Not just yet...

This was just too cute not to share!

Random Things

Jason brought these home for me the other day. He read my post on being frustrated about the number of hours in a day and he wanted to let me know he thought I was a wonder woman as well. Isn't that sweet? I thought so. Brownie points for Jason!



Ava and I made rice crispy treats, and we ate them while they were still warm and goey. Corrine had a problem with this. She said to me, "Mommy, my fingers stuck!" She was very concerned about her fingers covered in messy rice crispies. It was funny.

I hunkered down to cuddle my kitty, and Jason and the kids thought it looked like I had a tail.

And this sight warmed my heart; I walked into the room to find Ava and Corrine sitting very close and cuddling while they watched tv. I am so glad my girls love each other.

How do you do it?

Ok, I want to know.

I go into other womens' homes that are clutter free, cute and clean.

Organized, vacuumed, no laundry on the couch.

I can do this and often do, but its at the expense of other things I WANT to be doing.

Things like playing with my kids, quilting, crafting, exercising, reading, baking, etc.

If I choose even ONE activity listed above, everything else gets neglected. I may end up with a nice new craft or stronger muscles, but there is the blasted laundry on my couch waiting to be folded (if it was even lucky enough to get washed in the first place).

Sooooo, how do you do it? Are there just women out there who are better at time management than me? Do they just not sleep? Do they have more cooperative kiddos? Cause it feels like my head is spinning when I try to do everything, and I feel hopelessly inept.

It feels like I SHOULD be able to exercise and clean the house in one day, but I can't. I guess if I got up at 6am and exercised before my kiddos got up, that would help, but when that alarm goes off I just keep hitting snooze.

So. Am I just lazy, or do I have poor time management, or is this something other women struggle with as well?

And how do those women who seem to have it all together DO it?

Does anyone know?

Trip to Idaho

Last weekend, we took a trip to Idaho. Our friends were having a BBQ for us! The girls all wanted to see some of their friends as well, so we invited them to come. Everyone had a great time and the weather was perfect!

Michaela misses her friends the most I think, but she is very good about it. These girls were hardly heard from all afternoon, they were off chatting by themselves!

Ava was SO EXCITED to see Riley, she couldn't wait! They had a blast together. I am kind of paranoid in park situations, especially when there are other people around. I worry that someone is going to make off with a kid, so I watch really closely. It was even harder with 3 others that weren't mine to look after! I had my neck craned all over the place making sure they were all there!

Jason and I were so excited to spend an afternoon with our friends. These are all friends we have been close to since high school, it was hard to move away from them. Good thing we only live 2 hours away; not to long to drive for a night with some good people!


I am surprised I didn't take more pictures than I did. Guess I was having to much fun chatting. We had dinner, and I made a dutch oven chocolate pudding cake. YUM. You know me, its not a party without sweets!
We stayed and chatted until it got dark, then we went back to the Merrell's to play games and talk some more. Then we hung out with my mom most of the day Sunday. It was a nice weekend! We also made a trip over to our house to pick something up, and were able to see what the renters have done with the inside. It is so weird to see your house with other people and their stuff inside. Definitely makes it not yours anymore! But I am also so surprised at how easy we have adjusted here. It was so easy. It is sometimes weird to me to look around this rented house we are living in and feel at home. The saying "Home is where the heart is" must be true.

We usually take a family pic or two at this BBQ, which is turning into an annual thing. I hope we keep doing it, the BBQ and the pics!

Family Pictures

We went down to the pond by our house on Sunday and took some pictures. It was windy, but I think that worked in our favor, it looks kinda good that way. I am going to print these out in black and white for our house.




Grandma and the girls


We had to have one of these!


All because two people fell in love.....




Our angels


Payden


Michaela


Ava


Corrine

Corrine's 2 year old pictures

We went up to Ross Park to get pictures of Corrine when she turned two. I had ideas of a fun, relaxed afternoon spent taking pictures of my smiling Ninny. The only problem is that Corrine really doesn't like getting her picture taken. I took TONS of pictures, and these 4 are the best. It ended up being pretty frustrating. Good thing she's cute!

Corrine's 2nd Birthday

Corrine turned two on June 20th, one day after Payden turned 10. We celebrated their birthdays along with Marlene's on the same day. We sure love this little girlie. She is a handful, but we find so much joy with her. Her smile is contagious and we will all do backbends just to see it!

Here she is in one of the cute little outfits her Uncle Paul and Aunt Jackie got her. She loved the pockets!

Here she is saying I'm two. She can't quite get how to hold up only two fingers with one hand, so I showed her how to do it this way! Her birthday fell on a Sunday, and I was subbing as the primary chorister that day, so I had Payden run and get her from nursery and I had the Sr. Primary sing Happy Birthday to her. It was very sweet.




She got some fun gifts for her birthday!



She is such a cutie! I can't believe she is already two. Where has the time gone? I really can't call her a baby anymore. So sad. But it is also so neat getting to see who she is growing up to be. I love this age, where they can communicate with you, but there is still so much for them to discover. Happy Birthday, Ninny!