All you single ladies

I don't know how you do it. Even though my dad was around when I was a kid he usually worked which means my mom went to a lot of school, church and holiday functions alone with all us kids(I have 5siblings:)
I woke up 30 minutes before my alarm today and just layed in bed thinking about everything I had to do today with out my mom or Jones here, and telling myself it is going to be great. It is going to be smooth. There will be no crying from me or kids. We will be festive and happy. We will take naps!

And at the end of the day I will wonder how I did it and we will start again tomorrow.
3 more minutes til my alarm...
Happy Halloween :)

growing pains

Ummm can my kids please just stop growing and changing on me, please?

The moment I feel like we have gotten into a routine and predictable behaviors with the kids they change, again, in ways that are fun, hilarious, amazing but most importantly right now, exhausting. Alfred is currently the worst offender. He went from my quiet observant child, chill so long as he was held or had food in his high chair to mister yell all he time. At first it was more of a "wow, is that my voice?!" happy yell, but it has evolved into a "I can't talk and I am mad so I will yell" about everything. If I poor milk into someones bowl before his, if he wants up or down, if I am sitting and he doesn't like it, but most especially if someone has an iproduct of any kind he will not stop yelling or grabbing and pushing until it is his. He is the most hard headed (literally :) 18 mo I have ever had. I sometimes like to add fuel to the fire by asking him to give me a kiss when he is yelling at me for something. He shakes his head (hasn't learned to say no, too busy yelling) and refuses to do it. Although he has learned to give me a big aggressive hug which he thinks is just as good and then continue to yell for what he wants. We are at the beginning stages of time out and getting in trouble with him and I am finding myself wishing I had the time and energy I had with C to talk with Alfred more and discipline better. I also find myself expecting Alfred and Tober to respond like C did/does and they never do. So there are the growing pains of learning to communicate with the extremely different personalities I have been so blessed with.

Since I am sure you are probably tired or bored by my talk of Alfred and his newly developed voice, lets talk about Tober, my yes/no girl. She has become defiant rude and extremely indecisive or I suppose you could call it wanting everything to be her idea. It is actually pretty cute, cause she is so cute, but it is also obnoxious :) Since she was tiny she did this thing where she says no first and then yes. Since I am aware that she does this I always ignore the no and just wait for her to say yes, but it has developed into something much worse...

this is a conversation we had last night.

me- Do you want to sleep with Clark? (she was in clark's bed)
her - no
me - ok then come get in your bed
her- but I do.
me- ok then fold your arms for prayer
her -but I don't!! (angry)
back and forth a few more times til I say- TOO bad!
tuck her in and say goodnight
She says "somebody is making me just so angry"

later I find her in her own bed, and first thing in the morning she tells me 'I just wanted to sleep in my bed'

Now apply that to every conversation we have.

She also likes to say these phrases often
"leave me alone"
"just stop telling me"
"I wasn't talking to you"
I say, Tober that is rude and she says "it just isn't"

I try talking to her but I haven't been able to figure out a way yet that I feel like actually gets through to my beautiful, rude little 3 year old.

I feel like I am figuring it our slower than they are.

Then last but not least we have C, boy genius, who I feel I am letting down constantly by letting him get away with playing so many video games/TV watching. He is so smart and his brain just absorbs information, yet as his Mom I worry that I don't provide him with things that stimulate his mind or push him. Then he has the role of being the oldest and I demand so much from him, he helps so much around the house and with his siblings but I feel like I am harsh with him when he is being goofy or not paying attention when he does things "he knows he shouldn't" Sometimes he acts pouty, whiney and silly when the others are already acting out  I get so frustrated and the " knock it off"s and "you know better"s come out. I used to talk with him more about his behavior and work things out with him, now it is a quick reprimand and negative tone more often than not.

And here I am with this fourth little one growing inside of me, kind of wondering if I can keep up.

Hopefully they will be able to forgive me even though I can't and they will know that I loved them through all these growing pains. At least give me an A...maybe B :) for effort.

WY

At the beginning of this month I made a phone call to a good friend of mine, I met her when I very first started this blog way back when Jones and I did a stint in TX with the Ntnlguard. I wanted to vent and get advice about how to make sure we get paid since the army has a habit of being slow about these things. After talking for a bit I, off handed, said wish we could come see you, {which was impossible due to our lack of car and money...} Then being the crazy spontaneous and hospitable person she is, my friend said that her brother in law was coming up the next day, and she was sure he and his wife would bring us up.

I laughed, it seemed too far fetched that I could leave in less than 24 hours. I mean, I am old and have responsibilties, not to mention a kid in school. After giving it some thought and talking with Jones, I threw caution to the wind, and now here we are in the tiny town of Baggs, WY {pop. 440} They have graciously taken us in, fed us and entertained us as if it were nothing. It is a pleasant change. They live on a ranch and there are horses and cows right outside the door, the kids get to enjoy playing with their kids who are older 11,10, 8 and love to play with my kids. Alfred is adored and Tober has a girl to take her away to play dress up. Since they all go to work and school during the day we have the house to ourselves, which is nice sometimes.
Tonya wanted my help decorating and bought paint and a few supplies, so I have been busy during the day while people are gone and mine are napping, painting away while listening to music.

I finally, a week after getting here, got rid of my cough and stuffy nose. Now I only suffer from being a tired pregnant lady :) it is welcome.

After a month apart I am really missing my husband, we get to talk on the phone a lot which is nice but often the phone calls are interrupted by yelling crazy children. It is good to know that after all this time, we are still each others best friend. We are coming up on our 7 year anniversary, Jones is scheduled to graduate from this training on our anniversary, a nice gift would be getting to see him soon after that...we'll see.

Well I am off to make lunch and paint more kitchen cabinets.

Pinned it, Did it.

When I first started hearing about pinterest, Jones would say, "you are going to become obsessed like all my friends wives", I just thought, great one more site to waste time at. I made a promise that if I ever used pinterest it would be to help me accomplish things I wanted to do. I have been pretty successful so far and use it to inspire my actual life.

So anyways just wanted to share a few of my pinned it and did it experiences.

Anthroplogie T (that actually went on sale for a good price)

I love that it looks cozy and yet nice still not your ordinary T-shirt

To make my own I used a beautiful light pink scallop print cotton from my local Joann's, and to layers of black chiffon. 

I was terrified to sew with chiffon but for this project it was a breeze. I used a french seam to keep the insides clean and bias tape around the neck and arms. Cost $10, and about 45 minutes to sew. :)

Next

Sugar Bee Crafts Giant print for $13

I knew I wanted to get a giant print of each of my babies once we get to Maryland, but I jumped the gun and got one of Tober cakes for her birthday. I went to kinkos and got a 22"x 28" poster for 2.78 cents

I chose those measurements because they are the measurements for the ready cut foam boards you can get at any Target, Wal-mart etc. another 2.50 for my board and this project cost me a little of $5

Of course, the sugar bee version also involves mod podge which I didn't do. I plan on most likely framing mine, so each one will end up costing about $25-$27

A few more I have done but don't have pictures to show for it.

DIY pencil skirt

Fun and easy.

 DIY heart elbow pads

I cheated and used fleece that I sewed on.

DIY Box spring into bed frame. 

Made such a huge impact for so little effort.

Again easy and cute!

So there you go. If you love Pinterest (like I have come to) use it for more that just blowing your mind :) 

I hope to continue to use it as a resource to take things from just a thought to an actual thing.

I should really try to conquer some of those recipes I pinned...especially the cookies...hmmm next payday for sure.

on a side note, and I am sharing this because I am sure this kind of thing happens to all of us. I have had this project on my mind for the last 18 months and I have never pinned it because I have never seen it done before...until today that is.

I had this idea that I really wanted to hang a piece of art to represent each state we have lived in. I want to get a pretty piece of simple wood and using nails and thread create the shape of the state with a heart for the city we lived in. The only thing that has held me back is that I want a nice place to hang these and we didn't really have that in Provo... anyways...

Look what I found on Apartment Therapy today.

I guess I have something to pin after all...

There is no such thing as an original idea, right? :)

Spare change

I was in the car, on my way to get free legal aid. The purpose of the legal aid is too fight for our deposit, or the 82% that our landlord decided to keep. I needed to print some documents before my meeting, but I left the house with only $1.25 in change, which is all the money I have. I had forgotten to pick through my jewelry bowl for more and realized I wouldn't have enough change to get all my documents printed. I searched through the car and found a dime. The thought crossed my mind that what I was doing wasn't worth it. Why was I waisting my brother's gas, and my time on money I was probably never going to see again.

It was a quick moment of discouragement, then I had the idea that my sister's house was on the way to the library, I stopped and she gave me some extra change, and I was back on track. I got to the library, sat down at the computer and as soon as I tried to login up popped a notice that my account was suspended til I paid for some scratches on a DVD. I wasn't going to be able to print what I needed.

Eventually I got there on time, didn't end up needing the documents, and left happy and with what I came for. Somehow I felt grateful for my struggle of trying to make $1.25 go farther than it possibly could, leading to thoughts of "I can pay them in gum and cough drops." because despite how desperate my situation seemed, I had a car, a sitter, a way to get extra change, and the answers I needed, all given to me for free with other people's sacrifice. I am working on being less ashamed of needing the help and being grateful to the people who give it.






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