A New Project

I'm trying to get back to the things that are truly important in life.

 I'm playing more games with the kids and reading more books to them.

 I'm reading more books on my own and rediscovering how much I love to read just for fun.

I'm trying to be in the picture more with my children so when they get older, they have pictures with me in them to reminisce about their childhood.

 I'm taking more photos of our everyday life here at the Mustaleski Family Circus, instead of just posed family photography.

 And I want to share it with you! I've got some catching up to do because I started this in January, but no time to start like the present! So here is the beginning of my current project: My 365.

 One picture, every day, for one year.

 Don't know if I'll make it all the way through, but I'm having fun trying! :)

 My 365 - Week 1

 1/365 Shadow does NOT approve of Josiah's reading selection

2/365 Dancing in the Living Room

3/365 Sick on the couch with the bucket, her bear, and her markers.

4/365 Stunt Man

5/365 Losing at Memory Match to my favorite 4 year old

6/365 Story Time with Big Baby

7/365 Starting the day with a game of "Trash"

Mornings

Nothing like a good game of "Kings in the Corner" to get the day started right.  Thankfully, this morning's round did not include any fighting or yelling.  

Siblings

The beauty of being the little sister is that you often don't notice your big brother's scowl...you are just thrilled to be with him.  :)

Summer Happenings

II, for one, can't believe the summer is more than half gone.  Our days have been filled with swimming and schooling, rain and gardening, friends and family.  

That picture is the whole crew on our way to EmmaKook's graduation.  

The boys are really enjoying swimming.  As is typical of those two, they each have their strokes that they are good at and the strokes at which each one is best are different from the ones of their brother.  Josiah has made a lot of Improvement on his freestyle, while Micah's best stroke is the breast stroke.  

This was taken before their first meet.  Josiah said it was "humiliating" to pose for a picture.  

While the boys are at their swimming practices, Audra, Emilia, and I have gotten to have a lot of girl time. Typically, we read books or paint nails. What more could you ask for some girl time?  :)

We've had a lot of rain this summer And there are pros and cons to that. On the bright side the plants have gotten lots of water and the children have gotten to play in the rain which is always fun! On the downside we've been cooped up in the house a lot.  Not so fun with four kids!  

Because of all the rain, it took about 3 tries for us to get to do our yearly 4th of July celebration with the family.  Every time we would plan to do it, it would rain and we would have to try again another time because you can't shoot fireworks in the rain!  We did get to have a game night with everyone and last night we finally got to shoot our fireworks, too!  

Audra wearing some of our props for "The Great Dalmuti."

Micah cast in the role of the greater peon.  

John being silly...what a perfect opportunity!

We had waited so long for the fireworks that Emilia needed to pick the perfect outfit for the occasion: 

Here are all of the kids lined up for the fireworks fun! My kids, Karen's kids, Luke, and Sydney all had a blast watching the fireworks.  :)

After the fireworks were done, the boys continued the celebration by playing some basketball under a full moon.

Here's a fun little story about Emilia: 

Last weekend we were having a lazy morning around the house when Emilia came up to John and said, "Hey, Daddy. You want me to beat you up?"  John said, "If you start beating, I'll start tickling". Sweet little Emilia narrowed her eyes, hunched her shoulders and in her most serious voice said, "Bring it."  

This was the result: 

Hope you guys are enjoying your summer too!

It's True

It's true that love is blind.  My little fashionista drew a picture of me today.  This is how she sees me:

This is how I actually look

Aside from the childish drawing, the lack of color in my normal appearance doesn't seem to affect her mental image of me as a colorful person...with curly hair...wearing a dress...and lipstick.  I'm not sure about those orange eyes, but I do say that I love Tennessee so much that I bleed orange, so maybe my eyes are just bloodshot (tired, maybe?) and that's why they look orange.

Love makes all the difference.   :)