out of the mouths of babes...

Earlier today Allie was asking me questions about Jesus. She asked how we were going to get up in Heaven with him. I told her that when it was time, he would return to get us and "zoom us up in the sky." Her reply? "Can you ride me on your back, mom?"

Allie at the HLSR this year.

Doing Well

As a stay-at-home mom, I have struggled with feelings of "failing" and being overwhelmed a great deal of the time.

I have really had a hard time putting this into words. As my sweet husband always tells me, I am the one putting the pressure on myself! I recently read a blog post (which I could remember which one) about homeschooling. The author brought to light a thought-provoking fact to me: that as long as there are little children at home all day long, my house will never be perfect! Sounds strange that a stranger made it clear to me.

However, early one morning I had a thought finally come to me concerning WHY I feel this pressure to cook more, clean more, fuss less, teach more, discipline in a better way, have laundry caught up, ..... you get the drift. When I worked OUT of the home, I finished my job at the end of the day and went home. (except when teaching, of course.) But having results there was attainable and noticeable and lasted for at least a few minutes- and right now- I feel as though I am in a constant cycle of re-doing everything I did the last 24 hours! And I know this thought is nothing new... it has been haunting stay-at-home moms forever... But it helped to have it finally formulate in my own mind. I do consider myself somewhat intelliget and probably could have done well in the "outside world" but since I have chosen to walk this path of staying at home with these three (for now!) precious gifts... I need to know that I am doing it well. Because if not, that means my whole parenting life has not been done well.

So what does it mean to "stay-at-home" and do a good job at it? I would love to hear others' thoughts...

Oh my goodness, so it has been soooo long since I blogged, I don't even know if I can catch up!
But I'll try. On March 20th, we closed on our new house! Thanks to some great friends and some super-hard-working movers, we got the bulk of the stuff in the next day. Ben's brother and one of his friends came over the next day and finished it up. Man, we have a lot of JUNK! Hopefully, that amount has decreased by my pruning!
Anyway, the next weekend we went home for a flying visit. I had breakfast with one of my BFFs and sister (don't mess with the girls at the Golden Corral Breakfast Buffet!), plus we saw my parents, my grandparents, and Ben's family, and our friends Jason and Mandy! Yes, it was insanely quick but fun.
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So I just decided I'm going to do several different entries to catch up; too many things that are totally different from one another and just can't all be lumped into one.

Babies Don't Keep

I ran across this poem on the another blog and thought it was worth sharing:

Song for a Fifth Child

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

~Ruth Hulburt Hamilton.

So true. It's hard to remember when my babies looked like this:


and this:



But they'll always be my babies!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Wow, I cannot believe it has been an entire month since I last blogged! What a whirlwind it has been, too.

Dec. 19th-21st, my sister Lindsey and her hubby Alan came to visit us. We took Alan to a wonderful restaurant for his Christmas present, and also Santa came to visit us while they were here:





Dec. 21st-28th, we visited both of our families in East Texas. It was a very relaxing time of fellowship- well, minus the stomach bug that wiped out about 25 members of my family. It was an interesting Christmas, with everyone comparing bodily functions. :)

At Pop's and Mimi's house:


At Uncle Joe and Debo's house:


Dec. 24th, our new nephew was born. He deserves his own post, so look for that later!

Dec. 29th was our 7th (!) anniversary and we went to a Rockets game- Ben's first NBA game ever. It was very fun, and we discovered a great new restaurant as well!







Dec. 30th- my cousin Tasha and her four kids came to visit us for a few days.

Dec. 31st- my friend Mandy came to visit for a few days as well; we had a New Year's Party at our house

Jan. 1st- Tasha and the kiddos had to leave early b/c her kiddos got sick. Very sad.
Mandy, Fabia, and I went to eat lunch, then Mandy and I spent the rest of the day shopping.

Jan. 3rd- Mandy left to go back home.

So much fun! Now back to real life.
I hope that your holiday season was spent enjoying your family and friends, and celebrating Christ's birth.