Down the path of honesty...

Let me start with saying I'm so thankful to you all for stopping by, whether occasionally or daily, and keeping up with our family.  As we head towards the twins' fourth birthday I've been doing a whole lot of remembering how things were and I keep coming back to a very thankful place for how much less busy life has gotten since, at least in the feeding/diapering/carrying etc. kind of way.
Back in those days the blog was in many ways one of my few connections to an adult world.  Besides a quick visit to the grocery store and conversation with those who came by to drop off a meal or stay and help out with wash and cleaning, for the first 6 months after Cara and Cody were born I often only left the house on Sunday mornings to go to church.  Writing the blog and knowing you were reading was a delight for me.  And it still is.
Yet, I'm often plagued with the knowing that the posts I write are shallow in light of eternity.  They may delight, intrigue, hey, maybe even encourage other moms out there that they're not the only ones, but I tend to stick to the stories that I know will make you smile...if not laugh out loud.
Now this is not all bad.  You wouldn't believe how tickled I was when my sister called me the other morning to say that a group of kind hearted women all together in a kitchen for the purpose of doing good and blessing people with far less materially than we ourselves, well that group of women were sharing laughter over yesterday's story that a bunch of them had read.
And I repeat, it is a good thing,
read Proverbs 17:22:
A merry heart does good, like medicine,
But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Ecclesiastes 3:4 says there is a time for weeping and laughter.

Laughter, it is a gift from God.  But it is not everything.

So this morning when I read Kara's latest post about Moms going through crisis I knew that the least I had to do was share it with you.  No matter if you're like me, a mom who's never had to live life with that kind of heart ache or if you're like her I think she has some very bang on things to think about. 
For me it was that note about clinging to your spouse.  That doesn't take a crisis to become true.  Daily grind can have me lashing out at the very person God gave me to go through life as the bestest of friends.  Yup, I fail on this point often and this morning I was thankful for the reminder of what I should do.
This summer we shared our 10th anniversary.  I wrote a post with some thoughts but allowed Steve to read it first seeing as it was a little more in depth  than most of what I write here.  Steve vetoed some of the content because he wanted me to be careful about what I was willing to share with the web. There was nothing really worthy of gossip or speculation but some truths about living life and marriage when I've allowed the busyness to suck out the vitality.  About how marriage that doesn't recieve vast amounts of the love equivalent of Miracle Gro can be stunted or at the very worst withered up.  Knowing I have no idea who actually reads all these thoughts, he was pointing out I better think it through carefully.  It was wise advice.
That all said, I do want to be honest here.  I don't need people to put what they read here + what they think they see when they see me out and about to = a sunny false picture of who they think me to be.  Believe me, there are some seriously faulty parts.  (Actually, obviously one doesn't have to go too many posts backwards to remember that seeing me out and about doesn't necessarily give off a sunny picture :) )
I don't know what I'm really all getting at.  Once again I've allowed my fingers to take over and they've led a pretty crooked path of thoughts down the screen. I guess what I'm hoping is that the blog is to the honor of God. 

One of those moments!

Leah came home from school today and after looking at me for 2 seconds said oh so gently, "by the way, your shirt is on inside out" in that tone of voice that only a girl will use on her clueless mother.

That wasn't the bad part.

Yah, that part is the fact that I went to town looking and feeling like a complete scrag to find birthday presents for the twins and their share-the-day- cousin.  I realize it wasn't that smart of me to take them along on a surprise finding mission but I didn't have much choice.  Last week at 10pm the night before Sam's birthday I still didn't have much for gifts for him and I didn't want to have to look across the table that sheepishly at my husband again for a long while.  But I digress.

Like I said, I went to town and was feeling awfully shabby next to the pretty lady in jeans and heels.  So walking through the aisles of Zellers trying to twirl and spin in order to keep the gifts I was carrying behind my back out of sight left me feeling slightly crazy.  When the lady at the till said she didn't have any bags for the presents I was feeling pretty desperate so I took off my big baggy hoodie to tuck them inside. 

The lady did do a double take and at the time I wondered if my arm pits were hairy but everyone else I met through out the next 3 stores also looked at me funny, despite my pinning my arms to my sides.

It just took my daughter to point out that the sleeveless shirt I was wearing despite the chilly temp was not the biggest problem.  It's just that not only was I wearing a sleeveless shirt when most people had on a sweater or coat, I was wearing that shirt inside out.
And it was painfully obvious.

Hair Cuts...

That would obviously be a lock from Cara not Cody.  The lego man is there just for length reference.  Just a few things I would like to make special note of...

1. The floor and their clothes are full of wisps of hair - but they really didn't cut too much off.
2. They stuck to the front - but they really didn't cut too much off.
3. Cody's might be a bit tough to hide when he gets his VERY needed haircut in the next couple of days - but they really didn't cut too much off.
4. We'll pretend Cara's growing out her bangs...that actually didn't exist - but they really didn't cut too much off.
5. Steve's and my pillows are covered in hair when I just washed everything yesterday due to one of the kids having a midnight accident - but really!!  they didn't cut too much off.
6. I wasn't planning to make time to clean up hair or make a blog post - but they really didn't cut too much off.
7. We're going to have family pictures in less than 2 weeks!!!!! See this post... - and let me tell you I'm VERY VERY THANKFUL that they really actually didn't cut too much off!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8. While giving self or sibling a haircut is pretty much a rite of passage out of toddlerhood and while our babies are really already going to be FOUR at the end of this week!!!!! this is the first time they've ever tried this stunt, please see point 7 and recognize I'm sure glad that they got it out of their system with quite minimal damage!!!!

ps.  please excuse the amount of !!! marks in this post.  Truth is when I first saw the hair laying around, my heart and brains were making quadruple the amounts of them.
pps. another truth?  I was too chicken to examine them super carefully so this post was created with minimal inspection.  Should I go to do their hair in a few hours and discover extra missing chunks you may see another post with more !!!!!!!!!!

Cheer Upper

Should your body be weary and your spirits a little low here's a little video clip to bring a smile to your face.... be sure to watch to the very end.  Without sound is even better than with.

I ache for her... in fact it could be me, there's a reason I avoid any activities requiring gracefulness and coordination.

I CAN babysit!

Last week in the space of 24 hrs. I :

• Babysat a little guy and messaged his mother that I had fed him lunch that I picked off the middle of the road.  True story.  I mean, I really did message her that but I also really did feed her dear son cheese buns that I picked off the middle of the road.  Hey, it went kinda like this....talking to myself.  Again. 

 "Hmm, babysit a little guy, why not bring all the kids and go to the library.  Well, if we're going to the library we should just make it a picnic lunch.  What can we eat?  There's cheese buns in the freezer.  Take them out, put the container out in the sun on top of the van so they'll be nice and soft when we find a bench that isn't surrounded by ducks.  Don't forget the buns there when you drive away.  You know you will so just go move them now.  Oh yeah, the kids should all go to the bathroom."

And you can just see where this is headed.  Yup, down the road to the 4 way stop when a few things slid off the top of the perilous pile in the passenger's seat and I moaned, "the cheese buns!!! you think they're still on the roof of the van?"

 

Back home we headed only to spot from half a block a way a white container and 4 suspicious orange lumps in the middle of the road...right in front of our driveway.  Nobody had driven over them yet AND nobody was coming from either direction so I scooped them up, looked them over, set to driving again and PROMPTLY fed them to the kids. 

Seeing as they had spent a minute on the road I did not argue against their sharing with the ducks. 

And maybe this cutie niece did get more grass than corn for supper.  But she was super happy about it! 

But today?  I had a couple of extra kids over and I didn't lose them, didn't have anyone find them on the road and they heartily ate decently healthy meals.  Ahh, it did wonders in restoring my confidence!

Supper conversation

Tonight at supper Cody suddenly turned to Steve and seriously asked, "Daddy, what things do you have in your body?"

Unsure of where this was headed and what kind of answer Cody was looking for Steve did the smart parent thing and hesitated slightly and repeated, "things?"

"Ya, you know blood, heart, Jesus...and bones."

Labour Day

A beautiful sunny day and Mom suggested we take the canoe out for a spin.  Then to get even more points she pointed out we didn't have to go far, we could put it in right down the road.

 

Mom and I gave the youngest kids a ride.

 Then Steve and Leah confiscated the paddles.  They gave all kinds of rides and even though the water was smooth enough to give beautiful reflections Sam was terrified the canoe would tip!  He didn't last long the first ride and was very happy to give his spot to someone else.

 In the meanwhile we played catch and soccer and went for bike rides and walks down the trail.  This super cute buddy was playing catch with Gramma, life jacket and all.

 If you could see everyone's expressions here you would notice they were getting a little annoyed with me.  I was busy trying to snap pictures for their future enjoyment but apparently I'm the only one appreciating my own efforts....hmmm, that should tell me something?!  Anyway, as I go through the 100+ pictures now there are tons that bring a smile to my face, and a whole bunch that make me groan - you know the ones where I was trying to hold the camera out above the water to include myself? (if you're ever in need of a cheerupper send me an email and I'll email you back with a picture that's sure to make you laugh...at me)   Anyway, we got to and under that bridge before we turned around and headed back again.

 And what's Labour Day without a bit of...dare I say it?... labour?   Indeed, Steve decided it was less work to carry the canoe home than tie it back up to the truck.  He may or may not have rethought that all after he made it to the driveway and realized the walk was longer than it looked :)

A beautiful afternoon, special family time.