Dear Peeps

Dear regular readers of this blog:
You have all been so sweet and I feel like I need to insert a little disclaimer at this juncture.  The previous posts about special occasions at our house are just that...... special, occasionally.  These posts are in no way reflective of every day life at our house.  The kids do NOT have birthday parties every year.  6, 8,12, & 16 are the magical numbers.  As a matter of fact, next year will be Boston's first "friend" bday party.  Our Back to School dinner and theme (which was a borrowed idea from Nie Nie's blog from several years ago) is our first, family, non holiday tradition.  We don't to many BIG things, but when we do them, we do them big.

Normalcy:
 Dinner usually consists of eating whatever I can frantically put together because I have suddenly realized it is 5:00 p.m., and I can no longer ward them off with goldfish.  We usually eat off mismatched plates from three different sets, because so many plates have been broken I no longer have 5 plates that match.  Sure, once in awhile we have a good 2 week span where I a get an inkling to plan out menus and follow through with those menus. But, then we take a break because we are at the ball field and those hot dogs and fries smell soooooo good!  And also because everyone loves cold cereal for dinner once in awhile.  Could be just me.

We do try very hard to have family night, but we sing "How Firm A Foundation" EVERY week, because it is Boston's favorite.  They all bother each other, or try to make each other laugh, or pick at scabs, nails, or other gross public grooming habits.  By the end of the 15 min. lesson, I feel like they have won, and I have lost.  We have eaten applesauce as FHE snack before, and also cold cereal.  Side note:

 Dear Cold Cereal:

 Thank you for being such a reliable, well rounded, versatile food.  You have saved my kids from starvation many a time.  When they were younger you kept them quiet in church, and bought me several more minutes of sleep on the weekend, as I threw you to them in a ziploc and turned cartoons on.  Now that they are older, you are their snack, you are their dinner, you are their breakfast, and your colorful box their entertainment.  But to me, you are a hero.  Thanks Cold Cereal.  I love you.  So much.

 This week is the first week since mid summer that I have actually made dinner more than 2 nights in a row.  I currently have 3 loads of laundry waiting so patiently upstairs for me.  I will probably get it washed, but then it will sit a few more days in the laundry basket until someone complains they have no clean socks, then I will finally fold them.  Just kidding, I will dig through the pile to find them socks, and then put off the laundry another day or two.

Now that I'm home alone, I have no excuse for these things.  Thing is, I do try to do everything I'm supposed to.  And no one can do EVERYTHING, right?  Some days are "Special Occasions", and I get things right, but would they be considered special if they occurred daily?  So come to think of it, actually most things in our house are considered special occasions: Laundry being washed AND folded, AND socks mated; Healthy & Delicious dinner planned and prepared ahead of time, Scriptures & FHE, the list goes on.

I'm happy for the things I get right on a daily basis, and try hard not to beat myself up for things I don't.  More than likely, the good Lord will give me another shot at it tomorrow.
~Tiff