Scavenger Hunt

Alrighty, I have officially become a full fledged Blogger. This week I decided to partake in a contest that I read about online, on the blog of someone who I have never even met, in the hopes that I will win a prize from said stranger, who will then mail me a basket of goodies. Does this seem a little strange to anyone? Cause it makes perfect sense to me!

So let the photo scavenger hunt begin! To learn the official rules and perhaps even play yourself go HERE.

#1) Something you ate today. Yummmmm, cherry pie, why are you so good?

#2) Something you once lost but have found again. My desire, ability and motivation to go to the gym practically every day (well, ok, at least 5 days a week). It involves packing enough supplies for 3 small children and 1 largish adult, and requires at least an hour of preparation, not to mention the amount of time it takes to get from the parking lot to the actual building, but it's worth it, so, so worth it!

#3) A picture of a picture. When Micah was 2 our next door neighbor, Andy, took a picture of him on the front steps and a few weeks later we found this mounted and framed and leaning against our front door. We debated about the best way to thank him for his kindness, and finally settled on crafting him a custom made case for his harmonica. Sadly, he passed away unexpectedly before the summer's end and we never got a chance to properly thank him, which is something that I will inevitably regret for many years to come.

#4) A happy place in your home. Ok, well this summer the happiest place in our home was actually in the driveway! Since Saoirse was so new and tiny and I was on my own with 8 kids for much of the time (which made hitting the water park rather difficult, not impossible, but difficult nonetheless) we set up our own version of the water park right in our very own backyard so to speak.

Now as the fall brings cool weather, our days of water play are pretty much over, which means that as winter approaches the sunroom will once again become our cozy sanctuary. The twins love this room because it gets toasty warm during even the coldest of days and they can still feel like they are a part of the outside world. We've spent many hours here peering out the gigantic window at the world moving by.

#5) Something "Fall-y". Hahaha, sucking up a bit here, but how about some of those delicious zucchini carrot pineapple muffins? I cranked out a batch during nap time this week and the older kids came home from school to a wonderful surprise. I only wish I could somehow blog the smell of these guys as they are baking!

#6) Your favorite color. This one was too hard, I really don't have one favorite color, I have, like a bunch of favorites, a whole handful. Pink, green, blue and purple, those are mine, my comfort colors.

#7) Something from your "to-do list". This one presented even more of a challenge, as my list is 5 miles long. I could have taken a picture of virtually any room in the house to prove the exact amount of accumulated clutter we are talking about here. Instead I finally decided to narrow it in on a craft project, and my beads have indeed been getting dusty lately......

But when I really started to think about it, to REALLY think about it, I realized that the most important thing on my to-do list is to nurture and comfort and nuzzle and LOVE my children, and to make sure that I take time out of each day, and in between each chore, to share a quiet moment with each of them. They are growing up at an alarmingly fast rate, we've got one preparing for high school and one still in diapers (well 3 still in diapers actually, but that's another thing on the all mighty to-do list) and a whole bunch in between, and it never ceases to amaze me, while simultaneously scaring the living bejeebers out of me, just how FAST these childhoods are racing towards something else. Something scary and exciting and unknown and very very BIG. These babies will be grown before I know it, and so for now, perhaps the number one thing on my list should be to cradle and cuddle them while I still can, while I still can protect them from pretty much anything, because let's face it, there's a whole wide world of important lessons for them to learn out there, valuable HARD lessons that I won't always get to be the teacher of and certainly won't always be able to protect them from. And so, yes, right now, while the world is still relatively small and insulated, these cuddles and hugs and acts of love will do rather nicely.

#8) Something you NEED every single day.

Well that's simple.

My Family.