What's wrong with this picture?

Someone please tell me, what's wrong with this picture?


Look a little closer...


Besides the obvious fact that it's mid-January and we still have the nativity scene out (and the Christmas tree - don't judge me, this child keeps me running!)

I guess the birth of Jesus intrigued more than just the usual "little people" crowd at our house this year. I mean, what nativity scene isn't a little more complete with a circus ring leader and his white dog, a zebra, and even a school bus driver.


This is pretty typical of life around here these days. The Christmas tree still up, yesterday's laundry still waiting to be put away, errands left to be run, and a pile of books on my nightstand still waiting to be read. Sigh. How do you possibly get it all done? I'm struggling to figure out how to organize my time a little better, ok, a lot better. For any of you moms out there, do you have a method to your days? I feel like I'm chasing my tail trying to keep the house clean, the clothes clean, etc, yet just starting all over the next day.

I've decided that I am going to assign different chores to each day. Monday will be laundry day and so on. We've also compiled a list of as many meals that we can think of and from there, came up with a menu for the next two weeks. We grocery shopped together for everything we would need for all of those meals. So far, it has been a huge help. Half of the stress of preparing dinner, for me, is coming up with something to make.

On another note, I REALLY want to make time to organize all of my many pictures of Ella into a photo book. I literally have thousands of pics on my laptop and need a way to keep a fun record of our little family's life.

And did I mention that I got a sewing machine for my birthday? Yet another thing I want to learn to do but must find the time.

So my question to you moms is this: How do you manage to take care of your household and still find time to do things for yourself that you enjoy, like blogging, learning to sew, scrap-booking, learning photography, etc?

While you are coming of with your words of wisdom to share with me, here are some pictures of the sweetest little mess in my life :)

Sporting her sweat suit and twinkle toes:


And for those of you who know E, you know that this is soooo her!



And so is this one - she is always soooo busy, often with more than one toy in her hands, and usually chasing Tuckie with his ball in hand.



But she is happiest when she's free to roam around the backyard. It's during that time that I'm thankful we have such a small yard.


She has become quite the snuggler these days. She looooves to give us hugs and kisses and we just can't get enough of them :)

I could go on forever, lol, but I need to shower while this little turkey sleeps...