I'm getting old ...

So I'm not usually a Debbie Downer about many things (I'm a realist, okay?), but I have had a recent revelation in the past few weeks that I cannot ignore. It kinda jump started with Halloween and has just snowballed from there. The fact is ... I am getting old people! Not in the way that you think of your cute grandma with her home baked pies and analog TV set, no, this is old in a different way. I realized that I'm the same age my mom was when I was 5 years old. What?!?! I mean, I remember being 5 years old and definitely have some solid and concrete memories of that year. And, for your information, my mom was OLD in those memories (sorry mom). Again, not old like wrinkly, but old like a real adult. The type of adult that I'm not sure I embody just yet. For justification purposes, here are some things that have occurred recently that have led to said epiphany.

1. My bedtime habits
Let's just say that my husband counts it as a good day if I don't fall asleep on the sofa by 9pm. I know I should just not give in to the supine position that ultimately leads to my demise, but I can't help it. Chasing around 4 hyper energetic kids all day wears me down. It's all I can do to make it to the couch after they go to bed, much less stay awake. Add to the mix me in my PJs and slippers by 8pm and you have one geriatric 31 (there, I said it) year old. Count in the fact that I can't remember the last time I slept past 8am and you have one crotchety old woman on your hands.

2. My TV show selection
All the hip TV watchers today are watching things like Mad Men and True Blood. At least I've heard of these shows. I shamefully admit that some of my favorite shows are 20/20 and 48 Hours Mystery. These shows air on Friday and Saturday nights, so the writing is on the wall about how young and hip the viewers of these shows must be (I'm going with zilch). Let's just say while all you party goers are out there living it up on the weekends, I'm enjoying my yet to be solved murder mystery from the comforts of my own home.

3. Music choice (or lack thereof)
Now this is an area where my husband's oldness may outshine mine. I am soooo not up to date with the newest songs and artists that it's pitiful. I literally just heard "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry the other day and apparently this song is "sooooo old school" (said with teenage angst and dramatic eye roll). And supposedly this Rihanna chick (yes, I just had to look up how to even spell her name) is pretty popular. I couldn't pick her out of a lineup if my life depended on it. My tunes today mainly consist of cartoon show theme songs and the Bare Naked Ladies kids' album (which is pretty "hip" if you ask me).

4. Appearance
Now I'm going to defend myself and say that I don't think I'm very vain (just as much as the average woman who's been through a couple pregnancies is), but I do care about my appearance. I'm not in many pictures these days becasue I'm usually the one taking the picture. Therefore, when I do happen to get in a picture, I can't help but notice the "differences" that have taken place in the last few years. What are those little lines in the corners of my eyes and why do my hands look so, well, old? I've decided that I just need to start being in more pictures so that the change isn't so drastically obvious!

Again, I'm not trying to be negative, I'm just trying to reveal some recent thoughts about myself. The positive part is that I don't think my kids have realized it yet. Sure, they categorize me as a "big kid" (they have three categories of people - babies (Luke), little kids (the trips), and big kids (anyone taller than them)), and I'm ok with that. When I have them guess my age, it's usually in the 3-6 year old range, which I will take any day. I guess, when I think about it, my memories of my parents really didn't have to do with what they looked like or how old they were. It had to do with how old they acted. I figure as long as I am still rolling around on the floor, playing pretend "haircut store" (our new favorite game), and dancing along with the Bare Naked Ladies, I can still be lumped into the "big kid" category - regardless of the crow's feet and impending sagging that is sure to follow.

So, I guess I'm not as old as I sometimes think I am - what a relief. Hearing aides and bifocals may be in my future, just not quite yet. I guess I should go and cancel my scheduled tour of the retirement home that's down the street. That's ok, it was on a Friday night anyway and I was going to have to miss 48 Hours Mystery ...

Young'uns no more ... but at least I have photographic proof of what used to be!

Picture of the Week - November 14

I wanted to try and start a tradition of capturing and posting a "picture of the week" on this blog. I want this picture to simply be a moment or emotion that I want to remember from the week. Something that made me or someone in my family feel something significant, a facial expression I don't want to forget, or an image I want to remember forever. The images don't necessarily have to be monumental, they just have to elicit emotions and memories that I don't want to forget.

This picture is one to treasure because I have so few of them ... a picture of all six of us! All of us being in a picture requires having some help (mainly, someone to actually take the picture), so thanks to my mom for taking this for us.

Afternoon Delight

We spent the better part of our afternoon today up to our eyes in these...

The kids couldn't resist the gargantuan pile of leaves in our front yard. They had so much fun just being kids. I'm always amazed how something like a pile of leaves can provide so much entertainment. Thank goodness for imagination! The permission to throw something definitely contributed to their elated state ...

Yes, I am aware that they are wearing their PJs outside in the middle of the afternoon. I am also aware that they are Christmas PJs and it is November 10. Don't judge. It was worth the confused looks by passersby to witness unbridled joy in progress ...

If you're feeling a little down today, go jump in a pile of leaves. I guarantee that you'll feel better when you're done!

Picture of the Week - November 7

I wanted to try and start a tradition of capturing and posting a "picture of the week" on this blog. I want this picture to simply be a moment or emotion that I want to remember from the week. Something that made me or someone in my family feel something significant, a facial expression I don't want to forget, or an image I want to remember forever. The images don't necessarily have to be monumental, they just have to elicit emotions and memories that I don't want to forget.

Brothers ...

... and sisters.

I'm so glad each of my boys has a brother and each of my girls has a sister. Now let the ganging up begin!

Teach Them What's Already True

One of my favorite authors is Donald Miller. He's written several books, one of which will be made into a movie soon (Blue Like Jazz). I enjoy his unabashed approach to writing and telling the truth about his journey to becoming a Christian. He has a raw and unfiltered air to his books that I find pretty refreshing. Anyway, if you'd like to see more about him, check out his blog HERE.

Several day ago he blogged about how children learned that they matter. I thought his description of how this occurs was convicting for me and made me put a lot of things in a different perspective. Sometimes, when you're caught up in the day to day activities of your family, you forget to think about the lifelong impact your words and actions are having on your children. I thought I would re-post Don's blog here because it impacted me so greatly. A copy of it is now pasted on out refrigerator to hopefully remind me every day that God is communicating to my children through me ... and I need to be up to the task.

Children Don't Learn They Matter From The Bible. They Learn It From You. 
Young men and young women really do want the same things; to know they are important, to know they matter, to know they can impact the world, to know they are wanted and so on. Of course, these desires are expressed in different ways, but children of both sexes gain early on a confidence that they are on the earth for a reason and not as a mistake. And they don’t learn this from a book, not even from the Bible. The idea we matter is more important to learn in childhood than in any other stage. And they learn from adults, from whether or not they get off the phone, make eye contact, get mad too quickly, love them enough to stay married to their mom, love them enough to protect them from danger, even from themselves. The message God wants to communicate to children is entrusted to you, to the way you look at them or celebrate them when they walk into a room. If they get that message, the Bible will confirm it for the rest of their lives. And if they don’t, they’ll struggle to believe the overwhelming obviousness of God’s love.

The acclaimed poet Maya Angelou, when asked how she had become such a great poet, responded by saying she’d become a great poet because when she was a little girl, her father’s eyes lit up when she walked into the room.

Love your sons. Love your daughters. Teach them what’s already true; that they are delightful.


*Taken from http://donmilleris.com, October 27, 2010 post*

Halloween in Pictures, Take Two

SATURDAY:
Today was pretty low-key with the main Halloween event being pumpkin carving! The kids and I helped Matt clean out the pumpkins and he did the majority of the carving himself. Sam gave him some help on our polka-dot pumpkin (solely because a drill was involved). I think that may have been the easiest pumpkin we've ever carved. Matt made up for it though with the stellar job he did on our pumpkin face. I gave him a design I liked and he made it ever better than I thought possible!

Preparing to get dirty ... They liked dressing as "ghosts" and "angels."

What is it about boys and power tools? I could not pull the boys away from the drill. Meanwhile, the girls were using acorn tops as tea cups ...

Matt working hard on the pumpkins.

The finished product!

SUNDAY:
Well, after the weeks of hoopla, the big day finally arrived. The kids had a blast trick or treating and I must say that four kids definitely bring in a lot of candy! Everyone got to have some candy before bed and they were so worn out that they fell straight asleep. Now I just have to figure out how to ration this candy out so that we don't have a bunch of hyped up kids on our hands!

Hope everyone else had a great Halloween as well. Time to start planning next year's costumes! Any ideas???

Halloween in Pictures

I can't get over how many events revolve around Halloween. I thought kids only wore their Halloween costumes on the actual holiday, but I was gravely mistaken. I think it's the result of parents wanting to get their money's worth out of a costume. Therefore, any type of event that occurs in October automatically qualifies itself as a costume-wearing opportunity. At least my kids liked wearing their costumes this year and they were easy to get on and off!

Because we had so many Halloween events, I've just compiled a few (well, a lot) of my favorite pictures together to sum up this past Halloween week. Yup, the fun started on Thursday with Project Pumpkin at Wake Forest, continued on Friday with a hay ride and pumpkin picking (again, I know) at Tanglewood, right on in to Saturday with pumpkin carving, and finally ending on Sunday with the actual holiday and trick or treating itself. I am exhausted ... and so is my camera. I may have to break all the pictures up into two posts so your scrolling fingers will have a chance to rest!

THURSDAY:
Pre-party

Checking out the huge lion ...

Trying out the new wand ...

Playing some games ...

M&M break ...

I think Luke ate five lollipops while we were there. Cavities anyone??

FRIDAY:
Today we went on a hay ride to a pumpkin patch to pick out another pumpkin. Every family needs more than one pumpkin to carve, so we set off to add to our pumpkin family. The hay ride was lots of fun, especially since we got to see a lot of the Chirstmas lights that Tanglewood is ALREADY putting up. What happened to Thanksgiving? Anyway, we got to add to my the kids' candy stash when we did some trunk or treating after the hay ride. The M&M's and Hershey Kiss were a hit!

Back tomorrow with pumpkin carving and trick or treating pictures!