For Those "Blah" Days

I saw this (I take zero credit for this) and thought it was something I needed to remember for those days when things just aren't...right. Here's a post from the blogosphere somewhere:

For the days we are running on empty. For the days we just don't think we have it in us to read one more story, play one more game of Uno, wash one more round of sheets. For the days when we think everyone else has it together. For the days we're sure anyone else would do this job better.

For those days. You know the ones.

Repeat after me:
1. I shall not judge my house, my kid's summer activities or my crafting skills by Pinterest's standards.
2. I shall not measure what I've accomplished today by the loads of unfolded laundry but by the assurance of deep love I've tickled into my kids.
3. I shall say yes to blanket forts and see past the chaos to the memories we're building.
4. I shall surprise my kids with trips to get ice cream when they're already in their pajamas.
5. I shall not compare myself to other mothers but find my identity in the God who trusted me with these kids in the first place.
6. I shall remember that a messy house at peace is better than an immaculate house tied up in knots.
7. I shall play music loudly and teach my kids the joy of wildly uncoordinated dance.
8. I shall remind myself that perfect is simply a street sign at the intersection of impossible and frustration in Never Never land.
9. I shall embrace the fact that in becoming a mom I traded perfect for a house full of real.
10. I shall promise to love this body that bore these three children out loud, especially in front of my daughter.
11. I shall give my other mother friends the gift of guilt-free friendship.
12. I shall do my best to admit to my people my unfine moments.
13. I shall say sorry when sorry is necessary.
14. I pray God I shall never be too proud, angry or stubborn to ask for my children's forgiveness.
15. I shall make space in my grown-up world for goofball moments with my kids.
16. I shall love their father and make sure they know I love him.
17. I shall model kind words to kids and grown-ups alike.
18. I shall not be intimidated by the inside of my minivan this season of chip bags, goldfish crackers and discarded socks too shall pass.
19. I shall always make time to encourage new moms.
20. I shall not resent that last call for kisses and cups of water but remember instead that when I blink they'll all be in college.

Best Family Picture

Through pure serendipity, we were all kind-of matching today so I decided we were going to take a picture before we went to church. It might be the best one we have ever taken without a professional photographer- simply by virtue of the fact that everyone was looking at the camera:

 

This might just be our Christmas photo:)

Nature Hike

Today we went on a family hike.

Ben and I are realizing that we LOVE family hikes. We LOVE being outdoors and enjoying nature, and we want our kids to love nature as well. And, how could you not love nature when hikes like this are just 15 minutes away from your house?

 We bought the girls sketch books so they could draw pictures of what we see in nature. The girls LOVED this! They kept wanting to draw different things. My plan is to bring these books whenever we go on hikes and that they will be a pretty great treasure when the girls are older.

We also bought pamphlets that help identify different animals, flowers, and trees. We were able to identify several things and we all learned a lot- it was great!

On a funny side note, tonight there was a  huge thunderstorm with hail, rain, and a tornado warning. Claire said: "Mom, can we move to Seattle? It rains too much in Colorado."

Recital #3

Today Claire had her dance recital.

Phew! This is a REALLY busy week, but we have almost made it through!

Claire did awesome- I am incredibly proud of her. She gets surprisingly scared in front of people- she has major stage fright. For being so feisty, I wouldn't think being in front of a crowd would be so hard for her, but it is.

She was quite nervous for her dance performance, but up she went. She was following directions perfectly and doing everything right...but then suddenly the girl next to her started kicking her! The little girl thought that Claire was in her spot (she wasn't) and she got upset at Claire. Poor Claire didn't know what to do- she was trying so hard not to cry! I really was so proud because she didn't cry, and she just kept on following directions and doing what she was supposed to do. It was awesome. I was very impressed with Claire's reaction- really, it was a great moment (even though she got kicked).

This is the girls who ended up kicking Claire

Recital #2

Audra had her dance recital today.

I can't decide if Audra enjoys dance or not. Every week she cries and cries about going to dance. Then she gets to class and has a great time. Then next week she cries again.

Now she says she wants to do dance next year because her teacher promised her a dance bear if she comes back or something. I don't really know what she is talking about, so we'll see if we sign her up next year or not.

Recital

Audra had her very first piano recital tonight!

It was very low-key (my favorite kind!). Her teacher only has four students, so we met at her teacher's house and each student played 2 songs. Afterwards we had refreshments and we were done in 30 minutes.

Audra was really nervous beforehand, but she did great. She only had one mistake with one of her hand movements, but other than that (and it was a tricky spot), she played perfectly. I am very proud of her!!!!

Here she is playing one of her songs:

We came home and Claire decided she wanted to be a part of the recital, so she sat down and started "playing" some songs- including her favorite "Catch A Falling Star." It was cute.

Audra Turns 7!

Seven sounds so old!

She's no longer the little girl on the playground who I have to protect. She's now the big kid who can do everything and needs to watch out for the littles!

I tell her all the time that she's not allowed to get bigger. I say, "no more fruits and veggies. No more reading and math.  You can't get any bigger." And she counters with, "No, I AM getting bigger."

The hardest part is realizing that over 1/3 of the time that we have with her has already slipped away!

Nevertheless, the circle of life continues and Audra has gotten a year older.

We celebrated with her favorite breakfast: French toast.

She got sung to by the kids at church and got to go meet with our bishop (pastor) for a piece of candy after church.

We had the family over for dinner, which Audra got to choose. Her choice: Breakfast burritos. I'm so glad she chose such an easy meal to make!

Then, of course, she got spoiled with lots of presents and party celebrations!

 Look how happy she is while opening a gift from Claire- a doll (above), and Claire helping her out

 Here's her gift from Grandma: Frozen bed sheets. Claire was so happy for Audra that she made Audra's bed for her- it was really cute:

 She got a Frozen poster from Grandma and Grandpa Marriott- Audra was in Frozen Heaven!

 Camille immediately grabbed an outfit that Audra got from Grandma and tried it on:

Audra said she wanted an ice-cream cake. I have to assume she meant one from DQ because that is the only ice-cream cake we have ever gotten. We had one major problem with that: I had zero room in the freezer for a DQ ice-cream cake! I was talking to a friend and she told me what she used to do with her kids for their Birthdays: They would go and get graham cracker pie crusts, their favorite ice-cream, and various toppings and then create their own ice-cream cakes by mixing all their favorite ingredients together. I thought this would be a lot of fun, and take up way less space in the freezer. So, on Saturday Audra and I went to the grocery store and picked her out her favorite ice-cream and toppings. We came home and got to work:

The "cakes" turned out great- a huge success!

Let's see...At 7 years old, here's what Audra is up to:

-While reading is not her favorite thing (unless I am reading to her- she LOVES that we will sit and read for hours at times), her reading abilities have really taken off the last couple of months

-She has the sweetest personality. I'm not just saying that because she is my daughter. She really is something special when it comes to simply being kind and good-natured. She has a very caring heart (she does not get that from me- she really is one of a kind).

-She'll eat pretty much anything- even if she doesn't like it- if it means that she can have dessert.

-She is awesome at the monkey bars. She gets upset if we go to a park that doesn't have monkey bars.

-She is very sensitive.

-She is great with Claire. She calls Claire her "Best Buddy" and they play awesome together.

-She has a great imagination, which sometimes get her in trouble because she has very vivid dreams which scare her. Her most recent nightmare is about going to a doctors office and the doctor chaining her to a chair, then her going down some sort of slide and being chained with another doctor who just laughs at her. It sounds horrible.

-She is very concerned about her appearance and continues to be very particular about her outfits, and now her hairstyle. She currently loves french braids and the curls that they make in her hair the next day.

-She has great musical talent

Let's see...there are a million other things about how awesome Audra is. We are so blessed to have her in our family.

Celebrating Early

Today was a super busy day- as evidenced by all the posts today. I am exhausted!

After the Boosterthon, and after the pre-school graduation, we went and celebrated Audra's Birthday a little early.

We are mean parents and we decided to have friends Birthdays only every other year. I just can't handle big Birthdays for all three kids every year. Plus, it's nice to celebrate as a family. Since Audra's Birthday falls on a Sunday and we try not to do activities that cost money on the Sabbath, we told Audra she could choose any family activity she wanted and we would do it on Friday.

She decided she wanted to go to a different swimming pool than any of the free swimming pools in our town. She had gone there for a Birthday party about a month ago and she wanted Claire to be able to go since she enjoyed it so much.

Audra ended up having her MAPS testing this week. This is yet another state assessment that is pointless and that I opt Audra out of (to be clear: I am not opposed to all testing. I just think endless testing of a first grader in order to see "if" they learned anything is ridiculous). Because of that, she got out of school early every day this week, so it worked out really well to have her Birthday this week as we got to spend more time at the pool!

 Audra fell in love with this pool because of this slide. She went down it about a bazillion times.

Claire "Graduates" From Pre-School!

After the Boosterthon we headed over to the park where we celebrated Claire's Pre-school graduation. Of course, it was just a small home school pre-school, so it wasn't anything fancy, but one of the moms made certificates for the kids and I made a cake and we let the kids play at the park. What more does a four-year-old need?

I've said it before, but this pre-school co-op really did turn out way better than I had hoped. I don't know if I will want to do it with Camille, though (of course, I know I don't need to decide that right now). We really lucked into having a great group of moms- we all worked well together, and none of us were flaky. We all took our responsibilities seriously. And, the kids all got along great- they became great friends over the year. I don't know if I trust the possibility of getting such a great group of moms and kids together again. I guess we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

I didn't say my cake was pretty, but it was tasty! Claire said she wanted a carrot cake so she helped me make one and it was delicious!

 Way to go, Claire!

The kids were so proud: