flashback friday!

*Editor's note: I chose this repost as an encouragement to all the moms out there that i know are struggling. i wrote this a little over a year ago. there were many days i felt like i was sinking. can i tell you how relieved i am to read it now and see that my days look nothing like this now? not that i'm living the easy life now or anything, but just having kids one year older makes my life so much less intense. so this is for all my friends who are pregnant or have a new baby (& a toddler!!) i promise it gets easier :)
<3, Abby

i'm having one of those weeks no one tells you about before you have kids, especially five of them. you can read all the books and websites and magazines and no one will tell you. maybe because the future of the human race is dependant on not scaring women out of having children? i debated even blogging this because, honestly, alot of the mommy blogs i read are very hearts and rainbows. but real, day to day motherhood is not that way. there are moments of pure bliss sandwiched in between days of frustration, exhaustion and feelings of failure. we started the week with news that we have to purchase a new van (not welcome news!) followed by many, many days of a screaming baby and a terror of a toddler.
this baby, adorable as she is, is making me crazy. i don't know what's wrong with her. is it teeth? gas? schizophrenia? who can tell??? trust me, if i had any idea how to make it stop i would. add to that the fact that i spend every day from noon on alone with them and you get a very exhausted mother. then there's the little guy.

he may very well be the child who puts me over the edge for good. here's a typical scene in our house lately: i'm walking the screaming baby while three other kids are arguing/talking/singing/whining or otherwise demanding my attention. while this is happening, the little guy is getting a brand new bag of espresso out of the cupboard and pouring it in each of the burners on the stove. then he's pouring chocolate soy milk on all of that. when i tell him he's getting spanked for this? he laughs. it is a true miracle that child is still living. keep in mind that while i'm disciplining this little angel and cleaning up the mess, i'm still holding the screaming baby. in a typical evening i alone am responsible for cooking dinner, feeding five kids, cleaning up from dinner, facilitating the lunch packing, bathing five children, cutting a total of 100 nails (holy moly!), getting clothes out for morning, making sure homework and studying are done for three kids (this includes spelling words and scripture memorization for one child who is ADD) doing at least two loads of laundry a day, folding and putting away these loads, nursing a baby every three hours, and getting them all to bed by myself. notice that does not include the heavier cleaning needed or any kind of "quality time" with the kids such as reading to them or playing. people frequently ask me "how do you do it?" my reply is usually "how do you know i'm doing it well?" this is one of those weeks when i don't think i am! after a frustrating evening last night, i cried in the bathtub. and when i got out, i checked to make sure each little body was sufficiently covered up in our old, cold house. and as i kiss their little foreheads, i'm reminded that it's worth it. even on weeks like this.

flashback friday!

this is for you sarah!! :)

how much do you really know about me?


i can fit my entire fist in my mouth.

true or false?

i asked theMr out on our first date.

true or false?


i'm afraid of public restrooms.

true or false?

i live in a tiny two bedroom, one bathroom house in the ghetto so my kids can go to private school.

true or false?

i'm not at all competitive.

true or false?

i hate watching movies more than once.

true or false?

i sang in plays, productions and church most of my childhood and now will not sing in public.

true or false?

i've never broken a bone.

true or false?

i'm allergic to nature.

true or false?

i'm super ambitious.

true or false?

i spent many nights camping with theMr when we were dating and then refused to do so once we were married.

true or false?

i want to design a women's golf clothing line that doesn't look like something 80 year old women would wear.

true or false?

one of my children pushed one of my other children out of a two story window.

true or false?

i collect teapots.

true or false?

my mom is my best friend.

true or false?

sometimes i pretend i didn't see my kids do things so i don't have to address it.

true or false?

it makes me feel better when i see people from high school and they've gotten fat.

true or false?

i don't put sunscreen on my kids when we swim at home.

true or false?

i secretly think my husband is hotter than any of my friend's husbands.

true or false?

i was unmarried and in college when i had my first child.

true or false?

my husband was originally buddhist.

true or false?

i have a twilight calendar in my kitchen but i keep it on the same month all year long... (*cough*edward*cough*)



all these are true. every single one. and now you know.

flashback friday!

Top Ten Ways to Know you are getting Old!


10. you are super excited when your parents get you a AAA membership for christmas, like really excited.

9. you read the back of packages in the store. and you can only do so if you remembered to bring your glasses.

8. if you had your choice, the perfect night out would be getting a sitter and taking a nap.

7. you know all about things like pensions and health insurance and you feel really blessed to have both.

6. your kids ask if they had color tv when you were a kid.

5. you've been married for a third of your life.

4. you'd rather hang out with your mom than most people you know.

3. you have friends on their second or third marriage.

2. 50 suddenly seems awfully young.

1. you make friends online because you are too tired to leave the house. and then you meet up with them in real life!

flashback friday!

some things never change..... happy friday! :)


i have a few gripes to express towards nickjr though, and playhouse disney if anyone is counting.

TOP TEN WAYS CHILDREN'S PROGRAMMING IS TRYING TO SABOTAGE ME!

10. the shows are approximately 18 minutes long. have you ever tried to shower in 18 minutes when you have as much hair as i do? sorry theMr, you just have to get used to the furry legs. it's miracle i can shower at all.

9. some kid on tv just showed my kids how to play the recorder with their nose. thank you so much! i'm always looking for new ways they can spread their snot around a little more!



8. the "catchy" tunes, oh the tunes.... if you are at the zoo among hundreds of strangers and the tram pulls up and at least twenty other parents all start singing the "choo choo soul" song to their kids that should tell you something. true story, this happened to a friend of mine. we should not know these songs so well.
the phone, the phone is ringing....

7. the little "projects" between shows. you know the ones. the easy ones you can do with your child involving simple household items such as 37 Popsicle sticks, 14 colors of felt and a hot glue gun. and they make them seem super easy and fun so that your kid is nagging you all day about doing it. hey kids- our project for the day is making sure the baby gets her diaper changed at a reasonable interval!

6. the commercials. first of all, i'd prefer they don't have commercials. as if my kids need any reminder that are lots of toys they still don't have! but they also show ones directed at the parents. so now my kids want us to buy a snuggie, some tampax and one of those giant cupcake baking pans. not to mention dora nagging us to fill out our census. dora, are you even here legally?



5. the many languages. now i know that good mothers desire their children to by bilingual. but as a mother of a child with a significant speech delay, i'd rather just focus on english. can someone tell me why my toddler needs to know japanese?

4. the repetition of the same five episodes over and over and over.... really. if i see mickey mouse try to get that sheep out of the tree one more time...why is there a sheep in a tree anyway?



3. where are the parents in all these shows? why are max and ruby always unsupervised? and the backyardigans? they play outside all day long with no supervision.



2. the political correctness. now i know this one will probably get me in trouble but it drives me crazy. there is nothing PC about me at all. the constant messages of tolerance and whatnot annoy me to no end. do i want my children to love everyone, regardless of differences or lifestyle choices? yes. do also want them to stand up for truth and morality in a world of "everything goes"? absolutely. i'll handle the character development, nickelodean. thanks anyway.

1. this preschool programming is on 24/7. this is really a blessing and a curse. on one hand, it's always there. on the other hand, it's always there. so you can never (honestly) say "sorry, there's no show on right now!"
you just have to turn it off. and go outside. where you can do a big project involving planting your very own earth friendly garden of organic vegetables after finishing your census form.

flashback friday

it's late at night and my house is quiet... all are asleep but my mind is still going. instead of an old post today, i want to share memories. more for myself than for anything else. i've been thinking about and missing my grandmother a lot lately. it's been almost two years now since she passed. the farther away we get the more the suffering and the disease and the heartbreak at the end fades and the good memories remain. i seem to miss her more and more each passing month. there used to be this little locally owned restaurant in town that she loved. they gave you a chocolate cake for your birthday. she, my mom and i use to have lunch there all the time. i can see it so clearly in my mind, as if it were yesterday. grandma's black coffee with red lipstick marks on it. her gum on the saucer. she always got soup and salad. always. we would have the same conversations. me talking about my life and her lecturing me :) i'm somewhat of the rebellious grandchild. she thought it her mission in life to set me straight. although, secretly, i think she liked that i was feisty like her. she could never say that, not one to "encourage" my waywardness, but we were cut from the same cloth. there was much more the same in us than just our long fingers and toothy smiles. that restaurant is gone now, just as she is. you can drive by where it used to be but nothing of the old remains. i can drive by her home or the place where she died but nothing of her remains. but i see her in the way i smile. in my wit. in my love for crossword puzzles. in my determination to always be right. she's still here. if i have one regret it is that she never got to meet esme. i was five months pregnant when she died. she loved babies so much. she would have rocked her for hours and laughed at her kitty impressions and nagged me that her coat isn't warm enough. she would have had her over for tea parties just like she did with me and my older daughters. she would have driven her crazy but loved her endlessly. just like she did me. but life goes on and people die and new life is born. it's just the way it is. and although esme will never meet her, she will know who she was. she will hear the stories. she will see the pictures. and she may not realize it, but she will see a little bit of grandma june every time she looks down at her own long fingers.

flashback friday!

so i said recently (to someone who will remain unnamed...) "if you go to jail i'm not bailing you out!" now in reality, i would have bailed them out. cause i'm a total pushover for the people i love. that's just one of those things you say to make it sound like you're taking the hard line. anyway, i got to thinking about the jail experience. now i've never actually been to jail, so this is all conjecture on my part. but it sounds a heck of a lot easier than my everyday life!

10. no more housekeeping! no more 800 loads of laundry. no more scrubbing the toilet where little boys have peed all over the floor. wait, what?! did you say you have to clean the prison toilets in there?? oh, nevermind...

9. no cooking! i don't care how bad prison food is, I DON'T HAVE TO COOK IT! of course the cafeteria is where i'd be most likely to land myself in solitary confinement. don't mess with my food. you touch my tray, you pay the consequences. just sayin.

8. free workout equipment! do you know how much our gym membership is? it's ridiculous. especially considering i could really just take my lazy self outside and run. but i'd rather run in air conditioning while watching tv.

7. lots of free time! time to read, time to write, time to NAP! need i say more?

6. recess! ok, i know they don't call it recess. but if you go outside twice a day to play basketball and run around that's recess. call it whatever you want. if there's one thing my life needs it's the reintroduction of recess.

5.no more planning! there is something strangely soothing about having someone else plan out your whole day for you. when you are responsible for seven (SEVEN!!) people's schedules as i am, that sounds like a dream.

4, free college! now i was fortunate enough to be able to work hard and graduate college with zero debt, a minor miracle. (and see how much that social work degree is helping me? while i change diapers and clean up spit up and whatnot? totally worth it) but i had to enter the workforce long before i was hoping to end my education. i'd love to go back and further it but finances will make that very difficult. so apparently i just need to commit a serious crime and then i can finish for free! yippee!

3. conjugal visits. i'll refrain from elaboration.

2. weekly visits with the kids. i love those kids. i'd love them even more seeing them for an hour once a week.

1. prison just seems like a life of leisure to me! now i know some would argue that the gangs and group showering and fights and whatnot are no walk in the park. but those people have never gone grocery shopping with a toddler and a baby.

flashback friday

this post isn't that old but it made me smile... especially since this dear child is now showing no inclination to walk. she can climb just about anything though so don't worry... she's still finding ways to get in trouble! happy long weekend all, i'll see ya on the flipside!

esme is a bit, how do i put it, stationary.



girlfriend was in no particular hurry to roll over, sit up and now crawl. at 9 months old she's showing no signs of crawling. now some mothers might be concerned about this seeing that all the charts say that babies crawl between 6-10 months. but those mothers did not have a baby who walked at 7 MONTHS (ZaZa) and 9 MONTHS (the little guy).



i am in no hurry for her to be mobile. she is totally content to sit on our living room floor with her basket of toys playing happily and staying right where i left her.



no crawling up the stairs. no eating every minute crumb off the carpet. just staying put. which is more than i can say for any other child in this house! so imagine my surprise today when i went to get her up from her nap and found her standing in her crib!



i've never seen her get from laying to sitting by herself, much less stand up!



she was quite impressed with herself if the high pitched screeching was any indicator!



i came in and told the kids about it and they were as shocked as i was. they made some hilarious observations!

the Bean: "maybe she's in there every day at naptime running laps in her crib to trim down her chubby thighs!"

the Princess: "maybe she already knows how to walk she just hides it from us so we'll still carry her around!"

Za: "she's been trickin us all this time!"

she is a crafty little one!

flashback friday!

i'm gonna tell you a story for flashback friday. a story involving valentine's day... two years ago. now we don't normally celebrate V day because my birthday is the following week and i'd rather save the money and sitter for that. but this particular year theMr surprised me by getting a sitter and taking me out. probably because i had been sick for a few weeks and i was acting like a crazy person. he knows when to turn on the charm. it's no coincidence he's managed to survive with me for 13 years. but i digress... so we went to dinner and a movie. unfortunately, i got motion sickness from the movie. i'm serious. how lame is that? so we're on the way home and i am trying not to retch in the car. we're discussing how sick i've been and both wondering if my mono from the year before has made a reappearance. this is the part when i mention how odd it is that i feel fine in the mornings and get progressively more ill throughout the day. now keep in mind that we are driving right now. theMr looks at me (in slow motion) and says "kind of like when you're pregnant?" O...M...G... uh, yeah, exactly like that. so he follows up with the very logical "when was your last period?" now remember, this is mid February... it was thanksgiving weekend. holy cow. not only am i pregnant, i'm three months pregnant. how do you know you already have too many kids? when you are so busy that you are in your second trimester before you realize you are pregnant. how did i miss this? i just about started hyperventilating. i went out the following morning and purchased a test which turned positive the second i peed on it. i sat and cried while theMr laughed like a crazy person. i swore we weren't telling anyone until i gave birth. i bargained with God for my sanity. and i got an Esme. good deal. well played sir, well played.

flashback friday...

it seems appropriate to revisit the top ten of 2009 as 2010 nears an end.... happy flashback friday...8 days till christmas!!

the best and the worst... here we go!

top 10 worst things of 09

10. gaining 50 lbs... again. why can't i be one of those cute little preggo women who complain about the additional 25 lbs they are carrying?

9. the cars broken into... again. we should be used to it by now i suppose. but we did get a AAA membership for christmas! so at least next time we won't have to pay for the window!

8. illness, illness and more illness. if it's contagious, we've had it. but praise the Lord we escaped the swine flu!

7. the loss of childhood icons. my kids growing up in a world without micheal jackson? crazy..

6. another year spent with a family of seven in a two bedroom house. but in this economy, i am thankful for a roof over our heads.

5. a cancelled vacation... again. although if i'm gonna miss vacation, i'm glad it's for a baby!

4. i'm not gonna comment on our political situation. let's just say it's not on my best list.

3. seeing some of my family members struggle with things so much bigger than they are. my prayer is that 2010's list will have a praise of seeing victory and breakthrough in those areas.

2. losing hannah in the spring. her life touched ours in so many ways. she will never be forgotten.

1. losing both of my grandmothers this summer. going through those losses, three months apart, while pregnant was tough. in some way's i'm glad this long year is over!

Top 10 ten BEST things of 09!

10. another year of God providing the resources for our children to attend a wonderful christian school. that school continues to bless our family in many, many ways!

9. 2009 will forever go down in the books as the year we discovered twilight. ahhh... where was my life before edward cullen? thank you stephenie meyer!

8. another year of theMr having this wonderful career. in an economy that is shaky, at best, we are blessed that he has the job he has and he loves it.

7. a year of overall health. we may have shared every little virus to run through the school but in a world of cancers, surgeries and worse... we are thankful for health.

6. the wonderful christmas news that we will have a new niece or nephew this coming year!! i love new babies! especially when i'm not the one who has to be pregnant :)

5. another year of the basics, that we often take for granted... food, clothing, housing, utilities, cars that run, insurance and health.

4. celebrating our ninth year of marriage, our twelfth year together. as many around us divorce, i am so thankful that our marriage is strong. i couldn't make it through this life alone.

3. five kids who are healthy, strong, smart, funny and wonderful! i didn't know one family could hold so much blessing~

2.the addition of our favorite little person, miss esme! she's the best surprise i've had in a long time :) who knew our family was not yet complete?

1. last, but certainly not least, if i've learned one thing this year it is how short life can be. in the blink of an eye everything can change. i am thankful to end 2009 with each member of my family healthy and happy. without them none of the rest would matter.

Happy New Year from our family to yours!!

ff

no flashback friday this week... have a raging migraine and four kids under four.... till next week :(

flashback friday...

two days early! i'm combining my birthday post for the little guy with flashback friday for two reasons: one, i want to share his birth story for him to read someday! two: friday i will be frantically shopping... no time for posting! without further ado, the story of the little guy's birth, four years ago!




dear little guy,

today you turn four years old! i can hardly believe it's been that long! i would be tempted to believe it's not true if not for the two new wrinkles i've acquired since your birth! i was due on thanksgiving day.




since your three older siblings were all born on their exact due date, i assumed you would be also! i ate lots of food, just fueling up for your birth of course :) but you were in no hurry! i went home from grandma's that night very grumpy and very full.




i woke the next morning to contractions, all though i had been having those for weeks! finally, by dinnertime your dad decided we probably better head to the hospital, just in case.



aunt marcie came to stay with the other kids and we headed to the hospital. i was only 3cm dilated when we got there. within 20 mins i was feeling that things were progressing way faster than my previous births.



we asked the nurse to check again, i was 7cm! they rushed me to a room and tried to get me admitted. while everyone rushed around trying to start IV's and call the doctor, i focused on breathing and not ripping anyone's head off! within 40 mins i was almost fully dilated and ready to push. no time for any drugs!




suddenly your heart rate dropped dramatically and chaos broke out in the room. all i remember clearly is the doctor telling me i had to push you out now or she was going to have to get you out herself. i reminded her i was only 8cm dilated but they weren't too concerned (easy for them to say!)



i closed my eyes and pushed and inside feared that neither one of us were going to come out of this ok. in the background, all i could hear was your little heart on the monitor, getting slower and slower. you see, even though i didn't know you yet, i already loved you fiercely! even though i had not yet seen your face, you were already my son. after a few (very painful!) pushes, you came screaming into the world, healthy and breathing and just fine! well, with the cord tangled around your body. you were not only perfectly fine, you were my biggest baby at 8'9 lbs and 22 1/2 inches long! you had a head full of dark, thick hair and looked like you were wearing a toupee :)



you cried for the first six months of your life and have been terrorizing our household since then! you have no fear and no bounds to your love. you are a cuddler and a wrestler and a helper and a not so very helper. you are my youngest son, now and forever. happy birthday little man. mommy loves you!

flashback friday!

this needs no intro... if you have kids you know these to be true!

the murphey's laws of mothering!

~if you have your carpets cleaned for the first time in five years- someone will vomit, urinate or spill chocolate milk on it within 48 hours.

~ if you mop the kitchen floor, someone will throw their plate on it.

~ if you tell people, firmly, that you are not having any more children- you will be pregnant within six months.

~if the baby is sleeping, the toddler is having a tantrum. if the toddler is sleeping, the baby is crying.

~if you are actually in the mood for some "lovin"- your baby is teething and will wake up to cry every six minutes.

~if you have a baby and a toddler, you can accomplish "lovin" in six minutes.

~if you dress your children in adorable, coordinating christmas outfits- the baby will blow up in her diaper, the toddler will slide down the wet and muddy hill and the school age children will somehow also get dirty by the time you get to the car.

~if you finally manage to fit into your pre-baby skinny jeans- they will get spit up on.

~if you plan a long, romantic evening with your husband- you will either have a sick child or get in a fight on the way to the restaurant.

and last but certainly not least...

~if you have children, they will do all the things you swore your kids wouldn't do before you had children. and you will still think they are the cutest, smartest, most well behaved children you've ever met!

flashback friday

i think this one still irks me... stupid celebrities...


i love magazines, love them. i used to buy one a week and have come to a point where i can't bring myself to spend the $4-$6. so my dear sister in law brings me hers when she's finished with them (thank you:) anyway, i'm reading one of them today and there's an article about celeb moms and how fast they lose their baby weight. of course, i have to read this because, lets be honest, i have ALOT of experience in the baby weight battle! it starts talking about christina aguilara and her (adorable) ten month old son. it says that she is happy with her post baby figure and that her husband is thrilled because he prefers full figured women. here's what made me about choke on my hazelnut iced cappaccino..... she weighs 120lbs! are you hearing this ladies?? 120 lbs is now FULL FIGURED! are you kidding me? this chick is probably 5'4 and she weighs 120 lbs and according to the media, she is full figured! i could not believe it. i don't know any real women who would be too upset about seeing that on the bathroom scale. i think i'd do some kind of crazy happy dance if i saw that. that's how much i weighed when i got married nine years and three kids ago... not to mention i was 22! see, this is the stuff that really ticks me off. this is the kind of journalistic (and that's a stretch) crap that women all over america read and then starve themselves because USweekly tells them they are overweight. this is why women are killing themselves at the gym two weeks after giving birth because angelina jolie had twins and she looks good three days later. here's the difference, those women have personal chef's that cook them healthy meals three times a day. they have a personal trainer and spend hours a day working out, most likely much sooner after birth than is healthy. they have a nanny to watch their sweet little newborns while they're doing all this and who gets up for all those night feedings (hey, i could work out four hours a day after giving birth if i wasn't so sleep deprived i would sell my next born for a nap) so even though we know all those things to be true, we still hold ourselves to the same standard and hate ourselves when we can't reach it. ladies, if 120 lbs is full figured then i'm clinically obese. but you know what? i got this body giving birth to four children. these breasts are stretched and deflated because i nursed those four babies. my once bright eyes may look haggard and tired to an outside observer, but to those who know me they are filled with joy at those little lives i have the honor of raising. and at the end of the day, my husband is always trying to get me naked, so i must not look that bad!

flashback fridays!!

this flashback friday is a flashback of photos!

the year was 2007...




we were only a family of 6...





the princess was only 4...



Za was in kindergarten...





we had a blizzard...





the girls seemed so big... (but they weren't :)





i became an aunt for the first time...





twice






theMr and i went away alone for the first time ever!





the little guy really was a little guy...





it was a good year!

flashback fridays!

happy friday all! this post is from march of 09, when i was newly pregnant with miss esme. let me just state that these universal truths all still apply!!



first of all, a pregnancy update: i am on day three of feeling normal!! yay! i'm trying to catch up on all the laundry, cleaning, etc that i've neglected for the last six weeks. hopefully i am DONE being sick. now i can look forward to getting huge :)

anyway, today i'd like to talk about fashion. i live in an average size city in the midwest. lately, i have been noticing the terrible fashion choices that those around me make, specifically moms. so i'd like to give a few tips because apparently they are needed!

1. PLEASE, for the love of all that is good, DON'T WEAR MOM JEANS! i don't care how old you are, what your post baby body looks like or how busy you are. there is no excuse in 2009 for any woman to be wearing jeans that come up to your rib cage or anything with pleats in it. do you not see that it actually makes your hips, bottom and belly look bigger? i don't know any mom who is hoping to increase the look of her trunk, no matter how much junk you have in there. now for those of us that have this leftover belly, we know we can't do low rise anymore. muffintop anyone? but you can choose a medium rise that is flattering and stylish. oh yeah- and don't forget NOT to tuck in your tshirt. not good. not even on heidi klum.

2. why are so many people wearing socks with their sandals? if it's too cold to leave the socks in the drawer it's too cold for sandals. nuff said.

3. if you are over the age of 25, a mother, or more than 130 lbs you should never be wearing a halter top, a mini skirt or shorts so short we can see where your baby came out. you do not look younger. you look like an old person trying to look young.

4. crocs. i know this one is probably going to get me into some trouble but i have to say it. there is nothing more hideous than an adult wearing brightly colored rubber shoes. i don't care how comfortable they are. the only person who should be wearing these shoes are medical personnel who are forced to work 12 hour shifts on their feet. that's it. no exceptions.

5. lastly, a faux pas that is near to my heart, this trend of big pregnant women wearing tight, skimpy clothes. i'm happy for you that you feel good in your new body. i'm glad that you are proud of your giant, stretch marked stomach. but please, save it for your husband. i don't need to see that when i'm grocery shopping.

i think that's all for today, i don't want to alienate all my readers in one day. if you find yourself falling into one of these categories, don't shoot the messenger. i'm just telling you what others are afraid to!

flashback fridays!

i gotta be honest, i still think all of this is true! this post was originally written in february of 09!

so i'm watching handy manny today with the little guy and it occurs to me that he would really be the perfect husband! here are the reasons why...

- he not only knows how to fix things, he loves doing. which means you would not have to ask him for three months to get it done.

-according to today's episode, he cooks, plays guitar and sings. 'nuff said.

-when doing a home improvement project, he has tools that help him. which means a. he doesn't expect his wife to help and b. the tools are alive so you won't have him ask you to hand him one and then look at you like you ride the short bus when you don't know what that is.

- he always has rubber cleaning gloves on. that's foreplay in my book.

- he has an accent.

- he is apparently the only handy man in town so he's got to make good money.

- he looks good in a baseball cap.

- he's bilingual. where i live, it would be very helpful to have someone who speaks spanish (which i don't)

- and last, but certainly not least, he has an accent... did i mention that?

flashback fridays!

happy friday all! i've decided to start something new! well, i guess technically the new thing i'm starting is kinda old. have i lost you yet? great! so every friday, we'll have flashback friday! i'll share either a really old post (you know, a rerun :) that i would like to revisit OR an old story. just something to switch it up a little. let's be honest, my every day life can get a little stale. nothing like reminiscing to spice things up! i'm totally computer illiterate so i have no clue how to make a button or anything but if you want to do flashback friday on your blog, just leave the URL in the comments and we'll all check it out!

so here was my very first top ten list! i wrote this in may of 08... in honor of mother's day. oh how things have changed since then... but some remain the same! (hey, the tattoo is still there :)


happy mother's day! the pics are of my wonderful mother's day gift! how blessed i am to have a husband that knows i am not a "flowers & candy" kind of mom :) its the hebrew of a verse from song of solomon.."i am my beloved's and my beloved is mine". i have been waiting several years to get this. what a great gift!
i decided to write a list today, my top ten reasons why it's great to be a mom.

10. its a good excuse for not being skinny!
9. no longer have to battle being self absorbed, its not an option anymore!
8. at least four people tell me they love me every day!
7. there's nothing like seeing your own faults mimicked by your kids to drive you to be a better person!
6. their smell after a bath!
5. seeing my husband be a dad, who knew i could love him even more!
4. making someone overwhelmed with excitement over a toy that cost a dollar!
3. seeing the grumpy man who was MY dad be a big pushover as "papaw"
2. knowing that i can make a difference every day in four little lives
1. having the honor of being called mommy

hope your mothers day was a blessing! whether you spend your days covered in spit up, nursing, driving your kids to endless activities, working (and then trying to get it all done at night!), or you've moved to the esteemed title of grandma... you deserve this day. for all the things you do, big and more importantly small, you are Mom. the best job description in the world!