OUCH

Today the baby (who is 3!!!) got hurt. It reminded me once again how much I, as a parent, despise it when my children are in pain or suffering and I can't make it go away with a band aid and a kiss.

He fell backwards off a bench onto a concrete floor. The ::THUNK:: was horrific and made me queasy. We're pretty sure he had a mild concussion. The great thing about living in my neighborhood is that we have an EMT and Dr. across the street. Because I couldn't get him into the clinic today, they checked him out and just told us to watch him carefully.

By the end of the day he was playing and just generally being his happy little boyself. But so many many thoughts whipped through my mind as he cried and cried. I've been so blessed in the past 12 years, these situations have been minimal and not *really serious. I'm saying a little prayer tonight for children and the parents who are dealing with long term serious health issues. Bandaids and kisses don't always work.

Question

I'm hosting a card making workshop (no I'm not teaching my friend is!) But I'd like to serve some munchies. It is set for the weekend prior to Valentine's Day so I could incorporate that into my theme. Any ideas?

:::cue dora music now!:::

I did it, I did, I did it, YEAH!

I pared down the kid's book collection. Though some books that I chose to donate were perfectly good stories, we simply had *too many! We donated 2 large boxes of books yesterday, and about 3 garbage bags full of kids clothes. sigh. almost done.

Mired in Mud

That's what I feel like right now. Going through books and deciding what to keep and what to give away must be my kryptonite. Having five children ranging in age from 3-12 pretty much means that we're FULL of books... our shelves are at overflow. How does one decide what books to keep? How can I DO that?

I've got a great storage and display solution for them, but it means that we need to whittle down the collection.

boxes, bangles, and beads

So after much gnashing of teeth, and general sourness I made the kids clean out their rooms. And when I say clean out their rooms , think literally! We had many many empty plastic totes that were remnants of the great storage shed clean out 2008. So they had to clean EVERYTHING out of their rooms and place them in the totes. After a good deep cleaning of the room itself, we sorted, disposed of and placed the keepers back into their bedrooms.

They have never looked so clean and organized. When I figure out how to upload pics I'll add them!

I feel so good , even alpha-girl does. She said that when she woke up this morning to get ready for school she loved knowing where everything was and knowing that everything was where it SHOULD be.

Amazing

It never ceases to amaze me that when I pray and ask God to lead me, he does. I've been feeling lonely and isolated... God moves wonderful new neighbors in. So wonderful that we can watch American Idol in our robes and slippers together.

I feel led to become more focused in my homemaking vocation (and in turn create a haven for my family) and I find a wealth of blogs on the very subject.

Now if he'd only plop a blogger tutorial in my lap, all would be well in the world. (just kidding,kind of!)

New Year Revisted

The beginning of our New Year was hectic. We received news that a beloved member of our family was ill, and days later we learned she had died. We prepared for the 12+ hour roadtrip to Indiana, and I prayed the whole time. You see all my budgeting has fallen by the wayside lately and this unexpected trip was difficult. So we're back on board and trying not to fall off of the wagon again.


So in addition to clearing out our storage room and turning it into a crafting haven for Mom.... I want to do *better at home.