uplifting

The days have been flying by. I don't have time to do much of anything "fun" for myself. The old me found the time, but instead I would miss out on fun time with the kids. I played a full hour of Barbies tonight. I was Jasmine, Natalie was Rapunzel, and Boots was Pocahontas (who was a mans voice named Garrett and he killed bugs) It was a lot of fun! Then we took out Fancy Nancy Parfait game and played countless rounds... me and boots kept dominating! So we had a wonderful weekend of course. I love Conference weekends when we get hours and hours of spiritual edification. This weekend was no different, except that even little Natalie got something out of it. The kids were able to make it through a bit of this morning playing bingo for words. Boots made it through a talk and a half, and Nat made it an hour and a half! I will give Boots some credit though, he got excited about almost every word he heard. "Jerusalem!" "Holy ghost!" "temple!" He was shouting them from the playroom when he would hear them said!

Nat wanted to sport boots' jammies tonight (sorry I mean Steve, that is what he has been wanting to be called!) Then we had some friends over for a crepe buffet... it was SOOO GOOD!

I have been begging and begging Brian since we moved in, 5 years ago, to do something to the nasty lawn. Finally on Saturday he went out and mowed, aerated(sp?) the lawn, and then seeded. I cant wait for some new green lush grass to grown in! And he finally put to use his aeration shoes I gave him for a gift years ago!

So I love sleeping kids. There is not much sweeter than the moment you tippy toe into their rooms after they are all asleep and see them so sweet. All wrapped up in blankets, toys in hand, blankets over faces, all over the bed.. and in Natalie's case, diva-licious.

Also last week we had a chance to go the womens elite 9 NCAA game here in town. It was awesome in the box again, and we got to tour the Mavs locker room... again. Seriously we have gotten some radical perks this year! It was fun to take the train in again and have a night out with hubs. I love that man!

So onto another week of busy busy, and my last week of training before the big race on Saturday, I am super excited. ANY TIPS from other half marathon runners out there? I need anything I can get!

LATE

After church yesterday we had some awesome conversations with boots and Natalie about what they learned in church. Boots went on to us that on top of the temple is the angel pepper-roni, that Is one of the funniest things I have ever heard. Natalie learned about the holy ghost and so after asking about when she is 8 if she can get baptized, she then told us that the holy spirit would give her presents. We confirmed if she mention gifts, she said yes. We then put it together and explained to her that it is the gift of the holy ghost, not that he gives you gifts. She was disappointed to discover, candy wasn't the gift. Then she drew this awesome picture for me today, it is her with the holy ghost inside her head.

So now that Courtney is 6 months old, she is old enough to go to the gym with me, the kids went this week and she Did awesome. Having them all happy, no crying, is one of the best things when I am trying to get in a workout! She has also started sitting up and continues to smile ALL the time.

We are getting creative with pony time over here, they all were chillin on the fireplace, who knew that pony's were magnetic?!

I got home from girls camp last weekend and I was so happy to be back with my family, although this last week was packed with church stuff. I swear, i am as busy as my dad...who is super busy! But it was awesome. The weather was perfect since it was over spring break and fairly low drama level, for girls camp! I missed all my runs while there, including my 10 miler for the week, so when i got home I had a really hard week last week trying to get back in. Then Saturday was our 11 miler and it killed me. Less than 2 weeks till race day, I am hoping I don't feel as bad! So since my training has started in February, I have been trying to lose weight, mainly the baby weight. I am back to pre pregnancy weight but i tell ya, we sacrifice for those kiddos. It is hard!!

Awesome

We have a family of 5 and we are all awesome. My kids are the best and so is my hubby. So this post is really just to post the random pictures I take of their awesomeness...

Boots and Natalie(aka little Bo peep) entranced by Elmo, this is the first time EVER I have let them watch a whole Sesame Street and they LOVED it.

Obviously Boots has some killer muscles.

Natalie did a fashion show and her "babies" all watched, one of the audience members was very lively!

Late night with Boots. He hasn't done well with the whole day light savings and just doesn't like going to sleep, surprise surprise! So we let him stay up late and watch some TV with us. He loved it.

Awesome.

Awesome Aunt Kathleen.

Awesome "Dinosaur Hair"

Awesome "Unicorn Hair"

Daddy is Awesome to give me beautiful flowers for our 6 year anniversary last week. You are the best hubs ever babe! Seriously, life wouldn't be anything without you! Happy A day! Thanks for celebrating at a stake church basketball tournament. Thats Love!

And the new canopies in the girls room. Bad picture, cute canopies.

Awesome Hair

And Again an awesome Daddy.

and now I am off to GIRLS CAMP FOR AN AWESOME WEEK!!!!

2 little ears

Nana came for a very VERY fast visit this week. She stopped in for a few days and is now gone. I wish she could come back and just chill with us. We always have so many things to cram into her stays that really we never get to just relax and hang out. Next time. Although Next time she will be babysitting my 3 crazy kiddos while we go on a relaxing vacation for our anniversary. Oh Nana, just move here!! She discovered something very special about Courtney while she was here. Her left ear is a little large and sticks out a little bit. We just thought she had special cute little ears, but mom pointed out that she has the exact same ear and it is missing a fold. We checked both of their ears and it is true, they have twinner ears!

We drove her to the airport this morning and Natalie, who has been really battling with her temper, was fine until we said good bye and shut the door. She bawled and bawled for 10 minutes straight. It wasn't a tantrum cry either, it was a sad pitiful cry straight from the heart. She loves her Nana sooo much! COME BACK!

Courtney will be 6 months on Saturday. She is almost sitting up by herself and is now holding her bottle all by herself. I hate that though because I immediately lose some of my time with her, little Ms. Independent!

I don't think this picture needs explanation, but here is the conversation that makes it funny...

in walks boots looking like this

Me:Boots Did you get into Nana's makeup?

Boots: No Its your make up mommy!

OK I thought the convo was way longer and it doesn't sound funny now but it was hilarious.

Nat and Boots love to play outside and they always play pretend. They get along well for the most part and this week and I peeked out at them to make sure all was well and no one had escaped or was laying tangled in the trampoline. I watched them play for a few minutes and they were darling, giving hugs, kisses, and dancing around as Prince and Princess!

So I picked up 2 new Books at the book store. What I wish I picked up was "city of bones" but of course children not only take up all of my time, but also my free time. I got "Temper your child's Tantrums" by James Dobson, and "Kids are Worth it" by Barbara Coloroso. Like I said, Natalie has been having a really really hard time controlling herself and we have spent 2 out of the last 4 days dealing with a day full of temper tantrums that will not go away, Power struggles, screaming, doors slamming, kicking, hitting, threats to me, and anything else you can think of. Obviously my way of dealing with her is not working so I am PRAYING that the books shed some light on my style of parenting. That girl has been special since the day she was born, and although I don't want her to lose her spunk, she has got to lose the tude!

Lucifer

Brian was playing with the kids the other day and Natalie looked up at Brian and said "Daddy, you are like Lucifer!" He was shocked and asked her why he was like Lucifer. She went on to explain that he was like a kitty cat crawling around on the floor and finally he realized that she was talking about the cat from Cinderella, Lucifer.

I wish I had video of that girl doing the things she does, because she cracks me up. I watched 20 min of her dance class today and watching Natalie try to do pirouettes is the funniest thing to see. She leans down and pulls her toes apart, because her feet cant do it on their own. And then her whole body does a front bend trying to curtsy. Oh, she is doomed to be uncoordinated like me. Poor thing.

Courtney was looking extra sweet yesterday and so I whipped out the camera to document her little life. There is no peace anywhere in our little house, so of course we were joined by #1 and #2.

Now, there is something I do not understand. You peeps out there who have time to sew and craft and cook and clean and actually spend time with your kids and take them where they need to be and make sure everyone gets food and gets clean and sleeps etc etc etc, HOW DO YOU DO IT? I only have 3 and they aren't even in school yet but I feel like I need an extra 6 hours in the day to get done everything I need to get done. Either I really suck at time management or I have just gone crazy. How do you do it? I have a stack of crafts and "to do" things but cant ever seem to get to them. Its too bad we BARELY miss the kindergarten cut off next fall because another year with 3 at home - lets just say I am not sure how this is going to work out.

I will tell you what I am squeezing in though, my training. I am up to 8 miles this week for my long run and I am feeling great. Yesterday I did a 4 miler at 9.5 min miles. I am super proud of the number because it seems like I have been doing around an 11 min mile until then. So I am 4.5 weeks into the training 5.5 weeks left. I haven't missed a day (other than Sunday) and I don't plan to either!

This is our "library", at least that is what the kids call it. Since we moved Natalie out of the room, it cleared up a bunch of space under the bunk and so in moved the books and the chairs and.... LIBRARY. Instant fun, at least for 2 minutes until Books starts ripping up books. I spent about an hour yesterday taping some books back together. Flap books are no good over here. I remember Natalie going through that phase where she would just rip them out, and now Boots is in that phase and it sucks. I feel like I cant let him play with the books!

And I just have to shout out to the most popular person in our home, Justin. That is the Bieber. We "heart" him around here. Boots knows most of the words to all of his songs and has been asking to go see his movie. I guess it was kinda dirty, but last night after the kids went to bed Brian and I went to go see Never Say Never, his movie. So I know there are a lot of non Beliebers out there, but seriously this kid is amazing. His songs are not just poppy and catchy, he is so talented. I promise that if you doubt him, go see this movie and you will fall in love too. It is only in theatres until Friday, and I totally want to go again (I wont) but I want to.

I am not afraid to say it - I love JB.

Jus Chillin

I look like rudolph right now. I have been trying to re-learn how to curl my hair with a curling iron right? I mean I knew how the old way, but hair styles change so much and I have to learn the new "it" ways to do and curl your hair... so I was trying and of course I got to my growing out bangs that get pinned back anyway. I thought to myself "hm, I should just straighten them with this curling iron instead of plugging in my straightener!" a little straighten action was easily done, till I did just ONE LAST TIME and sizzle. I totally burnt the tip of my nose.Bad. Blister has now turned into big red scab. sick.

Happy note, I got a new camera for Christmas, which I returned, and then went and bought myself another one a few weeks ago. I love it. So we have just been having fun playing around with the fun features. Brian has absolutely no interest in these "fish eye" etc features as he sees NO REASON to ever use them. But love my new clicker!
Man do I love my kids. They are my everything. They make me laugh and scream all day long. I want to hug them and then pull my hair out all in one minute, sometimes a second.
Today they were playing outside in the 86 degree weather, yuck, and Natalie ran in in a panic. "MOM!! MOM!! There are bugs!" I try to explain to her that when you are outside there are bugs, that just happens. She is still terrified and shocked every time she goes out and finds one though. She will SCREAM until I come to save her. The other day there was a TINY little nat or fly type of thing on the trampoline, and she wouldn't budge. She was flipping out! So anyway, today she runs in to tell me about this bug, and with terror in her voice she explains that it is a "pire ant" which in Natalie means Fire Ant. We do get these around occasionally but no biggie with pest control. So Natalie continued to explain the situation to me: "Mom, there is a pire ant and it was really big and it looked at my toe!" She looked at me waiting for me to be horrified at this information. So I went out to check it out and of course there was nothing, but she refused to step on the grass at all. When I went back in and shut the door, she stood there screaming out of fear until I let her in. What a wuss! haha She cracks me up! Man, I probably scared her with my spider experiences (I scream when I see one, and I have done it around the kids).

And boots this week has been really into his pirate pants. Like the ones from his Halloween costume. He wants to wear there all the time, everywhere we go. I can occasionally deal with a little princess dress up, but this? haha It is ridiculous, but so cute I have to let him do it.

But today the not so cute kid thing happened. There is always something with these 2. I dont like them to be in the bathroom because they LOVE the soap, and the toothpaste, and the toilet paper, and the water, and the toilet, and the hair gel, and anything else they can get their hands on. Their "thing" of the week is doing little baths in the sink for her barbies or pony's, or in this pool.

Super fun right? Totally! So Brian taught Natalie how to plug up the sink so she could put a little water in and play. BIG MISTAKE when today they weren't even in the bathroom, but had plugged it and left the water running. Can you say OVERFLOW! I was out on a run so I couldn't get the picture of this wonderful event, but both kids were in serious time outs when I got home. I am beginning to think I shouldn't leave the house EVER!

side note, the locks on the bedroom door are working out great. Kinda cramping his nighttime peepee runs, but I will deal with that if I dont have to deal with the other option!

Natalie in Courtney's room is having its ups and downs. She is so excited to have baby in there that she feels like she has to put her babies in the crib to comfort Courtney and touch her head/hands/body when they are trying to go to sleep. This is a problem since we are "let your child cry" type of parents. Parents who have done this... does it get better and go away? PLEASE SAY YES!