What've Y'all Been Up To?

You know when you run into someone you haven't seen in a while and you exclaim over how good it is to see one another, comment on how big the kids are getting, and then the question of 'so, what've y'all been up to?' 

Can I just tell you that question makes me choke a little?  Because the real answer is five hundred sentences long, but nobody wants to hear that in the toilet paper aisle at Target.  I generally eye my children and say something like, 'Oh, you know.  Life!'

Life with my people is wonderfully busy and blessedly relaxed.  We are in a beautiful season of no extra-curiculars, so we aren't constantly shuffling off to practice or games.  However, despite the lack of committed time, we are not in a state of dullness.

Oh, no.  Never dullness.

This is how we want you all to think of us... sane, normal, smiling. 

This is what we do when snow happen... find any warm items we have (does it matter if they match) and go play like wild things in the snow!

Occasionally, when it's been too cold for too long (more than 28 minutes), we climb walls and die dead (and giggly) of snake bites.

Sometimes we team up with friends for field trips...

...or spend time capturing silly but loving moments on camera.

One time, we turned all the kids loose with hammers and nails.  Except the baby.  He just stood in bins full of hammers and nails.

Some of us see the sunshine and ask to take off all our clothes (okay, only one of us does that).  Others paint things or stick stickers all over their faces.  Sometimes, Mommy just documents the Tower of Laundry Taller Than a Kid.

So if I look at you like this when you ask me 'What've y'all been up to?', it's because I'm wondering just how much you really want to know...