Is that water I hear????

That's the thought running through my head as I'm in the middle of sweeping up all the disgusting bits that have accumulated under my stove. I was retrieving a fork and noticed the field of Cheerios that could feed small village under there and decided to pull out the stove and quickly sweep it up. As this is going on I kept thinking that I was hearing water running through our pipes at a good velocity. After pushing the stove back I decided to investigate. I make my way to my bedroom (It seems I foolishly left my room wide open during lunch...) and hear the tub running full blast. Who is in there??? Then I recall I'm unsure of the whereabouts of Twin #1. As I attempt to open the door, it is blocked by an open drawer. I start to slowly try to close it using the inch and half of space the door it open and call to my son. He happily slams the drawer shut and I discover an exuberant, soaking wet, three year old who has managed to fill the tub halfway without closing the drain, filled the commode with toilet paper and drenched my floor. Whenever I wonder why it feels difficult to get even small household chores done during the day (like I was moments before this), I just need to think back on this moment and many other "wildfires" that pop up during my day.

I wish I could've snapped a pic of that wet, happy boy (who kept declaring, "Water! Water!") before changing his clothes, but he was too cold from his adventure.

Surprise!

When it's been forever since I last blogged I like to pick right back up as if no time has passed. I have a couple of lifelong friends who are like that. They are a huge blessing in my life. 

The main reason I haven't blogged yet in 2013 is that it has been a rough year so far. We got hit hard in January with the dreaded flu (not stomach) and then it seems like every cold virus out there has been preying on our weakened immune systems. Other various accidents and such have happened as well, but the weather is warming up and I am looking forward to a great Spring! 

I'm going to start this story by saying that we have an old-ish and funky house that has been added on to or re-modeled a lot before and since we bought it 12 1/2 years ago. Probably around 35-40 years ago the owners at that time added on a family room. We affectionately called it "The Cave" because the only windows are the sliding glass door to the backyard and it's always at least 5 degrees colder than the rest of the house in the winter. After the twins came along we needed to convert The Cave to a master bedroom since we only had 2 bedrooms at the time and there are six of us and we were tired of sharing with the littlest boys. 

Now on to the surprise. Since we sleep in The Cave it can be quite dark, but we leave our bedroom door open which helps to indicate how long (or not) the sun has been up. This morning we woke up to the cries of two 3 years olds who were clearly awake in their room and starting to pick on each other. I glanced at the clock which read 8:09. Did I read that right??? It was much too dark in our room to be that "late". I woke up Hubby saying we needed to get up, it's already 8, but maybe my clock was wrong since it was so dim in our room. Nope, that was the correct time. Our eldest two had shut our door because they were concocting a "surprise" and didn't want to disturb us. I love it when they are in cahoots together! We emerged from The Cave to a series of arrows leading us to the kitchen where they had prepared a "feast" complete with Fireplace for Your Home playing on Netflix on our TV. The table was set, there was an assortment of treats and drinks and my Cuties were donning aprons and huge grins on their faces. It was too precious and made my heart swell. Mind you they've done little stuff similar to this many times, but this has been the most elaborate to date. Here is what our feast looked like:

They were very proud of themselves. My favorite part was when my girl told her brother she loved him. He's been a bit of a nuisance to her for a while and she doesn't say that to him often. 

That's how our Sunday started, hope yours is going great!

Word Verification

I got sent an odd "spam-ish" e-mail posing as a comment on my last post so I reimplemented word verification on comments. Just wanted to give the heads up for the few times a year I seem to be blogging. ;o)

Happy New Year!!

Encouragement and Challenge

"...that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith." Romans 1:12

This past weekend I had dinner with 2 of my closest friends to celebrate our birthdays. We had an amazing meal at a local restaurant, but the company was even better. There is something special about people who you have known and walked with for a really long time (and in this case I mean a decade or two). The conversation is easy, the laughs are big and without even realizing it, challenging encouragement happens too. As were discussing which shows we are watching these days and also a little politics I mentioned I like to watch a certain news program every day. One of my friends asked when do I have the time? The other swiftly replied in a teasing tone, "When she should be in bed reading her bible. That would help her sleep!" This is the where the greatness of long time friendship comes into play. While giving me a good natured hard time, she also gave me a much needed challenge about how I'm spending my time (which is very precious these days). Later on in the evening my other friend was talking about the reminding voice she hears (e.g. her mom) when things we don't like to do need to be done and asking whose voice we hear at those moments. The rebel in me chooses to ignore that voice and probably too often. Once again, a great challenge to reflect on my time spent without the sting of rebuke. I dearly love these two ladies and am very grateful for the role they take in my life!

Between my dinner conversation, a little one getting mildly injured and a really good sermon on Sunday, I've had a lot to reflect on which is never a bad thing. :)

Pause Button

Waiting, waiting, waiting...I feel like life is in limbo while I wait. I'm not sure how to proceed or what to do.

2 Corinthians 10:5
"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. "

Her little black ballet flats

They look so precious on her feet for school. The way she poses and admires herself in the mirror. I just want to eat her up! And then the cute tomboy comes out in her and they return home all scuffed up.

And then I'm grateful I got them on clearance and have black shoe polish.

As I was saying...

I *really* love sweet tiny gherkin pickles. ;) And why are recipes containing condensed soup so ridiculously good while being so bad for you?

(this is me pretending that I didn't ignore my blog for the past two months)

 Hope you (whoever you are) had a great summer! I will hopefully be more consistent again!