March already?!

Life sure got busy in January.

I attribute it to 3 things.

1. We made a goal of going to the temple once a month this year.  This is a bit difficult due to the distance and time limitations of Tyler's work/ kids school schedule.  

We made it in January before real winter hit and had a nice trip of it.  We did the Temple in D.C. and then took a side trip to Mideval times in Baltimore.  It was great fun, both the temple and the meal + jousting tournament.  I had been once when I was a teenager and had been scheming how to get back ever since.  While I was at the temple I was preparing for a lesson I was to give in Relief Society the first of February.  I felt inspired to research along a certain line and found an amazing talk that I think I will post about later, it's too much for now.  This led me to a list of promises that were given for those who read their scriptures with their family and personally each day.  I wanted THOSE blessings.  So I started getting up at 6 am every day so I could have time to read my scriptures without the interference of children, and at a time when it would do me the most good!  It's been amazing to say the least.  So many blessings.  Along with this I go to bed by 10pm so I'm not utterly wasted, Tommy still is getting me up 3+ times a night.  But mostly because I'm too tired to take him back to his crib after the first time, so we cuddle all night.

2. I got a new committee for our Midweek activites and so we have been trying to arrange things and divy out jobs and such.  I'm such a pushover though, and on top of that I'm pretty bad at delegating, so I end up doing a LOT of the work everytime.  So calling duties and visiting teaching and service take up a fair share of my time these days. 

 I'm also trying really hard to be present with my kids and bee a good mom for them.  This is fun but demanding and never ending work.  It's hard to explain it and when I try it just doesn't cover the magnitude of it all. Once I get up, I just don't really get to relax until I go to sleep. When I'm giving 100% in all I do, there just isn't time to sit still! Giving 100% is hard with 4 kids who want 100% of your attention, meals to prepare, chores to do, never ending laundry, dishes, and all the planning.  Throw in dance class and violin and i'm spent! But very happy. I'm oh so busy but oh so happy.  I'm pretty sure these are the best years of my life.

3.  In January we decided to bulk up our food storage.  I knew that I had wanted to use Thrive life foods for that, and so I did a ton of research.  After it was all said and done I decided to sign up as a consultant for the benefits I would get when we ordered our own food.  Well I got swept up in it (this all happened about the time our student loans came due) and decided to actually try and sell it so we could hopefully pay off our loans a bit quicker.  I'm not a salesman at all so it's been a bit hard, but I had a successful party last week and made some money plus a lot of free and half off food so that was fun.  At the end of the day I need to remind myself that we are doing this for the food storage, and that my priority is still my family.  I try to only work after the kids are in bed and on nights when Tyler works, which cuts out on relax time, but I do enjoy having this extra thing that is all my own.  I see how it would be tempting to get a job and get that satisfaction and paycheck for your efforts- not a lot of immediate satisfaction while raising kids.

So that's me!  It's been such an oddly nice winter out here, still only 1 good snowman snow so far this year, and nothing else has stuck for long.  The grass is still green for goodness sake!  My weeds were starting to grow again in January!  We've seen a good amount of sun and I just love having our big window wall with all the evergreens outside.  When I look out that window I can pretend it's still summer and it's more wonderful than words can express.  Tyler hasn't had many bad roads to drive to work on, for which I'm grateful, and the kids got a few late start days due to extreme cold and a snow day on top of that.  

Tyler is starting to get the hang of work it seems.  I know this because he is leaving later and later to get there which means I get more time with him.  He used to leave an hour early, but it's cut down to 45 minutes and I do love my extra 15 I get! He seems so much happier than ever before and I can't tell you how magical it is to not have to share him with homework and tests and assignments!  I hope I never take it for granted.  We wouldn't expect life to get too perfect though, and are currently trying to enjoy the moment and this great house while our hearts still long to go back West and buy a home of our own.  I catch Tyler looking for houses to buy now and then and I think we could really live here long term, the people are just great and we have made some lifelong friends.  I chuckle when I think of my first assessment of all the "pittsburgh women" very rude and abrupt.  The ladies up where we live now still have that edge to them, but it's softer somehow.  Either that or I've finally gotten used to it and developed an edge myself!  Our neighbor tapped his maple tree and gave us some syrup- I just can't tell you how happy this made me. 

Alex is getting baptized this month.  How the time flies by.  She is doing wonderfully in school and she really enjoys it.  Part of me is so happy that she is fitting in so well and loving that experience.  The other part of me misses her and homeschool and cringes at the things she is learning and not learning and wishes I could homeschool again.  I do feel like I will have the chance, just probably when the littles aren't so little.   She loves to read and devours books.  She also has a green thumb and wants a hamster for her birthday.  

To say she adores Tommy would be understating it.  They share a room and I often catch her singing to him and reading him to sleep.  They make each other laugh and his whole face lights up when he sees her.  He is such an important part of our family, and in this particular time in our lives especially- The Lord knew what he was doing.  

Alex is a mix of super helpful and motherly on one hand, and selfish moody preteen on the other.  It's always a toss up.  She has grown her hair quite long and it suits her well.  She is taking violin lessons and is a natural, she also is doing a baton and dance class that she loves.  Heidi is indifferent.  She looks so elegant while doing it, it brings me such joy to watch her play.  She is on the edge of childhood and occasionally I see her stretching to be older and I'm just not ready for that.

Heidi has become the easy child.  Always reaching to please and help and surprise.  She is still having trouble being away from home for so much of the day and just wants to be my shadow when she gets home.  Quinn on the other hand wants all of Heidi's attention the minute she walks in the door.  Quinn and Alex fight a lot, but we call Quinn and Heidi "the twins"  they play the same, look the same and have the same temper! 

 I think Quinn crossed over some line that suddenly made her a companion for Heidi instead of a pest and they can usually be found together playing some hilarious little game.  Heidi has such patience with Quinn, and is quick to forgive.  She is hard to get angry at even though she is SO absent minded quick to forget.  

She wants to grow her hair out and I want her to keep it short.  She is great at school as well, and is in some sort of class for kids who need more challenging work.  She is a wonderful reader and surprises me daily with what she knows.  She draws amazing unicorns and her favorite color is black.

Quinn is part tiger part monkey.  

She potty trained herself in a week with the use of a few ice-cream and cookie bribes.  I'm pretty sure she thinks she runs the family.  She has a complete meltdown every day if I don't take her to the bus stop with me to get the sisters.  I've decided this is for the best since otherwise she'd be smothering Tommy.  Whenever I turn my back she is laying on top of him trying to smoosh him flat onto the ground and he takes it so well!  Unfortunately he is going to think this is normal behavior and those two are going to be wresting ever minute once he gets some bulk on her.  She is very inquisitive and learns quickly.  

She also treats me like the child in the relationship about 70% of the time.  I decided she needed an outlet so we started a mommy and me dance class together which has been so much fun.  She loves dancing and I actually have enjoyed it as well.  Alex and Heidi are doing baton lessons and Alex is doing dance as well.  Quinn refuses to let me do her hair, ever.  She rips it out every time i try.  Because of this I took her to get a cute bob cut and once she made the scissor to hair connection she promptly cut it herself.  She has quite the scream on her and is stubborn and a mule with a scowl that can curdle milk.  But she give wonderfully soft hugs and kisses and sings the sweetest songs and is really good at drawing monkeys.  Today she insisted that we paint a picture of Saturn (we had previously done the Sun and Mercury) she loves learning.  

Tommy is our shining star in that his face is always shining!  He is the happiest baby around and his eyes just light up when he smiles.  He has 8 teeth now, 4 at a time, and the biggest gap in the front!  He is beautiful.  We all adore him.  He has been crawling for about a week, but today was his first day exploring.  He got a run burn on his belly from all the work he did and was exhausted at the end of it. He is very excited to find treasures to choke on.  His favorite place was under the table.  He loves me most of all, and always lunges for me when being held by others.  If I walk through a room where he was previously content, he will start to cry for me.  He loves cheerio's and graham crackers and has an opinion about food.  When he gets really excited he will kick and kick and kick his feet and bounce his bum and it's adorable.  

The fairy tree.  Our winter was a joke, which was kind of sad because we finally had a nice yard to fill with snowmen and a hill to sled down.

December

Back a few months ago we were talking to Grandma and Grandpa Brady on the computer when they asked Heidi what she wanted for Christmas.  Her response was "You!"  Well THANK YOU Heidi because that word got us visitors for Christmas!

 I set up a giant box in front of the door on the evening they were driving in from the airport, and they rang the bell and then hid behind the box.  The girls ran to open the door and the expression on their faces when they went around the side were priceless!  Heidi stood still for about 10 seconds trying to compute what was going on, and Alex attacked instantly.

 On their first day here we decided to try iceskating!

 Grandma had mad skills on the ice, thank goodness, because I was worse than the kids.

 After spending the first 40 minutes clinging to the side of the rink, the kids got a hang of it pretty well!

 It was the closest we got to winter weather in December, and when we left the arena we had to take our coats off because it was 60 degrees.

 While she started out complaining that iceskating was the worst thing ever.....

 by the time we left Alex said she wanted all our family dates to be iceskating.

 Heidi was a bit more fearless, and therefore fell a lot more.  She started out brave and confident, but by the end she was cold and sore and and angry at the ice.

 Everyone ran the gamut of emotions those 2 hours, and our personalities really came out.... especially in the cautious ones.

 Heidi did get the award for best skater- although you can't tell from the pictures.

 I don't know when this child grew up!  But the amount of eye rolling and shoulder shrugging I get pretty close to the amount of babysitting and book reading she does.  She has really taken off in her reading these past months and goes through books a day, reading hundreds of pages an evening!  She loves to haul Tommy around, and play with Heidi on her terms- but Quinn seems to be on her blacklist mainly because Quinn delights in tormenting Alex and breaking into her room more than anything else in the world.

 Santa came to our house to visit and personally deliver gifts on Christmas eve.  The girls were in complete awe.

 It will probably come back to bite me.

 Somehow Grandpa got Tommy to fall asleep in his arms- that hasn't happened since he was a new born.  He has baby skills!

 Tyler worked Christmas eve and got home about 3 am, but still got up with us a 7 when Alex emerged and declared that Santa had come back to fill the stockings!  I was mostly excited to reveal the blocks and box that had taken up my closet floor for the last 2 months.  They are by far the biggest hit and I'm so glad we got them shipped out- best accidental auction purchase ever!

 Heidi loved her cooking kit from me, with all the wood burned details.

 Alex loved her sewing kit from Heidi and the Shopkins and art set.

 Quinn loved the jellyfish but mostly liked the sucker in her stocking.

 Tyler got an iPhone from mommy, 12 new hot sauces and bannanagrams.  The most amazing Christmas of his life I should think.  Oh and the big gift for the whole family was a projector for family movie nights.  Since we don't have a TV and were getting tired of crowding around the computer we decided to do some research and got an amazing deal!

 When it was time to say goodbye we literally had to pry Alex from Grandpa's leg bawling and restrain her so she wouldn't run down the steps after the car.

 We distracted everyone with a movie and popcorn, which helped a bit with the tears.

 Aunt Brianna spoiled them with teddy bears and books and clothes!  They were extra gleefully because I had just told them hours earlier that I would never buy them another stuffed animal for the rest of their lives because we had to many.  Cue a delivery on the porch and box full of bears- the looks on their faces were priceless!

 Not sure how I feel about our summer winter.  Alex picked this flower for me on January 3rd.

 These two are best friends.  Alex NEEDS a good 30-50 minutes of Tommy time a day, which is a LOT of her home from school time.

 They hang out in their room together, and she reads to him and sings him stories at bed time when he is crying.  He has gotten REALLY good at rolling all around the living room and turning himself around on his tummy to point where he wants.  He is trying SO hard to crawl, and can lift his belly up a bit.  last week his 2 bottom teeth popped out, and yesterday his top 2 came in.  My poor little boy's mouth is so sore and he has been so cranky!  Plus I'm a bit sad that those big gummy smiles are no more.  He has figured out how to eat rice cereal finally, and hates green beans, but loves lasagna.

In return he laughs at all her jokes and loves her the 2nd most in the family.  Sorry Dad.

Forgotten un-posted post from Mid- November

Tyler has been working for almost a month now and we are slowly starting to get a hang of the new normal.  It feels weird to know that this could be our new schedule for years to come (although we are still planning a move at about the 2 year mark).  2 years has started to not seem like very long, Alex is so grown up that I don't imagine 9 year old Alex being a whole lot different, and even a 7 year old Heidi isn't too crazy, but a 4 year old Quinn and a 2 year old Tommy are things my imagination can't even conjure up.  Not to mention another 2 years of weeding and Fall leaf clean up here.  Not complaining, just overwhelmed by the time costs that come with living in an area where things grow.
   I can see us growing into our ward though.  We have found some best friends in another new couple and have group dates at least every other week together.  The kids love them and their dog, and they are great with kids.  He is from Idaho so we all get each other pretty well.  Thinking of moving away from them someday already makes my heart hurt.  It's another sign to me that we were meant to be in this ward, after years of feeling adrift and unsure, we are easily and quickly putting down roots here and it's so nice.
   Back to Tyler.  We originally thought that 3pm-1am shifts would be great.  He would get home and be in bed by 2am and then get up around 7am to eat breakfast with us and see the kids off to school,.  Later in the day he could catch a nap with Quinn and all would be well!  Plenty of time for him and I to be together and I could even snag some alone time now and then while he watched the littles.  The only downside being back to back days when he would leave before the big girls got home and they would only have the pre-school hour for Dad.  Things always look so nice on paper.
    The reality of it has been that 3pm-1am working shifts are not a cake walk, and Tyler gets home exhausted but keyed up and unable to sleep!  Then there is the choice between interrupted sleep in bed because of the night waking baby, or sleeping on the couch with a loud 7am wakeup when the kids start to get ready for the day.  There has been a lot of zombie Dad on the couch trying to help with the kids while 1/2 asleep- who then hits the bed once the kids are on the bus and sleeps until noon.  He has a couple of hours to study/shower/eat and then he leaves early because the commute is 30 minutes on a predictable day.  I'm writing this after 5 days in a row of 3-1 where the kids got glimpses of Dad and Mom was solo, except on Saturday and Sunday when it was 8am-7pm.  Not complaining, just documenting.
    I just keep trying to remind myself that we have it really good, and kids don't usually see a lot of their Dads even in the best of circumstances.  Alex has stepped up to the plate by being sole laundry doer (she may be better at it than me) and  she can even make tuna fish sandwiches all by herself.  Today she said "Mom can I help you make dinner so you will have some time and can print out a
coloring page for me?"  I was blown away that 7 years of lecturing finally sunk in and she made the connection between helping Mom and Mom being able to then help her.  Quinn caught onto the fact that instead of crying and whining at my feet, if she says "I want Mommy time" or "I need a hug" she gets almost immediate attention and has been soaking that up.  She really hates to share me with Tommy, but she does love him and REALLY wants to wrestle him.
  I've been raking leaves for nearly an eternity it seems.  When the weather is nice and I'm not doing that we burn the smaller branches of the pinetrees Tyler cut.  The trees have been in a pile on the lawn for a few weeks and we finally finished processing them.  Thank heavens.  But a big wind storm that knocked out our power for awhile also blew our giant pile of leaves from the garden back into the yard.  I was raking leaves at the time and this discovery may have resulted in a thrown rake and a 2 year old tantrum on my part.
   While it genuinly annoys me to be seeing Christmas lights up and songs on the radio since the day after Halloween, we talked about our plan for Christmas and decided to have a homemade Christmas this year and the girls were a lot more excited about it than I ever imagined.  They both came up with really thoughtful gifts for each of their siblings and I've been helping them out with the sewing parts.  Heidi is making Quinn a jellyfish, the fabric she chose was just perfect for it.  She decided to make Alex a sewing kit and sew a bag for that, Alex will be thrilled.  Tommy gets a wooden chew toy.  Alex is making Tommy a blanket, Quinn gets a Selki (It's a seal that can turn into a person,  so she is making a seal body with a human face) and I think she is making Heidi a army of little mermaids.  I tried to tell them the truth about Santa, again, and they didn't buy it.  Heidi seems unable to believe or even understand that Santa wouldn't be real.  We talked about it quite in depth and she still doesn't get it.  So this year it seems we are celebrating St. Nick again.  Sitting by the fire helping them sew while Tommy rolls around and Tyler reads or whittles me my ladle are happy times.

November 2015

 November was still a fairly warm month here, the kids rarely had to wear coats to school although it was rainy at times.  They would come home and play outside before it was time for homework, dinner or swimming lessons.

 Quinn decided to finely mince a cooked carrot one evening while I was helping Heidi with her homework.  I was pretty impressed.

 Tyler was working a normal schedule by November, which meant a lot of 3pm-1am shifts.  He would get up to help get the kids off to school and usually end up on baby duty on the couch.

 But this baby is getting big now!

 Quinn adores him and has upped her rough housing Tommy game to about 95% of the time now.  He seems to be able to take it, but I'm afraid she is training him to be a hooligan.

 He is very much a mommy's boy and I still let him melt my heart when he cries for me whenever I walk by- even if Daddy is holding him.

 It was determined by all, that dressing up little boys can bet pretty fun.

 My hobbits.

 He is starting to roll around a lot!

 Grandma Asay came to visit the day after Thanksgiving, so we held off on our celebration since Tyler worked Thanksgiving day anyway.  This meant Saturday was a day in the kitchen and we had a yummy meal all together that afternoon.

 Alex was in charge of pie and made a delicious carmel apple pie with a flower pie crust top.

 Thanksgiving dinner wasn't even on the table when Tyler started pulling Christmas decorations out of the basement.  We got the tree for free at a garage sale, the trick being that the built in lights didn't work.  So we spent a good hour with wire cutters de-lighting the tree before we set it up. The kids had a field day putting the decorations around the house.

 Tommy kept rolling his way under the tree, it seems that is where all the roads led.  He would kick and grab at the bulbs and lights and it was adorable.

 I had thought of taking the kids out of school to spend the week after Thanksgiving with Grandma, but after the Thanksgiving break, a weekend and an extra Monday off, it was time for some peace at home.  Monday we drove to Cranberry and had some great Cheeburger Cheeburger shakes and then bought Heidi some new church shoes while both the babies decided to have blowouts in the car with Grandma.  We then drove up to Butler to see the big light show and stopped by an amazing toy store shaped like a spaceship!  The light show was AMAZING and the kids couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that the lights were dancing to the music in our car.  Alex declared it the greatest Christmas gift ever.

 The rest of the week sped by too fast of course.  Tyler had to go to work (the ER) because of a weird virus that was causing some crazy vertigo and vomiting.  We didn't know it was a virus at the time and I was convinced it was a tumor.  There are perks to working at the hospital.  Mom helped me make a ton of Christmas cookies to hand out, which was nice and delicious.  We even went bowling!  Mom smoked us and I think all the kids and I ended up within 10 points of each other, even Quinn.
   When it was airport time and we dropped Grandma off it was mass hysteria in the car of course.  It's so wonderful when family comes and so sad when they can't stay forever.