Multiple posts in 1!

After School Snacks

I try to feed my kids healthy snacks most of the time and one of their favorite is smoothies. We do spinach, yogurt, milk, frozen banana and whatever other frozen fruit we have. They love it and we make popsicles with whatever is left over. Here are some pics of Broden and Alissa enjoying theirs!

 

One of Alissa's favorite snacks she gets herself is marshmallows. She will get a bowl out of the cupboard and climb up on the counter and get out the marshmallows and pour them in a bowl. I think she finally caught on to the fact that she gets in trouble when she gets food out without asking. So instead of asking, or not doing it she hurries and hides whatever food she gets. This is where I found her marshmallows the other day. I have also found bowls of graham crackers in our cupboard where the kids cereal bowls are. I just laugh at her. She is too darn cute to get mad at.

100 Days of School

Remi has loved learning to count in school and is always asking to count when we are in the car. She has been talking since November about when they will get to 100 days of school. She told me they would have a party at school on the 100th day. So my sister came to visit a few weeks ago and I let Remi stay home on the Friday she was here. Then on Monday morning I was too tired to get up and get Remi ready for school, and she had been a little sick over the weekend, so I just let her stay home that day. That night I realized it was the 100th day of school. I felt SOOOO bad. Remi missed their party. Then school got canceled the next 2 days for snow and the cold. So Thursday when Remi went back I warned her that I thought they had the party on Monday while she was gone. She didn't think so, but I emailed her teacher and confirmed that Monday was the day. Her teacher said they didn't do too much, but I still felt bad. So I had a party for Remi when she got home from school. We had a sugar cookie shaped like 100, had hats that said 100 and make a banner of 100 hearts. It was fun and I think Remi liked doing that and wasn't too sad about missing her party at school.

Bird Houses

For Christmas each of the kids got a little wooden bird house. Remi and Broden wanted to paint theirs one day while Alissa was sleeping and it was a perfect activity for them. I think they painted for like 2 hours. Then when Alissa woke up I helped her paint hers. She was so proud of it! She carried all 3 bird houses around with her for a couple weeks. The 3 bird houses along with a purse or 2!

 

 

Showing off her bird house.

Trying to hide the birdhouse from me.

 

 All 3 bird houses. Alissa's on the left, Remi's in the middle and Broden's on the right.

Breakfast in Bed

Remi and Broden love to bring breakfast in bed to Blake and I. It never fails on Saturday mornings when we are still in bed they will come in with breakfast for us. It was really cute the first time they did it in November, and still cute when they were doing it in December. It is still cute that they do it, but every Saturday morning between 6:30 and 7:30 for 4 months is a little much. Especially when it is our only day to sleep in! I even tried hiding the tray in the basement, in the laundry room. She found it. At first the breakfasts were a little scary. Remi is becoming quite the little mom though. She comes up with some good food. Once I got vanilla yogurt with bananas cut up in it. Another time a blueberry bagel with cinnamon sugar. She is so sweet to do this for us. Here are some pictures of The breakfast she took to Alissa in bed. I helped her with this one.

Finding Fulfillment Under a Pile of Laundry

So a long time ago when we were at BYU-I there was an activity where they had a bunch of different classes you could go to as couples on a Saturday morning. I went to one titled finding fulfillment under a pile of laundry. The lady who taught it had 8 kids I think, maybe more. She talked about how as a mom it is hard to find many of the things we do fulfilling because they are never done. The laundry will always need done again, same with the dishes, dusting, vacuuming, etc. Then she said one of the ways she has found to help her life be more fulfilling is to do something every so often that doesn't need to be re-done. I have always tried to remember this and done things like, remodeling, sewing, decorating and stuff like this. It is a good feeling to me when I create something and I don't have to re-do it. 

Laundry day! Before...

And after!

Before I had Parker one week I was having a hard time. I was struggling with being a stay at home mom. I was having a depressing week and somehow I had everything twisted into it being all Blake's fault. I don't even remember what I was so depressed about, other than having a hard time being a stay at home mom. I remember praying that Blake would change, and that the kids would change. One night I went to the temple and some thoughts started coming to me. One of them was that it wasn't Blake or the kids that needed to change. It was me! I needed to change my attitude. Yes, being a stay at home is what Heavenly Father wants me to do, but he doesn't want me to be miserable doing it. I needed to have a better attitude. I also realized that all my life all I have ever wanted to do is to be a stay at home mom. It was my choice. I chose, so I should make the best of it! So I approached life like this after that. I still have hard days, but things are better. 

I think I mentioned it before, but something changed when Parker was born. I have always loved my kids and loved being a mom, but something clicked when he was born. I started enjoying it more. I started doing things with my kids to have fun with them instead of keep them busy. Yes, I do still need to get things done and have them watch movies or play by themselves, but when we do things together I have so much more fun now. It is hard to explain, but I am so much happier now. I love being a stay at home mom and wouldn't trade it for anything. 

This is going to completely contradict the last few paragraphs, but I want to record it anyway. I have a hard time when Blake gets sick. I don't know why, but I don't have tons of compassion. I think it is because when I was growing up my dad NEVER got sick. If he did he didn't tell us he was sick. I think he just kind of toughed it out. So when Blake tells me he is sick and how he is feeling I have a hard time. It is kind of awkward for me. A couple weeks ago he got the flu, then Broden got it. Blake got it while we were at a cabin with friends. So when we got home he went to bed and I did the unpacking etc... I was kind of bitter and kind of wished I could get sick and go to bed so someone else could do my jobs for us. Then last week Blake came home from work on Tuesday and didn't feel good. We had a volleyball game, so I went and he stayed home with the kids. When I got home he was asleep on the couch, Parker was in the swing and the other kids were down stairs. Remi was taking care of them. Blake went out with the missionaries, then came home and went straight to bed. Anyway, he was really sick and ended up having strep. Wednesday morning he went work then left and went to the doctor. He called and asked me to pick him up there. As I was driving there a thought popped into my head that maybe Heavenly Father is trying to teach me compassion. Maybe that is why Blake keeps getting sick. How sad is that, that he has to suffer so I can learn to be compassionate. I don't know if that is the real reason, but it sure helped me have compassion for him.

Something else I have thought about a little more this week is Faith. It talks a lot in the scriptures about blessings coming about because of faithfulness. I wondered if something happened to my kids, or to Blake would I have the faith necessary to help them. Is my faith strong enough? What if one of our kids, or even a family member got sick and I wasn't faithful enough or acting on my faith enough that they didn't get better. This is a lot harder to put into words. I guess I am just realizing how important it is for me to be obedient and faithful because it could be affecting so many more people than me. I heard an awesome quote tonight at relief society "Your future is only as bright as your faith." This is so true.