I am overwhelmed.

I wouldn’t say life with four kids is necessarily any harder, but I would say it feels much busier. I feel like I’m running all day long and cannot keep up with the kids, dishes, laundry, cleaning, organizing, appointments, church, Base Camp, friends, family, cooking, etc, etc…And I fall asleep exhausted (and late) each night with good intentions rolling around in my head for the things I’d like to still get done that night…How do people do it?

I read mommy blogs a lot, and some people make life with kids look like a breeze. My life these days is more like a hurricane!

I dream of being ultra-organized, with a happy, comfortable routine. It hasn’t happened yet. And we face more changes in a month-and-a-half when my sweet girl goes off to kindergarten. *tears*

Part of me loves blogging. I have always seen writing as an outlet, and it’s fun to me to be able to express things in writing.

I think I write better than I talk sometimes.

And this past year of couponing and becoming a frugal mama has been wonderful. Amazing for our budget. Fun.

I want to share the secrets to frugality with others, hence Frugonomics.com. I’m excited to do it.

And I’m a little scared about it.

If I can’t keep up with my life prior to officially becoming a mommy blogger, how will life look after the site launches?

Therefore, after a massively long post (this one), I am going to take a little hiatus. I’m considering a week-long (or longer?) Internet fast to just take the time to catch up on life and seek the Lord about my priorities and the balance (or lack of balance) in my life.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the Internet. My husband has convinced me of the wonder of technology. Yet, part of me wishes we could go back to the age of writing letters. Real letters. There’s just something special about waiting and anticipating that technology has robbed us of.

That was a rabbit trail.

Anywho, I will now share a bazillion pictures that I’ve been meaning to share for a couple of weeks. (Bazillion is just a rough estimate.)

Saturday, July 11 – We went strawberry picking. What a gorgeous day! We also got free slurpees at 7-Eleven.

Monday, July 13 – We enjoyed a wonderful visit from my best friend from childhood, Jana, and her baby, Dominik. It was so nice to catch up with her! (*Picture courtesy of Grace or Caleb.)

Can you believe I got a picture of both boys smiling?!

Tuesday, July 14 – Zach and Elyse spent the day here, since Mom and Dad R were on vacation celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary. We had a really good time with Z&E, and they were very helpful! The kids all enjoyed playing with the water guns that Mom and Dad sent for them to play with.

Z&E forgot their swimsuits at Emily’s house, and they got very wet during the water gun fights. So, I threw their clothes in the dryer and gave them some of our clothes to wear. So this is Zach as “Luke” and Elyse as “Lacey.”

Wednesday, July 15 (8 years since Luke and I officially started dating!) – We met Emily, Zach, and Elyse at the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum to play, and then had a little picnic in the park nearby. Zach spent a lot of time at the table of dominoes.

Thursday, July 16 through Saturday, July 18 – My first ever garage sale. (That is, the first I’ve ever hosted. Not the first I’ve ever been to, of course.) What a LOT of work! I’m still getting the garage back in order!

The girls who live next door came and helped out with the sale and the kids. Here’s Dani with Ava. They had fun together.

The kids had fun goofing around with stuff at the garage sale. Here’s Grace wrapped in baby blankets, playing with this bird that squawks when you squeeze its beak.

And a picture of 7-week-old Jaden, just because he’s so stinking cute.

The other three are pretty stinking cute, too!

Grace had her 3-month diabetes check-up yesterday, and it went wonderfully! Good news – the test results came back, and she does NOT have Celiac Disease! Praise the Lord! Also, her A1C was even better than last time – 7.4 (goal is 7.5 – 8.5). And we signed up for the Intro to Pumping class in September, where she’ll get a practice pump to take home and try out. She decided she wants to get a pink pump, which is actually an option! It’s nice that the technology has come far enough to make them more kid-friendly.

Meijer trip yesterday – spent $14.97, saved $86.81, earned $5 OYNSO. For this week’s Meijer deals, since I’m too busy at the moment to detail them out, visit here and here.

Okay, folks, if you made it this far, GOOD JOB! Thanks for hanging in there. I will (hopefully) not have that nagging feeling in the back of my brain anymore (at least for a little while) telling me that I need to blog.

I will be back when the time is right!