Two Weeks...

is a long time without blogging. I could say that there was nothing worth blogging about, but that would not be true. I can always take pictures of my sweet children. Truth be told, I think the winter weather has had me in a funk. It's been so long since we have been able to be outside and enjoy the sunshine....so long since we've actually seen the sunshine. But today, it was beautiful and Hannah and I spent part of our afternoon at the sand park, and I came home with a bit of sun on my cheeks and a much improved mood. Still not a lot to share...it's been a bit monotonous around here, but there have still been some fun times.

Push-up contests

funny hats

and Barbies...lots and lots and lots of Barbies. This is Hannah's newest obsession. She has a Barbie camper, a Barbie bedroom, and four different playsets--a jungle, a castle, a farm, and a dollhouse. Still, she insists on setting it up all over the foyer.

She sets it up like a house with rooms--I would have LOVED this as a child

Hannah in all of her Barbie-induced joy

and she even let her little sister play along

And...that's about the extent of our excitement around here. Daryl is working his three jobs. Josh is working two. The rest of us are only working one (me, a teacher; the girls, students; and Charlotte, hard at work at playing and learning new words like "NO!") and missing our boys.

Hopefully, life, like my mood, will lighten up and I will have something exciting (or even remotely interesting) to post about!

Hello February!

Well, it's that time. Time to check in and report on how well (or not) I did with my goals this month. Not looking forward to actually seeing how badly I failed, but alas, it must be done.

Goal #1 One Diet Coke a day. Exercise 3 times per week. Lose five pounds.
One Diet Coke a day- Most days I did it. The other days? Not so much.

Exercise 3 times per week- OK...here come the excuses. The first week in January, I was just back to school and getting used to being back at school. Exercised, um none. The second week in January was the week of the snow. I walked to Kroger and back twice, so I will say that counts. The next two weeks, only twice a week as well. So yeah, not quite there on that one.

Lose five pounds- Didn't lose 5, but did lose 2.5 without really even trying. Who am I kidding? I ate everything that didn't eat me first and it is only by the grace of God that I don't weigh about 300 pounds by now.

Goal #2 Save my tutoring checks and open a Christmas account.
Not a realistic goal for January, seeing as every cent we had was spent on trying to keep our heads above water. Needless to say, epic fail.

Goal #3 Have my quiet time every day.
This one, and perhaps the most important one, was the only semi success that I had this month. I made sure to have my quiet time each day, but I'll admit to it being the prelude to a good sleep once or twice. Baby steps.

As for February goals...they'll stay the same as January. Without the snowstorm and the treading water to mess things up!

This past week was a tough one. Everyone in the house had some stage of this nasty cold we've been passing around. My difficult children at school were especially difficult. And for the first time since before Christmas, we had to work a five day week! With the work days, then the snow days, then the MLK holiday, we had eased back into the five day work week.

The highlights

Charlotte experiments with a little color

Hannah had Super Dad's Day at school where all the dads came in for a special lunch and then took their kids with them for the day. The theme, Super Dads, was a play on the Super Bowl, and they were supposed to dress in their team colors. This also gave Daryl an excuse to put off his return to a five day work week until February.

(Sorry for the bad picture...darn auto focus!)

And last night, Family Night at the Stone household. For Christmas, Daryl got me a calendar with a date night pencilled in (and a gift card for each month) and a family night planned too. We took advantage of the gorgeous weather and grilled out, played a game of Guesstures, and then watched a movie together. Fun times. I wish I would have gotten out the camera sooner so I could have caught on film Daryl's rendition of belly dancing and Maranda's quarterback imitation, but I only managed to remember when it was Hannah's turn.

Here she is acting out the oh-so-exciting "freckle."

And jumping up and down after we guessed all of her words correctly!

It may be a blurry picture, but this is exactly how I felt on the inside having all my kids home and together last night. Definitely the best night of the month!

The art of being poor

About 13 years ago, my life as I knew it fell apart. I was married, living in a country club neighborhood, shopping whenver I needed or wanted something, staying at home with my new baby girl. And then I wasn't. Wasn't married. Was living in government subsidized housing. Shopping at a local food pantry. And despite working three jobs, the children and I, we were poor. My parents did an amazingly generous job of making sure that we had a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, and that we never went hungry. I remember being so humbled, so embarrassed, so ashamed back then when it all happened. I never wanted the children to realize just how bad off we were, and so we made games out of it.

There was the "treasure hunt," where we all searched the couch cushions, the junk drawers, the discarded bags, under the car seats, and yes, even in the parking lot of our apartment complex for coins for gas. There were picnic dinners on the living room floor with pbj sandwiches....again. And coin counting parties where we would count all the coins that we made from our latest yard sale, while slowly but surely selling off our stuff. They were so proud taking our coin box to the bank to trade it in for cash, when I was dying inside.

And then, little by little, things started to get better. I got a better job and we slowly started getting back on our feet. Then I met Daryl, and from our first date, he made sure that the kids never needed anything. But the children still remember. We talk about it and we all agree it was a bittersweet time in our lives. We have some really good memories, and my children really appreciate what they have and know what is important in life. And just for that, I would gladly do it all over again.

Fastforward to now. We are blessed. So so so incredibly blessed. We have five healthy, happy, vibrant children. We both have both our parents with us still, and loving families. We have a great house (an everexpanding one at that!), four cars in our driveway, and the children attend a private school. We both have jobs, and Daryl actually has three (I do believe I married the hardest working man EVER!) We have an amazing church family, and most importantly, we have Jesus.

And still, we find ourselves as we do most January's: too much month left for our money. We both get paid in the middle of December and then not again until the end of January (the plight of any teacher). In those six weeks, we have Christmas and two birthdays. We always find ourselves a bit stretched, but this year for some reason, it was worse. And while it's been humbling and frustrating, it's been a good reminder. A reminder of the generosity of our parents. A reminder of God's provision. A reminder that everything we need, we already have.

I wish I could say that next January will be different. That we will save a little each month for this purpose. That we will manage our money better. But I know the chances of any of that happening are slim to none. But maybe, just maybe, it is a good thing. OK, so maybe that's stretching it. Necessary, maybe. For God knows just what we can handle, and just what we need. And just maybe, a good game or two of "treasure hunt" was just what we needed.

The small stuff...

Wouldn't it be nice if you could still find joy in the little things....

Like reading a book with your sister

silky pajama pants
(she must have spent 5 minutes feeling her legs!)

and skipping!

Oh how I wish that I could keep them this small. That I could keep them happy with Barbie princess movies, skipping, cookies, and pajama pants. That I would never have to decide whether being a good parent means protecting them from being hurt or being there to pick up the pieces. Never have to see an eye roll, or watch them walk out of the room, tears in their eyes. Never have to watch them hurt or struggle with self esteem. Never have to watch them make the same mistakes that I did at their age.

I wish I could always keep them like this--joyful, innocent, in love with life--skipping!

Happy Birthday Maddy!!!

I can't believe that my sweet baby girl--my girl who wore her snoopy bathing suit for two years straight, who could scale any combination of baby gates to get to me, and who has always had a love of fuzzy slippers--is 14. (I also can't believe that it took a week for me to get these pictures up! What can I say...it's been one of those weeks) Without further ado, Maddy on her birthday.

Eating her birthday meal of spaghetti. She is one easy to please teenager. She loves spaghetti--with the cheapest sauce from a can, nothing added.

Maranda joined us.
Opening her gift from Grandma and Grandpa, a shopping spree, which we are taking tomorrow. (And how embarrassed am I that you see that my Christmas decorations were still up!--and how embarrassed would I really be if you could see behind that Christmas tree to see the Thanksgiving picture Hannah made.)

Hannah and Daddy enjoying the festivities.

Her big gift from us was a special devotional book that did not arrive--they say, due to the weather (it's still not here....ahem) Her favorite gift out of the book, the lunch at Olive Garden with a friend, a gift card to Starbucks, and permission to have a Facebook? The free one!

Josh doing the cake honors, as usual.

blowing out the candles

And a little random, non-Maddy, cuteness.

Happy birthday, again, my sweet Maddy Moo!

I love love love you!

Things that I've learned in the four days we've been iced in:

1. Four days is way too long to be iced in...anywhere...with 5 children.

2. A playroom is just an excuse to get out every single toy every single time you play.

3. Hannah's throat hurts at the strangest times, coincidentally every time it is time to clean up said toys in the playroom.

4. Charlotte knows how to say Mama, and does so...about 5,638 times a day.

5. The laundry can be conquered.
6. We have so many clothes that when all washed and put away, do not fit in our dressers/closets. And yet I keep buying more, thinking they do not have enough.

7. I need to conquer the laundry more often so I quit thinking this and therefore buying clothes that do not fit.

8. Facebook is like crack.

9. I would be the laziest stay at home mom EVER...and the fattest. After I conquered the laundry, all motivation went out the window.

10. Even when you think you look graceful, there is no way to look graceful while slipping and falling on ice in the Kroger parking lot.

11. One snow day is fun. Two is an unexpected surprise. Three is pushing it. Four...eh.

If I wear my pj's the right side out, sleep with a spoon on top of my pillow, and dance naked in the moonlight, can we please go to school Friday?