Spring cleaning

Once again, it's been far too long since I last posted. It's not that I don't care, I just have 2 other blogs that are more goal-oriented. This blog is ideally for whenever I have something to write about, and so often, I feel I just don't. I should update every couple of weeks, so that when I do blog it's not terribly long, but it is what it is.

I titled this one "Spring cleaning" because it's basically what I'm doing: cleaning out all the things I thought about writing about and never did, and catching up on the last few months. Here goes:

One of the things I posted about last was our schedule. It went okay for about 2 weeks, and then I just stopped caring about it. I didn't plan for our craft and science experiment days (other than to pin EVERYTHING you could possibly imagine on a board for each subject), so I stopped doing those altogether. It has been so rainy this spring, most of our outdoor activities consist of playing in the backyard. I forgot to have the kids bake and cook with me on most days, and storytime at the library only happened a couple of times. The only thing that we did consistently was to visit my grandparents each week, and we even missed a couple of those due to illness.

All of that was to say, I think I was too structured (preposterous!) with my planning. I scheduled 2 activities a day most days, and I think I got overwhelmed by it all. I have revised the schedule to reflect our summer activities (we have passes to 3 local venues) and simplified the going out aspect. I have at least 2 days a week where we just stay home, do our activities, and run errands if necessary. I have scheduled in "field trip" days for special venues around town that we enjoy or would like to try out. I have their chores and even a "date night" for each twin (Blessing gets our attention in other ways...). I like that some days I only have 1 activity for the whole day, and if we decide to do something else, we can, or those can be days we just veg out, or go to a park, or whatever we feel like.

Hopefully, this will help me to stay motivated to do more with them and not be so focused on just doing my housework, taking care of the baby, and working on my hobbies.

Enough of that: what about those darling little boys?! I love my misters (all 4 of them!). When people find out that I have 3 boys, most of the time I get a comment about how I have my hands full. To be honest, when people find out I have twins they tell me I have my hands full. When they find out I have an infant as well, it's like they throw their hands up in disbelief, and forget the fact they're all male.

In truth, I wouldn't have it any other way. When we found out we were having twins, I desperately wanted same-sex twins, and I really wanted little boys instead of girls. I could not fathom affording 2 prom dresses, 2 weddings, managing 2 teenage little women, and all the hormones that would come with them. I have always grown up being more comfortable around boys than girls (I had 14 male cousins and 5 female...), and I just get along with them better. Girls have so much drama. I like how low-maintenance my relationships with guys are. I have to be blatantly obvious (especially with my hubby) when I talk to them, but otherwise, things are pretty good.

When we found out Blessing would be a boy, I was a little relieved. I still wanted a girl for my hubby's sake (he's still wanting for one...), but I when I found out we were going to have another little man, I was glad. Not only can he wear all of the twins' clothes and play with their toys, they can (potentially) share a room for the rest of their adolescence. It's not ideal to have 3 in the same room, but it would be nearly impossible to have 2 sixteen-year-olds males and a 13-year-old female in the same room.

That said, here are my 3 little people interacting over the last couple of months:

L'aig and Bl'aig reading one of our favorite books: Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go

Bl'aig entertaining Blessing before his bath

The beautiful bulbs the boys helped plant last fall

Helping Daddy build a raised bed for our garden

Blessing: master puzzler

Spontaneous family photo

L'aig and Bl'aig--getting so big

Love those cheeks!

They really look like teenagers to me here! I can tell what they'll look like in several years.

L'aig not really enjoying his haircut

Bl'aig after his haircut

Tickle monster!

Handsome hoodlums

My little toothy monster

So sweet! They are organized like their Mommy

Guitar lesson this week

Look at that smile

I think that's about all I wanted to share today. I guess I didn't have a lot to write, but these are the fun photos I've taken. Hope you enjoy!

Today's encouraging verse: "Finally brother, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think on these things." Philippians 4:8