I thought I was going to write about my kids, turns out, I didn't...

It's not often I feel entirely in control of any given situation. Maybe my kids can sense that. Of course they can, they can sense when I'm going to get up to get something to eat, and they are suddenly ravenous. My inability to take control is most likely what undermines my authority. I just feel like, really? I'm supposed to know what to do here? I wore acid washed jeans and sprayed my hair with pretty much acetone WHILE IT WAS ON A CURLING IRON. I'm saying, I don't always think my judgement is the piercing weapon it should be.

Lucky for me I have sisters to defer to. Sisters are the BEST. Seriously. They have your set of collected experiences, but with their own abilities to guide them. Having a hard time picking a paint color? Call Kimberly. She knows what look you're going for without all of the crazy self-talk about what your husband might say when he sees it. Skidding in icy traffic? You better hope you have Ashley sitting in the passenger's seat. It's not that she can actually give you any driving tips (which is what you think you want), but she helps you laugh at yourself enough to know that, yeah, you do kind of know how to drive and maybe you should chill out. Get the three of us together and we are pretty unstoppable. Creative, practical and organized...it's like the perfect party planner, but a lot louder. Not that we are classic archetypes, we all have a little bit of each other so we are able to be empathetic to each other's needs.

Sisters like mine don't just happen. My parents have always stressed the importance of family, much to my chagrin during my formative years. But they knew what they were doing. They were building a really strong, solid base, for us to rely on.

I would guess the next time my children all look at me with their big, inquisitive eyes asking some obscure science question, the first thing out of my mouth will be "lets call Aunt Ashley and ask her". Because chances are, she's the one who put the science-y thoughts in their heads anyway.

Momma said there'd be days like this...

Ah yes, clearly the joy of Christmas is overwhelming! This wasn't today, but I think the mood is still there:)

Incidentally, it wasn't a dramatic kind of bad day. Just an aggravated, I seriously cannot believe this is really my life, I wish I was a better mom so my kids would listen to me kind of day. But you know what, I think I'm a work in progress, and so are my kids. I'm just glad God gave me so many little eye openers that help me realize how really blessed I am. I love my little goobers in a crazy way and I sometimes can't get over how funny, silly, thoughtful and charming they really are. Sometimes I'd like to get a gigantic roll of duct tape, tape them all face to face and let them figure out how to get along that way. But that would probably be frowned upon, so I'll table it for now.

Booked

As I sit here on the morning of a VERY busy day, I sort of wish I could just stay in bed. It's not that I don't love all of the reasons I'm so busy. It's all good, happy, fun stuff: a fun Valentine's craft making party at church, play dates, an actual play (or musical if you you want to get technical). But the thing is, I miss having a weekend with nothing more pressing to do than decide which movie to watch next. I think I need to call a little weekend vacation for me and my family. The only problem is trying to figure out when it fits into our schedule.
I am grateful that I have so much in my life and I know someday I will miss all of the hustle and bustle. So I'll try my hardest not to think of my nice warm bed with my cozy warm comforter and all of the sleeping family (and friends) in my house. It might get a little tricky when I go outside to start my car though;)

I am the mother of boys...

My mom summed life in our house up pretty well when visiting over the weekend when she walked into the room holding a 2 liter bottle with 2 pop cans taped to it: "You never know what you are going to find in this house!!!" (clearly it was a rocket ship).



This morning, just made me giggle. I see all kinds of disgusting or weird or inventive things on a daily basis and normally I'm pretty unfazed by it. I think on a scale of disgusting, this ranks fairly low. However, the thought of him searching around for something to stick in his book to mark his place, leading to this, makes me smile:


Nothing says mark my place in Diary of a Wimpy kid like a dirty sock. Sawyer is a national treasure.

My Budding Picasso

Yep.

SNOW DAY!

We live in Michigan, it's a given we get snow. The whole state was thrown into a frenzy though with news of an impending BLIZZARD!!! They even called school off last night. Calling off the night before seems to be in vogue lately, but it is a first for me. Snow days always meant huddling around a radio, expectantly listening for your school's name, cursing the schools whose names sound similar to your district. But cancelling the night before takes the delicious agony out of it. It does however make for a fun and cuddly movie night featuring Toy Story 3.
What the blizzard acutally amounted to was a lot of snow, Michigan kind of snow. Thankfully, the crazy scenes of destruction and mayhem never materialized. Of course, I am saying this from my nice cozy living room, not having ventured outside the door. But somebody has to stay inside, drink coffee, eat pop-tarts and snuggle with little bubbas. Niles of course is taking FULL advantage of the mini-vacation and snoozing away (which is what I would love to be doing as well:) Here's to Michigan, weather forecasters and pop-tarts!