That face

Spencer with a big smile after his first audition.  He should be smiling.  We woke up today to find out he got a call back for a lead role.  Our boy killed it!  I am trying not to get my hopes up because there are still three others in the running for his part, but it is hard not to.  I know he can do it, he just has to believe in himself enough.  I am bursting with pride for him - even for having the guts to try out in the first place.  Break a leg Gooey!

Normal weekend

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, savor you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may for it will not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky, and want, more than all the world, your return." - Mary Jean Irion.

I love that saying.   It represents my happy place - just being home with my people with not much going on.   Puttering and playing around the house.  It may seem boring to some, but it is so much better, at least to me than the alternative.   There is nothing wrong with being active, but when we are running crazy and over scheduled - it addles my brain.  Normal  - our normal - is what life is about.

Spencer started back up again with his acting classes.  Hailey and I dropped him off downtown at the theatre.  She asked me to take her picture with the Buster Keaton statue who was dressed in a pink scarf.

While we waited for him to finish his class, we ran to Meijer to mail a package and grab a few things.  Hailey quickly pointed out a pillow that she thought was the bomb dot com.

It was a sunny, but chilly day.  The kids decided to go outside and ride their bikes up and down the street.  Evan always dresses for the weather.

I spent most of the day on Saturday rearranging the furniture in Evan's room.  We also switched his captains bed with the bed frame that matches his furniture set ( Daddy's when he was growing up).  Evan was not thrilled about selling his old bed so we set it up in the basement in the playroom.  Once we get a mattress for it, it will be an awesome daybed.   Of course about a half a billion toys have to be forcibly removed from that room.   Another job on my growing list of things to do. 

No judging, but it is almost a week later and the room pretty much still looks like this.  I haven't gathered up the gumption to go through all his junk.  There is just so much of it.  This middle boy of mine is a collector.

Hailey woke up on Sunday morning with a pretty substantial cough.   She explained to us that since she was sick she was going to have to have breakfast in bed.

We were not really buying the bed ridden sick act, but acquiesced her request none the less.   Spencer spent most of the day on Sunday redoing one of his homework assignments.   I swear the kids' homework this year is going to be my downfall.   They all seem to have quite a bit and to get them to do it takes a lot of convincing and work on my part.  I basically have to sit with them individually and work with them.  All of this happens right around the time I should be making dinner as well - so I am learning to be quite a multitasker.

I don't know how I could ever work a job out of this house and then come home to all the work the evening brings.  After school is when I go to work - its the hardest job of my life no question.

So that was our weekend,  never mind that in another day we will start a new one.  There are a million things I could be doing around here besides posting this, but the other day showed me once again why I do it.  Spencer and I were trying to remember what he was for Halloween three years ago and since I probably have a million pictures somewhere is a photo box but not easily accessible, I told him I would see if it was on the blog.   The two of us sat and looked through old posts and were laughing so hard that we were crying about funny things they used to say.   Almost all of them I never would have remembered if I hadn't written them on here.   Just one more day that I am thankful to have this little piece of the internet.

Cozy and crafty

I ran outside dodging raindrops to empty the vacuum canister (Yay! I actually vacuumed the whole main floor) and was immediately hit by the cool air and the smell of someones fireplace.   It was like an instant transport to one of my happy places.  In that instant I was completely OK with the change of seasons and ready to embrace the fall with a gusto. 

Which is good, because there is nothing but drizzly rain and cool temperatures on the horizon for as far as the weatherman can see.  It has me ready to hunker down and get my craft on.  I have been working on the kids' Halloween costumes since Hailey has already had an occasion to wear hers and they all will don their festive attire for the Cub Scout Halloween bash tonight.  I didn't have to make anything from scratch.  Just some resizing and tweaking on Evan's costume and fashioning some brother jeans into skinnies for Miss Wee.  I think they are going to be awesome, but you are going to have to wait a few weeks for that reveal. 

I also got "pinspired" yesterday and decked out our front door.  I absolutely LOVE how it turned out.  Don't mind the front door that is in desperate need of a repaint.  Just gaze at the awesomeness that is my Halloween wreath.  The idea came from someone on Pinterest - I am not claiming it as my own.  As did the idea for the spiders.  Or SPEE-EYE-DOORS - as the kids like to say thanks to Megamind. 

So today I am planning to hunker down on the couch with some DVR'd programs to catch up on and work on Hailey's Christmas stocking.  It has only been four years or so that I have been working on it.  And maybe I will push the button for my own fire - unfortunately it won't smell as amazing as the real thing.

Letterman

My kids have never really cared a bit about their clothes.   In most cases, anything I set out for them, they will wear without a second thought.  They don't care about color, what is pictured on the front, if it's short sleeved or long sleeved.  They just don't care.  I am not complaining because the fact that they are not particular makes my life much easier.  I only hope they will always stay that way - can you imagine the money I will save if I don't have to buy the latest athletic shoes or popular brands?

Back to school shopping is a breeze.  I only have to determine what they have grown out of and replace that and maybe purchase a new shirt or dress to wear the first day.  Easy peasy.  When I think about the amount of money my mom used to spend on back to school shopping for my sister and me it makes me cringe.  I love you mom!    The boys have also been fortunate enough to have acquired some hand me downs from their older cousin.  I had to pack the box away for quite a few years before their micro bodies could fit into them, but we have started digging in.  It is really quite remarkable how boys clothes really don't change much in style at all.  

Anyway,  just before school started we were in Holland at Dutch Village with the little cousins.  There just happens to be a GAP outlet across the street and for some reason I can't resist a GAP outlet.  We stopped in there dragging all five kids with us.  The kids were understandably bored so I told them to look at the clothes and let me know if there was anything they liked. 

After trying on a shirt or two for me I walked back over to gather the kids and Evan told me he wanted to show me something.  He saw a jacket that he liked.  He said that something about it "just spoke to him".  Seriously, can you just die?  How cute is that kid?  I couldn't resist buying it for three reasons:  how cute he was asking for it, he kind of gets rooked as the wearer of all Spencer hand me downs and my kids NEVER ask for anything as far as clothes are concerned.  

Of course it was the only thing in the entire outlet store that wasn't fifty percent off and at thirty four dollars it was more than I like to spend on anything.  But I couldn't resist.  I bought it big so it would fit him for a few years (he better not lose it!!!) and  it was totally worth it to see that smile the first day he wore it.