balance

the theme in my life right now seems to be balance.

(forgive me if i've stolen this idea from somewhere/someone else. i find in my old age that sometimes i read something, then think about it for a long time, then forget where or even that i read it, and then it becomes mine. but if i remembered that i did in fact read/hear it somewhere, i would give credit where credit is due.)


yesterday was a nice day. except for the fact that addie and frankie sat in front of the tv all day. when they weren't napping that is. but i was able to get all the laundry, the girls bedrooms, our room, closet, and both bathrooms upstairs done. you might say, oh you cleaned the upstairs then? but then it doesn't sound like enough work. so i prefer the long drawn out version.

i struggle with this. i want to spend time with my babies. and when friends call us to play, we always answer. so sometimes i think i should let the house be. but then i really, really (i mean really!) like a clean house. a clean and organized house is like a breath of fresh air.but then i want to spend time with my family. so it's balance. lots and lots of balance. which is hard sometimes. but so very important.
my mom has a plaque in her kitchen that says:

"My house is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy."

and that's what i want my house to be. maybe this post could also be titled "ode to my mother." cause my mom also sent me this poem that i talked about the other day. love it.

BABIES DON'T KEEP

Mother, oh Mother,

come shake out your cloth,

empty the dustpan,

poison the moth,

hang out the washing

and butter the bread,

sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house

is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery,

blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little

Boy Blue (lullaby, rockaby, lullaby 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 her eyes the most wonderful hue?

(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing

will wait till tomorrow,

for 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......

~Author Unknown ~ 

i love that. i need to remember that. and to keep working on balancing.

in other balancing news, i heart attacked christian, alexis, and matt's mirror's for valentines day.

i've never done that before and it took waaaay longer than i thought it would. i was going to do addie's door too, but by 12:30 am i was so done cutting and taping hearts so i decided to just let her enjoy everyone else's.

i didn't think to take pictures of them immediately so this is after a few showers and some of my hearts had wilted.

~christian's bathroom

 ~lexi's

 ~and matt's mirror.

and yes, i am on the phone. yo auto!

 and then when i got home on valentine's day i found this on my mirror.

alexis and addie made it.

in the middle it says

"just a little thing for all the big things you do!"

love it.

ballanceeeee.

valentines day 2011

this morning i woke up to this.

i love my guy.

 today was the last day of valentines for mi familia. to finish off our 14 day extravaganza, i made up a scavenger hunt for them to find their gifts.

alexis and christian worked on theirs together and then matt helped addie with hers.

from the kitchen the big kids went up to the laundry room.

they made fun of my rhymes and clues, but were laughing the whole time, and that's really the point, right?

to the garage.

then the computer.
 

and up to my room, where they found their gifts.

a zebra body pillow cover for lexi and a nerf basketball hoop for christian.

just small gifts because i loooooove them so much. :)

for addie's scavenger hunt, i just wrote where each clue was. that's hard enough for a 2 year old to figure out. :)

play kitchen.

then up to addie's room.

which still looks like a napping room. :(

to the blanket chest.

this is what frankie thought of all the scavenger hunting.

then they had to search for their gifts in the formal living room.

looking behind the pillows...

yahtzee!

and don't mind her ensemble.

she picked it out after her nap.

she is learning well. before she could even see what it was she was saying "i love it!"

and i love it!

an apron for our cooking projects.

adorable.

then she helped daddy open his charging station. which wasn't really what i thought it was. good thing i got it on clearance. :)

in the midst of all the presents, frankie gave me a little present. she stood up. just for about 2 seconds, but still.

and she's a maniac on the stairs. but i don't want to spill all the (frankie) beans before her 11 month post.

and matt, he might be trainable yet. in addition to my seattle chocolates, he got me the cutest little i-pod shuffle. weeks ago i had talked about wanting an i-pod to take running with me (cause you know how excited i am to start running again, right? and i figure after almost a year, it might be about time.) and he totally paid attention and got it. i was surprised and i love it. and he arranged for the big kids to babysit so we could go out.

bollywood masala.

yum.

and it was a delightfully sweet, simple valentines day.

just perfect.

home from church

yesterday i got to stay home from church with my frank'n'beans.

i shut the door to my bedroom, turned up the space heater and cuddled her for 4 whole hours.

we might not have gone to church, but it was pretty heavenly.

and she looked like a little worried churchmarm, so that's cool too.

my little sickum had thrown up a few times a day since saturday and was running a mild fever.

she slept off on an the whole time, my little cuddle bug.

"she's bald as a ping pong ball, boy is she bald!" :)

i. love. her.

or as addie used to say "i ya her."

flash blink!

chubby cheeks. that i love.

:)

 

i love her baby blues.

i wish i could devote 4 hours every day to cuddling with my wee one.

cobwebs will keep, but babies won't, right?

or something like that.

if you saw my house you'd think i wholeheartedly subscribe to that theory.

when in reality i only halfheartedly do. :)