Late night adventures with Betsy

If anyone knows Betsy very well, they know she is a night owl. I put her to bed at 8pm and she is still playing in her room, singing, playing pretend, and all sorts of things until 10pm at least. Last night I gave up waiting her out, (as I knew most nights) and went off to bed. It was about 11pm when Betsy came into my room all bright and bubbly, and here is the gist of the conversation:

Betsy: Mom?

betsy: Mom? (I was sleeping)

Mom: Mmmmm...

Betsy: I made you a picture and really pretty picture and I wrote words on it, and numbers, and pictures of you and me.

Mom: That's nice, I'll look at it in the morning

Betsy: I'll put it on your bed, so it will be the first thing you see in the morning, and make you happy (then proceeded to set it on top of me)

Mom: Thankyou Betsy, I'll see you in the morning

Betsy: Are you wearing your pretty pajamas mommy, becuase if you're not, you need to get out of bed and put on your pretty pink pajamas. (I bought some pink pajamas on clearance and Betsy loves them)

Mom: I'm wearing pajamas, it's okay, goodnight betsy.

Betsy: Well I guess I'll go play some more, I love you mommy, you're the prettiest mommy in the whole entired world (she says entired instead of entire)

She gave me a kiss and then happily skipped out of the room. I don't know exactly how long it was before she finally fell asleep, becuase I fell back asleep pretty quickly. I didn't fully appreciate everything she said until I woke up this morning to her pretty picture. I have a very sweet daughter and I love her very much.

weekend adventures

The blanket fort we made!

On Saturday Austin was invited to a friend's birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza, the kids were all having a good time. Samuel was climbing in the play area and got stuck because he was just a little too short to climb from one landing to the next. He was was halfway up and his legs were dangling off, he asked me to help him, so I climbed part of the way up and grabbed onto his legs to pull him down. Well, he had quite the grip so when I pulled on his legs, instead of him coming down, his pants and pull-up came off. At the angle I was at, all I could reach was his feet so I kept pulling hoping to get him down so I could pull up his pants and pull-up. Some boys down below saw Samuel naked behind sticking out and starting laughing, so Samuel started laughing and kicking his feet, and I still could not get him to let go, so I finally pushed up on his feet and he climbed the rest of the way up onto the landing, and then I convinced him to get down to me, so I could pull up his pants... it's a good thing 2-year olds don't get embarassed.

Earlier in the day I took all the kids to the mall to the build-a-bear store to see if we could get Samuel's "Daddy Bear" fixed. They ended up not being able to fix it : ( and the kids weren't being very good, so as we left I determined not to take them again anytime soon. But after we got home I discovered Austin had brought home one of the little hearts they put in the bears, so we had the "stealing" talk and then I had to take all the kids back to the store, even though I really didn't want to, and have her return the item she had taken. But, I think she has learned a good lesson.

This morning we couldn't find the keys to the van and ended up walking to church, which took us about an hour. Thankfully the weather was nice, and we ended up having quite a nice walk playing "I spy" and the "ABC" game on the way there, except for Betsy and Joseph both tripping and falling. Our friends the Lairds came to the rescue and gave us a ride home (Thank You!) The kids all said they want to walk to church again next week! (aaaahhh!)

So after we got home from church, I told the kids if we found my keys, I would help them build a blanket fort in the living room, and they could all sleep in it tonight (except for samuel), so we found the keys and had fun making a blanket fort!

motherhood

The hardest things I have ever done in my life is become a mother. I love the "babysitter" part of being a mother. When I would babysit kids, we would play and have fun, I didn't have to worry much about the cleaning, the cooking, paying bills excetera... I love playing games with my children, I love talking to them, cuddling, singing, dancing, cooking, walking, bike riding and much more, that is when I am happiest and life feels good. I don't like the cleaning, and household running aspects of motherhood, the endless cycles of picking up toys, laundry, cooking, dishes, sweeping, mopping, cleaning of bathrooms and rooms. It is so hard to find a balance between those and playing and taking care of children. If I keep the house clean, I feel like I'm cleaning all of the time, and feel guilty that I'm not playing with the kids enough and spending quality time with them. But, when I do spend lots of time with them, the house is dirty and then I feel guilty becuase I'm supposed to keep the house clean. And then the worst part is the discipline and saying "no". I want more than anything to be nice to my kids all the time, but they don't always listen and obey, and when they make a wrong choice I have to deliver an appropriate consequence. I hate being upset with them, and especially when I become so upset that I lose control and yell at them, I always feel so horrible after that and cry and ask them for forgiveness. I feel bad when they cry or when I ignore them when their throwing a fit to get attention. Is it normal to feel like a piece of your heart is breaking when your child makes a wrong choice? I always wonder if I'm doing enough for them, teaching them the right things, if they will be ready to withstand the temptations of Satan. How come children make wrong choices before they are 8, if Satan can't tempt them until the arrive at the age of accountability? I know I can only do so much, and the rest is up to them. Why does it feel so wrong, when I have to be strict and consitent with the rules, and the kids are unhappy with me and say I'm mean and don't love them when I have to say "no" or deliver a consequence. Will there ever be a time when we can just be nice to each other and have fun becuase everyone obeys the rules and chooses the right. Forgive me for all my random thoughts, I will be pouring my heart out to my father in heaven tonight, and maybe tommorow I will have my answers. On a brighter note, Joseph had his interview with the Bishop today and was found worthy to be baptized..Yeah!!! He is going to be baptized in June while we're in Oregon by my Dad. I love being a mother and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, I love my children so much; I love their individualality and sweet spirits, and look forward to seeing what they grow up to be.

Dancing with the Kirkmans

Today after church Joseph and I were dancing around in the kitchen, and then all the sudden came up with the idea to do a "Dancing with the stars" in our kitchen. (It's one of my favorite shows, and the kids like to watch it with me. Everyone loved the idea, so Austin grabbed some paper and wrote numbers on them for the judges to use as scores. We decided to have 2 judges, and we would video tape it so Daddy could see. Now when you watch these videos remember we weren't choreographing our routines like they do on the show, this was just us having fun. We didn't tape the scoring, but everyone received a score of 100 (austin made score cards from 1-100) We cleared out our living room so we would have room to dance. Joseph said I had to change into a dancing dress, so I did, and then we hit the record button and had fun. The kids wanted to invite all their friends over to be the audience, but I told them they could see it on our blog, and they wanted everyone to score their dances, so if you could give your scores in the comment section they would appreciate that.

adjusting to changes

So, Travis finally made to Iraq, he had been delayed in Kuwait for a little while. We're all adjusting to having him be gone. Joseph is about the same except for random bursts of kindness from him, where he wants to help me since Daddy is gone. Austin seems to do well except for when she gets hurt or is having a bad day, then she wants her Daddy. Betsy is being less stubborn in school, but more stubborn for me. She liked things a certain way when Daddy was here, and is even more stubborn about it now that he is gone, she is quiet, sad, and scared more when we go somewhere besides the house, although her teacher said yesterday she was laughing again in class. She is a very sweet, sensitive girl, who says very long prayers for her Daddy every night, and throughout the day. Samuel still talks about Daddy whenever he sees something that reminds him of him, and occasionaly insists that he come home now. He spilled water on his Daddy bear (when you push on the paw, it has a message from Daddy that he recorded before he left) and now it doesn't work, he is devistated, but I'm hoping I can hide it, and he will eventually forget about it. Me I'm doing fairly well, I miss him, but I have so many children who shower me with their love that I'm doing good. I have my ups and downs, when frustrating things happen I miss him the most. I'm keeping pretty busy, and trying to have a good attitude. Sundays are usually pretty rough days, but last sunday the bishop in our ward got up and talked about how we need to help those whose husbands are gone, and I received a lot of help from those around me, (especially the Lairds(Thank You!!!) and it made for a much better sunday (I didn't cry, or even feel like crying) The Bishop was truly inspired. I know Heavenly Father is helping me, becuase when things happen and I would normally lose it, I'm able to stay in control and deal with the situation calmly. For instance 2 days ago Samuel took off his diaper in his room and then pooped, and it was all over the carpet, and it took me three hours to clean it, and shampoo his carpet. Today when I went to wake him up from his nap, to go get Betsy from school, he had taken off his pull-up and pooped on the carpet again (although it wasn't quite as bad as before) I really wanted to cry and scream and yell, but I was able to stay calm, and bathe Samuel and clean up the mess, and barely got Betsy from school in time. We love Travis and miss him and pray for his safe keeping.

how many carrots can you fit in your mouth

We were having a snack and I turned around and Betsy and Sam had their mouths full of carrots, I guess Samuel had been taking Betsy's carrots so she hurried and stuck as many in her mouth as she could before Samuel could take any more. I declared Betsy the winner and took some pictures. Poor Betsy, samuel is always taking her stuff

the garden

Here are a few pictures of my garden, I took a couple pictures of my onions becuase a couple of them are flowering on top, I have never had onions do that, so I'm not sure what is going on. Anybody got any ideas?