It's the third one that gets ya.

Pin It I am that mom.

Those of you with just one child know who that mom is. Those of you with more than one know too, but you don't have the time or energy to put into it.

Let me tell you how I discovered that I was that mom.

Picture mom and three kids getting out of the car at Target.

Oldest kid pops out, she matches and looks fine. This has nothing to do with the mom though, this child is ten and is starting to care about such things.

Middle kid pops out of the car. (Yes, if you're wondering, there WAS a fight over who could open the car door. Oldest child won.) Mom looks at middle child ... almost in horror. "Um, please tell me that you brushed your hair today. Please please please, even if it's a lie, tell me that you brushed your hair today. And your teeth." In my defense - this child's hair looks like it hasn't been brushed immediately after brushing it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. My blog, my story. Okay, so we excuse middle child's state of disarray.

Then the youngest. Oh my. Have I even looked at this child today? His face is dirty. His shirt is big. He's wearing black pants and blue crocks. ahem ... with a purple shirt. SIGH.

And then to make matters even worse, I start to ask myself if *I* have brushed my teeth and hair. Makeup ... well that's laughable, I know the answer to that. Oh dear Lord, please tell me that I AT LEAST brushed my teeth.

This would never have happened when I just had one. If we had left the house, she would have been dressed well, down to the hairbow. With two children, well, they were both girls and it was fun to match them up, so they were always dressed sweetly too.

Then came kid #3.

Another thing I've noticed. I've gone downhill as well. Kid #1, I giggled at "that mom" because *I* was together. I wouldn't leave the house without makeup and I would NEVER be sitting in the Target parking lot trying to remember if I had brushed my teeth! Kid #2, I probably wouldn't have makeup on, and my hair might be in a pony tail, but I would never need to question if I had accidentally forgotten to brush my teeth or to make sure I had matching socks on. Kid #3 ... and I've fallen apart. AND HE IS AN EASY KID. Seriously - it's not the kid at all. Even my difficult kid is easy now.

I think there is something that comes out of a woman's body with each successive pregnancy, and after kid #3, it's gone and normal, together moms become THAT mom.

So now you know. Those of you with one child, your turn is coming. You too will be that mom. And don't say you won't. I used to be a together mom too.

No 'not me'?

Pin It Nope, no not me this week.

This would be because I've had a perfect week. Nothing went wrong, nothing silly happened, I didn't make a fool out of myself even one time. The kids behaved like angels, didn't fight over the car door at all, and the girls did their school work with happy hearts every day this week. We all ate healthy food all week and were the ideal loving family all week long.

Okay, I'm sure those of you who know me well are rolling on the floor laughing right about now.

I really was just too busy to keep track.

One of those days ...

Pin It I'm tired of being emotional. I honestly feel like I'm being led around completely by emotions. I want to get to a place in my life where I'm not "under the circumstances" any longer. I just don't know how to get there!

There are several stressful things going on in my life right now - I'm stressing because we're behind in our schoolwork. I'm stressing because Jim hasn't been paid, and well, we need it. I'm stressing because a responsibility I have at church. I'm stressing because of some changes that have gone on at home. I'm stressing because it's entirely possible that a strong wind will leave a big tree limb in my kitchen. I'm stressing because I'm tired of letting Brendan play in the backyard and kind of forgetting that the fence is gone. I'm stressing because there are a lot of things for which I have no control, and I WANT TO BE IN CONTROL!!

That's what it ALL boils down to -- control. I think we all have this illusion that we have control over our lives. Newsflash -- we don't. Of course there are areas over which we have control, but ultimately, we are not in control. It doesn't matter how much money is in the bank, how much food is in the fridge, or how much insurance you have on your house. These things all give us the illusion of control, but banks can fail, power can go out, and all that insurance may come with a $3000 deductible.

Wow, this is depressing.

There is good news though - there is a God, and He knows our names, and He loves us. He IS in control, and if He is leading us through something, somehow or other, whether we ever even see it, it WILL benefit us in some way. Maybe teaching us to trust Him, or maybe reminding us that we need to ease up on those reigns a little, or maybe to bring us some obvious blessing that we'll realize later. Or maybe we'll have to wait until we're face to face with Him. (At which time, honestly, we probably won't even care, as the awesomeness of being in the presence of God will likely wipe out everything else.)

After typing all of this, I realize there really wasn't a huge point to this post, except that I want to get from the first paragraph to the one just before this one in my heart rather than just in my head. I want to live above my circumstances ... all the time, no matter what the circumstances are. Father God, that is my prayer for today; that You would give me the wisdom to look beyond what's here and now to see that the various circumstances in my life are shaping me into the person You want me to be, and to focus on that rather than the circumstance.

Not Me Monday

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Yep, it's Monday again ... well almost. I cheated a little and posted this early.

Y'all should go to mckmama's blog and read through the "not me's". HILARIOUS reading! Plus it's just a good feeling to know that I'm not the only one who ... um ... DOESN'T do some really silly things!

1. I did not read in Consumer Reports that a bowl of Sugar Smacks has as much sugar as a donut. I did not use this to justify in my mind that since we do occasionally eat sugar smacks, it would be perfectly acceptable to feed my children donuts for breakfast. I'm way more concerned about nutrition than that.

2. I did not, on my productive Sunday morning, take the trash out just after Jim left for work and lock myself out of the house. I did not have to a) try to break into my house, b) realize that I would make a lousy burglar, give up on breaking in, and try to wake up my son, and c) give up on that idea after realizing I'd have to stand in the middle of my plants in the front and scare him to death pounding on his window, and d) decide to go wake up the heaviest sleeper in the house, only to realize that the back door had been unlocked the whole time. I did not go through all of this while wearing leopard print pajama pants.

3. I did not double the dose on Brendan's cough medicine, thinking that if the regular dose knocks him out in 30 minutes, a double dose would knock him out in 15. You don't need to call CPS, I *REALLY* didn't. And I didn't think about either. Not for one second. Or 37. (Seriously - I really did not overdose my baby!)

4. I did not go see the movie Fireproof with my husband and end up so distracted by Kirk Cameron that I missed some of the movie. I'm way too mature for things like that. I did totally remember being a kid and watching Growing Pains every chance I got just so I could drool over him and his total blazer with the sleeves rolled up coolness though. (Fireproof is a FABULOUS movie, btw! GO SEE IT with your husband!!)

5. Finally, once again, I did not procrastinate this week. My co-op stuff was all done in plenty of time, my list was made for the insurance guy way before this morning, the girls practiced their AWANA stuff long before Sunday afternoon, and my school plans for the week were all written up before the week began. I'm just on top of things that way. And I would never ever procrastinate. :-P

What is this strange feeling?

Pin It I've had a strange feeling the past couple of days. It's foreign to me, or maybe foreign isn't the right word. It's been a while since I've had this feeling, so I didn't even recognize it at first!

It's GOOD.

I've been feeling well lately. (Sorry, the grammar police that's inside me would not allow me to say I've been feeling GOOD lately. But I digress.)

Friday night I had energy, I think I laughed out loud several times, I enjoyed my family, I didn't just collapse into a puddle towards the end of the day. Weird for me. Saturday I had a great day and learned a ton at a fabulous parenting conference. Even my computer monitor going out was okay. I was bummed and walked sadly by the computer about 30 times, but no tears, so life was good. LOL Saturday evening we went to buy a new monitor and on a whim, I let the kids drag me through Petco and was thoroughly amused at Brendan's complete joy in every. single. animal. there.

This morning I woke up early worried that my air conditioner was broken. When I realized that it was a user error rather than an expensive problem, I've just been feeling joyful. I spent my morning productively - cleaned the fridge, supper is in the crockpot, I'm ready for Bible study, dishes are done, kids are ready for church.

Life is good.

I hope this feeling sticks around for a while. It's nice to feel like this!

Just feeling thankful today

Pin It Do you ever wake up and just feel thankful? There hasn't been a whole lot of that going on here lately, so I thought I'd share.

I am thankful for the big things - a God who loves me even when I sit around and whine about the blessings He has given me, a husband who puts up with my whims and moods, children who really are sweet and fun and funny and cute, for a fabulous and supportive extended family, and for the privilege of being close to these people. Also for the reminder to not take any of these people for granted.

I'm also thankful for smaller things - that our Homesat teacher, Mrs. Overly, lets me pop her into my dvd player every day to teach English to my 2nd grader. I'm afraid that without her, our English lessons would not be pretty. They're a bit of a struggle even with her, so the very thought of her not being here makes me shudder. Likewise, Mr. Demme in math. How much easier you have made our lives! Mrs. Walker ... oh my, I can't come up with enough good things to say about Mrs. Walker. If I ever had any desire to become a reading teacher, please let me be just like her. I am thankful for the ability to homeschool my kids, even on the days when I feel like grabbing them up and chasing down the nearest schoolbus.

I am thankful for friends!! I went so long without friends between the time I got married and the time I moved here. After praying and praying during that time, it is such a humongous blessing to have friends! hm, this should probably be moved up on the list before the homesat teachers. My friends do way more to keep me sane than the homesat teachers! LOL

Okay, I have way more to add here, but the little darlings I referred to above are about to kill each other ... so ... this post is to be continued later. (Way to go kids ... fighting with each other as I type how thankful I am for you! LOL)

It's another installment of "Not Me Monday!"

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Okay, what am I going to confess to not doing today?

I did not hide a bag of GOOD chocolate and not share a single piece with any member of my family. Nor did I eat half of that bag in two days. I would not do that because it's important to lead by example in teaching my children to share. Except for the really good stuff. Like yummy chocolate.

I did not spend about three days folding clothes for a church project and yet ignore all of the laundry at my own house. I do not currently have a mountain of laundry here that needs to be dealt with. I will also not send my kids to dig through the mountain when they would like to put on clean clothes. And while we're on this topic ... I would just like to say that I would not encourage my children to wear sandals in October simply because I'm just not ready to deal with socks yet. (In my defense - this is Texas, and I think it was 88 degrees today. Perfectly appropriate to wear sandals, even in October. Not that they did ... I'm just sayin'.)

And, knowing that co-op is resuming today, I did not put off getting my supplies out until last night. Late last night. I am always prepared, so I'd never do anything at the last minute. Really, I wouldn't. I'm just like that. :-P

My children are well behaved little angels. The girls did not fight EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. over who would open and who would shut the door of the van. Of all things. Who on earth would seriously fight over who would open and close a door? And I did not, on a day when we had several errands to run, threaten to leave them at various places if I heard one more argument about who was going to get out of the car first. I did not commend the older one for being concerned with her sister's safety when she told her she had to wait until I had taken the keys out of the car before unbuckling her car seat. It did not dawn on me until later that the purpose of that commendation was so that the older one could OPEN the car door, which evidently is better than having to CLOSE the car door. If MY children HAD done such crazy and annoying things, I would have handled it appropriately rather than just getting angry with them and saying things like "No one is ever allowed to go anywhere out of the house again!!!" Good thing my kids didn't do that.

And now I need to get this posted so that I can go over my co-op stuff. Again. Not for the first time or anything like that. Just a refresher.

Red Light Green Light Kitty

Pin It My kids think this is the most hilarious thing they've ever seen. When the two older kids send the 3 year old in to tell me to put it on my blog after them telling me themselves 37 times, I must give in.

Enjoy.