My heart is breaking...

I just cannot believe the earthquake that hit Chile this morning/last night... I heard from our pastor this morning at music practice, and kept thinking "Nothing I do can be enough for the suffering, and the pain of those in other parts of the world." First the tragedy of Haiti, and when it finally seems as though the help that we (the USA and other countries) are sending is beginning to get through another tragedy happens.

I was reminded of the bible verse that talks about how we will hear of wars and rumors of wars, and that there will be earthquakes and we will know that the end is nearing, and was filled with a new sense of urgency. Peter and I are called to San Francisco to minister to the lost in that beautiful city, but I am so heartbroken over the fact that I am just one. My hands are small and I am a fragile human. I can only be in one place, and it seems that no amount of money or time could ever fix the REAL tragedy. Lives lost that will never know Jesus. Lives that will never know the peace of the Christ Child, or the mercy and forgiveness of the Sovereign Father. I am grieving the loss of these people that will never be grafted into my family tree. I know that the greatest thing anybody could do is pray. Our Lord is mighty to save, and He is capable of moving mountains... He is far greater than this small soul could ever imagine or understand. So I will pray, and I am asking you to pray also. Let us raise our voices to the heavens.

We've all been sick... the kiddos have a cold, plus Simon is teething. I think he's getting 6 teeth all at once! We've also discovered that he throws up when he gets teeth. He did it last time, and he did it this time too. Just once, and right before bed. I don't know if its from being really fussy, or stressed out, or from the pain. Whatever it is I feel bad for him. He's the king, as you can see from the pictures. The first one is him watching Baby Einstein, (he has discovered the t.v.) and the other two are from the other day. I made him a pillow "throne" and he just sat there. It was the only thing that kept him from screaming his head off. (Other than being cradled by me. But I had to wash the dishes. Three sick kids and my house falls apart.) When he saw the camera he tried to smile. Silly Boy. February is almost over. I don't know what it was about this month, but it was not a good month for us. I'm ready to move on to March.

I have failed...

I quit. I just can't believe how impossible it seems to take a few pictures every day... I feel like I'm constantly doing the same things over and over and over again... I figured out why... I have mess making elves living with me...

I DON'T LIKE SAUCE!!!!

I totally took pictures of the other two, but this one needs to stand alone. Hilarious. Here is what our night was like last night.

First, Sarah refused to eat anyways... finally she ate something, and when I got up from the table to check the cupcakes that I was baking the exorcist happened. Amongst all of my children, and my husband also. I've become a pro at ignoring, so whatever... I was all zen ninja in the kitchen, and then I hear "Sarah Elizabeth! You sit down right now!" And an odd splashing sound. She had poured my entire cup of water into the entire pot of spaghetti sauce. After administering justice... I mean, discipline....she was brought back to the table, and instructed to finish eating her food, because she screamed for more, and now has to eat it. (We don't normally force our kids to finish their food, except when they insist on taking a LARGE amount and then not even taking one bite.) And also her sauce, because, lets face it, thats the healthy part of the noodles... She took a bite of her noodles, chewed them up, and SPIT them directly into the already ruined pot of sauce, that I was going to freeze and thicken later. (I hate wasting. I know its cliche, but there are people in other parts of the world who are starving. I will not ever take for granted the fact that I have food in my stomache anytime I want it. We eat everything, even if we think its gross or simply don't feel like having leftovers...) So, justice (I mean, discipline) Was once again administered, and she was once again instructed to finish her food. She chose to leave it there and go play, until it really sank in that she was either going to eat that when all the rest of us tasted the cupcakes with chocolate frosting, or have it for breakfast the next day. (By the way. I still saved that sauce. I'm not kidding. I hate wasting. All the germs will cook out of it when I boil it for 5 minutes... just, if you come to my house for spaghetti in the next couple of weeks, know that its probably the spit spaghetti, and you might want to eat before hand.)

I will never catch up again...

I guess I made up for the day I forgot to take Simon's Picture, because yesterday I totally forgot to take one of the princesses... We started Spanish class at our church, and left them here with a friend... I was so consumed with making sure everything was done before we left that it just slipped my mind. I have a list a mile long of tasks that need to be completed, and feel like even something as small as making a doctor's appointment is too much for me to handle. I usually NEVER finish my list... and then I get depressed. I really need to remember that I do other things that aren't on my list. The list is "extra" stuff that doesn't normally need to get done. Thats why I write it down, so I won't forget to do it. On most days I just want to say "Lets order a pizza." Or something else that I won't have to cook, but never do, because I know that its a waste of money, and that there is absolutely no nutrition in anything I could buy from the store. Today I threw some spaghetti sauce in the crock pot and will turn it on in a couple of hours. We eat spaghetti a lot. Later I need to test a cake recipe, and also need to start working on the cake that my neighbor has ordered. I'll be so sad to see it leave my hands... its going to be a caramel apple praline crunch cake. Maybe I'll make two. Cake makes everything seem less stressful.

Falling Behind... days 7 and 8...

Here is Sarah and Lilah on Saturday evening... the story behind this cute little gingerbread bunny house is this: On Saturday morning I have music practice at my church... This is not the best day for me, as Saturday is the one day of the week when we aren't rushing around trying to get out of the house, and also because I can go out to do errands alone or with one of my babies alone... so that we can spend mommy time together. Its a long story of how it got changed, but I agreed to it, because it was better for everone else, and I thought that it was selfish and unfair of me to insist upon my way or no way... so I requested a compromise. 9 AM instead of 1030 AM, that way I can get done with practice by 1030, and get out to my shopping and home by 1-ish... well, they agreed after complaining about it being saturday and they want to sleep in... blah blah... fast forward to this week. Now "they" (no names...) don't bother to show up until 945!!! (Its just too hard to wake up early on Saturday, plus we have to leave our house way earlier than anyone else... even if its just by 5 minutes, it makes a difference) and we practice until almost 1130, and guess what? Its too late for me and Sarah (She came with me, and left us alone, as agreed, so that we could get done faster with no interrupting) to go to the dollar store together. I HAD to go to Michael's craft store, because I needed some cake decorating supplies to make cupcakes for the next day, and while we were there I compensated for my guilt for not going to the dollar store even though I was exhausted, and other people's selfishness and bought this cool gingerbread decorating kit... it was so much fun for the girls to do, and we took it to church potluck on sunday to show it off. I warned people not to eat it though, since they licked the knives and their hands every single time it touched the yummy frosting. Just a question... will I be unreasonable to inform the group that I MUST leave at 1030 on saturdays, whether or not we're done? I have things I need to do that can't run into the afternoon. Saturday is my resting day, and I feel as though I've made adjustments for them that are hard for me. Should I expect them to do the same?








I missed taking Simon's picture on saturday. It was a crazy day, but here he is yesterday. And the Girlies too. I always notice that its Sarah and Lilah together, and Simon all alone. Poor Boy. He needs a playmate...

Day 5 pictures on day 6...

Sarah made a carrot with her bath crayons. Just as a side note... I hate those things. They're sticky and make my bath tub impossible to clean... if there's any soapy residue left from past bath times, they change it colors. Will I stop buying them? No....

I have no idea who took that picture of Simon Boy, and we got lucky and caught Lilah hamming it up again... I think she's getting used to the camera. Cute, Cute, Cute.

Day 4... I'm sure of it.

How do I pick just one picture to share? My kids are the cutest ever, and I just know that the whole world wants to see them, and hear about every tiny thing they do or say that is amazing.... which is pretty much every thing. (Sarcasm... about everyone wanting to know, but my kids really are the smartest. Except for Simon, crawling off of things... and Lilah eating her own poop.... so maybe they aren't that smart...) There were three really cute ones of the Baby Boy, but this one is maybe my favorite. Can you see his teeth on the bottom? Then Smarty Pants and Little Mommy... doing their favorite things. Coloring and playing babies...

What day is it?

So here are my pictures for day 3...? Ha ha... time blurs together here in my house. I often find myself showering in the morning, thinking that I'm getting ready to go to bed. I thought I'd do the smart, time saving thing and get a picture of all three kiddos at one time, except Simon's new favorite thing to do is crawl off of things... no matter how far of a drop it is. We were at the Discovery Museum a couple of weeks ago, and he crawled off of the little froggy/lily pad/water bed thing... laughing the whole time, until he bonked his head. You can see from Sarah and Lilah's faces that they thought this was hilarious. Then in the next picture you can see little Lilah with worry on her face... (Of course Simon cried after his stunt...) I really need to keep up with these photos, so that I don't get confused and start posting the wrong pictures on the wrong day... but nobdy will know, right?

Day 2!

So here are my day 2 pictures. I'm already tired of doing this. Will I make it for the rest of the month? I was totally stoked to capture Lilah's personality in a picture... these goofy moments happen several times a day in our house, but when the camera comes out she clams up and acts shy. Sweet Delilah. Simon and Sarah both love the camera, so its easy to find them at their best.

28 days in photos!

I've had this blog for awhile now. I am such a.... quiet and incredibly shy... person in real life, and an incredibly open and painfully honest person in writing that it freaks me out that somebody I am acquainted with would read something that I have written, and then know that I am not sweet or kind or thoughtful... that they would recognize my flaws, because when I write I pour out my heart, and realize later that perhaps I shouldn't have been so forthcoming. But it is what it is, and I think that this is a good way to introduce you to the cyber April... for the 28 days of February I will snap a photo of my children each day. Mommyhood at its most endearing and best. (When everyone is smiling and happy? Maybe I'll capture some of our worst moments too...) Here is day 1, inside the room-size blankie fort we made. Even Simon thought it was a blast.

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