grateful friday

(we switched everyone's bedrooms around. now we're in the midst of painting and organizing...)

children that throw parties for each other for no reason

online inspiration (seriously--it's never ending.)

good friends

date night

DVR

nap time

flickr (I love doing my project 365. My vision for the whole thing is to print a book at the end of the 365-year (I started the day the babies turned 6 months old) and have it as a visual journal for this year in my life. I'm trying to get pictures of every day things and watch the children grow. Images of our surroundings and things that we enjoy. Food that we're eating and places we love.)

motrin

spooning with my honey

baby voices

hand made lotion (you can be thankful for that too--go here;)

free online crocheting and knitting patterns


I'm making an article of clothing. (No. 11 on my list) I'm starting small.

It's been a hard couple weeks.

Yesterday I cried. And then I prayed.

I was still crying. For the first time since they were born I was scared that I couldn't do it.

Then I prayed some more.



Then I called one of my besties. She's a twin mom, too.

She let me talk it all out and then gave me a nice pep talk along with some advice.

Then I felt empowered again.



Later, as I was making a play date for my son, I got talking to the mother of the boy coming to play. A woman I had never met. We talked about her disease and medical situation for 40 minutes and although she is a walking miracle that struggles with pain every moment of every day, her positive outlook and joy was contagious.



By the end of the day I was rejoicing in motherhood and feeling so blessed and lucky.

And I felt cared for by a loving God that answers my prayers.

does it count?

This is the latest issue of Artful Blogging. Here is an article about the Wish Studio and how Mindy rocks for making such a great place for creative types to commune.

See that middle picture? The one with the nest and the blue eggs? That's mine.
(See? Isn't Mindy so sweet to submit something from little ol' me?)

But the only problem is they forgot to put my name in the photo credits.

Number 33 on my list is "get published." I left it vague, because really, you just never know what direction life is going to take, but I was going to check it off my list when I heard that my picture was going to be in a magazine. And such a beautiful magazine at that. (Have you see in it? You should. You need to pick it up and look through it's thick glossy pages nice and slowly. Lots of inspiration and loveliness.) But now it doesn't really feel like it counts.

But that's okay. You know its me now, my little blogging friends. And I love you guys! It was still exciting to see a picture sitting there that I took with my own camera. It was in my front yard in the holly bush right outside my kitchen-sink-window. I was getting ready for two babies to arrive. I could hear the baby birds calling for food after they hatched. And now its sitting there on a page in a magazine.

So here's what happened after I took the picture above:





My little buddy and I ate that yummy blueberry pie. We talked about the sweet crumb topping and then I told her to stop hogging it all.

what day is it today?

So my babies turned one on Friday. (what?)

Things didn’t go how I imagined them.

I had thoughts of joy and deliciousness floating around in my head. Celebrations of life, overflowing with abundant love and thankfulness.

Something like that.

What day is it today?

Well, last Thursday, the school nurse called and sent home the first kid down. (This is one drawback to having a large family: there are more people who can get sick.)



Friday: messes and fevers instead of joy and deliciousness.

One! Can you believe it? It’s been one of the most crazy and amazing years of my life! Twins, and I didn’t even die! I came home from the hospital and although I was practically dead, somehow I recovered. Mostly. I think. And then I was like a deer in the headlights, just staring at the light and love. Totally overwhelmed by it. These darlings!! My whole family has grown in love in such an immense way. And these darlings just keep making my heart ache with love when they look at me with their beautiful faces and smile at me with their innocent selves.

All these thoughts were floating through my head and I wanted to acknowledge it in a big way, and instead everyone hated the dinner I made and the cupcakes were over baked and dry. Which really didn’t matter anyway because by the time we got around to singing “happy birthday” the babies didn’t want anything but their cribs.

And the dry cup cakes just sat there and no one wanted them. Such a sad, sad fate for a cup cake.

“Mommy, we didn’t even wrap presents for the babies!”

Whatever.

I have been holding feverish babies for…what day is it today? And my whole body has been tired and exhausted and stressed and pushed to it’s limit (but really, I know what its limits are for reals and this wasn’t even close. It just made me cry a lot while no one was looking.).

But there they are upstairs, sleeping. And I love them. My life is better with them here. I am affected forever. I am changed. I know myself better. I know that so much more is possible than we think, if we just push ourselves a little harder and do it because it’s the right thing to do. (that makes sense to me even if it doesn’t to anyone else. I have one year old twins, so I can say stuff that doesn’t make sense, you know.)

Okay, now I’m off to do some pilates before the little darlings wake up.

One year! And I still have 20 pounds to go. No more excuses, right? That’s all everyone gave me—one year.

“Give yourself a year.”

Pew! (<-- that was the sound of how fast one year just flew by.)

color your own valentines

I have been doing some coloring pages for my daughter and she enjoyed them so much that it gave me an idea...color your own valentine pages! She was very excited about it and the other kids jumped on board.

They gave me some ideas.

My 5th grader was worried about what she could give to the boys--nothing too mushy. She liked the "u rock" idea.



My 2nd grader said he wanted to give the girls "hugs".
I thought that was cute.

I put them on my flickr page in thier own little set so that you could print them off and have some fun with them too. Just print them off on some white card stock and get out the crayons, colored pencils, markers, glitter...choose your poison. I still may do some more, if I do I'll add them to the set as I go.

you put it on your head

I've been a crocheting fool lately. I have been craving yarn.
I made this little cutie from a tutorial I found here.



We have them in several colors and sizes. The children thought it was so cute without the pom pom that they talked me in to not putting one on. But I may still do it yet. My five-year-old says she likes it because it's what "the towns people would wear."

I wonder which town she's talking about?





This little Wee One won't keep anything on her head.

It's sad.

She has no hair.

It's cold outside.



Here's another little ditty I made spur of the moment. I had a craving for a crown. I don't know why, I just thought it would be cute if I could crown a baby, but crowns are always so hard and that would make me feel mean. So I had my crochet hook in hand and saw a little "edge" in a book that looked like a perfect crown.



She doesn't even realize it's on most of the time.



Except when she does. Then she grabs it and takes it off and climbs on top of me when I'm taking her picture.

listen

Listen: original mixed media on clayboard

One day while listening to an address given at church, the speaker was talking about the importance of meditation and that we need to make it a daily practice. I was quite young and I looked up at my mother and asked what meditation was. She explained simply that it was when you took the time to stop and think and listen. I looked at her bewildered, “Do you mean that not everybody does that?” She stopped and looked into my eyes and smiled and shook her head, no.

I remember trying to read the look in her eyes. Her familiar eyes were like looking into a mirror. But at this moment, I couldn’t quite read them. Were they filled with humor? My little daydreamer. She can’t imagine a world where people don’t stare out of the window until they grow weary. Was it remembrance I saw? I remember when I was young and didn’t have five children running around and I had the time to meditate.

I had a realization at that moment: Meditation comes naturally to me. But it might not always be as easy as I grow into adulthood.

The beach is like a holy place. It takes me away from the stress of my life and my burdens and leaves me with time to meditate. It happens naturally whenever I end up on the shore. No matter the season or time of day, the sound of the waves creeps into my soul and my body lets go and makes room for me to listen. Just listen.

This painting was inspired by this thought process. My realization from years ago has indeed come into fruition and I no longer naturally meditate. I have chaos surrounding me on every side, to-do lists filling up my space and children needing me for every imaginable thing. So I need to remind myself to stop. Breathe. Listen.

good morning. good afternoon. good evening.

Good Morning



When I lived in Salt Lake City I served breakfast at the Market Street Grill. (mmmmm. I'm craving breakfast, lunch and dinner from there right now...just imagining what I would order...okay, done.) They used to serve ham with french toast and it was the perfect compliment. I think french toast might be my favorite. At least today it is.



Don't you like my new little plates? I got them for Christmas. They make me happy.


Good Afternoon



I took this as I was getting one of my littlest Littles up from her nap. I realized that I have never taken a picture of her little space. And her little space makes me happy.

That is one of my paintings. I posted about it here.



Those are just little yarn balls I hung from the ceiling. I got the idea from reading Nie Nie's blog while I was on bed rest. It is such a simple idea, but I find it very satisfying and pleasant. And the wee one likes to watch them.



I made the little birdies sometime during the pregnancy, thinking about my little winter birds.

Good Evening



After the Christmas season ended, I was longing for some simplicity. All the decorations seemed stifling and I couldn't get them down fast enough. So I just have been lighting tea lights on the mantle and calling it good.



These cute blocks were a Christmas present for the babies. They haven't played with them much because all the big kids are having fun making words. This one was thunk up by my awesome babysitter who hates mayonaise. I thought it deserved a little spot on the mantle for January.

Have a happy day, friends.

this is how my day was today:

happy zone

We've had a happy week of it around these here snowy parts.

We usually have Chinese take out for New Years Eve. I don't know why, we just do.



We did something fun this New Year's Eve which I think I will try to continue in the coming years. We are pretty wimpy about staying up until midnight and of course the children have never made it at all, so when my dad mentioned that midnight in London is 7:00 here, I jumped on it. This year we celebrated the coming of 2010 with the Brits. The kids had gathered all kinds of noise making devices and we counted down (in a rather bumbly fashion) and wished each other happy new year at 7pm in British accents. (my favorite: Happy New Yeah, Govnah!)


this was my fortune. perfect. could be my motto.


#1 likes the night life.


#2: "cooking is easy. good taste is hard. that's why you call take out." He didn't get it. I had to explain it to him. You know he's the only one of my kids who will cook for himself. He even has made me breakfast in bed!


#3 does everything she loves and nothing she doesn't.

So then after a nice game of Jenga and Uno (when I was told to stop taking pictures)and a lot of noise making and yelling about the new year (which the babies slept through), we lit nine candles on the cake. The children decided that nine was the right number - they wanted to make a wish for the new year and blow out the old year.



And let me just insert here that this cake was horrible. It was heavy and dry. Not only that but I used a LOT of butter and egg yolks and spent too much time on it. It almost made us late for ice skating! So to bite into it was a sad disappointment.

(But it wasn't so bad yesterday morning when the kids and I ate it with milk for breakfast.)

So the whole house was sound asleep when the rest of the new englanders were ringing in 2010.

But at 1:45am I did get awakened to hold someones hair back as she vomited up all her Chinese food. Pobre cita. We were all laughing the next morning about how she spent her first moments of the new year.

And since I promised a picture of our favorite pom pom project, here you go:





I've loved looking at everyone's thoughts about the new year and the past year and your reviews and pictures. It's all wonderful!!



kisses,

me

34 b4 35

(click here to see it large)

It's about 6 weeks past my birthday, but I've never been one to do things on time. It's the New Year that spurred my goalishness.

I thought:

wow!!
2010!
I'm going to turn 35!!

So just for fun I decided to do something I've seen around the web. I started out thinking I had all the room in the world and then around #10 I realized that half the page was taken up and I had 24 to go! So I squeezed them in:)
Here's the list if you can't read it.

1.run a race
2.practice yoga
3.climb a mountain
4.be creative every day
5.do some back flips on a trampoline
6.get a family picture taken
7.save more money
8.take the kids into Boston
9.plant a vegetable garden
10.volunteer at a soup kitchen/shelter
11.make an article of clothing
12.make granola
13.swim in the ocean
14.vamp up my barn
15.organize “safe keepings” for the kids
16.remember birthdays of family members (so sad!)
17.bring a piano in the house
18.50 paintings
19.represent in a gallery
20.throw a party
21.write a book
22.buy an instant-film camera
23.go to a concert
24.take a class
25.learn a new skill
26.children’s bedrooms
27.wander aimlessly
28.surprise Jake
29.see an original Monet
30.get a bicycle
31.bake a really cool cake
32.learn to shoot in manual
33.get published
34.find some boots I love

listing it

How are you all doing? What are you up to?



I've been going pom pom crazy. I'll take a picture of our favorite pom pom project so I can show you the happiness.

We are making lists of things to do during vacation.

Things like:

ice skating
playdates
getting crafty
making and erupting a volcano
eat homemade pizza and chicken salad sandwiches (a new favorite of the children)
paint
watch a movie (maybe several)
make some more pom poms
find a great read-out-loud book
ride a new scooter on the driveway that is newly melted




and pick our belly buttons.

I've been...

crazy busy around here. But here are some visuals for you of the past week in the life and times of Brittany Soucy.



Still loving the love notes from #3: Even moms can b queens.


(Sometimes he needs a little reminder.)


making some happy cookies. and eating them. and then deciding not to eat them because #3 asked: "Is part of getting big getting fat?" Translation: when I grow up do I have to get fat like you?




decorating a gingerbread house




feeling the winter chill


lots of kisses. and booger brain noses. we've been through like 4 boxes of Puffs Plus in the past week. yikes, that's a lot of boogers.




making stuff




puzzling.
(if #3 looks like she's overcompensating, it's because she is. This picture was taken right after a big fight between the girls ensued. Crying and hitting and yelling was part of said fight. I yelled "I'm taking the picture! One! Two! Three!" and this is what I got. For the record, the Puzzling was very fun and peaceful.)


(Sometimes he needs a little reminder.)

Hope you guys are doing well! Happy holidays!

Here's to peace on earth.

Recieving Christ

{This is a talk I gave in church yesterday so it's a little more "religious" than I usually get on this blog, but I thought I'd put it out there anyway--it's from my heart. kisses, B}


This week as I was having a hard moment, I wondered whether I was receiving my Savior into my life. I thought about his birth that we are going to celebrate on Friday. The juxtaposition of the rough hay and the softness of his newborn skin; of the joy of the birth of a child, the savior at that, and the harshness of the circumstances Joseph and Mary were in during that time.

As I drove down the street, my heart heavy, the bright sun was shining in my eyes and then was blocked by the trees, and this pattern of brightness and darkness was happening so quickly as I drove down the street that it seemed that there were both brightness and darkness overlapping. I thought about how that is like life. We can be in the midst of darkness and yet there is such a brightness that can be ours when we receive the gifts that Jesus Christ has given us. Hope and joy can live among our troubles.

When I was in college I took a sculpture class. At the end of the course, we were assigned to sculpt a self portrait of our face and head that was to be about life sized, and we had several weeks to do so. It counted as our final exam, and as I worked through my three hour class times adding bits of clay and blending them in, and taking bits of clay away carefully, I realized that it would take many more hours than I had during class time. I went at nights to the studio and watched as the clay received impressions from my hands and tools. I was reminded of this recently and have reflected on the process of adding and taking away. Of stroking the clay and making it smooth and watching the form take shape.


Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved. 2 Ne 10: 23-24


Is this what it is like to receive Christ? To let Him sculpt us into masterpieces? Am I palatable as my Savior adds substance and takes away pieces that detract from my beauty? Do I resist as he tries to make impressions?

A huge and important aspect to being human is the freedom to choose. Whom will we receive? We cannot be forced, so Christ has continued to persuade us to come to him; to believe in Him; to choose Him; to receive Him.

The sun rises and gives light to my little corner of the world.
I receive it joyfully and I see my savior in its beauty.

My children greet me in the morning
their faces full of innocence and hope.
I receive them with open arms
and see the Lord in their divine potential.

I pray that my weaknesses will not be so overwhelming
as to make them question my love
or their goodness.


I find that I need to choose to receive my Savior not only daily, but hourly and sometimes by the minute. Sometimes this gets me down that my weaknesses are so apparent and that I have so many blessings, yet I struggle in my trials.

Ye cannot behold with your natural aeyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the bglory which shall follow after much tribulation. For after much atribulation come the bblessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be ccrowned with much dglory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.
D & C 58: 3-4


In the Book of Mormon we read about the prophet Nephi. He is one of my very favorites. He is so straightforward and simple. He seems to be the very example of obedience and integrity. A prophet who has seen angels and acted with the authority of God says:

My heart exclaimeth: O bwretched man that I am! Yea, my heart csorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities. I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily abeset me…Awake, my soul! No longer adroop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the benemy of my soul. Do not aanger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions. Rejoice, O my aheart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the brock of my salvation.
2 Nephi 4:17-26

The Lord says to us:
Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may cheal you? Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will acome unto me ye shall have beternal life. Behold, mine carm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.
3 Nephi 9: 13-14

If I receive Christ in my life He will heal my wounds. If I choose Christ, He will show me truth. If I receive my Savior, He will show me joy through my trials and strengthen me in my weakness. If I receive, He will continue to sculpt me into a masterpiece even though I yield to sin.

These things, which I know to be true, I am ever grateful for.

reason number 276 that two is more fun than one: