Balancing Bliss

nothing better than...

the comfort of your husbands presence in the home....

or his potato soup!

missing...

missing the guy who does so much around here... i knew that ... but now i REALLY know that..

 he goes to the store or picks up the pizza.. small job? sure.. but it's a huge deal if you are in pj's and means loading 4 kids to go..

7th grade advanced math? are you freaking joking? i don't want gaven to know i don't have a clue and i feel like i'm a student who wants to cry because i'm so lost i don't know what to do.. but he does..

i miss the guy who steps in and redirects everyone when mom is about to lose it so i can power through whatever i am doing..

i need his presence to stop my mouth from spewing naughty words when he isn't there to step in..

he is quiet.. he is strong.. he is sensitive..

he is missed...

nothing better than....

new ....

mistake?...

i missed having comments and seeing there were other people reading my blog from other blogs.. it used to be fun, that is until some sicko stole pictures of my children..i've had a private blog for a year or more.. yesterday i decided to go public again... and i had 60hits from some facebook page.. wondering if i made a mistake...

ingrid

nothing better than...

a little something i hope will keep me blogging at least once a week until i get in my blogging groove again... a simple statement ...

this week;

nothing better than; a toddler bringing you a book and then raising her little arms to climb up into your lap... peace for the sould i tell you..

(picture has nothing to do with a book but rather the same little girl curiously going through mommas rubber stamps and chewing each one... teething much?)

 

Christmas day...

 this was the year that;

the unthinkable happened... "you'll shoot your eye out kid"

(peak behind the tree)

yep... my dad got the boys bb guns.. i even found 'Christmas Story' wrapping paper.. i fooled them by taping them together so it looked like a tall square.. when they opened them luci announced "WHAT? YOU TRUST THEM WITH THOSE POPPY?" he still find that very funny and is sharing with his friends.. the deal was that they have to be kept in poppy's gun safe... i don't want anything to do with them at this point..

the next unthinkable;

a little tiny stocking started ringing in the back of the tree... he is in 7th grade and i wanted to be able to get a hold of him between school/poppys/choir/staying after school/ etc... he is having a ton of fun with it but so far only one problem.. he text me when he meant to text a friend about how mean his mom was being...ha!... he has been really responsible with it.. proud of him..it was a total surprise too!

mr. blu and luci lou...

santa brought eli blu a chess set...he has been really into this at the library.. mom and dad got him a very nice nikon camera (thank you black friday sales)... luci got a portable dvd player.. she never was into her DS really but she loves a good movie... we also got her and mina each a movie.. why mina? i found 'Nanny McPhee 2"...it was the first movie she ever saw in a theatre.. although she nursed through most of it :) ... both kids loved their gifts

santa brought luci a zhu zhu (some noisy self propelled hamster toy) car and camper that the zhuzhu actually moves itself.. it's honestly adorable... it came with a racoon zhuzhu instead of a hamster.. after all.. it's a camping zhuzhu right?

little miss;

she wakes EARLY... like 4am-6am early.. so i just got up with her before 6 and as soon as we walked into the room she saw what santa left her and it's like she knew... she ran straight to it..

later she got her combined gift from poppy and mom and daddy...which still sits in our tiny living room because she plays in it everyday.. the cats love it too.. my intentions were for it to be a place to play while i garden this spring/summer and it is also a great place to go hide away with a book..

it's a tree stump tent but the picture doesn't show it that well... i'm sure many many more pics to come in the future of her in this tent..

and my favorite picture of the day...it was just so classic.. baby in her nighty.. sissy helping her unwrap while the flannel pj brothers looked on... i just love it... (and yes.. i made it look all dirty and scratched because i like the vintage look...although my dad likes to remind me how lucky we are to not have our pics look like this any longer... ) just love that this moment is etched in my heart forever..


one more special thing....

my grandmother sarah and her mother mina collected green stamps while my grandpa was away in the korean war... for this;

it was for my mom... she was 1... it was 1953.. pretty awesome.. she refinished it just enough to make it pretty but it still looks old.. she gave it to mina.. her last grandchild.. still get a bit choked up thinking of it...

it was a very blessed memorable Christmas..

just a..

teaser until i can sit down and crank out a few posts...

look at those 4... i don't know why i don't ever have time to blog anymore... much more to come on Christmas...

much more...

oh my... she is naughty... but yet so innocent looking...

december was a hard month for me to say the least.. i was very sick.. when i packed up the Christmas stuff and threw out the tree i amazingly just felt better.. that night i mentioned "i just want a Christmas break when i'm not so sick and i can go on vacation too".. i have been sick the last 4 Christmas breaks.... 2 days later i went to the dr. and we realized i am most likely allergic to my tree ... 

so i'm just playing catch up over here.. i feel like i've been doing that since we moved into this house. 2012 is my year to get my footing on life again.. i am going to claim my life back.. MUCH MORE of that to come... and blogging.. and pictures.. it's true... REALLY...

merry moments captured..

(this one is a collection of blurry shots of a girl who keeps us on our toes these days.. it's so her right now that i couldn't delete them.. )

(see what i mean? she went all freestyle on us)

this is the first year since being a family that i didn't get Christmas cards out in the mail.. some things just had to slide this year.. i am trying to keep it simple and what it's about... i've been having the children read scriptures on the Saviors birth and i've even learned more doing so..  we are just so grateful to KNOW the Savior WAS born... and that He LIVES..