Are black socks allowed?!?

So I wasn't sure if I should laugh or be jealous of this man's desire and ability to be running through town on a beautiful sunny day like today. I do wonder however about the black calf-high socks...but for what it's worth, way to go friend! Now if only he could run a mile for me....

Bag lady...

There are so many moments about today that made me outright laugh; however, none more than the thought of Kate as a bag lady. The circumstances leading up to this moment will be left between the two of us and the DMOTC committee members ;-) Let's just say, it's a good thing I'm a Christian woman, or I'd have had some obscene words spewing from my mouth in the direction of several women today....so glad that I always have Kate to make me laugh and get me through

Hide-N-Seek and Little Prayers

I love the little moments when everything in the world just seems right and the other night I got two within about an hour.

Michael was gone at Guy's Night Out and I was alone with the kids for dinner and bedtime. Not necessarily my favorite time, but manageable. Laila was in the high chair cooing and sucking on her hands while I was washing dishes. Every window in the house was wide open with spring breezes blowing and the sound of the occasional car driving by. The older kids were all playing in the yard, when I hear 7...8...9...10. Ready or not here I come. Laughing, giggles, chasing and more giggling. It was the perfect moment of the world and everything in it being right.

Later that night, Kensie and Carter were sleeping when I put Hudson to bed. I brushed his teeth, put on his pajamas, said our prayers and kissed him goodnight. I went downstairs to feed Laila and thought nothing else of it. About five minutes later I heard Hudson talking and started up the stairs to see what he was doing. I stopped just short of his room when I realized he was praying out loud. I stood there in the dark of the hallway, holding my beautiful baby and listening to my 5 year old son talk to his Savior - bringing tears to my eyes and joy to my heart.

"I have to peeeeeee...."

Every parent with kids out of diapers has heard these words at some point in time. Most importantly however, is the fact that they never come at a good opportunity. This was the case last week. We were driving home from the babysitters (6 miles to be exact) and my daughter says she has to pee. I turn around in the passengers seat and tell her to hold it. She smiles that sweet smile and says okay. About 1 mile laterI can see her wriggling in her seat and swaying side-to-side. These are sure signs of a potty emergency. Unfortunately there was no restroom that was easily accessible at that moment, so I did what any logical parent would do - I told my husband to pull over.

We pulled over into a huge, empty parking lot and parked discretely so that no one could see my daughter doing her business in the empty spot next to us. The boys laugh and say, "girls can't pee standing up", I assure them that mom will help Kensie figure it out. It's also at this moment that I remember an invention that I'd recently seen on The Doctors, and thought, who needs that thing...well, at that moment, I truly needed the Go Girl. So here I am stripping my daughter's pants and underwear off because I knew she would pee on them. Never did I imagine that I'd need to worry about her shoes. As she is peeing, she starts saying, "my sandals, my sandals!!" To stop the hysterics I lift her up by the armpits and am shouting "bend your knees" while I hold her up and out to keep her from peeing on me and herself.

As you can imagine Michael and the boys were cracking up, as I kept looking around for the police to arrest me for indecent exposure or child molestation!!!

The hottest guy....

So the other day I saw the hottest guy -

He wasn't dressed up fancy

in a 3-piece suit.

Hadn't shaved in days

and wasn't worth a ton of loot.

He didn't drive a sporty car,

or drink a Starbucks coffee.

He doesn't have a foreign accent

or yacht upon the sea.

Instead;

He wore a t-shirt and jeans

with muffled hair as dark as coal.

Spoke gentle words of kindness

and laughed from within his soul.

He kissed away the boo-boos,

and put up hair in bows.

He pretended to be Superman

and changed kid's dress-up clothes.

He folded up the laundry

and wiped off hands and faces.

Home is where his heart was

instead of exotic places.

As I watched this man laugh and play

I didn't have to ask Him why.

I just thanked the Lord up above

for my husband Michael -

To me you'll always be - The Hottest Guy

Peep Show....

So this morning I wake up to the pitter patter of little feet - 6 little feet to be exact. As with most mornings, once the numbers 4:45am roll around on the clock, the kids are up and the house and everything in it is fair game. I listen to the gentle breathing of my husband sound asleep, then I go and check baby Laila. Ah, at least one will sleep in late (I consider 7am late). As I drift in and out of consciousness I am suddenly awakened by the sound of the dining room chairs being scooted across our hardwood floors. This is not a good sign. Typically this means the kids are pushing the chairs into the kitchen, so that they can climb onto the counters, open the cupboards and raid them for Nutri Grain bars. I quickly throw back the covers and tip toe downstairs so that I can catch them in the act. Much to my surprise however, the kids were all huddled together at the dining room table. As I walked closer, I discovered the reason for their huddling and quiet whispers. Candy. Candy, candy everywhere. The kids had received an Easter package from their great-grandma the evening before. We hadn't opened it, so we had no idea that the box was filled with candy. So at 5:00 in the morning, my 3 children had taken it upon themselves to use their little scissors to unwrap and open the box to reveal its contents. They then used the same scissors to open the packages of candy and consume, I can only imagine how many.....So it is official - for the first 5 years of my sons life, he had no idea what a peep was, but now they have made their grand entrance into our home - and Kate, we're passing the rest on to you ;-) Enjoy!