Fears, yuckiness, and generally unwanted

Lately, I've been doing things I don't really want to do.

Claire's hair has always been a little out of control. It's super thin, and it stick straight on the sides and crazy curly in the back. No matter what I do, or don't do, she wakes up with a messy for in the morning. Sick of the mess and tears trying to keep it groomed, we said good bye to her locks.

She likes it! I dream of her having long, pretty locks, but it's just not meant to be right now. Sad.

Yesterday, Lindsay practically shoved me down a humongous water slide face-first. I thought I was gonna die. I try and avoid heights at all costs. Oh, you remember me jumping out of a plane five years ago? Yeah, this was pretty close to that. Dizzy, shaking, screamed the whole way down.

Cleaning up dog pooh. Yep, doing that too. Must be love.

But, even all that, among other things, is forgotten after seeing the beautiful quilt my mother-in-law made for sweet Evie. She is SO blessed, and I am so lucky to have her in our lives. And that's all for now.

Just the kiddos.

Everyday I wake up and have to remind myself I have three kids. (how did that happen?) Everyday I am so glad to have them. But it usually takes me a while to get myself up. Because they are sometimes long, lonely (lonely only because i dont get to see joe) days, with some pretty active kids. Most days, joe is gone pretty much the whole day. Like, sometimes it's three days before the kids see him for more than the 15 minutes before he leaves for work.

So most days it's me and the kids, and some days we don't do anything. But it's summer and I don't mind. Summer is for playing, snow cones, sprinklers and pools, suntans, and right now, snuggling with my baby, who is growing up entirely too fast. And it's for chasing my almost two year old, who doesn't want to wear a diaper. The little rascal.

More to come

Just my favorite snapshot from last Sunday, when baby Evie was blessed by her daddy. She was perfect the whole time (duh) and looked adorable (as always).

All the guests are gone, for a little while. But we still have dogs! The poor things get tortured constantly by my oh-so-loving children. Working on that.

Can I just say how much I love summer? It's been blazing hot, but it's better that way.

And, I can't stop eating cookies. I'm hooked on cookies. And chocolate. I put five pounds back on in the last few weeks because I can't stop. Purging my house today. It's gotta end.

More pics when I get some time, which is probably never.

My littles are literally bouncing off the walls in anticipation. My parents are on their way here with half their house in a moving truck, and Lucy and Lizzy, the doggies. And papa is coming so soon too! It'll be a very full house for a while, and I'm stoked. We like it crazy around here :)

So if things are quiet on the blog, I'll be back soon. And if it's a really long time, it's because a couple doggies ate something they shouldn't have.

And because I'm so excited, a cute picture of my parents with bubba on his blessing day. Let the crazy begin!

My buddy

I feel physically ill that she is 2.5 months old already.

She:
is trying to hold up her head.
loves nursing
is very drooly
gets giddy when nakey
would rather skip tummy time
is so patient with her adoring siblings
gets chunkier by the second
wakes up with a smile every morning, and after every nap
cries so quietly
hasn't had the hiccups for a few days

I want to eat every last bit of her. And bottle her up for later.

memory lane

luckily, there are few things in my family that any of us siblings would fight over who gets to inherit. there are definitely a few, but some of those few are random, kinda funny things. do you have those?

one of the first "major" furniture purchases that my parents made (the first?) was a set of solid wood bunk beds, that my older siblings slept in. as years passed, we have all slept on the top and bottom, and all of us left our marks on it. from the dents and scratches, to the gum that has become like cement on the corner knobs, there is a little of each of us somewhere. 

the beds were not being used anymore, and since im the one with kids, they got passed on, and claire and bubba now sleep on them. and i always have a laugh when i lay down on the bottom bunk and look up and see the slats, because i remember being there as a child, and drawing on the underside. all of us did it at some point, writing messages, coming up with things to stir things up with another sibling. im sure it drove my mother crazy, but im so grateful for those now.

the huge wood boards were replaced, sadly, but those little 2x4s are around, and i love it. and i really, really hate that my kids are in a "color on everything i can get me hands on" phase, but i really hope they will sneak away and write things on the underside when they are older. memories of childhood friends and sibling rivalry to be saved forever on those boards. 

im going through a "memory" phase right now.... can you tell? just feeling that need to get it all down and saved. 

Thoughts on Saturday night.

This picture cracks me up. This girl cracks me up. Lindsay cracks me up. (its lindsays hair.) I wonder if this is what Evie will look like? Claire with brown hair? Will evie's hair stay darker? Fun to think about....

Time is moving faster, and slower. It went so slow before joes mom came to visit, she came and I blinked and she was gone. Now it's two ish weeks til my parents come, and I can't wait any longer, it's taking too long. But wait, Evie had her two month check up.... And she is not a new born anymore! I'm being jerked around every second, I feel whip lashed some days.

I love books. I haven't been reading as much for myself lately, but I have always wanted to have children that love, love to read. Claire likes books, and loves to read with me. But sweet Caleb, that boy has never wanted to read, at least with me. Every time I have tried, he rips the book away, slams pages and starts whining. And my hopes of him loving books have been shattering little by little. Until tonight. Claire fell asleep early so I had some precious one-on-one with him, and he didn't want to get in bed til we sat on the floor with him in my lap and a stack of books and read book after book. That boy. Oh how he melts me.

Its been a rough week. A good week, but rough. I was SO spoiled by my mother in law, I could hardly handle the kids not being occupied while I nursed, pumped, or fed baby girl. I forgot in that short span what my kids do unsupervised. Oh well. We are back in it, and getting better at sticking to a schedule I can manage. Maybe. (ive been out of bed before 730 every day. This is a big deal people.) I lost it, completely broke down after listening to kids whine, pick up and clean thing after thing. And my sweet husband listened, helped me laugh it off, and helped make the bed. I luf him. So much.

And I can't stop eating ice cream. It is not helping me reach my goal of skinny jeans. Not in the slightest. It's an addiction. Hopefully admitting this will be my first step of breaking the habit....

It's Sunday tomorrow. I am so excited. I don't know why, but I am. I get my husband home all day I guess. And I already have our sacrament meeting quiet entertainment bag packed. And it includes felt dress up dolls. We did felt Velcro dolls instead of paper dolls growing up. Oh yes. And I have inherited them for Claire to play with. I'm probably more excited about it than she is!

Now to finish Saturday chores. And crash in bed, waiting for husband to come home. Nighty night!

This girl is full of beautiful smiles lately. She does seem to have SES, but we'll take it. Love love love it. And sleeping. Still. 8 weeks today, and the last few nights she's gone 9 or so hours straight.

We "officially" started potty training Caleb today. He's gone several times on the potty before getting in the tub, and has taken his diaper off and run to the bathroom on his own. He wasn't real sure about the undies at first, but I think he will like it.

Joe's mom is in town for a couple of days still. We haven't done too much, kept it low key so she could just enjoy and love on Evie girl and the older kids, but we will be getting some things in today and tomorrow for sure. she has been so helpful and generous with us, even getting up and letting me sleep in a little. So appreciatetd!

It's the weekend!

I love this face. She's saying so many things with those lips and scowl.... Love her.


And what a weekend it will be. As the start of summer officially begins, we have coming up:
Two birthday parties
Joes mom (aka yaya) is coming to visit
Cousins coming to visit
All the sibs together
Joe is off work til Monday night. This is a big deal.
Memorial day- which means BBQ!
Neighborhood pool opens- crossing fingers.
We got our pass of all passes today, so maybe trafalga at some point???

Basically it will be fantastic.
Basically, I can't wait. I really miss my hubs every day. So happy to have him home for a little bit!

Oh, and my seeeeester had a birthday. So that will be celebrated too.



As CRAZY as my kids have been driving me lately, I have been so blissfully happy the last month or so. We get to play outside, just about everyday. I get to sit and chat with friends and snack, yell at the kids to stay out of the street, enjoy the sunshine, and then drag the kids inside to bed where they fight bed time and then crash. Evie loooooves being outside on a blanket in the shade, with the breeze swishing her hair around, and she falls asleep every time. We get to water plants, kids play in sprinklers, we rub sun block everywhere, they ride bikes, and build an endless number of sand castles and dig the deepest holes. Summer really is the best. Here's to hoping for a loooong summer, and lots of fun!

girlie girl

So many funny things. Claire is starting to understand boy vs. girl..... Which has lead to a lot of funny conversations. Especially because Claire is such a Tom boy sometimes. I think Evie is going to be a little more girlie than her sister.

The last two weeks have been rough trying to keep the kids from being outside 24/7. Mornings we spend inside and the afternoons are usually outside. It's been so fun, and Claire just loves her little friends. Even Evie loves hanging out in the shade feeling the breeze. Can't wait for the pools to open!