Daily Life

For Christmas I got a series of 5 X Ray books that take you on a closer look inside a space shuttle, the human body, dinosaurs, machines, and volcanoes.  My children enjoy books, however, they are not the first thing they run to.  So now, a good 48 hours, after Christmas presents were opened they finally discovered their new books.  We were on the floor laying on our tummies exploring their new books and my husband decided to pull out the camera.  He is learning how to adjust focal points which is important because I usually leave the aperture low so that we don't have to use the flash.  The more practice the better.

I often complain that I don't have many pictures of me and my children because I am usually behind the camera, so he has taken it to heart and decided to help.  I have a friend that designs layouts for a large photo company and they were in search of a photographer whose pictures they could use for photo book advertising.  She thought of me, which was a great boost in confidence (they did not choose me).  I did not get my hopes up but enjoyed looking through my photo collection in that light.  What I realized is that my collection does lack some of the everyday stuff.  Most photos are of fun moments in the backyard where I pull out the camera and snap a few hundred pics.  Since this discovery I have found a more easily accessible, yet safe, location for my camera.  That way we can pull it out for more random, everyday, type events. 

The Volcano book ended up being Lachlan's favorite.  I was actually surprised by this.  I think I am going to be searching Pinterest soon for instructions on how to build a volcano.

Any parent knows this rule, if you lay down on the ground you are fare game.  You can now be used as a jungle gym.  

Pretty happy to have these moments captured.

Now here is a wide shot with a lot going on. 

In an attempt to get Peter to look towards the camera Jeff asked him where his nose is?
You can see the books strewn on the floor.
Note the dump truck in the foreground with Peter's name on it.  Last year for Christmas we got 2 dump trucks on black Friday and my brilliant husband had the idea of putting their names on it.  So this year we bought 5 more for the 3 boy cousins and 2 close family friends (pretty much cousins). 
There is a space shuttle made by Imaginext and it's launching pad.  Buzz Lightyear is also back there.
The baby bottle on the table has been a request from my boys.  We just fill it with juice and I think they find it to be a fun new way to drink.  I have kept one bottle out just in case someone comes over that needs it, but I think I need to hide it way.
Also on the table, one part of our new Whittle World sets from Melissa & Doug.  Love these things.  They are their classic wooden toys but they have people that can be moved in and out.  The set that came with the airplane also came with a luggage cart, luggage and the little vehicle that pulls the cart and backs the plane on to the tarmac.  So fun!
On the wall by the rocking chair is a hinged frame that I display flash cards.  I put this into practice before I started displaying the full preschool curriculum on the wall which you can see in the pictures of Peter sitting on my back.  But oh well, so what if we are surrounded with things to learn.
Lastly, the super large seaturtle on the ground by the fire place.  I bought this in college.  I have always loved seaturtles and one day when I was in college I went to Toys R Us.  No excuse really, just went because I wanted to.  I found this turtle, it was 50 bucks and I was a poor college student but I wanted it so bad.  I left the store with out it the first time, then convinced myself I should get it and went back.  It reminded me of this big blue bear we had as kids that we used to lay on to watch movies.  I thought to myself, I can enjoy it now and then my kids can use it "someday".  I am so glad I got it because "someday" comes faster than you think.  My boys have enjoyed their turtle.
As far as the toys being EVERYWHERE.  Well I consider that a successful day.  If the toys are out that means the TV was off and we were having fun.  Sure it drives me crazy quite often, but I try to take a deep breath and get over it.  I can clean up at nap time and at the end of the day to start fresh.  
I have struggled often with the fact that my house looks a lot like a preschool.  I see so many other Moms whose homes are so posh despite there being multiple children living there.  I am sure I could spend more time and money devising ways to "cover up the kids" stuff.  However, I know that all too soon, I will be crying over the fact that the kids stuff is gone and they are grown.  It really does go by fast.  Does this mean I don't struggle with not having a "cute" and stylish home from time to time, no, I still do, I just give myself a little pep talk and get over it.  Do I really want a home where we have to spend more time trying not to ruin it's perfection than having fun, NOPE I do not.  So I try, try being the key word, to see my stained carpet and torn lanolium as a blessing, for now.

Does this mean it's bad to have a cute home or to have clever ways of hiding the kids toys when not in use, well of course not.  This is just my way of coping with the stage of life we are in now and to count my blessings.  I have a home for the kids to destroy, I have kids to do the destroying, I have a husband to give a honey do list to.  All in all I am blessed.

My time will come to have a cute home.