Honored mother

On a perfect Mother's Day.....

*I would wake up on my own, well-rested and ready for the day, no phone alarm clock at 6:30 AM today
*I would hear the sound of my kids and handsome Man slaving away in the kitchen on what I can assume is breakfast in bed as I lay rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
*I would forget that my Man snuck in to ask me how exactly you make whipped cream, the real stuff!
*I would never forget my sweet kids filing into the bedroom, with a different bunch of my favorite flowers in each one's hand, to present their edible masterpiece.
*I would open handmade cards, gifts, and some cool surprises while eating my kids version of Old Glory pancakes; pancakes topped with blueberries, vanilla whipped cream, strawberries and cinnamon.  Yum!
*Sydney would wish me an enthusiastic "Happy Birthday!" as I open a present from her.
*Toby would flash me a beaming smile when I am happily surprised with the banana stand and recipe holder he made for me at Scouts.
*Logan would get dressed for church happily and on time.  (That's huge.)
*Jessie would be her usual overexcited self about gifts, and what they should have bought me and why Dad wouldn't buy the dress that she wanted for me, and wondering aloud if I was going to wear the dress they did buy me to church.  Love that girl! ;)
*I would nix doing my hair up fancy in favor of more snuggle time in bed with my sweet kids who would sneak bites of my huge plate of pancakes.  
*The dress, shoes, and necklace gifts my sweet children picked out for me to wear to church (with careful suggestions from my love) would all fit and look okay.

*My Man would take the time to dress everyone in the same colors as my outfit so as to match for the inevitable pictures after church.
*We would be on time to church!
*The mildly-cheesy (sorry, it kinda was) Mother's Day song I would sing with a great bunch of ladies would actually bring a few tears to some eyes. 
*I wouldn't have to give the Young Women's lesson I just read through the night before.
*The nap I was promised wouldn't get interrupted several times by kids sneaking around my bedroom or the dog licking my hand.
*My ear wouldn't be throbbing and getting worse with a major infection. :(
*I would enjoy the evening with both Moms, hence both sides of the family, over a delicious meal at Gram's house.
*I would feel no guilt while savoring the left-over chocolate caramel ice cream after the kids went to bed.
*I would fall asleep next to my love after a fabulous day.

While my Mother's Day wasn't perfect, it was as close as can be expected.  I am so grateful to have my beautiful Mother close by, and am especially grateful for the sacred blessing I have been given in being Mom to these four awesome kids.
 

Choice funnies of late

Driving to Naylor's with the kids we started to have a conversation about who owns what.  Logan said we owned the apartment complex where we live.  After explaining that Jean owns the buildings and we just live in them, Toby jokingly said, "so she owns my toys and all our stuff?!!"  "No, we own all our things," I assured the Littles.

After a brief silence, Logan said, "Guess who owns everything on the Earth?.....Heavenly Father!"

"I wouldn't say he owns everything on the Earth.  It's more like he created the Earth and loves everything on the Earth," I said.
"Yeah, and even he loves skunks?!!" Logan exclaimed.
Amen.


After a big breakfast at Naylor's, Syd said, "Mom, (big sigh) my tummy hurts.......cause I'm going to have a baby."  She then walked around sticking her tummy out and rubbing it.  Maybe she's been watching Auntie Lauren's tummy getting bigger lately.


Syd loves the books Pinkalicious and Purplicious.  We have read them enough together that she has them almost memorized and enjoys reading them to herself.  In Purplicious, Pinkalicious gets teased because she loves pink and it's a baby color to all her classmates.  The book says Pinkalicious writes in her pink diary that she loves pink.  Syd reading the book to herself said, "And I wrote in my pink diarrhea that pink is perfect!"

 

Zombie walk

I thought it would be a good idea to take a nice long walk this morning to boost my energy for the day.  I was a zombie yesterday because of lack of sleep, but I wanted to actually tick stuff off the to-do list today.  Ever the multi-tasker, I decided to walk to Walmart with the littlest chillie up front in the stroller.  I needed a few things there that would fit in the bottom basket of the trusty Graco, and it would kill two birds with one stone.  Two and a half hours later I am home and wondering if I bit off a little more than I could chew.  My barely noticeably sore neck now throbs from pushing the stroller for so long, and that partially black toe nail I squished under a chair several months ago is now coming off (too much?).

I gave Squid the camera to keep her busy, but wish I would have taken a picture of the both of us. 

Despite not being able to turn my neck to the left, though, I'm feeling good!  As soon as my Man gets home he will fix me up right and the neck pain will be a distant memory.  I don't know how I would get on without my Man's chiropractic and ART prowess.  Yes, that was a plug.  He is so generous with his time to help our family (me and the kids whine about our aches and pain when he gets home all the time) after doing the same thing all day long.  He really does love it still and his practice is doing well.  We say thankful prayers for that every day!  

Easter is upon us.  I've been trying to eat so well in order to enjoy some guilt-free goodies on Sunday.  I'm looking forward to spending the day with our family, going to church, eating some chocolate!, and enjoying the Sabbath with a thankful heart for all the amazing blessings God has given me.  I know Jesus lives people!  What a happy thought it is to know that I can be forgiven for my mistakes thanks to Jesus' atonement and resurrection.  I try to take this beautiful time of year to heart and renew goals and commitments for myself to BE better.  New spring flowers and bright green buds on the trees help me remember that I too can grow and learn.  It just takes work.

Speaking of something that takes lots of work.  I feel like I was a crappy Mom yesterday.  I'd like to blame it on my previously mentioned zombie mode.  Unfortunately, I will perpetuate the stereotype that men love to blame my gender's foul moods on by saying, my "hormone spike" this week was partially to blame.  I am so short-tempered that I need to constantly self-talk to keep my temper in check.  It hasn't even worked.  How far am I from menopause?  My poor kids are walking on eggshells with me, and yet I am still a crazy person.  I had to put myself in a time out or two today.

Maybe I need more sleep.

More sleep.
Coloring eggs.
Filling eggs for the kiddos to find on Sunday.
Putting up some spring colored pretties in the house.
The ever-present dishes and cleaning the house.
Swim practice.
More sleep.

That's the short list for the rest of the week.
Ready break.

More days like this

Me and the Mister had a good day.  I'd venture to say our entire young family had a great day!  It was busy.  There were some hectic, rushed times throughout the day, but when my Man and I sat down on the couch together at the end of the night we both felt a sense of accomplishment and happiness.  If only every day could be as productive and fun.

The past three months of Saturdays have been spent slaving away at my Man's office doing his remodel.  Painting, ripping out carpet, and laying new laminate floor have been complicated while working around patients and massages that were scheduled during the same time.  We finally got tired of trying to be quiet, dragging all the kids with us, and asking family to watch the Littles for those long days while we chipped away at the work.  We decided to skip the Saturday craziness and work on Monday while the kids were at school.  It was awesome to get an entire room of laminate down with no kid distractions.  It was just the two of us hammering, cutting, measuring, and laughing while we finished the room. We were done before 2 PM when we weren't getting home until 5 or 6 on Saturday nights.  The office is going to look so good when we are done!

After a lunch break at Chipotle, a quick visit to the dog park with Ruby, and a pit stop at Sports Basement for swimming gear for the kiddos we called our working date a success.  What a treat to spend the whole day with my Man.  We had a lot of fun working together.  We make a great team!

Thirty minutes goes by too fast when you are speeding home to get 3 kids dressed and ready for their first day of swimming practice and to the pool on time.  Again, we tag-teamed the task, getting all kids there on time with their shiny new goggles and suits.  ALL THREE KIDS were so nervous to go to swimming practice.  Okay, so maybe Toby wasn't all that nervous, but he doesn't really show it if he is.  Things roll off his back so easy that he was along for the adventure.  I think he is most willing to try new things in the pool, too.  After all the kids swam the width of the pool for their coach, and learned the other kids names we were on our way home.

Applebee's saved the night for dinner since they have a kids eat for $1 special on Monday nights, and I hadn't been home all day to get something together for dinner.  It was Family Night after all.  I really need to get on it now about prepping dinner before we go to swimming every day.

As much as I am thankful for all we got done today, I think I would be exhausted in under a week after so much productivity every day.

Birthday celebration for Dad

What a happy day yesterday!  Mom and Kristy went early yesterday morning to spring Dad from his prison.  He was elated to walk out of the rehab facility to get on with life and healing.  Kristy said she and Mom were busy collecting all the things from his room when they looked around and couldn't find Dad.  He had walked himself down the hall to the elevator while his nurse ran after him to escort him out the front doors, as is protocol.  It has been so hard for Mom to travel up to be with him every day, and Dad got terribly lonely when Mom wasn't there, like during the long nights.  It's going to be great for them to be home.  Dad will continue to have therapists come to the house and also travel for therapy in town, but the long drives and hours apart for Mom and Dad are done.  I plan on spending the days that Mom works over at their house to help out and make sure Dad is okay.  He can get around pretty well with a walker, but he lost most of his strength and stamina.  He came home 20 pounds lighter and our family goal is to help him lose a lot more.  He knows he has to now.

The Doctors and therapists that worked with Dad loved his ever-present whit and were so surprised at how fast he progressed in his recovery.  He came home teasing that he could go to work and function with half his brain tied behind his back.  His speech is much better, he can eat solid food now (a big wahoo!), his facial paralysis is almost unnoticeable, and he is doing all his mental exercises to fix the connections in his brain that were damaged.  Dad speaks so highly of the skilled staff that helped him, and he knows he has a long road back to %100.  We are here to get him there though.  I pray that dear Mom's burdens will be lightened as she is worried about working enough to cover their expenses, and is Dad's main care-giver until he can function be on his own.

Despite all the hard work ahead, we had a happy celebration tonight with Dad at home.  While in the hospital, he would look at the calendar every morning to see what day it was and count how many more days until the big starred date.  His sister Mary, marked yesterday as Freedom Day and Birthday on the calendar in his room, so Dad would have something to look forward to.  We had a great evening celebrating his freedom!

The quickest thing we thought of whipping up for our impromptu dinner was breakfast; sausage, bacon, eggs, waffles, and tons of fruit.  I know, it wasn't the best meal for those of us trying to lose weight, but we were celebrating.  Dad kept saying that this was the best meal he had had in weeks.  Of course, anything beats pureed food stuck into molds to form it back into the shape it started in.  Breakfast for dinner topped with a piece of chocolate birthday cake for dessert made Dad a happy man.

One of the things Dad has to practice is puckering his lips.  Since his first week in the hospital he said he was going to watch the "Littlest Mermaid" when he got home because he remembered Sebastian puckering his lips in the movie.  "You gotta bot your eyes like 'dis.  You gotta pucker up your lips like 'dis," we all recited together in the family room as we watched the Little Mermaid while eating birthday cake.  Dad wasn't kidding, he had Mom put on the movie and sat there with the kids until that part came.  Then he practiced with all his might to pucker his lips.  He still can't quite get there, but at least he is moving the left side of his face much better than several weeks ago.

We said a late good-bye and gave Dad a huge squeeze on behalf of everyone that has been praying for his return home.  God is good!  He answers prayers, and seeing Dad doing better and at home is a huge answer to many prayers!

Happy Birthday, dear Dad!

P.S.  The chocolate cake looked and smelled delicious, but I was strong and didn't have any.  Not even a sneak off Sydney's barely-eaten piece.  I can do this.  I think I can, I think I can , I think I can.......