Mondays Are For Smiling

Mondays.A new start to a week.
School is back in session and I am finding some quiet time with a baby on my lap and my laptop by my side.

It's been a while since I've just sat.


Sat with no "mom" or "Aunt Michelle".
I've spent my morning
drinking coffee,
checking on summer vacation info,
downloading and using this new app,
drinking more coffee
and chatting on FB.

I love relaxing days.

The new bedroom should be done by weeks end.
The stucco guy comes today to plaster the inside walls,
carpet should be laid tomorrow or the next day.
I've purchased a curtain rod and now have curtains to make.
New bed has arrived
and the blessings that God has poured out on our family during this time
far
outweigh the negative press.

So I will leave you smiling today.
What better day to smile than Monday.
I am alive,
breathing,
smiling.

Hi There

Little One and I on a typical day

So I feel like there is some sort of normalcy settling in over the Span Ranch.
The kids all started back to school yesterday leaving me and the 2 little ones home until the 4 year old goes to pre-school.
A quiet descends on the house now that the holiday parties and visits have all passed.
We celebrated a 10 year birthday yesterday!!

4 of the 5 girls in the house

Illana is growing so fast. What a joy it is to have my granddaughter living under the same roof as me. With the busyness of the holidays I've seen her more in passing and I long again for the day when we can play in the living room together. She blows kisses, loves her daddy and is so cute around the baby- one day she was ever so sweet and gentle to help burp her.

bedroom addition

With the extra people living here and the slow time at work for Steve we've begun to transform rooms. The back porch has been "winterized" to become a 5th bedroom and within a few days/weeks my spacious laundry room will be split to make room for a cozy little 6th bedroom.

Love this picture

I have adjusted to not working and have been reminded how it warms my heart to be the "tender" of the home. I still feel like I am tending a Tetris game at the house but soon enough I know this place will seem empty; unless of course the Lord leads us into foster care or adoption. Who knows? For now we are waking each day counting our blessing and choosing to enjoy the moment.

The Cool Kids- we heart Instagram

Currently some of us are in time-out, while another of us is enjoying some out-of-the-house time snuggled on my friends sofa I'm sure.


So life is good in this new year.
The coffee is tasty as always and my days are shaping up to have some sort of routine and normalcy, although I think we all know normalcy is relative.


Tonight's Family Night so I'm off.

Who doesn't love Hulk hands?

Welcome 2012

Happy New Year!!
We rang in the new year last night with a campfire, friends, laughter, food and watching the ball drop.


18 years we've hosted a new years party,
ever changing,
always fun.


The kids laughed hard,
they laughed long,
the adults too- we seem to enjoy ourselves.


As 2011 has closed and 2012 opens I look forward to a new year. New resolutions? No, I'm not the type.


I do have some stuff I'd like to do in 2012, some have depth, some are pretty shallow. 
Some, I guess could be resolutions.


I'd like to go on a cruise.
I'd like to eat healthier.
I'd like to pray more as a family.
I'd like to forgive.
I'd like to manage my days better. 
Be more thoughtful.
I'd like to give grace more.
Receive grace more.
I'd like to spend more one on one time with my granddaughter.
I'd like to simplify.
I'd like to hand stitch more.
Sit on the beach more.
I'd like to love a little deeper,
speak a little truer
and seek my God a little more passionately.


I wish you all a happy 2012, 
may you wake each morning enjoying the day, 
the moment, 
the season. 
Each day is the present, it's the only one you've got- how will you live it? 
Perspective is everything, or it's at least a large part of everything. 
What will your perspective be this year?
this day?
this moment?


I'd also love to hear your resolutions for 2012- so go ahead and share.
Love to all,

Merry Christmas

Today has been a good day.
The rain is falling
the baby is crying
and the 4 year old is doing his best to argue with everyone.

I am excited to start a new week,
excited to continue in the starting of this new journey.

For Christmas I got a new laptop.
My first.
Not the MacBook I've dreamed about, but then again my husband knows me well and I'd much rather save the money and have the Dell I am currently typing on.

I am reminded of the birth of Jesus.
Probably not in the month of December and with my recent Jewish culture lessons probably not in the manger setting displayed all around my house.
Either way I think of Jesus.

In a few hours my home will once again be buzzing with people as my daughter-in-laws family will arrive along with my grandmother and we will all sit and feast on my mother's famous hamloaf.
Yum.
Still full from Steve's annual amazing pancakes I am hoping to have room for lunch.
The afternoon will end with our annual trip to the movies and then an early bedtime around the horn.

I will hopefully get brave enough to download pictures on this fresh computer space and now that I have an actual computer to sit at will go back to blogging a little more regular.

Hope you are all having a blessed Christmas day.