So, when you leave your blog for four months...

Blogger invents new templates. And then it changes around the setup page. And THEN you remember it's three email addresses behind, and it's trying to start a whole new blog for your whole new email address. And then you find one lonely little comment waiting to be moderated (Sorry Sarah!). And then you wonder if anyone will ever read it. And then you debate putting it on facebook, because you write about your kids on here, and maybe they don't want you linking to their baby pictures to all of the kids at school. BTW, I am friends with LOADS of kids from school on fb, Dustin thinks it's so I can win at the Great Friend Race, but really I know a year from now those kids won't friend me, and I hope to keep tabs on things. There is a reason my kids think I know everything!!

Did I mention my husband and I are both friends with the chief of police as well?

So, what to talk about. I was bored, put it as my fb status, and was reminded that I could blog. That just means I could bore all of you two million (hey, I remember how!) people right along with me! I could tell you about:

-Thomas's foot fetish, we discovered it months ago.
-All the things he puts in his mouth.
-The occasional thing we manage to get back OUT of his mouth.
-Dustin doing soccer doubles.
-HOLY COW MY KID IS A FRESHMAN!!!!!)!
-Zachary driving me crazy looking for reasons to complain.
-Michael begging me for a haircut. Oh, maybe THAT'S what I should be doing, *I feel sheepish*
-Brian announced at his doctor appointment today he hates school. I had no idea.
-Kids all have colds. Except Z, he's just whiny.
-4 boys got shots this week, wanna guess who lucked out (Nicki can't play this game)?
-One has a rash, little spots that showed up this evening, I am hoping viral non-chicken pox spots.
-It's 8 PM and my husband is STILL not home from work.
-He told his boss he needed a raise if he was going to have to babysit coworkers. His boss said he wouldn't ask him to babysit coworkers anymore.
-Our house is supposed to be under renovations.
-The federal government employee in charge of the paperwork is the quintessential federal government employee.
-Michael will graduate COLLEGE before we renovate.
-I haven't eaten because I'm waiting for my husband. I just remembered I told him he should stop and get something. Maybe I will go eat. Good boredom buster!

Any requests for elaborating?

Observations from an ordinary day...

If you need inspiration to clean your floors, I have it. He's 7 1/2 months old, very cute, and works for free. When he's done here I could bring him to your house, you will want to put away everything he tries to put in his mouth, and THAT is EVERYTHING!!!!

The fourth boy is now the first to get stitches AND a black eye. How long before the broken bone? Wanna start a betting pool on which bone?

The oldest takes on such massive mental projects for his age and is so responsible. I am impressed, and now feel like I WANT to bail him out when he loses something, instead of like I HAVE to. It's amazing.

Some personalities need the motivation of an audience to pull out their best performance. They can swallow the pain if there is an audience when hit by a ball. They will take the plunge in swim class, if there is an audience to watch. Then he can apply it to when the audience is gone.

Some of the time, my boy (the only one left to brag about) is able to point out the things clearly and concisely that he tried to avoid at first to spare my feelings. When did he get so good at dealing with other people?

When did they get so old?

How do I slow this down?

I can't? Then how do I make it all last?

Refrigerators

So, yesterday I cleaned my fridge. The stars aligned Sunday evening and my teenager was home with the garbage near full and loading the dishwasher. So I emptied the science projects, put their containers right in the dishwasher which was run, and then he took out the trash.

So, Monday morning before I bought groceries I cleaned my fridge. And now it looks like this.

But my abnormal brain is terrible at figuring out the "right" place to put things. The kitchen cupboards prove it. And so, dear reader, I would LOVE to have your thoughts on where you keep something in your fridge. I said something hoping you could pick any old thing. Please don't say butter, I keep my butter in the butter dish, and at least one gallon of milk on the door. Any other ideas?

When it rains it pours...

First of all, I am not looking for sympathy. I don't need any I'm so sorrys anymore than I need I told you sos. What I do need is an opportunity to vent. And it's my blog, what better place to let it all out, right?

So we had a baby. He is wonderful, a beautiful blessing that is a prime example of how Heavenly Father's plan is so much better than ours.

We align our finances in an aggressive plan to pay off a large amount of debt in a manner of a few years.

Then we decide to add on to our house because our situation severely lacks order and sanity. After months of preparation, He reveals that it is a bad idea. So instead we pay off our van. Again, we trust His wisdom is inspired, and His vision is better than ours. We see it as a teaching moment to all of our children, about the need to listen to the whisperings of the Spirit.

We learn about a way that we can maybe get a bigger home for less money through an agency. We believe that all things align just so and decide it is a process we are to go through at least to gain knowledge. I have stated since before we found this home that when we bought a home it would need to be the one I could die in, because I never wanted to pack my crap up and haul it anywhere else. I loathe moving.

So we begin to open our minds to the ideas of moving or hiring out to have a major renovation done, one that still requires packing. The paperwork is begun, and the day arrives that we are to pay a processing fee.

But wait. That paid off van? Oh yeah, you know where this is going. The transmission quits. And I mean fried. We are talking a minimum $2,000 to fix, when it blue books for $2400.

So, please dear reader, do as I have done for several days now, and wrap your mind around this. We own a five passenger Ranger pickup truck. With 2 doors and a bench seat and two little jump seats in the back. We have a 13 year old who is 5' 3" or so, an almost twelve year old pushing 5', a 9 year old, a 4 year old, and a little baby in a honking infant car seat.

Yeah.

And so here I sit, typing out my problems to you. Can you solve them? Of course not, you can't buy me a van any more than I can buy me a van. Unless I get a loan, which the Credit Union will love and I'm sure it will impress the mortgage people too, never mind the fact that we were going to use the $ saved from payments to do small repairs in case we try to sell. HAH!

In the mean time I not only can't take all my children anywhere, but can't reasonably take the oldest and the youngest at the same time. Did I mention the driver's seat on the truck doesn't move forward? So you have to unbuckle the baby to get the oldest in and out, because Heaven knows he doesn't fit between me and it.

But I heard a couple of talks during general conference, only a couple mind you, but one touched my heart. A man told how his father passed when he was a child, leaving his mother alone to raise 4 small children. And she gave advice that will suit us all in this life. The end will be better than the beginning.

As we face our trials head on, we are often overwhelmed by the enormity of what lies ahead. But we must remember that all is for our good, and the end of the trial, when the lesson is learned and the iron has been purified by the fire, will be better than the beginning.

We often speak in my church about following the Spirit being like taking a step into a dark room, not knowing where the floor is but having faith there will be one. I don't know what the next holds, but I do know it will hold us up. We will eat, we will drink, we will love each other, and have our needs met. Where, how and when? Predicting that these days is not my job. I'm to just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and smile.

Back from Hiatus?

Maybe, maybe not. However, we are now, right this minute, going to post on the blog, only time will tell if it is the only post for some time.

Anyway, I thought perhaps you would like to see how cute and adorable my baby has become. And so, without further adieu, my son:

Not now mom, I'm busy.

Hey look, see my tongue?

Isn't it cute?

See, I like to play with my toys, and I like to stick out my tongue, because it is pointy and cute! And I am 5 and a half months old now! I'm BIG! Aren't you impressed?