Dear Kids,
So I started writing a post of thoughts that were completely jammed up in my mind... after about 4 paragraphs I erased it all because none of it was making sense!
I am at the end of a Sunday. A good Sunday. It looked like this:
Getting up late.
Saying good bye to family who were in town and leaving our house.
Making the conscious decision to not stress out about making to church on time.
Helping the baby.
Doing Talia's hair, she gets frustrated because it isn't exactly what she wants. We work it out.
Elijah having a hard time with doing his hair... I remind myself to be patient explaining.
Making it to church late.
Kids asking "why did we miss sacrament" and good opportunity for me to talk about our humanity.
Doing my calling and running around the hallways.
Carrying babies around the hallways for mothers who needed free hands for a few minutes.
Talking to various people about things to be taken care of.
Stapling a bunch of papers.
Helping the baby.
Helping to sing a song for next week.
My kids finding me and waving the papers from the classes in my face.
Me smiling at seeing them run to me from their classes.
Elijah crying because he couldn't keep up with me.
Gathering up the kids and heading home.
Helping the baby.
Filling out paperwork and taking them to a friends house that I forgot to take to church.
Sending Elijah and Talia to the tramp for a few minutes because of fighting... energy out time!
Talia seeing I need help and making lunch for all the kids.
Me making sandwiches for Brent and I.
Helping the baby.
Brent coming out of the office (he had to work from home today) and having lunch together.
Kids coloring.
Kids writing letters, me helping them spell words and address envelopes.
Sending kids to rooms for quiet time.
Helping the baby and putting him down for a nap.
Laying down and catching up on facebook while waiting for Brent to come snuggle.
Snuggle with Brent and fall asleep in .02 seconds.
Vague memory of Brent telling me I am snoring and rolling me over.
OUT like a light until 4:45pm.
Good nap! yay! Lay down in bed and just listen to the hussle and bussle of children outside my door.
Smile when I hear Brent taking care of everything so I can rest.
Come out. Give hugs.
Help the baby.
Help the kids catch up their "task" papers for the week to do bank/goal time with dad.
Kid start to wrestle and fight with dad. Elijah upset because the kids aren't doing the things he wants.
I talk with him about it. We try to figure it out. All the while dad is wrestling and fighting.
I laugh while I sit down and watch Brent get beat up.
Clean the kitchen.
Start to get dinner ready.
Elijah needing some discipline time. He comes back and we talk about what happened.
He tells me he was frustrated and we figure out his feelings. He feels better.
Kids come back and forth from bank time telling me about their goals. Me listening.
Help the baby.
Talia doing a project while waiting for chicken to cook. Me helping her with it.
Gabe frustrated because he wants to help with the project and Talia wants to do it on her own.
Gabe going to his room huffy and puffy. I go after a few minutes and talk to him about it.
He feels better. Hugs.
Clearing the table for dinner, setting the table. Kids helping. Me directing.
Gathering up the kids.
Holding the baby around everywhere.
Sitting down together. Try to hold hands while saying prayer, but have to stop because of fighting.
Brent says the dinner prayer and we talk about Sunday together while eating.
Help the baby.
Help Elijah stomach the potatoes because he has a hard time with it.
Everyone has ice cream... even mom! With chocolate.
Try to get Swiss Family Robinson ready to watch as a Sunday movie, it doesn't work.
Kids sad, so we find something else.
Watch "Queen of Katwe". Kids talking through the whole movie asking questions.
Kids kicking each other on the couch during the movie. Finally find space to snuggle.
Helping the baby.
Finish the movie. Help kids ready for bed. Doing conflict management the whole time.
Prayers. Kisses. Hugs.
Me lounging on the couch and go to facebook for a few minutes, then convince myself to update my journal :-)
Here we are!
When I look at that list I think, "No wonder I am just crazy busy all day!". The motherhood life is really demanding... when you do it right. Involved and intentional parenting is HUGE for our children. It is a must!!
My days look like this - PLUS 1,000 more little things that are constantly pulling on my attention as the CEO of this household. If I were to really take the time and write down everything that happens all the time on a day to day basis... then I know it would amaze even me with everything that happens in a day.
I have to remind myself to be patient with giving of myself all the time. My motherhood muscles are growing and I'm working on getting strong and stronger with handling things the right way instead of with so much reaction and passion and emotion. Parenting is NO SMALL THING!
I'm so grateful for my kids. I'm so grateful for my family. I'm so grateful for days that look like this and knowing that I am hopefully giving my kids a good fabric to their lives. A strong foundation. There are so many things I can do better... but I already know that I am doing everything that I can right now.
I love you,
Your Mom
Sunday, June 11, 2017
Thursday, June 1, 2017
We Jumped Out Of A Plane!
Dear Kids,
Guess what? Your dad and I had an adventure yesterday!
We went skydiving. Can you believe it? We jumped out of a plane 10,000 feet in the air! AH! It was SO COOL.
There were a lot of people who were really surprised that I would do that. I realized that there is a part of my life and soul, the adventure part, that hasn't been released for a little while... ever since having you!
Granted... having a family is an adventure in and of itself. Having babies naturally is QUITE the adventure. There are different definitions of adventure I think. But the part I'm talking about is the THRILL of adrenaline.
This is was a thrill. It was amazing. And I want to go back and do it again. Hahaha! It's hard for me to come back home and get going on the laundry again. I want to just go play. That's a part of my soul that I don't think you, or very many people in my life right now, know very much about me.
But I digress. I need to tell you about what we did. Your dad, knowing me very well, surprised me with going skydiving for our 40th birthday and 10th wedding anniversary celebration. I found out Tuesday night and we were going to leave Wednesday morning, then after that he arranged for babysitters so we could go and have an overnighter in Las Vegas together. He knows me so well... a thrilling adventure, arranging everything, surprising me, then having alone time with him is exactly what fills up my soul!
We got to Mesquite and they talked us through a few things. For 12 hours before getting there my stomach just had major butterflies! I wasn't really scared about dying (even though it's an activity that flirts with death), I was just nervous about having the experience. When we got there they put the harnesses on us and explained how to arch our back in the air. Then we got in the plane and we were off!
It was a small sesna plane and with the pilot and 4 people (Your dad, me and the tandum jumpers). Your dad was sitting right by the door and I was on the other side. It was snug, It took about 15 minutes to get up in the air and then our instructions had us hook up to them. I could see from the look on your dad's face he was getting more and more nervous. He hadn't had butterflies or been scared at all... until all of a sudden, they opened the door, and there your dad was looking down!! Up in the air 10,000 feet! He said as soon as the door opened and he was exposed, he looked out and thought, "this was the stupidest idea I have ever had!". LOL. Then he thought, "Oh well... Let's go!".
He looked over at me and he had a look on his face that I have NEVER seen before. He mouthed to me, "I love you." But it was with a look on his face that said, "If I die, I want you to know that I love you with all my heart and soul." It was this intent, intense look that he could possibly be facing death and saying his last good byes. It was so amazing to see that look in his eyes.
Me, on the other hand, I was nervous before we ever got in the plane. But as soon as the plane got up in the air I thought to myself, "I've had babies naturally. They said to relax... I'm going to child birth relax." And that's what I did. I just leaned back and I pictured childbirth relaxation and I took deep breaths and thought, 'Just embrace it'.
When the door opened and after your dad jumped, we got into place and my instructor said, "One, two, three, go!" and we jumped!
There we were, just floating in air! That's what it felt like... just floating (instead of falling, ha!). It reminded me of my childhood dreams of flying. I always had dreams I could run and start to fly, and I thought that. Then, as I was falling/floating/flying in the air I just said, "EMBRACE IT!" and I felt free.
I was free! I said "thank you so much Heavenly Father!" I prayed in gratitude to be able to do this and I LOVED it so much. Then he pulled the parachute and we were able to just relax on the way down.
I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was amazing. I LOVED it. Just remember... your mom likes adventures... even though you mostly always see me doing the dishes ;-).
I love you,
Your Mom
Guess what? Your dad and I had an adventure yesterday!
We went skydiving. Can you believe it? We jumped out of a plane 10,000 feet in the air! AH! It was SO COOL.
There were a lot of people who were really surprised that I would do that. I realized that there is a part of my life and soul, the adventure part, that hasn't been released for a little while... ever since having you!
Granted... having a family is an adventure in and of itself. Having babies naturally is QUITE the adventure. There are different definitions of adventure I think. But the part I'm talking about is the THRILL of adrenaline.
This is was a thrill. It was amazing. And I want to go back and do it again. Hahaha! It's hard for me to come back home and get going on the laundry again. I want to just go play. That's a part of my soul that I don't think you, or very many people in my life right now, know very much about me.
We got to Mesquite and they talked us through a few things. For 12 hours before getting there my stomach just had major butterflies! I wasn't really scared about dying (even though it's an activity that flirts with death), I was just nervous about having the experience. When we got there they put the harnesses on us and explained how to arch our back in the air. Then we got in the plane and we were off!
It was a small sesna plane and with the pilot and 4 people (Your dad, me and the tandum jumpers). Your dad was sitting right by the door and I was on the other side. It was snug, It took about 15 minutes to get up in the air and then our instructions had us hook up to them. I could see from the look on your dad's face he was getting more and more nervous. He hadn't had butterflies or been scared at all... until all of a sudden, they opened the door, and there your dad was looking down!! Up in the air 10,000 feet! He said as soon as the door opened and he was exposed, he looked out and thought, "this was the stupidest idea I have ever had!". LOL. Then he thought, "Oh well... Let's go!".
He looked over at me and he had a look on his face that I have NEVER seen before. He mouthed to me, "I love you." But it was with a look on his face that said, "If I die, I want you to know that I love you with all my heart and soul." It was this intent, intense look that he could possibly be facing death and saying his last good byes. It was so amazing to see that look in his eyes.
Me, on the other hand, I was nervous before we ever got in the plane. But as soon as the plane got up in the air I thought to myself, "I've had babies naturally. They said to relax... I'm going to child birth relax." And that's what I did. I just leaned back and I pictured childbirth relaxation and I took deep breaths and thought, 'Just embrace it'.
When the door opened and after your dad jumped, we got into place and my instructor said, "One, two, three, go!" and we jumped!
There we were, just floating in air! That's what it felt like... just floating (instead of falling, ha!). It reminded me of my childhood dreams of flying. I always had dreams I could run and start to fly, and I thought that. Then, as I was falling/floating/flying in the air I just said, "EMBRACE IT!" and I felt free.
I was free! I said "thank you so much Heavenly Father!" I prayed in gratitude to be able to do this and I LOVED it so much. Then he pulled the parachute and we were able to just relax on the way down.
I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was amazing. I LOVED it. Just remember... your mom likes adventures... even though you mostly always see me doing the dishes ;-).
I love you,
Your Mom
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