Happy Birthday to my Husband

Happy birthday, happy happy birthday,
Happy birthday, happy birthday!
Do we have a birthday here?
Yes we have a birthday here.
Birthday where? Birthday there!
Birthday where? Birthday there!
Ah, ah, ah, ah...

You are a precious jewel and we treasure you. I can't put into words how much you mean to me, to our family. Happy birthday, Robert. :)

Scrappin'. Unpackin'. Salin'. & Wailin'. (?!?!)

We were back to springtime weather today ~ a gorgeous day. It was a really nice blessing after freezing our butts off the last two days. We hit a few garage sales, and I picked up a rubber stamp set for my new card-making endeavor, a couple of Star Wars toys for J, and a vintage Nancy Drew book for C. We've actually been keeping our eyes open for a lawn mower, but haven't found one. The lawn's starting to need a haircut.

Today was a good, productive day. Ro got some things done around the yard ~ what he could do without a lawnmower, and I worked on a 2-page scrapbook layout because, you know, it's National Scrapbook Day. I didn't finish it but I'm getting there. I love scrapbooking down in the basement because there aren't any interruptions or little fingers grabbing at my tools, but after awhile it gets a little bit lonely, so I came back upstairs.

Ro took Josh to a comic store in FoCo ~ a treat and a surprise for J ~ and they had a great time. While they were gone, I got to work in the garage. I finished doing major filing and when Ro got home, he got to work on his man area. Together we unpacked another 5 boxes today. Man, that felt good.

Yesterday afternoon Joshua went home with a friend after school for a playdate, and Chris was invited by her friend to a movie. I need to get Grace a friend. It was almost really quiet when Robert got home. Almost peaceful. Almost.

Hey... actually... right now... it is peaceful. Grace went down easily tonight, and Josh and Chris are camping out in the basement. Ro and I are going to watch a little TV and hit the hay early tonight. I'm beat.

Love you all ~

Ding Dong Ditch

Well, not exactly. We got May Dayed! :)

I have never been the lucky recipient of a May Day basket before - have you? But I was thinking about it earlier because I remember the granddaughter of grandmother's next door neighbor (got that?) used to bring my grandma a May Day basket each year. She'd often make the baskets out of paper and fill it with little goodies.

This afternoon the doorbell rang and I sent Josh to get it. He came back with these, left on the front porch:

There's writing on each one that says "Happy May Day!" Isn't that the coolest? Totally made my day. I'm not sure who dropped them off, although I have my suspicions - but it was such a wonderful surprise!

P.S.: The Fun Never Ends

Because yesterday's blog about my mischievous little one brought smiles to so many faces, I thought I would add a post script today.

Josh's presence (and a bag of pretzels) definitely helped me run all those errands I wrote about yesterday. I had shaved my legs, mind you, so I donned my black shorts and flip flops and a favorite red short-sleeved shirt with snap enclosures. Why, you must be wondering, is she boring us with the details of what she was wearing? Ah... we'll get there. Don't rush me.

I did have success, mostly.

Task #1 - I am now the proud owner of two ink pads, one red and one black, and will probably scoot down to the basement, er, to my scrap studio to finish working on the greeting card I have told you about now, no less than three times.

Task #2 - Joshua's glasses - not fixable. Yes, I blame that on Grace, even though the final breakage occurred at school, because she is constantly grabbing them off his face and yanking at them. I'm sure you remember mine - also not fixable, and $182 later I'm hoping Josh's will somehow be covered under the warranty.

Task #3 - The Super Mystery Store. I did, in fact, score the gift, although I think the salesperson was taken a little aback by my, "No, I don't want it demonstrated. I assume it works fine," but frankly I just wanted to get out of there. We were near the end of our to-do list and I had to go pick up Chris and get the kids home and in bed - all past their bedtimes. But I digress. The highlight of the trip to the Super Mystery Store did, in fact, occur as we were following Mr. Salesman through the shelves to the front where we would then give him most of our money (it was on sale for $30 less, neener neener). Josh tagged along behind us, making all of his little alien noises as he no doubt replayed some video game action in his head, and I pushed Grace forward as she sat in the cart, entertaining herself by poking and pushing on my chest.

And then

Can you believe this?

She grabbed the neckline of my shirt and RIPPED IT OPEN - you know - it being snaps and all.

Needless to say I was horrified.

(I don't think Josh even noticed, focused so intently on his battle plans for his next gaming session.)

:: sigh ::

Today, so far, all she has done is this:


I really think you need to click the picture to see it larger for the whole effect. She pulled the door off, with its hardware, and the wood (okay, I'm cheap, faux wood) is now chipped and ugly.

But... for all the gray she has added to my hair and for all the pressure she has added to my blood, she is such a delight. She can drive me nuts sometimes, but she brings me joy and laughter, too:

This, for example, is not a moon, according to Grace. This is a "sleeping sun." Makes sense to me.

Hey, maybe Mom will take me swimming if I get ready all by myself. Now which suit should I wear? Oh, plop, I'll wear them all:

On another, more serious note, today is the National Day of Prayer.

Prayer is actually one of the most difficult of the spiritual disciplines for me to do. Although I have several theories as to why that is true, one of the truest for me is that I'm often too busy to stop and just focus on God. It's hard to sit still and know that He is God when we have a list of 20 other things to do. There is so much that competes with His attention. It is one thing to sit down with the kids and pray with them before mealtimes or before bedtime, or even to offer up a petition to God when a request becomes known. It is another to sit and just be still, to (as one song I heard recently that I can't remember now or I'd put it on my play list) come to Him in the morning and seek Him and come to Him in the evening and pour out my heart to Him. Another of my hindrances, to be truthful, is that I often feel like God already knows it all - so why bother rehashing it? However, I do know better. I know how Jesus exemplified the importance of real prayer in His life, and what better model do we have?

So I'll get down off my soapbox now and stop preaching to the choir... but I did want to just take a minute and encourage you, if you aren't already, to stop today especially, and really pray. Connect with God. I'm going to. Now, actually - even before I go play with my new ink.