Aye Carumba

Holy guacamole. My Little Man is driving...with my one year old! Uncle Captain Jack Sparrow, aka Daddy Warbucks, bought two vehicles for his darling nieces and nephew. Needless to say, the jeeps were a huge hit! That's Uncle Captain Jack standing next to Little Man's car on Christmas morning. What you can't see is that he's in his bathrobe, wearing his new combat boots with the tags still on, holding a cigarette. Very suburbanite. The ironic thing is that the darlings are actually getting the hang of these vehicles. I hope they don't run over Super Dog. Actually, Super Dog went for a ride this evening. What a surreal life.

Right now my house looks like one of Santa's elves threw-up. We've just now gotten the boxes and papers out to the alley for trash pick-up. The darlings made a haul, I must say. It was loads of fun watching them Christmas morning.

Try #2

Okay, now the map has been moved to the very bottom of the page. Don't give up on me.

New Feature

Because I'm insatiably curious some would say nosey please find the map on the right margin of the blog and mark where you are so that I can see it!

So Good

Who would have thought the Muppets could sum it up. Those little foam creatures have a lot of wisdom and have said everything I could think to say. Really listen to the lyrics. It's okay if you get teary - I do every time I hear this song.

I doubt I'm going to get Christmas cards out this year, so here's my blog-card. Merry Christmas.

It's a Beautiful Blur

I didn't mean for this picture to turn out this way, but after looking at it, it really captures what I feel like my life is like. It's a blur, but there's a beauty to it as well.

I think, usually, we feel guilty about the speed at which our life passes by - no matter how fast it really is. I'm sure people two hundred years ago felt the same. I can't see a farmer on the frontier sitting back and thinking "Gee, I'm glad we have so much free time." Yet I often daydream about how "slow paced" life back then would have been. I think that's a very romantic daydream, but probably not realistic. I'm going to try to quit spending my energy feeling guilty about how fast life moves, and instead, enjoy my babies, my husband, my friends and family while I can. I guess my picture made me see that even in a blur, there is beauty.

In effort to enjoy "the blur," school has been called off this week so that we can enjoy friends, deliver Christmas baskets and have a good time.

Right now Darlings One and Two are developing their own computer game on a non-working calculator, while the two younger Darlings are on the porch playing with Super Dog. I'm so glad that they have time to be together.

Little Miss Independent

This is our Fourth Darling. She has just turned seventeen months, (for those of you who don't count kids by the month - that's a little more than a year and a half). As you can tell by her fashion choices, it's cold here, but you can also see a streak of independence, no? The sweater is GAP, the dress underneath is MaryKate&Ashley, the pants are Carters, the shoes are Koala Kids, and the hat is by Pooh Bear. She's quite the fashionista.

Last night I was out for awhile, and when I returned, the darlings were in bed, all except the little Fourth Darling. She met me in the kitchen wearing nothing but her brother's pull-up. Wow - what a bod. I think her measurements are 18", 18", and 18". She's been trying to potty train herself lately, and according to Darling Man, she's opted NOT to wear her diaper (as evidenced by several she had ripped off repeatedly) and insists on the pull-ups. While trying to put four monkeys to bed with no help, he happily agreed to her demands for underpants options. I can't blame him. It's survival.

Gee - Little Man is finally taking me seriously that I want him to use the potty regularly, and here's little sis showing him up. Oh well. Maybe everyone will be out of diapers by Easter! Fourth Darling's insistence on her own choices so early, kind of scares me makes me wonder what the next decade will bring.

A Bunch of Stuff

I just rolled myself out of my daughters' bed. We had two tall children, a grown-up and a dog jammed into one twin bed. Before you think we're living in squalor, we have several beds that are available, but apparently for the two oldest girls, none of them will do. It's much more fun to have a "sleep-over" with your sister every night. This night I gave in to their requests to join them. My reluctance has been that if I get my whole body horizontal, I'm instantly asleep. Even though it's bedtime for them, I've got laundry stuff to do. If I let myself fall asleep...it's all over. So here I am. Doing stuff. I should be a grown-up and get some chores done, but this is fun.


I have also come to realize that I think my life is on a lopsided cycle. I think I write this blog like I do laundry. I'm really good at keeping up with it for a wile, then something breaks, blows up, gushes water happens and I play catch-up for the next month. Don't give up on me though...I'm sure Christmas will be chock full of ca-ra-zi-ness.

True Toddlerhood

My Fourth Darling has officially entered toddlerhood in full force. She kicked it off in Chick-Fil-A yesterday with a full blown kicking, screaming, drooling and snot flying temper tantrum. I wouldn't let her take her juice box (vile creation) into the play area. Well, she slightly disagreed with my decision, and unfortunately, when her little fists of fury balled up, her juice box was in them, so apple juice spewed forth like a fountain.

Of course I was mortified, but only for a second. I ripped the spouting juice box away from her, plopped her in the play area and shut the door. I could still hear her screaming from inside the plexiglass area. I thought about taking her and leaving, but my my other three darlings had been so good. I didn't want to cut their fun short just because the little one decided to freak out. She cried and cried, and e-v-e-n-t-u-a-l-l-y calmed down and played with her sibs.

I wonder if the fact that her fit didn't really bother me is a good sign that I'm okay with stress, or is it just exhausted resignation? Well....whatever. I did have the epiphany that I just CANNOT go Christmas shopping with any of my children. Too many X-factors, as my Darling Man likes to call them.

After Chick-Fil-A, we ran into a nearby store to pick up one gift. She was not interested in sitting calmly in her stroller. No....she needed to scream and arch her back until she could get down and look at all of the crap they keep at eye level.

Ho. ho. ho.