Mood Swings of Motherhood

   So, I was washing dishes in the middle of morning kitchen clean up.  It had been a rough morning.  The kids had been extra pokey, protested loudly about getting up,  and were  unable to find shoes, lunch box etc.  Although they're supposed to get their things ready the night before, for one excuse or another, it hadn't gotten done.  I'm sure you mom's can relate with those kind of mornings.   Needless to say the kids were late to school and I had given them a good lecture on the way. To my credit,  I did  refrain from my desire of  kicking them each in the butt.  In an effort to regroup,  I turned on music and got focused on cleaning.  Soon, the song "Come to Me" came on by Celine Dion.  If you haven't heard it, It's about a Mom encouraging her kids to spread their wings and fly, but wanting them to always remember she was there if they needed her.
  I had to sit right down then and there and have a good bawl.  I went from wanting to give them a swift kick in the pants to crying bittersweet tears at the fact that they were all growing up so fast and how much I loved them in a matter of minutes.  Talk about your mood swings!!!  If Jeremy would have come home to find me bawling in the kitchen, listening to my iPod, he would have thought I was off my rocker!
It's amazing the mood swings motherhood can put you through. . . .From   exhaustion to pure joy, from frustration to adoration, from worry to unconditional love, from desperation to gratitude, and from anger, to sweet bliss!  Holy Moly what a roller coaster!!  What an amazing ride of motherhood I am on!  I'll try to keep my hands and feet in at all times and try not to close my eyes and scream at the top of my lungs :)



   Torah has been taking us on quite an adventure herself lately!  She is 91/2 months old.  What a fun stage she is in.  She's learning to do something new every single day (clapping, waving bye bye, playing peek a boo, doing funny faces, crawling all over, and pulling her self up to stand)  She has finally grown out of her colicky fussiness and is just plain fun!

Here's the latest pics. . .





                                        Pretty Girl at the Doctors office: 18 lbs 7oz  28.5" tall

Funny baby                                                                        Silly Faces

                                                                                               
                                         
                                      Love those eyes!

Torah's top two teeth have been trying to cut through making her a little miserable.  Mommy put some frozen peas in a wash cloth for her to chew on . . .  "Mmm feels so much better!"

Now if you're a mom or a dad and you  want a good bawl,  here's a link to that Celine Dion Song.
http://www.youtube.com/v/XG_4cOIBmXM?version=3&autohide=1&showinfo=1&autohide=1&autoplay=1&feature=share&attribution_tag=dth2YoHBym9tN-3jmQWisQ

Pictures of Brandon's Birthday and Halloween coming soon.

The Road Less Traveled By . . .

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I -took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." by Robert Frost

    I took a walk on this path on our property the other day.  I couldn't help but think of that poem and how perfectly it describes myself and family.  Many of my choices seem to have been the one's less traveled.  . .Getting my bachelors degree despite having a toddler and expecting a second, the decision to  have six children, the career choice of being a stay at home mom,  and most recently, uprooting my family and  moving  a whole country away from friends, extended loved ones, and all normalcy we've known to live in Soldotna, Alaska. Life is an adventure and even more so in Alaska.   It has been a crazy, sometimes difficult journey, but I don't regret it. It was the right decision for us, not necessarily the easiest.  I look around at this path that I find myself on .  It is amazing, beautiful, unpredictable, and nothing but hullabaloo (love this word which means; loud confused noise or excitement, uproar; commotion). That describes my life. I'll take it! 

   Speaking of Chaos, the neighbors have been visiting again.  I just wish they would put things back when they borrow them.  This visitor is taking off with our electrical fence.  Fortunately for him it wasn't plugged in.   The picture is blurry because he is running,  but you can see the long white fencing trailing behind the bull moose. 

These neighbors have been a little more polite, but they do seem to eat and run.

What a sweet mommy and twins!

I met this guy yesterday. He was just plain rude.  He cut me completely off while I was driving and didn't even bother to at least give me the obligatory nod.  I had a discussion with friends about what that thing is hanging under his chin.  Surprisingly it is not Rocky, but what's called a dewlap.  The function is unknown but one theory is that it is used for communication during the rut.  Thanks to my friend Nikiesha for that interesting info ;)

As you can see, Autumn is beautiful here.  It's my favorite season and even more so in Alaska.  How breathtakingly panoramic it is.  These pictures don't do it justice.  My only complaint is that it's duration is so short.  Like a friend said today, "They should call it fell, not fall."  With  winter just lurking around the corner we have been busy preparing.

That means trees had to come down.

The kids were more then happy to "help"  drag the fallen trees over with the tractor to be cut.

The undesirables made an amazing bon fire that was perfect for family night, friends, and s'mores after it died down.

Ta Da!  The finished product!  Thanks to hard work and our dear friends ,The Kenners who came to help, we will have plenty of wood to keep our stove piping hot through the cold winter. 

( This is only half of it.)

When I take a moment to sit back and look at where I am, I'm so grateful for this path I'm on.  Despite the Craziness and difficult times.  It really is "Hullabaloo Sweet Hullabaloo"!