Jumpin' Jellyfish!

I hope you did, too!

But around 5pm, everyone got grumpy.

G.R.U.M.P.Y.

Sariah wouldn't let bacon-bringer wash her hair. So dad had to do it a little grumpily, and her consequence is right to bed. So she's back in her room, whimpering because she is now miraculously distraught over her choice.

James isn't feeling 100% quiet yet (been sick since Sunday afternoon).

I was trying to cook dinner and kids were arguing, and ARG! Just one of those moments where I wanted to put everyone outside and close the door. But I didn't. I turned on some music, let the kids pepper the living room with books, and I finished dinner...was a small miracle.

Little Big Boy

He grew up. I knew he would, and he's such a handsome boy now. He's a stinker, but what else would you expect from an almost 3 year old? He beams with glee when he does or says the right thing that sends his sister into a tizzy. Which means he's fitting into his role as younger brother just perfectly.

But one night, as I put him in his crib, I realized that he didn't even fit. He's too tall/long for his crib. The very next weekend, I took him to Target to pick out a blanket and pillow for his brand new big boy bed. He LOVES it! He probably loves it because he actually has room to sprawl out and get comfortable. But the funny thing is he doesn't know he's allowed to get out. When he wakes up in the morning or in the afternoon from his nap, he'll call for me just like he used to from his crib. Shhhhh - don't tell him!
Before I know it, he'll be in school, then passing the sacrament, then dating, then on a mission, and then having a family of his own. And I'm going to enjoy each and every stage because being a mom is the second greatest gift (only second to being a wife to my handsome bacon-bringer).

But for now, I'll lay by him at night, sing him a song, and snuggle with him until he can't stand it anymore. I'll wash his hair, count his toes, and kiss his owies. I'll let him say his prayers, where he's thankful for quesadillas, story time, and mud. I'll walk away when he throws his temper tantrums, count to 3 before a timeout until I'm blue in the face, and play referee. I'll melt when I look into his chocolate brown eyes, smile when he says, "I lub you too mommy," but I won't give in when he says, "Last time, mommy" when he is jumping into my pile of clean clothes on the bed.
Every day I get with this boy is heaven.

P.S. Sorry, Grandma Franklin! He inhabited your bed out of necessity. But don't worry! By the time you get here for the summer, you can either have the bottom bunk of Sariah's beds, or you will have your bed back.

No Excuses

(My bootcamp buddy!)

I'm overweight. I have been since I was about 6 years old. This comes as no surprise to anyone, and I haven't ever really cared what anyone else thought of me. I was happy, I was athletic, and I was strong. I could squat more than half of the boys in high school, and I could ride a horse like nobody's business. I had a lot of muscle, and didn't ever think much about trying to be thin because I knew I never would be.

Fast forward to me a couple months ago. 30 years old. Still overweight. My body doesn't function quite like a normal person's. I have cysts on my ovaries, which complicates my blood sugar, which complicates a lot of things. But I'm still incredibly healthy! But in order for my body to function at its best, I had to eliminate flour and sugar from my diet. Not everyone has to do this but for me, my body, my mind...it's what I had to do.

Fast forward to today. Still 30 years old. No flour. No sugar. Bootcamp strength training on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and jogging on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. And guess what? I gained weight. Frustrated? If only there were the words. But still healthy! (Thank goodness.)

I met with my new doctor, who I ADORE. She and I are thinking there's a missing puzzle piece because the weight should be coming off steadily with what I am doing. But it's not. So we did a whole bunch of blood word to see if we can find something else going on that I wasn't aware of. This is really hard for me because I'm not one for excuses. I do what I need to do and for a while, the weight was coming off. But then it came right back on and I didn't change anything. Perplexing.

So if something comes back in my blood, such as a hormone that's out of whack or something, will I be happy? Sure because maybe it will be an easy "fix." But if nothing comes back and I'm still 100% perfectly healthy? I will be happy about being healthy, but I will be irritated about my inability to lose this. 2 weeks is my follow up! In the mean time, I have made an amazing friend who's a walking nutrition bible. She doesn't think she is, but she is a wealth of knowledge. I've been picking her brain, and she even sent me her workbook! EEK! I'll keep doing what I'm doing - no excuses, remember?!

In other thoughts...I can hardly believe how grown up Sariah is. She will be 5 in July and starting Kindergarten. She's as beautiful as ever, tall and lanky, but said to her dad last night for the first time when he asked her to get in the bath: "You can't make me!" Oh no?

She was in bed 5 minutes later with no bath, no story, and no song. She did get a prayer, but that kind of sass will not be tolerated. I doubt that is the last time that phrase is heard, but it will never be reinforced, validated, or accepted.
She is getting to be so thoughtful towards James, and really "mothers" him a lot. She is very vocal about all of her emotions - whether they be positive or negative. That is one thing I truly admire about her - she will tell you what she thinks no matter what! I always try to listen and allow her to get all of her feelings out because it helps her to feel better, and then she will be in a better place to listen to my reply. I hope she always comes to me to share what she is feeling and thinking...and I hope I always listen. Even if the topic is hard for me to swallow.
What she doesn't realize is that Heavenly Father knew I needed her more than she needed me. She was sent to our family to teach Jared and I things, and that she is. Love. This. Girl.

Toilet Paper Tower

There's nothing that building a toilet paper tower can't fix! I unwrapped a huge package of rolls from Costco...and the kids went to town. Their imagination ran wild and they had so much fun!!

I had a thought cross my mind today, and that was this: by small and simple things, great things come to pass. I have no idea how this applies to building toilet paper towels. But it's a thought that has stuck with me all day. And when that happens...I must dissect it!

Maybe all it is is a reminder to spend more time with my kids doing silly things. This will help strengthen my relationship with my kids because we will know how to have fun together. I'm not going to get too deep here. But I want my children to have memories of us playing together, being silly together. I always want to have time for them, no matter how busy I am. In a recent stake conference, our visiting general authority told us to never be busy parents. Never even APPEAR to be busy. Because if we appear busy, our children will not come to us.

I am busy. I am incredibly busy - I have 2 children, and a third in my care 4 days a week. I teach full time for Arizona Virtual Academy, and part time for the University of Phoenix. I hold 3 (simple) callings in church. I am busy - but aren't we all?! Yet when my children are at home and awake...all of that gets put on the back burner. And I love it. And I hope I always remember to make it that way.

Grumpy Sundays

(Sariah's self portrait)

Sundays are supposed to be a day of rest. A day of peace. A day of worship.

But Sundays in my home are the WORST! I got very upset at my children this morning and put them both in time out...I hate that! Makes me feel like such a terrible mother!

Maybe it's because church is from 11-2, so the kids miss their naps? Maybe it's because we are all home all day and completely out of our weekly routine?

Whatever it is, I seriously need to change my attitude or this year is going to be the WORST.

What do you do to help make your Sunday grumpies better?

(No boogers for this booger!)

Days

So what if I didn't shower until 1:30 this afternoon?

At least I exercised this morning!

So what if my kitchen is a mess?

My children are happily coloring with one another.

So what if we didn't have a balanced meal for lunch?

My children were incredibly proud of the mac & cheese they made, complete with strawberries.

So what if my laundry didn't all get folded?

I spend nap/quiet time grading because I am so fortunate to have a full time online job that I treasure!

So what if I waste away my afternoon at the park.

No such thing as "waste"ing away an afternoon in the park because I'm playing with my kids.

Bonuses:

FHE was a delight. Reading stories from the Friend, having ice cream, and watching a movie together. The kids LOVED it!

My handsome bacon-bringer was home in time for dinner!

P.S. Did you know that Sariah starts kindergarten in the fall?

I couldn't be more happy for her. She's going to love it!

I'm busy, but I'm back.

I can't believe I have neglected this blog for 6 weeks! But don't worry...I am here. We are all here and great. I'll be blogging soon!

2012 Theme: Families Are Forever

One of the things that I cherish most about my faith is families being together forever. What a thoughtful, loving, and smart Father in Heaven we have, to place us in family units. We support each other, we love each other, and we help each other be better.

To help our family continue building strength, we prayerfully decided that our 2012 family theme would be "Families Are Forever."

As we go throughout the year, a special focus will be placed on this. FHE's will be about family, discipline will refer back to the family. Everything will be family!

Our first real FHE was to introduce the theme. Essentially, we came up with ways that we can strengthen our family and wrote them on cups. Then, we stacked the cups to make a "castle" (as the kids called it), like so:
The ways we can build our family (which we all came up with together) are:
* Go to the temple.
* Ask daddy for a blessing.
* Follow the prophet.
* Help mommy make dinner.
* Clean the house together.
* Help mommy with the dishes.
* We each fold our own clothes.
* Do service together.
* Give lots of hugs & kisses.
* Help mommy do the laundry.
* Always have Family Home Evening.
* Go to church every week.
* Tell the truth.
* Read our scriptures.
* Do family history.

As we stacked them, we talked about each one. Then we talked about what would happen to our family if some of the cups were missing. So, to demonstrate, we pulled a cup out of the bottom. Guess what happened?
The kids SQUEALED in delight! So we quickly wrapped up, saying that our family would be its strongest if we remembered to do those things together.

And then the kids continued to build and destroy castles for the next 30 minutes. The cups were demolished, but we had a great time!

Here's to 2012 - all about our family.

Temple Lights

I want to be better about taking our children to the temple grounds. They can feel the spirit and experience the temple just by being able to walk around! Through this, I know that their love for the temple will grow, and they will greatly look forward to the day they get to go.

Over the holiday break, we went to go see the temple lights. We took Grandma and Grandfather Franklin with us! We went and saw Courtney and Matt's new house, went back to their current house for dinner, and then went to see the lights.

There are no words to describe the feeling there. Here are some highlights.

Sariah's favorite part: The Nativity. She's entranced with the baby Jesus, and the star that was above him. When we pulled up to the temple, she immediately spotted the star and said, "There's the star! That's where baby Jesus is! Let's go!"

Matt, my sister's husband. If you look closely, you can see their brand new baby, Ashlynn, tucked away inside his jacket:
Courtney's cute butt with the two kindred spirits:

You know how family pictures go. Never a good one. Best we could do! Don't you love my niece running to be in the picture with us?!
Courtney's cute family:
Grandma and Grandfather Franklin:

My favorite part, the wisemen. They are my favorite because they traveled YEARS to go see the Christ child. He was a toddler by the time they got there! These camels are huge, and are far away on the opposite side of the visitor's center, demonstrating their travels. Such reverence when looking at them from afar.
A cute story. While inside the visitor's center, we went up to the Christus statue to listen to the presentation. Sariah was in my arms, and we were standing at the back. In the middle of the presentation, Sariah leans her head against mine and whispers in my ears, "Mom, why isn't Jesus wearing any shoes?" (The Christus is a statue of the resurrected Christ, with his arms outstretched so you can see the nail prints in his hands.) I kind of chuckled to myself and then answered with: "Because He's now living with Heavenly Father, up in heaven. There aren't any thorns or stickers, just nice soft ground."

It was a wonderful experience, and one that I look forward to doing each year!

Grandma and Grandfather Franklin

Jared's parents joined us for Christmas! They flew in on Christmas Eve, and stayed until New Year's Eve. They were missed the minute their plane took off.

Grandma and Grandfather Franklin, in pictures:

The 3 generations:

Because they are from Illinois, they did a lot of this (basking in the sun):



It was truly touching watching our two children fostering a loving and cherished relationship with this set of grandparents. They played on the floor together, played outside together, played in the bathtub - they couldn't get enough of one another!

Thank you, Grandma and Grandfather Franklin, for making our Christmas so special. It wouldn't have been the same without you!