When my website crashed, I learned quite a few lessons through the process of trying to get storiesofourboys.com back up. I am going to tell you all about it.

For eleven whole days, storiesofourboys.com was wiped off the face of the internet.

It started on January nineteenth. I woke up to error messages. I had no idea why. After twelve hours of trying to figure it out, I investigated my older wordpress.com version of Stories of Our Boys. Would you believe it? They said my bill was not paid for my domain.

Huh. Who knew?

I did pay the bill, but then I saw some odd activity on my bank account, and I reported it a couple of days before the website crashed. My thought was that for sure the bank will fix this little charge, and all will be well.

Ha! The bank fixed it all right. Turns out it was the fee for my website domain, and WordPress did not appreciate me taking their money away with a bank claim.

Oopsie daisies…my bad.

So WordPress snatched the old rug right out from under me.

Dear WordPress, a little note would have been nice. But I do see how this was also my fault. I should have investigated my bank claim further instead of jumping to conclusions.

The first day of the website crash, I was a miserable mess.

Then after that day of grief I was okay. I knew that if they wanted to help me, they could in fact help , and there would somehow be a way to fix this. Alan kept reminding me that if there were a crime, they would pull up my website like it was nothing.

I found that oddly reassuring.

Sure enough, eleven days later, Bluehost gave me a rescue, and restore my whole website to all of it’s January twelfth glory.

While I was snug in my bed, not thinking about my website at all, a nice person from Bluehost Escalated Support team restored a back-up of my site.

When I awoke this morning, I opened my email, and there was a message from Bluehost letting me know I am back online. Hurray!!

I do believe this calls for a celebration. For quite a few days, I worried ten years of work was down the drain, never to be seen again.

Last night my son Daniel said if I get my website back up, we have to celebrate with a soda and a red velvet cake. I agreed to it, so I guess I owe everyone a little party!

There are a few glitches left, mostly in the form of image loading. I will have to work on that, but at least my website is back!

Here are thirteen lessons I learned from this whole crashed website debacle:

(And honestly I probably learned more than just this.)

1. Make less hasty decisions. Stop and think things through. Don’t claim fraud on a bank charge unless you thoroughly look at it from every angle.

2. I need to take a computer science class, many computer science classes. There is so much more I need to know about website maintenance.

3. Sometimes $19 can get you in a lot of trouble.

4. SSL means secure sockets layer.

5. DNS means domain name system. (It is a little embarrassing that I did not know that before, but I never sat down and thought about it! I never needed to.)

6. You can call up the company you purchased your domain name from to get help when your domain is pointing to the wrong place, and they will fix it for you. Many thanks to mine! Wild West Domains customer support was excellent.

7. Bluehost is helpful. They are my friend.

I am only back up and running thanks to Bluehost. My computer has some back-up elements, but I do not even know where to upload them to. See? I need to go back to school.

All links to Bluehost on this page are now affiliate links because I now wholeheartedly believe in this company and endorse them. If you want to build a website, I do recommend Bluehost.

8. WordPress will swiftly punish you if you put a claim on their charge.

They do not play, nor do they send you a bill and give you an option to pay a different way to fix it as quickly as possible. I had no idea. It took many back and forths before they sent me a link to let me pay with a new method to reinstate my account.

9. WordPress uses automated computers to answer their email support. It worked only okay, so I’m just sharing this information.

10. Did I mention I am going to enroll in computer science 101? I have been building and maintaining my websites since 2013, and there is still too much I do not know that I would like to know.

11. Keep asking for help with the proper channels, and don’t give up.

Bluehost and I had several chats, knocking out one problem at a time. I am so thankful we did not give up.

12. Stay calm and kind during a work crisis. It makes it easier for others to help you.

This may be the first time in my life I was able to stay calm in any kind of crisis. It made a huge difference though. I was able to think more clearly and feel more like a grown-up. Each person I talked to at Bluehost and the domain place thanked me for my patience and kindness. It went a long way.

13. Eventually, God truly will fix your problem in your sleep. God is a refuge to us for real.

It reminds me of that time I prayed about the neighbor who I was avoiding, and God up and moved her across town! Prayer works, y’all. Prayer works.

This concludes my Ted Talk on what happened to me last week. Anyone want to go enroll in community college with me for some computer classes? I think it will be fun!

Thank you for your patience while I get everything all fixed back up. This was embarrassing to go through. I kept thinking about all the people checking my website and thinking I had hung up my blogging hat.

I’m still here, y’all! Thank you for sticking with me! Sorry for the weird problems. I hope you can learn from my mistakes!

If you have any tips for me on the topic of website care, feel free to share below in the comments!

The post So happy to be back! 13 Lessons from When My Website Crashed appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

These are all quotes about being a boy mom that anyone raising a boy, or two, or seven, will enjoy. I created fun pictures for some of them too so you can save them on Pinterest. I tend to save more funny quotes than I do helpful articles. Ha!

Or I save the helpful content on Pinterest, but I do not actually ever get around to doing them… So these are just for fun and encouragement.

#1. Mark Twain and his struggling mother….I guarantee you he was right, and she enjoyed it very much. I know I adore raising these children, no matter how hard it is.

#2. No one is as indestructible as a boy in a Batman costume.

Who knew Plato had jokes?

#3. This one sounds exactly like my life and is from a fellow mom blogger:

You’re going to miss this someday – I whisper to myself as I’m shot in the butt with a Nerf Gun while unclogging the toilet.”

~Lauren @https://simply-well-balanced.com

#4. Princess Diana:

#5. I actually said this one, and I stand by this statement:

But “somewhat?” No. I feel seriously accomplished!

#6. Embrace the messy. This one came from a blogger friend named Julie, who actually has five sons.

#7. I get to focus all of my fashion efforts on my OWN wardrobe

You can read more about the benefits of boy momhood here.

#8. Okay. THIS one from Kenny Rogers is one of my ALL time favorites, and it sums up most of my problems from the past seventeen years. Ha!

#9. I found my son skateboarding on the trampoline, and I feel like that sums up how dangerous raising boys actually is.

#10. Pure wisdom from Proverbs:

#11. This next one!!! I mean because it is like shoveling snow in a blizzard sometimes, especially when they are little.

#12. “Raising boys is a lot like raising lion cubs.”

I said that when I took all of them out in public together one time when they were all little.

This was the whole story:

The manager gave us a tour (of a rec center). Of course, the boys couldn’t keep their hands off each other, not in a mean way. It’s just that boys are very physical.  Raising boys is a lot like raising lion cubs.  At one point, all three hunched over JD, making googly faces at him. They were all smiling, and JD was whacking them in the face, just as happy as he could be. They loved it!

Don’t worry. I don’t condone toddlers smacking people in their faces…

#13. The sand, the kids running in opposite directions, the exhaustion, the safety concerns, I will never forget, one does not simply take four little boys to the beach by yourself.

#14. I left him alone for five minutes to run upstairs and grab something. When I came back downstairs, he was covered in chocolate and was laying upside down, asleep, half on the floor, feet in his chair.

That carpet never stood a chance.

#15. This one is so sweet, and it is the truest of true boy mom quotes. They will be heroes in our eyes!

“You don’t raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they’ll turn out to be heroes, even if it’s just in your own eyes.” – Wally Schirra

#16. Amen to this:

“I used to give my friends who have kids advice all the time, and they would look at me like I had three heads. And then, when I had two, I literally apologized to all my friends.”

-Jennifer Lopez

#17. I found this quote on Pinterest from another present day writer. It is such a good reminder!!

“The only part of their childhood that lasts forever are the memories, so we better not be too busy to make them.” –Casey Huff in this post at Her View from Home

#18. Being a boy mom is all about wrestling, cookies, video games, and endless energy. The endless energy is theirs. You will gradually have less and less.

#19. You have boys. Congratulations! Your toilet will never be clean again.

#20. I will end on this one because it sums up my life from 2005-2013, when I was having one baby boy after another. My oldest son, around age seven, actually said to me, “Wait. If we go inside, we have to stand still and be quiet? Oh, I can’t go then. I am not made to stand still.”

“If it requires my child to sit still and be quiet, I can’t come.” -Unknown

This was also how we picked churches in the earlier years. No nursery for church service? Then we will have to attend a different church. Sanity matters, y’all.

I hope you enjoyed these boy mom quotes.

There is nothing that has brought more joy to my adulthood than being a boy mom to my sons. Now listen, I would also have LOVED to have daughters. I tried to do so, in fact. So please don’t troll me about that because I wanted a daughter very badly. Who knows? Maybe someday God will still give me one.

But I would not trade a single boy in this house for any daughters, puppies, or quiet time. Raising these boys is the greatest blessing we have ever had, and I know you feel the say way about your own, both daughters and sons.

“Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”

Psalm 106:1

The post 20 Boy Mom Quotes That Will Make You Smile appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Normally on this blog, I tend to visit new places and post photos of them. I also go house hunting every 1-3 years, since I am a military wife, that has been our lot. Since nowadays we, like everyone else in the world, stay home all the time, I thought I would give you a tour of my house instead, or at least the interesting parts of my house. I am officially not allowed to show you the boys’ rooms. Not everyone loves to share their life on the internet. Huh. Weird..

Now this will not be a tour of an envy worthy home full of hand crafted Good Housekeeping decor. No, no. I wish. This will be true photos of a house FULL of children who have been at home for over a month. It is like summer, but with long sleeves and school work. Messiness does abound, especially in the Easter basket aftermath.

Welcome to our lovely home. Notice how the blinds on the second floor do not match. That irritates me. It does, but I have been too cheap to shell out the few hundred dollars to fix it. Plus, I prefer white. And yet, I know that the dark window blocks more more morning light, and those particular windows do happen to belong to the youngest children in the house, you know, the ones who still like to rise early, so the dark blinds are quite functional.

I also have high hopes of changing those shutters to some shade of blue this year. They are faded, and also they are brown. Bleh, brown. Other than that, we just love this house. I mean who would not love this front porch?

Notice the new wood around the garden? Alan built that the very first week of quarantine.

He did an outstanding job. That looks like quite a project. I can’t tell you much more about it. Wood craft is far outside of my areas of expertise.

We have a lovely tulip tree that is almost finish blooming now. I have always loved these. We had one at our southern Alabama house too.

This large cherry blossom tree is just beginning to bloom which means it will be gorgeous this week. That brings me so much joy. I will have to take extra time to sit on my front porch and just look at that this week.

This is all very classic quarantine, don’t you think? An Amazon package is on the doorstep, and the entire porch is covered in chalk art. They do such lovely creative things when I make them get off of video games. The pictures shown here are Daniel’s.

I just realized I still have a winter welcome mat out. Oops. The thing is I do not own a regular one to replace it…

When you enter the house, you will find yet another Amazon package, and no, they are not essential items. Well, I mean, they are as essential as a cake keeper and a new game of Sorry can be.

The very first week of quarantine I went around the main floor of the house and stuck Bible verses everywhere. I figured we were all going to need these reminders.

In the office you will find book boxes. I had to make these for silent reading time. Now that spring break is ending, I need to switch out a few of the books again. I tried to put variety in each box.

Hobby time: I do not have more free time than usual. I actually have less free time than usual by far because of managing four different school routines each day, but I still squeeze in time for my newest hobby. My whole life–okay my whole teenage plus life– I have wanted to learn to play the piano. Now I am finally doing it. I am still only in the first beginner book, but I am making progress.

My kitchen table is a symbol of another quarantine problem. Doctors can only see you for emergency type problems, so I was turned away from getting a badly needed steroid shot for my plantar fasciitis/heel spur problem. It is so bad I cannot go on any walks at all, not even short ones. Even working around the house is difficult. So my mother-in-law told me about tart cherries. I did a little research, and this is a real thing. If you have an arthritis problem you cannot shake, try eating a large amount of tart cherries each day. It may take a while, but it is supposed to help.

In our living room, you will often see our little whippet mix standing at the door, waiting to come in or out. This dog seems to go in and out about 99 times per day. Sometimes it’s annoying. And oh yeah, electronics are everywhere. We are having a few days of spring break.

Baking galore! I am still going through my Mary Berry cookbook. These are coffee cakes I made from it. Next up is a Battenberg cake. I will be sure to take a photo of it to show you when I finish it.

I finally changed out the hallway flowers to spring flowers. Once Easter hit, I realized I had left out my winter things for far too long.

The dining room has been completely taken over by Lego projects and school supplies. That room is so bad it is downright embarrassing.

Here was the kitchen table all set up for Easter morning. My oldest son stayed up late and helped me fill eggs, and I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed that. Fourteen is full of new milestones.

You can often find a little boy in the corner of the dining room because that is where the charger is. He likes to play Mario and Minecraft.

Our kitchen still has happy birthday signs up from our March birthdays. That just dawned on me yesterday. I guess I should take those down.. These two are celebrating that I was going to make sweet potato casserole. Sweet potatoes are rock stars at our house.

And in the living room, here are the boys in their natural element, the cushy LazyBoy recliner sofa. We love that thing. I have been a hero with the youngest this week because I helped him figure out how to “make things enchanted” in Minecraft. Then I helped them friend each other so they could play Minecraft together, in each other’s worlds. They have really had a ball.

See this? This is the boys’ end table. You have the toys, the books, the charging station, and the toy box overflowing. If you think that is bad, you do not want to see the dining room (aka craft table/Lego table/ school table). I will spare you that.

Sometimes the office looks like this. The children have taken over every single room in this house.

I could not be more thankful for this backyard. On the good weather days, we can all go outside and do so many things.

I hope you enjoyed the tour! My Facebook newsfeed is full of people making jokes about quarantine and how much they are over being stuck inside. There are even one or two conspiracy theorists, but I gotta tell you, I am enjoying the at home time. Everything is cancelled! That’s like a dream come true. Because we did not lose our income, this is fun to me. I do feel terrible for those who have lost their jobs, though. That is a totally different thing. For them, I will be happy when things begin to transition back to normal, and even happier when people have work again.

How is your quarantine going?

The post Quarantine Family Home Tour appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

10 Truths About My New Stay at Home Mom Life

(with 4 kids in elementary & middle school)

Disclaimer: This is a totally different existence than staying at home with preschoolers in your house all day. I’ve waited 12 years for this.

#1. I had this ENORMOUS lists of things I thought I’d accomplish once all my kids finally started school.

I called it my “Back to School Bucket List.” You can read it if you like, but I will warn you. That list is so very me. How? Well, I had about 20 different things I thought I was going to accomplish. It’s a highly ambitious and idealistic list because that is simply how I roll. There’s no fixing it.

…..And instead I mostly blog and go to the grocery store.

Seriously. I do an outing. Collapse on the sofa. Do the chores  some of the chores. Collapse on the sofa. It’s all over surprisingly quickly.

#2. I’m relishing this quiet house.

All I can hear is the air conditioner (because this is the summer that never ends… Die summer, die) and the sound of my fingers typing.

Is it as wonderful as I thought it would be? Oh yes, honey, that part is heavenly. Literally I could take a nap right this second.

#3. Somehow someone needs something from the store every single day.

I’m not actually going to the store every day, but there are enough needs/wants/requests that I could. I told Alan this morning, “Look, I can’t keep buying groceries 3 times a week. The budget can’t take that.”

There has to be a way to streamline the store thing. Inevitably, I always miscalculate just how much we eat.

#4. There are no more excuses to not exercise.

This part is irritating. Not a single excuse will do. No one is distracting me. I do have the time. It was raining today, but I have a small collection of workout DVDs as well as YouTube. We even have a free gym membership on post.

There’s just no excuse at all. Except “no energy.”  But the sad thing is that you have to give energy to get energy, so again, no excuse at all.

Does that mean I exercised today? Well, according to my Fitbit I got 25 minutes of cardio in already by going to the grocery store. That probably won’t work for most of you though. It only worked for me today because I forgot to take my heart pill, and when I do that my heart beats too fast, convincing my Fitbit that I’m in “cardio.”

Our sofa is oh so cushy cozy comfy.

#5. I cannot tell a lie. My sofa is seeing a lot more of me than it used to.

I like to sit here and use my computer. Maybe I need to drink more coffee and sleep more so I can make myself do less of this. But I’ve waited 12 years for this!!!

#6. My kitchen and living room are still tidier just because they get a 7 hour break from the children.

It still doesn’t look perfect. I mean my entertainment center hasn’t been dusted in a few weeks, and there are already stains on this rug that was brand new in May, but guess what. There are no stacks! Say what!

Okay there’s still stacks downstairs on the desk, but it doesn’t count because #6 is about the kitchen and the living room.

Yes, there are bags of groceries sitting in the kitchen at this moment. I put up all the cold stuff. The rest can wait until my next energy arrives.

#7. I do need to get more social interaction.

The hermit thing that I do sometimes is starting to happen. I’ve had multiple people in the neighborhood say to me, “Hey! You’re out! I never see you.”

I DO want to see my friends, but John David (my 5-year-old) always insists that I leave every social function early. Plus, I’m lazy about initiating outings. Add this item to my back to school bucket list: go see friends.

#8. You would think I would be cooking and baking more.

That’s another thing perhaps I don’t have an excuse with. Why am I not cooking more? I don’t know the answer to that. It gets in the way of my blogging time on my couch?

#9. I haven’t gone into town even once yet.

I said I was going to ride the train into town and explore D.C. on my own, and it was going to be such a fun adventure. Four weeks later, and I mostly only go to the Commissary or Target.

Sometimes I have to get up from the left side (my favorite spot) of the sofa and go sit on the right side because that’s where my computer charger is. That’s my level of adventure this week.

#10. Walking the kids to school and back is my best exercise, and it’s exhausting and sometimes impossible.

I am a serious advocate of walking or biking to school when you live with a school right in your neighborhood. It’s the best. According to my Fitbit, I now log about 300 active minutes a week. Back when we lived in Georgia, I was only logging 50-100.

It’s healthy for the kids too, so we enjoy doing it. If only the weather would cooperate!! Yes, I’m whining here when I say this, but 90 degrees has been the average temperature at 3:15pm for the past 4 weeks, and it has been BRUTAL. Most days I needed to change clothes 3 times and take 2 showers a day. I didn’t actually take 2 showers a day, but it was bad enough that I could have.

When it wasn’t scorching it was raining, and our house is 0.75 miles from the school, going at a kindergarten walking pace because I do have a kindergartener.

So here’s what a typical day actually looks like.

-Oversleep.

-Get the boys ready for school, complete with snacks, one lunch box for Daniel (who saves me so much money), 3 water bottles, and all papers signed.

-Put John David’s shoes on for him because 4th babies are insanely spoiled.

-Spend 3 minutes standing in the yard deciding if we can handle the walk in this weather today.

-Pick up a friend on the way to school.

-Arrive at school 20 minutes later. Convince John David to walk into the school building.

-Walk home.

-Collapse on the sofa.

-Read my Bible. Answer emails.

-Pinterest time.

-Do the dishes.

-Brush teeth and put on my contacts.

-Sweep a room.

-Collapse on the sofa.

-Blog.

-What! It’s 3pm already!?

-Rush out the door to get kids.

And that’s my truth. Tell me I’m not alone. Ha! This phase is far easier than those years of preschoolers. Man, those years were hard core. Yet, I still never feel like I’m doing enough (a lie from the devil).

I do miss cuddling with babies. So much!!  I miss babies, but at the same time I’m okay, you know? This phase is just a different kind of good.

The post 10 Truths About My New Stay at Home Mom Life appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

We just got home from spending 10 days with our family down in Bama. I can say with complete sincerity that it was a fun, fulfilling, trip.

Were there melt-downs? Yes, especially me, okay. I was the one with the melt downs.

Was it insanely hot? No, actually.

Did the children fight? Some.

Did we get stuck in traffic? Yes, in the expected places. Why do we ever drive through Atlanta?

But also…

There were breakthroughs!

#1. John David is officially ready for kindergarten.

John David went down a water slide at Water World about 35 times, not even exaggerating, proving that maybe, just maybe he’s bigger than I realize. He can surely handle kindergarten.

#2. I got to watch my mom in action in all her super-executive glory. I’m so proud of her. 

Watching her manage her career reminded me that maybe I’d do better at my own job if I treated it more responsibly.

Did you know that in the census records of the 1800s, they listed each person in a household by name, job, and various other statistics? Each grown woman in a household was not listed as a “stay at home mom” or “unemployed.” They were listed as “keeping house.”

“Keeping house” sounds so much more accurate to me than “stay at home mom.” Children are in the house, so they are part of the house you are keeping, right?

I should treat this more like my job. There should be to-do lists, a sense of job satisfaction, and an alarm clock. During the summer I almost never set my alarm.

#3. Three times a day is how often you should water tomato plants in southern Alabama.

I learned this from watching my dad tend his always thriving tomato garden. His vines go from the porch all the way past the porch ceiling, and he uses no poison at all.

Yes, the tomatoes were delicious.

Maybe, just maybe I can have a garden like that too someday. Someday. Not today.

#4. Back to School Shopping

If school starts tomorrow, everyone will have something to wear.

That mannequin I stripped down because it was wearing my son’s size of deeply discounted Under Armor shirt will be just fine. Yes, I accidentally knocked him over and kicked him under a rack (the mannequin, that is), but I put him back on his pedestal as quickly and clumsily as I possibly could, so I’m quite sure he’s fine.

#5. “Doing nothing always leads to the very best something.” (Pooh Bear)

….Our hilarious trip to the movies…

Mom and I took the boys to see Christopher Robin, as I am a huge Pooh Bear fan. It was a sweet movie, but sharing it with my children was the funniest part.

There was the son who bought himself an over-priced Icee with his own money, drank 3 refills, and then held his tummy and groaned for the next hour.

The same son “whispered” across all 3 brothers to me during the movie, “Pssst Mom!….Pssssssssst Mom!!!… Mom!!!  This movie is boring.”

It was not. If he hadn’t kept getting up for refills and of course the restroom, he’d have found the movie to be very funny and heart-warming.

Then as the movie ended and we exited the theatre, I found the same son’s wallet left under one of the theatre seats. You’re welcome, dear son.

Oh, but that’s not all.

I shuffled past a sticky floor and stray popcorn kernels to find 2 pairs of flip-flops, belonging to my 2 youngest sons.

“Ewwwww! Really, boys, no one takes off their shoes at a movie theatre. Gross.”

But my whining couldn’t change the past. I helped John David back into his shoes and walked him out, assuming Daniel was right behind me.

I have no idea what took Daniel so long, but I ended up waiting quite a while for him to collect his shoes and catch up with us out in the hallway. A very patient and tickled movie theatre worker stood there holding the door for our seemingly never-ending family.

As I stood there, several boys asked me for Icees, while John David jumped up and down in front of me saying over and over again, “Hey Mom! hey Mom! Mom! You said if I be good…Mom, you said if I beed good. If I beed good you said…”

Something about buying him candy…which I most certainly did not say, no matter how good he “beed”, I had not promised that.

As John David continued to jump and talk, Daniel finally made it to the doorway and the laughing movie theatre worker, where he proceeded to stop, kneel down in the floor with one flip-flop on and one flip-flop off, and wipe his shoe down with the bottom of his t-shirt. Because you see, while Daniel may not be too clean to take his shoes off, he will certainly not tolerate anything sticky touching his skin.

Somehow we managed to collect our little crew and walk to the car. They all brightened when I told them we were headed to the Circle K for the 79 CENT Icees that are exactly the same as the $6.75 movie ones.

Another life lesson well learned, as the kid who bought the expensive Icee sat in the backseat and clutched his stomach and moaned. Ah, but those are the lessons you learn the best, right?

Oh yeah and…

#6. Alan and I succeeded in getting Nonna as hooked on the Jeopardy app as we are.

You gotta download it. I’m telling you. Hours of educational fun await.

It was a delight to see everyone that we got to see!! Thank you all for taking time to hang with us!!

The post The Bama Vacation & One Hot Mess of a Movie Trip appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Making Valentine Floats, via this recipe

Last year I began to get burned out on the blog. It used to be this thing that I ran to for stress relief, but somehow it didn’t feel like that anymore. The blog started to feel like work, and I started caring about what other people thought about what I wrote, which isn’t like me. Weird.

I blogged out of obligation, so naturally, those posts weren’t as fun to read, and I’ve been thinking about it again lately.

Why? Why did I need to step back from something I’ve enjoyed for TEN years??

Was it because it actually did become work? Was it the sheer amount of incoming emails?

I’m not sure. I’ve always had tons to do and neglected it all for writing, so that can’t be it.

I think in order for the blog to be any good, I needed a vacation from it. The Real Army Wife project was big, and maybe I did get a little burned out from digging up the past, but I’m almost DONE with it, so I can’t quit now right?

No quitting here, y’all. So this is my promise to see that series through. I hate leaving projects 75% done, don’t you?

He actually spelled yellow, red, and black on the board, by himself. His teachers taught their class how to spell their colors with a song, which he sings so much that I know some of it now.

What did I do with my blogging break, you ask?

Oh, a little of everything. Here’s a list.

-Dan started baseball. He’s one of the youngest, smallest players, and it’s his first season in C-ball, so they’ve assigned him to the positions of catcher, right field, and bench sitter. He rotates though those three stations. Historically a ball hog, this kills him a little bit, but I know he’ll win them in the end.

-John David, begrudgingly started t-ball. No part of him wanted to sign up, so you might say this was a mistake. He humored us the first month, but has now started sitting on the bench and refusing to leave it, even for a turn at bat. There’s a very simple explanation. He will tell you. “I don’t WIKE baseball. I don’t want to PWAY baseball. I want to go home.”

…..And that’s why we don’t recommend signing 4-year-olds up for sports unless they beg to do so.

the boys at Landmark Park

-We signed a lease on a house in the D.C. area. I’ll be living next door to my friend Stacie, and across the street from my friend Heather, so this is a big deal. Not only that, but the whole neighborhood is chock full of delightful friends. I need to let myself just be happy about that, but instead I keep focusing on all the things I still have to do to sell our house here.

-Our oldest son has turned out to be quite the talented actor, and we can’t wait to watch him perform in the school play tomorrow!!

We enjoyed a peaceful, not-so-wintry as usual morning at Landmark Park.

-Our second-oldest son has about convinced the music/drama teacher to allow him to not be on the stage at all during the play, further proving that our boys may all look alike, but each one has a distinctly different personality.

Daniel turned 7!! (He LOVES all things police related.) No, of course I did not bake this cake myself.

-At this moment, I’m supposed to be packing up my house, cleaning my house, and staging it for going on the market for sale. I don’t know that I will ever finish. The market may never actually see my house. Have I mentioned before that I don’t particularly care for cleaning and packing up??

-Instead, I’m taking a little break to send you all this update.  Hmmm…maybe what I needed was something I didn’t want to do to procrastinate from to drive me back to writing…

Happy Spring, y’all! Enjoy the winter that never ends…No, I’m kidding. I’m sure winter will be over by the end of May. Ha! Yes, I’m embracing my inner pessimist a little.

We are enjoying watching the cutest little catcher ever!!

I’m focusing on reading the Bible through this year, and I’m in 2 Samuel, but I’m also focusing on Proverbs 31. It’s how I coach myself to be a better person…I like how it ends:

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
³¹ Honor her for all that her hands have done,
    and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.   Proverbs 31:30-31

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The post We were on a BREAK!! (a blogging break) appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

At the Smithsonian National Museum of Art

When we went to D.C. this summer, I insisted we go and visit my favorite painting in the world, which happens to be at the National Gallery of Art on the National Mall. While we were there, we perused the collections, along with our friend Amy and her children.

I thought the day was going amazingly well. We took 6 kids through a museum where you are supposed to be quiet, and I felt like we did a heroic job. The kids even sat on these nice sofas they had in many of the galleries.

After about an hour, Alan whispered emphatically, with the big eyes,  “Are you ready to go now? Please.”

“Sure…. C’mon kids, let’s go.”

Once outside, Alan looked like he’d just escaped prison.

Alan had a much different experience in the Smithsonian than I had.

While I was all gazing at paintings and taking photos, Alan was getting dirty looks and lectures from security guards about the six children. Apparently, rolling on the sofas, flipping over the backs of the sofas, and leaning and pushing on your friends and giggling are inappropriate museum behavior.

Sigh. The bar is high, okay. I guess we’ll try a museum again in another 6 years. We just aren’t there yet.  I LOVE art museums, but alas, I LOVE my people and staying out of trouble too…

I still say they were good. Quiet and not touching anything = good.

****************

Last week Alan had to replace the garage door opener and fix the air conditioner unit, the dryer, and the fence that Irma blew over.

This week the sink is dripping and the microwave quit. Oh!! Plus, the house we rent out in Alabama has a broken a/c unit too.

I said to Alan, ” I feel like God is trying to tell us something.”

“What, that we suck?”

Okay, Alan didn’t say that, but that’s what I was thinking..

We agreed that this is an insane amount of things going wrong and breaking down. Perhaps God really is trying to get our attention.

OH! Plus next week is report card week, grades were turned in today, and I have new zits. I have new zits because I stress out about the boys’ grades more than they do…

I’m a stress ball, okay. That’s right. April is the Captain of the Struggle Buss. (Shout out to Nicole from MOPS for teaching me that expression.)

So….

I said to Alan, “I’m Captain of the Struggle Bus today.” I was so proud of my new expression. I HAD to use it right away.

“Everyday. That’s every day for you.”

“Hey!! That’s not!…I…well…..really? You think so? Huh.”

I guess he was familiar with the expression.

Good things happened this week too.

Alan started waking me up at 6am so that I can get a 1 mile walk in in the morning to kick-start my day. It was surprisingly fun. Alan said I came in from my walk each day so happy.

“Huh. Maybe I’ll be a morning person after all,” I thought…

But then on the other days he did NOT wake me up at 6 am…. I slept until 6:30 and did not have time to walk. Oh well, still, two great things came of it:

1. Alan woke me up early and managed to not get fussed at, which is a miracle.
2. I felt happier all day knowing I’d gotten up and walked. Plus, my step count was better. No weight loss though. 🙁 Apparently, ice cream is not good for weight loss. Sad.

I was reading my Bible this morning for inspiration, and this truly did inspire me. I’ll share it in case it helps you too:

…wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.    James 3: 17

I told Alan I felt like I needed to plaster this verse all over the house. Maybe it will remind us all how to behave…

Ok, here’s JD. He woke up from his nap, and he’s begging me for food. That’s my cue.

Have a fabulous weekend, y’all.

The post Funny Fridays: Taking 6 Kids to an Art Museum & Other Stories appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.