B happy

it was a good week filled with "happies" such as bubbles...

buddies...

bouncing...

barefeet...

and my "babies"...

Now onto a weekend that will B busy!

lighten up, miss

my kids always want to use my camera, but when they ask i usually tell them "no". and when i actually unbunch my panties and let them use it i can often be quoted as saying "be careful...it's a $500 dollar camera." over and over again.

you know what i need to do? listen to my own advice. because i tell my kids "the more special something is, the more it should be shared with others." another classic example of do as i say, right? so i am officially loosening my grip on my camera for several reasons...

1) it brings my children joy to use it

2) it was a gift to me, who am i to hoard it?

3) my children are worth WAY more than $500. this is a little way for me to show i value them.

4) i want to trust them, not control them

5) when i give them the camera, i may end up with pictures like this...

i'm embracing the camera today with the anderson crew (who just welcomed home their

elsa from ethiopia!)

connecting the dots

i intended to participate in "one day without shoes" today. i was thinking it would actually be "a partial day without shoes" with my kids after school. truth is, there would have been a good chance i would have forgotten all about it. but i had a little reminder this morning. i let lulu into our fenced back yard. i turned away for 10 seconds before heading out and she was opening the gate in the back and headed the direction of the busiest street in our neighborhood. it didn't bother me to run across the crunchy grass barefoot to snatch her because i was focused on getting to her before she got anywhere near the street (and before i got in view of the neighbors in my jammies). but on the way back when i was saying "ouch. ouch. ouch", i remembered that it is one day without shoes. and i was whining about one minute without shoes. i also remembered, once again, the simple things that i take for granted every day are not such simple things to those in need.

there is another thing i take for granted: freedom. PLEASE take a minute to go to fallingwhistles.com and watch the 2 minute video to learn how you can help the people of the congo. if you don't have two minutes to spare, take 30 seconds to sign a petition asking for free and fair elections for the people of the congo.

i spend my days doing a lot of seemingly mundane things. though they have great purpose, it can be hard some days for me to connect the dots to their significance. but to take a couple of minutes to help the people of a country ravished by war as i sit at my computer sipping coffee? there are not dots to connect, the answer is clear.

today i may not be wearing shoes, but i want to wear a whistle. (i just ordered mine. get yours here to help the children of the congo). as i do, i am reminded (and reminding my children) that i am a citizen of the world. and even if i am only doing a little to make the world a better place, i hope i am making me a better me. i think those are dots that are meant to be connected...

food for thought

my april fool's lunch was a success.

jack got a pretty good laugh out of it.

tate said he was smiling all through lunch about it.

and emmie rolled her eyes and said "where's my lunch?".

as for any retaliation, it wasn't too bad.

just my pillowcase stuffed with bunched up aluminum foil.

nice one, em.

if she had been awake when i discovered it,

i would have rolled my eyes and said "where's my pillow?"

last week was a good week and not just because of the fun of april fool's day.

i had a menu plan...

i went to the grocery store, so my fridge looked like this...

and my pantry looked like this...

stocked.

and thanks to sam's club and some friends who gave us 17 pounds of ground beef, even the freezer in the garage is full.

after i unloaded everything, i sighed a little sigh of happiness as i stared into my cupboards of plenty. i was happy because i could rest easy regarding the needs of my family. but my happiness only stayed for about a minute, because then it hit me that there are mom's all over the world, and right around the corner, who don't have any clue about this feeling. they don't know how they will feed the ones they love.

they know not the abundance of overflowing, but instead the ache of hunger.

my stomach may not be growling, but my heart hurts.

so let my hands take action...

http://www.fh.org/

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/articles/pray_for_japan/

https://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/Giving/gift_catalog/

http://www.feedingchildreneverywhere.com/about-us/our-mission/

when i live merely for my cabinets and my full fridge,

my life is so very small.

which means that, though i may be well-fed,

i will be anything but satisfied.

i guess it's kinda like a lunch bag with fake food on april fool's.

full, but actually very empty.

"bloody proud of yourself, aren't ya?"

i know bloody is a bad word. but i live in america, not england, so i'm hoping i do not offend. bill and i like to quote the title of this post, a line from the movie "patriot games" (which gave me an ulcer the first time i saw it). it is among my repertoire of things i can say with an accent. here is the complete list:

"bloody proud of yourself, aren't ya?" (irish)

"no...not" (british) mark darcy at the end of bridget jones diary

"craig ferguson" (scottish)

i know, the list is neither extensive nor impressive. but it's all i got. clearly, accents are not my thing. but i digress. this post is about how bloody proud of myself i am that i pulled off what i consider to be a perfectly good april fool's joke on my kids. and what i mean by perfectly good is that it requires little money and little effort. here's what i did...i filled their lunch bags with lulu's fake food. a plastic pizza slice, fabric carrots, strawberries, cake and ice cream. i even gave jack a little doll bottle. then i added a little note that says "get hot lunch. april fool's!"

such little effort, but i can't stop smiling about it. i'll be smiling until they choose to retaliate when they get home. i better hide the saran wrap. it's a pretty good april fool's day. we are laughing around here...

for now.

spring break quizzie time

1) For spring break my husband was

a) out of the country

b) out of control

c) out of his mind

The correct answer is a. Though by the looks of the following picture, it looks like b and c would also be acceptable answers...

2) On my first night alone with the kids, I

a) called a friend and talked until the wee hours of the morning

b) called my dog a "poop eating poopy face"

c) called the police

Both b and c are correct. Every once in awhile he eats poop, what else am I supposed to call him?!

About the police. I was scared, thanks to the dogs getting spooked over what was most likely something bumping around in the dryer. So I called the non-emergency number and two nice officers showed up at midnight to "case out the joint". It made me feel better, but I still couldn't fall asleep until 3am. It was a good thing I had Josh Duhamel and Kristin Heigl to keep me company (thanks to "Life as We Know it" starring Frankie Baby).

3) I decided the kids and I should clean and organize the whole house while Bill was gone. I thought

a) this was a great idea

b) it would be fun

c) it would be easy

The correct answer is, of course, all of the above because unrealistic expectations are my specialty!

4) I decided to refresh my memory on

a) the multiplication tables

b) Parenting with Love and Logic

c) curling up in the fetal position and sucking my thumb

The answer is b. Once upon a time, we practiced some of the principles of that philosophy. I have been feeling frustrated with some of my kids behavior, but mostly with my own parenting so it has been really helpful to read. Well, really depressing as I feel like I've done SO MUCH wrong (so maybe answer c isn't too far off base). But I realized as I was reading today that it's not my kids that wear me out, it's my own parenting style. Let me tell you people, lecturing can be exhausting! I am ready for a change.

5) For fun we went to

a) the Children's Museum

b) the Metropolitan Museum of Art

c) the bathroom alone (with the door locked. And a glass of wine.)

The correct answer is a...

6) We ate

a) only organic foods

b) mini corn dogs, taquitos, pizza rolls, pop tarts and donuts

c) on styrofoam plates

Both b and c are correct...

We were neither trying to be health conscious nor earth conscious. We were in survival mode. Survival mode=Butterfinger donuts from LaMar's. No diet. No care.

7) Not to brag, but I

a) actually did the dishes

b) had the house in spit spot condition (finished the exact minute we left for the airport)

c) had meltdowns both on Wednesday and Sunday

All are correct answers.

8) We wanted to go on a fun weekend trip during break, so naturally we went to

a) Cancun

b) Belize

c) Hutchinson, Kansas

The correct answer is c. We met two of my three sisters and the kids got some cousin time in the most over-chlorinated indoor pool ever...

We also got to see my Aunt Maxine who is 93. She wouldn't let me take a picture of her, though. She knows what she wants. And at 93, I'm pretty sure she should be able to get whatever she wants.

9) My third sister was not with us because she was in

a) sane

b) denial

c) Zambia

Definitely c. Can't wait to hear her stories!

10) The last question is fill in the blank:

During our break, one thing we learned was ____________________________.

The correct answer is we learned that though hotels, gas, donuts, and Red Mango all cost money; sunshine is a gift, the park is free and together is the happiest place to be...

And now the sunshine is gone only to be replaced by snow flurries. But my Billy is home. My kids are all in bed fast asleep. And together is still the happiest place to be.

brothers and sisters

I don't believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at.

~Maya Angelou

yet another kind of work we have going on around here...

.please note: if you think that we are free from strife in our home since i only posted pictures of children doing the work of brotherhood and sisterhood happily, you are laboring under a misapprehension. i just don't find it the most opportune time to say "smile for the camera!" when they near fisticuffs.

also note: if you think i am a oh-so-smart because i used the phrase "laboring under a

misapprehension"; you are indeed, laboring under a misapprehension.

i learned it from Bridget Jones Diary.