{Me Thinks....}

Another week.... another weekend.... almost may.... almost the end of another school year.... WOW

almost summer

Time goes by so fast it really does...... sometimes these days that seem like they will never pass are so long and never ending but they will past in a flash and we'll be looking back wishing for your little three year old to punch out the screen and escape out the basement ahhhhh.

Some days I just don't know what to do with my cute, little M! Good thing he is cute!

He is an escape artist who just wants out so bad.... I just need to move to the country I already moved here so we were off the highway where he frequently visited in his younger days ahhh! He has a guardian angel I know that much. {probably a few that take shifts...}

Anyway rough day. But a good weekend we got to see my sister Liv and her husband and we four of my five brothers and sisters plus kids all got together for a big dinner and visiting yesterday so that was nice to see everyone again it had been awhile. D got alot of work done in the garage shelves, dry walling etc, got lots of cleaning done and lots of catch up stuff that needed done in the house too. Went to a GNO friday night with so many girls it was crazy with so many different conversations going on, but fun to visit and get to know some new girls and then there was so much food! We all brought a recipe we hadn't made before and wanted to try whether it was a keeper or not. Fun times.

The Kids played hard and got their chores done. K had a master piano class he is doing so good and can play some primary songs its awesome and he has a great teacher so it makes it even better! Not saying some days its like pulling teeth to get him to practice but when he learns a new song and memorizes it he is so proud of himself! He started soccer this week too and did a great job he gets better every year. 

sigh..they really do grow up so fast....

I'm so proud of each of my kids its so fun to see them learn new things and feel like they have accomplished a lot..... L has a ballet recital coming up in a month and she can't wait! M can't wait to go to school but he loves to look at books and pretend to read we read lots of books and  he loves to learn new things so that is a good sign. 

K2 has a cold but still such a happy cute boy! He is getting so big too fast....check out these cute little teeth...beautiful little smile and then the shy look...can't get enough of him....

 

ME THINKS 

So I got this following article emailed to me the other day and I love it because I see a little piece of me just like you all will probably see when you read it cause life is just like that.... 

What you don't see 

 By Tiffany Gee Lewis {mormontimees.com}

What you don't see, when we all march into church on Sunday morning, is the chaos of the morning that happened just 10 minutes earlier.
What you don't see, when you look at my four little boys in their suits, is that the 7-year-old is wearing Dad's socks because we couldn't find his. And they go all the way up to his knees.
What you don't see, when I pull out the lovely quiet book I made a few years back, is that below it, in my church bag, are five baggies of smashed raisins because I haven't cleaned out the bag for months.
When you enter my house, with its shining entryway, you don't see the three loads of laundry dumped on my bed. Or the dirty pots I stashed in the oven. And you will never see the interior of my minivan, not until I find the time to vacuum it out.
When you admire the hand-sewn pajamas I made for all the kids, we don't talk about the three nights I got no sleep to make those.
If you look on my blog, you will see pictures of homemade chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles. You won't see my confession to popping in a frozen pizza THREE times last week for dinner.
Or the night we ate Cheerios for dinner, dry, because we were out of milk. There is a zoom on my camera for a reason. There is a delete button for a reason.
I don't think we're all playing a part. We naturally want to put our best selves forward, so that is what other people see. They don't see what's going on behind the scenes. I like to think that good parenting is like a duck on the water. What you see is the gentle, almost effortless gliding, not the furious paddling that happens underneath.
I keep a mental list of about ten people I want to stalk by camera, from morning to night, to see how they do it all. Are they up at 4 a.m.? Can they survive on three hours of sleep? Do they have a housekeeper? Because I drop balls just as fast as I can grab them. My intentions are of pure gold, but they come out as tinkling brass, at best.
I started a blog last fall. I dragged my feet into it for many reasons. One of the main reasons I hesitated was I didn't want to be another contributor to the cyberspace guiltosphere out there. Especially where mothers are concerned, do we need one more reason to feel guilty?
Because from the looks of things, other families are happier, their houses are cleaner, their marriages are better, their clothes are more stylish and their craftiness is even more crafty. Their lives are perfectly lovely, while my kids are running around screaming in their diapers.
My worst fears were confirmed last week when I got an e-mail from a friend who asked, "How do you do it all? Your column, your blog, all the things you do with your children? You're amazing!"
I looked around at my house, at the six bins of winter clothes waiting to be transported to the garage, at the sewing projects stacked against the wall, at the state of the toothpaste crusted to the sink ... I let things go, a lot of things.
A spanking-clean house is not a high priority for me. I'm a big believer in mud and its importance in a child's life. The time I take to write is time away from scrubbing that bathroom sink. I would rather read with my kids than shop at the mall, so I am certainly not up-to-date on the latest styles. I've been listening to the same music for 20 years because I can't seem to keep up with the latest music scene. And I require a lot of sleep.
We all have priorities. For some, it is keeping a spotless house, and they are good at it. For others, it is writing, or exercising, or serving others. And yes, there are some who seem to do it all, the Benjamin Franklin's of the world. I tell myself I don't have to be them. And also, Benjamin Franklin was not much of a family man. Even he let things go.
What we don't see, when we look at each other on Sunday, or on blogs, or in our shiny kitchens, is that we all have different talents and unique situations. I tell my kids all the time: 

Life is not a race. The only person you are competing against is yourself.

What we forget to see, when admiring others, 

is our own personal finish line. 

 Pretty much speaks for itself ....... thoughts??

mine.... of course who would want to read a blog all about the things we aren't good at or our shortcomings we all enjoy learning from each other least i do and seeing all the fun projects and skills that people have. i love it the good and bad..... if your the kind who likes to air your dirty laundry all the power to you..... but for the majority of us we keep it in the positive otherwise I don't think people would want to read it there are enough depressing things in the world! just my thoughts whatever you blog about is what makes us all unique and real some of my favorite blogs just tell it like it is cause that's real life right....!

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Some of my realizations this week on my life:

• Sometimes the little things don't matter at all.... give a hug instead it will leave a much better lasting  impression on them in the long run....
• maybe M just needs more to do to keep him busy so he doesn't escape any ideas??
• I wish I had more time to just sit and rock and read to each kid everyday
• life is to fast paced sometimes we need to slow down running here and there all the time
• I need to get like three baby gifts out and the days just keep going by
• I need to clean out my closest and junk drawers they just seem to collect everything..
• I get frustrated with people who volunteer thinking what do I get out of it instead of just serving cause its the right thing to do!? Not enough "in it for nothing in return" volunteers...sad..
• I often wonder if we did the right thing putting L in kindergarten at her age or if we should have waited another year but now she would hate to not be with the kids she has been with what to do? She is doing great but....
• I feel sick sometimes listening to what our children/Youth are going through and some of the things they are doing...how to get through to them...
• I'm excited to run a little marathon with K in June he is training for it and joined the marathon club at school and is totally excited about it and wears a pedometer each day to track how many steps he takes each day..... sometimes he goes running with me or takes his scooter so he can get good exercise ..
• I love that my kids can play hours in the dirt...that they love the old movies like old yeller and where the red fern grows etc.......

BUT I also realized after listening to a talk in the hall {I was with K2} from another ward a couple of Sundays ago I had a light bulb moment when i heard her say:

 ..."It is a different world from when we were youth and in order to really help them navigate the choppy waters a deep understanding of their world through their eyes is vital." 

 I had never really thought about it that way I kind of thought if I didn't have video games and such, and showed them lots of the "good old days" movies and did lots of the same things we did growing up.... it would be enough...but it isn't we have to see the world from their viewpoint too...

So I'm trying harder to be better...

Anyway just a few of my thoughts for this week I'm sure I could think of many more but good enough...
 

 Have A great week. 

{and the recipes u wanted are coming.}