August 3, 2012
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{a little friday morning happiness}
snuggling in bed with reese early while we read paddington bear.
she only likes the page where he falls in the bathtub and john and judy have to fetch him out!
putting on an old sundress i bought from wal-mart years ago.
it’s white and worn out, but a favorite.
i love how wearing dresses and skirts instantly make me feel prettier! wondering why my feet are getting wet as i walk around the house?
realizing emma decided to make it smell nice for me by febreezing EVERYTHING!
i tell her she did such a good job, she’s even got my feet smelling better than they ever have..
we laugh about febreezed feet!
having all the kids home again after ben’s week at camp.
amazing how just one child missing changes the dynamics so much.smiling as i toast everyone english muffins…
wondering how in the world four kids can be so loud!listening as they all talk at once, wanting to tell each other about their dreams from last night.
i can’t believe how well they remember them. and in such detail. i barely remember sleeping!
nearly tripping over kate and ben on their hands and knees, as i turn from the toaster..
their faces close to the floor, their bums stuck up in the air-
they inform me they’re looking at the ants crossing the kitchen floor.and emma trying to pick each one up and put them out the patio door.
“i haf to sabe them!”
clearly something she does not get from her mother, saving the ants! …
because that is not the same sentiment i have when i see them! the kids teasing me about not calling them the right name..
“ben. kate.. em.. ree.. WHO are you??”
and then i laugh at myself because i thought i would never be the mom that did that!!emma squealing in delight when she takes a bite of her english muffin and her tooth falls out!
all of us watching the spider outside the family room window as it spins a web around a fly and puts it away for later..
i usually feel the same about spiders that i do ants.
but, there’s something about how big this one is. how it’s web hangs perfectly in the corner of the window.
and if you’ve ever read charlotte’s web.. well, then you know!! i just CAN’T tear it down!
i half expect to see words in it one of these mornings. reese pushing her baby stroller round and round the house.
stopping every now and then to push the poor baby doll that’s upside down, half falling out, back in.
glad that better mothering skills will come.hearing ben banging away at something he’s creating in the garage.
i think for a minute of the disaster i know the garage will be in…
but then i think of the alternative of having him sitting around inside doing nothing,
and i just tell myself that super organized garages are so over rated!watching kate from where i sit now at the kitchen table working on a tinker bell puzzle.
she had started it with emma. now, emma’s gone and it’s just her.all these things made me smile this morning.
made me pause for just a sec and take it all in.i’ve missed my camera alot this summer.
there’s so many times i’ve wished i could have grabbed it to capture a moment.
but whether there’s a picture to remind me or not, i have a feeling these are the times..
just us. happy together in our own little home, that i’ll never ever forget!and. after feeling i just sat down from cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast {and more ants!}
i can’t believe it’s already time for lunch!!maybe i’ll just pass out 5 spoons and we’ll eat this instead..
one of my favorite summer desserts!
i hadn’t had it since i was a kid..
but saw it in a magazine at a doctor’s office and tore it out. {yes, i’m one of those that do that!} this picture was actually of one i had made from the beginning of the summer..
the one here today doesn’t look quite so nice. hapPy weekend, friends.
hope it’s filled with happy moments and a few sweet things to eat!!
Comments (36)
So happy to read all of this happiness.
Happiness makes the world go around.
can u post recipes
What a sweet morning with your kiddos! We have that same cute Paddington Bear Story.
I know its crazy how you just feed them breakfast and its time for lunch already.
Have a great rest of your day!
Ahh Emma is too cute saving the bugs
I say go for the Banana pudding after all its some fruit and protein
have i ever mentioned that i love your kids names? because i do
and i love the reminder to remember and enjoy the moments
and i miss you having your camera too! your pictures are always so lovely and fun!
i hope it’s not too much longer ’til you have one again!!!
I LOVE this post.
I LOVE banana pudding.
Oh man, we have these “other kids”, whose names are a combination of my kids names. You know, Elisaac. And Aloliver. When you start the name and switch in th e middle?? haha No one responds when I do a mishmashed name so I must be naming Other kids, right?? ha
I HATE ANTS TOO. No one is saving ants at my house. I want them gone. Dead. Out of here. NOTHING Is working. There are kazillions of them somewhere finding their way in.
I laughed out loud at the baby doll . . .
Sometimes I have to make my kids STOP talking about their dreams. They start out real then they start making stuff up then the littler ones start repeating slightly different versions of the exact same dream they heard the middle ish kids just fabricate. I can only hear the same dream so many times before I lose my mind. ha.
ps. at least you are good w/ words! your writing is a joy to read even w/out pictures! my blogging would come to a halt if something happened to my camera!!!
the ants would be GONE at our house ~ me no like ‘em ~
Oh, what happy post. I need to do this more often – just look around me, observe, “awaken” [as the French say] to what is going on around me. And to take delight in it. Especially this season. It’s so fast, it’s busy, and I often find myself rushing from one thing to the next [doesn't help that husband and I are in charge of completely remodeling bathrooms at church, including manual labor, for the past few weeks and still not finished]. Anyway, this made me smile. And give a sort of happy sigh. THIS is what mothering is supposed to look like.
Of course real life isn’t like that all the time for any of us, but still, that order, that calm, that enjoyment.
And sometimes I think I’m so busy snapping pictures that I don’t actually *be* in the moment, if that makes sense. So sometimes I just leave it behind. But if I didn’t have even the option of a camera, now that’s a different harder story!
Love to you, dear Amber!
I have to confess to occasionally tearing a recipe out of a magazine at the doctor’s office too. I think all mom’s get their kids names mixed up. I know I did. My friend in Africa did too. She had 7 and she’d start out saying “Philomene, Cecile, Marthe, Sylvie, mo ga gue!” special emphasis on Sylvie as she finally got the one she wanted. The last 3 words mean “You come here!” Once I called my youngest son “Mindy. Mindy was our dog at the time. I hope you never do that.
Sounds like such a happy Friday!
I’m sorry about your camera.
Oh my daughter just asked for banana pudding this week
I’ll have to get the ingredients and make some – she settled for van. ice cream with sliced bananas for now.
I feel like I miss participating with my kids games, activities etc. if I’m always focused on taking pics, so yes, more often than not, no pics to remember fun summers. You do have a colorful ability to write in a way that brings the pictures to mind! I love to hear of moms who are just “being”, savoring the moments of each day.
Happy Weekend
Oooooooh You are so amazing Amber, You make the everyday, something beautiful and fun; thanks for sharing it , and for being my Xanga friend.
I hope you can enjoy many banana pudding mornings … but shares the recipe, please
Bicos
@bethro78 - haha. the “other kids” in the house.. so funny! whenever we’re around shayne’s mom i always get so cracked up because she does that with her boys all the time, totally calls them the wrong name or mixes them all together.. it’s pretty hard not too though when your kids are dawayne,blayne,shayne,and joelayne!
happy happy times! so much to enjoy and be thankful for.
@brokenmiracle - you’re too sweet! and i’m positive your blogging wouldn’t come to a halt, i enjoy the things you share! sometimes it’s a challenge to try to think of how to describe something w/out a picture. and it’s certainly helped me maybe “see” things differently.. stop and take notice and snap, as it were, a mental picture in my mind. still. at the end of the day.. i’d really just like my camera back!!
@lifeisadance - oh, yes! BEING in the moment makes perfect sense to me.. said the lady who, at times, snapped way too pictures to the annoyance of my kids and even husband. :/ i miss it. but it’s been a good break. and lesson for me! no.. i really DON’T need a picture of EVERYTHING!!
bathroom remodel? girl.. no wonder you’re so tiny so soon after baby. you never sit down!! 
) love right back at ya sweet clarita!
@ata_grandma - oh goodness! your comment totally cracked me up!! calling your son, mindy. sooooo funny!!
@BettyGermil - thanks for stopping in, betty. glad you’re my xanga friend too!
@MommytoBrooke - @wj3km - @BettyGermil - here’s the recipe:
3 cups cold milk
2 pkg. vanilla instant pudding
30 nilla wafers
3 medium bananas, sliced
1 tub of whipped topping, thawed {i prefer cool whip.. which my husband says is NOT real whipped cream}
pour milk into large bowl. add dry pudding mixes. beat w/ wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. let stand 5 min.
arrange half the wafers on bottom and up side of 2 qt serving bowl. add layers of half each of the banana slices and pudding. repeat all layers. spread whipped topping over pudding.
refrigerate 3 hours or until ready to serve {makes about 14 servings}
Such a sweet and cheerful post! =)
Happy Weekend to you.
loved this post of little glimpses into your day. Sounds like a busy fun summer day! Haven’t heard a lot about life lately….How have you been?
That banana pudding looks so delicious and sounds perfect for my kind of dinner!
i really don’t think bananas should have anything to do with desserts …. but other than that this is a good post
i forgot about your camera, i’m sorry again!!
do you go through a whole package of english muffins in one breakfast too? we do sometimes … eat more cheerios, i say, but who listens : )
i agree on the dresses/skirts …. i do think of you every now & then if i stay in boxers all day [cough, like yesterday, cough]
happy weekend, to you up there!!
I miss your camera, too! What happened to it? I love reading your posts. I think of you in your little house with your sweet kids, and the spiders
and ants and it makes me smile! Have a wonderful weekend, Amber!
Yum!
It is so good to remember the fun and happy things kids do, and that we do. Thanks for the reminder.
Love this glimpse into your summer.
As I read, it felt like I was right there in your kitchen with you. Your description of family life, made me miss the season when I could have written a story like this! You will never, never regret embracing these moments with your little ones. I’m sure your little ones (now) are not going to forget how their Mommy enjoyed them and embraced them growing up! Thank you for this peek into one of your August summer mornings!
oh! is there ANYTHING better than stopping to savor REAL LIFE? i.loved.this.
with any of the situations, you so aptly described above, a different attitude from you would not have appreciated LIFE.
<3 you, girl! PRAYING for a camera for you to express yourself again!
GOOD POST
great post! so important to just stop and notice AND enjoy every moment!
Wait. WHAT? What happened to the camera??? Thankfully, your verbage skills are amazing and I could absolutely picture everything happening. Ants. Febreeze. Your dress and wet feet. Each beautiful child. The toasted English muffins. The spider web (now I feel totally guilty for killing a little spider and its web in my daughter’s window sill), the upside down baby doll….and I know how yummy that banana pudding is! My mother-in-law used to make that. What a sweet memory! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
I wish I had slowed down more when the kids were little. I miss the noises and the sweetness only found when snuggling a little one or watching them discover something for the first time.
Banana pudding! Yum!
Love it!
mmmm… delightful!
your camera broke??? that is so sad. i know how much you adore pictures and are really good at capturing beautiful moments. and yet in the way you spoke about each of these moments here…i totally had a picture of it. love seeing the ‘little’ things. i love love love emma saving the ants…i’m not fond of them either, but that was sooo sweet and if they are so minute that kate and ben have to get down to the floor to see them that makes me laugh a little bit harder. Sweet emma. my mom tells me that whenever my grandma would call my uncle he always got called his sisters names first…when she was really frazzled
don’t worry about it, they know who you’re talking too. yay that you’re all united again. did Ben have fun at camp? which one did he go to? i would love it if you woke up and there were words in the web…so fabulous.
love you girl.
little happenings in everyday really make life happy, and fulfilling. love how you are enjoying the moments with your family, taking the time to think about it, and write about it.
was so great to catch up a bit with you and your family online again. it has been awhile since I visited xanga and I missed you.
what a wonderful family you have and you all truly know how to live in happiness and love.
So much sweet happy here. It made me smile. I miss your photos, but your words are always good too.
@H0LDfast - heehee. about the ONLY way i like banana’s is in bread or pudding or COOKIES. banana cookies w/ butter cream frosting… now THAT is my favorite!!
the kids don’t like english muffins so much, so no. but cereal. YES! i’m always like.. count out the squares. ;0 not really, but almost!!!
have a great day. boxers or not. sometimes.. ya just gotta. it helps w/ your sanity to stay cozy that way.
) love~
@DanishDoll - @Richgem - @mytoesareblue - – my camera had the pin fall out that holds the shutter open. it’s one of the tiniest, most intricate things that can break on your camera and the camera repair guy said it was next to impossible to fix. he would try – for 250 dollars! :/ there were a few other things wrong w/ it also. so even if the 250 repair worked.. i still had the other issues. i’m hoping there’s some tax money coming in and MAYBE some of that could go to a new one. i’m making all shayne’s favorite foods and being EXTRA sweet!!!
)