Spring Snow

We woke up this morning to a huge snowfall!  I literally felt like I was back in Canada in the spring.  Usually I hate that it snows here but when the kids get to stay home on a "snow day" I absolutely love it!  I get to sleep in, stay in pajamas all day (well I do that anyway), let the kids watch endless amounts of television (Yes I do) and wait for it...play in the snow with them.  I am not usually that mom that goes outside and has fun with my kids...I push them outside and tell them to play while I sit down somewhere and relax in the quiet of the house!  But today, I had to show them how to make a snowman and I actually had a lot of fun!  The snow was perfect where it just starts to melt and perfectly sticks together?  So Taylor and Charlotte and I rolled up 3 perfect balls for the snowman and spray painted gold buttons and eyes and a mouth, with asparagus for a nose!  Drew's fedora finished it off...very fun!  All the ice on the roads is gone now, it never really lasts too long around here when it does snow or ice which is nice...Sean was on call last night during the ice storm and luckily he didn't get called in.

Today was a hard day for me food wise.  For some reason I woke up and just didn't want to journal my food.  I wanted to just eat and not worry about it.  Almost every day since January 1 I have journal'd my food and not eaten beyond my daily calories.  I went to the gym on Tuesday and did  body pump class that was awesome, but then Wednesday morning I woke up and couldn't get out of bed let alone sit on the toilet without being in pain.  It's still affecting me, and with the icy roads I didn't make it to the gym in a couple of days which is always hard for me.  Tomorrow is back to the grind, I have to run 4 miles to stay on my running plan.

Well our ward split last week and combined with some families from Little Elm 1st ward to make Little Elm 2nd ward.  We met for the first time on Sunday and it was a little weird.  I'm okay with everything but I miss our old ward.  I loved every family in that ward and felt like everybody got along and literally everybody was wonderful! Drew was excited to get up and bear his testimony in the new ward (as he does every month) and introduce himself to everybody.  He's such an old soul and such an amazing boy.  Sets such a great example to all ages really. There weren't any callings last week so hopefully this week Bishop gets it together and calls some of the main presidencies.  It's always a little hectic before that happens. 

Today I paid off a credit card that has been looming over my head for literally 10 years!  It felt so great!! I have accepted that debt is just a part of me and will be for another few years or so but little by little it gets paid off and just feels so good.  I feel like I'm just that much closer to the surface though each time I pay money towards it. Sometimes I look back and wish that I would have had money when we were in school and training so that we didn't have to go into so much debt, it would be so much easier right?  Then I see how much I learned from it and continue to learn.  Right now sacrifices need to be made in order to pay off debt and we learn many lessons from that.  If everything was paid for us we wouldn't be able to learn these lessons together.  It's kind of like having our choices made for us. What would we learn if all our choices were made for us and we weren't given the freedom to choose?  It also reminds me of trials.  Often times we are quick to judge people for the choices they make, only because we haven't experienced those same things and in turn don't understand why they do what they do.  But I've learned that the more trials people go through, especially people close to me, the more I learn from those experiences and am more empathetic towards others who may go through similar things in their life.  All these instances give us experience.  It's like the scripture in D&C 122:7 ...know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

 We also made homemade ice cream today mixing freshly fallen snow with sweetened condensed milk and vanilla and fresh strawberries!  MMM it was amazing:)

Agency

Today in Relief Society I taught about agency and our ability to choose good or evil.  With every choice comes a consequence and that goes both ways, either good choices or bad choices.  Good consequences or bad consequences.  I feel like I'm saying to my daughter on a daily basis "you have a choice today to be happy or negative...what will you choose?"  That is a lot of power to give a 5 year old! It amazes me that at such a young age they have the power to make their own decisions that will affect their life!  I love the idea that the discipline of the gospel to some people may seem restrictive and strict, but to those of us that understand the purpose see it as a positive discipline.  The fact that we have the commandments to govern our decisions by and Jesus Christ to help us with making the right choice is freeing!  Satan would have us believe that its not that way but if we choose to follow the devil we in turn are held captive by choices of addiction, anger, unhappiness and things that bring us further from the joy we can feel through the teachings of our Savior. 

I love teaching because it causes me to reflect on the concept that I'm teaching about and change little things in my life!

On Thursday we were able to take the kids to Cavalia, the cirque de soleil show that includes like 50 horses!  It was pretty amazing to see how they could control the horses.  I love the horse, such a beautiful animal!

Friday we got passport photos done of Summer and could not get her to smile!  She is probably one of the happiest babies I've known and yet she would not crack a smile for the photographer! 
Saturday we just enjoyed the beautiful weather that feels like spring, Drew had a game and then we just chilled together as a family:)  I love hanging out with my kids.  Don't get me wrong, there are times when I REALLY enjoy my time away, but for the most part the memories I make with them, even when its just sitting on the couch watching a movie are my favorite times.  I love to take the time to sit down and not rush out of the house day after day.  Things that I thought were important to me have really changed since becoming a parent.  My life revolves around these little people and I feel like in no time at all they will be looking at Universities and leaving on missions and then they will be gone!  AH
I forgot to mention that Drew attended a Science and Math fair last weekend and placed 10th out of 500 people in the Dallas area, grades 6-8!  He is awesome:)

Sick day

Just a few pics to document...Taylor last night at the Blue and Gold Banquet for Scouts at the church.  The kids had a blast dressing up as westerners and eating!  Sweet Summer who is sick right now with a bad chest cold:(  It's so sad when babies are sick.  You'd never know it because she is always smiling and happy but there is a bad cough in there!  And a couple pics from the baptism the other night.  I love how Tay is standing in our family pic with her arms crossed.  I just love her personality!  She was SO happy on this day and couldn't stop smiling all day.  Lottie's boots on the other hand?  You pick your battles right?

Now I'm home today with a couple sick kiddos so it's lookin like a really chill day!  Drew lost his wallet last night and was really upset about it because he had a bunch of cash in it from babysitting.  I can't even tell you the amount of times the "boys" around here lose their wallets and don't know what happened to them!  It drives me crazy quite frankly! I guess the more times you do it it starts to sink in and you finally find a place to put it where nobody knows but you!  I learned that a long time ago when I started having kids:)  Its chilly outside this morning, I was able to go out for a run last night which felt great but today it feels too cold outside...maybe do some weights inside for me!

 We went to Cheesecake Factory yesterday and Nina asked for diet coke and butter...so that's what she ate...oh and the ketchup for her fries!  Then the other day she had to sit in Summer's new highchair to try it out...it's been awhile since we had a highchair around here but kind of nice to trap her somewhere where she can't get out!

Charlotte had to dress up for the 100th day of school yesterday and played the part pretty good!  She was so excited to do it which was out of the ordinary for her.  Usually she wouldn't probably say "Mom, it's ugly!" but she actually loved it!
 

The Daily

Well it's that time of day when I am extremely tired.  When I feed Summer in the afternoon its like she sucks all my energy right out of me and I can't stay awake!  When I ever do allow myself to sit or lay down I wonder what took me so long!  It feels like heaven.

So the afterschool shenanigans...homework and music and playing with friends.  Kids ask every day if friends can come over even though the house rules clearly state 1)homework and music 2)friend time.  What am I missing?  Is this not clear?  I struggle a bit with it because they've been at school ALL day listening to teachers and doing work that I don't always mind them taking some time for themselves first before they hunker down.  On the other hand, if they don't get these things done first they just don't get done...period! 

So I sat with the girls today and did piano and singing with Tay, then sat to do singing with Char and get total attitude.  This is what its like dealing with Charlotte.  Imagine you are walking on a pile of broken shards of glass and you have to step very slowly and carefully or else the glass will puncture through your foot and cause extreme pain and there is usually no backing out and starting over again.  Char is the glass and if you don't tread in just the right way...goodnight!  She closes down, spazzes at you, blames you, gets mad...you name it!  Bless her little heart but heaven help me!  Why don't we as mom's get the same respect that they pay their music or school teachers?  I don't get it.  I'm just helping them!

Poor Summer is sick right now.  I took her in to the doctor yesterday to check if she had RSV maybe but she said just to treat her symptoms and her breathing is still fine...just totally congested:(  Poor thing.  On the way home from carpool this morning she was having coughing fits trying to get her congestion up and ended up having a huge block in her throat and struggled to get it up.  I was stopped at a stop light and started frantically unbuckling her seatbelt to pound her back and make sure she could breathe until I heard her breathe again and just cry.  I started crying, praying out loud that the light would turn green so I could speed home! By the time I got home and pulled her out of her seat, there was a huge amount of spit up down her neck and down the carseat.  Poor girl:( 

I don't always like posting about my weight but its kinda my life right now, managing what I put into my body and trying to transform myself so I might as well!  I started eating healthy at the beginning of January and exercising and running, trying to prepare for my half marathon in May.  So far I've lost 16lb!  I'm so proud of myself and excited to start to feel better about myself in the morning when I get ready!  There is nothing worse than not feeling that way and having that horrible feeling when you have to pick out an outfit and nothing looks or feels good.  On the other hand, every time I lose a pound I feel like I'm magically going to fit into my old jeans and then get a reality check all over again!  I guess it's good to do that, reminds you that there is still a lot of work to be done!  I'm trying to tell myself that it's a lifestyle change and to get where I want to be it will take a lot of time, but hopefully this time next year I will love me and the goals I have reached!  I love getting back in to running and crave it every time I go outside.  The first mile is always a little rough on the lungs but after that I feel great!

Just a little reminder of my sweet girl Taylor who got baptized last weekend!  She is so beautiful and such a sweet gentle spirit!

New blog...new dedication!

Well this is a new blog for me...I tried to log into my last blog that I've had since 2006 and low and behold I can't remember the log in!  I guess when you wait a year to blog that's what happens!
I sat in my music room this morning reading through one of my first blog books and realized I was basically reading in my journal.  It was funny to look back at myself with 2 kids and read how I was freaking out being at church alone one weekend when Sean was away!  Ha that made me laugh out loud!  Having 6 kids at church now alone is enough for me to handle, 2 kids is child's play!  Funny how life changes though.

So here I am, attempting to record the happenings around here and I'm going to take it one month at a time!  So it's February 2015 and here we are!

Drew is 12, middle school sixth grade, plays tuba, basketball and piano. Loves to babysit, watch football, play crossy road, read, read, read and help in any way he can around the house!  He is amazing and I love the kid!

Brayden is 10, 5th grade, plays piano, soccer and loves to hang out with his friends riding bikes around the neighborhood.  He loves minecraft, xbox and is very smart at school.  He is amazing with his baby sister and just loves babies, in fact he says he wants 6 just like me!

Taylor just turned 8 and got baptized this year!  She is in 2nd grade, plays piano and sings.  She wears headgear on her braces at night, loves to write in her journal, play with her Barbie dreamhouse and her sisters.  She is a free spirit and doesn't care what people think of her.

Charlotte is 5, in kindergarten and singing lessons.  She has a fire in her that will never burn out!  She is a beautiful girl though and hopefully that fire will be a force for good as she grows up!

Nina is 2 and that basically sums it up!  She is crazy!  I think when Summer was born and took her position as baby it also lit a fire in her! She is loud and sweet at the same time, sucks her thumb, loves poking the corner of her blankie, dressing up in princess dresses and playing outside with Charlotte.

Summer is just the sweetest thing around here!  We are all in love with her and she will forever be the perfect baby and ending to our little family:)

Well I'll start with that...lots of room to grow around here and looking forward to what this year brings!