Let the ants carry your worries away...play!

This is another long entry, so feel free to skip it…sorry for the lack of pictures. I didn’t think anyone would want to see the pictures that I could attach to this entry…

There are some thankless tasks in motherhood. My friend with the new baby reminded me of the phrase “the dishes can wait; your kids will only be little for a short time”. People often tell you that when you have a new baby, thinking that the advice they give will save you from the heartache they have of having a clean kitchen now that their kids are grown. The reality of it for me as a young Mother is that the dishes pile up in the sink, and it feels like my kids will be too young to understand simple commands for ever. The women with all the great advice say, “Really, what could happen if you let the dishes pile up in the sink while you go play with the kids?” In our house, the sink gets full, and then the side of the sink gets full, and pretty soon we are eating off paper plates and wishing there were enough room in the kitchen to set down the said paper plate of food.

Anyone with a toddler would argue that you can’t just leave the floor under a high chair to its own demise while frolicking in the back yard with the children. Ants are very strong for their meager size, but unfortunately, even the strongest ants can’t whisk away all the chunks of banana bread, spilled milk with cheerios stuck in it, and yogurt left after breakfast alone. Side note: we had an ant problem for a week. The first day, the kids and I would sit and stare for huge amounts of time as the ants worked together to pull food from one end of the kitchen to another. It was a cute little science lesson. The next day there were 100 times the number of ants and they seemed to communicate with each other. “The little girl just threw down her remaining cheese sandwich…forward march!!!” It was no longer cute…just really gross. Mike came in with a can on hornet spray and took care of the problem like any man of the house should. I did have sad twinges for all those little guys we had watched living and thriving in our kitchen, but not enough to lose any sleep over it. Now, the mess under the chair can wait a little longer without becoming the food to sustain the colony of ants living under the kitchen floor.

Back to my ranting…

Toilets don’t really wait for the kids to grow up either. The toilet in the kid’s bathroom turns yellow after about two days. Side note: Jake watched a Clorox toilet bowl cleaner commercial that scared him away from getting within accurate aiming distance from the toilet. The commercial showed that there are thousands of bugs living under the toilet seat. They all have scary horns and teeth and could scare anyone from daring to put a finger on the seat to lift the lid; creating a yellow build up on and around the toilet area. Thanks Clorox!

So, here is my quandary. Right now, the kids are tucked nicely in their beds. I am sitting at the computer typing this complicated story relating the many reasons why I should be allowed a messy house. So, have I done the breakfast dishes yet? No. Is the laundry piled to the ceiling in the spare bedroom? Yes. Do my toilets have fresh yellow stains? One does. Yet, here I sit. I can’t find a happy medium. I could have a clean house, but then I feel guilty that I am not picking up the crying child who has been clinging to my pants, crying from room to room as I put away things. Or, I could sit in the shade of the back yard and laugh at all the cute things the kids say as they play. I could fill up their water buckets and remind them not to hit and not to throw the sand out of the sand box…It would be really fun. But who would cook the dinner when we come in and want to eat? Who would save the floor from becoming an ant infested food festival? Who would wash, fold, and put away the clothes that we need to wear (in order to prevent some painfully embarrassing moments that could occur if we had no clothes to wear.) I feel like I need time to myself, in order to be me. I need to play with the kids, in order to fulfill my needs too. And, I need to walk into at least one room without being accosted by a gigantic mess; also for my sanity. Somewhere in the middle of all that I need sleep (which means I can’t pull all-nighters to do the things I couldn’t fit into the hours that the kids were awake.) I'm not saying that my house is the messiest place on the planet, but I do get tired of the things that just pile up, day after day. They don't really wait until the kids grow up.
Point of post: I need to find a good balance. If any of you have figured it out, let me know what I am doing wrong.

Cry Baby Pee Pee Pants

Is it terrible that I like taking pictures of my kids when they are crying? It's not an abusive thing, I don't hit them and run for the camera...but if the camera is out and they cry it's fair game.

I feel like I should also mention that the cries are never hurt cries...just "Jake splashed water on my big toe" or "how dare you make me stand in the corner for hitting my sister" cries.

Sometimes they are "he took my shovel" or "Allie keeps closing her eyes at me"(a funny face that Allie uses as a weapon of torture). They are all very good reasons for a hug... after I put down the camera.

"I want one of those..."

A few days ago Kristin, our neighbor who just had a baby girl, came over to play. Allie was fascinated with the baby and wanted to hold her and play with her. She said that she wanted a baby. Before long, the baby started to cry in hopes of getting food in reply. By this time, Jake wanted a baby too. Kristin said “you want one of those? A crying baby? Are you sure?” She sounded doubtful as she picked up the crying baby in question. Jake said that he did. Kristin took the baby home to feed her, but the subject wasn’t dropped. Jake continued to say that he wanted a baby just like that. He said he wanted a girl (I pointed out that he did have a little sister and she cried a lot too, mostly because he was bothering her.) He insisted that he wanted a baby… “she will cry, and I will make her happy.”
No thanks bud. I’ve heard about families that get pets for their kids. Even though the kid promises to do all the work, the mom ends up being the one who scoops the poop and fills the water bowl. I can see it now, we get a baby, it cries, you kiss it and hold it and tell it to hush, then you give up and I am stuck with a cranky kid. It happens every time. I’m not ready for that yet.

"Do I need to ground you from Hot Wheels?"

Warning...this is a long post. If you want to look at the pictures and know the short story, Jake loves his bike. If you want the longer, slightly boring version continue on. But don't say I didn't warn you.

We have speculated that Jake might be OCD. Maybe he is just particular, or maybe he will be an Engineer one day. Regardless he has had some funny obsessions. The latest and longest was monster trucks. He started collecting them while potty training, and his pile grew larger as birthday and Christmas came. There were many issues about where to display the monster trucks (very long story, ask me if you want details). They finally ended up forming a well planned and very orderly line against a wall in his room. When the long night of sleeping across the room in his big boy bed was too much to bear, he began setting up camp next to the monster trucks so he could view them any time of night should he wake up.

All this was a little quirky, but what do you do? Then he went through a phase where he would creep into our bed at all hours of the night. I am a heavy sleeper, so often I would wake up hours later wondering why my face was wet. I found that it was the condensation of his breath. He likes to sleep with his face pressed up against mine.

We began the grueling process of bribing, threatening, begging, pleading with him to sleep in his own bed all night. You name it, we tried it. I even threatened the precious monster trucks. He lost a few before I realized the monster truck phase was on the way out.

What did we finally end up doing you ask...

Jake got this bike as a hand me down from his cousin Baylor. We found a pair of training wheels and the next thing we know, Jake has a new obsession. He begged to ride it all the time, from the minute he woke up until I was putting him in bed he wanted to ride his "Hot Wheels" bike (named after a beloved monster truck, "Hot Wheels Mom, not Hot Wheels Crasher" he reminds me. The Crasher line of trucks is just another way to get people like us to buy the same trucks with a slightly different trait.)

Anyway, one day I couldn't get him to come in for his nap. I finally started threatening to take away the bike (insert the ta, da sound effect) he ran in so fast I couldn't even finish the threat. Now, when I turn out the light and say "good night, and don't come out", he finishes the sentence with "or you'll take away my Hot Wheels bike?" After I stand there and weigh the consequences of long term emotional damage by making that kind of a threat, I say "yeah, just don't come out". Guess what, it works like a charm. We have had a little boy creeping into our room in the middle of the night, but he doesn't usually climb in. He just stands there staring at me like something from a horror movie. When I wake up and regain a normal heart rhythm, all I have to say is "Hot Wheels" and he scurries back to his bed.

If you think I am full of empty threats, you are wrong. Last weekend Jake took the bike to the far and out of bounds places of the neighborhood. When I finally found him, I told him the bike was grounded. He begged, through terrible screams "no Momma, I'll be a good boy, I'll sleep in my bed all night, I told them not to go so far, it's not my fault etc." I was so angry that I was numb to his pleas. The next day, however, I had to follow through with the punishment. The bike was set on top of a cabinet in the garage. I endured a full day of screaming and crying, begging and pleading. It was a long day, and not one that either of us will forget soon. But the punishment still works. In the quiet time before bed, he reminds me that he won't "go past the gray line or you will take my Hot Wheels bike away". If the shoe fits, wear it.

Because he has enjoyed his bike so much, I got mine out of an early retirement and we went for a ride around the block. It was the highlight of his evening and he can't stop talking about it. Tonight as I put him to bed he said "if you sleep in your bed all night you get to ride your FJ Cruiser bike (he named it for me...don't ask me how he came up with that one), and if Daddy sleeps in his bed all night he gets to ride his 4-wheeler truck motorcycle". I think I can manage staying in my bed all night if the kids can stay in theirs.

Happy Father's Day!

I'm a few days late on this post, but I had to figure out how to upload a video...I am getting high tech!

I decided to make Mike a video of a few pictures of the kids for Father’s Day. I heard a song a little while ago that made me think and I decided to make the video to that song. It is Trace Adkins “You’re Gonna Miss This” (sorry non country fans). The pictures are from January to now and I thought it was funny that some of the craziest moments wound up being right when the words to the song say “you’re gonna miss this, you’re gonna want this back”. I hope that one day I will miss the messes and chaos, I know I will miss the sweet days because I look at those pictures and I already do.
Anyway, I could write about what a great Dad Mike is, but it would sound cliché. Mike is great, but you’d have to see him with the kids all the time to really get how great he is. We love him and appreciate all he is to us.




We got Mike a hammock also, he likes to lounge in the shade and let the kids treat him like a trampoline/jungle gym. Unfortunately the hammock broke the first night, so we’ll have to go find another one.

I thought he was napping...

These are the cards to this little computer thing called Smart Talk. They are supposed to be color coded and in three boxes of 150 cards each...yeah, I'm annoyed.

"Skut peese Mom"

Allie and I have frequent arguments about clothes. I still think she is young enough that I should be able to play dress-up with her. She thinks every day is a "skut" day (skirt). I am okay with that because she has lots of really cute skirts. But sometimes it is too cold for a "skut", or it is a "skut" that I don't want covered in mud. (We have had crazy cold and rainy weather). Sometimes she can be talked into capris or pants, but it is a job.

The other day she went to our friend Aubrey's house and got dressed up in this little number. They got princess music out and twirled in the yard. She sees me with "my pod" (in a kid's mind my+ipod= my pod) and always wants to take it. This "my pod" is perfect because it plays princess songs, what could be better?

She is a girlie girl though and I love it. We painted toe nails a few days ago, and she loves to put "pretties" in her hair (a pretty is any sort of hair clip), and try on all the shoes in the house.

Yesterday she found these curlers. We called them "Spongies" as a kid. Of course the idea of having them in her hair was better than keeping them in, but she kept them in long enough to give her a little wave...pretty cute.

Ode to bellies

I had to write about it. I love little kid bellies. The more they stick out, the cuter they are.


This picture shows how we used to discover Allie after she woke up in the morning. Unless she has a tight onsie on with really good snaps, she can get out of any jammies. This hat gets dragged around everywhere. She loves hats and shoes...clothes are sometimes optional. Anyway, this is the only picture I have that sort of shows the belly. She is starting to lose her belly chub and I am so sad about it. Jake lost his belly when he turned 1 and has been pretty skinny since then.

Point of post...
Every day when I slather lotion on Allie we argue about whose belly it is. I tell her I want her belly and she says dramatically "no, it's Ayee's belly" and we go back and forth with the "mine", "no mine" for a while. The other day when I asked to trade, (because who wouldn't want a perfect little belly with no stretch marks, or c-section scars, or excess flubber) she said "no, can't...it's stuck." Bummer!

Could you pick another book please?

Each day, we have a routine for naps and bed times. We read one book at nap time and 3 or more at bed time (depending on the time and my patience). At nap time, I have usually just about had it. I have been wrestling them at lunch, and never have time to eat myself. I usually fling Allie in bed, and then go back for Jake. I don’t remind him about the book, because I am just looking forward to getting to my lunch. I take him potty and go to the bed, and it never fails “Mommy? Can we read a book?” I say “sure, go pick one out.” Then I nudge the short books in his direction…the board books that are pictures only are the ones I prefer. Next to those, I love any of the Mo Willems books. But does he pick those? No, he always picks the ones that I think are lame. He used to be obsessed about Leonardo the Terrible Monster. I didn’t mind that obsession one bit; I think I was the one who encouraged it the most. Now he is onto this Sesame Street book called What Did You Bring. I don’t know why I have such a problem with it, okay maybe I do. It has too many words. There are some pages that are just fine, but there are some that are just plain boring (at least to me). I usually skip a few pages each time I read that book, and he hasn’t caught on to that yet. I feel bad that I am cheating my boy out of valuable reading time, and how long is he going to want to sit down and read with me anyway? I should be better about it. I should be non-discriminative about the books we read, or maybe I’ll just hide the ones I like the least.

Book Club Ladeezz

I love my book club. My friend Natalie started it a few years ago. There are very few original members, but those that we add are great. In fact, tonight I discovered that Susanna grew up in the same cul-de-sac as some of my best friends in Orem. She has been coming to book club for a year and we never made the connection.

This month we read The Host by Stephenie Meyer and The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. Mike teases that we only talk about girl stuff and not the books, but really we do talk a lot about the books. I will admit that there is talk of other subjects. Who can get together with a bunch of women and not compare the battle wounds of motherhood? Especially since there have been 6 babies born since we started...Allie was the first and she'll be 2 in August. I love the book club so much that I have only missed one meeting since we started. (Apparently it was a flop without me there...I'm kidding)

Anyway, I decided to snap a picture this time because it was at my house and I figured I would write about the club here. Rachel is missing, and a few others that come off and on, but here we are. If you want to read the same books as us, the next books are The Nazi Officer's Wife and Eragon.

Point of the post...book clubs are fun. (my Mom always teased me as a kid because I tell pointless stories. Still do...)

Jake and Allie playing on the "beach"

I am ashamed of myself for not taking many pictures on our first ride in the boat, so this is all you get. Newton dam is not too bad this time of year. Even though it was cold the kids wanted to get in the water.

Things I forgot to bring on the boat:

1. An extra life jacket--to replace the one that flew out on the way over (luckily we had one of those really cute orange rectangle life jackets in the boat.)
2. Toilet Paper--for the boy who had to poop in the bushes
3. Diapers--for the girl who sat in the lake, making the current diaper the size of a large squishy bean bag
4. Extra clothes--for the kids who frolicked in the cold water
5. Spoons--for the snack packs (who needs spoons anyway, they have hands that were recently playing in the refreshing water at Newton dam)

I did forget to bring a lot of things, however, you need to give me credit for the hand sanitizer I brought (came in useful after wiping the boy’s bum on an old crusty t-shirt).
I also had my camera, and lots of towels to wrap up naked kids for the ride home…all the really important stuff.

The Maiden Voyage

We got our boat!!! Our neighbors, the Baltzer's sold their boat to us and we got it cleaned up and took it out for the first roar yesterday. We had a quick run down on how things work and thought we could go out on our own.

When we got to Newton dam the wind picked up, but we were still excited. We had a few tense moments wondering if it would start...then we took off for the middle of the lake. The boat was a little sluggish and I told Mike it felt weird. He asked me if I had put the plug in...I hadn't, and neither had he. After a stressful ride back to the boat dock, we discovered that Steve Baltzer had put it in for us...thanks Steve.

I won't go into detail about drifting helplessly into a tangle of tree branches, or not getting the boat started again after we ate our dinner at the beach (user error soon remedied), or how I had to run for miles to retrieve a life jacket after it blew out of the boat on the highway...I'll just say that overall it was a fun trip. We'll be going again soon because they always say that when you fall off a horse you just have to get back on. Or in our case, when you fight with your spouse in front of the kids about who should have been holding the boat away from the tangle of branches, go out there next week and do it again!

Mommy, Allie, and a mustard free shirt!

Today, I had a huge list of places to go. Mike told me that he would stay home with Jake, but I had to take Allie. To tell you the truth, I was a little bummed that he wouldn't keep both kids at home, or at least let me take Jake because he is so much easier to shop with. After all was said and done though, I was so glad for the great time I had with Allie.

I needed a few new shirts, so we went to Old Navy and she was rewarded with 2 bouncy balls (25 cents) for her “patience” while I tried on clothes. She tried on all the shirts I dicarded and would say "don like" and move on to the next. The bouncy balls made it all the way to the parking lot before she lost them under cars.
Next stop was lunch at Sam’s Club and it was so great to just sit there with her and listen to what she had to say. When she and Jake are together, they fight over the drink that they have to share. I’m constantly catching her from falling off the chair while I am trying to make sure everyone has food. Today I got to have her on my lap and she didn't fall once. Finally, the biggest plus…we didn’t come away covered in mustard. It was just so fun. I think I kissed her 50 times as we sat there because she was so cute. I love spending time with each kid alone. She was done after a few stops, and I'll have to go out again in order to finish my "to do" list, but that's okay because we had a great time...love you girlie!

I have a Blog!

I decided to join the blogging community and start up a blog for our family. I love reading my friends and family's blogs, and now you all can see what is going on with us up here. Mike thinks blogs are just a competition of who has the cutest kids, or the most perfect life...I laugh at him because plenty of you write about the reality of life and how difficult it can be. That is why I titled this Serenity Now! We are Seinfeld fans and if you've seen the anger management episode, you know what Serenity Now means. I know we have all had those moments when just screaming those words isn't enough to bring peace and calm into our lives...then, much later we can look back on it and smile. I hope you all can look in at our lives and smile...here we are...