Mental Images

Can you believe it? Two in one day...Don't get used to it though I do have lots I want to fill you in on.

I just don't want to forget some of the mental images of our Sunday so I feel I must attempt to capture them in print. Some are directly related to me and my family, but others just represent a life worth living ~ little moments that add up to a good life ~

1) While walking through the parking deck headed to church, all five of us were walking together holding hands and then departing in the alley. Stephen ran back to Mary Frances to give one last hug. When he caught back up to me, he said, "Do you know why I did that?" "Because I love her!"

2) A mother in front of me rustling her daughter's hair. I can't quite put my finger on how old the girl was but she was old enough that her mother's touch could have been annoying her. Instead, when her mother stopped she looked up and smiled in only a way a daughter can to say "please don't stop".

3) Dean Limehouse approaching the pulpit as he does each Sunday before he preaches ~ he kneels to pray and I know he fingers the placard that says "Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel"

4) Our first real family "movie night" ~ Stephen engrossed in Dumbo, Mary Frances snuggled in next to me, and Walker standing by the coffee table dancing whenever he heard music.

There are probably countless other examples of the gift of life I have been given and that I wanted to share but I have already forgotten and so you now get the real deal...my babies {who are growing up} on just an ordinary Sunday afternoon.

Reflections on the Weekend

It was a good weekend ~ busy yet relaxing and productive at the same time.

Frank returned home from Washington D.C. Friday afternoon. We all love it when he walks through the door particularly when he has been away for a couple of days.

He went to work in the yard ~ cut the grass, use the weed eater, and blow the mess ~ and left me with my little helper. She helped me finish picking up the house and get supper together for our dinner guests.

As an aside I want to share some thoughts about Mary Frances and her impending graduation from 4K and St. Luke's. Boy, I am going to miss her next year! Actually I think the boys might miss her more. It is going to be great and we are both ready {I think} to enter the world of "big school," but I have had many moments over the last few days where I am overcome with my emotions and become near tear when my thoughts linger too long on her ending her chapter at St. Luke's.

My children don't mind being in the kitchen with me. In fact they love to bake with me! They are also typically content to play at my feet, color, paint, or do play dough at the breakfast room table, or put on puppet shows among other things. Actually, Stephen can be quite content just sitting on the counter watching whatever I am doing. One of his favorite things of late is to watch me pour my half 'n half into my coffee so that it swirls and changes colors. However, on this particular day Mary Frances was extraordinarily helpful in making the salsa for our Cumin Crusted Soft Tacos. {This is one of my favorite make ahead, serves a crowd recipe ~ great for supper clubs!} The other items on the menu included fruit for the children and salad for the adults to go with the Tacos and Key Lime Pie for dessert. I have searched online for my key lime pie recipe because I know it was in an OLD Southern Living and a couple of people have asked for it. It must be so old that it isn't on the My Recipes website. Does that make it okay for me to post it?

Friday night ~ dinner with new friends. I say new friends because they are a couple who joined our small group fall before last. The reality is that Frank graduated from high school with one of them but we just didn't travel in the same close circle. We have truly enjoyed getting to know them as a couple and enjoy being with them as parents. The are a wonderful addition to our small group and I am very excited that their middle girl will be in Kindergarten with Mary Frances.

Saturday ~ a day spent working in the yard ~ Frank on the playhouse and me in the garden and a an adult birthday party with the children for dinner. I walked out the door without my camera and we were running SO late I didn't have the heart to go back in for it.

Sunday ~ church, grocery, outside play {before the rain}, lunch, naps for the children, more work {in the rain} on the playhouse for Frank, and organizing papers and making a master list of the things swirling through my heard for me ~ the list includes but not limited to children's clothes, JLB, SLDS, delinquent presents {birthday and baby}, graduation, Linville, Pt. Clear.

Bone Tired

The picture is Stephen, and he is doing what I wish I could do. Instead of "bone tired" the caption for this picture should read "tired and hungry are a dangerous combination," but I'm using his angelic, sleeping picture to let you know how I feel.

I'm not sure why I'm so tired so I'll just chalk it up to a life that I am very thankful for ~ a life with a husband and three young children, a house, a yard, a church, a profession, friends, a sewing machine, and various other commitments. I'll try to be back soon with a recap of May thus far or possibly some things coming down the pike. The sad truth is I can think "in blog" all day ~some of it is mundane, but some of it is quite good {funny, useful, helpful, or will just make you feel better about your life} but I just can't find the time to sit and record.

Triple Stitched and Mass Produced

All fall and winter I have cringed when I look at my eldest son's clothes {that includes what he is wearing, what is in his closet, and what is in the laundry}, but I haven't had the time, energy, or money to do anything about it. Well I probably could have the money but my cheap {or as a sweet friend says, "frugal"} spirit won't let me.

Well, I am determined that this spring and summer are going to be different. Stephen has 10 pair of shorts stitched, labeled, washed, and ironed in his drawer. Not to mention two more pair that are made out of a thinner fabric and therefore lined that he can wear to church. Okay, I know 10 sounds a bit excessive, and I agree, but it is not uncommon for us to wear three pair in a day. He does great with his potty training on the two days he goes to school, but together we aren't great at it when he is at home or running errands with me. Fortunately, many of them were made with left-over scraps from previously created projects.

That's that for the mass produced portion of the post. If I could only get my monogram machine out to create some matching t-shirts he would be set for summer. Oh yeah, there are also a few smocked shirts I want to make. I'll let you know when I get those done.

Here is the one picture I found...one would think with as many pictures as I take and as many pair of shorts as there are I could have found a better one than that.

Now for triple stitched ~ There are few things more frustrating than spotting a hole in a garment you have painstakingly put together particularly when it is a lined garment. Well, I now triple stitch my crotch seams to try to prevent this from occurring. First, I stitch the seam with a normal seam. Then I go over the area that endures the most stress with the triple stitch on my machine. This is the #2 stitch in the picture below. Those are the first two stitches that I complete. The third is a zigzag over the edge to attempt to prevent fraying. I don't own a serger nor do I want one! For those of you out there who love your, I know I may eat those words one day, but there is no room in this 1700 square foot house filled with two adults and three children and all that comes with them.

Check your manual ~ I'm sure your machine has a comparable stitch. {It is also good for a simple decorative stitch on for example the edge of a baby blanket.}

The Details of Life

I did it again...I do it all of the time and typically get completely stressed and have no one to blame but myself. I try oh I try to blame my husband and my children, but when it comes down to it it's just one of my many inadequacies. I try to do too much! Well this time was different ~ I didn't get stressed or place blame!

But first some pictures from the week...

New pajamas for all, and boy do we love them. The little things truly can provide such joy! The picture of Mary Frances does not show the butterfly, but she wore her "butterfly" 3 nights last week {and probably asked to wear them two more times}, and they were clean each time. If you ever wonder how much laundry a family of five makes, that comment alone answers the question.

A playdate for Mary Frances ~ This was Wednesday and there was a method to my madness. First of all we need to be better about having playdates to work on sharing and serving. Secondly Frank was out of town, and I hoped to have everyone in bed by 7:00 so I could sit down at my sewing machine. My master plan was to have Stephen fall asleep in the car waiting for carpool so that I could transfer him to his bed {it is the easiest way to get a nap these days} while letting Mary Frances and friend play during nap time so they could all go to bed around 7:00. It worked, the girls played beautifully {inside and out} so I was able to do some chores and make some phone calls. Stephen took a much needed nap and woke up refreshed and ready to join them. We went on with our afternoon/evening routine and I was sitting at my sewing machine with a clean kitchen and folded laundry by 7:30.

Look at me ~ When Frank saw this picture he asked if we had Popsicles! And the answer is no just sidewalk chalk. Don't worry, I checked, it is nontoxic.

All tuckered out ~ No nap for my two {almost three year old} and a visit from Granddaddy and YaYa means bedtime comes early and what could be better than in the arms of Granddaddy while reading library books.

Okay now for the title... First grab a cup of coffee or maybe your pilllow because I might get long-winded and ramble.

I'm notorious for committing to something without thinking through all of the details of the getting it done. I do it all of the time ~in fact, in some way {some big, some small} I probably do it everyday. My biggest problem is that I want to be able to do it all, but the reality is that it "all" takes time and time is a precious commodity especially with three little ones running around.

Well yesterday was one of those days. Sundays are always a bit harried with the getting to church routine. And then to add to the chaos we try to go to the grocery store after church. The details of getting to the store after church mean I have to have my menu and grocery list planned prior to the children waking up Sunday morning.

Done! Now feed and dress everyone. Off to church, Sunday school, and the store. Well make that two stores, because the Piggly Wiggly had some great buys, but I can't do all of my shopping there yet I needed things from both stores for the rest of the day. Come home, grab a child and the bags that I can from the car, run in the door, change clothes, throw peanut butter on a piece of bread to eat in the car and I'm off to complete my shift work for Bargain Carousel {more on that in another post, hopefully}. Worked for three hours, back in the car and returned home to a filthy yet empty house {the children and Frank were down at his dad's house ~ napping and cleaning out Tootsie's closet}.

Yikes ~ we have company coming in one hour!

It is amazing what our family can do to a house in 24 hours! There were breakfast and lunch dishes on the table and little scraps of paper all over the floor {my children love to cut} among other clutter and mayhem! The sad part is that our house was not only clean, but also picked up when the day began on Saturday.

And that was clean to the standards of having house guests. Another aside... I guess I have three standards of clean 1) clean for small group and really close friends or family 2) clean for house guests 3) clean for parties, church luncheons, etc...

I begin tidying while finishing a conversation on my cell phone to a friend who I hadn't talked to in several weeks. Then I raced to the kitchen to throw together dinner ~ appetizer, entree, side, dessert. Frank arrived home and did the bulk of the tidying and vacuuming, and we were prepared for our guests. Please overlook the pile of dirty dishes in the sink!

Okay, for our evening. We spent a delightful evening outside with some friends. The kids played and the adults visited. Well the two Carolines visited and the men played as hard as the children.

A Camping We will Go

Mary Frances and I went to Camp McDowell for a Mother/Daughter Weekend Camp. We did this with one of my dear friends from high school and beyond. Margaret Day and I are a grade apart, and our friendship developed through track, SGA, and Young Life. We have both always been "campers". We both grew up going to summer camp and think that it was instrumental in our development. We also both have girls who are about 2 1/2 months apart though will be a grade apart in school because of the way their birthdays fall. We do not live in the same city but try to keep in touch as well as possible with young busy families. Margaret Day ran accross the information for this weekend last year, but we could not participate for a variety of reasons mainly our girls were too young. The brouchure says the activiities are intended for children 5 and older but I would say our 4 1/2 year olds did quite well.

The girls were fast friends. Margaret Day and I reflected afterward that they were well matched ~ one did not dominate the other.

We canoed, hiked, napped, played on the playground and ate snacks. We walked across the swinging bridge and the girls watched their mommies do the trust swing which is a part of the high ropes course.
In general, it was a low key relaxing weekend with the girls.

Camp was fun for all!

I wish...

I wish Tootsie was here to see this!

Those words were first spoken three weeks ago by Mary Frances as I was bathing them before going down the street for dinner so that Frank and I could go to our small group Bible Study. I snapped a picture in anticipation of this post. As the words came out of her mouth, tears came to my eyes as I thought of how many times we will utter that sentiment. I know the answer is countless...for us and for many in the community.



Well today was one of those days ~ a pink crayon arrived on our mailbox with the invitation for Kindergarten Orientation.


Look at this face and the picture does not do it justice. We were caught in the early morning school traffic taking Walker to his 15 month check-up when we noticed the first crayon. I wish I had a picture of the excitement on Mary Frances' face as we looked for crayons and pointed them out to each other. She excitedly asked if I thought Allen B had a crayon on his mailbox. We still need to call or drive by to check.


Stephen was even excited for her. My poor sleep deprived son fell asleep coming home from the pediatrician's office. Since it was before 10:00 when we returned home, I let him sleep in the car while I got a snack for Walker {who had been whisked from his bed to the car seat to get to the doctor} and took pictures of Mary Frances. When I went to wake him up, I asked him to guess what was on our mailbox. His eyes widened and with shear delight said Mary Frances' crayon. He bounded out of the car to join her admiring her pink crayon on the mailbox.

Throughout the day we have made several trips to the mailbox to see the crayon, touch the crayon, read the invitation. I've decided the crayons are for the parents as much as for the children. It helps makes it real that my baby girl is starting "big school" next year. I am so excited for her ~ she is ready and I hope she loves it as much as she has loved preschool, but each time I have walked through our den and gotten a glimpse of the inflatable crayon I smile but with a bittersweet feeling ~ a chapter in our lives is about to close. Have a made the most of it?