Five Minute Friday~ Together

Together.


It's this word that happens to you and you don't even notice it.


The first time they place him on your chest and you take in that secret saline smell of your baby's first breath, it starts.


You are no longer you.


You are we.


We are going. We are staying. We have a cold today so we cannot come out to play. We are going to Target. We left Target early because we had a meltdown.


It's this thing that happens gradually over time and one day you catch yourself pushing your cart around the corner in Costco while making a motorboat noise, and you realize you left the toddler home with Daddy, but you still made the noise anyways because that is what we do.


We are together, even when we are apart.


And then you realize that this together, the together that means a plump little hand holding yours, the together of never using the bathroom uninterrupted ever, the together that means you can count on a warm little body crawling into your arms for a good five minute squeeze every time it emerges from sleep, the together of makeup in the carpet and pee on the shower curtain....that together is finite.


I don't want to rush it. I don't want to look forward to the end of this together, to the time when they just don't need me so much and I am alone again. Because this together is precious. It is a gift. It is now.

Today I'm linking up with The Gypsy Mama for 

Ten on Tuesday

By the time most of you read this, it's going to be Wednesday, but I'm not changing the title of this post because Ten on Tuesday allows me to dump all these miscellaneous unrelated things into one big post and call 'er good. 


So there. 

1.

I finally got around to starting my Project Life album for 2012. I'm only four months behind, so at this rate I should be done by 2014. 

2. 

Spring has finally sprung in the northwest! 

Once the thermometer hits 60, these north Idaho boys consider it summer. 

Which means backyard picnics on our still-brown grass at lunchtime,

And time to play carwash with the hose.

3.

My kitchen has been spending a lot of time looking like this lately.

I just cannot keep up with the mountain of dishes I create cooking three meals from scratch each day. I can either clean, or I can cook, but I have a horrible time trying to do both. 

4.

Which is why Jarrod gave me the greenlight to hire a sweet girl to help me once a week for a couple hours. That man is speaking my love language.

5.

Today I took dinner to a friend who just had a baby. My very favorite soup, creamy chicken potato (some day I will get around to sharing the recipe), whole grain bread (that I didn't make myself, I'm not super woman) and some of the best cookies ever. It must have been a fluke, because my cookies are usually lame. 

6.

My littlest guy has reached a major milestone. Not one that's mentioned in any Dr. Sears' book, but important nonetheless. 

It's official: The boy can now snap together his own bionicle pieces and has joined his older brothers in being obsessed with 'robots'

7.

You ever have one of those moments where the lightbulb blinks on, your heartrate increases, and you have an epiphany? 

That's how I felt when I learned about this:

I will never again stir Adam's peanut butter by hand. I could cry tears of joy just thinking about it. And the best part is that stirring the peanut butter up with the mixer and then putting it in the fridge guarantees that the last scoop will be just as creamy as the first. It's a peanut buttery miracle. 

8.

Along the same lines, but slightly less life changing, was the day I discovered an old magazine holder is the perfect size to hold an entire package of pull-ups. Seriously, what can't you do with a magazine holder?

9.

Last weekend Haydn and Greyson experienced the 'skate park' for the first time. 

I was proud of myself. I observed and I took pictures, but I did not embarrass them in front of the 'cool kids' by calling out pointers.

 And when Haydn biffed it royally (completely layed out on his back in the middle of the ramp) I allowed him to gather his pride, and his wobbly lip, and limp painfully away from everyone before I checked him for head wounds. 

10.

This little dude has been insisting for weeks that we remove his training wheels from his bike.  

I didn't think he was ready.

I wanted him to wait.

Boy, did he prove me wrong.

Just some Easter highlights

We had a beautiful Saturday. 

I got up early, with the sun, and slipped out while all my guys were still sleeping, enjoying the absolute quiet of an empty car as I ran errands to prepare for the weekend. 

Later in the morning Jarrod left to help set up for our church's Easter Eggstravaganza (lunch and an egg hunt for the community) while I spent some time helping my boys color these innocent little eggs. 

 The one in the front with the arms and hair, the one that appears to be screaming, was designed by Greyson. That's my fav. 


And see the one that says 'Grace'? I asked my kids if any of them knew what that word meant, and when Haydn nailed it on his first try it nearly made me cry. 

Grace means undeserved kindness.

And that is what this weekend is all about.

After the eggs, we went to the Eggstravaganza (I love me a good pun) where I helped in the face-painting booth, because I am famed far and wide for my superior shark-painting skills 

and not because I was late and they didn't have anything else for me to do.

Then after that we headed over to Easter dinner with Jarrod's family. Yes, it was a busy busy day. 

But such a good one. 

The cousins are all getting older and I don't know how many more years we have before hunting eggs is no longer cool.

So we enjoyed every minute of it, hiding and finding the eggs at least five different times. 

Undeserved kindness, indeed.

'Fess Up Friday~ April Fools

It has been so long since I've blogged, I don't even know where to start. I thought about telling you what we've been doing for the last four months, because that is seriously how long it's been since I've written a post, but that would take forever. 


Then I thought of a quote from one of my favorite movies. 


"Let me 'splain.... No, there is too much..... let me sum up." (said with a Spanish accent) 


100 meaningless points if you can name that film. 


Then I thought, you know, it's the first Friday of the month, and most of what I have to say is going to sound like a confession of some sorts anyways, so why the heck not. 


Let's do this thing. 



Jarrod has been working hard to brainwash encourage our youngest son in his passion for cars. 
Here they are watching you-tube videos on the new Ferrari. Just look at his face.

This little man loves cars. He wants to know how they work and whenever I'm on my laptop he wants me to put on the "car show," by which he does not mean the animated movie, he means the British version of Top Gear.
The only problem with this, is that the 2-year-old is entirely too observant. 
I let him out to play yesterday, even though it was sloppy and cold, because I was thinking that he couldn't get into too much trouble in a snowy backyard. 
Wrong.
The boy took it upon himself to find the lone gas can that had somehow been left outside the shed...

and then proceeded to gas up his trike. 

Luckily I smelled him as soon as he came in the door so I was able to decontaminate the boy, but his beloved boots have been banished outside until I can decide what to do with them.

Hopefully they don't explode.

.

.

.

 I recently started going to the community center to workout again. 

It has helped me regain my sanity.
My boys get to socialize with other kids thanks to some seriously amazing "playcare" workers, and I get an hour or so all to myself. 
Some days I bring a notebook and spend the hour writing, because I like to write, and I had forgotten that. 
Some days I bring my laptop and catch up on my Photoshop and Lightroom tutorials. 
And some days, I actually work out, and then I have to send texts like this to my husband as soon as the class is over. 

...Remember last year when I cleaned out my pantry and I told you about those canisters that I love?
Well, it has come to my attention that Better Homes & Gardens has created a knockoff version for half the price that they sell at Walmart. 
Whoo to the hoo!

 I had myself a little organizing jamboree in the kitchen and prettied up my pantry and baking supplies. 

Ignore the tapioca that is still in it's packaging... nobody is perfect.

A few days later I went out for a girl's night, and late in the evening my husband texted me the following picture.

????
His text said "So I tried making oatmeal cookies. It says 1 cup of butter or 2.5 sticks. I used the latter. Big mistake. You should have seen the four little faces staring in the oven, saying "Can we fix them?"" 
I thought this was so weird, but blamed it on the excess butter. 
However, on April Fool's Day of all days, I woke up to my husband waving one of my newly organized containers in my face. 
"What is this?" he demands. 

Me: Oh, that's powdered sugar.
Him: WHY IS IT LABELED ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR?!
Me: Because it used to be all-purpose flour, but I swapped containers. It's pretty easy to tell it's powdered sugar so I didn't change the label. 
Him: But it says all-purpose flour! This is what I made those cookies out of! I almost just made pancakes out of it too!
Me: Oh.
Sorry?
Wait, come back. I'm not laughing.
Ok, I'm laughing, but seriously, that is funny.
April fools?