..Honesty

Little boys are so honest about things….most of the time! It seems like though sometimes they are honest about things you really do not want them to be.

It is when they say “Mom, you are so pretty!!!” that you want to just bask in little boy honesty, but when they look at you and say “Mom, that is a funny looking spot on your face. Why do you have that?” Is when you wish they were not quite so honest!
The thing is they see us for who we are…and they love us with our bumps, lumps, beauty, and all and just want us to be there for them! They want us to be there to kiss them, rub their owies, cook them food and take care of their needs.

They are not looking for a models body, but they are looking for their beautiful mom that looks nice, but not untouchable. They love their mom that they can jump on and give hugs too (even though with me they have made me lose my balance the last while!)

We often dislike honesty as it shows our inperfections, but really in their eyes those are sometimes our perfections.

I remember in many books I read as a girl, the mothers that were slim, trim and everything was perfectly in place were the mothers that cared so much about themselves they didn't care for their children. Then the mothers that were maybe not fashion plates, but loved the children, took time for them and were not running hither and thither to get a pedicure and haircuts were the ones protrayed as the desirable mothers to have.

We want to take care of ourselves, our houses etc. but let's not forget to make sure in taking care of ourselves we look at ourselves through the honest eyes of a little boy who adores you….no matter what spots you have on your face!

Christmas and others

Well, I was not so great with my camera this weekend! I took no pictures!!!

Can you believe it? I guessI decided that everyone else was snapping pictures so there should be plenty to go around! I wish I had gotten some of us making raviolis though as it was a very nice time we had.

We all toook turns turning the handle to roll the dough and flling the raviolis. They turned out really good this year and tasted wonderful! I amde a really pretty antipasti tray with all sorts of cheese, meat, and olive, artichoke hearts, little pickles, banana peppers and others.

The punch turned out great- with minimal cranberry sauce chunks in it as I blended it well this year. We did have a bit of excitement when as dinner finished and Moriah's MIL started to have a heart attack. We all ended our day spending time in a quiet waiting room of the hospital. It was so nice and quiet we didn't want to go home!

That is pretty bad when you have to go to the hospital waiting room to relax!

Sandy is okay, but just got released from the hospital yesterday afternoon.

The highlight of the year was a present to Mom and Dad from Joe and Moriah. They gave them a washer and dryer set, which was badly needed!! (Their dryer was 17 years old) Mom was so excited she was lamenting that she had so little laundry to do!

Anyhow, I am very happy to be home and am trying catch up on things around the house!

Organizing my house

I posted this as a comment on a thread about organizing and thought I would post it here too.
Well, I have 4 boys ages 7-18 months. I hate messes! But… I had so many mothers tell me that had experiece with children that I would regret it if I concentrated on keeping the house looking like a picture perfect place! So, to keep my sanity and so I can sleep, I concentrate on the kitchen and the living room and want to keep them clean all the time. I have a dishwasher which has enabled me to keep up the dishes, otherwise I got behind all the time!!! Another thing that really helped me was some basic organization that my mom and sisters helped me to do!
I live in a mobile home that is large to us (as we have lived in smaller places) We do not have much space either! I know what you mean about a bit of clutter making it look bad!
I am always cutting down and going through clothes and toys. I recently put all the toys in a small dresser. Toy cars and small trucks in trucks in top drawer, Lincoln logs and small blocks in the next drawer, and legos it the bottom. I also have a tub up high for blocks and keep all puzzles and games out of their room so they do not use them unless I give them permission. They have bookshelves in their room with a box right now for extra winter stuff on it, extra books and tub of baby toys on the bottom. They also have some shelves of their books. Lots of dressers help and tubs that have specific things assigned to them. I find it is easier when I know where stuff goes.
I have a basket for library books, a magazine rack and I try to throw away magazines I am not going to read again and others store on a shelf. Another thing that really helps, is my husband built and entire wall of shelves for me in the smallest room in the house. It gives me so much more organization!
Lest you think I am organized, I just sound that way in a letter, I work hard to keep those rooms clean and it is somewhat of a obsession with me and I have to make sure it is not more important to me than the boys. They have to be boys and make messes too sometimes!
When I was pregnant with my second I wondered how on earth I was going to live with the second one! It was so much easier for me. They kept each other occupied and the work was not doubled, but it seemed just easier to me! It is easy to get overwhelmed when you are in the last stages of pregnancy or your son has the flu!

Icy roads

Okay, I am sort of sad this morning. I go to a very small ladies bible study on Thursadays and I was really looking forward to it and the roads are very icy so they canceled it. We were going to have a little brunch there also, so Moriah and I made a lemon fondue with gingerbread adn pound cake to dip in it. I guess we will have to bring it over to Moriah's later today to have some ourselves.

Kip and Sandy, Joe's parents were supposed to be there by now, but had some mishaps and ended up both in the hospital. I guess they do this often, so it not a huge worry, but still…..

We are planning on driving up to Libby tomorrow so I will be taking a small vacation from blog writing, but I hope the roads are better then! This is scary!

So much to do…so little time …or energy

Do you ever feel like you just have all this stuff that has to be done, but feel like you can hardly move? I don't know if it comes from a combanation of lack of sleep, so many things to do- 4boys to feed, things to sew, house to clean, places to go,- fighting sickness, (I am attempting not to get a cold and am winning….I think!), nursing a baby still, and all the other things that come up!

One of the biggest questions of the day, is what to make for the boys to eat and fill them up! Mashed potatoes have been a big hit around here lately with green beans and bacon and turkey gravy.

I cooked a turkey and it is lasting awhile!

Well, back to sewing!

Our traditional birthday cake for Jesus….

We have made this cake ever since I was about 6 or 7, every Christmas for Jesus. It is a really tasty cake, a bit more time consuming, but really different and good!
Apple Cake

4 – 6 tart apples (medium size)

2 lemons juiced

3 T. sugar

3 T butter

3/4c. sugar

2 egg yolks ( do not put the 2 yolks together, they will be used separately)

1/2 lemon juiced, peel grated

1 t. baking powder

1 1/2 c. flour

3/4 c. milk

1 t. vanilla

2egg whites

1 t. butter (to grease pan)

1 t. vegetable oil

3 t. powdered sugar

Peel apples, cut into half core, cut decorative lengthwise slits in the apple about 1/2″ deep (it says see picture, but it looks like you are scoring the apple, but not cutting all the way through) Sprinkle with lemon juice and 3 T sugar Set aside

Cream butter and 3/4 c. sugar, beat in egg yolks one at time
Gradually add lemon juice and peel

Sift baking powder and flour together Gradually add to batter, beating well

Blend in Milk and vanilla

In small bowl beat egg whites until stiff, fold into batter. Grease springform pan very well

Pour in batter, top with apple halves with cut side up. Brush apples with oil.

Bake in preheated oven at 350 for 35-40 min. Remove from pan Sprinkle with powdered sugar

(We took this recipe from Creative Cooking, but it looks as if only the photos are copyrighted!)

School

Paul woke up earlier this morning and did school today! They are bouncing off the walls and were not listening very well, but he did school!!! He is reading quite well, when he wants to. I have to force the subject, but actually we went back to Rod and Staff this week and he is doing great. I think we can zip through the rest of first grade and, if he can finish 2nd grade math this year, it would be great!

I am starting to think maybe I am not such a bad teacher after all, when they show me they know things!

My to-do list!

Usually when I make a to-do list, I write it in my head.

It is not because I do not like to have things written down, it is just that I keep alot of things in my head. I have appointments in there, schedules, keeping track of things, authors I want to read, letters i am writing and many more things! What is the reason for this?

“drum roll”

NO PENS!!

Am I the only mother in the world that cannot find a pen when I need one? I feel like there are never enough pens.

Anyhow, when my schedule of my mind gets overfull, I start waking up at night to go over my “list”. This is irritating, of course, so then I find a pen, pencil or crayon and begin to jot down the “list”

This is just to be able to sleep. I may never cross off things off of the “list”, but at least I can sleep!

Cold, cold, cold!

It is so cold out! It has been cold, but we were out working in it a bit and you got so cold, so fast! We were moving things for my sister and I thought Iw as going to freeze to death! It was bad! My nose was numb, my toes were bad and to make matters worse, one of my gloves had disapeared so I had to make do with a work glove! It says it is -5 degrees here right now and I think last night it was down to -10. It was way too cold!

Last night Miriam and I had fun as we babysat Eric and got to go out to eat at a fancy place and Joe paid for it. They were having their Christmas party there! I had steak and they had live orchestra playing for us. Everyone loved the baby and we attracted alot of attention!

I thought I should clarify….

I said earlier that I don't really like the neighbors. It is not really I do not like them, we live in a mobile home court.

The lady next door accused the boys of scratching her car, when it was highly impossible for them to do it and because of that I have to keep the boys inside most of the time. I know there are some nice people, but some of the people are really rough and I have a hard time dealing with that!

I am hoping giving cookies will make things a little easier!