New Things.....

My life has changed as of late. I'm in a new place (that I love), I have a billion things to do to organize this new place (it's going to take for-e-ver), and Presley can open every single door in our house. The last one is causing me serious issues. Because we have the fancy schmancy door handles that aren't your typical round ones, all she has to do is pull a little lever and the door opens. To the bathrooms. The kids bedrooms. The door to outside. And my most troublesome door, the pantry. She cannot be left unsupervised. Not for 30 seconds. It's exhausting me. And causing the #2 change of organization to be delayed continuously. Example. Saturday morning I decided I needed to run. I hadn't run for a few days, and because I'm supposed to be running a 10k in two weeks, I needed to run. Shawn said he'd watch Presley. Having no idea what our new life is like in this home, he felt she was fine playing with the others while he took a shower. I finished my run feeling fabulous. Until I walked upstairs. Presley had the pantry door open and the entire contents of a brand new bag of pretzels dumped on the floor in front of her. She was smashing them as hard as she could with her little feet. And enjoying herself I might add. Intermixed with the pretzels were a few banana peels and various other items from the garbage can. This is what my new days consist of. Every time I don't have her in my immediate sight I am on a mission to find her. I'm looking for baby locks for these particular doors. Tonight. Or these boxes will never get unpacked without her destroying the rest of my house in the process.

Other than the door opening issue, I looooove my new digs. I realize we need some serious color in this place, as everything is so brown that we own. That will come in time. We also need to learn how to decorate. That will also come in time. Even with bare walls, and neutral colors, we are happy.

My favorite things today?

My entire Kitchen....

Mostly because we can all sit up to the island and do things like this together......

And then bake them all at the same time because of this baby.

I also love gas stove tops. Have never had one before. Love at first use.

Maybe my girl Rebecca would like to come show me her mad decorating skills? I'll cook you up something in my kitchen while I watch.......

Things That Make Me Smile....

These are just a few pictures I've recently found on my camera. And finally actually loaded on to my computer. I smiled at every single one of these for different reasons. These are just a few things these days that make me happy to be alive.

Kennedy and her best friend Jenna. Two beautiful girls that are fun to be around.

Family activities. Even if they don't quite turn out as expected. It's all about the process.

Snow. And my kids playing in it. And actually enjoying each other's company while doing so.

Eating out at fun restaurants. Not for the food, but for the environment.

Presley climbing in the pantry. Every. Time. It's. Opened.

Landon playing video games. He's officially old enough to play with the big crowd. And he loves doing so. I love to hear him laugh when he conquers a level.

Kids content to lounge when trapped inside on a snow day.




Children's Motrin. For episodes where I get shown this face because of teething.

Homemade forts out of furniture and blankets.Bowling lessons. Through the city parks and rec department. My kids love it. I do too.





Jack reading books to Presley early morning.
Hair that is long enough to put in pigtails. And a (somewhat) willing participant.

Jack's "too short" pants. This kid has grown 4 inches since the beginning of the school year. Every time he gets dressed I giggle a little bit. (It's almost short season, so he's good)

How Landon writes his name on his school papers. And yes. He is now "Landon".



Bath time. With Daddy in charge.



And soon to be photographed? My new house.

A Day Worth of My Thoughts....(seriously condensed)

* Why do I sometimes jump out of bed when my alarm clock goes off at 5:50 am, and other times it feels like I've been hit by a mack truck and could use more sleep?

*Sometimes I get so angry at my body. Other times I am just grateful that it can function properly. I hope today is going to be one of the "appreciation" days.

*Running was so easy today. I felt like I could go on forever. But I've got to get the kids up and ready for school.

*How sad it is that we as parents spend so much time convincing and working to get our kids into bed at night only to have to wake them up intentionally in the morning. Ironic.

*Kennedy says her stomach is upset. Do I send her to school anyway? Or just keep her home? I'll keep her home. But. If in 1 hour she is playing wii like nobodies business, she is going to school.

*Good thing I kept Kennedy home. Having her puke in her classroom would have caused me much guilt. Good choice today.

*Presley sure does get into EVERYTHING all day long. She is wearing me out! I sure didn't realize how much I love Kennedy to entertain her in the late afternoon.

*Stupid school fundraisers. Why can't they just ask me for 10 bucks instead of enticing my kids with cheap, ridiculous toys?

*I should blog the pictures I took of the kids last night. Where did I leave my camera? Oh. It's in the car. That's too far outside to go hunting for. I'll get the camera when I pick up the kids from school. If I remember.

*I wonder if Shawn is coming home anytime soon. OR tonight at all. Is it worth making dinner to have him not show up? I guess I'll make it anyway and let the cards fall where they may.

*Dinner made. And Shawn made it home too. Another good choice today made.

*Why the heck am I so tired? Is there a carbon monoxide leak in this house? If there is, it sure isn't affecting Jackson. Maybe we should all sleep in his room tonight.

*I hope this housing fiasco works itself out soon. I'm getting anxious to move. I'm too afraid to get excited at this point. Should I call the movers yet? Or just wait it out?

*This house is a mess. It sure could use some serious deep cleaning. But. If I'm moving in a week or so.....is it worth it? I guess if we end up staying here longer I could clean it. I'll just wait until I know something for sure.

*Why do I feel the need to sabotage such a good morning run with chocolate chip cookies? ugh. It's close to swimsuit season. Before that comes short sleeve season. Maybe I should move to Alaska.

*Sleeping kids are the most peaceful little things to look at. Why is it that I can be so hopping mad, and then once they are asleep all I want to do is kiss their little faces. Quietly so as not to arouse them.

*Why do I waste so much time on the computer? If I had gone to sleep 2 hours ago then when my alarm goes off in the morning I wouldn't have to drag myself out of bed. And so the cycle begins. Again.

For Documentation....

*Yesterday I was talking to Landon about writing his name. He didn't want to write it, he'd rather have me do it for him. I kept pressing. Finally I just said, "then can you spell it for me?"
He replied, "Yes. I-r-o-n-m-a-n". If he knows how to spell it, how can I argue?

*Presley has started to ask us for things. Yesterday she found a clean sippy cup, and carried it through 3 rooms looking for help. She found Shawn. Then she threw the sippy cup at him and said "Mo" (sounds like muh, meaning more). I think we now need to work on polite ways to ask for things.

*Presley has recently discovered the toilet and that splashing is fun. And throwing things in the toilet is even more fun. I have yet to catch her in the act, but I can always tell when she's been "playing". Yesterday I found some of the garbage from my bathroom can in the toilet, with water sprinkles around the seat. I know when I find itty bitty toilet paper remnants on the carpet somewhere that it is a sign of something not pleasant. The kids have been instructed to keep the bathroom doors shut. But with 3 bathrooms, and 6 people using them, it's easy for her to find an opportunity.

*Jackson does not want to go to school. He'd rather stay home and play wii. Last week he refused to get out of the car Friday morning. So. I took him home. I set him on his bed, removed all things of any interest from his bedroom, banned him from TV, wii, Nintendo ds, and even leaving his room. And since it was Friday he would only leave Sunday for church then return promptly to his room. He knew at this point I meant business. After 30 minutes when he heard me getting ready to take Landon to preschool he came out and asked if I could please return him to school. I told him he was lucky this time, but if there was ever a next time he would not get the chance to return but would have to endure his punishment. This week he has happily gotten out of the vehicle as I approached his school. Hopefully he's learned his lesson. (And I learned that I hate being the bad guy, but if you get me mad enough, watch out. I'll follow through.)

*Presley is starting to try to talk. Bo (sounds like buh) is book, and she often throws them at us to get us to read to her. She loves to hear books. She yells "down" after various other attempts to get us to take her out of her high chair. She hates eating in her high chair. She would rather walk around at eat off everyone else's plates. She's obviously too busy to be strapped down. And I love it. I love her curiosity. Her rapid learning curve. And her chubby little thighs. Unless I'm in a place where she needs to be contained. Then I'd rather just leave her at home.

*Ethan got a tooth pulled yesterday. A molar. After some Tylenol with codeine he felt good enough that we went to Costco, Barnes & Noble, and Chick-fil-a together. Just us two. I enjoy my kids when we are one on one. I feel like I get a better grasp of who they are. I've known for awhile that each of our 3 oldest children would much rather be only children. That was just re-iterated to me again yesterday. I tried to convince Ethan that he wouldn't appreciate alone time with me if he was an only child. I think he's bright enough not to be convinced of that fact.

*I don't really have a story about Kennedy to share. She is a ginormous help around the house. Especially with Presley. In fact, Presley cries when she leaves. She has grown so much (in size) this year that we had to buy her all new clothes. I think she is going to be one tall girl. And a beauty for sure.

Experimentation...

I'm going to run another half marathon this year. There is a whole slew of them for me to choose from. Most of my running girls are doing one in Tennessee at the end of April. I don't think I'll be ready (mentally) for one that soon. So. I'm doing one mid-august in South Dakota with another running friend. Who is waaaaay faster than me. But. It's not about the time. Right? Sure. I've been discouraged lately. About my athletic ability. I feel I'm.......lacking. I run and run and run. And where does it get me? I can run short distances. Only I'm slow. I can run long distances. Only I'm really slow. You'd think after all the time I spend with my ipod and running shoes on my feet that there would be some kind of improvement. Somewhere. It's frustrating. Some people are born to run. They come from a long line of runners. Parents once ran in college. They ran cross-country in high school. Me? I couldn't even run a mile until after I birthed my 3rd child. That's third child. I was the one in Jr. High that wasn't able to run the mile required to do well in P.E. I walked it. But. Slowly over time I've been able to train my body to get where it needs to go without having to walk every 2 minutes to catch my breath. And it feels good. Until I try to compare myself to those girls I run with who have managed to improve. So. I thought, for a brief day or two, that maybe this spring I needed to try another route. Like a sprint triathlon. I found one in early May close to home. In order to do this type of race I need to be swimming, biking, and running. Weekly. Good. My body could use the change up. If my running speed isn't going to improve, I'll work the system by being mediocre in all sporting arenas. Yesterday morning at 5:30 I donned my swimming suit, goggles, and headed to the community center in town. Oh. And I took Ethan with me. He recently quit the swim team (long story that probably has to do with his intuitive ability to recognize where his talents truly lie) so he knows the ropes on training to become a swimmer. At 6 am I swam 50 meters. Then another 50. At this point I was exhausted. I couldn't catch my breath. I tried to swim a 25 but because my lungs weren't able to fully expand, I came up choking half-way through. Lovely. I'm sure the lifeguard was enjoying the show. I managed to do a few more 50's with breaks in between. After about 30 minutes Ethan asked if I wanted him to show me how to do the butterfly. I almost drowned just laughing at the thought of attempting such a stroke. I ended the swim session. While I was showering off the chlorine I came to a conclusion. I'm a land mammal for a reason. I'm a horrible swimmer. Yeah, I'm sure I can work at it and become stronger. And because I want Ethan to keep his options open, I'll probably take him at least one morning a week to swim. But. I'm not ever going to excel in this sport. I might not even make mediocre status. And I'm really okay with that. I won't be competing in that triathlon this spring. Not because I don't think I can do it. But because I don't want to. It's not important enough to me. I'm going to keep running. I felt so good this morning when I donned my running shoes and my ipod and hit the treadmill. And my run was awesome today. When I look back at how far I've come, I actually really have improved. I'm not giving myself enough credit. Moral to this long drawn out story? When you feel like you are not improving, or lacking in a specific area, try something else. You just might fail at it so miserably that it makes you feel like mediocre is okay.

Unsettled....

I woke up today tired. Not a good sign. I laid in bed an extra 30 minutes before heading downstairs to the treadmill. 20 minutes into my running routine I wondered why I'd even gotten out of bed in the first place. My workout wasn't exerting more calories than I knew I would consume today. I could tell by the way I was feeling that I would probably over-eat. I've accomplished nothing really all day. Except laundry. Which I guess is something when you are doing it for 7 people. I made a rule that if it came out of the dryer it needed to be folded immediately. I'm guessing the towels will rot in the washing machine before I get the whites out of the dryer to fold. I loathe whites. Folding all those socks. I just feel......bleh. I'm overwhelmed. And I think that is what makes me tired. And gives me the inability to accomplish anything I set out to accomplish. I don't know why I'm overwhelmed really. We made the decision to close on our house on February 10th so we will be moving in around 3 weeks. Movers are coming in to pack and move us, so I don't need to stress about that. Only. I think I do. I obsess about timing when it comes to transferring electricity. Gas. Phone. Satellite dishes. And it keeps me awake at night. Hence the tired morning. And. I hate change. I don't think I realized how hard change is on me until this morning. C'mon. I'm moving into a brand new house. That I love. And I helped choose. It's beautiful. And going to be so much better for us. But it's still change. Change in carpools. Routes to the grocery store. Timing in getting to and from places that I've already timed to the second. Like church. Or school pick-ups. All of these things take a place in my thought process and just won't let go. They spread like a fungus and overwhelm me to the point of exhaustion. I hate that about myself. Why can't I just be happy and excited and let everything flow naturally? Life would be so much better. And I'd get the sleep I need to function. And my pants would continue to fit.

Nothing Noteworthy....

I don't really have anything to write about. But I'm trying to keep busy so I don't eat. Yep. New Year's goals again. To lose the 6 pounds I gained over my vacation. Only day 3. Boring. Especially because it is so cold outside they've cancelled school the last 2 days. Tomorrow is already cancelled, so I'm just assuming Friday will be too. And when it's cold, I love to bake. It's my comfort on blustery snow filled days. Because I have no restraint when it comes to eating what I bake, I'm trying to avoid the kitchen altogether. Bleh.
Having the kids out of school an extra week hasn't bothered me this time around. Wierd. I think it's because Presley is easily entertained following them around. When they are gone, she follows me. And I don't think I'm that fun to follow. It's actually easier when they are home. Sometimes. Not enough to pull them out of school easy. But nice enough that I'm not dreading the next 2 days. It also helps that Shawn has been getting his post call days off. He was off yesterday, and he'll be off tomorrow too. He's worked it out with his partner so they can do that sometimes. They have to stick around town in case something comes in that they need an extra hand, but usually after lunch time he's free to go as he pleases. Nice. All our hard work is finally paying off. I know I say that a lot. But. When you've been where I've been, it's really hard not to appreciate all the little things. Like actually seeing your husbands face around. Monday Jack came in my bedroom and said "Where's Dad?" When I told him he was at work he just kind of looked at me funny. It used to be Shawn would get a funny look when he was home. Because it was such a rare occurance. It's just nice to be where I'm at.
On a totally different note. We might be moving into our house early February as opposed to May 1st. Shawn is checking out different lenders and trying to get us the best deal. If it all comes together soon, then we'll close early. If the best deal for us isn't available until later, we'll wait. Because moving early was just sprung on us recently, we are good either way. It would be fun to be all unpacked and completely organized while the kids are in school and before summer comes though. We'll probably know by tomorrow.
I'm ending this boring post. Even I'm bored by it. I guess I'll go fold the laundry. Maybe if I pretend there is chocolate hidden at the bottom of the pile I'll get it done faster.....