While You Were Sleeping

Last night, when I crept into the girls room to tuck them in I encountered this sweet vision. All of her beanie babies protected in her arms. And Emily sleeping so peacefully with them. I just couldn't resist the photo op. It's so easy to be a parent when the children look like this. . . why can't they look like this all the time? I would get a lot more done. :)

Sniff, sniff, cough, cough, sleep, sleep,

Well, if you haven't had the swine flu yet. . . I think I can safely let you know that it stinks! The last week and a half has been filled with it in our family and it's still going. Starts with congestion and runny nose then moves into the chest for a deep cough. Rachel laid on the couch for an entire week. I was so happy the day she smiled and got up to play with Emily. I got sick and tried to be strong. I am sure Nathan would attest to the complete opposite as I called him each day practically begging him to come home so I could just lie in bed. He even skipped his bishopric meetings one night so I could do just that.
Anyway, while Rachel and I have served our time in the torture chamber, Nate, Ben, and Emily have just begun. Hang in there guys. I have to admit I am a little paranoid. The news makes you think that you might die if you get this flu. So far we are still living. . . apparently defying the odds. I was going to get my whole family vaccinated but I guess we got it done for free. Just have to sacrifice our comfort. Dang Swine Flu!!!!!!!!!

My Little Buttercup

This week we celebrated Emily's 3rd birthday. I can't believe my youngest is three now. It makes me feel like I should probably get cracking if we want to have any more little munchkins. But, that is for another years post.
Emily was the perfect birth. I was induced first thing in the morning. I had Emily around 1:30 in the afternoon. I relaxed and enjoyed her for the rest of the day and left the hospital promptly the next morning. It was awesome. And Emily was an easy baby. She is not so easy now seeing as she still has absolutely no intention to potty train and she likes to make me smell her feet. (She does it just to irritate me too.) Speaking of irritating me on purpose, yesterday Emily dropped a cracker on the floor. I picked it up and told her not to drop anymore on the floor because it would make a mess. I headed toward the stairs only to hear the sound of another falling cracker. Emily, you need to pick that up. She smiled her evil smile and said "you pick it up." Then, to up the stakes, she put her foot right over the cracker, taunting me with smashing it.
Hmmm. "Emily, you are going to have to clean up what ever mess that cracker makes." I continued up the stairs. Later when I came back down I found the broom, dust pan, and cracker bits in the place Emily had been. I confess, I finished cleaning up the mess. I mean, she had obviously given it some effort. She's a handful. All of our kids our sometimes. But, I love that. It shows personality and independence. Right?

Baby Steps

I love the movie "What About Bob". In it Richard Dreyfus plays a psychologist who has written a book called "Baby Steps". Anyway, that is irrelevant, excepting the fact that I feel like our family is taking baby steps to our future. But, at least they are steps in the right direction. This week was funny. After waiting forever for Dillard's to get back to me about the job I thought they wanted me for Nathan and I finally gave up and decided he should get a second job. Promptly following that conversation Dillard's did call to offer me the job. Too little, too late. Nate and I had already put together our plan. He went back to a former employer and got himself hired on for some part time work. We both feel good about that plan. I'll miss Nathan though. It's lonely at night when I am putting the kids to bed all by myself.

You know, I have been thinking about this all week and I finally made the connection that baby steps are necessary. When Nathan graduated I expected huge changes to just drop at my feet. It's taken me this long to accept that God means it when he says "line upon line" or "by small means are great things accomplished". Patience with the process of reaching our goals is part of what we have to learn in this life. Most of the time, though there are some exceptions, getting where we want to be will always take hard work and patience. Otherwise, we experience very little growth.

Great things are happening. Nathan loves his day job. He is learning so much there and they are pretty nice to him. Hey, I got to say, seeing Nathan love doing the work that he put so much blood, sweat, and tears (maybe just one of those) into training to do is a gift. I want him to be happy because he is going to be paying me back for my support and encouragement for many years to come.

Proud. . . of Myself :)

O.k. I completed my very first canning project this year. We have a huge amount of grapes growing on the side of our yard. In the 4 years that we have lived here I have never given these a thought, really. Then, this year I was chatting with a friend of mine outside and she said, oh I love these grapes. She began eating them as we chatted. Surprised, I thought I might try one. And guess what, they were good. So, I juiced them and made grape jelly. Thank goodness I ran into a friend at walmart when I was searching for cheese cloth to do my juicing. She had a steamer for juicing that was awesome. Although, I let the water dry up once and scorched her poor pot. I hope she forgives me. We actually drank most of the juice but it doesn't take much to make the jelly. The jelly turned out perfect. With the exception of the fact that the recipe called for 7 cups of sugar to 5 cups of juice. I couldn't believe that, however it was necessary. Believe me, I tried to find a recipe that didn't call for those ratios. Anyway, in the end, when used sparingly, it is delicious.

A Lot Can Happen in Nine Years

Nate and I just celebrated our ninth anniversary. It's crazy how different life is from when we first met doing dishes at Little Caesars. Who would have thought we'd actually get married and populate the world with little crazy people (just kidding kids). We have had a great time. . . most of the time. We have had good times, bad times, successes, and failures. Whatever we have done we have been in it 100% together. I think that's what makes our marriage work. Nate is my very best friend. I love him! I mean, only a great man would take his wife to Color Me Mine to paint celebratory plates for their anniversary date. We also had a fun time hiking a trail up Squaw Peak. . .really, all we did was hike. We finally used a gift certificate Nathan's brother gave him on graduation to the Olive Garden. And of course, what date would be complete without a walk around Walmart. I was a wonderful anniversary. A special thanks to my big sister who let my kids stay at her house so Nate and I could enjoy our anniversary.

Feelin Alive at Five

Rachel turned five. Last night we watched some video from her birth. What a perfect day. Well, the one hour of the day we enjoyed before Rachel was born. We woke up at 6 am the day before and were hoping to get into the hospital for me to be induced. Well, we finally got to go in around 3 in the afternoon which meant I had her just after midnight. The epidural was perfect and she just popped out. . . well it wasn't too bad anyway. I remember being absolutely starved right after. The nurses didn't want to give me any food because they were afraid I would throw up. It took me awhile to convince them I needed more than soda crackers and sprite. After all was said and done, I didn't get to sleep until about 4 am, but it was worth it. Rachel came into our lives peacefully and beautifully.
I can't say that things are still so peaceful and beautiful but she is a lot of fun to have around. I love her so much. She had a fun birthday and we ended up with an impromptu party. The kids in the neighborhood just heard we had cake and ice cream in the backyard and they came out of the woodwork. Then, of course, since Ben went swimming for his birthday, Rachel wanted the same. We had a great time.