Reality

52:4

Just so you know, reality happens to be the picture on the left about 70% of the time. I like having a clean house. A place for everything and everything in its place. However, after my two lovely children were born, there wasn't quite as much time for cleaning, and a whole lot more messes. I do still love a clean kitchen/house, so every-once-in-a-while my kitchen looks like the one on the right.

"Good moms have sticky floors, messy kitchens, laundry piles, dirty ovens, and happy kids." -  Lovely quote I found on Pintrest

I thought I would also share the lyrics of one of my favorite songs:
(I tried to find an audio version to imbed, but the only ones I could find had random family photos of people I don't know attached to them. And apparently, uploading my own copy of the song onto blogger is WAY too complicated and not worth the time.)

Sacred 
by Caedmon's Call

This house is a good mess
It's the proof of life
No way would I trade jobs
But it don't pay overtime

I'll get to the laundry
I don't know when
I'm saying a prayer tonight
Cause tomorrow it starts again

Could it be that everything is sacred?
And all this time
Everything I've dreamed of
Has been right before my eyes

The children are sleeping
But they're running through my mind
The sun makes them happy
And the music makes them unwind

My cup runneth over
And I worry about the stain
Teach me to run to You
Like they run to me for every little thing

When I forget to drink from you
I can feel the banks harden
Lord, make me like a stream
To feed the garden

Wake up, little sleeper
The Lord, God Almighty
Made your Mama keeper
So rise and shine
Rise and shine cause

Everything is sacred
And all this time
Everything I've dreamed of
Has been right before my eyes

First Snow

52:3

This last week, Salem has experienced some crazy weather. Sunday, we woke up to snow. It snowed again on Monday, then proceeded to rain for the next three days. On Thursday, we woke up to major flooding. Most of Turner was underwater, and I saw some pretty amazing pictures of the parts of Salem surrounding Mill Creek (although I didn't venture out to see for myself). 

Motivated by some unfortunate flooding in a friends basement, we decided to check our crawl space. When we moved into the house, there as a sump pump that didn't work. We purchased a new one intending to install it that first summer, which, of course, never happened. I kind of wondered why the pump was even there in the first place. Well, I now know.

Good news: we had a brand new sump pump in the garage. Bad news: the water in the crawl space was too high to install it. Since Joe and I are both rather clever and resourceful, we came up with a solution involving a garden hose and Gorilla Tape. Worked like a charm. We saved our forced air ducts and our garage from the impending doom. 

Quite the week of weather. Now I think it's time for a warm, sunny spell.

Balloons

My sister gave me a bag of balloons for Christmas to use as props for my photography. Grace found the bag while I was cleaning and asked if I would blow one up for her. I decided, "what the heck?" Of course Owen needed his own too (two year olds don't really like to share, and I had a whole bag). Since they were meant for photo props, I grabbed my camera and started shooting. Here are a few of my favorites:

I can't decide if I like this one better in color or black and white. So I'll just show you both.

I had a really hard time choosing my ultimate favorite for week two of Project 52, but I did manage to narrow it down. See my last post for the "winning" photo.

Play Time

52:2
Yup, I'm already behind. It's okay though, I did take this picture last week. It was just living on my camera until tonight.

I love playing with my kids. It never gets old... Okay, maybe it gets just a little old when they are jumping all over me and it starts to hurt. But that only lasts a moment, and it doesn't change the fact that I love getting down on the floor with Grace and Owen.
And I kinda like that the rug needs vacuuming. C'est la vraie vie - It's real life.

9 Months

21.5 lbs - 30 in

• Has two more teeth (finally) for a total of four - His first front tooth showed up a few days before Christmas and the second one popped through about a week ago
• Cruises all over the house getting into everything
• Loves attention 
• Loves mama and his sister, and constantly looks for affirmation from his dad
• Has recently been throwing his head back when laughing
• Has utterly and completely stolen my heart

For proof of his mobility here is a sequence of events that took place while I tried to take his nine month picture.

Possibly My Favorite Time of Day

One of my friends is doing something called Project 52; which, in a nutshell, means, she is posting a picture a week on her blog for an entire year. I thought it was such a cool idea I decided to join her in her endeavor. I have contemplated trying to take a picture a day for a month before (a year would be nice, but I am somewhat of a realist), but thought it would be easier to do a picture a week. Then if I miss I day, no biggie. Here is week one:

I think breakfast time may be my favorite time of the day. Grace, Owen, and I all sit down together and eat our chosen entree. Sometimes we talk, sometimes we sing, sometimes we act silly, and sometimes we do all three. I love starting the day like this. I am so thankful staying home with my kids makes moments like these possible.