Growing Pains

I'm having growing pains. Not personally, thank goodness. I'm all done growing physically (I hope) in fact I'm working on making my body smaller, not bigger. My Children. I kind of touched on this a little when I was posting about Emma's birthday. I'm having a hard time with just how quickly life seems to be traveling these days. I mean one minute I have a baby, then suddenly I have 4! How did that happen? Okay, before I get any weird e-mails, I know how that happened! I just mean, how did that happen so fast. One minute I'm overjoyed because my baby learned how to crawl, the next minute I'm reading her book reports! One minute I'm coaxing my son into his nursery class, the next minute I'm watching him run off to kindergarten without even a wave goodbye! One minute I'm holding Bekah on my lap, the next minute I'm still holding Bekah on my lap...but she's a lot heavier, (she's 4). One minute I'm giving birth to my babiest baby, and then next minute she's telling me "NO!" See what I mean? My father-in-law warned me this would happen! After Emma was born he said, "Now don't blink, because the next thing you'll know, she will be graduating." My mom always used to say, "...just wait 'til they start school, then it will really fly by!" And to tell you the truth I thought they were both full of it! But we all think that as brand new parents don't we!? I mean, we're sleep deprived, our schedule, our life, our "normal" has been totally turned upside down and inside out by this small creature, there's poopy diapers around the clock, toys now invade our living space and I'm supposed to "treasure these moments" because they'll go by fast?! They didn't seem to be going by fast enough at the time! What are all the grandparents smoking? Okay, okay! Now I believe you. And though I'm not too eager to go back to the newborn phase, I am taking in every moment I can with Moriah, our babiest baby. Because now I believe you, mom, dad, aunts, uncles, everyone that warned me this would happen. I understand now, you weren't lying, you weren't just being nostalgic. It really does go by fast! Thanks for the warning, even though it seems very hard to believe at the time the warning is given. I'll try to cherish the next phase of life even more!

GOAL! Well, Not Really

I like to ensure my children have opportunities to try many new things. To help promote that endeavor we signed Bekah up for indoor soccer. She promised to play, seemed very enthusiastic and we even invited her friend to play too. Well, we learned that Bekah doesn't like soccer very much, (not right now at least). Here are some highlights of the two games she played before we let Emma finish out the season, (on an older team of course).

Warming Up Taking a Break

"Cheese"

Getting ready to kick the ball.

And we're done...

I Don't Know Much...

You know the lyrics to that song: "I don't know much...but I know I love you"? I must admit, sometimes I feel that way as I'm raising the next generation. I don't always understand everything they do, I don't know why they do what they do, (other than creative imaginations and to get a good laugh out of mom and dad). BUT I do KNOW that I love them! Here's a perfect example of what I'm talking about. I told Aaron to go get dressed and he came back wearing his pants on his head and he had stuck his legs in his shirt sleeves and wore that like pants-slash- skirt. Did I let him leave the house like that? No way! But maybe I should have...some lessons would be better learned if I didn't protect them from the natural consequence. Like people staring! I did manage to take a few pictures though, for the blog, and future blackmail when he's a teen. Hey, I may not know much, but I do remember the teen years, I will be well stocked with plenty of embarrassing material to coax them into doing my bidding.

EIGHT

I refuse to title this post, "It's Great To Be Eight" (even though it really is great to be eight).

She's 8! Man that went by quick, Holy Cow!

Every one tells you how fast it will go by and it was hard to believe back then. When I was up every night, several times a night, changing diapers, nursing, making bottles, looking for that darn binkie and changing a few more diapers! Ya, it was really hard to believe I wouldn't be doing that for the rest of my life.

Especially when I knew I wanted to have more children after her.

But here she is, no more bottles, no more binkies, no more diapers!

She's like a minature person who only needs to get a job, learn how to drive and balance a checkbook...then she can move out and take care of herself. Okay, I'm just kidding.

I mention that only to capture this moment because she's so grown up! Sometimes I feel like she really doesn't need me anymore, but that means I've done a good job right?

Emma is one awesome little girl! I admire her love for life, her style, her personality, her talents and her spirt!

Here's 8 fun things about Emma:

1. She grows more and more gorgeous every day!

2. She's likes to reason her way out of a lot, she's gonna make a very good lawyer some day.

3. She loves to play the Wii.

4. She LOVES to read - everything!

5. She LOVES her friends!

6. She LOVES school - so much that it actually hurt her more to miss school

while recovering after her tonsilectomy.

7. She complains about going to church, but always enjoys herself once primary begins.

8. She like boys! (Dad's having a hard time with this one.)

(Me, I think it's cute...puppy love is adorable!)

Here are some highlights:

Birthday Rock

Mo going after the cake! That was fun.

My Joys!

(Aaron doesn't really have green teeth, he has a chewed up skittle in his mouth,

I know, it's still gross.)

Make a Wish!

No birthday is complete without a short stack of presents piled on your lap!

Sweats and PJs

So my wonderful & talented sis-in-law, Dana, wrote a blog piece titled "Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Mom." This post was admitting her need to change her wardrobe from the boring t-shirt and jeans we all fall back on as our "jobs" take us nowhere of real interest or formality, unless you're counting the grocery store or doctor's office as a cause to dress up. And given all the people I've seen in their PJ's while shopping, it's doubtful that would be the case.

It was hilarious and sadly very true! Except I have a further confession to make. When I'm home for the day with no errands or chauffeuring to do, I don't even step up to jeans, it's strictly my sweats or my pajama bottoms. Why get dressed when the baby's just going to wipe her nose on me? And the four year old is going to going to get me with her sticky hands, and at some point during the day I'm going to sit in play-doh, chocolate or something worse - depending on how the day's going.

In fact as I write this, I am wearing a stylish sweater over my nightgown, and it's only 8:45pm! I'm wasted by 7pm! Another sad truth.

AND now that I think of it, I've noticed I do this more often in the winter. Why would a shut-in dress up? And because we live in the northern half of Utah there are about 3 months out of every year where it's just too bitter to go outside! Here's where spring offers it's annual hope. Let's go outside and play! And now that I have an older daughter who has informed me I sometimes embarrass here, I better ditch the sweats!

Funny how a little thing like, getting dressed, losing the pontail and a little makeup can lift the mood. Ahh, the power of eyeliner, you never cease to amaze me!

Oops, I Did It Again

This post is all about repeate mistakes I've made and some my children have made. Let's start with Bekah. I guess Bekah is the hair cutter in the family. Yep, she did it again! Last time it was her bangs right before school pictures and this time she wacked 'em off again, just in time for our family pictures. I hope they grow out soon!

The next mistake; Little children and sports don't mix! I signed Bekah up for soccer, (see His Way or The Highway, previous post to learn why Aaron wasn't interested - it's pretty hilarious). Anyway, she assured me she was interested and would participate. Apparently my 4 year old's idea of participation and her thirty-something mother's idea of participation are completely different things! Running around, (no where near the ball mind you), coming over to me for lots of drinks, frequent potty breaks and just plain old giving up half way through the game is NOT what I call playing soccer.

So why is this a repeat mistake? Because I did the same thing when Aaron was 4. I put him T-ball and he lasted 2 games before Emma, (who was very eager to play) finished the season for him.

This time when Emma went to cheer Bekah on, there wasn't much cheering.
Instead, there was a lot of this:

Emma: "Why doesn't she run after the ball?" "Mom, can I go out there and play if she won't?!"
and my favorite one so far, "Mom, you lied to me! You told me she was good!"

Well, I still think she's a good soccer player, for a 4 year old. But I did call and switch Bekah out for Emma, because it was obvious Bekah didn't really care about soccer right now. When I took Emma to play her first game on the older kids' team, HOLY COW it was like watching a completely different game. These kids are good! These kids are competitive! These kids actually run after the ball! They get in there and they score! AND there's even a goalie!


As for my other repeat mistake, I took the kids to the mall again, (see previous post).
And this time we took Mo too. More on those adventures tomorrow.