Learning to let loose...

Here's the deal....I am an uptight mom who is an organizational, neat freak. I need a clean house and I don't feel like I function very well without one. So what is the problem with that, you ask? I have a really hard time taking the time to play with my kids when the house is a mess because I feel like I have so little time and that I need to use the time that I have to get something done like the dishes, or the laundry, or filing the mound of papers on the kitchen counter. I have known that this is a problem for a long time, and I will say that recently I have gotten better about playing with the kids even if it's for 30 minutes before bed - so I have been working on it.

Listening to General Conference on Sunday was great for me. I loved all of the talks, but there was one sentence in one of the talks (I don't even know who said it) that hit me the hardest. It was the comment that if our children live in our homes until they are 18, they are only with us for 1/4 of our entire lives. That hit me like a ton of bricks. I know that everyone says that time goes by so fast and enjoy the kids while you can, but this sentence made me feel really selfish. It made me realize that I will have at least half of my life without them (whether I like it or not) and that I can worry about all the silly things I worry about now when I have nothing as important as my children to worry about .
So today I decided that Nathan and I would have an uneventful day together. I ignored the fact that we have no groceries in the house and I ignored the suitcase that has not been unloaded since our trip this past weekend and I also ignored the piles of junk around the house. At one point Nathan and I were in the office together and he spotted the large trash bag full of shredded papers that was sitting by the desk. I had not tied the bag very well and he discovered that he could open the bag and get to the shredded paper. At which point he pulled out a handful and threw it on the floor with a big grin. My first reaction was "oh no you don't"....but then the talk from Sunday popped into my head and I stopped and thought, "how can we have fun with this?" So, I got the big yard gate and set up a barrier in the kitchen, stuck Nathan in there with some toys and the bag of shredded paper and told him to have at it. He played in there for 1 and 1/2 hours. I joined him for some of it and also let him play some by himself for a while. Then we worked together and cleaned it up when we were done. It felt really good to give him something new and fun to do and it even felt good to let him make a huge mess. (Although there are still little papers that made it to other parts of the house, but I am trying really hard to ignore them) :)

Fun in Orlando

We went to Orlando this weekend and went to Sea World with Daylynne, Ernesto and Elijah. We had a great time. Unfortunately I left my camera in the car, so Daylynne is going to share the pictures that she took at Sea World with me and those will have to go on another post. These pictures we took the next day in Kissimmee at a little fair. The kids had a blast going on the rides.

Losing the training wheels!

Step #1 - Remove training wheels and put on safety geer.
Step #2 -Remove bike petals and practice pushing and balancing.
Step #3 - Put the petals back on and learn to ride within 48 hours.

We have to thank the Watkins (and the Browne's) for the ease at which Lexy learned how to ride her bike without training wheels. We had taken the training wheels off and I had held onto the back of the bike, balancing Lexy while she rode around for at least 20 minutes. All that got me was an extremely sore back and a child who still couldn't balance on her own and got very upset if I tried to let go of the bike. Luckily we have the Browne's in our ward who have owned a bike shop for years and shared the secret with the Watkins when they came down and rented some bikes for Chase and Phoebe to learn how to ride. Once we took the petals off, Lexy picked up on the balancing thing almost over night and within 2 days we had the petals back on and she was riding all by herself. I (and my back) are so very grateful for this amazing technique. Thanks guys!

Nature at it's best!

February 2008 - Aaron's parents came down for a visit this month and for the first time since we have owned the boat we went out on it to watch the sunset. Of course it was beautiful! Being outside in nature is one of my favorite places to be. I am so grateful that we live in such a beautiful and free country where we can enjoy all of Heavenly Father's creations. We are so lucky that we don't have all of the worries that people in other parts of the world have. Watching the news on any given day constantly reminds me of how very blessed we are.

Daddy Daughter Dance

February 2008 - Our neighborhood has lots of fun activities for families and everyone to enjoy. This particular night was a Daddy Daughter Dance. Lexy and Aaron dressed up. We did Lexy's hair like a princess and Aaron presented her with a single rose. She was beaming the entire night. I love all of these pictures and I know that I will cherish these for the rest of my life. Even though it wasn't my special night with her, I know how special she felt to have that time just her and her dad. They had a great time eating, dancing, having hula-hoop contests and watching their dad's do the chicken dance. I think that we will probably make this a yearly tradition.

Holiday Performance

December 2007 - Lexy's ballet class put on a really cute program at Christmas time to Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. She has a great teacher who is very patient and really teaches the kids a lot.

Hold onto your seats everyone - We have a new post!

So, I obviously have not been very diligent with my posts and now I am even further behind than before. Thanks to a gentle email nudge from a sweet friend I have forced myself to get back on track. At this time I only have a few minutes before we have to leave for a play date at the park, but we'll see what I can do.