In no particular order...

I have been thinking today about all the things I love and which things I would give up if I were forced to choose and I compiled a list in my brain of all those things. Miraculously, it managed to stay assembled in my brain from the time in the shower to the computer and so I now share it with myself (for later). Of course I must make the standard disclaimer that this list does not include my wonderful husband, my delightful(!) children or my fantastic extended family (especially my sis M, who shares my brain). So in no particular order I give you my Ten Favorite Things...

1. Unlimited hot water from our tankless water heater. Need a quick shower? No problem! Need a 45 minute steam filled escape from the rascals? Come on in...the water is HOT!

2. Dark chocolate. Especially Lindt Dark Chocolate Truffles, Milky Way Midnight Minis, and York Peppermint Patties. YUM!!!

3. Mod Podge. There are not enough words to chronicle how much I love modpodge and what you can do with it. You can cover shoes with new fabric, make Christmas ornaments, special day countdown blocks, vases...the possibilities are endless!

4. Current event blogs and stuff. I love knowing that even if it is rainy (it is right now) or cold (that too) or my kids would give the devil a run for his money (they usually want to), I have a connection to a bigger world and can managed to carry on a relatively coherent conversation with a human.

5. Crafting blogs. I always love new ideas and the feedback from other crafters about what works and what is a disaster. Thanks for taking the hit and then posting the success so that my craft can turn out great the first time. I love to use Atlanta Thread and Supply for all my sewing staples like thread, machine needles and scissors. They usually get the stuff to me in 1 day and they have great prices!

6. illy Coffee. My sweet heavenly deliciousness! I save my illy for bad days and extra special occasions to make it last as long as possible (its pricey, but worth it!). If I ever offer it to you at my house, you can know that you are a guest of honor.

7. Jeans that fit just right. Specifically 7 For All Mankind.
They are to die for and I think if I made it on What Not to Wear, I would spend all the money on 7 jeans and a pair of cowboy boots. I do love my Old Navy jeans that I got on clearance for $15 a pair and run a close second to my $125.00 7's.

8. Bread. Panera makes the most delicious french and whole grain baguette and they are best with good cheese, Nutella, or butter slathered on top. I think this accounts for the extra 20 pounds still clinging to my body!

9. Cooking. It never feels like work to me and relaxes me so much. As our kids get older, it is a joy to work together in the kitchen making something for daddy to take to work to share or trying a new dinner recipe that they are more willing to eat since they helped with it. You would be surprised at how sophisticated a child's palate can become when they taste along the way. J can pick out many herbs and flavors in dishes since he began cooking with me. P.S. We are having New England boiled dinner tonight and I am already drooling with the thought of melt in your mouth corned beef and vegetables!

10. A clean house. Sometimes I love that I did all the work and sometimes I love that I just walked into a clean house that I did nothing to achieve (thanks sweet husband of mine!). It helps me sleep better, everyone is in a better mood and I just feel more relaxed when everything is ordered. I wish this happened more...

(Bonus!)11. Math! Can't get enough! Don't be too mean to me now that I have outed myself as a nerd. I have math apps on my Touch for when I am stressed out. There is something so relaxing and ordered about math. It is not subject to opinions of others, it is what it is. 2+2 is always 4 and I love that about math.

So there you have it. Tag, you're it! What are your faves in your life?


Here is a little bonus of J* working on her favorite things list. She loves the computer! Happy Rainy Friday...

Edited to add: In watching this video (and enjoying how delicious little miss baby is) I realize I need to explain the corner of this room! Sis M was staying with me for the integration period for J2 and her 2 suitcases vomited up their contents as soon as she opened them. IT WAS CRAZY how much stuff came out, but I would have that any day to have M back here again! In her defense, it was all of her Christmas gifts for 2 sides of family and stuff for over a month with weather in GA and in TX (she gets a pass from me).

Hey, Ya'll, I totally kicked HTML code's tail. Check out my scrolling crafty blog buttons on the side! This totally helps to make up for the worst day in history, which will remain undescribed to readers except to say that it involved no nap, W@lm@rt, and a medication for my not really sick kids that was $23.oo ($23.40 to be exact) that I have been buying over the counter for $4.oo. I can't take all the credit for the code writing since I actually just picked it up off of one of the greatest blogs ever. I just made a few changes to get it to do what my OCD brain wanted it to do and wonder of wonders, I did it right on the first try. Now if I can figure out how to make my pictures stay with my descriptions I will be the giddyest girl in the world.

New Year's resolution 2010

I decided that this year I would make a resolution. Not the "holy cr**, I really need to lose 20 pounds" resolution, although I do. Making a weight loss resolution is a goal destined for failure, since I am not fully committed to what it takes to lose said 20 pounds. However, if complaining about the aformentioned 20 pounds is what it takes to lose the weight, I would be a lean, mean fighting machine (or a still semi tired all the time mama who wouldn't have to buy new clothes and would somehow miraculously fit into her deliciously fantastic 7 For All Mankind jeans that I paid a frightfully small amount for and manage to make my fanny look like a 20 year old). I have to say though, complaining-not an effective weight loss method. On to the actual resolution...I am committing to documenting our life for the next year. Yep, 365 days of pictures with a reminder of what was happening to make me pick up my little point and shoot Nikon and snap a picture of the wildest circus outside the bigtop. Or of my sweet little angels that never would wreck my house in 25 seconds flat and then smile sweetly and say "you're so pretty, mommy". How can I spank a child/ren that speaks such truths? Hah! So with our further ado...here we go.

All of the kids played all New Years day and since I am a wicked, no-fun mommy, I didn't let them stay up until midnight the night before. I made up for it by allowing a nap-free day for the older kids. S crashed on the couch about 6:30 and missed dinner and the movie.

Stupid blog layout...it won't let me move pictures around and I'm too stupid to figure it out so I'll just tell you what the top ones are.
1. The annual burning of the tree, which is immediately following the Mother of the house wondering if it would be so terrible if we just burned everything on it instead of taking all of the ornaments off. Alas, there are some really special, irreplaceable trinkets on there that I can't bear to lose. Too bad we don't have an artsy-fartsy, super matchy-matchy tree that has no sentimental value, only matchability value. I resisted the urge to post the picture of S wearing no pants and roasting marshmallows. Not because I am trying to boost his self esteem (bad mama. ref. www.rosemond.com) but because this picture #2 was too fun to resist.

2. S wearing pants. Not just pants though, his sister's (J*) 12 to 18 month girls flare legged jeans. And having a temper tantrum. Because I told him to take off the jeans. He insists they belong to him. And he doesn't want me to take his picture while he is acting like a yettie monster. I will say that they do flatter his figure...

3. Fall pictures with our church friend, the talented Charlie D. She met us at Elachee and took some beautiful shots of the "Family 2009", not to be confused with "Family", since this past year included our niece, J2. See, she's the little blond there on the right, looking nothing like the others and the most like me. I keep asking God for a child that looks like me and that was how he answered my prayer. Unfortunately, despite my suggestions, Sis was not willing to permanently turn her over to bear the Wheeler name. Probably a good thing since I am already ready to kill one 3 year old over potty training.

I know this post is going up late January, but I can assure you that I have kept up with pictures so far. It is just not in me to find the camera, take adorable pictures AND post and blog about said pictures. But that's okay...I will hide a years worth of pictures close to my heart and when I am old and wondering if it was all worth it, I will look at these pictures and remember how much I love my life and how blessed our family was. Well, every year really.

On a political note...

In the spirit of bipartisianship, could we all just agree with B@arak Ob@ma, just this one time? About what you ask...well, with his statement the Kanye West is a jackass of course! Also, I'm pretty sure that if you want a conversation to be "off the record", you need to say (before you start talking), "This is off the record". What do I know though, I'm just a "household organizer", not a community organizer.

How to take a shower with 5 kids

So this morning I was getting myself and the family ready to go to our Tuesday activities. This entails fixing breakfast for 4 kids and dad (8 scrambled eggs, bagels, english muffins and oatmeal for C) and then finding an activity that all kids will do or be entranced by for a total of 15 minutes so that I can jump into the shower, brush my teeth and hope that as I walk out the door, I haven't forgotten a kid, or a leotard, or underpants. As I frantically jump into the shower, starting the 15 minute clock running, J decides that this is the time for a little multitasking (going potty + telling on one of the other kids) . On a side note, our house has 1.5 bathrooms. Yeah. So when there is business to be done, you've got two choices of where it will be conducted. The only time there isn't someone in the bathroom is when I don't have to use it. I have become very gifted in the art of the discreet bathroom break since there is always an emergency that hits just as I touch the door to the bathroom. I'm rushing through my shower when J comes in to use the potty. As he begins talking to me, he keeps pulling the curtin up, and I keep reminding him to leave it down. I finally, after the fifth time of telling him to leave it down (for pete's sake!), I finally said to him, "Jake, I am taking a shower and I don't want you to see me n@ked!". A pause...and he says, "You're naked in there?". HUH??? WHAAAAA?? What kind of showers has this kid been taking all along? I mean, the floors do get really wet when he takes a shower but I thought that was because he soaps his behind and slides down the slope of the tub. Maybe this explains the water, he showers (with clothes) and then gets out and strips them off, and wraps in a towel. Although, this makes me a little angry since I have been washing his clothes all along and could have saved that energy for mopping up water off the floor. Ah well, got to gymnastics on time and in the end, isn't that what counts? And for your viewing pleasure, more vacation delights:

Oh my goodness, could you just eat him up!?

Hello...anybody there?

Well, it turns out this is exactly like an online baby book. I joyfully pick it out, intent on recording every event in the newest baby's life, only to write 3 things in it and stow it away for "later". "Later" has not come yet. My mother has recently given me my baby book, which made mention of the fact the I did not get along with other kids and I bit. I need to save those facts about my children only for the embarrassment factor. But I am newly energized to update regularly, only to show my children in their later years that in fact, I do remember things about them and they were important enough to write down...somewhere. J used to call PBJ "peanut butter J", C walked at 9 months (yeah!), S loves, loves, loves hats, J2 eats everything she finds, and J* crawled at 5 months. See, I do love the little monsters! I have also updated the links for sites that I follow only as a reminder to me and pare down the bookmark folder on my computer that grows like pink mold in the shower. So if you don't think they are funny, thats okay, I will just need to know who you are so that I can reevaluate our friendship and what is wrong with you that you don't find this funny>>>>>http://www.yousuckatcraigslist.com/?p=3079 or this>>>>>http://www.yousuckatcraigslist.com/?p=2728
No, I don't know whats wrong with your funnybone, but you should probably see a doctor about it. Now for a little vacation deliciousness:

Why is our life so weird?

I spoke with our court liason officer for the juvenile justice system today and she gave me a great update on our little adopted felon, Thomas. As an aside, she has been great in keeping us updated and letting us know what to expect as we trudge through the court system, so kudos to DW for a job well done. She basically said that "no news is good news" and that Thomas entered Youth Challenge and unless he flunks out or opts to leave, we will not hear anything. If he does opt out, the case will bounce back for sentencing and he will have to serve jail time. Nothing like a proverbial sword hanging over your neck to give you some motivation, huh? The other great news is that his mother has been charged and will be arraigned around Thanksgiving for the theft and delinquency of a minor charge (relating to Thomas and his younger brother). We don't have to appear, but if hell has frozen over and she decides to plead guilty, the judge will sentence her at that time. I don't hold my breath that she will do that since she immediately blamed her son (yeah, mom of the year!) for the theft despite the fact that she was driving the getaway car. I'm pretty sure that she should not count that as "quality time" spent with her children, or I have been reading the wrong parenting books! Stupid me, taking my kids to the park and Fernbank. The reason this whole situation seems so strange to me is this: If you had told me last year that I would be muddling through the courts as a crime victim, I would have said "you're crazy". We don't live a life of danger and I kind of thought we were immune to crime since we are so (dare I say it) boring. Even crazier that we have been able to show the Gospel to a kid who has had no upbring from his parents in the most real way I can imagine. So here I sit, hoping that our repentant car contents thief will persevere in his time at Youth Challenge and will show up at our door ( since he knows where we live, hee hee) and present us with his graduation diploma, and we will be able to rejoice with him on his good choices and say "Job well done". Here's praying for no jail for Thomas and mucho jail for his mother.