Life is Beautiful: what moms get excited about sometimes

It's been one of those days, a little bit on a crazy side. I knew I wanted to get a lot done in the house before the day started but lately that doesn't mean half of those things actually get accomplished. The last few weekends we've been gone and so my time to attain to the house quickly diminished since weekends are the only time I have big chunks of time to clean the stuff that otherwise doesn't get cleaned. Week nights are way too short and I'm usually way too tired to start laundry or wash floors after 9pm. So our house was starting to look pretty bad and I was feeling it inside and out. I think even though I am not the most clean person in the world, my mom sure is and growing up with that must have done something to me because I cannot completely relax and enjoy myself until the house is clean. I try very hard to not let it bother me but eventually I can't take it anymore. :) And that day was today. I knew I had to do something before we leave for another long weekend on Friday and another weekend that nothing was going to get done. Now it is after 10pm and I am pretty happy with what I've done. There for sure is need for more and there always will be and if my mom was here she still couldn't stop at 10pm because such and such needs to get done. But for now I'll be happy with the tiny progress I made.

I watched 7 kiddos all day today, which is a typical number during the summer. Two 1 year olds, one 3 year old, two 4 year olds and two 7 year olds. I was very thankful for the beautiful sunshine and cooler temperature because 5 out of 7 kids played outside most of the day which gave me some time to clean. Loads of laundry got done and folded, kitchen got all cleaned up, bills and office stuff got organized, garage swept, fed the kids 3 times and a few bottles to the babies, worked with one of the babies who refuses to crawl at 12 months old, read with the kids and built with legos, cleaned up the kids rooms with the kids, played outside with all the kids for a while, was teaching Kason how to go potty outside like a big boy, tried to explain to him we cannot pick the bell peppers from the garden before they are ready (but at least he ate it), made 2 big homemade pizzas for dinner, e-mailed back and forth with Ehren a million times during the day about what we should do about refinancing, later this evening I filled out a form online for that, vacuumed most of the rooms, put the kids to bed, washed all the hardwood and tile floors. I think that is about it except for countless interruptions of sweet little faces either informing me about who is doing what, crying after a fight, telling me so and so is not sharing, etc. I guess it was a full day and not a dull day even though nothing exciting happened, I didn't even get out of the house. But sometimes, little things can bring satisfaction and excitement. Like sitting in the fresh clean kitchen, a peaceful house and just me with my thoughts. Good night to all and hope you had a full day today with your kind of excitement.

Here are some pictures from the last weekend. We really enjoyed the lake at my in-laws' cabin. The kids and our dog just wanted to swim and swim.