living life and random thoughts

So I have realized that I haven't done much posting about life lately-I do to many little blurbs on Facebook, but need to get back to documenting the sometimes crazy, sometimes mundane life I lead.

This morning I wanted to scream at traffic. I wanted to be a traffic officer to direct traffic. I have a huge pet peave. It is when people are turning against traffic and get stuck in the intersection then block the traffic for the people going through the intersection. It happens just outside my townhomes, then again at the major intersection I have to go through every morning. It makes me go crazy. For crying out loud, if you aren't going to make it through the light, do not go into the intersection!!! Cannot express my annoyance for this. Well, guess I just did.

Here's a mommy question. Am I a bad mother for not giving my kids a bath everyday? I was a friend's house today and was trying to get my kids ready to go. I said "come on we have to go so we can eat dinner and then it's bath night." She said "what do you mean bath 'night" in a way that she couldn't belive that I didn't bathe my kids every night. I said in the winter if they don't go out and get dirty, they get a bath every other night, unless we do something that gets them really dirty. Sometimes I am do tired by the end of the night that I feel like they are lucky they get one every other night!!

Next thought-New Years Resolutions. Do them? Don't do them? At testimony meeting last week one of the sisters mentioned that she loved new beginnings-even loves Monday Mornings. I felt a little bit of the same. I do like new beginnings. So I have been thinking about myself, what to do to change, become better, grow and develope. I realized I need balance. I am a wife, mother, sister, friend, visiting teacher, primary teacher, aunt, neighbor, volunteer, and sometimes feel like a nurse, chef, maid, and chaffeur. I have a hard time balancing it all. I tend to focus too much on one thing and then something else suffers. More often than not, the state of my house. I was in a huge funk the other morning -feeling sorry for myself, thinking that I won't be "known" for something, that I am mediocre at a lot of things, but not really good at any one thing. I got the impression that I need to focus on being a good mom and good primary teacher. So this year I plan to do my primary lesson during the week instead of waiting until Saturday evening, and to not yell at the kids and to play with them when they ask instead of putting them off.

Speaking of that, this morning was great. I spent time with Spencer doing some workbooks on writing the alphabet and learning colors, shapes etc. He is so cute-he concentrates so hard on writing the letters. I feel bad that I have waited so long to get him writing etc. Anyhow, he was so excited when he would finish and was thrilled to get a star sticker on his page. Then the boys begged me to play "Mario" a new Wii game Darin got for Christmas. The love it. Then we played Donkey Kong-the other game Darin asked for. I actually love the Donkey Kong one more than I expected. What I enjoyed most was spending the time with the boys. They were cute trying to tell me what to do on Mario-they love to watch Darin play it.

Another deep thought:what if I am really not good at something I want so much to do? Realistically, what If I can never figure it out? And yes, I am speaking of photography here. I did a photo shoot last weekend, and am not happy with the pictures. The are boring. Honestly. I thought I could do it inside, but apparently I need tons more practice inside. I do fairly well outside, but I have to figure out inside. So when I pulled them up I was disappointed. And I shot in RAW, so there was a different page that came up on Photoshop elements, so now I am not sure if I can edit them the way I did the last ones I did. Ugh. So my question really is this: When do you decide that you really aren't good at something? Well, I am not completely ready to give up-I am going to take another class-hopefully better than the last one.

Tonight was one of those crazy nights. Spencer fell asleep in the car and went right to the couch when we got home. I made dinner, then when I went over to try to wake him up, he was burning up. He has a temp of 102. It was so weird-like it suddenly came on. So we took him up. He wanted to go right to bed. Landon has been coughing a lot today and was a bit wheezy, so at one point of the night, Darin was out buying motrin, I was giving Landon a breathing treatment, Spencer was asleep and Jordan was still in the tub. I did think to myself when I was holding Landon that "this is my life-the life of a mother. It is what I wanted and it is hard, but deep down, I love it." I had a really nice time reading with Jordan and she has only come out of her bed once.

So, currently I am on the couch with my lap top warm in my snuggie watching the show The Middle. Such a funny show. So I am going to do better keeping up my everyday life on the blog. Can't make a book out of facebook posts! Figure I can at least make the kids laugh in about 20 years:)

Twenty One years later

I felt really great when I woke up today. So happy to have later church. No need to rush or have he usual drama trying to get out of the door for 9:00 church. I got up and got ready before the kids were even awake-getting ready at 8:00 is way better than 7:00 on Sunday morning. Then I got the kids breakfast, put dinner in the crockpot, and checked facebook.

Then I felt really sad. I read a post my sister put up on Facebook and realized that it hadn't yet dawned on me that it is January 3rd. Always a sad day for my family. Even as the years add up, it is still fresh on my mind. I remember the phone call like it was yesterday. I was up in my room and my grandma and grandpa called me downstairs. I knew there was a problem when I saw the bishop and one of my young women's leader sitting in our living room. My mother had died and it was January 3rd 1989.

The following weeks were a whirlwind of changes for my 3 little sisters and myself. I was about a month from turning 16, so didn't get to make many choices-was told where we would live, told we had to change our last name because my grandparents had to adopt us to get military ID cards (which we found out years later wasn't necessary). I was working on getting my drivers license, but my grandparents stopped that process. My sisters gradually decided not to go to church anymore. Eventually I went to college and my sisters left my grandparents and lived with other relatives.

So today I have been thinking of my mom. She was such an amazing lady and everyone loved her. I miss her but am thankful for the 16 wonderful years we did share on this earth. It is really a blink in the eternal span of time. I am so grateful for the gospel and the knowledge I have of the plan of salvation. I know I will be in her presence again. The day after I was able to receive my endowments in the DC temple in 1993, I was able to go through for her. Such a blessing for me, and for her since she was always talking about going to the temple. I look forward to the day when I can introduce her to my family-they will love her!!

Christmas Merriment!

We had such a fun Christmas morning! I woke up before the kids to put in our traditional casserole in the oven. Darin and I wondered what time the kids would wake up and Landon finally woke up at I think 7:00, then Jordan and they had to wake up Spencer. They were all really excited to get downstairs.

Having fun opening presents. I just love watching the excitement on their faces. They just love seeing each thing they open and get so excited. They each received the big things that they wanted. We now have new tools, a bunch of zhu zhu pets sqeaking around, new barbies, and lots of other fun stuff.

Here's Landon with the zhu zhu pets!
Yummy Christmas Dinner.
More fun pictures. I got a snuggie, which is used every night. Especially when it is really windy.
I am so thankful for the real reason of Christmas. I didn't take any pictures, but we did a nativity at bedtime. The kids really, really loved it. The wanted to take turns playing the different parts. Next year I would like to start early and gather costume items for each part. It is the reason for all the celebration and I want my children to never forget that.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Pajamas

We always had a tradition as kids to get new pajamas on Christas eve. I looked forever to find some I like and finally found these. Darin said they were prison uniforms, but the kids loved them and wore them for days after Christmas. I think they are so cute. So here we are when we got them out.

Oh yeah, in the above pic, Landon was not happy to put them on at first. He finally worn out later.

Jordan and Spencerr were so lovey dovey after they put their pajamas on. They kept hugging and saying "I love you" to each other.

Water skiing Santa?

Thanks to the heads up from Trish Martin, we decided to head to National Harbor on Christmas eve for some fun. We went to see some water skiers, then went and looked around the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center. It was really amazing. It is HUGE!! All the rooms have a balcony and look out to a courtyard-or shall I say down to a courtyard. There are houses in there that are just shops that are bigger than my house.

The also had this massive glass Christmas tree suspended from the ceiling. It was pretty cool, but a little nerve wracking to stand under. Ouch if any piece of it fell. I guess it was is called "candy" glass. Pretty amazing.
There was a train set that the kids watched for a while and then there was a fountain that went along to Christmas music that the kids loved watching as well.
I can't imagine staying here. It was just so huge and probably costs and arm and a leg.
So, yes we saw Santa and the reindeer on water skis. Pretty funny. A couple of them wiped out-it was pretty cold outside, I wouldn't have wanted to be in the water even in a wetsuit. Hope the had hot chocolate waiting.
Jordan and Rayna. We lucked out because I went to take some pics across from where we were standing and ran into the Martins. So they hung out with us during the show.
See the guy doing the flip-on the left side of the picture.
An elf on a ski-doo-or whatever those things are called:)
Santa is multi-talented.
The kids thought it was funny when the grinch came out, but then were quite concerned that he was trying to knock Frosty off the skidoo.
Pretty fun day. Next year we know where the good spots are to stand, so we'll be prepared!!

Christmas Tree Ornaments and Good Ole St. Nick

Ornaments vs. Toys?
When we put our tree up this year I was a little worried about how Landon would do with the ornaments. He loved putting them up, and the first couple days he played with them, but the big problem was Spencer!! He would not leave the ornaments alone. We have a bunch of character ones-Dora, Diego, Sesame Street, etc, and he thought they were toys. Seriously, every day he would play with them. A few ended up broken. Ah well, just stuff, I guess.

Here he is when we got some Simpsons ornaments in the mail that Darin had ordered. He is a big Simpsons fan. Spencer loved them and played with them like they were little action figures.
What, ornaments? No way, they are toys!!

Bart Simpson? Don't have a cow man!!

Santa Claus

We had a couple visits to Santa this year.We saw him at our ward party, but the pics first are from Tysons Corner Mall. The santa there is pretty well known and loved. Last year it was big news because they didn't rehire him and the public made a huge uproar and he ended up with his job back. He makes around 30 K for the few weeks he works.

The boys tell Santa what the want. Spencer:Dragon Fortress Castle; Landon-giraffe toy.
Jordan told Santa she wanted Zhu Zhu pet and a baby doll.
Here's Jordan waiting in line. Just had to put this shot in:) I love my pretty girl.
We had Santa come to our ward party. It was pretty annoying, which is why we ended up going to another Santa. Darin got in line right when they announced he was coming. And from past years we knew we had to line up early. Well, when he sat down, all these kids came out of the woodwork and lined up without parents. The line took forever, and kids kept coming in. And I love the Santa, but he was talking forever with each child. I tried to give him a hint that there was a really long line, but I think he was oblivious. So when our kids got up there, I was stressed out about it and got the kids off before they could tell him all the thhings they wanted. I just took a couple shots to have them. Well, Jordan cried and cried. So that is why we went to the mall to see Santa again. Next year I don't even care to wait in line at the ward party again!!

fun on the steps

Lanny kept putting his hand up to his eye and I finally realized he was pretending to take a picture. Funny boy.

One day Landon decided to play in the steps. I have always worried about the "open" steps we have in our house, but they haven't really been a problem. We have only had a couple moments where we worried about the kids falling through. They do like to drop things through them, but I have been happy they haven't worried me as much as I expected.

So here is Lanny having fun, then his big brother and sister decided to join him.

I love this shot.
the whole crew having fun.