Babies, Brownies and Blessings

The kids are in bed. The house is as clean as it's going to get. Laundry is almost done. Dishes in the wash. Budget done and checkbook updated. After all this I've realized: I need a hobby. While I enjoy accomplishing the things I just mentioned, they aren't doing it for me these days. I'm not sure why but I have a few guesses: minimal personal satisfaction they are never done I don't just LOVE to do any of them (except perhaps the budget...I'm a little nerdy) none of them are rejuvenating So I'm thinking about picking up a hobby. Something that makes me feel alive. I'd love to feel the way my hubby feels when he comes home from fishing. It totally does it for him. My natural inclination is to pick something productive and long overdue like finally getting the baby books done. But... that feels a little like a chore. No, I'm going to choose something like learning to play guitar, or...something. What do you think? What bring...

BabyGirl waking from her nap  *FYI- the "tube" in "tube"ular is in reference to TV, hence the video. Sometimes my cleverness is a little vague and misinterpreted!! :)

The morning had an anomalous beginning. BabyGirl woke early as usual. Big Boy #1 and #2 were still asleep...at 7:45am. That is triple-check-to-make-sure-the-kids-weren't-abducted-or-stopped-breathing-during-the-night late. They NEVER sleep that late for me. BigBoy #2 has a cough so I heard that frequently enough to not be too concerned. School starts at 8:30, though, so down the stairs I went at 7:45 to wake the slumbering giants. The door was open wider than usual and Transformers was looped on the main menu. BigBoy #1 had been up during the night watching a little TV. I was greeted by a funky smell and thankfully decided to turn on the light before going any further. Someone had...thrown up...a few hours before...all over the rug and floor. Huh... Now they are in the basement but we do have a video monitor. And while I had worked nights the night before and slept poorly during the day, I usually hear this kind of thing. Not to mention that would be something ...

Life has become reactive for me. I wake early in response to my early rising children. I yell at my children as a reaction to my impatience/frustration. My only workout is related to activities for the kiddos. I'm feeling convicted to live more intentionally. With consistency, discipline, conviction. Proactively planning. Planning financially, planning my parenting, planning to be the best wife possible. Planning to get my house cleaned, organized. Planning to play, to enjoy my children, to wake early(er) if necessary to start my day out happy. To be intentional while living contently.

My hubby is a fishing fanatic. It totally chills him. And revives him. He's absolutely hooked. That hasn't always been the case, it's a relatively new hobby for him. He picked it up about 2 years ago and it seems that God smiles on him everytime he goes out. And by smiling, I mean he comes home with a good bunch of fish (and a rested spirit)! Even though he's been at it a couple years, I hadn't had the chance to go out and really fish with him. I've been along when we've taken the boys but if you've fished with kids (or done anything with kids, for that matter!), you know that's not the time for Dad and Mom to catch. The fact is, the boys have caught more fish than I have, until today. I landed my first big mouth bass, tiny bass, crappie and sunny! Big mouth bass...my first catch! Little bass Saying goodbye! We had such an enjoyable time out on the lake and my man was a right good teacher. As the kids start getting older it...

Claire and Sam having a "conversation"

I know it has been so long since I last blogged- my motivation has been lacking lately! So here I sit at my computer with thunder and lightening intermittently reminding me to make this quick. I love me a good storm but I prefer to not be on the computer during if at all possible. This weekend for Mother's Day my sister, Tera, and my mom came down! We had planned to spend Saturday at the city-wide rummage sales and then eventually get a pedicure before heading home. The day was fabulous, the weather phenomenal! We found some good deals, but most of all, just enjoyed unlimited hours without kids. Tera left her 4 home with her fantastic hubby and my 3 were home with my man. Ahhh, it was.so.nice. After we shopped 'til we dropped and enjoyed chicken lettuce wraps at Pei Wei, our final stop was TJ Nails for a pedi. It was Tera and my 2nd pedi ever, a first for my mom. We sat down and had the good fortune of all being pampered at the same time. Mom almost went through t...

I'm listening to a sermon on marriage. The task for the week is to identify one area that needs work in my life that may be affecting our relationship and start working on it. Nothing is jumping out at me! Now, I'm not perfect by any means, that's why I'm stumped that I'm so stumped. The suggestion is that I should ask Bri what he thinks I need to work on. Great idea, but if he were to ask me what I think he should work on, I don't know if I could answer. I wonder if he would have an answer? If he does, would he tell me? Do you find that type of honesty difficult? When I feel something will be hurtful, I have a hard time saying something. I do realize that is an area of immaturity but...oh. Maybe that's what I should work on. (Even if he did ask, I'm not sure I'd have anything...I'm a blessed woman.)

The last few weeks Bri and I have been doing Financial Peace University. It's Dave Ramsey's big class for getting out of debt and becoming financially free. We started this journey a little over two years ago when we read The Total Money Makeover. It seemed that was sufficient to get us on the right track with budgeting, paying cash, decreasing debt, etc. After listening to the FPU segment on insurance we realized that we know NOTHING about insurance. That is not an overstatement. I didn't even know what the word insurance would be defined as (think of it as transferring risk from yourself to someone else at a fee). This lesson has been so good for us and has had us steeped in insurance vernacular and mumbo-jumbo for the last several days. Are you like me- is it easier to just ignore something if you don't know anything about it? There's something psychologically daunting about the unknown, especially if it costs money and you're not sure why you woul...

This past weekend we made the Roseau-like trek to Clinton, Iowa. I say "Roseau-like" because the first 3 hours were pretty fast with freeways and what-not. The last 3 hours were more like 4-5 hours of little country roads, few towns and even fewer people. It was a bit more beautiful, though. Hilly, the Mississippi, bluffs... The whole area was gorgeous and the trip was a blast (we were kidless, after all!). However, it didn't take long to notice we weren't up north anymore. There was a distinct lack of nice. Not that people were mean. They just weren't...nice. Most did not go out of their way to make things easier. There was a little handicapped couple aboard our shuttle as we were heading to the graduation ceremony that were definitely handicapped. Without our help, I'm not really sure where they would've ended up! As it was they sat on a wall of the outdoor stadium because they had no way to get down into the stadium (and there was no feas...