Monday, Monday,

Monday definitely felt like,

well, a Monday.

It was hectic enough to make me sit down

And write a schedule for Tuesday.

I wrote in 15 min increments.

Yes, Monday was that crazy.

After getting dressed, making breakfast and doing chores,

we we ended up with this.

A nearly naked three year old,

stripped her sisters clothes too,

And decided a dress up was in order.

I decided it was a good day to go grocery shopping.

It just happened to be the rainiest day of the century.

A while back,

Alicia gave me a whole slew of jewelry.

Thanks to her,

Some of my days are bedazzled.

After all the kids were loaded in the rain, I thought:

Why not wear something pretty?

Friends are like bra's, close to your heart, and give you support.
I miss her every time I wear the jewelry.

She totally would have saved this day for me.
Not that I needed saving.

Don't get me wrong.

These kids are the reason that I thrive.

Some days were just meant to be shared with friends with willing hands.

This would have been one.

Also to be logged into our family's history,

I wrapped a present with nothing but a

Paper grocery bag,

Glue stick,

And yarn.

Those are some serious survival skills.

My ribbon station, completely cleaned out,

And tape dispensers that disappear like socks in the laundry.

They all create ingenuity to be topped only by a more desperate mom,

With even more kids.


I found this at nap time.

Snippets of golden locks, hidden in vintage pot.
This was no cooking fiasco.

Its a mastermind incognito in the making.

What purpose do I have to check her pots?

I didn't notice the crayon on the windowsill until I took the picture.


These times are the ones that make and brake you all at the same time.

They brake down my controlling attitude that can be a nightmare to keep company with.

It reminds me to not be so rigidly correcting with our time.

To accept alternate solutions for 'problems'.

To compromise with the strict sometimes stiffling things that I call discipline,

and allow character to build.

To relax a little, and push school back a couple of minutes or hours.

To sometimes take a day off of school,

To remember and discover again how unique and intelligent they are,

On their own, without me,

After all, they were hard wired to enjoy knowing things,

And figuring out how to know things.

To watch the talent of my children,

At work constructing, creating,

Learning to tie a shoe all by herself (true story).

Listening to them cook up their schemes.

I am so relieved that even though the chaos seemed a little consuming

and overwhelming at times,

I was still able to mark a lot of really good moments.

1. Lunch under a blanket fort.

Spills and all.

Thankful for the unfinished and forgiving floors to soak up the puddles.

No sense of urgency to clean them up.

2. To be able to log all of My man child's fabulous quotes:

During a perfect wrestling pin:

" Lauren, your smooshing my guys!"

"Mom is this the first world?"

Because Dad explained to him

that God is going to make us a new world someday.

" I think we should give Jesus the gifts. Its His birthday!"

I know this is not an original thought.

Many people have steered this way in terms if holiday cheer.

But for him to bring it up on his own terms?

That's some serious soul food.

Claire screamed "No!" for the first time this Monday.

She was seriously offended and you'd better know it.

At a year and a couple months,

She had never even spoken the dreaded toddler word,

Let alone scream it appropriately at a sibling!

She has yet to say it again.

And I must say that I am glad to say that she has returned to her old self again.

Monday was also the start of our next big reading adventure.

James and The Giant Peach.

Man Cub digs this book to pieces.

Since the start of this book, we have been reading a couple times a day together.

This is exctiting, because it is all on Silas' initiative.

He loves the book that much.

In case you didn't know,

That is a little out of charcter for him.

Being a boy genius and all,

He tends to be lazy, completing the bare minimum of tasks effortlessly,

And returning to his crime stopping fantasies.

I have found a story that he is passionate about and that thrills me.

I remember reading and loving this book as a kid.

This is a great reading choice,

despite the fact that I have creatively exhausted my censoring abilities.

In just 40 short pages,

I have mastered the art of reading ahead and changing naughty words.

Who puts words like

A-S-S in a fourth grade book?

The sweetest thing ever:

Every time we sit down to read, Lauren asks to start the whole book over.

Poor thing forgets almost everything we've read.

Responsively, I find this endearing, not concerning,

And I am okay with the fact that we will someday re-read the classic fiction.

Well, I am sorry to bore to the point of tears,

Thanks to the few who follow,

And the fewer who actually read,

And the fewest who actually comment.

Your devotion is flattering.

I like to imagine that there are like 40 or 400 of you ,

Waiting on pins and needles for my next excerpt.

One sunny Mamma signing off.