So, what do you think?

Mondays are a tad busy around here. We don't have school on Mondays. (I just love 3 day weekends WAY too much!) But we do work. The plan on Mondays is to recover the house and our lives from the weekend. So we do our major housecleaning on Mondays. I also kinda-sorta have a job but not really, and it usually has to be done on Monday mornings. Then I have a standing accountability meeting on Mondays. The girl has 3 dance classes on Mondays (although she has classes every day that the studio is open, so I can't really blame that on Mondays). And I have my amazing knitting group, the Needlers, on Monday nights--which I absolutely, positively DON'T like to miss. So...I probably don't have time to sit here and write a post, but.....

I did play around with a new blog name and design. I also purged some stuff. And I added some stuff. I'm not sure I'm completely satisfied with it all. And I'm pretty sure I'm not finished changing and tweaking. But I just thought I'd get a little input from ya'll.

What do you think? Do you like the new title? Is it lame? How about the new look?

Go ahead and weigh in, and I'll keep messing around with it...in-between all the cleaning, and working, and being accountable, and dancing, and knitting, and stuff.

Apparently, it's a new trend...

Okay, so in addition to NOT writing on the blog for half a year, I also haven't been reading blogs all that much. As most of you probably know, Facebook has kind of taken over as the way we all stay in touch with each other. It's so much easier to post a quick status than to, you know, compose an ENTIRE post that will hold the interest of whomever might stop by to read it.

So, with my new commitment to actually show up here and try to produce some sort of post every now and then, I decided to go ahead and check in with some of my old favorite blogs and just see what everyone else has been up to. Here's what I found...

1) at least 1/3 of the blogs I used to read daily haven't posted in at least 6 months either and some have been silent for more than a year!

2) another 1/3 of my former favorites, have abandoned their previous blogs, and started new ones under a new name.

3) the final 1/3 are still posting regularly and are as amusing and delightful as ever to read! It's good to visit with old friends again, I might add. :)

So, while I actually thought of some things to post about this morning...as I was NOT sleeping, but should have been (which could mean that I may not have had any good ideas at all...and could really just use some sleep), I began to think about the fact that this blog-o-mine really needs a good old fashioned overhaul. I need to clean up the sidebar and get rid of somethings that are no longer priorities for me, and add some new things that currently delight me. I need a new background and header. And I'm perhaps in need of a whole new blog name. I'm just not sure that the title still reflects life around here as accurately as it did when I began this blogging adventure. Of course, the kids still come first--mostly, but I'm backing off from the cakes and cookies, and let's be honest, the dishes and the laundry are merely pipe dreams that will perhaps be all caught up in the year 2025 when the last kid finally flies the coop...or Jesus comes back, whichever.

So, what do the two of you who might be reading this think? Should I archive this blog and begin again? Should I just overhaul this one, name and all and move forward? Or should I just leave it alone and get to posting something interesting for a change???

Comments will remain open until someone posts an answer I like. :)

Hello...hello....is anybody out there?

I was recently accused of abandoning my blog. I was told that I have let people down. Personally, I have no idea why these accusations are being made. I mean, really, I JUST wrote a post on....JULY 16, 2010!!! Good grief!

In my defense, I did try to get on and post once or twice and couldn't log on. But really, there is no defense. Well, nothing other than a total lack of anything to say. I don't know why. For some reason, I just haven't really had much to say. I've still been making some cakes, although I've greatly cut back. I still have all four of the kids, and I still homeschool them. I've also taken up knitting, which quite frankly might be the biggest culprit. Instead of taking my little Netbook up to the dance studio and blogging while the girl dances, I've been knitting...and knitting...and knitting some more. It's an addiction. But one that produces something tangible that makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something while I sit.

It all started with a scarf, and then a hat with a hole in the back for my ponytail, then I learned how to knit cables, and I knit an entire afghan, and they whole thing just started to snowball. I've moved on to actual items of clothing, including socks and sweaters...and I'm totally hooked! My kids are requesting items...the neighbor kids are requesting items.

So....although I'm sure that a post about my new-found love of knitting, is not exactly what my accusers had in mind. It's a start....and a post...and hopefully, it will be the start to getting back on track with keeping the blogosphere up to date on the oh-so-exciting things we've been up to over here. :)

A Reason to Dance

You all know by now that my daughter, Madeleine is a dancer. This summer, a week or so after her dance recital, she was finally old enough to audition for the competition/performance troupe at her dance studio. This past year, she was in a performance only troupe with other girls who were too young for the competition troupe as well. I am proud to announce, that she did make the competitive troupe, and is the youngest girl in it (by 2 days, lol).

However, I am even more proud to show you all a video that I recorded of her practicing for the audition. There were several elements to the audition, but the climax was the performing of a solo dance. The girls were allowed to either choreograph their own piece, or perform a dance from the year's recital. Maddie chose to choreograph her own piece. She chose the music, "Call on Jesus" by Nicole C. Mullen and the style herself, and if she ever got stuck on ideas for steps, she asked one of the older girls for help. Then she just kept working at it and changing it until it became her dance. This is a video I took of her rehearsing a week or so before the tryout. Can you say, "Proud Mama"? [And yes, she is sliding a bit in places...she had shoe issues that day, but didn't want to have to do the whole video thing again. :)]

When All Else Fails...Post Pictures!

My baby boy isn't so much a baby anymore....doesn't he look big?

And if you've been reading here for awhile, you've seen this dress twice before. It was her flower girl dress about a year and a half ago...when she was just 7! Then last year, I altered a hat to match the blue sash, added full length gloves, and it was her Easter dress when she was 8! This year, I took up knitting, so I made her a little shrug to wear over it just one more time for Easter...and now she's 9! This will be the last Easter for her to wear it...but I'm going to miss seeing this...

You can click on any of the pictures to get a closer look if you want to.
Hope you all had a fabulous Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Yesterday morning, I was working on the computer and Dave (4 yo) came in and brought my glasses to me.

He said, "Here you go Mom. You need you glasses."

I said "Thank you, David." And I put them on.

He said, "There! Now I can see you!"

HaHaHaHaHa!!!!

Hope you have a Happy, Happy Easter and dye some eggs...even if you don't have kids!

I Actually Baked a Cake...Imagine That!

Not the best picture of it, but I made this for a pink and brown baby shower. Couldn't get all fancy because it is my famous "Margarita Cake" and the icing on that particular cake is all light and fluffy and can't be manipulated like buttercream or fondant. The bow I made out of chocolate fondant and gumpaste, and the ladybugs and butterflies are gumpaste that I molded and then painted pink and brown. And now I must go clean up the giant mess I made while baking and decorating said cake!