Cabin Fever

School was cancelled again for today and I think the novelty of the snow is starting to wear off for the kids. They all wanted to go outside shortly after breakfast this morning, but the twins only lasted 10 minutes and Kendle came in shortly after them. Morgan is still holding out strong. He's waving an icicle around like a wand and pretending to be Harry Potter. He shouted "Avada Kedavra" at me, so I'm not sure if I should be worried or not that my 4 year old put a death curse on me.

The roads are just horrible, so I don't really want to take my chances venturing out. I'm such a chicken with bad roads (especially if the kids are with me). The snow plows don't come around to all of our little streets so they are seriously a mess. Riley did his good deed for the day when he went out before work and helped one of our neighbors get their car unstuck when they were trying to back out of their driveway. I tried to convince him to shovel our walkways and driveway again last night, but he was positive from the weather reports that it was going to melt off and start raining later today anyways so he'd rather not waste his time. I had him go to the grocery store last night and at least get us stocked up for a few more days just in case.

Today I'm making some homemade chili and letting it simmer all day long. We'll have chili and cornbread for dinner. I think we need to replenish the cookie supply as well so we will probably be making some after lunch. Lots more movie watching in store too. I'm starting to get cabin fever a bit. Hard to keep all of the kids entertained and happy when we start to feel cooped up. I really need to mop my floors, but what's the point when there is a constant flow of wet footprints and snow being tracked everywhere? Kendle had a sleepover at her neighbor friends house last night and has been hanging out with the neighborhood girls non-stop which is good. If I keep her busy that solves half the problems. Ha!

Well, hard to get motivated to do much besides curl up in front of the fire with a book, but I better get folding some laundry and throw all the wet snow gear in the dryer.

Crazy, Crazy

It is 8:45 on Sunday night. It is the first time all day I have had some peace and quiet and a chance to sit down and relax. Days like today are crazy, crazy. Not just plain crazy. Crazy, crazy. Riley left for a work convention in Portland this morning and will be gone until Tuesday and my thread of sanity is slowly coming unwound. It is so contradictory and at odds that I can love my children SO much, yet at times like this I just want to lock myself in my room and never come out. I adore them, I really do. But for some reason whether it's the stage of life they are all in, just being tired and cranky, the cycle of the moon - I don't know! They have just been absolute little monsters and I don't feel one bit guilty about putting that down on my blog. It is a miserable feeling when everyone is grumpy and crying and you just want them to be happy and play and get along. I don't want to have to be chasing the twins out of the bathroom and my bedroom and the fridge and the kitchen pantry and the dishwasher every five seconds. I don't want to have to constantly be reprimanding Kendle and Morgan for fighting and threatening them that they better get along "or else". Having patience is just not cutting it. I finally had to put the three boys all down for bed super early because there was no other solution to the chaos. After I could tell they had fallen asleep and I was feeling  a bit guilty, I went in to make sure they were tucked in and comfortable for the night. They have the most angelic cherubic little faces that just look so adorably peaceful when they are asleep. It almost makes me forget about the twins climbing out of the bath this morning and getting their toothbrushes and toothpaste and squirting toothpaste all over inside the bathtub. And I can almost forget that they both dipped their hands into their pudding I gave them for dessert and then ran their hands through their hair as if it were hair gel. And I suppose I can almost laugh about the fact that they squirted lotion all over my bedroom carpet this morning, because at least they were following my example of not wanting to have dry flaky winter skin. I honestly don't know if they are doing these things to be naughty or if in their little minds it just makes sense to try and do those things.

So I'm going to bed early tonight under no illusions that I will get a good night sleep because I'm sure someone will come in and wake me up. I hope my love for my kids can supersede the frustration and the crankiness that threatens to take over and that I can keep trying to be the mom I want to be. Good night.

Not Much

We are chugging along into December and not much new to report. We got our Christmas lights hung after a huge debacle and Riley having to take a trip to Home Depot to give them a little piece of his mind, but they're up now. It's so cold, the kids don't want to spend much time outside unless it is traipsing along after Riley or watching him clean his birds from hunting. Morgan got to help him clean some last night and he thought he was pretty big stuff. He was stoked to show me some blood he got on his gloves. Gross!  Riley's planning on making a big batch of goose jerky soon. Mmm, mmm doesn't that sound good? (sarcasm)

We've had a bit of a bug going around and Kendle stayed home from school yesterday. She rarely misses school, she is such a good student and hates to miss so I knew she must be feeling pretty bad. She lounged around all day and hogged the TV and rested. My dad came up and helped me do all sorts of little repairs around the house that have been making my life miserable. I think he can fix just about anything. The kids loved having him here and following him around and watching him work. I always look at things that need to be fixed and they seem like such a big project, and he just comes up and in a few short hours makes it look easy.

Things have been relatively slow with no sports going on right now, but Riley has been working long hours so I'm still not seeing him that much. I told him the other day, he might as well be coaching right now and I might actually see him more. The winter months drive me crazy with my kids cooped up inside and the days seem really long. The twins can get pretty destructive and are always finding new ways to get in trouble. They can climb just about anything and wreak havoc wherever they go. Today I had to box up all the books in the boys room because they just pull them out every day from the book shelf and make a huge mess and I finally got fed up with picking them up multiple times a day. I hope this is a stage they will be growing out of soon.

On a good note though, they have both started to go potty. We are very excited. They just turned 2 a few weeks ago and are very interested and happy about trying to go most of the time. They still aren't talking very much which can make it much harder for them to let me know when they need to go, but I've been sitting them on there a few times a day and having good luck. I'll cross my fingers that it continues and probably try and hit it hardcore after Christmas. I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of not having to buy diapers anymore!

Kendle was excited to sign up for a performing choir they have at her school. I was kind of surprised since she has backed off of her enthusiasm of singing in front of people a bit, but I think it will be fun and she'll enjoy it. They are doing a Christmas concert in a few weeks and might be visiting some retirement homes as well. She's also been learning new Christmas songs on the piano the last few weeks which she gets a kick out of playing for anyone that will listen.

Morgan loves preschool days. Whenever he asks if he has school that day and the answer is yes, he always gives some sort of excited exclamation. He is really improving in learning his letters and numbers and asks me all of the time to let him read letters off of books. He wants to learn addition and always asks me random addition problems. He's really improved on writing his first and last name and loves to draw (or have me draw) all sorts of interesting things that prove what a horrible and limited artist I really am. I think I go down a notch on the "my mom's awesome" scale every time I can't draw a corn combine, tractor, robot, or Star Wars character. He loves doing flips on the trampoline (and in the house -- yikes!) and does head stands and hand stands and all sorts of crazy things. He has so much energy and I'm eager for him to be able to channel that into soccer or t-ball soon.

I love this time of year and look forward to the continuing holiday festivities and spirit of the season.

Signs of Fall and Halloween

October is flying by and we (really the kids) are on the countdown to Halloween. I have yet to really even start working on costumes so I better stop slacking and get on that. I'm loving the crisp breezes, the chilly nights, and the baking weather, not to mention the falling leaves and autumn foliage that is the perfect back drop for all of the Halloween decor that's been popping up around town. I love this time of year when our grass is emerald green and Riley is trying to get the last few mows in before the sprinklers are turned off for the winter. (It seems like it was just spring and we were waiting for them to get turned on.) We've enjoyed watching the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, making donuts, and reading Halloween books.

I thought I'd post a few pictures of what fall is looking like around our place:

(My new lights. They cast the coziest glow at night.)

(Cooper couldn't miss out on a photo op. Don't you love his Spiderman rain boots?)

September

September so far:

I'm glad to report we made it through our first week of school without a glitch. Kendle is LOVING her new teacher and that is a huge relief to me. Her teacher seems absolutely fabulous. So far every day has been wonderful for Kendle and I think it's going to be a stellar year. She loves meeting up with her friends that aren't in her class at recess and likes that they get to eat lunch in their classrooms this year. She is in full swing of soccer and fall softball and I don't think there is an afternoon to spare in our near future.

Morgan starts preschool tomorrow and is totally stoked for another school year with his wonderful teacher. We purchased his little school supplies this morning and he has them all packed up in his back pack and ready to go for tomorrow. He is growing up so fast, and I don't like it one bit. He is still the sweetest when he wants to be though.

I was looking forward to some fall weather, but this week mother nature has decided we're not getting off the hook after all. Temperatures are going to be in the high 90's all week and get up to 101 by Friday. I guess it's one last shorts and flip-flops hurrah for everyone. And just when I thought I could start packing some of that stuff away.

I saw some mum's being put out on display after exiting the store this morning and it reminded me of how much I love fall. I've been wanting to get out all of my fall decor, but this weather doesn't have me in the mood quite yet. I always get in project mode in the fall for some reason and feel really motivated to get things done. Next on my to-do list is going to be repainting my front door a super fun color, and also installing some new outdoor lighting. And planting some mums........as soon as it's cool enough to not sizzle them away into droopy stems of nothingness. This weekend we power washed the exterior of the house and I gave all the windows a good washing. It feels good to give the outside a little spritzing up.

This week we are going to be on the go a lot and hopefully we can stay cool with the A/C cranked up and a good supply of popsicles still in the freezer. I'm glad September is here hot or not!

Summer 'Round Here

I've not been very diligent about keeping up this little blog of mine with the day to day going on's around here. I guess I haven't felt like there has been many exciting things to jot down, but I guess it's really the little things that make up the big picture right?

For the last few days the twins have been having a bad flu bug. Lot's of throwing up and diarrhea. Kale's gotten the worst of it, but they seem to be on the mend today. Only babies and children can throw up one minute and then be out playing outside as if nothing is wrong the next. Needless to say however, I've been cleaning and doing laundry and running on a small amount of sleep since last Thursday night. At one point on Saturday I went into the laundry room and it felt like it was about 100 degrees in there because I'd been running the washer and dryer non-stop. Having babies that are sick is the worst because you can't get them to throw up consistently in a big bowl or in the bathroom and it's hard for them because they don't know what is happening and it scares them. The only upside is that they've actually wanted to snuggle and rock and have me hold them which they haven't done in a long time and I found that I've missed that a lot. While rocking them both the other night, one under each arm, I watched a special on TV about a woman who was paralyzed and in a wheelchair who was about to give birth to twins. I couldn't imagine that and I felt so, so blessed for having my full physical abilities to care for these sick babies of mine.

On a brighter note, we've been enjoying the slower pace of the last few weeks and having Riley at home more this summer because he's not coaching has really made a difference. The kids want to sit around the fire pit and make smores every night. We usually indulge them, but some nights I just don't want to put everybody to bed smelling like campfire. The other night we tried the toasted coconut marshmallows (which were not a huge hit since I'm really the only person that likes coconut) and we also tried Reece's peanut butter cups instead of plain Hershey's chocolate which we all agreed was really good, but the concensus was the plain chocolate was better. I guess sometimes a classic can't be improved upon much. The kids are getting to be pros at roasting the perfect golden marshmallows and I think Riley holds the record for most marshmallows that have caught on fire. Ha!

Since the twins broke my treadmill and I haven't replaced it yet, I've been getting the kids out of the house every day for a morning walk/bike ride. I load up the twins in our big honking stroller (which I think equals out to me pushing about 100 pounds) and Kendle and Morgan ride their bikes. Instead of riding her bike today (because she had a flat tire and we couldn't find the pump) Kendle decided to run our little route. She is getting to be a good little runner. The kids go fast so I have to really book it to keep up with them and even still they always beat me. Morgan peddles so fast on his bike and just flies, I have to run sometimes to catch up and make sure he stops at the end of the block. It is a good little jaunt and is a good way to get everybody out of the house for a bit and get some exercise in before lunch/nap time.

We finally got our first little red tomatoes today and looks like more are almost ripe. I can't wait to start having an endless supply of them. I think I can almost turn into a semi-vegetarian during the summer. Today for lunch I had a baked sweet potato cut into cubes, some avocado, and corn on the cob. So filling and so yummy. None of the kids are big fruit and veggie eaters in general, but during the summer they have at least one thing they love. Kendle loves watermelon (and corn on the cob before she got braces, now she has to eat it cut off the cob which she claims just does not taste as good), Morgan loves corn on the cob as do the twins and he also likes fresh peas in the pod. Riley and I have been getting our fill of cherries, strawberries, and raspberries. Kendle has been begging me to make more jam, so I will have to get around to that one of these days.

I think a good way to measure how much fun the kids have had that day is by how dirty and tired they are at the end of the day. The twins and Morgan look just like pig pen from Charlie brown, I swear they even have the little dust cloud following them around. Nothing is sweeter though than taking those happy, dirty little boys,  and getting them all bathed and jammied up and tucking them into their cozy little beds at the days end. It's good to kiss their freshly shampooed little heads goodnight and know they will sleep soundly till morning. The kids are all brown little peanuts from the sun and Cooper and Kale's hair is bleached blond. I never thought I'd have children with hair like that. I love this picture my friend Natallie took of them on the 4th of July:

I adore their cute little profiles and chubby cheeks, I just can't kiss those cheeks enough.

July

We are in the full throes of summertime here. July is a month that always sneaks up on us and is here and jam packed before we even have a chance to know it. It is totally flying by and I hate to look at the calendar and see that our summer break is already half-way over and school supplies are already starting to be advertised. I have been enjoying sneaking a few quiet moments when I can to put my feet up in the backyard with a good book and to catch a few rays. That's really all I need in the summer.

Kendle and Morgan finished up swimming lessons last week. They both LOVED their teachers and classes. It was a great first experience for Morgan and he passed level 1 after his first session and in level 2 was jumping off the diving board and swimming by himself a little. He is such a natural little athlete, I think once he gets over his dislike of going under water he will be like a little fish. He came a long way in four weeks of lessons.

Kendle passed level 4 and will be taking an advanced class in August. I was kind of hoping to just be done for the rest of the summer, but I figured by then she might be wanting something to do again and it will be a good opportunity. She has learned more in the last four weeks with these teachers than she has all of her other summers taking lessons. It was a good experience for her and she has gained a lot of confidence and new skills. She loves the water and would live in it all day every day if we had a pool of our own. Her teachers worked them really hard and she was always worn out after her class which was a bonus for me! 

They gave each of the kids their own pictures at the end of their lessons and here are Kendle's and Morgan's from their first session:

Here are a few reasons why July is going to be our favorite month this summer. We are looking forward to:

*The last Harry Potter movie coming out this weekend. It's the end of an era, I'm sure I'll shed a tear. We've been counting down for months and months.

*Next week Riley and I are heading to Seattle to watch the Seattle Sounders take on Manchester United. We are so excited not only to watch Riley's all time favorite team, but to get away for a day kid-free and just have some adult time. (Thanks ahead of time mom.) Now the big question is do I wear Manchester red or Sounders green? I know what Riley will be wearing. Have I mentioned that he has a Manchester flag that he hangs outside before and after their big matches? Yep, he's a die hard fan.

*The last week of the month we'll be heading to Long Beach for a (hopefully) relaxing week away. The kids are pretty much on pins and needles to finally be at the beach and I'm in full planning mode making lots and lots of lists (I'm such a list freak) of what we need to pack, buy, and all of that. We are super stoked to pack in a week's worth of fun and memories.

Hopefully all this fun doesn't pass us by too fast!

Wow - I can't believe how sporadic my posts are getting. I only posted ONCE last week, that is totally abnormal for me. I guess I've just been caught up in the lazy days of summer. Well, they haven't been all that slow and lazy yet. Here's what we've been up to:

**The day after school got out Kendle and Morgan started swim lessons. They are taking private lessons this year at a home here in Pasco. Not only are they loving the lessons because their teachers are great and their classes are small, but more than that they love the awesome backyard to play in and the zip-line they get to ride on while they're waiting for the other one to finish lessons. The hard part is having lessons right during lunch time, but so far it hasn't been so bad. We get up in the morning and get all the chores and work done that we can, go to swimming (with a lunch packed), come home and put the babes down for their nap, and then enjoy the rest of the afternoon. They're lessons go for another three weeks and then we'll be done for the rest of the summer. The kids will mourn the loss of their daily zip-line rides.

**I moved the kids' rooms around and now all the boys are together and Kendle has her own room back. I feel like in our "cozy" little house I have to use super magic trickery to make everything fit and work and I took apart and took down the bunk beds, the cribs, and removed two doors and moved multiple pieces of furniture almost all by myself with some great help from Kendle. When Riley walked in the door that night after work and saw stuff all over the living room waiting to be put back I assured him that it wasn't as bad as it seemed and I was almost done. So far the boys are loving it and their room stays nearly spotless every day. Imagine that. Guess who's room is still cluttered and messy? Yep, Kendle's. Blaming it on her little brother's isn't going to work anymore. She is loving having her own space/privacy back and I'm loving being able to girly up her room again. We strung a big line across the wall above her bed where she can clip up her art, awards, pictures or whatever else she wants to display and I'm on the hunt for a bigger bookcase for all the books that are spilling off the shelves and hiding under the bed.

**For Morgan's birthday my mom and dad bought him his own miniature shovel, work gloves, and a wheelbarrow. It's neat because everything is real but just his size now. He wakes with the sun and before he even eats breakfast he's out checking things at his "farm". He actually has lots of peas and some potatoes growing and he loves to dig holes. He dug a huge one that looks more like a pit. I've been calling him Zero (the boy from the movie Holes who likes to dig). We've been trying to get him to go back and fill the holes in before someone gets hurt but it sure keeps him busy and he is going to be one muscly and strong little kid. He got an awesome new bike for his birthday and I think he's about ready to start riding without training wheels. That kid just flies.

**Riley has been even more busy the last few weeks than during soccer season which I did not think was possible. It is hard, but when you are in sales that is a good thing. He's been leaving super early almost every morning, and driving lots and lots of miles for appointments as far as Brewster. He's been logging lots of long hours and leaves again tomorrow for a conference in Montana where he has to do a big presentation on bed bugs to a whole bunch of hotel people. I'd hop in and go with him in a quick second if I could, but my duty is here on the home front. Hopefully he won't have to go too far after that for a little while. He's coaching Kendle's summer league soccer team and they start tonight. Should be a really fun time and we've put together an awesome team.

**I've been busy gardening, weeding, chasing Cooper and Kale out of danger (why do they have to flock to dangerous things?) cleaning out, reading some great books, being a chauffeur, being a nurse (which we've had some bad owies and bonks lately), and just the usual day-to-day things that keep the family and the household together. I really enjoy sitting in the backyard with the kids and watching them play and sitting around the fire at night roasting marshmallows and talking. I've been trying to cook almost everything on the grill outside that I can and coming up with some creative ways to do it. Riley's big old smoker can still be kind of intimidating sometimes, but I mostly have it figured out. It's so nice not to heat up the house, especially when it starts getting really hot. I'm counting down the days until our beach vacation in July.

**The twins are growing like weeds and are an unstoppable force of chaos and fun all wrapped together. They fight with each other and have been biting each other really bad, and I'm hoping that they get over that sooner than later. Sometimes they will find something that makes them both laugh and they laugh at each other laughing and it is hands down the happiest little scene. It gives me hope that they will be buddies someday. They watch Morgan riding his bike and they really want to go riding too, they have about had it with being in the stroller -- they think they are big kids like everyone else. They love to rock out to music in the car and dance when I turn it up at home as well. They've recently tried to start snapping their fingers. They pretty much like to follow Morgan around and do whatever he is doing, so I'm fairly certain they are going to be his little clones. They already want to put baseballs on the tee and try and hit them off and they love playing catch. I am so devastated though, they are always playing with plugs and chords and they broke one of the prongs off of my treadmill plug in. I could have just cried. They definitely know how to wreak havoc and are lucky we love them so much!

Pictures of the Kids

My kids are growing up so quickly and going through some serious growth spurts so I thought it necessary to post some of their latest pictures.

Here is Kendle's softball picture:

She has turned into a real ball player this year. There are only two games left in the season. Her favorite positions are pitcher and shortstop, but I'm still holding out hope she'll learn to like catching more. Last night at her game she was the lead off hitter and went 3 for 3.

This is Morgan's preschool picture. They had a fantastic photographer come to the park to take their individual and class pictures. She did such a good job of capturing his signature glimmer of mischief in his eyes. I'm not sure which one I like better, the color or black and white.



He is getting to be such a big boy and will turn 4 in just 2 weeks!



The twins are as busy and curious and mischievous as ever. They've been enjoying playing outside and eating lots of popsicles.

They love their new found freedom of playing in the yard on a sunshiny day and can almost open the sliding door by themselves. Morgan does a good job of keeping them out of trouble. Most of the time..............They listen and follow directions pretty well for their age and follow me around and "help" in the yard.

This and That

**So I've started counting how many times a day I load my four kids in and out of the car. Yesterday it was about 8 times, so far today 6 times. Isn't that just craziness? Two toddlers, two car seat straps to finagle with, two older kids climbing over the seats to get in the very back and hopefully not fighting with each other. My car is seriously a wreck no matter how many times a week I try and dejunk it. Just this morning after getting home from taking Morgan to preschool I did another clean out and it's amazing how quickly it accumulates. My car is in need of some serious TLC.

**Kale had his first emergency room visit yesterday after pulling a heavy wooden dining chair down on top of his head. It made me feel like the worst parent having to explain over and over to all of the different nurses and doctors that yes, we had our chairs upside down on top of the dining table because he and his twin brothers are climbers, and jumpers, and would gladly swing from the chandeliers if they could. Now those same chairs are laying on their sides underneath the dining table. We'll see if that is the better alternative or if they just use their plotting and scheming little minds to find a new way to do things. But I digress, so Kale received two big stitches after being wrapped in a sheet like a burrito by the doctors assistant, screaming and fighting until he had nothing left, and I nearly passed out. Yes, I can't believe it. Usually I am fine with stuff like that but the doctor had me take a look at how deep the gash actually was after he flushed it out and I felt that light headed feeling coming on. Luckily I had some cookies with me and chowed one down to get some sugar pumping into me and that did the trick. Poor little Kale fell into a completely exhausted sleep on my shoulder two minutes after they unwrapped him from the sheet and claimed he was good to go. The chair also hit his eye pretty good too and it is all just a big swollen lump today. I've just been watching him like a hawk and cringing every time he comes close to falling down, but his spirits are much better today.





{Kale pre-stitches.}

**Last night we sat out in the rain to watch Kendle's game. I thought for sure they would call it half-way through (or that it would have been cancelled) but they stuck it out and even played an extra ten minutes at the end. Kendle has been making some great fielding plays recently and had an awesome double play last night. She was playing third base, caught a line drive/fly ball and ran it back to touch the bag at third. I can tell that she's thinking and knows what's going on during the games and it is fun to watch -- even in the rain! She has the makings to be a good ball player and I hope she sticks it out even though I know she'd rather be playing spring soccer.

**This is Morgan's last week of preschool. I am so sad it is almost over for him. He has loved everything about it and I know he will miss seeing his teacher and his friends during the summer. I can't believe how fast this school year has flown by. I love hearing his little stories about what happened that day and what they all said and did and played.

**I have probably eaten more fast food in the last month than the whole last year combined. We have been so busy and constantly on the go and I have just not been cooking dinner like I usually do.  It is totally disgusting, I'm so sick of it and even my kids are sick of eating out which is really saying something. The crazy thing is, I've actually lost more weight! Go figure on that one. I haven't been running or working out very much and eating horrible. I just can't figure it out. Maybe all the stress and constantly being on the go has made me burn more calories than normal?! Not that I'm advocating for going on a fast food diet (although I usually try to pick the healthiest choices possible). Just kind of one of those weird puzzling things. I thought for sure I had gained back a ton of weight. Kind of puzzling........ 







On the Run

Here's what's been going on:

Thursday I was able to accompany Morgan on his preschool teddy bear picnic. They got to take pictures at the park, play on the toys, have a snack, and do a science experiment. We also saw lots of wildlife including squirrels, geese, and bugs. After arriving back at Miss Molly's house, they set free the butterflies they had been raising and we watched them fly away. It was a super fun morning.

Friday night I was able to get away for a few hours and be treated to a belated birthday dinner by some great friends. It is always so fun to catch up with everyone on what they have been doing and we always seem to have three or four different conversations going on at once. I love these "mini reunions". I think the people at the restaurant were glad when we finally left as we can tend to laugh and talk kind of loudly I'm sure. So fun though, and can't wait to get together with them again.

Saturday night we sat out in the big old storm to watch the Southridge Boys come away with their first ever win against Pasco and also their school's first ever boys soccer regional championship. It was so awesome, who cared that we were all soaking wet! It would take too long to write about just how crazy that game was -- but it is enough to say that it seemed like mother nature and everything else in the balance of the universe was throwing everything they had at those boys and they still came out on top. They play their first state playoff game tomorrow night, it's loser out so we're hoping it's not going to the be the end of the road for the boys. Just so happy for the way the boys played and kept it classy.

Do you ever feel like you are on a never ending sprint? This week is going to be another crazy one. Kendle has her piano recital tonight and another game on Wednesday. (Luckily she doesn't have a game tonight like they usually do.) She's been practicing her songs for a while and I think she will do good, and I'm ready to hear some new songs. Ha! If Riley's team wins again tomorrow night, I *think* they will play at home again this weekend.  Add in some field trips for Morgan's preschool, softball and soccer practice, and some visiting teaching and I think we have multiple things going on just about every day this week.

The other night while being a taxi driver for Kendle to and from practice, I realized that I really do enjoy the hustle and bustle to some degree. It can get a bit much some days, but for the most part it feels good doing productive things with our time. I know otherwise I would just be bored or forced to spend more time cleaning my house right?! Quite often I feel like the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland singing,

"I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date. No time to say hello, goodbye - I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"

My house and our dinner times really do suffer this time of year, but summer will be here soon enough and the long lazy days will stretch out in front of us with time to kill. Hopefully..............

Spring Break So Far......

We are on day 2 of our lovely windy and cold spring break. I don't know about anyone else, but spring break makes me tired. Riley has soccer and also couldn't take time off of work all week so we are stuck in Pasco for spring break. I decided yesterday that the only way to keep some of my sanity was to assign the kids jobs and make the morning our "work" time and then have the afternoon be our "fun time" if we get our work done. I just couldn't take the idea of the kids complaining all week that they were bored and there was nothing to do, so I figured this was one way to keep some balance. Yesterday was a great day, so I'm hoping today is just as good. We got the bedrooms cleaned and organized, I went through Cooper and Kale's clothes and sorted out the ones that are too small, and now have another ginormous pile to store in the garage. We went out for some ice cream after the twins woke up from their naps, the kids played with their friends from next door, and my friends Brian and Natallie helped us score a sweet deal on a basketball hoop. Kendle can't wait for Riley to put it together and go shoot some hoops. I was really hoping for some nicer weather so the twins could play outside more. Last Friday was the most gorgeous beautiful day and we had a great time out in the sun. I guess that was the ultimate April Fool's joke though. No more nice weather after that.

Hopefully we can squeeze some more fun things into this week -- some bowling, movies, and park days if there's no wind!

The Kids

This has been a pretty low-key week. It feels like the calm before the storm. Riley will be taking off again for a double header in Seattle tomorrow and be gone until Sunday night, Kendle has another basketball game tomorrow, and it's Valentine's Day on Monday which means I better get in gear and help Kendle and Morgan get their valentine's done over the weekend and plan something fun for Monday. I also promised I'd make our annual batch of valentine's cookies Sunday afternoon and I will have to be praying for some serious will power to not eat like 20.

Kendle came skipping home from the bus yesterday afternoon, bringing home a huge pink poster she decorated at school that says I love you mom and dad. She wanted to hang it right on the back of the front door where everyone would see it. She is so funny sometimes, all it takes is a little craft project at school to have it be "the best day ever".
They made their Valentine's envelopes at school this year, which I have to say I was kind of relieved about. Fun for the kids, and fun for me to not have to sweep glitter up for a week. I think she enjoys school more than she lets on. She tries to act kind of nonchalant about it. She always gets 100% on her spelling tests plus the bonus words. I've never really had to study them with her, she just already knows most of them. I think they need to give them some harder words to challenge them a bit. I told her we should start doing some of our own spelling tests at home with harder words and she kind of just rolled her eyes at me. One of her goals she made at the beginning of the school year was to be 1st place for AR in her grade. A boy was ahead of her for a while and then she started checking out a lot harder books from the library and got ahead. She proposed an idea for a reward and struck up a deal with her dad and I if she finishes out in 1st place at the end of the year -- a very BIG reward I might add, not in monetary means or anything like that, but a compromise on an issue we've discussed before. She really wants to get her ears pierced and we've told her she has to wait until she's ten, but I think if she keeps up like she has been, we will be holding up our end of the bargain.

Basketball has actually been going better than I thought it would. Kendle has been loving it and continues to surprise us every game. She likes practicing and we really need to get a hoop. At their practice on Tuesday night their coach gave every girl a pair of hard plastic goggle type glasses with the lower half of each lens blacked out with duct tape. It is supposed to help them not look down when they dribble and practice looking straight ahead. I thought that was such a great idea. She has been wearing them around the house and outside while she practices dribbling up and down the street. Their practice got cancelled last night so Riley just took her down there anyways since they already had the gym reserved and practiced more with her. He said she made 40 baskets. In her game last Saturday she made two really good shots. The first one was off a rebound under the basket, but the second one was AMAZING. She took it down the court and got  farther outside and just swished it, nothing but net. Riley and I just looked at each other and were like - WHOAH, where did that come from!? She is getting better ball control and can steal the ball away from the other players almost 90% of the time. She also makes good passes and assisted a few other girls in scoring. It has been really fun to watch. This probably sounds way too much like I'm bragging, but really we are just genuinely shocked she has been picking it up so well. She had never even really dribbled a ball before this season, and if truth be told she can be kind of a spazz and a walking tornado sometimes. Ha! I think playing soccer has helped a lot though in knowing how to defend people and looking down the court for your team mates to score and such. I  have also seen the extra boost of confidence it has given her and I'm proud of the way she plays hard and tries to do her best (although last week we had to remind her not to stomp on another players toes, no matter how annoying or mean they are). When she is done with her games she is sweaty and tired and happy. I love it. I'm sad there are only a few games left!

Morgan doesn't like watching the basketball games so much. He'd rather be wrestling with his brothers or down hiding under the bleachers or eating ten packets of fruit snacks. He gets mad that he's not old enough to play yet and doesn't get to go to practice. He does occasionally let loose a big old "Go Kendle" every once in a while during her games (usually when the other team has just scored). He loves tractors and since his grandpa showed him these tractor videos on YouTube, that is all that he wants to watch. (They are soooo boring, but some are put to some kind of fun music). His favorite ones to watch are when the tractors are stuck in the mud. He loves his grandpa and tells me all of the time how when he grows up he's going to be Grandpa Tovey. For the last few days he has been coming up to me and telling me he wanted to go see "the miracles" and he was making tickets for the "miracles". I could not for the life of me figure out what he was saying. Finally he said something about sitting on the tractor at "the miracles" and it dawned on me he was talking about Country Mercantile! Mercantile, miracles -- is that not the cutest thing? I thought so. That is his favorite place to go. He loves to sit on the big red tractor and then go inside the store and pick out a treat. He has such a mechanical little mind and always wants to see how things work. He is still obsessed with all things Toy Story and asks me all the time who I like best, Woody or Buzz.  He is really excited for his little Valentine's Day party at preschool next week. Hopefully I can make it through helping him sign his name ten times without either of us losing our tempers.

What to say about Cooper and Kale today....hmmmm.....they are just the busiest babies I've ever seen. Cooper more than Kale I would have to say. He goes a mile a minute and you can see the wheels just constantly turning. The poor kid this week has bashed his head about fifty times, got a bloody lip, and so on. His poor little face just looks terrible. I was telling Riley last night that he never cries for long after he's fallen off of something or just hit his head because he's already plotting his next move. He's always climbing up on something or running and falling. Kale is more methodical and not so random. He has certain things he likes to try and do and get into over and over again. His m.o. is wearing you down. His current favorite is turning the computer off at least ten times a day and getting into the dishwasher. Kale also really likes to bring me things and show me things and likes to throw things in the garbage so I have to be pretty vigilant about checking every so often what's in there. He is the one though that is learning to pick up their dirty clothes and put them by the laundry room door. :) They are sweet little guys with the happiest faces and growing up in fast forward it seems. They both got another tooth recently as well. They love to go "bye, bye" and when they know we are leaving to go pick up Morgan from school they will go in their room and start bringing me random shoes. Cooper will stand on his tip toes and try and turn the front door knob. Kale even brought me the diaper bag the other day and I thought that was so smart he thought we needed to take some stuff with us. I got all the bottles packed away yesterday and it was kind of a bittersweet feeling. No more "babies" in our house. :(

Well I didn't really intend for this to turn into that long of an update but there it is. Now nap time and workout time is calling. Too bad the nap time is for the twins and not me!

Future Football Players

At least once a day Morgan will come ask to play catch with me. He loves football. It is amazing to see this little 3 year old boy throw an amazing perfect spiral like a rocket to you. Before his throws he will get set up, make sure his hands are in the right spot and then fire away at you. He loves it when I yell -- TOUCHDOWN! The twins love chasing after the loose or overthrown balls and being the little retrievers. They will come stand in front of me with the ball raised up to their shoulder and act like they are trying to throw it. It won't be long until they do I'm sure and then things will get really wild! I love it though. I enjoy the moments where they all play together and can catch little glimpses of what it will be like in the future. It's my dream to have a yard big enough someday where we can make a little football/soccer field for the kids to play on.

The Hard

Today was just one of those weird emotional days for me. It was a just a strange day. Riley has been coaching the last month or so and has been out of town almost every weekend so I've been either taking the kids to church by myself while he's gone or having friends and family help me watch the twins so that I can get to church and make sure Kendle and Morgan can be there. It has been really, really tough. It takes a lot of effort to make arrangements and figure things out just to get there. Today was the second week in a row that I was the recipient of some big time selfless service from friends who offered their help. It has been very humbling for me to receive so many acts of service over the last year or more since the twins were born. I know they don't view it as a big deal to help me, but it really means a lot to me and I don't take it for granted.

I realized over the last week that there is a season and time for everything and this is just a really, really challenging one for me. I've been fighting it and fighting it, and feeling that I can handle anything that comes along, but it was a losing battle. So I've finally given myself some permission to just let those feelings go. I feel like a little of the stress is gone.

It is NOT my season to be the person that volunteers to help out for everything that comes along.

It is NOT my time to try and keep up and worry about what everyone else is doing and what fun things I might be missing out on.

It IS my season to like going to bed early and be more of a home body because I'm really needing all the sleep I can get.

It IS my time to be home with my children every day and try my best to make their childhood wonderful and they are the only ones I care to impress with my time and devotion.

It IS my season to have an imperfect home with toys left all over the house and messes being constantly made, because four little children live in this "cozy" little house of ours.

I don't know why the simplest conclusions are the hardest to come by sometimes, because I feel like this was kind of a "duh" moment for me. I wish I could push rewind and go back before the twins were born and tell myself that the next few years were going to push me and challenge me and mold me in ways I never thought possible and that it would be emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausting - every single day. That basically no matter how hard I tried to imagine what it was going to be like, there was no way to prepare for it. That I would simultaneously wish every day for a vacation, yet also dread leaving my little ones behind. That every day would be a roller coaster of emotions and ups and downs. That those two adorable little boys would be SO DARN BUSY. AND CLEVER. AND FAST!!!

But I found while offering a friend some advice the other day, that it was exactly the advice I needed to be listening to myself. (Why is that?)  I said something along the lines of "that from the hardest challenges come the greatest blessings" or "sometimes the hardest things are the most worth it". Something like that. And then I remembered one of my most favorite lines from the movie A League of Their Own where Geena Davis tells Tom Hanks that she was quitting and going home "because it just got too hard." And then he replies to her, "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard everyone would do it. The hard, is what makes it great." Gah! I love that movie.

Well, it is late and I am starting to ramble so I need to go to bed, but I just felt like I really needed to write these feelings down. I want my children to know how much I love them though, and how every single thing I do for them is worth it and I couldn't imagine life without each and every one of them.

The Magic of Christmas

I love the age that Morgan is at right now. Three year olds LOVE Christmas. They love everything to do with it. The tree, the treats, Santa, the presents, the snow, Christmas carols, the Christmas lights, Christmas movies...........

It is also a wonderful time of year to get him to be good because Santa and his elves are watching. He was so excited to go see Santa Claus to tell him what he wanted for Christmas (which was a Woody and Buzz Light Year toy.) Every day he asks if it is time for Christmas yet. I can't wait to see his face on Christmas morning.

As my mom pointed out to me, Morgan looks like such a big boy in this picture. He suddenly doesn't look like my tiny little buddy anymore. He is getting so tall and strong. I'm going to miss the excitement he has for everything as he continues to grow older. I wish we all could keep that magic of Christmas we feel at this age.

Kendle has already moved on from believing in Santa, but I'm quick to remind her that only those that believe in Santa receive presents from him under the tree. We had a good little chat the other night as well about how "Santa Claus" isn't  just a matter of believing or not, but that he embodies the spirit of fun and giving at Christmas time and that we can all be "Santa's" to other people during this special holiday time (and that we don't want to ruin the fun for the little ones.) I think she got it. And she still wanted to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what she wanted for Christmas after all.

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time."

  ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

Break Day

It's Friday. What to say? The kids had yesterday off for Veteran's Day and today off for a "break day",  yes a four day weekend around here. Wish we had some exciting plans or a weekend away, but we are sticking close to home. Riley's team will be traveling to Federal Way tomorrow morning for their quarterfinals game against Decatur. The kids and I will be staying at home for this one, but my best thoughts will be going out strong all day long for them. It will be a nerve wracking day since their game doesn't start until 6:00. That is a long time to be nervous!

Our kids were up and at em super early this morning. I wish just for once that on a day off from school there could be some sort of quiet spell that falls over our little house and I can stay curled up in my warm bed for a while longer. Riley was up at 4:30 so he could leave by five o'clock to drive to Cle Elum for work this morning, so I guess I had kind of been dozing off and on since then. We woke up to a white and frosty front yard, but now the sun is shining bright and melting the frost away.

I'm trying to think of what I can do to keep the kids busy and occupied today so that I can get some work done. I literally have 101 projects and things that need to be started and/or finished. I had Kendle and Morgan bundle up and walk down to get the mail this morning since I hadn't checked it in a few days, and Kendle was excited to see the new Children's Friend arrive, so at least that is keeping her busy for now. The babies enjoyed a nice warm bath this morning and I think more water ends up out of the bath tub than in it. Now they are mosying around the house in their matching Batman outifts. Morgan is already asking if it's lunch time yet. It's not even 9:30. Could be a long day.

Well, time to turn some holiday music on and clean up the house.

Wednesday, my least favorite day of the week (and other ramblings)

Ok, so basically, the title of this post should say it all. I kind of loathe early release days and how it throws my usual schedule off kilter. Kendle comes home from school early and is very loud. She usually rings the doorbell 10 or 12 times even though I've told her repeatedly NOT to do it. This usually wakes up the babies from their naps earlier than  I would like and you know nothing gets us mom's ticked off more than having what little quiet time we get during the day cut short. Then it all just snowballs from there. It is always a weird day and feels EXTRA EXTRA long. Like right now it is only 3:30 and it feels like it should be at least 5:30.

Today has been one of those days where I was committed to being lazy and taking it easy. My shins have been hurting so I took a day off of running. {I might be pushing myself a little too hard, but I've shaved off another ten seconds on my timed mile and now I'm only 35 seconds away from my goal. That is crazy for me to believe that in the last two and a half months I have improved a 1:25 on my time. I know distance runners look at the over all time not just the short distance, but I guess I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. I want to try and reach my goal by Christmas. I think that will be a good present for myself.} I stayed in my pj's all morning and did Christmas shopping online. But I think having lazy days are overrated because my floor that desperately needs to be swept for the sixth time is driving me crazy and I just can't seem to relax with dishes needing to be done and sitting in the sink. So there you have it. I guess my need for order trumps my need to relax.

On another note though, I will mention that my baby gate I bought is the best ten bucks I've spent in a long time. I don't even mind throwing my leg over the side and climbing over it to get inside the kitchen because it has made my life so much easier. Now I'm not constantly picking up all the mixing bowls, sippy cups and kids plates and bowls that the twins would pull out fifty times a day.  Who knew such an otherwise boring purchase could make me so happy. The twins on the other hand hate it! They stand and shake it and cry when I am in there doing dishes or cooking. They look like little jail birds and it is quite the hilarious sight. Poor babies, but at least we won't have any more dish soap episodes any time soon.

It is crazy to see Cooper and Kale walking around the house. Kale has actually almost ran a few times. He really gets going and then has a hard time stopping. I love it though. They look so cute shuffling along with their little arms out for balance. They get more and more brave every day. I can't believe their birthday is fast approaching and then I will have 1 year old twins! I remember other parents of twins telling us that if we could just make it through that first year things would get so much better. I think that's pretty much true. I'm loving the stage they are in right now.  Never in my life have I felt like a year has past more quickly however. I feel cheated of not having better memories of when they were newborns. It makes me sad that those times have come and gone and the last of the Dodson babies are growing up. I haven't even thought of what to do for their birthday. I guess I need to start cracking on that!

December Surprise

Today along with some new makeup and the new Pottery Barn catalog with all the beautiful Christmas ideas inside, I received one more piece of happy mail. Our family tickets came for the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.

When I saw this was coming to Seattle as it's final stop in the tour, I knew this would be just the type of thing that my family would love to go experience. Riley and I thought it would be a fun surprise for the kids and sort of a reward to all of us for getting through soccer season. It will be so neat to look at many of the authentic costumes and props that will be featured, and do some of the interactive hands on activities as well.

We are huge HP fans in this family. We can't wait to see the new movie coming out and then go to the exhibit a few weeks later to top it off. I'm so excited to take the kids for a little family day trip and have a fun time. I hope we can keep it a secret until then. They really put up with a lot and are really just troopers with all the long hours their dad is away. They deserve it! Can't wait! (ok, really I think Riley and I will be more excited than anyone) Is it bad for a 30 year old woman to wish she lived at Hogwarts?

Just one more reason December can't come fast enough.

What's New

*In the last week or so the twins have started to do some walking. Kale is a little more motivated, but Cooper doesn't want to be left on the sidelines so yesterday he was trying his hand at it as well. I'd randomly catch them letting go of furniture and take those funny prancing steps until they finally lost their balance. Exciting stuff! I'm thrilled. One more milestone that will help life be a little easier for this mom. (We'll see if I'm regretting that statement in a month or so.) They are at such a fun stage right now and are getting really silly and playful. They love to make us laugh. They are just too cute and every time I see their happy little faces staring over the crib rail in the morning I just want to give them the biggest squeeze.

*Kendle is done with soccer season. Their team had some really awesome games, and also some not so good ones but they always kept a good attitude and had fun together and acted as good sports to the other teams. I think she finished the season with about 9 or 10 goals, lots of assists and only gave up two goals as goalie. She is an awesome defensive player when she gets going and is starting to see how to make plays happen. I was really proud of her. We want to work on speed for next season. I don't think she'll know what to do with herself without practices and things after school, but yesterday she told me she wanted to start running on the treadmill to get ready for basketball. I looked at her like, "who are you and what have you done with my daughter?" Ha. I guess she's still young enough that the treadmill is a fun thing. Then she told me about a program her school is participating in to track how many minutes of physical activity the students get a day. They are ideally supposed to get at least 60 minutes. They can log onto the program online and input their stats. There are supposed to be some kind of small rewards for meeting their goals. So I wasn't surprised that had something to do with it. She is an incentive driven type of girl. Got to keep holding that carrot out there for her. HA.

*Morgan is loving preschool and I can already see some changes in him and his desire to learn new things. We've been working on spelling his name and he is so proud he can spell his first and last name now. I can also get him to sit down and color and do some busy work. He is so excited when I pick him up from preschool to tell me all about the fun things they did that day. He told me the other day that he thinks "Miss Molly is the nicest lady ever." He adores her. He is a typical busy three year old and loves to build things or look at things taken apart and put them back together. He loves everything to do with farming and tractors and being outside. Every time we drive past a corn field or empty potato field he tells me all about it. I'd love to make him his own little garden someday.

*Riley's team is done with league now and moving on to the regional tournament. We're excited to see what happens from here on out. He is still as busy as ever with his day job and sometimes I never know where he will be at from one day to the next. Yakima? Wenatchee? Moses Lake? One never knows. He is always on the go and usually pretty exhausted by the days end. I'm looking forward to some of the honey do's that have been on hold finally getting done after soccer is over and I know the kids are looking forward to having their dad back for a while.

*Not much is new with me. Just trying to stay on top of the day to day tasks that come about. I've been loving the cooler fall days that are still giving some sunshine. It's like the best of both worlds. I've been trying to stay ahead of the game a bit and get some stuff done for Christmas while I have the time. I've been trying to cross off one person every week and hopefully that will keep the stressful shopping to a minimum this year. It seems the nights have been quieter and bed times earlier around our house as of late, which has been nice for me and my large stack of new books waiting to be read. This is a great time of year and I'm glad for the reminder to be thankful for all that I have. Today is also election day. Another good reminder of how blessed I am to live in a country where everyone is entitled to cast their vote according to the dictates of their own conscience. How very lucky are we.