Son Shine

It's kind of crazy, kind of fun to have a little squishy baby boy in the family. He's such a smiley little cuddle bug. He's just about ten months old but still entirely too pampered and doted upon to bother with crawling. But he's wiggly and has a quick, firm grasp and we're in trouble when he does start to move... It's still a bit bewildering to think that I have a SON. Isn't life a wonderful thing?

WINDday

This spring has been the windiest, rainiest, greyest spring in the history of springs. Or at least that's how it feels.... (I try and be grateful that we are not having tornadoes and such... but still, WHERE'S THE SUN?!) But in an effort to embrace all things of the earth, I decided that I need to focus on experiencing more with all of my senses, and to focus on how our bodies react and handle the elements of nature and weather. One day I hope to do a whole photo story on it but for now I dipped my toe in for a minute and got some wind blown copper locks whipping about the face of the best Hazel I personally know.

 (And sometimes you can't pick JUST one photo. :))

Prayers for summer!

Date Night- Star Gazing

One night, after we got the kids in bed, we had a babysitter come and Buck and I actually went on a date! There was an event that day- "Astronomy day"- on the University of Utah campus and we made it to the last thing of the day- star gazing on the roof with high powered telescopes and students and staff to teach us all about it. They also have a good observatory up there as well. We got to see the moon, star bursts, and “the ghost of Jupiter.” The city lights down below were also twinkly. 

We stopped by the class room and touched real meteorites, made some glow in the dark necklaces for the girls, and then we headed home. But on the way we stopped and got some root beer floats. We had to make them up ourselves. We went to a drive thru, fast food place, and ordered root beer and a vanilla frosty. I had to get out of the car to shew away three ducks who seemed to be ordering from the drive thru window as well. We laughed a lot. 

It was a good date night.

The observatory

Photos through the telescope of the half moon-

Mine:

Buck's:

Johnny Jack-Jack

In lieu of Johnny turning NINE months old, I thought it'd be fun to post a few comparison photos with him and his famous twin. Because Johnny is pretty much a super hero baby! He looks like a real life Jack-Jack from "The Incredibles" movie! He's got the blue eyes, the the two teeth, and the blonde little tuft of hair.

And he truly is incredible! ;) 

(and doesn't this last photo especially just make you want to eat him up?!)

Finally, Not a Holiday Post.

(photos in this post were

 taken over time, 

a few months ago!)

Most of my days pass by slower than my posts show. Especially lately, it may appear that I spend all my waking hours celebrating major and non-major holidays. 😂 People have been commenting to me lately about how I must be a "super-mom" or the "best mom" and I suppose if picking up trash on Earth day qualifies me for a gold medal then I'll take it! But in all reality the only reason you only see posts of the good, happy, and decorated moments is because I don't have time to post about anything else. I am barely getting those posts in!

And in case anyone ever feels bad after reading my blog, I just wanted to let you know that behind it all I don't have my crap together either! I'm suppose to give Hazel medicine every day and I don't. I bought some plants to plant in my yard and I never did and now they are dead in their plastic containers on the patio. I am a normal person with dirty dishes constantly in my sink and laundry that needs to be done or folded. The kids' bedrooms are a constant mess and not decorated in any which way. June hasn't done her homework 90% of this school year because that homework was dependent on me doing it with her.

I have no cleaning schedule and mop only once the situation is dire. Our closets and drawers are an unorganized nightmare. June never practices her piano. We are the MOST inconsistent parents on the planet with chores and allowances. I get Hazel to preschool late EVERY SINGLE DAY. In fact I think I get us ALL late to everywhere we are going every single day.

I always have grand plans to read books to my kids or to play board games or do crafts. But then I'm too busy going around like a chicken with my head cut off that those things get left undone. We don't get our scriptures in every day. And good heavens, my kids are not bathed every day. Or even every other day. (much like the mopping, baths happen when the situation is dire...) And, one of my personal favorites, I still haven't gone through June's backpack from LAST YEAR that she brought home on the last day of school packed with papers and projects. It's just sitting up on a shelf.

The list could go on and on and honestly, some days I get hyper focused on it all and I feel like SUCH a failure and it gets me down. But more recently I've been focusing on the good that I do because that feels better and more right. Not that I should ignore problems and never try to improve myself, because I should and I do try!

But lately I've been doing this new thing when I'm feeling overwhelmed. I take a step back from the chaos and I ask myself an honest question: Am I doing the best that I can? Am I doing all that I can do and trying my very hardest? And a lot of the times the answer is "YES!" and when I can answer that to myself I feel a peace and calm cover me up and I know that those efforts of mine will be enough and that God will fill in where I lack. And if I can't answer with a "yes" then I ask myself why and what needs to be done to improve, and usually those things are totally doable and so I work on it.

And in the mean time- I blog about holidays and celebrations. ;)