Sprouting

Nate took the kids to Lowe's a few nights ago to get some stuff for the lawn. They came home with a few extra things...namely seeds. The kids were so excited to plant some tomatoes, sunflowers, and a few others I can't recall at the moment. They kept the little pots in their rooms till they sprouted, and now they are invading my counter, but how can I not let them have a place in the kitchen? Those little sprouts are bringing Jansen and Natalie such joy. Natalie thanks Heavenly Father in her prayers that her seeds are growing.

 I am so supportive and happy that the  kids are having this experience. I wouldn't have done it with them on my own, so I'm very grateful to Nate for the ways that he enriches our kids' lives in ways that I don't.

 Speaking of dirt, Natalie wore these pants for just a couple hours one morning. And she got this dirty. Oh that girl. I was having a really rough time with her tonight. She uses a baby voice that curdles my insides, and there are a few other silly, insignificant things that drive me totally nuts. To the point where I was just closing my eyes, breathing, and literally praying to have the strength to be patient. I wanted to explode. And believe me, I didn't completely keep my cool. Now that I've had a moment to regroup, I need to go in and kiss that sweet little one and give her an extra squeeze. 

Jansen

Tonight Jansen said our family prayer. This was a line from his prayer:
"Please help Natalie to continue to believe in you (Heavenly Father) and Jesus."

After he finished, Natalie blew up. "I do believe in Jesus!!! Why did you say that?!"

Jansen says, "That's why I said 'continue' to."

Oh boy, I laughed.

***

The other night Nate was on the phone and he was telling his mom about his work schedule. At one point he said, "...but other than that, I'm pretty flexible."

I heard Jansen say quietly, "You don't want to brag. Dad, don't brag."

I didn't understand why he would say that, so I said, "Jansen, he's not bragging."

Jansen then says, "Well he said he was pretty flexible."

Chews. Or Shoes.

Chews is how Emmy says it. 

And she'll take them any way she can get them. Big, small, boots, sandals, mine, Jansen's. She just likes to wear them.

 I too love shoes. These are my new $5.99 sandals. The toenails need some attention, and the legs need some color, but I am loving the shoes.

More Stuff

Somewhere along the way Emmy figured out that I want her to smile when I point the camera at her. This is one of her grin-on-command faces:

 I snapped a picture of Jansen working on his valentines for school. Earlier in the month he had big plans for an 8 1/2 x 11 handmade, personalized valentine for each kid in his class. I didn't have the heart to totally shut down the idea, but thankfully the idea fizzled out on its own. It would have been just too much work.

 Well these two cats went on a double date to the Cheesecake Factory with the Comins. The food was so awesome...as was the service and the company. We did get a call from a teary Jansen who was missing us, but he was pretty easily consoled. We both look so tired in this picture! 

 At 6:00 this morning I turned to Nate and asked if he wanted to sleep in one morning this weekend and I would sleep in the other day. I chose to sleep in right then, so I escaped to the guest room and slept until 7:30. When I woke up, he had fed the kids breakfast and they were getting ready for an outing to the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. I was going to have the morning (and afternoon) to myself! 

After they left I went on a little run. I am doing this 5K next Saturday. It will be so fun, but I am still not ready. I have found that the only way to get myself to exercise is to sign up for something like this. I have to put my money where my mouth is, and I am way too prideful to show up to a race not having run at all. 

Tonight was stake conference. Nate went to the adult session, and I stayed home with the kids. I actually love stake conference and would have loved to have gone, but we didn't want to get a sitter 2 nights in a row. Instead, the kids and I had some fun with a blanket on our dirty floor. I pulled them around (okay for maybe like 4 minutes) and got lots of laughs from Emmy. I'm now going to seal the deal and end this night with chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream, and hot fudge. 

Valentine's Dinner

Him + Me = LUCKY ME

My friend Becca had been craving a turkey dinner, so she invited some of the families she "loves" over for a Valentine's dinner on Sunday. Oh goodness, it was delicious. We threw the kids in the backyard so they could enjoy their meal without the parents bugging them. Or maybe it was the other way around. Can't quite remember.

 After dinner the kids decorated sugar cookies. 

 Becca also printed up a paper with each child's name on it. We passed them around and everyone wrote what they loved best about his/her friend. Jansen had some funny answers, surprise, surprise. Like, "I like how Natalie is so sensitive." And, "Casen is very interesting." And Emmy just cried. We didn't do one for the little one year olds. And thank goodness, because Emmy's spelling is horrendous.

 A mom picture. These girls live in another area of Las Vegas, but they are so good to me and invite me to all their fun-ness.

 One of the greatest parts of a get together. Throwing children of all ages and abilities on the floor and trying to get a picture. No small feat. Still must be attempted.

In Case Grandmas Check the Blog Tomorrow

Before I forget....hilarious moment of the day occurred when Nate and I walked into the mudroom and found Natalie brushing Jansen's hair with the toilet brush.

The next few seconds went something like this, "Natalie!!!! Stop!!! THAT IS THE TOILET BOWL BRUSH. I USE THAT TO CLEAN POOP THAT'S IN THE TOILETS!!! Oh gross. Why were you using that!?" 

And then Nate and I just looked at each other and laughed. Super disgusting. 

We play in the sandbox a lot. These are the months that living in Vegas is downright awesome. Yes, those are flip flops and short sleeve shirts.

 We ride bikes after school a few times a week. Sometimes I send out a mass text message to all the moms within a half mile or so to tell them we're out riding. It's so much more fun when friends come to play and I have someone to talk to. It's not unusual for everyone to abandon the bikes and just play in the rocks though.

 Seems like there's been a lot of birthday parties lately. Jansen went to a Nerf gun war party and had an awesome time.

 We're still going to church. :)

Just a few more weeks until Emmy starts Nursery. 

 Emmy had her buddy Diesel over. Stickers are courtesy of her loving, older sister.

 Natalie and Paisley LOVE to collect "treasures." We will go to a playground and they will not set foot on the playground equipment the entire time. They just run around collecting stuff off the ground. On this afternoon they were collecting the "pretty" rocks from the backyard. This just makes me laugh because every rock back there is basically the same. But not to them!

 They had pajama day at preschool...

 And Emmy continues to wreak havoc anywhere and in any way she can. I am soooo over the emptying the bookshelves phase.

New Parenting Book

I love parenting books. I know not all moms do, but I just feel like I need all the help I can get. They are interesting to me. Some I disagree with, some I never finish, and some I wish were permanently embedded in my brain, and I could recall their wisdom at a moment's notice. Just got this one in the mail:

I'm on page 6, but I can tell it's a good one. And it's already addressing what I could have done better when Jansen came home in tears the other day because he didn't gather as many "fire beans." It recommends making him eat them. (just kidding.)

Sometimes I feel like time is slipping through my fingers...the time I have to show my children how much I love them, the time I need to build a relationship that will last (and thrive) through their teens, to prepare them for when they are on their own in the world. When they have children of their own what will they remember about my mothering? What will I have done right? What will they decide to do differently?

I'm liking this quote:

"If we take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves."

-Maria Edgeworth, Irish author

Isn't that awesome? The truth in it just rings in my ears. Applies to my relationship with Nate as well. Actually, it has endless applications. My physical health, spiritual growth, all family relationships...I'm going to remember this one.

If I'm Going to Park Myself in Front of the Computer...

I should at least blog or something.

I always have grand plans for after the kids go to bed. And after the last one has fallen asleep, "the day" hits me and I'm out of commission. So much for exercising, catching up on laundry, and meal planning. I think I'll just sit in front of the computer. 

We went to an indoor playplace today called Kinder Land. It was about 30 minutes away, and we could only stay about an hour and a half because I had to be back for Emmy's nap. It was really fun to chat with another mom, but I was surprised at how behind I felt after being gone all morning. There's so much to do to keep a household running! I used to do outings like that all the time, but now I feel like life is more complicated. I have to spend more and more of my time on the basics: feeding, cleaning, etc.

Jansen came home from school in tears today that he hadn't gathered as many "fire beans" as his friend. Fire beans are just big red seeds. It was my friend's day for carpool, and he had been crying in the car most of the way home. How do I handle situations like this? How do I tell him that it's not very age appropriate to be crying about something like that? I know he is still young, but it all seemed so ridiculous to me. Another example of something he may cry about is finding out that Natalie had a sucker during the day while he was at school. I guess the underlying idea that he is having to learn lately is that life's not always fair. 

Nate and I went on a date last weekend. Just dinner and frozen yogurt, but we loved being alone together. We're really trying to make date night happen more regularly. Sometimes it feels selfish...leaving the kids, spending money...but I have finally come to the realization that it is not! Date night is so highly encouraged by  our church leaders that I now know it's a wonderful way to spend our time and money! No guilt necessary. 

I'm on a reading kick, and every single day I look forward with great anticipation to the moment I can snuggle in bed with my book and a snack. I just finished the second Fablehaven and am now reading War Horse. A couple recent favorites are Half Broke Horses and Still Alice.

Probably enough rambling for one night!

Touch and Feel

Emmy's new trick is climbing on the kitchen chairs. She's good at it, but it makes me nervous. There are many days that I just lay them on the floor so she can't climb. 

Something else that's making me laugh lately...she has a little touch and feel book called "Little Feet Love." It has lots of different textures for little feet to touch. The problem is, we have lots of those touch and feel type books, and now she only wants to rub the pictures with her feet. 

"Come and meet the animals on the farm. Feel the chick's soft fluffy feathers..." And up comes Emmy's little foot to stroke the chick. 

Sister Act

When I went to get Emmy out of bed this morning, she had thrown up at some point in the night. Prune chunks. Everywhere. This always disturbs me. How long did she sleep in all that? Did I sleep through her cries? Thankfully, she was happy and healthy all day and didn't appear to harbor any ill will towards me. 

Since Natalie and Emmy are 3 years apart, I have wondered when and how they would actually play together. Turns out it's happening earlier than I thought. These two fight like apes. Natalie loves to hear Emmy squeal with displeasure. But they have a lot of fun together too. Emmy doesn't want to go in the backyard unless her Natalie is with her.

Natalie is very patient when Emmy wants to be a right in her sister's personal space.

Did I blog about how Natalie recently whispered in Emmy's ear, "Let's sneak up on mom and steal some money." Oh this is going to be fun.

 Haha, this was a good one. Watching them lose their suckers in the bubble mania and finally retrieve them, trade them, dunk them again. No more suckers in the tub, that was a bad idea.

I don't have the heart to tell Natalie that Emmy is saying Jansen's name. It sounds like this: Njin.