Conversations in the grocery store....

It's Field Trip Friday, so #2 finished his week's work early this morning and we ran out the door to go meet our homeschool group. We had planned for #4 to stay with Gramma (She's such a blessing to us!), and once we got over there, #3 asked to stay too, so it was just me and #2 for a trip to Reasor's to learn how a grocery store works from the inside out. Sounds like a weird field trip, huh? It was actually pretty cool - they divided us into small groups and took us behind the scenes into the produce storage and the deli preparation area and the bakery and meat packing area. We saw the loading docks and everything, including the inside of a Hiland dairy truck and a Coca-Cola truck. Did you know that the new produce is always at the top and in the back? It really does pay to reach a little farther because it will last longer in your fridge.

After the field trip, #2 and I stopped at Whole Foods, where we greatly amused an elderly lady. She was standing behind us in line at the meat counter, and she was listening to our conversation, which was centered around a tower of canned tomatoes. I called it a pyramid at first, but was corrected. "Mom, this is more like the (step) pyramid we built with Legos than the Egyptian pyramid that we built with Wedgits. It's a ziggurat." The elderly lady behind us giggled and said to her companion, "He must be homeschooled. Those kids are so smart."

Amen. Now go tell that to state Sen. Mary Easley and state Sen. Jim Wilson.

Caution: Treasures are being stolen!

My kids are playing in the playroom. They really want to go paint, but I'm not sure that I'm up to that kind of mess. So, #2 is building with Wedgits, and #3 and #4 are causing general mayhem with the Little People and Mr. Potato Head, who currently has an arm where his nose goes.

BUT, there is evidence of our current school work in #2's play, and that is so much fun to see. He's built a pyramid, and he's making alarm sounds and saying, "Caution! Treasures are being stolen!" over and over in a voice that would probably be annoying if it weren't so darn cute.

What it made me think about was all those little moments with my children when I let myself get frustrated because I'm not "Accomplishing Anything" (other than childcare). Oh my! There are so many moments that I let my lack of progress on other projects spoil my enjoyment of my sweet boys and their growing and training. Talk about stolen treasures.

In case you were curious....

Bookworm #5 is, indeed, another boy.

And I've been working hard on my nesting project list - because it's the second trimester - and that's the time for getting things done. :)

Since we're working on our home...

I told you we're working hard. No major construction. Just

Throwing away.
Putting away.
Cleaning.
Organizing.
Making space.

Because we're fitting in a sixth person in just a few months.

And I'd like to do a bit of redecorating. We're lived here for nearly seven years, and we haven't changed a thing - which means that my artificial flowers on top of the bookcare are faded - or maybe just covered with an inch of dust.

ANYWAY - Jenny at Life is not a Cereal posted a link to a photo quiz at mydeco.com, and I took it just for fun. It told me that I have a decorating style that I'd never heard of - but apparently it's pretty popular. It suits us to a T, so if you've wondered what thread is holding the furniture and paint colors in Bookwormsville together, you can read on:

FAMILY MODERN

Your home confidently embraces the many needs of busy, family life. It's adaptable and easy to live with, reflecting your sense of style without having to banish the kids to the attic or basement. You're sensitive to elements of design such as colour, light and architectural detail, mixing items that are relatively disposable with other pieces that, in time, will become family heirlooms.

Living Room

You have a comfortably contemporary living room. The danger with the 'modern look' is that it too easily falls into the realm of the bland and insipid; 'easy' gets confused with 'careless' and the result is just downright dull! Perhaps of all the rooms in our homes, the living room can be the one that most expresses your sense of style and your interests. Think, too, about how and when you will most use the room. For example, do you want it light and airy or warm and cosy? The occasional, totemic accessory -- whether it's a Noguchi table or a Jasper Morrison mirror -- certainly ticks the right boxes but can alienate visitors, if not the rest of your household. Earthy (but not muddy!) colours work well in both rural and urban settings, while tactile finishes and soft furnishings cry out for company. At the end of a long day, there's nothing nicer than spending some quality time with the family: no wonder your living room's the place everyone gravitates to.

Bedroom

It's a man's world in the master bedroom. Sleep is fundamentally important to our well being. In busy towns and cities, noise can often hamper a good night's sleep. Soft furnishings really do absorb sound, and touch is such an important sense in the bedroom, from crisp, linen sheets to wool or even sheepskin underfoot. You have quite a masculine - some might say hard - style in your bedroom, using earthy, rustic colours and textures to create a sense of harmony with the natural world.

Dining Room

You're a maestro of minimalism using carefully chosen ingredients. At home, 'less-is-more' simplicity appears effortlessly stylish. With so little on show, every single item comes under scrutiny, so it's important that you give time and thought to your choice of china, glass and cutlery. Try to avoid the 'designer cliche' trap, whereby every single piece has impeccable provenance: at best this looks like showing off, at worst it's sadly predictable. When it comes to entertaining, children usually take centre-stage.

Home Office

A little of what you fancy does you good -- even when you're working. Working from home is an increasingly popular solution to the challenge of bringing up a young family and making ends meet. A dedicated home office - even if it's just the corner of a room - will help keep you focused and separate work from hectic family life. Your innate sense of style will probably lead you to creating a work space that's as individual as the rest of your home. Just bear in mind basic ergonomic principles, especially when choosing a desk and chair.

Kids' Room

Let a child's room reflect his or her personality -- not yours! If you have the space for a designated playroom, great. If not, then giving your kids the biggest bedroom can be a smart move, certainly once they're past the toddler stage: it gives them a designated space to play, enabling you to keep the rest of your home more, rather than less, how it used to be. Cheap and cheerful is ideal when it comes to most things in children's rooms: not only do kids grow fast, they also grow out of fads and phases at an amazing rate.

Conclusion

Your home is the hub of family life. It's unpretentious without being devoid of character: in fact, with so much going on, it's open to all the pleasures of life.

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We've been cleaning...

Isn't that what you do when you have a day off? The boys played with their Christmas loot, and the King and I cleaned our bedroom. He hasn't had any real free time since September, when his seminary semester started. Since then, we've been putting assorted items that needed to be inaccessible for the kids into various nooks and crannies of our bedroom. It had gotten completely out of control.

So, we cleaned it. We are brainstorming new furniture arrangements that will give us both a crib in our room (necessary until at least next Christmas) and access to the bookshelves that are currently blocked by the crib. But first, we had to deal with piles of paper that needed filing (need new bill-paying and filing system here), bits of paper that needed trashing, stray toys and socks, clean laundry, and other assorted junk. We threw away one large and two small garbage bags.

I need to tackle the linen closet and my closet - and he needs to tackle his closet. He has books to deal with, and I need to deal with a plethora of baby and kid clothes (could probably cut the collection by half). We have stuff that just needs to go away (like the three game systems that we have and don't use because we don't have a TV).

And the garage. Oh, the garage.

I think the nesting for this pregnancy has officially begun. I have a serious need for a Clean Sweep.

Merry Christmas from the Bookworms!

And God bless us, every one!

Merry Christmas Adam!

(Because it's the day before Christmas Eve - HT to Tonya, who has amused me with that every single year for the past nine years.)

The fruits of our labor:

Seven loaves of Banana Chocolate Chip Bread
Nine loaves and three mini-loaves of Pumpkin Cranberry Bread
and four loaves and three mini-loaves of Strawberry Bread

Most of which will be given away to family members in the next forty-eight hours.

There were a couple of Pumpkin Cranberry Uglies. That was fine with us because there are extras. So, we'll be eating the Uglies for Christmas Eve and Christmas breakfast. It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

And, in case you are curious, YES, it is quite tasty. Look at the damage my boys and UncaBilly did to an extra loaf of Banana Chocolate Chip at snacktime.