In need of some sweet release

Could someone please come and relieve me of my children?

The day was going so great. The kids slept in an extra 30 mins. Ben finally dosed off after waking up at midnight (with the help of Tylenol...those darned teeth!) I got a solid 6 hours of sleep in a row! Now that is amazing.

Plus I even made it to one of my favorite workout classes at the YMCA. Then the day just unraveled from there.

- Once again Emma decided her pants were much more convenient to poop in then the toilet. I calmly wiped the mess up (legs, toilet seat, etc) and redressed her. Now don't get me wrong I did count to 10 and mutter a few choice words under my breath... I'm getting there. It's just so hard not to jump into "anger-mode" and send her off to time-out. Gosh she's almost 3 and still hasn't mastered potty-training.

- Next I found Sydney pulling the foam stuffing out of a cushion. Thus little pieces of foam all over the floor. Hello, she's 4. I expect more than that from her. Off she went for a little alone time on her bed.

- Of course Ben is unable to entertain himself since his gums are swollen and on fire. Hence way too much whining and crying coming from that little funny farm.

- Oh and here's the clincher, Emma AGAIN finds her pants an easier place to store poop. But this time it's in her underwear, on the bathroom floor, on the toilet seat, on the rugs in the bathroom...Ugh! What a stinky mess!! So off she goes to the tub for a scrub down. And now I have to fit a scrubbing of the bathroom into my short window of time to run errands since all kids are awake!! NICE!!

- While I'm doing all this cleaning I then find her FIRST pair of underwear in her dirty clothes basket...oh with a little surprise in them! EW!! The whole room smelled like a port-a-potty.

(ON A SIDE NOTE: Is it just me or am I always doing a load of laundry. No matter how hard I try to save the laundry for a "once a week" occurrence...we can never make it. There is always some sort of accident going on. No wonder people are putting hard wood floors all over their houses. At least they don't have to wash the carpet when there's a kid mess.)

I am counting down the hours until their father is home and I can ship them off to bed...ahhh....=)

my new past time

I love to play with my girls hair!!

I love to think of new creative ways to putting it up. Although I am sure they don't enjoy it near as much as I do...

But look how cute Emma's hair is in the this picture. The 3 pony tails help keep her shorter front hairs pulled back. Which especially helps when she is swimming.

Mind you I do let them choose the colors of bows and clippie's. And even let them choose what to do with their own hair on "unimportant" days!

A day at the beach

I love the beach!! Growing up in Cali has made it hard to live other places. Larry and I loved Thousand Oaks. We even hope to find some place like it in Texas. But being gone from our home town for so long (almost 15 years) I really long for the summer days spent at the beach. So being able to take my kids there and exposing them to all of the joys of the sand and sea was wonderful!!!

I even let Ben put sand in his mouth. Hey if he didn't like it he would spit it out, RIGHT!

The girls loved the warm Gulf water. They weren't intimidated at all. They wanted to walk as far out as possible and only came out for occasional rests. And of course we had to build sand castles, dig holes and find sea shells. I only wish we could have been there longer....maybe some day!! =)

A little too close for comfort...

While out on our vacation we had to endure the dreaded sharing a 12x12 room with all 3 kids...all night long. Something I don't think many people look forward too. Especially with the kids being so young. Thankfully our kids have learned to sleep through each other and even mom & dads voices while we stayed up late.

We went down to Houston so that Larry could have his 2nd interview for a job. So we decided to make it a family excursion and take the chance to get to know the area (just in case). It was during these 3 days of driving for a total of 20 hours in the car and changing sleeping arrangements every night that I found a whole new appreciation for my kids (and just in case you didn't know, we drive a handed-down 10 year old Buick Regal, there isn't much room for alone time, let's just say it's tight quarters for a family of 5 and 3 sit in car seats...get the picture). They did it! And it could have been worse. They found ways to entertain themselves, sang along to kid Cd's (a little annoying for us adults) and took naps while we drove. I am very proud of them for being so relaxed.

Although we did have to deal with many pit stops for the bathroom, rolling down the car window while on the freeway to let out a bug, feeding everyone a few too many treats just to keep them quiet and even change a few outfits. All in all it could have been worse. Oh the dreaded CAR RIDES!!

FHE

Last Monday we had a wonderful Family Home Evening with the kids. It has been so much fun teaching the kids to lead the program, sing songs, teach the lesson, lead the music and prepare a treat. At this point I can't even tell you what the lesson was on. The highlight of the evening was sitting around the table eating the treat. HA, now who wouldn't like that part. Although usually it might be the food, but this time it was the way we let loose and goofed off! Larry spent a good hour spraying the kids with whipped topping and decorating their faces. It was fun to see the kids get so excited. Good thing we had stocked up on the whipped topping!!

Spring Cleaning in the Summer Heat (Aug.2nd)

So I guess you know it's time to purge some of your kids toys when the pile in their closet hits the ceiling. And I'm not kidding! Plus the "chest" of dress up clothes was over-flowing.
I sat the girls down and we discussed the following characteristics of the dress up clothes that would require them to be put in the "trash" pile.
1.rips, tears, holes
2.too small
3.dirty and stained
(believe me, dress up clothes are not worth spot cleaning or sewing up. if they won't come out clean in one washing their gone. and sewing them...well if there's a rip it probably means it doesn't fit any more.)
THUS I am proud to say a whole trash bag full of dress up crap (at least that's what I think it should be called) is out the door. What a relief! I feel less closterphobic by the minute. =)
Oh and plus the foamie toddler chairs with characters on them. We had 2. They are so huge and take up a ton of room (at least it feels that way in a small apt) So I put them up high in their closet for the past month or so. No one missed it. That means it's ok to throw out! =) Hee, hee! Thank heavens there's a huge trash bin outside.
Now if only I could get Larry to purge the piles of Law Books that are stashed all over our bedroom...Any suggestions!?

Sprinkler Park Fun

Recently my little family went to a sprinkler park not far from our house. We laid out our towels under a shade tree and brought a picnic lunch to eat. Thankfully everyone has happy and content. Even Ben enjoyed the water, instead of losing interest after 3 minutes. I was able to run in the water, splash around, and actually play with my kids (not just watch them). This was soo refreshing. I couldn't help but be filled with joy and overwhelming gratitude for all I have. There are few moments like this, I wish there was more. Although I think that is mainly do to my inability to relax and enjoy. Being a mom can do that to you!!
Here's to all of us that we may find the time to sit back and act like a kid again.