Confession!

For as long as I have been married I've had "mom" friends. Some of my Mom friends used to talk about needing breaks from their kids and time for themselves and girl weekends; I never understood this. I was like why the heck do you need a break, you asked for those babies?

Then I had my own kids.

When my twins were babies I worked part time, then I would come home and do the Mom thing and be fine. I did this until right before their 2nd birthday when I found out I was pregnant with my third child. So I took the plunge and quit my job.

I was now a stay-at-home mom. It was great. Plenty of time to clean and cook and teach them their ABC's, or so I thought. I now know that staying at home is much more work than I ever imagined. It's constant cleaning, cooking, changing, wiping of all things gross, scheduling, refereeing, teaching, loving only to do it all over again the following day. I feel like I hardly ever get anything achomplished because once I finish in one room it becomes a disaster in 6 seconds flat.

Handsome is wonderful, he never says anything about the house being messy or dinner not being done. For the most part I think I handle the running of the house well. Usually my house is at least presentable enough to have me not be completely mortified if people come over, and ususally I make dinner although I allow for one night out per week, and usually no one has to wear dirty clothes because normally I wash,dry, and fold the laundry.

Normally!

But I've found that I've become so absorbed in taking care of the kids and the house and the food that I've forgot about ME! I feel like if I take my one night a month off for book club I'm neglecting my family and being selfish.

I understand now. I'm putting it out there. I AM going to attempt to be SELFISH. (that feels awful)

I need to rethink my priorities and put myself closer to the top. I think I get grumpier and yell more when I feel tired, overweight, lacking in spiritual upliftment, like my friendships are slacking, putting aside things I love to do like reading and scrapbooking then not being able to remember the last time I did those things. I'm hopeful that if I put spiritual and physical wellbeing as a priority it will make me a better wife and mother.

Here goes nothing!

Apparently I LIE

So remember how a couple months ago I put this big post on about how I was gonna start blogging again?  

Well my computer contracted this awful virus and, long story short, it was out of commision.

But...

Seven Weeks, one Military Tech Guy, a Trip to Phoenix, and one fabulous Brother-In-Law later.... we are back.

Merry Christmas!

 

Santa Came

E Family Christmas Party

Every year on the sunday before Christmas we have a family party with my step-dads' family.

 We Eat

 

We Laugh

 

We Sing

 

Santa Comes

 

We Exchange White Elephant Gifts

(Katie hates is grateful for the XL Mens Socks she received)

 

We just have a fun time.

 

Happy Holidays!

The Many Faces of Jaycie

So I stole this super cute idea from my friend Britt...

Every month we take a picture of Jaycie with a sign that says what she's been doing that month.

So far we've had much sucess taking these pictures... no accidents or wardrobe malfuntions or any of that; but this month was different. Daddy was suppose to be helping her sit (it's a skill she's working on right now) and he wasn't paying close enough attention.

Sad!

Happy Happy Birthday!

So we had two birthdays at our house last weekend! That's right, Maddie and Katie turned 3.

IT WAS AWFUL!

Not the part about them turning three but the day they turned 3.

Let me paint a picture for you... Me, in the bathroom, all day, both ends at the same time, wishing I was anywhere else at the moment. Thanks to my mother my house got cleaned and thanks to Josh people got to eat (well everyone except me, that would not have been pretty). I planned and planned to make this party great. I bought all the food, Cafe Rio Salads (delish), and made the cute cupcakes; but I just had to watch from afar.

The girls made out like a bandit though. They got more toys than I have ever seen any kid get. Tons of princess and dress up clothes (now I need a trunk). They had a blast, I stopped barfing, everyone was happy.

Hey! Where Ya Been?

Oh, ya know. Busy!

So what, it's been almost 2 years... no big deal. Not much happened, we just....

-Went to Hawaii, lost our camara, had the best time, no photographic evidence of it though.

- Josh had Surgery! Nothing major, just his ankle. He was out of work for 2 months so we decided to take another vacation.

- Went to Disneyland. Had a blast (plenty of photographic evidence), dragged the family along to push Josh around in the wheel chair while I pushed the stroller bus.

- Got a couple new Nephews (apparently I'm the only one who can have females in this family)

- Decided to get off birth control so we could start trying to have another baby. Figured it would take 3 years like it did the last time. NOPE! First month. Now I know what the other half feel like.

- Decided to rent out our house so we could move. Found fabulous renters who I never want to leave.

- Moved in with the in-laws while we built our house.

- Potty Trained the Girls (so much easier than I thought)

- Had another Nephew

-Built a New House in a new neighborhood.

- Had the cutest baby girl ever!

- Decided to start blogging again now that my life has calmed down a little.

So ya know, nothin going on.