"Motherhood is like being pecked to death by a duck"

On Fathers Day my Dad gave me a book for Mothers Day called "A Mother's Book of Secrets". I have been reading a little bit here and there and it has really boosted my enthusiasm for being a mom. It was given to me after an exhausting week of one of my children complaining about everything that I would set in front of them at meal time. I either gave them the wrong bowl, the wrong spoon, jelly on an all peanut butter sandwich, the wrong cup, etc. I was beginning to wonder if anything I was doing was right.

Now, looking back, I can tell what I was doing wrong. I have just started my third trimester of my fourth pregnancy and I have all of a sudden been blessed with a boost of energy. During this horrendous week of trial, I rearranged and reorganized Grants bedroom and my bedroom, my house has been freakishly clean (for me) and I didn't give my kids the attention that they needed. In this book, the author is quoting an essay by someone that talks about a picture that she ran across while cleaning one day. The picture was of her kids sitting on a blanket in the shadow of the swing set. This woman said something that made me stop to think. She said, "I wish I could remember what we ate for lunch that day or what we talked about. - I wish I would have lived in the moment more."

So for the last week and a half I have been trying to live in the moment more with my kids. What a difference it makes, not only with them, but for me. I have been able to use my imagination and pretend again. I still have kept the house clean somehow, but I have also played with them and taken time to take a picture or two of them playing well together. It has been a wonderful thing to get to know their little quirks more and to just be carefree like they are.

There was a chapter that I read this morning that the author talked about how she idolized moms that she categorizes as "Library Moms". These are the moms who take their kids to the library, and to story hour and "speak to their kids in hushed tones". Their kids have clean faces and perfectly combed hair, etc. She goes on to say that she is usually the exact opposite of the typical "Library Mom" - she is the one that is racing through the library trying to keep up with her kids with a baby on one hip and a stack of books on the other. While trying to get her kids to stop yelling with excitement about the book that they have picked out. This made me chuckle, because this is how I feel a lot of the time. In fact it wasn't too long ago that I was out running errands and was trying to get home for lunch, when McKinley (whose hair was neatly done), decided to pull her hair out and look scary. So we had to add one more errand to our list and stop by the house to get a spray bottle and a comb to re-do her hair before I went to another store.

Anyway, this has been fun to be reminded of the work moms do for their families. And to remember and be thankful for the opportunity I have to be a mom. I love being a mom more than anything in the world, and love each of my kids individuality and spunky little quirks. Even after a long trying day or week, just to hear the words "I love you too mom." makes it all worth it. Just to have 30 minutes of listening to all three of my kids or even just Grant and McKinley playing and imagining together, makes all the arguments and complaining about dinner or breakfast seem like nothing. I know that I am not a "Library Mom" no matter how hard I try I probably will never be one, but like this author said, I am trying to "become my own kind of "best mom".

Grandpa Wally gave us his trampoline and Jackie is still getting used to it.  She has graduated from just jumping one foot at a time to both feet and she is starting to get pretty high.

"Ring around the rosy . . . "

"Pocket full of posy . . . "

"Ashes, ashes, only one falls down?"

It's about time . . .

Okay, so two months after I started to play with blogger, I am finally adding something other than our picture. I started to put a blog together and I don't know what I did, but I lost my layout page for a time, and couldn't figure out how to get it back. Pretty pathetic when I graduated in business last year and can't even figure out how to use blogger. Anyway, things got hectic and I haven't taken the time to sit and play on the computer.

So here goes - two weeks ago, I was in charge of my Dad's family reunion. I made everyone drive down to Moab, but it was pretty fun and relaxing. We were only there for one night, but it was fun to take the kids camping. The first day we went for a "little" hike in arches and went to see Double Arch. The kids all had fun running around and not having to be stuck in a car seat anymore. Bart took Grant, McKinley, Millie, and Aiden and went ahead, but Michelle, Avery and I had to wait for Jackie because she wanted to walk and not be carried. When we got to the arch I thought Bart was pretty brave for taking the four little ones with him to scale the side of the arch with only himself, but luckly no one got hurt, except for my minor leg cramp on the way back down.

The next day we spent the morning at the pool and then ate lunch and visited with everyone. The weather was pretty cool so we didn't melt too bad. The kids had a blast at the pool, the water was pretty cold, but luckily there were 3 hot tubs that the little kids played in the whole time.

Grant, Millie, Aiden, Bart, McKinley, Avery, Michelle & Jackie

Bart, Grant, Millie, Aiden, McKinley braving the side of the mountain.

Jackie walking in the sandy path - by herself.

Grant, Aiden, Avery, Millie, Wendy, Jackie, McKinley & Bart.  McKinley saw a lizard off the trail a bit and screamed when it moved.  Then she wanted Bart to carry her.

This was us leaving our house heading for Moab, everyone had to have something to take with them.  McKinley had my sunglasses and a book, Jackie has her baby and a book and Grant had to have his glasses and Ernie.