A Hard Lesson to Learn

This is David's precious Nintendo DS. Last night when we were cleaning the boys' bedroom we found on the floor like this. Now it doesn't turn on. David cried and cried, and sweet little Katy kept giving him hugs and kisses to make him feel better. It was really hard as a mom to see my little David suffer so much! I want him to learn from this experience (clearly he didn't take care of it like he should have), but the Mama Bear in me just wants to take away his pain!

We assumed last night that it wouldn't be repairable and would need to be replaced. A new DS is $129, way more than we want to spend for a birthday or Christmas present! I was thinking maybe the grandparents would go in with us on one for his birthday. Or that it could be a combo birthday/Christmas present from us, and he wouldn't get much else for either holiday.

I called Nintendo today (in hindsight I should have at least discussed with him the need to call so he could be part of the process), and since it's still under warranty they'll give us a discount on physical repairs, only $63.90. Much better than $129, but still, yikes! The boys each get $2 a week in allowance, then pay 10% tithing and savings. At $1.60 a week, it would take 40 weeks for David to save up enough to cover it. Ryan said he would save up too (bless his sweet little heart!), but that would still be 20 weeks.

So now I'm torn between just having them do that, having them save up with the opportunity to make extra money doing extra chores, or fixing it as pretty much his only birthday present. Any option is going to be sad and hard!

I just hope he learns from this experience!

We love the OMSI!

A couple days ago I worked really hard to get the house clean. Then yesterday I took the kids to the park in the morning, then we had a ward potluck at the park for dinner. It took very little effort to get the house clean again. A lightbulb went on! I am now going to try and spend more of the kids' playtime at other places. That way there's less work to do around here!

So today after running I decided we should go to the OMSI. Daddy left his lunch at home, and it's not very far from the OMSI, so we stopped there on our way. It was fun to see him! Then we headed to the OMSI, and had lots of fun!

We've never gone in the Chemistry lab before, it was pretty cool. I especially liked how cute all my scientists looked.
Here we were doing a thing where you color with a few different markers on a piece of paper, then hang it in a beaker with water in the bottom. As the water creeped up the paper it made the ink bleed, and the different inks bled differently. It was pretty interesting to watch! And I'm not the only one who thought so -
Here David had just told me "This is more fun than watching a movie!" Seriously, THAT is saying something! ;-)
And since Katy's face isn't visible in the group shot, I took another one. Her face is too pretty to not see!
Then we headed to the science playground, and Katy & I went to do play dough. I made this little person for her, and she said "A baby!" and gave it a kiss! Awwww.
Ryan & David spent a while being chipmunks storing acorns in their tree. Hey, whatever keeps them busy!
I made David pause to take a picture of the back. And you can see Chipmunk Ryan in the corner of the picture, too!
Then we played in the sand. Do all mother's think their daughters are as beautiful as I think mine is? I sure think this little girl is adorable!
Then there's Ryan, always trying to fill up the colander. Seriously, he does it every time. I think he likes the mountain it makes under it. I hope he isn't really trying to fill it up. I would have to rethink all my assumptions about his intelligence...

Go Ryan!

As many of you know, I am preparing for my first 5K in just under a month. I've struggled to find the best way to run as a mom. I have been running at a nearby park that has a .215 mile path around it. Which worked great as I was building up around 7, 8, 9 laps. But 14 1/2 laps gets really old! So I'm back to making the boys ride bikes for part or all of the way.

Today as we were heading home, I was jogging right behind Ryan. His bike had fallen over a couple times, and one of his training wheels was pretty much parallel to the ground. He didn't notice! Not only that, his other one wasn't on the ground very much of the time! I must've looking like a crazy lady smiling as I jogged!

When we got home I sent Ryan in to get a drink, and I took off his training wheels.

This is his VERY FIRST EVER attempt at riding a bike without training wheels!!!

A mother's work is never done

I took this picture this afternoon, with a load in the washer, a load in the dryer, and at least one more load waiting (our washing machine is smaller than any I've ever used before, and I'm continually amazed by how few items constitute a "load"). I don't even know how many loads are here. At least 5 or 6.

Then Katy had a minor blowout, which hasn't happened in a really long time. She must've had a really wet diaper that just couldn't handle anything else. So some more dirty clothes to wash.

Then I discovered that the dog had thrown up in her bed. It has a removable covering, so it's much better than having to clean the carpet or something. But it's just one more thing to wash. Oh, and Molly has thrown up like 5 times ever. Today was just our lucky day!

I made some progress on folding clothes, but then I had to take a break to go Visiting Teaching. And my companion wouldn't take the hint to stop talking. We were at the first place for the allotted 40 min, then at the second we stayed and stayed for an hour and a half! So...the laundry will have to wait. I didn't have it in me to get back to work when I finally made it home.

Oh, and earlier this evening Katy decided to help me break up the monotony of the laundry. If you ever start eating a granola bar and decide you just aren't in the mood to finish, Katy recommends crumbling it onto the windowsill. Apparently it's lots of fun!

Is three enough?

I used to think people were bad parents if they couldn't keep their kids quiet in church. Then I got really loud kids. I used to think people should make sure their kids look cute, or at least decent, at all times. Now I know that non-matching outfits and messy hair are just not worth the battle some days. I used to think only lazy parents let their kids play video games for more than the recommended 2 hours a day. Maybe that's kinda true, but it sure is nice to be that lazy parent and have the kids happily occupied in a non-mess making way! The list goes on and on...

I also used think all good Mormon families should have at least 4 kids unless there is a really good reason not to (really hard pregnancies, some sort of child or parental disability, etc.). That one is going the way of all those other "good parents should..." beliefs.

When I was pregnant with Katy we decided to have another one two years later. Well, her birthday just came and went, with no sign of readiness on our part. It's not that I don't want another baby. I do! I absolutely adore babies. When I think of having another sweet little one, I feel all happy and gooey inside when I think about this:


But they spend so very little of their time like that! I tried to find some good pictures of my kids being naughty, and this is all I found:

Apparently when they do naughty things I don't reach for the camera, maybe I'll have to start doing that more! Because I certainly have a disproportionate amount of pictures of them being sweet and nice to the amount of their lives that they actually are that way!

Kids are SO MUCH work! When they're brand new they take so much physical work with all the feedings and changes, and sometimes they just cry for no reason. There is such a long stretch of time that you really don't get any "me" time. Then they around a year old they start making stupid messes all over as they start exploring. Then they turn 2 and start turning everything into a fight. Seriously, it's like a switch was flipped in Katy, and she throws mini-tantrums all the time when you do things like open the door for her, pick her up to get a drink (never mind that she isn't tall enough even with the step stool), hold her hand in the busy parking lot, etc. As they get older and get easier in certain ways, they make up for it in others.

I don't know if my kids are exceptionally hard, I'm a really bad parent, or if I just whine more than others. Whatever it is, these kids are driving me crazy! The only time I really want to have another is during Sunday School & Relief Society, when they're all taken care of by other people!

I can't believe the messes they make - I had the house spotless Saturday night after the kids went to bed, and by Sunday evening it looked like I don't know how to clean house again. And I haven't been able to get it looking good again. It really is ridiculous. When I suggest that they should help clean they (David in particular), throw such a fit! We don't have a separate playroom here, so they have to clean up their toys every night or bad things happen (legos on the bedroom floor hurt people!). And every single night is a huge ordeal, lots of fighting and nagging and whining (mine AND theirs)!

And they fight, all the time, about stupid things! And especially at really bad times, times that say "Even though you did something nice for me, I'll show you that I don't really appreciate it after all." It happens after playdates, after fun outings (OMSI, etc.), after playing on the Wii...basically anything nice for them. Afterward they turn exceptionally awful! And the boys have this horrible thing where they like bad things to happen to the other.

This wasn't supposed to be just a long Crankfest about how hard my kids are. But really, I am seriously wondering if we should have another one. There is such a long list of cons, and such a short list of pros. So I like babies, so what? They're nice to cuddle with for a little while. I should just volunteer to babysit for other people's babies, then I can give them back!

I still have this feeling that I SHOULD have 4 kids, even though I'm not sure I want that many. But I don't think it's a Spiritual thing, I think it's just what I've thought for my whole life. And I don't want to wait a lot longer if we are going to have another one, I want to be done with the baby phase. Hmmmm...

5K!!!

Today I ran 3.1 miles for the first time in a decade, possibly ever! I ran with the High School Cross Country team a few times one summer, which is the only other time I may have run that far. Yay for me! I started jogging last year, and only made it about half a mile the first time. I've slowly added distance, and had lots of times when I couldn't do it regularly (moving twice, Holidays, etc.). I'm doing a 5K on July 11th, and I've been working up to it. Today I just decided to go for it! I made it in 28:53, which is a 9:20 miles pace! It was a really nice temperature for running, and it started sprinkling right after I stopped. I was really red faced and sweaty, not sure why it didn't show up in the pictures...


Not only did I run 5K, I did it like this - pushing Katy in the stroller and holding Molly's leash. Ryan gets to play at the playground, and I leave Katy for the last lap or two. Which is actually really nice, to have it suddenly get easier right when I'm reaching the end. And it's nice to "train" with the stroller, so it'll be easier when I actually do the race! And now I know I can do it!

Happy Birthday to Katy!

Two years ago today I woke up and went to church, just to have my water break during Relief Society! I hurried home, frantically cleaned house (since I was planning on being induced two days later and spending the next day preparing), then headed in to meet my beautiful baby girl!

Apparently I even thought it was worth cleaning out my purse. Weirdo.

Six hours after that, here's Katy's first picture ever! When David was born I kept saying "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!" When Ryan was born I kept saying "He's so little!" because he was 3 weeks early and 1 1/2 pounds smaller than David had been. When Katy was born I just kept asking "Is it really a girl? Is it really a girl?" They finally checked - yup! We had our little girl!

Later that night, cleaned up and beautified!

Katy's first birthday! Already into all things pink and pretty!

And this is the most recent picture I have of Katy on the computer right now, almost a month ago. She is so pretty and sweet and wonderful! We couldn't custom-make a better little girl. From her appearance (curly blond hair, blue eyes with long lashes, and tall with just the right amount of baby softness) to her personality (so obedient and kind, always saying "thanks!" and giving hugs), she is pretty close to perfect.

Happy Birthday Katy! We love you so much!

Free Swimming!

With all the downsides that come with living in a fairly small apartment (Oh yeah, we realized a couple days ago that the 1446 sq ft includes the garage! It's 20x11, so that leaves 1226 for us to live in. Kinda deceptive...), there are 3 main pros. Unlimited garbage (although having to take it 1/3 of a mile away might cancel that out), someone else to do the yard work (I would like to garden, but that doesn't cancel out not having to worry about the grass!), and the clubhouse with workout room and swimming pool! It's been really nice lately, so I took the kids swimming 3 times in 4 days. It's been awesome to just go without having to worry about cost or distance (in Utah I'd take the kids swimming at the Legacy center, so 15-20 min drive and $8, probably more this year with Ryan being older). We've had a great time!

Actually, we did have one problem. The first day we went I just took the younger two while David was at school. Katy and Ryan were just hanging out, floating around in their floaties. I took Ryan's floaties off, then took him about halfway down the pool, having him kick while I held him on his back, when suddenly Katy started splashing wildly. One of her floaties came off! It was like one of those nightmares when you can't move, and I realized I had to take Ryan to the side first before I could go to Katy. He didn't have his floaties on, and it would not be good to go save Katy while leaving Ryan to flail! So I hurried him over near the edge, yelled at him to hold on, then swam back to poor Katy without even checking to make sure he was okay (he was). She had been able to stay above water enough that she didn't even cough or anything, but that sweet little Goo was so very scared!

We went back the next day, and she would hardly get in at all. She did a lot of crying, and frantic clinging if I tried to take her in. It was so sad! In hindsight it was stupid to go that far away from her, but she had floaties on and it didn't occur to me that they wouldn't stay that way!

So yesterday started the same, but she eventually warmed up. She felt brave enough to walk around the little splash pool by herself, and even progressed from jumping while Mommy held her around the waist, to jumping to Mommy, to just jumping in by herself! It was so nice to see her enjoying herself again!

I don't know why her face looks distorted. I guess I should try a real camera once in a while instead of just my cell phone!
After much time in the big pool, the boys got to go in the spa (6 and under aren't allowed, don't tell!). Which looked really dirty, ew, ew, ew. But they liked it!
I managed to get the inner tube up past my Mommy hips, and it stayed there for quite some time. David thought I should get a picture of it, so he took one. And even included his pruney finger as proof that he took it!

And this is what I get for spending so much time in the pool. None of the kids are burned at all, why am I?