Back to the Blog!

I've gotta get back into this again! I thought to myself, "I'm crafty. I make cute things. I can create yummy recipes. Why am I not sharing these types of things?" It may have a little to do with my own personal insecurity of not being good "enough". I might be good at something, but not good enough. Well, to heck with my insecurity, I'm just gonna do it and see what happens!

I love to share (a lot has changed since my oh, so selfish childhood days). Having kids teaches you that sort of thing. After all, sharing is caring, right?  With that said, I'm going to try and turn this into a blog about sharing all of our family fun, which will also include yummy recipes that I've been creating, fun crafts that we do, and maybe even a sewing tutorial or two. Everyone else is doing it, so why can't I? I want to be famous on Pinterest, too (in a joking yet, semi-serious tone).

This will be a fun little adventure. I really want to learn and grow in lots of different areas, and if you stick with me you'll get to grow and learn right along with me!

I'll share lots of different things, from crafts to health and well being. I might try my hand at learning how to be a better photographer (I'm a REALLY bad one)! I'm not gonna try and replace our dear, sweet, Emily Mann with Rabbit Ears Photography. I just want to be able to post pictures of food that actually looks scrumptious, not pics of crusty crock pots, or dark shadowy blobs with parsley accents. 

One thing I'm learning in this life is that NOTHING is perfect and that's OK! It's OK to not be perfect. As long as we are all trying our VERY best that's all we can do. Things don't always go as planned. In fact, for me, NOTHING ever happens the way I PLAN them to. As discouraging and disappointing as that is, I'm learning to be OK with that.  It's a very hard lesson to learn. I just want things "MY WAY" all the time." If people would just do things my way, it'd be so much better!" HAHAHA. God has a different plan and I just have to go with that one and be OK with it!  So, don't expect perfection from me. Like I said, I'm learning...publicly...scary...but exciting! I think this will push me in ways I've never been pushed, and that is always a good thing!

So, whatta ya think? You up for this adventure with me? Eeeek, it's kinda scary! I'll either totally embarrass myself and feel like a huge failure, or I'll keep plugging along and make this a huge success!  Let's hope, for the sake of my dignity, that this goes a little as "planned" and I can do the latter!!

Ok...so who's with me? Will I have any followers?

What happened to blogging?

I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY need to start blogging again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Growing up too fast!

The last few days as I lay with the girls before bed, or have a conversation with them during the day I've found myself welling with tears and trying to hold them back. My girls are growing up so fast!!

Madison, my very first little baby is asking me math questions and learning to add. She's writing words and learning to read. She offers to help more often then not. She absolutely loves to be a big sister. She loves to be right by my side pretty much at all times, and as annoying as that can be, it makes me feel so good that she loves me that much to just want to be with me all the time. It's made me realize I need to soak it up for what it's worth and just spend as much time as I can with her. When Maddie was a baby I made up this beach song and Glen and I were singing it last night and I told her that I remember the night I made it up like it was yesterday. I was sitting in our old rocking chair, in our old house. It was dark and I was putting her to bed. She was little and I was rocking her in my arms and rubbing her legs. She didn't have long hair, she didn't weigh 35 lbs, she was just little and she was my only one. Just her and I. I made up this song: "We're going to the beach gonna have lots of fun. Swim in the water play in the sun, We're gonna build a sand castle have a picnic too, We're gonna shout "Hurray, wooohooo!!!" We're gonna have so much fun at the beach!" When we sang it the other night, the memory flooded back to me and made me get teary. I wish I could go back and just hold that little baby Maddie in my arms again. Where did the time go??

Riley... Riley, Riley, Riley. I just love that girl! She is the funnest little thing in the world, just a ray of sunshine in my heart! They all are, but Riley has this way about her that is just so humorous. She's a little stinker, but in the cutest way imaginable. She's talking in very complete sentences these days which is so cute to hear. When you ask her a question and it's a "Yes" answer she answers with a very confident "Yeth" and when I call for her she says, "Yeth mommy" or "Yeth mother!" It's SO cute! I think she got it from the movie Tangled, but, who cares, it sounds so polite! She still loves to push boundaries, which makes life challenging, but life obviously can't be perfect. We believe Riley was definitely sent to teach us MANY lessons in parenting! You can't do anything but love the girl. She LOVES her sisters so much. I've never seen her be mean to the baby even one time since Chloe was born. Whenever she is with her she's kissing or hugging her, and it's SO genuine. She looks up to Maddie so much and I'm so glad that she has Maddie to look up to as a good example.

Ahhh, and Chloe my little Angel! She's actually starting to get quit the personality. She is VERY happy, but if she gets upset she's not quiet about it! She HAS to be heard, of course, because she's 3 out of 3. It's hard for mom to get right to her all the time every time she has a need. I do my very best though. Chloe is army crawling all over. She started off rolling well over a month ago. She's been rocking on her hands and knees for awhile now, but still just feels more comfortable rolling or scooting. She's on her way to pushing herself up to sit and kind of does this tripod sit on her side. It's funny. She is EATING!! and eating, and eating!!! She LOVES real food, no jarred junk, the real deal veggies, fruits, breads, crackers, cereals, beans and rice, etc. Nothing mashed or pureed, just straight up whole cooked stuff! She's got two bottom teeth and her two top teeth are coming in and they look HUGE! Neither Maddie nor Riley had teeth that big! HAHA it will be funny to see when they come in all the way. She is SUCH a teething trooper! She is hardly fussy at all about it! Nighttime has been a little harder, but now that they are starting to poke through she's sleeping better. She talks so much! She makes this "kelk,kelk, kelk" sound that kinda reminds me of the Disney character "Goofy" and when we were in Hawaii she was making this sound that kinda sounded like she was saying "Chloe", it was "Coi, Coi" who knows maybe she was! Actually, every time I get her from a nap or come into a room that she is in I smile and say a very enthusiastic "Hi!" and a couple of times I think she's actually said "Hi" to me first! Haha, maybe, maybe not, but either way she's ALWAYS happy to see me!

I feel SO blessed. We're SO lucky to have these three beautiful girls with three VERY different personalities, yet they all love us so much. I'm so grateful that I get to be a mom and be home with them to teach them and LEARN from them. I can't wait to see what they do or say next!

Just some fun moments

So, I don't have one story in particular to talk about but there have been some funny little things that have happened over the course of the last couple days. First and foremost...Chloe rolled over for the first time yesterday while getting her pictures taken!!! Yay Chloe!

Second: Last night after the girls had already had a bath I noticed it was particularly quiet so I got up to see what the girls were doing. Maddie was playing and I heard some weird grunting/breathing (don't worry...it's not what you think). So I check the bathrooms, of course, and Riley is not on either toilet but I can hear her breathing hard in the bathroom...excuse me, while I chuckle this story is funny...So I go all the way into the bathroom and she is in the tub slipping and sliding everywhere, trying to get out, so she's breathing all hard and trying to stand up but she can't get her footing because she spilled out the entire bottle of their shampoo and was sliding ALL over the place. As soon as I came in she started crying because she wanted out, but I couldn't get her out because I needed to get all the soap off of her. She continued to try and get up but would slide. So, she's bawling and I'm cracking up with tears in my eyes! It was SO funny! She'd get up and then slide all the way down to the other end of the bathtub. Then she'd be on her hands and knees and they couldn't stay in one spot, they'd be slipping. I wish I would have gotten it on video, but I would have been torturing her even more than I was just by laughing! Anyway, that was the highlight of the night. It was hilarious.

Oh and I posted this on facebook, but thought I'd jot it down here so I have record of it. Yesterday on our way home from a friends house I stopped by Wendy's to re-fuel myself, my blood sugar was so low I couldn't see straight, and I got Maddie a Frosty. As we left the drive thru Maddie tells me, "Mommy, Wendy is a really nice girl." It was too cute!

I love my girls. Things around here are hectic but they do and say the funniest things.

Ughhhh...

Maddie and I were talking as Riley napped and Chloe sat next to us cooing and gurgling. The sun was shining on us as we sat next to the window on the heater vent. Then came the words that hit me like a ton a of bricks..."Mommy, I want my tummy to be flat like Ariel's." I said, "you have a flat tummy." She said, "Na, uh, look." She lifted up her shirt to show me her cute little tummy. She then said, "I need to do weight loss." Again, my jaw dropped. Did my 4 year old just say that? What in the world?? Does it really start this young??? She went on to tell me that she saw a commercial about it. I felt my stomach do a total flip and I wanted to cry. I went and told Glen what our FOUR year old daughter had just told me. I didn't want to make a HUGE deal about it because I want her to feel like she can tell me stuff like this and not have me flip out. Glen told her that Ariel was not a real person, that she was just a cartoon, and told her she was beautiful just the way she is.

As I sat there folding laundry I wanted to come up with something that might make sense to her about how everyone is different. I came up with this as she colored quietly on the floor

"Maddie, you know when mommy draws something for you and then you try to draw it, it looks different? And daddy's pictures look different than mommy's and your friends make pictures and they look different? But they all have something that is very neat and unique about them?"

"Yes." she replied.

"They all look beautiful. They are all art. You wouldn't like it if I told you your picture didn't look pretty, would you?"

She said, "no."

Then I told her that "Heavenly Father created each of us. We are his art. He made us all different, but he thinks we are all beautiful and special. When we look at someone else or at ourselves and want to change something that makes him very sad. Does that make sense?"

"Yes." she said

I told her again that she was beautiful just the way she was. I don't know how much of that sank in, but maybe one day she'll remember what I said. I know I'll have to keep reiterating all this as she grows, and not just to her but to Riley and Chloe as well. Being a girl isn't always easy. I hope that I can instill good, positive self esteem in all of them. I know it starts with my example. I hope I can be a good example of a woman with good self confidence/self esteem. I know it also starts with the type of relationship they have their dad. A father needs to show love and kindness towards his daughters and wife, so that his girls don't go looking for male attention in all the wrong ways.

I'm inches away from destroying Ariel and every other DUMB princess that makes my little princess feel she has to look like them!

UGHHHHHHH!!!!! Just ONE more thing for me to have to worry about and work on! I need a vacation!

Kids say the darndest things!

There is much to be said for Riley and her personality. She's a little firecracker. She's sweet and loving, but then she can flip a switch and be the most EXTREME opposite! We love our Ri-Ri no matter what kind of mood she's in. Even if it's a bad one we're still smiling at her (kinda sad to be smiling when she's crying, but you should see her sometimes...it's ridiculous)!!!

This morning I had LOTS to do. Glen actually took Maddie to school on his way down the mountain, but I had to pick up the house and fold all the laundry and in between all that I had to get food, put on a movie, dance to a princess song with Riley, feed Chloe, get more food, dance some more, and shower!!! Anyway, Riley was bummin that I couldn't spend all my time dancing with her. As much as I would have LOVED to dance around and twirl like a princess there was so much I needed to do. She started to get a little attitude-y with me. As I picked up toys and dress up clothes in her room I asked why she was being so snotty with me. She turned and looked at me, put her hands in the air, shrugged her shoulders and said, "hmmmm, I not know." I kind of chuckled and she gave me a smile and chuckled herself.

It was a cute moment. We have lots of those moments around here and I really need to be better and jotting them down.

Just last night Maddie was going potty before bed and she was looking down while she tinkled and said, "I'm trying to make a snowflake with my pee!" I just started cracking up and told her, "Good luck!!!"

Another thing that Maddie said to me today: We were getting ready to take the girls to my parents house so Glen and I could go out. I asked Maddie to pick up her room and make her bed. She was kind of whining and grunting about having to do it. I was putting away laundry. I came into the room as she was grunting and I kind of mimicked her and said, "Oh my life is so hard." She got very huffy puffy and her eyes weld up. I asked why she was so upset, she then told me, "I'm just sensitive to the way you were talking to me." Immediately I was put in my place and realized, "Wow, that was rude of me." I told her, "You're right Maddie, mommy shouldn't have said that, it was rude and I apologize." Even though we're the parents we are sometimes in the wrong, which is ok because we're human, but for me I feel it's important to recognize when we've done something wrong towards our children and let them know that we know we were wrong. I don't feel it shows weakness, rather strength in knowing that we aren't perfect and we can always do better. That way they can know that they can make mistakes but try to fix them and become better. I shouldn't have belittled her in that way and I felt shame for it. Thank goodness children are so forgiving!

My children are teaching me so much these days, and I know there will be many more teaching days ahead. They bring me so much joy. I'm so grateful to have each of them. It's not an easy job, being a mom, but I'm so glad that I'm doing what I'm doing. I don't think I'd have nearly as much motivation in life if it weren't for my children and great husband.

Modest Maddie

It's a new year and I need to make WAY more of an effort to blog/journal. Not just so all of you can get a kick out of all the things that happen in our day to day, but so that I can have these memories jotted down so I don't forget them! Everyday there is something interesting, crazy, funny, sweet or sad that happens in this household. I love being with my kids most days, then we have some days where I wish I was on an island FAR, FAR Away from EVERYONE, including the goldfish (YES, we have a goldfish)!

Anyway, today I'm jotting down a sweet memory of our little Maddie. Madison is a good girl, responsible and motherly. She loves to please her parents and make good choices. She doesn't always, but... so goes life! Anyway, we had her cousin over during New Year's and it was almost time for her to go. Maddie had a piece of fleece fabric that she plays with. She uses it for a blanket, large scarf, etc. Well this day she wanted it as a skirt. She asked me if I could tie it for her but her cousin offered to do it instead. Maddie was hesitant, but let her do it. Maddie runs to me, bawling her eyes out and I ask her with concern,"What's the matter?" she then tells me, "It's not modest...BAHAHAHAHAHA (more crying)!" The skirt had been made rather short, with it raising higher up on her thigh. Her cousin looks at me and says, "What does modest mean?" I explained to her that modesty means not showing lots of skin or body parts, etc.

Even though Maddie was very sad, I felt proud that she felt uncomfortable with how the skirt was tied on. It's the simple things that we teach our children that make ALL the difference. Our examples to our children are THE most important thing we can do as parents. We not only have to TEACH or children Christ-like principles but we need to LIVE them. For me, modesty is a simple yet HUGE principle we can teach our young girls, and it starts NOW when they are young... for me it starts when they're babies. No bikini bathing suits on infants (even though they look adorable), no tank tops or dresses without sleeves, and nothing that is revealing in any kind of way. Young girls should dress like young girls, not like adults, and adults should be careful with how they dress so that young girls can look towards beautiful woman who wear classy clothing WITHOUT showing off ALL of their assets!

I'm not a perfect parent AT ALL. There are MANY things I need to polish and work on. I heard a great quote the other day, "Inch by inch, it's a cinch, yard by hard, then it's hard". I think I'll use that as my parenting motto. This way I won't get bogged down with all of the things I feel I need to improve, rather, work on one thing at a time THEN move to the next thing...like blogging!;D

Happy Holidays!

Snowflake Wishes Cranberry Holiday

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Another memory from heaven?

Today, while driving to the lake I had forgotten my wedding ring so I turned around to go back and get it. Once I had it and we were on our way again Maddie was talking to me about being married, saying things like, "If you have a wedding ring then you're married and if you don't then you're not married." Then she said, "Mommy, remember I was at your wedding?" I then said, "Well you weren't there because you weren't born just yet." She very sternly replied back, "Yes, mommy, I was there at your wedding with your grandpa and then I went back up to Heaven!" I didn't really know what to say, other than "Really?" That's the second comment she's made about her and my grandpa being together before she came to earth. Since I was so close to my grandpa it's very interesting for her to mention him in the ways she has, not to mention the fact that they have many similarities one includes their red hair!