Book recommendation

I'm in the middle of reading a book called Because I Said So, written by Dawn Meehan.


You can check out the book description here on Amazon's website: Because I Said So

I first 'met' Dawn a couple of years ago. A friend forwarded to me her ebay listing for a pack of Pokemon cards.

No, I wasn't in the market for Pokemon cards.

Dawn's ebay listing had this hilarious anecdote about WHY she was listing this pack of cards. (Her kids snuck it into her grocery cart without her knowledge) After laughing for a good while, I forwarded a link to the ebay listing on to a few other people. It was just too good to not share!

A few days later, my sister Rita sent me a link to Dawn's blog. She'd stumbled upon it and thought I might like to check it out. Dawn's blog was filled to the brim with more humorous stories of being a stay-at-home mom to six children. I was instantly a follower.

Anyway, a number of people suggested to Dawn that she write a book. Her humor is just too much to be kept on the internet. Dawn got a book deal and began writing. Her book was finally published and was available to the public for purchase as of April 1, 2009.

Knowing my little town library wouldn't have it, I asked my favorite librarian if she thought they'd be ordering it. She put in a request for me with the head librarian that they order it. And they DID!!

So now I'm in the middle of reading this book, and let me tell you, I'm LAUGHING MY ARSE OFF!!! I highly recommend this book to every single mother alive. Especially new mothers. ;)

Dad is home!!!

Just wanted to update everyone that Dad is finally back home! I'm sure he's thrilled to be able to eat real food once again. I'm personally excited that it'll be so much easier to bring the kids over to visit with him.....if nothing else, I won't be paranoid about William laying on the floor to play with his trucks and tractors!

So, a big THANK YOU to all of you pray-ers out there. God is good!

Shoutout to D!

I just wanted to send a shoutout to D, Gordon's boss' wife. Gordon was recently helping D fix her computer and he showed her my blog. Gordon tells me he bookmarked it for D, so she may be checking in from time to time to see what we're all up to. Dunno if you're reading this right now, but here's a happy wave to you, D!! Thanks for checking in with our Crazy Family!!!

.....for those curious, NO her name is NOT really D. It simply starts with the letter D. I'm trying to be all covert and to protect the innocent and such.... ;)

The road to Hell...

....is paved with good intentions. I'm surely headed there, with all of my good intentions.

I had every intention to meet the Project 365 challenge. It's not happening. At this rate, it's going to end up being more like a Project 299 by the end of the year.

I'm going to continue trying to take a picture a day, but if I miss a day I'm not going to get upset. Ok, maybe I'll be sad. But I'll try to move on anyway.

Besides, the bright side here is that I already have more pictures of my children and family from this year than I would have had otherwise. And I certainly have far more pictures of Baby Nora than I do of any of my other babes. (Bucking the 'baby only has one picture from his/her childhood' trend without even intending to!)

I had every intention of reading at least 35 books this year. I've gotten a slow start to this one, but I'm confident that I can still do it. I've read 7 books so far. Not a good average. But the summer weather is coming and I plan on taking advantage of it! I can sit outside and watch the children play while I read in the shade. (After I'm done weeding the vegetable garden!) A few well-chosen page turners and I'll be back on track before I know it.

And now I really must sign off. It's almost 7:30am and I'm still sitting in my bathrobe. Nora's been chattering away in her crib for a good 10 minutes, which means I'm on borrowed time. The big girls are both heading off on school field trips today, so I need to get their lunches packed and make sure nothing is forgotten.

Yup. Nora just let out a fuss. Time for Momma to say goodbye for now. Have a GREAT Wednesday!!

Treehouse pics

As promised, here are pictures of the treehouse as it was in the making......it's still not 100% completed, but there are now rails alongside the 'deck' and there is a permanent stair/ladder. Things have been hectic here, but I'll try to take another couple of pictures in the next few days.

Update: Spring Break is over

Spring Break is over. Gordon and the big girls went back to work/school early Monday morning. Will went back to preschool this morning. Everyone is returning to their normal schedules.

What's that you ask? You want to know what projects we got done over Spring Break?

Well, first let me give you a hint.....only one of the major projects on the to-do list got done.

Disappointed that it was only one project? Don't be! It was THE MOST IMPORTANT project on the list. A project that Gordon's been meaning to get around to for some time now, but has always been pushed aside for another day.

Any guesses?

It's not that we ripped a hole in the wall between the front hall and the diningroom, because there still isn't a hole (or finished doorway) there yet.

It's not that we finally finished the downstairs bath, because that's still needing the final steps to prep the walls for paint.

It's not that the pine trees out front were cut down and chipped up. They're still standing there. As dead as ever. Dropping branches to the ground with every passing breeze.

The basement is still a work in progress.

There is no mop sink in the garage.

The rosebushes at the end of my driveway are still a tangled mess, as always.

Give up guessing??

Let me just tell you!

Gordon built a treehouse.

The big girls, Grace in particular, have been asking Gordon to build a treehouse for at least the last three years. Good thing he finally got it built -- if he'd waited too many more years, she'd be asking him to build her a little cottage to move in to instead!

The treehouse is not 100% completed -- Gordon and the girls want to paint it and I'd like to hang a windowbox full of pretty flowers outside the window Gordon installed. But the girls can use it!

Where are the pictures, you ask? They're where all of my pictures usually are -- sitting in the memory card in my camera, waiting to be uploaded. I promise to try to get them uploaded asap so you can see the beauteous creation that Gordon and Grace dreamed up.

Spring Break

Today is the first official day of the big girls' Spring Break vacation from school. Gordon took this week off from work too. Though it'd be nice to go away somewhere, we won't. Too much to do around here this week!

Hopefully we'll be able to scratch a few items off the big list of projects to do. I've got some Build A Bear Stuff for Stuff Certificates, so it may be nice to go to the mall with the kids and use those before they expire. I also want to take the kids letterboxing at least once this week.

The list of wants and needs to be done for this week is endless, really. No way it'll all get done. Check back for updates and possible pictures to see how our week shapes up.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all of our far-flung friends and family!! Hope you are all having a glorious time celebrating Christ's resurrection.

I have pictures of the kidlets all dolled up today. Figured you'd all like to see. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

Moving in the right direction

I'm feeling less and less overwhelmed as the days pass. I was literally taking it moment by moment there for a little while. Now I'm back to just flowing through my day -- except this time I'm not feeling like I'm being assaulted by the moments! ;)

Dad is back at the rehab facility. No more driving 1hr+ to get down to Yale to visit him. I'm once again able to bring the Little People in to visit him, which I'm sure he'll enjoy just as much as they will. Dad still has a long road ahead of him, but we're heading in the right direction now.

Nora now has SIX teeth. I'm hopeful that we're done teething for the foreseeable future!

Will is absolutely in love with going to school. He asks me almost every day if today is the day he gets to go to school.

Dianna is reading up a storm still. Some of it for school, but a lot of it is for pleasure. Makes my heart swell every time I see her nose stuck in a book!

Grace has a concert at school tonight. She's so excited -- has been practicing for it a lot lately. Gordon, the kids, and I will all head over to the elementary school to watch her shine.

I now have two dresses for the girls to wear on Easter. Just need to make one more. I can't wait to get all three of my girls dressed up in their matching dresses!

OH! I almost forgot! I reached my goal weight about 2.5 weeks ago. I'm now at the most difficult part of any weightloss journey -- to stop losing while trying to maintain.

Project 365

In my overwhelmed state, a couple of days passed where I didn't take a picture for Project 365. So my year's photos will be a little short. In the whole scheme of things, I'm thinking it's not that big a deal.

Saturday, March 21 (Danyel's 9th Birthday Party)

Sunday, March 22
Monday, March 23 (Will ties himself to the back door using Lexi's leash....maybe I should use this type of restraint when the kids are driving me batty!)

Wednesday, March 25

Thursday, March 26

Friday, March 27

Saturday, March 28

Sunday, March 29

Monday, March 30 (fried dough for breakfast!)

Tuesday, March 31

Wednesday, April 1

Thursday, April 2

Friday, April 3 (even on these dreary early-Spring days, I'm trying to focus on the beauty in all things)

Saturday, April 4 (how could you not just *love* that filthy face???)

Sunday, April 5 (I brought pipecleaners to church so the big girls would be quieter than normal -- worked like a charm!)

Monday, April 6 (some of our 118 tomato seedlings....we're going to have a LOT of tomatoes this season!!)

Quick break from my break

I'm already feeling a lot less overwhelmed, on the whole. I'm going to continue taking it easy and focusing on the most important things only for the time being, but be on the lookout for updates on Our Crazy Lives in the not-too-distant future!

One more thing: THANK YOU, Mrs. Y, for the lovely card and beautiful pictures!!! You were right -- they did help cheer me quite a bit. I can't get over how little Grace seemed when she first came to you, and how much of a little lady she is now.

And now I'm going to go. Before I get all misty eyed and mooshy-gooshy. Besides, I've got to get back to working on Nora's Easter dress -- it's almost done! (Then I'll only have two dresses to sew....)