Three baths

That's how many Lila has had today. (Well, one shower and two baths... but you get the idea.)

A shower this morning to get ready for the day.

After which she put on a new pair of pajamas, and I didn't care enough to fight her on it.

Of course later she decided to change into daytime clothes, which for some unknown reason meant stripping down to the skin and streaking naked through the upstairs in front of my aunt and cousin who'd stopped by to see the remodel.

The first bath occurred while Brian and the older two kids were at the store picking up some medicine and a frozen pizza for dinner. Lila was so hungry and tired she climbed up on to my lap and fell asleep for about twenty minutes. Our relaxing cuddle ended when she peed, on me.

It's been a long time since I've been peed on... still pretty unpleasant.

We got cleaned up, the rest of the family returned, and I made dinner.

I'm not entirely sure what Lila was trying to do once she finished eating, but it ended with her falling off her chair sideways, scraping her back on my chair as she fell, and spilling a cup of Gatorade (red, of course) on the table, the floor, and herself.

So for those keeping score that's four changes of clothing, three baths, and one exhausted mommy...

Ingenuity

This is what happened when the mean mom wouldn't give her a band-aid for a scratch...

Stream of consciousness...

I've been sitting here for twenty minutes waiting for inspiration to strike, for something at least mildly interesting to enter my thoughts so I can post for the day...

I got nothin'.

It was just an average, everyday kind of day. No real highs or lows.

Oh! I did meet my new Visiting Teacher today. Turns out her sister-in-law lives in Idaho, AND is my cousin's Visiting Teacher. Talk about a small world. :)

Also they brought me chocolate mint cookies, which were excellent. (I got two before Brian found the plate...) I think any relationship that begins with baked goods is sure to be a good one.

One perfect moment...

This afternoon as I sat down to watch Wreck-it Ralph with my kids, I was filled with absolute contentment. As I recognized the feeling for what it was and took a moment to savor it I started thinking about why right now, what in this moment is so perfect that I have no desire to be doing anything else.

Here's the list that I came up with:

1) My house is fresh and clean. Some rooms are that deep down to the bone clean that comes with a good scrubbing, and some are just clean. My laundry is caught up, as in washed, dried, folded AND put away. I am unannounced visitor ready... and it just feels good. It means I can sit down to watch a movie in the middle of the afternoon and not have a niggling voice in the back of my head nagging me about what I should be doing instead.

2) Together the kids and I have come up with a system to help keep the house in it's current state. A few minutes a day to do a few regular chores will make a huge difference in getting everybody to pitch in and keep it from getting overwhelming.

3) I had a delicious, made from scratch meal baking in the oven and simmering on the stove. I like cooking, what I hate is cleaning the kitchen to be able to cook. I get a little thrill every time I finish making a meal and leave it looking like no one had stepped foot inside it. I'm like a kitchen ninja!

4) Watching my children enjoying each others company, crowded together on a blanket around a bowl of popcorn... moments of family time simply don't get sweeter.

I don't want anyone to read this and think, "Oh sure, she's got it all figured out," or "Boy, she really thinks she's perfect." Because I don't, and I'm not.

In fact we had a tantrum from Lila just before dinner because she couldn't have the chair she wanted, and my other two couldn't remember their table manners to save their life. After the fifteenth time I asked Lila to stop talking and start eating and Evie to stop giggling I had a fairly wicked headache going. I finally snapped, "If you guys don't quit it I'm going to disappear!" (Meaning I was going to run away to the bathtub.) Jake looked puzzled for a moment and then asked, "Like... 'Poof' in a cloud of glitter?" And Brian, traitor that he is, started laughing which set them all off again.

But isn't that the best part of being a family? Sharing those perfect moments, and laughing someone out of taking themselves and life too seriously during the less than perfect ones.

Evie is often heard to remark, "I love being in this family!" and I have to agree with her. I really love it too.

One man's trash...

Since I'm done rearranging all of my furniture my sister decided it would be nice to invite me up to help her rearrange hers.

Really though I was happy to be able to help her. We moved some big pieces of furniture, cleaned out a closet and made two trips to the D.I.

Baby steps to setting up the nursery.

My children each found a treasure to claim from the stuff that Caite was getting rid of.

So fun...

Crossing the finish line...

I feel like we finally reclaimed our upstairs.

We cleaned out the front closet, took boxes of stuff out to the garage and the car to go to D.I., moved the furniture back, and even hung up pictures!

My aunt and uncle stopped by on their way home to see the renovations and it was fun to take them on a tour.

I am issuing a general invitation to anyone who is interested to stop by, we love visitors.

I am feeling so prepared and on top of the week to come, my kitchen is even still clean!

Knock on wood...

Two-fer...

I know, I totally blanked last night. My only defense is that I was in the middle of an interesting conversation last night, and by the time I finished it was after midnight. So tonight I play catch-up... (My yesterday wasn't very blog-worthy anyway.)

Friday:

I knit a hat. I fed my kids. I knit a washcloth. Ta-da.

Today:

Today was a nice day. We had a quiet afternoon, Jake went to play at a friend's, Brian ran a couple of errands, the girls played nicely together, I knit and did laundry.

This evening Brian and I got to go out to dinner and a movie, because Brian was so sweet and surprised me by arranging for a babysitter. It's always nice to get some one-on-one time and discover that we still like each other and have lots to talk about.

It was also a pleasant surprise to come home to Lila already asleep. The older two helped me tidy up the living room while Brian ran the babysitter home. I went to change and putter around my bedroom for a little bit, and when I came out Jake and Evie were looking through my monster knitting book.

I've already made each of the kids a monster and they are loved and played with often. Nothing makes a knitter (a creator of any type really) happier than seeing something they made used and cherished by the recipient. Knitters also consider it high praise when their work is commissioned by those they love. Quite before I knew what was happening we were downstairs in the stash picking out yarns for new monsters.

Evie has picked Cecil, the computer monster, for her pattern. I made a Cecil for Jake last time, and he is a favorite of all the kids because of his floppy long arms and legs. Jake expressed concern that it might be confusing to have two Cecils in the house, but I told him I thought it would be pretty easy to tell them apart since Evie's will be different colors. Jake thought about that for a moment and then said to his Cecil, "Check it out! You're going to have a doppelgänger! And then you can challenge him to battle..."