warning:

Seriously. Sometimes I talk to people who know me only through the blog (or who aren't around me much in real life) and I realize that they have a very idyllic impression of my family and our activities. This, while extremely flattering, is not entirely accurate.

This blog represents the very highlights of our life here- I talk about and take photos of the beautiful and wonderful parts of our days, and completely avoid almost anything negative. I don't usually complain or rant about anything and I actually tend to just not post if I'm in a bad mood or going through a stressful time. All the posts that do appear are dedicated to the sweet and happy times that I want to share and remember, sort of like a scrapbook or photo album.

I have fallen myself into a strange sort of admiration/obsession for several different wonderful blogging mamas over the years I've been reading- especially the crafty ones. I have gotten a fairy tale idea in my mind of how these ladies must be happily crafting with their delightful children at their sides, everyone laughing and chatting together as they clean up the mess they have made, and then going off on a nature walk to observe local wildlife and collect items for the next day's craft project before returning home to cook dinner together out of homegrown vegetables and eggs from their own chickens. After all of that they tuck their smiling children into beds draped with handmade quilts and tell them amazing stories out of their own imaginations, kissing them each on the forehead on the way out of their rooms.

It's hard to remember that even though a mom can take lovely pictures and craft a wonderful scene for you out of words, her life is still probably very hectic and messy. She might even serve frozen fish sticks (the cheap kind) on a regular basis and make her kids wait until another day to do the craft they have been begging to do for weeks while she desperately tries to dig her way out from under the laundry pile and get the baby to take a nap. She might be crabby and say things to her kids that she would never want repeated (especially on her blog!) and her counters might never get cleared off, let alone wiped down. And let's not even discuss how her floors might look.

But we all want to forget that part of life and focus on the pretty parts, don't we? So here we are! Let's get on with it (and don't forget to bring the camera!)

P.S. Thanks to Hazel for painting me the perfect picture for this post!