Praises...

Sunshine! Now that all the windows in our bedroom are free of furniture it seems like the morning sun comes flowing in. Seems like just yesterday we were all grumbly because we needed spring. I love the feeling that it's just about to spring!

Baby smiles, with dimples makes them even better!

Only topped by baby giggles as Finn teeters on his third or fourth step and is so proud of himself!

Kids who are actually able to make a bed after tearing it apart, I was impressed with their skills...hmmm...I see bed making on a more regular basis in their future!

Mondays with no plans, my favorite kind!

8 teeth. Not sure when Finn got them all...good mama, I know...but there were three more in there than the last time I forced my finger into his mouth!

Clean baskets & drawers. You know those baskets, the one on the kitchen counter where you throw all the stuff you don't know what to do with? Mine was a good 5 inches over the top of the basket, sigh... now it's not!! I even cleaned out the drawers in my dresser where I put all my notes, cards, and other important things. Does anyone not have at least one of those drawers or baskets? If you don't, where do you put all that stuff?

Finding old notes & cards. Some that make you smile, some that make you weep.

Seeing others reflected in your hands.

Not having to go to the emergency room after Dax decided to do a flying bambino off the end of our bed rolling right over the top of an unsuspecting Finn playing peek a boo with a curtain on the floor. Dax's cheek bone came in contact with Finn's forehead. I think Finn won. He has a small goose egg, Dax on the other hand has a full blown shiner. Maybe I'll show pictures tomorrow. I love my boys!

One little two year old who insisted on wearing big boy pants to bed tonight! We'll see if that is still a praise in the morning!

Going to bed before midnight in a house full of people I love.

Praises...

Sleeping in! The boys were up at some insane hour, I don't know what it might have been but I woke up with Dax sitting behind me brushing my hair. Strange sensation to wake up to a two year old brushing your hair, actually, slightly startling. The pulling must have been what woke me up, or the smack to the back of the head with the beginning of each stroke, took me a while to realize I wasn't dreaming!

Ok, let me clarify that...going back to sleep, then sleeping in. Mike got up with the boys sometime around 7:30 and let me linger till 9:30 when all three boys climbed back in bed for snuggle time with Mom.

Snuggle time with my guys, gotta love that! Lily even stumbled in for a brief moment!

Kids who keep the "we sneaked into mom's paint and made a big mess" mess in the unfinished basement.

A new washer and dryer that wash and dry in half the time as the old one and tell me when they'll be done. Sometimes I just stand there in front of them watching, mesmerized!

Getting lots of laundry done! I really just keep going till it's all finished, props to the new appliances! How come a brand new bottle of toilet bowl cleaner doesn't make me just want to go crazy in the bowl?

A day with no phone calls...I just realized no one called today, it was family only.

Getting ready to teach the confirmation class for my favorite 7th graders tomorrow. We've been gone for a while and it's good to think about getting back into the swing of things. Addition to this praise, a husband willing to read the material and probably actually do tomorrow's teaching. (slowly getting back into the swing of things!)

Blog hopping. This is a pastime I haven't delved too far into and I probably won't. I have been quite amused tonight though! I started linking out of Nicole's blog and found myself on a yellow brick road of bloggy goodness. I must say I had some good laughs!

A clean bedroom! New bedding, new pillows, clean closet, and rearranged furniture! This does a heart good. Thanks to my parents for the bedding. I hope my Mom sleeps well in her old room with her new bedding for the first time tonight too. (I'll be sending my love and prayers your way!)

I'm posting pictures of my bedroom, because, well I want to remember what it looks like tonight. It is a teeny tiny room and although we can't paint until we move out it at least feels like a grown up bedroom for a few minutes, until the first of the munchkins sneaks in.

I realized while trying to take a good picture that my bedroom is really too small, so I had to do a few to give you the full effect, I'm sure you're just enthralled by this, aren't you? (Note the high style of the child resistant door knob cover. I wonder why they don't show those in the interior design mags?)

Since my goal as of late is to become transparent (although I struggle most not with the personal me, but my house and it's keeping!) I must divulge the following. I would not want you to think that just because my bedroom has been scrubed from light fixture to baseboard that the same applies to the rest of the house. Here is a lovely photo of my family room, notice the toys shoved under the TV cabinet? I didn't notice those till I was looking at the picture! Maybe tomorrow....

Finn's Day

Today the boys were playing in the living room, the sun was shining in and I gave up accomplishing whatever task I was thinking about accomplishing and just started snapping pictures. This worked out well, because poor Finn hasn't had the beautiful professional pictures that the other kids had for their first birthday due to the world spinning a bit out of sync lately, maybe when he's two we'll catch those bunny pictures? You think he'll notice his don't match? Will he care? Will it drive me nuts forever? Maybe if I ever get all my beautiful pictures on the wall, until then, no one but me will really even know. I digress, Finn, natural light, a window sheer, peek a boo, beautiful pictures taken by mom for free(if you ignore the green marker stripe on his cheek). He then proceeded to take his first steps! 3 of them, of course I didn't have the camera in hand then, but at least I documented what he looked like on the day he took his first steps! We are on the way now! My baby is growing up, sniff, sniff!

and speaking of Finn...

After the first steps and the soft, sweet little boy pictures the whole image of the beer bong in the distant future was fading until my darling came crawling through the kitchen like this...
He apparently found a pair of Lily's underwear and decided they made a great hat. This thought was contagious and sent Dax running through the house to find a pair of his own underwear...
Which ended up in an entertaining little dance, that left me laughing and once again shaking my head thinking of what the future might hold when these little guys are older!

Emerging Finn

Finn seems to be coming into his own as of late. I guess a first birthday and a couple weeks of being an only child instead of the third does that to a boy. Although, as this personality emerges I feel a bit worried.

Seems whenever Dax needs me, Finn takes full advantage of the situation. Today Dax yelled for potty help, Finn helped himself to Dax's yogurt. It did however leave him with a rockin hairdo. He eats cereal puffs off the table with his face, rather than his hands, he dances like a crazy man, laughs easily, and will do about anything to make others laugh. He enjoys any sort of musical instrument and has a special affinity for little pretend people of any kind. He rolled over before he was two weeks old, but has yet to take a step. He seems to have the strength, the balance, but just not the faith, we're working on that. I figure if I could get him off the floor he'd stop putting so much weird stuff in his mouth. (Did I mention his love of dog food?)

He also has been blessed with his mother's grace. I have had two toddlers before this one, he is not the speed demon stealth bomber his brother always has been, nor is he the innocent well behaved little angel his sister was (ok, it's been 9 years, I barely remember, but she was much easier than Dax) he is his own guy. If there some place to hit his head, he'll hit it. If there is a drawer to pinch his fingers in, he'll pinch them. Probably, he'll pinch them multiple times. Yesterday he pinched his fingers in the same drawer 5 times in ten minutes. At what point as a parent is it ok to drop the sympathy and simply say "duh"?

You would think the way I'm speaking of him that he's not the sharpest cookie, but no, he sat down today and tried to put a sock on his dad. He builds with blocks, he loves books, and he seems to play really well with toys way too old for him, heck he can already connect the Geotrax tracks. He really seems very bright, just not all that blessed in the coordination department.

Right now I see a nice klutzy jock (or maybe just friend of jocks due to injuries) who loves to throw parties and make every one laugh, if I could get the beer bong out of the image it wouldn't be so bad! I know God has a plan for this one too, maybe rather than imagining him as a college freshman I should stop and just enjoy my new little toddler. (and maybe invest in a few more ice packs!)

Praises...

Watching Dax walk around the house in my fuzzy pink crocs, if only I'd gotten a picture I could have used it later!

Getting to take Finn to the doctor today sans Dax (thanks, Traci)

7th grade girls who make the dance team. Woo hoo for you ladies! (you can see their picture on Traci's blog, I'd link you there, but I'm not sure how, so you'll have to scroll down and look for the link!)

American Idol (yeah, I know, hush already)

Thursday Night!! Yeah!! I haven't had one in weeks, and it sure felt good to get out!

I'm doing this in alphabetical order...
Amy, Donna, Elaine, Kim, Lisa, Megan, Nicole, Sarah, & Traci
A very special praise and thank you to these women who took over my children, my laundry, cooking, and even my dog so that I could worry about other things over the past weeks. I don't know how to even begin to say thank you!! I couldn't have done it without you guys!

Prayers, and words of love that just keep coming in. Thank you!

Friends who let me babble on or not talk at all depending on my mood. I love you guys!

Praises...

Being home

Amazing love from great friends

Walking into a room full of people who care

Maintaining composure

7th grade girls who meet you at the door with hugs and the best smiles

Normalcy, almost

3 days of big boy pants

A dog who licks yogurt off of carpet, tables, & one year olds

2 year olds who volunteer to take a nap, early... ok, so he really just wanted a binky fix and fell asleep, but I'll take it!

Great notes from old friends who send love from many miles

Sitting at a table with great friends

Returning to praises

Although American Idol was not the usual tonight, just to make up for last week, I'm gonna show you a couple of my favorite songs from tonight's episode...

A normal post...

This comes at the request of my husband who tonight asked, "Are you ever going to go back to regular blogging?" Seems his lunch time blog fest has been slow lately. He says other than Nicole's pretty regular updates, the rest of us are failing him. So tonight, I decided it's time to get back into the swing of it. It's time again to praise, he reminded me of that with this evening conversation....

let me preface this a bit by telling you that we both had a rough day and after sending Lily to her room again, he walked into the living room with me and began....

Mike ~
"I'm thankful I have a boss who is willing to loan me a truck to drive home.

I'm thankful I have a job I need to drive back and forth to.

I'm thankful when my brakes went out I was close to a place that could fix it at as fair a price as anywhere.

I'm thankful I have the ability to work 20 hours of overtime to pay that fair price.

I'm thankful this is a three pay check month.

I'm thankful I have a family to come home to."

I responded with a smile and said,

I'm thankful I have children with minds and voices that can express their true thoughts.

I'm thankful that I have a washing machine that works to do 10 loads of laundry.

I'm thankful that I have towels to clean up pee pee on the floor.

I'm thankful for my dog who cleans up crushed pretzels.

I'm thankful for a baby healthy enough to make enough poop to fill his diaper and his entire outfit.

I'm thankful to not have one of those annoying husband's who comes home and complains that the house is not clean and wants to know where his dinner is."

Mike responded with "Where is my dinner, dammit?"

We both laughed, I am thankful for laughter, and the ability to see any situation from a different perspective and I'm thankful to have a husband who is right there with me.

And just for Mike, to make it more normal, here are my American Idol favs....




This one reminded me of my mom. (she has a little thing for Tapestry)

Is this the Funeral?

Does it look like a funeral?

225 people came not to a funeral, but to a Celebration of Life. My dad was a man who loved to be the ring leader, he only appreciated noise if he was in charge of it. He would have loved this party. I was amazed by the love and the memories. Hearing the memories of so many helped me to see the bigger picture of my dad. I, as his daughter, saw him from one angle, one view. He touched so many people that I will never know and no matter how many ups and downs we had I know his heart was good and loving. I'm proud to have had him as my father.

This day was long and short, hard and easy, sad and joyous all rolled into one. It was what it was in many ways because not only of the man at the center but because of the cast of characters that made his private life what it was. I have an amazing, graceful, strong, beautiful mom and two amazing, funny, kind hearted brothers. When I figure out how, I'll get the slide show that my brother, Ryan, put together up and running for all to see. The Page clan is also blessed to have some pretty incredible add ons to the family as well. You all know I'm one pretty lucky person to have Mike around, but he seems to be the standard for this family, Carly and Jessy have been there through all of this with so much love and compassion, always willing to do anything. We are truly blessed!

Distant cousins

We hadn't seen this little girl in 8 years, we have pictures of she and Lily side by side from that anniversary party, because no one could tell them apart. This time the cousin had a major height advantage, but the similarities in appearance were still rather eerie! These girls are the 1st great grandchildren of identical twins. (My Dad's mom & aunt)