I have nothing to say, except sometimes I am so happy and that I love my life and my husband and little kids and the gospel and autumn in the sun.

Eating spinach soup before church...well, not really eating it I guess...but they did...most of it.

Yesterday was one of those rare days when I woke up in a good mood and well rested. The first thing I saw when I finally came out of my room was beautiful Breanna who said "Mom, it's your birthday!" And she gave me a big hug. Jesse marched upstairs a minute later with a funny card from Brad that said all kinds of sweet things about me and a box of Callebaut chocolates. I felt loved by the kids and Brad.
Driving Brad to school it was foggy, and I love the fog. The drive home was even better because out came the sun and some blue sky for the first time in what seems like weeks. September sky is so blue, nothing can compare. It can be as cold as it wants if you give me that sun and blue sky against the golden leaves. And there was steam coming off the river. And I saw a bluebird. I felt loved by God.
After I dropped Brad off I saw a huge flock of gulls in the middle of the football field in the fog. I put on the hazards and let the kids out to run after them and watch them scatter. Then I felt like a good Mom.(Unlike yesterday when I took the kids to Old Navy and kept losing Breanna and Breanna and Jesse were fighting over his sweater and Breanna was screaming and I heard some kid say to her Mom, we don't yell like that, do we Mom, and the Mom said, no, we don't yell like that. And then I started snapping at the kids and barking orders.)

That afternoon I got to shop! Brad held my hand lots and I love that! We came home and I took the kids to the park while Brad made supper.  I was the giant (since I don't run and giants don't run) and so I would stomp around and try to catch them, but they were safe in the "forrest". It was fun. Then I felt like a good Mom again.

We came home to the most delicious supper of roast lamb with mint sauce, garlic-herb roasted potatoes and steamed lemony garlic brussell sprouts. Mmmmm! I went to my sister's house to have cake with her kids. I scraped off the top of the cake, because it was MY cake and MY birthday, and proportionately you get more icing that way.

My nephew Asher did this for me. He's kind of a genius:

 To top off the night, Brad made popcorn and we stayed up late watching Robin Hood together.

Oh 34, you can't come soon enough! :)

These pictures do not do justice to the cuteness that was my little man helping deliver flyers and bags for the interfaith food bank's city-wide food drive. His little feet were running as fast as they could to keep up with Brad, pulling a flyer out to make sure it was ready to put in the bag for the next house.

He took "service" as he called it, very seriously.  I don't know where he gets his non-stop crazy energy from but channel it and he sure can do amazing things!

If I had to describe Breanna in a word it would be "dreamy"

She's always in her own little world. She loves to look around and take everything in. Books, princess clothes, dancing, singing, tinkering on the piano and sweets bring her the most joy. She falls a lot. She walks really, really sloooooow (ask anyone who's ever taken her anywhere). She has to touch things as she passes them. When we go to the park she  plays with the rocks and sings and tells stories to herself. She would rather be alone, usually. Let's just say, I'm pretty sure which side of the family she got her personality from....and it's not Brad's :)

I was very happy this morning when I saw Breanna dancing around in her ballet clothes for the first day of ballet. I wanted to be a ballerina when I was young until I was told I don't have the feet for it and I'm too tall, plus we were way too poor. So maybe I'm fulfilling my own childhood fantasy here, but lucky for me, she loves it, too.

Yay for dreamy girls....and for dreams!

p.s. do you like the empty, plantless pot in my living room? Yep, still scrimping :)

My house is usually just a little-less-than-clean. Instead of the disaster it was for the first 5 1/2 months of my pregnancy. My crazy emotional scale has tipped to happy and at peace most of the time. Maybe that's cause my heartburn is gone and I sleep through the night now. Most people start feeling worse in their third trimester. Not so with me! The worst part of childbirth is over for me. It's been a long 6 months.

My kids are watching much less TV. I'm taking them swimming again this morning. 

Tonight they go to Nana's for a sleepover.  There will be a magician!! 

My kids are soooo lucky. I'm not sure if they know it or not....

I read a book to them last night by Maurice Sendak. It's called, We Are All in the Dumps With Jack and Guy.

The kids are homeless. 

The Indian-looking kid is really small, like probably Breanna's age or smaller. 

Yesterday while I picked out books at the library Jesse found some kid who chased him in and out of the aisles for a long time. It was really nice not to have to worry about him being bored. So I didn't care. Breanna was happy to sit on the stairs flipping page after page after page of books. She makes up stories to go along with the pictures which can be very interesting sometimes.

Life is really, really good. And I can't wait to start working out again!!!

Skillzz

So over the summer Jesse developed some new skills. Four to be exact.

1. He learned to "swim"- basically, he can doggy paddle fully submerged for a few seconds, but he actually gets places.

2. He learned to color good. You have to know that the last time I saw Jesse color it was literally a scribble on a page. So imagine my surprise when Brad and I came home from a date the other day and there was a masterpiece on our fridge. I thought the babysitter had done it and was just not very careful, but no. Jesse had decided to care. We were excited and I've made Jesse color lots of pictures after that. Sadly, most of the pictures are for his hero, Dad. I get one as a consolation prize every once in a while.

3. He learned to get all the way across  on the monkey bars at the park. They go up and down so he has to swing his little body like crazy to get to the next one sometimes, but he does it!

4. He learned to pump on a swing. This I love because he will do it forever when we are at the park. He  gets on the swing himself and doesn't even need a push to get going.

Jesse starts school today. Last year I was excited. This year I just feel kind of sad to see him go. I think if he doesn't love it and make some good friends soon I'll just keep him home with me. So proud of you and so love you, my boy.

It looks like we overspent in August. 

Oops. So this month, I have to take inventory of what I want vs. what I need.

We wanted to go to Calaway park this weekend, but instead we went to Heritage park since we already had passes. The kids had fun and now that I look at it, I'm not sure it's going to ruin their childhood if they don't go to Calaway park this summer.

We wanted to go on a date to the movies because my brother and sister-in-law offered to babysit, but instead we stayed home and hung out with them and watched wipeout. It's so funny. Plus Derek and Katie are great and I wish they would hang out with us more often.

I wanted to get Jesse and Breanna new hoodies and jeans for school but instead they're going to wear  hand-me-downs for the first few weeks.

I really want to buy a new plant for my living room because the old one died, and my living room looks empty and colorless.

Brad really wants new headphones, and I really want him to have new headphones, but he's gonna use the too-small ones for now.

We really need a dresser for the kids because their clothes are piled crazily in one closet right now as we are adding a new child to the mix, but instead I'm going to keep folding and refolding and refolding and refolding and refolding..........and refolding.

I want, like realllly really really really really want to buy this beautiful dollhouse for Breanna for her birthday/Christmas. This, I'm sure, will ruin her childhood, but it's still not going to happen.

I really want a new table and chairs....

New clothes....

To go to Europe....or China....

To go back to school....

Original artwork!

Antiques!

A cabin!

A boat!

A tummy tuck!...

But. 

Instead I'm just going to be happy with what I have.

Right now.

It's pretty darn good, anyway :)

See this book?

It looks innocent enough. A sweet story about a little chick, right?  It's fun, sunshiny and colorful. But I warn you....

DO NOT READ to small children!!

I read this book to my kids at the Library, after which I did some errands. In the book, all of the mama duck's chicks find different places to hide but little quack hides behind his Mom.  This led to Jesse running circles around me in the parking lot trying to hide behind me and hiding who- knows- where while I was in line at the bank. He sure had lots of fun, but this book should really be deemed unsafe for children under 8 years.