Stephanie Howell

time out.

miss cate deserved her punishment (i mean…eye poking and scratching is NOT nice-just ask lucy).

but when i look at this photo, my heart melts.

those toes!

those leggings!

that ponytail!

the peeking!!!

i’m always having to turn my back and compose myself.

bite my lip to keep from laughing.

and i can’t EVER make eye contact with jimmy.

EVER.

unless i want to break into “church laughter”.you know the kind.

when you bite the inside of your cheek and you are shaking with tears streaming down your face?

and you try to act like you are “moved by the spirit” and not laughing when you shouldn’t be laughing?

yeah. that’s what these kids do to me.

now hold on while i put my straight face back on.

story of my life.

happy wednesday.

xo

I miss blogging regularly. I do. I’m not the same when I don’t do it.

So here I am. Not sure what I want to say or where this is going,but I really feel like need to blog.

So here I am.

What’s on my mind? A million things right now.

First and foremost, Italy. Thank you all so much for sharing in our excitement.

I feel like I’m going to be that crazy American lady that just weeps everwhere I go.

The Vatican? sob. David? sob The Sistine Chapel? sob.

I mean really…I need to invest in a bunch of sunglasses because I’m going to be a disaster.

Every day I wake up and pinch myself. I can’t even believe we are going to live in Europe for (what might turn out to be) 3 years.

I know it’s going to be beautiful.

It’s also going to be frustrating. And different. And infuriating at times. Lots of times I’m going to feel homesick.

But come on…It’s ITALY. I WILL BE HAVING A BAD DAY IN ITALY.

Yeah. It’s going to be awesome.

And I get completely overwhelmed every time I think about moving to another country.

But.

Every little thing gonna be alright.

Another thing on my mind…simplifying.

This has been on my heart for a long time, but this move to Italy is solidifying it and giving me the kick in the pants i need.

We have too much stuff.

I think that’s a bit natural…with four kids and the amount of places we’ve lived, but the fact is that it’s too much.

And it weighs us down every time we move. So we are sorting,purging,and giving. We will be having a massive yard sale this spring.

I don’t want to take a bunch of crap to Italy. I’ve already purged my scrapbooking supplies. I have just what I need and want to use. I’m not overwhelmed when I want to create. I’m happy.

I want the rest of the house to be that way. When we move we will be selling one car and paring down to the essentials.

So excited.
I had an epiphany recently. I need to do better at being present.

I want to enjoy each day with my children. I want to play with them, but also do the things I need to get done. It’s a balancing game.

And recently they scales have tipped towards getting my stuff done. I’d love to be all superior and say my children don’t watch TV. But that would be a lie.

They do. And lately It’s been too much. And I decided it was high time I change that.

More playing. More science experiments. More reading. More art.

More messes.

More exhaustion (for me) at the end of the day.Much more planning every morning.

Less blogging,cleaning,creating. No creating actually. Zero scrapbooking.

It took me two days to write this post.

But my girls are happier. I can tell. They are more engaged. Less frustrated.

Italy is going to change our world in this regard too. We are going to learn so much. But not through our television.

For now? Everything in moderation. I just need to make sure the scales don’t slip the other way again. Does that make sense?

Does motherhood ever get easy? Does it ever stop feeling like a guessing game?

I’m thinking not.

Okay. I’m done with the rambling. Told you I needed to blog!

Hopefully I’ll “see” you all again this week.

xoxo

S

no one can make things better like daddy can.

so glad he’s here to kiss the tears away.

because i’m really good at kissing away tears,too…but i tell you. there is magic in daddy kisses. 🙂

xo

S