Living.

Yesterday turned out to be such a blessing and I even had fun cleaning house. Amazing how God works in our hearts! Thank you for your sweet comments!

MC and my sweet friend Jennie! She came to visit a few weeks ago.

What a summer! I cleared off the bulletin board for the next round of art work. Three weeks into the school year and I dare say it's nearly covered once more.

MW got some dirt in her eye and insisted she needed a band-aid. (she was really okay) T rigged this up for her.

Little Man insisted he needed one too...until he got one...and hated it.

Before I really get going, are you aware of the March on DC? It's part of the Tea Party Movement. It's not a Republican vs Democrat march. It's a march, a movement, about defending the Constitution. Here's a brief bit from their website:

We’ve had enough of the out of control spending, the bailouts, the growth of big government and the soaring deficits. And we reject the future tax increases to pay for all of this spending and debt down the road. We are gathering on 9-12-2009 to deliver our message in person that we’ve had enough!

Please check it out.

Also, please watch/listen to this song. It ROCKS. We've been listening to it a lot lately...off itunes. MW is learning the words to it and gets absolutely pumped up when she hears it. And of course, the little man thinks anything MW does is awesome! He's rockin' out to it as well.

Today I have been humbled. Twice.

First, it was 8:30am. We live 5 minutes from school. MW is supposed to be there between 8:35-8:45. We head out to the car. My arms are loaded down with diaper bags, lunches (T3 has MDO today and MW is walking over! Hooray!), the baby, my purse, you get the idea. I unlock the car and realize the kids toys are still scattered over the driveway from yesterday afternoon...

Wait, I have to tell you about yesterday afternoon.

I let the kids play outside. It had been raining. I let them dig in the dirt and play in the mud...which turned into a literal mud slinging contest. Then I let them turn on the hose. You have never seen two muddier children. While they slung mud, I made dinner.

At one point I looked out the window and T3 had dumped his lemonade into the dog food bowl and was on all fours "drinking" it. I stuck my head out and said, "No drinking out of the dog's bowl!" At which point MW picked up the dog bowl and spit a mouthful of lemonade into it. Evidently she'd already partaken.

This isn't from yesterday...I didn't take any pics. Oops. But note the kids new fav. thing to do! (see the bungee cord...T drilled a hole in the back bumper of the jeep. They like to pull each other around in the "wheel chair" aka tonka truck.)

Which is also a dump truck...

Back to this morning...

So the toys are all over the driveway. I tell the children to help me put them away. Of course, little man begins playing. MW got things put away. I told them to get into the car. Now it's about 8:33. Both children completely ignored me. T3 wanders around the driveway arguing that he just "want to play" while MW argues with me about the location of a bucket that "needs to be moved." Finally, I raised my voice (oh, yes) and said, "SILENCE!" And they were quiet.

I put them in the car and got everyone buckled. At that point it was about 8:37. All I had to do was get the dogs in the house and I'd be good to go. I called to them. Scout obeyed immediately. Warrior totally ignored me. I marched over to him (on the opposite side of the driveway) and got his collar and began walking him towards the kitchen. He starts howling like I'm hurting him and tries to snap at me (not a bite, but a "leave me alone" snap). I reprimanded him and picked him up to carry him in. By then, I was drenched with sweat and I'd raised my voice at the kids and talked to the dog as if he was human, explaining to him that he "would learn to obey the first time." I got in the car and as I pulled out of my driveway I saw my neighbor standing at our fence watching. Taking it all in. He had a big smile on his face. A knowing smile. I have no doubt he watched and heard our entire interaction.

THEN I drop MW off (we were almost late) and drop a note off with the school secretary. She looks at me with a grin and said, "Do you know what your daughter said?"

I'm racking my brain, a little worried to find out.

"No."

"She came into school a few days ago and the first thing she said to her teachers was, 'My daddy's been havin' diarrhea.' "

Lovely.