Birthdays

All three kids celebrated their birthdays in the last couple months...here is an update, mostly in pictures:


Her favorite thing at the time was zebras...because they were "fancy".





A "scooter/bike"...no pedals, lightweight...awesome!


Kids came over for a birthday party...


They colored a big sign to hang on the wall...


They made fruit-loop necklaces...


They dressed up and paraded around the house...

First time:


Second time:


Grand finale:

Maybe she was a little partied out after that...




Then Geno's turn in October...


A new jacket (that he was just thrilled to try on)...


Football party with a few friends at a local park...




If I had known this was the only "cake" picture I would take, I would have taken a better one!




Then, Lucy's turn (finally!)

She got a much-longed-for umbrella. To share with Jane, of course. But maybe we should have gotten Jane her own...



It was a beautiful fall day, made much better by wearing a party hat...


She had a kid-party too, and they also decorated a wall-poster.


Then they made their own pizzas...




Then they decorated and ate their own cupcakes...



Then, they decorated and made and created to their heart's delight!




Happy Birthday to my three very wonderful kids!

Work

I just had a realization about work and getting things done in general...when I make a huge "to-do list" (usually on a Saturday), my goal is generally to get all those things done before I go to bed. No matter what I put on it, or how many things, I won't feel happy unless I finish them all. So I'm usually just setting myself up for failure since it would generally be impossible to finish everything.

Today I am home with Janie (who threw up this morning, and then pretended it had never happened and asked for food and has been happily playing all morning...) and started thinking about all the extra things I could accomplish on a day when I usually would be at school. I could catch up and actually be ahead in some areas of life. I could prep all the dinners for the week, plan for thanksgiving, do extra laundry, do, do, do... But what is the point? So for a few days I would have slightly less work to do, at the expense of a whole day slaving away to get ahead.

I don't think it really matters if we're slightly behind or slightly ahead. The point of work is to take care of ourselves, take care of our families, and our belongings. It will always be there- work will never completely go away. It is meant to be done, every day (except Sunday) and that's all there is to it. If we get ahead one day, we'll just find more to do the next day. If we stress about how much work we have to do, we'll just stress some more the next day.

I am going to try and do my work diligently, without dawdling, but also without hyperventilating because of the massive amount of work I think I have. Yes, during some periods of life there is more work to do than others, but I just need to acknowledge that...and JUST DO IT.

God grant us all peace and joy as we complete our God-given tasks:)