The Plain Truth

 I would, just once, like to get a really nice picture of the husband and I.

 I'm not complaining. 

This isn't terrible. 

But you know, I like him. 

I'd like to capture that essence of love that exudes from us. 

That "je ne sais quoi" that is "us."

Oh, who am I kidding? This picture does the job. 

He tolerates me at best, I think.

On Wealth

 I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about wealth. And riches.

 The husband has a good job. He works very hard and provides well for our "little" family. All of our needs are met. And quite a lot of our wants. Of course, we always wish for more, right? I mean, would it be too much to ask that my children have actual beds to sleep on? (Some of them sleep on mattresses on the floor because they BROKE their bed by jumping on it... ahem.) (And if we're being honest, the husband believes he is going to build us two sets of bunkbeds. I'm just impatient.)

 But when it comes right down to it, I know that having things like fancy furniture (anything without marker on it), and extravagant vacations (qualifies as anyplace overnight without the kids) aren't important. Truly. I mean, look! We are wealthy. We are rich beyond measure.  

I wouldn't trade it for the world. 

Walking

 The bike trail that runs behind our house really is one of my favorite things about where we live. It enables us to take leisurely walks as a family. Someday, though, when everyone is old enough, we'd like to go on bike rides together. We also would all need bikes. Small oversight.

 I always take my camera along when we go out there because its a good way to get some honest interactions captured on "film". 

 The purse she is wearing has been her constant companion for the better part of a week. It's contents: a My Little Pony, two super balls, and a bean bag. She will gladly empty it's contents for you if you ask to see them. 

My LibbyMae (as she's called) sure loves her Daddy. 

 I'm going to pretend like this picture didn't happen. 8 and 10 year old girls can be pretty emotional. (Understatement of the century). 

The husband looks tired. I think it's because we spent the entire day sleeping. This walk was literally the only thing we did that day. Also, proof that my husband can sorta grow facial hair. 

But see! Not always all emotional! Sometimes just sweetness and light. Yeah, this is the one I'll keep.

I'll be back with more pictures from this walk... I took lots.

Holes for One

 It's amazing what a little thing like donut holes can do for your day.

Especially when Daddy is the one doing the treating.

Is this the way it is at your house? Mom's the meanie. The enforcer. Dad's the one who brings home a gargantuan sized box of donut holes for you to stuff yourself with. (She had five and was mad when I told her no more.)

 Also notice her "tatt/sticker sleeves?" She really likes stickers. I've mentioned this before. And she never lets us remove them. I thought for a long time that it was because she really likes to hold onto her stickers. But no. It's because after wearing them constantly for 3-5 days, they basically fuse to your skin. Removing them is painful. 

 What? You don't eat with your feet on the table? You haven't lived.

Pretty sure she's flashing me some gang signs here. Be wary of this one.

Teamwork!

How many siblings does it take to get Libby a drink?

One to be a step stool. One for safety. And one to hold the button.

Good thing for siblings.

The One Where I Make An Appearance

Oh hi. 

Yes, yes. This is me. No makeup. Not that I wear it any day other than Sunday. So, basically, if you know me, this is how I always look. 

But did you notice??

My hair is in a ponytail! One. Yeah. It's about 2 inches long. But I'm thrilled.

The Sick

 This has been one of the worst Winters for sickness. And not just for us. Almost everyone I know has kids who've been perpetually sick.  If it wasn't puking, it was mysterious rashes, pneumonia, Hand, Foot and Mouth, colds, coughs, fevers, Bronchitis, Strep, etc etc etc.

Fortunately for us, we haven't had it as bad as all that. Libby did get HFM right after Christmas but that was more of a relief since she is my last kid to get it. Done and done.

But in the last month our kids one at a time have fallen victim to a puking bug.  And finally, we're passing the flu (pretty sure that's what this is) around. Right now it's poor Anna. We're on day 3 of a fever and just for extra fun, today she lost her voice.  Poor thing.

 She's been pretty miserable. But you need to understand that Anna is my only cuddly child. So, all she wants is to be held. Obviously, I can't do that, but I've tried to acquiesce as much as possible. Also, it's 80 degrees here and holding a child who is running a 103.3 temperature makes things a little... uh... sweaty.

But sickness aside, isn't she beautiful? Don't you just want to kiss those luscious lips? Okay, maybe after she's done being sick.

Run Like the Wind!

Next week is Spring Break here. Of course, that means it is summer weather here in sunny Florida.

We're going to try to make it to the beach, and we have a couple of other things planned. I believer, however, that it will be a typical summer like week with bike riding, chalk drawing, and water play. My kids have recently added kickball and street hockey (two actual hockey sticks and some brooms with a volleyball) to their arsenal of outdoor games.

Last week the kids discovered a kite I'd purchased on clearance up to two years ago (I don't remember buying it.) We kept telling them that they couldn't play with it anywhere close to the house because we have a lot of trees and more troubling... power lines. Of course, if your children are like mine, you know that they didn't listen to me. They assembled the thing and having lost the string thingy, grabbed some of my yarn (fortunately for them, it was some I didn't care about).

I found this:

 And I couldn't help but be so proud. They found a solution that worked for them and solved my concerns.

 Plus, running up and down the street in order to get your kite 10 feet in the air burns off quite a lot of energy. Create your own wind, kids! Which, as you can imagine, pleases me greatly for as soon as their heads hit the pillow, they were gone!

They did figure out a way to pull it slightly easier. Which also made me proud. Necessity being the mother of invention lead them to a one handed bike ride.  Even better is that the little cheapie (less than a dollar) kite has entertained the entire group of neighborhood kids for a couple of days and it's holding up rather well. Money well spent. I'm contemplating buying another to have in reserve in case of emergency.

Playin' Hookey

When I was growing up my mother would typically allow us one Free Day per school year. Yes, that's right. we were allowed to skip school. I will add that it wasn't allowed to be on a day when we had an important test or anything (responsible parenting still intact).

These were the best days. I remember going shopping. I remember my senior year of high school, my mom and I went strawberry picking. That was the best. I think once my kids get into high school, I will enact this tradition. It will be my one redeeming grace; I'll be the cool Mom for one whole day. Maybe.

This morning Abbie woke up feeling awful. She was running a low grade temperature so I told her to just go back to bed. She agreed and basically slept all morning. Around 1pm she woke up feeling infinitely better.

So I let her braid my hair into what seemed like a million braids. I pretend like this was something she suggested, but in actuality it was my idea. I really enjoy having my hair played with and she was super excited to do it. And I looked awesome, as you can plainly see.

After that, I decided to re-teach her how to knit. The last time I taught her (about two years ago) there was a lot of frustration on both of our parts and not much success. 

Not this time! She spent most of the rest of the day holed up on the couch with her knitting. I really hope it's caught on.  However, I'm not sure I thought this through completely as now I'm going to have to share my yarn stash. Uh. Not cool. 

(My husband would like me to state that for the record, we do not allow our daughters to wear tank tops as clothing. It is acceptable as an undershirt or possibly as pajamas.  Since she is still wearing her pajamas, that happens to be what she had on.)

Routine.

The way things go around here is what I like to call casual.  Other people call it lazy. I'm okay with that.

 I'm up with the school kids (and often the littles) by 7am. I spend the next hour hustling and yelling, reminding and harassing. By 8am the big kids are off to school and I have just the littles.  Shamefully, I usually turn on the TV and nap on the couch (yes, lazy). But on this particular morning this week, the light was just right and the little ones were being agreeable. We sat at the table and finished our immediately after breakfast snack of pound cake and apples. Healthy? Eh, whatever.

 Their joy at having my undivided attention was obvious. 

And it made me realize that I need a new routine. One where I spend more time making sure these two littles know that their Momma loves them more than she loves her morning nap. I know. Those are big words. 

  But so is my love for them. REALLY BIG.

 Lucas will start a half day preschool in August and while I am positively giddy at the idea, I'm still sort of baffled at how he went from a tiny little mini baby to my tiny little mini child. 

 The good news is that these two are thick as thieves. 

 Which is another reason I'm having to give up my morning nap. This week alone I woke up to find them: 

1. Eating sugar direct from the bin by the teaspoonful. 

2. Dumping 1/2 gallon of Kool-Aid on my freshly mopped floor.

3. Eating chocolate cupcakes.

4. Coloring on their sister's homework.

5. Playing games on my Kindle Fire. 

6. Riding bikes in the garage.

I think I should be more concerned about who is going to keep Libby entertained when Lucas heads off to school. I can't possibly keep up that pace.

And for your viewing pleasure: Video proof of their relationship.

Partytime. Excellent.

We are not a big-time fancy party people. But we like friends and we love food, so when it came time for Libby's 2nd birthday (that we knew she wouldn't remember anyways...) we went casual. 

We invited a couple of neighbor friends to come over and do what we normally do: Ride bikes, play with sidewalk chalk, blow bubbles, play with balloons, and just generally enjoy each other's company. 

 Only this time we provided some cupcakes. Libby chose chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

Yum. The chocolate buttercream frosting recipe I used was AMAYZING! (The Y is for Yum.)

Libby and Marley (our sweet neighbor girl) pretending to like each other. Mostly, they love each other... from a distance. As in, they like to wave "Hi" and "Bye" but don't expect them to share anything or you'll have some of this on your hands.

 Hey, it's her party. She can cry if she wants to.

 Lemme tell ya. The cupcakes were to die for. 

 As in, my mouth is watering just looking at these pictures. Please go make some. 

And think of my heartbreak at my youngest babe turning 2 years old. Cry a tear for me.

2 sick kids + lots of cardboard in the recycling=

This awesome treehouse.

My sister in law, Audrey, did it first and so much better. But it was a good way to pass the time and provide my girls with a home for their 80 billion Squinkies. And after I finished with the cutting out and main assembly, I let the girls go to town with my scrapbook paper and glue sticks. They wallpapered practically every surface and even created furniture, rugs and a car.

You can find directions (which we fudged) and the templates here at Family Fun magazine.

Two Pair

I admit that I am not a sock knitter. I appreciate warm and lovely handknit socks as much as the next person, but as it turns out, I didn't actually enjoy knitting them.

Enter Susan B. Anderson.

She posted on her blog a recipe for a very simple sock and it occurred to me that perhaps that was my solution. Knitting simple socks.
You see, sock knitting can get very complicated.
Toe up?
Top down?
One at a time?
Two?
Magic loop?
Short row heel?
Afterthought heel?
Wedge toe?

And honestly, this is just scratching the surface of plain socks. Don't even get me started on patterned socks.

At any rate, Susan told me exactly what to knit and how. I'm thrilled. I've cranked out two pair in a month.
And now my feet are warm. And now my heart is happy.
And I've got another pair on the needles.

Yarn is Serenity Sock Weight

Yarn is Patons Kroy Socks

Just because...

Even tiny babies need socks!