Weekend Review

Saturday was Morgan's turn to go skiing with Ryan, and goodness she was excited! She got a little nervous here and there, but she's getting the hang of it.

I cannot believe how much Morgan looks like me when I was her age...especially in this photo! She's my little mini-me!
While they were out skiing I tackled some of my projects. Slow going with three kids home, but at least I got started.

First up, recover the chairs in the kitchen. I found some fabric (wait, my friend totally found it and I was sold instantly), and bought new foam pads (which was the most expensive part!) and some clear vinyl go over it.

Before: ewww, so dirty!
I got crazy with a staple gun and voila!

I think it turned out pretty good...and hopefully my handy work will hold up! One down, now three more to go.

After I ran out of staples I moved on to another project: my curtains. Remember my failed curtain rod hanging session the other day? I CANNOT drill holes where I want the curtain rod...there must be some kind of metal in the wall blocking my path. So I decided to use the old holes that were already there to just hang the curtains...in the meantime, I'll try to figure something out so I can have it they way I want it!

So, in this picture the rod is NOT where I would like it to be. I would like it hanging above the window several more inches. So, my curtains aren't hemmed yet...but you get the idea.

I'm thinking a blue-gray color for the walls. Slowly, but surely, I'll get there!

Sunday we celebrated Jeffy's birthday. I had a little family get together and served up some Parmesan chicken...oh, and we had a HUGE chocolate cake! Good times.

Rory and a much needed break!

Rory is smiling more and more...and I've even heard the starting of some cooing! And I'm just loving her blue eyes! All my babies have had blue eyes that slowly turned to brown within their first year. But it seems Rory's are more blue than the others, and I'm really hoping they stay...they are so pretty!

Dare I share that she is sleeping through the night already?! I know, I'm a lucky gal! I certainly don't want to jinx myself, but I'll take it while I have it! I lay her down by 8 and she gets up around 5ish to eat and then sleeps again until 9 or so. It's as if she knows how frazzled I am in the day so she gives me this little gift of sleep...thank you Rory.

And speaking of being frazzled, in the day she definitely lets me have it. It seems that all my projects are going to the wayside. When ever I try to sneak away during a peaceful moment...these children realize what I'm up to. Someone will all of a sudden need something, Rory decides she's hungry, Piper gets into something, a cup gets spilled, a fight breaks out, a kid is crying about something, or someone is poopy.

Yesterday I spent an hour trying to hang a curtain rod in the dining room. And at the end of that frustrating hour I was left with numerous holes in the wall and a curtain rod that ended up too short for the window. And to add to my lack of handy skills, I had a fussy baby by my side which just fuels my frustration. That curtain rod almost met an untimely death by being beaten against a tree. Luckily though I didn't resort to that but decided to walk away from the project and call my mom...and complain. She never minds listening to my woes and always makes me feel better!

So after a week of trying to squeeze some kind of project in when ever I get a chance and half the time failing...today, I decided to give it a rest! My friend is coming over during Piper's nap and we are going to indulge something sweet and rich while watching "Drop Dead Diva"! I need some girly adult time!

Weekend Review

Ryan had to work over the weekend and my quest to be a super awesome mom while he was gone was proving to be more difficult by Saturday. First of all, it was raining all day so the idea of going anywhere with everyone just sounded exhausting to me. And then the girls were just bickering and fighting nonstop which drove me bonkers!

To add things to the mix I discovered that our basement window well filled up with water and began to stream through the window flooding our basement. So, in the pouring rain I had to lower myself into the well amongst prickly berry bushes to empty it using a 5 gallon bucket. Morgan was a sport, and helped me quite a bit!

It was pretty comical actually watching her drag the buckets of water away from the well to dump out. Water kept splashing up all over her. And as you can see, she was only wearing a big T-shirt, jacket, and boots...her choice by the way. Pretty good look.

Haley snuck away and then appeared in the window with little signs that cheered me on.

Luckily, I managed to stop the water from destroying our basement and fixed the rain gutter that caused all the mess. Of course this was all after my panicked phone call to my dad, "What do I do...water is coming through the window?!!!!" Thanks for you help dad!

Sunday went a little more smoothly, thank goodness!

Some Valentine decorations we made. I thought the girls did a great job! Although, after this project it looked like a glitter bomb exploded in my kitchen! I think I'll be finding glitter in there for months!

Oh, and we finally got snow!

Oldie, but a goodie.

Can I just say how much I love this show...only the first couple of seasons though, after that the show just goes downhill. But it's a bit nostalgic for me when I watch it. Plus, it just looks like so much fun to live in a town where everyone knows everyone. Ryan got me the first two seasons for Christmas and I've been watching it while he's been gone.

And speaking of him being gone...I'm killin' it with my super awesome mom skills this week! Yeah, that's right...even with a nasty cold, which I have. Yeah, pretty proud of myself.

All my children.

I love looking through old photos. And after we did Rory's newborn picture I couldn't help but go back and look at the other girls. They are all so precious, so many memories come rushing back when I look at them. I truly love that newborn stage...even with the sleepless nights.

Haley, August 2004.
Morgan, July 2006.

Piper, April 2010.

Rory, December 2011.

In other news, Ryan left yesterday morning for Denver. He'll be gone til Thursday, but then he's working in SLC at the Outdoor Retail Convention for the rest of the week and most likely the weekend. So, in other words, I'm on my own this week...my first time with all four children. And Monday being a holiday (no school) I was a little worried how my day would go with everyone home.

But all went well...really well actually! Started out with waffles, then to the Life Science Museum, lunch, Piper napped while the girls played, afternoon movie, more play time, made their own pizza's, bedtime. The only time it got crazy was trying to get everyone in bed, but we survived.

Unfortunately, I've got a bit of a cold...okay, a pretty bad cold. After feeding Rory at about 5 in the morning I had a coughing fit that just wouldn't quit. Basically, I was up for the day. I pretty much feel like crapola today...and to make matters worse I think Haley is coming down with the same cold. She went to school and all, but we'll see how the week goes.

I think some good old homemade chicken noodle soup is on the menu for tonight!

Weekend Review

The weekend update:

Saturday Ryan took Haley skiing for a good chunk of the day. She loved it!

The girls did some bike riding in the cul-de-sac.

While we were in California we brought home my brother's old mountain bike from when he was a kid for Haley to ride. She has to get used to the brakes and gears but it won't be long and she'll be out on the trails!

Morgan has now taken over Haley's old bike.

We're starting to see Rory's first smiles! Melts my heart!

Hanging out watching a movie.

Haley got a hold of the camera. And when she does, I get a bunch of blurry pictures to go through...like this one.

And there are always a ton of pictures of the dogs....blurry too.

And a few weird pictures, like her feet. Thanks Haley, I'm glad we were able to document your seven year old feet.

Rory's cheeks are getting chubbier...I love that!

Piper giving her kisses. Doesn't Rory looked thrilled?

Funny story:

A while back Morgan accidentally clogged the toilet. It was very traumatic for her as she thought the water was going to spill all over the floor. It didn't...and Ryan promptly fixed it. But she has not forgotten the whole ordeal. Flushing a toilet is a very terrifying experience for her, and she always makes a huge fuss and she insists that we are by her side the whole time. She would even prefer that we stand there with a plunger in hand at the ready, but we won't go that far though.

So as she's making a huge fuss about going to the bathroom I say to her, "Well, if you don't go in the bathroom I guess you'll have to go outside and go behind a bush."

She gets a huge look of relief on her face and says, "Okay".

Well, that backfired.

2012 here we come!

As you probably already know, 2011 was a challenging year for us.

* Ryan put in his resignation at Reynolds to become a full time Independent Sales Rep. With the economy in the dump, saying goodbye to a steady paycheck and free health insurance was a risky move.

* Right after a he put in his resignation we discovered that I was pregnant...oops. I mean surprise!!

* Had to scramble to find health insurance only to discover that no one would take us because I was pregnant and therefore a liability...and they wouldn't take Ryan because he was married to someone knocked up. So in the end we had to go with COBRA which unfortunately came with a hefty price!

* Then we discovered I had a subchorionic hematoma and had to be put on strict bed rest. That turned into 7 weeks of sofa surfing. It was a crazy time to say the least! Ryan taking on more responsibilities around the house while adjusting to a new work schedule was extremely challenging! Thank goodness for our parents who swooped in to help us out!

* I got off bed rest and we had an a somewhat relaxing Summer.

* When I was 29 weeks pregnant I went into early labor and had to stay at the hospital for nearly a week. Luckily my cervix decided to hang in there and I was sent home for some more bed rest. Another 8 weeks of that!

* Finally, when I made it to 37 weeks I was given the okay to get off bed rest. But as luck would have it I carried my baby all the way to term. And in the end I was induced on my due date.

* We welcomed our newest member of the family, Rory, on December 1st!

So yeah, 2011 pretty much revolved around a crazy, scary, unpredictable pregnancy...and a lot of bills!!

We're hoping this year will be a little easier on us...I think we deserve it.

Some things I want to focus on for 2012:

* Catch up on some home decorating. Painting the walls and complete a few projects that I have in mind.

* Get back to my sporty self...I miss it.

* Having more fun with my kids instead of getting caught up in everyday tasks. Enjoying the little moments more!

So, with that...2012 here we come!

Not feeling the mom thing today.

I woke up this morning really missing being sporty. I miss being fit. I miss being skinny. I miss being strong and athletic.

I don't want to do laundry today. I don't want to change diapers or nurse or clean up messes today. I'm feeling selfish.

I'm craving some dirty mountain biking...weird? Perhaps.

Family Night Failure

I've been trying to stay consistent with having family night every Monday. I think it's important...I do. Plus, the kids love it! I'm kind of a rookie with the whole thing, but I'm learning...kind of.

So tonight we were all going to sit down together and come up with goals for the new year. One goal in education, another in sports, and finally a goal for family/home. Each person would record their goals on paper and decorate it all cutesy and then hang them in their room. Ryan and I even made ours before hand so we would have a model of what they could look like for the girls. So we all get together around the table, have our opening prayer (which Haley gave beautifully), I'm feeling like a super awesome mom because my family looks so perfect at that moment. Everyone is eager and happy.

Ryan and I talk about goals so they have some understanding and show them our samples and what our goals are for the year. Okay, so far so good. We lay the markers out, give them paper and they get to it.

Then everything went downhill from there. The girls spent way too long writing their names at the top of the page, making it all curly letters and swirls and this and that all over their letters. I guess I made the mistake of making my letters in my name a little too cutesy because they focused mainly on that instead of my goals! Rory screamed the entire time in my arms. Piper kept scribbling on the walls and on herself. Markers kept falling on the floor and caps went missing. And then when they were finally ready to write their goals, they ask, "What's a goal?" WHAT?! Are you kidding me?! Where were you when I just explained all that?!!

Anyway, at that point all I wanted to do was rip their papers into teeny tiny pieces and throw the markers across the room! Yeah, super awesome mom...not so much.

They didn't even finish...I was too frustrated. Maybe we'll try again tomorrow...maybe not. But do you know what the worst part is? My goal for the family/home was to "RELAX! Don't stress over the little things!" Damn...failed again.

Finally some snow!

After an extremely dry December without any snow, today we finally woke up to a Winter Wonderland. I just love new fallen snow on the tree limbs...it's so pretty. After breakfast the girls headed outside, jammies and all! This is the first time Piper has been able to play in it...and let me tell ya, she loved it!

Long Beach

Yet again I failed at taking pictures...maybe one day when I get a new camera I'll be more motivated. But I got a few.

As soon as I recovered from my mysterious stomach bug we headed out of town to my folks house in Long Beach. We crossed our fingers and just hoped nobody else came down with it. Luckily, no one did!

This was our first trip in our new (to us) Suburban! And the first with four children too! I must say, it was so nice to have all the space, and not to have the kids breathing down our necks in the car the for once.

While there Andrew's girlfriend, Nicole, surprised the girls with a trip to Disneyland! She scored four free tickets for our family! So on Friday Andrew, Nicole, my mom and our entire family spent the day at Disneyland. The girls were overjoyed! Unfortunately, the park had record (RECORD, I tell you) crowds that day...it was insane! Thank heavens for fast passes! They save a ton of time! The two bigger rides we took the girls on were Big Thunder Mountain, which Morgan absolutely LOVED (although I constantly thought she was going to fly right out of her seat the entire time) and Splash Mountain. And Haley's favorite was the Jungle Cruise.

We celebrated another Christmas with all the Grandparents. Everyone got to meet Rory.

With celebrating Christmas, New Year's and just later nights in general, this was a common site:

Haley falling asleep in random places.

Lets see there were also outings to the beach, a breakfast date for Ryan and I, family New Year's picture (it will take the place of a Christmas card), Rory's newborn photo, and lots of visiting with family. Another enjoyable trip! Now we're home and I'm looking forward to a nice quite January to catch up on everything I put off last month.

Happy New Year Everyone!!