Mother's Day 2013

Mother's Day was good. Phil made us all breakfast, we had honey yogurt parfaits with strawberries and popovers.

We dressed in our Sunday best and per tradition and my insistence we took a picture before church.
Only one head was swapped here...



Kate was too shy to go up and sing in sacrament meeting, Max was being disciplined in the hall and Rhett was giving me a run for my money. So the first hour of church wasn't the most peaceful. But typical!

The kids made cute handouts in Primary and Nursery. Max and Kate were pretty hell-bent on eating "their" candy. Part of me wanted to be selfish and tell them that it was really MY candy but that just seemed petty. They ate it. :)



Last Wednesday after work the kids gave me cards that they made with our fabulous babysitter Kara. She is the best, so thoughtful and we all love her. Thank you Kara for thinking of me. The kids were so proud and gave them to me as soon as I walked in the door, they couldn't wait until Sunday.



I napped, Phil left us all sleeping to go and study at his parent's empty house. We woke, I made dinner and life resumed as normal.

I am grateful to be a mother but know that it isn't children that give you a mother heart. My life experience has made me more aware that this day isn't or shouldn't be about celebrating just motherhood per se but rather womanhood. Motherhood is glorious and wonderful and hard and and and... BUT it isn't necessarily children that bestow the title. It is loving, serving, tending and giving. And anyone can choose to give such things to those they love and interact with. Off my soapbox now. Happy Mother's Day to all woman!

10 on 10: May 2013

One photo, every hour, for 10 hours

We wake, sippy cups of warm milk and PBS kids for them, and a protein shake for me.

Rhett has been sleeping in a bit lately. He usually hollers out "Mom! Mom! Mom!" or dad, depends on the day. You go into his room and pluck him from bed, the blankies, two of them, must accompany him. He will then rest his sweet sleepy head on your shoulder briefly. Take advantage of this and snuggle and kiss as much as you can in the time allotted.

Man, the stark quality of my iPhone pictures and my dslr camera is always staggering...

We enjoy the last of the cool weather and have a snack on the back porch.

Finally dressed and ready for our day. I am not always so put together but today we are meeting Julie, Owen and Graham at the children's museum in Mesa. They move in 2 weeks to Utah for the last year of medical school and I don't want to talk about it. So sad to have friends leave.

 

We arrive at the museum just as it opens and I am mad/sad that there are 2 school buses already there. Darn those field trips! Despite the craziness and mass quantity of children we have a good time with our friends. 

 

We stay until the last possible moment, an hour past our usual naptime. The museum's hours are not conducive to our nap schedules and Rhett didn't stand a chance of making it home awake. Thankfully he transfers well and he continued to sleep another 2.5 hours.

 

We all napped...

Finally I peel my tired bones out of bed and prep the post nap milk. Not an exciting picture but I am sure I will want to remember this little ritual.

 

I am making yogurt and it is finally down to temperature where I need to add in the starter. 

 

More snuggles, I love sleepy babies.

We kill time on the computer doing "letters" aka starfall.com.

 

Swim goggles are the latest accessory.

 

Phil gets home from work, we eat a simple meal, burritos. It always ends up that I am cooking everyone else's meal and tending to water requests, etc. They finish dinner before I even get a chance to sit down most days and eat my own. Phil takes the kids and does more starfall with them. I eat my meal in peace and then tackle the dinner mess.

We are starting a new weekend night tradition, movie night! I thought it would be fun to let the kids pick a treat at the store. It was crazy in the candy aisle! They are too easily distracted by all the choices and Rhett just kept loading bags of whatever he wanted into the basket. We compromised, picked up a bag of sour gummy worms and a bag of jelly beans.

We popped some popcorn and doled out a few treats. Movie of the night was The Lorax. Cute movie but holy propaganda! I certainly understand and can support the views of the film but it was so thick. Phil kept making remarks and I kept shushing him. The kids liked it and it was over their heads anyway.

After the movie, teeth were brushed and we scampered off to bed. Another good day.

Beat Down

This blog sits in the back of my mind all the time. Niggling and waiting. Waiting, waiting! I sit down to write and it just takes so much darn time. Editing pictures, resizing for the web, uploading to photobucket, writing... But I want to do it. I like to look back on our family happenings and this is really the only journal I keep. So I will keep trying.

I am running out of time or rather I need to manage my time more wisely. But honestly just the three kids, being a wife, running the house and my working a few times a week is all I can manage. Did you know that three toddlers are energy stealers? Truth. I get them down for bed and then look at the aftermath of the day's work/play and I just want to turn off the lights and go to bed myself. But alas, I have no magic fairies or Mary Poppin's powers. Someone's gotta do it and that someone is me. So blogging gets pushed down down down on the list but in my heart I still love you ol' blog. Just be patient with me...