Lovin' the Life

Lovin' the Life

Monday, November 7, 2011

Story Time Story

One of the libraries here has a great Story Time. I have been making the effort to go. The girls enjoy it and it is nice to get out. Plus, I get to see some people I really like when I go. Last week they had the kids wear their Halloween costumes. I mention that because that's the day I took pictures, not today.

There's Delaney in her green M&M costume, and you can barely see Rylee next to her. The lady who does the stories is great. There are also songs and finger plays, which make Rylee giggle a lot.

And then there is a craft. The kids love that part the most. I'm not very crafty, so it is fun to let someone else come up with ideas and have everything ready. Rylee's favorite part of the crafts is the glue.

Delaney loves to cut. She is very good with the scissors and stays in the lines very well. Today she did the entire craft all by herself. And it turned out nicely, and recognizable!

The girls were so good this morning for the story and craft, I pushed my luck and dragged them to the grown-ups section so I could look for some books for me. I set them up at a table to "read" their picture books and I perused the shelves. It soon became apparent this was not going to work, as I saw a hand dart out from underneath the table to snatch a book off the lowest shelf. I looked under and there was a pile of books being hoarded by 2 giggling girls. Time to go!

As I finished putting their hoard of books away, I grabbed a running-away Rylee and discovered she had no shoes on. And then I realized she had peed through her diaper. We left the library sans shoes and pants.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Hot Date!

Tonight was our Marine Corps Ball. I must say, BEST BALL EVER!! They had free (yes, FREE!) babysitting for the kids, and they had busses running every 15 minutes to take us into New Orleans and drop us off at the front door. It was fantastic. Babysitting alone for us would have cost a fortune. Plus, trying to find a babysitter willing to sit on 5 kids for 5+ hours is a truly daunting task. So this was an awesome date for us!

However, for next time, I need to remember a few things. First, know where my slip is. Going slipless was a little too free and liberating for me. Second, buy stockings more often. Ones purchased 10 year ago are lacking elasticity and may creep southward. Lastly, don't forget the corsage at home!

All dressed up! Isn't Dan handsome?!

Hanging out at the table. It was fun. The program was great. It was pretty lengthy too. I was so hungry by the time dinner came, but it was delicious!

And here is the Marine Corps 236th Birthday Cake. Yummy!

Dan and the guys from his shop. They seem like a great bunch to work with. I can see why Dan likes his job now.

And here are some sleepy children as we drove them home at 10:45pm!! I expect some grumpy kids tomorrow!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

This too shall pass

I am still working on my letters project. I'm not sure if it is the too many cut-and-pastes, or issues with the original word document, or Blurb itself, but I'm having some trouble getting the letters organized and the changes being saved. It keeps locking up as well. Good thing I'm about done!

It does mean I have been reading and re-reading the letters quite a few times. And I have to say, I am SO glad to be done with that phase of my life. I did believe my mom when she said it was not going to last forever and that it would pass, and it did! It really did. I am also really glad I wrote down what was happening in my life. I certainly do not recall this particular week, because time does have a way of making you forget how bad things were. It makes me so grateful that things do pass. That phase of life wass just that- a phase. Here, you can enjoy what life was like in 2003 and you too can be glad it has passed!

Sunday September 7, 2003

Well, this was a really crummy week. Yeah, I sure could have lived without it. Anyway, not everything, or every day was bad. Just the whole overall everything! It was mostly that Marian has been particularly fussy due to her new teeth, and she has been having a rough time at night, and naptime has dwindled to several 20 minute ones, and not a long one very often. And then Joshua has decided that 6am is an acceptable time to get up. (I would be okay with that if Marian went to bed at 8:30 with him, but she’s been up till 11pm and later. Grrrrrr.)

Monday and Tuesday were fussy, sleep deprived days, but Wednesday was the worst day ever. Marian was feeling sick for reals- she smelled like throw up first thing in the morning but I thought it was just a fluke, and I carried on as usual. I had Deborah’s quilt all tied, and now I was trimming the edges to get them ready to sew. I put down the scissors for a second and Joshua snatched them up and in less than 30 seconds he had snipped a huge hole in the shirt he was wearing (which happened to be my favorite of his!). Aaarrgh!! I was so mad! I did finish the trimming, and then I wanted to get to the library for story-time. As I was changing Joshua’s holey shirt, Marian was lying on my newly completed quilt. Suddenly she threw up everything she’d eaten; there was a 2 foot circle of spit-up all around her! Double Aaarrgh!! I decided we were going to just go, so I didn’t do anything with the quilt, I just packed the kids in the car and off we went.

20 minutes later and 15 circles around the same area, I realized that the library was not where I’d been led to believe it was. I finally found it and we went in. But Noooooo, Joshua didn’t want to be there. Do you know how hard it is to apply for a library card with a 30 pound body pushing your legs toward the door and crying “no, no, no.”, while also holding a baby?! Ug. I was disgusted. We didn’t stay for story time. We left as soon as I got the card. Since that meant we still had an hour till we were suppose to meet for Lunch, I thought hey, I’ll go to Project Love, my favorite thrift store. I was having an enjoyable perusal while Joshua played in the toy bins and just as I discovered a treasure I had to have, Joshua decided he wanted to play with something he shouldn’t. That, of course, let to a colossal temper tantrum which involved rolling around on the floor, crying, screaming, and attempts to throw down anything he could reach. Sigh. I was holding Marian, and having thoughts of dragging him out to the car and leaving him in it. But I didn’t. I left the store and waited for him to realize I was on the other side of the door. So he got up and cried bitter tears till I let him out and we went to “The Steak House” where we were to meet Dan, and Mom and Dad for lunch. We were a little early, but that was okay. I let Joshua play in the car while I nursed Marian.

You’re thinking, wow, that does sound like a rough morning, good thing life is better now that you get to have a nice lunch. YOU’D THINK SO! But it was not to be. We received some really crummy news, which was very depressing. And to make things better, Marian spit up all over me, and I do mean, all over me. My shirt was saturated, my pants were damp and it was trickling down my leg to puddle in my sandal, too. No sooner did she finish that astonishing feat, than I noticed that she had pooped completely through her diaper and her outfit. Yes, my friends, I’m sure someday I may well sit back and laugh about it, but not any time soon.

The rest of the week was not as bad- how could it have been?! Okay, Joshua did throw up red stuff on the white carpet (for the second time), and that was not good. The nights got worse. The last 2 nights I have been up walking Marian for 2 hours in the middle of the night. I don’t know if its teething pain or something else. She’s in pain, but nothings helping! And why only at night? (I’d guess because I’m already holding her most of the day.) I’m almost wondering if its an ear infection. I may call the doctor tomorrow, if tonight’s bad again. I am just so exhausted and tired that I’m really crabby and not having fun.

I’m sure good stuff happened... let me remember... This week was payday, and that was really good! Well, seriously, Joshua rode the horses this week. My mom took him on the saddle with her while she rode around the fence line, and on Saturday I finally got on the horse, too! Joshua and I rode (very sedately!) around the round pen. And Dan and I went on a date Saturday afternoon. We tried out the new “Whitewater Grill” and it was pretty good... Oh, and on the really good side, Dad and I went running this week and it felt great. My ankle is about all better, and my knee is getting there. I’m feeling good about this. We may actually get to more than a mile and a half! Yay. Ooh, mom and I went to the garage sales on Friday morning. I think its too much work for too little pay-off, but we did get a plastic tot sized picnic table for Joshua. I guess the best thing was finishing Deborah’s quilt (And it is washable, so the puke thing won’t be an issue!). It looks so great! Perhaps I’ll have to send out a picture so you, too, can be wowed and amazed at my domesticity. Another great thing is that Joshua made it all the way through church with no problems! Yay! We have been reading the picture scriptures at night and now he says prayers before bed, so maybe that’s helping with church too.

Well, that seems to be plenty long enough, so I think I’m done. I hope this week is better, another one like this last one and I may dissolve into a puddle of despair! May you have a fantastic week yourself.

Rebecca

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Halloween Festivities

The kids have been having a very good time with all their Halloween parties and things. Us parents have gone along for the ride and had varying degrees of fun with them.

The school had large slide and a smaller slide for the kids. The girls enjoyed those the most. I loved seeing these 2 come down the slide together.

Marian leaped and bounced all the way down. She looked like she was having so much fun!

At the smaller slide, Rylee scrambled right up with Delaney and then zoomed down all on her own. Then she did it again and again. What fun!

The Fall Festival had some fun booths in the gym. I had purchased 50 tickets, and we were unable to use them all up despite going through a lot of different activities! Here, Callie has used 2 tickets to paint a pumpkin. (Delaney spent a lot of time here and painted 3 pumpkins.)

Marian is a Cheetah. She painted her own face, with a little assistance from me.

We carved pumpkins on Saturday. I love that Marian is wearing her ears to do this. She picked out a bat and carved the easy parts, and did a nice job, I must say.

My two littlies at the Ward Halloween Party! I love that they grabbed their Easter buckets because they couldn't find their Halloween bags!

This is my new favorite picture! This is Delaney having a total meltdown because she didn't win the cake walk. (Nevermind that there were 5 million treats and eventually everyone won!)

Joshua was unenthusiastic about getting his picture taken, but he was much happier about doing the cake walk.

Marian was good at the pinata. She figured out she could stab it with the stick, and the guy holding the rope had to be pretty quick!

Dan took Rylee around for the Trunk or Treat and she seemed to enjoy herself.

Somehow, despite the number of kids still circling the parking lot, mine all ended up inside the van scarfing down candy. I told them to get out and get some more candy! But they didn't. Now what am I suppose to pass out on Halloween night?!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Blast from the Past

Blogger does not want to upload my pictures and I'm tired of trying. So, you only get 3 pictures instead of the 5 I wanted. If it makes you feel better, It has taken me 2 days and switching computers 3 times to even get this far! I hope you appreciate the effort.

I have realized that my life use to be a lot more interesting. I am still (sporadically) working on organizing my letters written during the year 2003 and wow! I am so glad that part of my life is over! I love my children, but yikes, the work of caring for children while having no clue what I was doing was so not fun. I still don't know what I'm doing, but since they are older, I find it much less physically and emotionally draining. I expect that will change as the teen years hit. I guess it starts off physically miserably and ends with emotionally misery?

I'm just really happy that the kids are great and doing well. I'm so glad I don't have the sleep deprivation and illness issues. Everyone sleeps all night and they rarely get sick. If they are sick, they are good enough I don't have much vomit to deal with. Plus, the discipline and tantrum issues are so much better now. Someone told me a long time ago that if you teach the first one right, the rest will follow. SO true! The little kids see what the big kids are doing and they are so much easier to deal with. Thank goodness for good big kids. As I said, life is good!

It doesn't make for good blog fodder though. I lack the motivation to blog, and with nothing interesting happening, I have not been bogging as faithfully. To tide you over till I can come up with something of actual interest, here is our growing family back when I thought I'd go nuts with lack of sleep and cranky babies.

I know, we are SO adorable! This was summer of 2006. Callie would have been 1, Marian 3, and Joshua would have been 4. Gosh, they are so cute!