I’m getting that urge to blog, lately, and I love it! The only problem is… what do I blog about? Before, I had tons of stuff to blog about but couldn’t find the motivation.

My phone has so many pictures on it, that it won’t let me take anymore. Today I HAD to take a picture of Mag to send to my mom, and ended up having to delete another one that I’ll probably miss later. Oh well. Anyway, I’ll just use that as my excuse to blog… so here’s a million pictures of my kids!

My Nan had to have surgery and my aunt (L), my mom and Nan’s husband, Bob thought it would be funny to make fun a bit..

Another family gathering I wasn’t able to be a part of! Bitter much?! My Nan, cousin Trever, Aunt Shannie, my sister, Kelli (R) and my mom. Isn’t Kelli funny? ;)

My step dad, AKA Grampa Larry! Bad “A” for sure!

Oh little Maggie… you were so sweet then.
This was summer of 2011. Yeah. That’s how long some of these pictures have been on my phone. Lame.

Poor little Maggie. She came running around the corner into my bedroom, tripped and hit her head no the door frame. :( Breaks my heart.

Connor got invited to his friend J.D.’s birthday part and as you can see… “Army” was the theme. He came home with tons of goodies!

The shyest one of my kids is the only one who will give Santa Clause the time of day. Go figure!

Mag’s first attempt at getting dressed on her own!

Holy rag-a-muffin!

Naptime and bedtime are by far my favorite times of the day. Don’t get me wrong- my kids are my life! But those sacred hours between 1 and 3 in the afternoon are Heavenly!

Most days, I try to get everything done, that needs to be done, before noon. Because after lunchtime, I have my “me time,” go to pick up my kids from school, they do homework, I make dinner, we try to have a little family time (whether before or after dinner), then we do bedtime and then I collapse onto the couch, not to move unless it is to my bed. Or if I lose “rock, paper, scissors” and have to go put one or all of my children back into the beds for a 2nd time. And then we all wake up and do it all over again!

Lately I have been feeling like my afternoons should be a bit more productive. When Maggie goes down for a nap, I get giddy. Like, literally. I get a blanket, crank up the heat, set both remotes and my cell phone on top of the couch (within easy reach), shove every pillow in the living room behind my back, plug in the laptop (so I don’t have to get up if the battery gets low) and set it on my lap, and park it until 3 P.M.

Does this make me lazy?

I’m expecting some would say yes and some no. Most of me feels like I deserve this time! I earned it! I can take a nap too; there’s no rule that says I can’t! But then that little part of me says to get up and get something done. Because there’s always something to be done.

What do you think?

Or not!

Good heavens, it’s been over a month since my last post! What has happened to my motivation? Well let’s see…

Every year, Joe’s family draws names for Christmas. Last year, we decided to do all homemade gifts, spending no money. Sounds easy enough, right? Yeah, no. While the idea was SUPER fun, the time it actually takes to home make something, without spending money, is crazy ridiculous! Especially when you draw names at Thanksgiving. This year, we’re drawing names in July. I drew my niece Naomi’s name and Connor drew my niece Lucy’s name, so we decided to make doll quilts using all of Maggie’s old clothes. TOOK FOREVER. And of course, I decided I couldn’t just make 2 doll quilts… I had to make each of my girls one, too. Double the work. Double the time. In fact, I didn’t even get them done until Christmas day. As in, I worked on them on Christmas Day. Pathetic, I know. Unfortunately, I wasn’t thinking and didn’t get a picture of all four girls with their blankies. Anyway, all that kept me busy for a good 3 weeks.

The week before Christmas, my mom came so obviously we were super busy playing and having fun (including Joe graduating from college and the surprise party we planned for him)… much too busy to blog. Maggie’s “a tad” stingy with her snuggles, so when she unknowingly climbed up on the couch (she was glued to the television) and sat by Gramma Jackie, I thought I better snap a few pictures for proof. She climbed down right after this picture.

I think my mom just couldn’t get enough so she left, went to the store, bought fingernail polish just so Maggie would sit on her lap again.This is at Joe’s sister’s house the night of the party. I sort of forgot to take my camera out of my car, and it was FUH-REEZING outside, so when I brought it in and gave it to my SIL Rachel, it got all foggy. Whoops. :/ It was a great night anyway! Tons of yummy food and lots of friends and family!

The week after Christmas, I was on TOTAL relaxation mode. I didn’t do a single dang thing! Then New Years came and I was, again, super busy partying and staying up WAY too late to blog.

THEN… my kids got sick. The first week (the week before school started), Connor got bronchitis. He had the worst of it pretty much licked but missed the first day back to school, as well as Haylie. She caught it a few days after he did and missed 2 days of school. And of course, Maggie caught it too. It wouldn’t be in true Rose fashion for only one or two of the kids to get it… And I was DRAINED. We were home day after day after day and I’ll tell ya’ what… that was ROUGH on me! That cabin fever business is a real thing!

This week, we seem to be getting back on a routine and it is WONDERFUL!