We Struck Out

The other night we set out to attend a baseball game downtown.

By the time we made it through the traffic jam and to the box office  

all the seats were sold out.

Fortunately for us, the field has these big openings that we were

were able to watch the game from.

As Cody taught the girls about the game of baseball I enjoyed holding Reese

and snapping a few pictures.

I have joined the masses and am now sold on Crocs, this is my first pair.

Reese wins the happy baby of the year award.

 I thank my lucky stars each day for her peaceful demeanor!

I said "smile," she did this.

Here is the kicker...

a ball was hit right over the stadium wall near us. 

Cody ran across the street to fetch it for the girls.

So even though we did not get inside the stadium,
we did end up with a ball!

Avery insisted that I take a picture of her by this statue.

You can see Aspen having a pity party in the background, 

who knows why, perhaps the wind was blowing the wrong way. 

Check out the two ladies to the right of the statue.

They stood there laughing, pointing and taking countless pictures 

of me, well really of Reese, 

I think because she was wrapped on me, like this.

It was a bit odd and somewhat uncomfortable. I just pretended not to notice them.

The girls fought over who got to hold the ball the entire way home. 

Since that night I don't think one of them has picked it up. What's new?

All in all it was a fun and free break from our typical nightly routine.

Dr. Young

Last week Cody taught the third grade classes at the 

girls school about the musculoskeletal system.

Apparently a portion of his lesson included several wacky medical stories 

along with images from work.

He also brought along goody bags from the Children's Hospital for each of the students.

Avery and Aspen were so excited to help fill each of the "goody bags" the night before the presentation, however, when they realized that there were 

ZERO edible goodies they were quite distraught.  

We decided to let Avery participate in the lecture and Cody had her called out of class to attend. When he asked her afterwards if she liked his lesson she answered:

"Not really Dad." This gave us both a good chuckle.

Fortunately Brinley came home with a grin from ear to ear and 

gave glowing reports of her Dad's presentation!

All in all I think Brinley felt like the class queen for a day. 

Pretty darn cool to have your very own Dad come in and talk to the entire grade!

The next day she arrived home with thank you letters for Dr. Young 

from each of the children in her class.

The Circus

Last week we went to the  
Ringling Brothers Barum and Bailey Circus.

The girls had been looking forward to this outing for some time and were giddy with excitement all day in anticipation of the big event!

 

 When our family attends an event of this nature we appreciate the opportunity it lends to teach our children a lesson about importance of good money habits, so we utilized our dinnertime conversation to have this special little talk...again.

"Girls, when we are at the circus will we be purchasing treats or toys of any kind? That's right, we will not. Girls, why do we choose not to spend our money on these type of things? That's right, because they are overpriced and do not provide lasting benefit. Girls, what does overpriced mean? And what does a good value for your money mean?" 

And so the conversation continues on, rich with practical economic lessons.
I just love it!

Now that Brinley is participating in the family economy, her ears perk up a bit
more during these types of lessons.

I did however purchase the children these $5 light ups and we brought our own fun snacks.

On the way home we compared the prices of the popcorn, cotton candy and light up toys being sold at the circus to the cost of what we bought and brought. 

Brinley's jaw dropped. 

She was perplexed at why so many people would spend their money on such 

overpriced sugar and toys, so are we!

(They had a cool glow in the dark portion of the show)

OKAY, onto the circus. 

It was loads of visual splendor and just over-the-top amazing for the girls.

It was so fun to watch their faces throughout the show!

I grew up going to the circus and have loved it ever since.  

Sorry to all those animal right activists out there.

Reese was not nearly as enthralled as her older sisters were and Cody spent a majority of the time walking the perimeter of the events center trying to keep her calm. At one point I noticed him several rows up from us and zoomed in to snap this shot and capture  
her devoted father.

Aspen may have shed a tear or two because she 

REALLY wanted to ride the elephants and horses.

Throughout the entire circus she asked me

 "when is it time for me to ride the horses and elephants?"

I kept telling her they were not offering rides to which she just replied:

"Okay Mom, no problem, I will wait until after the show."

Oh the sweet innocence and unwavering faith of a 3-year old who believes that if she wants something badly enough she will surly get it at some point.
Slowly but surely she is wrapping her curly little head around the reality that  

life just does not work out that way.

It may not be the greatest show on earth, but for kiddos it comes pretty darn close!

Mother's Day

I had a terrific Mother's Day! Cody prepared a scrumptious breakfast and dinner. 

I had him snap this shot in the middle of getting dinner on. 

I woke up to sweet letters and roses at the breakfast table. 

Cody's sincere, honest and loving personality shines through 

in letters he writes and 

I so love and cherish his reassuring and heart-felt words.

 I also received bundles of little Mother's Day treasures the girls created at school.

Brinley and Avery are getting to the point where they hide their creations until Mother's Day. 

Aspen is still wondering why the heck we celebrate Mom's anyway.

In all fairness, we should have been celebrating the 

three older sister-mothers as well.

After all, they do each take on parenting responsibilities,  

mostly when it comes to discipline.

This self-appointed mothering can be frustrating and somewhat annoying most of the time,

however, Brinley can be incredibly helpful when it comes to 

her non-disciplinary action oriented mothering.

The other day when I woke up I happened upon the scene above playing out in the nursery. 

Brinley was tending to Reese and reading to all three girls
to allow me a little extra shut eye. 

I completely trust her with Reese and she helps out quite a bit in the baby department. 

A family focus now, and for the past oh 4 years or so, has been using kind and loving words in our household. A few mornings back this letter, from Brinley,
 was sitting out to great us to a new day.

It reads:

Dear Family,

I think we have gotten better at avoiding fighting! Great!

I think we can get better at speaking kindly. Often, when we are mad, we loose control and we get angry. But we still need to be kind. I love you all!

PS- I still need to work on it too!

Love, 

Brinley

I have the opportunity to observe my children grow into people and it's so fun.
Brinley is really grasping the importance of being encouraging and this letter was a delightful reminder of that character quality developing within her.

This morning it was cute to overhear her encouraging Aspen.

"Aspen, I am going to do something so fun! Do you want to know what it is? Well, it's sorting dirty laundry and it's really fun. How about you come on upstairs with me and I will teach you how to sort the dirty laundry into three piles and then we can work together to put them in the appropriate baskets so that Mommy can wash them. Okay? Let's see who can make it upstairs first."

Time to get to my two little puppies barking in the front room. Avery and Aspen love to pretend to be puppies and I get to play their owner...often! So does any other adult in our home.

Just Another Relaxing Day

On Monday morning I woke up to my sweet baby cooing, as I do every morning, and I nursed her.

After that I started the oatmeal cooking, got dressed, changed a diaper, brushed my teeth and threw in the first load of laundry for the day.

Then I ran back down to the kitchen to stir the oatmeal, add in the rest of the ingredients

 and feed the older three girls.

Of course before the big girls ate they had already made their beds, brushed their teeth, dressed and completed their additional morning responsibilities including setting the table, vacuuming the kitchen floor and emptying the dishwasher.

During breakfast we reviewed the girls individual main goal and three small goals they are working on this week. Potty break for Aspen, lucky me, always love to wipe a bum in the middle of my meal.

After breakfast it's "hair chair" time. One, two, three little heads of hair, done!

Made a call to the orthodontist for a same day apt. to fix Brinley's broken wire. Called the ortho. office back again to reschedule when Brinley informed me that she "absolutely could not miss school" during the apt. time. E-mailed Brinley's teacher to tell her that Cody could give a presentation on the muscular system to the entire third grade next Thursday.

Then it was time for breakfast clean-up, making Brinley's sack lunch, nursing Reese AGAIN so that she did not get hungry while at the gym, socks and shoes for 10 feet, pack the diaper bag, backpacks, Aspen's snack to feed her class. 

Three bo-bo's then required the application of kisses and three band aids on two kids. Aspen needs to go potty again.

In the car, oops, Avery has to run back into to get her school library books to return. She can't find them, tears, I come in to help with the search. Got 'em, hop back in the car.

8:40am We pull out of the driveway to drop off Aspen at preschool. Then it's a rushed commute to get the older two to their school on time next. Kiss the girls good-bye and give them a character quote/suggestion for the day.

Then I'm off to the gym. Check in, sign Reese into the daycare. Change her diaper, give her a binki and do the magic swaddle, do my best to get her to sleep. Give the daycare ladies a run down on scenario B if she does not fall asleep.
 Apologize that she is not asleep yet but I have got to get to class.

Rush into the kickboxing class that I'm there to audit. During class my mind was occupied thinking about what I needed to write down on the class evaluation form. After class fill out evaluation, try to positively encourage instructor to make some crucial changes.

Get Reese from Daycare. Hold her for a few minutes because she is going to be in her car seat for a while, which totally gives me mommy guilt. Baby back in car seat. Check out of daycare, back in car.

Rush to grab a lasagna from MaMa Mimis because we are having guests tonight. CRAP, it's closed. Time to pick up Aspen from preschool. Head back out to the car juggling her 4 pieces of wet artwork  and other take home papers in one hand, Reese in her car seat in the other and Aspen's hand grabbing onto my pants while crossing the parking lot. 

Get back in the car. Encourage Aspen to be punctual as she struggles (struggles to follow directions that is) to sit in her car seat and strap herself in. Start to ask Aspen about her morning at preschool.

Time to hurry on down the road to pick up Avery from kindergarten. Pull up just in time. Welcome her into the car and ask all about her day. Try to be as present as possible as she is talking to me and I am pondering the shopping list in my head and thinking about how to get through the store as fast as possible because Reese is hungry and tired and the girls are going to be ready for lunch way before I have a meal prepared to feed them.

Pull up to the grocery store. Have a little chat about appropriate behavior in a store. Have the girls repeat out loud our three shopping rules. Say a silent prayer that they will remember those rules while we are in the store without too many reminders.

Thank the heavens above, we find the last "car" shopping cart. We start in the produce section. I'm literally grabbing and throwing items in the cart (my shopping with kids style) as the girls argue over the steering wheel. We get towards the back of the store and Avery says she is going to pee her pants. Rush back up to the bathroom in the front of the store and encourage Aspen just to please TRY to go potty while her sister is going. She absolutely positively does NOT need to go. 

We are off again. 

Reese starts crying, she is starving. I am starving! The girls get into a screaming argument in the frozen foods isle. I try to have a teaching moment instead of responding with a freak out like my gut is urging me to do. Freezing because I have just sweat my guts out at the gym and am still in my wet work-out clothes and trying to keep Reese quiet simultaneously,
we go over our grocery store rules again.

Finally, check out lane. Reese screaming. Aspen worried about how immodest all of the people in the magazines are and insisting I look at every magazine and agree with her. Avery asking for a candy bar, oops that was on our rule list "no asking for things." I realize I forgot to bring in the re-usable bags for groceries, shoot. 

Apologize for the crying baby. Feel guilty her needs are not being met. Aspen is running to the potty screaming back to me that she has to "go right now!" I run after her as the groceries are being scanned so that I can lift her onto the high public potty. Run back and finish unloading groceries from cart. Run back and wipe Aspen. Run back and load groceries into cart.

Back to the car. Groceries in the car. Kids in car seats, we head home. In the car I am running through lunch ideas for the girls.
I decide they are going to have to wait until I nurse Reese and get her to sleep. 

Get home, plop on  the couch and nurse Reese, verbally assist the girls in unloading the groceries, blueberries fall all over the floor as they attempt to "help mommy." Groceries end up sprawled out in a chain from the car to the kitchen. Finish nursing, change diaper, put baby to bed. Kiss her sweet cheeks and apologize for not feeding her sooner.

Make Avery and Aspen lunch. I am beyond starving. Feed big girls, put groceries away while they eat. Had to wipe out the fridge first. Clean up girls lunch. Clean up kitchen lunch mess.

Encourage the girls to play on my bed while I take a quick shower. My shower is interrupted the first time by a jumping on the bed injury, I try to comfort from afar. Second time because Avery needs her hair bows taken out. Third time to break up a fight.
Who knew a 5 minute shower could be so eventful?

Out of shower. Read nap time stories to Aspen. Prep her bed with "all necessary" animals and blankets and kiss her night night. Help Avery with site works and reading comprehension. Send Avery off to quiet time in the playroom.

FINALLY the beyond starving, nursing mother eats. Then I put away 3 loads of laundry, switch the other load from the washer to dryer and start another load.

Then it's time to chat with AT&T for the third time in two days. While on repeated hold with AT&T during our 57 min. conversation I plan our Family Night lesson, theme = potential, check my e-mails, pin a few recipes to try on pintrist and pay three bills online. 

Reese wakes up. Change diaper. Smile, coo and laugh with her for a moment. Aspen gets up. Avery finishes quiet time. Brinley comes home from school. Hold Brinley as she sobs and tells me about the boys who are making fun of her Irish dancing. Sympathize with her. Encourage her to think about solutions to her challenge at school. Listen to the plan she comes up with. Wipe the tears away. Big hugs and snuggles with my big girl. Put lame store bought lasagna in the oven to cook.

Hold hungry little Reese and keep her happy while feeding the big girls an afternoon snack. Sit down and nurse Reese outside while girls jump on the tramp. Dinner friend arrives with her kiddos. Sit and completely indulge in some time to chat with my friend and catch up.

Friends husband arrives after work. Cody arrives after work. Ask Cody to make the salad I neglected to make earlier because I wanted to chat with my friend. I then burn garlic bread in the oven as we plate the kids food. Enjoy a completely NOT home made dinner with friends. Think about the olden days when we had people over to eat regularly. Put Reese down for her evening nap time.

Friends leave. Family clean up time. Kids clean playroom and family room, Cody and I clean kitchen and dinning room. Family night will have to wait until tomorrow. Bath time, nope showers tonight. 

Cody feeds Reese a bottle. I get the girls started in the shower. Cody burps baby and sweeps and mops kitchen, hallway and downstairs bathroom. I wash girls body and hair. Cody folds a load of laundry and switches the other load to the dryer.
I get the girls out of the shower, brush hair, PJ's, brush teeth.

Family stories, scriptures and prayer time. 8:30pm = good night to the girls. Next it's time to put Reese to sleep. Cody starts to cut his hair. I pass out on the couch until it's my turn to help out with the finishing touches on the haircut. Cody cleans up haircut stuff and brings up the other load of laundry to fold. Instead of helping I lay on the couch and talk to him while he folds. 

10pm Reese wakes up for her "dream feed." I feed Reese on one side and pump the other side, change her into PJ's, change her diaper, put her back to sleep. Time for me to get ready for bed. Then I check on each of the girls in their beds and lay out clothes for tomorrow. Always two outfits for Aspen so that she can "choose" which one she wants. Just one for Avery who does not care what she wears and none for the biggest sister who chooses her clothes by herself now.

11pm Prayers with hubby, prayers on my own. Good-night. In 7 hours it will all begin again.

This is why I don't:

Make homemade wheat bread.

Stamp or scrapbook anymore.

Rarely turn on the TV. Rarely read a "pleasure" book.

Attempt only limited and properly timed phone conversations.

Typically do not go to the grocery store with children.

Forget important dates sometimes, even though they are typically on the calender.
Don't blow dry my hair.

This IS why when my husband calls from work at the end of the day and says, in his calm way,

 "so honey, what did you do today?" I often just say "ummm, you know, just the usual."

This IS why I am coming to truly appreciate the precious moments of calm with each of my sweet children. Why I hold my baby every chance I get. I sing to her and snuggle her and kiss her and coo with her and talk to her and watch her nurse and tickle her toes and thank my Father in Heaven for another gift in my life. This is why I don't want her to keep growing up so fast.

This IS why I continue to read stories to Aspen everyday before nap time, just as I did with her older sisters, because this is our special time and it's an important time. And I make sure to tell her I love her and that she is so special and so wonderful as I kiss her and hug her and snuggle her
before she takes a nap.

This IS why I hold my almost 9-year-old in my arms and rock her and talk with her and tell her that I will always be here for her no matter what and that even if she makes a bad choice that I will still love her more than anything. I tell her how special she is, that she was our first baby and how I loved her and nursed her and played peek-a-boo with her just like I do with Reese. 

This IS why I ask Avery everyday all about her "work board" time during school. Why I want to hear all that she has to share with me about her life as she is growing into her identity. Why I practice site words with her and encourage her to try even when it's seems too hard. This is why I tell her pretend stories and tickle her back. This is why I feel so happy watching how happy and carefree she is and how confident she is in herself and her abilities...

BECAUSE I know that these are days and moments to embrace and cherish. I am coming to a place as a mother where I am finally seeing that these days are numbered. These crazy, harried days full of screaming and laughing and laundry and chore-packs and appointments and homework and picnics and library books and discipline and encouragement.

These days when my kids want me. They want me to sing to them and to teach them and to love them and hold them and reassure them and give them boundaries and encourage them.

These days when I want them, I will always want them even when they are grown and living their own lives. I want to sneak into their rooms every night before I go to bed and kiss them and watch them sleep. I want to kiss their owies and put band aids on places that have no apparent wound. I want to make them healthy meals and teach them to work hard and be friends to kids who don't have any. I want to laugh with them and cry with them and talk with them and snuggle with them and kiss their necks and sing to them.

My children are changing me. 

Day in and day out it can be exhausting and relentless. I have been pushed and tried beyond what I thought was my capacity. I have shed countless tears, read numerous parenting books and counseled for years on end with my dear husband regarding the rearing of our children and all this because I know that there is no other calling I will ever have that will be so important than the calling I have as Mother. And being a mother has made me, forced me, to be a more patient and gentle and sympathetic and caring and loving and understanding person.

When I send my children out to navigate this world as adults I want to know that I did everything I possibly could, as their mother, to prepare them to live the richest, fullest and happiest lives they possibly can. I want them to know that my love for them was what drove me to try so hard to be the best I could for them. I want them to still want me and to still love me and to call me when they are having a bad day or a good day or just a normal to.
I want them to know that I will always listen and love and care.

On Tuesday morning after nursing Reese I came downstairs to this scene.

The girls had very quietly completed morning tasks and each created a drawing / letter for me and were waiting at the table for me to come down and serve breakfast and see their creations.

When I told Cody about the morning later that night he said he knew nothing about it, which makes their little surprise that much sweeter.

I have all I want this Mother's Day. I have four healthy blossoming children, a husband who is the greatest guy ever and a perspective that is allowing me to embrace my role a little more each day.

HERE is a great clip for all the Moms out there.  

THIS story will make you want to hold your children a little longer tonight.
THIS is a beautiful article a friend in my ward wrote. Read it!

The lost is found

 The girls preformed in their second Irish dance recital two weeks ago and

they did a great job!

 I lost my camera at the recital, hence the delay in posting.
I was one happy lady when an honest person found it and turned it in.

Sweet Aspen, she believes with every curl on her head that she is a skilled Irish dancer although she has yet to take a single class.

She flits around the house mimicking steps she has observed her older sisters practicing over and over again. She even recites the step names as she is dancing -

"brush down, brush down, brush brush hop step and jump two three and back two three."

 There is absolutely positively no recording allowed during the recital. The academy has produced many Lord of the Dance and Riverdance stars, some of whom come back to dance at the annual recital. This year one of the dancers (also one of the girls teachers) won 1st place at Worlds a few months back in Ireland and he was a part of several numbers during the show.

I snapped a hurried clip of the girls doing a partial jig before we ran out of the house just to capture their cute little wigs bobbing up and down. I think Avery was more focused on how itchy her wig was than the steps in the clip above, fortunately she got over that by show time!

I absolutely love this form of dance. It's clean, requires skill, coordination, modest  practice and performance uniforms and involves memorizing hundreds and eventually thousands of jig steps...great for those developing noggins.

It also requires a head chock full of fake curls.

I have come to learn that the requirements for what type of Irish wig various based on academy. I made the mistake of ordering a bun wig for Avery and apparently that was a big no no because their academy does not allow bun wigs. Fortunately one of the instructors had a used wig she let us buy for Avery.

After the recital Aspen presented the girls with flowers, they were so excited and as soon as we got home they placed the roses in vases in their rooms. It was a sad day when Avery realized they had died and we had to throw them away.

Kelty & Rella

When Cody was in San Fransisco Kelty and Rella came for a visit.

It was so fun to have Rella join Aunt Kelty this time around. 

We had 7 females under one roof and it was great!

 It was a new experience for Rella to have three additional mothers in her life...

and nice for me to have a real additional mother figure to help out.

Rella was a nice calming influence on my gaggle of girls, 

oh how we appreciate her chill personality!

 

We are so grateful for the Johnson family efforts to make these trips happen!

Indianapolis

Cody arrived home from San Fransisco at 1:30am on Saturday morning.
At 9:20am that morning I was at the gym teaching class and directly after class
 I hoped in the car and drove the 2.5 hours to Indianapolis for a short
but oh so sweet overnight with Paige and Kelty.

Both Paige and I failed to bring our camera's along, so Kelty's i-phone did the trick.

Little Holland was the only guy in our lives those two days.
He is a big boy already and at 10 weeks of age and has way surpassed Reese in size!
It was so fun to meet him and hold him for the first time.

The hours flew by as we talked and talked and talked and ate and talked and shopped and talked and slept and talked and talked and soon enough it was time to say good-bye.

It's amazing how mere hours spent with wonderful women and 

good food can be so rejuvenating for young moms.

We decided that these gatherings definitely need to happen more often!

San Fransisco

 Two weeks ago Cody joined several other co-workers at the SPR (Society for Pediatric Radiology) conference in San Fransisco. Most of his days were filled with various lectures and meetings, however, he did find some time to do a few fun things in the city.

(The conference took place here, at the Fairmont Hotel)

One afternoon Cody, Eric and Patrick (his two co-fellows) rented bikes and rode across the Golden Gate Bridge.

He also made it to a baseball game one night.

Yvette and Keith made a special trip to the city to take Cody out for the evening.

They enjoyed a scrumptious meal and several hours of good conversation.

Although there were many incredible lectures, awards banquets and the like, perhaps the
most wonderful part of Cody's trip came in the form of a letter.

After finally getting into his hotel room in the wee hours of the morning on the day of his arrival, he began to unpack his bag and found this note from Avery tucked inside.

Dear Dad,

I love how loving you are to our family, Brinley, Aspen, Avery, Reese, Mom.

You sweeten my heart like a flower.

Love, Avery

Straight out of the mouth of babes!