Beautiful Messes

I'm supposed to be doing homework. Kev and I are taking a grad course for some training that is coming up, and we are supposed to complete a little over half of the work before we arrive. Not gonna' happen. Not for lack of trying, but there's just one me, a whole lot of others who need me, and not enough hours in the day to get 'er done. That's okay. I'm growing. My OCD anal self would be stressing to the max a few years ago. Now, I get done what I can in snippets of time throughout the day and one evening out a week. My goal is to have it done by Christmas.

In the meantime.....


Look at this room! Pretty trashed, eh? But, do you know what it symbolizes for me each morning? Every day after the boys and I wake up, snuggle in bed for a couple of seconds, and I feed Ransom....after this initial flurry.... all three of them camp out in the big boys' room while I shower and get ready for the day. For the most part, they are in here with the door closed for the better part of an hour while I get some sanity and perspective to start our day out on the right foot. I honestly don't care what they do in there as long as they are relatively quiet, happy, and no one is getting hurt. So, this chaos represents a whole lot of peace and harmony for this Mama. And some sweet brotherly love on good days.....


These feet are filthy - the big ones anyway. I can't keep them clean. And they are almost always scabby, bruised, and a wee bit stinky. But they belong to my "lover" boy. My wild child who nearly drives me to drink, yet who loves his baby brother with a somewhat reckless abandon.

The boys and I have a new little tradition since the chickies have arrived. A new little rhythm to our day, you could say. And I love it. Like I've said before, I'm usually a conquer the world type of person once I start my day - kind of like a whirling dervish. But, my chickies soothe me. They help me to slow down. We all put on our wellies - either before or after breakfast - and we tromp out to the coop to see how the girls fared the night. Each of us kind of has the thing that we "do." Kaden lets them all out, Jesse terrorizes them, Ransom watches from a swing, and I give them feed and fresh water. Then, we open the coop and let them free range for awhile while we stand around and talk about how cute they are, how much they've grown, how naughty they are, how HUGE Mr. Turk has gotten, etc. etc. It's slow. It's chill. And it's "our thing" that we all do together. I love it.

And lastly, my table is never without "fresh" flowers from my boys. Ahem. With pride I am sporatically handed these little messy gifts - often with roots still intact. And here they sit, proudly displayed until a new little bunch is offered.

Stinky, dirty messes galore. But it's my life right now. And I love it. A day will come when my house is spotless, when the beds stay made, when I have flowers from a shop on my table, when I actually get to see and visit some of my old girlfriends! (I just had to throw that in there. You all are still living, right?), and when my homework (or whatever work I have at the time) is done on time.

And, I bet I'll be a little bit sad when that day comes.