Snapshot Thursday

What's at the top of my to-do list?
--Figure out what the kids are going to wear for Easter. There are many moms who are so prepared when it comes to holidays and what their kids are going to wear. I always admire those moms but also realize that clothes are just clothes to me. I do like them to look cute, but I'm quite content with hand-me-downs most of the time. Yes, I buy my kids clothes, but, my greater focus is the every day play clothes. I have to make a point to remember the dress up clothes. It goes through me to buy a dressy outfit they will only wear one day. I LOVE hand-me-down dressy outfits. I better check out what I have...and SOON.
--Tomorrow night is my crop night at home. It would be good for me to get ready for that so I don't spend my whole time getting ready to crop!
--Plan some fun activities for the kids over Spring Break...like a visit to the Museum of Transportation. Maybe I can get my parents to come with me to help me with the younger ones.

What have I accomplished?
--I painted all the doors and frames upstairs! Can't think of anything else.

What's bugging me?
--Ben's fears. I was all set up the other day: Ben was in the counter height chair with a bib around him and happily licking his sucker...all ready for a hair cut. A few snips into it, he realized that actual hair, an extension of his body, was being cut off his head! He refused to let me go any further. He is walking around with a half cut head. He will have a mop for Easter. :-(. I will have to try again....maybe in front of the TV. He still doesn't like his hair washed, but I find it's bearable. He panics at the site of bugs...even ants. How are we going to camp with him?? Every noise he hears in the house he says, "What's that, Mommy?". Sam used to be like this and I'm happy to say is a well-adjusted child. Let's hope the same happens to Ben.
--Ben's obsession with our gumball machine. Ben not only wants a gumball every day, but he wants certain colors. I started going into the sealed container that refills the machine so I could pick out the color he wants. I've stopped that. Now we get whatever we get. He gets so upset when it's not the color he wants. Arrgghh!
--Ben teasing Mary. Ben is doing things to Mary to get a rise out of her. He likes to grab her blanket and run off. She screams and cries. She loves her blankey and Ben knows it. Sometimes he'll just grab a toy right out of her hands because he wants it. Yesterday, we heard Mary sounding in distress, like she was being sat on. Ted walks in the room and he walked towards him with a guilty look. Ted didn't see what was going on but worries about what was. They were in our dining room, which has no furniture and has become our wrestling room, so I think he was laying on her, "wrestling". He's just been a turkey lately (the word I really wanted was "onry", but how do you spell it? My mind is blank).

What have I said I was going to do but I haven't?
--I bought two, very luscious, cream filled (not custard) donuts while I was shopping the other day...one for me, one for Ted. I don't think that's a very good way to eat healthy. The same day, I had a HUGE Chicken Ciabatta sandwich from Jack-in-the-Box (eaten in the car before said shopping trip). Besides those transgressions I'm still doing OK. I don't think my goal is to eliminate fast food. I just don't want to have so much of it.

What's my latest obsession?
--I wouldn't call it an obsession...but American Idol is down to all great people! If I had my choice, Ace would go next, then Kelley, then maybe Paris. I like Katherine McPhee, Chris Daughtry, Taylor Hicks, and Elliott.

What's been making me happy?
--I'm excited about having the kids home for Spring Break and going camping next week. We're leaving Wednesday and we'll be back Saturday. It's a private campground on a stocked lake with a path that goes around the lake. We like to fish, ride our bikes around the lake, and rent golf carts to take around the lake too. It's a great campground (Pine Lakes Campground in Pittsfield, Illinois).
--My nightly time reading the Bible with Ted.
--The awesome spring weather, walks in the neighborhood with kids, playing on the swingset.

What's been hitting me lately?
--The fragility of life. My sister's brother-in-law passed away suddenly of a heart problem. He had aneurysmism. It's wild to think that last week was a normal week for them and this week this family has no father. He was only about 40. He left his wife and two little kids, 5 and 2 1/2.