New Family

We've known for a while now that we'd eventually need a bigger vehicle to fit our growing family. I mean, we can squeeze 3 carseats in the Sonata, but it would be WAY tight until Breanne could sit in a backless booster. We felt a change was probably needed. So, when the opportunity came up in the last few days for us to sell our Elantra, we felt like this would be a good time to go through that change. After a day and a half of being reminded why we want and sort of need more than one vehicle, we are very pleased to present to you the newest member of our automobile family:



Odyssey. I love her. She's a 2006, and has just over 43,000 miles on her (she was leased out in a previous life, I believe), and is a beauty. She has 8 seats, though we'll most often just have 7 installed (to make access to the back row easier), so plenty of room to grow, and was just very well taken care of. I plan to continue that. Now I just need to figure out the fancy-schmancy heating system and cd changer. And decide whose carseat is going where... I'm excited to be a little more prepared for our new baby girl.

Yummy Breakfast

So I love muffins. Making them and eating them. Just not cleaning the pan. But that's a different story. Today I made these muffins, only instead of raisins, I added chocolate chips. They were excellent. I served them with this apple butter that I made a few months ago. This was also good, though next time I think I'll skip the chocolate chips, and just use the apple butter so there is no competition for flavors. So delicious.

Continents

So yesterday, Cory was talking with Breanne about continents. The conversation went something like this:

Cory: Do you remember the name of the continent next to Asia? We talked about it the other day.
Breanne: Umm, I don't remember.
Cory: It's Europe, remember?
Breanne: I-rup?
Cory: No, Europe.
Breanne: I-rup?
Cory (frustrated): No! Europe!

Me: Breanne, say "Your-up"
Breanne: Oooh, Europe! That's right. I remember now.

At least she's starting to figure out the your/I correlation, right?

A thought

"When you choose mothering, you've chosen a form for your life. You have instantly imposed upon yourself a certain level of responsibility. You will have to choose more carefully where to put your resources, particularly your time and energy and probably your money as well. But as those elements settle into spots that seem right, your family comes to life and there is joy in it."
--Emily Watts

This is a quote from the book "Being the Mom: 10 Coping Strategies I learned by Accident Because I Had Children on Purpose" (what a title, eh? :)), which I picked up at Time Out for Women. It talks before this about how you can write a poem, but if you choose to write a sonnet, you have to follow the form. Motherhood really is the same way, I think.

I've been struggling lately, trying to figure out how to divide my (seemingly very very) limited energy lately. I know that I want to be a great mother, one that helps her children grow and learn every day, one whose children know she loves them, and one who can stay on top of things around the house as well. Some days go better than others-I find the energy to have art time with Breanne, and reading time with Janey, dinner makes it to the table, and the house stays in reasonable order. Other days we watch a lot more tv and play computer, while I nap a little, and for dinner we eat cereal, usually at the table. Sometimes I even yell, which I hate. It's hard to find a good balance sometimes, and the thought of bringing another daughter into the mix makes me more than a little nervous. I just hope that as my energy returns after having the baby (it does do that, right? Somebody remind me, reassure me, please?), I'll be able to find productive ways to use it to enrich all my girls. I want to focus on the form I've chosen for my life, and find a way to fill it well. I am so lucky to get to stay home with my children every day, to have a husband who willingly goes to work every day to provide well for us--I want to remember not to take advantage of that, and to enjoy these days that I have with my girls.

Just my ramblings too late at night. :)

Keys

So I LOVED Time Out for Women, which I was fortunate enough to attend this weekend. I'll try to post about that tomorrow, as my notes are not within my reach tonight. Instead, I will tell you a ridiculous story.

A few weeks ago, we visited NH and Boston so Cory could attend a conference for work. When I packed our bags, I put my house keys in our bathroom bag, because I knew I wouldn't be needing them, and they had a pair of nail clippers on the ring, and I didn't want to have to deal with security in the airport. After our visit, I came home with the girls by myself, and left Cory in Boston so he could attend the conference thing. Because I was leaving Cory on a trip, I left our bathroom bag with him so he'd have a place to put all his stuff. I realized about 5 minutes after we left the ground that I didn't have a key to my house, and promptly started freaking out. I knew I hadn't given anyone else a key, and there wasn't one in some hidden spot outside our house. I would usually just call our basement tenants and have them leave their door open for me so I could walk through the house and get in, but they had left on their own vacation the day before. Fortunately, as it turned out, my dad had a key to the basement apartment (they are the landlords of the basement), and I was able to get into our house.

At that point, I should've moved my house keys over to my car key ring, but I hate how bulky it gets with the lock remote thing. So I put it off.

This last Friday, I went up to SLC for Time Out for Women, and spent the night in a friend's condo. Yesterday morning, I had a meeting down here that I needed to attend, so I drove myself home. When I got here (at like 9:20 am), the outside light was still on, and the door was locked. I knocked on the door, and Breanne ran up to it on the inside, and yelled "Mom? Mom? Is that you?" (my car honks when I lock it, and the girls know and recognize that). I said yes, and told her to go get dad to let me in. She replied, "Umm, dad in the shower. I can't open the door!" (She can't do the deadbolt yet, thank heavens). I told her to go knock on the bathroom door and tell dad to let me in, so she ran through the house, and I could hear both her and Janey pounding on the bathroom door and yelling at Cory to come let me in. I waited another 5 minutes or so, but still no one came. Keep in mind that it was snowing and VERY cold at this point. So finally, I gave up, walked around back, grabbed a stick thing, and started beating on the bathroom window. Cory opened it with a bewildered look on his face, and says something to the effect of "what are you doing out there?" At which point, I have to explain that I still don't have any keys, and I would like to be let in the house, please, it's cold...

I'm planning on moving the keys over to the other keychain tomorrow.

Cousin Day

Today we were surprised with not one but two visits from cousins--and it was fantastic.

First of all, Shilo, Audrey and baby Ellie came down. Breanne and Audrey spent a little time playing princesses, eating oranges, and making bracelets:




And is this not the cutest little girl? Love those dimples!



And so sweet asleep...



And then, Chris, Becca and Claire came down for a little visit this afternoon. The girls enjoyed playing princesses, babies, and generally running around chasing each other, jumping and throwing balls...

Random

Today I found myself thinking "man I wish these pants were more flattering and didn't require me to pay attention to my legs."

I was asked at least 4 times tonight how much longer I have until the baby comes.

Breanne is actually really good at rolling cookie dough into balls.

Apparently our dining room window looks into a bathroom window in the house next door. A shower window, to be precise. And it allows one to view from thigh to above a person's head. Yeah, it's a big window. How have I lived here for 2 1/2 years without noticing this before? Not something I wish I'd noticed.

Janey was having a rough day, I hope she isn't getting sick. I always hate laundry day because I have to sneak her (white) blankie away to wash it, and the whole time it's gone she asks me "where blay-bah?" and I have to say "I don't know. Can you find it? How about you find your doll instead?" to try to distract her.

The guy building the carport on the house next door started pounding away on the roof at 7:00 this morning. Isn't there some sort of noise ordinance to prevent stuff like that?

Breanne asked to go to bed tonight before dinner. She got a new light in her room that she was desperate to use. We made her stay up a while to eat.

Did I mention that at the beginning of my pregnancy, ALL 4 of my sisters-in-law were pregnant? Shi had a baby pretty quickly after that, but the rest of us lasted until about a week and a half ago--check us out:



(that's Cory's oldest younger sister, his brother's wife, his second oldest younger sister, and me, due in Nov, Dec, Jan and Feb, respectively)

Can you believe we lined up for a photo like that? That's just silly. But I love it. Especially since Kimmy had her baby a week after it was taken.

A Few Lists

Things that made me laugh today:

--Jake trying to take out the bench at El Roncho
--Breanne trying to tell Cory about McDonald's, and his refusal to understand her until she said the word correctly
--Janey walking around with a zebra poking out of her mouth
--Janey's fake laugh every time she saw a dog
--the Baby's hiccups

Things that didn't make me laugh today:

--Breanne falling out of the car on her forehead

Other things that generally made me happy:

--getting UP on Blu-Ray for 11.36
--getting the girls ADORABLE matching sweater dresses for Christmas... the last two Target had, in their exact sizes. SO excited!
--Preach My Gospel class--oh how I miss going to adult classes on Sundays... this makes up for it a little bit
--A really great lunch with my family, and my girls who actually ate

Overall, a great day. Minus the fall, but don't worry, she's ok. :)

About Posting Every Day

Ok, so as much as I really wanted to get back into blogging, I am just not feeling it right now. I will continue to post every day, I think, because I'm hoping to get some sort of inspiration and desire to write, but I'm running out of things to say. I need to post real Halloween pictures, and about our trip to NH a couple weeks back, but both of those need to wait until I can get my pictures off my camera. Is there anything else you would like me to post about? Because I am rapidly running out of things to say, and don't have the energy to think up more creative posts. Life has just been super busy (maybe that's where Breanne gets that from...) lately, with primary, Halloween, and all my other projects going on, plus the pregnancy and chasing two girls around, and at the end of every day, I am tired. Give me something here. Let me know what you want me to tell you about, if anything. Otherwise, you'll just keep getting a picture or two with a few words scattered around it, and I will call it good. The choice is yours... unless I get a sudden spurt of energy, which isn't really very likely, sorry.

The Latest

Just a couple photos today--long days full of meetings and other such things make me tired.

First--Janey was enthralled by the snow that fell a couple weeks back:

And Breanne has learned to write more than just my name, though her penmanship and ability to write straight need a little work...

(Janey is written around the word "Dad," if you can't tell... still, not to bad for a 3 1/2 year old, right?)

25 1/2 weeks...

Definitely still growing...



I like this one because it makes me look smaller and cuter...



I'm pretty sure there are still toes down there...

SUPER tired...

Breanne tells me that frequently these days, most often when she doesn't want to do something--either she's "super tired", or "super busy"--she cracks me up. Well, today I sent her to go to the bathroom, she gave me the usual tired excuse, I sent her anyway. I realized a few minutes later that she was being awfully quiet, so I went in to check on her, and this is what I found:

I guess she really was "super tired." So, like any good mom, I covered her up and let her sleep for 2 hours.

On Voting

It makes me happy when my votes make a difference--local politics are so different from national in that way.

http://electionmap.provo.org/

While I'm not entirely certain what to expect from these politicians the next four years, I am excited by the prospect of good change--Provo politics have gotten so messed up. I'm tired of all the drama about renting out basements and duplexes vs. accessory apts. vs. MIL apts. and other zoning issues--it all just makes me want to move away from this city, which otherwise I love. And after all of this drama, which involved almost all the people on my street (but not us, as we didn't have a sign in our yard), I am just ready to be done with all the campaigning (and smear-campaigning). Here's hoping for a great next 4 years, full of good change for all us homeowners.

Messing Up on the 2nd Day

I almost forgot to post--it's seriously just been one of those days. My girls are into ignoring me (if not doing the opposite of what I ask) right now, and I'm just too tired to fight them a lot of the time. So I'm just going to look at this picture, and start again tomorrow. Goodnight, friends.

Halloween Preview and NaBloPoMo

So I need to find our card reader, (which has been MIA since our trip to San Francisco) so I can post our real Halloween pics. In the meantime, these will have to suffice (they're from our ward party on Friday):




I need to find it soon, though, because yes, I am planning on participating in NaBloPoMo. I'm tired of all my slacking off on the blogging front, and hopefully now, with the trips, the Primary Program, and everything else out of the way, I'll have a little more time to blog at night. Or I'll just have to make some time. So wish me luck. :)

Oh, and if you're wondering what I'm doing in that pic, I'm painting someone's face. Don't mock me, I'm just awkward like that. Sheesh.