The main part is after, where we go to their classrooms and see all their work for the year, and celebrate with cookies and lemonade. I’m glad I [somehow] managed to be there.

But it threw off my week. Friday was crazy (10th anniversary), Saturday was crazy (Andy’s birthday), and Sunday was crazy (Mother’s Day) and I needed Thursday morning to get stuff done at home. Still hasn’t happened, oh well.

Yesterday I tried to take the kids somewhere inside (rain) and fun but they couldn’t stop fighting, so we came home instead. Half of them fell asleep. Clearly we are exhausted and summer cannot come fast enough.

I sold my camera and purchased an upgrade. It came yesterday (body) but the lens still hasn’t come yet. So I’m down on photos currently, but I do have a few saved to spread out until I can take some more. I made Adelaide go over to my neighbor’s to get her picture taken this morning, on her last day of preschool. And I made Gretchen take one on our anniversary, when we were at dinner with them Friday.

Also, I’ve been meeting a friend at the Y three mornings a week to exercise. I LOVE that they have childcare – worth every penny. My little kids love it, too, and they have friends there. Arianna asks me “go to gym?” all the time now, so cute. I feel a little tired-er but overall, much better than I’ve felt in a very long time.

So my folks are here. Happy dance. (Although I haven’t been feeling that great; tired and my back is still bothering me.) Anyway, as is their custom, they’ve been trying to whip my house into shape. Cleaning and fixing things, and yesterday we scraped old paint off the outer trim around the windows and door. Put on the primer. (Andy wasn’t so excited about the white splatters on the porch but I think we can get it off.)

Anyway, it looks way better. Re-hanging shutters today and hopefully put the topcoat on. We have some church friends that run a nursery so the plan is to get enough hydrangeas from him to fill up the entire length of the house under the bedroom windows, which will make a big cheery difference. Finally going to fill up the heavy stone pots on my porch that the kids usually sit in. Any suggestions for pretty flowers that can withstand lots of sun and don’t mind the sweltering summer heat?

Andy and I went on a FUN double date last night with his partner in crime and his wife. Tonight we’re going out with my family (siblings and parents) for my birthday and we have a babysitter. I always say you might as well celebrate a birthday for at least a week!

(PS Madeline lost her first top tooth. And the tooth fairy finally remembered!)

I’m going to brag on Madeline for just a sec. We always eat dinner at church on Wednesdays. Last night, one of her teachers came up to me and told me how Madeline had drawn a picture of roses on her paper last week and when she asked if Madeline liked roses, of course she gushed “I love roses!”

Sweetest thing ever, her teacher brought her this bouquet from her yard. They smell sooo good. She wanted me to KNOW that Madeline was such sweet girl in class, such a sweetheart. We know that! We’ll keep her! :)

(Our family shot was one of the ones that got cleared off my laptop Sunday night. ha. I may or may not retrieve it – it was a bit blurry anyway.)

The point of this post is this. We are committed to Christian school for our kids, and there are FIVE of them. Our goal is to pay this house off very quickly, save for a larger one, and rent this one out – that rental income funding their education. At the rate Andy is going, we can probably do that in 3ish years, maybe 4.

We KNOW it will be hard. We’re cramped as it is; I’m guessing it will be worse in four years. (Although, I do love having my kids close while they are little.) The thing is, though, if we stick it out and do it this way, we know it will also pay off in the end. It will be more than worth the pain now.

And that’s where our friends and family come in – to stick by us when we want to give up, when we’re tired and frustrated and feeling claustrophobic. To cheer us on because you know our goals and can remind us that yes, it will be worth it.

Otherwise, our Matilda Jane show came this week…

so I’ve been busy sorting, packing, shipping,

and hand-delivering!

And, of course, we had one MEGA fashion show :)

Andy’s mom ordered for the girls, so these photos are for her :) THANK YOU, GRANDMOM!!!

And there has been loads of twirling, as usual.

(That pink dress is not MJ (Tea, from a store credit)… but Arianna couldn’t stop climbing up on the table and “saying cheese” for the camera even when we were done.  Hilarious.)

By the way, two of the items we wanted didn’t make it through customs on time for the Apr. 1 release, so Amy and I are going to open up another show on the 19th.  If you missed it this time around, feel free to order with us in 5 days! :)

2. Does anyone still read THIS blog and would you be very sad if I quit? Mom and mother-in-law don’t have to answer, I already know what they’d say. ;)

3. Part of the recent trouble is my hard drive is OVERLOADED with all my huuuuuge photo files and is running very, very slow. I’m afraid to upload any more until I figure out what to do with the old ones. I need a good recommendation for an external source or drive to save my photos on, so I can get them off my laptop. ??? Photos are my bread n butter for blogging so, I’m prolly not gonna be posting much until I figure out the photo conundrum.

4. That is all.

I’m home from church because I still can hardly walk… hoping to get straightened out at the chiropractor’s tomorrow morning. ANYWAY – the photos are up on the site so now is a good time to fill up your wishlist and send it in.

A couple of things – NO, you do not have to attend the in-home show tomorrow to place an order. All you need to do is go to the MJC website and click on the items you want, add them in whatever size(s) you want to your wishlist, and then when you’re done there are fields on the left to enter in your info and send it to bethanih@matildajaneclothing.com and me (moriah@pleasepassthesalt.net).

In the notes box, put your address and payment information (or “call for payment information”) and then down in the Jane/show box make sure you put Moriah & Amy so it gets where it needs to. You can comment on this post or email me if you have any questions or need sizing help.

HELLO SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!

I threw my back out yesterday and so I’m in serious survival mode. Thankful Andy has the whole day off and is picking up all the slack. I go back to the chiropractor on Monday and in the meantime have been using ice and advil. And *trying* not to walk too much. (Yeah, right.)

So that’s where we are today. Needing prayer as usual. ;)

On Monday (the real day) we picked the kids up from school, grabbed Sonic for lunch, went back to the bouncy place (since Adelaide didn’t get to go when we went Thursday), slushies on the way home – and then mad homework till bath/bedtime. Whew! 5th birthday properly celebrated.

Went to a different park, played with friends. I haven’t been wearing makeup this week, which is certainly faster for getting out the door. Freeing and scary, all at the same time. (The bottom line is I don’t have the energy to care.)

The babies were sooo cute, sitting all chatty on the blanket.

I’m not sure how I feel about my TWO YEAR OLD being able to do this?

Ate a picnic lunch and climbed trees.

Borrowed toys…

And loved on this doll-baby.

Loving spring.

We flew home for quick naps, met our Tuesday peeps for Chik-Fil-A, ran over to another friend’s house to pick up some stuff and the kids ALL piled out of my van. (That’s when I felt like the old woman that lived in the shoe.) Yeah, we totally descended on her. But she still invited me to sit on her porch and chat while the kids ran in the street played in her yard.

Then we went to Becky’s to drop off her stuff and she had made cookies so of course we had to play there, too. We got home past 9, filthy and needing baths but happy to see SO many friends, all in one day!

Monday:

Ethan, not overly excited about the sunshine.

Madeline, completely over-mothering Emily. Funny though.

Big sisters are so convenient for swing-pushing.

Day 1 success.

Believe it or not, I’ve never hosted a trunk show before but, for this final release of Spring 2012 I am co-hosting a show.  If you are local, you are welcome to come see everything in person AND it will also be virtual – anyone can order through our show.  It will be flat $4 trunk shipping to us and Amy and I will ship priority to you for free. You need to email me for tax information. ;)  (It’s good!)

Basically the new pieces will be released on Matilda Jane’s website on April 1st; you will fill up your wishlist on their site and email it to me (moriah@pleasepassthesalt.net) AND my trunk keeper (bethanih@matildajaneclothing.com). Put in the notes section that it’s for Moriah and Amy’s show and how you would like to pay (credit/debit card or paypal).  You can put your phone number if you’d rather Bethani call you for your payment information.

Two Serendipity collections have already been released; you can shop from them as well as the older lines still available on their website. The new stuff just won’t be available for purchase until those photos are up.

Hope to have you shop with us! I will be available for questions or anything you need while the show is open, feel free to shoot me an email.  You will get a confirmation email/receipt once the show closes (most likely on April 3rd).  If you are going to order please do it quickly; the cutest pieces typically sell out within the first few hours.

And even if you don’t have little girls to dress, make sure you check out their women’s line!

She still is the funniest little pixie girl, as black-and-white as they come. She doesn’t even know HOW to beat around the bush and will declare stark reality without so much as batting an eyelash. (My neighbor finally had to tell her she wasn’t allowed to comment on how messy her car is on the way up to preschool. ha) If you want an honest answer, she’s the perfect girl to ask.

Rebecca asked what I’m reading these days, the answer is Peace Like a River by Lief Enger. I’m loving it. It was recommended to me by Danielle and Vangie – I picked up Vangie’s copy when I was at her house a coupla weeks ago.

She also gave me Sisters, which I’m going to read next. And while I’m advertising great stories, if you haven’t been exposed to Downton Abbey YOU ARE MISSING OUT. Drama at it’s FINEST. Andy and I have stayed up laaaaaaaate, watching it over and over again. Both Seasons 1 and 2 are fully available (don’t miss the Christmas special at the end of Season 2).

Sooo I’ve been digging myself out of the piles, throwing tons out – feels good! The spring consignment sale started today and somehow I pulled off that monster chore last week. I’m getting to the point where I don’t have much left to sell, just mostly what Arianna and Ethan grow out of that is stain and hole free. No more towering tubs of baby clothes in the attic and also, no more maternity clothes. They got the boot last week too.

Andy works Saturdays since it’s when people are available to see homes. It’s usually a really hard day for me but today has been great and the kids’ homework is even done (which, if you know us in real life you know that means a LOT). The washer has been humming all morning and I may even have time for my book! And also, the sun is shining and that makes me happy.

Lisa challenged all the moms to a skee ball tournament. Unfortunately none of the score-keeping panels worked.

Arianna kept taking all my skee balls. Ha.

Drew won the ticket jackpot on this slot machine thing. (I will refrain from commenting further on that except to say he was happy.)

And then we had a little b-ball challenge. I don’t know how we did on that one, either. I think CEC needs to fix their electronic scorekeepers for those who are, ahem, competitive. ;)