I love to scrapbook. Up until lillian was born, i always had the childrens personal albums up to date. I never had our family albums completely caught up but i kept my pictures in perfect order in folders on the computer and developed them in a timely manner. It was just something i enjoyed so it got done! You'll notice i'm using the past tense? I don't know what happened when lillian was born but ever since then my scrapbooking has taken a downward spiral. I'm 2 years behind on the children's birthdays and in 2007 in my family album. My folders on the computer are here there and everywhere and i have gobs of undeveloped pictures! The chaos puts me completely out of the mood to even restart when i think of it. Today i pulled the stuff out and soon remembered why i haven't done this recently! I did accomplish 4 pages but oh the mess!! Two little girls handiwork is strewn everywhere....it
was still kinda fun though :)

Out of the ordinary: roses

Cake decorating has always intruiged me. Awhile back i got to watch some one do a cake and marveled how easy it really is if you know what you're doing! Yesterday i bought myself a simple decorating set and when it was chilly this morning and i thought i should bake something i knew it had to be something frosted! Couldn't just be cake, i got inspired to make sugar cookies. About 26 roses, one pile of dishes, 12 cookies sprinkled by 2 enthusiastic girlies and a big mess later i'm still thrilled to be able to say i can make roses but ready to throw a sheet over the mess! :) i still have a whole bunch of cookies left to frost but i think i'll wait and let jasmine in on the fun. She might even get in on the dishes! Sometimes it's so good to do something out of the ordinary even if by the time you're done you're quite ready for ordinary again!

A little info

I've had a couple people say to me recently that they must have missed a blog post. I usually don't post a link to facebook when there's a new blog post. That's the thing I like about blogs - if someone wants to read every post they can but they don't have it put in their face every time unless they want to. IF you want to find out every time I post you can subscribe to my blog. I tried it today just to make sure the button works and it did, at least for me! :) I can also add your email address to a list and you will receive the post as an email if you would rather do that. If so, just send your address to christopherbethany@juno.com. And, if you'd rather check in here every so often, or only read the posts I link on facebook that's quite fine too! Just thought I'd give a little info since some people asked.

I am not one of those women who have their house decorated in their minds before the walls are even up. I have a hard enough time deciding what to put on the walls once they're actually there and painted! Add to that the fact that the first weeks of living here i didn't feel good and i won't even bother making excuses about still having bare walls! I'm finally getting in the mood to do things like that though, and this morning i actually made something happen on a wall....amazing! :) this picture is a beautiful cheap thing that my sister gave me one of the first years i was married. The frame got wet sometime while in storage and warped :( so, last night when chris and i went to town on our "date" i looked around at frames and found...nothing. Then i looked at cheap pictures and found a perfect frame! Took the 2 apart, ironed the wrinkled print and put it in the new frame! Pretty
pleased with the accomplishment :)

"I shall take a brace. And if I can't look cheerful, I shall look as c heerful as I can!" (Susan in Rilla of Ingleside) :)

Ever look around at your life suddenly and say "Yikes! How did I get here?!?" There's something about your oldest turning 10 and finding out you're expecting your 5th (5th!) that does that, at least to me! Somehow the sound of that doesn't match who I think I am. I'm supposed to be young married, the mother of toddlers and just hold on, how did I get here? What if I don't wanna be here?? People w/ 10 yr olds expecting their 5th (5th!) are supposed to be sensible, staid, getting-on-toward-middle-age folks. The ones who look at youth sagely and don't think a volleyball game would be a fun evening activity. The moms w/ slightly messy hair and a patient smile, the dads who used to be great ball players but would now just as soon prop their feet up w/ a newspaper. I'll admit I've felt a little sad and rebellious and a lot like digging in my heels and demanding a rewind. I'm not really sure what I think that will accomplish! Life will go on...and on...and if this is who I am than I better be it the best way!

The Secret's Revealed

I'm not sure what the blogging dry spell is all about. It's probably partly a change in circumstances. I have a house to take care of now instead of way too much time on my hands to think and write! It's also probably partly because, face it, when life feels the most difficult is often when we find ourselves leaning the hardest and finding the most inspiration from God. Not that life is all easy street these days, but having our own space diminished a lot of stress. Still, it's more than that and there's a simple explanation. See, about 6 weeks ago I suddenly became a different version of myself. It started slowly and painlessly and gradually increased in an alarmingly downward spiral. I became a tired, unmotivated version. A lay on the couch all afternoon and drag myself off to do essentials version. A white crackers for snacks and "Honey I *need* some cottage cheese could you please bring some home?" version. Yes, this might explain the lack of blogging inspiration. You see, we are expecting baby #5!

How they grow...

Why is it that the mention of doing dishes brings groans and sighs from 8 and 10 year olds, but suggest the idea to 3 and 4 year olds and you get big, sparkly eyes and "could we?!" in excited voices? I'm not that great at letting the bright eyes turn sparkly by saying "yes, you may!" to be honest, i don't usually suggest the idea. Usually i'm hoping to quickly get it done myself before any little eyes have the chance to get bright with big ideas! Tonight 8 and 10 escaped the house before i got them put to work. 3 and 4 were planning to go out and i was thinking up excuses for them to stay in when i hit on the suggestion that they should wash the dishes. Oh the enthusiasm!! Bright eyes turned sparkly, and surprisingly enough, the drainer filled with clean glasses, bowls, plates, all neatly stacked! O the simple joys of being young...no wonder jesus said we should become like them...

Happy birthday

Someday when i'm a real, grown-up mom, i won't wait until the day of my child's birthday to do everything. I'll pick up the perfect gift a month in advance and hide it away for the big day. I'll call grandpas ahead of time and invite them for cake and ice cream. And, if i have the bright idea to make something other than a regular rectangle for a cake, i'll make it the day before and tuck it safely away. All of this would lend itself nicely to a relaxed, fun birthday! Oh well, until i reach that milestone, we'll settle for gifts for gifts snatched at walmart the afternoon of the birthday and ice cream w/o grandpas since they already had plans and a rushed afternoon (again, of said birthday) trying to make purse cakes that should have been chilled and look like they might fall over. She still turned 3 quite happily so i guess that's what matters...who cares about early grey hair anyway?