How To Be a Good Hostess

When your guests arrive, do not meet them at the door, because you are putting your daughter's new comforter on her bed; it had to be moved from the drying rack in the hallway downstairs, and right before your guests arrive is a great time to relocate it.

Go to prepare a nice meal and check the date on the meat a few days too late so that you realize you can't use it; instead suggest that you order pizza.

Make your friend pay for the pizza.  (Nooo...I offered, but she insisted.)

Watch as your friend picks up the messy schoolroom/playroom that you were supposed to have picked up so that the kids could sleep in there, and then notice that you don't have the car with the carseat in it in order to pick up the pizza that your friend paid for.

Ask your guest if you can borrow her car; it only makes sense...it's the only vehicle with a carseat in it right now.

Have your visitor watch over all the rest of the kids while at the same time picking up your son's room and the extra room upstairs so that the beds can get arranged, while you get your youngest to bed.  Spend some quiet, peaceful time with your little one, giving her a bath and getting her settled in bed, listening from afar to Lollapolooza upstairs as you lay down in order to get your own child to sleep.

Once all the kids are in bed, put your friend to work cleaning out and rearranging your refrigerator in order to make room for all the sodas.

Finally relax in the armchair while she joins you to chat, facing you on the ottoman.  It's a comfy ottoman.

I love my friends.  I don't know why they hang around me, though. 

The Not-So-Calm Before the Storm (A Good One)

Visitors arriving in the next 24 hours will certainly get you motivated to clean up around your house, if you are the kind of person who otherwise is untidy and a disaster in general.  I've been trying to clean up most of today.  This is what I have to say about that...

Cleaning your house while three children are in the house with you is like washing your hands using dirt.  In other words, not very effective.  I manage to get things put away, and they accomplish a lot of unputting things away.  So while we're all being productive, things don't look all that different when I'm done.  I give them a job to do and halfway through the job their autopilot turns on and the toy that they were relocating suddenly inspires a complex game which involves some other toys, some stuffed animals, some playing cards, and the tea set.  Also a loveseat cushion that has yet to make it onto the loveseat because it is still sitting in the garage awaiting a good bath before use. 

They stayed very busy while I got the living room picked up and vacuumed and I am grateful for that.  They played together, for the most part, and I am grateful for that.  They cranked Michael W. Smith up in the CD player and sang as loudly as they could for fun and I am grateful for that.  And they didn't complain about their dinner which was late and I am grateful for that.

I have a feeling that cleaning up all the toys before the arrival of six more children is like brushing the little bit of dirt off the sidewalk before an impending tornado blows through.  I think I'll just wait until after the dust settles before doing much more...

Bring on the fun and the brownies! 

For Eyes

This is our oldest, Michaela...

She is an independent, opinionated, confident, sweet girl.

On the inside she remains the same, but what I see before me is changing quickly these days.  I'm still trying to get used to her bangs, this framing of her face is so different for me.  She wanted them so badly, and I didn't want her to get them.  I tried to put my own likes and dislikes in her mind, but she knew what she wanted.  They are cute, but I have to say sometimes I miss seeing her little forehead.  It's a silly thing, I know.

While the bangs were a personal decision for her, a necessary change in her life is that she needs glasses.  This is no surprise really.  I'm descended from a blind mole rat, I think, and Mike's eyes aren't that great either. 

Mike took her to an appointment the other morning to get her eyes examined and later that afternoon we all headed out in order to find the perfect pair.  We ended up visiting three different stores, and trying on 7,842 pairs of glasses.  I'll only show you pictures of a few of them, though.  I wouldn't want to send you to the eye doctor in need of new glasses yourself!

Of course, one of the first pair she tried on was orange...

They were deemed too big by the associate who was helping us.  They may have been ruled out for other reasons as well...

I was surprised at how many bold, colorful options there were for children...

These were a little more tame...

She had some decisions to make; we asked her to narrow it down to her favorite three.

Clip-on sunglasses were a fun option...

And Christian wanted to try some on, too.  What do you think?  Studious?  Pretty cute-ious.

Then there were these.  She didn't like them so much.

Her dad picked these out...pretty snazzy, huh?

In store #2 she tried these on...

We all liked them, but she wanted to try one more store.  Just to see.

At our third and final destination (thank goodness, because I was now in a sweat chasing after Christian and Eliana who had been very good but were getting a little tired of small stores filled with row after row of glasses that they couldn't touch) Michaela modeled some more options for her dad.

And decided on two pairs, which we got for a great deal at this place here. 

Choice #1:

Simple and practical, silver frames that will go with just about anything.  They are adorable.

Choice #2:

These glasses are RED with a zebra print on the inside!  They are so cute.  She said,"They'll give my outfits a little POP!" and did a very Broadway-esque dance move, flinging her arms out and sliding across the floor with one foot behind the other.

We are all happy that she found glasses she really likes and is comfortable wearing.  She is excited about them.  Also, she is quite pleased to be able to see clearly.

Speaking of seeing clearly, I am realizing that what I see before my very eyes is not necessarily a change...while her appearance may be a little different than what it was before, it seems that instead of changing she is actually the girl she has always been.  Just with a little "POP!"

Prescription for a Healthy You

This is what the nurse practitioner said to me this morning...

"You're doing it (being a mom) and you're doing it well.  Good diet, sleep well, exercise every day, remember to take your vitamins each day, stress management-throw these things in there and you're set."

I'll get right on that as soon as I stop laughing, pick myself up off of the floor, put my bag of Oreo's away, and find my jogging shorts. 

My, but that did make me laugh.

A Lot of People Are Coming to Our House

Not only are we anticipating a visit from my parents, but we are also looking forward to hosting two of my girlfriends from seminary who are driving in next week (one from West Texas and one from Mississippi).  They are each bringing three children.  We got together about one year ago, and the year before that the husbands joined the fun, including one other couple. 

These are friends that will be forever.  We can talk about anything (and do), and they love me in spite of all my weirdness unique qualities. 

Last year Rebecca and I headed to Ami's...and there we had SO MUCH FUN!  There were...

nails to paint...

rays to catch...

chocolatey kids to clean up...

laughs to, well, laugh...

wings to soar...

photo opportunities to capture...

sweet smiles to share...

fun friends to hang with...

and then there was me...

I told you I'm weird.  See what my sweet, beautiful, talented friends put up with?

I can't wait to see everyone.  It will be so fun to see all the kids together, to catch up, and to take more pictures of all of the changes. 

How much has everyone grown?  What teeth are missing?  What teeth have come in?  Whose hair is different? 

Now, while my friends love me just the way that I am, I do think they will appreciate a place to sleep and some clean bathrooms...so I must begin to prepare in earnest for their arrival.  Our sofa bed looks like the Mount Everest of clean clothes.  Oh dear, where am I going to put my clean laundry while they are here?!  I've got some planning to do!