Well Said

"Darn it!" - whispered by Isaac upon entering our bedroom early Friday morning and once again discovering that Dada had gone to work.

"Jesus was homeschooled and He knows everything." - on a T-shirt I've never seen, but have only heard about.

"When I think of home, I picture my family, together eating dinner, snuggling on the sofa, hanging out in the kitchen...Home should be a place that invites warmth, and togetherness, with its spaces used well and well used." - Gretchen Roberts from www.smartsimplewoman.com.

"Did she sugges...susset, sugress..." - Brian attempting to utter the sentence, "Did she suggest that?" after working in record Midwest heat for yet another week. His brain was slightly fried. To solve this frying problem he now wears a "farmer's hat", as he calls it, to block the sun. Pictures will soon follow. Anyway, we ended up driving through our city following my last prenatal visit saying "suggest" repeatedly until it lost all meaning to our ears. Suggest, suggest, suggest, suggest, suggest, suggest, suggest...

NOTE: Other words Brian cannot pronounce include "fluorescent", "breakfast", and "water". They come out "for-es-ant", "bref-es", and "wooder". Water, of course, is debatable depending on the region of the United States you grew up in.

"Can I go outside and plant a cherry tree?" - Isaac asked Brian's permission yesterday afternoon after eating his cherries. I think the plan is for Isaac and Brian to somehow grow a cherry tree in our basement this fall/winter. How? I have no idea. All I know is I have a bowl of semi-chewed cherry pits sitting on my kitchen counter that I am not allowed to throw away.

Quiet Time - Shh, Mama's Sleeping

I want my kids to have memories of me seeking God and reading the Word like I have of my mother. I remember Mom at the kitchen table reading and reading...then, filing her nails and polishing them...then, reading some more. As a teenager I picked up that late night habit of opening the Bible and disappearing into the passages. How did I know to do that as a younger (and much thinner) woman? I saw my mother doing it and I followed her.

Fast forward to me as a young mother. I decided to attempt an early rise to read from the Word and pray so I got up with Brian the other morning - which seemed to throw off his morning routine, but I refused to return to my comfy, cozy, warm bed. I sat up on the couch and using my baby-filled belly I thought I'd start with a chapter from a revival book I've been reading. Next thing I know Isaac is waking me up asking for Fruit Loops.

So, I am not a morning person. This isn't shocking to anyone who has known me for more than twenty minutes. I function better at night. Brian used to say I got my start at 9:00 pm. I could fly through the house cleaning and/or doing projects with robust energy from 9:00 pm on. Nnnnnnnow, I'm not a night person either. In fact, I could take a nap at any given time of the day. It is beyond me why my children hate naps. I tell them everyday, "Mama would LOOOOOVE to take a nap. You take one for me." I envy their afternoon naps!

Anyway, back to me setting a great example for Isaac of how to sleep on the couch...

I'm not giving up on establishing the ol' "time and place" for meeting with the Lord, but I'm realizing how flexible I have to be with the babies and the minimal amounts of sleep they afford me. I don't know if I will ever be a full on night person again, or if I will ever bounce out of bed before sunrise bursting with energy (unlikely). But, I do know my children will have memories of me seeking God. I will pray and read and pray and read...and nap a little and nap some more...then, pray and read more. And, one day they will follow my example.

Toys Toys Everywhere

I've got toys upstairs in each of the kids' rooms. I've got toys in the basement. I've got toys in the front room and the family room and throughout the backyard. There are toys in the garage and toys on the front porch. There are toys in the bathroom as well. I really, R E A L L Y, need a good storage system for all these toys!

In our furnished rental in Jersey there were bookshelves with doors on them that contained nearly every toy the kids owned at the time. It was the only system I have ever had work well for any length of time - mainly b/c the kids couldn't get to every toy at once. Well, we've moved from the rental and I can't find shelving with doors on them without it costing an arm and a leg in our new area. Oh, I miss Ikea!!!

Now, our toy ownership has expanded drastically and we have all kinds of toys for all kinds of reasons. Bath toys, sand toys, bikes and wagons, boy toys and girl toys, swim toys, winter toys, board games and stuffed animals that, I swear, are multiplying completely on their own when no one is looking. One system won't work in one room of our house anymore. Sad, but true.

We have purged and downsized in an attempt to see how much storage stuff we need so these are all toys the kids play with over and over. No kidding! So, where, the heck, do I put them?!? The boxes and open plastic bins are not working as a long term solution and now that the majority of our painting is done we can finally get each room set up to use. I can't wait!

Anyway, what works for you all? What do you suggest? Think fully functional, slightly pretty, and very affordable. And, what toys do you put in the kids' rooms and what toys stay in the family areas? Is a separate playroom worth setting up? And, is there a container a bit more pleasing to the eye than a plastic tub but not as breakable as a basket?

With a little thought and some helpful suggestions I hope to get a handle on this organizational disaster in our house. Ah, one more thing to cross off our list as we get established in our home! Yippee!

Don't Sweat the Small Italian

The "small stuff" - the insignificant life crap that happens from time to time. The stuff we should easily overlook. The stuff not worth getting upset or frustrated over. The stuff like loosing the car keys, running out of diapers late in the evening, or like my small - er, short, Italian mother-in-law.

Brian got a letter today from the UNO Chicago Grill thanking him for "advising us of our failure to make your experience with us a great one." WHAT THE...!?!?! Then, I remembered the one restaurant we ate out at with Brian's parents while they were visiting a few weeks ago was the UNO Chicago Grill. Sigh. B's mother must have complained to the management via email or letter or something on our behalf...signing her son's name and giving our address for a return response. How nice of her.

I called Brian...
"Did you read the letter from the Chicago Grill?"
"No..."
"Your mother must have complained and signed your name..."
"Babe, don't sweat the small stuff. Who cares?!?!"
"I do! Who knows what she said!....blah, blah, blah, BLAAAAAH!"
I continued to quickly rattle off my valid reasons for being annoyed, knowing full well that Brian was only hearing "Blah, blah, BLAH!"
"Look, if you want to contact the Chicago Grill to clear our family name go ahead. I gotta go. I'm in the middle of somethin'..."
"Okay. Loveyoubye."

As I removed myself from my soapbox (I keep one handy in the kitchen for emergencies) I realized that Brian's ability to overlook the "small stuff" is admirable and slightly irritating to me.

Thankfully, the things we have to deal with in our relationship with B's parents have been downscaled to "small stuff" in recent months - mainly by our own perspective change and change in geographical locations. But, still the "small stuff" is something we have to deal with if even to just brush it aside and say, "Who cares!"

Unfortunately for me, when the insignificant life crap comes in multiple doses too close together for my liking I find the growing pile of pooh difficult to ignore. You know, the whole "straw that broke the camel's back" theory? That's me. A big, stupid camel cowering under a load of straw. Itchy, annoying, Italian straw.

And, for all you now wondering about the UNO Chicago Grill...it was totally fine. We even ate the leftover pizza. The fact that the meal was fine was in my running list of "valid reasons to be annoyed" given over the phone to Brian...but, who cares, right? Don't sweat the small stuff.

Family Meals and Variety

How do you guys - er, girls - plan meals from week to week? I am not the most accomplished cook by any means and I find myself getting pretty tired of what we eat over and over....and over again. How do you keep the variety in your meal planning?

Do you have any favorite recipes that break away from the normal meat and potatoes (or pasta and sauce in our case)???

And, does anyone know of a good website with semi-normal recipes? I am wanting a little variety, but I'm not looking for the meals requiring goat cheese and weird plants that I can't pronounce.

Thanks all!

One last thing - what gives about the disciplines of a good homemaker?!?! - I KNOW there are some fellow homemakers frequenting this blog every now and again, so out with it, woman! How do you keep it all together - faith, family, home? What are the disciplines or skills I should be working on???

Comic Relief, Please!

It is a somber gathering. Straight faces. Seriousness. Deep discussion. Debate. It could be any number of circumstances - from a funeral, a loved one with an illness is in the hospital, a family disagreement, or a seemingly innocent blog...people are intense, focused, deep in thought...and, yes, I am the idiot in the corner cracking jokes. I'll admit it! I just fall to the pressure, people! I find myself wanting to force a smile or at the very least a smirk upon those serious, stone cold faces. Wit, humor, even a knock-knock joke delivered at the right moment can for a short time put at ease those that are up in arms. So, how about some comic relief?!?!

I heard this joke the other day - er, I read it on a blog linked through a friend's blog...HA...my friend's husband's brother's daughter's birthday blog. Try to follow that one, I dare ya!

Anyhoo...here's the joke:

"A man took his pregnant wife to the hospital to give birth. The doctor told them that they'd developed a new machine and asked if the couple would like to try it out. The machine could take some of the pain of childbirth from the mother and give it to the father to ease the mother's burden.

Well, they thought that was a good idea, and decided to give it a try. The doctor initially set the machine on 10 percent, telling the man that even 10 percent was probably more pain than he'd ever experienced. But the husband was surprised at how little pain he was feeling, and asked the doctor to raise the level.

The doctor increased it to 20 percent, and when the man still felt fine, he raised it to 50 and finally 100 percent.

After it was all over, the man stood up, and stretched a little. Both he and his wife felt fine, and they shortly left the hospital to take the baby home.

It was then that they found the mailman dead on their doorstep."

I love it!!! Anyone else?

Sophie's Baby

This morning as I was getting Sophia dressed for the day she was very matter of fact with me..."I going to have a baby in MY belly when I grow up." "What kind of baby are you going to have?" I asked. "Baby Ruben...with pretty clothes," she replied, and then added, "and, a pretty face."

Usually the pretty clothes and face indicates a girl for Sophie. She was disappointed that our new baby is another boy, but after much thought she said it was okay if he had pretty clothes. I'm almost sure she thinks the clothes make the girl...literally - as in, if we put that new baby boy in some pretty pink pjs BAM!, POOF!, a girl! I'll let her figure things out for herself when her new brother finally arrives.

I know Sophia will love this Baby Four just as she would have loved a new sister, but chances are he will grow up with embarrassing stories to share about his big sister dressing him in "pretty clothes".