words will never show the you I've come to know

My little peanut is growing up too fast. In the past month he has cut two teeth, learned to sit up on his own, and begun crawling. He is my youngest to reach all of those milestones. I thought 5th babies were supposed to be content to sit and watch all the other kids do stuff, guess I was wrong. But then again, my Dad told me that every 5th baby born is Chinese, and Liam isn't showing any signs of being Asian yet. He's also eating everything in sight, thinking he's entitled to whatever is on our plates/bowls, letting his sin nature show through without much pretense. I would list his favorite foods, but that would take a while. Kind of funny how by the time he came along, Dave and I forgot about all the rules about what babies are "supposed" to eat (or not). Its just easier to give him what we're eating, and sometimes that is chocolate chip cookies. Oops. But he is a lot of fun, loooooves his brothers and sisters and cousin Erin, and squeals when he sees Dave's truck pull in each evening. I'll be thrilled when I can report that his nights have improved so that we can move him out of our room!!

you make me happy when skies are gray

When Molly was little, she used to let me twist her hair in little bands overnight, so she'd have curly hair the next morning. Well, when she was 5, she put her foot down and ended that for good. Dave has really missed the occasional Sunday with a curly-headed daughter, and so begged me to try it on Carrie for Mother's Day. I obliged, and Carrie was all too happy to sit and have her hair done, being told how cute she'd be when she woke up. Let's just say that her hair is different than her sister's. We were all trying so hard not to laugh, and her brothers kept walking by the bathroom saying, "Look at Carrie's head!". After some assurance that she had a bona-fide princess hair-do, she was excited to get to church to show her Sunday School teacher and friends. What a cutie.

what can enter when our hearts are open

A few days late, but nonetheless, our Mother's Day shot. I have great kids, a great family. Who can know why God gives such a tough job to mothers and, it sure seems, the biggest rewards along with it? Its a mystery, but for all the hard days, long nights (currently!), and hard choices, I am so thankful that God gives the grace for me to do this big thing. This colossally big thing.

just trying to keep my customer satisfied

Mom tagged me with her "Random 7" post, and so I think I'd better comply. Who wants to be in trouble with Mom? Not me, I assure you. My whole life is pretty random, and since I'm not such a "private" person, most of you who read this blog will know most of what is on this list, but so be it. Here goes:

• while sweets are generally not my vice of choice, I have a strange and constant craving for gummy sour apple rings. This started in high school in Germany, and hasn't gone away.
• standing outside on a freezing morning with my hands wrapped around my cup(s) of coffee is my favorite way to start a day.
• I am so blessed to have had Jackie as my best friend for over half my life now. We went from being to stupid teenagers, to stupid college students, to marrying up, to mothers of 5, all in 15 years. We have great memories.
• Humphrey Bogart is my favorite actor. I have seen all of his movies that are available to the public, and have seen "Casablanca" at least 100 times, maybe more...even own a copy of the script.
• I cannot parallel park. At all. I did it once for my driving test 12 years ago. Never again.
• my husband calls me his "Rolodex" because I have an uncanny ability to remember phone numbers, even ones never/rarely used or only seen once. Not the gift I'd choose, but hey -- it comes in handy.
• in my younger years I was not the best sister. When I was around 9 or 10, I pinned Aubrey down and made her eat a dandelion, force-fed our cat's "Pounce" treats to Annie, a few years later regularly pinched baby CJ to wake her up so that I could be the one to get her out of her crib, and I'm sure committed numerous other offenses that my sisters would gladly share.

So, I don't know many other people that weren't already tagged by Mom, but I hereby order Jackie, Steph B, and Bekah K to post their lists. I don't ask, I just tell.

standing in the sunlight laughing

We finally did some planting out front, after saying we'd do it for over a year. I think since we thought we wouldn't be in this house much longer we kept putting it off, not wanting to improve too much on a place and then leave. But now that it looks like we'll be here a while, I really wanted to spruce up. Nothing flashy or expensive...we just picked out a few simple shrubs and flowers. The kids enjoyed "helping" Dave dig and plant, and enjoyed even more when he "watered" (read: watered the kids). Spring weather has been so nice and we're enjoying spending a lot more time outside these days. Hopefully we'll get in a picnic this week with Nathan in town visiting.