What Happened?

for the most part i think my children are pretty well behaved, and i genuinely like being around them.

i don't know what happened tonight.

we let shaeya skip her nap (maybe part of the problem???) to play with tyden, so dave and i could have some time to ourselves- which was very nice.
then we decided to make a run to wal-mart with the kids to pick up a few important things- eggs, friut, roach spray.....
-yes, we have roaches. i've seen 2 in our basement, and the other night tyden came upstairs and proudly said, "guys, look what i found!" he was holding his arm out, and had a roach crawling up it. "isn't this cool??" right then, the roach saw the black hole of ty's sleeve and shot up his arm, straight up his sleeve to his armpit. ty was in a panic as he danced around trying to get his shirt off. i don't think i've laughed that hard in quite awhile......i'm still laughing.....but really ready to take care of the problem.

anyway, back to wal-mart. the kids were awful. fighting, whining (ty and shaeya), standing up in the cart, opening food, getting into my purse (tekoa).
tyden had slippery sandals on and kept trying to run a little and then slide, but kept falling. in front of other people's carts. shaeya kept complaining about us not letting her ride in the cart. she actually could hardly walk because her leg was hurting SO bad (there's nothing wrong with her leg). tekoa cried and cried because she didn't wan't to be in the cart, she wanted mommy to carry her. i have a hard enough time hauling myself around.

after wal-mart, i was tired, and thought it was a good night to just head to mcdonald's and let them eat and then run around at the outdoor playland.

great idea. first of all it was super windy. the kid's food and napkins kept blowing, and my salad kept blowing off my fork as i tried to take a bite.
it was a really good salad until somehow tekoa's shoe ended up landing in it. i kept telling myself- don't think about it, just eat it. i mean how dirty can the floors at wal-mart and mcdonald's REALLY be?

then a group from a handicapped home came and sat outside by us. it took about 2 minutes for tyden to blurt out- very loudly- that "those people sure talk funny, don't they?"
i told him- very quietly- not to say things like that out loud. it's not nice.

what WAS nice was when one of the guys in the group had a melt down and started screaming and yelling for everyone to LEAVE HIM THE @#%*@ ALONE!! my kid's jaws dropped about to the floor. but they didn't say anything. the one time they actually listened to me all night.

after that, we headed home. tyden and shaeya fought the whole way over their cup of water. they wouldn't listen to my assurances (okay, they may have been somewhat loud and angry assurances) that we have plenty more water at home. and koa was crying about one thing after another.

when we got home, i sent them to the bathroom to wash their hands and feet. which they did- in the sink- spraying water and soap everywhere. i walked in as they were drying their feet on the hand towel.

after that we put them all in bed amid a lot more crying and complaining. and by that time i was just really ready to be DONE. anyone else know that feeling? and they would not settle down. after they had been punished- a couple of times- they finally fell asleep.

so here i am wondering what in the world just happened?
maybe it's me. maybe i'm letting a few things slide that i normally wouldn't because i'm huge and tired. maybe i'm a bit preoccupied with the coming baby and counting down the days. maybe they need more than what i'm giving them.
or maybe it was just a bad night and i need to let it go and start over again tomorrow.

8 Pounds

all right, now that i've wasted way too much of my time looking for a new countdown, i'm giving up. for now i'm settling for this pregnancy one that i really don't like. for some reason i can't find any others that work.

i really should be outside walking or something while i only have 1 child with me, but i'm just really unmotivated.
for some CRAZY reason i gained about 8 pounds in the last week. could it be all the easter candy i've been eating? or the fact that i haven't been getting any kind of excersize- or sleep? or that suddenly i crave chocolate all day long when i've never even liked it before? or is it just those crazy pregnancy hormones? all i know is that i now weigh more than i did when i delivered tekoa, and NONE of my maternity clothes fit me anymore.

i was telling dave last night that i think i look okay WITHOUT clothes on, but as soon as i try to put something on, i just look HUGE.....pilsbury dough boy comes to mind. of course, he sees a simple solution to this problem. ha ha.

why is it that gaining weight UNmotivates you? why can't we see ourselves putting it on, and just really be inspired to do something about it? how am i ever gonna make it til the end of may?

all right, enough complaining already. i have a baby coming. in 4 1/2 weeks. i absoluteley cannot wait to see her and hold her and watch her grow into the woman God is creating her to be. a beautiful worshipper of her Father. a daughter to reflect HIS love and beauty, and to bring Him glory just by her existence.
and on loan to me to nurture, cherish, discipline, and guide until He's ready for her- or she's ready for Him.
and now i'm crying.....and i DO blame this on the pregnancy hormones.
and what was it that i was complaining about again??

Our Spring Break

well, spring break is officially over. the kids are back at school, and i'm home now with tekoa and jake (the neighbor boy who asks about the baby).

we had our ups and downs, and right at first i was overwhelmed by tyden's constant need to be near me and to be entertained, but eventually he learned that mom functions better if she gets a little space- like when she's in the bathroom, or showering, or passed out on the couch during the girls' naptime. seriously, he would rather follow me around and sit at my feet and lay by me when i sleep than do anything by himself.
i heard "mom, what do you want to do with me?" about 500 times. but, i do try to remind myself to enjoy it now because it sure won't last forever. he is almost 8.

the thing we did the most together was read. thanks to ty's teacher who lovingly gave us 10 assigned hours of reading for the month of april. that's 20 min EVERY day. sure takes the fun out of reading for the both of us. it is now a chore we have to force ourselves to do.

of course, my plan for spring break was to spend lots of time outside with the kids, but the constant rain pretty much ruined all that. we still had fun together, though. i got out some christmas presents that i had stashed away, and we set up a tent to read and play in and (for them) to sleep in. they loved it. and they were actually really good. they helped me get some organizing done in the house and attic (yes, the nesting instinct is hitting me). and ty and shaeya both helped a little with keeping tekoa out of trouble.






the easter part of it all was fun and busy. on thursday i took the kids to an easter egg hunt at the nursing home on skyline. they had a blast. koa was very serious about finding eggs and dragging her very full easter basket around and doing it all by herself. shaeya filled her basket and then helped ty fill his cause she's "a good finder". ty wanted to know where all the old people live, like china or something? (don't ask me where that one came from....)

so for the weekend- my family was all in gulf shores, and all of dave's family came home, so we spent the weekend with the kellenbergers.

friday night i went out with maria and some friends for her birthday. dinner and a movie. it was wonderful.

saturday -the only nice day- we had josiah's 2nd birthday party at the kbergers during the day with lots of friends and family. i found a warm, sunny corner on the deck and pretty much hung out there all day (heaven). then we had dinner together as a family, and afterwards maria and i went out again with a different set of friends. so fun, but i have to admit i was wearing down.

sunday we went to washington ac church and then to kbergers again for easter. i was all excited to just sit in the sun again, but it was cold and cloudy. so we hung out inside and then had dinner together.

(when you ask koa what this shirt says she says,

"my dad has rocks")

monday was the kids' last day off, and i took them to see my mom who had just gotten back from her trip- you'd think they hadn't seen her for years.

that pretty much sums it up. so today i'm home, and once again it's raining. and cold. tekoa was up all night with a fever, and it was really hard to get up to an alarm at the crack of dawn this morning.

i comfort myself with knowing that it IS supposed to warm up this week, it's tuesday even though it feels like monday, and i'm only gonna be this huge and tired for 6 more weeks (then i'll be smaller and tired- which is way better :)

AND we knocked down 7 HOURS of reading in the last 2 weeks.

***i don't know why my countdown to baby quit on me......it's not that i don't care how many days since st. patricks's day.......i need nate's help again.

The Best Night Ever

last thursday we took the kids out for what they called "the best night ever."

i had briefly mentioned a cat giving birth in an earlier post- it was my aunt rachel's. and my sister's dog had 11 puppies a few days later. needless to say, the kids would not stop begging to go see the kittens and puppies. AND shaeya had been given a gift card to DQ from sunday school, and was DYING to go there and use it.

so, we decided to just do it all in one night. the kids were in heaven.


note- the tooth sticking straight out in this picture is no longer there
i think he's forgiven me....

(rachel's kids also have a turtle)

i think my kids are a little pet deprived.

but not because we haven't tried......

we had a little turtle i caught for about a year when tyden was little. his name was bud. sadly, he swam himself to death one night after i filled his cage too full of water. tyden walked around for days saying "bud died...mommy killed him."

we've had fish a few times- no one ever told me you can't use tap water for fish. if it kills fish, should we really be DRINKING it?

then there was roxy the rabbit- really cute- we kept her in the house while she was little, then moved her outside when she got bigger. one morning the kids went to get her and her cage door was open and she was gone. we have woods in our backyard with all kinds of wildlife. we've seen foxes and coyotes....poor roxy- the kids still look for her.

and then our current pet "miss bianca" or "ratty" whichever you prefer. an obese rat that we've had for about year and a half. that's a long time for a pet to survive our house. the kids loved her at first- then she started to bite. the pet store promised me that rats don't bite. i believed them. so, when she started biting i called the pet store- but they stuck by their story that rats just don't bite....hmm. anyway, they still played with her in her little run around ball, and held her every now and then until one day (of course) she got loose in the house.
it happened to be the day i was having my dad's whole family over for christmas dinner. we couldn't find her, so i just warned our guests not to worry if they happened to see a rat running through the house, and to maybe check their shoes before they stuck their feet back in them. well, a few days passed with no sign of her. then, i was having a "girl's night" at our house and while we were sitting with our coffee and dessert there she came, running through the room. the girls handled it very well. i got up and chased her but couldn't catch her.

she wandered loose in our house for about a week before dave and a friend finally caught her. that was over a year ago, and her cage has been wired shut ever since. the kids feed her their leftovers through the wires of her cage, that's all the interaction they get.

so all this just to say that my kids are pet deprived. but i just don't think i do pets very well.

back to the best night ever......we held puppies and kittens and then headed to dairy queen. we were about halfway there (coming from hanna city) when tekoa told us she had to go potty. it was dark and raining outside, so told her just to try to hold it. she couldn't. but she didn't tell us that she peed until after we got there and i picked her up. .......well we couldn't let a little pee ruin the best night ever. (we were REALLY tired of hearing about DQ and the gift card, and we had already TOLD them we were going) so we went in anyway and we all had ice cream.

maybe not the best night EVER for me, but i did have a pretty good time :)

Thank You, Nathan!

my brother nate kindly showed me everything i was doing wrong with this blog- hence the changes, and i think he fixed the whole comment problem for those who have tried to leave comments and couldn't.
thanks nate!!

Bring Back The Sun, Please...

so much for happiness and sunshine- will it ever stop raining and warm up again??
we're getting a little stir crazy here.
sunday was the kids' easter program at church- you know the one where we all go buy cute little easter dresses for our girls to wear. how fun to wake up that day to a winter wonderland. i decided the girls were wearing their dresses anyway. sandals and all.







speaking of the girls, things are still going pretty well with them. actually with shaeya. she has been playing better with tekoa, and crying a little less about having to have her hair done and about wearing jeans to school (she wants to wear sweat pants everyday, and thinks i'm just so cruel that i don't let her) she's had some really sweet and affectionate moments too.
i know i seem kinda negative towards her, but i really do love the kid. i love her vivid imagination (except that i get a hundred "what if" questions a day....what if i just floated out of my carseat...) i love how good of a friend she is to ty. i love how passionate she is about the things she loves.
the #1 love of her life is horses. she sleeps with this giant black horse EVERY night.



it's hilarious.

she tells everyone stories about her horse -black beauty- constantly. we hear when she's sick, when she's being mean or wild, or when it's her birthday...



shaeya is convinced we need to get a real horse- we can just give it to her for her birthday, and she'll still act suprised. she says she'll build the barn herself.
yesterday we were driving and we passed a green jeep (shaeya has always loved green- everything has to be green) and i said "i bet you'll have a green jeep like that someday, shaeya" and she said, "mom, don't you know i'm not gonna need a car? i'm just gonna ride my horse." she's very serious about the whole thing.

anyway, we had a fun day at her school last week- i helped out with "trike day", where the kids ride their bikes to different booths. the girls had a great time.








i took shaeya through, and then ran a booth while tekoa ran wild. they SAID they really needed help....

well, the sun IS shining right now, so i'm gonna go see about getting these girls outside :)