eyebrows up!

This is me... today.
Just minutes ago.
(todd wanted me to crop the junk out... but, honestly, the junk around me is my FAVORITE part!)
Anna was to my right- whining about socks.
I have spent 9 years reassuring Anna that she can wear socks that don't feel perfect and she won't die.
It is my job.  "sock soother".
that child...

My little-er girls were cold-- i hugged them tightly and asked, "who am i going to cuddle with when you girls go to school?"
leah answered, "mom, you'll just have to have some more little kids."
"how many?" i asked.
"ten" she said matter-of-factly.
yup, that is just what i'm afraid of.

My biscuits and gravy are on the floor next to me on my left.
With my glass from my oj smoothie-- i have to drink with a straw.
And, the lid from the jam-- ellie couldn't open it by herself.
Can you see a biscuit piece by my right foot?  If you look closely on the floor you can see the little pieces of biscuit where eve was sitting just before todd got the camera and leah ran to grab eve.
I have to remember to vacuum that up before I get bread ground into my carpet.
mmm.
i love the pictures waiting to be hung, the pile of papers waiting to be sorted, and leah's preschool shoebox aquarium above my head.
i'm still debating preschool in January... what i really want to do is take the money i'm spending and do my own preschool with a few friends and lots of field trips.
see thar big canvas on my left?
that was my great FHE plan for last night.
it didn't happen-- but it will.
i want to paint it yellow and trace the word blessed on the bottom.
i want it to be a place where the kids write things they are grateful for-- blessing graffiti.
i think it would be fun for friends to write on it and for every inch to be filled with things we're grateful for.
oh me and my big ideas.

i needed to print a whole bunch of things off at vistaprint yesterday.
my total came out to $9.95 plus $15 shipping.
if i spent $25 i got free shipping.
so-- amidst my crazy afternoon of getting a crown at the dentist, going to the dmv to change my license and take my test, stopping at michaels to buy a canvas (with my 40%off coupon), picking the kids up, going back to the dmv with my social security card, making homemade wheat bread (i added sunflower seeds and it turned out so good) and making dinner for sick friends--
i thought i would throw some clothes together and con someone into taking our family picture so i could order my christmas cards.
we did it.
only, it was dark when we went to get our picture taken (it gets pitch black here at 5:30pm).
so, my picture is fine-- but all last night i kept thinking how bad the lighting is and how it really makes me sad to send out such a poor quality picture.
oh well.
and, the funny thing is, when I went back on vistaprint, my total came to $24.20.
I still didn't qualify for free shipping (and actually customer service explained to me that the free shipping wouldn't work with another promotion i was using).
So i ended up spending $34.  Which still was a great deal with everything i got. 
But, I did sigh when i saw $24.20 after all that work.
oh well.

and, i forgot to tell my favorite part-- i was still VERY numb in my drivers license picture.
seriously.
my smile is VERY retarded.
someone said, at least when your drunk your picture will match.
NICE.
for the next 20 years I'll look at that and LAUGH.
oh well.

EVERY DAY i tell myself-- Jen, Just write your blog and record the things that you are learning and the things you are doing that are GOOD.  Shut your mouth about the boring, everyday grumbles of life.
And, yet... I continue to post pictures of me in all my morning glory and write long dialogs of my wrestle with shipping and handling.
it's my decompression therapy.
thanks for listening.
(at least someday, when people read my family history, they will be laughing!)

What i REALLY wanted to tell you about today was my FAVORITE NEW MOTHERING MOTTO!!
I have a sweet friend, Katie, who has a boy, Ean, who is 10 years old and has down syndrome.

He is DARLING.

As in, I would adopt him in a second because i really love that kid.

I wish you could hear his cute, gruff voice and see how he loves his younger sister Maggie (who is Anna's new sweetest friend).

He said the prayer in primary this week and when I went up to help him he put his arm up to stop me.

He mumbles... "k sista moss i pray k i do it prayer."

He said the sweetest, mumbley prayer ending with a loud, triumphant AMEN!

i love him.

he's quite silly sometimes. 
as in, he pretends to fall on the floor and likes the attention of people helping him up.
or going in between the glass entry way doors and not letting his teacher inside.
i talked to katie after primary on sunday and told her how ian makes me laugh.

how he's silly, but if i ask him to sit in his chair, he will always listen.

she said, "Ean will always listen if you say things with your EYEBROWS UP."

I LOVE THAT.
We should write a book-- "EYEBROWS UP PARENTING."
it works.

the minute you get strict with Ian.

"Ean, you sit in your chair or else..."

He will NEVER obey.

He's a stubborn little fella.

Aren't most kids that way?
Eyebrows up REALLY, REALLY works.
I LOVE IT.

This is my "so sorry about your sock wrinkles-- too bad you're going to be late for morning choir practice-- i love having this conversation with you every morning" face.

but, i do believe my eyebrows are up!! 

have a great day!

and, don't you think eyebrows up, beats chin up, any day?

it's a great mothering motto.

stand up straight, elbows back, choose to smile and before you speak--

Eyebrows Up Mothers!!

i love it.

now, where did my little girls disappear to? 
time to clean up this MESS!!! {said with raised eyebrows}
oh, life is good!