Top Ten Joys On a Random Wednesday

1. This Book. It includes dirty little secrets from anonymous moms. Like "I do my son's homework just so we can get it out of the way faster. I just grab the pencil and he looks at me like I'm crazy."

2. Beautiful Weather. It was so pretty outside when I was playing with the kids. Never mind the scent radiating from Laila as she ran around...

3. Service from the Relief Society.

4. All day kindergarten. (there's my dirty little secret)

5. Messy kid faces. I'm horrible at keeping my kids faces clean. It can be kind of gross. But today, looking at Miss Laila roaring at me outside with her VERY messy face. I loved it so much I kissed it.

6. Sign Language. Without it, Life with Laila would be even tougher. She signed mama while saying it a few days ago... while looking at my blog with me. That was a long time to wait for her to say mama.

7. This Recipe. I haven't been feeling good today, but this dinner was so yummy.



8. Time alone. I like to pray alone, think alone, be alone. And yet I hate being lonely.

9. Sisters. I have the best sistahs ever. Today we were both miserable, or should I say irritable, everything was irritating. Then all of a sudden I said what the hell, Becca, the only reason I talk to you is to laugh, I haven't laughed the entire time. I told her i was irritated with her irritability. We just laughed, and totally changed our attitudes.



10. Love Letters. One of my best night outs involved a steamed milk, a cozy chair, and this great book. Looking forward to another night out. One day.

From the Archives

Paying it Forward (September 14, 2007)

The Wal-Mart. The Grocery. The kids. Yikes, never a positive experience. I dread going to the grocery for many reasons, in particular it's always a lot of money, the kids aren't always on their best behavior, it's mundane. I don't know. Just in general not fun. So today I embarked on the dreaded experience and with a list and coupons in tow, I set forth to just get it done. I went through the process and collected my items one by one, it took awhile but I did it. I went to check out, and the lines were long and to be honest I am on WIC - and it's quite embarassing and I hate taking up people's time, I went to write a check(a familiar commercial come to mind?) so I was just taking awhile and there was this nice gentlemen (maybe late 30's) behind me, patiently waiting, and I kept thinking he must be so annoyed with me. When he said "go ahead and put my things on the bill". I was confused, I said "Pardon me?". He said, "I'd like to take care of this for you today." In my mind I wasn't comprehending what he was saying. He said "I'd like to take care of this for you today, I do one good deed everyday, and today you get to be the lucky person." I MEAN WHAT?? I told him "Sir, I can't let you do this it's going to be $100 bucks!" He said "It's o.k. I've been blessed in my life financially I'd like to do this for you." In my mind I thought I can't even accept this, but in my heart something was saying let this man do this for you. So I said "I don't even know what to say, as tears welled up in my eyes, I said thank you so much, you don't even know, my husband is deployed, this is so generous". It was just a special moment for the two of us standing there in the Wal-Mart. Afterward my friend came up to me, and I said "this gentlemen just paid for my groceries". I went to put my groceries in my cart as tears were rolling down my face. My friend went back and asked him about his good deeds, and he explained his son died in February and in his honor he does a good deed for someone every day. What a legacy! It was such a touching moment, a moment I won't ever forget. Generousity for a complete stranger, and through his grief, I believe many people are being touched by this. So today, I ask "Pay it Forward", do a good deed for someone, someone you DON'T KNOW. I wish I had gotten his name or shook his hand, or something I was a mess, I couldn't even think. What I am going to do is send a letter to the editor of our local paper, I just couldn't believe it. I had to share this amazing story with you. No longer will grocery shopping be a mundane chore, I can think of September 14, 2007 and the sweet man who made a sacrifice for me. I, too, will pay it forward. Hope you have a surprising day, too! :)


Those of you that have been following the blog might remember this story.

Finally, after 2 1/2 years I had the opportunity this evening to return the favor.

It felt awesome.

Laila

Well Laila is the 4th and final entry in my recent kid updates. She tends to get a lot of blog time because of all that goes on with her. She recently had a speech and language evaluation and she tested very well cognitively, and on receptive language. Her oral expressive language is almost 2 years behind where she should be. Which is a little painful to hear as a mom. However, the sign language has proved to be quite critical in her communication. I have a hard time with her constant whimperings for things, but we love her still the same. She should begin speech therapy at Colson and Hallie's school, I'm not sure when that will begin, but hopefully it will be good for her, I suppose it couldn't hurt.

She is such a friendly girl and insists on waving to people until they wave back. Meaning we eventually get waved at or smiled at from even the grumpiest looking people. She makes everyone feel loved and is very playful. She causes us the most worry, but has such a fun personality that we just love. My sweet Laila, I can't believe how quickly time is flying by.

While the boys are away the girls will play.

I took Hallie to get her ears pierced... and she was so brave. She had to be talked into the 2nd earring, but she definitely didn't want to look silly, so she managed.

I wish you could see the picture better, she was so excited!

I would like to say she's more vigilant about cleaning her ears than her teeth. Why is that?

And since I'm on a roll...

I have told you the drama with the top and the bottom kid, why not move on to the middle two...

Today will be Hallie. Hallie is a believer. She still believes I have eyes in the back of my head. Seriously.

She also believes that Leprechauns invaded her Kindergarten classroom yesterday. Evidence being part of the ceiling missing, an upside down table, and the treasure box missing.

She is also a fashion goddess. Yesterday in TJMaxx the girl says: "Mom, I have got to have this." In her teenage voice while all the ladies around me look at her... She is going to be one seriously intense teenager.

Hallie is tough. She is not an overly bubbly personality. She's a little pessimistic, and a little snotty. I wish I knew where she got that. It's so painful to see your worst qualities blatant and in abundance in your children. Sigh.

However, you catch her in the right mood, and she can be incredibly thoughtful, helpful, and concerned. She prays for Colson every day that he will be comfortable. I love that.

Other than this the main problems she has is leaving her make up out, which is regularly found by Laila.

A mother always knows.

I didn't know what was wrong, but I knew it was something. That Dr. yesterday made me so mad. It took all that I had not to wring her little neck. She wasn't listening. I tried to tell her, this wasn't my daughter, something was wrong. I told her I had 4 children, and never had I seen this. She let me go, with a coupon for over the counter probiotics (for the runs), and wished me luck, that she's sorry she couldn't do anything for her. I wasn't able to hide my irritation. She called later with a prescription for diaper rash ointment.

I had hoped for a better night, armed and ready for an early bedtime. After 45 minutes of sleep, Charlie was up, for the night. She fell asleep for about an hour from 3 - 4 a.m. But by 5 a.m. I called the neighbor and said I had to take her to the E.R. So in about 55 hours I had only had about 5 hours of sleep.

Arriving to the E.R. Charlie was completely normal. She wasn't screaming just looking around. I explained to the doctor what had been going on. Some young guy, who took the time to LISTEN. After awhile, Charlie came through for me with one of her episodes of screaming and thrashing. He said it was definitely not normal behavior for a 13 month old. And was on a mission to find out what was wrong.

She had an x-ray that indicated a possible appendix issue, and so they ordered an ultrasound. Here is where I knew something was up. They spent a lot of time on the ultrasound, and called in a series of doctors... 3 of them. I said they were making me nervous, and gave me a little chuckle, and didn't say anything. Making me more nervous! After awhile they diagnosed her with a blocked up bottom(a pretty bad one). Ironically NOT the runs like the Dr. yesterday, had thought. Thankfully, with some work, we can treat the problem in time. Avoiding a larger disaster... Can I just say a mother always knows. No, I'm not an all knowing doctor. I'm better than that, I'm an all knowing mother. Sigh.

What a day. I got some sleep this afternoon, and am typing this from my front porch, enjoying the most gorgeous afternoon. Looking forward to one awesome run this Saturday. I only have 2 weeks until my 10 miler, and seven weeks for my half-marathon. Do you think I could avoid any more emergencies? Let's keep our fingers crossed...

Charlie

I'm heading to bed, but wanted to post about my sweet little Charlie. She has had a rough couple days so not feeling well, and last night was up until 2:30 a.m. screaming, crying, couldn't console her. It was awful! Didn't know what to do. But morning comes, as it always does for us moms, and I did manage to get Hallie off to school on time. However, she still didn't seem to be doing any better so I finally took her in to the Doctor, with a fever of 103, she was so sick. The Dr. did nothing, prescribed nothing. I wanted to scream, HELP ME!! How do I take care of these babies on 3.5 hours of sleep?? So irritating!

Anyway, I'm hoping Charlie and I can sleep, we both need it desparately! Even sick, she is so precious to me... my baby, baby. Wish us luck.

Sometimes the right thing is the hard thing.

As a mother we regularly make decisions. What's for dinner, when is it time for new shoes, FHE or early bedtime? It's exhausting being the decision maker.

Sometimes the decisions are easy. But, other times, decisions are tough, even when you know they are the right ones.

This weekend I sent my baby boy off to Nana's house. She just happens to be a 3rd grade teacher back in Indiana. (Cherri if you're reading this don't tell dad! Colson wants to surprise him this weekend) Colson is my only boy, he's the oldest, and the only one to suffer through all of the long deployments. This one has been the toughest on the family, as so many of you have figured out by my craziness. However, when Josh presented me with the idea of Colson finishing the school year in Nana's class, I thought he had gone crazy, too.

With a lot of thought, and discussion, we left the decision up to Colson. He chose Nana. Although it was excruciating to let my son go, I know it really will be a great opportunity for all of us. He sure could use the extra attention, and especially a break from a mom that hasn't been herself.

So today is Colson's first day of school with Nana as his teacher. I can't stop thinking about him!

Colson hope it goes well! We love you and miss you, (even Hallie, who's moping around everywhere, but won't admit it's because her brubba isn't home).

Remember, the frogs you catch out in the yard do NOT go in the teacher's desk!!

My Blog: Renovated.

Thanks to my awesome sister, and her graphic design talents, I have a great new header!

Sometimes you just need a change. I needed a change!

We tried to get owl(bec and I's inside joke) poop to drip down the sign, I thought that would be more accurate to the 'joys' in my journey, but nevertheless, an optimistic outlook never hurt anyone!

Over the next few days I'm hoping to change things up a bit, freshen up, and make your visit more pleasant!

Cheers!

Before there was THIS TALK my blog was about 'finding' the joy. Some days I have to look hard, other days not at all. But thought I would share a better version of the idea with you.

Easter Pictures

Say what? It's not Easter yet, Lucy, you crazy woman! Colson won't be with us for Easter, and I had ordered the cutest little dresses and tie, so I wanted to take a picture! But you know me, and photos of the kids... usually total mayhem.

The kids didn't disappoint. Still mayhem. However, cute mayhem.






And then we lost Laila:

From Wolf to Bear

Somehow Colson was able to finish all of his wolf requirements along with 5 arrows in time for his birthday... I still feel like I'm speaking a foreign language with all this scouts stuff. But he loves it! We have such a great program in this area, and one of the reasons we bought a house in this ward! We really liked some locations in the other ward, but after seeing the youth in this ward, we knew this was where we wanted our kids to be!

Great Job Colson!

P.S. I'm getting so OLD!! Colson was measured at the doctor this week. 4' 7". He's about as big as his Aunt Suzanne. And less than a foot from being taller than his mother. Seriously, I'm freaking out...

Guess who finally found the cord for the camera?

You'll never guess where I found it... in the camera box. So weird.

I will start the update with Colson and Hallie's birthday party at the local gym/playground. I paid for convenience in a BIG way. SO nice, plus the kids had a great time. Every single parent left. I seriously thought someone would stay!! Nope. I had 15 kids total... that's a lot to keep track of! Anyway, they had fun, cake, and pizza. We brought the presents home for them to open here, and Josh was bummed all morning. I think he's a little tired of missing everything. And to be honest, I'm a little tired of doing it all!

I'm thinking Spring.

Finally, a warm day, the kids and I went for a hike, we felt great, and enjoyed the warmth... Hope it's getting to be spring where you are!

Why I love running: Trail Run Edition

Remember why I love running?

Well here's why running a trail makes me feel good.

1. It's never the same run twice. Ever. Nature has its way of changing things up on you... weather, ground, temperature, seasons, always different. I've been running on a treadmill, where everything is ALWAYS the same, it was a great run.

2. Electronics are optional. I can listen to music if I want, but don't have to. I don't even need electricity to run... Today was an electronic free run.

3. Running a trail is a different kind of challenge: crossing streams, (seriously with a cord strung above to hang on to as I climbed across the rocks), climbing fallen trees (thanks to the recent snow there were quite a few of these), dodging rocks and roots, hills, valleys, meadows, all on the run today. It was a hard run, it had been a week, but felt awesome. I have the worst ankles, so I'm always nervous I will bite the dust, its a matter of when not if... but today it was a clean smooth run.

4. Alone with my thoughts, I didn't see a single person on my run today. At the gym, I'm surrounded by people. But today, I was alone. I thought about so many things, cleared my head, and found joy in being alone today.

5. Scars from trail running are cool. I have a great one on my knee for my tumble down Pike's Peak. Today, I scored a few lacerations across my leg, thanks to some wayward thorny vines. Through my pants!! Nicely done. Blood is much more common on the trails.

6. Trail running requires different shoes. I love shoes. ;)

So there you have it. If you listened to me last time and picked up your dusty running shoes, now is your chance to change it up, hit a trail... don't hike it. Run it.

Happy Trails!

Pucker Up.