Pretending to Catch Up

I will tell you all how it is that I stay so caught up on my blog: I don’t worry about staying caught up. I remember long ago being so stressed trying to keep up on my journals because I had this holiday and that event and this experience all needing recorded and all behind on. Well, with my journal and my blog I don’t worry about staying caught up anymore. If a birthday is missed or an event forgotten so be it. I just write something from where I am at. Anyway, that’s the secret. It’s not necessarily a good secret. Maybe it’s kind of a bad secret (because someday my kids will be like, “Hey! Why is my birthday only mentioned at ages 2, 7, 8, and 13?” and I will shrug sadly and shake my head with no real answer to give except for what I have given above), but it is the secret all the same.

In the end, I reason, that I do record quite a few important things, and certainly don’t neglect anything major such as a birth or a blessing or a move, and while many things are missed, in the end, I think that I write much more because I never have that “Oh no, I have so much to catch up on” feeling that makes me not want to record things at all.

The reason I was thinking of this is because there has been a lot going on the past week or so what with the kids home for Spring Break, and Easter and the like. And for a minute today I thought, “How do I get all that down?” Then I remembered, “Whew. I don’t get it all down. Instead I just ramble a few things I happen to feel like rambling right now!”

I feel a little sheepish having said all that. Like some of you are shaking your heads at the error of my ways – thinking, “Who would opt to just chuck all the memories the kids might want recorded of Easter in favor of a few mutterings of insignificance?”. Still. There it is. And here is what I want to record today:

1. There are a few blogs I follow of mothers who are very crafty and creative and wonderful at letting their children learn and explore the world in fantastic ways. I follow those blogs because, who knows, maybe once in awhile I might see something that catches my eye and opt to do it with my kids. But, truthfully, I am not an extremely crafty and creative mother. I’m a good mother. I do enjoyable things with my kids. We play Uno and Rummikub and make sugar cookies; but, they are left often to their own little devices when it comes to creating. It is only now and then that I think to spearhead something such as gathering sticks, leaves, and the like to make little bird nests; or painting colored milk on bread to toast; or buying supplies to do shrinky-dinks. We have done those things, but I tell you, these pretty awesome mothers whose blogs I follow do things like that (and much MUCH messier and more clever) DAILY. And, I don’t.

SO, when I do have some little fun thing that is easy and that my kids do every now and then, I figure I ought to share it with the world . . . so you other simple folk like me can have a nice simple idea to do as well. And here one of those things are:

Years ago I bought some “fabric markers” at Michael’s craft store for some needful purpose. Now, somehow, those fabric markers have become the means by which old t-shirts (generally Abe’s outgrown Hanes undershirts) become their homemade “jammie shirts”. The markers draw perfectly on fabric (as their name suggests they might) and my kids quite enjoy both making and wearing their little homemade pajama tops.

2. I took a few of these, others Abe took of Anders and me, but they just made me happy. I love this little fella so so much. Life just feels so normal again and it makes me unbelievably happy that once all the craziness and dust and newness of having a new person in my life settled, we were left with . . . well . . . the new person still there . . . only not seeming so new – seeming very much a part of what is normal and happy and belonging to our daily existence. Oh I love him so much!

(Examining Abe’s hand for a brief minute before trying to eat it)

3. I like these two pictures of Goldie. The first was taken at her grandparents’ house one evening. I have wished ever since that I’d made more spring-time effort to find and take pictures of my kids among the “popcorn popping” on the apricot trees before it was all popped and gone. The second was one we took on one of the Spring Break hair experiment days. I am not very adept at doing hair, and things are usually fairly rushed before school so there is not much time to practice, so, over the break we experimented a little more with my limited abilities. Goldie herself dreamed up the turned-under-braid style.

4. Penny recently attended Kindergarten Round-up. I love that it is called that. We will have four kids attending elementary school this fall! Here our nearly five year old is:

There you have it. My little unorthodox way of staying “caught up”.