Is it spring yet?

We did this little art project at our house since we have been learning about the seasons and I thought it turned out pretty cute. Each tree, of course, represents each season. The kids used toilet paper rolls for the trunks, brown yarn for the branches, and popcorn for the blossoms in spring. That was my favorite. If I were to do it again, I think I would have the kids paint the toilet paper rolls brown. Ella and Aidan had a blast.

I Can't Believe I'm Doing This

I love a tidy house. I am fortunate that my family tries to support me. You know the story "Love You Forever" where the adolescent child is just a mess, physically - his room that is? Well, I could never relate until I had a teenager. In the past, I would go into Nicholas' room and tidy up whenever things were "out of place." That stopped a little while ago as I'm trying to not only respect him and his room but also have him do the cleaning, which he is actually pretty good at. When it gets really bad (bad may be decent to some or atrocious to others) I have to really restrain myself from going in "there" so I just close his bedroom door and pretend it doesn't exist.

The other day, I walked by his room and started picking up since he has been busy lately and I wanted to "help." As I was sorting through things on the floor, I caught myself sniffing, yes sniffing clothes I picked up off the floor!! I can't believe I'm doing this. . .

Food and Traditions

It's interesting to think that a lot of our family traditions involve food - hmm?



Every Valentines I take orders of what everyone wants on their individual heart-shaped pizza. Ella and Aidan are easy (cheese and maybe some pepperoni). I seriously put whatever anybody wants. Mine was Greek this year with kalamata olives, red onions, feta cheese and sliced tomatoes. It was delicious! I'll have to recipe box this one.

Ella & Aidan love the giant rice krispy heart. I guess I'd be lying if I didn't say I enjoyed it too! :)

Not So Good on My "Important" Goal

Okay, so yesterday was a busy day for me between story time at the library, Walmart, dance for Ella, and other errands. I was tired, hungry and in desperate need of some "me" time. How selfish does that sound? I was snappy with Nicholas, demanding of my poor husband, and just wanted my sweet children to go to bed. Oh, well. Today is another day.

Habits

Aidan's nail biting habit has got me thinking a lot about habits, in general - good and bad. So much of what I do is out of habit. I have gotten into this routine of doing or not doing certain things. Some things I'd like to do less of and some things I definitely want to do more of or be more conisistent at. So, I suppose it is a matter of breaking these "bad" habits and incorporating some things I want to do more of to form good habits.

I read an article in the Ensign this month and it really inspired me to want to be better at everything. I'm sure a number of things were involved; the article, the mood I was in and the timing of it all. I got out my journal and starting writing things I wanted to be better at and how I would do this. Now, I'm not going into this thinking by any means I'm going to be perfect at these but at least having written them down has helped me to be more cognizant of my actions or reactions.

The one I want to share here is that with my family. I want my husband and each of my children to know how truly important they are to me individually. I hope they know this. But do they know this because I am their wife or mother or do they know this because of how I make them feel? So often I find myself rushing through the day checking off my task list, sometimes treating my family members as "tasks." I need to be better.

One way I know I can do this (make my family feel important) is by truly taking the time to listen to them. This sounds so easy. Well, it's not always. The other day Nicholas starting sharing an in depth physiological concept he was excited about while I was madly preparing to get dinner on the table on time for when Matt got home from work and while Aidan was whining about wanting to eat an applet NOW and while Ella was jumping on the couch after being told twice already to stop. I straightened up my shoulders, took a breath, remembered my "good" habit, then faced my son, made eye contact and just listened. I offered a comment or two, praised, smiled, then made physical contact. This was do-able. I felt much better as a mother because of my efforts. Ella was still jumping on the couch, Aidan was still whining for his apple, but Nicholas felt important. I saw it in his eyes.

Now, listening to my toddlers is not any easier, particularly when it involves, "Mommy, Aidan isn't being nice to me," or Mommy, Ella won't let me play." etc. But having written down my goal has magically helped me overcome the drudgery of dealing with tattling by remembering how I want to make my children feel. Oh the energy of it all!

As for my husband. . . in all honesty, I'm not always interested in what he has to say or share. I love him but truthfully - everything? I say to myself "make him feel important to you." It has been great so far. Consciously, taking an interest in sometimes an uninteresting topic has made me feel like a better wife.

Good habits vs. bad habits is an everyday perhaps, a lifelong battle .

Aidan is still biting his nails. We now have four pairs of gloves to wash and trade off with and they're staying on for 3 weeks.

January - Blahs, Blunders, and Birthdays

Bear with me, we, as everyone else, had a lot going on this month. It kind of all hit us all at once so I couldn't really blog about it until now. Now that I have a chance to breathe. . . . ahhhhh.

BLAHS

We had 2 weeks of illness at our house at the beginning of January. Ella had the Flu with fever and chills for 5 days. The following week Aidan and I both decided to join in. Aidan and I spent a good 3 days in my bed with a nightstand full of Motrin, Tylenol, cough medicine, juice, etc) and a thermometer. It was so fun to have fever and chills at the same time.

I went downstairs to fill up on water and when I came back Aidan had fallen asleep watching Cars like this. He was really out to fall asleep to Cars.

To top it off, I got eye infections in both my eyes. I had to tell people, "I'm not on drugs." You cant' tell here but they were bloody red - both of them for about 9 days. I looked lovely!

BLUNDERS

Aidan's nail biting had gotten out of control. We resorted to mittens. He was so good about keeping them on. But as soon as they came off, back in the mouth went his fingers and back to Thum nail polish it was. This is is a full time job.

Seriously, how does one lose three teeth before the age of five?? Ella asked one night, quite apprehensively, "Mommy, will I look funny with big teeth?"Of course, I said she would look beautiful but I guess all of us telling her she would start getting her big teeth was taken quite literally; the thing we say to our kids.

Just a cute photo opp. of our dog, Bo. He is truly a loving, mellow dog. He sat still for quite some time allowing Aidan to use him as a rather large mountain for his race cars! NO GLOVES!

BIRTHDAYS - Hooray!

I have always made a huge deal about birthdays and it can go on for days. Ella and I have ours 3 days apart. She was born 1-23-04, easy to remember! It was a celebration that lasted 5 days with our birthdays combined. Thanks to all those who sent me birthday wishes! :)





I have been feeling bitter sweet with each birthday my children experience. I don't want to let go of early childhood. It is so magical and so short. I just keep reminding myself that there is so much to look forward to (all the firsts). Ella turned 5 on January 23rd. She is no longer a toddler - at least I have not seen 5T anywhere.

Our house was filled with the most darling princesses!

No, I'm not 35 but it was Nicholas' idea. What 's shameful about 37? :) I know my younger friends (and they're just about ALL younger) think this is old but you just wait, 40 is the new 30.

Every year since my first brithday with Matt I look so forward to my birthday cake. I want nothing else but Matt's variation of chocolate cake from scratch. Sometimes there's bits of chocolate inside, buttermilk chocolate frosting, shaving of dark chocolate on top, etc. It is always a four tier cake! I catch myself acting like a child asking every 20 minutes, "Is it done yet?!" I never know what I'm going to get but it is always so sinfully yummy!

After all, that, we're back to gloves. This time they stay on for a week. Is it 21 days to break a habit? Oh my, whatever it takes - I'm all over it!!

A Broken Record

I was just thinking how our house must sound if an audio recorder was in our house and it must sound the same every day (lately).

I swear I must say the following over and over - my poor kids:

1. "Aidan, go potty." He holds and holds until he seriously is doing the potty dance. I just see him do a little jig and it's "Aidan, go potty." I say this several times before he actually goes.

2. "Fingers, Aidan, fingers!" Aidan has a really bad habit (it has gotten worse the last 2 weeks) of biting his nails. He actually had his thumb infected a few weeks ago. I've tried everything from Thumb nail polish which is supposed to taste bitter, to a sticker chart for every 10 minutes he goes without biting, to mittens, to bandaids - ARGH and help!!

3. "Nope!" When Ella asks for something sweet which is everyday. Not that I don't give in. I have this "healthy" dark chocolate (unprocessed/non-alkallized cacao powder) with tons of antioxidants and an ORAC value of 3,120 AND 3g of sugar. We're trying to keep our sugar grams down to 7 per serving. So, often times the kids ask, "Can we have a healthy chocolate?" I know. It sounds like an oxymoron.

4. "Honeyboy!" and I say it with enthusiasm. It's what I call Aidan. I just like to say it out loud sometimes because I like hearing it.

5. "Did you do your homework?" asked to Nicholas everyday; not that I have to ask because he always does but I feel like a better mom for asking.

By the way, speaking of Nicholas, he got asked to the Winter Formal at Timpview by 5 different girls. Of course, he said yes to the first girl that asked him. I just think it's pretty funny that he has been on two dates and they have been girls asking him.

6. "Leave the cat alone." Seriously, Aidan treats our kitten like a puppy. Luckily, he's pretty mellow.