Whoever decided naps should end for children somewhere around the beginning of kindergarten obviously didn't know children very well.  Or at least my children.  And I'm guessing, a whole bunch of other children right along with mine.  Seriously, though they may fight them, I believe there is a need for naptime at least weekly for every child.  And maybe every adult (my husband would agree with this statement...though I struggle when I nap--I always seem to wind up with a headache).  I put my kids upstairs for a required nap this afternoon (up until the past month or so, we generally nap on Thursdays and Sundays around here.  It's just the way it is), telling each of them that they needed the sleep and that they weren't to come downstairs until they had awoken from actual sleep.  Period.  There would be no exceptions.  This was at 2:15.  It is 4:13, and only Bryson is awake.  And I think the dog woke him up (and that the girls spent time reading or playing before they actually fell asleep).  They go to bed around 9 each night, their alarms are set for 7:30 each morning except for Saturdays--Bryson still gets up by 7:15 or so, Reasa greets me by 8, and Lainie...well, she would sleep until lunch if the others didn't wake her--and yet, every single time I send them up for naps, they all, without exception, fall asleep, and usually sleep for a couple of hours.  Considering the fact that Bryson is almost 6, Lainie will be 8 next week, and Reasa will be nine 28 days later, don't tell me kids should be done with naps when they're 3 or 4!  Unless you plan to put them to bed as soon as dinner is over each night, how are they getting enough sleep? 

 

Now, I do semi-understand the argument that all children require different amounts of sleep.  Probably true.  Bryson does function on less sleep than the girls.  Lainie would sleep her whole little life away--that's just the kid she is.  And Reasa may fight me about the amount of sleep I demand for her, but when push comes to shove, she'll sleep long and hard (she just came down--4:27).  The thing is, I always know when my kids need a nap.  I can see it in their eyes--you know, those tell-tale dark circles--or I watch their attitudes disintegrate, or Bryson becomes angry, throwing himself around, refusing to do what I ask him to do, yelling at his sisters, or Reasa cries at everything I say to her, or Lainie sucks her thumb.  And it doesn't take much.  Two nights of going to bed late.  One early Sunday morning.  A nap doesn't change it all--the attitudes in particular lately--but it certainly does make a big difference. 

 

So, today, I had two hours of blissful silence.  Balanced the check book.  Caught up with an old friend on facebook.  Made a couple of phone calls about a new starter for my broken truck (it wasn't the battery, and of course, Seth is out of town).  Talked to my husband on the phone about said starter.  Memorized something for Sunday morning.  I think.  We'll see at practice tonight.  :)  When they all awaken, we rejoin life in the crazy world, and tomorrow there will be no naptime, but at least, for a few short moments this afternoon, they recharged their batteries, and so did I. 

 

Why on earth does it take me so long to write these posts?? (Oh, yeah, I was helping my frustrated son with his Nintendo ds.  I'm a video game idiot.  I didn't help at all.)(He's so mad at Robots, he told me he's never playing it again...)(we'll see)

Yeah, you know, it's funny...when your kids change their hair, or do anything even remotely news-worthy, the camera comes out.  Pictures snap before, during, after, 10 hours later, 3 days later, and you reminisce and put the pictures in their photo albums.  When it's mom...

 

...not so much.

 

So, the before and after pictures...well, consider my profile picture the "before" (or if you got my "elfed" picture back at Christmastime, there you go), and the next time I get it cut, I'll come home and take pictures.  Considering we're almost 2 weeks into this cut...I actually want to go back and get it cut again right now so that I can take a picture of how she styled it.  It's looking a bit too tame for me right now.  Two more weeks.  :)  If I can make it that long.  It's always an expensive venture, getting my hair cut the first time.  Because it means that I have to get it cut at least every four weeks--usually more like three--and the crazy girls who cut it for $10 never cut it the same way twice, so I don't trust them any more (this comes from years of going to them and coming home crying), so I have to pay the girls who charge more along the lines of $30 for a reasonable cut.  $30 a month.  Ugh.  I'm so cheap...if I could just figure out how to razor my own hair, I'd be good to go. 

 

That won't be happening any time soon.

 

Life around here hasn't slowed down much despite the fact that Christmas and New Years and back-to-school are over.  Seth is still gone all the time.  Monday through Saturday.  We're running here, there, and everywhere all the time.  Gymnastics makes for very, very long weeks.  We're in the midst of planning for birthday parties (because they all come at warp speed, and I've learned from past experience that if I don't start preparing in January, they don't go the way I hope for them to go).  In the middle of all of that, I'm taking a girls' weekend with three wonderful girlfriends and we're just hanging out in Pennsylvania (DuBois?) for a two days (it's somewhere central to all of us, basically) to catch up, scrapbook, and have a makeover party...which takes some planning when it's in the middle of those birthdays.  Seth's birthday was Saturday, so we celebrated with his family yesterday with cherry pie and toll house pie (couldn't help but think of my senior-year housemates with that dessert).  Today, we're doing an abbreviated school day with our friends Hannah and Emma--our school district has the day off for teacher conferences, and I should be writing a 10-week report, but I'm avoiding it (can't you tell??).  Right now, I have a mermaid flopping around on the floor by my feet, three princesses and a prince wondering about, discussing said mermaid, and a giant fort weighted down by 5- and 8-pound hand weights in my family room.  Hmm.  There must be a "Lew and Lou's safety violation" there somewhere, don't you think? 

 

10 minutes till lunch time.  What to feed 5 hungry munchkins?  Leftovers from Taninos or peanut butter and jelly??  :)

 

Leftovers it is.

 

I'm reading an incredible book right now you should really check out if you have children...or if you plan to.  It's called Child Training Tips by Reb Bradley.  I so wish I had read it when Reasa was born, rather than waiting until she was almost 9.  We're struggling with some obedience/respect issues around here (oh, that sounds so mild when put that way, doesn't it??)(ACK!), and I'm trying really hard to wait until I get to the end of the book before I implement some of the strategies he speaks to.  I found the book on Amazon for next-to-nothing on recommendation from my friend Kendra...it was worth every dime, and then some.  I'm not sure my children will agree when I finish reading it...and I'm sure I'll be skimming back through several times after I finish it...but it was worth every dime.

 

Off to warm up food...

 

 

 

 

...call for makeovers.  Yesterday, I cut all that hair I'd grown out.  Grew it for six months.  Couldn't stand it any more.  I got so sick of looking drab and boring...and what's funny is most of you are going, "You were growing your hair??"  Yeah.  I know.  Typically I wear it pretty darn short, and a little bit edgy.  It had officially gotten to the point where I wanted to cry every morning when I looked in the mirror after spending twenty minutes getting it dried, styled, and looking like it was going to look for the rest of the day.  When I went in to have it cut yesterday, the girl said, "Wow, I'm just impressed you actually went six months without touching it.  Most women don't make it nearly that long without either doing something unreasonable themselves or running to their stylist to fix it somehow.  That's amazing."  Interpretation: "Wow, I'm just absolutely stunned you let it get this bad before you came to get some professional help.  Please sit down so I can turn you into a human again."  I cringed through her gentle wording, obediently sat in her chair, and let her fly with her scissors, razor, and hi-def wax...and I couldn't be more pleased with the results.  I have to admit to a certain amount of trepidation at the prospect of recreating what she did with the blow drier and wax, but it really wasn't that difficult (and wax certainly does make for cooperative poker-straight, razored, absolutely-no-rhyme-or-reason-to-what-length-each-piece-is-actually-cut hair).  Of course, when I colored it this morning, the box which said "natural medium golden blond" turned out to be "somewhat strawberryish blond with streaks left from the previous highlighting job"...so, that didn't go exactly as planned...but it's fine.  Next time I'm getting the box that says "true red" again.  Purple was fun.

 

Or not. 

 

Maybe I'll just get one of those color removing kits and then dye it all pink.  That would be kind of fun.  Or maybe white on the top and purple on the bottom.  Or black.  Or striped...white and pink and black.  I'm going for drama lately.   My gymnasts would love it!

 

Seven years today.  It's hard to believe how quickly time passes.  In two weeks, my middle child will be eight.  Four weeks later, the baby turns six, and the oldest turns nine.  Unreal.  We have big plans for friend birthday parties...and what could be more fun than two webkinz parties and a red-eyed tree frog party??  I'll post details as they occur.  And probably not much before.  Sorry, folks. 

 

My friend Stacy posted tonight a list of things that are keeping her from blogging...I'm there with her.  I could make a list, but I don't want to be a complete copycat.  I haven't forgotten about my blog, I promise...it's just low on the list of priorities lately.  You're all wonderful, and I'm still enjoying reading your entries...just don't have time to add my own.  :)  There is plenty of really incredible stuff going on...the God we serve is a God of miracles and unbelievable life-change, let me just tell you that...it's just that amidst the wonderful, there's not much blogging time. 

 

Hopefully I'll be back sometime soon...if not, I'm sure you'll survive...you probably haven't even noticed the time lapse!!  :)  Blessings!

Did you know that Red Velvet Cake is actually a light chocolate cake with a ridiculously huge amount of red food coloring?  That it is often served with freshly sliced strawberries and chocolate filling with buttercream or cream cheese frosting?  That, when cut, it truly does look like something living has been hacked open? 

 

Yeah, this was all new information to me. 

 

Have you seen Steel Magnolias?  The groom's armadillo cake?  Yep.  Red Velvet.  Interesting cake concept.

 

Ah, the things you learn when trying to get a business going so that you don't have to go "back to work" next fall. 

 

:)

2008.  Unbelievable.

 

Happy New Year, friends!! 

 

And hey...there are new pictures.  Somebody mentioned that. 

 

:)