Snow!

We've had an unusual winter here in Oklahoma. We normally can expect a light dusting or two of snow for the entire winter. This year we had a big snowstorm on Christmas Eve that shut everything down for a few days, with the snow lasting in some areas for 2 1/2 weeks. Yesterday it started snowing again, and now that Jason is home from his business trip, we are happily "snowed in". Last night I needed to work on TMOMs stuff for awhile, so Jason took the kids out to play in the snow. They had a great time. Risa lasted for about 10 minutes out there but the other kids played until dark.

Bittersweet

Risa, my two year old, just walked into the office and announced: "I'm going to my meeting. I have my phone and my coffee. Goodbye." Sometimes I'm amazed at what she says. Today I mostly just felt sad. I've been so busy with all my commitments this year (I'm the Secretary for Oklahoma Mothers of Multiples, 2nd VP for Tulsa Mothers of Multiples, running the TMOMs bi-annual garage sale, on the board for both TMOMs and OMOMs, volunteering in the nursery, and coaching Bible Bowl), that I feel like I'm gone all the time. My kids beg me to stay every time I have a meeting or an event to attend. At this point, I just need to stick it out until May for the multiples clubs and then I can step down. I plan on continuing to volunteer at church because much of that is with my kids, rather than something I do solo. My husband has been so great about taking over with the kids without complaint when I need to be somewhere but I know this is wearing on him as well. He has started traveling more for work so it feels like we rarely get family time. I know that volunteering is about helping others but I think that I'm so overly committed that my family is paying too big a price. I'm trying to finish strong but am really looking forward to May. So here's to restoring balance!

This is what over-commitment looks like...

'Nuff said.

Much Loved Friends

Last night I took two of my wonderful friends, Beth and Amber, to the airport to say goodbye after they came for a little visit. They are two of my closest friends from college. We have tried to get together at least once a year since college (along with a few other friends) and have been successful most years. I am the only one of my college friends who has kids so we've always gone to other cities to spend a girls' weekend together. It has been about a year and a half since I've seen B and A and so they offered to come here. It was so great to see them, although there is definitely a different vibe when the kids are present! They joined in on our regular activities and were such sports about it! We did have a chance to catch up a little bit but spending time with them makes me wish we lived closer. I am excited about the next time I'll get to see them!

Ribbons, Ribbons, Everywhere!

At our house we have what we call "the hair basket" to hold, well, hair things for our three girls. Over the six and a half years that I've had daughters, we have accumulated a few things to fill that basket. In fact, we have so many that my husband (who is not usually bothered by things overflowing out of drawers, doors, and whole rooms) told me that he hated how disorganized the girls' hair basket had become. My husband rarely complains so I figured that if it was a big enough deal for him to mention it, that I should really do something about it. I didn't want to spend money so I looked around on the ol' internet and found some good ideas. One blogger used empty infant formula cans for storing buttons.


We don't use infant formula anymore but we use a huge amount of coffee and have lately been buying 2.5 pound cans of coffee. One of these cans isn't big enough for all the hair stuff but it is big enough to hold the ribbons, bows, and head bands. We recently finished off one of these cans so I cleaned it and set to work.

Here is what I used:
1 empty coffee can
spray craft glue
2 brown paper bags
animal stamps and ink pad
crayons
black ink pen
scissors

I cut one of the brown bags to lay flat and used it to protect my work surface from the glue spray. I cut the other bag so it would fit around the can and glued it on. I am not very artistic so I decided to make scenes by using the animal stamps and filling in the scene first with the black ink pen and then color everything with the crayons. It took me about an hour to finish it but I think it's pretty cute. As we have more of these cans available I think I might do a few more with jungle animals and farm animals for organizing craft stuff.

Old Lady and Jam

Jason has never really liked it when I wear perfume, lotion, body spray, etc. I've tried sweet smells, spicy smells, and musky smells, hoping that I'd find something that we both like. We've been married 7 1/2 years and I still haven't found any scents that he likes on me. He is very much a natural guy and loves it when I am make-up and fuss-free. For Christmas my sister gave me some shower gel and lotion from Bath and Body Works. It is the Eucalyptus and Spearmint scent from their aromatherapy line. When I tried it on for the first time I liked it but thought it smelled a little masculine and said as much to Jason when I asked for his opinion of it. He said that he didn't think it smelled masculine and that HE ACTUALLY LIKED IT! When he told me this he had a silly smirk on his face that made me think that something more was going on. I asked him what he was smiling about and he wouldn't tell me. I persisted and he finally told me that he thought "it smells old ladyish"--but get this--"in a good way". HA! It sounds so funny but I knew exactly what he meant. There is a particular smell that my paternal grandparents have that is one of my favorite smells and whenever I smell it it makes me think of them. We had a good laugh and every time that I've used it since then I think about him telling me that I smell like an old lady and it cracks me up again.

The "jam" part of this post is just an excuse to show cute pictures from my two youngest children from this afternoon while the older girls were at school.

I maybe, just might be, slightly neurotic

Today Jason and the kids and I moved Toby's bedroom around to accommodate a bunk bed and moved all of Risa's clothes and toys up to her big girl room (she has been sleeping upstairs for about a month now but we just never finished moving her upstairs until today). Two dear friends from college are coming to visit next week and since we don't have a dedicated guest room we're going to have them stay in Toby's room and he'll join the girls for a few days. This was an all day affair and though everyone had a good attitude we were pretty ready to be done with it. When we were about halfway done, I went shopping for bedding and Jas and the kids took a much deserved break. I went to three stores, two of which I had to return to because I found things I liked better at another store. In the end, I found almost everything we needed to complete the room. I really like the bedding, especially the chocolate brown microfleece blankets I bought to go under the comforters.

When I got home, Jason came outside to help me unload the car. Then he took everything back to Toby's room and started unpacking the bags, pulling tags, throwing away trash, making beds, etc. Or at least that is what I keep telling myself happened. What it looked like to me was that he took my beautiful new microfleece blankets, rubbed them on the fleece he was wearing that was covered in dog hair, dragged them around on the fuzz and string filled carpet, and lovingly played hide and seek with Molly-The Hairball-Lawrence with them, then put them on the new beds. I pretty much flipped out. I felt like yelling at him (thankfully I didn't) so I whimpered and cried instead. I knew I was being insane but couldn't quite convince myself to calm down. I hate it when my crazies come out! Am I ever going to grow up? I had to ask for forgiveness, which he quickly granted. I am so grateful for my patient and kind husband who helped both of us to later laugh about the situation.

Jason

I just wanted to share a picture of Jason from this Fall. I love this picture of him. He looks so handsome, so happy. See how his eyes twinkle? You might think they're twinkling at me. Or you might think it has more to do with the fact that he just shot a deer. You can come to your own conclusions and I'll hold on to mine.

Important Reasons To Get Out Of Bed

1. When a sibling steps on your hair.
2. When your brother takes the dog to sleep with him.
3. When you need "burp raggie". (I'll explain about burp raggie another time)
4. When you're naked and need help putting your pj's back on.
5. When your sister wants to sleep in your bed.
6. When you need a drink.
7. When you want to go potty for the second time in 10 minutes.
8. When your skin is itchy.
9. When you want to talk about the candy you'd like to eat tomorrow.

Molly

Since I was a little girl I have always wanted an english bulldog. I knew that my bulldog would be male and that he would have the sweetest personality. He was going to be mostly white with a little brown on his face and body and have lots of wrinkles. I even had his name picked out: Louis. Then I went to college, got married, and started a family and Louis was put on the back burner.

Well, a little over a year ago Jason called me one day while he was at work to see if I wanted a pug to call my very own. One of his co-workers had a puppy from a litter that she didn't want to keep anymore (she was 4 months old) and she was looking for a home for her. He said I needed to decide that afternoon before someone else took her. I did a quick search on the internet to find out more about the breed. I knew about bulldogs but didn't know anything about pugs. I was worried that she might not survive in our house full of crazy kids. I found out that pugs are lap dogs, love attention, and find one person to love and love them wholeheartedly. After researching and contemplating (for about 10 minutes) I called Jason back and told him that I wanted her.

He brought her home that weekend. We told our three oldest children that they could help name her (Risa was only one at the time). They each picked a name and she became Molly Lucy Lumpy Lawrence.

She was a sweet little pup with a nasty habit of peeing (among other things) on anything soft, since she spent the first months of her life in her owner's bed while she was at work. I would take her outside to go, which she would do, then we'd come back inside and she would run to one of the bedrooms, hop up on the bed, and leave a little treat on the blankets. Potty training seemed to last forever.

Eventually, we prevailed and Molly has been a joy ever since. Sometimes Jason and I laugh at the competition between Risa and Molly for my lap. They both want to be the baby of the family. I still hope to have Louis in my life someday but I am so happy that we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to include our little bundle of hair in our crazy life. My only advice to people considering a pug, or any dog for that matter, is to have lots of lint rollers handy.

A New Year

A few weeks ago I was reading in Romans chapters 6 and 7. As I was reading I kept thinking that the message was so powerful and I wished that I was better at memorizing scripture. The next thought that I had was about my journey to run a marathon. Most of my life my secret wish to run a marathon seemed out of my reach, it was just a nice dream. But I started running, and kept running, and now I'm halfway to this goal that seemed insurmountable. I am now full of confidence that I will be able to run the marathon.

It occurred to me that our spiritual goals can be much the same way. We wish that we were intercessors or that we knew the scriptures or that we could verbalize our faith to others. These things that seem beyond us are attainable if we just go after them, even if we have to take baby steps. Memorization is not a strength of mine. Neither is recall. But I'm not going to let those things stop me. I have two goals for myself this year. One is to run the full marathon. The other is to memorize Romans 6 and 7.

I'm going to start today.