It's best not to watch my process

You know those beautiful blogs from women who seem to effortlessly pull off beautiful crafts with their children who are perfectly groomed, all while taking lovely photographs capturing the entire amazing process? I always wonder how they appear to have such tranquil, uninterrupted lives. Are they magicians? Do they lock their doors so no one thinks they are home? Do they live far from civilization where solitude is the norm? Well, I am not one of those women. I suppose I could post pictures, cropping out certain details, but the truth is, this is how craft time goes at our house....

It's 3 p.m. on a glorious afternoon and my children and I go outside to make clothespin people for our Easter decorations. We need to make 12 disciples, one angel, one Jesus and four women. Good times. Rachel has called dibs on the women and Jonah has claimed Jesus.

At 3 p.m. we sit in the sun. It's hotter than we thought and by 3:15 we are baking. I am tired already because three children asking for different fabric at the same time has overwhelmed me. My poor iced coffee that I made is just melting as I watch.

3:20 p.m. Lucy emerges from her nap. Pantless in the front yard. Luckily the neighbors aren't surprised - they've seen this before. Still I *try* to promote modesty even in two year olds, so I shuffle her into the house to get dressed.

3:30 p.m. We have moved to the shade. Mary is almost finished, Jesus has two faces (one will be colored over with hair soon) and Henry is deciding if his person should be Peter or John. We settle on Peter.

3:35 p.m. The neighbors come out to play basketball. All boys and Lucy abandon the project. Rachel continues and makes another woman. I am trying to channel my inner Padre Pio and help children cross the street while also helping Rachel with the hot glue gun.

3:45 p.m. Rachel leaves to play basketball. I put the supplies in a chair to save for later.

By 4:30 p.m. we have all come home, hot, tired and hungry. We must clean up the mess, start dinner and clean up ourselves. And we aren't finished with our people. This is setting up to be a sparsely attended Easter morning.

Between 4:30 and 5:30, I receive eight phone calls, two doorbell rings, pick up a screaming child three times and help complete one more woman and one angel.

By the time Gary arrives, we have scooped up all the supplies and cleaned up the kitchen. The table is set and we are ready to display our artistic, yet incomplete, creation.

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It is now several weeks later. Easter is over, we celebrated with joy. We are finally finished with our project but I have not taken a single photo. Know this though.... right now my kitchen is clean and so are my children. We have handcrafted a hands-on learning tool and I am a super mother. (Two of the four are true, but there are no pictures to prove which ones, so you will just have to guess....)