{crazy}

Sometimes I seriously feel like a blue heeler trying to heard cattle.

Sometimes I think I may be making a spectacle of myself when I try to take all of the kids places by myself.  People are probably thinking, "Lady, you are crazy".

I will never again bring all the kids to Fountain Hills where there are lots of duckys, and a hill to chase the ducks down that leads to a small body of water.  It has taken a full 12 hours to recover from that little trip that I started out thinking that I was such a fun mom.

Perhaps I am CRAZY!

Oh well.  

What am I to do?

Stay home?

Perhaps I will next time:-)

Time is speeding by way too fast.  I'm not too sure I am doing the very best job @ this motherhood thing.  Sometimes I am not very patient and sometimes I do things I said I would never do as a mother.  All I know is I feel such a great responsibility to make sure my kids know the importance of the family unit and how it plays into the role of the great Plan of Salvation.    

As we recently celebrated Maren & Maile's birthday I have reflected on how fast all of this aging business has crept up on our family.  Just yesterday they were born on a snowy Jan. evening and now they are embarking upon elementary school.  Five years old seems so much older than four years old and apparently they seem to think so too because we have had morning talks of what to name Maile's 7 boys and 7 girls when she becomes a mom.  Funny thing, just yesterday she didn't want any kids.  Nonetheless she has settled on the following names thus far:

Purple Lightning

Red Scarf

Olivia

Good thing we live close to the reservation so that she can find herself a nice Navajo boy...haha! I don't want to think that far into the future.

That same morning as I observed all kids eating breakfast my heart melted.  I turned to Waylon & told him that I wanted to pour choc. syrup all over them so that I can gobble them up.  Without skipping a beat Maile & Maren both said, "Eeew Mom that is disgusting because then you would have to eat blood & bones & eyes"  

Smart cookies I say.

Happy Birthday little girls!

{table for two}

Maile kept pointing to her cup this morning and telling Maren that her cup was called clear. Maren kept saying, "my cup is not "Claire". Out of frustration Maile said, "Maren not your friend Claire..ccleeaarr"

The conversations between these two are quite entertaining.

The best was when the girls scurried down onto the floor to reap the rewards of a large shattered candy cane. Without thinking I said, "girls stop picking things up off the floor like little rats. Maren looked up at me and said, " Mom we're not rats we're mouses". Well then, carry on, carry on, I thought. What was I suppose to say to that one except its mice, not mouses. They really put me in place on a daily basis. I mean why did I even have to tell them not to eat the candy cane off the floor when there are many more real problems out there in the world.

They are the best teachers.

Motherhood & family pictures

Life has been so busy but really quick here are a few of my thoughts on why I love what I do:

"The biggest thing that I do right now is being a Momma and the thing that I love the most about it is that my kids have given me an opportunity to learn how to love and serve more fully.  Lots of satisfying life's lessons have been learned through this venture & it's been a very refining process.  Makes me realize how far I really need to come in this life but how far I have come all @ the same time.  It's also very satisfying to know that I can do things that I never thought I could do.  Motherhood is not always the easiest so when I experience little successes along the way I am on cloud nine.  I love that being a Mom makes me feel stronger.  Also when you try to look through the eyes of a child it makes things more magical & you want to celebrate the "ordinary" a little more."

Family pictures this year were very fun...sort of:-)

My boys....

so sweet...so tender..

This is what we deal with on a daily basis.  I like the vein sticking out of Christian's neck...no he's not mad.  The joys of two year old boys.  At least they're cute.

Halloween

Halloween is not my most favorite holidays.  The boys costumes were a big hit.  Maren wanted to be Fancy Nancy and well Maile just wanted the zip up rabbit costume and let me tell you I was just fine with that.  Her costume was so low maintenance and took zero creativity.  I kept thinking she looked like she was wearing the aardvark costume from Better Off Dead.  All in all it was a fun night especially because Papa & Grandma came for a visit. The girls kept wanting to hear the "Beetles" play.  Next year I swear I will have every ones costumes lined up at least a month in advance rather than 2 days in advance.

{savor, relish, enjoy, bask}

Today I had the overwhelming feeling that time just decided to hop on the Concorde.  There's a small problem though...I don't want to be on that fast plane.  I want things to S L O W down.  In fact sometimes I would like to hop on a time machine and rewind to go back and hold my small babies (or go back and even be a baby myself...but that's only when I'm feeling a little done with the day...you know when every single kid screams while trying to keep the basic groceries just to survive.  I love it when people stare.)  

Anyway,  here we are in the holiday season again but I swear we were just there yesterday.  When I was a kid it felt like I was riding a boat, maybe even a sailboat all the way around the world to get to Christmas.  It seemed like it took forever.    

*******

On Sundays we are always in a big hurry to make it to church by 8:30 AM but for some strange reason that is the only morning the girls sleep in or are not hungry & do not want to eat their breakfast.  I always have what I call the big Sunday knot in my stomach.  I'm thinking that is probably no way to start one of the most uplifting days of the week out.  I always have to convince myself that who really cares anyway...at least I am going even if we are 20 minutes late.  "Remember S L OW down", I reminded myself again this morning.  That is why when I came out of my room ready to go & found 4 out of the 5 sitting on the green chairs, I didn't care that we were already late because I was going to live in the moment and enjoy these crazy houligans. 

NOTE TO SELF:  In case I get all grouchy and forget about my feelings in this post then please refer to the above "buzz words" in the blog post title and try again to savor, relish, enjoy & bask in the moment, which means to S L O W down.