gifts were exchanged, turkey was consumed, autistic meltdowns abounded and one wee babe screamed from teething and gas pains all day.

The highlight for me was the scavenger hunt we set up for the boys to get their "big" present. They had to find and follow clues and then put all their clues together to figure out what their gift was. It ended up being annual passes to Disneyland! And, yes! I am way more excited about them than they are at this point! They either haven't been to or don't remember Disneyland between the four of them. We're going next week when Justin has a day off. Maybe our little boogers will be a little more excited once we get there. I showed them youtube videos of D-land to get them psyched. It worked..slightly.

Because I was all kinds of mad busy last Friday I didn't get my Friday Phone Dump up. So, let's do it now!

Grammy gets a cuddle

Neill wandered a little too close to my wrapping station

totally creepy tv box kid living in my closet. makes me jump every time I see it out of the corner of my eye.

out for a girl's only day (plus Luke, but he's not very masculine yet) for

sister Marti's birthday! I won't say how old she is. (very)

pre-Christmas Eve candlelight service

the ornament we used as the last clue in the kids scavenger hunt!

this is how to make your christmas house into a halloween house: eerie green porch light + half burned out giant snowflake that now resembles a spider

Hope your Christmas was grand and that you are properly recuperating.

Christmas Traditions

2011-12-18T23:37:00.000-08:00

I have always loved Christmas, a LOT.

Growing up, Christmas was truly magical. There were traditions; going to the Christmas tree farm, with saw in hand and cutting down our tree, decorating said tree while we all felt habitually sicker and sicker (years later we would discover we are all allergic to pine trees and half of us are allergic to the gluten and sulphites in the cookies we were scarfing down), baking a kajillion cookies (extra sulphites added), playing the Nutcracker Suite and Holiday Classics records (I'm old, get over it.) and the Midnight Mass cassette tapes (see, not that old). I clearly remember the excitement we felt on Christmas Eve, tucked in our beds, when no one was stirring, not even a...oh, wait, no. My mom was definitely up. Filling stockings, finishing icing the Christmas Stollen bread and making sure there were tater tots for the eggy casserole goodness that passed as our only non-sugar food source until the turkey dinner.

why, yes, the 154 million feet of lighted garland is a pain to fluff and wrap around the banisters. but totally worth it.

We didn't "do" Santa. My dad had the traumatic experience, as a lad of five, of hiding behind the wing back chair in the living room, to catch Santa and discovering it was his mother putting the presents under the tree. It was 1950 and Christmas was a sham and his mother a liar. He started drinking heavily and doubting the existence of God or something along those lines. So, yeah, we never "did" Santa in our house.

our school does a Kindergarten Polar Express parade every year. the parents have to make a train car out of a box for their youngling. this was one of the dodgiest, most slap dash cars there. people in this town need to get a life.

My family now-a-days don't "do" Santa either. For many and various reasons that I'm not really interested in debating. Seriously, immediately following religion and politics, nothing gets people more het up than voicing your views on the jolly old elf. I think it's really what started WW2. Poland was all "Santa's the real deal. You're all killing the magic of Christmas." and Hitler was all "Oh yeah? Well, the Easter Bunny's a sham too!" and then there was much bloodshed.

Four Little Birds. Making light of history's darkest hours since 2010.

he was known for his excellent finger strength due to strenuous daily digit exercises.

Anywho, we have shared the real story of Saint Nicholas with our kiddos. So they know who he is. And they have been threatened with all kinds of wrath should they utter the truth to any other children. We have explained that some parents like to "play" Santa with their kids and it's not up to us to interfere.

Last Christmas an older gentleman, standing in line with us at the grocery store checkout, asked Neill (then four) if Santa was coming to his house. Neill gave him an impatient look and said "Of course not! Santa's DEAD."

Needless to say, the elderly gentleman looked at me like I had just clubbed a sack of baby seals to death.

My parents didn't need Santa to make Christmas magical. You know, it really is true that you don't understand how much your parents did for you growing up until you are a parent. Christmas wasn't magical all on it's own. My parents made it magical. They instilled the traditions. They spent time with us and allowed us to be involved in all the excitement and celebration of our Savior's birth. They climbed step ladders in the cold to hang big, colored lights on the house (which I still think are pure, unspeakable delight), they spent weeks staying up well past midnight to sew little dresses for our dolls and fairy ballet costumes for us. And it was all wrapped up and surrounded by what Sufjan Stevens calls "that creepy Christmas feeling". That other-worldly, Word-become-flesh, God incarnate thing that transports us all from our comfortable suburban reality into a stable where an inexperienced teen girl and a nervous carpenter somehow delivered God himself safely into the world, screaming and covered in amniotic fluid.

"my mother leaves me on the floor under the tree. but aren't I adorable?"

The story of Jesus' birth is very intentional in our celebration of Christmas. We enjoy our advent calender. Each day yields a chocolate treat and a couple verses from the first two chapters of the book of Luke. Candy and scripture is often paired together in my house. After all, in Biblical times they would give children pieces of honeycomb for memorizes parts of the Torah. It's ok to teach your children that the Word of God yields good things in our lives.

Every year my kids "help" decorate the tree (admittedly fake. allergies, you know). They usually hang a couple ornaments and then wander off to play a computer game or spill something sticky. This year though, they hung every ornament. Every. German. Hand. Blown. Glass. Ornament. It was terrifying. There was such speed and excitement and loudness. And yet, not a single ornament was broken. See? Existence of God proven.

And I am proud of myself. Because I let them do it and I decided that even if one broke, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Or even that important. unless it was the cuckoo clock or the giant mushroom or the bluebird or the weird toadstool gnome guy.

And after they went to bed, I moved half the ornaments up north. And hid the pickle deep in the branches at the back of the tree. On Christmas Eve, they go searching for it and whoever finds it gets a little prize. Usually a forgotten chocolate from a missed day in the advent calender or something equally lame. I'm only one woman here, people.

every year we have a little snowflake cutting party on the first cold night of winter.

We also make a lot of cookies. This year I've made one batch regular and a half a batch gluten and dairy free of my favorite recipes. And so, as a little week before Christmas gift, I will leave you with my recipe for Chocolate Candy Cane Crackles, gluten and dairy free!

yeah, they kinda look like poo, but trust me, they are SOOO delicious.

Chocolate Candy Cane Crackles

Ingredients:
1 1/4 c. rice flour (or preferred gluten free flour, fine flour works best)
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. Earth Balance vegan margarine
1/3 c. l. brown sugar, packed
1/3 c. sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
8 oz. candy canes, finely crushed

Directions:
1. Preheat oven 350*. Grease cookie sheet
2. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine until thoroughly mixed.
3. Combine butter and sugars. Cream. Add egg and vanilla, beat to combine.
4. With mixer on low, spoon in dry ingredients; mix to combine. Add crushed candy, mix until evenly combined.
5. Spoon dough into 1" scoops. Place 3" apart and flatten slightly. Bake 10-12 min.
6. Remove sheet from oven and immediately use a metal spatula to neaten any edges where any candy may have melted out. Let cookies cool for 5 minutes on sheet. Transfer to waxed paper or wire cooling rack. Makes 4 dozen.

Thanks for the early Christmas present, husband! I love being able to listen to Pandora through real! speakers while I bake.

Merry Soon-To-Be Christmas!

Friday Phone Dump

2011-12-16T09:48:00.000-08:00

It's that time again. And can I just say I was shocked to realize it was Friday again. Timegoingtoofast. Babygrowinguptooquickly. Mustcaptureeveryblessedmoment!

(I just prefaced these pictures that way so you won't think I'm a jerk for only having pictures of my smallest manchild to put up this week. Really I do like the other ones too, ~~kinda~~. They just aren't around and in my arms as much as this ickle little thing. and they also no longer have chubby cheeks and squishy thighs.)

So, here's we go:

nobody makes me smile like daddy

gotta love giant fake gumdrops

lisa's visiting from minnesota! luke is suspicious.

mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys. leave that to their babyhood.

seriously, this kid has the best shoe collection.

we do love our morning bath with mommy

loving baking with my boys

oh, well, hi there, little one. it's been at least one photo since we've seen you. nice double chin.

most fantastic golden light. i had to capture it, even if only through a dirty window in a moving car. i think there's a metaphor for my life in this somewhere...

wonder.

christmas through the eyes of a child.

Follow me on Instagram as betsibirds.

The kids get off for Christmas break this afternoon. I haven't decided whether to pack each day so full of holiday cheer and activities they won't have a chance to be naughty or start digging a bunker in the backyard to crawl into with three weeks worth of tinned beef and peaches until the nuclear holocaust that is my children neutralizes.

I think I'm just going to end every post this way from now on:

Pray for me.

When my kid sins

2011-12-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

Parental guilt has reached near catholic levels. One of my kids came home with FOUR disciplinary referrals last week. He was doing ok this week, with the addition of a good behavior sticker chart. The siren call of earning real dollars(!!) that would eventually culminate in a trip to the Dollar Store(!!!)seemed to be working its charm on him.

I just got a call from the assistant principal. He spent lunch in her office. And could we please sign and return the disciplinary referral and "follow up at home"?

I felt like I'd spent lunch in the principal's office. I apologized for his behavior, because I really do feel so responsible.

But what does she mean by "follow up"? Do I just talk it over with him and remind him of the sticker chart's many charms? Or do I take away his toys and privileges? Indentured servitude? Keel haul? (wait I have no boat)

I emailed his teacher last week with an "I'm so sorry, how can we help, here's what we're doing, any advice?" letter.

It puts me to mind of a letter received by one of the teachers my sister worked with at an elementary school. The teacher had sent home a note explaining that their son had been misbehaving. The east African father responded with "Please, in the name of God, we are very sorry. Our son has been sternly punished. He will not behave poorly ever again."

I wish my husband was east African. I think my little booger could use a stern punishment or as I like to call it, putting a little of the fear of the Lord in him.

But all this guilt, anger and hurt isn't going to solve the problem. In fact, I can't solve it. What needs looking at here is his heart and what the Holy Spirit's up to.

Last Wednesday, after a rough day, I felt compelled to extend to him mercy. He was grounded to his room for the third day in a row and I was at a loss for what to do when I opened up a daily devotional I have e-mailed to me. (sign up here for free!) it was all about Mercy. How mercy is not getting the punishment you have coming to you. How granting mercy to others means laying aside your hurt and frustrated feelings and not holding them accountable to repay the debt. It's deeper than forgiveness. Mercy often hurts the giver. It is deciding to put myself, my feelings and desires on the altar, rather than my offender. It is a huge act of trust, especially as a parent, because I have to take my hands off my child's heart and leave him to the Holy Spirit.

I took a deep breath, conferred with Jesus on whether this was for sure the right thing to do, and then I let go.

I walked into his room, reminded him of God's mercy for him and His grace through Jesus and then told him I forgave him and let's go bake cookies.

Later that night as I tucked him in, he said "Mommy, you know when you asked me if Jesus was living in my heart still? Well, I was kidding. He's not in there. Can he come in now?"

And we sat there on his bed, cuddled up in his blanket and prayed together. Afterwards I told him the angels and God were having a party in Heaven. He liked that. He said there was cake.

So, what did my son's sin bring about? The knowledge that he needed a Savior. What did Mercy do for him? It led him to repentance.

"Or do you think so little of the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that it is God's kindness that is leading you to repentance?" Romans 2:4

Did he wake up the next morning praising the Lord, face shiny, shoes polished and praying for the poor? Nope. His sin nature is still in tact for now. For that matter, 29 years after asking Jesus into my heart, so is mine.

My job is simply to continue to turn to the Holy Spirit for my parental instructions. Dang, that's so hard to remember to do, isn't it? And so scary too. It means I'm giving up my control to Him. And discovering that He usually doesn't give the fix-it-now answer. He tends to work like a little flashlight, only illuminating the path immediately in front of me. He promises to give me what I need in parenting and in life, for today only.

There are no quick fixes in parenting. After all, God's not after my good behavior. He's after my heart. Shouldn't this be the model for my parenting?

But, still, it would be nice if my kid could stop being such a boogerhead...

Friday Phone Dump

2011-12-09T12:33:00.000-08:00

Fa La La!

(edited with Pixlromatic, free photo app)

I've been wanting to get here to write all week but, alas and alack, I have a family. And some of them have had VERY hard weeks. I had an IEP meeting for Isaac that was very discouraging. Not because we didn't get the services we wanted but because he is not doing as well as we had hoped. Last year at our annual meeting we were talking about possibly no longer needing services at our three year review. Now it looks like we'll be needing MORE services.

Another son got THREE disciplinary referrals this week and a trip to the principal's office. He was grounded to his room for two afternoons. He has a good behavior at school chart waiting for him on the fridge. So far not one sticker has even touched it.

Two kids have been battling asthma attacks and I've been up in the night for both feedings and nebulizer treatments.

And two of my kids are currently undergoing medication reassessments. It may possibly be all One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest around here. If you don't hear from me in the next month, I've either been admitted or am in prison.

Then there were the general moments like this:

My boys make quick work of trashing my pantry floor. In their defense, they were only trying to get snacks and were very very sorry. In there judgement, they were meant to be in bed. I was upstairs in Luke's room trying to nurse him to sleep when they came in howling about breaking something. "What?" I said. "It's black and thick.", they replied. "Where?", I queried. "In the pantry!", they explained. "$@#*.", I said. At this exact moment, Benny began screaming for me from his bedroom downstairs and the front doorbell rang (UPS).

Molasses.

I'm also making a lot of our Christmas gifts. I can't show you most of them because the giftees might be reading this blog. (and if their not, they are now off my gifting list. ok, not really. really.)

But I can show you my niece, Alli's. Because she doesn't read this blog. She is five. She can't read the big words I use like "mustachioed" and "whipplethwaite". So, here it is:

As a wee girl, I learned to sew making dresses for my American Girl dolls. I made this dress and hat for Allie's doll she is getting for Christmas using a reproduction vintage doll dress pattern. I dug my old Felicity doll out of my Hopes Deferred chest and fit it to an AG doll. And I discovered that I LOVE making doll clothes. I'd forgotten how much fun it is.

another photo just to show the cute little pleats.

I got to see my friend Carrie at our Bible study's annual Christmas Cookie Decorating party. She and I have matching baby Lukes. Her four-year-old Kyle and my Neill named their brothers Luke. Sometimes in the dead of night, when no one is around, Carrie and I whisper "Trenton" and "James" respectively into our baby's ears. But we know when we've lost. Besides, they are both pretty good "Lukes".

Remind me to get some taller friends. I'm looking rather Amazonian next to Carrie. But then, her baby is almost as big as she is. He is, admittedly, HUGE. He's four months and almost 20 lbs.

I've been doing a lot of Christmas decorating too! My most favoritest type of decorating.

(Pixlromatic)

If you're on Instagram, you can follow me as betsibirds.

Here's to the weekend! Wahoo! Wait..that means the children will be home. Ah, crap. Pray for me.

Friday Phone Dump

2011-12-02T11:51:00.000-08:00

I've decided to jump on the blog bandwagon with Friday Phone Dump.

I love my iPhone. I love Instagram! It's so fun and, dude, it's free! If you own a smart phone, I highly recommend installing this app.

Incidentally, you can view my photostream on Instagram under betsibirds.

Upcoming FPD's won't have such a plethora of photos. I just have a few from the last couple weeks I just can't help sharing!

Luke is fattening up nicely

And is quite a happy baby

Gluten and Dairy Free Gingerbread!

Benny loving Luke's new interest in toys

Neill channeling Winston Churchill (it's a tootsie roll)

How we love the rain!

Isaac thinks having a baby is pretty sweet.

Is there anything sweeter than a sleeping baby?

My sister Marti, Mom, Luke and I went with our friend Linda to Shinoda Design Center in San Diego to score some gorgeous Christmas and home decor

I fell in love with this light fixture there. I want to be Mrs. This-Light-Fixture. Unfortunately Mr. This-Light-Fixture was $$$. Currently trying to figure out how to jerryrig up a knock-off for myself.

Baby Eyelashes

Chubby baby hands

What do you mean I take a lot of pictures of this little guy? This picture is purely to show his new Naartjie play suit...yeah, ahem.

We took a lot of trips to parks while the boys were off school for Thanksgiving.

Luke wasn't all that impressed by the parks. He generally slept through them. And they apparently induce ennui in me, according to this picture.

Fall is upon us.

We walk/scoot to a park about a mile away. Great exercise but my back was killing me from carrying baby in the Moby by the time we got home. Got build up those muscles!

Matching mommy/baby elf ears

New top and back in some pre-pregnancy jeans (admittedly generous fitting pair!). Note the bags of maternity clothes behind me and the little boy underwear artistically tossed on the floor.

Talkin' Turkey

2011-11-26T23:20:00.000-08:00

Our Thankful Tree for this year:

My favorite leaf? My niece, Alli, is thankful for mice. I think because she wanted to draw them.

How was your Thanksgiving? Or Thursday for non-American readers?

We had a chill dinner at my parent's house.

We normally go up to Justin's relatives in northern California but this year we skipped the long drive because we have a newborn and we are not insane.

I also normally eat mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie but this year with the new diet I was afraid these were lofty and unreachable dreams.

The potatoes, maybe. But I had my pie and I ate it too. And it was gooood.

Forgive my iPhone picture. I forgot to bring my camera to dinner. But we remembered all the kids, so there's that.

So I decided to share the recipe I used to make not only gluten and dairy free pumpkin pie, but also g and d free whipped cream! Yay! Enjoy my fellow wheat and dairy challenged friends.

Gluten and Dairy Free Pumpkin Pie

For the crust I used a pie crust mix by The Gluten-Free Pantry. Order a box here.
I lined my crust with parchment paper and filled it with dry pinto beans at weight and prebaked it 15 minutes at 400*. Remove and let cool before adding filling.

Filling:
found here

Ingredients:

15 ounces Canned Pumpkin

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon all-spice

1/8 teaspoon cloves

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup organic coconut milk

Directions:

1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.Combine pumpkin, sugar, freshly grated ginger, cinnamon, all-spice and cloves in a bowl. Stir in eggs. Gradually add coconut milk. Stir ingredients until creamy and smooth.

3.Pour pumpkin mixture into the pie crust. Bake in the middle rack in the center of the oven for about 1 hour (or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean.) Set pumpkin on wire rack to cool for at least 1 hour before serving.

It looked and tasted just like everybody else's pie...maybe better. (sorry, Mom)

Gluten and Dairy Free Whipped Cream
found here

Ingredients:

2 cans of coconut milk full fat

1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Place your cans of coconut milk in the refrigerator for a minimum of 24 hours. The longer the better.

Also, place your bowl and whip into the freezer for at least 3 hours to chill. I used my Kitchen Aid mixer's balloon whisk.
Once you take your bowl and whip out of the freezer and set up the mixer do not waste time. You need to keep the equipment cold. Open the cans at the bottom with a bottle opener to drain off the coconut water. Save this it is great for smoothies. Now open the top of the can all the way and scoop out the thick cream.

Start your mixer on low and move up 1 or 2 notches for speed until you get to moderate. As it starts to whip and increase in volume, gradually add in the powdered sugar. Once it’s mixed and looks fluffy like whipped cream, well you now have whipped cream.

It did taste of coconut for the first couple bites but after that it just tasted whipped creamy.

I'll leave you with two of my reasons for being thankful this year:

Now to decorate for Christmas...

(have I mentioned the sleep deprivation?)

Sleepless, Starving and Seriously Surly

2011-11-14T21:13:00.000-08:00

That's some alliteration, there. And it's not just meaningless words. It is all true, people. Unfortunately. I'm a bit sharp right now. Sharp like a well-aged cheddar...cheddar I can't even eat.

Thankfully, my first line of defense is always humor. So add "sarcastic" to that alliterative conglom.

Here's a picture of a sleeping and smiling Luke to keep you baby lovers happy, courtesy of iPhone Instagram.

Luke is finally feeling better. I no longer have to suck nasty snot strings out of his nose and his breathing has returned to normal. He's starting to become a little less of a limpet (I'll take "alliteration" for 500, Alex). Though he is currently snuggled up against my chest in his Moby wrap. He did something amazing last night. He only woke up once, at 3 am for a feeding!

I'll tell you, that would have been bliss if this was a perfect world. But it's not and so I was up most of the night with Isaac who was suffering from massive asthma. After several treatments, steam shower saunas (Give me an "A" for alliteration!), and a dose of steroids he was sitting on the floor, rattly chested and grey as a Dementor. I woke up Justin and they took a 4 am trip to the ER.

He is currently sitting on the couch having a breathing treatment, wide awake and pretty much crazy as a cracked-out hobo. No sleep, tons of steroids and constant coughing have him hyper, short-tempered and so pathetic that I can't possibly be mad at him for his naughtiness.

Behind me is two pounds of ground beef, thawing in the sink, dreaming about being a lovely lasagna or a tempting Serbian ground beef and potato bake. But alas, it's about to be very disappointed. Because now I can't have Gluten, Dairy and Potatoes. Jury is still out on Beans. I haven't attempted them again yet.

I'm down eight pounds.

Yay. ::thweet:: let's throw a stinkin' party. Oh, wait, I can't eat anything.

Ok, I'm not really that surly about it. Ok, a little. All right, I'm not Jesus here, people.

I've dieted before. I've even super dieted before (read anorexic). But this dieting without wanting to diet is kind of brutal. Especially, considering the "used to be anorexic" part. It messes with my head. I want to follow this diet to keep my baby's tummy happy. (anyone who's had a baby with tummy problems/colic give me an "amen") I'm afraid of eliminating whole food groups though. I used to do that all the time. To get skinny. Inevitably, it would lead to the elimination of all food groups but two: coffee and cigarettes.

I WILL NOT go there again. God help me. Not EVER again. But the old demons (and I'm being literal here, people) whisper tempting things in my ear like "Oooh, now you're going to get back into your pre-pregnancy jeans in record time. Hey, if you cut out all sugar, you could do one better and end up in your pre-children size again!" That there is a very slippery slope and I can't even entertain those lies for two seconds.

I know I am already vulnerable. I am still, as expected, post pregnancy squishy. I have a "fussy" baby and a consumptive son. Benny is on a bi-polar, my-life-is-upside-down, autistic bender. Justin is back at work and working late just about every night. I'm exhausted.

And so I will be hyper-vigilant. I'm not gonna let that crap in my door. It robbed me of my first baby's first year. I will not allow it to steal from me again. I'm determined. And what's better, I'm telling everyone about it. It loves the dark, it loves the secret places and the shame. It feeds on it and grows as I shrink, in body, in soul, in strength.

I worked too damned hard to climb out of that pit five years ago to slip so seamlessly back in. I am not the Devil's patsy. I am a daughter of the king. And I have victory over it in Him.

Well, this post kinda grew legs and took me in a completely different direction. A good direction, I think. Thanks for uh, listening. ::rolls off the psych couch::

Time to go cook the heck out of this ground beef...poor chub, he had such dreams...

A New Name!

2011-11-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

Well, the decision is made. After all that, I pretty much just went with the obvious. My blog title is now Four Little Birds. So, I kinda went rebel on y'all. I dropped the My. Because my children belong to the world. Ok, no, it just sounded better to me.

Plus it's a poem by Mary Mapes Dodge:

Four Little birds all flew from their nest

Flew North, Flew south, flew east and west;

They thought they would like a wider view,

So they spread their wings and away they flew.

Which ties nicely into this post.

My address hasn't changed though. I'll do that eventually when I have a little more time and tech savvy confidence.

Ta ta!

The Ramblings of Sleep Deprivation

2011-11-08T13:53:00.000-08:00

Hello all you glorious readers! Thanks for sticking with me, even though I've been MIA. It warms the cockles of my heart to think of you all sitting pensively at your computers/smart phones, waiting for new word treasure to appear on my blog once again...Pfft, ok, seriously, just thanks if you are still reading.

It's been all crazy up in here. Firstly, I got a newborn. You know what that means. If you don't, then bless your well-rested little head.

We've discovered that baby Luke suffers from the dreaded "food sensitivities". That means that I can't eat because it hurts his tum-tum. Ok, I can eat some food. I am pretty sure dairy is the culprit, so we're off that. I also went off wheat and beans as they are chief suspects as well. I'm in the elimination diet phase. After a few more days I'll try adding things back in my diet one at a time to see what's kosher.

But let me tell you, dairy is in EVERYTHING. I'm pretty much just eating meat and veggies and fruit. So far it's been going just fine. No awful food withdrawals or cravings. I actually feel *better*. Oh, crap. This doesn't mean I am actually "sensitive" too, does it? Nonononono. I love lattes, cookies, cakes and bread. Let's not even go there.

I've found that Starbucks gingerbread lattes with soy milk are still quite delicious...but give me raging heart burn. Poo. But baby's tummy is SOO much happier now. No awful stinky gas and crying. Yay! So, it's worth it.

He isn't all smiles and pooping rainbows though. No, poor lil' love got hiself a cold from Daddy and the brothers. I took him to the doctor ASAP and it was discovered that he already had an ear infection starting! Little Snuffles had to get two shots of antibiotics in his fat little thighs yesterday and two today. He's feeling much better though, saints be praised. It is too cruel for such an ickle little baby to be sick.

Oh, did I mention that he now weighs 11 lbs, 7 ozs? Yeah, I think he's still a pretty good eater even with all his illness and sensitivities.

With all this snot suctioning, breath counting and dairy avoidance, sleep hasn't been so readily available; nor has free time. I get a lot of tv watching and reading done though! I have to say though (warning: unaffiliated and uncompensated product endorsement ahead) I LOVE my Moby wrap right now! Our sink would be filled with dishes and my children would be running around neck-ed if it weren't for that blessed thing. Luke loves it too. Totally worth the price.

Plus, I secretly think I give off this earthy, confident, hip mom vibe when I wear it out in public. I think people believe all kinds of things about me, like that I only feed my kids organic, homemade foods and that we don't own a tv and that they can all speak french or tagalog or something.

All of which, of course, is true.

Thanks to better parenting through baby wearing. Heck, the nurse at my pediatricians office called me "very wise" and "such a great mom" at our visit yesterday. Moby magic, people.

Ok, time to continue my stellar parenting by not forgetting to pick up Neill from Kindy. And, yeah, while waiting with the other moms, I will totally one up Skinny Gym Mommy with my Moby magic. Booyah.

(sorry there are no photos this time around. "No pictures for you!"-to be read in the soup nazi's voice)

Warning: Copious Amounts of Baby Pictures

2011-10-25T21:30:00.000-07:00

I got so many fantastic suggestions for the new blog title! Thanks, guys! I'm still making my final decision (indecisiveness also comes with baby brain, I guess). Plus, I have to go about the nitty gritty details of changing my blog name on Blogger. whoopie.

I finally did it, internets. I finally relearned how to crochet! My nana taught me how to crochet when I was seven but years of disuse, heavy drinking* and the births of my four children had wiped the information from my brain.

I asked many people to teach me but it just wasn't getting done. Finally my mother bought me a book (hint taken, mom, thanks. jk) and both my husband and I tried to muddle our way through the basic steps. Finally in despair, I turned to Youtube. And I learned crocheting in no time flat. I also watched a series of videos on making this hat:

And as you can see by Exhibits A, B and C, my baby is not only cute, but I crocheted the heck out of that hat. Here's a link, in case you're interested in this easy tutorial.

Here is a filler photo of Luke with the lightsaber that Neill said was just his size.

(son, you're doing it wrong)

I also fit in a photo shoot of my youngest progeny. Which is really awesome as I never seem to get good pictures of my own kids. I took a couple grapevine wreaths and some moss and we made ourselves a human baby sized nest.

Thank you Marti for being my baby wrangler. And Mom, for holding his pants when we took them off...and hovering around trying to get pictures on your camera like the over zealous mother-of-the-bride at that wedding I photographed.

Marti demonstrates the right way to baby wrangle...

...and the wrong.

And Thank you, Luke, for being all sweet and snuggly and sleeping peacefully the whole time. I treasure these photos...and this rare moment of offspring cooperation.

(what other children? Oh, yeah...)

Well, the big boys are in bed and the baby's sleeping and I'm going to go catch a couple winks myself while I can, like all the baby books and old ladies at church tell you too. Or I'm going to watch some 30 Rock with the mister. I'll let you decide which you want to believe. Choose your own adventure!

*ok, just kidding

What's in a name?

2011-10-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

Well, one of my boys isn't in the name for starters. Yes, it's time for a new name! But, unfortunately, I just had a baby and have sleep deprivation baby brain. So I can't think so good.

I need your help, internets! What should we call this here blog now that there are four birds in our nest? I want your opinions. Get creative, think outside the box! If I choose a name that one of you came up with, you may just win a prize! Like my undying friendship and gratitude...or a sweet bauble from my much neglected, in hibernation Etsy shop!

Here are a few names I've been thinking about, in no particular order:

* {Boy}ling Over
* The Brothers Four
* My Little Men
* Four Little Men
* Four Little Birds
* The Sausage Factory

Ok, I may have been kidding about that last one. Though it's starting to feel decidedly slanted towards the male agenda around here. Maybe I want to watch House Hunters International instead of football or The Wild Kratts...

So what are your thoughts, dear readers?

Baby Pumpkin

2011-10-14T19:13:00.000-07:00

First things first: I promised you people some "real" pictures of fresh baby flesh. So here ya go:

And this one just cuz it's funny when newborns cross their eyes:

Benny's really loving this newest brother:

In fact all the brothers are madly in love with their baby. Thank the Maker!

I haven't had time to take some real artsy type photos, what with nursing every two hours, raising three other boys and hobbling around wondering why giving birth hurt so much more this time and it's taking so much longer to heal. Thankfully, my dear husband has a few weeks off for paternity leave and he's been taking such good care of us all! I know you're jealous. I'm pretty blessed.

I'm going to sit down one of these days and write out his birth story. It's not really amazing or different but it's his and I want to remember it.

Tonight the boys and I boo-ed our neighbors. It's always fun to have a legitimate reason to ding-dong-ditch...

And we'll finish up with some more gratuitous baby shots:

proud big brother!

Does your uterus ache?

Introducing...

2011-10-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

Luke Emerson Jenkins!

Born October 4th at 2:47 am

Weighing 8 lbs, 7 ozs

Measuring 21 inches long

We are doing great. Luke just had his first doctor's visit today and was declared "perfect" by his pediatrician! We are settling into life as a family of six and loving every minute of it.

I will be on a bit of a hiatus as I focus on getting to know this new little beauty. I'll be stopping by in a few days with some new, non-iphone generated pictures. Cuz I gots to show him off. He's seriously cute.

The whole family is already SO in love with our littlest fella! Thanks for all the prayers and support!

Eviction Notice

2011-09-26T22:53:00.000-07:00

EVICTION NOTICE

DATE OF NOTICE: September 27, 2011

TENANT IN POSSESSION: Luke E. Jenkins

LEASED PREMISES: Betsi/Momma

To: Tenant listed above

You are hereby notified that although you have been an outstanding tenant for the last 39 weeks, the time has come to find alternative living arrangements. Over the course of your lease agreement, you have extended said premises not only in the front (which was discussed and part of the lease agreement), but also throughout the remaining exterior of the home. The changes made to the interior of the home such as remodeling, alterations of vital load bearing walls, and alterations made on the plumbing were never approved and will cause a very time-consuming restoration process.

NOTICE You are being asked to remove yourself and all belongings from the premises within EIGHT DAYS of receiving this notice bringing you to October 5, 2011; however, arrangements can be made due to special circumstances to extend the date by FOURTEEN DAYS (please don't do this to me). Early departure will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your cooperation,

Love,
Momma

(Note: I found this floating around the interwebs and thought it was funny. No idea who the original author was!)

You know you're a mother when...

2011-09-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

You find yourself, nine months pregnant, struggling to breathe due to the 20 lb. pot roast that has taken up residence in your abdomen, trapped underneath a sleeping five-year-old who is covered in a rash and sores from a medically freakish combination of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease, Impetigo and Staph infection, when your ten-year-old plunks down next to you and decides that this is the moment when you will fill in the missing pieces and details of where babies come from.

Almost at this moment, but not in time to save you from the conversation, you will hear a loud crash and splash from the bathroom, followed by your eight-year-old saying "Oh, Great!".

Motherhood is a beautiful, beautiful thing, people.

And because I don't have pictures of the incident:

And just so you can freak out along with me at Neill's medical enigma:

Did I mention that Neill came down with this over the weekend? The weekend we had our turn at hosting his classroom's mascot stuffed animal, Puddles the Frog? Yeah. I Lysoled the heck out of that frog. We left the whole "quarantine" bit out of Puddles' journal...

A Little More "Me"

2011-09-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

(Pardon the mess. Redecorating in process..)

I've mentioned before how much I detest the faux finish in our living/dining room. It has been a thorn in my side for two and a half years. That's way too long. Don't mock my pain. It's very real.

I mean, check this out:

What color is that? I named it Effervescent Poopstain.

Well, we finally got permission from the landlord to paint. My mom was there in about five seconds with her painting clothes on and yards of plastic drop cloths.

And thanks to her and my sister, Jenny, this is now the beauty I get to daily behold:

Bask.

These bookcases are totally on their way out. They were like 20 bucks at Target ten years ago. On the lookout for super cool/vintage bookcases to paint!

I adore it. Before the walls were painted I had begun to question my decorating style. I was all maybe I don't know what I'm doing with my decor. But now, I'm like THIS is what I was doing! It makes sense!

The next project to be conquered was the nursery. First we kicked the 33-year-old out. Seriously, we love you, Megan. We also got permission to paint these walls! Wahoo! Once again, Mom came with her plastic drop cloths and paint rollers and painted the heck out of that nursery.

Yep, cat's outta the bag! This is bubba's name.

I also finally finished the bedding. I am soo pleased with the outcome!

We got the stroller and car seat and the baby shower is next weekend! I am almost 37 weeks so this is all a bit by the skin of our teeth! But as of next Sunday, baby can come!

Linky-linky!

The World's Longest Yard Sale- Part 3

2011-09-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

Traditional Kentucky rock walls

Our final day of the yard sale dawned and we set off to tackle a portion of the Kentucky route. We hit some traditional yard sales and a field sale or two. We also stopped at a really cool old house, turned boutique, with a barn full of dusty old furniture and tent sales set up all around.

Jenny found a really cool ice blue wooden shipping crate, Jenni found a beautiful antique gate leg table, I found a brand new Angel baby monitor and Mom found some dear small things.

Jenny and Jenni also found an antique table to use as a conference desk in the showroom. Great deals were had and the trailer was unpacked and repacked one last time before we headed off Highway 127 at Frankfort and back towards Greensboro.

Oh yeah, and we also stopped for ice cream at the Dairy Queen. Where Jenny and Jenni decided to wash their dusty feet...in the bathroom sink. A couple ladies walked in during these ablutions. They really didn't know what to do with us, so they pretended it wasn't happening. Especially when we scrambled to dry off the wet floor with paper towels before they used the sink...

We had one more stop to make on our way home. Jenni's in-laws in the mountain town of Beattyville, KY had generously offered to let us stay with them. On the drive up, Jenni told us all about this amazing couple, Allen and Cecile, and about Cecile's parents who built the house that they now live in.

Cecile's father built the house with his own hands, using oak from his acres of land. Imagine living in a house so solid that the beams and timbers were made of thick cut oak! Once his house was complete, he not only built a couple barns but an entire second house, just in case. Having lived through the depression, he knew the value of a back-up plan.

Jenni's husband, Evan, and his brother, used to visit their Grandpa and Granny in Beattyville each summer. Grandpa built a special room onto the house just for them. Granny stained and varnished the oaken beams of the high, arched ceiling with it's beautiful tall windows that let in the trees and sunlight of the surrounding wood.

One summer, Grandpa decided the boys needed to learn to swim. With no local pool, he decided he'd better build one. He and the boys dug and constructed a lap pool. Another summer he decided the boys needed to learn basic construction, so they built a fantastic tree house. Each year, he planned a new skill to pass onto the boys.

The basement walls are lined with shelves of jars, that Granny kept full with homemade canned goods. The first time Jenni met Granny, she was up on a ladder, with a rag, scrubbing the eaves of the house. Or as she said "just warshing the house". She was already in her eighties. In fact, she fell of the roof once while cleaning it. Thankfully she wasn't badly hurt. I don't know of any other 80-year-old woman who has fallen off a roof, while cleaning it and come away unscathed! Ok, I don't know of any other 80-year-old woman who fell off a roof...or cleaned one.

When Jenni and Evan were teenagers and dating, her sister and she used to roll their eyes and giggle at Evan and his brother when they would talk to their grandparents on the phone. The boys would always end their call with "I'm Grandpa's boy!". Jenni and Mary Beth thought this was a bit ridiculous for big, strapping teenage boys. They had never been very close to their own grandparents and didn't understand this relationship.

The first time Jenni went out to visit Grandpa and Granny, she was taken right into the family circle. She felt as loved and wanted as their own grandsons. At the end of the visit, Granpa pulled Jenni aside, winked and asked her "Who's girl are you?"

Jenni enthusiastically answered,"I'm Grandpa's girl!"

The cabinet that Cecile's great-grandpa built

the chest of drawers that Cecile's uncle built

The dough trough that Cecile's grandpa carved for her grandma. She gave it to Jenni.

When first Grandpa and later Granny passed away, Jenni was heartbroken. She felt that she had finally gotten the kind of grandparents she saw others experience while growing up. They left an amazing legacy behind them. One of hard work, love, generosity and kindness. I felt honored to spend the night beneath the sturdy oak beams of one of the houses that Grandpa built.

Their daughter, Cecile and her husband Allen carry on that legacy. They moved into the second house when Granny was failing and couldn't live alone any longer. After she passed away they moved into the main house and have been just as industrious, generous and loving as the parents before them.

The houses were already gorgeous with rich wood and stained glass windows fashioned by Cecile's uncle. Allen and Cecile have made them even more beautiful with their renovations and decorating. I loved their home! But even more so, I loved the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit that just permeates the place. It spills out of the windows and over the thresholds and I know even their neighbors can feel it.

We were welcomed like family. Hugged and spoiled and fed the most amazing dinner. They told us awesome stories of the places they've been on mission trips, the things they've experienced and how God called them home to tiny Beattyville to minister to their neighbors.

By the time we were loaded up and ready to leave the next morning, I felt like saying "I'm Grandpa's girl!" too.

We arrived home in Greensboro late. Too late to get pictures of all our WLYS spoils. But here is some of it being packed into Jenny and Rob's barn.

Here are my spoils safely home:

1940's tablecloth, never used, original paper label still intact! =$17!

vintage Shiny Brite ornaments- 1 box= 75cents!

It was an amazing trip and a month later, I'm still recovering!

I'll be back soon with photos of the living/dining room makeover! Hint, hint (I finally got to repaint!). I also will have pictures of the nursery since it's just about finished!

Linky-links!

The World's Longest Yard Sale-Part Two {finally!}

2011-09-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

*Achhooo!* Still coming out from underneath this virus. It had teeth, man. Brutal. This may or may not have been compounded by the fact that I am now 35 weeks pregnant.
Each of the boys has taken a turn with illness and I have been having chronic migraines. And yesterday Benny had the most epic nosebleed I have ever seen. It lasted 45 minutes and he bled out of his EYES. Yep, as soon as we staunched the flow from his nose and had him lean forward it began to trickle out of his tear ducts! Creeeeeepppyyy. Needless to say, I turned around, threw up in the toilet, then kept calmly wiping up his blood and speaking in gentle and even tones. Inside I'm freaking out that my child has gone all stigmata on me.

Don't worry, we called the doctor, who called us back within a couple minutes ( I <3 my pediatrician!). He assured us it was probably just a posterior bleed and told us how to treat it. If Benny gets another epic bleed though we have to hie thee to the ER.

Ok, now that you are really happy you started reading this and thinking that I quite deceptively named this posting, let's get onto the REAL topic:

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We set out for the WLYS bright and shining early (4 pm) on Wednesday. We drove from Greensboro, NC to Chattanooga, TN. It was fun and uneventful, save the terrific lightning storm we encountered in Knoxville. There were bolts connecting with the road straight in front of us. Very exciting/worrisome.

We arrived at our hotel around 1 am and fell into bed. Our goal this trip was not to wake up with the chickens and hit every sale first but to enjoy ourselves. So we languidly began our day at the Cracker Barrel around 9:30. We visited about half the Cracker Barrels in the South, I think. It's part of the experience.

(Apparently, while in Cracker Barrel, one must attempt to never make eye contact.)

From there we wound our way south along the route and let me tell you, it was confusing!

The only directions I could find online were heading North from Gadsden, so we had to reverse them and hope for the best. It did work out in the end but like I said before, I think we'll skip this leg of the route next time.

That being said, here is the route heading south from Chatanooga to Gadsden:

127 becomes 27

Take 27 to 157

turn left on 189

turn left on 136

turn rigth on 157

turn right on 48

48 becomes 117

turn left on 89

89 becomes 176

The scenery going over Lookout Mountain was beautiful. One of the highlights of the day wasn't an amazing sale, but rather, when we stopped at a log home up in the rocky, wooded hills of north-west Georgia and chatted with a couple ladies sitting on the steps of their porch. One was wrapping scrap fabric around a wire frame, making some cool shabby chic piece and the other lady let us use her bathroom and answered our questions. It just cemented in our minds the difference between California and the south. They were open to setting aside any agenda or stranger fears to get to know us and chat. They were warm and friendly even though we weren't buying anything from their sale.

Then there was the estate sale in the tiny old house tucked into the woods. I couldn't stay inside long or I would have hurled. It was rank with moth balls and cigarette smoke. So much so that when we were all back in the car, bathing in sanitizer, I said Well, I know why she died. And yet, my mom bought sewing notions and fabric there. We made her put it in the trailer. Thankfully, the stink did leave after she washed it.

We did hit an amazing barn sale further off the beaten path. It was a gem. I scored two vintage table cloths, old alphabet blocks in my baby's name letters, tiny wooden german figures, a tin wind-up birdie, and a couple old glass bottles and blue Ball jars. The Jennies found some really awesome stuff like hobnail milk glass wall sconces, a wooden tiered table top tray, vintage linens, bottles and blue glass Ball jars. And Jenny got a digital embroidery machine.

I desperately wanted one of these vintage metal dollhouses! They were priced at around $20! Couldn't fit them in the suitcase home though!

This was the blue glass Ball jar trip for Jenny and I. We snapped up over twenty of them all together. You just can't find them here in SoCal and when you do, expect to pay an arm and a leg. And Jenny, she just likes to copy me. No, not really. Yes, really.

Jenni was able to score some old blue glass electrical insulators and drift wood type knots. Jenni was not only shopping for herself but for the furniture showroom she is helping open. Both the Jennies were able to score some sweet furniture and larger pieces on this trip while my mom and I had to limit our purchases to what we could take back on the plane with us. We both had big suitcases and planned on checking a box as well. There are weight restrictions though and we had the baggage charges looming over our heads already. Next time, I'm bringing my giant suitcase and like two outfits. ;)

We stopped at a field sale and found some cute stuff and I had my first run-in with a WLYS port-a-potty. *shiver* I don't recommend doing this sale at seven months pregnant. I had to use waayy more of these facilities than the other girls.

We navigated one set of switchbacks, with a trailer mind you, no less than five times because we had to leave the mountain for gas and then go back for a sale and then leave for food and then go back for another sale and then finally leave to get to the highway. On my phone's map it looked like a squashed "z".

We called it a day when we hit ~~the~~ Hwy 59. Something I tried to curb myself of while in the south was referring to freeways and highways as "The --", like as in "The 59 North". That's just how we say it in SoCal and in the South it gets quizzical looks and confusion. So, I had to verbally cross out "the" every time I gave directions to the driver (being the navigator). We headed back to Chattanooga and showered and hopped into bed.

(Mom took this from Jenny's car after we picked the trailer up)

One thing I haven't mentioned yet is the trailer...and the fact that none of us really knew much about driving with a trailer...specifically how to back up. We did what any self respecting southern ladies would do. We avoided getting into situations where we would have to back up and when it was impossible, asked a nearby gentleman to do it for us. Good thing we're so cute. We decided that before our next WLYS we all have to take a course in driving with a trailer.

The next day we started with a meal at Cracker Barrel, where we met two nice girls from Atlanta doing the WLYS too. We had seen them at a sale the day before and briefly chatted. They had traveled north from Gadsden and been rained out of a lot of sales. We then headed north up Signal Hill. We had been warned about Signal Hill. It's a hotbed of booth and tent sales, crawling with that WLYS dreaded vermin, The Dealer.

A word about Dealers. These people come to the sale, many every year, to sell whatever items they feel aren't moving quickly in their stores or businesses. They tend to charge retail prices and aren't as flexible in negotiating, but they have good stuff. It all depends on what your MO is in doing the sale. Are you out to find specific pieces to round out a collection or are you treasure hunting for good deals. If it's the former, you may want to give the dealers a chance. They may have what you are looking for and though they will be higher priced than the garage sale next to their booth, their prices will most likely be lower or more flexible than in an antique store or online auction. If your MO is the latter than you may want to drive past these sales (hint: look for professionally printed signs and banners that read "Antiques" to spot them) rather than have your bargain hunting sensibilities hurt by their prices.

There are two types of dealers. Those who don't want to haul all their stuff home and understand that they are participating in what is essentially a Yard Sale, and those that are stubborn and waiting for that one gullible customer with deep pockets. In dealing with either, don't be afraid to haggle. You are not in their shop, they are at your Yard Sale. If they don't like it, too bad. You can walk away and they can wait for someone else who is willing to pay retail in the middle of a dirt lot with sweat dripping down their back. If it happens to be the first kind of dealer, they will be willing to barter with you. Again, probably not as low as the gal in her driveway or the guy who opened up his pappy's barn down the road, but still good pieces for less than retail.

When we approached a sale we couldn't clearly see, such as one inside a tent or back down a long driveway, we would send a spotter to check it out. If it looked good we'd park and head out, if not we'd jump back on the road and waste less time. We found that if we all got out for a sale, whether or not there was good stuff, we tended to stay longer just to justify the effort of parking the trailer!

Yard Sale traffic on Signal Hill

We found some nice stuff on Signal Hill, a few items of clothing, a really nice pack n' play, I got a Bumbo seat and a papizan bouncer for the bubs (though the bouncer ended up staying with Aunt Jenny as it wouldn't fit into my suitcase). But the real treasure was found off the hill. The homes and the scenery were worth it to me, even if there was traffic. It was beautiful.

This house was our favorite on Signal Hill. It was covered in hanging baskets of impatiens.

We drove down into Dunlap, a quaint town totally overrun by the sale. It was AWESOME. Every front yard had a sale and the prices were very good. The wares were great. We found some of our best items here.

I got the only jadite pieces of the trip here. It just wasn't to be had anywhere else or it was way overpriced in a dealer's booth. I scored some ball jars, baby clothes and books too. But the Jennies got the most amazing steals. Jenni bought an old, wooden architectural salvage pillar, a leaded glass window and a gorgeous antique arts and crafts hall tree. Jenny found a turquoise coffee table and matching pink side table, picket planter and curly wall shelf. Jenny also got a whole lot of blue Ball jars for a steal. I know they got other smalls too but it's hard to remember everything!

Did I mention the amazing unpacking and repacking job we (read: the Jennies) had to do everytime we bought another large item?

We did a few other tent sales and ended up running into the two gals from Atlanta at one of them. Jenni also found two big salvaged corbels for the showroom, Mom found a button-holer (an item she's been searching for for years!), Jenny got more glass jars and I found a cute Alice and Jerry reader and some architectural smalls.

We had to drive on to Danville, KY then, as it was still quite a ways away. It was really sad to miss such a good, meaty chunk of the sale, probably the best portion, having to drive through Crossville and Jamestown at night. I also don't recommend doing this portion of Hwy 127 after dark! It was a bit treacherous. And our driver, Jenny, had to be kept alert. So, I read to her from old website forums about her embroidery machine and where she could find the cartridges for it since it's no longer sold in stores. It was arduous. I sat watching our route on my maps app on my iphone, warning her when a particularly twisty bit of road was coming and encouraging her that it would straighten out soon. We made it though! And we were ushered into Kentucky culture with the entrance into the smoke-filled hotel lobby. This was a Best Western, mind you, and our room was non-smoking, but the whole place wreaked of smoke. My pajamas that I slept in there smelled smokey the next night. When travelling in Kentucky be prepared for smoke-filled places.

By far, Tennessee was our favorite part of the sale route. I would like to do Tennessee exclusively next time.

Next post: Kentucky!

Please Enjoy This Hold Music...

2011-08-26T12:19:00.000-07:00

Things have gotten a bit mad around here. We've had Jenny visiting from NC, school, the flu, a nasty cold virus, migraines, a living and dining room make-over and life in general.

But I promise I will be back soon with the continuing saga of The World's Longest Yard Sale. Till then!

The World's Longest Yards Sale, Pt. 1

2011-08-17T11:33:00.000-07:00

(Sorry this has taken longer to get written than I'd planned. I'm on my second day of a marathon migraine and things have been crazy around here! But I am determined to get this post written! excuse me while i try to wipe away some of the flashing lights from the side of my cerebral cortex The good news is, that while my boys may have been naughtier here at home due to the new school schedule and CHANGE, they have been doing great at school. So, now, back to the WLYS!)

We have been planning the WLYS trip for years. Well, dreaming rather. The real planning began about a year ago when we determined that this would be the year. We had many obstacles to overcome, pregnancy, trees falling through roofs, new jobs and lonely husbands. But we powered through and made it happen.

First let's meet the crew, my partners in crime:

Mom ( Di):

Stats:
Loves pink, roses, chintz ware, teacups, doilies and her grandchildren.

Hobbies: Sewing, baking, decorating, gardening

Occupation: Full-time prayer ministry warrior and homemaker

Jenny:

Stats:

Loves bright colors, Fiesta ware, vintage treasures, books and her husband, Rob.

Hobbies: Sewing, crafting, decorating, yard saling.

Occupation: Newly hired office manager for an independent furniture design company in High Point, NC.

Jenni:

Stats:
Loves black, white, grey, classic colors, classic furniture pieces, awesome fabric, jewelry for all occasions (ask her about her "pool earrings"), her husband, Evan.

Hobbies: Sewing, decorating, yard saling, refurbishing furniture, talking to her insurance adjuster regarding the on-going home repairs from the tree that crashed through her roof last month. (ok, maybe that last one was not a hobby).

Occupation: Designer for an independent furniture design company in High Point, NC.

Betsi:

Stats:
Loves robins egg blue, jadite, birds, vintage junk, her husband Justin and her boys.

Hobbies: Sewing, crafting, yard saling, and curb picking.

This was all of our first trip to the WYLS. So we got on the ol' interwebs and did some research. There were some helpful tips and route maps but all in all, I found a lot of it very jumbled and confusing. Here in, I will try to write with a bit more of a detailed and easy-to-follow route summary. And hopefully I can provide some lessons learned or ideas for next year that could help others.

Here is the route we followed:

We left Greensboro, NC on Wednesday and drove to Chattanooga, TN, where we spent the night. We entered the WLYS at Chattanooga on Thursday morning. We traveled south along the route into Georgia and a ways into Alabama before hopping off onto Hwy 59 and heading back to Chattanooga, where we again spent the night. On Friday morning we headed north on Hwy 127 along the sale route. We spent the night in Danville, KY and saled the route to Frankfort where we exited to head back home, via Beattyville, KY to visit Jenni's in-laws.

We had originally hoped to get farther down towards Gadsden, AL but found that we weren't able to cover as much ground the first day as we were just getting our sale legs.

We pre-booked hotels in Chattanooga, TN and Danville, KY. We booked about a month ahead of time and found that our original overnight choice of Jamestown, TN had to be changed to Danville, KY as their were no vacancies along the route between Crossville, TN and Danville. Book early, people! Places fill up. (Even the Motel 6, bleah)

Because of this, we were forced to drive through some of the best hot spots, such as Crossville, TN, at night and could only see the many tents and booths shut up by the side of the road in our headlight beams. It was painful. It also meant that we arrived at our hotel room after 1 am because we had to drive so far, along unfamiliar, dark and winding mountain roads, with a U-Haul.

It was a good first run. We covered much of the main portion of the WYLS. We all agreed that the next time we do this we will concentrate on one state or two halves of one state. I vote for Tennessee. I thought it had the best concentration of sales, even if there were more vendors.

Here's what we consider a list of WYLS must-haves:

U-haul trailer or large commercial van
wrapping supplies for breakables, blankets for furniture
laundry baskets, large tupperware bins (we each had one bin and one laundry basket) to hold "smalls" and keep our purchases separated. If you have more than one person buying blue glass ball jars, you will have no idea how many or which ones you each bought by the end of the trip.
cooler. We didn't find it as hard as others had warned us it was to find food and places to buy snacks along the route but it certainly saves time if you can just dig some cheese sticks out of the cooler before heading off to another sale.
ziplock bags, gallon and quart sized. These come in handy for collecting smalls, like buttons or sewing notions, filling with ice from hotel machine for cooler, storing leftovers, dirty or wet shoes or clothes, etc.
toilet paper and toilet seat protectors. Much of the south does not believe in toilet seat protectors. I do. Also, there are lots of port-o-potties set up next to tent sales and gas stations that have their restrooms closed to the public. They are generally quite nasty. Mom and Jenni wouldn't use them. I am pregnant. I used them. You just don't touch anything. As a lady, this means you have to give your thigh muscles a workout. They were killing me by the end of this trip. Which brings us now to our next necessity:
hand sanitizer. We went through about a gallon of the stuff. Every time we stopped we were digging through junk.
baby wipes. We used them to wash our hands, scrub the excess dirt off of some particularly grimy treasures, wash the dust off our legs, the sweat off our necks and the dirt of our shoes. The WYLS is dirty. Just face that before you go and you'll be fine.
small bills. Lots of ones. I started with about 40 ones, a couple tens and several twenties. Everyplace we stopped to eat or get gas, I'd break a twenty just to keep myself in the ones. I used very few quarters all in all. Mainly because when I bought, I bundled so that I was rarely spending less than a buck at any one stop. I'll talk more about bundling later.
tourist-style neck-slung "trade show" bags. These were a stroke of genius on Jenni's part. We already knew we wouldn't be carrying our handbags around the sales but I cringe at the thought of a waistpack...unless it's hot pink and has a New Kids On The Block key chain, that is. These simple little bags are like the ones used by tourists to hold money and passports. We kept our money, keys, toilet seat covers, tissues and measuring tapes in them.
camera. We took a lot of pictures! You want to document the journey! I wish we'd gotten home in time to take pictures of all the stuff we scored, unwrapped and spread out on display. But alas, the very next day, Mom and I left for SoCal and the Jennies left for Brazil. (because, as I mentioned earlier, they are cooler than the rest of us)
sunscreen. It's the south, it's summer, it's hot. Figure it out.
rain jacket/poncho. (we didn't really need these this time as we kept arriving just after a storm had passed through or outrunning the ones coming, but we ran into some soaked individuals who could have used them!)
crocs. Yeah, they are ugly but I saw just how useful they were. I was the only one who didn't wear them and I was rewarded with some smelly trainers at the end of each day. The girls just rinsed theirs out in any old sink (more on that story later) or with baby wipes.
large reusable totes. When you are out shopping a big ol' tent sale, you don't want to run back to the car every time your hands get full.
lots and lots of water bottles. Keeping hydrated is crucial! It's hot and you work up quite a sweat. Or, should I say, as ladies, that we "felt the heat".

I will add to this list if I think of more things. I'm sure my partners in crime could think of a few more things!

That's all for today! Next time: hitting the road...

...And Breathe.

2011-08-11T13:49:00.000-07:00

Oh My Word. This has been some of the craziest couple weeks of my life! I need a vacation to recover from my vacation! It was SO fun though. So good. We sucked the marrow out of life. We did it all!

The wedding was beautiful. The bride lovely and the groom was awesome. No pictures for you all yet! The bride has to see them first! I am still in the process of editing their photos as I just got back from my trip LATE Monday night. And I hit the ground running Tuesday morning. My boys started school on Wednesday so I had to do some laundry and tie up all the million other little loose ends that go into preparing for a new school year.

There is SO much to tell you! I am going to do a series of posts on the World's Longest Yard Sale Adventure, because it was AWE-Mazing! We had a blast and I can't wait to share all the cool swag we scored and all the new lessons we learned and tips we have to share. But let's start off with...

(keepin' it real, yo)

The First Day of School!

Benny is starting the Fifth grade...at a NEW school. He was so nervous! He freaked out a bit in the morning before going and gave me a bit of a hard time, screaming and/or weeping into his eggs. In the end, he had a great day. He says he really likes his teacher and (I quote) "feels excited about the challenges this year will bring to him." (end quote) He's looking forward to learning to be more responsible (!!) and organized (!!!) and diligent with his school work (!!!!). He even ventured out of his comfort zone and asked to play with a group of kids in his class! They happily included him and even "took it easy" on him in handball since he was the new kid. Thank you, Jesus!!

(I swear, Isaac's pants aren't that short! He rolled the wasteband up to about under his armpits. He's also wearing three pairs of socks....don't ask. I don't know.)

Isaac has been looking forward to returning to school for the second grade...until, that is, twenty minutes before school started. He then decided that he "already knew everything" and "could get better at reading and math on his own, at home". I did eventually get him to begrudgingly face the fact that he had to go. He was, however, quite happy to discover that his dearest friend, Jessica, is, once again, in his class this year. That's three years running! I've started crafting the wedding favors. I hope she likes peach and mint green.

Neill was not so sure about this whole Kindergarten thing. He was sure that he'd be the ONLY one who didn't know how to read and write well. He thought they would most likely just let him float around the school, lost and hopeless, instead of showing him to the bathroom or cafeteria. He felt much better about his prospects when we found out that one of our favorite teachers was going to be his K teacher. He also felt tremendous relief that I would be spending the first day with him as it was a short, orientation day.

We came into his classroom and sat down and, lo and behold, one of our neighbors and his best friends was his desk mate! He did great and felt confident when I dropped him off this morning for his first real day of Kindergarten. All day. Hold me.

Did I mention that yesterday was also my birthday? And that I had to take kids to dr. appointments and got a ticket for making an "unsafe" (read: not illegal) U-turn? Benny also over-shared about My feelings and trials with his psychiatrist who proceeded to lecture us about choosing to be happy. Yeah.

Justin and Megan saved the day though by surprising me in the evening. Megan watched the kids so that Justin could take me out on a romantic dinner date! When I got home she had baked brownies and stuck a candle in one and (forced) Justin and she sang Happy Birthday to me!

She also gave me this MOST AWESOME gift:

I have been wanting this book for eons! Wahoo!! So cool.

And the ol' man gave me a gift card to Joanne crafts!! Yesss.

(on a quick side note... Attention So-Cal crafters: Hobby Lobby is coming to Temecula!!! yes, they really truly are! they are building one in the old Mervyn's dep store. SQUEAL!! If you don't know Hobby Lobby ask a southerner. that is all. you may now return to your regularly scheduled blog.)

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Ok, let's go on a little journey back in time. To a time long, long ago. A week and a half ago, to be exact. Ok, it just seems like the Cretaceous Period to me because of how much we packed into this amount of time!

My mom and I had just stepped off the plane, fresh from a visit to Northfield, Minnesota, where we visited with rels, shopped, ate Dairy Queen, stayed up past 2 am, and attended and photographed a wedding. We arrived in MN Saturday afternoon and left Monday afternoon and still managed to cram it all in.

So, really I should say, we stumbled/fell off the plane, in a weary stupor, into the arms of my sister, Jenny and brother-in-law, Rob. They took us home to soft, cozy beds and we slept. Oh, how we slept.

Here are some pictures I took of their Adorable house:

Living Room

Kitchen

Sewing Room

Master Bedroom

Bath

Guest Room

(there's the felted wreath I made Jenny for Christmas!)

Hall

Front Porch

(Did I mention that Jenny likes to yard sale, refurbish, decorate, paint and sew as much as I do? Maybe more? Oh, and Jenni (you'll meet her next post), her best friend, is an interior decorator/designer. They both work for an independent furniture designer in North Carolina. In fact they are currently in Brazil for a furniture market and factory tour business trip. Because they are cooler than you and me. 'Nuff said.)

We awoke the next day and it was visits to Walmart and meals at Cracker Barrel and packing and getting ready, for on the morrow we would set out for...

The World's Longest Yard Sale.

to be continued...

Linky-link!

Birthday Party Overload and Bon Voyage!

2011-07-28T19:54:00.000-07:00

I have been blessed with two lovely July babies. Neill turned five on July 7th and Isaac turned eight on July 26th. I am also utterly insane.

Why? Lemme 'splain.

We have certain years that our boys are allowed to have "friend parties". Five, eight, ten, thirteen and sixteen years old. So, we decided to have a party for both boys, midway between their birthdays.

...And have family parties on their birthdays. Why? Because I'm glutton for punishment.

Here we have Neill's birthday party. Theme: Kirby. As in the puffy pink video game character. Not the vacuum cleaner. I only wish he was obsessed with cleaning.

They don't make Kirby party supplies. *sigh*

The big gift? A shiny new bicicleta!

Midway party for both boys.

This year's birthday weirdness: Isaac's unexplained fear of birthday candles.

Check out the adorable guest front and center, pouting because she doesn't get any of the presents.

Theme: Hot Wheels Battle Force Five. Not Hot Wheels. Not just cars. No, the bizarre Cartoon Network show was the theme. Thankfully, I got the boys to agree to Hot Wheels decor. There was a lot of party food and pulled pork sandwiches. So, yeah, a success.

Stone Cold Birthday Terror.

Then there was Isaac's birthday. Theme: Pokemon. I hate Pokemon. The boys all love it. Isaac wanted a Pikachu shaped cake. I convinced him to settle for a Poke-ball cake. It would have been lovely, but for the sudden, inexplicable disappearance of the coupling ring for my pastry bag. So no piping or star tipping. And my frosting knife was also MIA. I think they eloped. So, the icing was put on with a delicate butter knife. And it was a thing of beauty and a joy forever...

Er, something like that.

I think Isaac was pleased with the DSi.
And where was I post parties?

Why folding all the tissue paper from the presents so that it can be ironed and reused of course. Because I am insane and neurotic and apparently grew up during the depression.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other news, I am leaving VERY early Saturday morning for my epic trip around the contiguous United States. I am excited and tired at the very thought of this "vacation". Wish me luck and pray for my kankles.

When I get back the boys start school almost the next day...ON MY BIRTHDAY. At first I was all, uh, RUDE. Then I thought...My birthday...without children...hmmm. Yeah, I'm thinking out to lunch. Mom and Marti, you in? Still, I have to say that August 10th is ridiculously early for school to start.

Until I return from whirlwind trips and getting back to school, enjoy the delicious bloggy fare of my fellow writers available on my blog roll over there on the sidebar. I will return with, I'm sure, amazing stories and pictures of a wedding, the Longest Yard Sale and the first day of school.

OMGmybaby'sgoingtokindergarten.

Breathe, Mama, Breathe...

Muffin Divinity

2011-07-25T16:16:00.000-07:00

All right, we're all friends here, right? So, I'll just come right out and say it: I'm a big, hungry, sweet-loving pregnant girl.

And these, these muffins right here? They are my new BFFs. And I hate the term BFF. They are that good.

Doughnut Muffins.

Yes, people, Doughnut Freaking Muffins. They are muffins, that taste like doughnuts. I've done died and gone to Muffin Heaven, where lil' muffin men are dancing around me in ring-around-the-rosy chains and kissing lady doughnuts behind every streetlamp that is bouncing along to the bumpity-bop rhythm of the baked goods big band.

I got the recipe off of Kiwi homemaker extraordinaire, Paisley Jade's blog. Who got it from Jen over here.

A word on my muffin making adventure:

I used muffin papers to avoid scrubbing my muffin tin. (if you have children or a soul, you will understand my shortcut) I also did half the batch fully dipped in butter (did she just say dipped in butter?!) and the other half remained under wraps with only their lil muffin tops getting the buttery goodness. I thought that the full butter dip might be a bit of an overload and I think I was right. At least for my tastes. But, heck, you might be Paula Freakin' Dean and to you I say, go for it! My muffins aren't as pretty as the original website's muffins because I had to peel off the wrappers and I don't have those kinds of mad baking skills. Or the time to photoshop my muffins. (I wonder how many Google hits I'm going to get for that last sentence?)

Without further ado, here is the recipe:

Doughnut Muffins

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

•1 3/4 cup flour

•1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

•1/2 teaspoon salt

•1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

•1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

•1/3 cup oil

•3/4 cup sugar

•1 egg

•3/4 cup milk

For the coating:

•1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted

•1/3 cup sugar

•1 tablespoon cinnamon

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a muffin tin.

2.Combine flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon in a medium bowl.

3.Combine oil, sugar, egg and milk in a large bowl. Add dry ingredients and stir only to combine.

4.Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. While muffins are baking, melt butter in a small bowl. In another small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon.

5.Shake muffins out of the muffin tin while the muffins are still hot.

6.Dip muffins in the melted butter and then into the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Place on a wire rack and allow to cool. Makes a dozen average size muffins.

7.Stand over rack and consume hot muffins while your children tug on your skirt and ask annoying questions like Can we have one? Are they good? Why are you shaking and sweating so much? Should we call Daddy?

8.Get tested for di-uh-beet-us.

But seriously, all in moderation folks. Of course, I had to immediately try one full coat and one buttered top only to decide which I preferred. All for you, my loyal readers. The sacrifice was all for you. And the one I will eat after hitting Publish will be for you as well. Because I care.

Time to go stuff this here muffin top into a more comfortable pair of pants...

Linky-linky!

Hope For The Future

2011-07-21T12:37:00.000-07:00

Benny is out in the garage sacrificing right now.

I don't mean he's got a goat on a flaming altar or anything. He's giving up a bright summer's day to clean out the garage for his dad. Not because anyone asked him to. Not because he's getting paid. Just because he loves his dad and wants to make him happy.

He's sweating and dirty and doesn't want to take a break until it's done.

Isaac and Neill are upstairs playing Legos together.

And they're NOT FIGHTING. They're just playing.

Today is a good day.

Two days ago I got to meet up with the Engstrom family in a field for a photo shoot. (Earlier I'd said good-bye to my husband and kids saying that I was going to "go shoot a family in a field". Neill got pretty concerned.)

I love this family. Linda is a momster of mine, a hybrid of mom and sister. I treasure our friendship. She has mentored me through some tough times and let me share in her own struggles as well. And we know how to make each other laugh too. Her son, Tim, was diagnosed with Asperger's and Tourette's syndromes when he was a wee boy. She's been there. She's seen it all. We love swapping stories of our Aspies and seeing all the hilarious comparisons. Like the spoons in the peanut butter jars, the hoarding and collections, the love of space and science.

She was told that Tim would never even hold a pencil. He graduated from CSUSM with honors and is moving to Texas by himself to begin his master's program at University of Texas. Linda is an amazing parent and God has preformed incredible miracles in Tim's life.

This family gives me so much hope for the future. God does have a plan for Benny's life and no diagnosis or schemes of the enemy can come against it!

"For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." Romans 11:29

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Linda's daughter Beth is an incredibly sweet and beautiful girl. She had to play the role of the little older sister throughout their childhood and it wasn't always easy. Now she is facing her brother leaving and it's heart wrenching for her. Because God can restore and heal relationships. He can make beautiful things out of us.

This gives me such hope for my boys' relationships in the future. God is at work, even now, when they are normally quarrelsome and unkind, fashioning new hearts in them and turning them into kind friends.

Thank you, Engstroms. For the honor of letting me photograph you at the start of this amazing chapter in your lives. And thank you for the hope. <3

linking up to "It's a God Thing" over at:

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Psychiatrist...

2011-07-13T17:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a cautionary tale of what can happen when you ask the Holy Spirit to stop you in your tracks the next time you are ranting at your kids:

We were finally in the van. Late, again. This time for the psychiatrist. Benny had seemingly done everything in his power to cross me, all day long. He had broken rules, abused his computer time, taunted his brothers, planned an elaborate hike in the desert that he told his brothers we were going on today, only to throw a tantrum when I told him no.

He had to be told to brush his teeth before his appointment roughly twenty times while he was running around doing everything but getting on his socks and shoes. I'd gotten the boys loaded up only to look to my right and discover he hadn't changed his stained t-shirt like I'd asked, he was wearing tennis shoes, but no socks and his teeth appeared to have been hastily done with a very wide bristled toothbrush indeed.

I started to lecture. Then I started to preach. Then I started to shame and blame and guilt.

And that's when it happened. There he was. Straight ahead in the middle of the road. A pure white dove. Just standing there in the other lane, staring at me. He didn't fly away as I drove by. He just watched.

I gulped. I prayed for forgiveness and I asked Benny for his.

I'm honestly not sure if God sent a dove to sit in the road as a reminder or if that was the Holy Spirit in dove's form. And, you know what? It doesn't matter. I don't think I'll be forgetting this day, when He stopped me dead in my tracks, anytime soon.

Anxious

2011-07-11T15:53:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here in the lab's waiting room with that awful sugar headache and queasiness that all pregnant women associate with the fasting blood glucose test. Compounding my frustration is the fact that my phone isn't picking up the 3G network in this god-forsaken medical building from H-E-Double Hockey Sticks. And I've got an hour to go...

Normally this waiting room gambit is like heaven. Without any screaming kids pressing me for snacks and entertainment, I can relax. A solid hour just to be alone, maybe read or catch up on some blogs. Even without my precious Internet, I can usually quite happily day dream or read an old gossip magazine, trying to suss out who this person is or why that person's name has become an awkward hybrid with another person's and why they all look so young.

No, it's not the headache or the fact that I'm plucking this post out in my Notes app that's causing my crabbiness.

It's anxiety.

He's been creeping up on me stealthily. My old nemesis. I fell for his disguises again. He slipped through my mind's gate dressed as good intentions. He crept through the courtyard wearing a blanket of justified concern and snuck through the front door sporting the mask of busyness.

I've finally taken the time to sit, orange sugar saturating my unsuspecting spleen, to identify him. I've been aware of the subtle crappiness in my soul. I've blamed it on my tiredness, my achiness, my ridiculous weight gain, my endless, pressing list of to-do's, my kids' behavior and even my over-active bladder. But these are all symptoms. It's like the old response we give when people ask us,"how are you?".

"Busy!" we eek out with a forced smile. But busy isn't really a feeling. It's a state of being. What we are often really feeling when we give this answer is anxious, overwhelmed, one tiny step ahead of the dragon of what-if's that is threatening to consume us.

I really want to whine about how, at 28 weeks, I weigh ten more pounds than at my heaviest, when I went into labor with Neill, and that my ten-year-old kicked his brother after taunting him all morning and then shrieked in his bedroom for most of his time out and that my backyard play fort is still overrun with BEES and we have a party this weekend, which I need to prepare for and I have to learn how to use my new speed light for my camera and how I have to figure out when the new washing machine and dryer are arriving tomorrow because I have a doctor's appointment and then I have to attack the mountain of laundry that has built up over the week since my old washer died and I need to sell the old dryer and I killed my plants again and need to replace them and I still haven't gotten the baby's bedding sewn and we are out of babybel cheese, but that last one is good because I'm so ridiculously fat; but that's not going to alleviate my anxiety or help me accomplish anything except confusing you with a stupid-long run-on sentence that would have my college English professors revolving rapidly in their graves should they be dead and I had actually gone to college. (pant)

No, this one's gotta go straight to the Source. The Source of all Peace, all Comfort and all Grace. Jesus. Who came not to show me how to do it all better but because I couldn't do it any better. Because at the end of the day I will never measure up or truly succeed. And that's ok. Because He does.

(add verse here about casting cares, resting in Him or some such thing)

Ha! Yeah, and I'm going to leave that just like that. Cuz that's real, right there. Go open your Bible and ask God for a verse to end this post with. ;)

I'm going to take these last thirty minutes to close my eyes and force myself to relax in Him.

heh heh

2011-06-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

Yeah, this isn't "tomorrow" or "soonish", is it? Enjoy these pictures of my Neill cuddling bears as a peace offering:

Anyhow, the drama has calmed down a bit but the activity has kept clipping along at a furious pace. Since last post there have been beach trips, swimming lessons, two birthday parties, father's day, many Braxton-Hicks contractions and a rare trip to the mall. Add in filler, sprinkle liberally with autism and stir. Serves one crazy, prenatal lady.

The mall trip was hilarious. I never go to the mall and certainly not with my children. This became frighteningly evident when Neill was afraid the escalators would eat him and Benny was terrified of the big open, glass-railed, spaces on the second level.

They were both, however, enthralled with the food court...

This pregnancy is flying by! I can't believe I'm down to 14 more weeks! I know that's a "long time" but I believe October 5th is going to sneak up on me really quickly. July 30th, my mom and I are flying to Minnesota to photograph a wedding and then heading from there to my sister in North Carolina. Then we are road tripping it to the 127 corridor yard sale! (Yes, I am completely insane.)

My sister, mom, friend and I have long dreamt of doing the World's Longest Yard Sale. We determined that this would be the year! When I fell pregnant (you gotta love the way the Welsh express things) one of the first questions was what about the yard sale? I decided that nothing was going to keep me back! Not Alabama heat in August, swollen kankles or round ligament pain would keep me from my appointed rounds of the various junk offered by the deep south!

And yes, you read that correctly, I am flying to Minnesota at seven months pregnant to photograph a friend's wedding. I'm excited and nervous. It's my second wedding (that I've photographed that is!) and there are all kinds of jittery butterflies in my tummy when I think about how I want it to be *just* right. I had HORRIBLE wedding photos for my own day and it is my greatest fear that I might screw up another bride's memories! I'm also a little concerned about being inconspicuous during the ceremony when I am roughly the size of a barge. (ten points to the first person to name that tune.) Imagine a smaller version of Jupiter orbiting the bride and groom....hmm, I think I know what colors I'm going to wear...

But I am vastly looking forward to this summer vacay! Just me and the girls (oh, and baby) out to see OUR America. At least that's what the official 127 Corridor website repeatedly tells us we will be doing.

(insert awkward segue here:)

I have finished the baby's crib blanket and I am now working on his bumpers. I was going to wait until the whole set was done to post pictures but I just can't! Here's how the blanket turned out:

I'm loving the feel of these colors and designs! I'm continuing the tree branches and leaves around the outside of the bumper so it's going to take me a while to finish it! Appliqueing is quite a process! Here's how I've been making it easier on myself:

I used my fab Silhouette software to free-hand design my little animals and then cut them out with my machine on freezer paper. I ironed the freezer paper stencils to my fabric and cut. Then I traced the freezer paper stencils onto my heat bond and cut it to match my fabric animals.

After I ironed them to the backing fabric, I used my sewing machine to do a blanket stitch around the edges of the appliques to keep them from fraying. I joined the batting to the front piece and sandwiched the whole lot together, inside out, with the back piece. After I turned it right side out I slip stitched it closed. Then I took my sewing machine and quilted through the layers with a few decorative stitches, adding dimension to the tree and leaves and animals. Voila!

I got crafty and made these two little hoop art pieces for his room too:

And score! I found these items for 60% off at Joanne!

Loving my little guy's happy forest room theme! It's really coming together! All woodland animal and gnomish.

Ok, another giant post to make up for my lack of veracity! This time I won't promise to be back tomorrow, k?

Drama, Drama, Drama

2011-06-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

A note before we begin: due to new music playa updates, you'll need to scroll down and hit "play" to enjoy some hand selected tunes along with the scintillating text. Good news for those of you who ~~whinge on about~~ dislike annoying music when you're blog skimming!

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. I'm more tenuously clinging to the edge of it. This has been a crazy couple of weeks.

I'm not a drama person. I don't like the boat rocking. I like it to skim along smoothly and evenly. I prefer to plan out my route and follow the path of smooth water, avoiding the rapids and whirlpools if possible.

And so I find myself somehow in the middle of two breakups, one being my friend's and the other being one of my cousin's. While these two are not drama girls either, the guys they broke up with have turned out to be. Lots of accusational texts, passive aggressive phone messages and pitiful letters later, we're still on eggshells.

My friend moved in with us and we love having her here. She is awesome. She does dishes and loves my kids even when they wake her up like a bunch of screaming, bickering chickens at dawn. Her life is suddenly very different from what it's been for the last eight years. There is so much involved in the separating of two lives that have become enmeshed with family, stuff, pets and finances.

I've been practicing the tenuous art of biting my tongue through all this. There are things I want to say to certain gentlemen in defense of my friend and cousin. But I am not the Holy Spirit. In fact, I'm a whole lot meaner. A WHOLE LOT. Also, I'm kind of a hormonal grab bag right now. So, I'll bite my tongue before they can find out just how hard I can bite.

In other news...
Lisa, who used to live with us, visited from Minnesota for ten days and it was all quite fun but B to the U to the S to the Y. We spent a day at the beach, spent a bunch of money shopping and went hiking in the desert with lots of kids and not enough water. It was all very good fun and I am still recovering.

Here is a picture documentation of our trip to the desert:

Palm Canyon in Anza Borrego Desert

Don't be alarmed. This pregnant woman is not going to eat those two children should they become lost in the wilderness. She may, however, steal their water and snacks.

A rare photo of Isaac actually drinking his water, rather than dumping it out to fill the bottle with polliwogs from the creek.

Endangered Big Horn Sheep! A very special and unusual spotting of this shy animal. It ran right across the trail in front of us, causing a pack of German tourists, inexplicably hiking our desert (Disneyland? the beach?), to exclaim in jubilation...and German. Note: they may have actually been Dutch or Finnish.

Lisa and Alex explore the "coolest place on earth", to quote Lisa.

Isaac found some rad aviators on the trail. He lost them again almost immediately.

Lisa is unprepared for the strenuous trail ahead, but confident. Also, her waist is ridiculously tiny, amiright?

Splish, splosh. We found the creek!

Coolest lizards ever. They are about two and a half feet long.

By the hike back we were so hot and dehydrated that we filled up empty bottles with polliwog water and dumped it over our heads. On the drive home, Marti remarked "Wait, did we actually dump polliwog water over us? Eww." The desert does strange things to people. You go in one way and come out different. Meaning, sweaty, dehydrated and smelling of bog.

Benny and Neill are now enrolled at our local elementary school which Isaac has attended for the last two years. This is another big change and Benny is feeling the challenge of it. We had to remove him from his charter school because of some really and truly serious drama. I won't get into it as that's just gossip and I don't go there, yo.

I am feeling a bit of apprehension but I am also trusting that God has this all figured out as long as we just continue to obey him. That and a tremendous amount of relief that my school day commute is no longer two hours long! Hallelujah! My newborn will not have to spend his infancy in our van.

I bought the fabric to make baby his crib bedding and I am so excited to get at it! I wish my mother hadn't raised me to do my work first and play second. I can't seem to get through all the work in time to get to the play! I guess I'm just going to have to view making his bedding as work...amiright? I'm a little intimidated by the task. I really hope it turns out like the dreamy dreamy thing I have in mind!

I'll hopefully post tomorrow or soonish about the nursery design and color scheme with some visual aids and projects I've done so far! My friend says that I never guessed I'd be decorating a nursery for a 32-year-old, as that's where she's living for the next few weeks!

I'll have to get her feedback on sleeping below that bird mobile. Did it cause any kind of trauma? Were you terrified of being pecked to death in the night?

In other news, I have Cake's song 'Never There' stuck in my head. I think it's being channeled into my brain by the rejected exes of this last week. I'm gonna start wearing a tin-foil hat to try to combat it. I would put it on my music player for you all but that would just be sharing the misery.

Also, I may or may not have eaten a huge bowl of chili for breakfast and now feel like it's coming back for a repeat performance.

Sometimes, we create our own drama...

The Belly

2011-06-02T15:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I've been kinda hiding from posting any pregnant pictures of myself. The reason? In my mind, I'm generally as big as a house. I know in reality that, though I have put on more weight this pregnancy than ever before, I am actually not gigantic. I will never be that willowy girl with the basketball under her shirt. And that's ok.

So, in order to out myself, here I present to you...well, me, at 22 weeks:

"That's right. Work it! Think long and lean. Sexy!"

From my kid's perspective. (thanks, Isaac, for taking my picture right at the hip)

Maternity Myspace

From my point of view.

Yes, yes, I know that I am radiant in all my roly poly glory. Bask, mere mortals. Ok, actually, I was a little disappointed because my belly really is bigger in real life!

Now, some of you may be saying, "Hey, is that stark, white room with the dirty mirror you were posing in front of the baby's nursery?" To which I answer,"Yeah, depressing, isn't it?"

Justin won't let me paint. : p pbbthh. Rental, shmental. I want turquoise walls, darn it! Besides, this room is painted with white primer and washing the walls removed quite a lot of it.

Anywho, you may also have noted some strange contraption suspended in mid-air behind me. This is the one item I have made for bubs so far.

A twittery little mobile. The kids got no chance. He's gonna like birds...or possibly be frightened of them. I'm going for the former and hoping against future therapy sessions involving Hitchcock-type nightmares of flocks of birds circling his head at night...

He's got some cute little numbers hanging in the closet already. Now all I have to do is sew his crib set, touch up the paint on his furniture, make artwork for his walls, sew some hats and onesies, learn how to knit, buy a swing, highchair, infant car seat, and boppy, paint his walls, register for baby items and try to keep my sanity. Oh, no, wait. I just heard Sanity pick up his suitcase and head out the front door.

Thank you to all who have offered to lend or give me their baby boy clothes! We weren't expecting to have another bubs and donated ALL our baby items a few years ago! Sheesh...

Being Transparent

2011-05-31T09:38:00.000-07:00

We all have those days.

No, really listen: We All Have Those Days. Not the ones where everyone else screws up and we sigh and patiently pick up after them and love them anyhow. No, I mean the really ugly days where we scream, wanna throw things, maybe even do throw something. Maybe a swear tumbles out of our lips before we can catch it. And we're so mad that we don't even stop to reel it all back in. We angrily lecture our kids or spouse. We call names.

Kimm over at Life With Littles just nailed this subject. Nailed it firmly to the cross, where it belongs. And because I couldn't have said it better, I'm sending you all over there. Read it. That's an order. ;)

I love her transparency. She really displays the true nature of humility. Humility doesn't mean self-flagellation or never accepting a compliment. It means being known for who you really are. The good, the ugly, the REALLY ugly and the redeemed.

I would love to wrap this up with some new phrase about becoming more transparent in our parenting, being a trans-parent. But gosh darn, if that doesn't sound a little too LGBT for me...

And it's a...

2011-05-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

BOY!!

Yep, we found out this week that we are expecting another little boy. If you're keeping score, that's four boys! Wow. One more and we can start a basketball team...

I'm excited, overwhelmed and wish my Grandma, who raised four boys, was still here to tell me how to do this!

Justin and I had been pretty certain from the start that this was another little fella, so it wasn't really a shock. But the reality of raising not two or three, but four little men has really hit me! I sure hope I'm up for the challenge!

And please, no platitudes about how God never gives you more than you can handle. As I say, Oh, yes He does! On a nearly daily basis, or else we wouldn't need Him! Hehe

I'll be honest, I did have a moment that night where I had to kiss that little piece of my heart labeled "daughter" good-bye and bury her for good. It wasn't a sadness for the new little life growing inside me, but a mourning of the dream I had grown in my heart since I was a little girl, looking forward to having the kind of relationship I had with my mama with my own daughter.

But now, someday I'll have FOUR daughters! (In-law that is) Hehe.

So, if you want to find me from now on, I'll be shopping in the three or so racks of baby boy clothes in the sea of girl's clothes in the infant section of Target. ;)

Shattered

2011-05-24T11:46:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days have been a bit of a mess around here. Boys bickering, Daddy hiding in the bedroom watching tv all evening, Mommy yelling at anything not doing what it's meant to be doing or doing what it's not meant to. Not pretty. And dirty clothes, toys and throw pillows have started breeding in my house. There are way more lying all over tonight than there were last week.

Neill's been averaging three outfits a day. Losing a couple to water, mud, sidewalk chalk, popsicle or a concoction of all these items. I wouldn't care if he kept them on but Prince Persnickety Pants insists on removing any item of wet or befouled clothing. Yeah, this from the boy who eats his boogers and runs around naked with underwear on his head.

Can someone explain to me why little boys can't keep their pee in the toilet? I mean, I stand there and watch them. There all fine and aiming straight, then all the sudden whizzoo, it's on the floor, the wall or in the wastebasket. Every bathroom in my house has the vague, unpleasant smell of a public urinal. And a scented outlet. Which gives me a headache.

I now understand why my grandma made her four boys pee outside in the summer.

Then there are the little mishaps that were complete accidents. No one's fault, just happened.

Evidence:

The very last of my Pottery Barn lemonade glasses. There were eight of them. These beauties predate the kids, even the husband. I got them for my high school graduation. (yes, I had a hope chest that needed filling) Justin has been the chief criminal in the slow obliteration of the set. This time it was Isaac. He cried and felt awful. And I held him and bit my lip and said that it was perfectly ok and that it was an accident and I was just glad he wasn't hurt and yada yada.

See, this is why we can't have nice things.

Which brings to mind the other thing that is broken: my back. This morning, I was in a hurry, like always, and bent over to lift a stuffed laundry basket from the floor. And there I stayed. Folded in half like a pita sandwich with a twenty weeks bump at the seem.

I handled it in the most productive manner. I said "Ow" over and over again and tried to stand up for about five minutes. Finally, I dropped to my knees and did the pathetic side roll thing. I did a strange pill bug dance on my closet floor until I could finally breathe again and stand up. Well, somewhat. I could stand like Quasimoto could stand at least, giving whole new meaning to "hump day". (anyone else find that a wildly inappropriate sounding term or is it just me who snickers childishly?)

like my drawing? and to know I have no prior pill bug drawing experience...

Neill meanwhile having witnessed this whole scene, tilted his head quizzically and said, "You're silly, Mommy". Thanks son. Now, call an ambulance.

I knew I needed to get to the chiropractor ASAP. I could feel my back tightening up with every breath. But first I had to find something to wear. I mean, you can't go to the chiropractor in your pajamas and dirty underwear. Unfortunately, it was my dirty laundry I was attempting to lift. Being pregnant, I don't have many clothing options.

Thank the good Lord for Febreeze.

I got to my chiropractor and they worked me out a bit. They are awesome. They got me one hour from my distress call. And thank you to my friend Carrie, who took Neill on just as limited a notice! I'm still in considerable pain but at least I can walk and stand and such.

While I lay there on the chiropractor's table, having my muscles rubbed out by the massage therapist, I had that crazy thought only moms have: "Ahh, why don't I do this more often?" You know, the one you have when you are laying in the dentist's chair with no chattering children at your side. Wait, am I the only one who thinks that?

Anyhow, God used my inability to lift with my legs to buy me an hour of kid free relaxation. Go figure.

Justin brought home Taco Bell since I am under doctor's orders NOT to make dinner. (I will now compose a love song for my chiropractor.) And this is what I found on top of my taco:

You might have to click on this image and enlarge it. Also, excuse my Voldemort-like claws.

Even the Taco Bell sauce packets are mocking me.

I hope that you all have a fabulous rest of this week, completely devoid of Febreezed underpants, shattered memories and chalk and mud caked preschoolers.

A Do Whatever Day and Some Good Advice

2011-05-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

A lovely, lazy day. Justin had the day off work so we were able to go out to breakfast, a very rare treat! Mmm, Mo's Egg House. So good.

In the afternoon, Neill and I bought new flowers to plant in my window boxes and a hanging basket that was too gorge to leave behind.

Neill's "blue" flowers, Lobelia

Benny's little cactus garden. We didn't buy these today, but aren't they cute?

After breakfast, Neill and I ventured out for a "date". Since it was spur of the moment we went to Warm Springs Nature Preserve in Murrieta. It's right in the middle of town, surrounded by housing tracts and streets. You drive in and park and then descend a steep hill into a little valley, carved by the creek that winds lazily through it. It's lush with oak trees, cottonwoods and palms. There are wild flowers and reeds and all manner of birds, lizards and I'm sure, snakes.

We hiked along the edge of the creek until we got to one of the pools where you can stand on the rocks and peer into the mossy waters and see little tadpoles darting about. Electric blue damsel flies danced amongst the reeds and we spotted a salamander but my camera, that Benny had left on all night, was out of batteries by that time.

see the little tadpoles?

we followed a side path to this little sandy shore with a random park bench. No idea where it came from or who put it there.

Having not been to Warm Springs since last fall, I was saddened by the even further abuse that had been done. Not only were the trees grafittied, but there were beer cans and trash about, and shopping carts and cinder blocks and boards lying in the creek. It broke my heart. This really is such a beautiful, tiny oasis in the middle of town. I am *this* close to being the kind of person who organizes a community clean-up.

I didn't get many pictures of the debris, as I was trying to show the beauty of the place. Maybe I don't have the energy or where-with-all to organize community events but I can ask this: If you decide to take a hike in this beautiful spot, please carry at least three pieces of trash out with you. And for lord's sake, don't leave any behind!

Now that I'm done being all preachy, I wanted to share with you this post from one of my favorite blogs, Life With Littles. I was convicted. Not only for trying to control my kids into godly young men, but also for so readily giving my opinions and advice instead of pointing other moms to Jesus.

Have a lovely monday!

Lovely Love

2011-05-09T17:21:00.000-07:00

It was a lovely mother's day weekend.

Saturday had it's share of bickering and squabbles, oh, and the kids were a bit naughty too, ; ) but there were still pockets of lovely.

Benny passed a major milestone in any boy's life. He is now our official lawn care expert:

He took to mowing like a natural and did a great job. And our lawn is HUGE. But he persevered. He came in sweaty and red-faced and smelling like cut grass and covered in little bits of dirt and weeds. Just like Dad. And first thing wasn't "where's my allowance now", it was, "I need a shower."

He's really growing up. ::sniff::

My parents are on vacation in Hawaii. Poor souls. So, I, being the best and most loving of their daughters, agreed to water my mother's copious amounts of plants. Her thumb is just as green as my thumb is black. I don't think I killed anything. If I did, I think I can get rid of the body before she comes back and hopefully she won't notice one missing plant in the midst of that jungle. Just kidding, Mama. I did a good job and will water them once more before you return.

Her garden is hitting it's Springtime fervor, with glorious blooms and greenest greens. It was a mild day of soft breezes and mellow sunshine and frankly, I didn't want to go home.

So, having already acquired permission from said mother, I collected myself a couple of mother's day bouquets to go around my house. Aren't they pretty?

I did get these flowers from my boys for my special day too. Sorry Mom. My fellows win the garden show competition.

Mom's Day itself was lovely. Even if the sermon that morning was on SIN. (ok, but it was good and not a hell fire and brimstone one.) Afterward, my mom-in-law came over for dinner of barbecued tri-tip, sweet corn, et al, and stayed to play Wii with the boys and Scrabble with the Benji and me late into the night. An all around satisfying mothers day in which I did not do a dish or cook a meal, though I did have to clean one toilet. But, come on, that's just part of the job description.

Mothers, I hope your mama's day was lovely too. Children, if you didn't do something for your mom yesterday, pick up the phone and call her today. Or at least go clean her toilets.

Frosty Strawberry Squares...oh my!

2011-05-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

We're feeling the effects of early summer settling in. The temperatures have been in the upper 80's and 90's. The sprinkler has been on in the morning for Neill to run through and I am ready for the older boys to be home for summer. ( I may later regret those words...)

I'm looking forward to beach days and creek side tramps, watermelon munched in the cool, shady grass and homemade summery treats. Homemade lemonade is definitely in our immediate future. For today I made these:

This is how my mom always ushered in summer for us. One of the first signs, fresh strawberries, mixed with velvety cream and chilled to frosty, pink perfection. I've been totally craving these!

And somehow, over the years, they morphed into Frosty Strawberry Squares, Oh My! Hehe.

Would you like to try them? You will love them, I promise!

Frosty Strawberry Squares

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts or granola (we have to modify our recipe to granola due to a nut allergy)

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 egg whites

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup white sugar

2 cups finely chopped strawberries

1 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix flour, brown sugar, nuts or granola and melted butter together in a bowl. Spoon out, evenly, onto tin foil covered cookie sheet. Heat in oven until mixture begins to smell toasted, about 10 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool.
In mixing bowl combine egg whites and lemon juice and whip until soft peaks form. Slowly add in sugar while whipping. Whip until stiff peaks form. Fold in strawberries.
In another mixing bowl beat cream until stiff but not grainy. Fold whipped cream into egg white and strawberry mixture.
Sprinkle 2/3 nut/granola mixture over bottom of greased 9x13 pan. Pour strawberry cream mixture over this and smooth evenly. Sprinkle reserved nut/granola mixture over top.

Cover with saran wrap and place in freezer for 6 hours or overnight before serving. Let thaw fifteen minutes before cutting.

Happy Early Summer Dreams to you!

Oh, and by the way, I may just go crazy in the next three weeks. The ultrasound place couldn't schedule my appointment until May 24th!! Oy!!

Saying Good-bye

2011-05-05T01:22:00.000-07:00

This week, Sunday night to be exact, we had to say good-bye to our dear friends. And it hurt, a lot.

Renee and her kids, Buddy and the twins, Lola and Lotta, have been a part of our family almost since we met two and a half years ago. Her husband, Clark, is a military contractor, who's schedule is deployed for four months, home for three weeks. It seemed natural that, while he was away, we should almost combine households, eating dinner together several times a week, showing up at each other's doors on summer mornings for full days of swimming, watermelon and shoeless kids that lasted late into the cricket-sung nights.

We carpooled to and from school together. I taught her girls preschool for a while. She took my boys to her mom's house in Fallbrook. We even ventured to the beach with our broods.

We jokingly called each other "sister wives" and Justin called her his "second wife" and her children his "other kids". All in fun, of course, but there was something deep and real in our friendship. We had chosen to share life with each other. To be open to needing each other and being needed. To loving the other's children almost as much as our own, even when (mine) they were naughty. She let Justin help her with some of the "man" things around her house and let him snuggle her girls and ease some of that longing for their daddy far away.

Our kids could always run down the street to the other's house and find a welcome waiting. Her littles had grace for mine when they were having autistic meltdowns or couldn't understand why something they said or did would be hurtful. My boys learned more about grace and loving kindness from being with her kids then from a dozen Sunday school lessons.

I'm going to miss the mid-afternoon gab fests with a drink in hand while we watched our littles play or occasionally played the "we didn't know you were gone but we rejoice at your return" game with them. I'm going to miss having a friend who will be real about losing her temper with her twins or overdrawing on her checking account or just being to unmotivated to do the laundry that day. And being able to commiserate and then laugh about it together. I'm going to miss our laughter the most. We can laugh about anything. And I think we have. From death to a fake catering business called "Heavily MediCatered".

And so, Sunday night, we stood in her near empty kitchen, where we have laughed and eaten and drank and loved for two and a half years and we held each other and cried. And we whispered love and promises to each other. And sniffed and dried our tears and tried to smile at each other. I kissed and hugged my her kids good-bye with a brave smile and a peppy voice and then walked my wailing ten-year-old home, with backward glances at the silhouettes in front of the open garage, packing the last of their things into the big moving truck.

Then, an hour later, I accidentally butt dialed Renee and told her that this was a booty call.

Cuz that's how we roll.

And so, again with promises that we will come to visit in Texas and make you come home to visit, I will say again:

I love you guys so much.

And I'm going to miss you like crazy.

Oh, yeah, I just totally put that one of you on here, Renee.