Dead Tired

Sometimes I shouldn't sit down, because then I die.

Today has been a busy day. --- I just attempted to list my accomplishments, to make myself feel more impressed with my tiredness, but then I realized that my list somehow didn't consist of much more than a few things. It didn't sound very impressive. Dang.

Regardless, I've worked hard today and I'm ready for a break and some fun. Hallelujah! The remainder of this week is supposed to be gorgeous. Thank you! And we have some grand plans to accomplish a goal that I've had for the past ELEVEN years that I've lived in Eastern Idaho. Super excited.

I spent some of today outside caring for the lawn and planting and transplanting some . . . plants. :) I like working outside. Nothing like being pregnant to help you remember how useful stomach muscles are when digging a hole and moving shovels-full of dirt. :)

I also took the girls for a bike ride over to Arctic Circle for an ice cream cone tonight. Every time I take a ride with the bike trailer -- then Lilie -- then Hazel all lined up behind me, the bike scene from The Sound of Music always starts running through my mind and I half hum / half sing-under-my-breath the music the entire ride. Cracks me up every time.

Arctic (does is bother you when people spell Arctic - Artic? It bothers me.) Circle is only a little more than a mile from our house, but I was huffing and puffing by the time we got there. While there, I realized that one of my brakes was too tight, keeping my back tire from spinning freely. I fixed it. The ride back was a LOT easier. :) I am really loving my birthday presents.

What's (one of) your favorite birthday presents that you've received as an adult? I think my bike and bike trailer are definitely ranking up there at the top.

Good. Stuff.

I just have to share one of my favorite commercials I've EVER seen. I generally hate almost all advertisements, but this one just cracks me up!

Snuffaluffagus

Few things in the world so tempting to me right now as quietly sneaking into Violet's room to snuggle up next to her on her bed and nap along side her.

*sigh*

Oh, that sounds like heaven.

I'm sure there are several of you thinking, "Well, why the heck don't you, Rachel??? You're five months pregnant, you deserve it." And here is the answer to that --- if I take real mid-afternoon nap, I'll never want to wake back up. -- And NOBODY here deserves that.

Naps are NOT my forte. When I fall asleep, my body says, "It's sleeping time! Hooray!!! SHUT. DOWN." and it doesn't want to rise until either no one needs anything from me or the sun comes up again the next morning. Whichever comes first. It's probably because I don't give myself enough regular sleep at nighttime. Sad.

Sweet baby Vi needed a nap and instead of laying her down and leaving the room, like I usually do, I laid down next her to talk about eyes and ears and hairs, playing "Pat-A-Cake", and singing Baby Mine until her perfect little eyelids could stay open no longer . . . and neither could mine.

Until.

Until Elsie came in to inform me that she'd knocked over my plant and got dirt all over the floor . . . and then she and Lilie needed lunch . . .

I was glad that she woke me up (kind of). Had she not, I would have been a bear when I did have to get up, but oh my, it's heavenly to snooze next to a warm little toddler with pretty pink lips and soft little cheekies!

We've recently moved Violet into a big bed. I had decided that it was time for some rearranging, leaving an open bottom bunk bed available in her room. I thought, we'll just see if she'll stay in it for nap time. Lo and behold, she aced naps and moved straight to night time as well. She's not had any problem with it at all and LOVES sleeping in a big girl bed.

She is just such an angel baby. So easy in so many ways. Busy, but really such a happy baby. And she loves being "baby" too. :) She is more snuggly than my other girls have been (at least with me - all the girls have been more snuggly with Nels). She talks well, though not quite as well as my other girls did at this age. She's got a fabulous sense of humor and loves to laugh. Whenever anyone else is crying, she pretends to cry too and needs hugged as well. It's funny to me.

She like kitties and keeps an interested distance from doggies. We visited a friend who had a new lab puppy at their house about a month ago. The puppy thought that my rolly little Violet looked about like a ball and decided to play with her a bit. :) She was not amused and has kept a wary distance of them since. :) But she loves animals and was fascinated when we took a trip to the zoo this last week.

She loves her daddy. She asks for him often throughout the day and gets VERY excited when he comes home -- immediately demanding his attention to hug and hold her for several minutes as soon as he walks in the door at night.

When she accomplishes something that she's particularly proud of she loudly proclaims, "TA-DA!" She says E-sie and A-zie and calls Lilie a variety of things. L's are so hard for babies. :) We'll just have to wait and see what she settles on -- hopefully not Doodoo like Elsie did. :) Among many other things, she also says dow (down), uh-oh, ah-dah (all done), ou-side (outside), and calls many things da-da (if you're her mother, you can tell which da-da she's referring to :). She calls me mommy and Nels daddy and tries to say just about everything.

One of the coolest things that Violet can do is blow her nose. :) An incredibly helpful skill as she's had a cold for the past week. :) Whenever you ask her where her nose is, she scrunches up her face and snuffy-snuffs through her nose. SO cute. unless she's got a nose full of boogers, then . . . a little less cute. :)

Oh, I love this baby of mine! She makes me excited that there's another one coming to our family.

A Perfectly Busy Weekend

I had a beautiful birthday. The kind that will probably never be duplicated. Every birthday for the rest of my life, I will remember that I share that day with my baby sister. I will remember her face as she looked across the alter at her sweetheart and covenanted to be his forever. I will remember being in the temple with my parents and all of my siblings.

What a beautiful, perfect day.

It will go in the books as one of the best days of my life.

Genny looked incredible. Ben looked incredible beside her. They are happy. (unfortunately "a man" who ran around with a camera the whole day, failed to get any actual "pictures" of said happy couple, only video, so this picture is "stolen")

This picture is one of the the only ones that I have of the "wedding day" and that is because I took it. My lovely baby and my incredibly hot husband.

All the little nieces (all TWELVE of them) we dressed in beautiful matching white dresses with purple sashes. It looks like Violet was trying to get away from my handsome husband, but really, she just like looking at the world upside down --- and is adorable --- and incredibly wiggly --- and incredibly heavy to wrestle with for an entire day. :) Nels complained the next day about his arms being sore from carrying around his camera all day . . . let's just say that I was able to sympathize. :)

Genny got married on my birthday. Two days later was Easter. I love when my birthday is close to Easter.

We stayed in Utah for the couple of extra days so that we could spend the day with my family - minus the newly-wed Mr. and Mrs. Worthington.

Once again, I wish we'd gotten pictures of us all decked out in our new Easter attire, but alas, twas not meant to be . . . maybe this coming Sunday. - But we looked great. :)

After church we all headed to my parents' house for an Easter barbeque (??? - weird? Yes. But simple.) and the annual Easter Egg Hunt that my dad likes to do for the grandkids. I tell ya, my dad puts on an excellent egg hunt. Add Jake, Ben, and Chris to the hiding mix and there are many eggs that will never be found. They're good. :)

There's always lots of this . . .

A little of this . . .

Waaaa! *tears*tears* I can't find any eggs, Mom!! - Oh, there one is. :)

The excitement of climbing all Grandma's trees to get the "coolest" ones . . .

 . . . while "less ambitious" children get twice as many eggs by just finding the ones on the ground.

And lots and lots of smiley kids running all over.

I must say, my siblings make some of the most beautiful children I've ever seen.

A wonderful, beautiful Easter weekend.

Sunshine, Bikes, and Vampires

It's been weeks . . . have you missed me? I've missed you.

When I don't post anything on my blog for long periods of time, I feel . . . almost like there's a hole in my life. Like there's something missing. I've analyzed this -- because that's what I do -- and I think I've come up with an explanation.

Lest you think that it's out of vanity or addiction.

I've realized that when I don't blog, I feel like that portion of me and my life starts to evaporate - or cease to exist - anywhere beyond my own memory. - Which, frankly, is questionable at BEST lately. - My thoughts, my feelings, our goings and comings, they cease to be anything but memories.

Gone.

And that makes me sad. When I don't record it, I have nothing to look back on. Nothing to remember of this time in our lives. I love so much and learn so much from what we experience everyday, that I just can't stand for it to be nothing but a vague blip on the map that is my life.

So I write and record and feel anxious when I don't. Not for you, but for me and for my family. 

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Today. Was. Gorgeous.

It was Spring. Really Spring. And my sun-kissed face agrees.

Yesterday I got my "birthday presents" in the mail. A new bike (finally!!) and a new bike trailer.

*sigh* 

I'm so happy about that. I love riding bikes. And I love taking my kids with me . . . wouldn't be nearly as fun without them.

Yesterday evening I spent almost all of it putting together both the bike and the trailer. It wasn't nearly as much fun as I had anticipated . . . because it took so long and we had a few "hiccups" . . . but I tell you what, I think my neighbors were impressed. :) Five months pregnant woman out on her driveway with a toolbox and a bazillion kids milling around, assembling a bicycle. I'm nuts . . . 

. . . but it was well worth the effort (and the swollen feet and the sciatic nerve pain) as I rode with Lilie to school this morning in the crisp Spring air -- Elsie and Violet in tow - literally.

It was such a grueling day.

Rode with Lilie to school.

Rode home.

Cleaned up bedrooms.

Bathed Elsie and Vi.

Watered yard.

Rode to pick up Lilie from school.

Took detour.

Leftovers for lunch.

Vi down for a nap.

Make brownies with Lilie and Elsie.

Play "Dead Man, Dead Man, Come Alive" on the trampoline with Lilie and Elsie. (consisting of me soaking up some vitamin D while laying on the trampoline, grabbing the girls legs and tripping them while they bounced the begeezees out of me, and laughing like crazy while I then used them as pillows and tickled them :)

Eat hot brownies at the park with friends.

Come home and play on the grass with the girls, waiting for Hazel to get home from school.

Ride our bikes to our neighborhood playground. Swing and let all four girls get filthy while playing in the sand.

Pick up tortillas and ice cream and then head over to a friends' house for carne asada and guacamole.

Yes. A grueling day.

The likes of which I rarely allow to happen in my need to "accomplish" something.

But today, I'm really pleased with my accomplishments. I laughed with my kids, spent most of the day outside playing, and showed them that I really love them.

The other kind of days are important too, but today was really wonderful. And I need to remember it. 

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On a separate note - and as a parting treat for you this fabulous . . . Friday morning :)  - 

I will now share THIS with you:

 LOL!!! We traded in Lilie's front teeth . . . for a vampire.

:)

Ah. I love that girl. She is so funny.

Both her front teeth have been loose for a few weeks now. However, I've had to restrain myself from even "checking" them because, if it could be helped, I really still wanted her to have them for Genny's wedding. (Me? Vain? Why, yes. Yes, I am.)

A few days after we got back, I was walking into a store with Lilie. I smiled at her, she smiled back and

 WHOA! Lilie? Did you brush your teeth today????

Yes.

Echk! Let me see your mouth.

Her teeth were disgusting! - but she promised she'd been brushing. When she got home, she was told to immediately go brush her teeth and then come show me. Needless to say, it didn't help much . . . and by that time, one of her teeth was practically dangling. - The obvious reason for her horrifying hygiene results.

She put up no fight about pulling it out, but once in there, I realized that the other front tooth was only slightly more attached than the one to be pulled. 

She said NO.

I said I wouldn't --- I just wanted to feel it --- and then I did.

I'm a liar. And compulsive.

But now she can again thoroughly brush her teeth . . . 

. . . and she has been making crazy faces for a week now.

She loves being toothless.

And she is an absolute ham.