Perfectionism = Guilt

Yesterday we had some lovely company, but I have no photos to prove it. (guilt, guilt, guilt) We have a guest book, but I didn't get it out & require a signature. (guilt, guilt, guilt) However there is one particular conversation we had that has been circling around in my mind. It was the one about perfectionism and how it stops us. One way it stops me is here on my blog. I've had a blog idea in mind for quite a while. Since I haven't gotten around to making it more than an idea I've neglected my poor little blog. I've also neglected any readers I may still have. (guilt, guilt, guilt) I'm going to go out on a limb and do a different post. I'll attempt to let go of some perfectionism and banish some guilt!

- It's OK if most of the food I cook doesn't come from this cookbook. I do cook every night after all. That has to count for something.

- It's OK if I am occasionally impatient with my kids. I just need to stop making a habit of it.

- It's OK if I text and email certain friends and family more than I call them. I just want to pick up the phone once in a while. Preferably not while driving.

- It's OK if I spend more time cooking and cleaning than playing with Kaia. After all I'm teaching her how to keep a home and how to be independent. As if she needs help with the latter part!

- It's OK if I play a game with the kids instead of finishing laundry or making the kitchen spotless. After all the work will be waiting for me in the morning.

- It's OK that I'm still eating too much dairy and sugar. I've wanted to do a fast and cleanse for a long time. However I have a certain girls weekend away planned. I'm pretty sure we'll be eating dairy. And sugar. Probably. After that I will do it. Promise. Hold me to it.

- It's OK that I stick Kaia in kid care during the big kids' swim lessons. Sure she'd love to swim with me, but she also loves playing in kid care.

- It's OK that most of our garments are donated to Goodwill after a button falls off. Chances are I can find a replacement at the same place on $1.50 day. With all buttons intact!

- It's OK that I have a chocolate addiction. After all we only have dark chocolate in our pantry. It's health food isn't it? Just don't think I'll tell you how much I consume on an average day.

- It's OK that my kids only bathe once or twice a week in the winter. How dirty can they get inside all day long?

- It's OK that Ayla and I are still reading this book. If it's been renewed too many times all I have to do is return it & check it out again. I just can't say if I've done that more than once.

- It's OK that our Fall clean-up never got done outside. It's more fun to clean in the Spring anyway.

What makes YOU feel guilty? Tell me and I'll tell you why you don't need to feel bad about it.

The Drama Of First Grade (If You're A Girl)

Last night I managed to get my girls in to the bathtub and nicely washed, dried, brushed and clipped. During that time Ayla's mouth turned on and told me all sorts of interesting facts about life in first grade.

B***** has been really mean lately. She told E*** a secret and guess what it was?

What?

She told E*** that she's sick of me, but that's OK because E*** isn't sick of me. Guess what?

What?

B****** and M** are boyfriend and girlfriend now and that's really weird. He came up to her at lunchtime and asked if she would be his boyfriend. She said yes. It's so weird.....

Why is it weird?

Because she used to not like him, but now I guess she does like him. Love him I mean. Oh, and guess what else?

What?

At recess D**** tried to kill M*****.

At this point the story stopped, because Micah and I started laughing so hard. More than likely this is a location joke. You know, you had to be there. It's just the way she said it with such drama. It was mean to laugh. I might have been able to hold it in if I hadn't caught Micah's incredulous eye.

Ayla, what do you mean he tried to kill her? What on earth did he DO?

He was hurting her and I could tell he was trying to kill her.

As much as this tickled me last night (and still does to a certain extent). It gave me pause today. I started thinking about this particular boy and the picture I've been able to paint of him and his probable home life. The sad fact is that you never know when to take kids seriously anymore when it comes to certain talk and play. When Micah was in kindergarten a boy in his class got sent home from school for bringing used shotgun shells to school. Sigh. I don't really know the purpose of this post. I guess I just want to say that I'm glad today is the last day before Spring break. I am looking forward to us having our kids to our selves for nine days in a row.

And Now She's Seven

I let Ayla invite five school friends to her birthday party this year. Apparently you have to invite at least ten to get five to show up? Only one girl's parent paid attention to the RSVP portion of the invitation. Luckily she called to say she was coming AND she actually came. We never heard from anyone else.

We called Kaia and Micah into action and were able to play some of the party games we had planned. Kaia wasn't much help actually, but she upped the cuteness factor.

Ayla and Lizzy, the girl who saved the day!

Showing Grandma Mary the boots that Grandma Tina bought.

We tried cupcakes baked in ice-cream cones. They were easy, cute & actually kind of yummy. My kind of baking!

And the gift of the day was the 99 cent jump rope I bought on the spur of the moment. I'm glad my kids are still fairly easy to please!

Up North

We visited Uncle Walter and Auntie Julie at the beginning of February. The kids were so excited to go ice-fishing for the first time.

She had no idea what was happening, but it had to be fun right?

This is about as exciting as it got. Sit. Eat. Sit some more. Get up & check another hole. Sit. Eat. Move to a different spot. Eat. Loudly whine about how boring ice-fishing is.

We didn't get a single bite, but it was fun to be outside on the middle of a lake in the middle of winter.

It certainly didn't bother this one. As long as she can talk she's happy!

A Broken Vow

I vowed to be the kind of blogger that blogs a little bit all the time. Instead I've become the kind that does a bunch of updates all at once, but once in a great while. I'm sorry about that. I hope to get back on track soon. Without further ado here is some of what's been going on. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. I have been living, but mostly without my camera in hand!

Here are some of our favorite people in the world. This was a Sunday in January. The day that their oldest daughter began a journey across the world. Skye was fortunate enough to go to China with her grandparents for 3 months! We can't wait to hear more about her travels when she returns.

Love this father/daughter shot.

Cold!!!!

We Had Too Much Fun!

Yesterday afternoon found us at the tail-end of vacation and the tail-end of some one's limit. I was seriously cracking up watching her dominating the back seat. With her little fur coat on she was like a miniature matriarch. The little tyrant sat back there & ruled over her two (much older) siblings.

We had busy, full, wonderful, tiring days. I was so busy living that I took very few photos. Unfortunately. The ten nights of vacation found us in other people's beds half of the time. Three of the five nights we were home we had company.

Little bug slept until 9:30 this morning. She was quite dismayed to wake up to an almost empty house. She shuffled through all the rooms looking for fun people to play with only to discover she is stuck with me. Hope you all had a happy new year!