Count Your Many Blessings...

Last night I was thinking of so many blessings that I wanted to write down, and now my mind is blank and rejecting those previous ideas because they seem really cheesy in the light of day...oh well!

1. Hope and Grace days: I stopped having a cleaning company come because one, gas prices are cutting into other sections of the budget and two, they made me mad! Now, we have Hope and Grace! They are fabulous twins in our neighborhood that come over once a week as Mother's Helpers and play with the kids, do chores, or anything else I need help with. And it is all done with a SMILE! I feel like my sweet nieces have come for a visit! Last night Andy got home around 10, sat in a chair, and sighed, "I love Hope and Grace Days!" I think he loves those days because we all do! Yesterday, I even pulled out a quilt I started for Annie's bed many moons ago and was finally able to sew more because Grace had Emily, Ben and Annie LISTENED and HELPED while Hope vacuumed so I didn't feel guily about not doing housework! Then Hope ironed the squares for me while I went to make bread. What a blessing!

2. Pink Starbursts: Orange has always been my favorite, but I'm realizing that pink is a new favorite. We always had starbursts and Nutter Butters on road trips with my dad in the summer, and I loved to pick out the orange ones! Now, I like them all, but yellow is my least favorite!

3. My Sunday Elves: With Andy's new calling Sundays are a bit harder than they used to be. BUT I also have so many people willing to help that I have better days than I used to! This past week was extra special. Andy was out of town over the weekend, and the kids and I just kept going and going until Sunday morning when the house was a wreck! Add to that I don't know how many times Cheerios were dumped on the floor, poppy seed muffins grabbed off the counter, water spills, etc. It was like any normal day, but magnified by 5! So, we picked Andy up from the airport Sunday morning with the intention of taking him to church and then coming home to clean. Flights get delayed, etc... After church I wanted to hurry and clean up so the kids and I could hang out at Mom's for the afternoon until Andy got home, but I couldn't leave the house like that for Andy to come home to after a 3 hour flight and 7 hours of church. So, my favorite Sunday Elves came to me instead! In 45 minutes we had the entire house cleaned, with no time outs or tears! Then my big sister elf folded all my laundry and mommy elf read books to the kids. I even got two dinners ready so the rest of my week would be better. Thank you my little Sunday Elves!!!

4. Friends: For some reason last week I felt like all of my friends were calling. I was just in awe of how many people I could call if I needed to for help. I'm so glad I can offer help also. It just feels so good to be loved and know people are watching out for you and want you to be with them!!!

5. Books: I love books!!! I've been reading so much lately and am such a happier person because of it! I had 2 books shows over the last two weeks and love having new books in my home! It's such a happy feeling! Today we read about how flowers grow and how they scatter seeds. I LOVE that Emily has started enjoying books! She will even turn the flaps! I started a few weeks ago reading to her before bed and it is just now getting to the point that she will sit through the whole book. (Of course, "reading" is talking about pictures...)

6. Garage Sales: When Andy was gone last week, my sister watched all three kids for over three hours while I had a Book Show. I called on my way (and their way to Home Depot for kids day) and asked her to stop at a garage sale on the corner and try to buy this climbing toy I saw. She HATES garage sales but stopped anyway and even got a fabulous deal!!! Ben and I cleaned it up and my children have spent hours playing in the living room on our ''little box with slide.'

Too many blessings to count, and I would keep going, but I must go be productive! At least I can check off writing in my journal for today!

Bloody toes and other such tales...

We had the best afternoon swimming at the local pool! Ben and Annie loved it so much that their poor tender toes rubbed the ground, and they began to bleed after we got out of the pool! It is a zero-entry pool, which means it is like a beach and then slowly goes deeper. Ben could go out halfway and still be touching the bottom. He has swim lessons this week and next and is in LOVE with the water! He is now all-out swimming underwater! His proudest moment was this afternoon opening his eyes under the water - this is something we have been working on for a LONG time because he insists on wearing goggles at Grandma's.

Annie is very sad to not be taking swimming lessons. She loves to follow and do EXACTLY what Ben is doing, including following him into water that is too deep. I am working with her to put her head under the water and kick until she can stand up. Emily just keeps going until she begins to floats because the water is up to her neck! It's a real feat to watch all three at the same time, and I am VERY thankful to have such wonderful friends who help keep watch on my kids!!!

I took girls to Girls' Camp yesterday and was so sad to leave! They are staying in the cabin that I stayed at my very last year of camp. We had such a great job and Marianne did an incredible amount of planning and directing! Oh well, my time will come, when I don't have 3 little kids waiting for me at home! I was so excited to learn that with my van loaded up and pulling a full trailer, I still got 20.5 mpg! I typically get 13 mpg around town, so that revises my hope of any sort of summer vacation this year! We had totally ruled it out because it costs me $1 to drive just under 4 miles (when gas was $3.50)! Maybe we actually will make it to Sea World and San Antonio after all!!!