I've had this idea in my head for family pictures. A two part portrait where I captured my kids as themselves at this very moment. It was so fun. This image is my favorite - it's not the one I printed to hang, but I love it. I love it because I look stupid, but I had to post it because Jacqueline is holding her dress out perfectly like a perfect little princess and Blake is getting some "air" (you see that 1/2"?!). And that is motherhood in a nutshell to me, watching these littles be themselves. Letting them be themselves. Having a entourage of princesses is pretty fun too - that's what I imaged motherhood to be.
Another moment form this week that defines motherhood for me: stopping mid-poop because my potty training toddler crouched in poop position; nabbed her and got her on the potty before any turds escaped. Then had to paint her nails immediately for positive reinforcement and told her we would when she pooped in the potty (not that this should really count, cause it wasn't of her accord. But try explaining that to a two year old). Whole ordeal earned myself a stomach ache.
Anywho, these are the pictured I printed. I still need to frame them. Engineer prints for the win! I should've taken a closer picture, but I wanted to give perspective - but now you can't see how cute we are very well.
In the most exciting news: finished our sand pit! It was sweaty and muggy as I brought down each wheelbarrow full of heavy sand. But the kids love it. And then I got a bunch old cedar wood for free from a guy who was taking apart his deck and made a cool path around - which is functional to get to the raspberries and cut down on weeds, but it's also the best because little kids can walk on it.
Shoes keep being brought out as sand toys.
It's amazing how 1/2 cubit yard of sand can cover my entire house. A nice thin layer over everything. Especially coming in the dryer vent - the little pile that comes out of every road is always surprising to me.
Picked up a hose roller from the side of the road. This weekend we tired to hook up our last one and it didn't work. Felt like perfect timing! Then I tried to hook this one up and the connectors are all bent. Can I put it back on their driveway? Probably not. At least not during the daytime hours. Now I have two broken hose rollers. Maybe this could be my newest collection. At least the girls think they're fun to roll around. As if they don't have enough yard toys.
Girls escaped to the sand pit and Wade stuck around to help daddy. He helped him pick up some stuff in the garage and then asked him, "Daddy, do you need me to help you with anything else?" So daddy let him help mow the lawn and Wade was thrilled!
Progress shot of my front yard:
Went to Valley Fair last Friday night and spent most the time in the water park. In the wave pool all my kiddos need to wear a life jacket and Blake discovered this week that they make her float and she loved laying on her back - which was a complete surprise to me. And she shrieked laughing as she ran into waves. We went with friends and Blake decided to be pals with one of the dads, all his kids were older (6 and up) and he was okay with an additional little pipsqueak. Then we went on a few rides and left when I started getting cold - cause I brought a change of clothes for kiddos, but not for me.
Husband got back in town on Friday. We picked him up at midnight and my kids were so mesmerized by the lights - they're never out at night, I never thought of that! The airport lights were extremely exciting!
Stella has gotten gutsy. She's been getting up on dining chairs and eating off the table! I haven't seen her do it. I don't know how long she's been doing it. But Blake came to my crying and told me that Stella got on the chair and ate her waffle! Then the next day we all went out to watch a garbage truck and came back to all the peanut butter and jelly sandwich crusts being gone. So guess we'll be pushing our chairs in - can't complain about that!
With long days and summer fun, we've been really off on sleep. Girls have been going to be between 9:30 and 10:00. It's cause it's still light out and Jacqueline is a hyper tired kid and then she bugs Blake and riles her up. So much lack of sleep. One afternoon Bryan asked how things were going, I sent him this picture:
But then there's been moments like this, where they just drop, which NEVER happens. This was after Aunt Jeanette (Bryan's aunt) came to play with them all morning while I was at Girls Camp. She brought science experiments (which Wade has been trying to replicate) and I could tell that they had a blast.
Perhaps falling asleep isn't the only reason they're so tired...wait, not tired, grouchy. They're grouchy from lack of sleep.
This morning Jac came into my room at a completely respectable hour of 7:30. Then she snuggled next to me and fell back asleep for another hour. Right next to me. She's growing out of being a toddler and into a little kid, and then I got to stare at her cubby arm and cuddle her. Also, a great excuse to stay in bed. Blake also slept in and when she woke up she came to ask me where her Jac-in was.
Wade did not wake up at a reasonable hour. Bryan woke up at 5:30 (to do a morning round of golf) and Wade was already up. No clue what time he got up. He was downstairs coloring and cutting up an entire notebook. He passed out at 10:15 in the car. Snapped this picture, then Blake told me, "Wade sleeping," and then she tilted her head back, opened her mouth and closed her eyes to mimic him. She also made fake snoring sounds, an addition to Wade's performance.
Yesterday Wade came down from quiet time and said:
"Mommy, today I'm going to make a water."
"You're going to make a water? "
"No, a water."
"A water tower?"
"No mommy. Just say what I'm saying. A water."
Still have no idea what he was talking about and what he wanted to make.
This week was/is Girls Camp. It's only 20 minutes away, so I've been able to go up every day and not have to commit to the whole week - cause I wouldn't have been able to commit to the whole week. I was in charge of decor (obviously picked that job!) and craft (umm....picked that job too). The theme was superheroes, so I made the lodge look like headquarters with disguises hung and an arsenal of plastic weapons. And for crafts I was having a hard time because it was just during free time, so we didn't have a start and end time - so I just brought up a bunch of random supplies, including bags of Husband's old t-shirts. We ended up making up capes and puffy painting them and it was a HUGE hit!
The first day I had to bring my kids, and they were in heaven with all these big kids to play with.
And them I've been able to go up and let me weird come out. The girls have no idea.
I got sour cream in my mustache. But I was committed. And then it escalated.
Got the pink wig for camp as a "disguise." Well, it's Jac's FAVORITE!!! She fell asleep with it on in her car seat - add that to the list of pictured I wish I had. But, this one isn't too shabby:
I farted in the car today. It was silent and impressive. About 15 seconds later my kids starts saying, "Ewww! Gross!" "Stinty!!" "Stella poop?!" And other accompanying grossed out sounds. Laughed so hard I could barely see to drive and then farted again.
Bryan cleaned up and reset our computer. It is running so much faster! And then he set op my new phone - something that just overwhelmed me. Do you see love in those actions? I do. I have some friends that are married and they're best friends. I want that. Husband and I talked about it and we agreed that we're not unhappy, we're actually quite happy, but often living parallel lives. So we're working on being best friends. The wife of these friends told me that she tries to be the wife she wants to be, instead of the one she feels justified to be. For some reason that just made so much sense to me. In all aspects of life. I should be the mom and wife that I want to be, not the one I feel justified to be. It's so easy for a spouse/kid to do something annoying so then I feel validated in my subpar behavior - that makes me sound so bad, but I think everyone does it. So we're both working on that. And on helping each other with what they need help with - he didn't see setting up my phone as something I needed help with, but I felt like I did need help, so he helped me. This is a change - cause we've had this phone for me for a year. Lots of thoughts, while nothing really specific to say, except that I've been enjoying this paradigm shift. Also, last week I wrote that I wanted to remember to be a fun mom and to remember to have fun being a mom - wise words from myself that have been resonating with me this week as I'm annoyed or tired or exhausted. Which, I have three strong willed kids, a large house, a large yard, a side job - I'm always exhausted. But when I remember that fun in the sand pit is more important than a non-sanding house - that's a good things to realize.
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