3 Bullet Day

It's a "Bullet Point" day.

• We went to our very first NFL game this weekend. Pre-season, because who can afford a regular season game. And regular season games are almost always on Sunday, except when they are on Monday and then the tickets are even more expensive and harder to come by. It was so much fun. Total nose-bleed seats ($12) but it didn't matter. Check it off my "bucket-list." (at some point I should actually make a "bucket-list" except I don't like that name for it, a to-do before I die list? No that's even worse. I'll have to brainstorm on that.)

• My best friend is moving today. Not far just a few miles but out of our ward and out of our stake and definitely not "just up the street and around the corner." I was fine with it, dealing it with just great, until church yesterday when Luc said "can I go sit with Krystal?" which he says almost every week and it hit me that she won't be there anymore. Not just for Luc to sit with but for me to talk with and laugh with and understand my frustrations and all of those little things that make life just a tad bit easier. I will definitely miss her.

• (Saving the best for last...) Luc is constipated. Chronically. And I know what causes it and yet I have not learned. He LOVES cheese. Which I can completely understand. I mean really, what's not to love. He also LOVES chocolate milk. And again, understandable, right? He does not on the other hand love fruits and veggies. So you can see where this may lead. And it does. Except, for him, instead of manifesting itself by him sitting on the toilet not being able to go, he pukes. It gets so bad that he can't keep anything down and he just ends up puking all day until I can get enough apple juice in him to "loosen" him up and then we're all good. (how many of you are still reading? you are officially counted as good friends!) It happens about once a month. So this begs the question: why don't I change my ways with him? Why don't I force some fruits on him and limit his cheese intake? I DON'T KNOW! I do for a week or so and then everything is ok so I gradually fall back into the all dairy no fruits and veggies routine until we end up with Pukey Luc-ee again. Ugh. I am learning. Slowly but surely. Admitting my problem is the first step right? We'll see how well I do this time.

Learning Patience

I'm wondering if I will ever master this one. I've learned not to pray for patience but to pray that I can "show patience." I don't need any more lessons in patience I just need to figure out how not to blow a gasket when my 7 year takes a spoonful of Nutella into the living room and actually sets the spoon down on the carpet. What about the rule "no food in the living room" is difficult to understand. So not yelling at her was my big accomplishment. I did go on a 5 minute rant about rules and why we have them and what we should be doing differently to ensure that they are followed. But I didn't raise my voice. I'm sure she quit listening after 30 seconds but it felt good to get it out. Next time maybe I will actually sit down and talk with her instead of at her.

Right now I have loads and loads of patience. It's 11:30 and I am enjoying my quiet time at home with just one napping baby. Ahhhh. It feels good. And I love that I am happy and ready to see my kids when they come home. Oh and I've started cooking dinner again. But not tonight because it's supposed to be 116 today and I refuse to even use the microwave in this weather.

Too Far...

McKay and My Dad 2008

My parents have left me. They are now far far away. The more weeks that pass the more real it becomes. They have lived just down the road (1.5 hrs) in Tucson for almost 6 years and I have become accustomed to having them close by. We live near the temple and they were right by my brother and sister so there was always a reason to get together.

My dad got a job up in Washington and I was so excited for him to be close to my other two sisters (and to have a job) that I really didn't even think twice about them leaving us. Until they were gone and now I (selfishly) wish they were still here.

Washington is a very long drive. 1200 miles. 21+ hours in the car or 5 plane tickets! Needless to say we won't be visiting real often. I'm hoping we'll be able to get up there next summer. NEXT SUMMER? That is so far away. I think we need to get a computer camera thingy so we can skype. My kids need to see Nana and Papa more often than that.

Anyway, mom and dad, you are missed. By me and by my children. (and by Seth I'm sure!)

Today I Learned...

that I should always wear shoes to the bus stop (directly across the street from our house, we ran out in a hurry and I skipped the flip flops.) - because I never know when I will have to chase my 5 year old around while holding a (almost) 4 month old and threaten her with all manner of punishment and loss of privilege in order to get her on the bus. I'm hoping somebody got a glimpse of that out their front window because it would have been a good laugh first thing in the morning.

BACK TO SCHOOL 2011

Lessons Learned (and/or learning)

After 35 years of life, 17 years of school, 8 years of marriage and 7 years of mothering I have come to realize that life is all about the lessons I am learning. Some lessons are profound others are simple but they all help me to be a better person (eventually.)

This morning I was thinking about some of these lessons and I've decided that this will be a recurring post on my blog. Something for me to look back on and see where I've come from and how far I've gotten. Hopefully it will inspire me to keep learning and surely it will remind me of lessons that I thought I had learned but still need some work.

So after a fun (crazy) summer and 3 road trips with my 4 beautiful energetic children here are a few of the "lessons I've learned":

1. If I don't get it done while the baby is sleeping it will inevitably take twice as long and be done with one hand and/or while listening to crying.






2. If McDonald's forgets to give me caramel with the kids' apple dippers... DO NOT go back for it. The whining is much easier to listen to than the mess is to clean up! (especially in 100 degree weather)






3. I can be both elated and sad about my kids going back to school.






4. Elation tends to last longer than sadness.






5. Having half as many kids at home means things get done twice as fast and I have to redo those things half as often.






6. When picking my battles with our children it's just as important to consider the when and where as it is the what. (ie. the beginning of a 4 hour car ride after a very crazy 2 days is not the right time to teach my 7 year old to "buck up and quit crying." Loving her and worrying about that lesson later is a much better idea.)






7. No matter how many times I see my husband finish a race (1/2 marathon this past weekend) I will always cry. The first race I watched Seth run was the Ogden Marathon the week before we got married and I just figured it was fatigue and hormones that caused the tears but I've cried at every race since then so unless I'm chronically fatigued and hormonal it must be more about being a proud wife.


8. The junk drawer is not the best place to keep a rotary cutter that doesn't stay closed. Ouch.
   
   

I could go on and on but I currently have only half my kids home so it's time to get some stuff done.

Wow what a month. I had such plans for keeping up on things and that has all been shot to...

Our foreign exchange student/German son, Kilian is back for a visit. He got here on July 23rd and Seth's grandma passed away on July 24th. So we made a quick little trip to Vegas for the funeral and then over to California with Seth's mom to see his other grandma who has alzheimers and is not doing well. It ended up being 1100 miles (18 car hours) and 3 hotels in 3 days. The kids did awesome and it was actually a lot of fun. (minus Luc pooping his pants while in time-out in the IHOP parking lot, that wasn't so much fun)

But the beach was fun. It was windy and a little chilly but the kids didn't care. I wish we could get to beach more often.

Seeing Grandma Sloan was such a blessing. It was awesome to see her hold Nash and play with him just like a (great) grandma should. Her disease hasn't allowed us to see that side of her and for 20 minutes it was like Alzheimers hadn't taken that from us. It was amazing.

Now we're back and of course finally for the last week of summer my children have figured out how to sleep past 6:30am just in time for me to have to start waking them up for school. But I'll take it. I am ready for school. I'm ready for a schedule and for a little separation. I love my children. I love being able to stay home with them. I love that there are 4 of them. But 4 of them staying home all together all day every day is over-rated. Home-schooling would do me in for sure. I don't know how mothers do that. And I feel awful when I hear people say "I'm so sad summer is over, I'm going to miss having my kids home all day!" What? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy summer but in the end I need some quiet time and a little more lag time in between messes. I'm excited to have some one on one time with Nash and possibly get him on an actual nap schedule.

School starts in 2 days. My little Kimball starts kindergarten, McKay will be in 2nd grade and Luc-ee is off to preschool. But not without one last little excursion so finish off the summer adventures. Seth is running a 1/2 marathon in Flagstaff Saturday morning and then we'll drive up to the Grand Canyon for the day. We neglected to get Kilian there while he was here last year so it's a must this time. I've only been once and it was 8 years ago. Should I be nervous about taking my kids there?