That thing hanging out of the dog bed, is a real dog. She really is asleep. I really don't need to tell you she is the result of an accidental inbreeding do I? :) This is only one weird thing out of a million she does. The other weirdo in the picture is our beloved Daisy. They both are very special dogs and we do love them very much! They provide a lot of entertainment.

The next few are from the day before Easter. We were priveleged to visit my in-laws for a wonderful lunch.

Our first outdoor meal of the season.

If you can get over the fact that I'm a moron and took this video sideways and I can't figure out how to fix that on the computer...this is really perty funny!

Aren't sisters such a precious gift!

Then there's Emma. Gotta love her :)

And Abigail after a very long day. Her hair was wild!

My husband tried to spoil me on Mother's Day by completely making our lunch. But I think I was more stressed than anything not having any control over the kitchen...at least I got to do the dishes. :) Anyway, he is the most talented artist I know when it comes to design, cartooning, caricatures, creativity...but on this particular day, he must have been very tired. We couldn't help but laugh at how little room he left for the word "Day" on the cake. He had to get a picture so we could remember it.

And you know your kids REALLY like their new sandals when they don't even want to take them off to go to bed.

The trees are bursting with buds here and we had our first taste of the summer that's to come yesterday when the sun was beaming and temperatures rocketed to 75 degrees. It was breathtaking! The girls and I soaked it up. They even danced in the sprinklers and I was so full of joy watching them squeal with delight as the sprinkler passed by them.

As I'm writing, I can hear bellows from the lake of our first thudnerstorm of the season. My poor husband is trying to enjoy the first day of trout season and I know he is getting pelted up north where he is with rain and thunder and wind. I am so sad for him as he has been waiting since January 1st when hunting season ended for this day. It's a holiday to those in the outdoorsman world,  just like opening day of rifle and bow deer season are! I still laugh to remember him making sure before we got married that I knew he would hunt and fish when possible. He just knew he had to be sure I wouldn't whine and complain about it later.

We've been plugging away with our kindergarten homeschool, slowly but surely. I think we're gonna kick it in fifth gear starting this week. I ordered and already have Bailey's 1st grade package and it looks very exciting! I'm really looking forward getting into some more meaty  stuff. Kindergarten has been fun but very foofy (i.e. easy).

I've been having a blast cloth diapering Abigail. I am so sad to know it will likely come to an end by fall. She hasn't shown much interest in using the potty, and I really don't even mind. With Bailey & Emma I was so anxious for potty training so I didn't have to buy pull-up disposable diapers anymore. All of the cloth is in the washer right now but I will do another post later with pictures of what we have and use.

I hope to do at least one post a day again. I'd like to write about a book I've been studying called "Praying the Names of God" which has been such a blessing to me. I also want to show more of what we're doing with our homeschool.

I bought a new wall chart for helping the girls learn their numbers 1-100. You can also use it to learn counting by 2's, 3's, 5's, 10's, & 20's.

Bailey has started trying to write books and she even read her first short story the other day. She's really done so well learning to sound things out and trying to spell on her own. This book took some narrating by her for us to figure out some of the things she tried to write but I will narrate for you with each picture below.

"Emily loves her brother. Her brother loves their brother too."

" They love their mom and dad too."

"Emily loves their friends too."

"Emily loves swinging."

"Emily loves sleeping."

"They get breakfast."

"They love sleeping."

"The end of Bailey's story book."

The girls enjoying a bubbly tub.

Eric's 32nd Birthday Party

Emma's 4th Birthday

Abigail playing with balloons in a most unusual way.

Lastly, here is our Christmas tree this year. Eric set it up. I put the lights on. The girls put the ornaments on...can ya tell. Please don't mind the santa & extra ornaments still on the floor. It was a work in progress ;).

Well, I've been a bit dried up and posted out. I kind of needed a little break and had to decide if I wanted to keep on with the blog or not. I got some feedback from some people very close to me that I sounded like I was being too hard on myself and I had to sit back and reflect what I wanted my blog to be about and I wondered if that was true. I am hard on myself but I've always felt it was for good reason. I don't know. I feel like there are just certain things I have to do well at or I have to do my best at and well, I often fail at even that.

Anyway, I'm back.

Guess what I did while I was away? We invested in some used cloth diapers and have completely switched over! It is so excited to be saving money on diapers and not throwing any more away. I only regret not starting this sooner. I can't imagine how many diapers we've thrown away.

I also got drafted to teach a preschool music/craft class at our homeschool co-op. I have nine 3 & 4 year-olds in there. Let me just say, it is a long 50 minutes :). It's hard to keep them all occupied. But I'm enjoying it and know it is only temporary.

Okay, so I'm thankful we are finally getting some rain, thanks to Gustav. The tippy top of it is finally reaching Michigan today.I don't know how many days it has been with no rain here, but it's been weeks I think. Our yard was crispy!

Also, is Michigan the only place where you can have the air on one day and need the heat the next? Yesterday it was 75 degrees in my house when I turned off my air (I keep it set at 74) and this morning it is 69 and I closed all the windows and it is chilly!!!

That's Michigan for ya...we can go from winter to summer overnight and vice versa. Our spring & fall are not necessarily a season we always get to go through :)

I am happy to report that though I didn’t even come close to waking up at 5:30 today J I did get up enough before the girls that I ate my breakfast, switched the laundry, and got in the shower. Praise the Lord! One other thing that helped my morning tremendously was having the kitchen cleaned last night after supper. I don’t always get that done because since we don’t usually get to eat dinner until almost 7, we spend time after dinner with the girls and putting them to bed then I feel obligated to sit and visit with Eric until bedtime.

But, it was such a huge blessing to me to wake up to a clean kitchen! I didn’t have those dirty, ugly dishes looming over my head and all in all, it was a great morning!

Now on to something else very meaningful to me. I am finally finishing up the book “Passionate Housewives Desperate for God” and I ran up against a quote I just have to pass along.

“ We feed the flesh until it has uncontrollable appetite with a mind of its own—pulling us in the direction of whatever feels good for the moment—led by our own carnal desires. Ironically, it’s an illusion, because the closer we get to what is supposed to “feel good” the worse we actually feel, the more we want, and the more our character suffers.”

This really hit me between the eyes. It has taken some time to build up with me, but I will ashamedly admit that I have let the media’s message of “you deserve it”, “give it to yourself”, “you work hard all day with your kids” get to me. I have allowed myself to give in to those carnal desires of small things that I get extra from the grocery store, or fast food, or whatever it may be. You know what, quite realistically, I don’t deserve a thing! Remember, I am a sinner. What I do deserve is hell. But, Praise the Lord I have been redeemed! Jesus has saved me from disaster and set my feet upon a solid rock. I do not deserve anything but by HIS grace and mercy I get to live forever. He promises me He will meet my needs according to His will.

What I need to give in return is my life’s service and obedience. Is it wrong to pick up an extra pop, snack, meal, of course it’s not. But, is it wrong when I’m borrowing the money from another envelope, when the money isn’t even there sometimes, when I’m not truthful with Eric about it? Yes…even if it was just $1.

I once heard Suze Orman tell a lady that every time she charged something on her credit card that she knew she couldn’t pay for right then, she was lying to herself! I am not sure I will ever forget that! Jesus let it sink in to me that any time I spend money I know isn’t there, I am lying! Surely the Lord doesn’t want me to lie and it is the opposite of living in His will!

I know I got off on a little tangent there but I wanted to explain what that quote from the book meant to me. Because all I got from feeding my carnal nature those little tidbits of I deserve this purse or this or that was GUILT! I never got lasting satisfaction.

My friends and family, I have been struggling for so long with the desire to wake up early and be ready for my day before the children get up. I know that not every mother needs or wants to do that, but it has been a source of great frustration for me. I have probably even talked about it before.

My ultimate goal would be to wake up before 5:30 and get my husband's breakfast ready, including tea or coffee and send him off to work with prayer and kisses. Then I could exercise a little, shower, read my Bible & pray, and then get started on any housework needed tending to before my girls wake up. Then when the girls woke up I'd want them to come to the table for breakfast together and afterwards we could read the Bible and pray. While I'm cleaning up the kitchen I'd like them to make their beds, dress, and brush their teeth. Then I'd love to do circle time and what we have for school that day. I am sure that if I could do all that on most days, my life would flow a lot easier, my days would be a lot less cluttered and chaotic, and I would feel less stressed.

However, my life for almost the past two years has been completely the opposite. My girls wake me up most days and they are sure I get up and if I don't they go back to their room and play and usually end up arguing and that is no way to start our days! Then I crawl out to the kitchen where there is usually a pile of dishes in the sink and just little things here and there that are never put away that drive me nuts and make me irritable. I spend time on the computer while the girls watch Caillou and eat their breakfast (which is another whole thing in itself). Then they eventually get dressed and some days they make their beds. I eventually shower and wake up and I hate spending the time doing all that while they're awake. I feel it is selfish of me to not have that all done before they get up. Anyway, the whole point here is I have no real routine, no schedule, no order to my life.

Prior to marriage, I was a neat-freak, order-guru, and loved organizing! But over the years, and especially after children, that all fell to the wayside. Now I have neat little piles of papers that I keep in a few different locations, which also drive me crazy. But I can't seem to get on top it all. I've read a few books, prayed about it a lot, but something just isn't working for me.

I've see Flylady and it seems a bit overwhelming to me. I ordered a book a couple weeks ago called The Complete Guide to Getting and Staying Organized: *Manage Your Time *Eliminate Clutter and Experience Order *Keep Your Family First  and I hope it arrives soon. I am sure it will be here any day. I don't know if it will provide any more revelations to me I haven't already seen but I am desperate for change.

I have tried setting my alarm cold turkey for 5:30. I've tried backing it up every week by a half hour until I get there. It is not a matter of the time for me, it is just getting up period. I have been like that as long as I can remember. I just love laying in my nice, warm, comfy bed and hate getting out of it. But once I get my shower I'm good!

Please pray for me as I learn to wholly lean on God in this area of my life and attempt to do what's been impossible for me! Thanks for letting me get all that out

Here are some pics from our weekend in Mackinaw. We had a great time but of course wish it could have lasted longer!

My 5 year-old brought this to me this morning and I thought it was about the cutest thing I'd ever seen. It says... BAILEY EMMA MOM DAD ABIGAIL MY FAMILY. I love the way she attempted to spell it all by herself. The last picture is the other side of the marker board, where she drew our pictures :) 

You let your children run free with the camera. I laughed so hard when I loaded our memory card on the computer and saw these.

I ended up getting my hair cut Saturday. I was 50/50 with the decision and just went with it. I knew either way I'd want it the other way. So, now I have something new and can grow it out again...which is always fun!

The beautiful brunette in one of those pictures is my best friend and former college roomie. Her name is Angeline and you can see her blog here.

Bailey tasting hot and spicy pork rinds Emma tasting hot and spicy pork rinds Lucy jumping up to Eric

I'm sorry for this one but I had to share. I let her be a little while after I heard her awake from her nap because she was being good in there. I should have known when they're quiet it's never good! I'm not sure Bailey liked holding her hair They were very happy when we got home and wanted to take picture after picture after picture.

Now this is my current hair and I'm thinking of getting it cut again. I had my sweetie take my picture from the last time I got all my hair cut off and photoshop it a little taking more off the way I'd get it cut now if I decide to do that. What do you think? (That's my dad with me)

And the maybe what it could be...Please disregard the garbled shoulder and neck...he had to paste that area from the other picture and I don't really look deformed like that . Plus I'm sure my hair will be a little thicker than that but it's just a rough guess.

We have been talking about cutting our daughters' hair for a while now. Our main problem is brushing their hair. We use conditioner and even a tangle spray but it doesn't seem to help or matter.

Our 5 year-old daughter's hair is about 8" below her shoulders and is beautiful if we take the time to curl it or it has been french braided wet all night so that it is kinky the next day, otherwise, it is stringy and always looks unbrushed (even minutes after brushing it). So, we have been talking about cutting hers to above her shoulders. She has been undecided but is excited for a cut. She's a bit of a princess and more into her looks than her younger sister, which makes me a little nervous for her to be sad after a big cut.

Then our 3 year-old. Her hair is very long, to the bottom of her back. The last few inches of the under layer are spring curls and so very pretty but again, brushing it is almost impossible. Most of the time it just hangs in her face and it can be very very pretty but it takes a lot of care. I am very undecided about cutting much of hers off. I'm thinking of just doing some bangs to help get the rest out of her face and dealing with the tangles for now. I might get nauseas cutting her curls off.

Any advice mommies who have been there? Our 3 year-old has never had her hair cut, except the three times we had to cut gum out of her hair. I am pretty sure about cutting the older's hair, even though it will be very sad for me to see it go. I really do not know what to do about the middle daughter's hair though. I don't know if the salon will be of any help either. We've never been to this one, it is just for kids.

Thank you for any advice!

I don't remember why but my goofy sweetie taught this to Bailey about a year ago. I love that voice on camera...sounds so cute! This one is really short. You might have to play it a couple times :). Again, before viewing video you'll want to pause my music.