Things I've Learned...

Before i get started i must mention that i am once again at my mom's because we still don't have internet at home.  we're currently shopping around for a good provider, and we don't have a lot of time to dedicate to it so it's a slow process....made even slower my all the companies who can't decide who can and can't service our area.

that said, here is a list of everything i learned over our thanksgiving weekend.

#1.   my kids (and i) can survive for a weekend with very little sleep and no naps.  you may decide you don't really want us at your thanksgiving dinner after all, but we can make it to every gathering and to all the church services.

#2.   you can actually lose weight over thanksgiving if you are nursing a big, fat baby every 2 hours all day (and all night!) long, hanging out with jillian in the mornings, playing volleyball at your family gatherings, AND if your big, fat baby who keeps you up all night long decides to explode through her diaper right as you sit down with your dessert.  pumpkin pie just doesn't look good after that.

#3.   thanksgiving is not a good time to be stressing out over your christmas card.  i was just trying to stay on top of things this year.  but it's really frustrating and takes away from your thankful spirit when the photo labs can't figure out how to print your custom, made at home christmas picture.  it just can't be that complicated!!!!  but thanks for trying.  thanks for being so full of guidance and suggestions.  thanks for watching me chase my 2 year old around the store, and nurse my baby in a chair by your lab, and keeping me waiting and waiting, and then repeatedly sending me back home with nothing....

#4.   my kids don't appreciate the humor in the harmless, funny jokes i like to play on them.  like the penny game.  smile.  you know the game where you blindfold them and make them think they are gonna try to blow a penny out of a bowl and then you switch that bowl with a bowl full of flour?  yea, they didn't find that as funny as i did.

#5.   you cannot finish hard boiling an egg in the microwave.  just so the rest of you know.....that does not work.  the end result reminded me of the time tyden was 3, and he put shaeya's bottle of milk in the microwave for 33 minutes instead of 33 seconds.  same thing.  (and yes, he used to regularly make bottles for her when he was 3.  and he did a great job of it.  until that 1 time.....)

#6.   after a whole weekend of family togetherness, church, turkey, volleyball, etc.,  dave and i both decided our favorite part of it all was the 1 quiet morning we spent at home with our kids.

we just don't get that near enough.  the whole weekend was so much fun, but i loved having a relaxed morning to spend with dave and the kids.

#7.   the last thing.....i read a phrase in my devotion book yesterday that stuck with me.

it was this:    "peace lies in acceptance."    

and i'm slowly learning that it does.

peace comes from accepting that so much in my life right now just is what it is.  and it is okay.

my relationship with God, my marriage, my children, my family relationships, my friendships, my home, my body, my christmas card.....

they all need more of my time.  more of me.  i cannot reach my own standards in any one area, and i have days where i feel i just can't do anything well.  i can do it all partway, but nothing gets my full attention.

but rather than beat myself up about it, i can find peace in just accepting them all as they are. and loving them all as they are.  of course this doesn't mean i can quit trying or slack off in any area, but by accepting that "it is what it is" i can still have joy and peace and LOVE in the midst of a whole lot of imperfection. 

 

On Hold

sadly, michelle's blog is on "hold" for awhile due to some internet complications.

at first it was really strange and frustrating to not have it, but i am adjusting and actually enjoying some extra space in my day.

i finally opened the new workout dvd i bought quite awhile back- "jillian's 30 day shred."

she says i can lose up to 20 pounds in 30 days......i'm on day 4......nothing yet.

but i do feel better and have a bit more energy.

hopefully i can keep it up.

so many blog-worthy happenings going on these days, but right now i'm at my mom's using her computer and she's entertaining tekoa and wren for me so i better keep this brief.

but while i'm on the subject of tekoa i should mention that i've almost forgiven her for the part she played on saturday in the spreading of hand sanitizer onto my beautiful, big wooden tray (for my ottoman) that dave made for me last christmas.....yes, hand sanitizer does eat right through the finish.  so sad.  

but i think i might have handled it all better if i had gotten more than 4 hours of sleep the night before.

well....time to get the girls home for their naps and finish up some laundry and continue working on recovering the house from a busy weekend of baby-sitting and entertaining.

.....hoping we get things ironed out soon with the internet.....but maybe not too soon :)

Fun City

well we had a great weekend with the kids....but we didn't end up going to chicago.
much to the kid's bitter disappointment the train was full for friday.

but we made up for it by taking them to fun city in iowa.
(you can read about our last trip there in an earlier post in march- "fun with the flu" - but this trip went much better.)

the kids and i left on thursday night with justin and katie.

we met my mom and my sister and her kids plus nate and brook's kids there for thursday night- and then dave, jared, and my dad came for friday night and saturday.

the kids had so much fun- it really is a nice waterpark.















i thoroughly enjoyed my time with them- and they were all very good.
(yes, even tekoa- but she made up for it at church yesterday.)

i got smart and just brought her whole crib mattress with me- you do what you gotta, right?
seriously, she can NOT sleep if she can't bounce her head.
and a regular bed is too soft for bouncing- she goes crazy- feeling all around the bed for a firm spot all night long.
and the floor is too hard- she bounces and cries all night long.
so i brought her mattress. and we were both happy.

it was just a little embarrasing hauling it into the hotel....but luckily we got there late enough on thursday night that there weren't a lot of people around to see it.

it was late because somehow me, with my amazing sense of direction, turned an hour and a half drive into 2 hours and 45 minutes. it happens.
my kids are used to us wandering around lost or driving a little out of the way at times, but justin and katie seemed slightly annoyed.

gps is on my christmas list this year.


*and this is my attempt at capturing tekoa as she puts herself to sleep.
it's kinda dark but you get the idea.

Showers And Trains.....

the garage sale was a HUGE SUCCESS!!!
thank you so very much to all of you who donated items or came out to buy stuff and make a donation. the proceeds from the sale will go a such long way in haiti.


another monday. poor wren is sick- she has a fever and a stuffy nose. she pretty much just sleeps and moans. she is hardly nursing, and she sometimes chokes on all the snot in her throat and then pukes. disgusting, i know......but at least you aren't the one covered in it.
she puked in my hair late last night, and i didn't get a chance to wash it out until around 10:00 this morning. after i'd driven ty and shaeya to school. so i went about 11 hours with crusty puke hair.

when i finally got time to shower i put wren in the swing and gave tekoa some of shaeya's "sacred belongings" to get into so i could have a few minutes of uninterrupted shower time.

i don't know if i've actually had an uninterupted shower in the last 2 years.

usually i get in and about 2 minutes later someone is yelling, "mom!!!! tekoa's on the counter and she's getting into all the food!!!" or, "mom!!!! tekoa's in the bathroom and she squirted out all your soap and she's rubbing it on the mirror!!!" or, "mom!!!! tekoa is at the computer with a marker and she's coloring on EVERYTHING!!!" or, "mom!!!! tekoa just dumped her milk all over the rug!!!" or, "mom! there's a guy at the door and he wants to talk to you!"
or, you know, something along those lines.
and sometimes while i'm in there i can see tekoa sneaking into my bathroom to quietly get into things. like spraying my perfume, writing with my eyeliner, or smearing her face and hands and clothes with my lipgloss.
but lately it's the whole head in the sink thing. i don't know why, but she thinks she needs to climb on the counter and wash her hair in the sink.

it's always a toss up on whether to actually get out with only one leg shaved and conditioner in my hair or to just let chaos reign and deal with it all later...


anyway, the kids have a short week of school this week because of parent/teacher conferences. they have thursday and friday off, so on friday we're planning a trip to the shedd aquarium. we're taking the train. the kids are SO excited.
we really shouldn't have even told them yet, because all we heard all weekend was, "NOW how many days until we ride the train?!?!"
(i think they are more excited about the train then anything else- we could probably just ride the train there and straight back and they'd be fine with it :)

after i told them the week's schedule for the 100th time, i asked them to please not ask me about it again.
so this morning when ty came up to me and asked how many days til the train i gave him a LOOK (i'm sure you know which one i'm talking about) and he quickly said, "just kidding."

but it should be fun.
and i'm seriously thinking about buying a leash for tekoa for the trip.....please don't make fun of me.....they sell them at target...........

Haiti Garage Sale

today is the start of the big "haiti" garage sale in the herman barn.
i know i'm a little late on the advertisement here, but my internet has been down.

but if anyone has extra time today or tomorrow, please stop by and make a few purchases or you can even just bring a donation.

all proceeds go to haiti and especially the school that gabriel reinhard had attended.

today - 8am - 3pm
tomorrow - 8am - 1pm

hope to see LOTS of people there!!!!!

**we were setting up yesterday, and i was explaining to shaeya that grandma's garage sale was for the kids in haiti.
shaeya said, "oh, so they can like buy toys and stuff?"
i said, "yep."
to which shaeya replied, "OH.....she is SUCH a good grandma." :)

Sleepless Holloween

seriously i don't think i've ever been as tired as i was this weekend.

don't get me wrong, i had a lot of fun.
it just would've been a little more fun if i had gotten some sleep.

sleep....all i want to do today is crawl back in my warm, comfortable bed and sleep for like 2 days straight....

first of all- both tekoa and wren have colds. poor little wren can't breathe through her nose at all. so that, of course, makes nursing impossible.....she's feeling really sorry for herself. as am i.

makes for some fun nights....and on top of that, our sweet daughter tekoa is going through a phase. it's the crying all night long phase.

it's pretty much been going on since we came back from our vacation......which was when we kicked her out of the crib (which was converted to a toddler bed) to change it back to a crib for wren.
she was not and is still not thrilled with us.

so, no sleep plus a busy (fun-filled) weekend makes for a really long and tired monday.

but let me back up and start with thursday.
i took the girls to "baby joy" at the nursing home. they dressed up in their costumes and showed themselves off to the residents there.







wren was a hit. they all wanted to hold her, and i had to warn them that she was heavy.
i would've taken pictures if i wasn't so worried that someone was gonna drop her.

after that, tyden came home early because of a fundraiser at the school that night.
which i helped with. i took wren with me, and was there from 3:30 - 9:30 setting up, running a booth, and cleaning up.

i was in charge of selling coffee from "not your average joe" and giving out free samples.
and i may have had a few samples myself......yea, couldn't fall asleep 'til after 1 am. we really should've told them decaf.

so after that late and sleepless night with 2 crying girls i had a playdate scheduled at the barn with some friends and their kids to hang out and carve pumpkins.

i was there from 10am- 4pm.
i had a great time- i loved helping all the kids and being with friends. we had a fire going in the fireplace and had lots of coffee.....it was wonderful.





i'm trying to block out the fact that tekoa cried pretty much the entire time and that her and i were both extremely tired.

after i sent everyone home and put koa to bed in my parent's house, i cleaned up massive amounts of pumpkin innards, scrubbed the tables and chairs, picked up toys, and loaded the leftover food, bikes, and pumpkins into my van.

then we headed home just in time to meet dave, throw on our costumes, and head to my aunt rachel's annual costume party.

i had a great time....dave and i went as adam and eve.
i would post a picture but i had to promise dave that i wouldn't. and i will keep my word....even though i think the costumes were hilarious.

he does not agree.
he told the kids that the only reason he was wearing the adam costume was because he "loved their mommy very much." smile.

we almost won the best costume contest- it was really close- i mean we definitely should've won. guess i didn't vote for us quite enough times.

after yet another late and sleepless night with 2 crying girls, dave worked and i dressed the kids up again and took them to my mom's and my grandma's.......because you know, they just really needed more sugar.





then i came home and started cleaning the house to get things ready for our annual halloween party. i know.....i bring it upon myself.....but i wouldn't have it any other way.

everyone came around 5. we ate dinner together (after i re-arranged the house to be able to seat us all) and then us women took all the kids trick-or-treating around my neighborhood.
there were 6 moms and 14 kids.







the guy's job was to simply answer the door when the doorbell rang.......
funny how all my neighbor's kept telling me they tried our house but no one would answer the door.....
the guys claim they just never heard anything......hmm.

after that we had dessert, found places to put kids to bed, and stayed up late laughing and playing games. so fun.

and then yep, another sleepless night with 2 crying girls, and then church.
got home around 1:30 and we crashed. woke up just in time for me to get the kids ready and head to our church's hymn sing.
tyden and shaeya's classes were singing in it.
dave stayed home with tekoa, so i just had 3. and yes, it was an even trade. i felt so free.

when we got home i put the kids to bed, and then cleaned up the house, and layed out school clothes and packed lunches for school the next day.

and all of that is why i'm so tired.

and why i don't have patience today for things like this....



yep- naked with her head in the sink this morning....i seriously don't know what runs through that girl's head.



i have to just keep telling myself that they won't be little forever and there'll be plenty of time for sleep then, right?