busier

Life for me just got a little busier. I started watching a 6 week old baby girl. She's cute and content and I LOVE to hold her, but at my house she has lots of other little mothers...4 little mothers. Halle won't leave her alone and the other little girls I watch follow suit.

So rules had to be laid down. Hands must be sanitized before going near the baby. You can't get in her face or touch her face. Only touch her feet. When baby is sleeping you play downstairs. It seems to be working today. Monday, on the other hand, I thought I was going to go crazy with Halle being right next to the baby all day long (even sneaking in when she was napping!!).

Today is a good day. I feel blessed to be able to watch these little ones. Although it's A LOT of work, I feel blessed to be able to stay at home with my kids. I feel blessed that these parents trust me with their priceless treasures. I do my best to care for them and love them as they do. I also do my best to keep Halle in check...let's be honest, that's the hardest part of my job!

Today while "helping" me change a diaper, Halle said, "Wow Nelly", this baby can't do anything, but she sure can poop!"

Isaac

Happy Birthday Isaac!

It's hard to believe he is 11!

This boy is:

A natural leader

Determined

Strong willed

Smart

Athletic

Responsible

Confident

Brave

Helpful

Mature

A BIG tease

Lovable

Talented

Adventurous

Kind

A chick magnet

As our first born, we as parents have learned A LOT from this boy. We learned kids have opinions at a VERY young age. We have learned (are are still learning) to choose our battles and only the ones with eternal consequences really matter (does it really matter if he wears shorts year round?). We have learned that kids need choices so they feel like they have control. We have learned unconditional love. We have learned that when our own kids accomplish something big, we are just as proud and excited as they are. Who would have thought I would get teary when Isaac completes a race or gets straight A's on a report card?

I love our one on one time with Isaac. The younger kids go to bed about an hour before him and we get that hour to spend together. This is when he open up and talks our head off. I can't say he's an easy kid to raise (are any of them?) but, when given the space he needs, he always makes good solid choices and shows us what a good kid he is. We had dinner with his Primary (Sunday School) teacher on Saturday and she told us what an outstanding boy he is and how he is the leader in the class. The other kids all follow is example. His school teachers have all said the same thing. ( Now if only he was the same way at home) He is a good kid and we are proud of him and the good things he is doing.

Is it just Isaac or are kids getting bigger these days?! At age 11 he is 5'2" and 104 lbs. about the size I was as a freshman in high school.

Every Morning

I have been really, really trying to be good at several things that I'm not typically good at. Goals you might say.

1. Exercising. I hate it. I hate to sweat. I hate trying to find the time. So I just don't do it. Until now. With our Christmas money from parents (and a gift to each other) we bought an elliptical. LONG story short, we finally got it put together 2 weeks ago. 6 weeks after it was delivered! I now get up just before 6 roll my self down the stairs and do a 30 minute workout. I can't say I like it yet, but I'm doing it 5 days a week. That's gotta be good for something.
2. Family Scripture Study. With Aaron's crazy hours, family scripture study hasn't happened for a very long time. I decided at the beginning of the year that I just had to step up and do it with the kids. So I wake them up at 7 and they all roll down the stairs. We read for about 20-30 minutes and they get ready for the day. I have been very proud of them. Almost 2 months under our belt and no complaints...even from the oldest! My favorite part of our reading is listening to Hayden read. Whenever he reads Lord he stretches out the o and the r to Loooooorrrrd. Must be the little bit of Arkansan in him.

3. Personal Scripture Study. This is something I go in spurts with. Sometimes I'm really good, and sometimes I'm not. So once again I had to set a time or it doesn't happen. My daycare kids are usually here by 8, Isaac and Caite get on the bus at 8:10 and Hayden gets on the bus at 9:15. It's pretty quiet for that hour between buses. The day care kids are happily playing down stairs, Hayden does his daily reading, and that's when I can sit and do my scriptures. It works for now. I have a goal to read the Book of Mormon twice this year. That's only 3 pages a day. Easily done. I'm ahead of schedule at this point.

So with those 3 things done every morning, I start my day out right. Now to tackle laundry...the never ending battle!

10 Things

(thanks for the idea Liz)

1. Halle asked me to "call the ear piercing doctor and see if she's ready for her." This girl kills me. 4 going on 14!



2. Last week after one of my babysitting girls finished eating her whole corn dog she said, "Miss Amy, I found a stick in my hot dog!" she was as serious as could be. It made me laugh and we are still laughing about it.



3. I bugs me when my kids get birthday invitations from kids they don't know or hardly know. I understand kids from Church who's parents make them be kind and invite the whole class, but really we aren't offended if we don't know you very well. An invite came for Isaac in the mail today and he said, "Mom, whose this?"



4. My days are busy with daycare kids now. Mondays, I only have 2 extra kids. Tues 5 extra. Wed 4 extra. Thurs 4 extra. And Fri. 3 extra. I start with a newborn in 2 weeks and then things will really be crazy! Yes, I'm out of my right mind...or will be in about a month, but it helps pay the bills right now. The nice part is that the kids play really well together.



5. Kind of stinks that my husband is a doctor, works over 100 hours a week, and gets paid about the same as a MacDonald's employee (okay maybe a little more, but not much). We keep saying...it will be worth it in the end. and the end is coming quickly!



6. Hayden is missing his 2 front teeth and now another front tooth is loose. He will have 3 missing teeth all in a row. Funny looking kid. That cute little smile is still as contagious as ever.



7. Caite has been taking piano lessons for a month now. She loves it! I'm surprised at how quickly she is picking it up. Not something I passed on to her, must be from her Nana. I took lessons for several years as a kid, hated every minute of it. When I was in high school I wanted to give it another whirl, took for a year and still couldn't do it. Tried again in college, took a semester class, passed but only because the teacher saw that I was really trying, not because I could actually do it right. I have a major handicap!



8. Aaron's parents (aka Nana and Papa) are coming in April! Wahoo! we love visitors. Time to start planning fun outings.



9. I have said it a bunch, but as I look out the window and see my kids playing with all the neighbor kids, it makes me happy to know they are happy. what a great feeling!



10. It's Feb. 7 and we have only had one week of cold weather where the kids didn't want to play outside. What happened to winter? maybe I shouldn't ask, I'm happy the way it is.

12 Squared Jan and Feb.

Our 12 squared group is up and going again this year. With the new year, we lost a few friends who found they had limited time and we gained a group of new ones. I'm excited for another year to learn new skills and better the few I have.

January's Square(s) went to Emily

I love the colors and simple pattern she chose. In fact, I will be cutting out more petals for my own quilt using the same colors and adding a little red.

I think it will look great in my living room with our new rug.

February's Square went to Becca. Entitled "Love Letters" very appropriate for Valentine's Day right.

My month is in May, just in time for my birthday. Oh what fun it will be to receive little packets of love during my birthday month! Now to decide on a pattern.

Super Bowl Sunday

It's me and the kids, a bunch of kid food, and the big game. We had a menu of chili dogs, sweet potato fries (with honey lime dip), chips and salsa, cheese dip, crackers with cream cheese pepper jelly, football sugar cookies and pop. Super healthy right?

So yesterday I came down with a fever while making the sugar cookies and this morning I was sick, sick, sick. I didn't feel like cooking at all. So I opened a can of chili we had in food storage and Isaac said, "Mom! Chili can come in a can?" then Caite saw the jar of cheese dip and said, "Mom! you can buy cheese dip already made?" Then Hayden said, "you didn't even make our salsa."

Nice, really nice. I usually pride myself in making most things from scratch. But today they're lucky I even made them their Super Bowl Party dinner. Apparently my kids are spoiled with homemade food (which is a good thing and I wouldn't want it any other way). To my defense I made and frosted 9 dozen sugar cookies last night, made the honey lime dip, and the pepper jelly. So I'm not a complete failure...just sick. And I'm okay with that!

January

January is passing quickly. Life returned back to normal when we got back from Utah. Hospital, babysitting, school. You know the routine. We have only had a few really cold days. It's been nice. The kids have been able to play outside most day.

This is what I LOVE about our neighborhood. Most days you can find a group of kids (1st grade to 6th grade) in our backyard playing football or kick ball. Today, it's football. When it's kick ball, the neighborhood girls join.

Life is good to us. We are happy.