Mom vs. the Dot: Making it COUNT!

Slowly, it's dawning on me. We are moving on to bigger things.  I don't know if these things bigger and better , exactly.  Not yet.  Just a few years ago, I posted Superhero Undies in the Toilet and The Boo Boo Sock . When we moved in to this house, we had to put a step ladder up in the bathrooms so they could reach the sink. We devoted an entire downstairs room to toys and play, because that's what the kids were doing at ages 1, 2, and 5. The kids are now 5, 6 and 9 going on 5, 7 and 10 very, very soon (Hulk Boy's not 6 'til August). Whew!  Those 4 years flew by in an exhausting, busy blur. I once a shared with a friend that all of motherhood feels like a stone being "washed" in the ocean.  It rolls back and forth with the tides and the turbulent breakwaters, and finally ends up on the beach. After a quick breath of respite, the water comes back and pulls it back in the ocean.  Into the turbulence and the deep water.  The brin...

Has anyone else had to deal with statements like that this week?  Here are some sound bytes from our week so far: "I kicked him on the eye on accident," yelled Shopgirl in desperate attempt to erase the one millionth entry from the Hurt Hulk Boy Again Hall of Fame. Sigh. There's a lot of sighing that goes on in motherhood, I've found. It's time to head out the door.  All kids have miraculously found their boots, coats, hats, and gloves AND have put them on their bodies (be still my heart) and then comes that last-minute statement: "Where is my Star Wars shirt?  It's Star Wars night at our after-school program." Really?  You couldn't have mentioned that yesterday, or even this morning perhaps?  If you asked 5 minutes ago , we could have dug through your shirt drawer and threw something on.  Time's up.  Sorry - what you have on will have to do.  We're late (again!).  Let's go!! Sigh. We've had all mornin...

In the last month or so, everything spun wildly out of control.  Crazy-fast, extremely crammed, not a moment to think of anything except completing the next task.  The kids, on the other hand, had a great time! I'm not exactly sure how that happens.  We homeschool, so I set our schedule.  We keep our "out of home" activities pretty limited - two evening activities a week, and church activities on Sundays. All the extra Christmas shopping, baking, present coordinating, buying, wrapping and hiding might have done it.  We only baked one batch of cookies.  I sent only a few Christmas cards.  We went to only one Christmas party...but it all adds up.  Every time I sat down with the thought of writing a blog, there was something else that would come up. Things like Shop Girl's hair being caught on the water spout of the tub during bath time.  Shrieks of "Cut it off!  Cut it off!" could be heard throughout the house.   (...