I’d like to take a second and wish all the mom’s out there a belated Happy Mother’s Day. I hope you all had as an amazing a day as I did.

I was spoiled rotten by everyone.  Jordy was away for the weekend so she chimed in later on in the day.  My day was kicked off by my boys who were bursting with excitement over the whole occasion and just could not lavish me with enough attention. The crafts from them were gorgeous. The elementary school crafts always put a lump in my throat. I still have a huge tote FULL of the ones that came home from Jordy all the time.  Her little crafts were always chalked full of adoration and love, just like the boys were yesterday.  It’s so adorable.

The kids wrapped their gifts this year in brown craft paper and then decorated it all themselves. We’ve taken pictures to preserve their efforts.  Jordy traced her hands. WOW! That sure puts things into perspective. Those hands are as big as mine – AND they are from my once little girl, now, teenage daughter. WHOA! Where does the time go? The first thing out of her mouth when she came in the door was “Happy Mother’s Day!” She makes me proud. A lot of teenagers wouldn’t notice anything past themselves. She had some fun news of her own to share too, and she still put me first.  She was adorable, AND had to have a seat beside mom at supper. What a sweetheart.

Quinn had forgotten about one of his crafts which was a pleasant surprise for me this morning. He had other things too yesterday so this must have slipped his mind. It was a “fill in the blanks” thing that he had done. Here’s what it said:

MY MOM IS SPECIAL
MY MOM IS PRETTY AS A trillium.

MY MOM HAS A PRETTY SMILE. I LIKE TO MAKE HER SMILE BY laughing.

MY MOM CAN DO MANY THINGS! I THINK SHE’S BEST AT tickling.

MY MOM IS SMART! SHE EVEN KNOWS something that is going on behind her.

I LIKE IT WHEN MY MOM is doing something fun.

LOVE Quinn.

HA! So that means they still think I have eyes in the back of my head….perfect! How cute is that? I laughed and laughed.

It was also amusing when Cael gave me his gift that he made at school which was a bag of hand picked candies. He was so excited that his hands were opening and closing so fast while he jumped up and down during my opening of his present. He was so excited – the anticipation forever building as I slowly open the bag…almost in slow motion (in his mind, I’m sure) my face lit up, I was thankful.  I poured the contents of the wee bag onto my palm……… And then he ate all my candy. At no point did he really realize that they were for me I don’t think. He was just so thrilled to get them out in the open. He could barely talk for the HUGE gumdrop that had crazy glued his jaw shut at one point.  All Court and I could do was laugh.  Quinn partook of the unorthodox activity too once he realized it was a free-for-all.

Ah kids. You gotta love them. I think we must have done something right… so far at least.

Thank you Courtney for covering all the bases. You planned for some “girl’s out” time for me, for some “us” time and organized some “kids” time. We even got in some dog park time that everyone loved. You are the best hubby I could ever wish for. I love you.  I love our family, our life….my cup runeth over…yet again.

Let me leave you with my ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE Mother’s Day YouTube bit.  It has me laughing until I cry everytime I watch it.  Try to picture Quinn as the focused and task driven older brother (I know, a stretch 😉 ) and Cael, as the goofy laid back funny guy (again…a stretch…I know 😉 )

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhcA4Ry65FU&NR=1

By GOD! Some days you just want to sit on a revolving chair and sprout rainbows and gumdrops from your chest care bear style.

Kay, so maybe that is a bit much, but you really have to grab hold and harness the joy that comes from certain days. Do I have any reason to be this happy? Many. Do I recognize them with this much vigor every day? No so much – but I should.

Call it a life’s inventory on all the good there is to be seen.. Call it counting your blessings. Call it spring fever. Call it whatever you want, but I’m just happy for all the good things that are part of my life. If you are reading this…you are most likely one of those reasons.

I think the short days, the winter blahs, and all the sickness that makes up winter can often cloud over those things that make us happy. Things like the best hugs ever from your soul mate, or your teenager – thank God I still get those 😉 and let’s not forget the hugs that are still full of baby fat, that will be trimmed down to solid muscle all too soon [Sigh]. Those things that complete us can get stuck behind a grayed over attitude during the long winter months.

If there is one thing I’ve noticed in my fast approaching middle-age, it is that my environment has a HUGE impact on my attitude.  If the house is cluttered, so is my head. If the house is filthy, so is my mood. If it is too cold to go outside, we all get a little stir-crazy. Cabin-fever, if you will.

I rarely get to sit in my house and enjoy it. I’m always in some “non-stop” mode either cleaning, working on stuff, cooking, laundry, or just helping the kids trash it. All are very important things, but so is stopping to smell the roses. Once the house is clean…it is important to grab that book and enjoy it for a little while, if only for 5 minutes. Cuddle with the kids before they can leave your grasp and run like a tornado through the place.

Here’s a sanity tip for ya: Clean the house the day BEFORE you expect company, and not seconds before they arrive. Otherwise you stop cleaning to entertain, and then stop entertaining to clean. What is the sense or sanity in that? This way, you’ve put yourself first. You can enjoy it before everyone else does 🙂 !

Well, I’m rambling on here (hence the site name), but that is generally my nature anyway. Life is good. I’m going to try to remind myself of that on the days that don’t necessarily reflect my mood at the present moment.

Here’s to rainbows and gumdrops days.

Today I decided to continue on a task that has been staring me in the face for a while. We started to clean out the basement – something that has taken us 8 to 9 years to destroy – in order to help prep the house for our new addition to the family….a SAINT BERNARD! Yes, we are idiots, but that is nothing new to anyone who knows us.   This is our new bouncing baby boy seen here below at 6 weeks old.  Keep it under wraps though (as I write this on the internet…) because the two boys don’t know about him.  It’s a surprise.  Jordy found us out when the “puppy” dog food arrived.  DOH!

In addition to this nightmare of a task…there’s the whole jewelry business re-org that is 3-4 years overdue. Yeesh. There is presently NO dining room table as a result of this undertaking – make me nuts! Then there is the craft smorgasbord blob that I have been nursing and feeding for the last 13 years for the kids. Didn’t know I even had half the craft supply stuff that is here so, better just buy it again….and so the mound grows and grows. Holy accumulation batman! It’s nuts. I could open our own dollar store. (Not something I’m proud of.)

So Court and I decided to take on this beast before the new little beast (that will grow to 225lbs+) arrives. Hmm! Who knew that, DAMN(!) that would feel SOOOOO good. So today I continue on and slowly start to feel the feelings of being overwhelmed dissipate. The basement is starting to take shape, the Jewelry re-org is in progress but the house is still demolished. That too will be remedied eventually. Nothing like a house full of company all weekend to light a fire under one’s buttocks in that regard.

So what has this declutterization done for me? (Besides allow me the “Colbert” privilege of creating a new word?) ALOT! Suddenly I’m thinking, “Hey, my kids are healthy and happy! -AWESOME!” , “I have the best hubby in the world who loves me no matter how overwhelmed I get! – AWESOME!”, “I’m hanging out with my girl-y peeps for Mother’s Day on Friday for dinner and drinks! – AWESOME!”, “There are new beginnings with the extened family that make me want to burst with happiness! – AWESOME!”, “I have friends that know what it is like to live the crazy at-home-mom life with a litter of kids and that alone is refreshing! – AWESOME!”

OH! And finally, we have this new addition coming. Now,… and just now, (because we are finally getting our act together) I can finally get excited about our new furry little man who will arrive here on the evening of May 15th. – AWESOME!

Take on 3 kids (one of which is a teenager, two of which are young boys)? CHECK!  How about 2 Large Breed dogs? Sure! Why not, what the hell! -  I’m feeling…..wait for it…..AWESOME!