love

I love morning at my house.

Most people think I am nuts because I have chosen to have such a large family, but mornings around here are just one of the reasons I love it so much.  One by one, my sleepyheads roll out of bed each day.  The first thing each of them does? ...find me to snuggle.  There are few things more precious.  They don't get breakfast or start playing with their toys...they want ME.  Even my oldest, who would die if he knew I was saying this in public, will hang all over me until he is fully awake.  Then the day begins, and they all get busy...but I can carry that love with me all day long!

My family rocks!

socks

This is an oldie from a place I used to "blog", but it is still so true, so I thought I would share it again here...

I detest socks. Not only do I detest wearing the darn things, but I don't like to wash them or mate then once they are clean and dry. I leave them for last when I am folding laundry. Most of the time, I just leave them in the basket and let them accumulate. I can justify this because everyone has plenty of socks and it seems they will never run out. But run out, they do. And when there are no socks, there is usually a lot of complaining around our house. It's not always about the socks, necessarily. But there is complaining, nonetheless. I wonder if there is some cosmic reason my family complains more when there are no socks. The end.

crazy days

This past week has been full of sewing for me. I chose to make my girls' Easter outfits this year. I have no regrets, but I am drained. It was hard work, and I had to neglect the housework, my schoolwork, and sleep. Here are the finished products...

Miss Carleigh Grace

Bayleigh Joy

Brianne Hope

Bella Faith

And then there are my handsomes...

Cameron Scott

Caleb Austin

because we are not promised tomorrow

So, today I was browsing through my photos stored on photobucket.com when I came across this one. This is me and Cam on his first day of kindergarten...over half his life ago. It made me realize how quickly the past 5 years have passed and how my little boy has grown into a young man. I was reminded of how during this time of his life, he wanted to marry me and live with me forever. Gone are the days where he says such things, but I know that he still wants me to be a big part of his life. He still wants to spend time with me, to be the center of my attention. I know that all too soon those days are going to be gone and that I must soak them up now. So this week and moving forward, I am making a commitment to my big guy (and all of my children) to enjoy the little moments, to put aside what I have going on to give of myself. I don't know entirely what that looks like yet. I want it to be special and memorable for them. I do know that today, they are asking. Tomorrow, they won't be.

a reoccuring theme

I feel as if I have addressed this issue before...perhaps I have even blogged about it here. I did not have the luxury of time to go back and read to see. Nevertheless, it is fresh in my mind again, and I feel the need to get it out.

We are in this world...we are not of this world. That is one of our family values. Never before have I had to address it so deeply with one of my children, however. You see, I have one struggling to fit in....struggling to be liked by his peers. I see him teetering dangerously on the edge of giving in to the pressure that goes with the desire to be accepted. He is not naturally a leader, and we have to fight hard to build him up to believe in himself. He is his own worst enemy. Sadly, he takes after his mother. That makes it doubly hard for me to be the one to teach him this lesson. I only know now as an adult how wonderful it is to be different from everyone else. I embrace it...because I know that being different from the world means that I am more like the One. I also know that it isn't all sugary sweet. It is hard. Sometimes very hard. This morning at breakfast, my sweet kid was ridiculing his brother and sister. That led them, in turn, to do the same to him. I was quick to point out how much "power" he had over them. Him: "I learned it at school." Me: "So?" Him: "Well, my friends didn't get in trouble for doing it." Me: "Either they didn't get caught or your teacher does not value respect among her students. My guess is that it's the former." Him: puzzled look. Me: "The point is that it is not acceptable in our family. It is, therefore, not acceptable anywhere else...even if you do not get in trouble for it. Doing a wrong thing because someone else does still makes it wrong. It also makes you just like them. Who wants to be like everyone else? If everyone were the same, life would be boring. No one would be special." Him: "Ummm. Okay." Me: Sigh. I feel like I am doing and saying all the right things. My desire is for him to learn what I had to learn on my own, without any righteous guidance. I will continue my battle. I.will.be.different.no.matter.what.

I have these little girls...amazing creatures they are. Not that my boys aren't amazing, but they are boys...old enough to not need to capture my attention with their boy-ness. But my girls...there's just something about them that melts me. Whatever the charm is can make me forget about any trouble or trial I might be facing. It's like therapy. It might only be a smile as big as the world from Bella; an "I love you" for no reason at all from my mini me Carleigh; or the beautiful eyes of Bri that let me know just how much she adores me. To them, I am something really great...and the sweet moments I get to witness daily from them make me feel as if I am everything they believe I am. God has gently nudged me for months now to slow down and drink in the little moments like these. At first, I was defiant...not deliberately so, but disobedient all the same. He showed me little by little what I have been missing by being so caught up in the J-O-B of motherhood that I was missing the blessing that motherhood truly is. As a result of my new journey, I embrace the quirks that once upset my routine...and it has given me great determination to capture some of the sweet memories I am making by camera. So...here are my girls.

This is Bri. I took a series of pictures of her as she was drifting off to sleep in the swing. This was the final one. Her little lips were moving in a sucking motion...made me want to pick her up and just squeeze her!

Bella...what do you say about a Bella? She's the coolest almost-two-year-old I know. This was her...just waking up for the day and being so sweet. She likes to play with me before she gets out of her bed everyday. I used to not take the time...I would just leave her in her bed until she was ready to get out. But now, I play. We had just played peek-a-boo with her blanket that she has to have (along with her thumb in her mouth) before she can go to sleep. She even thanks me when I give it to her! Peek-a-boo is her favorite game to play in the morning...and we have lovingly nicknamed her "Boo" as a result. I'm not sure we even call her Bella at home anymore. Even the other kids have started calling her Boo.

This is my first "Sweet Pea" Carleigh, for whom I named my photography business. Of course, there I am...can you see the resemblance? HA! Carleigh is spunky for sure. My word to describe her is sparkly. But only if it said the way she says it..."Spark-a-lee"! She likes all things sparkly...but sparkly to her can be a beautiful new haircut, which is what she thought of my new cut a few weeks back. Her response..."I want that, too!" So, I gave it to her. She doesn't know this, but if this was how she asked me, I would give her anything in the world. Carleigh challenges me in ways I never thought I would be. But at the core of all that mischief is a girl who asks me every night to sing Baby Mine to her. There was a period I didn't have time. Now, I dare not refuse her. The day just isn't complete without that song. I imagine one day she will sing that to her own sweet baby girl.

How rich am I?