Oatmeal??

A new way to eat oatmeal for breakfast. Delicious! Check it out here.

Lessons

Lately I've been learning a lot of lessons. Lessons that probably would have seemed really hard if they were in any previous time in my life. Okay not really hard...maybe just a little difficult. Learning how to balance 2 children, a husband with a job, and my own needs and wants is definitely a puzzle. I have found that I can get by on the basics, like cereal for breakfast, jammies all day, popping in a movie for luci when I'm tired, making frozen ravioli, saving jobs for Jacob to do when he get's home, etc... But I enjoy my life so much more when it pushes me to my limits. When I plan fun adventures, yummy food, when I read good books, have meaningful scripture study, plan interesting crafts and activities, look pretty for my husband, take care of my home, and really soak in every moment with my children.

This is all interesting to me because while I find that I enjoy my life more, I am also tremendously tired at the end of every day, and some moments are really stressful as I try to be intentional in everything that I do. Sometimes it's because I don't plan good enough, or I plan too much. It's hard to fail and have your day blow up in your face. Something my dad taught me though is that, "if you don't get hurt sometimes then you're not trying hard enough". So, I've been pushing myself and praying for strength. Strength to push through the tired moments with a smile on my face, to not complain when I want to , to be okay with the times that I do get hurt. I really have to rely on the Lord, especially when I'm starting to lose patience. You say, "how could I ever lose patience with that sweet little curly haired red head" well, I'm sorry to say that sometimes I do. She doesn't deserve it though.

A few things that have really helped me lately to have perspective in this phase of my life as a young mother are

1. Country Music...yes it's true. They're always singin' about how "you're gonna miss this" you know, when you're kids grow up. It's so true though. My babies are going to be 24 and I'm going to be 50 before I know it.

(She's practically 24 and mothering me already)

2. Other's experiences that have been or are much more difficult than mine. I listened to an episode of Everything Creative on the Mormon Channel yesterday. It was about a mother with an amazing story. She had some really hard things to handle, and yet she did it creatively. It was Episode 7. Listen to it when you have a little while, maybe while you're folding laundry...

3. The Scriptures. We're studying the old testament in Sunday School, and we have a great teacher... Anyway, the children of Israel had some pretty stinkin' hard trials. The women who traveled with Nephi and Lehi too. Bearing children in the wilderness, surviving on raw meat, yucK! Okay, and the ultimate example and heroine to me is Eve. The first woman on earth, no parenting books to read, no internet to look up what to do when your child's temp. is 105 degrees. Not even a mother to call to ask for help. No one to babysit while she ran some errands, or planted her garden. Wow, I really am glad that she did it, and not me.

So, even though I'm tired, I love my life. And I know that I'm doing what I'm supposed to. When I'm intentional about it I feel so much better.

Can't...Keep...My....Eyes....Open

I'm really, really tired right now. But here goes a post, b/c I love all of you so much...
It was his birthday last Saturday...the tall dreamy red headed one. We are still dreaming about all the yummy free food we enjoyed that day. Graeter's, Red Robin, mmm. He's 26! Now that is crazy. How does time fly by so fast. I love celebrating birthday's especially his, since I get to spoil him and he can't say no. He likes to refuse from taking a break off of cleaning for the day...but I can actually insist on his birthday. I love you babe.


Luci had quite a dramatic experience in the ER last week. Her temp. got up to 105... let me tell you, not something fun to watch on the thermometer as the numbers just keep rising. So, I was freaking out. Thankfully Jacob met me there. They thought she had a UTI, but we found out on Friday that it must have just been a virus. So, all the shots, and the catheter were for nada...but I am glad they did it just in case. I just feel bad for luci. What a sad pic...She fell asleep right after the shots. She was at the hospital for almost 4 hours. It was traumatic for all of us. Thankfully we didn't have to bring Elijah there.Mom came to visit! A surprise visit :) Too bad she left the morning of the day we had the ER experience. I love my mamba. We had a great time together. We even got to go get Indian Food, something that both of our husbands are not a fan of. It was amazing...

Kentucky and Mother's Day

Click on the picture to enlarge

The kid's and I (that is so weird to say) went to visit our friends in KY on a whim while Jacob took his last two finals. It's so nice to have friends that let you come with one or two days notice. We had such a great time :) We talked, fed ducks, and relished in how much alike we are. Parenting styles, cooking techniques, testimonies, etc... At first Luci and JoAnn played together very well, but silently. It wasn't until they figured out that each other could talk that they really hit it off. Thank you for a great trip!

Mother's day was great. Filled with my favorite foods and people. I even got flowers this year. Wild flowers from our back yard. The first time there have been flowers on my table since we moved here (besides the lovely flowers from my friends at church).

Here's a funny one:

Missing

Our internet hasn't been working, and Jacob has been taking the computer to school for finals. So, I'm very behind in the blogging world. Here are a few pictures to make you happy. Elijah fell asleep in the bumbo today while I was doing dishes. That man, likes his sleep. He's still an angel baby, but cuter now because he smiles at me. Luci's hair is finally long enough some pony tails! Can you tell she likes them? She especially loves staring into the mirror and admiring them. She asks for them every day now. She is such a big girl, it breaks my heart. Jacob got me a book from the library called, "You're not the Boss of Me"... It's much needed since Luci has become quite the boss lately. I just need to channel the independence right?? Love that girl :)

Buckle up...here come pictures

What have we been up to? Nana and Pop-Pop came to visit. Eli was blessed. Luci had a birthday cake. Swimming. Barbecuing. Sleeping. Playing outside. Etc...

What a special day. Thanks for an awesome experience Jacob and Eli.



Luci wanted a ladybug cake again this year, so I decided to change it up a little this year. I made banapple cake again with cream cheese frosting. The ladybugs are chocolate softies with whoppers on top. Mm those chocolate softies are delish, thanks for the recipe Deanna.
B...anca and Wyatt are some of Luci's favorite friends :) Even though their parents like to ditch me when I'm not looking..ha ha, just kidding.
Luci likes to stare at people when they're having fun. I'm not sure why. She does it at the park...instead of playing she stands in the middle and watches everyone else play?? silly girl.
This handsome boy has slept 6-6.5 hours straight at night! Thank you Elijah :)
Luci loves helping me and pretending like she is a mama. She needs a miniature mommy everything. She begs and begs to use the boppy nursing pillow while I'm feeding E, she steals the burp cloth, puts on my bras, and as you can see here pushes eli in her baby's stroller. She really is a great helper. She's been doing awesome as a big sister. Ps. Thanks for the outfit Rachel V. and Wendy!

Party Time

Say Cheese Birthday Girl!

Today Luci turned 2! She was so excited when she woke up to find a bunch of balloons in her room. Jacob told her happy birthday and for the rest of the day she kept saying, it's party time! and happy my birthday! She got to have monkey bread for breakfast, but of course she still asked for grapenuts... we asked her what she wanted for dinner and she said, "a smoothie please". So she had a green drink :) We made cupcakes with our friends, vanilla chiffon with lemon buttercream, yum. Thanks for coming over to celebrate with us! And thanks for all the calls we got today from family!



We got her a soccer ball and while we were outside kicking it around she saw the dog next door. The dog was scratching his ear, and Luci thought it was hilarious! She thought the dog was dancing because she kept saying, "He's shaking his booty!" She also told me, "mom, you're crazy" and "okey dokey artichokey" today. I'm really not sure where she get's all these sayings. Our favorite these days is when she says "see ya later racoon" instead of "see ya soon racoon", or "see ya later aligator". Love you Darlin'! Don't grow up too fast!