7th out of towners

In keeping with tradition of traveling to a new Temple and City for our anniversary... for our 7th Anniversary we went to New Orleans, LA.

DAY 1. It was a nice 9 hour drive, and I say nice because there were no childrens movies playing, or childrens music blasting in my ear. It was 9 hours of adult conversation and music. Ah Peaceful.
So lets just start with the hotel. It was fine and great, until we looked at the pillows. Yes that is my hand, and yes the pillow is barely larger than my hand. We called the front desk to ask about it and they indeed said "They are normal sized pillows sir." WHAT? Clearly they are tiny.

Anyway, head into town for the most delish Mexican. I THINK (and this is huge since I think Dallas has the best Mexican) that this was the best Mexican we have ever had. So good. Superior Grill... The best Queso ever. That night we headed over to a movie theatre in a sketchy part of town (by the way, I think all New Orleans is a sketchy part of town) and we saw Hunger Games. My second time, Brian's first. We both Loved it.

DAY 2. WE SLEPT IN. Seriously, I cant remember the last time this happened. So Brian loves ear plugs. He wears them all the time to not be able to head our kids. I refuse every time, you know, to be responsible. So we are gone and guess who brought the ear plugs?! Thats right, I wore them and it was right, so right. I wore them and didn't hear anything until 10. Oh 10!!!! It was awesome!
Anyway, we woke up and headed down for lunch at Central Grocery. We went for the famous Muffeletta sandwhich. Italian meats, olive salad, and yummy bread. It was good. I wouldn't go back to NO for this again, but it was good to try.

As you can tell, I have been having to eat everything with knife and fork. It sucks. Sandy's with forks? Not fun. I literally carried a set of plastic cutlery around in my purse all week. (FYI this will go on until June. JUNE!)
Took a little walk down the Mississippi and took in the nice cool breeze. Can I just add this little story. On the drive down, I mentioned something about the body of water we were following to be the Mississippi. Brian them made fun of me "Jeni, whats the River called? MISSISSIPPI! Hello, are we in Mississippi?" ok soooo I felt dumb, until we discovered that indeed the MISS river goes right through the city.

The architecture in the French Quarter was really pretty. It was a lot like Paris with the way the blocks are organized with just a small entrance every few to get into the middle of the block. So it was pretty, BUT dirty and some run down. This building was tilted. It was weird and run down. This is how much of the area was.

That night we went for Seafood. I dont do Seafood, but I made a mistake a few years ago in Boston when I made Brian leave one of the oldest best seafood places in the country because the smell was aweful. Anyway, I wont ever make him miss out of food again because I dont like he smell. He got these, chargrilled oysters. He liked them. I didn't taste them.

DAY 3. Headed out early and had Breakfast at Cafe du Monde for some Beignets. They were good. It was fun. I would call them a big fat funnel cake.

We did pay for one real live tour. It was part of the Haunted Tours and it was to a cemetary. It was totally worth it. We loved the info about the city, like how the first people to come to the city were prisoners and prostitutes from England. Clearly the city hasn't changed much! The way they bury people there in the city in crazy. Lets just say, they share these with several people. They just push the remains back after a year or so and put another one in. Very interesting. Oh, also they obviously cant bury them, so they are all above ground since the city is under sea level.

Lunch, we headed over to YO MAMA'S which was a doorway in a wall. Smokey, dark bar that we almost walked out of. Im glad we didn't. It was so good. Brian got this peanut butter and bacon burger. Surprisingly delish.

That afternoon we went to the WWII museum. This was a highlight of the trip. It was very interesting and tearful. We learned so much and heard so many of the stories of those who fought for us. We spent hours there, but it wasn't long enough and we missed out on the whole Japan side of the war. Next time. ALSO please notice the strange face I am making in all the pictures. I am totally hating my smile from my surgery and it feels weird, so I dont really do it.

Also, I noticed that my hands are totally wrinkly and old looking.

That night we headed to Emerils (Yes Lagasse... BAM!) It was so yum! Especially the desserts. Lemon Ice Box Pie, Im salivating think about it now. Now, this says a lot considering that I got food poisoning later that night from Emerils. Yes that sucked, no it didn't last long.

After dindin we went to The Lion King play. I had seen it before in Toronto, and this was just as great. It was fun to experience it with Brian. haha Not to get into too much detail, I will just say that there were a lot of cheering for the animals going on. Brian knows what I mean.

DAY 4. We planned to leave early and go to the temple in Baton Rouge on the way home. Because I am so awesome and plan things out so great... turns out you can only go once a day, at 7pm. So what are we going to do all day now? We took our time heading out and went out for Mexican again. It was still so good.

Then we headed up the road to one of the many plantations that are along the Mississippi. It was really pretty, and old, and huge. However, it was not worth 40 dollars for the tour. But of course because we are who we are, we have too much fun everywhere we go!

Finally, we arrived at the highlight of the trip. The Baton Rouge Temple. Please notice Brians great Sunday attire... shorts and a plaid shirt. Once we were almost there, we realized we had left his clothes in the closet. Classic.

And then we drove home until 4am. I really enjoyed sleeping the night away in the backseat of the accord, WITH my ear plugs in. Oh, I cant wait until next year when I can put those ear plugs back in.

Happy 7th hun! New Orleans was another fabulous trip to add to our list!!

April Fools

First off, here is the fat lip. It is long gone now but when it was here... it was bad. Again, call me Cindy LooWho. My stitches are out and I got the go ahead to brush my teeth. However I am still waiting on the approval to bite into anything. So I am having to cut up everything I eat and stick it back. I can eat whatever I want, it is just a pain! So I have been carrying around a knife and fork with me for a few weeks.

while sitting relaxing between Conference sessions today, the two older kids were playing in the back yard. I noticed that it was unusually quiet outside, so my mom (who is visiting) went out back to check it out. The yard was empty. So we went around the house and checked every room. It was empty of the 2 kids. I ran over to the 3 neighbours houses that they may have gone to and noone had seen them. We checked all of their backyards and around their houses. No kids.

Now was the time I was starting to panic a little. I started to cry and my mind went blank. I ran inside the house to wake up my dad, and Brian and I just looked at my mom crying, "what do I do?!" I grabbed my keys and ran out to start driving the community. Brian got in the other car, and the 2 neighbours got in their cars. We all drove around the surrounding blocks, checking between houses, on the roads, and at the parks. I was stopping at anyone walking along the sidewalk or working in their yard if they had seen 2 little kids around. Noone had seen anything.

Now I was in a full blown panic. Natalie knows better than to wonder off and so there was only one thing that could have happened. They must have been taken. I was praying, bawling, and hyperventilating while trying to drive and see through my tears as to the houses around me. All the drivers were still out and about and the Neighbour had now called the police, and she was also in tears.

I have never in my life had those feelings and fears come to mind. I thought my childeren had been kidnapped and it was the scariest moment of my life. Finally I was passing our street and one of the neighbours was waving me down. As I drove up, I saw my dad holding his arms out, like he was saying slow down Jeni, its ok. After shouting out the window to him, he said "The kids are in the house." I was wondering who found them and brought them home. He then explained that he had the feeling to check the house again. He was looking under beds and all around. He peeked inside of Boots dark room, and into his closet. There in the corner of the closet he saw the two kids squatting watching the IPAD.

I had called their names in the house and searched everywhere, but the closets. Boots usually is never still that long and quiet enough to hide from me that long. NEVER! I went in sobbing still, unable to think of anything else. I pulled them out and talked to them about how we only hide when we play hide and seek and that taking the ipad is fine, but when you hear mom call you...you come and tell me where you are.

Brian told me that he thought I was playing an April Fools trick on him, even when he saw me crying. After seeing people outside were involved he finally believed me. Turns out the kids were the ones playing the April Fools trick on us, and they didn't even know it!

I love my Kids and Family so much and if anything ever happened to them, I would be devastated. I learned a few things. Check the closets, put a lock on the gate outside, and I suck under pressure. They continued watching the IPAD, but I made them move onto the bed. No more closets please!

The rest is history

The remainder of the week post surgery went great. The swelling finally went Down and I ate a lot more slurpee's and milkshakes to which Natalie made very clear to me it was not fair. However, I tend to lean on the side that it wasn't fair that I had to sip everything through a straw. I have taken for granted that I used to be able to eat.
So I came back to Houston for a post op apt and all is well. Bad news is I can't bite anything for a month. Good news is I can cut up food and place it in the back of my mouth. Other good news, I can brush my teeth in one
More week. Hence other bad news, I can't brush my teeth for a week. Haha

So I go to get on a flight to head back to Dallas. First off I'm in the ladies room using the bathroom. I hear a man walk into the bathroom, I see his feet in the stall beside me facing the wall, I hear him peeing, I look through the door crack into the mirror and sure enough his stall door is wide open. Thank you for that sir. My first thought of course, why is this man in the women's bathroom. This was directly followed with "oh my gosh, I'm in the men's bathroom!" I wait for him to leave and I slowly come out, wash up, and double check. Turns out he was wrong. Phew and ew. Haha

This was followed by a 4 hour wait on the plane only to have the flight cancelled and be rescheduled for a flight more than 24 hours later. It's a 4 hour drive people, this is crazy. Good news here, I got to read almost all
Of 3 nephi and a lot of my radical parenting book. Bad news, I miss my babies.

I did take some pictures this week, even some of my face which I promise to post but I forgot my camera. So here is a little ditty to tide you over because I know these posts without pictures are boring. There is a road and neighborhood here that has over 70 peacocks roaming free. We went to check it out and I tried to chase one
Down. I'll let you just imagine what happened next in this photo...

The who's down in whoville

Busy weekend.
We headed down to Houston for some fun and some not so fun things. First we went to schlitterbaun, an indoor water park, for the day and had a blast. The kids had so much fun riding the slides and the lazy river. The adults had fun on some crazy crazy slides in 50 degree weather outside. Brrrrr!
We had a great weekend with our friends Jake and Kelly! They are always such great hosts, and it helps that they have a new little bitty baby! Sadly, my camera battery was dead and there are no Pictures.

Well then Monday morning came and start the not so fun stuff. We woke up at 530 to get ready to go. We made our way across the city for another dental appointment for me. So the background on that, when I was pregnant with Courtney I noticed a sore lump under my nose. We have been going to Houston to see an endodontist since then to have root canals to fix this abscess that I have. Well last summer we thought we got it. I was supposed to come back in the fall for a follow up xray and that just didn't happen. We were so busy that we couldn't make it down until now. It also just so happens that my tooth and gums have been sore again. So we decided to do some dental surgery to take out the infection. Well I of course got some sedation, as I was slightly nervous about it all. Got that going and I was gone within well not long! Anyway, they found a cyst the size of a bouncy ball. That's great. They sent it away to get biopsied and I can only imagine the wonderful things they will find inside! Haha are there more teeth in there? Maybe some bones or hair. Ewww sick. I have heard stories about that kind of stuff, soo gross if that is me.
Anyway, I was out of it all day yesterday and I am back today. I can't speak very much as it kills. I have some stitches up in my mouth on my gums and I am trying to keep the pain under control. As soon as I get my camera battery working today I will take a picture. There is only one way to describe the way I look, Cindy Loowho. Yes from the grinch. Haha my mouth looks just like that. It's awesome.

Back to the goods of the weekend though, Sunday was Brian and my 7th anniversary! I can't believe I have been married to him for 7 years. It has flown by and we have had an incredible time together. He makes me a better person, he lifts me up, he challenges me and is always making every situation positive. He truly is my better half and I have loved every second with him. He is the best decision I have ever made. I love you babe. Happy anniversary! Can't wait for our annual trip!

Also can't wait for that milk shake you promised me an hour ago. Liquid diets are hard! This will be a Long long week!

Churchy

On the way home from church today we were Listening to a song "if the savior stood beside me, would I do the things I do..." and we got talking about the things we would do and say if Jesus Christ was right beside us. I asked the kids what they would ask him. Natalie decided that she wanted to ask how he made the earth, and people, and eyes, and hair. I turned to boots to ask him and he replied "if Jesus was sitting beside me I would be nice, but when no one is sitting beside me I will be crazy." hahaha he cracks me up.

Being or youngest, Courtney has been so much fun at church. She is always sweet in the 2nd and 3rd hour at church and I never have to wait in the hall with her. Well she is 2 weeks away from nursery and Brian asked why I don't just bring her in there today. I said no because I wanted kne last Sunday with her. Well I think she had something else in mind as she was throwing fit after fit after fit. 15minutes in and I left and brought her into nursery. She did awesome! When we walked in her face said to me "you have been holding out on me mom, this place is awesome and it has been right next door all along!" let's just hope next week is as successful.

Family fun movie night

My camera Is dead, I can't find my charger.
My other camera...the lens shattered and all I have is my zoom lens. My house is too small to use that anywhere!
My video camera plugs into the computer, which is slower than...slow.

So there will be no backup pictures to this.

We had family movie night this week. We decided to do Peter Pan.
I made glitter stars and clouds and hung them with fishing wire all over the house so it looked like we were in the night sky.(you know, second star to the right and straight on till morning) We looked for our shadows, and after being frustrated, found them of course. We got pixie dust and flew through the sky, found treasure (chocolate coins and pixie stix) ate sword shaped pancakes, and ate mermaid lagoon jello! The kids loved it, and if we are being honest so did I. I love movie night, no matter the movie.

Today the kids started their soccer games back up again.
Last season, we worked so hard and didn't get much out of it. Today Natalie scored 2 goals! And boots scored 1! It was so exciting and they got to go get slurpees after the game. I love to see them happy and proud of their accomplishments!
We rearranged and sorted through more house stuff today and now...
I'm exhausted.

Night.

Ya you did

Daddy and Boots went out on a boys night tonight. They went to a high school basketball game, a team that one of our friends coaches. So, of course it was at a high school and of course, the high schoolers are very observent. So tonight boots was wearing his normal get up. He is kinda a cool kid if I do say so myself, but it was reaffirmed when while walking the high school halls, this was overheard:

"Did you see that little kid? He was swaggin it!"

Brian looked over and sure enough, they were checking out our little man. haha

He was supposed to stop for a slurpee on the way home, but they walked in like this... Right before falling asleep he requested to not stop tonight, he was too sleepy for a slurpee.

On another very unrelated and scary note, Did you know that you cant sell or buy a crib thats side go up and down? If youve had a kid in the last few years, or before, you know what these are. Well you can no longer get one, which is fine except that we have one. It has worked wonderfully through all 3 kids, but clearly now it is starting to malfunction. So last night, I heard a loud noise, followed by Courtney crying. I didn't think anything of it, since sometimes she cries when she realizes she has to go to bed. A few minutes later, I check the moniter and I swear it looks like she is not in her crib. Sure enough, she was fast asleep on the ground right beside her crib. Poor little thing. The side had come down, and she had fallen out (or climbed out and fell, who knows) and was fast asleep. So we moved her and went to bed. Well this morning I was feeding her breakfast and noticed that her ear was covered in dried up blood. It was coming from inside of her ear. She had a shower to get it all cleaned out and then she was fine. I called her DR who said as long as she wasn't vomiting, acting strange, or having any fresh blood, she would be fine. Holy smokes. Can you say scary much? I am sure she is fine, but I have to say that blood coming out of a little ear from falling out of a crib is not fun to think about.

Family what?

Whats up over here???

KIDS:
I guess the kids are really starting to notice when I have a bad day...We just had Family Home Evening tonight and we were talking about families(we watched our wedding video which the kids did not think that very fun). Brian was teaching and telling each child how much he loved them and then he told the kids how much he loved Mommy (me.) and Boots interupted him to say "But Mommy gets mean when I act Silly." HELLO?! Eye opener! I know that I get frusterated with them, and I know they notice, but they have never said it out loud like that. It makes me sad that they can say that about me... but I am working on that! Everyone gets frusterated I know, and in my defense... today was a bad day for all of us!

Before that, the Missionaries were over for Dinner and they asked Boots where he was going to go on a mission. His response was "The Candy Store". Good answer right? 2 years in a candy store, Of course he would be down with that. Maybe we should talk a little bit more about what a mission is.
Natalie had an exciting week. She lost her second tooth. We were playing around together and Courtney head butted her in the face. Natalie was kinda shocked and her mouth was all bloody. She ran into the bathroom and I convinced her to pull it the rest of the way out. Her eyes were all watery, but she was so brave and totally pulled it out! She drew a beautiful picture for the tooth fairy, which she thinks is a MUST to go along with the tooth. You cant just leave a tooth!
I tooth Natalie out on a date the next night, she wanted chips and cheese so we went and got some Mexican and then to the dollar store to spend her tooth fairy money. It is so funny how much a dollar means to these littles. It is JACKPOT! She cant resist spending it, but she wants soo badly to save up for a kite from Costco. She just can stand to keep the money around, when she knows she can go spend it right then!
We then went for Frozen Yogart and then onto the movie "The Muppets" which was really cute. Im so glad that we can have special nights with the kids to make them each feel special with us. Also, speaking of teeth, I noticed that she is getting in 2 molars in the back. I DID not know that they still had teeth to get in at this age. I should have known that right? haha

TV:
I am watching a 6 hour Tribute to Whitney Houston right now and I am enjoying it so much. I love her talent and her music so much. It mostly just brings me back, way back. Ah, I love when musical artists come along that are just so talented. I know some will think I am crazy to make this connection here.. but I was thinking about someone that I think is very talented and will go down as one of the most, well just popular ever. Justin Bieber. I mean he has got moms down to babies hooked, and in our family even the Dad. We all love him. I dont know if there are many other songs out there that EVERYONE who lives in the USA knows - BABY. Come on? Right? Courtney requests "Baby oh!". Seriously, I know I am saying WH and JB are in the same bracket, Im not. But just wanted to state that he is just so radical and I love him.

Also, I am a reality TV girl. I dont watch a ton but what I do, I love. Bachelor? Come on Dude. Do you really choose Courtney? So disapointing. What a dumby. I love him, at least did. I thought he was cute and so sweet, and REAL. But now? I am losing interest in him, and in the show. BOOO ABC BOOOOO!
I have started watching a new show though that I am loving, ONCE APON A TIME. It looked scary before it aired, but it is really good! I am slightly addicted to catching up. Luckily I wont be waisting much time on it since it is still in the first season.
I have been considering Downton Abbey. YES? NO? I cant decide.

So thats me and my life in a nutshell. I listen to kids bicker at eachother and laugh hysterically all day long, then at night I sit my booty in front of the TV and watch. It is my outlet. I love it.

I will add one more category tonight... RE RE RE DEDICATING TO WORKING OUT:
I have started SO many times this year to be good and work out consistantly and most days of the week. Some weeks have been great, others not so much. Same with my eating. It is up and down and I feel like I restart weekly. SO today is monday. Eating was great today, and lots of water.. so tonight instead of turning on the Bach, or catching up on my many recorded shows.. I am off for a run! I saw this funny quote the other day "It doesn't matter how slow I am going, I am still lapping everyone on the couch!"
SEE YA!

Surprises

Since I have been having some hard times, Brian decided to treat me to a special Valentines Day Surprise. The best Brother in Law in the world came over to Babysit and we were on our way.

We had a STAY-CATION is what I would call it...

FIRST OF ALL, my CAMERA is dead and I cant find the charger, so the pictures are all stolen pictures online.

We headed to a place to eat in UP TOWN Dallas. It is called Fedora's and it was Italian. The atmosphere was awesome and the food was good, but the service was just OK.

Then we headed to a movie, The Vow, at a new theatre in Down Town Dallas. We both thought it was really good. Tears were shed and we left just kinda more in love than we were before. Does that sound silly? Yes, but the movie was really good. We approved. So at this point I wasn't really understanding why this was such a great surprise date...

Until, we drove down a ways to a very cool hotel. I have seen them around a few places here and have always wanted to stay in one. Khloe and Lamar (you know, Kardashian Lady) live in the apartments that this same company makes. ANYWAY, we walk in and you better believe we checked in to an ALOFT suite for the night. It was fun because it felt like we were somewhere out of town and it is not a hotel we would normally ever stay in. Really modern and trendy and of course a "loft" feel to the rooms. It was so fun.

I was really looking forward to sleeping in and having some relaxing sleep with no peepee interuptions. WRONG, I woke up at 7 with visions of Boots beside my bed asking me to go to the bathroom. Ug. But it was still relaxing to not have to worry.

Now I am a food girl. I love food SO much that it is probably not right. So Brian did some more research beforehand and found this little place Breadwinners Bakery. It was so cute and the middle had this room that was kind of like a greenhouse, outdoor patio, top of a roof top kind of feel. It was pouring rain outside and so it was loud, but it just added to the ambience. The food was AMAZING! It was by far the best breakfast I have ever ever had. It was a creamcheese raspberry stuffed frenchtoast with the thickest yummiest bacon and freshly squeezed OJ I have ever had, ever. Their desserts looked incredible, but I will have to go back for those on another day. I can say this FOR SURE... I will be going back there. Oh yes.

It was a fantastic date. I know that this will not happen every Valentines day, which is FINE with me! I just like that my husband is so sweet and compasionate to me, and can see when I need a little extra something. He is the most thoughtful man and he truly cares about my needs and my wants, and making me happy. I love him so much and cant imagine life without him. Watching that movie made us both realize the importance of journal writting and how we want to make sure our relationship is special every day.

Now back to real life. The house is a mess and needs a deep clean and we are needing to start getting boxes and packing up the house because... we are moving! Yeah!

Anticipation

I am loving the age that my kids are getting to. I feel like they GET IT. With Valentines Day tomorrow, I know it isn't a huge day or a big deal, but I am wanting to make it a fun day and a special day. The kids are pumped. They have no idea what tomorrow is and what it means, but I know Natalie went to bed giddy!

So tonight we dropped off some of the kids little Valentines to a few people and while we were out Boots was playing with a GLOW STICK in the back seat. Happy Happy Happy, singing singing singing, laughing laughing laughing... SCREAM! I look in the rear view mirror and I see blue splattered all over Boots' face and he is screaming holding his eyes.
I quickly pull over into Sonic and get him out. I am waiting for someone to come out and ask for a water, I am watching a woman next to me glare at me like I am beating my child. All I had was a wipe to wipe his face down... so I do. He seems to get better after about 5 minutes and we get back in and go on our rounds. I was concerned and call Poison Control. They told me that I have to get it cleaned out immediately. She kinda harped on me for using wipes, SORRY! thats all I had! Anyway, we were heading over to my cousins house and as soon as we arrived, we went in for a little 15 minutes shower for the kid. He was so good and brave and on we went! I am hoping he is ok. Man, that kid keeps me on my toes. Especially after watching him push an acorn up his nose on Sunday, sooooo far that it took me a while to get it out. haha I laughed so hard at that one.

We played around a bit tonight and off to bed. I love/hate bedtime. I love getting the in bed and having a few minutes alone, but I hate the process getting there. It all has to be timed just right and there is always unexpected things that come up and Boots has his numerous potty trips, Natalie whines and whines for more stories and books and really... JUST GO TO BED! But after it is accomplished, It is blisfull to sit alone and veg! Ahhh!

Tonight I first had to get the kitchen ready for a fun Valentines Breakfast. I just love those kiddos and want them to have fun all the time. I am thinking heart shaped Pankcakes, whip cream, berries and bananas, strawberry milk. It'll be great. They eat panc's like they are going out of style.

They were super excited to get their Valentines done and put together today. Boots insisted on Jelly Beans, so we came up with this. He had just a few people he wanted to give them to and was so excited to do it. After we bagged them up, he had one look and his response was "MOM! Thats not enough!" He thought the HUGE bulk bag of beans was what he was giving to each kid. haha If you cant see it the card says " You make my heart turn to Jelly, Bean my friend! Happy Valentines!"

Natalie is having her little "friendship party" at school tomorrow and these are what she wanted to do. OK fine, This is what I wanted to do. Enough candy already. I am so over it. So I wanted something fun and different. And of course pinterest was the perfect way to find something fun and EASY! The battle we had with these was having her write her name on each one. There were several temper tantrums, erasing, and tears...but we finally got them done.

Tomorrow is the big Love day and YES I love Valentines Day. I am a little selfish and love a day devoted to Love. Lets be serious, It kinda is all about the woman, sooo I love it. Brian has something planned and he is claiming that this will be the BEST date I will have ever been on EVER.... we will see! But really, Im so excited for not only the BEST date ever, but just a night out. I am in need, desperate need. I am hoping yummy dinner and the movie The Vow are involved.. I love me some Channing and really want to see it.

Ending on another funny story about Boots. He has memorized all of the apostles names and faces for church. So we quiz him every so often, and the other day I noticed that 3 were missing. So we go through them all and the conversation goes like this:

Mom "Oh, we are missing a few huh Boots?"

Boots "Ya... Anderson... and Utchdorf...and what else?"

Mom "Well, who is left boots? CHR...."

Boots "Christopherson!"

Hahaha I was laughing so hard that he rememebered the other ones who we were missing. Kuddos to him! Smart kid!

womp womp womp

I cant believe that it is already the middle of the week. This makes me so excited. I usually don't really care what day it is, or when the weekend comes because I like to think that we make every day fun. But for some reason, I cant wait for the weekend, regardless of the heavy schedule that is going on, I don't care. I am excited.
Brian has been out of town for the last week-ish and it has been a rough rough week. BAD week. however, through the horrible week (no joke, worst in my mothering history) I feel like all the tears that were shed and "moments" that me and the kids shared made me a little refreshed. Well refreshed ish. Lets just say that I am trying to figure some stuff out about myself as a mother but here are a few things that have been helping me this week...
I hate being WHITE as white in the winter. I got this a while back and love it. It REALLY does just give you a natural glow! I have no idea if it really makes a difference, or if anyone else can even tell, but I feel better and more "glowy" with it on. LOVE this!

Moroccan oil. AHHH! my dry dry hair has started to improve. Maybe it was the head and shoulders, maybe it was the olive oil I drenched my hair in one night, or maybe MAYBE it was this great stuff!! I love it. It smells yummy, and I think it is really helping my hair become silkier and smoother, and just rejuvenated. Love it.

And last but really FIRST, Pistachio nuts. They were salt and peppered nuts and they were sampled (stample as the kids call it) at Costco last week with the kids and we all fell in love. I mean of course I have had them before but these are AH MAAZ ING. I have been munching them and munching them day and night. BONUS, they are the lowest calorie nut. YEAH love that! If I cant eat low calorie anything else, I can at least get these. I just polished off the bag. I guess I will have to go back tomorrow for more. Can you say ADDICTING!

You know what is funny? My kids love forts right? When we build them they just cant wait to play and eat and do anything inside... for like 2 minutes. Seriously, I spend a long time making good ones for them, like yesterday I spent about 30 minutes turning the ENTIRE room into a fort, you know with fort rooms and all. Well 2 minutes later they were out whining about nothing to do. COME ON! I just built you the coolest fort ever! Speaking of forts, it reminds me of the episode of The Community when they all build a giant fort. haha If you don't watch that show, you should. Its so funny.

AND back to my nightly routine. Sit, Relax, drink Diet coke, (not eat pistachios since they are gone) and indulge in my shows.

midweek movie

This week, we decided to do Movie night on Wednesday because of circumstances that I wont say...Anyway, King Fu Panda 2 was the movie choice. The kids were so excited. Really, they don't care what movie they watch, they love anything.
We learned some Chinese words, and then they each looked up some words and got to paint them. Natalie was pretty spot on with hers! Boots, he just isn't super artsy! But they had fun. We then made paper lanterns and hung them around.

Then Noodles and chicken from Panda Express with chopsticks and little rice field peasant hats on their heads. They loved it! They are pretty easy to please!


Before the movie, We played with our food. They checked to see how many marsh mellows they could fit into their mouths at a time. FUNNY! Oreos and movie tickets and we were in business! Fun night, another success.
The remainder of the week has been so, so. I have been doing a lot of soul searching and deep thinking about motherhood. It is hard for me and I am really struggling. I know I mentioned some of it in my last post, but I am just trying to get it all figured out. I love my kids, but there are times when I just don't like them. And tonight? I wish there was a babysitter available and around so that I can just go out by myself. Or someone would come over and just give me a hug. There have been tears shed, there have been a lot more than I have ever had over this matter in the past. Today was a hard day. BUT, I am trying harder and harder daily. I am getting over it. I am trying to find things that help and I hold to those.

DONT GET ME WRONG... I love being a momma, and I love my 3 kids. They are wonderful. BUT I just ... I cant even explain it. I wanted to have something written about this experience I am having though. It is hard, and I want to always remember that there were some really really really hard times. I know my mom will say that she knows and remembers feeling the same way, but I just dont believe it. So when Natalie is all grown up and calls me crying for something that is going on with here kids, I can look this back up and remember and tell her that YES, It is normal to have bad days and bad weeks, and cry! Its ok!

On another bad note, (difference kind) A few weeks ago We had a small Lice scare. I will spare the details and just say we were safe. But Natalie and I did the lice hair shampoo treatment to make sure we were ok. Since then it has destroyed my hair. It is dry brittle and breaking. My scalp is flakey and I have full on dandruff. I have never experienced any of this before so it sucks! I bought a few new supplies to maybe get it all taken care of. I just used head and Shoulders in the shower today for the first time, followed by a generous application of Moroccan oil. I am thinking some olive oil, avocado, honey, oatmeal, and maybe mayo and eggs into a hair mask to set for a while tonight. I remember once in high school me and my friend Meg did mayo in our hair and it was soooo gross. The smell was nasty and we smelt bad for a while if I remember correctly. Sick! But I am desperate! ANY SUGGESTIONS? AHHHH I dont want to have to cut my hair! I have been growing it for 3 years.

OK so now onto thinking about my big decision for the night... I am not cooking, and there are no babysitters available, sooo what fast food am I going to pick up and indulge in tonight?