Princess

Lots of requests to see the little princess. I haven't taken any recently, but I need to because she is soo cute with her little winter beanie and her pink boots.

These pics were taken in August while apple picking.

Family update.

Life is so busy with lots of little ones. Brad and I often find ourselves making eye contact over three roudy children about 7:00 each night, wondering, "is this really us?" 

But we couldn't be happier. Our children are happy and healthy, and were expecting another one in 8 weeks. We've been surrounded by family and friends and activities lately and are just livin life. 

Westley just turned 5 in October, and Miles turned 3 in September. Wes is really enjoying pre-school, and begs for play dates everyday. (not to mention x-box.) He is our little social bug. He often gets frustrated at restaurants because he tries to talk to the servers, but they often ignore him.  

 

Our sweet little quiet Miles has found his voice also. Once content to watch all the action, he now is soooo animated in his facial expressions and loves to converse. He loves doing puzzles and is really good at them.

Princess Belle is her daddy's little girl. "Hi Daddy!" she exclaims the minute he walks through the door. She tells you whatever she wants and loves to do what her brothers do. It's no surprise to peek in on her in nursery and see her "vroom vrooming" some cars around. 

Brad and I got back from Costa Rica about a month ago, we had a blast hiking waterfalls and discovering beautiful beaches.  Brad is still working in the financial industry, and we just count ourselves blessed to still be employed! I'm figuring out day by day how to be a mom, and a wife... and still a woman.  I find myself so easily caught up just going through the motions, and I have to remember how to be present for my family. I've been playing a lot of volleyball, and LOVE it. It's such a good release. I keep trying to scrapbook, and much like everyone else, I get excited when I'm only "1" year behind! 

I know its not much after 2 months, but kids are awake and duty calls!

I've had such a great week. It's been an easy one to count my blessings on.

First of all, I got on some Iron supplements that have to take some of the credit...they've made a big difference with my energy level, and I never would have guessed that.

Monday night I went to bed with a headache, but woke up to Belle crying. I let her fuss it through for a couple of minutes. (I know she's teething.) Well, she fussed again about a half an hour later. This isn't totally normal, so begrudgingly, I get up. To help set the stage you must know that Brad had been suffering from allergies at night really bad, so he had turned on the ac tonight rather than opening windows. Belle's nursery is very small, and cools down much faster than our room.

I sleepily check in on her, and she's got all four limbs tucked under her like a little turtle. Poor princess was freezing! She had been put to bed in a onsie, and then she had wet through her diaper! I pick her up and wrap a blanket around her. She snuggles for a minute, instantly soothed. Then I change her and her clothes to some warm thermals. I then find her favorite blanket (which she was also missing) and wrap her up in that too. The sweetest part of all....I'm rocking her at this point, and start humming her lullaby, and with closed eyes, she tilts her chin up to give me a little kiss. If I could have read her mind, it would have been something like "o thank you thank you mom! I was so cold!" She has never before tried to "kiss."

Precious moment I will never forget.

I have also enjoyed some great moments with my boys. Several times this week, Westley has randomly come to hug me for longer moments than normal. Once, he told me this week that he wanted me to put him to bed (as opposed to dad) because he "likes the sound of my voice."

Last but certainly not least, my husband. Every other Thursday night is my night to go out with the girls. Brad had told me earlier in the week that he planned on taking the kids while he went to play football with some friends. Well, I got word that we had access to a boat for girls night, but no one to drive. I called Brad, and with no hesitation (in hindsight 7 girls in bathing suits probably played a big role in the decision) said he would give up his night to drive us crazy girls around. It couldn't have been that tempting, seeing that when we actually get up on the wake board, we're down within seconds, so we certainly aren't doing anything entertaining or amazing. Or how when we want to ride the tube, we don't want to fall off...(very much defeating the purpose for the boat driver.)

We had a blast and Brad was so great...I love my ever growing family.

o yeah

You are never going to believe this. in an attempt to appeal to the pepsi lovers out there sympathy, I begin another post about how this morning I'm dropping off Wes at pre-school, and Belle is in the car and spills my fresh 32oz fountain pepsi.(A deffinate pre-curser to my frustration over the spilled milk.) So when I get home, I spend the next half an hour scrubbing the floor of my car. Well, as I'm explaining this, Belle just now, spills a cup of orange juice all over the coffee table right in front of me....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Me

Sometimes I struggle being a mom, especially in the patience department. Not a day goes by that I haven't gotten after (patiently) my boys to stay off the counter, and not a day has gone by that I haven't cleaned up an entire cup of milk or juice out of the cracks on my wood floor. It's probably exaserbated by the fact that I'm on the phone talking to an adult for the first time that day, basically that my attention is heaven forbid, elswhere.

My point in saying this is not that it's particularly hard for me, because, I know, everyone else cleans up spills all day long too. But I think I take my frustrations out on my friends and husband. Not that I'm mad at them or have any negative feelings towards them, I just sort of....shut down. I'm not sure how not to. I had a really rough morning. I mean...is it so much to ask, to want to look nice and not be late to things? How am I supposed to be so cheery when just to blow dry my hair I'm looking at Belle screaming pushing me away from the counter while Wes and Miles reek havoc on my pantry?! Seems like everyone else manages to put a smile on their face. Whats wrong with me? Sorry friends and husband.

Theatre room

Its been two years, but we finally did it. About a year and a half ago I bought some fabric on sale with the idea to use it as a wainscoat for the theater room. Well, lots of other projects are more important than a theater room, so it's taken a while to get it done. We found the motivation when Brad invited 20 people over to watch the BSU vs Oregon game. So Monday I picked out some paint, Monday night we painted it, Tuesday we did the second coat, and Wednesday and Thursday we put up the fabric wainscoat. I gotta say, after we had the paint up and just tacked up the fabric to see what it looks like, I wasn't so sure of the idea anymore. I couldn't tell if the colors matched anymore, and I wasn't sure about the two textures mixing. I had a couple people tell me they felt the same way, but since I was into the project about $150, I felt there wasn't really any backing out. So we finished it, and I'm actually really happy with it. Getting the trim up to tie it all in really made all the difference. I thought I had a before picture but I couldn't find it.

Hey everyone! I've got three kids napping, and one playing very peacefully by himself for the moment, so I'd like to jot a few things down.

This post will probably be a little different than the rest in that I don't normally write about personal stuff or random thoughts, primarily because I've had this idea in my head that people don't want to hear about my issues. And you probably don't....but I came across an idea the other day to write for ten minutes a day. So we'll try it out here.

Lately I've really taken an interest in finding out more about me, and how and why I function the way that I do. I often feel that I can do better. But sometimes my mind holds me back. I think that if I don't do something perfect the first time, I shouldn't waste time doing it because so many people can do it better. So I've been reading this book called "James Bradshaw: On the Family." It's goal is to show us how to identify where we are dysfunctional as a person, and why. Then, the most important part, how to not pass that dysfunction onto our children. We all get caught in these often destructive cycles, and I'd like to know how to brake mine.

A very important goal for myself is to be more positive. I do have the moments where I look at my children and my husband and have a full heart, but I find it so hard to display that. Almost like....If I'm enjoying life....I'm not doing something right.

I'd like to be able to recognize, and share more effectively what makes my life so wonderful. Because it is. It is joyful, and joyous. Of course there are hardships... DAILY. But there are joys... Daily. So, I'm going to use my blog to learn to better express the joys...and trials (because lets face it, we've ALL got 'em) of this experience we call marriage and parenthood.

For family in RI

Hey Justin, Christina, and Cora! We sure miss you guys! Here's a few pics of what we've been up to this summer. We finally planted grass in early May. As you can see, not only do we have grass....but lots of weeds as well. I was doing well keeping up with them, and then mysteriously lost lots of energy a few months ago.....

Our garden out there, has got four rows of peas, then a row of zucchini and lettuce. The next row is tomatoes then onions. Next we have carrots, then a row of green beans. After that there's a row of canteloups (that died a long time ago), and finally some pumpkins and potatoes.

It's been a lot of work, but I really enjoy taking time after kids are in bed to go harvest and weed. Call me crazy, but it's very therapeutic for me.

We got the deck in last year, which has been wonderful. We're just waiting for better weather to be able to use it...



Our garden


carrots, weeds, onions, weeds, tomatoes, weeds..you get the idea.


Princess Belle, helping me take pics before her bedtime


a little island in the front corner, but overrun with weeds






shhh....don't tell anyone....



and yes...this is....my truck.

summer fun

I'm not really up for writing to much, but I thought a few pictures might be nice any way! Enjoy!






We took a day trip to see the Grand Canyon

Brad and I went to Vegas and saw Phantom of the Operah (loved, loved, loved it!)

Heaven

I have only ONE dessert love. But it costs 6$ So Brad learned how to make it.

Four words.

My. Husband. Loves. Me.



Homemade.....Apple Skilitini baby.

Belle's 1!

Actually, she's been one for a month now, but i'm not on the ball.

We had a great little family party, and dad made her a pink cake with her name on it. She sure loved eating it! She's definitely our little princess.....

Brads 30!

Yeaaaay! He's the sexiest 30 year old I've ever seen. Anyways...I'm pretty sure he's going through some kind of pre-mid life crisis thing because, everything seems to be not right! His hip hurts, his knees hurt and his ankle, and a myriad of other problems that don't seem to manifest themselves if your in your 20's.

Well, to celebrate, we had a little theme party...Mustache and Wig....
It turned out to be a blast. Everybody was such a good sport, and the boys showed up wearing a mustache and the girls...a wig. We had some fun improv games planned...THANKS Everyone for being such good sports, we really had a blast!