LIFE IS PERFECT!

I never in a million years thought I would ever get to say these words, but now I can...

I am a stay at home mom!!!

Ever since I had three months maternity leave with the twins I have wanted to be at home. Jason and I talked about it several times but it just didn't seem right to give up health insurance and a second income. Then in January, things changed with his work, and it finally made sense for me to stay home with the kids and help him with his paperwork. I gave my notice at work and agreed to work until they found a replacement. Feb 28th was my last day at work. It was a day full of lots of emotion. I was happy to get to stay home, scared to stay home, and sad to leave all of the friendships I made over the last 8 1/2 years.

When I first thought about staying home I got all excited and thought, "I'll run my house like a business. We will be so organized! I will keep my house clean! I'll do laundry during the day! Everything will be perfect!"

Well, I'm sad to report my ideas were good but they are NOT reality. Jason summed it up best last night when he said, "wow, the house is a BIGGER mess now with you home than it ever was when you worked! I guess that is because the kids are here all day messing up our house instead of trashing somebody elses."

It is harder than I thought to clean the same thing over and over and over again. Day after day after day. At least when you work you get a break and get to do something different for a few hours. I started to feel like why clean up the toys when they are just going to get them out again. I thought, "I'll just clean them all up at the end of the day". But then I would get tired or distracted and it didn't happen.

In my defence, I did have about a week where I just felt like CRAP. I blame that on the bad habits setting in. I still get up early and I am recommitting myself to keeping a cleaner house. (notice I said cleaner - I am not promising perfection here.)

I spend about 3-5 hours a day helping Jason with his paperwork. I have loved every minute of being home! Bella seems more confident and Abi has become more clingy. I'm not sure why that is but she seems to think that I am the ONLY one who can do things for her and she throws the biggest temper tantrum whenever Jason or Isaac try to help her. Being at home has allowed me to attend some school things with Isaac and I think he likes having me more available for him.

I am almost scared to say this (don't want to jinx it)...

Right now,

LIFE IS PERFECT!

A Royal Picnic

You are here by invited -

to view pictures of the

Royal Picnic

that took place on Feb 15, 2011,

at the royal castle!

(OOPS! Once again my pictures are in Reverse order! You might want to scroll down to the bottom and then read up to the top.)

After eating so much GOOD food the Queen and Princess were too tired and full to stand for a picture.

King Isaac packed a delicous dinner into the picnic basket.

The dinner consisted of

Left over heart shaped Jell-o,

Left over Pancakes,

Left over chicken nuggets,

(are you noticing a theme?)

Left over Peaches,

Left over Pears,

and a bottle of water.

Then he took the lovely picnic to the

CASTLE

where his queen and princess were waiting for him!

(P.S be sure to notice Isaac's head sticking out the window in the above picture)


King Issac, Queen Abi, and Princess Bell

(I didn't come up with the names - they did!)

Inivite you to view pictures of their Royal Picnic!

Pack meeting

At Pack Meeting tonight, Isaac earned his whittling chip patch and his map and compass belt loop. He has also earned the nickname No-Hugs-Isaac by the Scout Masters (see my last pack meeting post for details on how he got it). Those of you who know Isaac, know that he CAN'T STAND to be called anything but Isaac. As you can see in the picture, he is less than thrilled with his new name. I don't think the Scout Masters care. Sorry Isaac I think your stuck with it!

Dinner at Myndee's

I got to watch Jo's Boys again today! I picked up all the kids and then headed to Best Buy because they needed a disk to finish fixing my lap top. All 5 kids were amazing! They were helpful and listened and we did not have a single fight. On the way home, I was thinking, "what can I make for dinner. that I can feed the kids, get homework done and be to pack meeting in 2 hours?" Just then the phone rang. Myndee said she was cooking and she invited us to dinner. There was my answer! Also, I wasn't about to pass up the chance to see for myself that she actually was doing the cooking!

Because she made spaghetti (And she has nice white carpet) I suggested we have a picnic outside.



As you can see the kids loved eating out side. I was surprised they actually sat there and ate.

While Myndee cooked (see her in the background), The big boys got their homework done.

Here is the up proof that she did cook!

Thanks Myndee for a delicious dinner!

Sleeping Babies

Abi did not want to go to sleep tonight. She kept throwing her blankets and her dog out of her crib and and then crying for me. I would let her cry for about 10 minutes. Then I would go in lay her back down give her the bankets and her dog and tell her she had to go to sleep. This went on for over an hour. Finally it was quite in her room. I knew she would have thrown her blankets out, but they are such light sleepers I was afraid that if I went in the room I would wake them up. I dressed them in their "summer Jammies" and not in a sleep tonight. I was worried that she would be cold with out a blanket. I finally got brave enough to try to enter the room. I open the door as quitely as I could and tiptoed in. To my surprise neither one of them moved. Abi was sleeping with her head facing the opposite way and her feet hanging out the end. She doesn't look very comfortable, but I didn't dare move her. Instead I coved her up as best I could and grabbed my camera. The pictures are not very good because I didn't use the flash.

Here are Abi's feet hanging out of her crib...



Here is Abi finally sleeping...

Here is Bella sleeping...

And, I couldn't leave out Isaac (even though, he is going to be upset about this). He is such a deap sleeper that I used the flash in his picture.

Good Night, Everyone!!!

New security system

I have decided NOT to clean up the lego mess tonight, but only for safety reasons - the towers will help keep all potential robbers out!

I just have to say that I have the BEST in Laws in the whole world!!! Seriously, They are so nice, helpful, loving and just amazing! They always make everyone that comes to their house feel loved and welcome there. On Thursday evening we went to their house. Sue made a delicious dinner, we had a sleep over and then they watched the girls on friday while I worked.

Since my parent and my oldest and youngest sisters are all in California, I decided I'd us "middle" children should get together. We made Navajo tacos for dinner and then had a dance party!!!

Mikielle and felicity stayed a fewhours. Then they had to go home because Mikelle is taking a Tai Message class that she had to be to early. JO and her kids stayed all night! We made a BIG bed in the basement for the boys. Jo and I watched Movies and stayed up WAAAAY to late talking. It was a fun night!