dirty laundry...Happy Belated Easter!

Its been a very busy week... I appreciate all of your kind words about our mortgage situation. I know there are some readers that are concerned about me airing our "dirty laundry" for all to read... please remember that we aren't a secretive family... and my husband supports whatever outlet I need to get past stress in my life (and I do with every respect to him). I post what I do, to reach out... to let other women or mothers know that although they may choose not to talk about such things in public... they are not alone. Its nothing to be ashamed of... heck, we have not committed a sin... and it hasn't changed who we are as people...infact, I believe that these are the situations that strengthen us. We are not proud of the jam we are in... we certainly took great pride in our lovely home... but we made a decision 3 years ago for me to quit my job and stay home to raise my children... and I take more pride in my children than I would ever feel for a stack of bricks and mortar. I say these things like its up to me to bring in the income... I assure you I know who brings in the "bread and butter"... and I am proud of all his hard work. I rehash this because I'm sure there are other mothers who .....(hahaha I accidently just shut my computer off with my toe :)... have made the big leap to leave there jobs to stay home and raise a family and are in a similar situation. Its a tough battle between working to pay the bills and doing what you feel is right for your family. I have to find a way to get past the guilt of laying the burden of income onto my husband and facing my role as "primary parent". Its not quite as clear cut as it was 30 years ago. In all fairness to family, I post about our private lives to put all who love us in "the loop" ... we aren't very good about calling or sending emails, we want you to know that this is our way of communicating our live to you. pheuf...

With all that said... Happy Easter!!! We had a wonderful time this year, although we missed seeing some close family that normally we would have... we got to see some family that we usually don't. My fathers side of the family... My Grandpa...Auntie Melissa, Susan and Uncle Billy were in from out of town. I also got to meet new family...Josie...Ali's sister.

Easter morning the kids and I did some Easter projects. Katy LOVES to be artsy (gee I wonder where she gets that from)...so we set up shop at the kitchen table. Usually Max isn't interested in crafts... but he decided to get involved with the project. At this point in time, I realized how totally different my two oldest children are. Katy... very meticulous and careful with her painting and color matching... Max... a little reckless and thoughtless with his painting... not very interested in the overall project idea... HOWEVER, before I dismissed him from the table for "wasting paint" in the water bowl... I realized that Max's little scientist mind was more interested in mixing paint colors in the water to create new colors. And I suddenly felt a relief that although we wasn't interested in the craft... he had found his niche and got involved using the tools he hand in hand. How smart is that 4 year old little bugger. So I spent about 30 mins refreshing his water while... blue and red made purple... and yellow and green made blue. Max is much like his daddy, where Katy is very much like me. Normally I might have been frustrated that he was taking clumps of unused paint and washing it away... but I found myself happy to let him do it.... realizing that his mind is made very different than mine... although he came from me.

I am so bloggy behind this last month. If anyone was following a few weeks ago.. Max was crazy ill with some mystery virus that left him with migraines and a spinal tap. We thought that this was the end of it... but it seems that with his weakened immune system from the last virus he has picked up a new one... According to a nasal swab at the Peds today he and Katy both have influenza B... ICK... I am sorry if we passed it on to anyone at Easter dinner... I thought it was just a cold bug. Eeekk! I think I stopped blogging for a while because all I had on my blog agenda were whiny whiny poor me... hahaha... Its all up and up from here guys. HUGS!!!

OH... BTW, I have been having problems with my PSE again... editing raw files eats the RAM on my computer and it keeps kicking me off. So I will be slowly posting all Easter pictures on my flickr as I get them done.