It's nearly 3AM

Yep.  It is approaching the three in the morning time here in North Texas and I am awake.  I have been busy today.  Here is how it went and potentially why I can't settle in for a (tiny) nap...

6:45am  Awake with the sun.  Baking muffins.  Cleaning the kitchen.  Waking children, 2 and 3, to get ready for a new week at school.  A little trouble to wake them.  Harder to get them out the door.  But out they went.  Meanwhile...
7:30am Wake the big kid.  HARD TO WAKE!  Midget wakes up in the mayhem, but the house smells delicious so no one really complains this morning.  (note to self: something baking makes for a more pleasant morning.)
By 8:15am the big ones are all on their way to the house of learning while I tend to the littlest one in our house.  She wants her chocolate milk, kitty and t.v. on my bed but must change into a new pair of pj's for more comfort.  (the first set was not comfy enough. duh.)
From around 8:30 to 10:30 I am busy at work at the computer with family history research, so much fun these days, and paying bills.  Some meal balance fun, t-shirt orders and catching up on emails from the weekend.
11:00am Oh, I forgot to eat breakfast.  Now I eat my omelette and sausage and get myself dressed for a day full of errands that looked something like this:

First stop at the bank to deposit meal balance t-shirt checks (yay me!)
Sherwin Williams for paint to touch up the halls (it's bad!)
Pender's Music for sheet music for my thriving musicians
Costco (milk, bread, eggs and such)
Strong's Nursery (flowers! AKA Happiness!)

And now we head back to get ready for kids 2 and 3 to get home.  It's so beautiful outside that they get to walk home giving me just enough time to unload the car, set out my pretty flowers and collect a special delivery...a death certificate for Larry's great grandmother that held all sorts of fun info for my research.  (it is more exciting than it sounds, I promise.)



They come home.  Baby K, who is almost 4 by the way, is asleep!  Late nap, but who can blame her?  We have been busy and she was along for all of it.  At this point in my day, things are lovely. Windows open.  Lots accomplished.  Kaden is now baking brownies.  (again with the smells of baking!)  All is well.

Kimball comes home at the same time that Midget wakes up from her nap...cataclysmic forces of nature on their own but when the two systems collide...seriously.  I mean, seriously!  We have a good hour of chaos.  Whining.  Brownies baking.  Aggravating.  Smell of brownies.  Sun is shining.  WHINING.  That sounds is winning and it is coming from the eldest of my brood.  Seriously!

At this point I think to myself that I must not give in to the Afternoon Monster/ Grump.  I will not lose my wonderful, productive day to the one hour of nonsense.  (smell those brownies?)  Ok.  Deep breath.  Kids separated.  Kitchen put back together.  Kids eating brownies together.  All is quiet again.

Dangit!  It's time to head to drum lessons with Kimball and the brownies just became dinner.  (Yep.  Jamie Oliver should SO come to my house next!)  As I am leaving with the crew we are met with what seemed to be an ocean of children all asking the same thing...can *#*@&* play?  (when you say all of their names together that is exactly what it sounds like)  Well, now I am in a pickle.  Hand three of them off to a neighbor.  Say a quick hello to the fortunate few adults who are actually sitting in chairs in the sunshine enjoying each other's company.  Off we go.

While waiting for Kimball I sift through Scout stuff.  We have a Court of Honor coming up in a week and a half that I knew nothing about and I need to see where things stand.  I love the Scouting program and I love the people who make it happen.  The parents who sacrifice their time and energy to be there for these boys.  I really do.  I only wish that I had known this was coming.  I asked several responsible people several times...but no one knew.  And now we scramble.  Oh well, it's what we are good at.

Ok.  Kids back home.  Quick shuffle before heading to a Meal Balance Meeting.  No worries, Michelle agreed to come in and save the children in my absence.  (she was actually saving me as she cleaned and tucked them all into bed before I got back at around 10:45)  Yes.  I said 10:45.  Meeting was wonderful.  Very successful.  I am now a Senior Team Leader and considered a Founder of this great enterprise.  I really am thrilled to be a part of it.

Wait.  Are you still reading this?  At least one of us should be sleeping so perhaps my droning on has put you out of your misery.  It is now 3:06 am and I am STILL AWAKE!

Back to me.  Home to a clean house, laundry going, candles burning, kids sleeping bliss.  Chatted with my Michelle about chores and responsibility and some great ideas for all things parental.  You will get to see the fruits of those labors.  Promise.  Kicked her out at about 12:30 after Kyle called several times wondering where she was.  Caught up on email.  Ate a little late night snack.  Turned off the lights to crawl into bed.  At 1am.  Now this two hours later I am quite without sleep, but no loss for words, evidently.

So.  Full day!  Oh, and the Olympics are now officially over!  They are wrapping up and Larry comes home for a full 24 hours this Friday.  He then heads to NYC for three weeks.  Fast little visit, but he will be here.  That means touch up paint, planting flowers, garage cleaning, child managing, trip planning fun for all of us here at the Woodside dr. and I am a little wound up.  Obviously.

Ok.  One of us needs to try to sleep.  Since you are still reading this I suppose it must be me.  On tomorrow's list?  Scout advancements for the Cubs.  Painting.  Planting.  Muffler needs to be checked on the car.  Bills to pay.  Visiting teaching to schedule.  (for March)  Kids to send to school.  Doctor appt at 1 and piano at 3:30 followed by dance at 6:30 and then a city council meeting at 7:30.  Oh.  And the kids.  Better sleep or most of that will get pushed to Wednesday.  I think I will try again.  Let's hope for the best.

Thanks for stopping by for more wackiness from this neck of the woods.  You have been a great audience.

Spring Break...done...next?

Spring Break came and went.  It was a busy, fun filled time.  We had a baptism for Luca to kick things off, followed by LOTS of gatherings with the fam.  We played at the park with so many little ones.  We enjoyed Bahama Bucks again for the first time this season.  Kierstin grew up just a bit more on me, see the photo with the white shirt.  And then she went right back to being a precocious three year old, see the marker photo.  (pardon the awkward shot.)

And now we move to the next phase.  We will see the end of the Olympics this week!  For those of you wondering why Larry is still there, it's because of the often forgotten Paralympics.  He has stayed on for that but they have Closing Ceremonies tomorrow!!!  And then we will have him home...for one day.  He will turn around and head out to New York for three weeks and then home for three and then BACK OUT for three weeks to Orlando.  That means that we will be that much closer to getting out of school for the summer.  Oh, I can't even imagine.

It's snowing again here.  Enough said.

I am ready to paint and plant again.  It's cyclical, sort of like the seasons.  There is just a moment when I find myself ready.  Oh the plans I can make.  (especially with no budget in my head)  Screen room, gardening, exterior paint, windows, paint kitchen cabinets...I could go on and on.  But, that would make me sound absolutely ungrateful and I am feeling just the opposite tonight.  I love my home, the children all tucked in their respective beds, the snow falling for one of our last winter days of the season, or so we hope.  All of it adds up to the magical world we have the privilege of enjoying.  

Guess it's time to make some plans for Spring though, huh.  Hmmm.

Family History Fun

Ok, I am headed to bed but just look what I found tonight!!!

This is where Larry's mother's grandmother lived!  The house is still there!!!

This one is where Larry's grandparents lived in 1950!  STILL THERE!!!

And this beauty is where Larry's mother grew up!  It is magnificent!  

I found all of these homes through my family history research on Larry's family.  It is fascinating!  NOW I can head off to bed to get some sleep!

Funny thing

First of all...wow.  I just have to take a moment and say "wow"...the weather has been a bit as bipolar as I have been lately.  Sunny morning turned into a wonderful thunderstorm, complete with hail and lightning, and now it is beautiful outside.  Clear skies, sunny, perfect temperature for the crew to walk home from school.  I love those days.

Now, another wow...look at what Kyra does when no one is looking:

Yep, she took those of herself.  AND then she turned them into a collage.

She is one of the funniest people I know, and she just keeps getting funnier by the day.  That is my funny thing of the moment, the idea of her sitting at my computer, posing for the photos...and taking them.  Just makes me laugh.

But wait...there's more:

Enjoy!

Consider this your next project

Anxious

I am feeling some strange kind of anxiety tonight.  It's been a fabulous, beautiful day and so much was accomplished, and now I am anxious.  So much so the sound of the television and the nonsense that I was flipping through in some sort of attempt to induce sleep was irritating me.

I feel a little like this:

That's me up there...at the top, trying to muster the courage to leap over that edge.  I guess that sounds a little morbid, but that's not what I mean.  Sometimes I feel myself flirting with my own Potential.  You know, in my family, we are all blessed with a similar sort of curse...we can be really good at lots of things, but not GREAT at any one thing.  That makes it kind of hard to pick one thing to focus on...I have so many things in my head that, generally speaking, I tend to ignore it.  Go to bed, wake up, tend the children/ the house/ the bills/ the animals/ the callings/ the school...go to bed, wake up...you get the picture.  But every now and then, that edge creeps back into view and I feel the urge to reconnect with my Potential.  It wouldn't really matter what it was...school, I really want to get that education.  Singing, evidently I am better at it than I give myself credit for.  Parenting, that's a big one.  I feel like I need to improve on that every day, every hour sometimes.  Business, oh the endless possibilities.  Gardening even.  Yes, I actually WANT to be great at gardening.  I am not, but I want to be.

So, why all of this energy swirling around tonight?  Don't know.  It's there though and I felt compelled to at least recognize it.  You know you feel this from time to time, too right?  I know you do.  I know you think about what you could be, or what you should be great at...what you would do with yourself if you could just get the time, or the energy, or the money...or whatever stands between you and that Potential of yours.  My problem, by and large, is discipline.  I read this quote recently:

"One half of life is luck; the other half is discipline - and that's the important half, for without discipline you wouldn't know what to do with luck." ~Carl Zuckmeyer, 1896-1977, Writer and Playwright

I feel...well, I don't know what it is, maybe it's that Larry is home in 6 weeks and I feel compelled to accomplish SOMETHING before he gets back.  Maybe it's that I am feeling strangled by the battle with weight and health, and the reality that I am losing that battle daily.  I see changes happening all around me and think, how have I changed in the last year?  Six months?  Week?  Better or worse?  Am I improving, digressing or staying the same?  Yes, I get it...sometimes you have to just hang on for dear life until the storm rolls back out and you can see a little more clearly.  I have been hanging on through the last few months with these Olympics and all.  I feel like it might be time to do a little more than just hang on.  My Potential is bored.