Life is Exhausting!

Sometimes, life can be truly overwhelming.

When that happens, take a moment to breathe and relax and if all else fails, lay your head down and let all your worries just melt away.

 

 

(Warning: You may wake up with a wicked, red mark on your forehead, but then you'll discover some leftover puffs that you failed to eat before you fell asleep and life will be good again!)

Mother's Day 2012

Being a mother is the hardest but also the best thing that I have ever done. There are days when I want to run away and hide and never come back, but there are also those many tender moments when someone does something sweet or funny that makes you realize that there is no other place you would rather be on earth than with your little family! I had a great Mother's Day and feel very blessed that these three little munchkins call me "Mom."

 

“A mother’s nurturing love arouses in children, from their earliest days on earth, an awakening of the memories of love and goodness they experienced in their pre-mortal existence,” he declares. “Because our mothers love us, we learn, or more accurately remember, that God also loves us.”

— Elder M. Russell Ballard

Wow...what a huge responsibility!! I hope that I am capable of being that kind of mother.

Backyard Campout

The night of the talent show was also the night of the Father/Son Campout for our Stake. In order to let Jason and Landon attend Abby's performance, we decided that we'd hold our own little Father/Son/Daughter campout that night in our backyard. The kids had fun roasting some marshmallows...

 

Right before climbing into bed in their backyard tent!!

 

Here are all three campers before going to sleep that night. (And before you feel too sorry for Jason, no, he did not sleep in the middle. He had his own little bed on the other side of the tent.)

 

We weren't really sure how long either Abby or Landon would last which is why we decided to try backyard camping just in case we needed to head in the house sometime during the night (I had the much easier job of sleeping in the house with Nolan!!) But they were all troopers and after a full night outside, they celebrated by cooking pancakes for breakfast the next morning in our kitchen. The best of both worlds!!

When it was time to break camp, we went outside to discover this sight...

 

 

When we asked him what he was doing, Landon declared, "Just pumping myself full of air since I'm all full of food." Why, yes of course that would be what you are doing!!

Who's Got Talent?!?!

On Friday, May 11th, the day that Abby had been looking forward to for months finally arrived....Paramount Elementary's Talent Show!! She was only one of three kindergartners who performed that night (I know I would have been terrifed as a six-year-old to perform in front of the whole school and all their families, but not my Abby girl!!)

She is in a Princess Jasmine kick lately (I really have no clue why) so her talent was to sing the song "A Whole New World" while dressed as Jasmine of course. She was so excited to be up on a stage and did a fabulous job.

 

 

 

Here she is on the night of her debut, in the spotlight at last!!!

 

And that little boy in orange in the front row is her biggst fan Landon who was also singing right along with her throughout her performance.

 

We were so very proud of our little girl. And yes we were "those" parents....I had the camera while Jason taped it. I'll try to get the actual performance up here soon so grandparents can see her solo performance!

On Two Wheels!

About six weeks ago, Abby convinced Jason to take the training wheels off of her bike. I was sure that she just wasn't ready for this yet and tried to convince her many times that it would be really easy just to put them back on again (Aren't I a great supportive mother?!?!) But Abby was convinced that she could do it. We finally got serious about actually teaching her last week (thanks to my sister and brother-in-law who gave us the idea to train her on an incline and work on balancing the bike first before actually pedaling.) Thursday, May10th was a big day in our household because it marked the day that Abby became an official two-wheel rider. Once it finally clicked, she was all over the place and is now a pro at it. She begs to ride her bike every spare moment now and it has been fun to experience this big step with our first child!! Man is she ever growing up fast though!

 

Riding into the sunset...

Of course Landon didn't want to be left out of all the comotion surrounding Abby's accomplishment. He is a pretty fast little peddler on his pink trike (the drawback of having an older sister!) When he really gets going, his little legs become a blur and he sticks his tongue out to get even more speed!
 

GO...LANDON...GO!!

 

(Yes I am fully aware that he is far too big and far too boyish for this pretty pink bike. We are hoping to upgrade his ride in about 3 weeks when his birthday rolls around. But he doesn't complain and I'm just trying to hold onto my little three-year-old for just a little longer!)

Fort Frederick

On the last Saturday in April, we took the kids to Fort Frederick for Market Days. It's basically a reencactment of the late 1700's with actual vendors who were selling things that could have been bought and sold during that time period. There were lots of people dressed up and it was fun to experience the fort in this way. I kept trying to tell Jason he needed to purchase some knickers so that he would fit in better, but he wasn't convinced!

 

We wandered around for a bit, had a small snack (nachos and Powerade...very authentic to the time period, I know!) and then let the kids decide on one thing that they would like to purchase. Abby chose a key (random, yes) and Landon was forced a choose a wooden whistle that we had to spend way too much money on (they had a sign that said if you blew on it, you had to buy it...and Landon has yet to meet a whistle that he wasn't interesed in trying out!)

We even spotted a few members of the military during our sojourn...

Here's all three kids and I in front of the actual fort. What, you only see Abby and Nolan in the picture? Just look for the grumpy one trying to hide behind the wall just to the right of me and you'll find my other lost child!!

 

It was a great way to experience a bit of history for us all. I still found it funny that you would find all these people dressed in authentic 18th century garb, trading for 18th century goods all while talking on their iPhone!