The Blahgs

Did you catch that pun? For some reason, I've just not been in the blogging spirit much of late. It seems my days fly by in a flurry, and it's all I can do to keep up with the every day things. Our kitchen is getting close to being done: one more coat of primer, then the cabinets can be installed, and then we can paint. I am so ready to see the finished product, to get all my dishes put back in cabinets, to have a sink, an icemaker, a dishwasher and a working stove/oven that is not covered in two inches of sheetrock dust. After the last two months of cooking with crock pots, a griddle, and the grill, and washing dishes in a dish pan, I believe I can safely say I could make it as a pioneer woman. Well, almost. I haven't had to cook over an open fire yet (emphasis on YET).

I'm eager to have it done, also, because I'm ready to decorate! Yeah! I've been picking up things here and there, and I am going to make my first attempt at mistreating my windows. When my camera comes back, you'll see the results.

My eldest is gone to Alabama for a visit with my mother. He is having a ball and not even missing his Mama (waa). It's amazing how much easier it is with minus one child. Less noise, less clutter, but also less hugs and kisses and dimpled smiles. I'm ready for him to come home!

Emma is finally teething! She will be a year old in less than a month (!!!) and cut her first tooth last week. That one tooth is quickly being followed with FIVE more!! She's taking 2-3 steps at a time, so it won't be long and she'll be walking. We are SO in LUV with her! She's too sweet for words and makes me smile every day.

Grace is enjoying the extra attention she is getting with Elijah being gone. We seem to notice things about her that we didn't before, and it's made me wonder if she's been stuck in that 'middle child' place where she's kind of squeezed in, not the oldest and not the youngest. I've realized, this week, that we need to spend more one-on-one time with our children, even though that is hard to do when we're in a situation that we don't really have any babysitters on hand to keep the others.

Challenges, always challenges. Soon the summer will be over, Daddy will go back to school and we'll be spending those long evenings without him. We have such a good Daddy, and we're so proud of him. He takes good care of us. I hope your summer is going great and you are feeling God's presence ever near. And even when we can't feel Him, He's still there, waiting for us to slow down and make room for Him in our lives. If you haven't done so in a while, crack open that Bible. You'll be amazed at what you'll find there.

May I?

Be a little bragadocious? I know, it's really hard to get excited when someone else is bragging about their kid, when you know yours is the most adorable and kissable and sweet child God ever graced a womb with.

BUT.

It's been a long time (too long) since I posted a good ole "show off" number of any of my babies.

Just look.










I just love this of her little hands in her Daddy's. Sigh...

OK, I'm done. For now.

Confession Time

OK, here it is:

I'm 28 years old, and my Dad still clips my toenails. The bad thing is, we live two states apart and we go for a visit about every 2-3 months. Which means by the time another trip rolls around my husband is threatening to cut my toes off completely. WEIRD, I know! I really shouldn't be sharing this publicly. But it got me a prize!! (I knew being weird would come in handy someday).

In an attempt to excuse this gross, weird and strange phenomenon, I will say that I do not like for my toes (or ears) to be touched. Don't mess with them. And so my Dad is the only person I trust to do it. Yes, I could do it myself, but there's something inherently bonding about sitting down with my Dad and have him look down his nose through his glasses and clip away. We have really deep, interesting conversations while he is clipping. It's like a tradition with us. Yea, I know. WEIRD.

There you have it. Thus ends my weirdness confessions. Feel free to share anything else weird about yourself :). Anyone?

I WON a weirdness contest!

And I NEVER win anything!! Well, I've won a couple of door prizes at different events. Whether or not I should be proud of this win is a little iffy. I should probably be embarrassed, actually. You see, there's this blog, Renaissance, that I love. You'll note it's on my blog roll over there. This blog is full of amazing photography and all kinds of great homemaking/homeschooling stuff. She's just a great Mom and a talented woman. I love to read her stuff. Did I mention that already?

Anyway, a couple of posts back she had a little contest, asking readers to submit something weird about themselves. It was very entertaining reading about other people's weirdness. Like secret fantasies to artificially inseminate a cow (????) and Lionel Richie phobias. Who can compete with that? You can imagine my surprise when she announced the winner today--and it is me!! What did I win? I don't know yet, cuz it's a surprise, like I'll know when it arrives in my mailbox. I'm kinda exicted! Kinda....weirded out! hehehehe.....

I know, I know. You want to know the weird thing I shared? OK, I'll share it when YOU leave me a comment sharing something weird about yourself. If there's actually anyone out there reading my blog to share something weird about themselves. We'll see, eh??