Can it be done?

After being gone so often in the past week, I felt like we needed a day to stay home and get things done around the house. I was feeling a little overwhelmed about it, and quite frankly wanted to go somewhere again so I wouldn't have to face it-when I say "it" I mean the messy house. The problem is that "it" won't go away unless I do something about it. Toys, shoes, books, newspapers, and crumbs don't have legs and arent' going to get up and nicely plop themselves down in the right place. Oh how I wish that could happen. I don't know why, but I was not blessed with the housekeeping gene. (Well, I did have it when I was single and only had to take care of myself.) I lament about it on a daily basis....one would think I would do something about it...maybe I am just resigned to live in with messes everywhere. Maybe I need an intervention. Oprah, Dr. Phil, Regis and Kelly, Tyra? Feel free to write a letter on my behalf. I'd share any winnings with you and maybe you could come with me.....

We actually began the day pretty well. We lazed around and played in my room for a while before we made our way downstairs. Jordan and Spencer for some reason decided to go right down stairs and play. I figured I would make the best of it. Landon joined them shortly after and I took advantage of it. For once I could clean without the TV being on. Woo Hoo. I hurried so I could do the vacuuming and mopping upstairs. I kept thinking they would come up, and a couple times they did, then my good friend called in the middle-but I mopped on through. I only mop on my hands and knees because if not it leave streaks and I will have anxiety about that. In the middle of this I was trying to do laundry as well.

The kids did remarkable well and only bothered me a the very end. Whew-clean floors again. The reason I titled my post the way I did is because I wonder if it is possible to ever have every part of your house clean at one time? I know there are people who just don't understand people like me-and likewise- I just don't understand them. How do they do it? What do their kids do when they clean? I mentioned that the kids played downstairs while I cleaned upstairs...well, now I have to clean down here. It is a revolving door-never ends...feels like a pit I just can't climb out of. I cannot have the whole house what I would consider clean at the same time. I am trying so hard to teach them to clean up too, but I give up in the end because it is soo dang HARD!!!

After lunch I was up reading to Landon and putting him down for his nap when Jordan comes running up "Mom, Spencer is trying to clean the floor by pouring water bottles all over it." Yes, it is only water, but it is bottled water we pay for, Spencer "cleaning it up" makes it worse, and I JUST MOPPED THE FLOOR!!!! Ugh!! I was a really horrible mommy and totally yelled at him. Ugh again. I got a towel to clean it up and stayed down stairs to calm down. In the meantime, Jordan and Spencer played in my closet and wanted to be me and Darin so were walking around in our shirts. So that cheered me up for a minute-was totally cute.

Now I try to be a better mommy and have reading time. I read a couple books now it is time for Jordan to read. I struggle with this-mostly because I feel like a bad mom that Jordan doesn't read like all these other little kindergarten girls we know in our ward and other wards. Anyhow we struggle. She started off well, then began to resist. The only thing going through my head is the letter from her teacher telling parents that if children don't read over the summer they lose what they learned in Kindergarten. Can you say PRESSURE? I feel that if I don't do it, it will totally be my fault if she digresses in the summer. Makes the case for year round school so much stronger!!

I digress again. We finally make it through the book, but I don't think I have done anything to help her have a desire and love of reading.....but she finished the book. In the meantime Landon woke up from his only 40 minute nap crying and Spencer is feeling neglected because I won't let him sit on my lap while I am working with Jordan. He wants to be read to. We decide to go out and play, and go get the little neighbor girl who is Spencer's age. We get back acrosst he street in front of our house and it starts to rain. We come in and all the kids are starving. This is where we currently sit. I think it has quit now, but the minute we go back out it will start again...

Some more fun tidbits from our day:

Spencer changed his name to Spencer James Maney Scooby Doo Krypto.....

The TV hasn't been on all day....

I haven't showered yet and Landon wore pajamas until 12:30...

Spencer spent half the morning in underwear only.....

Jordan has the same crazy hairdo she went to bed with....

Spencer has developped a new shrill scream when he doesn't get his way....

The kids are now using my good napkins for paper airplanes....

Jordan and Spencer went "ice skating" in my high heels....

I received really sweet "thank you" note in the mail that brightened my spirits-thanks Cheryl....

Evidence that we have too much stuff: we have 2 stollers and 3 carseats on loan to families in the ward who have family visiting-and still have enough for our kids....

It is 2:46- This is my day so far.

The first week of no school!!!

We just finished our first week of no school, and it was great. We kept really busy thanks to Vacation Bible School. Daddy was gone all week, so mommy had some friends over a couple times. This is a huge post-I debated doing a couple little ones, but I could never find time to finish, so today I finally got all the pictures on. I still have to figure out how to make the resolution smaller on my camera so I can download faster. So, just skim if you don't want to read-the post is mostly for me when I do my blog book:) Oh, it is also backwards, but I started on Tuesday putting the pics on, and you all know how blogger is....you get to work backwards!!

Friday
Yeah!! Daddy came home today. After I left the kids for their last day at Bible school, I went straight to the airport to pick Darin up from his trip. He had a good time but apparently Nebraska was very hot...in the upper 90's every day, so he was happy to be home. He picked up a movie for us to watch-you can get a movie at Red Box and return it to any one-we love Red Box. So we decided to just relax until it was time to pick the kids up and watched Confessions of a Shopaholic. It was really cute. Poor Lanny had to fight for our attention, but did manage to keep himself busy:)

The rest of the day was uneventful. We picked the kids up, had a trip to Costco, and a lazy afternoon resting. We went to eat at Silver Diner and then went to the church to watch the kids in their program they worked on at Vacation Bible School. I took some pics, but am too lazy to put them on. Not too exciting anyway-kids singing and waving their arms around:) It is so interesting to have a band set up in the sanctuary-the equivalence to our chapel. It is kind of fun to sing upbeat songs. I asked Darin if we should add that element to our worship service and he said no. Bummer.

Thursday


After VBS today, we spent the day at home. Jill came over with the girls and had lunch with us and watched some of So You Think You Can Dance. Then Lizzie had to go to a dress rehearsal for her dance recital so we got to watch Alaina. My kids are so smitten with her. She was a little overwhelmed with all the attention-they wanted to hold her, play with her, etc. It was so fun to have her-I knew she was really pretty tired, so I took her up and rocked her to sleep. I loved cuddling a baby again. Makes me want to....well....won't go there, but needless to say really love watching her!! The above pic is her in her Ergo carrier on Wednesday at the Nature Center.



Wednesday

Another day of VBS. The kids really, really love it. I decided it would be best to get some errands done with only one child. I took Landon to the library to get the kids all signed up for the summer reading program, then we went to the grocery store. So much easier with one child!!

After VBS, a big group of us got lunch and met at Hidden Pond Nature center. It was really fun to talk to other moms and watch the kids play. It was fun to see the girls together. It is like they just can't get enough of each other. We barely finished school, and when they saw each other on Monday it was like they hadn't seen each other in years.

We ate lunch, played a while on the playground and then went to the nature center. Everyone loved seeing all the animals. Landon was especially excited. Jordan did some coloring and Spencer did a bunch of puzzles. We decided to walk around the pond. It was nice because it wasn't too hot and there was a slight breeze. Jordan had a little friend with her and they were pretending to be fairies, I think, or maybe it was "Barbie Diamond Castle." They were in their own little make believe world. Jordan's pretend name was "Alexa" It was pretty cute.

Jordan and Rhiannon playing in their own little world.

Spencer loved the pond.
So scenic!! I loved taking pictures but need to learn more about light, etc.
what a fun place to play...thank goodness we had no one fall in!!
I love being outside in nature-so peaceful and relaxing.
Landon loved looking in all tanks to see what he could find.
Tuesday

Dropped the kiddies off at Vacation Bible School, then went home and spent over 2 hours getting our front yard done, finally!! I had to redo some mulch in the sidewalk flowerbeds from our torrential downpours washing away the mulch. I got some new flowers for around the tree since I do pansies in the fall and early spring, then impatients in the summer.

I love planting flowers-makes the house so colorful and pretty. I did some of the new things this year, and a couple new ones.

I did these petunias a few years ago, and decided to try them again. The fill in so nicely-once the sun is shining every day!!
Our cute little bridge with some impatients by it.
These are new flowers for me this year. The are called dianthus. I thought they were gonners when they were almost washed away from the rain, but when the sun started shinning, they came back to life!!
This plant is called coleus. I discovered it last year and it is so pretty. The ones we had last year were all red and looked so nice with our green bushes. It will grow really tall and looks great. I was happy Home Depot finally had some because I tried a bunch of times and they were always out.
Monday

We started our week with Vacation Bible School. The children were so excited and Jordan actually got up herself and was ready to go. Spencer didn't really want to stay, so I had to stay a few minutes to help him adjust. Landon made himself at home in Spencer's class and was upset to have to leave. When I picked them up later, they were both really excited and had so much fun. Jordan was in with Lizzie and 2 other girls from her kindergarten class as well as Lucas from her primary class.


While the older 2 were gone, Lanny and I went Home Depot to get some mulch and flowers and then home and cleaned up. It was like a normal morning when Spencer was in preschool. After VBS, we went to a playground and had lunch with Jill, Lizzie and Alaina. We sat by the pond and there was a great breeze. The playground was so fun. We went home and got bathing suits on for a slip and slide party at the Christensen's house.

We all had so much fun at the Christensens. Anytime water and popsicles are involved it is destined to be great fun. The kids all had a blast and got so dirty. Moms sat around and chatted, I had fun taking lots of pictures. It was great. From a mom who has no yard, I think all the moms with big yards should rotate doing this every week this summer:) Thanks Emily for hosting-who's next?


I took soooo many pictures, and can't possible post them all, but here are some of my favorites.

We had popsicles after we played a while. I don't know what was making Spencer laugh here. Such cute boys!!!
Spencer loved climbing a tree.
I just loved this shot of Amelia...she is so photogenic!
Jordan and Emma had a blast running around together. When we left, I told Jordan to tell Sister Christensen thank you, and the first thing out of her mouth was "can you set up a playdate for me and Emma?"
Landon really enjoys his popsicle. He insisted on one of the big ones instead of an otter pop. What's better than a popsicle on a hot day?

Our first week of no school started out with a bang!!!

Globe trottin' friends.

So I have some of best friends ever, even if they are spread across the globe. We have this awesome playgroup that has been meeting for a few years, but some of the moms moved away-and I mean wayyyy away!! Well, the rest of us here have been lucky to have had a chance to see them in person, or feel their presence through a package in the last little while.

Back in May Ryann came in from England for her sister's graduation. It was so fun to see her and thanks to all our blogs, it was like we never skipped a beat. We had a fun night with her eating and talking. I was bummed because I woke up so sick the next day I wasn't able to see her again. but the one night was so fun!!

Last week Chanda was in town from South Africa. We had dinner then met to work on projects or make bows and had a blast. We also got to see her at Burke Lake Park, but I have so many pictures of that it is another post in itself:

Working away at Lea's. I was excited because it was the night I finished my quilt. It was so fun to see Chanda and catch up. Maeve and Ruby already are the cutest girls in South Africa, but they are surely going to be the talk of the town with all their new bows!

Chanda got to meet Lainey for the first time. Fast friends, of course:)

A few weeks ago Jill received a package from Rachael in Japan with the most pleasant surprise. She sent us some Japanese food for us to meet and try all together. We made a big salad to try the dressings-the roasted sesame seed was the winner. There were sweets, fruit drinks, crackers and gummy fruit candies. It was so fun. But we were truly bummed because unfortunately at the last minute Lea couldn't join us; we sure missed her and saved her some yummy stuff-it's coming Lea!!

These were really yummy little treats-little breadsticky things dipped in strawberry. So good. I have had the chocolate kind, but the strawberry were really good. We had another friend over who served her mission in Japan and she said they have tons of flavors of them and they are yummy!!
These were more little breadstick type things you dipped into chocolate then sprinkles-yummy!! This is the item my kids would have loved the most...anything with sprinkles. As a matter of fact, Landon loved it. I was so tired when the gals left, I didn't do a very good clean up job. Of course, he made it downstairs before I did this morning and found the cup. Needless to say he came up stairs with chocolate all over his face and hands....
Jill with the "tomatoe pretzels" as we called them. They were the winners for Jill and I-they were soo yummy. I would love to find them here-could eat the whole bag myself.
Our spread of yummy Japanese food from Rachael. We had so much fun looking at the boxes and trying to figure out what it was.

Thank you so much Rachael-we had lots of fun and sure miss you tons.

To Ryann, Chanda and Rachael-I speak for myself, Jill, Lea and Sharon-we think of you often and sure miss ya!!!

We love Daddy!!

We had to take our traditional front yard pictures on Father's day. Jordan really loves her daddy!!

You can see how much the boys were into getting their picture taken!!
This is one very loved Daddy!!

A great job

Last Friday we were able to go to Darin's work picnic, and had such a blast. But before I write more about that, I must first say how very grateful I am that Darin has a good job. I am so thankful he worked so hard to get a good education and that he was able to do the Presidential Management Internship out of grad school and land a great job with the federal government. In this tough time our country is having, I am so glad he is working in the intelligence field...don't think his job is going anywhere....thank goodness.

So we had a great time at Burke Lake Park. We met some good friends before the picnic and rode the train and carousel. That will be another post in itself. Then we met Darin. They have his picnic in a really good spot-there is a playground and you can walk down to the water. The food was awesome-it was catered by Famous Dave's BBQ-so yummy!!

So the kiddies played and played.....
played some more.....
laughed....
went on a fire engine.....

and played by the lake.
Landon especially loved this part. He played a fun game where he would throw his hat in the water and inch closer and closer to going in.
How far can I throw it before I will be forced to go in?
I guess I have to go in now!!
Opps. these pics are reversed, but you get the picture!!
What a fun day!!

We have a 1st grader in the house!!

Holy Cow Kindergarten went SO fast!! The last day of school was last week. Jordan came home with a crown because they celebrated birthdays for the kids who had July and August birthdays. There were 3 kids, I guess.

Anyhow, now Jordan goes on to first grade!!! Time flies so fast-seems like the year flew by. I am so proud of the progress she made. She learned so much and is really loving to read and write-we went to a playground today and she had her "journal" and markers with her. She will write on anything she can get her hands on. She is starting to do her own sounding out of words and tries to spell them, although she is always asking me to spell word. I know I aggrivate her because I only say it phonetically and try to get her to figure it out herself. She really like the Spanish and sometimes even corrects my pronunciation:)

Great Job in Kindergarten, Jordan!!!

Prayers are answered

Darin has a bunch of badges he wears on a chain around his neck to work everyday. One is for the Pentagon, and to get on Ft. Belvoir and into the highly secure building there, his Metro Card, his civilian ID card, a special ID to get into off limits places, and one more I forget what it is for. Basically his whole job revolves around these various badges. He always has it around his neck when he gets home because he uses his smartcard to get out of the Metro. He puts it in a little desk caddy on top of our dresser everyday when he gets home, although sometimes in the meantime the boys like to wear it around. But usually it is always in the little caddy.

Tomorrow Darin is going on a business trip until Friday. He started to pack, then became a little frantic when I asked him what was wrong. He could not find his workbadges and was concerned that he wouldn't be able to get on the base where his conference is tomorrow. He was totally stressed out and so was I. I felt really bad because I had planned to keep the kids occupied for a couple hours so he could have some requested quiet rest time on Father's Day. So the search began. I didn't realized that he needed one of the badges to even log onto his computer at work. His whole entire work life revolves around those badges!!!Ugh, I felt sick to my stomach. I prayed and began tearing everything apart and couldn't find it. I prayed again and searched some more. He tried to rest but couldn't. I took a break from looking thinking I could clear my mind.

I told him I would wait for Landon to wake up and hope it was somewhere in the boys room. So when Landon woke up, I quickly went up and searched the boys room, to no avail. I decided to try my room again and looked in a few boxes I had previously looked in. I knelt down and prayed again, and within a minute, I found it in a box I had already looked it-buried under one of the bottom flaps. I gave it to Darin and he was quite relieved and said I had "saved his work life." I was so happy.

Bottom line: PRAYER WORKS

I did it!!!

Woo Hoo!! I finished Spencer's quilt!! It was so fun to sew again and I am happy with the results. Spencer really loves it and was so excited. I haven't taken any pictures with him and the quilt yet, but I will.
Spencer's favorite color is orange and his favorite thing right now is dinosaurs, so this is what he got for his new bed.
Now that my fingers are healed from pushing in a huge needle over and over, I can start Landon's Thomas quilt:)

The first pics!

Here are the first pictures with my new camera. I was so excited that the battery was charged and I could take pictures right away. It took me a while to remember to look through the view finder each time, but now I remember. I just took a bunch of pics of the kids playing around to see how it worked. I love, love, love it-needless to say. I am amazed at how fast it is and that I don't have to tell the kids to "wait" or "do it again." I love the speed.

These are amazing pictures. They have so much clarity-such a difference from my last couple cameras. The kids love to pose for me and is it sad that they now tell me "mommy take a picture" anytime they think they are being cute?

I have lots to learn about a D-SLR camera and photography in general, but I am so excited about it. I am going to find some classes to take to and maybe someday I can turn my little hobby into an income:)

Simply Giddy!!!!

The title describes me today....after a long wait, my camera arrived about a half and hour ago!! I feel like my kids at Christmas and I think the UPS man thought I was nuts as I was screaming and waving my hands around out of sheer excitement!!

So, of course it is fabulous. I got it used, but it looks like the previous owners didn't even use it much. It came fully equipped with everything I need-with the battery already charged and everything:) And Ryann, to answer your question, it is came with 2 Canon Lenses. It also came with tons of filters-different color ones, etc and a wide angle thingy, camera bag, lots of little things. I am going to have sooo much fun. If anyone in the area wants to help me practice with your children or family, give me a call:):)

Diapers....who needs 'em!!

Landon doesn't need one, I guess!!

This is an almost daily occurrence in our house. Before you know it, diaper is off and there is a huge smile on his face. The other night he said "I peed in sissy's room" Thanks, Landon!

He has also learned the age old bedtime excuse....all from his big brother. Ineveitably, a few minutes after bedtime each night, Spencer yells "I need to go potty." He usually does, so we have now started to ask him much earlier in the bedtime process. Well, Landon now joins in. Last night he got out of his room and said "I have to go potty." I found him in the bathroom on the toilet. He also promptly informs me every time he has a messy diaper. He says "I poopy." Last night he actually came into our room at 3:30am and said "I poopy" Sure enough, he really was. Amazing....

I keep thinking he may be ready to be potty trained here is my conversation with myself about that....do I want to do the work one more time....my absolute worse experience as a mother......ugh....ugh...yikes....maybe after we get back from our trip to Oregon in July.....It would be nice to have no more diapers....but I tried too early with Jordan and still have scars from that...Spencer was a tad easier....he has his older sister and brother to model so it may be easier....he already sits on the toilet and aims down....does he really know when he has to go....oh man....what could my reward...oh who's kidding who here...it's really a bribery item and what could it be with him.....

oh, what's a mother to do?