As much as I love family history, I wish it wasn't my only motivation for writing on my blog. I feel bad admitting that the only reason I still even keep this sad little blog alive is to have something for my kids to look back on and read about their childhood. Every writer knows that you write for your audience. Well, I don't. I write for me and for my kids. I don't know how many readers are left out there. Don't worry I don't blame you. Here you only get picture after picture of my children and little captions about how great I think they are. That's all fine and dandy for our little book of family history, but I don't expect it to keep an audience :) For those of you still around, thanks. This is just another post filled with pictures and stories about the day to day life we live. For me it's the most exciting thing ever, and that's why I want my kids to know all about it. If I was a scrapbooker, then I wouldn't have this blogging problem. I'm going to steal a phrase that a good friend of mine uses, I would rather poke my eyes out with spoons. I hate scrapbooking that much. I do actually find blogging to be fun (once a month). I just don't really have time for it. With my kids in bed, I'm going to see if I can knock this thing out in an hour :)
March was a lot of fun. I can't think of a better way to kick off our March fun than a trip to the zoo.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
This just might be one of our new favorite holidays. Those pesky little leprechauns caused all sorts of mischief in our house. The chairs were up on the counters and tables, the hula hoop was hanging from the lights, the kids toys were up in the curtains, etc! We weren't able to catch any leprechauns, better luck next year.
I got this idea from a friend and it turned out to be really yummy! We were definitely lacking in the gold department, but it still turned out well.
Spring Season Soccer has begun and Lily's first game was on St. Patrick's day. She even scored a goal. I was so proud of her I was crying. The other parents were laughing at me (in a good way). I wish I had a picture of the look on her face after she scored her very first goal. It was priceless.
I signed up to bring the half time snack and the after game treat. Since it was holiday I thought I should make the treat festive :) They were a big hit.
Spring Break
I love Spring Break for many reasons, the greatest reason is that I have Lily home every day. I miss her so much when she is at school. We decided to get her room ready for Lucy to switch from a crib to a bed. That means bunkbeds! Lily asked for blue bunkbeds and at first I was going to say no. Then I thought about it. If you've read "The Last Lecture" you'll know where I'm going with this. Why can't she have blue bunkbeds. I went to the store, bought the paint, and got to work. While Michelangelo has his Sistine Chapel and Leonardo da Vinci has his Mona Lisa, I have my bunkbeds. They are no masterpiece, but were a lot of fun to paint.
In the process of letting Lily have more of a creative say, I also let her pick out the new bedding. I should let her decorate more often. I have to say though, I love making my kid's rooms fun. They are only little for such a short time. Before long they are going to be heading off to college and I'm going miss having little ones around.
My favorite accessory is the embroidered pillows! Harrison got new bedding too, but were are still waiting for a few things to be shipped.
(maybe I should have taken the time to iron everything)
After we spent the week getting the rooms all situated, I thought we should head off to the zoo for an afternoon of fun. Realizing that going to the zoo the last day of spring break is a horrible idea because it's bound to be packed, we turned around and headed to a great little hiking spot. We weren't totally prepared to hike and neither were our friends who decided to join us last minute as well. Sometimes I think I'm crazy.
Crazy enough, it actually turned out pretty well. We took our shoes off and waded in the stream for a little bit.
Lucy saying, "Shhhhhh"
Lily with her prize stick. I love these kids. We hiked 3 miles and they did a fantastic job. Luckily, we live only about 15 minutes from this place, so I think we'll have to visit more often :)
Since I'm on a roll I'm just going to head right into April and post about Easter.
Happy Easter!
I was assigned treats for Lily's Girl Scout Troop on wednesday and Cupcake Sunday for the YW at church. Plus, I always like to make a treat for the kindergarten teachers before a holiday. I came up with this fun little eastery treat. I made these little guys so many times last week, I could probably make them in my sleep. Sleep is another story I'll talk about in a minute.
Peeps on a cupcake! I also made a few with the grass icing and chocolate eggs, but forgot to take a picture.
Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt.
This is the best picture I could get of the kids with the Easter Bunny. Lucy was kind of freaked out by him and Harrison just wanted more candy out of his basket.
Dying eggs
Easter was a lot of fun and I'm am so grateful that we can celebrate the great sacrifice the savior made for us and the day he rose from the dead. I'm grateful for the atonement and for a very loving Heavenly Father.
Happy Easter :)
Now for the story about sleep. I have not been sleeping well at all lately. This last week in particular. I was up really late almost every night - 2 a.m. ish. It finally caught up with me on Sunday morning. For the first time ever, I almost feel asleep in the shower. Tag asked me if I wanted to stay home from church, but I thought no way. Not on Easter. Plus, I had the cupcakes and was teaching a lesson. I figured I was just over tired and that the sick feeling would pass once I got in a nap after all the festivities. I started to get the shivers during sacrament meeting and keeping my eyes open was a huge task. By the end of church, I thought I was definitely coming down with a full blown cold. I couldn't stop shaking with the chills. We got home and I had just enough energy left to watch the kids enjoy what the Easter Bunny brought them. I about collapsed after that. There have been few times in my life when I physically could not get up and move - giving birth was not one of them. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I was throwing up, I had a fever, I was shaking uncontrollably. My very sweet husband sent me to bed and took care of our children the rest of the night. I made two Easter phone calls which took every last ounce of energy I had.
Tag left at 5 a.m the next morning for a work trip. I woke up with a swollen neck. My tonsils or lymph nodes were so swollen that my neck looked HUGE. Even my friend noticed when she came to pick Lily up for school so that I could rest. I went to the doctor and she immediately diagnosed me with strep throat. At first I wanted to ask her if she was sure because that couldn't be right. I didn't know that strep throat could do this to a person and I've had strep throat a lot. I guess strep throat combined with exhaustion can really do a number on you. Of course, I immediately start thinking of all the people I might have given it to. I feel so bad. I wouldn't have taken one foot out of the door if I thought for a second I had something like strep throat.
I'm not writing about this because I want people to say poor you. I just want to express my gratitude for my neighbors and how lucky I am to know people who just jump in and help out. My neighbors have completely taken over for me, taking turns having my children over and feeding them meals. One neighbor who has a son in Lily's class has been giving Lily rides and taking the other kids so I could go the doctor. I feel very blessed. I'm not the type of person who likes people to feel sorry for me. I don't like to ask for help because I can usually do it myself. This time I couldn't. I physically couldn't take care of my kids and myself at the same time . . . and I didn't have to. A friend from church who had noticed that I wasn't feeling my best on Sunday, called to tell me that she made extra soup tonight and they were going to drop some off for me. I about lost it when her husband handed me dinner for tomorrow night. Tonight I ate homemade chicken noodle soup from the neighbor I share a fence with. I appreciate the good people in my life who watch out for me. I'm truly blessed.
We have very busy weekend ahead of us, so I really need to be done with this strep throat nonsense. Time to move on.
