Sunday, October 31, 2010

Let the festiviting begin!!


... or not...
On the way to the first trunk or treat, Josh and Liz both zonked out...

... but the others didn't let any afternoon tiredness overtake their candy-gathering efforts.


... and Josh was not too happy to learn that he had missed all of the action





 ... but never fear!  The beauty of having lived in 2 different wards in the same town is that we claim the right to double dip anytime fun activities come about...
like another trunk or treat that just happened to be scheduled a few hours later

(after the twins violin recital... how crazy is that?!  ... At least they got to dress up for the recital!)
...

... and liz discovered pretty quickly that it was much easier to just stay in our trunk and go for the goods there than make the trek to the other cars...

... and Josh got his trick or treating fix in...

... and even met up with his preschool buddy/batman twin for some fun treat tasting...

... and his sweet tooth lived happily ever after :)

Friday, October 29, 2010

My ensign moment...

All through my mission, when I would read the things that ubber creative moms did with their families, I would pull out the pages of their stories and began painting this utopia picture of my future husband and myself surrounded by our little perfectly-dressed-not-a-hair-out-of-place children as the Heavenly Angels sang in the background and we participated in all of the cutesy little enriching family activities.

... Fast forward 5 kids and 8 years of still trying to get my footing in the whole family/home/church/social/work/cooking/cleaning/teaching/crying/laughing/and just plain surviving...

... and, well, those 'ensign' moments kinds of flew by the wayside. 



This year, I finally decided to take a little step and in the spirit of Thanksgiving, we had a Family Home Evening Lesson on being thankful, and started a thankful jar:
... along with 100 strips of paper that we get to write what we are thankful for each day, with a goal to fill in all 100 strips before thanksgiving.  (with a reward of a family outing once all 100 are filled...c'mon you know that I'm not above a little bribery :)  ).

... and I did have to laugh at the way that the kiddos dove right in... thankful for everything from family, to Santa, to  the TV...  

  I realize that for most of you, this is old news and you probably have huge elaborate activities that you do with your kiddos, but just this once, give me my ensign moment... a little late in the making, but here nonetheless :).

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Hand-me-down mommy

I recently dug this fun sweatshirt out of our hand-me-down box...




For it's newest owner, Joshua.  As I was rolling the sleeves up to fit his still-too-tiny-arms and assuring him that it would be fine, "you'll grow into it" and then watched how he looked at it in awe and told me about all of the parts of the firetruck (that he had learned from his two older fire-truck-loving brothers), I couldn't help but think about something else that has been brewing in my mind for the past little while...

**Waring, random ramblings about to erupt... feel free to exit the blog at any time... :)**
There, consider yourself warned...

I have been thinking lately, ya know, in all of my 8 years of mommy-hood experience ;), that I can feel myself slowly 'growing into' the mommy role.  

-- I find myself more content with little things.
-- Less flustered over the bazzilion schedule changes during the course of a 24 hour day.
-- Less likely to be mortified at the site of some of the outfit choices of the kiddos (and even secretly glad that they chose a certain outfit *insert purple wizard costume* and that they don't really care about molding to the general regular-clothes-wearing population)

-- Not quite so anal about scheduling every minute of every day
-- Able to choose my battles a bit more (or less, as the case may be)
-- And in general just loving being around my children.

Are things perfect?  Not by a long shot.  But they are better.  Not because the kids have changed, but because I find myself changing... morphing... molding... into this thing called "Mommy".  More importantly, I find myself loving the role, and finding the fit to be bit by bit more comfortable as the years go by.

As I have thought about this little inner discovery, I started to think back to how I have come to be where I am now on the mommyhood journey, and where I have learned the many (unpublished) mommyhood lessons from the (undocumented) mommyhood manual.  

And I have realized that I am, in fact, a hand-me-down mommy.  

So many lessons that I have applied, and am now trying to apply in my little mommyhood universe have been taught to me by so many incredible mothers that I have been surrounded by my entire life.  So many of you out there have handed me down so many mothering moments, and I thank you for that.  There have been so many of you that have helped me on my path to mommyhood (and continue to help me on my path) that I don't even know how to begin to thank you all and let you know some of the gratitude that I feel for the teeny-tiny lessons that you have taught me.

A few that for some reason have been hitting me a little harder lately come from those of you in my own family.

... *Warning, cheese factor about to get turned up a notch... go on at your own risk!*

I have, hands down, the most incredible examples of womanhood and motherhood in my immediate family.  I am the youngest of 7 kids, with 2 older sisters and 4 older sister-in-laws (Chelle - you count as older because you just morphed into Brians age category when you got married!). Plus a mother in law, and two more incredible sister-in-laws on my hubby's side.

We are one of those cheesy families who actually like getting together.  A lot.  
And when we get together.  I watch.  and I learn.

First of all, my mom.  
What can I say about her?  She is the epitome of motherhood.  
There is not a day that goes by where I find myself thinking, 'what would my mom do?'  I think it's safe to say that her kids are her life, and she did so many thousands of tiny things day in and day out to make our lives wonderful - things that at the time I had no idea how inconvenient it was for her.  She just did them because, well, she was the mom. 
   Like the time I moved suddenly from dorm room living to apartment living, and called her crying because I was having a hard time adjusting, and within 24 hours she was knocking on the door with a box full of pots and pans to help in my transition.  
   Or the countless games of various sports that I could look up and see her being my #1 cheerleader in the stand.  Home.  Away.  Hot.  Cold.  Early.  Late.  She was there.  (I have to admit, this thought was about the only thing that kept me in my chair on the sidelines of my own child's first freezing cold soccer game cheering away...).  I think deep down, she doesn't even really like sports (though she would never admit it openly to our sports-obsessed family!).  That act alone has built at least one floor in her mansion in heaven, I'm sure of it!

And then my sisters.  The best.  Ever.  (Well, I can say that now that I am no longer subjected to 'prickly pear cactus legs' or the pinch of death, or forced to sleep on the 'dracula' side of the bed!)

Each of my sisters is an absolutely amazing mother.  Seriously.  As in, the type that when I visit, I take a step back at each of their houses and think, "when I grow up, I want to be a mom like that!"  (and then I remember, oh no, I'm already a mom!  I'm already behind!)

Janie - I won't even talk about the fact that I'm a wee bit jealous that you could give birth to 7 children (yes, that's right, folks, SEVEN), and still be the skinniest one of the bunch!  But I also stand in complete awe at your ability to organize all of the children, serve as Relief Society President, And run a bazzilion ballroom programs, simultaneously.  I get dizzy just thinking about that schedule!
  -- with all of your many accomplishments, however, I do have to say one of the absolute most impressive to me is when I get to visit and see the day to day interaction of the kids.  These kids (remember the SEVEN kids?!).  All get along (and the majority of them are in the thick of the pre-teen to young adult age span - yes, the age span where most siblings hate each other).  Not only do they get along, but they genuinely like and care for one another.  
 -- case in point:  this last visit, I got the chance to stay up into the wee hours of the morning talking to a couple of the kids - ages 19 and 16.  I loved talking to them, but more importantly, I loved watching how they would talk with one another.  As we discussed different boys and girls, they would tell each other, "oh, I don't like him for you"  or "yes, you should go out with her, she's great."  Or even, "No, you shouldn't go out with her, she's mean to me"... and he would truly listen to her and take the insight to heart.  Amazing!
 -- to me, that speaks volumes to mommyhood - and that is one hand-me-down that I would love to grow into as my kids reach those points in life.

And then there is Julie...  the family firecracker.  (Seriously folks, if you have a party and she's not on the guest list, you may as well just cancel the party!  She's awesome!)  Just being around her makes me smile.  I secretly stock her blog just to copy some of the incredibly cute things that she does with her kiddos and make-believe that I am as creative and talented as she is :).  (C'mon, anyone who would orchestrate her husband into making real-not-cheap-plasticky bows and arrows as party gifts for their son's 'robin hood' birthday party is up there for mother (and father!) of the year award!).
... but the thing that impresses me the most is hard to put into words.  Julie is the essence of motherhood. Whenever I see her with her kids, I have the thought, "wow, I want to be a mom like that."  You can tell that she truly lives motherhood as she puts her kids needs above anything else in life and is really there for her kids, both physically, but also mentally and emotionally. 
Case in point:  Julie is a phenomenal ballroom dancer (as in touring the world in college type of dancer!).  She gave that all up in the pursuit of mommyhood.  When her oldest got into elementary school, she started a childrens ballroom program.  Not for her own benefit, or to further her own ballroom career, but to have a team for her daughter to learn the skills that she loves so much.
But that case in point doesn't even truly describe what I'm trying to explain - she just oozes motherly love, from being there at every moment that her kids need her physically, to giving her kids the comforts of life, not only temporal, but also emotional,  even at her own sacrifice in so many ways.

That is a hand-me-down that I am trying to do more of... invest not in just physically being a mom, but capturing the essence and spirit of mommyhood.


There are so many more examples I could give - from sister-in-laws, to dear friends, to casual acquaintances, of little lessons in mommyhood that have helped me to grow into this role that hopefully someday, will fit me just perfectly.  
For now, I will continue to mold and morph, roll up the sleeves when they get a bit too long
And continue to watch and learn and grow

from all of you.

Thank you so much for your hand-me-down ways of mommyhood :)



Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Humpty Pumpky...


Sat on a wall

Humpty Pumky

Had a great fall...

All the moms toothpicks, and all the mom's hands...


tried to put pumpky together again...

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

The Active days of Activity Days...

What a fun night of Activity Days.  We had a Daddy Daughter Date night, which we dubbed:  Father's Fall Foose Ball Festival.  Oh yea.. you can never get enough F's in one sentence! (or enough of blatantly stealing great ideas from ubber-creative cousins!  Thanks, Sarah, for the inspiration from your own Activity Day's activity!)


We had the girls carve pumpkins with their dads and then bring them to the activity for part of the decorations, then did a hay-stack dinner, took daddy-daughter pictures by a little fall backdrop, played some human foose ball (hilarious!), and decorated pumpkin sugar cookies.  All of this in (just a teensy bit over) an hour... whew!


This slide show is for you mom's out there who couldn't open the link that I sent - it also has pictures of some of our other activities - a flair for hair night, and water kick ball (... so sad to see the summer-running-through-the-sprinkler days are now a thing of the past!)...











I love my activity days girls!!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

The pumpkin patch...

The nice days are getting to be fewer and father between...

... and the blue skies are about to give way to the gray days of winter...


... and beautiful, warm sunshine

... is about to become a faint memory...

... we have to suck the marrow out of each fleeting day of fall...

... so today we made our way to the fun pumpkin patch at Sekaaps orchard for our annual pumpkin outing of the season...

... and took our annual still shots in the middle of all of the pumpkins...

... and this was about as still as I could get Joshy to be at any given point in time...

... and this about the only way I could get Liz to stay in one place for more than .2 seconds...

... I love Fall!!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Gentlemen, Start your engines!!

... Well, first, you better cut, sand, and paint your engine...

... then molten the lead for the engine... 



... and add the weight pellets to the engine...

... then line the cars up and listen to the last minute talk about sportsmanship and an "it doesn't matter who wins..." and secretly pray that your sons car at least won't come in last...


... and as you watch your little one's face, the anticipation about kills you...

 ... and your heart melts at the way your daughter turns class A-1 cheerleader...


... and then get to see this face...

... as the 'big blue' car wins again...

                             ... and again...

 ... and again...

... and get to have your son take home this... and can hardly keep the smile off his face...

... which can hardly keep the smile off his mama's face   :)


... that is until we got home and realized that with three boys, each spaced just under 3 years apart means we will be re-creating this moment again...
and again...
and again...
 
for the next decade.

wish us luck.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Ta Da!!!

If any of you have had any type of conversation with me in the past couple of years, you know I have a huge thing about giving people "Ta Da's"  (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, give me a call, it's obviously been too long since we have last talked!... or just tell me to explain myself and I'll write a whole post about it... yes, I feel that strongly about the Ta Da factor!)

... anyway, when Ben came home from his 3rd day of school with his first art project and walked around with me to find the 'perfect spot' to hang it up, I thought, "He needs his Ta Da moment"  





... and as we were walking around, I suddenly noticed how barren this wall looked:
 ... and how much it was just screaming for a little spice in life.
... and then I thought, "hey how about a Ta Da WALL??!  (with 5 kids, we've got to think global here, folks... no piddly pin up board is going to hold all of the masterpieces that grace the threshold of our household!)

... So after a bit of research, and a great big deep breath, I dove in and started...

and quickly got a little scared to see the BLACK magnetic paint all over our once beautifully neutral walls, and suddenly panicked, thinking this may be one of my (many*ahem*) hair brained schemes that looks a lot better in my brain than it does in real life...

... but we forged ahead... through all the layers, spills, and smells...


to give birth to the "Official Ta Da" dwelling in our home.
... so if any of you are needing a little recognition, pat on the back, or any other form of Ta Da... send it here... we'll put it up in your honor :)



Sunday, October 3, 2010

You would think

that our kids have never seen this stuff before...




because early this morning we woke up to shouts of glee as the kids bursted into the room
saying "it's white all over the ground, mom!"  



and quickly got on some snow gear and headed outside to play
... which only lasted a few minutes, as the sun quickly burned off the early frost...

(much to moms relief... who is so not ready for another long stint of being buried in this...


Long live green grass and family bike rides!!

Home...

used to be full of walls like this...


... that turned into my general conference project...


... and slowly...


Turned into walls that looked like this...


Ta Da!

... okay, so this is just the first draft of the frame arrangement... It will probably go through about 5 morphs before it finally becomes that "ahhh, that's it"  arrangement.

But at least it's not bare anymore, right??!