Orange and Guns ~ not to be confused with orange guns

WARNING..... this post contains lots of pictures that include the color orange ~ blaze orange to be exact and a few pictures of guns.  Proceed with caution :)

Ahhh.... Fall is in the air, and around here that means a couple of things.
Football and hunting.

Last week we went on a long weekend and headed to my hubby's parents and grandma's neck of the woods.... or shall I say farm.  It was time for a big old family get together that involved family, friends, food, beverages, and of course, hunting for pheasants.

The kids were excited to go ~ even the  girls:

We walk lots of fields trying to stir up those sneaky birds.  Now, let me explain.  I am not much of an actual hunter.  I consider myself more of an "exerciser".  You see, I don't carry a gun through the fields.  Just children.

Sometimes certain children (or child, who is show above) is contained in the backpack (bummer, I didn't get any pictures of that this year)  Sometimes she rides on my shoulders.  And sometimes she wants to be down, running freely:

(and a little annoyed when I interrupt her running and tell her I want to take her picture)

And when her little legs finally get tired ~ up she goes again, into my arms/back/shoulders:

Meanwhile, Sassy spent most of her time walking fields with M.  The lovely newlywed whose wedding (wedding pics here and here) we just attended (the one Smiley was the flower girl for)

And Action spent lots of his time with Daddy (he was bummed that his first choice for hunting partner, Grandpa ended up going home sick, but he had a great time with Daddy)

(Fyi ~ Action's gun is not real ~ no worries)

Most importantly.....

We were having fun as a family and creating lots of wonderful memories!

perfect in my own way

I am an imperfect Mother.

I make meals ~ breakfast, lunch and supper (not to mention the snacks in between).  Note, they are not gourmet meals.  And while they may not be everyone's favorite meals and the words, "ewwwww GROSS"  may be muttered on occasion (meaning at least once a week) they are nutritious, warm, and satisfying. But most importantly, no matter how busy our nights are, we eat them together, as a family.

Every night, I help our kids with their homework ~ math, spelling, reading, etc.  I've come to realize that perhaps I am not "smarter than a fifth grader (I'm doing pretty good with the 2nd grade stuff, so far ~ HA!)".  There have been times I have relied on my Mom, who is a Jr. high math teacher, as well as Google.  It isn't always easy, but we always figure it out together.  The way we come to the correct answers doesn't matter.  What matters is that we are working together.

Laundry.  I always have laundry to do, but most days :)  no one has to wear anything dirty..... or noticeably dirty.  And that is good enough for me.  After all, there is so much more to my day than laundry.

My home is not always spotless.  I promise on any given day, you will find dust, at least one unmade bed, toys strewn about and much to my dismay ~ at least one strand of dog hair somewhere on the floor.  As annoying as it is tripping over a truck, a doll, puzzle pieces or blocks, the fact that these things are on my floor in the first place, means I have children in my life.  Children who mean absolutely everything to me.  I can deal with a few toys scattered about when the exchange is laughter, giggles, creative thinking and time together.  Personally, I would much rather have a few toys on my floor, than miss out on those things.

I find myself fixing my children's hair daily.  Whether it be a few spikes or at times a small mohawk for my son, or one of the many hairstyles (pigtails, "minnie ears", ponytails, braids, curls, etc.) my girls prefer, I am there for them.  Even if my hair needs its own fixing and my eyebrows a good waxing.  As mothers, we tend to put our needs aside to take care of the ones we love.  Selfless love.  However, our needs are important.  When I don't take care of myself, whether it be a long overdo haircut or eyebrow wax, too many days off from exercise, or a much needed girls night out, I find myself losing my patience easier, frustrated and in a rut.  As hard as it is to get away, because we are so busy, or just plain tired, it is important to find my own time.

 (One of Sassy's favorite hairstyles right now, is to have me braid her hair while damp at night, 

then she takes it out in the morning and can enjoy her lovely wavy locks all day)

And bedtime.  This is not always the easiest task at my house.  You see, most nights of the week, we are running from here to there.  Currently, we only have two things going on.  Football and Church.  Those things together take up 4 nights a week.  Soon we will have basketball for both Sassy and Action, as well as church.  But here's the deal.  No matter how crazy our evenings can be or unfortunately, how much past bedtime it is (although we try REALLY hard to maintain this) we always sit as a family and say "bedtime prayers".  This is our time, as a family to pray together, thanking, praising and asking God for the important things and for guidance in our lives.  It is so important to us that we teach our children the power and love of God.

So you see, I am a mother.  Far from perfect, but trying hard and learning to accept that I am  "good enough".  My house doesn't need to be spotless, and the laundry not always finished.  The important things are taken care of, nutrition, school work and hair.  But what truly matters, is that I strive to love selflessly, teach my children faithfully, and pray regularly.

We are making memories, learning, laughing and praying together.  The fact that I am not perfect, makes it all the more worthwhile.

A Snack-nic

We were experiencing a beautiful fall day, so Smiley and I decided to head to the park and have ourselves a "snack-nic".

A blanket, pretzels, some watered down apple juice and the park = lots of fun and smiles.

Enough snack Mommy, the park is right over there!  Let's go!

Embrace the Camera

Last night, Sassy and Action had to attend class at church.  Afterwards, we grabbed some food and went on an impromptu fall picnic (mind you it was 88 degrees outside).

Hubby was working, but the 4 of us had a great time relaxing, laughing, eating, goofing off and playing catch with the football.  We had no agenda and nowhere else to be.

Beautiful colors

Happy Kids

Relaxing Evening

Take Out 

A simply perfect fall evening!

They'll throw you in jail.

I hate to admit it, but I went there.

You see, Smiley isn't always the best shopper.  She's great if she's down, walking and has free reign of the store.  And frankly, that isn't the best option for a inquisitive 2 year old.  Much to her dismay, I  prefer her to be confined to her stroller or a cart.

So when we made a quick trip to Ikea last week, I immediately put her in a cart.  Life was good.  Smiley was chatting up a storm pointing at this and that.  When all of a sudden it started.

The screaming.
I'm not talking a holler or a yell, but a full out scream.  Just to let me know that she is completely displeased with that fact that she is not free and waking around.

So what did I do?  I got eye level with her and said, "If you don't stop screaming, the workers are going to call the police.  Then the police will come and put you in jail."

Her reply, "I no want to go to jail."

Guess what?

She didn't scream anymore.  And yes, I do feel a little bad about scaring her.  But my ears (and I'm sure the ears of those within a mile of us) said a big BIG thank-you!

I wish I was perfect, with perfect children but alas, I am not.  How boring life would be if I was!  And I wouldn't want it any other way :)

1st attempt = F, 2nd = C and 3rd = B+ (Maybe an A-)

Picture it....

A small table and four chairs.
A table whose finish has been disintegrating for years.  One that had been scribbled on with permanent marker, paint, pen, and crayons.  Banged on and dented with silverware, toys, who knows what else. One that has been well used!

We purchased this table 7 years ago.  We were living in a 1941, 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 story, New England bungalow in the city, blocks from a lake.  I loved that house.  We could walk EVERYWHERE, swim at the lake, run around the lake and well, I could go on and on, but alas, this story is about a table.  Anyway, we decided to sell our home.  It was small ~ barely 990 sq feet.  With our growing family, dog and fact that all of our family lives out of state we wanted something bigger.  We called our real estate agent.  Her only suggestion to put our home on the market was to get rid of the huge, solid oak table we currently had and replace it with a smaller table.

So, we headed to Ikea.  We didn't want to spend much and we ended up purchasing a dining set with a table and 4 chairs ~ it was the perfect table for the space (see, the eat in kitchen was tiny... and this was the dining room too! )

When we purchased our table, it looked like this:

Ikea 

(and yes, you can still purchase this set)

Anyway, fast forward to today...

The finish was so bad that it felt like there was syrup on it.  It was so sticky.  And no amount of scrubbing with .... anything would fix it.  See for yourself (I forgot to take a pic of the other side with all of the marker on it):

So I decided last Thursday, when hubby was out of town and I needed something to occupy me, that I would sand her (the table is a girl, I guess) down, restain her with a bit darker stain (because that's what I had on hand and I though it would give a good, rustic, run down feel.)

Here's how she looked after sanding and coat of stain.

UGLY and HORRIBLE!

Well, I couldn't let that be.  I grabbed my primer and got to work, priming the top of the table.

Then, 3 coats of black paint later, I had this for a kitchen table:

Better, maybe a C.
Not good enough.

Back to the primer and on to the sides and legs of the table.

Voila ~ here we go, MUCH BETTER!

Moral of the story:
Sometimes the easy way, is not the best way :)


And now, what to do with the chairs ~ that are scratched, dinged up and gorilla glued together.  Seems like a lot to paint :)

If I didn't want to redo my kitchen and replace the current island with a longer bar/island I would just go shopping, but since I have my fingers crossed that a kitchen re-vamp will happen in the future I don't want to invest in anything.

So for now, I'll just live with this:

Which is still so much better than it was!