Not at the Park

I needed to get out of the house, so I told the kids, "Hey, get your shoes on! Let's ride our bikes to the park!"

"No, Mom," said Edmond, "I need to put my sign outside."

"What sign?"

"This one."

"Oh!" I said, "It's a turtle!"

"No.," he informed me, "It's a tortoise. Turtles swim in the water, tortoises walk on the land."

"Oh, a tortoise. Ok. And what do the words say?" I asked.

"Only tortoises can walk here."

"I like it! Where are you going to put it?"

"Outside. By Biff's house."

 Even though Biff is hibernating, I think he likes his sign.

Since we were out there anyway, we decided to jump on the trampoline. I put Scarlett on there for her first time.

 Sister loved it, of course. Immediately Edmond grabbed her and began jumping.

She loved that too. I love that she's not afraid of stuff.

 Where was Charlie, you ask? Well, I pointed my camera inside the house through the kitchen window and took this picture of him. He was playing with his jet, flying it through the air. I love when I catch my kids pretending.

My kids are always peaking over the fence into the neighbor's yard. It makes me laugh. I wonder what the neighbor's think of it when they see their little blonde heads popping over the fence.

The ugly self-portrait, to prove that I was there, too, in my pink coat that I wear like a robe over my sweat pants that I slept in.

Eventually Charlie heard the giggling and realized he was missing out on something so he ditched the jet and donned his boots and came out to join us.

I wonder what it's like to be Scarlett, to be a baby and have these two wild boys always being crazy with her. It's strange that I have to wonder, since I was exactly in the same boat with my two older brothers. I guess she'll be fine. It just seems a little dangerous sometimes.

And then I found this tiny flower on a bush and I felt springtime coming.

 Edmond hung these ghosts on our rosebush to scare the crows away...since we don't have a scarecrow and you never know when those pesky crows are going to come and peck at our rosebush.

Edmond is always working on some kind of project. Making picture frames out of popsicle sticks, a horse out of construction paper, a wreath out of cardboard. It's awesome. The other day he said, "Mom, do you know what I want to be when I grow up?"

"What?" I asked him.

"I want to be a project man."

Watching Charlie and Scarlett play together is precious to me. I love watching their friendship grow.

So, I didn't get my way. We didn't go to the park, we stayed home. This happens all the time. But it's good to stay home, it's good for my kids to get creative and find new ways to play at our house and with each other. And it's good for me to live in the moment with them and just enjoy it.

Let There Be Pink

It's Valentine's season around here.

This is a ribbon banner. It's just a bunch of ribbon and fabric strips tied in knots on a piece of ribbon. It's also what I used on the wreath.

Before church on Sunday I told the kids, "Ok! We have ten minutes. Quick! Stand on the bed and smile!"

Since B and I are never together at chutch, a lot of people don't even know we are a family. An old woman in the ward was talking to B and said, "There's the cutest baby in our ward, she's so smiley, and she's always dressed in the most feminine, lacey outfits. She's adorable."

B scrolled through his phone until he found a picture of Scarlett and then passed it to the woman and said, "Is this the baby?"

"Yes, that's the baby!"

B put his phone back in his pocket and said, "Yeah, that's my daughter."

What's not getting done

Once a friend and I were discussing blogs and how blogs can paint a picture of the perfect life where someone has a perfect house and perfect kids and perfect clothes. But we decided it was an illusion, that it's not possible, that if you went to the blogger's house, you'd see there are things that are not getting done. After all, there are only so many minutes in a day, and there isn't enough time to keep everything perfect all the time.

So, what's not getting done at my house? Dinner. We've been eating bagels, fried eggs, cereal, and quesadillas for about six months.

Seriously.

But are these kids complaining?

No. Bagels are awesome.

What else isn't getting done? Sleep. I've been staying up past midnight for about a year. I know, it's stupid, but it's so nice when the kids are sleeping and I can work without interruption. I'm addicted to it.

What else? Well, I'm not exercising, I'm not reading my scriptures enough, I'm not going to the temple enough...there are lots of things that aren't getting "enough" in my life, and I want to change that. I could create quite the hefty list of things that aren't getting done...but for now let's focus on the positives.

Things that ARE getting done: I bought these sweet pants after Christmas, and my mother-in-law got me the cowboy boots I've had on my birthday and Christmas list for two years.

I'm loving my kids as hard as I can, and we have fun every day.

We found these sweet bikes at Home Goods, and my kids loved them so much I was sorely tempted to buy them all, just to please them.

Instead we stayed for 30 minutes just riding the bikes up and down the back aisles of the store.

Scarlett cheerfully beeped her horn and pushed herself around on her bike. She loved it so much...like she knew it was pink and made just for her.

What else is getting done: my kids are wandering around our backyard in my shoes. They love clomping around in them.

What else is getting done: I'm working on decorating for Valentine's. We've never decorated for Valentine's, and I have a feeling my boys are going to love this holiday. So, for the next month it's all about pink and red and hearts and love notes.

And, we finally painted the boys' room and got rid of the hideous yellow and orange walls. And we painted the stairway which was extremely dangerous and involved me balanced precariously on a ladder while my husband coached me from below. Phew. I'm so glad to check those to-do's off my list.

So, here's to getting things done while other things are not getting done. We have to pick and choose, and I'm going to choose better. More sleep, better dinners, more scripture study and temple attendance...that's where I need to improve. I guess that means less painting and less riding bikes at Home Goods.

New Year's Eve

 On New Year's Eve we had some friends over. We decided to ring in the New Year at 8pm with out kids. I spray painted some of my white circle streamers from Scarlett's blessing to silver and gold.

 And I made a pinata and filled it with old Halloween candy and loud party blow horns. It was the first time I ever made a pinata...and probably the last. Not as easy as it looks on Pinterest.

 I quickly decorated the mantle for New Year's.

 And then the friends arrived and we ate some of B's carnitas and broke our pinata and then at 8:00 we went outside and banged some pots and pans and blew our horns and popped some party poppers.

 It was the first time our kids have ever celebrated New Year's, and I'm glad we did it early in the evening so that they could be a part of it. We also played a few rounds of twister, all the Mom's played once (I lost), then the Dad's (B lost), and then the kids (they all won).

Happy New Year!