Mother's Day

(However my English-majored mom would NOT be proud of the "prouder" in the above picture. Please pretend it says "more proud" Mom, okay?)

With Mother's Day approaching I've read a lot or articles/posts/comments online about that special day. Many were uplifting, but I was actually VERY surprised at the number of women I saw that said they HATED Mother's Day. A lot of them were referring to church on Mother's Day. Now, I have many friends who are not able to have children and long for them. I can't even IMAGINE how heart-breaking that would be to want something good and have that be denied you!!!

However, the negative comments weren't from women without children......they were FROM moms. Many get discouraged and hate be reminded of how "NOT-good" of a mom they are. Hearing stories of other moms make them feel inadequate and down on themselves (comparing is an AWFUL thing to do. It will getcha EVERY time). Women can be SO hard on themselves. So they leave feeling WORSE and not-good-enough.

I've got news for ya...........there has never ever been a perfect mother on the face of the earth!!!!!

I'll admit, I think my mom did a pretty awesome job, and I'll be FOREVER grateful for how my mother-in-law raised my husband........but I've never known a mom to say, "I did everything perfectly. No regrets!"

Motherhood is CHALLENGING, HARD, full of ups and downs, but man, am I grateful for it. I believe that I lived with our Heavenly Father before we came to earth (and so did my children), and therefore he knows me better then anyone else. He knows my goal is to become like Him and be the best version of me that I can. He knew that sending these particular children to me would help that happen. I would like to think they were hand-picked just for me.

He knew by sending these specific children with their specific personalities that:

-I would HAVE to learn patience from them (some make me learn it more then others!)
- I would learn how to forgive better from my sweet-hearted child who is quick to forgive and let me try again the next day. On that same note, I'm learning to forgive myself.
- I would get a small glimpse of what my mother has done for me and can feel a sense of gratitude and "awe" not understood before
- I would understand more fully how to sacrifice. How to give up my temporary wants for the betterment of someone else.
- I would learn creative skills above and beyond what I thought was possible. "Creative parenting" is what Brooks and I always strive for, and trying to think of a way to reach, connect or teach a child a certain principle has been a unique and awesome challenge.
- I would learn priorities. I would understand what TRULY is important and which relationships matter most.
- I would learn to judge less. I can look around at other moms w/ a sense of empathy and understanding instead of a close-minded judgement towards someone trying their hardest. Because each child and situation is just so unique.
- I would learn disappointment in myself and how to cope with it, get up and try again.
- I would have my weaknesses so blatantly thrown at my face day-after-day becoming SO obvious and repeated that they must be tackled and worked on.
- I would get a MICROSCOPIC feel of love that He must feel for me. When my heart feels like its going to burst w/ so much love and fulfillment, I can't help but think of multiplying that all of my Heavenly Father's children. The love a parent has for a child is pretty overwhelming. Who knew such a feeling existed?!
- I would learn that I could succeed and be happy at any random thing, but my greatest happiness comes from seeing those I love succeed.
- I would learn that sleep is over-rated.
- I would learn that the mundane tasks of keeping up a household and my attitude towards that will define my happiness for that day. I can CHOOSE how to feel and react about any situation even if I can't control the situation itself.
- and I would learn that there is ALWAYS room for improvement and new things to learn.


For example....... I had to solo a double-header baseball game last night w/ the 7 kids. (I guess 6 at a time because one was playing). We were there for 3 hours (and then stayed an extra 1/2 hour to catch 5 more frogs). I have learned from the past which items I need to bring to entertain Royce and Kellyn. Royce had a few meltdowns and had to be removed and buckled in the stroller for a while, but I'm used to that......and was expecting that actually. I felt like I had a good handle on what to expect at these baseball games after going to so many.........silly me.
What I WASN'T expecting was Royce's new-found talent of flashing little girls. He did it once to his sisters and their friends and got the obvious response of "EWWWWWW" mixed with giggles and screams. He liked what he heard so he did it again just as I grabbed him to take him away. (Of course there were giggles from adults too, mixed w/ gasps of disgust)
This is one of those times that creative parenting comes into play in thinking how to prevent this from happening again because he's 2....and WILL do it again for the reaction he got ALONE! Realistically, I understand that I can't hover over Royce the whole time, and I KNOW how he likes to make people laugh. Soooooo  I'm just going to have to make sure he wears a belt everytime we go out so he can't get his own pants off.
See? A lesson that I NEVER would've thought I would have to face, and there I was trying to solve it.

Obviously a less-serious example of a serious thought..........but being a mom IS about progression and not-being-perfection and rejoicing in the journey of it. I'm glad I'm not the same mom now as I was 9 years ago or even last year!! I'm glad I'm more comfortable in my own skin now and a more developed person now then I was before I had kids. And that alone is an indicator that I'll even grow MORE over the years and I'm no where close to perfect now.

So for moms who "hate" Mother's Day, I say we need to give ourselves a break as women!!! You're NOT going to be like any other mom, because you haven't been given HER children.....you've been given your's......FOR A REASON! We need to rejoice in our imperfections pointed out to us in motherhood because they will ultimately make us better people. If that's too hard, REJOICE in your own mother and focus on her because besides all the lessons learned, she gave YOU life. Allow yourself to FEEL the connection you now share with your Heavenly Father in being an actual parent and understand that he "gets" it. He GETS that it's hard and understands your feelings of failure and also your triumphs. And MOST importantly, learn from other's mistakes and always put a belt on your 2-year old when you go out in public.



(now do yourself a favor and watch this 2 minute movie put on by several faith groups put together.......HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY)

Iris is (not) 4!!!!

I REALIZE Iris' birthday isn't for 3 more weeks......but then I looked at Brooks' crazy work week on her birthday week and started re-thinking a few things. Then I found some bounce passes that I had bought earlier and they were expiring on May 7th. Then a plan was hatched (on Sunday) to use those bounce passes for Iris' birthday, then I could have her party during the day (while the boys were at school) and I could also hang out with two of my favorite friends! Win-win-win, right?

Iris was thrilled with the idea, so w/ one day to prepare, we did it.

What we did NOT do was get any sort of decent picture at the bounce house. 

(Aleeya and Iris with their two friends)

See? I'm a photography pro.

But Iris WAS having a blast.

This blurry picture is my favorite and so typical of kids......all 4 of them were in one huge ball and went down the slide together. It made me laugh.

We came back to the house after. Here is Iris with her "princess cake".

She had no idea. The look on her face just shows how much love she had for that cake.....

she just sat there and admired it.

It was a white cake, cut in half w/ strawberry ice cream in the middle (frozen). Then I found one of those Duncan Hines frosting flavoring packets and threw a Bubble Gum flavored one in w/ whipped cream for the top of the cake. Never tried that before, but it was actually quite tasty. It was like "childhood" in one bite w/ the strawberry/Bubble Gum duo.

She just sat there and played with her princesses for a while. She already has some like this but I always use those dresses for Kellyn to play with and chew on (PERFECT texture), so now Iris has more dresses. Here she is asking who THIS princess is! Clearly I need to introduce her to Aladdin.

And since Iris' PREVIOUS pinata was starting to shrivel up like a raisin the night before, I couldn't figure out what to do. I started thinking, "Maybe I'll just have her paint it all over and then she'll just think it's so special." But there was no hope. It wouldn't even harden up (I rushed the process and prematurely popped the balloon WITH the treat bags already inside). So at midnight the night before I walked in my pantry and saw the oatmeal can I thought about the trap-door princess castle I made last year for Iris' birthday. So I cut a trap door, added the treat bags, planned on painting it yellow or something and throw on some pictures of princesses. I went to add the curling ribbon to the bottom and didn't have any. (go figure), but I DID have string. I taped them on it and it looked sooooo not festive and ghetto. I couldn't help but think it just looked like stringy hair. AH-HA!!! 

Then it dawned on me, I can just tell Iris that it is Rupunzel's HAIR!!! So I cut out a window and put Rapunzel's (disproportionate) face looking out. When I showed her it in the morning she was SO giggly and excited!!!! Phew.

She told me later it was her favorite part of her whole party. That made me feel a LOT better, because I felt so bad about the whole shrivel effect of her other one. She loved telling Brooks when he got home how she got to "rip off Rupunzel's hair".

I failed at getting better pictures, but I really was having fun visiting with my friends......that is when they weren't cleaning up Aleeya's bloody nose all over her carpet or sweeping up the nerds spilled all over the living room (yep, I'm an awesome friend letting them do that huh). I'm just glad Kellyn was sleeping during that time because her FAVORITE thing to do now is crawl to wherever the broom/dirt pile is and mess it all up!!!!

Here is Iris with her new scooter.........obviously so pleased.

(and yes, Aleeya quickly changed into a swimsuit when we got home)

Iris, Iris, Iris. 

I still remember just BAWLING in the hospital when they handed me her.

We didn't find out the gender with her and I wanted Aleeya to have a sister SO badly and I wanted Iris to be a girl. When the doctor announced it was and handed me her, I just lost it.

And then Iris started crying too.................and didn't really stop for the next 10 months. ;)

But man, oh man.....HOW I LOVE MY IRIS.

There's no way to describe her or words to even capture this VERY individual and unique child of mine.

Happy sort-a 4th Birthday to my sweet flower-girl.

I promise!!!!

I really DO promise I love all my kids the same.

And I don't think I've showed favoritism...........

However, the below evidence is NOT helping my case.

Here are ALL the kids' pinatas for their 4 year old birthday parties.....

Bronson-2007 (Manny, the mammoth from Ice Age) 

Camden-2008, rhino

 Emerson-2010  "Kevin" the bird, from the movie "Up"

Aleeya-2011   A Minnie purse, of course

And here is poor Iris' pinata waiting to dry for tomorrow............

I. AM. SO. DEAD.

I don't remember her asking for a smooshed up, droopy and flattening by the minute pinata......

Bug

You wouldn't BELIEVE how excited my kids were to have Tio Bug come to visit us on his way moving cross-country!!!! RIGHT when the boys got home from school they headed out to the golf course w/ Bug and Brooks. I'm pretty sure it won't surprise you to know that they're pretty competitive. 

So with Brooks winning by 5 strokes after the first 9 holes to go to losing by 2 strokes, it was a pretty monumental win for Tio Bug. Here is the congratulatory handshake after the win.

(I just love brothers.......)

But we really had some SUPER horrible weather. It was raining almost the whole time and kinda chilly. Kinda ruined our BIGTIME plans w/ Bug of more golfing, baseball practices, more frog-catching (I don't think Bug would've liked that anyway, but the kids wanted to show him. We sure know how to HOST, don't we? ;) ) and outdoor play.

We DID get a sorta-game in of baseball w/ the whole fam before it started raining again though..........which Bug's team won.

Aleeya wanted to crack ALL the eggs for breakfast so Tio Bug could know she could cook.

After baseball Brooks and Bug (his real name is Bronson, but to not confuse anyone, I'll just stick with "Bug") played a little one-on-one. Thankfully Brooks managed to pull out a win.

And also a win in the following dunk-over-my-brother display. It took him 3 times but he managed to do it.....and let me just say, he looked SUPER hot doing it too!!!!

Then Bug tried and landed on the driveway-dropoff part and rolled his ankle.

Let's just say "Dr.Smith" wasn't too sympathetic because he kept giggling when he was checking it out.

(the girls made up for it later during scripture reading though scratching Bug's leg and rubbing his ankle)

While the boys were outside playing basketball I went inside to check on the younger ones (when you don't know where they are and they're playing quietly, it's best to check on them). I found them like this.

They made a swing out of Aleeya's blanket for Royce and the two girls were "tied up". But they really weren't tied with anything, they just held their hands behind there and wouldn't move.......for like 20 minutes. I'm thinking I really like this game. We may have to play it more often.......like a LOT more often.

We went to StevieB's for their pizza buffet for dinner.....for their "last supper" before Fast Sunday.

 Kellyn LOVES pizza crust!

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuut apparently not the garlic flavoring on this crust.

It's a REAL big shocker Iris wasn't sitting by Bug (she wouldn't leave him alone), but here she is.......by me, with her BIG ol' pile of ranch dressing to dip her pizza and cheese sticks in. (I sheepishly take full credit for passing on that addiction)

Don't you LOVE our seating arrangements? I do too. Here is Royce sandwiched against the wall so he can't escape. We put Bronson on the end 1) because he has never-ending patience with Royce and 2) because he was so glued on that sports channel on the TV he wasn't going to move and therefore, either was Royce.

Brooks gave them all coins to go play in the arcade. The older boys conned Iris and Royce out of their coins......which turns out fine because they sat on these cars forever and "played" them with the "Insert a Coin" blinking on their screen the whole time.

But don't dis these cars because playing them can be pretty intense. 

We really take it seriously around here.

Bug with his little twin.......who couldn't be serious in a picture to save his life.

Tio Bug just won best-uncle status around here. He gave BOTH of the girls a whole STINKIN bag of suckers (I can't wait to return the favor one day and give his daughter one....or two....or three bags of suckers)

We were really and truly sad when he left the next day. 2 nights was just too short. Iris woke up the next morning to find Tio Bug gone and she almost lost it.............

until she remembered her sucker bag.

Not a total loss

After a double-header baseball game on Monday night the kids asked if we could go on the Nature Trails behind all the baseball fields. They've been begging for a while, so we decided to say yes.

Tons of trails, rivers, bridges, mud, swamp......you get the idea.

This is ALSO where I lost my phone.

We were crossing a bridge where we stopped and Brooks gave a lesson on Premortal Life, Mortal Life and Eternal Life using the bridge as the object lesson. Then after he dropped a big ol' pile of rocks in front of the kids and said, "Who can throw the farthest?" 

It ended up being btw Brooks, Bronson and me. Brooks obviously won. Then Bronson threw his super far. I was planning in beating him (duh!), but when I threw the rock I just threw my WHOLE body into it (so I could win) and my phone in my hoodie pocket just bounced right out, off the bridge and way down into the river.

Not only did I lose my phone, but I lost to Bronson in the rock throwing competition. 

Not sure which one I was more devastated about......

But I WILL tell you that Royce and Aleeya were TRAUMATIZED by it. 

Aleeya must think one can't LIVE without a phone.

Royce (who still can't talk, mind you), throughout the WHOLE walk kept saying to Brooks, 

"Wa-gua?" (agua/water). Then he'd put his hand up to his ear acting like he was talking on a phone and say, 

"A-loh?" "A-loh?" (he says it with a Spanish accent, it's pretty funny).

We're talking those 2 words repeated through the WHOLE walk. I was glad I was up in front w/ the older ones while Brooks stayed back with the broken record, Royce.

But like I said, it wasn't a TOTAL loss because Camden caught a little orange frog. See?

Kellyn just could NOT catch it.

I have so many pictures of my older brothers handing me frogs as a young toddler or girl and I just love that my girls get that too.

So obviously LAST night since we didn't have any practices or games (MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!!!), the older 4 wanted me to take them back to the trails to see if they can catch anything. 

I love it that they would prefer nature trails/outside over a jump house/playcenter/McDonalds ANYDAY!

 One of my FAVORITE pictures.

 I found a lizard that Camden (of course) caught. It started out green.

 I love the look of complete LOVE on Camden's face watching the lizard's mouth open.

 Then he started turning black (now he's all black)

 We re-visited the darn bridge my phone fell off of.

 Obviously they couldn't see it anymore.....

 We walked for a whole hour and found the one lizard, a wild turkey they couldn't get to in time to catch and Aleeya found a bunch of "clams".

 Oh, and a big juicy earthworm thing, that I was fine leaving there.

Then all of a sudden the sun started going down and we started finding frogs.

 3 frogs and 1 lizard  (and a pocket full of "clam" shells). Aren't their colors so cool?

 Aleeya actually caught a frog all by herself!!!! She is OBVIOUSLY so proud of herself.

THAT'S MY GIRL!!!!

Here are Camden's hands now holding 5. Yes, he can have 4 in his hands and STILL catch another one.

Within 20 minutes we had ourselves 12 frogs and 1 lizard. Trust me, all of our hands were full, so I was glad when I found a bag in the car for the way home. Not sure how safe I would be driving and holding frogs......

They made a make-shift "home" for them right when they got home. 13 total frogs.

Of course after they showered this morning and came down the eat the FIRST thing they wanted to do was check on their frogs. Emerson went out and found "Jefe" (the big one), with another frog on his back. He kept trying to pull the one on top off saying, "I can't get this one of Jefe's back!"

I told him to leave them alone and that they were probably mating. Of COURSE with the prospect of frog eggs Emerson made SURE no one disturbed those two. Then Camden kept talking about Jefe being squished on the bottom and the girl not leaving him alone on top and I told him, "Camden, I think Jefe might actually BE a girl and the one on top might be a boy." 

"Oh"

Phew, glad I got THAT "talk" over with. Guess my parenting responsibilities are finished here.....

You can imagine how much entertainment these frogs are around here.

 Iris finding "brothers"

Then she tried playing match-maker by sticking some on each other's backs.

This frog is my favorite for some reason. His name is "Wart" because he has the biggest bumps on his back.

But the orange/red ones are pretty cool too.

I've actually enjoyed 2 days w/o a phone. No one bothers me, I don't "HAVE" to make any phone calls to companies/bills/call-backs.........but yes, I'll have to go get a new one soon I guess.

With the loss of the phone though, I still think we came out on top w/ 13 frogs, one lizard, "clam" shells and free entertainment to last for HOURS ON END!!!!!!!!!

RPD

What is "RPD" you ask?

Well, I guess that's just short of "Random Photo Dump". So here goes.....

I took this picture of our grill the last part of March. Pollen count was INSANE here. 

Poor Bronson seems to be the only person struggling from it. And for 2 parents that had allergies REALLY bad growing up, that says a lot that I haven't taken any pills and Brooks just randomly.

I never posted a picture of Camden's poison ivy face. The is the 2nd worst day, so it got a tad more blotchy, but that was it. I let him stay home from school for 2 days. The 1st day because I had no idea what was on his face and the 2nd day because he said it looked "too ugly". I almost made him suck it up, but when his eyes started watering I started thinking, "I don't blame him"

Good thing I showed him mercy because no one seemed to question when I didn't feel like going out and running errands w/ my face bubbled up a few days later. Even as I was being BEYOND creative (read: lame and nasty) with the dinners and trying to throw anything together that was already in the house, they never complained. Pretty sure they just didn't want to see me leave the house. :)

Speaking of poison ivy, the last picture I took was on Tuesday morning. Then I took the meds. 

THIS is Wednesday morning. Still doesn't look much like me, but HOLY COW in one day it went down a TON and I could find my eyes to put in my contacts!

Then by Friday my face was back to normal (not the rest of my body.......still isn't, but I'll take it since I'm not itching THAT much anymore). I never really took a picture because, well, I think you've seen enough of my mug lately, but here's proof from Saturday on a random picture the kids take when I leave my camera too low............ (LIKE ALWAYS!!!!)

(cleaning Royce's face.......I'm ALWAYS cleaning his face so we can go places!!!!!)

Some things that I love looking through is the kids' homework. Emerson had to interview someone about their career, so the obvious choice was to interview a "Diver". Infact he wanted to dress UP like one for Career Day...............but since we didn't know any, he ended up interviewing Brooks instead. :)

(poor Emerson.... Aleeya added extra letters to his assignment and drew extra stick figures, but I erased them before he turned it in)

I love the "seing people gite detter" 

(WHY is it so hard to remember that the "b" goes one way and the "d" goes the other?!?!)

The pictures on the bottom is Brooks delivering a baby (he's on OB now), giving a little kid medicine and him walking into a patient's room asking "Are you okay". So cute.

And SPEAKING of cute............by boys in their suits for Stake Conference/Church yesterday. Oh man, oh man. They couldn't get the whole wait-for-the-second-flash thing (and then they wanted to be silly) but they are STILL WAY too guapo in those suits.

As I was standing singing one of the hymns during church yesterday and looked down my row of 8 others, my eyes just immediately started tearing up. My heart was going to burst with love and gratitude for my family. It's not always easy, but moments like that just fill my heart to overflowing!