Keeping It Real

Do you ever get tired of looking at homemaking blogs and wondering if these people are real?  It is amazing what details can be left out of a photograph!  For those of you who may wonder about our family being real, here is a little proof...

You will almost always find clean laundry on our kitchen table.  This is the spot that I always fold our clothes.  If you come to our home and there isn't folded clothes on the table, either you had an invitation or I got up early that morning.  The other scenario is that I saw you coming down the driveway and I quickly grabbed the clothes and made a mad dash to throw them on top of the dryer.  If that is the case, the laundry room door will be closed!

Speaking of laundry, I found these this morning in our dirty clothes hamper.  I have no idea who owns this pair of underwear.  I have no idea how they ended up in our dirty clothes hamper.  I assume that one my children wore somebody else's underwear home, but again I am unsure of the reason why.  I don't think it was my husband who wore them home, but he did wake me up at 6:00 a.m. asking me if he had any clean underwear.  I directed him to the kitchen table.  Isn't that where everybody keeps their husband's underwear? 

And speaking of husband, I did a bad thing this morning.  I sent him to work in a shirt that was in desperate need of ironing.  I kind of sort of mentioned that it needed ironing, but I didn't say much more than that.  I figured he is a big boy with better eye sight than mine so he was responsible for his clothing decision.  It was only after I had my first cup of coffee that I felt a little guilty about his attire.

I always have dirty dishes in my sink.  If the sink is clean, we are expecting company.  The other real thing about our dishes is that if you come to our home you will probably be drinking out of a mason jar.  We don't have enough glasses!  It doesn't bother me because I like the ambiance of a mason jar.  I am weird like that.

This is the view of our back porch.  It looks like a bomb went off, but don't worry it is just the kid's stuff.  Most people enter our home from this area.  I try to keep it cleaned up, but those kids of ours haven't gotten that memo. 

The entryway to our home brings me to my next real point.  For the first time in our 20 year parenting career, Michael and I both went to asleep last night without knowing for sure that our teenager got home safely.  Well, this one isn't on me because I always fall asleep early.  Michael bolted out of bed this morning asking me if Josh got home.  I looked in the driveway and his car was there.  However, I have no idea what time Josh entered our home.  This is a little disconcerting to say the least. 

And speaking of kids, this picture is the perfect example of our 14 year old aggravating someone.  This particular time Jacob decided to steal Matthew's shoe and hide it on top of the playground equipment.  Jacob loves the fact that he out grew his older brother in height, and he reminds Matthew of it any chance he can get.




If you want to stop by our home, you are always welcomed.  Just be aware that we are real people, with real children, and a real dog that  sheds real dog hair.  And you will be served a glass of tea in a real mason jar!

grace and peace,
julie