Conference Half-Time

I'm distraught...this week has been one of the worst weeks of my life. Without going into the details of my major struggles, I'll focus on one of the little ones that has me laughing already.

I LOVE General Conference! But now that I have four noisy children I have found it is almost impossible to really enjoy conference, invite the Spirit or to even hear it over the tantrums and complaining sometimes. Usually I resort to bingo and other such games and yes some of those games even involved candy... (shocking I know).

Today I only had Rebekah (3) and Moriah (11mo.) for the morning session, Mike took the older kids up to his Dad's to help with a big project. During the first hour Bekah watched a Strawberry Shortcake while I busied myself with my own projects and listened to it on the radio. When the Berry-Sweet-Gag-Me show ended I thought, okay here's a perfect opportunity to turn off Bekah's show and now begin watching conference with both the girls on my lap.


That didn't work out so well.

Apparently Bekah didn't want to watch conference...she had another idea...Chip 'n Dale. Oh boy.
Well I decided I was going to stick to my guns, here's how it played out:

Bekah: "Mom, I don't want to watch this....

WHAAA, Sniff, Pout, Cry...

you know the drill...

Mom: No Bekah, you watched your show and now it's Mommy's turn. We are going to watch conference, this is where the prophets speak to us--

--rudely cut-off by the ever demanding 3 year old--(I hate that)

Bekah: (Through BIG tears and a little RED face)

But conference is borrrring! It's an adult show, I want to watch

Chip 'n Dale!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ughhh.

All of this was during Pres. Uchdorf's talk. I love his talks!
Thanks goodness for DVR.

...Oh, Is That How?

So I bought Mosey some baby juice, she doesn't like it. So I'm letting the kids drink it. But first they wanted to know what it was.

Mom: "It's called Fruit Splashers."

Later I hear the kids explaining to their friends how they make this juice.

Aaron and Bekah: "They put in apples and grapes and 'splashers' then they mix it all together."

Was I Cut Out For This?

Lately I've been reminding myself on a daily basis, (sometimes on an hourly basis) that I wanted to become a mother. But I'm not sure I completely understood this contract before I signed on the dotted line.

See, as a young married couple we decided to wait two years before having children, although I would have been secretly overjoyed if we became pregnant during that time. THEN when we decided we were both ready the Lord wanted us to wait another two years...since then I've experienced both extremes of the fertility spectrum...from believing I'd never become pregnant to Mike and I not daring say the word aloud for fear I would become such by mere mention.

In 2002 I did the biggest double take you've ever seen, I didn't know those little sticks could come out positive! Words could not describe my joy! Fast forward 8 years and I'm wondering if I'll survive motherhood. The noise is deafening, the messes are endless, and the stress of keeping up with 4 little whirlwinds is overwhelming!

Did I really want this? Did I really want to be covered in spots and stains, with a baby crying at my feet while I debate with my son about how his homework is to be completed, fight with my daughter about showering, and keeping my other daughter aways from the scissors!? No, I didn't want any of that, but that's what I've got.

When I signed this contract I was dazzled by visions of rocking a pink-little cutie, bundled up soft and warm. Of course I had no idea what the hell people were talking about when they said this parenthood thing was the hardest job on earth. Now I do ... babies grow up and they become as stubborn and difficult as adults! They have their own ideas and they have trouble believing dear old mom might know what she's talking about...(sometimes I do!)

And the final irony...I have another baby, a pink-little cutie that wants nothing more than to be held ALL day and I can't do it. Not unless we want to eat off paper plates and buy new clothes every week instead of washing them. Hey, that might not be a bad idea, I love clothes shopping and hate doing the dishes!





Somehow I doubt the Hubby will go for it.

Oh well, I'll hang it there - somehow. Motherhood at this stage truly is taking it one day at a time and trying very hard not to strangle anyone. For now I think I'll go scream into a pillow, have a good cry, then go read my 4 pink-little cuties some stories.



I'll be okay ... I think. If you see my mascara running next time you see me, you'll know why. Motherhood is kicking my butt!




HARD!

Bad Day

On an already BAD day (the sad thing is it was only 10:30am)
I got out of the shower to discover this, more evidence of Kippy's handiwork:

( Her bangs with lotion mixed in to boot!)

But how do could I stay mad at her with a face like this:

The plus side of this story is two part, 1. She only cut her bangs. (Granted it was the bangs we were trying to grow out) and 2. She may have cut them really short, but she actually did a really good job, I had very little "fixing" to do. She even managed to cut them along her slant and she has a swirl at the top of her forehead that's helping lay back and nicely.

Yes, that's my attempt at looking on the bright side...something I should do more often, especially as a mother of four curious, independent, sassy, naughty, and deceptively cute children!

Sassy?! Ya, sassy. Here she is yelling at Mommy to move out of the way.

I was blocking Sharkboy and Lavagirl.

It's been a bad day. Nine times out of ten Mo screams when I put her down and this morning wasn't any different. So getting ready to go out for our walk was not pleasant. Aaron was fighting me about his show and tell, Emma was growling at me because apparently I "pull" her hair every time I do it, (even though I really do try not to), the toilet was clogged and was NOT unclogging anytime soon. The kids want to watch Sharkboy & Lavagirl for the 5th time in 2 days, I learned distressing news (I'm not blogging about), called Mike to vent, Mo won't take a nap, and I'm desperately craving something chocolatey and bad for me and our house is currently void of any sugar...





I'm not happy! Better call Mike again and tell him I need some chocolate...STAT!

Applesauce

Here's the EVIDENCE & The Victim:


And now, the culprit...

Yes, it's sad but true! How could this adoring big sister be capable of such a heinous crime?

Well, here's the story, apparently you have to be very literal with an almost 4 year old. I was feeding Mosey some applesauce and there were 3 little spoonfuls left. I asked Kippy, (Bekah) if she would feed the baby the rest of the applesauce while I jumped in the shower.

I didn't know she was going to feed her the rest of the applesauce in the house!! When I came out I got a big surprise! When are they going to start surprising me with flowers or candy. I'm tired of messes and it makes for really conflicting parenting tactics when I'm scolding Kippy one minute and then having her pose next to the MESS the next. Oh well, I guess even the pros are taking pictures of their crime scenes...BUT I highly doubt they are then going to go blog about how "cute" it was later.

The Secret

My sister is really into photography and over the years I've learned a few things from her, like the rule of thirds, lighting and color issues when printing. She always takes really great shots of the herself by just holding out the camera at arm's length. See when I try to do the same thing I end up with the goofiest looking pictures and I tend to look like I gained 50 pounds in that one shot! (Something I don't really need.) So I asked her what the secret was...

You take the picture while holding the camera above your face...NOT below!

Above - will help you look thinner and it shadows your features better.
Below - will help you look bloated! And it will most definitely enlarge any hint of a double chin...not something any of us want.

After learning this fun new trick I started playing with my camera.
I took this one of me...(And Yes, I took it from above.)

Thanks for the tips Sis!

Vocabulary

So my kids have always had a vast vocabulary, and the things they do/say astound and amaze me every day. But since Aaron started preschool he's probably been the one that has surprised me the most with some of the words he chooses to use.

(And no, I'm not talking about the "bad words" he may or may not hear Mom & Dad use).

About 2 years ago he started saying, Actually & Besides.

This month he started saying Vehicle...I don't know where he picked that one up.

And the other day he was drawing a picture of outer space with a rocket and planet Earth...

then he drew little dots on earth and said, "I'm drawing these little dots on earth...

they REPRESENT the houses."

WHAT?

How did he learn the word "represent" and then proceed to use it correctly?

Oh ya, he listens to his super-smarty parents talk all day, that's where. :)