Catch of the Day

There's a reason I'm exhausted by the end of the day.

Back To School Baby Bonding

The kids went back to school today which meant Jet got Mommy all to himself. And he didn't have anyone else to cling to so he was quite clingy with Mommy. We had some fun, though. We sang, we danced, we read books, he helped me with dishes, and he had quite a bit of fun playing with his dinosaurs. He loves those things.

When the kids got home from school he was happy to cling to them again as well while I made dinner.

Since January 3 is J.R.R. Tolkien's birthday, I asked Alexa to play "Lord of the Rings" music. She decided to play mostly "Harry Potter," music. I pointed that out to the kids.

For Family Home Evening, we watched Paddington 2 while eating orange marmalade sandwiches. Well, some of us did. Some decided they couldn't stand them and some named Jet devoured two themselves.

I kept making the kids stop the movie to make this comment, "Today is J.R.R. Tolkien's birthday, right? So and so in this movie played such and such in... Harry Potter." They got a kick out of that. I think I did it four times.

January 3 is also National Drinking Straw Day so I let the boys use the long straws to drink hot chocolate for after school snack. Those straws are fun.

I made sure to give Jet cups with straws today.

Acting Weirdos

September 8 was National Actors Day. I commented how funny it would be if I acted dramatic in everything I did that day. It turned out I just acted different ways.

Does it ever bother you in movies when the character in the driver's seat spends so much time looking at or talking to the character in the passenger seat when they should be watching the road? It bugs me. So I decided to act like that myself for the holiday... while the van was in park.

I acted like a bird while filling the bird feeder.

 I acted so many ways that day.

Google told us it was Tim Bergling's 32nd birthday. He is also known as Avicii so I danced while doing dishes to a song by Avicii.

 

I got some other family members in on acting or being dramatic that day. Jeremy sent me some pictures on his birding excursion that day. He asked one of our friends who works at Farmington Bay to be in a picture but that friend took a picture of Jeremy acting like an owl instead.

 

Nichole obliged when I picked her up from school. "Act dramatic, Nichole."

Of course that holiday fit right in with the next day's holiday, Wonderful Weirdos Day on September 9. Wonderful weirdos. That's us.

What She Missed- August 9

Monday, August 9-

Jeremy, Nichole, and Jr. got home around 1:45 in the morning. Later on that morning (at a reasonable hour), Lucky came out and saw Jeremy on the couch. "Daddy!" He gave him a big hug. So precious.

Nichole was home for less than 12 hours (and part of that was other places in the neighborhood packing coolers and trailers) before they whisked her away to Girl's Camp which started the next day. I thought we'd have her for the day but she is a Youth Camp Leader this year, even though it's her first year getting to go to Girl's Camp, so we found out last minute she had to go up and stay overnight for preparations. Sigh. Poor girl only got so much sleep and we had to do laundry after her trip and all the collecting and packing things since she'd been gone for about a week.

Good thing I was starting to feel better because I was running around helping out and continuing on even after Nichole was gone. 

I did some dishes and Jet decided to be a big helper.

I did rest a bit and told everyone dinner was whatever they could find in the fridge but I found some bacon in the fridge that needed to be used so I ended up making carbonara which a few of us ate. The kids also found some trip food and things we didn't ended up eating while Jeremy and the oldest were gone (being sick throws everything out the window), so we snacked as well. And I ended up talking to a friend on the phone for a lot longer than I originally intended which was also relaxing.

 

We did Family Home Evening without Nichole. Jeremy gave us a lesson about cleaning sin out of our life like cleaning trip stuff out of the van so we helped clean trip stuff out of the van (nice object lesson, Jeremy). Then we played video games (Lucky's idea) and had root beer floats with red vine straws (Jr. Jr.'s idea).

What They Missed- August 15

Saturday, August 15-
I got a decent amount of dishes washed.
We went out for a drive. I originally planned to recycle glass but I forgot to put it in the van so we drove around for a while. At one point I stopped at a trailhead for the Murdock Canal Trail and asked if the boys wanted to get out and walk or just head home. Lucky wanted to walk and Jr. Jr. wanted to just go home. I suggested a compromise. What if we headed toward home then go on just a short walk at a place closer to home. They agreed.
We stopped at the elementary school and walked to where the boys would be lining up before school. It was sunny.

When we got home, the boys put away the dishes. They asked to use the phone.
Jr. Jr.: We're just taking pictures of my beautiful tower creations.
Lucky made some, too.

 
I mixed potato, green beans, and beef together to give Jet kind of a shepherd's pie. He was not a fan.

This is the same picture from the day before but it's worth repeating since he made the same face when I tried to feed him that food.

It was National Relaxation Day and at one point, Lucky said to me, "Playing games is relaxing for me."

We fed the birds and refilled a feeder we hadn't before.

When heading back, there was a trail of ants on the sidewalk. Lucky and Jr. Jr. were having fun hopping over them.

Lucky: Mom, how are you going to get over the ants? Because you're a mom and moms don't jump very good.

So I told Jr. Jr. to get pictures of me jumping over the ants.

I also decided to take a picture myself.

Later, after Lucky was done buttering a bagel-
Lucky: Can you put away the butter for me, please?
Mom: Yes. I appreciate your good manners.
Lucky: I learned it from you, Mom.
Mom: Aww. I'm glad you learned something good from me.

Lucky helped with dishes, Jet, and getting Jr. Jr.'s blanket.

That night Jeremy and I texted.
Jeremy: I miss you.
Kristin:

Does that help?

Catch of the Day

When you ask the kids to help with the dishes.

Wednesday

Wednesday was an up and down day.
Tired kids = cranky kids.  Tired mom = cranky mom.  Cranky kids + cranky mom = we'll try again tomorrow.
There were some good points, too.
The kids woke up in a good mood.  They were being cute.  Jr. made a helmet out of a balloon he found lying around.

Jr. Jr. was my big helper with dishes.

I mentioned he was tired so he did end up taking a nap but wasn't very happy when I had to get him up to pick up the kids from school.  Poor little guy.

Jr. Jr. performed in the first grade talent show today so he got a lot of practice last night twisting balloons.  He ended up twisting a snake for his talent.

Catch of the Day

You know how sometimes some of your cups get turned upside down while the dishwasher is running? Well, this is a new one for me. Look how they landed.

Having a Hard Time

Let me tell you about how things are going for me. I don't often vent or talk about unpleasant things on this blog (I like happy things), but I'm going to today. Bear with me. O.K. Here goes (in no particular order):

It's Saturday. My apartment is a mess. Too many dishes are unwashed. The dishwasher hasn't been working well lately. The pilot light on our water heater went out last night and we haven't been able to get it back on yet. So, even though we have lots of dishes that need to be done, we can't because we need hot water to both run the dishwasher (that doesn't wash dishes very well anyway) and wash dishes by hand. At the moment, mornings are not my best time, and if I don't get the right kind of breakfast, I don't have enough energy to do a lot. I haven't been feeding my family very well, partly because of how I've been feeling, and partly because of the state of my kitchen. I've been wasting too much time with the Wii since we got it. My daughter has a birthday party to go to and we haven't wrapped the presents yet. My son lately has decided to be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. We all need baths or showers, but don't have warm water for those. I get frustrated with myself for all the things that I know I should be doing but am not and I take it out on my family by getting frustrated or impatient (though I've been doing really well lately with not losing my temper). I'm not as supportive as I'd like to be with my husband's weight loss goals because I haven't felt up to fixing good meals. There are some days when the kids and I don't even get out of our pajamas. Blah blah blah blah blah. There are plenty more, but that's all I can think of right now.

Thank you. Sometimes it helps to just vent and talk about frustrations. Through this all, I do feel very blessed. I have such a patient husband. My kids are adorable. Our newest one had a healthy heartbeat when we went to our prenatal appointment the other day. I haven't thrown up yet due to pregnancy (mostly just feeling hungry and tired). I get to hear or read from my brothers and sisters and parents almost daily because of a family blog where we all contribute. I could go on and on about how many more blessings I have than frustrations. I think I will:

None of us are sick right now (yay for winter being over-ish). We all got to hear the baby's heartbeat. I get to be a stay at home mom (best job in the world). Tomorrow is Sunday and we'll all get to go to our classes at church (because we're not sick). We have a great ward. My kids play together well- most of the time. They are so cute. They are also polite- most of the time. My husband is so talented and I often get to see amazing balloon sculptures up close. Sometimes I even get to participate in creating amazing balloon sculptures (I'll talk later about what we get to build in June). We get to go home to Oregon and Washington for a visit this summer. Taxes are done- we'll get more back than we paid. I can still do laundry because I wash most of the stuff on cold anyway. The slow season is over for my husband's work. He's even got a deal going with Jumpin' Jacks (inflatable playgrounds) to be an option for their birthday packages. Because the internet can be used for good, our current desktop background is a picture taken just the other day of my parents at the Oregon Coast, with the Heceta Head Lighthouse in the background. I do believe the Heceta Head Lighthouse is the most photographed lighthouse on the Oregon Coast. Now every time I look at the computer, I get to see my parents (and the Oregon Coast). I love my parents. They have been such a good example to me of so many things in my life- a happy marriage, supporting each other through trials, loving parents, wonderful grandparents, strong testimonies, good teachers.

I really am blessed in so many ways.

Thank You. I feel much better. Time to get dressed and wrap presents (Jeremy already built a balloon sculpture for the birthday girl).

Now I'm going to start crying because I feel so blessed instead of being stressed.