It's Time

My mother used to say, "The days are long, but the years move fast".  I didn't grasp what she was saying until I was a mother myself.  Some days and weeks can be extremely long.  Months even, but years....... they go by so fast............

Note the lips trying hard not to smile.  What ever you do...... don't smile and show teeth.  Even when your whacked out mom is trying to make you laugh.

Steady!  Steady!  HA!  Can't do it!  Not when you've a freak like me for a mum.

Sorry.  Got caught up in the moment.  Back to time passing all too quickly.  For 19 years I have been adding little ones to my nest.  Seven of them.  Adding, adding, adding, not really believing that someday they'd actually start leaving.  A week ago yesterday Mr. B moved out.  He is living closer to the University where he is going to college.  I can not believe the nerve!  That a college age boy would rather live away from home with his best friend enjoying the life of a college student than live at home with his mother!  Didn't I just bring him home from the hospital?  Oh yeah.......  that was 19 very short and fast years ago.......

Time.  It never stops or waits for anyone.  Make the most of time..............

Pink

This morning when I got up, I could see a pink hue around all of the blinds that weren't open yet.  The Natives noticed that everything looked pink too.  We opened the blinds, looked outside, and everything was pink!

You know what this means don't you.................

Me thinks we had some visitors up to no good....................

Either the Cat in the Hat came to visit or the smog in the air is getting bad.  I'm going to pretend the pink is from the Cat in the Hat and go back to bed.  Hopefully when I wake up the 'mess' will be cleaned up and we can all breathe a nice sigh of clean air relief!

Something Is Missing

This has got to be one of my most favorite stages a child goes through.  Those two front teeth missing.  So darling.  So adorable.  So lispy.  

The ability to stick objects between your teeth, and the ability to spit lovely liquids between your teeth.

I still stand on my opinion that who ever came up with the idea of the Tooth Fairy is nuts though.  No amount of adorability is going to change my opinion on that...........  

Winter. Cold. Dark. Lego's. Magic.

Block City

by Robert Louis Stevenson

What are you able to build with your blocks?

Castles and palaces, temples and docks.

Rain may keep raining, and others go roam,

But I can be happy and building at home.

Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet a sea,

There I'll establish a city for me:

A Kirk and a mill and a palace beside,

And a harbour as well where my vessels may ride.

Great is the palace with pillar and wall,

A sort of a tower on the top of it all,

And steps coming down in an orderly way

To where my toy vessels lie safe in the bay.

This one is sailing and that one one is moored:

Hark to the song of the sailors on board!

And see on the steps of my palace, the kings

Coming and going with presents and things!

Now I have done with it, down let it go!

All in a moment the town is laid low.

Block upon block lying scattered and free,

What is there left of my town by the sea?

Yet as I saw it, I see it again,

The Kirk and the palace, the ships and the men,

And as long as I live and where'er I may be,

I'll always remember my town by the sea.  

Angel Kisses

A Good Boy

By Robert Louis Stevenson

I woke up before the morning, I was happy all the day,

I never said an ugly word, but smiled and stuck to play.

And now at last the sun is going down behind the wood,

And I am very happy, for I know that I've been good.

My bed is waiting cool and fresh, with linen smooth and fair,

And I must off to sleepsin-by, and not forget my prayer.

I know that, till to-morrow I shall see the sun arise,

No ugly dream shall fright my mind, no ugly sight my eyes.

But slumber hold me tightly till I waken in the dawn,

And hear the thrushes singing in the lilacs round the lawn.

Happy Dance

Levi got one of these...........

Because he has kept one of these dry for almost a week now!!!

There are happy dances........ and then there are HAPPY DANCES!!!

Aww Poop

This morning I opened up my blinds and saw this loverly on my window.

And then I looked down and saw this...........

I think today would be a good day to look up and beyond what is front of my nose.

Like the fact that I am almost done with this project so I can finally get my baby sis' family Christmas gift off in the mail to her before the weather is too warm for what I've knit for them.

I was instructed as Mr. J went out the door for school to take care of Mr. Giraffe.  Mr. Giraffe can keep me company while I finish up my knitting project.  We'll think happy positive thoughts together.  Things like, how grateful I am that Mr. Giraffe is stuffed with stuffing and doesn't poop and how when Levi got up this morning his diaper was dry!!  One can hope..............

Baby It's Cold Out There

Icicles.  I can remember growing up in the frigid winters in Montana and the huge icicles that would form.  We'd break them off as kids and suck on them or sword fight.
 

You know it is cold when in the middle of the afternoon, the tops of the trees are still covered in thick frost.  How little birdie feet do not freeze off is beyond me.......

We're growing icicles apparently.  I have been told that I am not to break off any of these icicles that are hanging off the front of my porch threatening to fall on someone's head when they come knocking at my house.  The Natives want to see how long we can 'grow them'.  So far, they are several feet long.  I think soon I shall feel like I live in a cave and start crawling around saying, "My Precious.......  Precious.......".

It's a warm and snug/cozy cave so if one has to hunker down for the time being with such freezing elements one can't/shouldn't complain.

Especially when one is reading, "Little House in the big Woods" by their wood stove with electrical lighting, "Indoor plumbing........ it's gonna be good......", treats in the fridge, and much more abundance than can be listed here.  TOILET PAPER!

Conducting Business As Usual

Mr. Conductor, Sir Topham Hatt checks to make sure Thomas is ready and all passenger cars are secure.
All aboard and ready to go!

A double decker bus and Lightning McQueen wait for the gates to open after Thomas flies past with his precious cargo.

It's perfectly normal for little boys to set up their new train sets under a foosball table yes?  Especially if you are wearing your new gargantuan life size bunny slippers.

Tucked away under a table so no one steps on and bothers your train.  Of course you have to be small enough to tuck oneself under said table not to mention small enough to be able to lounge and lay down in the middle of the small circle of tracks.........  there's only one in this family that small.

Oh look!  One of the bunnies is sitting up and watching now!  Harold the helicopter is noisy enough to make anyone wake up and take notice.

The train passes, the gates go up,  the bus crosses back over the tracks......... and it starts all over again.

A New Year Begins........

Love this man.  We just celebrated 20 years of wedded bliss.  I'm blessed.

This photo says and means everything to me.  It speaks volumes about love, family, a daddy who loves his children and spends time with them, security, the future, my whole world.  Happiness.

2012 has been an amazing year in some ways and tough in others.  It started out difficult with my health but as the year progressed I was blessed and accomplished many things.  Huge projects with the youth program in my church.  A 1/2 marathon.  More huge programs with the youth.  More days of good health than days of bad health.

It was also a year of loss.  The passing of a dear friend.  The passing of some hopes and dreams.  As the year came to a close it went with my heart hurting and me on my knees wondering if I'd have the strength or desire for that matter to keep trusting.  There are some things that we have no control over.  Things that we have to put in God's hands and believe and know that His hands hold our troubles better than we ever could.

This past Sunday I was given a message from our Father.  The person giving the message had no idea that they were speaking to me, giving me a message from our Father.  That is usually how He does it.

This story was read during a lesson to the youth:

One of my favorite stories from the Savior’s life is the story of Lazarus. The scriptures tell us that “Jesus loved Martha, … her sister [Mary], and [their brother] Lazarus.”¹ Word was sent to Jesus that Lazarus was very ill, but Jesus did not come immediately; He stayed away two more days, stating that “this sickness is … for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.”²

Hearing that Jesus was coming, Martha “went and met him,”³ telling Him what had happened. Lazarus had “lain in the grave four days already.”⁴Grieving, Martha ran back to her home to tell Mary that the Lord had come.⁵ Mary, weighed down with sorrow, ran to Jesus, fell down at His feet, and wept.⁶

We are told that “when Jesus therefore saw [Mary] weeping, … he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,” and asked where they had laid him.

“They said unto him, Lord, come and see.”⁷

Then we read some of the most compassionate, loving words in scripture: “Jesus wept.”⁸

Apostle James E. Talmage wrote, “The sight of the two women so overcome by grief … caused Jesus to sorrow [with them] so that He groaned in spirit and was deeply troubled.”⁹ This experience testifies of the compassion, empathy, and love that our Savior and our Heavenly Father feel for each of us every time we are weighed down by the anguish, sin, adversity, and pains of life.

Dear sisters, our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ, know us and love us. They know when we are in pain or suffering in any way. They do not say, “It’s OK that you’re in pain right now because soon everything is going to be all right. You will be healed, or your husband will find a job, or your wandering child will come back.” They feel the depth of our suffering, and we can feel of Their love and compassion in our suffering.

I listened to the message that I was being given and it burned within my heart.  The things that I want fixed now, the Lord knows.  He also knows what is best and what will bring the most learning and growth and so he tarries for a few days.  It doesn't mean that He doesn't know or care.  As I grieve and weep, He weeps.

Later as the Lord raises Lazarus from the dead, the same will happen for me.  For all of us.  The things we weep for will be healed and 'raised from the dead'.

As I look to this New Year, a fresh start, I look with a feeling of peace in my heart.  In the past I've told myself that it could always be worse and to be grateful for what I have.  This is still true but this year, I choose to stop looking for things that are worse to try and help make things not seem so bad around me.  Instead I hope to focus on the hands stretched out to me, to reach for those hands, and to keep my eyes focused and reaching to those hands and let Him take the burdens that seem at times so heavy on my shoulders and heart.