What They Say Wednesday

"Can you just see what Dad would say? 

He's the boss of everybody in our whole house."

Amy's Birth-date

We were having a party for Amy for her birthday this year but it wasn't on her actual birthday. Because of this, we wanted to do something on the actual birth date, so we got some cupcakes and sang her happy birthday. By the time we got to do this, it was late and she was so tired, she couldn't even keep her eyes open. We were able to get her concious for a few minutes just before we lit her candles.

(see? eyes open...kinda)

 despite all of our best efforts, she could not will herself to keep her eyes open and just nestled deeper into daddy's arms. So he blew out the candles for her.

 A small celebration before the party that she will never remember. Haha!

what they say wednesday

Michael: Mom, your the best mom. You wanna know how I know that?

Mom: how?

Michael: Cause you survived me.

Mom: (with pleasure) ;)

Back to the Basics

As much as I love doing what I do (eg- refinishing furniture, creating, sewing and making things for my retail space) I have found lately that I'm just so overwhelmed so much of the time. I have thought often about quiting my Shelstring blog, and have been told time and again that I shouldn't. 

As I've been experiencing so many challenges in completing things, meeting deadlines, and trying to run my home and enjoy my children, 

I've found it impossible to do. Especially the enjoying party. I haven't been enjoying much of anything lately. I have been really troubled by this and doing a lot of praying and soul searching. I've known for quite some time that I need to simplify my life more. 

That it is okay to enjoy doing things I love, 

but having all the deadlines of contributor posts and product commitments is too much for me right now. So with all of this I have decided to get back to the basics. 

To focus on what matters most to me. 

My family. Writing to think through things is also therapudic for me. 

I tend to really sort things through when I share how I feel and what I'm thinking. 

This is the first blog I ever started. The most important one for me as well. Now I'm going to try to get back to the basics 

and have decided to start enjoying things day to day like I used to...

before it all got so crazy and out of control. 

My now daily life. There is so much I've missed sharing about. 

It will be good to catch up. 

 It feels good to be back!

 

Can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread-Mom

The Christmas season is one that hits most moms on the head with quite a pressure she didn't expect. I learned a few years ago to make things a lot simpler (as I recently shared) by eliminating things that cause unnecessary stress....

things like decorating gingerbread houses. Yes, I was pretty satisfied with myself until one day when Alyssa came home from a friends house and asked me to buy graham crackers and m&ms the next time I went to the store. When I forgot, she tearfully reminded me that she had asked and was expecting the items to be purchased so that she could build a gingerbread house like the ones (they apparently) made in school. I was rather impressed, so the next time I went to the grocery store, I took her with me so she could pick out what she wanted on her house.

*Nice little tid-bit: The wonderful thing about the stress free holiday mentality is that this was after Christmas, so the candy was 50% off. Next year I'll have to hold out another week for the 75% off sale. ;) 

I must say that even though I thought I had barely grazed by Christmas without doing the dreaded gingerbread senario, I'm glad I didn't get away with it. 

  This turned out to be a wonderfully fun activity from shopping for supplies, to making and finishing the houses and  it helped me to pull away from all my other "to-do's" and enjoy my littles...

                               
                                   ...while they're still little. Something I need to do more often.