A New Blog to Visit

A good friend of mine has started up a new blog specifically for women - particularly women who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She invited some friends to contribute -- the idea is to share what we love -- the gospel, creating homes (including decorating, crafts, projects, etc.), being moms, wives, sisters and friends. So if you find yourself in need of a little uplift, or want to enjoy a little girl time from the comfort of your computer, stop by The Errand of Angels!

First Day of School

My little girl started Kindergarten a week ago! She had an orientation day the Thursday before the first week of school, and was a little put out that she didn't get to go to school on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. :) Monday finally arrived, and she was ready to go! We walked her into the school to her class room door the first few days - on Wednesday she informed me that she no longer needed us to walk her in - she was used to it. :) She is quite independent and determined - I think part of that is a result of being the oldest child, but another part is just her nature.

After a little deliberation, I decided to put her in an afternoon half day kindergarten. She could have gone full day, but I think having her at home in the mornings is better for all of us. We have time to practice piano, read books & have a reading lesson, and the kids can do all their 'jobs' -- just normal getting ready kinds of stuff -- and we get a little extra sleep, which helps all of us!! I'm trying to really savor the moments that we have together - kind of sad that it took the 3rd baby for me to slow down a little and enjoy my kids more!

Yes, J-boy is wearing a Woody costume - many thanks to Heidi for that one. :) He was thrilled to be in K's first day of school pictures -- he adores her. Today when we dropped K off at school, he said, "I love sister, mom. I miss her so much." I'm so glad they are buddies (about 90% of the time - the 10% fights are bearable because of the 90% friendly). :)

Baby Pictures

Baby A will be a month old tomorrow (I guess that's today by now), so I thought I'd better get these 2-and-3 week old pictures up here before they got outdated. These are the 4 out of a gazillion that made the cut for printing and sticking on the wall of the not-quite-done nursery. Someday I'll finish A's darling room and post pictures. But really, what's the rush - A's already here! And I'm always late, but worth the wait. :) I hope. :)

(Thanks, Missy, for great baby picture ideas!)

Road Trip, Anyone?

Life is slowly finding some semblance of normalcy around here. My wonderful Mom and sister were here for nearly two weeks while Joseph fixed smiles in Honduras. It was so nice to have another mom around! It's like having a vacation in the comfort of your own home. And I'm a home-body, anyway, so this was GREAT for me!!
We stuck close to home for the most part, but over the weekend we decided to take a (very) impromptu trip to Nauvoo to visit my aunt and her family. They had been in Nauvoo for 6 weeks working on the Nauvoo Pageant, and that Friday was the last night. So we loaded up in mom's van (fondly referred to as Van-essa), and took off! Baby A did wonderfully well for her first road trip (at almost 3 weeks old!), and K and J-boy did pretty well, too (midnight as a bedtime does get old after a day or two, but they had fun with their cousins!). We saw the pageant Thursday night and Friday night, and got to visit a few spots in Old Nauvoo Friday during the day. The weather was lovely, which is quite unusual for August in that part of the country!!
I was humbled and moved as I thought about the Mormon Pioneers. I strolled down Parley Street, my newborn in her comfy carseat/stroller, and read about Pioneer women giving birth in their covered wagons. While watching the pageant I caught a glimpse of the sacrifice and consecration required to build the Nauvoo temple, the intense desire the early Saints had to be obedient and serve God. And the next day I attended the temple; the only effort I had to expend was getting dressed and asking my mother to watch my kids for 2 hours.
I have no idea why I've been so blessed - driving in an air conditioned car! Sleeping in a bed! Giving birth in a HOSPITAL! All these things that I constantly take for granted.
I pray that I will remember. There's no way I can earn the blessings I've been given. But I can try my best to do my best, and thankfully, because of our Savior, that is always enough.

My wonderful aunt & cousins with my sister, my kids and I

K & I in front of the temple

Dowsy Baby A - she's such a good sleeper!!

K-lady doing the little Scottish jig dance from the pageant - she wants to be ON STAGE next year. :)

Keeping the Baby Blues at Bay

A friend posted this on his blog a while back, and I came across it today while I was catching up (aka procrastinating potential productivity.... I'm sure there are a GAZILLION things I could/should be doing, but the baby's asleep at the moment, so I'm blog stalking....).
My days are currently composed of crying for joy because I adore my baby, crying for pain because she's nursing, crying for frustration because my 5 year old won't leave the baby alone and my 3 year old won't leave ME alone, and crying for myself because I can't help it -- suddenly my kids movies are moving, and my movies are heartbreaking, and I'm not even going to talk about church commercials and Hallmark cards! Nothing too serious - pretty much just your standard postpartum hormonal imbalance. But when I watched this video, I just couldn't stop smiling and laughing! It was really pleasant for a change! How great is this world where you can dance badly and everyone dances with you! :) So I decided to share the joy (don't start crying or anything!).



Where the Heck is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.