Jon's week off.

Jon had last week off. It was a blast. I got a lot done. I had a goal of one room cleaned a day, plus the gym, plus sewing, plus the yard. And some of that list even got done!

We also did a lot that week. We went to Apple Hill, to the Sacramento Children's Museum, and a ton of other places. We were quite the busy family.



We went to the same farm we went to last year in Apple Hill - it's #20 in case anyone is interested. It has some great Halloween stands to take pictures in, a pond to throw rocks into (for Nicholas), some animals to pet and feed, a hay maze (although it was closed because of the rain), nature trails, great BBQ sandwiches (or just the meat in my case), and great deserts and stores.



Abby liked the dirt the best. I am lucky she is so easy to please. Just put her down in a pile of dirt and she will be happy. She will also be dirty and will eat the dirt, but oh well. It is a small price to pay to be able to make her happy.




We also went to the Sacramento Children's Museum. It is a blast. We immediately got a membership there. Nicholas loves it, Abby loves it (more on the museum in a later post), and it is small. Small enough that I can play with Abby in one part and watch Nicholas in another. There is only one way in and out, and they don't let people come in without kids. They also have roaming staff members to help out. We have been back 2 other times since last week. it is fabulous.



The kids also did a lot of playing outside. They love the sandbox in the back. Who knew Crabby (that's the name of the sandbox, courtesy of Nicholas) would be so great. Best money spent on a back yard toy yet - except for the pool.



And so our week with Jon ended. Too bad. Now his busy season at work starts back up and we are lucky to see him at all once that starts.

Things we all know can happen in less than 3 minutes....

Like with kids is filled with fun events that happen in under three minutes, like:

1. The older child filling a bowl of water and dumping it on the younger child - on the carpet - and calling it a bath.

2. Poop poop everywhere (this should need no explanation).

3. Every drawer in the kitchen opened - and they have baby locks on them - and everything pulled out.

4. Cheerios placed everywhere. You might mistakenly think our house is made of bubble wrap form the sounds.

5. Milk from the fridge was helpfully "poured" into cups for everyone.

So this all adds up to 15 minutes of fun for the children and about 3 hours of cleaning for me. I realize they are having fun. My mother just smiles serenely when I tell her these stories. I know inside she's laughing like a hyena. But at least she tries to commiserate.

Just to brag

I've been absent from blogging for a while. It seems to take more energy than I have at the end of the day. So I'm trying to catch up. But for the moment - we took these pictures formally yesterday.

Yes, I made the dress. It's her Christmas dress. I made the top stretchy, so I hope it still fits at Christmas time. I was finishing it (by hand!) the morning of the pictures.

But it was totally worth it.






I have the cutest kids on the whole planet.

But then, every mother thinks so.

"In our religion, martyrs die."

Ok. I admit to feeling a little strange right about now. I am feeling worn out over all the activities. We have a joy school preschool group, gymnastics and dance (at the gym), and friends to have playdates with. We have skills I need to teach Nicholas, time I need to spend with Abby, a house to clean and yards to upkeep. This doesn't count all the other things I do, or Jon does, or the kids want to do. Finding time for all of us together is hard.

But I was reading about the new movie with SJP - "I Don't Know How She Does It" - and thought to myself - Wow! I don't want to be that mom. I want to be the mom who is cool and does enough - not to be the mom who is constantly apologizing and trying to do way too muchl.

I only have 2 kids. I don't want to be the perpetual taxi mom who falls into bed exhausted at the end of the day from being everywhere, all the time, for everyone. Sometimes things fall into the cracks.

Which is why this quote hit me so hard. "In our religion, martyrs die." They do. In every religion. That's the definition of a martyr right? (see the article here). It is so true.

So here's to feeling less like I am not doing enough and more to feeling like I am doing enough. And enough is all I have to do.

Professional photos and books....and other random stuff.

I just want to say thank you to my wonderful friend Erin L for taking these pictures and sending them to me. These are the first professional pictures I have of my children and they are great. It reminds me why you should have professional pictures taken every so often.

It just so happened that she came to the stake softball game with a new lens and wanted to try it out. I am certainly not opposed to my children being guinea pigs for photographers. If there are any other photographers out there, my children will happily be your guinea pigs.

On a side note, stake softball is over. I am sad. We have spent our past 3 Saturdays playing softball and it has been great. I have forgotten how much fun it is. Our ward's team won - by quite a bit - every time. Not that I am competitive or anything :)

My editor sent me a letter a few weeks ago at the beginning of August. It started with, "I like your book but..." Essentially, I need to add 20,000 - 30,000 words to my story. She had some suggestions for where good additions would be and what types of things I should add. So I am working my way through it. Unfortunately, the deadline is September 1, 2011. It is August 29, 2011 and I have 10,000 words to go to hit the minimum. So I guess I know what I am doing all night long. I will know by October 15th if the book is going to be published or not. So if not, I guess I am starting on a new book and seeing where it goes from there. Maybe I will submit this one to Amazon and Barnes and Noble for epublishing. Who knows. I am a little nervous to have people I know read my writing. People I don't know are fine, but people I know I am nervous about. So we shall see.

Our family is doing great. We are just having fun and hanging out as a family. I am enjoying this time of year. We get to go to all the fun attractions around Sacramento and they aren't very crowded because school is in session. So it is fun.

On the to-do list for this week is the zoo and sewing and book writing. Today is the zoo because it is free admission day. Nicholas and I spent Abby's morning nap looking at animals on various websites (for more information, see our homeschool blog). It was a blast and I am looking forward to taking him to the zoo and seeing all the animals in person. Everything else can wait until after the zoo.

The Nevada County fair

We went to the Nevada County fair on Friday. We decided against going to the State fair this year because it was too expensive for what the kids would get out of it. And it is a big fair. Really big. We had also heard stories about some of the kids and teenagers there, and we remembered how true those stories were from last year's visit.

So I looked around for other things for us to do as a family, and found the Nevada County fair. It is a bit of a drive from Sacramento (it tooke an hour and 20 minutes to get there; and hour and 45 minutes to get back). But it was totally worth it.

First, it was only $9 for entry and $7 for parking. And they let you take in all your food. In fact, people take in so much food that they have covered picnic spots all over. That was very nice. Second, it is smaller, and very family oriented. They have face painting and all kinds of kids stuff for cheap or free. It is very family oriented. We loved it.



Of course our kids had to eat soon after we got there. That was fine. We put them in the stroller with snacks and meandered our way to the horses. The horses were great. No one cared that we stopped by every horse (in and out of stalls) and petted them. We talked to them all. The owners all came up and talked to use about the horses and Nicholas got a bunch of his "why" questions answered by the owners (somehow, he didn't want me to answer them).



Then we went to see the cows, pigs, goats, chickens, and rabbits. Everyone was super nice and let Nicholas pet anything he wanted to. They had some saddles sitting on hay bales that the kids could get on and use ropes to rope sawhorse bulls. Nicholas had a blast. I finally got a good picture of them both where they are looking at the camera.



The US Forest Service and CalFire all had fire trucks there. There was a nice young man who was a CalFire firefighter that talked to Nicholas for a LONG time. He put Nicholas up on the fire trucks, showed him where the wheel and horns and sirens were. Answered a TON of questions like, "Why are fire trucks red?" He was very nice and very good with kids. I am continually amazed how good firefighters are with kids. Although I guess they see a lot of them.

It was a great fair. They had a dog show that was great. After the dog show we had some meltdowns by both kids and decided to leave. On our way out we got cotton candy and some cold water and only spent $4! I mean, you can't do that at bigger fairs.

It was a blast and I am glad we went and will totally put it on the calendar to go next year too.

Motherhood

There are sometimes when I think I am blessed to be a mother and sometimes when I know I am blessed to be a mother. Don't get me wrong, motherhood is very rewarding, but sometimes I do forget that most of all, I want to be a mother.

Those days are few and far between. I have my moments: When the neighbors know my children's full names and people on the other side of town can probably do an impression of me saying, "What in the world happened here?" But those moments always fade from memory once the offender curls into my lap and says sorry (usually after he has to clean up the mess).

Motherhood is filled with all sorts of fun. When else do you get to go to a park and run around as an adult? Or have a good excuse for playing in mud, building sand castles, playing in a kiddie pool, and cleaning the kitchen floor with sponges on your feet? Or playing hockey with ice cubes on the kitchen floor, watching cartoons, and snuggling in a bed with stuffed animals? There are the fun times with reading and art, watching kids build new skills, and being proud of them when they do something great.

But then there are the other times: The late and never ending nights, the days when everything a body can produce has been produced and dumped on you, the frustration of wondering if a record player could do just as good of a job as a parent since you spend all day saying, "What are you doing?" and "Really?" and "No," and "Why did you do that?" and "Stay away from the road," and "be nice to your sister," and all those repetitive phrases. And the nights where you finally get to sleep, only to be woken up by someone at your bedside saying they are scared and won't sleep unless they are in your bed and cuddling with you - not their father who is blissfully sleeping, but you.

Anyways, sometimes it just helps to remember that motherhood is a blessing overall.

And when all else fails, put the kids in the back yard with some dirt and trucks and watch them make a mess :) It will bring a smile to anyone's face.