A soil enriched

I'm not sure if life truly speaks to me, or if I'm just read waaaaaayyyyy to much into things but there seems to be lessons of life all around me.  Spring and summer time always seem to remind me of the law of the harvest.  You reap what you sow, you cant plant anything and expect that it wont require maintance and the lesson of the week, my flower bed. A soil enriched.

When we purchased this house, it was fairly easy up keep.  The previous owners didn't really like yard work so there wasn't much too it.  Sprinkler system on a timer, rectangular lot, all grass with the exception of basic flower beds in front of the house and on the corner which houses a tree.  The flower beds existing had basic shrubs, weed barrier and bark.  I'm more of a flower gal. I had no knowledge of weed barrier and felt that the bark wasn't doing it for me. So, I threw out the bark, pulled up the paper and found the soil to be a little less than desirable.  Over the next few years I began to invest in my soil.  I added multch, potting soil and came to appreciate weed barrier.  Believe it or not, I enjoyed working those basic flower beds and over time, the soil actually got better.  Until... da da da... I did something rather foolish.

 Last summer we decided to tare out the side stripe of grass and put in cement.  It was QUITE the process.  An experience any pregnant woman would remember! I think my kiddos brought more rocks inside than they left out! And ps pockets full of rocks do not totally ruin the washing machine! Anyway, I thought because we were removing a bunch of the soil underneath the section of sod that had been removed, I could take that soil and raise up my healthy flower bed.  How pretty it will be I thought to myself.  I dumped probably two tractor scoops FULL of dirt onto my flower bed.  It took me ONE watering to realize that I had made a huge mistake.  The soil that I had added was INCREDIBLY rocky and 98-99% clay.  I mean... this is the stuff that landslids are caused by!  Like most people do when you realize you made a mistake, I ignored it.  Hoping that it wouldn't matter. And really it didn't, until I wanted to plant flowers.   Poor things, died in about a day!

As I spent the next few days removing the bad soil and add in multch once more, I thought how similar my life had been like this soil.  It doesn't matter how much youve enriched your life, to repent of sins, to forgive others if you decide to stop and do the opposite.  Sins, a lack of forgivness can not just be ingored.  They corrupt and tant you and eventually surface when you try to progress in the beauty of life.  Work is required to retrace your steps and investments have to be made to put richness in once more and hopefully a lesson learned.  Keep crummy soil from entering where you want flowers to grow!

T-ball and Pink Eye and a little bit of Poop!

My little one is beginning T-ball.  This is kind of a first for our little family.  In the past I have really enjoyed throwing around a baseball with my boys and like every good mother feel the world has been conquered when they finally HIT the ball!  I was however a little curious as to how my son felt about playing for the first time (nervous, etc).  I had to laugh when he said.  "I'm so excited! I'm going to hit the ball, catch the ball, get every body out." And then practically shouting with his fingers in the air, "I'm going to be AMAAAAAAZING!"  Then he proceeded to do his version of the John Travolta with both pointer finger poking the air!  I loved his confidence and enthusiasm.  It reminded me how we all must have viewed what marriage would be like.... motherhood.... or possibly out careers before we were actually up to our eyeballs in them.  We had all of the enthusiasm and confidence in the world.  And then, years later (sometimes more, sometimes less) with bumps, bruises, at times sad hearts, we forget that we even had those moments.  Maybe we all just need to get up in the morning, jut out a knee, throw our pointer fingers in the air and tell ourselves, "I AM going to be AMAAAAAAZING!" And then go back to bed, LOL!

My daughter on the other hand also gave me a chuckle.  One of those don't laugh out loud because you don't want her to know you thought it was funny laughs.  She has pink eye, and out of sheer despiration I HAD to take her to the store.  Fearing that she would spread it I told her, "you may NOT TOUCH ANYTHING! okay sweetie!"  To which there came a pause, followed by the quiet question, "Can my sandles touch the floor?..... can I breath? Because I might die."  The innosince of children.

Last and not all... the poop on the potty!  I could hear the water running in the bathroom so I went upstairs to investigate. (we mothers are quite the investigators!) I found my son squating on the counter, washing his hands.  "Hey bud, time to turn it....... Why is there poop on the counter?" I asked.  "And why don't you have pants or underwear?" My eyes began to broaden their circle of recognition.  "(Gasp) Why is there poop on the rug? (Much bigger gasp) And why is there poop all over the toilet seat?!?  What happened buddy!" His reply.  "Well mom, I had an accident."  I quickly scanned for the underwear.  No where to be found.  "Where are your underwear?"  "They are in my room."  "Did you have an accident in your room?"  "No, I had an accident on the stairs."  "You went poop in your underwear on the stairs!"  "No.     I had an accident on the stairs, took my underwear off in my room and then got poop on my hands, so mom..... I did the right thing.... and I'm washing my hands!"  All I can say is Holy Talidoes!

Wrestle on the Ground-- We are tougher than we think!

My kiddos were snuggled, all tucked in their beds so I, like any good wife, tackled my spouse.  No worries.  This is not a moment of shear passion, but pokes and "tackles" or at least attempts by me and comical acceptance with speratic attacks back from my spouse.  Okay, maybe it's not totally normal.  But fun.  Anyway, my three year old came sneaking down the stairs and joined in the attack against dad.    With sound effects and all this three year old threw everything he and his 29 lbs had against his 200+ lb daddy totally believing he was going to end in victory.  The young ARE tough and some how as we grow we begin a totally different education that we are tougher than we think!

Speaking of tougher than we think, I took my little ones and we bundled up and went outside for a walk to pick up one of their siblings.  No joke, sleet(!) was flying back into our faces.  We had been in our swimsuits just a few days prior. I was so proud of our little ones.  They walked with foreheads against the elements and minimal complaints.  It was a long walk.  Sometimes we are tougher than we think!

Picture of "The Shoes"

Teddy Bears, Noisy Toilets, Bean Burritos and Sunshine

I'm setting here with half etten bean burritos still on their dinner plates.... waiting to be washed.  The toilet water has been running for about 10 minutes now.   Yesterdays clean laundry from the yesterday before that is starting to mix with the piles of dirty laundry from today and the day before.  Whose teddy bear is laying next to me in MY room? I have two boys in THEIR beds, and a daughter in mine. But I sat in the sunshine today, said "hello" to a neighbor and put my favorite dressing on my leafy greens.  Yeah, it was a good day.  A Good day.

Spring Swim Suits

I looked out my window and saw my kiddos in swim suits running through the sprinklers!   We love spring here at our house!  I cleaned up some of my flower beds and enjoyed a picnic outside.  So did my nursing baby.  I realized quickly that while I might not be able to see out of my yard, those high neighbor windows can definatly see in.  Hopefully I was covered enough!
Welcome Spring!

Oh the days, Oh the days.

I remember when I was a young mom of two, you know, back in my twenties, when my people would tell me my life was a walking comedy.  Tonight as I reflected on that time I agreed.  Sometimes, our craziest days end up being our favorites.  One day in particular popped into mind.   My new baby was probably only a week or two old. My oldest, 13 months.  The dog, not and my other two children, not yet in the picture and my hubby on one of his yearly buisness trips.  I think my oldest just came up with the measles, I jumped into the shower with my baby crying in the bouncer, my nursing bra strap broke while dressing, and my toddler was into something (I forget what).  I head down stairs only to realize that the wind had knocked over my garbage can which had just been filled with the contents of my personal bathroom garbage.  Because I just had had a baby that personal garbage bag was filled with pads of all sorts and sizes (after you have a baby it fills like your whole body is covered in pads!) Anyway, I just remember running through the street picking up my tumbling pads that were blowing into various yards with my wet hair, my flapping bra straps with both kiddos by the door screaming because their mother had suddenly left them to chase foreign objects.  By the time I got most things rounded up, I was crying and yes, it had begun to rain!  Oh the days... Oh the days... And yes, "those" days probably prepared me for "these" days.  Like today when I caught a mouse in my laundry room, the front door knob busted (still not sure how), picked gum off of my three year olds hands because he had tried to "roll the gum into a ball" while upstairs in my bathroom (I still haven't cleaned that up), noticed a new indoor home garden was all over my window seal and carpet, had bit the dust by the window seal and was probably going to be t  watched my young son flick chicken pieces on the floor while finishing his dinner, and asked for how many times for everyone to get into their jams so we could finally get to bed as I tried to calm my baby who was supposed to still be napping. And this all happened as I sat trying to nurse my baby! (well, I had just previously noticed the mouse as I took the load of cleaned "piddle" sheets out of the drier!) Oh, the days... Oh, the days!

The Day Will Come

The day will come when I don't have four kiddos at home to create my 12 loads of laundry.
The day will come when I don't have kiddos at home to put muddy hand prints on my door.
The day will come when the baby will sleep through the night because she will be sixteen... then she probably wont want to wake up!
The day will come when my hubby wont be staying up until the wee hours of the night doing reading for school because this time in school will pass and then he will have to find other ways to sharpen his mind and enrich himself.
The day will come when the plastic wheel barrow my little one left by the side of my husbands bed, leaving it to be tripped over will not be there... because my three year old will grow to have hobbies that aren't at home.
The day will come when the fears of today will either come to pass or they wont.
The day will come when hopefully my children will be hugging their own children or giving them late night snacks, or having cuddle time with their children because they remember their mother doing it to them.
The day will come that my hubby will find the hidden nursing pad amongst his belongings and I will laugh!!!  (I'm actually laughing now just thinking about it)
The day will come when I wont have stretch marks because my wrinkles will cover them... or my saggy chest!  Which ever comes first.
The day will come... so I'm glad I have today!

what do I want to be?

My hubby and I went to dinner tonight.  It was a resturant located within an outside mall.  There was a concert, tons of fun shops, restraunts and of course a WIDE variety of people.  As we drove home, we of course began talking of lifes mysteries (something we like to do).  I began to think of who I wanted to be.  Would I one day grow up to be the blond with the pony tale who was pregnant?  The grandma who was in designer jeans or the older married couple who were chatting with a bunch of friends.  As I pondered the question, "who do I want to be"  the thought popped into my head, "life is not who you want to be but rather discovering who you already are."  So, who am I?  Like my yoga video says, "an infinate source of knowledge and experience."  and I would add, one who likes chocolate!  "Who are you... really?"

new shoes

for my thirtyeth birthday my son picked out for me a pair of six inch platformish high heels--lepord with a big black bow. i have to tell you. i've never owned a pair of shoes like that before.  Why? because I wear a size three, only tend o buy Payless specials that can last for many years!  I was raised on a budget and had trained myself to think"Pratical!" There was definatly nothing practical about these shoes other than the price.  I looked at my son, how could I squash his fun.  So I purchased them.  To be honest I loved the shoes and always looked with envy at the woman who could pull them off.  "Not me" I would tell myself.  To make a long story short. I bought the shoes and have loved them and enjoy whereing them any chance I can.  Which as a stay at home mom isn't often.  However, sometimes I where them in my pjs as I kiss my hubby off to work.  And sometimes I when no one else is home as I put laundry away just because I can and everytime I do I am reminded that I am allowed beautiful creations reflecting the self.  But there is a really neat part to this story.

The first time I wore them I thought I was going to die! Maceys. To buy groceries. I barely made it to the car! I learned quickly that soft lawn and heals don't match! When I got to the store,  I grabbed the nearest cart!!  I felt like a geriatirics with a walker.  With hips tucked and all I shuffled through the store.   It was a sight, I am sure! I made it one lap around the store and my feet were killing me.  Without even thinking I offered a silent prayer, "Heavenly Father, how do I walk in these!"  The prayer was more an expression of disbelief that anyone could rather than one for help, but I got a relpy!  Without words to explain how, my mind began to understand how to relax, stand up straight and stop shuffling.  I began to gain confidence. I couldn't believe it!
It makes me think of how the Savior has taught me how to wear my mothering shoes as well. My mothering shoes, my friend shoes, my spouse shoes, and once more my daughter of God shoes.  He has taught me who "I really am" and is helping me find comfort in wearing them around others as well. I venture to say, this is because he has worn our shoes.  What kind of shoes does he see you in?