me being a good mom

When describing my family, I always use one word. Artists And although only one of my siblings actually gets paid being an artist, every one of them is extremely artistic, whether with music, paint, or rooms. And while I feel like the least artistic of my fam, I still live on the time I spend dabbling with paint or music. Years ago, when I visualized myself in the far future, I could see myself painting in the back of my (clean) home, with kids arriving home from school. It was seriously like a vision to me.

So you'd think as a stay-at-home mom, I would be up to my elbows in art projects with my kids. You'd think. Here's the problem: I'm a little too OCD. Before I even start the projects, all I can see is the mess of paper, paint in the hair, damage to who-knows-what, and clean-up time. I love taking them to places where they can do art projects. I'm not one of those moms who fix my kid's projects to make them look right.grrrrrf I don't care how many eyes or ears my kids' puppets have. They can be as creative as they want. As long as I don't have to have the mess in my kitchen.

Here is my shameless pat-on-the back. Despite the fact that my house was a disaster (last night I was too sick to clean and I was gone all morning), I decided to be a mother and went outside in the garage and helped paint a box with my kids. Paint it into a little house. I did have to hold my breath so I didn't waste this good will getting upset about the paint on shirts, hair, etc. But -pat-pat- I did it and got a picture to prove it.

Rays shining through

There are those moments that make motherhood SO worth it. Today was one.

I awoke with the kids playing quietly in the other room (thanks to my husband), when Kyle came in to check on me. I offered to help him make his bed, but after a couple minutes, he got excited. "Let's do secret service!" he said, so we both went in to Bekah's room to make her bed. Bekah must have heard us, because she promptly informed us that we couldn't come out of the bedrooms because SHE was doing secret service in the kitchen. So 20 min. later, I found myself enjoying breakfast on our new patio furniture with 2 happy kids, all the bedrooms cleaned, and the dishwasher emptied. And I hadn't even asked for this goodness.

The rest of the day has been a delight. Lunch with "Aunt Chris" ... my old neighbor who is an adopted family member. Reading books with the kids. Now they are at a baseball game with Rob (and there was NO sigh of relief when they left with their dad). Nothing grand, just simple goodness. The sun is definitely breaking through my clouds.

When it rains it pours

We are doing well, although it seems to be one crisis after another. Three months ago, I remember saying out loud how we didn't really have any problems in our lives. I am so glad that I recognized and enjoyed it then. That calm before the storm. Between house, health, and family crises, we are perservering. No one has died and Rob still has a job that he loves, so that is great. I mean GREAT!

Speaking of one drop in the deluge, I am now 4 months pregnant, and still sick... which is actually getting worse rather than better. Once I throw up over a hundred times, I confess my attitude becomes more cynical. I just can't get on top of it, and walk around feeling so dehydrated, even when I keep things down. Yet I know this is better than last pregnancy. Rob has been absolutely FANTASTIC... and that does deserve capitals. From fixing broken appliances, cooking when I can't, handling plumbers and flooding, a shoulder to cry on, giving good council, etc. etc. Some trials are worth going through just to appreciate and grow closer to those around you. And I am not just talking about my husband right now, I am talking to the rest of my family, too.

So I am grateful. Under this layer of cynicism and hurt, I am grateful. Or if I am not at this exact moment, I know I will be. I truly believe that we will come out better in the end by clinging to each other and God.

Guess who is riding a bike?

I took off the training wheels for good Monday night and let him have a little go. He did pretty well. Then today, he decided he wanted to master it by himself. Just turned 4 and he's riding a 2-wheel bike! Whoohoo! Best of all, I only had to run behind him, holding on to the bike like 10 min. Monday night. That's it!

The boy was meant to ride.

Updates

It's been almost a month since I wrote, and while some people are so great at keeping updated, it seems like the more I have to write about, the less I have time to write. So here are a few events.

First off, preschool graduation. When asked what Bekah wanted to be when she grew up, she responded, "something on the stage!" Kyle, with no surprise to anyone, wanted to be a train engineer.

Because the boy is in love with trains, his birthday gift from Grandma was an outing ON Thomas the Train. Fantastic! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! He loved it. We all loved it and had lots of fun.

On our way back from Thomas the Train, we stopped for a nice hike at Bridal Veil Falls. So beautiful! Then it was off to shop for furniture. Not so fun.

Last Tuesday, Bekah hit the stage for her dance recital. Adorable. She did both ballet and tap, and was a "purple people eater" for tap. Thanks for all the family who came and watched. Really, it is love that brings out Mary, my parents, Grandma Bassett, and even Grandma Franklin to drive up and watch little girls walk on their tip toes in tutus.

Summer Lit program has started again, and it went great. I have such a great committee. When the main speaker didn't show, we didn't blink, but just brain stormed and came up with other fun ideas.

We also had Aunt Lorie up here from Houston, and we had a baby shower. Unfortunately, although I was in charge with Carolyn, I got really sick right before and had to leave a lot of the work up to her and mom. All's well that ends well.

Last event was a picture perfect (which I have no pictures of) evening at Bruce and Jeannies. The kids got to ride horses, we roasted marshmellows, sang songs, and had a barbecue on a perfect evening. All the while, cotton floated magically through the air.

Well, I can't figure out how to change the order of these pictures, so I will have to update about the house on the next blog. More to come.

Living the American Dream!

We have spent the day cleaning, lawn work, and now Rob's out mowin the lawn. We have gotten tons done, and the kids have actually been very helpful (it's amazing what an incentive an ice pop is!) How sweet it is.

This is it! A nice house, a nice garage, a nice yard, nice neighbors, nice kids, and a very nice husband. I'm living the dream!

There is so much to talk about. Our outing with Thomas the Train. This is the Place Monument. Preschool Graduation. Memorial Day Fun Run. Hiking. Pregnant. Oh, and we finally moved. But I still have a list of more stuff I needed to do. I was just overcome with the moment of watching my husband mow my lawn (and having my own garage) and wanted to share my joy.

More to come...

Cheap thrill

Joy= small vanilla frosty = $1.07

God Bless America!