Live without pretending

Snippets from our day...
-By the end of the day today, I had chocolate on my shoulder from consoling one sad little girl. My hair never got done. I didn't get to shower and my feet are black.
-For over half of the day there was jam everywhere you looked in my kitchen.
-Now there are 13 jars of jam waiting to be put away just sitting on my counter.
-One little girl stayed in her pajamas all day.
-Until she ran around outside without her shirt on because her brothers were.
-And then she ditched the shorts too.
-That same little girl had bloody toes from refusing to wear her shoes outside.
-One little boy went through 3 outfits because he got all of them wet playing with the hose that he wasn't supposed to be playing with.
-That same little boy had to be spanked today and cried himself to sleep.
-We cleaned up ALL the toys in the playroom twice.
-While mowing the lawn, I had to stop no less than 50 times for various things... a crying little girl, stuck fingers, a story about what happened at school, flip flops that kept appearing in my path, rocks that had been dumped in the grass out of one little boy's favorite yellow dump truck, fire ant bites, praises for tree climbing, a pair of glasses that were about to get broke, tricks on the tramp, arguments, etc
-One not-so-little-anymore boy ripped some newish pants while climbing trees. But he also got much higher than ever before.
-That same boy got to feel his baby brother kick today.
-I am on day 4 of NO yelling.
-Our little miss fell down the stairs again.
-The little boy also put two holes in two different screens.
-We ate dinner outside. Sitting on the cement. With filthy hands. While attempting to have a belated FHE.
-My pregnant brain didn't put the butter dish back where it goes and now it's completely lost.
-There was a little bum crack poking out at me while a little boy bent over to look at bugs and search for a 'really huge snake' that he was sure he saw hiding by a tree.
-My butt went numb sitting on the floor waiting for somebody to go to sleep.
-Soccer has taken over our life and has resulted in canceled dates and temple plans twice now.
-My 'spotless yesterday' house is... not so spotless anymore.
-The clothes hamper is full again. It's only been 2 days.
-I had a tiny foot or hand jabbing me in one specific spot all. day. long.
I'm exhausted. But I'm keeping it in perspective. Because all of these little things are what make us us. And they are my life.
Yah. My life is a BEAUTIFUL MESS. And I kind of love it.

This sweet big brother

Tayv singing to Aree this morning:"When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change cause you're amazing just the way you are. And when you smile, the whole world stops and stares for awhile. Cause girl, you're amazing just the way you are."

Keeping it real.

I finally went and bought a pair of pants yesterday. They're a size bigger. :(  But they're NOT maternity pants and my 'bread dough' is not hanging over the edge.(Sorry about the mental image.)  This last pregnancy continues to wreak havoc on me... medical bills, the cost of formula from loss of milk, headaches, and I won't even get started on my body.  But to be honest? I would do it a thousand times over to have this sweet, adorable, happy girl in our family. Even if she didn't sleep through the night.

Happy Me

A few things that make me happy today....

• We got to spend an entire week of evenings with daddy! No school, no church meetings, just us.
• Only 5.5 more hours until our favorite time of day begins... when Nate pulls in the driveway.
• For the 2nd week in a row, Nate will be here to run family night instead of Tayv & I doing it ourselves.
• Tahn's chubby little flinstone feet that won't fit into any shoes.
• The image of Tayv waving goodbye with a look of love on his face as I dropped him off at school.
• Aree's tiny feet, tiny painted toenails, and beautiful big smile.
• The possiblity of a lightning storm.
• Cute little fingerprints on my newly washed windows and fridge.
• The sound of giggling then fighting then giggling brothers at 6 am.

Find some of your own happys today!

These cute kids of mine...

I'll just put this out there.... pictures of the kids this year were a joke! The night before, Tahn got about

half the amount of sleep he usually does and WAS NOT going to sit for more than 3 seconds at a time,

Tayv tried but once we got Aree situated in his lap and turned around to put Tahn in place he just

had to move, and Little Miss was hungry. So basically,

 I didn't get a real smile from any of them. But they are cute little stinkers. :)

Miss AJ

What can I say about this beautiful little girl? She has brought such joy to our entire family when I didn't think there was more to be had. Her brothers LOVE her, her daddy is COMPLETELY smitten, and her mommy is having the time of her life dressing up this little angel. And to add to it, she's now coo-ing and grinning from ear to ear at anybody that walks by. We just can't get enough of her.

Pictures soon!

Our Sweet Little Miss

Arahlee Jayde

joined our family

February 28th, 2011

at 7:03pm

7 lbs 8.5 oz
19 1/2 in

She has been such a sweet little addition to our family and of course, the boys just can't get enough of her or give her enough kisses. (Especially her smitten daddy.)
We are so grateful she made it here healthy and safe!