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falling leaves.

since the leaves are 
just
beginning
to
fall
around here,

Auntie B and i brought back some authentic fall leaves from chicago.

the burst of color is just what our lawn needed.

i think that K’s hair would do 
really, 
really 
well in chicago.
or at least, 
we could blame the weather on her tousled locks.

441. having our christmas card photo already taken
442. coffee in the early morning
443. the promise (or hope) of a quiet morning
444. new progress with L
445. K’s inability to not dance when she hears music

standing.

nothing makes me more thrilled than watching L progress. 
when we started having him bear weight on his legs,
we would have to hold his little feet down.
but now?
now, he’s so much stronger.
and he’s so proud of himself.

and come on, how cute are those little converse?
so cute. 

p.s. don’t you just love the overflowing baskets of clean laundry in the background?
i don’t.
thankfully, my parents folded them all while B and i were out at a movie. 
nice!

i never thought.

today, i became the kind of mother i never wanted to be. 
i feared that someday something like this would happen to me.
and it has.
and i have been humbled.
oh, how i’ve been humbled.




you see, i am a mom, 
so i know where most things are at any given moment.
don’t believe me?
just try me.

the green racket ball? 
outside.

the tiger toy from Miss G? 
in the middle toy bin in the family room.

the noisy antelope musical whistle?
on the top, top book shelf.
(where it belongs.)

the sesame street coloring book?
under B’s bedside table.

extra clothes for babydoll?
in the small pink purse which is hanging on the toy stroller.

the toy stroller?
tucked in the corner of D & K’s bedroom.

this doesn’t mean that each item is in their ideal place.
it’s just where they rest. 
you see, i am organized by nature
which means that it really bothers me when things aren’t in their proper places. 
i can’t always get to putting things back in their ideal locations,
but i sure notice when they aren’t where they belong. 
so back to today.
before preschool this morning, 
i could not find D’s sneakers.

i looked:
inside, 
outside, 
under beds,
behind doors, 
in laundry baskets filled with clean clothes, 
laundry bins filled with dirty clothes,
(sidenote: how do the dirty laundry bins get 
mostly filled up before i seem to put the clean laundry away?)
under tables, 
amongst wooden train sets, 
in the musical instruments 
and
behind the tv.
to no avail.

i couldn’t even find one of them.
totally frustrating. 
misplacing items makes me go bonkers. 
don’t get me wrong, i misplace things 
all.
the.
time. 
but that’s why i hate it so very much. 

you’re probably thinking…
“big deal, just have him wear some other shoes”
so in case you didn’t know, i am super frugal. 
D only has one pair of sneakers because he only needs one pair of sneakers. 
and here’s the kicker…
his preschool requires kids to wear sneakers. 
and here’s the other kicker…
i am a rule follower.
(as you probably remember)
i love rules. 
i love the comfort that come with rules. 
so i was tempted to keep him home from school today.
but i quickly realized that was probably rediculous.
so, off to school we went with a sandal wearing D.
i explained to the head of the school our predicament and she (thankfully) understood.

but that still did not solve where the shoes ran off to.
i began wondering if someone possibly took the grungy, worn shoes from our front porch. 
i couldn’t fathom that possibility, so i just kept looking.
everywhere.




lo and behold, 
the sneakers were found!
they were in an empty pot, on the front porch. 
hooray.
hooray.
hooray. 

431. the cheerfully bright yellow airplane that flew right over our house
432. being humbled
433. B’s progress on his new book
434. summertime, again
435. enjoying our backyard

the right now.

it’s {embrace} the camera day!



at L’s special needs mommy-and-me this week
i saw a brand new little baby who has special needs.
seeing those little fingers immediately took me back.
back to all of the questions.
back to all of the scares.
back to all of the worries and the fears.
back to all of the wondering about the future.

i feel for that new mommy.
that new mommy who is being inundated with troubling news and diagnoses.
with fearful warnings from doctors who are just trying to
“prepare” her for what may happen in the future.
when in fact, no one can really prepare for 
the things that happen that you wish wouldn’t or 
the things that don’t happen that you wish would. 

God comforts me with His word.
“Do not be afraid… your prayer has been heard.”
Luke 1:13

(photo from july 2009)
i chose this photo for
my favorite picture of my child

what seeing those little fingers showed me was that 

i’m in a really good place right now. 
a really good place.
right.
now.
not in the future.
not in the past.
but right now.

a friend recently asked me how i was doing.
then she said, “how are you doing spiritually?”
i thought that was such a wonderful question.
one of the best ones i have heard.

i have clung to and am clinging to
“But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ 
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, 
so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
2 Corinthians 12:9

the diagnosis that L has received 
has the potential for taking me out of the right now.
it’s a constant struggle.
but when i find myself living in the right now,
i am content.
because the Lord is giving me everything that i need for the right now.
“The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.”
Psalm 23:1


and i must remember to 
“take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 
2 Corinthians 10:5


426. the right now
427. finding comfort in God’s word
428. His perfect peace
429. recognizing that i am not where i once was
430. my fears dissipating

it’s not illegal.

this is how a recent conversation with my dear friend, KS went:

“i will if you will.”

“and we’ll take the weekends off to prove that we aren’t addicted.”

“it is going to help us be better moms, i just know it.”

don’t worry, we haven’t started doing something illegal.
we have both started drinking coffee.
and it is wonderful.
i get to do something each day that i am able to savor.
i don’t have to share it with anyone else.
the dishes are done throughout the day,
instead of waiting until the kids go to bed at night.
i am more cheerful.
and yes, i am so addicted.
other than that, we’ve just been hanging out
and haven’t been at all tired.

421. hazlenut coffee
422. not yawning uncontrollably
423. a little daily moment just for me
424. L’s sleep
425. D’s interest in the elections

it was a zoo.

i hope you all had a happy halloween!
we sure did.
we have been enjoying a lot of time together as a family,
which (of course) has been wonderful.


even though i have been so tired and worn out lately, 
and the thought of carving pumpkins felt like yet another task to complete, 
the children really had a good time getting our pumpkins ready though.

and yes, K decided she would much rather take nearly all of her 
clothes off and adorn her apron 
rather than having the apron protect her clothes. 

the finished products.
i am happy to report that two of our five pumpkins were grown in our backyard. 
no thanks to me. 
Grammy planted them and B and the children faithfully watered them.
i just checked on them every once in a while.

part of the fun we had was when we headed to the pumpkin patch.
i was so surprised to see that
merely two days before halloween, 
these big ol’ pumpkins were still marked at $100.

little Love allowed Grammy to hold him for 
exactly two good photos
before he just wanted mommy.

but, with the right lighting,
and B making everyone laugh,
a printable photo with Grammy was taken. 

this was the second version of a mane for our little lion. 
the first one ended up looking more like a wig.
after watching D all night, 
i think that if i remove the ears,
we could easily have a great mose from the office costume on our hands.

and yes, that brown shirt is mine.
the total for the costumes this year was $3. 
which was for D & L’s tail fabric.
K’s costume is a repeat as when D was three he was a tiger.
woo hoo.

my brother has this insane dog costume.
which he wore to my house yesterday.
i have to admit, it freaks me out.
the kids on the other hand, 
loved pretending to be rufus. 

L loved the festivities and was especially drawn to
GramMary dressed as Jessie from Toy Story.
it’s probably because she is a cowgirl and has a lot of experience with animals.
Jessie that is, not GramMary. 

the favorite part of halloween for our baby zebra
were the bowls and bowls full of sweet potatoes that were served to him. 
D wouldn’t eat one bite but it’s easily L’s favorite food in the whole wide world. 

i think that my sweet boy is hoping that 
K will stop roaring now that halloween is over.
i doubt it. 
that girl loves to be loud. 

Uncle J provided a tasty drink called sweet palmers.
and aren’t those cups just too fabulous?
Auntie B reports that they are about $1 each from ikea. 

the zoo.

what a way to kick off the wildest, 
busiest stretch of the year. 

416. halloween celebrations
417. mulled apple cider
418. delicious food
419. coffee
420. D’s artistic halloween creations

settle in.

and prepare yourself.
this is merely a snippet of the wonderful trip to chicago that
L, Auntie B and i made. 
there are tons and tons and tons more photos. 
can you believe it?
you can always tell when i’m having a wonderful time… 
i take an extreme amount of photos.
now sit back, settle in and enjoy your glimpse of our vaca. 

the Os.
and yes, they are that goofy.
all.
the.
time.
oh, how we miss them so. 

my sweet friend, Annie O and Miss G


just like old times.
except in chicago.
and only for the weekend.

we were so worried that we missed it.
but sure enough, 
while we were there,
fall fell.

can you even imagine this view?

and her momma said that she doesn’t like cameras.

sweet little Miss G is going to love living in this city.
i can just tell.

she was absolutely enthralled by the leaves.
i think i was too.

sharing the love. 
with the biggest grin in town.

the backyards there are so different than out here.
most don’t even have fences.
even the elementary school only had a three foot fence around the play yard.

this is one of my favorite moments that was captured. 
who can resist a tickle photo though?
not i. 

L holding Miss G’s hand in the car.
i think he has a thing for her.
i think she was worried he was going to try to steal her snacks.


she would have run around the block all by herself if we let her. 

Auntie B, chasing Miss G down the street.

if any of you know me 
(for reals), 
then you’ll get this photo.

aren’t they so cute?
they’re nearly the same size.
she’s just 2.5 months older. 
we asked Miss G to hold L’s hand.
she wouldn’t do it so he reached over,
grabbed her hand
 and hammed it up for the camera.
thatta boy. 

this is a shot of the skies opening up right before we boarded our flight. 
we were so grateful to make it home before the winds really picked up.
thankfully, our flight didn’t get cancelled 
and we didn’t have to hear an airline personnel say, 
“oh, i can reserve you a flight coming back from chicago at 5:55.”

ahh, now don’t you feel like you just 
returned from a great time in the windy city?
me, too.


and to the Os:
i think it’s time to get the old band back together.
don’t you think?

411. non-stop plans
412. being able to clean the kitchen while L had OT
413. the sound of music on oprah
414. feeling (somewhat) organized
415. the bouncy seat being put in the garage

the show must go on.

it’s {embrace} the camera day!

we had
such
an incredible time on our little trip. 
so incredible in fact, 
that i thought about it about 759 times today.


the colors of the leaves were breathtaking.
truly.

the trip was so full.
so full of
laughter 
&
heart to heart chats 
& 
rest 
&
food 
&
boutiques 
&
loveliness. 

i simply cannot wait to do it again.



i think that L’s got a new smile.
it’s so big and joyful.
and you can’t resist smiling along with
that happy face, now can you?


it’s been quite a transition for him to realize that he must again share his mommy.
no, he would prefer that i would be his and his only.

let me just say that i am so

sick and tired of 

life
getting in the way of 

life.
you know?
yeah, you know.
you know exactly what i mean.
unfortunately.
but, you know as well as i do that the show must go on. 

406. getting things done

407. staying in my pajamas all the live long day

408. sweet drawings D made

409. welcome home signs

410. packages ready to be sent

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