Cavemen

Mom?  Were you born in the 1900’s? 

Yup. 

Whoa.

Sheesh, he made it sound like I’m ancient!  Just in time to turn 30 I guess.

Exhaustion

Truly you know your children are tired when you are 3 for 3 in each of them climbing into bed on their own without a sound. And when 3 children are that tired, their mother is bound to be.

You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours.

When I was a kid I remember my dad always walking over to a corner wall and scratching his back on it.  He loved a good back scratch.   There is nothing worse than the feeling of the itch beginning in the middle of your back juuuust out of reach, and the scramble to find something or someone to scratch it for you.  Ahhhh, then the feeling of relief as they hit the spot.  

Jayce loves a good back scratch.  Lainy thinks she does, but every time you begin, her body starts to wiggle and she can’t stop the giggling.  Too ticklish.  I love a good palm scratch.   Something about the palm of my hand being scratched just relaxes me.  

Jared, being 3 has just learned the value of laying over moms lap and asking, “Can you scrape my back?”

***An hour after I posted this I came into the kitchen and Lainy had her shirt off and was frantically scratching her back on the edge of the kitchen table, telling me her back itched so bad!

Phew. I mean… Boo!

I swore this was the year I was living Halloween simply. 

And I did.  

Until 2 days before Halloween. I’m not sure what happened. I went into sew mode somehow.  Decided against the simple ghost idea and created a complete Avatar costume, the fluff to Lainy’s ladybug, and lost my fire when I got to Jared, gained control and went back to simple and dug out the ol’ cookie monster costume.  Phew. I am glad it’s over. 

We trick or treated one house and that was Gramma Jet.

Thank you Georgette! We love you! 

Then it was off to trunk or treat!

I did get a chance to gussy up a lady in our ward who wanted to go ‘Harley’. 

Jayce was such a sport to let me shave his head for the evening.  He did panic a bit when the realization set in that he had to attend school and church this way. 

Lainy and Tessa both came as bugs, which is fitting.  Those two are always buzzing around together.

It’s faces like this that make it all worth it. 

No Disco ball for the gophers!

I

found

my

RING!

Actually Jason found it tonight in his pajama pants pocket.  We have looked everywhere including my entire acre with a stinkin metal detector.  It’s like having an old friend back.  

Sigh. 

Life is good.

She doesn’t.

My sweet friend asked me last week how I did it.   Keep my house clean (ha ha), raise my kids, support a husband in school, and work 20-30 hours a week.   The truth is…  I don’t.  I can’t do it all.  Especially not at the same time.  My days are like taking a handful of balls and throw them all up in the air at the same time and then trying to catch them.  Sometimes you catch one, and all the others fall.  Once in a blue moon, you catch the majority of them and feel pretty good about yourself.  Today I caught one ball.  Two women walked out of the salon with their hair looking better than when they walked in.  It’s something right? 

• I dropped the parenting ball when my kids dumped all the macadamia nuts in the boys room, stripped all bedding off beds so they had a better jumping arena, dumped water all over the couch and jumped on it, played mermaids in the bathroom and made a real ‘ocean’, finally one fell asleep on my bed, and then peed on it. 
• I dropped the wife ball when I didn’t call my husband all day because I didn’t have the energy to support him and tell him to study hard, because I knew I just wanted to tell him to come home. 
• I dropped the cooking ball when I fed my kids coco puffs for breakfast, cheerios for lunch and Mac and cheese for dinner. 
• And well,  the clean ball was never even reached for. 

I know I know,   Wo is me.

Diamond in the rough

Jason and I was discussing my recently lost wedding ring while lazily laying in bed this morning and it went a little something like this…

“I really do love my new wedding ring,  I have had a lot of compliments on it” I say. 

He acknowledges my comment with an mmm hmm.  

Then, still being a little tired I say, “I wish had I had some sort of super power that I could feel or hear if it were nearby…”

Smiling now he  says,  “yeah I can just hear it’s little screams now.”

I am into it now,  “help me! help me you idiots I am right here!”

Jason says…  (sorry still laughing at this…)  “Yeah, it’s probably outside in the dirt and some gopher is using it as it’s disco ball.” 

I must still be so tired.

Laughter

Best compliment I’ve had in a while…

Jayce:  Mom, you laugh a lot don’t you?

Life’s too short not to!

Tree of Thanks

Last Thanksgiving I cut out a tree from cardboard and a handful of leaves and for family night we sat and wrote each thing we were thankful for on the leaves and it stayed up for a few weeks.   This year I found this tree at Michaels and bought a leaf punch and put it up when Autumn began.   I wanted to remember to be thankful a lot longer than just one night.  So, I hung a bag of leaves and a marker next to the tree and welcome anyone who enters my home to fill a leaf on my tree with what they are grateful for.  This was the first day we hung it, and it has slowly been riddled with words of thanks by many.  I hope to have a beautiful fall tree by Thanksgiving Day!

Small and Simple thing #1

Marjorie Pay Hinckley said:

Life is full of challenges.  Many of them involve balance and temperance.  Complete abstention may be easier than moderation.  It’s easier for me to completely abstain from smoking than to try and balance my day- a little for this, a little for that, a little for him, a little for her. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson expresses a majestic thought when he said: “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”

I have been struggling with balance in my life.  Trying to decide what I should try and balance in, or if I should completely abstain from it.  It was a few days ago that a little 5x5 inch purple book on my bookshelf seemed to call to me.  Sister Hinckley's book entitled ‘Small and Simple Things’.   In it I found this thought.  I read it and reread it and have repeated it to myself over the course of the last couple of days and each time it becomes more clear to me what a simple practice it is, and yet so difficult for me. 

San Francisco

Thank you to the Hambly’s for letting me bombard them for a day and being such great friends.   I love you guys.

I wish I didn’t live so far away from my dear friend! 

And I’m sorry, is she not just to die for?  I had the day to spend with these two ladies, and a part of the day to share with the boys of the fam, who are equally as wonderful!  (but not as photographed apparently!) 

Thank you to my parents for feeding me, housing me, and allowing me to tag along.  I love you guys.  

YES. That is the golden gate bridge.  I went over it.  Twice!  It was pretty cool. 

Ok, and the reason for this trip in the first place was to attend Jess and Tami’s Engagement party and I didn’t even bring my camera to it!  Sheesh. 

So, it was beautiful and filled with ALOT of aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.  They were all so kind and gracious.   Jess and Tami looked stunning-

(like Arabian Princess Barbie and Ken.  Seriously.) 

Ok, but without all the fluff.   Great company, great food, and glad to be home!

At the cracking of dawn

I put the kids to bed early last night.  Jayce was up at the crack of dawn at 5:30.   He came flying in holding a plate of goodies that the Phantom Ghost had left on our porch last night! (Thank you!)  I of course told him to go away and let me sleep.  It was when I finally (at 6:45) woke and found my kitchen in a bit of a mess that I realized the potential of my sweet children.  Jared had changed his own clothes (into another pair of jammies, but still) Jayce had gotten dressed, made a valiant attempt at making pancakes (with flour) and all were coloring at the table very quietly together.  Well, truthfully Jayce was coloring while the other two begged to help him.  I actually had a glimmer of hope that someday Jayce might be able fill the role of babysitter.   My dreams came crashing down when he came over and told me his pants felt weird and kept slipping down in the back.  

Jayce.  Your jeans are on backwards.

Very positive negative

 Conversation between Jayce and Wyatt:

Jayce:  My mom is going away this weekend with my dad.  She’s going there to get pregnant. 

Jayce and I had a little chat a week or so ago about babies.  I am guessing he has thought about it a bit since then.   We had another little chat tonight about mom not being pregnant and how it all happens.  (In case anyone is confused…  No, I am not pregnant, not planning to, not hoping to be.)

Morning recap

You know when you were younger and your alarm went off in the morning and you sleepily think of the reasons to stay in bed?  Then your brain goes through the previous days events and if something great happened that day (i.e. a kiss, a new job, chocolate muffins) it gets you out of bed and puts a hop in your step?  Well, this morning I did that for the first time in a long time.  And I wanted to remember my list.

1. New wedding ring on my finger (I lost mine grrr)
2. Got a new outfit for Jess’s engagement party
3. I’m going to San Francisco by myself for a whole weekend!
4. No heartburn! 

And the thought that gave me the most joy…

All of my children slept through the night.   No pee, no asthma, no coughing, no nightmares.  Sigh.  This HAS to be a good day! 

(And it’s only going to be 90 degrees!!! I love anything that isn’t triple digits.)

Stupid in love

Several years ago Jason and I were traveling together pre-children and saw a wonderfully memorable man on a street corner waving an advertisement poster.  He was enthusiastically dancing to his music, wore cut of jean shorts a tank top and had stringy long blonde hair under a backwards facing hat.   Jason mentioned how stupid he was.  I on the other hand, got caught up in his sheer enjoyment, leaned across Jason and out the drivers side window with flailing arms, and gave him a big ‘woo hoo!’   The dancing man responded appropriately with  ‘hang loose’.   And then Jason muttered words that became a staple in our ability to make one another laugh.  “You’re stupid too.”    If you spend enough time with us, you might catch us lovingly exchange these words. 

Duly noted

 

These black plate holders were supposed to be returned when they didn’t quite fit what I needed them for…   Except they kept disappearing.   

They seem to fit very well in the boys holsters.   As you can tell, they don’t stray far from their owners. 

Earlier I found this pop tart with a hole clean through.  I wonder if the 2 are connected somehow…

It begins and ends at home

While reading a fellow bloggers’ recent posting I had that deep set heavy feeling in my chest that I needed to get out on paper. As a parent I have learned the hard way (is there any other way to learn?!) to change a child's inappropriate, negative, or bad behavior. I will openly admit I was a yeller. And I tended to focus on the negative. I still have my moments, but have learned the damaging affects it has on a child. I have seen in 2 years time, my child change from a sad, angry, and frustrated child 80% of the time, to a happy, pleasant, loving child %90 of the time. And though it has now become the norm and the days fly by without much notice, there are moments when he cracks a joke or quietly ruffles his sisters hair with a smile, that my heart is filled with joy and such gratitude.

“To change child's behavior...HUGS, KISSES, COMPLIMENTS: make them feel good about the RIGHT behavior. Give extra attention, slow down, play with them.” (Thank you again Rach- you are on a roll this week!)

AMEN. It changed my life and his.

his lashes

He was nearly asleep.  He had both hands up at his face and was gently pulling on his eyelashes.   Jared of course, woke up as soon as the car stopped and ran inside.  It reminded me of Jayce when he was a baby.  I would rock him to sleep and he had the longest eyelashes, and they were often a little awry, so as he fell into sleep I would softly pull on them to straighten them out.   It became a nightly ritual and as he got older I found that whenever he went to bed or was sleepy his hands would go to his eyelashes and just pull lightly on them.   They mimic even in their sleep.

Jared made it to age 3. Barely.

Jared is 3.  I must admit as I sit here preparing my thoughts on this little boy, I heaved a huge sigh.   It’s been quite a messy year…  

• Nail polish
• cut Lainy’s hair and his
• baby powder
• desitin
• toothpaste and water ‘soup’
• lip gloss
• baby shampoo
• mud
• vegetable oil
• any and all food imaginable
• very expensive allergy drops
• stung by a scorpion
• my toothbrush on the dogs butt

And the list goes on.   But if I put all of these things somehow on a scale and balanced them against the amount of joy and love I have received from having him in my life, there is no contest.  He is worth every second.  Happy Birthday Jared.  I love you.

A ton of crap

Our home teachers came by today and we were discussing the topic of women and how many of us feel such inadequacy and often compare ourselves to other women and mothers and how we often think the grass is greener on the other side.   My friend Rachel (who’s blog is now private so no link sorry!)  posted an amazing quote on that subject a while back and it has stuck with me.

The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be.  -Robert Fulghum

Steve Mullenaux one of my home teachers posed a question this afternoon,

“Do you know why the grass is always greener on the other side?”  

His answer held more truth than I was ready for.  

“Because there is a whole lot of crap over there to fertilize it with.”