Apparently being Awesome isn't always easy

On Saturday afternoon, John scooped up the whole famdamily and took us down to the school for a couple of hours of fun in the gym.   The kids kicked around the soccer ball for a bit, then they played basketball, John flew his remote airplane, and I walked laps.  At one point, after trying without success to teach Jessica the rules of soccer, Abby gave up on the game and came over to where I was.   Her eyes were nearly brimming with tears and I could tell instantly that something was bothering her, but she seem to want to talk about it.     After a few minutes, I asked her what had happened to make her not want to play with Jess or Sam anymore. 

  She pensively looked up at me and said, "Mom,  It's just not fun to be so extremely awesome at something, and then have to play with others who are not as good as you." 

Oh yes she did!!

I replied by saying something along the lines of:  "Yeah....um....I can't really relate to that feeling Abby, but I can imagine how hard that must be for you."   And then I encouraged her to try to be a little more patient with her younger siblings, and their apparent lack of skill;)

Truthfully though, (and I say this with all sincerity), Abby really is extremely awesome.

    And yesterday - this EXTREMELY AWESOME GIRL turned 9!    

As per her birthday request we had a slightly unusual Sunday dinner consisting of perogys (with all the toppings), Italian Sausage, salad, and pistachios.   To finish it all off, she got a much anticipated DQ Ice cream cake.    (I don't know why we let the kids chose their own "birthday dinners" but after eating that combination of food, I'm feeling the need to go on some sort of 10 day cleanse as a result;)  

Jewel and her family came over for dinner as well (poor souls;) and that alone made it Abby's "best birthday EVER!"   The fact that she got both a microscope and a telescope was just icing on the cake.

Abby's a special one to me.   I have a lot of fond memories of the early years in our marriage when it was just John and I and our one little baby.   We were so happy to be parents, and to have such a spunky and inquisitive child.   Of course, we were certain that she would excel at everything, and that she would be practically perfect in every way;)    It has been fun to see Abby grow and become her own person.    Still as inquisitive as ever,  artistic, kind hearted, confident and just as we'd always hoped - she's practically perfect in every way!
  

In short - We think she's AWESOME!

The way I want to see it

Our third blog book recently arrived and I love it just as much as the others.   It's bigger then the others by a little bit, and contains almost 350 pages consisting of some of my favorite memories over the past two years.      I have to admit it is a bit biased, and for the most part, from my perspective entirely.   Hmmm.... perhaps that's why I like it so much! ;) 

What I love about this little book though, is that when you browse through it, for the most part- you would never know about the few difficult experiences we've had over the past couple of years.    Instead, this book is chalk full of the GOOD!   And that's exactly how I wanted it to be.

It's full of family photos.
(Because I made my family endure a lot of family photos in the past 24 months)

It's got a few love letters about my husband;)

There are many documented special occasions and celebrations-

-Not to mention lots of treasured time with friends and family.

This book contains probably every.single.one of our favorite summer activities.  

 (That time with John in the summers is sure precious!)

Of course,  it was important to me that a few awkward and embarrassing moments made it into the book.

You know, for posterity's sake;)

Mostly, this book was all about illuminating the beautiful things in my life.   Giving attention to those things that were great in the past two years, and choosing to leave out those things that were ...well...not so great.     

  Hopefully, one day my kids will flip through these pages and remember the charmed life they had growing up.    

Because that's what it is;)!

Nate's Sensitive Side

I caught Nate playing with Jessica's doll the other day and had to get some pictures.  

It's not often that we see this nice nurturing side of him;)!

Hula Hoop Fun

Jewel got Jessica a Hula Hoop a couple of weeks back for Jessica's 5th birthday.   

More important then all the other details and instructions for that day, I was told that she absolutely needed a hula hoop.   It's a good thing that Aunty Jewel came through for her, because I shopped every store in town (all three of them) and had no luck:)

It was cute to watch Jess immediately give it a try.  

The it was time to let the pro have a turn and show us how it's done.    

This girl can HULA!   (is that how you'd say it?)   

I just finally stopped taking pictures- she wasn't about to stop any time soon.

Three reasons why Crystal is cooler then me

Well, the kids have been home for 4 days now and we are still hearing stories of the fun they had while staying at Aunty Crystal and Uncle Jeremy's house.   I'm not surprised in the least, though I do get a little bit sad in the moments when Sam asks me if Aunty Crystal could adopt him.   Mind you, he's quick to reassure me that he just wants to live with her for a while, and then he'll want to come back home.   Yeah.  Sure kid.  I'm thinking I'm going to have to step it up around here a bit more;)

Here's three reasons why Crystal is a cooler mom then me:

1.

For Starters, Crystal's house is a just shy of being an indoor playground!

They have the best basement FULL of awesome toys, things to ride, and swings to play on.  

When I look at this picture I actually start to get a bit nervous.   All I see is a big mess to clean up. 

2.

Crystal does cute crafts with her kids.    Check out this card she helped Abby make for me!   

Each heart contains a sweet little love message (well...sometimes sweet;) and then it was painted over with some funky kind of scratch paint.    Every day I scratch and discover a fun little note.   How cute is that?

My favorite messages so far have been:  

"I will watch Nate for you."

"I will practice my piano.  (withOUT arguing)"  

and

"Auntie Crystal wants to keep us, but we love you more!!!!!"

3.

Crystal is a nature enthusiast!   She conveniently has a family of owls living in a front yard tree, and she's occasionally taken her boys out to collect owl pellets and dissect them.     (In case you don't know- owls don't poop.  Instead they cough up everything they don't digest in the form of nasty little pellets.  Those said pellets can then be dissected and you can easily determine what the owl has eaten by studying the remains in each pellet.)   Gross?   Not to her, because she's awesome like that.    

I was surprised to find a paper bag amongst the kids things when they got home on Saturday.   As soon as Abby saw it she remembered the contents and got right to work.  

First she donned her CSI style work gloves.   

Then she studied each and every bone.  (That once sat in the stomach of an owl btw)

Then she used this "Bone Sorting Chart" to determine just what type of animal had been eaten.  

Who does this sort of thing?   

I'll tell you who.   

My Sister!

She's absolutely cool.  

(in a quirky/hippie/Dr. Suzuki kinda way)

Heck!  I even want her to adopt ME!!!!

Wintery Waterton

Just wanted to share a few of my most favorite "Waterton in the Winter" type photos that I've taken in previous years.  There is nothing better then waterton on a clear and calm day.
Yes...even in the Winter;)

Give Lavishly. Live Abundantly.

It's been quite a week around here, though not necessarily one of my most favorites;)   In fact, on a scale of 1-10 (1 being good and 10 being stupid and dumb)  I'd say this entire week ranks about an 8.    It fits comfortably right smack dab between childbirth and giving a talk in church;)!    Luckily, tomorrow is Monday, which means that very soon I will get caught up again in the day to day "busy"ness, and the events of this past week will fade away, becoming nothing more then a very distant memory.    I can't wait for that;)    

A few things worth remembering though:

*  The kiddos spent the past four days at my sister Crystal's house, and had a blast!  Crystal's charming little country home near Rolling Hills has become their favorite place to be.   Aunty Crystal's house is full of crafts, cousins, rock piles, owls (and other country creatures), and best of all ....PIZZA BOMBS!!!    Sam and Abby both agreed today that Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Crystal are practically like "back ups to Santa Claus."  I wish I had some pictures to share.  

*  The kids came home yesterday and our house was instantly filled with loud noise, occasional laughter and toys scattered everywhere.   And this morning I woke up to the sound of Nathan BAWLING because he could only have two light sabers instead of all three.   Shortly after breakfast, Sam donned a large dark blanket and pretended to be the "Sith Lord" until about five minutes before he needed to leave for church.  And Abby sat and ate an entire plate of black beans tonight just to delay her piano practicing.     It's like they were never even gone.  And I love it.

*  We watched the movie 17 Miracles this morning, and found it to be an incredibly moving depiction of the hard things the early latter day saints endured as they made their way towards Salt Lake.   It was especially neat to watch the stories of the Loader family develop throughout this film.   James Loader was John's third great Grandfather, and the story is one that was very familiar to John.  I was amazed at the fortitude and strength that one single person is capable of possessing in this life.   It makes me wonder how far beneath my own capabilities I may be living.  

*  There was a point this week as John and I were walking the halls of a Calgary hospital (because that seems to be our idea of a romantic getaway sans children)  when we noticed a poem that had been quickly written down on a scrap piece of looseleaf and then hung on a random bulletin board.    It contained the most beautiful words about giving lavishly, and living abundantly.    I remember casually commenting to John that I'd love to get a copy of it, but didn't talk about it again.    Well, earlier today as I was sorting through our luggage from the week, I came across a folded up piece of paper containing John's hand written version of those very words.    At some point, without telling me, he'd gone and copied it all down!

    

That Guy.   He's pretty cool;)

And I've got precious little to complain about.

When Aunty Jewel stops by...

My sister stopped by for a few minutes last week to drop something off, and despite the fact that they couldn't stay long, Natey insisted on having his one on one time with his Aunty Jewel.    I don't know what it is about Jewel - but this boy absolutely loves her!   (okay I do know what it is;)  

Just look at those cute little arms wrapped around her neck!  Love it:)

The down side to having Jewel stop by is that it is usually a very heartbreaking event when it's time for her to leave.    Here is a picture of Nate the moment he realized that he couldn't go with her, but rather had to stay home.  With me.   His mother.

Here, Jewel tried to console Nate by telling him that she'll be by another time and that he can play at her house then.   Seeing as he has no grasp of time, this never really helps to reassure him-but it's kind of Jewel to try;)

Eventually though, she leaves, and Nate is left to live out his sad little life here.  With me.  

His Mother.    

Poor little guy;)

My musings as of late....

I had an experience last week which, (even though it was incredibly minor), has stuck in my mind all these days later.   A few days ago, I  observed a conversation in which very little good was being said about a few particular people.   Though I wanted to speak up in their defense,  I didn't.    I rationalized my silence by telling myself that I really didn't know any of them personally myself, so who was I to say anything either way.    In truth though, there is always something good you can say about a person,  unfortunately at that particular moment I chose not to.    (I like to think I'm 'non confrontational" but in this case that's just a fancy term for Chicken;)   

Anyways, after several unkind things had been said, one woman actually spoke up for them.   She was polite about it, completely unoffensive, but utterly clear on her opinion that we too often judge people without really knowing them, and that these people perhaps deserved a break.   

Wow! 

    Even though I didn't actually say anything mean, I felt as though I may as well have, because I didn't say anything KIND!   Does that make sense?   In short, I felt so small, and this woman instantly became a giant to me!   She is truly somebody that I admire immensely and want to be more like.   

This little experience was really quite small and inconsequential, but it has made me think all week long.    That's usually when this quote from my favorite "Elder Maxwell talk" comes to my mind.   I hope to remember this little message from now on:

*******

I came across the following story online the other day, and I think it is really very sad.   It's been a busy week or two, as I've rushed around making preparations for all sorts of things (that I didn't want to be doing in the first place;)  and barely stopping to take a breath.      Thankfully,  in my most hectic or anxious moments - this story would come to my mind, and I would think,  "Am I missing something important?"    or   "Is there something that I am just not seeing?"  And usually - there was.  

 I don't ask myself that very much, and I think too often I am guilty of rushing through moments because I'm in a hurry... or too worried.... or too shy....or too self absorbed.....     You get the picture;)   

   

It was a great little reminder for me to slow down.   Notice others a bit more. 

   Appreciate.

Alright, that's enough musings from me for today!   Now it's time to go enjoy what's left of this quickly disappearing week!

Jessicas birthday Carnival

Yesterday Jessica turned 5!!!    

To say she has been waiting anxiously for this day would be an understatement.   As soon as Valentine's Day was over, she began referring to herself in third person as "The Birthday Girl."    It was so cute yesterday morning, as John and I laid in bed, Abby and Sam spontaneously decided to "make" breakfast in bed for Jessica.   I could hear their planning and deliberation about what to cook, and I could tell it was going to be messy, but there was something about the way they wanted to spoil her that was just so sweet.    And I was super tired, so I just let them cook away.    Luckily they abandoned their lofty plans of pancakes for simple cereal and toast served on a platter.     

At one point I heard Jessica excitedly remark to herself, "I can't believe this day has finally come!" 

Because I am a mean mom, I don't let my kids have birthday parties every year.  Instead we alternate.    One year they get a friend party, the next year it is just a big special family party...etc.   This is "family party" year, and Jessica had a choice between going out to a restaurant or going to the family day carnival.   (Granted, we would have gone to the family day no matter what, but I wanted her to feel like she was in charge of the day, and seeing as she chose that over a fancy restaurant meal we secretly saved money!)   See how smart I am?     

So we loaded up the family and headed down to the local museum for some family day fun, which Jessica happened to mistakenly believe was set up just for her;)!     

The kids filled up on hot dogs and hamburgers.   They golfed, won prizes, stamped leather, and made ropes.     The ropes were definitely a highlight as the kids got to keep the rope they made.    As soon as we came home they immediately invented a climbing wall, using our banister and white couch.    I generally don't like it when the kids play in this main room, but seeing as they were all harnessed up and ready to go, I decided to let it slide.  Just this once.   

After they'd all climbed their hearts out, we sat down to enjoy Jessica's special birthday dinner.    Her menu of choice?     Chicken and Broccoli Casserole with a Chocolate rose cake.    

 A Chocolate rose cake????   Luckily, John's Valentines Day gift was still sitting by the window and that beautiful bouquet was put to good use.    

Jess loved looking at the pictures of her on our "Birthday Wall of fame" and she LOVED the gifts she got.  Thanks to all her cousins who sent her cards and gifts!!   John and I surprised her with a barbie house which had the kids all playing happily for the rest of the evening.  

It was nice to take a day just to celebrate her.    Jessica is our peacemaker.    She's the one who will jump up and get something anybody needs, and her number one goal in life is to please her mom and dad.   Why just the other day, as she was headed downstairs, she called out to me,    "Mom, I'll just be downstairs watching Sam and Abby, to see if there is ...you know...anything that I can tell on you about them!"    

Alright, so she's a bit of a suck up- but so was I once, and look how I turned out!

Jessica's got the sweetest smile and a genuine desire to do what's right.   She also is the only one in our family who will sit at the table and eat ALL of her vegetables!    

She's a Keeper this one!!!

Genuinely starting to worry about some of them;)

The day before valentines day, Jewel inspired us (and gave us supplies) to make cute little valentine shirts for the girls with fabric paint and a heart shaped doily.   Sam, not wanting to miss out on the fun, insisted on getting a shirt too.    John, not wanting his little boy to wear a shirt made from a heart shaped doily, insisted that we paint a different design on his.  

So...we present to you....Sam's lightning bolt T-shirt!  

Don't worry.   I know it looks hideous, but I didn' t expect much considering I spent all of 20 seconds on it.    Sam however LOVES it, and up until now, this was never a T-shirt he would have worn.   

Funny what a little logo does;)

I asked Sam to just make a normal face and pose nicely for me.   

That is what he did.

Then I said, "no really Sam, pose nicely!"

And this is what he did.

 Last night after our busy day of Valentines Day fun, the kids were quickly rushed through the night time routine, and then lovingly forced to bed.    Later that night as I was checking on them all, I was surprised to find Jessica- fast asleep- with her Church tights placed snuggly on her head.

I admit, I was slightly confused, but it was late and I've learned not to analyze what my kids do too much;)

However, I had to put my food down the next morning when I entered the kitchen and found her already up and eating breakfast...with her stockings still snug on her head.   Can you believe she wanted to actually go to school today using these as her hat?!!!

And I haven't even begun to talk about Nate yet!  (or as many now refer to him as "Sir Pukes-a-lot" ;)

Lately Nate has become determined ....no OBSESSED with being the one to answer the door.   When Grandpa comes for dinner each night, it is completely understood that nobody is allowed to let Grandpa in except for Nate.    When the door bell rings, no matter who it is, or how close any of us are to the door, we must stand there waiting for Nate to come and open it.    Failure to do so always results in an embarrassing display of dramatics from our expert two year old.    (in short, he has become a master tantrum thrower)    I reached my limit the other day though when I arrived home after a substantial grocery trip.   Arms loaded down with bags, I barged into the front door anxious to release the heavy load, only to remember too late that I had forgotten to "ring the doorbell" like I should have.    

Nate was livid.

I was forced to leave the house, (groceries and all), and pretend to return home all over again.  Only this time, I had to ring the doorbell, wait for him to finish his tantrum, and then when he finally did open the door I had to greet him as though I had just arrived for the first time.      With big tears dripping down his cheeks he said the usual..."Mom...home? " and then wondered off.

I'm getting tired of this little phase;)

He's also recently gotten a bit attached to this little stuffed monkey that has previously gone unnoticed all these years.    Nate comes to me many times during the day, hands me the monkey and says, "Mom...back...peaz...?"   I stuff the monkey down the back of his shirt and Nate happily returns to whatever it is he was doing before he realized he needed a  Monkey on his back.  

Oh and the other day I caught Nate playing on our kitchen floor near our vents.   (He's obviously discovered that the vent covers were removable.)   Perhaps I should have stopped then to investigate what it was he was up to, but he was quiet...and happy...so why interfere?

Hours later though, I saw him back there again, only this time I noticed the door to the nearby fridge was slightly ajar.     It didn't take long to figure out that Nate has secretly been going into the crisper, taking our ORANGES  and dropping them down our vents!!!!!   Ahhhh!!!!!

What is with these kids????

Oh and check out our family food blog to get recipes for the best seasonings  (that are not in a packet) EVER!  I'm loving them.

(now excuse me while I go find someone who can clean out our ducts;)

How Valentines Day went around here:

 * The kids woke up to a kitchen decorated with heart shaped balloons.

* They drank pink milk with heart shaped straws

* They loaded up their valentines for classmates and teachers and left for a day of fun

* Jess and I made Lemon Meringue Pies

* The kids came home and spent an hour going through all the valentines they received

* Abby gave me the best gift ever:  a sketch of a rose

* John gave me beautiful real roses
* Jewel brought my kids the cutest valentines ever, which they loved.    (She's uber creative!)

* We attended the junior theatre academy's productions- "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Pirates."   Both plays consisted of many kids from our ward, and lots of school buddies, so my little family was thrilled to get to go watch.    Next year Abby and Sam both want to be a part of it.   (look out;)!   

It was a fun Valentines Day for sure!  

Dear John....

Alright, so I didn't write this poem, but I did take the picture, so it is totally from the heart;)

Truth be told...IF I ever go to church again...

John had a couple of meetings today before church, which isn't really anything new, as he has meetings most weeks.   However, he had a special stake meeting today and he wasn't going to be home in time to take us to church so it was pretty much up to me to get my little chicks there by myself.   

 I know I make that sound like a big deal, but that's only because IT IS a BIG deal!

"Getting my kids to church on time" is a task comparable to solving world hunger, or ....I don't know....eradicating the ebola virus.    It's not easy.  Virtually impossible even.

Truth be told though...I handled it pretty darn well today.  

 I got the kids looking cute.   Abby practiced her piano.    Lunch was eaten.   I prepped tonight's dinner, AND made the desert.  Then we even had time to decorate heart shaped sugar cookies.    

 Yup.   It was pretty much my own little Sunday miracle.   

We got to church just as John was arriving, and sadly there was only one bench left that would accommodate our family.   Too bad for us, it was the worst possible bench in the entire chapel!   You know that first bench as you walk into a chapel thru the side door where the person handing out bulletins often sits?     That bench that has no bench in front of it,  so your kids are free to throw things as far as they want to, fight, make messes and cause all sorts of chaos and everybody sees it?   That was the one empty bench today.  

   Sitting on that bench is pretty much a kiss of death on a good day, and John and I both know to avoid it no matter what.     But we were late and there was nowhere else to sit so what were we supposed to do?    So we sat there, on the  "kiss of death bench",  and I prepared myself for the worst.  

Truth be told though our kids were actually doing remarkably well.  For the first time in like..forever, Nate was actually sitting still, (despite the wide open running space in front of him.)  Sam was actually sitting up beside me (instead of sprawling out on the floor beneath us), and nobody was crying for snacks.    I don't mean to brag or anything but it was pretty much amazing.    In fact, by the time we'd made it through the sacrament part of the meeting I was feeling pretty much thrilled and was having delusions of grandeur about how awesome we were.   

Truthfully, I had just barely looked towards John hoping to catch his gaze so that I could give him a "look at how much we ROCK today" wink,   when all of the sudden "it" happened.   

With no warning at all Nate began to throw up.    RIGHT THERE on that WIDE OPEN bench with nothing hiding us from anybody else.      Actually....  truth be told... he threw up all over Jessica's lap, because that is where I pushed his head.    (For some reason I thought her new beautiful puffy dress would make the perfect barf bucket?)

Everything else after that is sorta a blur to me.    I left with Jess to strip her down in the ladies bathroom, John left with Nate to strip him down, and the dearest sweetest lady in our ward who was sitting nearby cleaned up the little bit of puke that did not by chance make it onto Jessica's dress.    I'm pretty sure I'll have to make that up to her somehow this week.     Perhaps I'll take her some muffins.   (Because nothing says "thanks for cleaning up my child's puke in front of the whole ward" like a plate of blueberry bran muffins right?)

So, here I am now.    Skipping church.   

Nate, the little punk, is back to eating, drinking and pulling my hair - so he's basically back to his old self.  I'm perfectly happy to just lay beside him and try to love him while I nurse my wounded ego.   

Pretty sure I'm never going back to church ever again;)  

Just kidding, I like to be dramatic;)   I'll go back. 

But from now on...we are so sitting on the very farthest most BACK BENCH possible!   

I'll be there early EVERY WEEK just to save it!;)

************

And thats not all that happened this week that is worth mentioning.  (I know, the mind reels that there could be more;)    For starters,  I made bread for the thirtieth time this week and NAILED it!!   This time I tried a yummy whole wheat recipe and did everything right.   My father in law loved it so I feel confident saying it was yummy.    Just a little fact- in the past two weeks I've used over 30lbs of flour just practicing;)

 Oh, and last night John and I went on a real live date to watch the high school band perform.    We even danced!!!    Looking back, I think my skirt was a bit too tight (I could barely breathe),  and I can't dance at all (which is really embarrassing) - but it was definitely a nice night.  

Also this week, I went through all my families closets and sorted their play clothes from their school clothes.   I then ironed all of their school clothes and hung them up nicely in their closets.    It looks great, and I'm happy that my kids will no longer look like homeless children at school.    For the first time in like FOREVER I am ironing John's shirts for him!    I mean really!   Home made bread and freshly ironed shirts?   It's like John has a whole new wife!  

Yup.  I came close to feeling like a rockstar this week.    

I guess it's a good thing we have kids to keep us humble;)   

Saturday Sun

I woke up early Saturday morning (something I rarely ever do;) to take a few pictures.    The weather lately has been so spring like, and I wanted to snap a few pictures in Waterton.    I got back to town just before 9:00 am,  in time to do Saturday chores with the kids.  After that, the whole famdamily enjoyed a walk down to Dairy Queen for an ice cream treat, John cleaned the garage, and we celebrated Grandma Hardy's birth date by taking flowers to her grave.    

The sun was shining all day long!!!

This is what Waterton looks like as you approach it at 6:45 in the BLESSED AM!!!  ;)

This is a shot of Waterton Lake just after 7:00 am: 

 The sun rises a bit later in the mountains- but once it does, it casts the most gorgeous glow over everything!    

Later in the day as the sun was going down:

It's funny what a difference the light can make.     

Looking back, I'm really grateful for that lovely sunny day.

Love this thought today