Super Excited!

I’ve been saving all my pennies and then throwing in birthday/Christmas/every other occasion you would get a present for I bought myself this:

And I’m super excited about it!

Goals

The kids have all been working on goals really hard for the past 6 months or so and they’ve been able to accomplish a lot of really great things.

Some of our goals were mastering piano pieces.

The end of last month I had a piano recital for the couple of students I teach. It was a lot of fun for the kids to be able to play the grand piano on a stage. I was super proud of each of them because they all did a wonderful job. But I was especially excited for Samuel. We (and I think I can safely say we because I sit right beside him on the piano bench every morning at 6:30 a.m.) worked really hard and he played 6 songs from memory and did a fabulous job. The kid has nerves of steal and absolutely no fear when it comes to performing. It was just so fun to watch him play so well. My soul LOVES piano and it’s pure joy for me to see my son set a goal to master several pieces, work so hard and then play so beautifully!

Another goal was learning a song to sing in the Primary Program.

The Primary President asked if Samuel and Bella would sing a song for the Primary Program. I said sure, but in my heart I was a little nervous for a few reasons. Bella is reserved and gets nervous and Samuel is more than willing to do whatever, but he has a hard time staying on pitch plus the song I Wonder When He Comes Again has some pretty high notes and the kids didn’t know the words. But the kids set a goal, drew up their charts and got to work. The day of the program came and I was so proud of Bella because this was really hard for her, but she did it. Indeed they were off pitch during some of the high parts, but they were really cute doing it! A year ago Bella wouldn’t have done this, but since we’ve been working on goals she has realized we have to do hard things. When you’re nervous, you pray and then you must be courageous. Such wonderful lessons to learn at a young age. The Primary Program was the same weekend as the piano recital so it was fun to have my mom and dad be here for the kids. 

 

I wanted to write a post during the summer about my goal titled: Someplace Warm Must Have Frozen Over – a little irreverent I know, but that’s how I felt! I actually bought a pair of running shoes and started running with Samuel this summer. Every morning some of the kids would go out exercising with me. Samuel and I would run and Bella would ride her bike along. I Am NOT a Runner – never have been! But I really enjoyed getting out with the kids and actually liked that I could run for a short distance without dying. My goal – now remember I’m not a runner – was to run to the end of the trail and back home – not quite 2 miles. Yeah short distance, but HUGE for me! The morning I was set to do it Samuel came with me. He didn’t know we were running to the end of the trail, but when he discovered that’s what we were doing he was not happy. He started complaining that he was thirsty, he couldn’t go on, we had to stop, but I told him there was no way I was stopping so he better keep going. Then he started to cry and I about lost it laughing when he dramatically cried, “I was just fine, but now I’m going to die! I’m really going to die!” I assured him he wasn’t going to die, but that we can do hard things and we just needed to keep going. I grabbed his hand and the two of us ran back home chanting “I can do it” and “I can do hard things”. He was so proud of himself when we got back home and I was proud of both of us. I’m still not a runner, probably never will be, but even running a little is a major accomplishment for me!

We keep setting goals for ourselves and it’s been a great thing for all of us.

Oh Yuck!

So this story is a little yucky and pardon the photo, but I need to record this because it’s just too good.

Bella is so helpful and independent, sometimes so much so it causes me angst and this was one of those occasions. Bella and Jenna were upstairs playing and Isaac was in the kitchen with me. Isaac decided to venture upstairs to see what the girls were doing. A few minutes later Isaac comes to the top of the stairs and is hollering that the baby has poop all over her back. I’m thinking to myself how could she have poop on her back she’s got a diaper on. Then I see the baby come to the stairs and she’s not wearing a diaper! I start excitedly asking why doesn’t the baby have a diaper on at which point Bella runs out of the bathroom and hollers with disgust in her voice that the baby pooped on her. Now I’m running up the stairs because I can just picture in my mind the mess that’s getting on my carpet excitedly hollering all sorts of questions as I run, “What do you mean the baby pooped on you?”, “Why is her diaper off?”, etc. 

Once I got the girls back into the bathroom, off the carpet, accessed the damage then I was able to have Bella tell me the complete story. The baby had said she needed to go potty, which she sometimes does, so Bella decided to help her. She took her diaper off and tried to help her get on the potty, but the baby did her thing while Bella was trying to lift her up and yes, poop hit the floor, but it mostly hit poor Bella. Then Bella being the independent girl she is tried to get things cleaned up and it just got worse from there as the baby tracked it around. Thank goodness Isaac went to see what the girls were doing or who knows what would have happened by the time I discovered the situation! The bad thing is that we had to be to gymnastics in 20 minutes and everyone needed to be showered off, floor scrubbed and carpet cleaned. Somehow we made it and I told Bella I loved that she helps the baby so much, but when it comes to going potty mommy MUST help!

Mean!

MEAN!

This has become Jenna’s favorite and most frequently used word. The first time we heard her utter “Mean!” was as she came running from our bedroom blazing mad at Chuck because he was trying to get out the door and couldn’t meet her demands of being held. I had to suppress a laugh because watching the baby call her daddy mean, who by the way is about as far away from mean as a person can possible get, was kind of funny. But now the word mean is used to describe everyone in the household more times than I care to count each day. Jenna spends all day running up to me and hollering “MEAN!” followed quickly by the offending persons name “MEAN! I-E (what she calls Isaac)” is her favorite. The kids think it’s hilarious so they try and get her to call them mean or their favorite is for her to call me Mean Mommy. 

Now the funny thing about Jenna calling everyone mean, is that she is fighter of the family. She can throw a whack faster than you can see it coming usually accompanied by an ear piercing scream as she starts swinging.

Oh, we love this baby – orneriness and all!

Tea Party

It’s been awhile since I sat down to blog. Lots of busy fun things going on, but my mom really wanted to see Bella’s birthday pictures so this is for you!

This was the one we used for her invitation.

I can hardly believe my little girl turned 5 last month. There is something that just seems so big about turning 5.

Bella is our little sweetheart. I really think I could joyfully raise 10 kids if they were all like Bella. She is so delightful, fiercely independent, creative, helpful, nurturing, kind hearted, peaceful, loving, joyful, – I could go on and on! She loves gymnastics and just this week learned to kick over after doing her backbend – she’s fearless when it comes to trying new things. She also loves ballet and just started a tap class, which she loves as well. She’s learning to play the piano in her music class and loves to sing. A girl after my own heart, but like her daddy in temperament for sure! We love you Bella girl!

Princess Tea Party

Bella loves planning birthdays almost as much as I do. She decided almost a year ago that she wanted a tea party birthday. A couple of weeks before her birthday we were having Joy School at our house and as the girls were doing their craft project around the table they were talking about Bella’s upcoming birthday. One of the little girls who was at Bella’s princess party last year when Snow White came asked, “Who’s coming this year?”. My ears perked right up because I wasn’t planning on any “special visitors” this year. The girls then started talking about what princess they thought might come to the party and how they couldn’t wait. I had to quickly grab my phone and send Aunt Trina a text that she’d better get her princess attire ready.

And who should arrive for the birthday girl’s tea party – why Princess Ariel.

The girls with their tea party hats and necklaces Ariel helped them make.

Both Chuck and I have almost thrown the giant castle from last years birthday away numerous times, but for some reason neither one of us did. Luckily we didn’t because Bella asked if we could bring it back out for this years party.

Bella with the tea pot cake Chuck and I crafted. I LOVE fondant!

The girls were super excited Ariel was going to eat cake and ice cream with them.

And that she stayed for presents.

Thanks Ariel you were wonderful!

Signs of a “Good” Mom

Before I had kids I pictured this as a sign of a “good” mom. Staying up late, creating a huge disaster, roping the hubby into helping with the projects. Now I know this is just the sign of a “crazy” mom!

This is the picture of what I know hold as the standard of a “good” mom. Letting go, realizing lots of what I worry about doesn’t matter one little bit, living in the moment, forgetting the to do list, soaking up the priceless expressions on my kids faces, being busy with the “best” things not just the “good” things.

You see, there was a time when there would have been no way I would have let Bella pick out these balloons for her birthday party. She was having a Princess Tea Party, not a Strawberry Shortcake party and we certainly didn’t need the Get Well balloon and the colors weren’t right, but this is what she picked out all by herself and she was happy as could be. The lady blowing up the balloons even called me over to inform me that I had a Get Well balloon in the stack. I told her it didn’t matter just blow it up. Yep, learning to let go of the things that don’t matter can be fun!

 

Then this happens and you realize for all your efforts to be a “good” mom you’re still going to fall short sometimes!

The morning of Bella’s Joy School Birthday Party I was running around trying to help Ariel get ready, putting up the decorations, etc. Mind you, Joy School starts at 9:30 so that’s a lot to get done in a little time frame. Well, this is what happens when you just let the kids do whatever so you can do your thing. Jenna got into Aunt Trina’s bag and found the Destin, using it as lotion all over her face. She came wondering out of the bedroom looking like this literally two minutes before the first guest arrived. Luckily, Chuck pulled up about the same time so he was able to fix this mess! Life is never dull at our house!