Pictures

Stuffed - Rose LOVED her chocolate chip cookie

Cute Claire, helping me with the laundry

Silly boy - boots, a cookie, no pants, what a life!

Rosie, sucking the chocolate off her fingers.

Regression

How did this happen? How did I go from being the mom who put her child in the highchair, used a bib and a strict feeding schedule, careful to adhere to the proper foods fed from the proper bowl and spoons to the mom who puts her kid on the kitchen floor, naked, with a chunk of bread and let's the baby "have at it". Or the mom who hardly even uses bibs and the high chair is optional.

When did I become the mom that realized kids really don't need a daily bath, they can wear the same thing for a couple of days, and it's OK! Or when "nap time" turns into, "whenever and wherever the kid happens to fall asleep is ok by me". I have also become the mom who lets her kids use their tennis rackets to whack at a pile of dirt and not worry about them being ruined, because, who really cares!? When are they ever going to be used properly in the first place? And who really cares if the kids are still in their pj's at lunchtime or we go to bed with the living covered in a Fisher Price people village? What have I become?

There are a few things that I will never give up on: the kids hair WILL be fixed before we go out, clean faces and clothes are a must (unless they're hard at play outside), and my house (couch, walls, floor, carpet, etc) are NOT napkins and food WILL stay in the kitchen. I will not let my kids drive my house to rack and ruin, but some things simply don't matter.

Let's just say that kids have taught me a valuable lesson in letting go.

8

Well folks, it's been eight years since Ryan and I tied the knot. It's hard to believe how fast time goes, but then again, that's what everyone says.

This morning at 7am, with a baby sleeping soundly between us, Ryan and I patted each other on the arm from across the bed with sleepy eyes and I groggily mumbled, "happy anniversary...it's hard to believe that 8 years ago, we would be getting ready to drive over to the temple and today, we're exhausted from getting up several times with a hungry baby and a kid crying because he almost peed in the bed." We greeted the morning with the kids playing with the Fisher Price people in the hallway, starting at about 5:30am. Happy anniversary to us! I guess this is where we knew we would be now, but it's hard to really imagine it when your 21 and life is just starting.


We've had a good run so far. I just wonder where we'll be eight years from now...I can tell you though, I never thought I would be living in Illinois, so who knows what's next for us.

SAHM

Beautiful Claire

I'm reading the book, In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms by Dr. Laura, right now. It's been fun to read and is a good book - definitely brings in more reassurance that what I'm doing by staying home with my kids is the right thing. I've never doubted that is was right in the first place, but it still feels good to read why. Something I hadn't really thought much about, was how there are so many moments throughout the day, that remind me how special my kids and life are. Funny phrases from William like "Mom, are you making dinner or something?" to Claire's imaginative world and stories to go along, and Rosie's sweet smiles and funny sounds. I can't imagine missing these unplanned moments.

Funny William

Sweet Rose

Earth Day Birthday

Yesterday was a big day in our house - the man of the family hit the big 3-0. I was sure to remind him of that throughout the day, as I'm sure he will do next year when I turn 30. We had a special day filled with cinnamon (almost allspice - I NEED a spice rack, I tell you) rolls for breakfast, decorations, a trip to the Botanical Garden in the afternoon, stuffed cabbage for dinner (at Ryan's request), presents, special phone calls, and root beer floats. Everyone had a fun day and thankfully, the weather cooperated.


At this point in the blog, I should get all sappy and write about how awesome my husband is, etc., which he is, but that kind of thing embarrasses me. So I'll just say, Ryan - you're awesome and I'm glad I found you. If I have to be married to a 30-year-old man, I'm glad it's you. And aren't you a lucky Oregonian boy to be sharing your birthday with Earth Day? All I can say is, Save Keiko! To quote the old lady on the news, "When you have something that special in your life, it's hard to let go". Just kidding; hope you had a great day - you rock (and unlike Keiko, you're parasite fee, and isn't that something to be thankful for?). Happy birthday!

Cookie Compost

Diapers hanging out to dry.

At William's request, we made gingerbread cookies last night for our Family Home Evening treat, except that we made cinnamon cookies instead. He only thought they were gingerbread - the difference? The cinnamon cookies were easy and sweet so that they didn't require any icing like gingerbread does. Here's the recipe:

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2-3/4 cups flour
1/3 cup ground cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. Combine flour and cinnamon; gradually add to creamed mixture. Cover and refrigerate one hour. Roll out and cut as usual. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

The kids love to help me bake and things usually go well, except I made the mistake of leaving William in charge of working the speed of the mixer. Kitchen Aids can spin VERY fast.

But the baking must go on...

The kids are expert cooking cutters - they did an excellent job with little help.

They turned out yummy; we had ducks, hearts, and little men.

Even Rose enjoyed them. She stole this one out of her daddy's hand.

Having been born in October in Illinois, baby girl has not spent a lot of time out doors. The weather has been beautiful lately, so I took her out for a little photo shoot. She was sporting a little dress I whipped up for her out of some leftover fabric a few weeks back. It's still a little too big - it's meant for this summer. Problem was, she was so interested in the grass, that I couldn't get her to look up - and the lighting was weird.

First feel of grass (and a wild violet)

Humoring mom.

I LOVE baby backs! She looked so tiny sitting there.

A little smile - so cute!

William loves Tuesday mornings, because that means cookies for breakfast! He usually helps himself to a few before we can stop him. There's not much cuter than a little man, running around the house in dinosaur pajamas with a little belly poking out and bed-head. I will miss this when he grows up.

I have wanted a compost pile since we moved into our house, but we just didn't know how or where. We still don't, but we're not going to let that stop us. I started making a pile on our side yard, but Ryan wasn't too thrilled with the pile of garbage as he called it, so he made a phone call last night and went and picked me up a free barrel and then some hardware. And voila - a compost bin. I have loaded it up with leaves (raked from the lawn of the empty house behind ours), some grass clippings, kitchen scraps, egg shells, manure and a few twigs. Despite having read a book from the library on this, I still don't know what I'm doing. Oh well, that's how we learn, right?

Thanks Ryan - I love it!

Feeling Springy

Looking at my blog, I realized that my last post has been sitting there almost a week, in all its negativism. It was written in a moment of hastiness; that doesn't make it any less true, but it's not the most positive of topics. I admire those women who's blog are so beautiful, happy and uplifting. I'll admit, I'm not the best about always staying positive. But onto something else. My lack of post is due to the fact that I just didn't have any good pictures to share, I still don't, but I can't let that stop me.

We had a fun weekend of the usual stuff. Ryan spent Saturday turning our lawn from this:

Into this:

It took him all of Friday evening and most of Saturday morning. Those weeds were not going down without a fight. The kids and I spent the day playing and working. We painted rocks, baked, I sewed a lot, and then the usual cleaning. Here are some pictures of our day:

A rock car I painted for William; he was pleased.

I had a bunch of leftover flannel from another project, so I turned it into some diaper changing pads and bibs for Rose - nothing fancy and very quick

Time to go; duty calls (and by "duty", I mean laundry). It's a beautiful spring day out - maybe I'll hang my clothes on the line outside. Enjoy your day.

Out of my way, Grandpa!

I remember a time when I was single, that when I needed food, I would run over to Macey's. It would take me 5 minutes to get there and into the store where I would sling a small hand basket over my arm and 10 minutes and $20 later, I would have a weeks worth of groceries. Everything I needed in one store with a working shopping cart and someone to bag my groceries. The whole trip from my apartment to apartment door only took 20 minutes. Oh, what times I had...

Fast forward to today. I am on a strict cash budget in which every Wednesday, I go to the ATM and take x-amount of money out and that is all I have to spend for the week on everything, apart from utilities, other bills, etc. Then I take my cash and two small children and we spend the next two to three hours engaged in the shopping trip from h-e-double-hockey-sticks.

Just imagine: a young mother without much arm strength, hauling a 20 pound infant in a 10 pound infant carrier across a dangerous parking lot full of old people attempting to drive and park (o, help us) while trying to keep a preschooler from killing himself as he dashes ahead, all the while the mother is blinded by her hair as it whips across her face due to the cursed wind and to top it all off, her shoelace comes untied almost causing her to plow head-first into the pavement (all the while carrying the baby). THEN, after battling with the quarter-slot thing on the shopping cart, she elbows her way through ALDI (a super-cheap grocery store with only the bare bones of groceries - awesome prices though - just don't EVER buy their hot dogs...shudder...) which is full of old people who seem to think they're on holiday and loading pallets blocking half the aisles. Then after getting and bagging her own groceries, it's back across the parking, loading the groceries into the too-small trunk, and then back again to turn in the shopping cart and get the quarter back. Then back across the lot only to find that a mini-van has park 12 inches from the side of the car in which the baby seat is loaded into. This results in loading the baby in from the other side, causing the young (and by this time, losing it) mother to smash her knee on some cursed piece of plastic from one of the many car seats smashed in the back seat.

Then...yes that's right, it starts all over again at yet another grocery store to pick up the few things that she can't find at ALDI. Shopping carts, heavy babies, running preschoolers, wind and hair everywhere, check-out lines with slow, chatty checkers, more parking lots, stuffing groceries into small trunks, more hair...it's the stuff nightmares are made of.

By the time we get home, Rose is wet and hungry, I'm bruised and hungry and William is begging for food and about to pass out. This is our Wednesday ritual. This doesn't include all of the other little shopping trips to pick up random things at Target, holiday/birthday shopping and all of the other millions of errands moms have to run. I know what I want for Mother's Day; I want ONE week free of grocery shopping. I want Ryan to take the kids and go for me...that would be a true gift.

However horrible it all is, nothing is worse than taking two kids, a stroller, and pull-cart on the bus to do the shopping in downtown St. Louis - talk about REAL nightmares.

All this in the name of saving money. It's worth it right? Right?

Bath Seat Mania

I've had many people tell me how much my kids look alike. I'll admit that they do, but then so do a lot of siblings. I have a good friend who's babies look so much alike that I can't tell them apart as babies unless I'm told who is who (ahem...Stephanie). Though mine do look similar, same skin color, hair, shape of body and face, etc., they all have different eyes. Claire looks the most like Ryan, though at times when I see Claire at church or running around with other kids, for a split second, I think I'm looking at myself. It's a very weird sensation. Rose and William look the most alike of the three. But when it comes down to it, they're all cute, chubby bugs. Can you tell which kid is which? And if you can tell by my bathroom tile because you lived in the exact same student housing, that doesn't count.




That bath seat has gotten a lot of use. See? I don't throw everything away.

Weekend Recap

Today is Claire's last day of spring break. Honestly, I really enjoyed having her home all week - not having to worry about the bus, making lunches and doing homework. We filled our week with a trip to the park, the Science Center, errands, the library a couple of times, playing outside on the ONE nice day last week, play group, hanging out with friends, a trip to the doctor's office, church and most importantly, working and playing at home.

We had a great Easter weekend. The kids hunted for eggs Sunday morning and then we had stake conference. There were some great talks (I like the one by Elder Oaks) and afterwords, we had a nice Easter dinner of Hungarian Goulash (we are not ham people). Then it was egg salad sandwiches for dinner.

I love this picture - William eating chocolate, holding his new toothbrush - nice.

Dying eggs

Despite William getting some sort of lymph node infection and Rose and I getting a cold, it was a great spring break.

As I'm sure most of you are, we are making cut-backs in our spending for many reasons. Every year at about this time, I get a sense of budgetary renewal. I get determined to cut back to the bare bones and save, save, save. Well, what always ends up happening is one of two things - something major breaks and we have to spend all of the money we saved fixing it, or I get so fed up with watching every penny I spend that I give up for the most part and just do what I can without really thinking about where the money is going. Thankfully, we are in not in any type of financial trouble (just the usual house and student stuff). However, instead of looking at this cutting back as a burden, I try to look at as a game.

For your sake, I won't get detailed about what I'm doing here, but my point is, I have found that my attitude is what makes such a HUGE difference in how I go about this. Also knowing that Ryan will not be a student forever (only 1-2 more years), helps me endure the challenges of being a student's wife.

The other half of this quest is that I am determined to quit buying junk from the big-box stores and hunt for bargains and vintage stuff online and in thrift stores, etc. We found Claire awesome bike on Craig's list and today when I needed to buy a mixing bowl since my cheap one from K-mart I bought when I was single finally cracked, I didn't run over to Target as I normally would, but I wend to a second-hand/antique store and bought a beautiful white glass mixing bowl.

Claire's bike which is solid and works great - she learned to ride it last week.
She just needs a little help getting started.

Shopping takes a little longer this way, but it's like a treasure hunt and it feels good knowing that what I'm buying keeps it from going into a landfill and it's not wasting materials making new things. Hopefully I don't get tired of this game and it will eventually turn into a way of life, not a passing fancy.

Hope everyone had a happy Easter!