Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day, I thought it would be fun to document our morning in pictures, just so you can get a little taste of what we go through each morning.... however, I am a little upset with Blogger because getting pictures to upload is a pain in the buns, and for some weird reason, it won't load certain pictures. Grrrr..... So, we'll have to make do with what we have.

 

I just want to start off by saying how fun it was to document things in pictures. It made me see things in a whole different light. I noticed things that I normally wouldn't, and I was able to see my kids in a whole different light... A good light, that is....

 

So let's begin...

 

Each morning, I awake to this sweet face...

 

I first noticed that she had a little red patch between her eyes, which got me worried. I later bought some Eucerin cream, which seemed to get rid of it. Whew. Dodged that problem!

 

Being Valentine's Day, I woke up and was surprised with a little Diet Coke, Heath Bar, and a lovely little note with some of the reasons why Nate loves me. I absolutely cherish this note. Even though I know he loves me, it's always refreshing to know specifics as to why he does. It totally set the tone for the day.

 

 

Ava is always the first one up in our house. She lives by the motto "Early to bed, early to rise" while Halle is our little night owl. It's made for some interesting nights trying to get them to bed.... so Ava and I went to wake Halle up.

 

 

And she wasn't too happy about that...

 

 

While I let Halle wake up for a minute, I went downstairs to fix the girls breakfast, and discovered that Ava had been quite busy...

 

 Ava was busy making a "Valentine's Party". I love how creative she is. See her polka dotted blanket? Well, for the party, it was the painted wallpaper for the party. And see that flower pillow? That's the door with the "Love" sign as the wreath to the door. Too. Stinking. Cute.

 

After fixing breakfast, I went upstairs to discover Colbie had a few extra blankets on her, which meant Halle was nearby. Halle is so sweet and thoughtful, she is always putting blankets on Colbie. Halle loves her blanket, and it calms her, so she just assumes that Colbie needs a blanket on 24/7. I love it.

 

I found Halle underneath the cradle... and she didn't want her picture taken...

(sorry the picture is sideways, darn Blogger!)

 

 

I had to finish sewing some pillowcases for a friend of mine, and Halle was fascinated with how the machine worked. She's my little helper.

 

And I just can't get enough of her bed head. Ha!

 



 

After I was done sewing the pillows, I sent Halle down to eat her breakfast while I got ready.

 

Yes, my hair is to my shoulders, and yes, that's the longest it has been since kindergarten. I guess that's what happens when my favorite hairstylist lives 800 miles away. :(

 

After I was ready, I called the girls up to get ready.

 

 

They got to wear clothes with hearts on them...

 

But before they got ready they had to mug on little Colbs.

 

 

I started to get Colbie dressed, and I seriously can't get enough of her chubs.

She is the chunkiest baby I've had, and I am loving it!

 

 

Getting dressed is a big ordeal in our house.... for some reason, it just takes forever!

 

 I love this picture of Halle's belly button. She has the cutest little body that is so compact and she really doesn't have an ounce of fat on her.

 

 

Again, this picture is sideways (grrr.....) but I love it because it shows Halle's crazy hair, and I love the way she bends over to zip up her pants. It's so cute!

As they got dressed, I looked around my room and saw endless piles...

The diaper changing pile.

(It's not going anywhere for awhile)

 



 The pile on my dresser was filled with unfinished projects...

 including my Valentine's banner...
 

 The clothing pile. Twice a year, there is a huge consignment sale where we can sell old clothes and buy other gently used clothing for super cheap. It's where I stock up on my girls clothes for the season. This clothing pile is just some of the stuff I am getting ready to sell.

 

 

After the girls are dressed, we get to do hair.

Halle got to go first. :) 

After Halle's hair was done, we went back to my room to get Ava, only to find her holding Colbie. Ava is very anxious to be able to hold Colbie without the help of a pillow... 

 

After the girls were all finished, I snapped a few pictures of them. I love that it takes like 59 shots to get just a few good ones.

 

Oh, how I love this picture! Ava loves making the heart sign with her hands, and I can't get over Halle's face.

 



 

But finally, I got a decent shot of Ava...

 

 

and Halle...

 



and a cute one of Colbie...



 

 

And Valentine's Day this year was on a Thursday, and that just happens to be garbage day. Halle is obsessed with the garbage man (well, any big truck, really...) and she loves to watch them put the garbage in the truck. Whenever she hears them, she runs to the window and watches in amazement!

  

I finally finished my bookpage Valentine's banner that I had started a couple of weeks ago at our montly craft  night.

 



 

And I stopped and stared at my living room. I looked around and thought about how lucky we are to be living here, and I am constantly looking for new things to decorate or redecorate, or how I can make things just a little bit better...

 

but I love looking at my living room (when it's clean, of course).



The day after Valentine's, I started a weight loss competition, so I thought it would it would fun to visit McDonald's just one more time. Before we left, though, Halle had to show me how she made a heart with her hands. I couldn't help but smile as I watched her little face concentrate on her fingers.

 



But she finally made it and was so proud of herself!

 

 

The girls got Kids Meals at McD's that came with Hello Kitty toys. They love to sit at the stools while I sat at my own table. I looked over and saw Halle just playing with her toys. I giggled as I listened to her and watched her. She has such a vivid imagination, and turns anything into toys. She's also going through a phase where she wears her coat everywhere, and won't take it off.... even when we are indoors.

 





 

That night, I came home and cooked lasagna and garlic bread with red fruit punch. We put on the fancy table cloth and ate by candlelight. The girls loved it so much! 

And that's my day in photos. It was so fun to capture things through a lens, and to look back at our day.

Oh, What A Week.

    Nothing out of the ordinary happened this week. In fact, I stayed home the entire week. Ava threw a monsterous fit in McDonald's a week ago, which resulted in a spilled orange drink, and me dragging her out the door while trying to also drag a car seat, my diaper bag, and Halle out the door. I was absolutely mortified. So, I put us on house arrest this week. I explained to her that she can't go play with friends, and that she missed out on a couple of play dates because of her behavior in McDonald's. She seemed to understand, and was actually quite helpful this week. Until today. At church. During Sacrament Meeting.
     We had to be to church an hour early because Nate had a meeting. This morning I had to practice a musical number with a friend (we are playing in church next week... which also happens to be the same day that I'm having a Relief Society Board Meeting at my house and we're serving them breakfast...) so between having the practice this morning and having to be to church an hour earlier, I was exhausted before church had even started!
     While Nate was in his meeting, the girls made some paper airplanes. I explained to them that we don't fly them in the chapel, and we only fly the in the gym. Pretty soon, I see both of them flying their airplanes... so I took them and shoved them in the diaper bag. Whoa, did that set off a serious of tantrums for Ava. I ended up dragging her out of the chapel right as we started singing the Sacrament hymn, and I had to drag Halle and Colbie (who was in the car seat) out with me because they can't stay by themselves (Nate has to help pass and bless the Sacrament every week)... and I ended up missing all of Sacrament because of Ava's tantrum.
   I finally get her calmed down, and send her into the chapel but I had to stay back to feed Colbie. When Sacrament was finally finished, I went to help Nate get the girls off to Primary, only to find Halle fast asleep. This wouldn't be a problem, except I have RS stuff I get ready during Sunday School (I'm the secretary and am in charge of getting announcements and fliers ready) and Ava had to give the scripture today, and specifically asked Nate to help her give it. So I stayed in the chapel with H and C and passed my RS duties off to one of the counselors in the presidency. When Nate came back, we had a little chat about what happened with Ava and how to deal with her... then I was off to take over the rest of my RS duties...
     Third hour came, and since it was our Ward Conference, we had our stake president in our Relief Society meeting. Now, having the Stake Presidency and the Stake RS Presidency at our meeting is a rare event. While we lived in Utah, we would see members of the stake and high council quite often, but it's not that way here. I don't know if it's because our stake boundaries are so spread out, but it really is a treat to hear from them and to see them....
    But I missed all of third hour cause C needed a diaper change and then she was fussy cause she was hungry. Again.
     Needless to say, I was purely exhausted when I got home. Having Nate and I both in presidencies is difficult, especially without family around. We are constantly  juggling kids and schedules, but we make do.
     But, oh what a week.
Monday: Nate has a meeting for umpiring (that's a whole different story...)
Tuesday: Nate has YM
Wednesday: Can't even remember
Thursday: I had a musical number practice set up, but it was cancelled.
Friday: Grocery shopping with 3 kids (we had absolutely no food) and ladies night with some friends (again, a whole different story on that one....)
Saturday: Nate plays bball at 8 a.m. Comes home as I rush out the door to help apply some vinyl I cut for our Bishop's wife. Then we had the Adult Session for Ward Conference (and they were actually offering a nursery), so some friends invited us out to dinner and then we went to the Adult Session.
(On a side note... tons of people in our ward do not have family around, and we all have little kids. When there is ward temple night, stake temple night, stake conference, or any other function that kids can't go to, a lot of us don't go because there aren't enough youth babysitters for everyone... so we were all super excited to have a nursery provided because it meant that we could actually go!)
And then I recounted today's drama.

What's the point in this little story?

I feel as if I just simply existed this week. I felt as if I was just going through the motions of taking care of things, and trying to stay on top of it. But guess what? As I looked around my house and saw the massive amounts of laundry and toys and junk and piles and dishes and everything else, I am just simply overwhelmed right now. Some days are better than others. Some days I accomplish a lot, and some days I feel as if I'm just sinking. I love my children, but I am at my wits end trying to keep up with them. They are pretty good, for the most part, but they're kids and get upset (just like I do) and they just handle it differently.

I honestly don't know how to handle Ava and her tantrums. I honestly don't know how to handle Halle and her ability to just tune me out completely.  My patience is thin. I am tired and on edge.

But everyday is a new day. A new beginning. A chance to start over. And I am thankful for that. Because I'm sure there are days when my kids don't know how to handle me.

And with that, I am going to bed. Why?

Because tomorrow is a new day, and I can start over.