Door signs

Natalie loves to make signs for her door that limit who has access to it. She is very particular about the way she sets up the doll house or her American girl doll(or anything) and when people go in her room, of course it gets messed up. It's Courtney, and guests, and boots, really anyone except her. But she knows she'll get in trouble if she didn't let anyone in her room. Instead she makes signs that say "no boys allowed". She sticks it on her door and naturally boots feels left out and sad since he is the only boy.

Well he decided yesterday to make his own sign. He asked me to help him spell "no girls allowed" but I told him that wasn't very nice to do. He has a tender heart and of course agreed. He had to think quickly of something else that is not allowed in his room. This answer came very quickly and he thinks he is brilliant. "No popcorn allowed in my room". Obviously.

Stinky

Natalie has been so brave and awesome with her cast. What a pain to have it on and not be able to itch(she's the queen of itching), or get it wet when everyone is pooling or playing in the sprinkler, or just playing in he tub which is her favorite time of day. She has gotten 2 of them cut off and is onto her 3rd cast now. She hasn't really complained much and I am so proud of her! Of anyone, she is the complainer so it's been great to see happy side of her.

She wakes up grumpy everyday and so we made a little chart. It was a happy chart for every morning while she gets ready for school. If she can do it and be happy she gets a smiley face, if not than its a frowny face. She did it for 3 weeks only missing a few days that she had to make up for at the end. We promised her a bike at the end. So the day she completed it all, we took her down to frisco resale(second hand shop) and she chose out her new to her bike. Purple and sparkly, and kinda dirty... She was ecstatic to get it home, clean it off, and start riding her big girl bike! Now I can't wait to get that cast off to help make re riding easier! She is saving up for a basket and a bell. I'm really glad we didn't take her to get a new bike because it is teaching her that we don't always need new when this is perfectly good. It was also 7.50$ which can't be beat!

Proud of my happy sweet girl!

Croc hunt

Tonight for family home evening we talked about spiritual crocodiles that bite away our testimony.
Obviously we went on a croc hunt to find them all. Telling lies, not listening to mom and dad, stealing, and fighting and complaining were our crocodiles.
Pretty sure the kids loved it. They were totally scared of the paper crocodiles. My husband rocks at FHE.

Mother's Day

I had a real life Mother's Day yesterday. It started wonderfully... My awesome sister sent me a cookie bouquet, which is gone. then it was Breakfast in bed and 3 sweet goobers who all picked out sweet gifts! Nail polish, a tumbler and roses.
After we started getting ready for church, Courtney started throwing up. So I stayed home with the little sickie.
Within a few hours I wasn't feeling so hit either and joined the club. We snuggled and napped and threw up together. It was special bonding time... Ok it was horrible, but luckily it was short lived!
The rest of the family went to grandmas for a fun dinner with the Rawlins crew, and when they got home sweet Brian made my bed up and got me tucked in and the kids to bed. He's the best.

So happy Mother's Day. I blessed to have the best kids that make me so proud to be a mother every single day. It is truly the best job in the whole world. It is really hard and tiring but I wouldn't trade it for anything. They are worth the tears, stresses, frustration, happiness, giggles, smiles, kisses, and everything else that comes along with it.

I also love the mothers I have in my life who are the best examples to me. First and best - my mum. She is the person who taught me about Christlike love and compassion, forgiveness, gratitude, charity, and unconditional giving to your family. I know I can turn to her for anything I am having trouble with, and anything I am excited or proud of, and she will share those feelings with me. She's cried with me, laughed with me, sat with me on the phone when I've been on the brink of going crazy and locked myself in my room, she's sat by my side in the hospital when I thought I would die and held my hand till I fell asleep. She is the best mother in the world and I'm so lucky that she is mine.

I have the most wonderful examples all around me, sister, sister in laws, mother in law, and friends. I look up to all of them and know they are all always there for me. Happy Mother's Day to all the best mums I know( that's all the mums I know!).

Super cool

I'm blessed ... and married into a radical family. We aren't just family but we are all friends too. It's awesome and this week we all went out on a group date. Family movie night if you will! We did dinner at breadwinners which is always to die for... And then Ironman 3. It was great company and entertainment! Also too, thank to chase and Anna for letting us crash their anniversary the however many times this makes it in a row! It's like marvel knows when your big day is and lines up their movie releases with it! Thanks y'all - happy anniversary, love ya!

It's a date

Every so often we like to take the kids out on dates one on one. However now that we have three kids that makes it difficult to get a babysitter for one of them especially when she's two and throws a fit. So this last weekend Brian took Natalie out on a date and I was going to take boots and Courtney decided to come along with us.(the truth is that Natalie did not want to share for date with Courtney so boots willingly volunteered that she could come along with us, he is such a sweet brother.) With a four and a two-year-old who won't sit through much, And being on a budget, it made it difficult for me to choose a date.

They said they wanted nachos and frozen yogurt. So we went to Del taco and to the local gas station that sells frozen yogurt. We then headed home to put Courtney to bed. Boots and I Stayed up a little later to watch wreck it Ralph.

I think Natalie and daddy did about the same but they did it at a different location. It's funny that our kids when they are given an opportunity to choose anything to do choose food and to watch a movie they don't care where either. They are happy with our couch! Love them!

Proud parent moment

As we were getting everyones hair done today in the bathroom, boots was clipping his nails with the toes nail clippers(giant clippers). I decided he needed some help, so I took over cutting and the first cut "ahhhhhhh" I totally got his whole finger tip in the clippers. Blood. Screams. Tears. I'm awesome.
(Obviously the picture was from better times)

We did it... And I'll do it again

My weekend is over and another Monday starts tomorrow. Mondays are such great days to start new with everything that I am working on in my life. Working out harder, eating better, reading scriptures more, praying more, being more patient with my kids, cooking more, cleaning more, spending more time with my kids, waking up early, and the list goes on and on.

I feel like every Monday I start over and hope that maybe this week I will master one or all of these skills. Yet every Monday that comes along I'm still in the same place I was trying to do more and better.

That is what this life is all about though isn't it? Trying to be better and wiser and kinder? Put off the worldly things and become closer to our Savior Jesus Christ? That is what I am really striving for each Monday and each day for that matter.

So tomorrow is just another Monday. I will eat better, I will work out harder, I will cook dinner, I will clean, I will do laundry, I will read to my kids, I will study more scriptures, I will pray more, I will be kinder to everybody around me, I will smile more, I will spend less money, I will worry less what others think of me and worry more about What the Savior thinks. Tomorrow I will be a better person than I was today.

Although I feel pretty good about the person I have been the last few days being a mother to eight children. I love my nieces and nephews to death and it was so fun to have them come and stay with us for four days. It indeed made me realize that I am very much fine with the three children that I have of my own. But we had a lot of fun and got a lot of things done. I am tired and I need a good pedicure!

Let it begin

The madness that is!! Good thing I love my nieces and nephews a lot because for the next few days we will be living a live circus! 8 kids and me and Brian. We are babysitting and I'm excited for some fun crazy times. Starting with tonight the quadruplets.
The worst part is that they can't sleep in the same room as my kids cause my kids would keep them up all night long. Why do mine have to be nuts!
All the time.

To prep for this week I have been working out hard. Ok it's not to prep for the kids and stress, it was to prep for the stress eating that will probably happen. Haha I have been soon nike training camp followed by the spin class. 2 hours of intense training. I am so pooped and so sore too! Places I never knew I could be sore and had no idea I was working! It's a new workout every time so it is really fun and goes fast. It is hard work!!

Sweet moment

Natalie has been working very hard on being happy all the time. She tends to be very grumpy when she doesn't get her way or when she wakes up early or when she wakes up late or when she's eating, pretty much all the time... Unless she is eating candy that she wanted as a reward or won a contest then she is happy. Haha But she only has about six more days of being happy every morning and she earns herself a scooter.

I do get so happy when I look in the backseat and see my kids doing kind things to each other. After Boots's baseball game on Saturday I looked behind and he was letting Natalie rest her tired head on his shoulder. Usually touching is not allowed because of how it ends, but on Saturday it was so sweet and they did it for quite a while.

So we had baseball pictures on Saturday and I decided to not buy any this year. Brian does not like it when I spend money on pictures for a sport. I understand because he's doing two different things a year and it starts to add up. Instead I stood behind the photographer and took a group shot, I think it looks pretty good I don't need to pay $15 to have this printed for me thank you very much.

Also too... I cut my hair. Loving it!

Product review

West elm stainless steel top table...
It's awesome. I went back and forth about a kitchen table for our home for a while. I wanted it big enough so that it seats 8, and durable since my kids are nuts.

I really wanted a rustic wooden table that looked pieces together, but as I thought about play dough and macaroni, all I could think of was the little cracks and crevices that things would get stuck in.

So enter the stainless steel top. It's so durable and can be scratched up with forks or smashed with food or colored on or play Doughed on. No matter what just happened it is easy to wipe up and the scratches actual make it look better!

I am so happy with what this table brigs to our home and I know it will be well used and well loved.

Also, I got the clear chairs from ikea which are the easiest things to wipe and clean and they smoosh around the table perfectly! I have 6 chairs now, but they easily fit 8 when we have guests.

Bluebonnets

Tonight I am so grateful for these 3 goof balls. They might be nicknamed sassy pants, monkey face, and silly goose... But they are the best kids ever.

Natalie sassed me bad before school and then several times after school today. We have a chart that is up and she gets to put a smiley face every morning that she is happy getting ready for school. If she is sassy and grumpy she gets a frowny face. If she can do this for three weeks of happy faces straight she earns herself a big girl razor scooter. She really wanted one, until she broke her arm. Now she doesn't really care, she just wants her cast off. Which has resulted in grumpy mornings again.

Today boots broke a bookshelf off of the wall now I have three giant holes to fill. He is crazy and blames everything on somebody else. So and so was doing it, so I did too. What he doesn't understand yet is that he can control himself other people do not control him. The kicker is that he's just so sweet and tender hearted. It's hard for me to get mad and tell him no!

Courtney pooped her pants twice today. It was just a little, the rest was in the potty but man is that girl stubborn. It HAS to be her idea so it's all about phrasing it the right way to get her to do it. "It" being anything. Eating, walking, bathroom, helping, anything. She talks about a mile a minute and all I want to do it listen to her, until she repeats herself about 37 times too many... You have to respond. But it all makes it lovely when she busts out "brightly beams" or "I am a child of god".

There you have it sassy pants, monkey face, and silly goose playing up in those bluebonnets! I hope the weather gets a little nicer and we can go back up and take some real pictures not in mud and freezing.