bluestocking mama

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Cleaning My Way to Heaven

So I suspect that the way to heaven has a whole lot more to do with love than with cleaning, a thought which would usually fill me with thanksgiving, as my cleaning often leaves a lot to be desired. But I feel as though I should receive some heavenly rewards for the work of the past 48 hours, which has included the following:

vomit clean-up on bedding and carpets and beds, all without the help of a washing machine, which I sold on Craigslist the morning of the vomit-fest
the disgusting accumulation of 8.5 years worth of grime underneath said washing machine
the baby's loose bowels over plenty of outfits (again, without the help of washing machine)
the 3 year old's pee off of the bedroom floor and his clothes, his way of voicing his displeasure at being put in time-out (and even though I made him go to the bathroom before time-out because this is not an isolated incident)
broken glass due to the 8 year old's encounter with all of the lightbulbs I'd removed from the lamps to pack them
an entire box of Cheez-Its, a bag of Goldfish, a half a container of Pringles, and a good amount of pretzels ground into the carpet by the 3 year old

Add that to the fact that J is out-of-town, all of the extra bedding and bowls were packed before the vomit incident, and that all 4 of the children got up in the night last night and the baby got up 3 times. Surely that warrants at least a guesthouse in the back of my heavenly mansion?

As I rocked little Zelly to sleep tonight and snuggled her close, I said a quick prayer in that moment of peace and I thought about how that prayer is different than the prayers I uttered in my desperate times when Mister was a baby and had C-diff and never slept. Then I begged Heavenly Father for sleep. I begged, I bartered, I threatened, even. Tonight I prayed that my little one would sleep better, but I added, "and if she doesn't, help me to be able to deal with it." I feel like I'm a little better at the dealing with it than I used to be. So maybe the cleaning has helped me on my way to heaven after all.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

My favorite packing companion

sits there and smiles, as if to say, "Go, Mom! You can do another box!"

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Party Hardy

And so the birthday party posts continue. Which is exactly what my life feels like during the weeks of Mister and Sweetie's birthdays--between class treats, birthday dinners, family party with cake and ice cream, and friends party, I feel like it is never-ending partying. Thankfully, the one benefit of having their birthdays 6 days apart is that we can combine the friends' party into one and then something like this year's party at USA Youth Fitness Center becomes more affordable. This place was so fun--as you can see, they had a great time on the trampolines, the rope swing, the obstacle course, and so on. Henry had the little neighbor girl (his best friend, as he calls her) to keep him company, so he also had the time of his life. We followed up the playing with cupcakes and ice cream sundaes.

It's Great to be 8!

Sweetie turned 8 a few weeks ago. It's fun to see how grown up and beautiful, inside and out, she is becoming in the 8 years since these were taken:

J took her to lunch on her birthday, we had a Primary ice cream sundae activity, she picked up her ribs from Joe's BBQ, and we had cake and ice cream with the Rocks. The next weekend, we were so happy to have all of her grandparents come for her baptism. After her baptism, we swam and barbecued at the Rocks. I love these times of being together as a family and remembering, in the middle of all of this packing and moving and end-of-school madness, what's really important in life.