You poor, little blog

Having another child added to our family has thrown me a bit off my A game you might say. I constantly find myself realizing that it's five o'clock and I am not quite sure how time got away from me. There are lots of lessons (soccer twice a week), violin (once a week with the "real" teacher and every other day with the mean, mom teacher), reading lessons for Owen (he's almost done with the book and then we get to Par-tay!) and food to prepare and nursing and lots of laundry and occasional cleaning.We are still alive and kicking and trying to make this new four children thing work and I can't really be very creative, so I'm going to share some highlights of our last...month?...yes, I have neglected my little blog friend for more than a month. Ugh! Here goes:

Thanks to Michael's dollar bins and my mom--the kids had a night of fun with glow sticks. I wish that I had some really awesome pics to show you, but I don't have the camera or the know how to do it. Let me tell you though--usually I'm one to "save" things for some special, non-existent upcoming event. Not anymore (okay, so maybe still, but not always I'm vowing!). I gave each child his own can and let them go crazy and they did and they loved every second.

This is my latest obsession--trying to get this handsome man to smile at me. He's up to 12 pounds--two months and five pounds of weight gain almost--not bad, not bad.

This is super-duper yummy and fills everyone's hearts with happiness. It's known as "I don't care if I lose the baby weight if I can have as many of these as I want." Really though, the recipe is from The Picky Palate Website. It's really called Double White Chocolate

and Pretzel Peanut Butter Cookies with Sea Salt. This woman knows how to

make a delicious treat. Her latest one for the day looks AMAZING.

While the cookies bake, you fight with swords. Or you just fight with swords all the time at our house. It's what we do (when we're not eating cookies).

Finished product. Mmm-mmm!

Whenever Eli holds Caleb, he wants me to take their picture. However, I can never run to get my camera quick enough that Caleb isn't screaming about the situation. This is a rare moment of calm before the storm. Not a great shot, but it's what we've got. Look at that double chin--I told you almost 12 pounds.

My favorite holiday to do projects for. Christmas is so stressful for me, but Halloween, I just adore. I love the meaning behind Christmas and the feelings, but Halloween is just pure fun. Maybe it's the candy association? I think it's the cooler temperatures. I let each kid pick their own toppings for a gourmet caramel apple. You have M&Ms, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Reese's Pieces. Mine was Heath bar in case you were interested.

This is my daughter, my friend Koby and my kitchen looking like a wreck. There is a good reason. We got together on Wednesday and did freezer meals! Yay for us. Koby did these gourmet recipes (Our Best Bites Taquitos and some Macaroni Grill copy) and I did a simple Cheddar and Cracker Chicken and some breakfast burritos. I was proud of us though because we whipped out 65 burritos, 3 lasagnas, 3 full chicken dinners and I don't know how many taquitos--lots!!

This is my beautiful new apron per my Aunt. I don't have the link for you to go perusing, but isn't it adorable? I look really weird in this shot, but the apron is super cute. It's ice cream cones all over it. See all those lasagna noodles?

Last night I took Ryanna and Owen on a date night with me. We went and saw these phenomenal acrobats from the People's Republic of China. I mean--really, I was completely blown away by what they were doing. Let's just say that I saw 13 people on one bike at a time--riding in circles on a stage, I saw two women balancing head on head--ouch!, I can't tell you how many contortions of bodies I saw. Juggling that was so fast that the balls were just blurs. Four people standing on top of each other's shoulders. A guy flipping from the floor through a hoop that was 10 feet 6 inches off the ground--the height of an NBA hoop! And more and more and more. Owen's face describes how I felt for the whole show.

What? Don't you fill your bath with every shoe in your closet from time to time? No really, there's a good reason. See this?

Now it looks like this! Yay for new carpet!!!! The kids and I are in heaven. It's so thick and nice the kids were doing carpet angels. Now, for the blinds and the lights and the blah, blah, blah! For a better view of it, we the picture at the top.

He's So Darn Adorable!

Lots and lots and LOTS of beautiful photos that were taken by our friend Kim Skinner. Get ready to say, "ooooh," and "aaaaah" over and over again. (If you click on her name, it will take you to some of these same photos posted on her site, but LARGE enough to see better.)

He Has Arrived!!!

Caleb Derek was born July 30 at 8:56 pm weighing 7lbs 5oz and 20.5 inches long. We fell in love instantly--every single one of us.

The Problem With Being a Doer

I am extremely task oriented. I love lists. I get a little bit giddy at the idea of crossing stuff off. Not that I'm to the point where I write something down just so I can cross it off, but pretty close to that point. I love to constantly evaluate what I've accomplished in my life each morning. Today, by 10 I had watered all the backyard plants and front yard plants, done a load of laundry--which involved stripping two beds, made our own bed, made and cleaned up breakfast for four, vacuumed the entire downstairs, cleaned up all the dirty dishes from last night and wiped all the counters, helped Owen read an entire book, prepared a dessert to bring to a surprise party and bought some needed hair products from the store across the street (not to mention showering myself and doing my hair and make-up as well as getting Eli dressed and doing the boy's hair).

All of this can be very rewarding, but it can also be very hard to stop. I can explain better by saying that sometimes when Derek comes home he wants to hug or hold me. Sometimes it is really hard for me to stop long enough to just be with him for the short time he wants. Isn't that sad? What a poor reflection on who I am. I am not trying to be insensitive, I just get these thoughts going and it's hard for me to stop doing.

Sometimes I lie in bed for hours at night creating to do lists in my mind. I don't want to do this and it does help me to write them down sometimes, but my mind just goes and I can't seem to stop it from telling me to do more tasks.

I think having a baby is such a great opportunity for me to be reminded to slow down and enjoy my life. I look at my kids and I think they are so wonderful. Each of them with a unique personality and talents. I love them so much and I want so much for each of them to reach their potential and I feel a lot of guilt that I'm not a better mom. Better at being patient, better at being creative, better at listening, bette at teaching, better at loving them in the ways they need to be loved.

One of the strongest feelings I have felt lately is that I need to stop being so concerned with the to dos and start being more concerned with loving and taking time. These kids are a greater blessing than I ever imagined possible and I don't want to get to a point where I feel like I really didn't get it--they are grown and I missed out on truly enjoying them.

I think this is a challenge for me to figure out, but with all the nursing I'll be doing, I'll have plenty of time to talk and just be. I hope I can make the most of it.

Spiritual & Famous

I can't believe we finally earned a spot in a church video! To see the cutest family ever, click here and watch for about 1 minute and 15 seconds.

Violin Medley

Ryanna played this hymn medley in church today. It sounded even prettier than it does here. She did such a beautiful job and we had so many people tell her how it touched them and how impressed they were with her memorization. We love to hear her play her violin. To see, click here.

Rawhide

I bought a Groupon to this Western theme park several months ago thinking we could take the kids and have a good time. We had enjoyed visiting Goldfield, Arizona, so much and this seemed a lot like that, so I figured we couldn't go wrong. Luckily, even though we started our evening at 103 degrees, I was right!

We saw two different shows by the same group of guys--I think they call themselves the Arizona Rough Riders. We saw a separate show by a Miss Kate and her rescue animals. Her horses could do amazing tricks and she could use a whip like a pro (she won some national title associated with the horse tricks she does years ago). We also ate steaks, panned for gold--they make sure each child gets a little bag full, rode burros, petted llamas, baby goats (3 weeks old), a miniature horse, sheep and pigs and had a band play us "Long, Tall Texan" and we didn't even do it all! We left after 9 pm and we got there when it opened. It was so much fun and I'm hoping to do it again when it starts to cool back down.

Acting scared of the stuffed Rattlesnake

Sad to be captured

At first those baby goats were friendly...

Then they started jumping on us... (Owen thinks this is pretty funny since he's not the victim!)

Then they were eating pieces of our hats!!!!

See how tiny that horse is?

This shot (ha, ha) is from the Billy the Kid show (see the guy falling?), we also saw one about Wild Bill Hickok

A picture with the whole cast. The bad guy tried to get Owen to shake his hand, but Owen was having none of it telling him, "You're a bad guy! You killed that guy who cheated at cards."

Strike it rich!

Riding off into the sunset...