No more Babies?

This is the question for us. Having children has not come as easy for Jeff and I as I would have liked. Of course I have ended up loving the space between my children and the time I had with each of them. Bryce was our miracle baby and I am so grateful that he is in our family. We now feel that our family is complete and that it is time for the next stage of life. It is just so hard for me to think of not having another one of these to stare at and enjoy:





Watching Jeff with our babies has also been one of my favorite parts. He is also great with them as toddlers and beyond. Reading this blog by one of my favorite people helped me to get excited for what might be coming up, even as I think about what won't be happening again.
The hardest part for me is that I didn't enjoy Bryce as a baby as much as the other 2. There are many reasons for that, but I would be lying if I said I didn't feel guilty about that. Part of the reason I am using this month to focus on my "scrapbooking" is to remember the good times with Bryce. I am truly loving his little personality
as a toddler. He is so dang funny- we laugh every day.
I love the baby stage. I love watching their first smiles, hearing that first giggle, and watching their features change. I love cuddling with them on the couch and knowing that nothing is more important in that moment. I love the forced 2 week slow down that a C-section forced me to have, and a loving husband and mother allowed me to take.
I know I will miss seeing the kids with a newborn sibling...

But, I look forward to many more older sibling interactions. I know that I need to enjoy each moment that I can. I love 18months-3 and that is what I am in right now with Bryce! I am sure there will be stages that I will enjoy less than others. (Can anyone say potty training Bryce?!) And there will be others that I have not yet experienced that I will enjoy even more than I can imagine. I feel blessed to be a mother to 3 sweet beautiful kids and to have a husband who loves me and loves them completely.We have many, many more memories to make as a family. I am glad to be along for the ride! I love these 3 very different and unique individuals that I call my children. I love each of them for the little person that they are and that they are becoming. I want to know each of them individually and personally and appreciate their little quirks, even if I don't love those quirks at that time.

NaBloPoMo(or in other words you will get a post from me every day)

This will be the third year I have participated in National Blog Posting Month. The first year I did it, it helped me through the most difficult time of my life. Last year, it helped me remember my goals and the legacy I want to leave. This year, my focus is my family. I am going to spend some time every day working on my digital scrapbook. I will use the blog to document what I have accomplished and to tell stories and share cute pics of my kids! :-)
Last night at midnight, I was supposed to register for a really fun race. It fills up really fast. It is an all women's race. I had asked my sisters and my mom if they would come run it with me. They said yes, so I was in charge of registering everyone. Well, the last thing I remember was seeing the clock at 11:46pm and telling Jeff, "Don't you remember when I fell asleep last year instead of registering?" Luckily, last year, the computers were down, so I was able to register later in the day. This year, I wasn't so lucky. It filled up in an hour. I am so bummed. I do things like this, and I am trying to learn from them and not get so disappointed. Since I woke up at 5am with my contacts still in, I decided to be productive and have something to show for it!

So, here are our Halloween pics! We had a busy weekend, and a great time!

It started off with a hair cut for Emily. She has been begging me to cut it for over a year, but I was nervous to lose the curls. Well, I was wrong. The cut is perfect for her! Some of the Halloween pics will show it off better! The best part is that she loves it! She asks everyone if they noticed her hair!


We went to a Kids' Halloween Party at our local YMCA on Friday. Bryce refused to wear the Pikachu costume I had picked up from a person on Craigs' list at 7:30 that morning! I was a little frustrated but was able to get him in Superman. :-) The kids made cookies, fished for candy, ran through a little maze and tunnel, and played soccer. It was a good way to start the holiday. That night, a good friend of ours was watching our kids and had a darling Halloween party! So, obviously they didn't miss us. We went to a fun adults-only party/scavenger hunt! It was fun to dress up and be with friends.


On Saturday, Dallin had his last soccer game. I was sad to see this season end. It was a great learning experience for all of us. After finding out that I had mistakenly put Dallin on a first grade team instead of the team with all his buddies, he was very disappointed. We were able to get him on a second grade team after all and it ended up being fantastic! He had an awesome coach and he made 10 new friends. :-) I did not get to see either goal that he made, but I was happy for him nonetheless!


Saturday night, we went to the ward trunk or treat and then trick or treated in our own neighborhood. Bryce was so funny. He got very upset if a house didn't have their lights on and as such didn't have candy for him. He sprinted from house to house. He loved his pumpkin bag. (Thanks Mom!) We ended the night with apple cobbler and vanilla ice cream.






I will be adding in updates as I go. I will keep a running tab on the side with my updates. My blog is now my digital scrapbook. I think it is a great way to capture how I am feeling in the moment. Feel free to visit every day this month! I look forward to getting a lot done and remembering great and not so great times. :-)

Just to hold you over...

...mom! I will update soon, I promise. Since I am a little behind, here are some of the pics from our trip to Mexico. We had a fabulous time! We went with our friends and their kids, but we did not bring our kids. Sarah returned the favor from April when I watched her kids for a week, and watched our kids and we enjoyed every minute. We did a lot of crazy things like parasailing, rappelling down waterfalls, and riding zip lines. We also just enjoyed reading at the beach and spending time together. I was sad for it to end, but rejuvenated and ready to be a mom. :-)






Since we got back, we have been finding our school groove again. Dallin is figuring out how to fit in homework with soccer and piano practice, and I am learning how to balance time with the two younger kids. I can honestly say I am thoroughly enjoying being at home. I am glad that Emily missed the cutoff :-) and I was able to have one more year with her.

More details to come... (including Emily's birthday!)

Loving Fridays off already!

Here is Dallin's first day as a second grader. It really does go by too quickly. Summer, that is, oh and their childhood!

After 2 days back in school, I was already excited to have Friday off. One of my favorite things about the Charter School was their 4 day week. The kids go an hour longer during the week, but it is worth it to sleep in on Friday and just chill out. Today was spent finishing last minute packing for our Puerto Vallarta trip- woo hoo!! and then I took the kids swimming. I just love being in the water with them. They all enjoy it so much. We actually had the pool to ourselves today and the lifeguard let us stay 30 minutes longer. I loved it!

So, Jeff and I are headed to Puerto Vallarta for a week. Sarah is taking on the awesome duty of watching my 3 lovely children. I wish her luck and I am ready to go. We are up late because we planned our 3 excursions. I will tell you all about them when I get back.

Thanks to all of you for reading. I look forward to blogging again, but it will be good to feel safe among friends!

Just a thought...

This is what I want...

Time to turn this into a journal....

...that is not open to the world. Please email me if you would like an invite. I haven't wanted to do this, but I feel like I should go private. Comment me if you don't have my email.

Thanks for checking in!

Epiphany

This has been a great week for me to reflect. With my dad's birthday on Tuesday, I was reminded of what is most important- doing my best to be a good person and treat others kindly. Then as I was reading Eat, Pray, Love- I felt like I was hit on the head. Here are some snippets:

"To know God, you need only to renounce one thing- your sense of division from God. Otherwise, just stay as you were made, within your natural character."

She goes on to talk about the things that she wants, that she can't have "thick, dark hair" and makes this observation.

"But at some point you have to make peace with what you were given and if God wanted me to be a shy girl with thick, dark hair he would have made me that way, but he didn't. Useful, then, might be to accept how I was made and embody myself fully therein."

I love this!! I feel like I need this reminder over and over again. I hope I will always be striving to be a little better, but within my own capabilities and gifts.

So, my quest to be a more "at home" stay at home mom will continue, but only in the ways that work with my personality.

I would love more suggestions, but I have found my peace.

Stay at Home Ideas

Alright, everyone teases me about being busy. Here are my reasons for staying so active:
1. I love being outside. I am sure part of that comes from growing up in the mountains and my love for the beach. (passed on from my dad!) Spending time at the park is very soothing to me.
2. I enjoy watching my kids learn from other people and their reactions- story time, music time.
3. I like my kids having a chance to run around without having a mess to clean up after. (mat time at the YMCA)
4. I love the water. (pool time at the YMCA)
5. I love people. (Meeting up with other friends is a great way to get to chat and get to know others.)
6. When I am at home, I feel like all I am doing is cleaning up messes. If I try to clean around them, another area of the house is being destroyed. Haven't quite figured that out.

Here is where I need your help. I honestly don't know what to do inside the house with the kids. Here are the things we do like doing inside the house:

1. Playing board games
2. Reading books
3. Playing Wii/computer
4. Attempting to get cleaning done (I am trying to get the kids more involved with this process thanks to the Parenting Breakthrough!)
5. I am very left brained/math oriented so the crafty/imaginitive stuff doesn't come as easily.

Since I want to limit #3 as much as possible, and I want to encourage my kids to play, what other ideas do you have? How do you spend your time at home with your little ones? I want to learn how to truly be a "stay at home" mom instead of on the go so much. I just don' t know how to do it. Help!