rambling...

so my mind is turning around lots of thoughts and i'm trying to figure out how to make them coherent! i went to a concert tonight with theMr. we saw andrew peterson, who was soooo good! (you can check him out here so very worth it if you enjoy story-telling, folksy kind of music) i was super excited to go as my "baby" brother, tony, was opening for him. anyway, while there i ran into lots of people we know. three different people mentioned something or other they had read here. for some reason, i forget that real people in my life read this! i'm so used to reading the blogs of lots of lovely strangers, that i tend to write as if i'm only writing to strangers. it made me think... would i do anything differently if i was consciously writing to people i know? i don't think i would. one thing i've always strived for in my every day life is authenticity and transparency. i'm one of those people that wears my true feelings on my sleeve (not always a good thing:) and you always know where you stand with me. when i started this blog it was an effort to have a place to process things. in some ways it has evolved into my own real life confession room. and while i will always desire a place where women come and read and think "i feel the same way!", i wonder if i share too much? will my kids read this someday and resent it? will they think i was so stressed by them that i didn't treasure the chance to be here with them? will they read the stories of our, ahem, "adventures" and be embarrassed that i shared those things with the world? or will they laugh and be thankful for this ongoing journal of their childhood and their mother's antics in getting them "all raised up"? i'm really not sure... i'm going to have to ponder this one a little longer.

remember yesterday when i posted about crazy toddlers and babies who cry all day? and then i added in pics of those same children smiling and angelic looking? not an accurate representation! here are those same two children, about ten minutes ago. (please excuse the quality, taken by my phone!)

song for a fifth child

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

if i were...

If I were a month, I’d be July
If I were a day of the week, I’d be Saturday
If I were a time of day, I’d be Twilight (surprised? lol)
If I were a planet, I’d be Earth
If I were a sea animal, I'd be a sea lion (clapping all the time!)
If I were a direction, I’d be north
If I were a piece of furniture, I’d be a rocking chair
If I were a liquid, I’d be coffee
If I were a gemstone, I’d be a ruby
If I were a tree, I’d be a giant climbing tree
If I were a tool, I’d be a hammer
If I were a flower, I’d be a lily
If I were a kind of weather, I’d be a warm spring day
If I were a musical instrument, I’d be a guitar
If I were a color, I’d be green like new grass
If I were an emotion, I’d be giddiness
If I were a fruit, I’d be watermelon
If I were a sound, I’d be a baby's laugh
If I were an element, I’d be wind
If I were a car, I’d be a volkswagon bus
If I were a food, I’d be chocolate
If I were a place, I’d be the ocean
If I were a material, I’d be flannel
If I were a taste, I’d be juicy
If I were a scent, I’d be hazelnut
If I were an object, I’d be a blankie
If I were a body part, I’d be eyes
If I were a facial expression, I’d be a grin
If I were a song, I’d be a lullaby
If I were a pair of shoes, I’d be flip flops!

Happy Birthday to.... ME!

it's my birthday today, yay! it was wonderful! theMr took a personal day and we had an all day date. can you imagine that? all day with no kids who can talk? only miss esme! he got me a fantastic birthday gift which was the super duper deluxe keurig coffee pot that i have been lusting after, forever! he also got me a cake and is currently bathing the kids while i blog. who can beat that? there is something about birthdays that makes one reflect on one's life. i was asked earlier if i feel a year older. truth be told, i feel ten years older than i really am. whether that is from experiences, fatigue or a combination of both, i'm not sure. what i do know is that i am truly a blessed woman. i have a fantastic husband. not only is he thoughtful and fun to be with, he's HOT! i have five (holy cow- FIVE!) healthy, wonderful children. they're ornery and require an immense amount of upkeep but i love them dearly. i have a loving, supportive family and a small group of true friends. i have normal problems just like everybody else. this is a blessing in itself. there are many people in this world who have extraordinary problems. i'm thankful that in the grand scheme of things, mine are quite minor. it's been a good 32 years. i hope i have many more to come!

oh spring, where for art thou?

i am sooo tired of wearing these...




and so ready to wear these!

where's the paddle?

there are a few certainties when raising young children. children love to watch tv. shows geared at said children will undoubtedly be annoying to adults. for those of us who parented through the "barney" phase, we know this well. many of the newer shows for young children aren't quite as valium inducing as those of old. but there is one show that my kids refuse to give up on that just makes me crazy. it is the wonderful world of caillou. that kid annoys the crap out of me. first of all, he whines nonstop. and after he whines, his parents give him what he wants to shut him up. what he needs is a nice paddling. that'll straighten him out. these people spend all day entertaining him and his whiny sister while he argues, cries and torments the family cat. what a wonderful example! he also has a strange accent that i can't quite put my finger on, but that's neither here nor there. man that kid gets me....by the way, i refuse to even put a picture of that little punk on my blog. wouldn't want to give him the google hit.

valentine's top 10

i'm totally in a blogging rut. i think i'm in a rut in general. postpartem? who knows? either way, i'm kinda blah these days. never one to shirk my duty to my readers (all two of you... three... is anybody out there?) i figured i could pull together a top 10 in honor of valentine's day. here goes nothin!

my top 10 loves!

10. coffee, coffee and more coffee. including my favorite christmas gift, this lovely mug, that truly says it all...



9. blogs (duh) reading them, writing them, coming across crazy ones that make me feel normal. it's all entertainment. so much entertainment i have to really watch myself or i can spend hours on the computer. not good for a mom of five.



8. sitoms. i freakin love sitcoms. theMr would much prefer to watch movies all day but i'm all about the sitcoms. canned laughter, jokes, all problems solved in thirty minutes? sign me up!





7. twilight, of course. did you really think i'd have any kind of top ten about love that does not include my precious, edward cullen? then you have not been paying attention. *sigh*




6. shoes, glorious shoes! i heart shoes more than anyone should love an inanimate object. more on that coming later this week....


5. having babies. (note: not pregnancy, pregnancy sucks) i love the birthing process and i love babies! maybe that's why i have so many?


(seriously, who could not love this face?)

4. naps... oh how i love thee, let me count the ways... naps for me, naps for kids, sleeping in general. good stuff!




3. cake, i love some cake. it's a problem. a problem for another post...



2. my kids, of course. they're cute, they're funny, they look like my husband, whom i adore. there are just so many things to love about those little people but you get the point. they rock.



1. theMr! the one i love, adore, cherish, admire and generally am enamored with for the last twelve years... and many more to come!

too bad a magic eraser doesn't work on my body..

so i'm cleaning today, getting crayon off of walls with my magic eraser. (this is, unfortunately, a common chore in this house) for a moment, i was wishing there was some kind of magic eraser for bodies! i'm having one of those weeks where i'm just frustrated with this post-baby body. i know, i know, my baby is only four months old. and i do have five of them. but when you are normally a very small person, carrying around an extra 30 lbs is hard to swallow. i need to get back to the gym but i'm so stinkin tired all the time! i know that i'll feel better once i go back but i can't seem to drag myself there. none of my clothes fit, i hide from the camera, it's impossible to feel sexy... although i suppose that's what got me in this mess in the first place! it's hard to feel sexy when you leak breastmilk on a regular basis. i'm pale and flabby and living in sweats sooo tired of the snow! i did get a haircut and highlight this week, which is a huge improvement. *sigh* sorry, i'm done complaining.

Juliana made me do it :)

Juliana, my newest reader, from "a blond walks into a bar" said i have to do this. i always do what strangers tell me to. don't you? (if i was really savvy i would know how to put her name in those little linky jobs so you could click on her blog. but i don't know how. sorry!) anywho..

1. How many piercing's do you have? six. two in one ear, one in the other, tongue, beauty mark peircing, nose and *ahem* one "other".

2. I love the sound of.....? my baby laughing. miss esme just starting giggling this week. it will seriously melt your heart. even hitler would turn to a pile of mush at that sound.

3. Favorite city? i'm gonna go with seattle. or maybe chicago. i really love LA. oh heck, i love cities!

4. Colts, Saints, or could care less? um i don't even know w here either of those teams are from!

5. Frozen yogurt or ice cream? seriously? is there a choice? ice cream, for sure. preferably coffee flavored.


6. Favorite appetizer? any kind of hot, cheesy, seafood kind of dip. this is starting to make me hungry.

7. What item in your closet currently makes you the happiest? Well, considering i just had a baby and can't fit into much in my closet, i'm gonna have to go with shoes. but i could never pick just one pair. i have so many darling shoes. i really should become one of those housewives with a skirt and heels just to wear them all!


8.Favorite facial moisturizer? Um, I do not have one either. i've actually been looking for one. i need one for combination, still-gets-acne, starting to get wrinkles skin. any suggestions??

oh dear...

so the princess, being the big kindergartener she is, is doing sight words at school now. she brought home a list this week that she needs to practice. among the list are "it" words. so a few days ago, theMr walks into the bathroom to find zaza on the toilet while the princess brushes her teeth. he's showing her the sight words and quizzing her on them. he asks her to come up with her own sight word that rhymes with "it". she's stumped. he looks at her and says "what am i doing right now?". at this point theMr is about to experience cardiac arrest first hand! he say to zaza "what are you doing right now?!" to which the reply is "sitting". whoa, that was close! i'm breathing a little easier, although this week's list contains "uck" words. Lord help us...

p.s. when searching for an applicable pic on google for a post such as this, do not type in little boy on toilet. trust me. if you do, do not do it on your husband's laptop for his job at the county courthouse. that is probably monitored by some guy somewhere. who probably thinks very creepy things about me now. just sayin.

never too young to start blogging...

welcome to february in the midwest!

p.s. yes, i was taking these while driving. but in my defense, i had no kids with me and it was with my cell phone. don't judge me :)