smile — it’s a tad bit messy!

1) My house is a wreck.  A complete toys-every-where, kitchen counters cluttered, books out, new clothes under the tree, post-Christmas wreck.  And, honestly? I love it.

2) This is the only time of year where I actually can tolerate a mess.  This is a flaw of mine. I need to learn to let-go and not hold to an ideal of perfection and Better Homes and Gardens for my home.  I have seven children. They trump the ideal living room arrangement.

3) As I type this, Samuel found the remaining red roll of Christmas wrapping paper and proceeded to pull out the rest of the paper all over my already messy living room floor.

4) At first I was going to try to save the paper, but when he jumped into it and started laughing I realized that losing $1.83 worth of wrapping paper was worth the priceless expression and joy on Samuel’s face as he destroyed it.

5) I should have put the paper away.  That’s why I let Samuel pull it.  Who could resist paper?  After all, if I had my druthers I’d rip all the paper out and do the same thing.  Ha ha ha.

6) Now my boys have a new sword. Along with many, many legos. In fact, Brennan has spent at least 4 hours constructing lego sets so far.  (I’m so glad I posted about patience with Legos last week)

7) Love that picture of Samuel?  My sweet Hannah was able to purchase her new dslr camera.  Now, let me tell you — this was a gift.  As you know her point and shoot broke and she just surrendered her camera and her agenda to the Lord.  It was challenging for her, but I constantly heard her pray and let it go.  She received some amazing gifts and coupled with Christmas gifts and the money she saved she was able to purchase her camera the day before Christmas.

8) She’d been praying for her camera for Christmas.  It’s interesting how she ended up getting just hours before the day switched….

9) Just had to add this — Samuel now talks with kind of a gibberish which has the cadence of regular speech.  Every once in a while he’ll say something that sounds exactly what he’s pointing to — it’s a bit freaky to her him say “buzz” or “pizza”– in fact Hannah and I just heard him say “what’s this?” — yet, I love this phase.  Love it!

10) I think I’ll be doing just a tad bit of cleaning today.  I know I wrote how much I love the mess, but sigh, I do need to see my living room floor again.  But, I’ll do it with a cheerful heart.  And we’ll play some of those new games.  Speaking of games — my kids got a large portion of games with Toy Story 3 this year — hmm…some brand marketer just hit the jackpot — that’s judging from the large number of Woody, Buzz, Jesse, and Lotso Bears that I see strewn everywhere.

Have a blessed and restful Monday.  Link up with your own miscellany and I’ll pop over and check it out!