The Bare Essentials

(Just bear with me here, blogger apparently doesn't allow me to rotate pics.)

Oh yeah, this how we roll :) Ten to noon everyday.
On another note, this picture reminds me of a little ditty we sang as small kids after bathtime. The resident head-of-the-wife heard me a'singing it when Will was a wee-er lad. Twas then I discovered not all families pass down the same tunes. :

"Bum, Bum, bum-bum
I see your hii-ney
So bright and shiii-ney,
If you don't hide it,
I'm gonna bite it! "

Hey, don't judge...speck vs a plank and all that :p

Yup. 10-12...everyday. The boxes, the plastic food...the nudity.
It's all here. You even get a snack!



Let loose: Gen

Currently In Quads

"Children are such a blessing"..."You've been greatly blessed."..."You're having another?" "You guys aren't done yet?"..."You know what causes that, right?"

Actually folks, yes, I do. Seeing as none of our children are test tube babies, I know (erhem) exactly how they came about. Only took three health classes (5th, 7th and 10th grade) , an older sister, a few faintly embarrassing conversations w/ a well-intentioned parent (not to mention the whole "getting married," extravaganza) to piece it together. But since I'm sure all of you "know what causes that" too, let's just skip over such innocuous questions and light on the heart of the matter. A real "heart" matter.

Those folks who just do not understand why anyone would want more children and insist on sliding in snide, goofy, overly blunt and downright rude comments in the conversation.

Why would we have another?? ...why would we not? If you have children, look at your youngest. Can you honestly tell me "I'd give that one back for a little less stress, a bit less prep involved getting out the door, one less bout of throw up to clean?" Would you say such things? Could you?

God presented us with three, and soon four, amazing little persons to teach, watch and wonder at. Four small presents wrapped in cotton swaddling and a little bit of magic. I have friends who pray and strive and yearn for ONE such gift. For years and years and years...through so much heartbreak, but have yet to discover the joy of even one pink plus on a little white stick.

On another note, we do not believe in regular birth control. Another example of lessons learned through someone else's experience. Two ladies close to us played host to a stroke as a result of using birth control. Yes, not the most common side effect--however, Stroke and I, well... we're not good friends. Like to keep it that way:) The other side effects also lack a certain appeal.

At the bottom of all our pondering and all our prayer over whether or no this should finally be the last child there is a simple answer. God is in control. If we were to latch onto the Pill as our answer, or if I were to ask the hot blonde to schedule a neutering apt., would this be a guarantee? No. Why undergo surgery or put faith in medicine when, frankly, there are an awful lot of peoples walking 'round out there who surprised the heck out of their parents via pretty pink plus on a little white stick?

If God says we have 2 kids, great! Daunting seems the idea of 5,6,7...but He gives the strength we need for each days challenges. As a family of 5...almost 6, there are plenty of challenges; poop literally everywhere, yak at 2am, the "he/she touched/looked at me's" (oh dear Lord! the touch/looked at me's!) . Yet also plenty days full of laughter and the strange, strange things kids say. Such beauty in family, why answer no to something which presses us to be better than we are?

Laugh~Genna

Anti-Ode to Cleaning

Growing up, my mother's house was immaculate. I-m-m-a-c-u-l-a-t-e.
I am so not my mother's daughter. Not only did the apple fall a ways from the tree, it just went ahead and rolled on down the hill too.

We are selling our house. In the short, this means that at any given moment my cell phone has the potential to ring and some mysterious voice from the Great Reality Torture Center for Chronically Cluttered Homes (G.R.T.C.C.C.H) will ask if they can show our abode in about an hour-ish....Right. Through a mix of frantic scrambling, amazing husband rescues and the afore mentioned mama, we have, by and large, been able to throw things together just in the nick of time. AND herd the three to four (depending on the day) wee lads and lasses off on some adventure and out of the (hopefully) well groomed hairs of yet another set of potential buyers:)

In face of such a large number of last minute, grasp-your-mop-and-scrub panic attacks, you might think I'd learn to maintain the home front a touch better. Yes? Natural assumption. And in my defense, the house isn't ridiculously dirty. It just tends a bit more towards a battlefield meshed with a daycare center:)

There are actual, real-live people who confess a LOVE of cleaning. Such people make me nervous--but they do exist. People with a contented, warm, fuzzy feeling after a day spent arm deep in bleach and grime (that warm, fuzzy feeling is probably a result of too much bleach inhalation and wrinkled finger nubs...alternately, such people most likely aren't faced with alarming probability of toe-puncture-by-stray-block with each jaunt across the living room.)

Contemplating that, I've devised a list. A list which shall (potentially) resolve me of all guilt and lead you, dear reader, to a greater understanding of why not all things sanitized are the most wondrous.

Genna's List of Contentment Giving Things:

1) Watching your children discover puddles, books, a new idea, God
2) Inventing a victory dance after crossing your son's Hot Wheels strewn room w/out twisting an ankle.
3) Discovering your beta fish loves sugar ants...and feeding them to him :)
4) Successfully convincing your man that nothing is hotter than a dude who cleans the toilet!
5) Finding a valid reason for staring at your cuticles for 5 hours rather than clean the front windows.

Be warm and fuzzy: Gen

Ants do NOT march one by one...

They're back. Oh, yes. Those beauties, those devils, those scrounge of my very existence...the sugar ant.

Target of choice? A 5 gallon, pasty white bucket full of cloth diapers. Poo-riddled diapers. Who'd have thunk it? Here I am scrubbing dishes and mopping floors, feeling ahead of the game. But no....little buggers. Thought our bucket o' diapers need only fear flies and the occasional dung beetle.


And for the record...sugar ants do NOT march one by one. (apparently this makes them much easier to smite. Giant masses of little black bodies? A more significant challenge for the human enemy. )

Where went my spray? Where, that darling arsenal of death mechanisms?...yeah, well as to that--we seem to be temporarily out of stock. Fortunately, a four year old boy makes a fabulous stand in death machine! Squashing left, right and center with nary a grimace. More mess, more fuss; but at this point, with small armies approaching and spring lurking in the not-too-distant-distance...well, I'll take what I can get. As a bonus, it provides a great time to talk about mercy (as in, "make sure the ant is ALL the way squashed honey, don't leave him to suffer." that counts, yes?)

Happy terminating: Gen

2011 Books

Inspired by a friend, seems a swell idea to blogitize a smallish list of books I'd love to get my eyes on this year:

Oh, come on. This just opera sings "incredibly fascinating read."


The Full Cupboard of Life...a book with stellar reviews and promises of hilarity. In any case a great topic for a future blog post.

This has been read, ADORED and promptly demolished by tiny hands. It's the best kids book shy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It. Must. Be. Replaced. THIS. YEAR! Of course, we already have it committed to memory so...

An obvious classic.



Began this as a second year Spanish student and forgot to return to it when fluency reached an equal level with the books' lingo.

Another one of those books almost every literary/book worm friend you might have suggests, but you've never actually snagged off the shelf. This year is the year for Green!

Since I'm currently unable to attain an Herbal Medicine License, this will have to suffice:) The internet and a plethora of natural/nutritional books are always on my list of things to read!


There be no picture for my next entry, simply because the darn book has yet to be published. The 15th (and final) book of the Wheel of Time series is due for an appearance sometime this year or possibly next. Only those with inner circle access (ie not me) are equipped with the true release date. The rest of us are left to hope and wonder....


A certain hot blonde may have recommended (or rather emphatically urged) a dip into Micheal Stackpole's X-wing series. Nine books claim a part of this here tale. Doncha just love authors with big ambitions?

The counter part to Wild At Heart. Need I say more?

And thus we have it. A humble list from which to start this year's marathon of ink & paper. Any suggestions to add??