VIDEO of Jason Mraz- Beautiful Mess

I just found this video while blog hopping. Jason Mraz as a vocal artist is unique and refreshing as compared to many of today's music artists. To me, it seems like he has materialized out of thin air. It only seems so since I just recently heard many of his songs, which our also on our playlist (located at the bottom of page.) But maybe I have been on the prairie longer than I thought. Hmmm... either way... he is refreshing and my new fave! Enjoy!

NOTE: Our playlist at the bottom of the page can now be started manually, for those days when you need the peace and quiet.

My child. No really, she is.

Little Miss Sara Kate. She is the beauty that I stand in awe of everyday... even after a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

It is a bit personal for me to look at her and see no reflection of myself. Okay, so I am a bit self-centered in that remark. Are you surprised? But I have struggled with this since she was 9 months old while she was still bald and showing only glimmers of blonde hair on her cherub head. Seeing those cheekbones and endless eyelashes. Right down to the dimple placed in her chin, just like Daddy's. Which she is very fond of, as most of her drawings depict persons with a dot on their chin.


But as Mark has been born, and Hannah has continued with her schoolwork, I have come to realize the importance of the time I spend alone with her social and eager spirit. She wants attention more than our other children, and her ability to talk rivals my own. But it is in these very ways that she learns, and finds her love for others and herself.

I learned this as Paul and I decided to spend one-on-one time, on a date per se, with Hannah and Sara Kate. Sara Kate and I have went to Braum's to eat ice cream, and though sometimes it has proven challenging by the time we have gotten home, with her antics and manuevers of the heart (to put it lightly). But she is always aware of that time together. As she turns to me after our evening together to say, "Mommy I loved my date with you." Or other times when she has asked me to lay in her bed at night, so we can "talk like at Braum's." Well if that doesn't steal a heart I don't know what does. Or on a Sunday afternoon after church, when she asks to lay in my bed and talk about the movie Hulk, which she fears above all other movies. But yet she is comfortable in our time together to talk about this fear. (Though I am often the first one to fall asleep during our Sunday naps. This last time she began to sing to me as I fell asleep and then kissed me on my forehead before saying 'good night.') Even now, she will sigh and say, "Mommy can we go on a date?"So it seems unknowingly, and yet divinely, it has become our tradition when she wants to talk "like at Braum's" or about Hulk that she and I are finding our time. Our own special time. And it is this moments that prove to be the quiet reflection I seek, that she is My child. Really. Truly. My child.

On the verge...

It's LittleManMark here! Lock your cabinets and secure your drawers... 'cause we are ready for takeoff. This little man is taking his spot on the road to crawling. Stay tuned for the hard evidence...

10 Ways to Avoid Having the Home You Will Love

How often do we want what we think we will never have? Au contraire! Many times we are the obstacle in our way. So to that, I say, if you want to live in a home you'll love, as shared over at the Nesting Place blog, take heart in the following thoughts shared by the Nester.

1. Worry that it's never good enough.

2. Put off doing anything because you don't know where to start.

3. Aspire to have a home just like the ones you see in the magazines.

4. Tell yourself you don't deserve it.

5. Assume you can't have anything pretty because you have kids and not much money.

6. Study up on all of those rules that the real designers tell you not to break.

7. Sulk because you are a renter.

8. Complain because your husband won't do anything in the house.

9. Be afraid.

10....what am I forgetting?

Not much, just playin around...

Not much going on around here. Mark is chanting 'dada' and 'mama' and growling 'grrr-ma' these days. Grandma taught him to crinkle his nose. Catches you off guard, because it looks a little evil if you ask me... but after a while you catch yourself giggling. He does hi-five's with us, and tonight he squinted his eyes whenever I asked, 'Where's Markie?' Then he smiles for the 'there he is!'

Aside from that, the girls seem to be one anothers biggest sponsors in the support group for neglected sisters of LittleManMark.

In other news, I found a formula for developing a new name for myself whenever the day, mood or weather calls for a little shake-up. Today I am feeling most like my WITNESS PROTECTION name/identity... feeling a bit dull in the creative arena... though I am sure a shower would help that. And any crack at going incognito would help my sanity deeply.

Take a crack at it...

• To find your ROCK STAR NAME take your first pet & current car:
  

Princess Dodge
(Sounds more like the mascot for Fort Dodge city.)

• To find your GANGSTA NAME take your favorite ice cream flavor and your favorite cookie:
  

Mint Milano
(I can TASTE the name already. It will require fitting into a larger pair of jeans. As my crime would be to consume Double Mint Milano’s in order to live up to the very name.)

• YOUR DETECTIVE NAME? Your favorite color and favorite animal:
  

Brown Bear
(Oh good grief! Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? Well I can sniff out berries, fish and junk food, catch and trap, and take a good scratch against a tree trunk. But my skill set outside of these homemaking skills is obsolete.)

• Everybody wants a SOAP OPERA NAME, so take your middle name and the city where you were born:
  

Jenise Warrensburg
(About 20 years outdated, sounds appropriate.For those days when I am feeling a bit under par.)

• Want to know your SUPERHERO NAME? Just add the word "The" plus your 2nd favorite color, and your favorite drink:
  

The Black Milk
( I turn the everyday chore of milk drinking into magic... drink it or I'll make you disappear.)

• Oh gross. Your NASCAR NAME. Take the first names of your grandfathers

Delbert Bob
(A little paraphrasing there... sounds like the next big thang doesn't he? Really, have you ever been so mad you wanted to drive violently in circles? Yeah, me neither.)

• If I ever go into WITNESS PROTECTION you can find me with this name. Your mother’s & father’s middle names:
  

Marie Keith
(Ouch! Honestly, with a name like Aja, becoming a commonality such as Marie, would stifle my creativity, surely. But sadly, I have those days when Marie just seems to take over.)

• TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME? Just take your 5th grade teacher’s last name and add a major city that starts with the same letter:
  

Thomas Tempe
(Maybe we could call him Tom-Tom?! For those mindlessly silly moments.)

• Of course, if you find me in witness protection I will assume it was because you were using your SPY NAME. Add your favorite season/holiday to your flower:
  

Fall Orchid
(For when I feel pretty, oh so pretty. As long as I am not demoted to a Wild Orchid... I found that movie reel a bit tasteless... I have more morals than that... most days.)

• Tell your kids their CARTOON NAME by taking your favorite fruit, an article of clothing you’re wearing right now, now add "ie" or "y":
  

Banana Tankie
(Right up there with Rocky & Bullwinkle… This may be me on any given afternoon. Luckily my girls do not have the hand-eye coordination to tie knots yet... or I would be looped for sure!)

Well that's my taste of satire this late, well early... Nite Nite.

Parent's Glossary of... Kids Kitchen Terms

Appetizing: Anything advertised on television

Cookie (Last One): Item that must be eaten in front of sibling

Desserts: The reason for eating a meal

Fork: Eating utensil made obsolete by the discovery of fingers

Fried foods: Gourmet cooking

Measuring Cup: A kitchen utensil that is stored in the sandbox.

Napkin: any worn cloth object, such as a shirt or pants

Natural Foods: Food eaten with unwashed hands

Refrigerator: A very expensive and insufficient room air conditioner

Saliva: A medium for blowing bubbles

Soda: Shake 'N Spray

Thirsty: How your child feels after you have said the last 'good night'

Vegetable: A basic food known to satisfy kid's hunger- but only by sight

Water: Popular beverage in underdeveloped countries