I had an absolutely beautiful day with my children yesterday.  I took not one picture.  Sometimes I like to just enjoy the moment and not stop it for the picture-taking.  My house is a mess today because not one thing got done around here yesterday, but that's ok.  It was worth it.

The day started with making muffins, the request for breakfast.  We are out of blueberries. (Note to self:  This summer pick three times the blueberries.)  So, what does any good mother do to replace blueberries in your muffin recipe?  Chocolate chips, of course.  

Lorelei was up early and wanted to take a morning nap, so she went to bed and Ainsley and I went outside in the sunshine.  We wanted to plant the flowers we had bought at the nursery over the weekend.  While at the nursery Ainsley had found a Shasta Daisy that she wanted more than anything else in the world.  We told her she could get it and take care of it herself.  It was the first thing we had to plant.  While planting, we dug up our family, the worm version.  She carried around those worms, tucked tightly in her hand.  She said she didn't want the birds to eat them, us.  She wanted to take them into the house and make them her pets.  I had to convince her they would be very unhappy in our house.  She finally dug a new home for them and let them go.  Our worm family is now living happily underground, near the Shasta Daisy.

We took a walk to the library, on a mission for the right movie.  We have finished all the Samantha books and had been waiting for the movie to be returned to the library.  We checked it out, but when we went to watch it, the wrong movie had been placed inside the case.  So we walked... and rode.  I walked, pushing Lorelei in the stroller.  Ainsley rode, her bike, that is. It was the longest walk to the library.  Ever.  Ainsley had to stop and pick every dandelion along the way, to smell every neighbor's flowers, to give every "blower" (the dandelion seeds) to her sister.  But that was all right.  We weren't in a hurry.  We were just enjoying the day.  Together.

We came home to have lunch and take a trip the park.  It was nap time, but a trip to the park sounded like so much fun, so we went.  How many days do we get like this, when there is nothing to do, nowhere to be? 

I love watching Lorelei in the park.  I like to watch her from afar, to let her enjoy things and explore things on her own.  I don't know if it's because she walked so late and there were so many concerns about her walking or just the age that she is, but I just love to watch her walk out on her own and discover things. 

Nap time was a failure.  I finally gave up and had Ainsley come downstairs and cuddle up with me on the couch and watch that Samantha movie we had waited so long to see.  And that's where my husband and her daddy found us, all cuddled on the couch, a rare sight, to be sure.

Josh took them back to the park (could there be a more perfect day for two little girls?).  I made dinner and felt all June Cleaverish for some reason.  I've been married for nearly nine years, and a mother for more than four and sometimes still feel as if I'm playing a part.  How could this possibly be my life?

But it is, as children rush back into the house to show me their boo-boos they acquired at the park and we sit down to eat dinner and do the Wednesday night rush to get to church on time.  Yup, this is my life.

It was such a nice day, especially the time spent with Ainsley.  I've really been working hard on loving on her more.  Not that I don't already LOVE her, but I need to show her, every day, that I love her, NO MATTER WHAT!  No one else is going to love her like that.  Sometimes I am so focused on tackling her behavior issues, that I miss the big picture.  She just needs her mom.  She needs her mom to love her.

My husband has been asked to take on a huge responsibility at church.  And I've been concerned about the focus this may place on my children, especially Ainsley, since she is already a difficult-to-train child.  I've really been trying to trust God in this area.  It doesn't matter what others think of my children and our approach to child-rearing.  It only matters that we are doing what God's Will is for our family.  My children are not perfect, and neither are their parents.  I can only pray that others will forgive our faults and we can do our best to serve Him.

My floors are so gorgeous!  I'm so happy with them.  They turned out better than I had ever hoped for.  I am still getting things put back together, and am quite busy.  I am going to try to get around to visit everyone, but it may take me awhile. 
Here are some before and after pictures.

Before:

The exact same spot after:

It looks so fresh and clean after the painting and the shiny floors.  I'm so thankful we were able to get them finished.

My Mother's Day was lovely.  I hope everyone had a nice one.  My friend Amanda's husband and my husband planned a cookout for us... at my house.  Now, normally that would totally freak me out since my house was in such disarray, but the guys had it all planned out. Jason came to our house on Saturday while I was at the Mother-Daughter brunch and helped Josh move some things, so you could at least walk through the house.  Plus, it was a beautiful day outside, so we just stayed outside the whole time.  The guys planned everything, from snacks when we got home from church to the lunch itself, dessert, everything.  It was very nice.  Our kids had a great time playing together and all went to bed early that night.

My girls on Mother's Day...

I'm so thankful for these little blessings... the reasons I get to celebrate Mother's Day.  They are such gifts.  Sure there are frustrating days and tear-your-hair out moments, but the sweet moments more than double those not-so-sweet ones. 

I am blessed way beyond what I deserve.

Here are the pictures I promised of our painting job and some "before" floor pictures.  This has been a lot of work, and we're not finished.  More needs to be painted, but everything that had to be done before the floor refinishing, is done, so that's all that matters.  We've run out of paint, so until we get around to getting some more, my hallway from the living room to kitchen will remain taped, but unpainted.  I think for now, we're both a little burnt out on the painting thing.

So, without further ado... the living room...

There's a lot of natural light in this room, so it was hard to get a good picture in the day time.  Don't you love our temporary seating? And yes, that is my piano stuck out on the porch.  I'm debating whether to show you the "holding room."

This is what the floor looks like now.  It could use some major work.  It's worn way into the boards in many places, no finish at all left.

Here's the dining room.  We just gave it a fresh coat of paint everywhere,no real changes in there, but I figured very few of you had ever seen my dining room, so I thought I would share.

And some sweetness...

These girls would eat strawberries all day and night if I let them... and I kind of have been.  We bought a big four pound box of them on Saturday, and they're already gone!

On a side note, Ainsley just ran in from outside with a handful of flowers for me.  I asked her where she got them and she said in the garden.  Unfortunately, she had just picked off the buds of a bunch of strawberries.   Oh well, we had a talk about never picking the flowers from the plants in the garden.  Maybe they'll bud again...

I'm feeling tired and kind of under the weather today.  I've had a headache and pretty much have had no energy all day.  Ugh!  Just what I need when I have so much to do.

Please pray for me, if you think of it, this week.  This Wednesday, they are coming to refinish our floors.  I am so excited, but my week is going to be kind of crazy because of it.  We have to be out of the house at 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday.  Yes, you read that right, 6:00 a.m.  Thankfully, my mother-in-law said we could come camp out at her house.  I'm going to just grab the girls out of bed and take them over there in their pajamas... and maybe, possibly, get them to go back to sleep.  Lorelei may be able to, but Ainsley I'm sure, will be up for the day.  I'm so glad they live nearby so we can go there.  We'll have to be out of the house until the evening on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, so it will kind of be a crazy week for us.  I'm not sure how early we'll have to be out of the house the other days.

We have just a few things still in the rooms to remove before they come.  Tomorrow I'm going to try to take a picture of what the rooms look like now that they're painted, and what the floors look like, so I can do a "before and after."

My house is a bit chaotic right now.

On Friday we started moving everything out of our living and dining room and started our painting process.  The hardwood floors are scheduled to be refinished beginning next Wednesday, so we needed to get the painting done before then.  It has been quite the job.  The house is older and the trim paint was flaking off in many places, so there's been a lot of sanding and two coats of trim in the living room.  We got one coat on the walls last night, and we'll need to do one more.  I picked a slightly darker beige color for the walls, but it turned out quite a bit darker than I anticipated.  I think I like it, but it will take some getting used to.  I hope it won't be too dark.  I'll definitely have pictures when we're finished.

We still have the entry way and dining room to finish before the floor is worked on.

Josh had his first softball game of the season on Saturday.  Our church has a league it plays in with other churches in the area.  I had a story that day also.  And Sunday, was busy with church, as usual.

So, we've been busy and I'm trying to keep the chaos to a minimum in the house as it's a little crazy with things being stored in every nook and cranny right now.

I might not be around as much in the next week or so because we're trying to get much done.  And most of it will need to get done when the children are napping or down for the night.  It's not too easy to get painting accomplished with a four year old and 18 month old who think painting sounds like fun.   They keep taking the unused paint brushes and pretending they're painting.  It's incredibly cute.  But the thought of them near any paint sends shivers down my spine.

 I rolled over at 6:11 yesterday morning and saw my husband still in bed.

I shook him.  "Josh, it's after 6:00!!!"  I said, stunned he was not jumping out of bed at the shaking. 

"I took the day off," he said without even rolling over to look at me.

"WHAT?????"

He rolled over looked at me and gave me a silly grin.  "I took the day off to do some things around here and to help you since the last two days have been so bad."

Me, still incredulous.... "REALLY???"

"Yup."  And then he hopped out of bed.

Ainsley heard someone go downstairs, peeked out of her room and screamed, "DADDY!!!"

That was it for our peaceful morning.  Everyone was up after that.  By 8:00 a.m. we were outside working and Lorelei was so tired she was back in bed for a nap.

This was part of the reason Josh wanted to stay home.


Someone Josh works with wanted this out of their yard.  He offered it to Josh if Josh would take it down and haul it away.  So, he happily did.  What a blessing!  He spent the whole morning putting it back together while I pressure washed all the other toys and the patio.


My kids are having so much fun.  Ainsley woke up at 6:00 this morning begging to go outside and play on it again.

Lorelei's shirt says "Reporter in Training." 

It has been quite dry here.  There have been very few April Showers.  So, we tried to get some of our lawn watered yesterday.  Who do you think had to get right in on that?

  Lorelei was unsure, so she stayed on the sidelines for a bit.

Then she got brave, but figured out to run away before it came back the other way.

Thank you for your kind words and encouragement on my last post.  Yesterday was better, but we had a rough night at church last night.  Please keep me... all of us... in your prayers.  We could greatly use them.

It's been a rough, very tiring week, so far.  I won't go into detail, but if you think of me, please pray for me.  I am fighting discouragement and frustration over Ainsley's behavior once again. 

I am very tired tonight.  It has been a very busy day complete with photos for the girls (and no, they did not go well... and yes, they both have some sort of injury visible in them) and a trip to the doctor for an infected toe.  One of Ainsley's pinky toes is infected under the nail and the infection is traveling down the toe.  She is on an antibiotic now.

So... to keep me from having a little pity party about my rough week, (the above paragraph is not even half of it) I am going to share some pictures from the weekend.

Friday's birthday party for Abigail.

Friday evening we headed out to Six Flags for our first trip of the season.  We go with our friends Amanda and Jason and their three kids.  Six Flags is about 20 minutes from us and we've gotten season tickets the last two years.  Lorelei and Naomi are so much bigger this year...

They can even ride some rides by themselves.  How can that be???

Abbie and Ainsley on the same ride.

Ainsley LOVES Six Flags.  She rides anything she's allowed to ride and would ride every ride if she were tall enough.

On Saturday, we had a little picnic in the backyard... excuse our very sad looking backyard... we are trying to get the grass to grow...

Xanga is giving me trouble uploading any more pics... so these will have to do. 

Ok, I feel better now... Tomorrow will be better...

The verse God keeps bringing to mind this week...
"And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is
made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in
my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest on me."               II Corinthians 12:9

Now I feel much better...

EDIT: Josh just came home with Ben and Jerry's... now I'm REALLY better!

Since we knew we were going to buy this house, there were a few things we wanted to buy: bunk beds, a TV armoire and a treadmill.  We have been looking for some good deals on these items, but since we they weren't things we needed immediately we were trying to be patient and wait for a good deal. 

I've perused craigslist a few times, but have never bought anything through there.  I was always hesitant to e-mail or call a stranger.  But, as I was looking Friday night, I saw that a woman was moving and was trying to get rid of many items, among them all three things we desired at very affordable prices.  I went ahead and e-mailed the lady and we went on Saturday to her home not far away to look at the items.  And to make this even better, the treadmill was very high end, it was sturdy enough to hold my giant, football-player sized husband.  We've looked for one that we could afford for a very long time.

So, without further ado: our new purchases...

The treadmill.
It's in our basement.


The armoire.
It's in our back room for the time being since we'll be painting and getting our living room floors refinished over the next few weeks.  (Fenway has a thing for getting into pictures.)


The bunk beds.
Ainsley is sleeping on the bottom bunk until Lorelei is ready to move out of the crib.  Ainsley's been sleeping in a toddler bed until now.  Of course, we'll be removing the things from the wall before Ainsley moves to the top bunk.  We plan to paint their room lavender.




Saturday even ended up being a beautiful day with sun and very warm
weather, otherwise we wouldn't have purchased these things and moved
them home.
God is so good to us, supplying our needs and many times, our wants.
I hope everyone had a great weekend, too.