Thanksgiving

Sleepy?

I wake up every morning counting the hours until i can go to sleep again. I'm not dissatisfied with my life or depressed, but i am really tired. Anyone else have this problem?

a short update

 This is how Clark looks when his creations come tumbling down. This picture was supposed to be of his cool creation, but instead it's of the aftermath of the domino effect. Ouch!


Clark and Rose try to be friends, but i have to remind him all the time to do things to make her happy, not sad. She may use this to her advantage...

Rose outside of the "pumky" house she loves to visit.

My baby brother got married, and all went to Utah. Somehow i don't have a picture of the happy couple, but here's all the cousins. 

And the "triplets"

The Salt Lake temple

And, you know, a huge chair.

You Never Know

I thought this video was a great representation of life, and is very significant to me.  There are a lot of things to keep us busy throughout the day, and I know that I rarely feel like I'm making much of a difference, or getting much time to do what I want to do.

 

 Dear friends, what we choose to do with our time does make a difference, for better or for worse. I'll be trying to make it for better this week. And to all of those who do so much for me, thank you! I hope that you know that your help, even your little help sometimes, makes all of the difference in my life.

Camille's Story

Here is a story that Camille wrote for her first homework assignment for the 3rd grade.

Angst of the Silliest Kind

Do you ever get the feeling that everyone in the world looks cuter than you?  I have that feeling... often... and I think that it's time to do something about it.  Problem:  I've forgotten how to dress, and my body doesn't look the way I want it to.  Hi!  I know that you feel the same way!  What is wrong with me?  I should just feel happy wearing my t-shirt and jeans, and I generally do because I'm comfortable.  But I wish that I were the type of person that had cute t-shirts and maybe knew how to accessorize too.  Is that too much to ask?
Up next:  Why won't my hair do what I want it to, even when I try to fix it?
And: Don't even get me started on my guilt for not wearing makeup.
Followed by: Vericose veins!  Thanks for aging me 30 years, legs!

Fun at the Beach

From When We Went to Virginia

Back in January, Paul and I got to go with Rose to Virginia.  It was so cold and snowy!  But, we loved, as always, getting to see Paul's family.  It's hard living on opposite coasts.  Rose loved the snow, though, and Ama the best, of course.

Rose Turns One

You guys, Rose turned one in March.  Can you believe that it's already been a year?  Crazy.  This little girl is just the best.  She's happy, inquisitive, smart, and fun to be around.  Downside/goodside?  She's absolutely fearless!  She climbs up slides at the playground, climbs up the bunkbed, and crawls into the pool and laughs.Watch out when Rose is around- she's ready for adventure and fun!

 Yes, we are totally LA!  We had a bounce house at a one year-old's birthday party- and loved it!

 This video is funny, I think, to hear my silly narrative in the background.  I feel like this is what it's like having 4 kids- very distracted!  Or maybe it's just me.

Destroying the cake my mom made.  Happy Birthday Rose!

Just Some PIctures

I know, I know, I never blog.  Do you?  I didn't think so.  Here are a very few pictures of a few things that have been happening lately.  I have a terrible camera phone, but that's the thing that is with me all the time.  So I take a lot of pictures with that, but I never put them on the computer.  Lazy and not tech-savvy.  These pictures are from random occasions when I've had my camera with me

We went to the Strawberry Festival last weekend with our friend Sarah.  We've been friends for a long time- like 18 years!  It's so nice to have her and her sister Emily to hang out with still and know and love.  Anyway, we went to the festival, and there was a contest for cutest berry baby and best berry hat.  You can't really see my hat- it's a strawberry fascinator with a giant strawberry flower and on the flower a little birds nest with a hummingbird and strawberry eggs.  Clever, I thought, but not crazy enough to win.  And Rose's costume, while darling, looked like everyone else's costume.  The winner was a chubby little baby with a berry colored tutu.  Oh well, there's no accounting for taste!  :)

Clark is a fun, interesting, and sometimes challenging person to be around.  Here he is in a fun mood- hunting for Easter eggs...

...and in an interesting mood? with a hat that he designed himself.

Our 3 oldest kids share a room now.  The girls generally more than tolerate him, and things are going well for now!

Search Engine

Do you find yourself sitting down to your computer- or almost sitting down to your computer- with the intent to type ridiculous questions into the search engine?

Where is my retainer?  While I'm at it- why is it not where it always is?

Where is that missing library book?  (followed by a real internet search for said book, when I give up and end up buying it to replace the book that we misplaced.)

What is happening with my friend?  How is her divorce treating her?

What time is Paul coming home?

How to make kids eat veggies

Why is Rose up early from her nap?

Make my kids do chores

Make time to fix hair

How to like doing service

How to explain to school friends about why we don't do Sunday birthday parties

The list goes on.  After my internet search doesn't work, I often resort to prayer.  I may have been using the wrong search engine all along.

It's Groundhog Day!

One of my favorite movies is groundhog day. Bill Murray living the day over and over again until he has perfected it doesn't get old to me.  What does get old to me is Sunday in church with Clark.  What will it take to perfect that day? Maybe aging ten more years? Other than that, I feel I am out of ideas and strategy.

Parents of boys/4-year olds, chime in here. How to reach reverence and respect. Is there a way?

Ramblings About Parenting

I'm recovering from being sick, so I felt a little smug when after listing all of the things that he had to do today, Paul asked me what my plans were and I said, "nothing".

I had big plans for that nothing, which, with small children at home, is never really nothing.  Gone are the days when nothing meant sleeping in, reading a book, taking a shower, and taking a nap.  But, even not having places to go and people to see felt pretty luxurious, and I was going to wallow in it.  Even at 5:30 in the morning.

But, this is where having 4 kids comes in.  You know, I feel pretty confident as a mom.  My kids are old enough now to make me feel pretty seasoned, motherwise, so I love to give unsolicited advice to other parents.  It's just one of the beautiful habits I have, and I know that the world loves to hear from me.  You lucky, lucky world!  I tell parents about my girls slowly overcoming their shyness.  I talk about different potty-training techniques and strategies.  I love to show parents how lucky they are to have one mild-mannered kid throwing a weak tantrum while I carry Clark screaming across the preschool yard, while keeping a grip on Rose too.  I am a parenting pro, you see.  And lest you forget, I have twins!  The point of this self-deprecation is to tell you that when people ask me how it is having 4 kids, I usually have some sort of blithe response:  "Well, you don't have them all at once, so that helps- except for the part where I started out with twins.  Ha ha!"  "Oh, it's much easier as they get older.  They go to school!"  "Well, we just love kids!"  "We both came from big families, so it feels normal to us!"  Truly, though, I love our family.  Parenting is hard, but the best thing that anyone can do.  You know that already, right?

Those Cuties

Anyway, having many kids ends up being all about the schedule.  A typical day for me involves waking up around 5 to feed Rose and putting her back to sleep.  Then reading scriptures, e-mails, and various time-wasters.  Then taking a shower and getting things going.  Making breakfast, lunches, and getting the kids off to school.  Changing and feeding that hungry baby, nurturing Clark, getting baby nap in, running errands, teaching Clark, playing, getting Clark to school.  Then 3 hours of quiet and a little bit of baby nap before I get the girls, get Clark, get home, get everyone doing what they're supposed to, make dinner, eat, clean up, nurture everyone and go to bed.  We don't even really do extracurricular activities because I honestly don't know how to fit them into our lives.

So, that's a normal day.  It's the weird days are what throw me off.  The choir concert that I attend without Paul because he has a meeting.  Sitting with Clark and Rose after bedtime is not so easy.  Doctor's appointments are tricky.  Days like today, where Grace had a breakdown 2 minutes before it was time to go to school because she was sick and didn't tell me and then later we had to get Camille from school because she was sick too, throw me for a loop!  Even though I love being around my girls, it wasn't the "nothing" day I was anticipating.  But, as I do at all times, I feel blessed that I was able to handle it all- all of the loops that life throws at me.