overheard at our house today...

jack:  i really like easter.
mommy:  me too, buddy.  do you remember what easter is about?
jack:  yes, it's when jesus died on the cross. 
izzy:  and mr. steve, too.
mommy:  time to hit the bible again, guys.

jack:  i love your eyes and your laugh, mommy.


while watching me do my video workout:
abby:  mommy, you're doing such a fantastic job.  you're doing everything different than they are.  i like it.

when the kids all joined me to exercise, i decided to teach them the meaning of the phrase, "it's like the pot calling the kettle black". 

wordless wednesday

do laundry. save orphans.

i've got loads of pictures from beautiful easter sunday on the way -- i promise.  but right now, i want to chat about "loads" of a different kind.  i've been blessed over the past year by a budding friendship with a fellow mom-of-many-little-people.  it's been fun to read one another's blogs (hers is way better than anything i've ever written) and to swap stories of homeschooling, family, and life. 

but several months ago, our hearts became bound in a way far deeper than diapers or math curriculum.  you see, toward the end of last year, lora and andrew began the process of bringing a precious little one (or two!) home from uganda to become a part of their family.  and while i love seeing orphan care or ministry take shape in any fashion, i'm particularly touched when i witness it unfold through uganda.  not only is it the original country we began our own adoption journey in, but it's also the home of pearl ministries' partner orphanage (josh is on staff with pearl).

when i'm writing a story about missing a child i've never met or aching to have him in my arms, i know that lora gets it, that she's experiencing the same emotions.

sooooo...with all that said, i'm thrilled to share what i consider to be lora and andrew's ingenious plan for raising the funds to complete their adoption. 

lora is the queen of natural health and wellness, and she's now using her crunchy skills to make an all-natural laundry detergent that they are selling to help get their new addition(s) home.  HE safe, great for sensitive skin, and made by a fantastic family who wants to make a difference in the lives of orphans -- what are you waiting for?!?  go buy some now!!!!

actually, go ahead and buy loads of it for your loads.  ;-)

maybe i shouldn't have

i'm having just a twinge of regret today.  i'm thinking that maybe i shouldn't have done what i did yesterday. 

wait...

you don't think i'm talking about my little april fool's joke, do you?  oh no, i think that was hysterical.  within five minutes of posting it, my land line, my cell phone, and my email were lighting up with my sweet, gullible friends and family.  hee-hee! 

no, i'm talking about the brash decision i made to cut jack's hair.  short.  myself.  if you'll remember, i've taken the scissors to his mop before, but even with the mounds of curls i cut off that time, he still had plenty to spare.  today, though, i lost my mind and grabbed josh's do-it-yourself clippers with the longest guard i could find.  unfortunately, it cut way shorter than i expected it to.  in fact, as i took the first swipe up the back of his head, abby screamed, "mommy!  you're cutting his whole hair off!!"  i assured her (and my sweet, now-nervous son) that i was not, in fact, cutting him bald. 

just really short.

oh well.  he's still super-cute...just way too big looking.

jack before mommy felt the need to save $10 by cutting his hair herself:

and after:

wondering what he thinks of it?  when i picked him up to let him look at himself in the mirror, he got a kind of puzzled look on his face and said, "i don't look like jack anymore". 

that's what losing four pounds of hair will get you, son.

little ladybug

i really can't believe that today marks the entrance into april.  i still catch myself writing "2009" on my checks...i'm really behind.  this weather just takes my breath away, though, and if i could stop the calendar right here and stay in this 72-degree, sunny weather, i'd do it in a heartbeat.  i love the spring!

we had a fantastic opportunity to spend some time outside enjoying the beautiful weather and great company last weekend at little emma's 2nd birthday party. 

bethany and bailey have the best setup for parties, and the kids always max out the fun when they get to play outside.

bethany had given me only one job for my time at their house: to get a picture of all three of her kids.  she didn't care where, she didn't mind how they were sitting, she just wanted "photo proof that there are three of them".

my mom had a special request, too.  we had given her a photo of me, bethany, and the kids last year, but samantha wasn't in it because she was but a wee babe in bethany's belly.  so before the cake-cutting ceremony, we grabbed everyone for yesterday's wordless wednesday shot.  with mom and bailey's help, josh snapped this one, too.

no sooner had bethany put emma in front of the cake than everyone started telling her to take the candle out of her cake and lick it.  she kept staring at us like we were fools, but she finally pulled it out (i don't know how happy she was about it, though)...

of course, i might feel a little pressure if all of the paparazzi-family was staring at me, too.

brayden didn't understand what the hold-up was so he went in for the kill.  then she decided it wasn't such a bad idea to lick the candle after all.  hee-hee.

happy birthday, emma.  we love you all!!!!!

before i go, there was one more shot i wanted to share with you.  have a great, great day!!

never underestimate the power of italics. 

wordless wednesday

your daughter's going to need a rabies shot

this is going to be quick because i'm late for bed.

as i've added activities and projects onto my proverbial plate, i've noticed a startling trend in my daily life.  lots of photos to edit?  then don't do the laundry.  need to play catch-up on some of abby's schoolwork?  then the dishes can wait.  and it's not just the house that's been suffering.  i'm sad to admit that there have been many a day when i didn't make reading my bible or playing outside with the kids a priority.

momma needed a schedule.

i work much better within the confines of accountability and structure, so i set out to create a workable daily routine that would allow me (or force me, perhaps) to accomplish all the necessary activities of the day.  after a couple of feeble attempts at designing said schedule, though, i was confused, overwhelmed, and feeling less in control of my day than ever (due to the fact that i got even less done around here than what i had been doing because i spent all day with my nose in an excel file).

then came coffee with the girls.

several moms and i got together a couple of weeks ago to chat about mommyhood, homeschooling, and curriculum.  well lo and behold, if the topic of a family schedule didn't come up!  i gleaned lots of brilliant ideas that night, and i came home with a plan.  i worked and typed and thought and planned, and in the end, i had a schedule that i thought was ideal for our family of little people.  as i showed it to josh last night to get his input, he studied it carefully and then looked at me with love in his eyes and said, "you're really, really OCD".  he cautioned me to not get too wrapped up in the schedule but to simply allow it to be a tool that helped guide our day...not ruin it if things didn't go as planned.  i assured him that i would go with the flow, and then i went to bed confident in how perfectly smooth my day would run today as we moved down through the boxes of that fantastic little spreadsheet.

HA!

i'm too tired to go into the full detail, but after a months-long-spree of no doctor visits, i had to take jack into the pediatrician just before lunch for what we thought was a broken finger and i had to take izzy into the children's after-hours clinic just before dinner for a cat bite that left four puncture wounds in her arm.

results:

• jack's finger isn't broken (just severely bruised and nastyfied)
• the receptionist was incorrect when she told me izzy would need a rabies shot (although i did have to fill in an "animal bite/rabies form" for the health department)
• and we in no way, not even close, absolutely did not stick to the schedule today

and i'm just fine with that.

oh, and at some point in the day, this happened.  don't ask.