I stress myself out sometimes

Ok so when I was little I used to arrange the furniture in my room ALL THE T I M E. When my mom asked me to clean my room what she meant was pick up the clothes, put away your dolls, make your bed. What I would do was - change my sheets, dust the shutters, reorganize all my closet, make a gigantic mess to get organized and three or five hours later my room would be perfection and more often then not, rearranged. That's just how I work. So the other day when I could not face the laundry or my dishes that were three days old what did I do? Clean out Israel's fish tank and vacuum out the car. Because that is the obvious thing to do in order to congratulate myself on being productive without actually facing all things practical. So this brings me to the latest series of events.
* "Hi Katchen, yes this is Israel's awana teacher and he is barfing all over the room here, could you please come pick him up before all forty kids get sprayed?"
* Soak Izzy's clothes, car seat, awana vest and book bag overnight
* attempt to disinfect my entire house today starting with the kitchen
* get side tracked my apples in my fridge. home made applesauce
* get sidetracked by some rotten bananas. banana bread
* might as well make a casserole while I'm at it
* organize the fridge, food cabinet
* rip off the label on my disinfectant spray because my dish soap and hand soap are green and so is the spray and the only thing bothering me is the label.
(at this point I kinda am like Elija Wood in that movie where he collects the labels and wears the funny glasses and zip locks everything)
* wash the top of my fridge
* take down my curtains
* disinfect the bottom oven drawer because I'm sure that is where all the germs are
* mop, vacuum and wipe down the windows and counter tops
At this point I am happy with the results. Do you think Kurto will be mad if there are 8 loads of laundry blocking the door and no sheets on the bed? Will he notice if there is a mess everywhere else but a clean kitchen? I'm guessing I better throw in that casserole to distract him.

On a side note of thankfulness: Israel has not been sick again after awanas and aubrey has taken two naps today! Praise the Lord!

kurto and his loves

The kids both love when their daddy plays the guitar. It seems to calm them, intrigue them and makes for a terrific time with our family. From the womb they have both reacted strongly to music. Israel used to jump around in my belly whenever there was music and today he still responds so strongly to when there is music in the home, car or whenever we are at church. Aubrey was literally bathed in worship music at the house of prayer all the time as she was in the womb. She has a different response than Israel though. Aubrey is busy moving all the time. When Kurto plays guitar or when she hears worship music it calms her and causes her to stop and listen intently. Israel becomes intrigued and really desires to jump in and get involved with all things musical. Here are some pics of the kids as babies lovin on their daddy and his guitar. I am so thankful for music and worship to be a part of our family.


and here is the boy all grown up trying desperately to be like his daddy and loving every minute of boy guitar time.

Awanas

Israel loved being a pirate for Awana night. I loved his quote from the car ride over. "mom when are you going to tape my pants back together? My legs are showing."

music

Kurto and I have been talking latelty about the power of music in our home. So often I forget to make this a part of our lives and our home is silent. This past week I have been purposely putting on a worship compilation while Israel is home in the afternoons and it has been so powerful. His spirit is calmed by the worship and he quietly has been singing along while playing. It has been such a postitive impact on my heart as a mom and has set the tone for our days home. Remember the story of king Saul and how David would play his instruments and the music and worship would calm his spirit? The music literally would change the spiritual atmosphere! I am challenged by this and desire the atmosphere of my home to be powerfully changed!

Grandma Dee

I love my grandma. Her name is Delores Marie Turner. I love that my name middle name is Marie too. I have always loved my grandma's hands. They always had fancy rings on them, hot pink nail polish that matched her lipstick and sunspots from her days laying out in Laguna beach. I love that even after all these years she still sees me and says "hello sweetheart". Most of all I love to watch her with my children. Although she sometimes thinks Aubrey is a boy and often tells me which great grandchild is the cutest (its not mine by the way), I love how she dearly loves my kids and how they make her smile and teary eyed.

What to do first

It seems I have fallen a bit behind. Understatement of the decade. Ok so today on my list of things to do is as follows and in no particular order...
12 loads of laundry
dishes from three nights ago. (not that I made dinner, just a mess)
mend some clothes from my sisterinlaw
squish a cute baby
find the floor of my bedroom
plug cover the heck out of my house
scrub some bottles
walk to school
awanas
squish a cute baby and maybe bathe here while I'm at it
Yesterday I left the mess and set out for the wilderness of Irvine. Procrastination at its best. Worth it. I'll take pumpkins and boys climbing trees over laundry any day.