this is the stuff.

I don't know how many times I've heard this song.
But I had never really listened to it until today.
A friend posted it on her Facebook and said it was going to be her new theme song.
I think it should be mine, too.



Losing my keys.
Losing my phone.
Getting pulled over.
Getting caught at a train when we're running late.
Only being able to find one baby shoe.
Trying to wrestle a light brite peg out of a dog's mouth.
Rushing to make a cold lunch and then having it get left at home.
Paying late fees on bills.
Not being able to balance the checkbook.
Spilled milk.
Spilled Kool-Aid.
Spilled dog water.
Spilled flour.
Cat vomit.
Never ending laundry.
Messy house.

This is the stuff
That drives me crazy
This is the stuff
That's getting to me lately


In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I'm blessed


So break me of impatience
Conquer my frustrations


I've been stressed lately.
Impatient.
Frustrated.
Feeling a little crazy.
Letting lots of little things get under my skin.
At school. Home. Life.

This song is just the reminder I needed.
Instead of getting frustrated, I need to remember how blessed I am.
Blessed to have 3 healthy children.
Blessed to have a job.
Blessed to have the opportunity to be an influence on the lives of 19 little people each day.
Blessed to have a wonderful husband. Wonderful family. Wonderful friends.
Blessed to have a house. And enough toys and clothes to make it messy.
Blessed to be sitting in a warm van while I'm waiting on a long, slow train.
Blessed to have money to pay the bills. And the late fees.
So many blessings. So much to be thankful for.

Praying that I can change my perspective.
Look for the blessings amidst the chaos and frustration and mess.

In the middle of my little mess, 
I forget how big I'm blessed. 

I'm going to remember.
I'll try really, really hard to remember.

not so organized.

I think some of you may have gotten the wrong idea about me. 

I keep getting emails and comments from people about how super organized I am. 

Yeah... not always so much. 

I do love to organize. I love to be organized. I love when things are clean and clutter free and look organized. 

But that's not really how my life looks. 

Do you have one of those friends that always has a clean and organized house? 

She has children. Even small children. 

But for some reason, her house doesn't look like she has children. 

You go to her house and end up just feeling bad about yourself and your messy house?? 

I'm not that friend. I promise.

I took some pictures on our snow day to prove it... 

(The egg carton is empty. I get freaked out when people leave things that should be refrigerated just sitting out.)

 The drop zone when you walk in the back door. Lovely, isn't it? 

The toy room, across from the table/drop zone. It tends to spread. 

 The Hoosier cabinet in the dining room. (Most of this is Corey's cattle stuff. I've gotten in trouble for moving his stuff.)

We eat at the other end of the table, so this end tends to get a bit cluttered.  

3 laundry baskets. Clean, waiting to be folded.  

More clean laundry, mine, mostly folded, just needing to be put away. (Actually, Corey was just telling me the other day how much he loves it when I do this. Or not.) 

I wish I had a picture of my desk at school. You generally can't see the top of it. The kind of place where I know exactly where things are (Most of the time. Still can't find my fall DRA's...) but no one else wants to even attempt to look for things. ("Um... where is your conference schedule??") 

Yes, I love to organize. 

Yes, I love to be organized. 

But generally, my life looks pretty unorganized. 

There is some organization underneath all the chaos, but sometimes you have to look pretty hard. 

Would I love to have a clean, clutter-free, always organized house? Yes. 

But we have 3 small kids and I work full time. And I would rather be lazy and watch TV and relax in the evenings after the kids go to bed.

So my house looks like this a lot of the time. 

A sweet friend used to share this quote: 

If you're coming to see me, come anytime. 

If you're coming to see my house, call first. 

Come anytime. 

I promise you won't feel bad about yourself.  :)

snow day!

Sleeping late... 

Baking cookies... 

Fun surprise for the mailman... 

Sweet, sweet baby... 

Hanging out in the dog kennel... 

1000 craft sticks... (minus a few we used for another project) 

plus a hot glue gun... 

equals some quiet time for Mommy. 

We never get snow days.
Seriously.
Today's ice day was such a fun surprise.

sophie's country.

I was finally sorting through a stack of school papers tonight and found this story that Sophie had written awhile back...

My contrys name is Sophiealeenalaveena. The main food is cupcakes. The main drinks are sparkle drinks. The main shoes are high heels. The main dresses are sparkle dresses. The main animals are pandas. The contry is only for girls. The main insect is a sparklefly. The contry flag is a sparkleflag. The main langwige is inglish. The capitl is Sparkle.


Now picture lots of drawings of rainbows, cupcakes, butterflies (or maybe it's a sparklefly) and bears.

Love this creative little girl of mine.

chocolate.

Another easy gift idea... (Thank you, again, eighteen25!) 

Although if you do leave this little gift for someone... maybe someone who cleans your house every couple weeks... and maybe you are thankful, just because they help make your life a little easier... and so you leave a little note saying, "You deserve more than chocolate!"

If you do leave them a little note like that, you should make sure to actually pay them that day.
Otherwise it makes you look kind of stupid.

reading.

We're not the kind of good parents who read to our babies when they are tiny.
Pretty sad for a teacher, huh?
But we've been lucky.
All three of our kids have reached a certain point when all of a sudden, they love to be read to.
Sophie was earlier than the others, I think. And she liked long books. Actual stories. And she didn't just want to point to and talk about the pictures. She wanted you to read it.

Lawson loved playing with books for a long time. Throwing them, mainly. I remember thinking that maybe it was because he was a boy. But then one day, he was bringing us book after book. He still loves to be read to. I'm pretty sure he would sit on my lap and read for hours.

Now, someone else has reached that point. She brings us books from her little basket of board books and does her little grunt/head bob that means "pick me up and read this book to me." And then she does her little sign language sign my sister made up years ago that means "do it again." And again and again and again.

Love this picture. This little girl adores her daddy. 

This book is her favorite...

I love this little miss. 

And I love that she loves to read. 

I hope she always does. 

snowman.

This dog loves the snow! 

The part I don't love about the kids playing out in the snow...