Night #1 -  #2 lost her other front tooth.  We were all so excited, because that thing has looked so funny hanging there next too a big gaping space where its twin used to reside.  She was so excited about the tooth fairy.  However, when bed time came, she forgot to put her tooth under her pillow.  She awoke with the claim that she didn't know where it was. 

Isn't she cute? 

Night #2  - I pointed out the location of the missing tooth.  It was hiding out in the open... on the kitchen counter.  A few short hours later, sweet #2 forgot to put her tooth under her pillow.  The tooth fairy was completely prepared, but she left the tooth on the counter.

Night #3 rolls around, and mommy is out for a girls' night.  She is so tired when she returned that she completely FORGOT that the tooth fairy needed to come.

My poor little girl was devestated!  She cried and cried.  We made up some lame excuse about the tooth fairy being swamped at the time of year, and she bought it.... Kinda.

Night #4 is upon us.  Mommy is terribly sick and in bed.  Daddy pinch hits by taking the tooth and NOT LEAVING MONEY!!!!

You can only imagine the devastation. 

Night #5.  The tooth fairy makes a beautiful note with glitter and all.  She slaves away with glue and glitter.  Have you ever tried to hide glitter evidence?  Not an easy task! 

She slips it and the money under the pillow.  She nearly slipped and killed #3 in her sleep, but all was all when the tooth fairy went to bed.

Morning broke all too early, and the house was coming to life.  A very, very sad little girl comes downstairs to inform the tooth fairy, I mean, her mom that the tooth fairy has yet again left her high and dry.  She has given up now. The tooth fairy must hate her and never plan on coming.  I tried to convince her to go up and look again.  I told her that I had checked and saw something under her pillow. 

A few minutes later she returned.... she has decided she has forgiven the tooth fairy because the tooth fairy paid interest on the missing days.

The only problem is that the kids got together and really think that they have it all figured out.  For some reason they think that I am the tooth fairy.  It was just something in the way that I said that I checked earlier... stinkin kids!

I was waken  from a night of continued torture from my stomach bug, by crying children.  #1's beloved guinea pig was found dead this morning.  Last night, I was jolted from slumber by news of her sickness, and we were afraid that this was coming soon.  #1 takes these things so hard!  He has lost one guinea pig previously and two gerbils.  I know that one of the reasons that it is good for kids to have pets is to experience life and death, but it doesn't make it any easier on them.  He is very close to his pigs, and he was truly devastated. 

We buried sweet Milky Way in the back yard near her pet predecessors. 

I promised #2 that I would take her garage saling for some mommy and me time.  She didn't seem to really care that I was fighting this stomach bug, so off we went.  We had a lot of fun just talking and holding hands from sale to sale.  She reminded me that when #3 got to do this, she got lunch at McD's afterwards, so we headed there next.  I enjoyed just listening to her talk.  She is the child that I have the hardest time really "getting."  I love her dearly, yet sometimes I just don't understand her.  I enjoyed having today to just listen to her.  She chatted on and on about all the wonderful things she could make and her plans for this or that.  She was delighted with the FAVORITE meal - chicken nuggets, apple dippers, and chocolate milk.  We headed home.

I took to cleaning the dreaded kitchen window.  The window is one of the very few windows we haven't replaced. It is old and in bad repair, and is AWFUL to clean. It requires a ladder and two people.  Jp helped which made the nastiness go faster, and it is amazing how much a clean window can brighten a kitchen!  When I said that, JP looked at me like I had grown an extra ear or something.  He is just a man you know! 

We decided to tackled the berry picking next.  I love blackberries, but they are painful work.  I have made 10 pints of jam already, but really wanted to get more done, so off I went to the berries.  I dragged the kids out there as my reluctant help with my mantra of "He who does not work, does not eat!"  They didn't seem to think that was quite fair, but they tried anyway. 

When #4 woke up from his nap, the whole family headed down the trail at the end of our street.  It heads into the local park.  We went armed with a berry bucket, BB gun, and two excited puppies.  We picked another entire bucket of berries just on ONE trail.  Again, the kids weren't much help, but they tried.  We are going to head down another path tomorrow.

In the midst of the berry picking, #2 decided I had to have some wild flowers.  She knows that daisies are my favorite. 

I promised them that if they helped pick the  berries, I would make a blackberry pie. One major problem.  I have NEVER made a blackberry pie.  So, I trusted ole Betty Crocker. I figure she has been doing it alot longer than I have, so I began.  I was quite proud of myself.  I even attempted the lattice top!  I was so excited with myself by the second one, I called JP from his spot on the couch to come see!  I made him take my picture!

After I slipped my beloved creations in the oven, I glanced around my kitchen and sighed. What a mess for two little pies and 5 more pints of jam!

Here are the finished products.  I forgot to put tin foil around the crust edge so my edges are quite done, but hey it was my first shot.  I don't think that they are half bad.  I hope the taste great!

After all the all was done, and I wanted the kids to head to baths and bed, JP decided that they should light of some more bottle rockets.  It just seemed like the SENSIBLE thing to do.  At least they had fun. 

For some reason, they can't shoot them out of a BOTTLE.  They use our unused plumbing supplies to shoot them like a BAZOOKA. 

We even had to finish the night off with sparklers!

All I can say is...  WHAT A GREAT DAY!

A few days ago, my friends and I were having a discussion about motherhood.  We all love being a mom, but constantly worry about being a good mom.  This lead to the discussion of what even makes a good mom? 

I know that there exactly a checklist one can refer to when striving to be a good mom!  Books are countless on the topic.  I know that the Bible describes many attributes of a mother.  We can always refer to Proverbs 31 as an example of a virtuous woman, but frankly she scares me sometimes.  The second I start thinking about working from morning to night, sewing, milking cows, spinning wheat, selling in the market place, and making linens I get flat out DEPRESSED! 

I think of my meager offerings as a mother and know I can never live up to that superwoman!  Isn't is our job to love our children's father, love our children, and teach them in the ways of the Lord?  Isn't that what makes a good mom?  I believe that if we are LOVING our children in the love of the LORD, doesn't so much of the other stuff fall into place?

We also were discussing LIKING your children.  I think that if most moms are honest aren't there days we just have a hard time liking our children!  I love our children dearly. I would throw myself in front of a moving train to save them.  It would kill me to lose one of them.  However, there are some days I don't really even like them or want to see them at that particular moment.  Now, before you can child services on me, please be honest enough to admit you have been there too! 

I felt like this more when we were home all day every day.  We were homeschooling, and we spent nearly ever moment of every day together.  A few days of coloring on walls, endless whining, and constant sibling fighting would make anyone consider suicide.  Okay, so not really suicide, but thoughts of running away have run through my mind at times.  I would NEVER do it, nor am I being completely serious, but some days were very hard. 

Does that make one a bad mom?  If we really have a hard time defining a good mom, can we really define a BAD mom?  I know that an abuser would be top of the list, but I don't know how many times that I have heard someone say, "Well, she just isn't a good mom."  Well, WHY?  Who knows that? 

I don't have the answer, and I don't even know what this post really is about.  This has just been on my mind lately.  We so often judge others and OURSELVES  about motherhood, but if we are loving our children and teaching them in the ways of the Lord, aren't we really doing our job?  Isn't that we are comanded to do. 

I get very tired of the constant guilt of motherhood.  We feel guilty if we do too much; we feel guilty if we do too little.  We fight guilt in so many ways, but can't we silence those voices by feeling confident in our God given role of a mother?  We are to love them and teach them.  It doesn't say that there aren't days we want to clobber the little darlings!  We are to LOVE them, and TEACH them. 

I guess if you are still feeling guilty you could go spin some wheat or something...

My husband told the girls "sure, you can use the camera!"  They only got away with this because they asked him while I was NAPPING!  You see, I am the cautious one.  I am the one who usually has to say no and be the bad guy.  Well, sleeping makes being the bad guy more difficult.   They had the camera.

What does a 5 and 7 year old do with a camera?  Set up a photo shoot of course!

What is more exciting that an American Girl doll on the couch?

Oh Let's take a picture of our Big Brother.  Big shock... he is playing a video game!

They must have got bored with their photo shoot.  They moved on to bigger and better things.

#3 took a picture of her feet in the kitchen. 

They took a picture of the pictures on the walls...

And the classic pose that everyone has to try....

I love being a mommy to girls. I really do.  I didn't want girls, but I am so glad saw so differently. 

Tonight I am sitting in  my relatively clean home.  Now, to some of you, this may not be a novelty, but to me...

It has been over a year since I have been able to feel like this.  The living room is actually a living room again.  The kids are sleeping in their rooms.  They may be unfinished, but they are all sleeping in their own spaces.  All the main lving areas are "together."  I can not describe how good that feels, and I can only imagine how it will feel when the house is actually done! 

I have made it my goal to really try and teach the kids to respect the space that is ours.  We have allowed them to carry on in their disastrous little ways, and I have had to attempt to keep it all somewhat coordinated.  I move the messes from place to place anytime someone may step into the house, and we just deal.  I can't do that! I crave a neater environment, but I can't do it alone.  I have been pacing myself, and not trying to heap too much on them at once. They are children!  I just feel that they CAN and WILL learn that messes can't clean themselves.

I have been struggling with this house since we have moved.  I still have a disastrous garage and basement, and I have to conquer that mountain this summer, so we can begin the school year completely together!  I have a laundry room downstairs that looks like a tornadowent through it.  We are planning a garage sale, but I don't know when.  I have been warning the kids that a major purging is going to take place.  We do NOT need so much stuff!  Why do we need all this stuff?  We are just addicted to STUFF!  We have to clean house!

School is coming sooner than we would like to admit, and summer is fleeting.  My dear 7 year old was explaining to her little sister that this was the last full month of summer vacation.  AWWWWW!!!!  I am not ready to think about that yet!

Tonight as we were running around putting out the little fires that would become huge messes in just a few days, my kids kept asking things like 'who is coming over?"  and "Are we having company?"

No... we are doing it for our family to enjoy.