Not my favorite thing...

Many people know of my obsessive clean hand policy. Some things I don't like that I have to grin and bear on a daily basis:

• Sticking my hand in the peanut butter jar - really, I dread every morning opening the lid - maybe that's why I don't like peanut butter

• Having my arm 'stick' to the table from dried, sticky milk.

Anyway, there are lots more and we don't need further proof that I have issues, but let's just say a new one up there that is going to cause me much grief is the freezer - sticky, mashed banana containers that exploded in the freezer and dripped down the door and now is stuck to everything. To boot, the freezer needs to be de-frosted again. Someone forgot to close it when they put the ice cream away - and I know it wasn't me because I don't like ice cream (yes I'm serious, one pint could last me over a year). Why I didn't buy a self defrosting freezer I don't know. I almost cried when I saw the mess from two inches of frost and all the mashed banana explosion. Defrosting the freezer takes HOURS and is SUPER messy and makes me wonder why I don't have permanent scars all over my hands from jamming them into the sharp shelves.

Something I won't get to til at least next week.

The Fall Festival is on Thursday - it will be a great event but even nicer when it is over. It's a busy week - Fall Festival , Grandparents in town this weekend, Family Pictures, Halloween, getting ready to go to Disneyland (yeah...next week).

To my friend Brooke, please do not give up on me. We NEED to get together. It's been so busy it's unreal. I think of you often and want updates on your family and yourself.

Ok, off to fold mountains of laundry, plead for more festival volunteers, homework and try to love on my kids a bit before they go to bed.

My McKell

In our family we don't have the 'terrible twos' we have the 'trying threes'. Our children are really fun at two, they still have cherubic faces when they get into trouble. They are easy to please and can turn any object into a play thing.

When they turn three, well...it's not so cute. McKell is three and it's been 'trying' the past four months. She throws tantrums, screams, goes through incredible dramatics, and turns the tears on when it's convenient for her. She is also incredibly tired. I'm stuck between giving in and having her take a nap and waiting it out and putting her to bed early. If she takes a nap she is MUCH more pleasant to be around, but will stay away until 10:30 pm, no matter the length of her nap or the time of day she goes down. If she doesn't take a nap - YIKES...this is what I have to deal with:or

I really try hard to be patient. I start to go crazy when she screams and throws herself on the ground or stairs and becomes completely irrational. It usually occurs between 4pm and 7pm and occurs at least a few times in the evening, most evenings. It's a pleasure to hear the tantrums when we are doing homework, piano, or reading. Most times Ellie stops what she's doing and just stares at McKell's theatrics.

Tonight was one of those nights and I was exhausted (see my earlier post) and ready for her to be cooperative and just go to bed - I had deprived her of her nap and usually she'll go right down after the bedtime routine.

Tonight she kept coming out of her room with various excuses - she needed water, she couldn't find her pacifier (yes, she still uses one and I can sleep at night, and I've already accepted the fact that all our kids will need braces), her night light was off, the list goes on. I was getting so frustrated - I just wanted to have a few moments of quiet before moving on to the next task.

The last time I heard her door open I was ready to be really firm and just lay the law down. She comes out says, "Mom, I can't go to bed. You're my best friend" I, of course, caved and let her sit on my lap for a few moments and then we went and laid down in her bed together. She and I fell asleep holding hands. Could I really say no to this brown-eyed cutie?

Night at the Park

A few weeks ago we went to the park as a family. It is one of our favorite things to do. We all really love getting out, kicking or throwing the ball, swinging kids on swings and just enjoying the time together. Ellie likes to swing, but only at turtle speed. If she goes too fast or too high she will hold her breath till her face turns bright red and her whole body will shake. As soon as you slow down she'll get that big grin back on her face.

McKell is a tough cookie! She has to do everything the boys do. The boys were playing on some sort of apparatus where you hold onto it and spin around. I thought it was too high for her to hang on but she insisted. I put her on the equipment and she held on better than her brothers.

It was fun to spend some time outside before the cold weather comes. I sure love these guys. They all make me smile.

Football Tickles

Austin falling to the ground

Sand in the eyes

Do you ever feel like this?

This is how I'm feeling tonight. Not for any particular reason, just tired from the every day running around. Life is busy, kids are busy, dogs are busy...

I try to prepare ahead of time and get lunches made the night before, clothes all laid out the night before, my day planned the night before and I always end up running around in the morning. I hate that - I feel bad rushing my kids around and every time my hopes for a peaceful morning is overshadowed by the clock on the wall.

Tyler told me this morning that he doesn't like taking showers in the morning. When I asked him why he said, "Because it only gives me 5 minutes to eat breakfast".